Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Kareem everyone.

A time for us to give everything a break, from stuffing ourselves blind to reflecting on the state of the world.

I love the temporary change in routine that Ramadan brings. The absence of food & drink during the day allows for more time to think of my life, my career, my future, my beliefs. I've always had this sort of feeling, of cleansing, of purity, of serenity during the Holy Month.

I wish you all a serene Ramadan

وكل عام وانتم بخير

Soul Time

The best part of my career is ...
My annual leave...


Have a Soulful time everyone...

The Devil is in the details

Why do people indulge in the nitty gritty of things and try to dive into the gory details of things and forget the bigger picture?

Wake up people...There are children who sleep on empty stomachs day in and day out. There are mothers who can't provide, fathers who are imprisoned, people killed for their thoughts!

It doesn't matter if your blue file is on the red file shelf, or if your invoice was not processed sooner than later!

It doesn't matter if your stationary doesn't match your corporate colors, don't worry too much.

My goodness, the corporate world is driving me nutssssssssss

Peace,
Soulful Soul

Soul Favorites

Soul Searching today, just a few things I have been excited about (& inspired by) and wanted to share...

1. Orange flowers in bloom: Come across this gorgeous tree very morning when I drop the kids to school. They love to watch the bold colors of the flowers, and I love the way they appreciate nature.

2. Really cool prayer rug: designed by Soner Ozenc, it gives you the direction of the Qiblah (Mecca) and it lights up the patterns on it in a florescent iry light. Its called Sajjadah 1426. Love it:

3. I love Weekends. Although I would very much prefer a 5-day weekend, I like spending my 2 days of freedom with the kids walking in the afternoon warmth, just around the block with the kids on their scooties, they love that!

4. Finalizing our kitchen layout: here is the model...

Honey cherry color for the cabinets and a white countertop, they've promised to fix it by 15th June... so fingers crossed!

5. The Kite Runner: By Khalid Hosseini, an amazing read, the journey of an Afghan boy through the tirbulations of childhood, adolecense and adulthood amidst the guilt he felt towards his best friend, Hassan, and the turmoil of the Afghan war and consequent downfall of the country.

Stayed up many many nights reading this book. Loved it!

6. Last but not least: Lebanon, has finally elected a president.

Michelle Sleiman has been elected as the 12th president of the Lebanese Republic. The country was on the brink of another civil war, but people have had enough bloodshed to last them many lifetimes. We already have a bloody warzone in Iraq & Palestine. We dont need one in Lebanon.

Love to everyone...

SoulSearch.

The essence of my life...

Seriously. I think its around 3 or 4 pm that this sort of depression washes over me and I start thinking about my life and how I waste it on the mundane. These are the thoughts that roll inside my head,
what the hell am I doing in this job?
why do I leave my home, my children, my life, and sit here working my a** off?
how will my kids feel about me leaving them for so long every day?
how do I expect them to grow up and be successful and happy when I haven't been around to make sure they do the right things, think the right thoughts?
I miss their homework every day.
I miss discussing with them what they did in school every day.
I miss their playtime,
I miss their lunchtime

The only event I am there for every day is their bedtime.
They go to sleep and I sit up all night wishing they were awake so I could share their lives with them?

I wish it were that easy to quit and stay at home. I am caught between a rock and a hard place.
There's no escape.

No escape.

I feel seriously depressed. These long work hours don't work for me.
I am unproductive because I feel so emotional. I need a break.
I want to be with my kids.
I want to be around for my daughter when she cries, when she wants to brush her hair, when she experiments with my make up every day.
I want to be around when my son breaks his brand new toy and looks around for someone to fix it, with tears in his eyes.
I want to be there to tie their shoes,
to talk to them,
to walk with them,

I love my job, its challenging, its interesting, its thought-provoking, but my life... passes by

The distance between us. is both physical and emotional.


Soul

War on inflation...

Just the thought of prices increasing in Bahrain has given the greedy guys running the market the idea of raising their prices...
So i guess there are no authorities monitoring the hikes...
Read below:

تشتط غضباً بسبب ارتفاع سعر كيس الأرز

اشتطت سيدة بحرينية غضباً عندما أحضر الزوج إلى المنزل كيس أرز من ماركة «هبة الطبيعة« بوزن 40 كيلو من محل سوبرماركت كبير بمنطقة سترة وحين قرأت السعر قررت اعادة الكيس إلى السوبر ماركت واستعادة قيمتها والتوجه إلى سوبر ماركت أخرى تبيع الماركة نفسها ولكن بسعر أقل.
المحلان قريبان من بعضهما.. ففي الأول يباع الكيس بـ 24 دينارا وسبعمائة فلس وفي الثاني بـ 20 دينارا و500 فلس والفارق كبير بين السعرين مع أن الماركة واحدة.. والمثير أن المسافة بين البرادتين قصيرة جداً. وتمكنت السيدة من استرداد المبلغ وذهبت في الحال إلى البرادة الأخرى وابتاعت الكيس الأرخص وقالت لـ «أخبار الخليج«.. أين لجنة مراقبة الأسعار التي يقولون إنها تحمي المواطنين من جشع التجار

وتجاوزاتهم المستمرة؟!

أخبار الخليج

Kudos to her. Smart lady ...

On having children in the Corporate World...

The word "motherhood" is an undefied term in the corporate world. Its been an agony for me to survive in the corporate world, not on a professional level, but on a more personal level. I am torn by my feelings as a mother, as my need to be resposible for my children's well-being, for their everyday lives, and between my career.
Alot of you would say, if someone felt that way, they should just quit and be a lady of leisure, but that is not even an option for us as a middle-income family.
Our working hours are going to be hiked up soon and will probably be till 5.30 pm, which is crazy for someone with 5 & 3 year old children.

My children are my first priority hands down, and I'm sorry if tha is my number one objective, because in the corporate world they want to work you to the bone, so you can help in generating the highest possible revenues for the company you work for, and at the end of the day come back to a grumpy family, who gives you dirty looks for being out of the house all day, to children who have no interest but to watch TV, watch TV, and watch more TV. Children who need to ask you if "you still love them" ...

Ohh the agony.

I'm at a crossroads, I need to put my priorities straight, but then again, I know what my priorities are, I love the line of work at at the moment but hiking the working hours like this without prior notice is really a disgusting thing to do.

The only thing I'm dpending on is that someone would consider Flexi-Hours, whereby we could show up at the office earlier in the day so that we could leave earlier than 5.30pm, and I would even ditch the lunch break...

I want to have a life,,,,



Peace,
SoulSearch

Superwomen....want to be...

The best mother,
the best daughter,
the best wife,
the best sister,
the best cousin,
the best friend,
the best career woman,
the best cook,
the best looking,
the best feeling,
the best the best the best the best the bestthebestthebestthebestthebestthebestbestbestbestb



why? to please who? help...

Violence...

the most frequently used language of the world today

On shopping and religion

I am so enjoying the 10-day break. It is serious medicine for the soul. I have been so engrossed at work, these past 2 months, that I welcome this amazing alignment of holidays that gave us 10 days of sleeping in late, chicken nuggets lunch with the kids, and an endless amount of mopping around the house in pjs. However, we decided to do a little Eid shopping in our friendly neighbor the K of SA. The overpowering stench of stupidity did not leave my nostrils since the second we set foot on the causeway. Here are 5 reasons why I will not be travelling across the causeway unless I absolutely had to:

1. You can't have a decent two hour shopping spree without having the whole shop shut down on you for prayers. Don't they realize that people should be given the freedom to worship and not have worship shoved down tehir throats 5 times a day?
2. Store managers get jumpy and nervous and would rather kick you out of their shop as soon as they can, than to have the religious police close down their shops!
3. If you thought traffic in Bahrain was a nightmare, think again. Many of our neighborly drivers prefer to jump a red light or claim your lane as their own at any time they choose.
4. There are absolutely no changing rooms for ladies in any retail outlets, even my 5 year old daughter was not allowed to try on her clothes anywhere, because "she's a female". Outrageous!
5. It hurts me to see how women are totally inferior to men on many a level. They are treated in a humiliating way, that I would not be able to take if (God forbid) I had to ever live there!!

I could write a whole load more but my blood is boiling at this point and I would rather stop.

Have a good holiday people...
Peace everyone,
SoulSearch

On being human...

I've been good
I've been bad,
I've been happy,
I've been down,
I've made mistakes,
I've been a winner,
Cried my eyes out,
Laughed till I was in stiches,
I've had my share of luck,
Been very unfortunate sometimes,
I've been free,
I've been trapped,

I've loved,
and hated...

and lived ...

and that's what makes us human...

...To be Fair & Lovely...

... To be Fair is to be Lovely...


I'm seriously sick of this advert being aired on all TV channels that I watch.


Has anyone seen the Fair & Lovely ad that promises to make you "fair" therefore "lovely"!!!!





What the hell are we teaching this generation? That its bad to be dark skinned and that darker girls are not destined for success? Why hasn't anyone pointed that out?





Basically, the advert rests on the same scenario, a girl goes into a salon or something to sell her herbs, clearly looking for a job, but she's turned away by a snoty fair woman. Then her mom tells her to "show them" and gives her the magical Fair & Lovely, that promises to make her just that Fair and thus Lovely. She goes back to the same salon and a guy now looks at her "transformed and fair and lovely, of course" and sweeps her off her feet and she becomes a star!!!!





WHAT???????





...I was stunned to watch the whole charade...




What kind of a message are we sending young girls: if you're dark, forget it, don't even bother studying and trying to be a successful individual, well, just because you're dark!!! Dah!!! But if you're fair, you can be a bimbo, cause there will always be a man (a rich one at that) who will take care of you, so why bother being a successful individual? Why even bother trying?



Race & skin colors become markers that indicate superiority and privilege, and that's what's being reflected through these commercials.

I wonder how that advert would be viewed in the US or the UK? Or are Arab countries and other thrid world countries that they can sell this crap to?





Peace,


SoulSearch :(

In the Corporate World...

It never ceases to amaze me, the way people's attitudes change when promised better positions or more money...

Peace,

SoulSearch

Labor Rights

Have you heard of the phrase: "A slave to the job", well, that's how I feel right now. I'm at a point where I have had it with work. I feel I have come to a breaking point, where I'm seriously thinking of making greeting cards for a living or something kinky like that!

People rant and rave about Labor Rights, what about Children's Rights, when a mother works every single day from 8am to 5pm and by the time she gets home its 5.30 or 5.45pm, her kids are getting ready to call it a day. What do I say to my 2 year-old son, who asks me why I leave him every single day? What do I say to my daughter when she tells me she wants to color a rainbow with her? Do I tell them I'm beat, my mind is clouded with all the tasks and responsibilities that I have at work? Would they understand that I'm doing all this for them, so I would never have to compromise their education, their lives, etc...

I miss my kids, my life is passing by and I'm in the office worrying about other trivialities while I'm missing out on wonderful moments with my children. I love you A & S.

Love,

SoulSearch, the mother!

A Woman's agony

What is it that makes them do it? Why do women stay, when men decide to treat them as a punching bag? I just don't get it.

I was reading this morning's paper when I stumbled upon this article from the GDN, about a woman who has been abused and regularly beaten by her husband. She even had to have her upper lip stiched after his highness probably blew a punch at her or threw something at her.

Nothing infuriates me more than a man using his muscles to show he's a man. To me he's just an animal. Morever, he's probably an animal with issues, major ones. For him to use force to keep "his woman" in line just sickens me.

And she still refuses to press charges!!!! I say sue his sorry a*s, let him rot in jail or get deported or something. The law must be on her side, right? Right?

Its sad that people can just continue to swallow their pride, and their tears just so they would not cause a commotion, and that is probably one of the reasons this poor woman and many others in her situation prefer to do. Its probably becasue of the kids as well, for fear that she would be separated from them by the vicious monster of a dad that they have. Does he ever stop and think what this does to the children? How they would grow up in fear of what is happening to their mother, and when they become men and women themselves won't they feel that this is the normal way of treating their own spouses, or feel its normal to be treated this way? It just scares me.

From what I've heard there is a family violence shelter or center here in Bahrain. Its sponsored by Batelco and is somewhere in Budaiya but I'm not sure. Anyone who knows more about it, their contact no.s, or anything, please do let us know.

I hope this woman gets her mind set straight and sues this guy for both the physical and emotional abuse that has tormented her and her children for years and years.

Peace,

SoulSearch

Weekend Desert

Because my dad is a chef and specialized in Lebanese cuisine, I've always taken it for granted that we have tabouleh, stuffed vine leaves, chicken fata for lunch, and kunafah, baqlawa, and basboosa for desert.

However, I went into a lebanese cooking frenzy in the past few months, and decided to cook all things Lebanese, that have always been there on the table but very difficult to attempt cooking.

I made tabouleh the other day, and the last weekend I made Kunafah. My dad was all smiles, proud of his offspring, at her first attempt at real Kunafah. And it was a major hit, my husband loved it, my brothers downed it, my cousin almost finished it, and of course my dad and mom were like proud parents at their eldest child's graduation.

I'll leave you with my Kunafah!

p.s. the little bite on the side was Amoona. She couldn't resist but take a bite!! =)

Reading Treat

Every night, I get to go somewhere, to follow a story so tremendously amazing and heartbreaking, that I am having trouble sleeping. My mom lent me this book the other day and urged me to read it. It was in Arabic so I was kind of finding it cumbersome. But then I decided to stop being silly and decided to start reading more Arabic novels in order to strengthen my dwindling Arabic skills.

But once I started, I couldn't stop.

As much as the story is amazing, it sends shivers down my spine.

Its called "The Prisoner" (in Arabic) by Malika OuFakir and Michelle Fitoussi. I found an English version of the book on Amazon. com called "Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail" which was also listed in Oprah's Book Club.

It scares me to read the devestation that happened to this poor family, inflicted upon them by a sel-centered king who has no value for human life. It scares me to know that this has happened in the Arab World, and it scares me even more to think of the other untold stories.

The story is told by Malika, the daughter of a Moroccan General back in the 1970s. Malika was adopted by the King Hassan II and went to live with his siter Lila Mina in a lavish palace where she spent all of her childhood. Although she lived extravagantly, she missed out on her life with her real family. Its heart-wrenching to read the worries from a child's point of view. Her parents were helpless because what the King wants, the King gets.

*Spoiler ahead*

Later on, her father stages a coup against Hassan the Second and is executed on the spot, leaving behind his family who get to experience a rainbow of torture in prison. Her mother, her 3 sisters and 2 brothers, one of them only 2 years old, get whisked away to a Desert prison where they spend 20 years of their lives behind prison gates.

They go through hell, their lives stolen by an unruly, narcasistic King who did not care about the least of any himan rights. Imagine a child who has never seen a newspaper, a car, or the asphalt of the road. They feed on the grass that grows near the prison bars, since they don't get enough food supplies. They get separated into 4 prison cells and they spend 11 years of their lives in separate cells never seeing each other. The mother with Abdulatif, her youngest, Malika with her 3 sisters, and the eldest brother Ra'ouf is locked up in a separate cell. the psychological torture that they go through is heartbreakingly inhuman. They are so close yet so far away. The 2-year-old boy is 22 by the time they escape, having never set eyes on a toy or on a real football field. He grows to love football from the radio that they have to hide so elaborately.

But they device an intricate plan to dig a 5-meter hole to freedom, they have to get past the guards outside, the stray dogs in the desert and they have to get to the city to reach the French Embassy where they plan to take political asylum.

And that's where I reached last night!

I want to go back home as soon as possible, get the kids to bed so I can continue my reading. Will keep you posted on the events of the story when I'm done.

A true page-turner, the book is an excellent read, and an invaluable insight into the injustices that take place behind the media frenzy and the galmor and the politics.

Its a jungle out there.

Peace,

SoulSearch

Saidism

Does this guy really think people listen to him? Instead of addressing real issues, issues plaguing his area, issues that desparately need to be raised, he yaps about how men should marry 3 women!

What makes this "enlightened" MP think that women would want to marry someone like him, I wonder what his wife, no sorry "Wives" think of his latest remarks. What kind of a suggestion is that? Thank God the other MPs had the nerve to at least ask him to talk for himself, because being the brainy deputy that he is, he suggested that all the MPs set the example!

With a 4th grade certifcate, this guy seriously needs someone to tell him we live in the 21st century, and that Islam is not about satisfying your sexual needs by putting wives on your payroll.

Please wake up Mr. AlSaidi or go home, and spare us all your valuable opinions, we seriously don't need people like you to tell us, men and women, how to live their lives. Trust me, you are the last person anyone would want to take marriage counselling from. Women don't need men like you to live a dignified life, women are more resilient, more determined, more empowered to live an independent way of life, and don't need cavemen like you to marry them.

Go back to Riffa and see the misery that people there live in, the sewers are overflowing, the roads have huge craters in them, many houses are ready to collapse on the people living there, parking is a nightmare, the smell is unbearable, and the list can go on forever.

Peace,
SoulSearch

Designer Brands

I was recently engaged in an argument with one of my friends about designer brands. She had had her eyes on a designer handbag that cost around BD 400.

I kept trying to talk it out of her head, keeoing in mind that she works hard for the money she earns, and tried to convince her that it would be a total waste of money and effort if she threw her dinars away. So we argued, and argued and I wanted to here comments about this issue.

Would you buy a designer bag for hundreds of dinars, while some people live on that amount for a whole month, in some cases for TWO months?

Would you go for designer bags, designer jeans, designer sunglasses, designer life, if you knew you really couldn't afford it, but wanted to show off anyway, and be seen in a certain class of society?

A woman, A hero

The pan-Arab news channel Al-Arabiya interviewed Nawal Al-Saadawi last week. And as usual her views, opinions, and her genius writings, never cease to amaze me. One of her earlier books about her childhood, and about her as a physician in Egypt was one of the reasons why I started reading Arabic books. Her book Memoirs of a Woman Doctor, is one of my favorite books, an honest account of a woman's experience, a woman drowning in a world of men, but at the same time trying to rescue as many people around her as possible.

Nawal Al-Saadawi is a woman with attitude. She has been sued, prosecuted, even threatened with murder, but she always stays her ground. It is women like her that make me proud to be a woman, proud to be an Arab woman, proud to be an Arab woman who is not afraid to speak my mind.

In a world rotting at the core, and run by men, the likes of Nawal Al-Saadawi are a beacon of light, for the future of the world, a slither of hope that will help in restoring some sort of order in a world of chaos.

Its the courage of feminists like Nawal Al-Saadawi that shake up the very foundations of the archaic views put in place a long time ago by men who wanted to quell their egos, and to satisfy their thirst for power, control, and

Can you believe that the Egyptian government actually categorizes Dr. Nawal as "dangerous" and "controversial" simply because she has had the guts to voice her opinions and her thoughts.

One of my favorite quotes of Dr. Nawal is:

"Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies."