Spring Break!

by Ayesha Posted on March 31, 2009

I’ve been exclaiming those two words around my husband since Friday when I came home from school.  It’s my way of making sure everyone knows I’m on… Spring Break!

Since I came home on Friday I’ve been having a lot of fun, alhumdu’lillah.  Friday, Saqib and I started studying for the Rays of Faith exam that was on Sunday.  As boring as studying normally is, it was actually enjoyable to review the class material with him and jogg my memory of all the interesting points that Shaykh Waleed had mentioned more than a month ago during the class.

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Saturday, Saqib went to class and I stayed home to get a few things done on my own.  I went to the gym, cleaned the bathroom, dusted the furniture and made kaana.  We had a bunch of mushrooms left over in our fridge so Ummy wanted me to make use of them.  I added some mushrooms to my normal recipe for lasagna.  It turned out pretty much the same, ‘cept the meat layer tasted a little more meaty.  That night after kaana we continued studying for the exam until it was a quarter to midnight and we were getting tired.

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Research Indicates

by Ayesha Posted on March 25, 2009

I saw this in a magazine when I was at the gym the other day.

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From Allure’s February 2009 issue; BODY NEWS by Kristin Sainani; pg. 84

Do people really need research to tell them that your value goes up when you’re hidden?  It’s called scarcity… why do you think Osama is such a hott commodity.

Imagine a world where every woman covered herself.  All the men would be satisfied with their partners, and maybe women wouldn’t feel so insecure.  *sigh* insha’Allah one day.

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Information Overload!

by Ayesha Posted on March 12, 2009

Today in the teacher’s lounge I had an interesting discussion with the Islamic studies teacher.  She was mentioning to me that the book she has to use to teach fiqh is so heavy and dense with information that it overwhelms the kids.  It has a lot of “nit picky” details all stemming from the Hanafi madhab.  She doesn’t seem to like the book much.

Personally, I don’t think I’d like it much either.  Not for high school students, at least.  I don’t think that any of them really need to know, just yet, considering their situation in life and at school, so much in depth information about how to pray.  Teaching the details implies that you know the basics, and unfortunately I’m not sure that that is the case.  I know from seeing it first hand that some of these kids can’t get through 2 rakah of sunnah without making major nullifying mistakes.  So why do they need to spend hours learning how to hold their hands, or which degree to make their backs form during rukuh, or just how low to go when it comes time for sujud?

The way I see it is:  Imaan isn’t in the details.  And I think these kids really need something to raise their Imaan, not something to drag it down with too much information.  The idea of being slammed with rules and regulations for something they have to do everyday (pray) would just be dreary and uninviting.  As another teacher put it, we want to show these kids how easy it is to practice this religion, and that it is made to make our lives easier–not more confusing.

If in the future, once these students have perfected their basic salaah by meeting the fardh requirements, THEN they should move on to the advanced aspects and details of it.  Until then, as I told the teacher, I’d be happy just knowing that they know they have to pray and they get that much done.  Maybe my standards are low, but it’s easier to have them met.

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How My Magic Bars Became Tragic Bars

by Ayesha Posted on February 24, 2009

My friend brought in magic bars to work about a week ago.  They were delectable.  For those of you who don’t know what a magic bar, it’s basically a seven layer bar that is so easy to make it’s like “magic.”  All it requires is some graham crackers, butter, condensed milk, and assorted toppings of your own choice.

Magic Bars

My friend explained to me how she made the bars, and it seemed easy enough.  Melt some butter, mix with graham crackers, pour on the condensed milk and add toppings as needed.  She suggested chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, walnuts and M&Ms.  I decided to follow suit.

I tried to make the bars last Thursday but couldn’t remember exactly how much butter or graham crackers were required.  So I quickly looked online to find a recipe for magic bars.  I found what I needed and decided to follow the instructions listed on the site.  They were a little different from my friend’s instructions, primarily when it came to the layering.  She said graham cracker, milk, toppings; the website side graham cracker, toppings, milk.

Yikes!  The bars went from magic to tragic quite quickly :(   I shouldn’t have followed the website and just gone with what my friend told me.  I didn’t know switching the layers would make such a difference.  Because the condensed milk was poured on top, not only did it make the color run off the M&Ms (which made them look pale and gross) but it also bubbled over and turned brown and slightly warty looking.  Not very attractive when serving to guests :(

The bars tasted okay, and in the end I guess that’s what matters.  But for sure I’ve learned my lesson:  to avoid tragedies, listen to Aliya Hoda in all matters :)

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They Came, They Saw, They Conquered.

by Ayesha Posted on February 23, 2009

As I’ve mentioned before once a week I have to stay after school for an hour and make myself availible to my students for tutoring.  Towards the beginning of the year this one hour after school was quite a waste of time for me.  I’d wait the whole time for no one to show up.  It was rather frustrating as I knew my students needed the help but just weren’t asking for it.

Slowly but surely some students started coming on a regular basis.  Every Tuesday I can expect to see about 4 or 5 girls mostly from my Geometry class to come ask me for help.  They generally do their homework assignment for the day with me.  As much as they say it helps them, for the most part these girls are really intelligent, so I don’t think they need me to succeed.

Anyway, last week tutoring happened to fall on the day before a test in 9th grade Algebra 1, and a quiz in both 9th grade Geometry and 8th grade Algebra 1.  Wow… three assessment in four classes all on the same day.  Tutoring had EXPLODED.  There were about 20 kids that came, which is 15 more than the norm.  I was buzzing around my room from student to student trying to figure out what each student needed from me.  It was all kind of… exciting I guess.  They finally came!  They finally asked for help!  And most importantly,

They all conquered their quizzes and tests!!  The students that came for tutoring did substantially better on their assessment compared to their own average and the class average.  It was truly a help to them.  I really hope they noticed the difference it made in their grades, insha’Allah.

Tomorrow is another Tuesday, so we’ll see who shows up.  There are some quizzes and tests this week, too, so hopefully some of the people who showed up last week will come back again for another push before studying.

I’m so happy! Alhumdu’lillah :)

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