People were climbing it and my heart just raced, I need to climb too

The first steps and probably the last set. The rest of the path was rocks and dirt.

A view from the top.

Seems like there was a fire!

More to go.

Had to climb down that

Then I discovered there was a grassy path from the road going up hill It would’ve been easier but less fun.

More to go.

A rocky path

A view from the top.

A little more.

Done

Going down. Those tiny stones are tricky, I was slipping and grabbing air

Finally, after time of being totally lost , I ended up at Holyrood park which I found on the map and managed to find my way to the cinema

Not all these windows were built at the same time. St. Marget’s Church, people can actually get married here or hold a baptism, for 20 people only that is.

You can attend plays potraying different eras in Scotland history. They look so cute wearing skirts

Prisoners of war!

Wars Scotland has been in.

Even dogs had their own cemetery.

The ticket booth queue!

Just book online and collect your tickets and don’t forget to write down your booking reference number.  You can’t even see a queue

Go on their free guided tours, it’s informative and funny. It only takes 30 minutes and then you can explore on your own.

The stairs are very narrow and you get kind of dizzy from twirling your way up! It is very difficult for two people to squeeze up/down, so you’ll hear shouts, “Coming up” , “Going down”.

A view from the top, Edinburgh castle.

I got off at Waverley railway station and walked. Everytime I go to a place I get myself a map, they are usually around the railway station and for a pound. I couldn’t find one and thought to get one later from any shop.

My breath was taken away by their beautiful mountains and hills. The brown, the black, the green, the blue … amazing.

As soon as you walk around, first thing that sticks to your mind is the music, their Scottish music being played everywhere constantly. People on the street, shops and restaurants.

It is a historic place, I went to museums, Edinburgh castle, the Scott monument, climbed a hill, took a tour, etc. The most amount of walking I have done in my life, I am feeling the aftermath already but it was worth it.

I got lost because I didn’t have a map but then I got one and found the light at the end of the tunnel

If you are one of those who come to UK frequently but always go to a single spot, London for example, you are missing a lot! UK is filled with interesting and amazing places to go and they are only a train trip away.

I’m in LOVE with the Scottish accent. Though I need to read their lips and listen hard to make out what they are trying to say

“Please taaake yourrrr rucksack off and ‘old it in yerr ‘and”

I’m not sure if he said rucksack, backsack elmohim, I need to take it and hold it in my hand for walking inside the museum

The way they pronounce their “R’s”, I guess that it is the fascinating part and they speak on the low level. And Scots have their own language too, Gaelic.

Someone was asking me where I was from and then started asking me where I went and where to go, most of what he was saying I could not understand, I opted to a random select of Yes/No answers but I could listen to them talk all day

I’ll be posting my pictures soon but they don’t do the place any justice at all.

You got to LOVE the weather here. You actually see the four seasons There is autumn, winter, spring and summer.

Green is a different colour over here. Wonderful flowers are blooming all over the place. Colourful bees flying. Insects that crawl all over the place. Even the fat flies. All bundled as an amazing experience.

My pictures aren’t doing any justice to what I’m seeing with my eyes. I’ll post more once I get some good ones.

Here’s a weird bug that stuck to my trainings. So many exciting new insects.

Of course a cloud has to pass by blocking the sun It is UK after all.

“اليوم الغدا عندي”

“لااااا مابي أتعبج … مالا داعي”

“عادي اشفيج … أنا بسوي بسوي و بحسب احسابج معاي”

“متاكده أخاف وايد عليج”

and it goes like this everytime.

Here’s how when she invites me over.

“اليوم الغدا عندي”

“OK”

Unless I ate or am tired, I accept invitations Madree, maybe the social thing is to say NO at first.

Today I bought meat. Here’s moi multitasking

• Many book stores available, I go in and loose myself
• Amazon UK, my basket always has items in them. It is hard to resist the click to order and have your items delivered within one week.
• Again my life style, when waiting for the bus, I can be waiting for upto 30 minutes and so I sit or lean against the wall and read. Since I’m not driving and I’m the passenger, I read while in the bus or train until I get dizzy
• Everyone around you is reading, it really helps and is an open source for book recommendations and a good conversation starter. “ohhh, I read this book, it is very interesting and a good read”.

I’ve read a lot of light books lately, when I’ve got so much going on, I need to ease and relax my mind a bit or it’ll explode. The three books were:

• His other lover by Lucy Dawson.”A crazy woman fighting for her sorry excuse of a man“. This novel proves that women are crazy when it comes to their man! They do not acknowledge common sense and they loose grip of reality.
• Getting rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon. I liked “Foursome” more, it was so much funnier.
• My best friend’s girl by Dorothy Koomson. I enjoyed this book very much, it was light and entertaining. I didn’t know how it’ll end till I finished reading the book.

And the last book was “Precious” by Sapphire, I just felt really appreciative of my life and the circumstances I live in. You’ll feel so blessed while reading this book.

On my to read list.

I picked this Stieg Larsson because of all the hype about the brilliance of his novels and I chose his first one. The second book by Kathryn Stockett, I just stumbled upon while Amazon-ing

So one of my neighbours are a Chinese couple or that’s what I thought! I actually didn’t put things together until later, I see her with a guy that I thought was the one living next door, turns out it is a different guy. So maybe they are not a couple, maybe they’re just brother and sister

You can never understand Chinese couple they aren’t as intimate as their English counterparts! They don’t hold hands for example. My colleague has a picture of himself posing next to his girlfriend, it seems like they were forced under gunpoint!! Standing straight, looking into the camera direct, no smiles, eshda3wa

Now I can recognize my pre-couple now-siblings duo, they do not sit next to each other in class that is in the times I’ve seen them. In the cafeteria, I see her eating with a group and then as I’m heading out I see him eating with another group! They come after me in the bus, infront of me, he sits right of the aisle and she left of the aisle, why not together ???

As I’m cleaning my room, I see them walking outside, hand-in-hand, hmmmm, that doesn’t seem like a brother and sister Ohhh, well maybe they are a couple who are sick of each other, they do not have to sit together in uni, eat together, walk together … still not sure, are they a couple or not ???

Maybe they’re just living together ??? Is he gay 3ad she is a beautiful girl, he’s grumpy and always smoking outside hehehehe

Today I see her in the bus and we talk, I’m think should I ask the question, “Is that your boyfriend, friend, or brother ?” But didn’t

Later I head out again and as I was going up to the bus stop, they were coming down, his hands around her, I smile ready to say HI, as soon as she sees me, she elbows him and shrugs off his hands and they seperate, I walk by and we exchange “Hello’s”.

Did they do that because they’ve seen me “Basich leqafa” But life is putting them in my way, I’m not seeking it, it just happens infront of me and then I think “OK, where did we last left off, YUP them sitting apart”, or as my latest update, them springing away from of each other when they saw me, or maybe it’s just my imagination hehehehe I feel wicked when I’m piecing and noticing things that are not of my god damn business

The dilemma is not Isha prayer, it is Isha + Fajer! Ishar is after 11 PM and Fajer around 2:30 AM.

It is physically difficult for me to pray at 11:15 PM and by the time I get around to sleep, wake up for the Fajer! Sometimes I turn off the alarm without even having a recollection of that action!

I put the alarm at the far end, far beyond my hand reach, I have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off, I used to do that sometimes back home, when I’m exhausted and know there is a high chance of me unconsciously turning the alarm off. I set it to 3:30 AM, for realistic terms, by the time I sleep around 12 midnight, 3:30 AM sounds doable.

You experience the extremes here from Fajer being after 6 AM, Dhuhur at 12 PM, 3asir after 1 PM, Magrib around 4 PM and Isha around 6 PM to summer prayer times. Interesting experience

Anyway so the train was 9:28 AM and 3alama we walked to the bus station ella tawa mashee el em3afan so we waited for the next bus and we barely arrived at the train station and got our pre-booked tickets from the machine and ran to the platform. All the way the girls with me were afraid we won’t make it on time, so what ?? We’ll take the next one … no biggie … there is another train in the same off-peak time slot, our tickets cover that. What they didn’t know is that I wasn’t sure hehehehe but I assumed who in the right mind schedules a single train in a weekend.

We roamed Manchester, sightseeing, went in Manchester cathedral, did some minor shopping, girls are packing stuff to take back home, there is an Omani girl maskeeena she has to buy for the whole fereeej too,  are you kidding me! laa oo fereejhom 3ooood!!!

We decided to head to Trafford Centre, qilna yamdeee, secretly knowing NOT It is humoungous, there are many activities to do, skiing, lego-land, movies, and it is filled with Halal restaurants. We ended up having lunch/dinner at a place called “RICE”, it was very tasty but my order was a thai dish and it was HOT! My eyes teared up and nose started running and my face flushed, I had to get ice-cream afterwards.

For the trip back we took the same bus, number 100, to the city and were planning to take one of the free buses, 1, 2 or 3, to Piccadilly station only to discover they aren’t running after 7 PM It was pass 7 PM and we already missed our train. We decided to walk we have a map and we did, it took us a while and some were complaining that we are lost, we aren’t going to make, we won’t find a train … so what … kilish kilish we’ll stay the night oo catch a morning train. As soon as we found the train station we congratulated each other and headed to the board to see the departures schedule, one girl took off to buy coffee, I saw it, the next train departs in a few minutes and of course platform 13 is at the other end. I called her, wait get coffee on the train and I ran and the rest followed LOL, we stopped mid run because they were screaming we aren’t going to make it, I can see platform 13 and the big clock and it says we can, YES WE CAN … RUN and we did, one minute ahead of time ba3ad. While running a girl’s mobile flew and some of her things and she just picked up her mobile because the empty bottle of water didn’t matter. We made fun and laughed the whole journey back

While on board, drunk people we all over, one couple actually started a slow dance and then another started singing. It was a sad scene really, they were hopping from one town to another, getting drunk and then heading to the next one! I was glad they didn’t come near us. Ma kan lee khilqhom.

Took the bus back to my dorm and called it a day