This is the first journal entry in a series of about 15 which I wrote over a three week period while I was in Pakistan this summer. If you go to the category Pakistan Journal you can see all the entries. There are some really interesting experiences and observations which I make throughout the trip(or well at least in my opinion).

6/5/2004

Third World here I come (sitting on the plane) I can smell the salan already. Actually that’s the aroma of our dinner to be. I can’t believe this plane is hot and stinky. But I should be more patient. I’ve started complaining already. So why am I writing this anyway? Maybe it’s because I’ll be away from the discussion board for three weeks. Or perhaps it’s because I don’t have a laptop to play with. This trip has started off on a very interesting note. My father’s name has somehow magically ended up matching ‘some’ terrorists name. His name is “Mohammad Khan” perhaps one of the most common names in the entire world. One of the port authority police officers suggested that he change his name… Hey maybe I am keeping this journal because I fear that I will somehow lose my precious English linguistic skills. The last time I went over there was when I was 11. When I came back it was the first day of school and I was trying to speak to my friend and for some reason I could not communicate. When I opened my mouth nothing but Urdu would come out. And in my head I was thinking (in English) something is Wrong!!! It’s like I was in the twilight zone. He was just confused and kept saying “What are you saying?” I am thinking that I should set some goals for this trip. This is my first vacation away from work, and also away from the day to day affairs of YM. These last few weeks have served as a crash course in how to run YM’s finances. About four brothers were walked through the entire process. Inshallah everything should go just fine. So what are my goals? I do have a Qur’an that goes from Surah 30 to Surah 114 so I can revise all the surahs that I know. I have an XML book which I was looking forward to completing. I also have a business 2.0 magazine. I also saw some Newsweek magazines sitting in the newspaper rack… I wonder if they are outdated. Oh cool they have a Qur’an channel (Audio) Oh, it’s with Urdu translation… interesting

Goals for the trip
1.    Meet with new brother in law, get to know him, spend as much time with him as possible. I wonder if I can get buddy buddy with him.

Pirates of the Caribbean is playing haha my dad is listening to the Quran channel but he’s watching pirates of the Carribean on my screen… haha… if he wants to watch it he can put it on on his screen and listen to it too… ha…. Okay back to goals..

2.    Memorize or re-memorize 6 surahs which I am shaky on…
Dinner Time…

{mos_sb_discuss:5}

Filed under: Pakistan Journal