a reminder to the millions of people reading my blog (hehehehe...) this is dedicated to my sister so that when she misses me as I miss her, she can see what I've been up to....
ok... now I can write somethin really boring.... Vad!!!!!
when I don't have enough to do, I get bored and then when I have too much to do, well it's too much...
my holidays are over! I have a friend coming in a few minutes... really looking fwd to seeing her as haven't seen her since we met at the first changing times 4 years ago...
by a strange coincidence, her sister got married to Jena's brother (mentionned Jena previously... no photos yet)...
and then I have to get ready for Cranmore... barbeque sat night which I am also really lookin fwd to and then head to Cranmore for three weeks...



I don't think I will last there for three weeks... like u I miss the seeing the sea so will probably visit mum and dad at any opportunities...
and then it's back to Czech although I really hope some Townshend friends will visit me just before (you know who r if you happen to be readin this although prob. highly unlikely) .
Vad! r u readin my blog even??? :-). love u

My Day Off

fellowship with the righteous cleanseth the rust from off the heart. He that seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones

(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

went to visit Swindon... really love the Baha'i community there and the Krishnan family... lovely people and very inspiring.

Monday's Child

hahahaha. I love your two recent posts ! so funny. anyone readin this must check out Monday's Child's blog.

wow! I just went swimming in the sea... so soo nice!!! yep, I just wanted to rub it in? :-).

Heeellllooo! Vajdi is here besides me.. I don't think u have met Vajdi yet?

I have just printed this out for her as she is trying to decide what to do next year. I thought it is pretty cool to post to you if you haven't got it. I just don't have the references though...

In making a difficult decision:
To be repeated 19 times:

"Thou seest me, O my God, detached from all save Thee and cleaving unto Thee.
Guide me, then, in all mine affairs unto that which profiteth me for the glory of Thy Cause and the loftiness of the station of Thy loved ones."

Let him then reflect upon the matter and undertake whatever cometh to mind.

o.k. I have to edit my posts soon and tell you all about my London experiences.
ooo. we watched a pretty good film last night: Inside, I'm Dancing!.
I must also remember to introduce you to my Samoan friends.

I had a truly truly wonderful day with Jena in London today!! would love to write about the hilarities of the day but too tired!!!

All about Dad!

Dad is coming back tonight. He has been to Guinea, lucky thing! sigh! the best part is arriving and steping off the plane and being wrapt up in a blanket of warmth and it just smells like Conakry and you feel and think.. I am home! ... although a few hours later you usually have ... someone is yelling in your ear and giving you hassle...hehehe...

Anyway this is all about Dad. I have found him a sailing course! hehehe. He really wants to go sailing. He has always wanted to... but after he went under in California all the years ago, I even remember that and I must have been 4!.. mum is a wee bit nervous... she still mentions it. hehehe.

But I can't wait to hear about Dad's experiences... he will probably go end of August :-).

Note: Isn't NumBum a great name for a sailing boat?

The Big Ben is very very Big!!

This is a cute sentence from one of my students. Advice about London:
1. Don't forget to take a map, but if you do, get a free one or don't pay anymore than a quid.
2. Don't pay for accomodation- camp out on a friend's floor
3. Don't try to avoid bumping into people but do avoid pushing any old ladies over in your hurry to catch your train
4. Leave plenty of time to travel from one end of London to the other as it is always rush hour and the underground line you need to take is bound to have a fire alert.
5. If you arrive in the late afternoon, do buy a travel card from the dodgy man at the bus station as long as your conciousness can live with the fact that you are proably funding his drug habit.

wowee

so incredibly lucky to live here! just took my cup of tea, biscuits and book and crossed road to beach to watch mum swim!! :-)

(view from balcony.. .. I think dad was trying to get a shot of the SLOW sign.. hehehe)

Random

hehehe, blogs are funny! You find out all kinds of things.... seems like lots of people were watching toto!! heheheh

well, I had a really nice day today, apart from the stabbing pains this morn (thank goodness for feminax!!). I love the Spanish kids. They are really bright and keen. The french were unfortuantely asleep today due to a late night but I forgive them as they are quite funny.

Jena just called!! Wow! so exciting! I am going to see her Wed. I met Jena on my YOS in Brazil. Must add photos when we have a scanner.

Wow! But the big news is Maggie (nicknamed 'Maggi cube'! :-)) is married and has a girl called Delphine Constant! Wow! I was so happy to hear this great news. But I really don't know whether to laugh or cry! All my friends are getting married and having kids!!! It's kind of sad because you pretty much say bye to them as they are now living different lives altogether but at the same time I guess it's quite fun too as you get to see there kids!! ahh! I am still in shock!



mmmm... anything else... ah! I met a really nice Italian guy today. One of the group leaders. I couldn't catch his name though. Something like Falzo??? anyway, I was asking him to repeat it for me and he said it so loud the third time ( hehehe I must have hearing problems) that he spat on my face. hahahaha. I didn't want to embarass him so I remained with a blob of saliva on my cheek. hahahaha.

Naimjoon

I was feeling really sorry for myself today but feeling better every minute... since I've been talking or chatting to friends. Friends really lift you up. I am chatting to Naim... very slow converstaion as I am watchin tv too... boy! whole Iran backing Hezbollah is quite a situation.. from what I understand the president of Iran is part of a group that is keen to create chaos in the world and he seems to be doing a pretty good job of it... anyway back to Naim. He is lonely and bored too just now! and he has made me feel much better as I am not the only one in the world who is a bit lonely and bored today! hehehe. Naim is a really cool guy, he is very frank and honest and I like that! Naim, I hope you all come and visit me after Cranmore.... it's really beautiful by the sea when the weather is good. Naim taught me how to play hoch too but I won't tell you how many times I won against him. hehehe. because he already thinks I am quite mean. His favourite saying to me is "think before you say things out loud" or was it "think quietly"? hehehe. In that sense he is a bit like you Vad, enjoys teasin me about my naivety. :-)

Another wonderful friend

I have just had a lovely converstaion with Vajdi and feeling quite cheerful now. My phone conversations are usually quite short... I tend to run out of things to say but I can talk for hours with Vajdi! She is just always there for me. She put up with my misery the year before last when I was completely heart broken. She is here with her dad and Leila ( who is now married and living in Tunisia). She is about to experience redundancy for the first time in her life :-)! I hope she does as she will then have time to visit me ! ;-) Look forward to seeing you Vajdi!

It's really nice when you manage to stay in touch with friends

Helloo! I am having a pretty crap day. I have no energy whatsoever.. I had very good intentions such as cleaning the car and sorting out my boxes but nada! since the children's classes I've been curled up in the sun! My highlights of the day have been reading a really cute story to Leila (Afsaneh's youngest who is 4 now!) about Pelle and his lamb... it was all about gratitude. I think mum chose it especially for me. hehehe. and having a chat on msn with Rose. I met Rose at Bath University and it's really cool that we are still in touch. She is from Calcutta and a real scream. She is above left with Diane who is from China but currently living in London. I hope to see them soon.

Introducing you to Kurosh, mistakenly called khoresht... "the stewed one"

Kurosh is someone who has really good rythm and timing. He is a brilliant dancer and it's really cool because he taught me how to do some ballroom dancing! He makes me laugh lots on msn and when I was explaining who he was to mum, she said: "Who is khoresht again?" which I find incredibly amusing! :-)

Music and Maths

I couldn't sleep last night as I was trying to figure out the link between guitar timing and fractions... and I did at about 6 am in the morning, it just clicked.

Basically 2/4 means a rythm such as 1 2 1 2 1 2... it's a marching beat...
and 3/4 means 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3.... like a waltz rythm....
etc. etc.. and 2/4 is the same as a half because you are only using half of the 4 beats.... hehehe... well, it makes sense to me!!!!!!!

anyway... I had never really quite grasped rythms previously... and they are quite fun
6/8 is 1 2 3 2 2 3....

toto

Aw! toto is the cutest baby cheetah! You know what it's like. Mum's favourite program is BIG CATS and it's on every evening which is quite annoying but now I have got caught in by Toto because other animals keep on wanting to eat him and it's quite scary and suspensful coz they don't let u know till the next program whether he is still alive or not...

I really hope very few people read my blog apart from you Vad... I should be having highly sophisticated discussions about Hezbollah and what's happening in Israel...instead of worrying about toto.

aaahhhh!!

the weather is just gorgeous today!!! the sun is shining and it's just beautiful... I rode down the coast in LYA (my car) with the music blasting (has just been fixed for an exorbitant sum!) and feelin quite hip and cool.... hehehehe... as if!

had a good day at school.. all the other teachers are complaining about their classes... and I really like mine.... mmmm... would love to think it's because I'm such a great teacher but I think it's pure luck!!!

Hey Noor, was asking how I got this job.... I think because I prayed for it... I asked whether something could JUST please come my way... and it kind of did... Hey! I want to introduce you to Noor, who you would already have seen loads of photos of. She is May's cousin and Ramez's sister. I had to teach Noor comparative religion which was quite bizarre as I always wanted to laugh when I saw her in class. hehehe... She is a real sweetie as you can see below. and my bumchum! hehehe... I love that word! she introduced it to me. :-)

19-day feast

I just went to feast and it was really nice ... at the beginning I was like oh! no! this is more of a cooking lesson than a feast (must note cooking tips down actually: cook couscous in a chicken stock, it adds flavour and for a jewel looking rice, fry raisons and barberries with sugar and add to a saffron rice...) ... And then it seemed to be turning into a history lesson about the origin of the name Iran and Persia... (everyone got very excited at this point) and then the truly wonderful bit though was hearing about Mahrou's grandfather... he was the eldest son of a Rabbi so you can imagine it was quite a whooha becoming a Baha'i. There was a meeting with all the Rabbis and some prominent Baha'is of the time and the son said he would become a Baha'i at the end of the meeting if the Baha'ís could prove that the Baha'i Faith was right, otherwise he would become a Rabbi as was expected of him... well the meeting went on till 5am and he became a Baha'i...
He was very close and in love with Abdu'-l Baha.... at a time that funds were needed he donated his only means of lively hood which was a sewing machine.... Abdu'-l Baha heard of this and invited him to Haifa... he sent him to France to study tailoring and predicted that he would have lots of children and be prosperous... this indeed happened... he even became the tailor of the Shah!

It was a lovely eve. and so great to return and hear your good news.

Zu Zu Zubida!

Vad, they have West African drumming and dancing in Bournemouth now! Isn't that awesome?!! I'm going to try it out but it seems to be clashing with Bahá'í events at the moment. Will tell u all when I do! :-)

Mum's English Mince

brown onions ( with white pepper and cinammon) and take it out, then brown mince and season with salt and black peper and put onions back in, then add maggi water, chopped celery and carrots and herbs, even Persian herbs,... and leave it to cook for 1/4 of an hour and then thicken with bisto....

I am in the mood for dancing! just dancing! lalalalala

yaaaahh! I am so excited. the handbooks plus everything Ramez told me combined is starting to make sense and I am still miles away from being anywhere decent at playing the guitar but I am having so much fun! :-)

It's my day off today. I really like my job. It's fun and not too tiring and lots of money... :-)

Ok. I have to intoduce you to Payam and it's quite handy as the only photos I have of Payam are with Ramez so it will match this post quite nicely.

Payam is an Iranian German. hehehe. He is a real Iranian! He is famous for his breakdancing and cooking Persian foods, very very buttery rice and kebabs usually as featured on this picture! I wish I could add smell to my post... this photo was taken after they spent a whole day cooking kebabs! Payam has a great sense of humour. He was searching for my blog and came across my note in the LAC website. was quite funny! Heeeelllooo Payam!! Actually I should say: juuuuuhuuuuuu (it's a German thing!)

http://www.zippyvideos.com/1053633474787226/agganddes2/

Mamma Mia!!!

I wrote a post for today but it got deleted so will edit later...
My job is really fun. I have french, spanish and italian students... Giorgio, Marcello,... hehehe I love their names!!

Had a chat with Payam- must introduce you to him...

little things that make you smile

Director of studies: They will just have a little test tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Russian group leader: a little test!!?? We want a BIG test for our children!
Director of studies: well, I just said little so they wouldn't get nervous...
Russian group leader: We are RUssian. We do NOT get nervous.

Missing things beginning with M

Waaaa! It's quite fun throwing away university papers!! I miss Maths though! I came across my Maths files and it all looks like gibberish to me. I want to study maths again. I miss calculus!
I thought this would be an opportune moment to introduce you to May. May was Mona's roomate. Nearly all my photos of TIS have May in them as they are hers!! She tends to take lots of photos especially when she is bored but it's really fun! Once we spent an eve just watching a slideshow of her pics! May loves Maths tooo! so she'll understand me! I hope to call her soon to chat with her as I miss her and she will be off to India on her YOS. I am sure she'll bring back lots of great pics to show though! :-)

Yaahh! I loved it. Ok. I haven't done any teaching so I might change my mind!! But I just liked everything, the atmosphere, the staff, the kids,.... I am really happy!

I was just chatting to Mona R. She is really cool. She taught me how to play hoch (? not sure of spelling) and was my room mate when we went away to Croatia. She is going to check out my blog even though she has been warned that's quite dull! Hello MONA!! Can you guess who Mona is? She is the one in all three photos!!!

Vadiayjoon

Hello joonam! I hope you are reading this!! I wish you were online but I guess it's Sunday. I am kind of nervous about tomorrow. I start at 8.30 am. I've been watching the football with Dad. He's been in front of the TV all day, first with Wimbeldon and now the World Cup. It's 1-1 at the mo. I've chucked so many papers away but I still have 4 or 5 boxes to sort through from university. Love you. You know I got the job without an interview because the lady said they spoke so highly of you ;-). I'll be able to earn part time in 2 weeks my Czech monthly salary. Crazy!

Home Sweet Home!

Aw! I just had a really nice day. I got to see all the community at the Holy Day. Everyone asked after you! I just really feel at home with them. All the kids have grown up. It was such a pleasant day! I picked up all the Persian crowd and all I could understand of the conversation was Vafa machiné kouchulué. lol.

I'm just a girl who can't say no! I'm in a terrible state!

Vaaaaaaaaad, I got a job in Southbourne School of English. Why? Why? Do I torture myself????

les amies d'enfance

Do you remember Madeleine? She just told me that Samar got married a month after her!
Wow! I would have loved to be at the wedding. I know I wouldn't have been able to go but I'm still gutted!

Madeleine was very sweet. She said: "Vafa, tu es trop intelligente pour tomber dans le piege du marriage!" :-)

I have a really great photo of Samar and friends that I'll insert later. I'll never forget Samar and me dressing up as "les tortues ninjas"!!

Part of yin is in yang and part of yang is in yin.

Chinese New Year at Bath Univeristy!

with Diane and Rose

I was told something about not mixing hot and cold foods but all I could find from the tablet of Health is ''If two diametrically opposite foods are put on the table do not mix them.'"(Star of the West, vol. 13, no. 9, December 1922, p. 252). I am not sure what diametrically opposite means, but Abdu'l-Bahá does talk about the balance and imbalance within us which does sounds similar to Yin and Yang! There is no mention about not mixing these foods though...

Yin Foods:Bean Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Crab, Cucumber, Duck, Tofu, Watercress, Water
Yang Foods: Bamboo, Beef, Chicken, Eggs, Ginger, Glutinous Rice, Mushrooms, Seaseme Oil

Mum's Lamb Recipe

Noor and me tasting burnt cornflakes!

Noor was 'light upon light'!!!

Fry some onions and take them out. Then, fry your lamb (you should put some garlic into it the night before- 2 or 3 cloves). Fry the meat on a light temperature. Brown it. When it's brown all over, put the onions back in and some 'Maggie' cube, water and some tinned tomatoes. And then you add any seasoning you like, such as herbs, peppers, Persian herbs, any,.. Add seasoning and then it depends what kind of lamb you are using, but let's say cook it for an hour. Let it simmer for an hour and then you can add whole carrots, whole potatoes, bits of celery if you have got any. Then let it cook for another hour and bob's your uncle! You can add some aubergines 1/4 of an hour before the end…
(Note: if you have lamb in small pieces, it probably won't take so long to cook.

The Incomplete Guitarist

I went out and borrowed some guitar handbooks from the library determined to continue with my attempts to play guitar! I miss Ramez (on the right in photo). He was such a cool and laidback teacher. I just never practised and I regret it. I just picked up my guitar after a very long time and I remember a tune he taught me which is pretty cool.

I think I just don't have music in the blood. I took out a book with several hit songs everyone should know and the only one I could truly remember the tune to was "Everybody!" by Back street boys ... argh!!

Just go for the bald look! As long as you smile, you'll look beautiful!

I woke up this morning determined not to do absolutely nada... and decided to clear out our room. You know one of Daddy's moods: ''just shave all your hair off" - that's the best solution!

It is only a couple of hours later (maybe even minutes) and I have discovered all my CDs from Brasil: "O clone" and I am currently listening to "cidade negra"...

Shall I throw all our teddy bears away?

Doing absolutely NADA

Yaah! I think you are reading my blog. mmm... I could just send you emails but this is more fun!
Who are the visitors? well, I am not sure which retired women's group they were from. Mum (in photo on the left) seems to have joined every single one. But it is great. I really admire her. She has made great friends and I love the ones I have met.

But I should really talk about meeee. hehehe. It is the first time in a while that I have absolutely nothing to do and it is driving me insane.

I have plans for later in the summer but just wanted to spend time with Mum and Dad these couple of weeks but it's difficult adjusting. In Townshend I was surrounded by all these lovely people and there was always something happening. In my last few weeks I had two amazing flatmates: Hannah and May who are in the photo below and it was soo fun. I guess I am missing everybody.

Msn has been nice to keep in touch with people but it's just not the same really.

I have had fun this week though. On Saturday, I went to the wildlife and otter centre with Mehran and his friends, Sunday there was children's class and Monday, I went swimming in the sea which was just gorgeous.

To my sister

I have decided that my blog should have a purpose and I have decided to dedicate it to you Vadiay. I wanted one because it's so nice when I am missing you to find out what you have been up to and I am really lousy at keeping in touch and the few times that I do try calling, I get through to a Spanish speaking person who usually puts the phone down on me when I just repeatedly say : Vadiay?! Vadiay?!

So this for you, just you! so You can find out what I am up to when you are missing me. I doubt it will be as entertaining as yours with poems and pictures... I still haven't figured out how to change the color. I am really not that fond of green!

Voii! Mum is yelling at me. as always. I am still in my pyjamas and she has guests. She insists I have to meet them. When I said no way as I look a mess, she said even if I was in the shower she would open the door and introduce them to me! hahaha. She says she spent 20 years or so bringing me up and wants to show me off. hahaha. We have the best mum in the world. She is soo funny!

I get butterflies in my stomach when watching the world cup!

noooooooooo!!! so sad. I just watched the really stressful world cup semi-finale. and yep! I was supporting Germany. quite strange. but it's the influence Townshend has had on me... I have met lots of lovely German people there :-).

and it is just quite sad that they lost. argh! last minute goals are soo irritating.

well, it's only a few hours since I created me blog and I have been told that I am just not really the 'blogger type'. hehehe.

hurrah! I successfully inserted a photo ...I am withsome truly truly wonderful friends here... I am second from the right... mmm... to write about this photo would mean writing all about my first year at Townshend... it was crazy, it was fun and I met some really wonderful people... but my blog will have to start from this summer... and in fact I am realising that a digital camera is pretty essential to keep a blog updated... mmm... what a wonderful excuse... and frequent access to the internet ... mmm... maybe I wsn't ready for this....I think I will keep it 'hushhush' ... at the mo...

Why have a blog? Well, My sis had one is the truthful answer and I have a couple of weeks with nothing better to do!
The question is... how long will is last? will this be my first and only post? will I forget my password and never be able to retrieve my blog?