Versailles, France and now the US

We went to Versailles on Wednesday, 21st Jul. We had breakfast of kabab sandwiches at a nearby Turkish restaurant, then left at around noon. It was way later than than we wanted to, so we could visit just one of the two Chateaus' minus most of the gardens. We left via train, it took around 45 min to get there from Parir. We toured the bigger Chateau though, couldnt go to the Queen's smaller one nor the gardens in between. Tickets were free for all kids below 18. Instead of providing groups of people with guides, they had handed out every single person small audio devices around the size of a large cellphone with on-demand commentary on it. Out of 7/8 languages we could select whatever language we wanted. Codes were written at different places, enter the code into the device, and the commentary would start. The Chateau was adorned with numerous paintings all over the walls and the roofs were entirely painted with a single continuous painting. There were a lot of stculptures too, but most of them were along the corridors and in the atria. Taking photographs was kinda difficult there, the rooms were too crowded with tourists pushing around and almost all windows were open, so the sunlight was falling right on top of the paintings. The paintings were very well detailed, and so was the whole palace, attention was paid to the most intricate of details. The gardens (as much we saw at least) were really grand with statues on both sides of the path. All this also makes us think "no wonder the people were so pissed at these royals back then!". The closing time was around 6:30 pm, we left around 6, since we getting to the other Chateau would have been useless then. We took the train back to Paris, then had dinner at the Ind-Pak (tasted more Pak than Indo) restaurant as the last time. After getting back to the hotel, i discovered that the electricity sockets in our rooms were not working and nor was the TV, dont care about the TV, but the laptop required charging. I uploaded the pics on facebook, but while i was fixing them (rotating/captioning) the battery died, so couldnt blog that day either.

The next day we had to leave for the US. We had already ordered a large 7 seater taxi. The taxi was on time, 8 am, we werent. Left around 8:20, got to the airport before 9, and then waited in the really really long queue. It was an American Airlines flight, a Boeing 777. The flight departed at 11:45 am. It was supposed to be a 10-hour long fligh really comfortable though. The shawls and cushions were already on the seats, the tvs had a selection of movies. I couldnt sleep much, around 2 hours only, wasnt feeling sleepy at all. Watched three movies, Edge of Darkness, The Bounty Hunter and Clash Of The Titans. The lunch was good, included some pasta. Drinks were provided around many times, snacks maybe two times, some crackers, a chocolate and some biscuits. The next meal was sort of horrible though (we had taken vegetarian, since non-veg wouldnt be halal). Couldnt eat much in that one. We landed at Dallas-Fort Worth airport at around 2:45 pm, local time. Its the first time I have traveled 10 hours in just 3. The queue for immigration was long, but not too long at the airport, could've been coz we had hurried after we landed though. Didnt encounter any sort of problems there. The baggage claim was over soon, it seemed that we were among the last ones to pick up, the conveyor belt had stopped and our luggage was waiting for us. My cousin, Zubair and a relative received us. Currently we're staying at a relative's place. Its in Richardson, a little far of from Dallas, or I think a part of it. The geography here is really weird. Zubair was with us the whole day then, he had a day off. Then yesterday too, after the Juma prayer he spent the day with us. We got a Toyota Camry on rent for two weeks via Enterpise. We tried Hertz and Budget first, but Hertz was out of cars, even for the next few days, Budget could provide one but the next day, and it had a really high cost for insurance too. So we finally got one from Enterpise, we went in 5 min before their closing time, but had the car within around 15 min. Then we went over to Fry's Electronics and got a GPS device, a Garmin Nuvi 1300. Then after midnight, I went out with Zubair, first we went around to a Walmart Superstore. I had Dr. Pepper for the first time, kinda liked it too. Then we went to his university. It was around 2 am, most of it was closed, but he showed me most of the campus. Gotta say, its wonderful. By the time I returned, almost everyone was asleep. I too slept soon after, but unfortunately, woke up around 8 am. Donno why, but I couldnt sleep.

The weather here is hot. Apparently it stays aaround 35°C, sometimes around 40°C too. Plus there's a lot of humidity. Getting awesome internet speed here, around 30 mbps ^_^

Havent taken many pics (or even any I think).

Days 1 & 2 in Paris

I arrived in Paris from Poitiers yesterday via a two hour long train. From the train station we took a couple of taxis and got to our hotel. We were expecting the hotel rooms to be a bit bigger along since a bit away from the main city, but the rooms are kinda small. But we also thought: why care? we're just gonna spend the night sleeping here, we'll be out throughout the day. Best part is that its got free wifi, even if its just around 1 mbps. And we were expecting it to be a wasted day but thanks to our dad's old friend living here, we went to the Eiffel Tower and then had a great ferry ride through part of the River Seine here. The queue for the elevators (as well as the stairs) at the Eiffel Tower was really really long, but apparently, it could have been way longer. The line for the tickets could be skipped though if only we had booked the tickets to it in advance. The ferry covered most of the bridges and a few tourist stops like the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, the camera's battery died just before the ferry reached Notre Dame, the last stop, but perhaps the MOST amazing. I had to switch to  my cell's uber-sucking cam. We could have availed huge discounts at a lot of places (including the ferry i think) if only we had booked it all at least 15-20 days in advance, but we hadnt even gotten our visa until around 10-15 days ago, so plans in France were kinda uncertain. However we had a great time. Paris seems to be pretty much open even at night, at least the part in vicinity if the Eiffel Tower. We returned back home, after dinner at the friend's place around 1 or 2 am. Paris seems to be pretty much open even at night, at least the part in vicinity if the Eiffel Tower. I slept after uploading and captioning most of the pics taken that day on facebook at around 4 am.

Eiffel Tower during Daytime

River Seine from top of the Eiffel Tower

The courtyard of the Eiffel Tower from the top of it

Me with the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower at Night

Then today, the friend's son came along with us to guide us through the city. First we went to some Indian restaurant and had something like a brunch, then took an open bus tour. We bought a two day pass coz we werent sure whether we'd be able to cover the city in a single day (plus, the difference between a 1-day and a 2-day pass was of just 4€). We could just complete one of the routes (there are 3/4 in total), so we're planning to go to 2 other routes tomorrow. The main stops we covered on this route were the Louvre Museum, Arc du Carrousel, the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Place de la Concorde and some other places whose names I dont remember/know. The Open Tour buses stop around 6-7 pm, so we had to return. Then again we had dinner at dad's friend's place. Feels good to have some proper food after a tiring day. (:

The Museum Louvre

Arc du Carrousel

Notre Dame

Luxor Obelisk

An Apple Store in the Eiffel Tower's Vicinity

The Eiffel Tower again

Paris is a really complicated city (at least for tourists). Most of the roads look kinda the same, I guess thats the way it is since the Haussmannization of the city in the 19th century (we studied it in 9th/10th std) and metros are usually used to roam around the city. Cars are highly discouraged in France, and most of the streets in Paris are single lane with lots of traffic signals in between, its kinda like making the car drivers frustrated enough to make them give up driving cars. So, we too have been using the metro to get around the city. As for the buses, they're lot slower, thanks to the signals again. Paris seems to be warmer than Poitiers or maybe the weather around the whole country changed, but whatever it is, I didnt have to wear my jacket here. The weather is pretty pleasant, not too hot, nor too cold, just right and a little bit windy at night.

Arrr...........its almost 3:30 am again, gotta catch some sleep.

Day 1 in Poitiers, France

We arrived in France yesterday at the Charles de Gaulle Airport then took an almost 2-2.5 hour train to Poitiers completing more than 24 hours of travel starting in Makkah. Our uncle lives here, and has lived here for I think around 30 years. Me and my two sisters stayed at our cousin's place while my mom, dad and brother stayed at the uncle's. After arriving at around 9:30 pm, I went to sleep around 10:30 but finally slept at around 12 midnight (couldnt fall asleep, donno why, even though i was damn tired). Then I think I woke up around 8 am, got up from the bed at around 8:30. Then had a break of freshly baked and delicious chocolate filled croissant, some orange juice, raspberries and apricots. Then we (me, my sis' and cousin's daughter) went for a long walk through a park, fed ducks and took some  awesome pics. Played a game called Mölkky along with our brother-in-law who taught us how to play it. It was fun. Then we had lunch consisting of home baked awesome Pizza, boiled potatoes, homemade mayonnaise, cherry tomatoes, olives, some type of lettuce salad. Later on we made a dessert of strawberry cake (it ultimately had all the characteristics of a cake although it was made in a really different way), I helped too :D. Played a card game called Jungle Speed. Then my parents and little brother arrived and we went for a tour of the area nearby. We went to a couple of old churches, a marketplace, a small mall, had some awesome chocolate ice-cream and then came back home. Played a game of Quarto, later on another silly but fun game called Coyote. And then we had dinner on the lawn outside. Sausages were barbecued, Ratatouille was prepared and the dessert was taken out (which by the way, was really really AWESOME).

Ducks coming towards us as we starting throwing in breadcrumbs

Path thru the garden

A view of the river

An alley

St Radegonde's Church

Barbecuing the sausages

The Dinner Table

Summer is going on here but its cooler than even the winter back home in Makkah. The day is really long, starting with dawn at around 6 and ends with the dusk at around 11. But its cool, winds going on the whole time. Apparently the temperature drops down to 10° C at night and was around 25° during the day. There was a light drizzle for a few seconds too.

Overall had a really good and fun day! (:

Will be visiting some château tomorrow.

Prefinals Over, Boards Started, Almost

Its been ages since my last post. I haven't written as I couldn't get myself around to it. So let me summarise what happened since my last post. A week after my last post, we went to Madinah for the weekend. My prefinals started later went by. I thought all of them went well. But the results thought otherwise. I got just 78%. Then my practical exam, the final practical exams sarted. I had science last week. I had a bit of trouble in chemistry, but physics and biology seemed to have gone well.In chemistry I had to do an experiment of Ethanoic acid tested with litmus paper, solid sodium carbonate and calcium hydroxide. In phgysics I got the experiment of tracing the path of a light ray passing through a glass slab. And in biology, I had to prepare a temporary mount of leaf ceels to show the stomata nad to test the presesnce of starch in leave using iodine solution. I also had my math practical yesterday. It also went great. I did the linear equations one, I just had to sow the condition for consistency in linear equations geometrically/graphically. Besides that nothing much has happened. The weather is no longer cold. Although the mornings are still dark till about 7 a.m., it isn't cold.

Expectations, Studies and Internet woes

I got my half yearly exams’ results last week. I had hoped to get better results than in the quarterly exams. Bu it wasn't so. It was the worst result of my life, at least until now and hopefully it will always be. I got 80%. I had got 81% in the first term, and it was also the worst till this term. Now I am spending most of my time studying. I have been doing only maths because at present it requires the most time. I have 15 chapters in total. I think I have done about 4-5 so far. I am doing the tough ones first. 

Until now I am working more than I have ever worked. I usually started studying for exams about a week before they started and got around 90%, usually above it. But this time I started studying about a month before. The entire syllabus has been completed in advance. The only days I have to go to school now are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as I have my practicals on those days. This week I went on Saturday too, just to check it out. I may have to go on the coming Saturday. I have geography only on Saturdays and Mondays, as its one of the two subjects in which the portion has not been completed. The other is history. Our history teacher will be back by Saturday. He was in India, I think.

Nowadays I am sitting on the PC only on weekends. During weekdays, I am watching an hour of television each day. Just a series call Kyle XY on FOX Series from 11 to 12 at night. All other time I am studying. I have never ever studied so much and it feels extremely strange doing it.

The internet connection is not too well these days. Sometimes there's no connectivity at all. It’s been happening since Friday. On Friday, I had come to the PC for the first time in a week. And the internet was down. Completely down. 0 kbps. I was feeling extremely frustrated. First of all I cleaned off the temporary internet files, all of them using CCleaner . It’s the best cleaner I have found so far. Still the connection was down. Then I turned off other unnecessary apps like Google Desktop , OpenVPN , Yahoo Messenger , HP Printer Alerts etc. Nothing worked. Finally I restarted my PC after almost about 2-3 days of uptime. Still there was no connectivity. I now checked the router for problems. But there weren’t any problems I could see. I gave up. I checked it again in the evening. I was able to connect but there wasn't much speed. Just about 3-4 kBps instead of the usual 28-30 kBps. On Sunday a newspaper report came, saying that some cables have been cut in some sea possibly due to some seismic activity in that area. I really hate it when the internet is not working. I t makes me feel............disconnected and highly irritated. Although I am browsing the net at regular speed now, it’s not always possible. Just a few hours ago the internet was completely down, then it came back. I don't know how long it will last now.

The weather is also changing a lot. Nowadays when I set out of my home at 6:30 in the morning there is bearly any sunlight.Sometimes its also cold, but not usually. Jeddah is a bit hotter tham Makkah though.

Our Hajj

I know it’s been a long time since my last post. The reason I have not been able to write is that .............none of them are actual reasons, I waste time thinking about it, plan to write later and then forget to do so. So let me tell what has happened since my last post. First of all, the temperatures increased again, there was no more rain or hail, but it left a thin layer of cool green grass in most of the visible desert. Alhamdulillah my exams also went well. The result isn't declared yet, another week remaining.

And now the Hajj. I performed the Hajj this time. Me, my parents and my sister. We went directly to the plain of Arafah on Sunday (7th Dec). We went from home at 11 in the morning. We had planned to go by 10. We first went to an area near Arafah called Azizyah, parked our car there and soon got a taxi to Arafah. We reached there by around 12:30. We spent the day there. It was sunny, with clear skies. But the weather wasn't unbearable. We had to exit Arafah at Maghreb (sunset). This time we had a bit of difficulty in getting a taxi. Many people were walking too. The destination was Muzdalifah, around 1-3 km. I don't know the exact distance. It took us an hour to get there. The main reason was due to high traffic, vehicular as well as pedestrian, and also because the roads were being blocked from time to time to control and guide the flow of traffic. After we reached Muzdalifah, we put up a mat at a clean spot we found fairly easily. We ate some food, picked up pebbles, 49 for each of us which would be 196. And prepared to sleep. I slept at around midnight. Maybe around 1. The temperature was dropping. I woke up at 5 in the morning. The sun had not risen yet. Not even dawn. I went to the toilet to relieve myself. There was a line, at each toilet. There must have been 10-14 toilets there, but each had a queue of at least 3-5 people. By the time I was over, it was time for (or had been) Fajr (dawn). I soon prayed the Salah. Then we started walking. Walking to the Jamarah, to stone the Shaitaan (devil). This was the day to stone just the largest one. This is a ritual in which we have to stone a wall (previously a pillar, made a wall to increase the surface area enabling more people to do it in a shorter time). This ritual is repeated following what the Messenger Muhammad (SAW) did. We walked a lot. Maybe more than a kilometer or two. Each of us had to stone it with 7 pebbles which we had collected in Muzdalifah. There were 4 four floors in total, one ground plus three. We took the topmost, as it would probably have the least number of people and would perhaps be least tiring or troubling. Alhamdulillah we did it very comfortably. We could stand in the first row and do it. After we had finished it, we went back to Azizyah; we took our car and headed back home. We still had to shave our heads, but that was to be done after sacrificing the sheep/goats. We didn't do it personally. Previously we had bought a coupon thru which the sacrificing and distribution is done by the government. We were told that it would be done in the morning when we took the coupon. But we didn't want to take chance. So after coming home, at about 9:30 am, we had some food and slept. I slept till about 2:30. Then me and my father went to the barber shop to have our heads shaved. There were many people already waiting there. By the time my head was shave it was past 3:30. My father went after me. I am bald now. I returned home and took a bath. Wore new clothes. And again ate something. I also had a Panadol (basically paracetamol, a pain killer) to make sure I don't have the pains in my legs. I wasted the remaining day lying around.

 

  

Views of the Jamarah Complex (none of them are whole)

 

The Shaitaan (devil), [The Grey Wall]

 Me Stoning the Shaitaan

The next day we again had to go to jamarah in order to stone the devils. This time we had to stone all the three, with seven pebbles each. I woke up at around 1:30 pm. Had some breakfast. We did the same thing, parked our car in Azizyah and took a taxi. We had a walk a lot this day. A third of the distance in Azizyah itself (as the taxi couldn't get us very far due to road blocks), some in Mina and a lot in Jamarah itself. This time we went through the third floor instead of the first as this time we had come through a different way and didn't know where we had made the choice. It wasn't difficult this time too. Alhamdulillah we completed the ritual fairly easily, through the first row again. By the time we were over it was past Maghrib (sunset) around 5:40 pm. We took the same way (or should I say method) backhome. Today we also went to Haram to do our Tawaaf (circumambulation of the Kaabah) and Saee (walking between the two hills, Safa and Marwa, the hills were no longer big enough to be called hills, they had been cut again and again during construction). We could also have done this throughout the whole (lunar/Hijrah) month, but chose today as there would be probably least rush. Only the residents of Makkah are given the time of whole month. All others have to do it in the one of three days of Jamarah. But we did it this day, as the non-resident (of Makkah) Hajis (pilgrims) need to spend the night in Mina, which means that there would be less of those people and the pilgrims also start their Vidaai (exiting, from Makkah) Tawaaf after the third day. We went to Haram between 11-12 at night. But unexpectedly, there still was a lot of rush.We did the Tawaaf and did the Saee from the second floor. There are three in total.

 

A View of the Kaabah from The Second Floor 

 Almost Half of The Saee Area (The Closest Bald Head is Mine)

The third day we were supposed to go early. By early I mean after Zuhr (noon) which means after 12. Thats my early. I woke up at 1 pm. All of us had very light breakfast. By 2 we set out. There was a lot of traffic today. The main reason was because the stoning had to done by Maghrib (sunset). Which means about 3 million pilgrims in 5 and a half hours. If we was completed after sunset, it had to repeated the next day. So after being stuck in traffic for some time, finding a taxi in some more, we still had a walk a lot more than before because although the roads were not blocked by the officials, they were blocked due to the large number of buses and pilgrims walking. We walked half of Azizyah. Then we finally reached Jamarah by 5. By jamarah I mean just its beginning. There was a lot of walking left. We tried to hurry. We again went through the same third floor because of the same reason as before, we didn't know where we had to make the choice. This time there was a bit more rush than earlier times. But Alhamdulillah we completed it fairly easily. We did this 10 minutes before sunset. So we were saved from the trouble of repeating this the oher day by 10 minutes. All of us very hungry by now. Some hotel outlets are located at the end of Jamrah. One of them is the very popular Al Baik. Although no broasted chicken was available, the broasted nuggets were available. WE bought two boxes. The nuggets they were selling here were smaller in size but 12 in number. In other places larger were sold but 10 in number. In volume the 10 would propbably be more than these 12. All of us ate. My sister ate two, she was feeling sick, my mother ate four; and the remaining 18 were eaten by my father and me. I think I had eaten more than my father. On the way out we bought come caps, Islamic caps. Although there isn't much Islamic about them, they are worn mostly by Muslims. These are very similar to the skull caps, just bigger.We returned home.

Our Hajj was over. This was my Fard (obligatory) Hajj. After this I may do it only if I want to. It is no longer required. But I hope to do it again some day.

Physics, Rain, Hailstorm, Rain, Math

I had my physics practical examination yesterday. There were four practicals in total. I got one in which we had to trace the path of a ray of lights passing through a glass slab. The experiment just fine but I don't know much about the viva-voice. The examiner was expressionless, silent and didn't ask me my roll number  (could also be because my viva was taken last) or seemed to put to tick while he was hiding the marks sheet. But I know I gave the right answer. I was asked what was refraction. The remaining day went on as usual.

At night, around 11:30 it started to rain and it got rough. Soon there was a hailstorm. There was a lot of noise due to it because it was falling on the ACs. Some even came into our home through the small spaces between the ACs and the walls they were attached.  My mother picked up some of the ice (hail) and gave it to my little brother and sister. After taking it into their hands they started laughing loudly and jumping. I turned to look at what my other sister was doing only to see that she was also jumping around and laughing but slowly. It lasted for around an hour. Then the rain slowed down for some time only to start again. There was also a lot of thunder. When I slept at around 1:30 it was still raining. I don't know what happened after that.

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I had to go to school as I had my math test today. It didn't seem to rain now. I got all ready for school, packed my bag and was ready to get out. Suddenly I could hear rain. A lot of it. I went back into my room and searched for a jacket. I soon found mine and put it on. I wore my spots shoes today as I didn't want to ruin my other formal ones. I got out of my home and headed to my stop. It was raining  but not as fast as a few minutes earlier. As I was heading towards my stop I saw that a tree (or two maybe) had fallen. The whole road was wet and had a lot of water especially near the pavement where there was almost difficult to walk. My bus came a bit late today but it didn't matter. It was even raining more than halfway into the highway. I saw four accidents. In two of them the cars were badly destroyed.

Near Jeddah there was not much rain just a lot of sunlight. I reached school about 15 minutes late than usual today. There was still a lot of sunlight. In some time my math test started. It wasn't the best test I have given. There wasn't even enough time. I forgot some formulae in between but did as much as I could. There were even two six-mark questions in the test.I thought it was absurd as to put two six-mark questions in a test whose total was 25. Thats like almost half the marks. I hope I get good marks in this test also. And I will have to study a lot for the fast approaching exams.