Speak Babylonian?

I saw an article on BBC today about a new online poetry archive that is bringing ancient Babylonian writings to the public. The language is known in academia as Akkadian, and it ceased to be a living language about 2000 years ago. As a student of Hebrew and Arabic, related Semitic languages, this was obviously of huge interest to me. The article also links to the archive of the poetry, and if you speak Arabic or Hebrew you will recognize some of the words and forms.

The Professor in the interview about the archive has also released a book designed to a person to teach himself Akkadian. I might pick this up since I'll eventually study other Semitic languages if I go on to Ph.D. studies someday.

The product has only been released in the U.K. so far, but it will be out worldwide sometime soon.
Complete Babylonian: A Teach Yourself Guide


For some reason, I just love learning dead languages!

A real Interfaith Moment

A friend posted this on Facebook and I just had to share. In my opinion, this is how all Christians should be living out the teachings of Jesus. The saying "love your neighbor" comes from the story of the Good Samaritan.

25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]"

28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

-Luke 10:25-37

Pray for Pakistan

As you are praying today, don't forget about the whole country of Pakistan, which has been devastated by monsoon flooding. I read today that close to 900,000 homes have been destroyed, which means that millions are now homeless. About 1/5 of the entire country is currently flooded.

This means that there will be huge risks of waterborne disease, as well as people lacking food, clothing and other basic necessities.

I'll let you guys know if I see any links for organizations that are going over there to help. In the meantime, send your dua's. They need it!

Travel, moving, and Friends, Oh my!

Hello everyone! I feel like it's been entirely too long since I posted. There have been a lot of things in the news and such that I've wanted to comment upon, but I've just been too preoccupied as of late.

The trip to Minnesota went great. Even though we didn't have the cord to the mini DVD player for the car, Layla was awesome and behaved almost perfectly for those long days of driving. It was 28 hrs. each way. We took 2 days to drive on the way there, and 2 and 1/2 on the way back.

Layla got a lot of time with her grandma, aunt, and uncle. We also got to hang with old friends, walk around near where we used to live, and eat a lot of yummy food. I definitely got my Somali fix while we were there!

I got to visit my friend Idil who moved to Grand Forks, ND and hang out with her and the family for a few days. Her sweet brother Abdisalaan offered to drive 5hrs to Minneapolis to pick us up! Her son is the little boy Layla is throwing rocks with in the picture. Their family basically adopted me quite a few years ago.


There was so much scenery on the drive there and back, but the drive is brutal. You lose your appreciation for beauty once you're in the car for a few hrs.

Once we got back, we had one day to relax before we had to start moving to our new place. It took 3 days to move, but now we're living in the best possible place for us and Layla too.

We are living in family housing townhomes for the school that I will be attending in the fall for my MA program. There are tons of  kids near Layla's age, and the houses have a fenced courtyard in the center where kids can play. It has been really easy to meet people and start making friends. I will also be able to walk to my classes, and it will be super easy to find babysitters on campus to watch Layla.

We have a week or so to relax now, then my parents and brother are coming to visit!

Road Trip!

Should I be excited about the prospect of driving 28 hrs. in 2 days? My husband and I are driving all the way back to Minneapolis to visit our family there. Are we crazy?

We wanted to fly, buy tickets are insanely expensive. Has anyone else run into that problem this summer? We also looked at taking a train, but the price was even higher than flying!

Looks like we will be stuck driving 2 days straight with this lovely little lady in the car.

If you remember correctly, this is the same drive we did last year, but this time we will have a much less-crowded car. I also think that Layla will be a little better since she is older now. I hope!

Any tips for occupying a little kid for an insanely long drive?

I will definitely bring books and the laptop for DVDs. We also plan on making her run for  15min when we stop for bathroom and gas breaks.

I'm trying to psych myself out and pretend that I'm really excited for the drive itself, when in reality, I'm not!

I am, however, looking forward to seeing my husband's family and all our friends back in Minneapolis, as well as my dear friend Idil who moved all the way to North Dakota. Yes, there are Somalis everywhere!

I am really looking forward to getting Sambusa at my favorite spot, The Cairo grill, as well as getting a couple new skirts at the Somali mall!

I'll post pics of the trip, maybe not until we get back, but I promise to share!

2010 best blog award!

سلام שלום and may Peace be with all my lovely readers:

It hasn't been that long since female Muslim bloggers were a minority in the blogging realm. I think that many of the blogs I read are so inspiring, motivating, and also speak against some of the negative stereotypes against Muslim women.

Sisterswhoblog network and magazine are in the process of creating an award that will reward some ladies for their hard work, and give them the recognition that they deserve.

Check out the award link and give some feedback to the creators of the award. Before any blogs are awarded, they are looking for feedback as to what categories will be included and what kinds of prizes will be awarded.

Sisterswhoblog Magazine: 2010 Best Blog Award

Don't let your favorite bloggers miss out on a chance to win!

P.S. sorry for the lack of significant updates and comments on everyone's blog! The keyboard on my laptop is still fried, so I am in read-only mode.
Things are going well on my front though :-)

A little piece of Heaven

Layla and I found this amazing little place near our home. We live near Powell Butte, which is an extinct cinder cone volcano. Most of Powell Butte is set aside as a park but there are private homes all around it. On the east and south sides of the butte there is an area of small hobby farms and old houses that looks like it has been untouched in the last 50 years. I have been taking Layla back here to see the horses and look for bugs. It reminds me of how I spent a lot of my own childhood. I would love to live in a place like this someday. I would rather have a little house with a huge overgrown yard full of trees, than to live in a perfectly manicured suburban home.

Look at this huge maple leaf!