More villa pics.....
Here's a couple more pics of the villa......
This is the front walkway. It has 3 palm trees on each side.....right up to the front door. The path was made in concrete, but the original owners didn't finish it....it should have had stones put on it.....sigh. Like I've said, again and again....they ran out of money and just stopped what they were doing. I'm going to put some wicked paving stones there, and along the sides, plant beatiful flowers...insha Allah.
Here is a side view of the house. You can see all the bags of cement on the ground.....workers on the roof. The side of the house is on a quiet square. A great place for the kids to play.....can you see the wrap around balcony on the second floor? This balcony is going to be closed up. Only the balcony on the sides....not the back ones. It's a meter wide.....We are going to wall it in, and it'll enlarge our already large bedrooms another meter. Huge windows will be installed instead.
Insha Allah, I'll take a picture of some other villas here in my city.....to give you an idea what I want the end result of the villa itself to look like.
I have some pics of the inside...but they don't want to upload..I'm thinking they are too big....so I'll be taking some more soon, insha Allah.
posted by Safa at 2:53 AM
6 Comments:
Dear Safa:
Today I was reminded of something that I wanted to share with you. The other day I was rummaging through some of my old books-like you, I love books. Nothing makes me more at peace with the world than spending an afternoon lazily floating in a sea of words. For me books allow me to be two places at once, to be a thousand different personalities living a thousand different lives. I get the same feeling at the movies (I am also a crazy movie buff)-if it is a good movie then for those two hours I completely lose ties with the world I live. But I diverge.
While rummaging through my little library, I came across Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. I don't know if you have ever read it, but if you haven't then you should really try to get a copy. Without ruining it, it is a memoir of Nafisi's life after the revolution in Iran. Nafisi, an English lit prof, suddenly finds herself without a job and 'locked' away, with other woman, into their houses in the aftermath of the revolution because of the extreme conservative trend that takes hold of Iran. Where she was a participant in the revolution, she becomes its victim. As Khomeini's 'veil' shrouds Iranian society, particularly the woman, Nafisi finds herself at odds between the country of her mind and the reality she lives. To revolt she begins a 'secret' book club and through her students, we get to see the inner lives of woman behind iran's velvet wall. I don't always agree with Nafisi, in fact often she made me want to throw away the book because of her views on religion (I am a faithful proponent of Islam as a just religion and any injustice is the fault of human interpretation/interference). But what made me want to tell you about it is the parallel lives of you and Nafisi. In particular it is the revolt against the 'system' that unexpectedly changes that ties you two together. She believes in iran and has a hard time accepting the new iran, particularly after she felt betrayed by the usurpation of what she loved by conservative revolutionaries. You love your husband but are having a hard time accepting this 'new' husband who has betrayed all that was good between you and, in my opinion Islam (i.e. no matter how many times he says marrying again was halal it is not because he betrayed you, he betrayed his friend-doesn't matter if the friend could not marry this woman again-and he has not sufficed the requirements of God to be just. Therefore, doesn't this in many ways make it haram?). Nafisi revolts against it all (I won't say how it ends) because she eventually gets that the rules of the game have changed, and so too must she to survive. Besides sharing the name of the book, what i wanted to say is this: sometimes we follow rules and principles because they are not just what provides us with direction and safety in the knowledge that the path we travel is right, but more importantly because they become what characterizes us. And while I don't think principles easily change, often rules do. It is tormenting and suffocating when rules change because they inevitably make one question themselves and their principles, and most of all their 'paths'. I think what we often forget is that rules will always change as long as humanity is diverse. And that this should make us question, perhaps, our approaches, but never our principles if they are strong and well-founded. And sometimes this requires that we change the rules that govern ourselves or perhaps even play by new rules. I lived on a set of rules and principles that were unwavering for a large part of my life. Then I came to the country that I currently reside in. the first year was spent getting to know this new place, the second was revolting against it violently because I feared that it would change the me I had come to love. I am now in my third year and while I often hate being here I know it's still not time to leave. The new rules here have forced me to look deeply at the 'me' I held dear. Have I changed? Most definitely, otherwise it would have been a failed three years. But I have become better-more comfortable with me, more sure of me, more willing to go 'naked' to find a little more peace. But this happened only when I stopped playing within the rules and starting finding new rules, maybe one could say, new compromises that allowed me to change for the better and kept the bad stuff from seeping in. the key was learning that as with everything else in life rules will be as flexible as you want them and rigid as you need them to be. As with Nafisi, I have come to realize that changes need to be made by either discarding the things that are just simply broken or taking the things that are slightly broke and rearranging them so that they can still be used-kind of like what you are doing with your villa. It all comes with the changes of the rules, as Lady spring reminds us with her change of seasons.
ever and anon (this is the most creative i can think of distinguishing myself-anon 5 was nice but hate the #5:):))
9:53 AM
Assalamu Aleikum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatuhu,
Safa, I asked you before and you didn't answer me. :(
If the villa is yours, can you keep it with no strings attached if there were to be a separation? I am just wondering?
Have you thought about this? You seem attached to the villa in a very personal way even though you never lived in it.
2:48 PM
Assalamu Alaikum!
That's like a mansion compared to over here in the U.S. Masha'allah!
3:09 PM
The villa is in my hubby's name....should we seperate....I'm not sure what would happen about that. I know that here in Egypt....when a couple becomes divorced...the house that she's living in is hers. Since I'm not living in that house right now....???
I am attached to the villa because I found it...I made the offer....then hubby came and bought it. The maid and gardener have been living there over a year....and it was this "dream" you know? It's where we were going to be a happy family....SIGH.
Ever and anon....love the name BTW....you said...
"sometimes this requires that we change the rules that govern ourselves or perhaps even play by new rules."
I have a hard time doing this in some cases. I know that when I came to Egypt...I changed many things about myself...so that I could adapt into the society. I did that so I could succeed here. But those concessions were minor issues......
I once worked in an islamic school in Canada, where the principal was quite dishonest....rather than have her taint me, and compromise my principles....I quit.
"changes need to be made by either discarding the things that are just simply broken or taking the things that are slightly broke and rearranging them so that they can still be used-"
You know what I think about when I read this line? It's my ability to continue my marriage if my husband changes his ways and comes back home. He'll be slightly broke...but I"ll be able to continue..u know?
But if the case is any different....then...he's broken, and I'll have to discard him before he breaks me, and makes me compromise my principles.
I will not become the horrible nagging wife that's constantly belittling her husband.....or say, I never saw anything good from him. I don't want to be that person.....and more of this marriage broken...will eventually drive me there.
Princess Z.....I thought it looked like a mansion when I first saw it too.....funny I can look at the broken walkway...the horrible exterior....the unkept grass.....and yet...I see something beautiful......
4:57 PM
I think it's beautiful and I too see the potential! So, what's it going to hurt to enjoy fixing up a villa? If it makes you happy go for it. If you have to leave it...it will be sad, but I figure there will be bigger things on your mind. I would though, try to get them to get it done before you have that baby he he....in PK if you stay on their butts, they get stuff done in a hurry! Unlike here in the us ha ha, but you do have to watch them constantly or else they don't work ha ha. Anyway, how long will the renovations take and will this be you and your family's home alone? Will all the kids have their own rooms? Tell me more! It sounds lovely!
9:01 PM
So this is what Eygpt looks like...a sister I know just moved to Eygpt. I wonder if she lives nearby???
3:40 PM
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