- MuslimFest -

Assalaamu Alaikum :)

I had a pretty nice time at Muslim Fest. I went with my cousin's and sister so I spent half the time with my sister and my young cousin and the other half, I spent it with my aunt and my cousin-in-law, along with her two kids.

The first half, we arrived there just before the Sister's Extravaganza show was about to begin hehe I was curious and wanted to check it out. I am glad that I did because it wasn't so bad for a first sister's show. Masha'Allah, there's quite a lot of talent out there! A sister by the name of Sophia Baig shared some of her poetry and she discusses some very strong issues, such as women, the hijab and the obsession with finding Mr "tall, dark & handsome" haha She comes from a Chinese, Pakistani (?) and Spanish background ... I thought that was quite diverse! Anyhooz, the main attraction I wanted to visit was the Art Exhibit because I just love viewing Art :) Especially these type:

I thought this was so amazing! It reminded me of my sister's, she made the Ka'ba out of toothpicks haha It was quite good

This, as well as the next one was done by a fellow hydro. I had no idea she was such an artist!

The second half of the day, I spent it by spending some time with my cousin's little kids, masha'Allah, I just love 'em! We went through the bazaar to see what was new and happening. A lot of pretty hijabs were being sold at a good price so I took advantage of that teehehe Later, we took a break and sat outside in the beautiful weather to get something to eat. My aunt and her daughter-in-law left me with her kids so they could go purchase some food so I was the babysitter for a little bit. Those kids are cute, but very energetic! Oh my goodness, they wouldn't stay on the bench with me and instead wanted to run around on the grass so I told the elder one that we need to guard this table so no one else would take it from us. He found it to be an important job so he decided to help me, aww.

I did have an odd encounter outside though. This random woman approaches me and stares at me for a bit and says in Urdu, "tum bohot achi dikri" (you look really nice), something like that, it was quite sudden so I don't rememeber too well but I replied back with a "jazaakAllah", thanked her. But she continued to look at me and then finally said, "did you understand what I just said?" Now, I'm assuming she doesn't think I'm from a South Asian descent. So I told her, yes I did understand and she further went to ask what my background was, if I was Pakistani. I told her, "my parent's are from Hyderabad, India and I'm from here". She said, "ohh, then you did understand me" haha and said I looked nice again and then left ... nice woman.

Oh, and I took a picture of this building because it reminded me of Vari Hall at York University *sigh*

Overall, I had a lovely time. Bumped into so many people I knew so it was also a little reunion with friends that I rarely see now-a-days. Also had some run-ins that I could have definitely done without but ... oh well :) It just added to the experience I suppose.