I'm baaack~ ^^
Well, got back last week, but haven't been motivated enough to upload a journal about it. But now I reckon I should, seeing as I still remember pretty much everything from day one and it was such an amazing trip that I want to preserve these memories~ (/cheeeeese, I know, shutup.)
So this long part is mainly for me, you don't have to read it unless you're actually genuinely really interested and want to know what I got up to and stuff. If you don't, go right ahead and skip past it to the bottom~
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Week one------
❈ We arrived in the late afternoon of Wednesday the 19th, we being my parents, myself and Zafar (the bro-to-be-wed). Went straight to Uncle Hamid's house and everyone was there, which was lovely - haven't seen most of them in over seven years. 'twas a bit awkward when Atiya came to meet us all, or rather, it was awkward for Zafar, being fiancées and all
We teased him about it after. Met the oldest sister, Farhat, who I've not seen since I was about four, and her husband who is so sweet, the biggest softie ever. Wajeeha, the second oldest; Atiya, of course, the middle; Hadi, the only brother out of five
, second youngest; and Lubna, the youngest, one year older than me. Got shown to the guest house where we'd be staying, but got told that this (beautiful) house was only for sleeping in! All meals and all days will be spent with them at their place. It was from right then that I knew we were really going to be looked after well.
First impressions of Canada - OMFGHUGE. And quiet. c:
❈ Thursday was an early start. Had to meet up with Nuzhat Appa (Mum's older cousin) and family, to get preparations ready for Saturday. Met Anam for the first time in
years, it was so lovely seeing her again, even if we were busy with stuff. Made over 600 bags of nuts and sweets that day. What fun that was
❈ Friday, the start of Jalsa, thus, another early start. When you're forced into early mornings and busy days, jet lag just walks away. Day one of dressing up nicely, day one of seeing Atiya all dressed up. Bloody hell, I forgot how stunning she is. Day went by pretty quickly, helped out Lubna on the stalls after lunch, so the day just went. Her friends absolutely adored me for being English, btw XD
❈ Saturday, day two of Jalsa and the day of Zafar and Atiya's Nikkah (religious binding of marriage). Busybusybusy day. Left Jalsa early to sort everything out. Met up with Raheela and Shubnam, two cousins from D.C I've not seen in years who are the sweetest, most humble little girls ever. They helped out greatly with sorting out the stuff. Night came, our entourage (
) was ready, we headed to the mosque. Usually, Nikkah's aren't the most emotional things. All it is is the father of the groom, father of the bride and the groom accepting to the marriage, the girl's side is barely involved, but all that's being said is transmitted into the ladies' side of the mosque. So we sat around Atiya, listening. But damn, as soon as Zafar's name was announced, I choked up. Glanced over to Lubna and she had already started cry. Feh, I teared up and before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out. It wasn't meant to be so emotional! But they were happy tears~~
Went back to their house after, and Zafar and Atiya sat together, for the first time. Goddamn it, they make such an adorable couple. Cue about 200 photos being taken. Mariam and Nasar really should have been there ;-;
❈ Sunday, last day of Jalsa. Fairly lazy day, was nice and chilled~
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Week two------
❈ Monday, another busy day, had to sort out the hall that was to be used for the reception the following night. Oh dear, that took a lot of arranging... The stage was hell to work with. Buuuut, after a lot of patience and rearranging, we managed to make it cool. Met with some of their cousins who had driven down from New Jersey that day, a rather eclectic bunch... But they were fun.
Shamir, another cousin from England was staying with them, too - turned out to be a massive Final Fantasy fan
Mariam and Nasar arrived finally, too
❈ Tuesday, the registration and reception! Again, Atiya looked amazingly beautiful at the registration, Zafar looked super smart. Registration was pretty quick, signing of papers, exchanging of rings. Zafar's wedding band was beautiful - carved on the inside of it is "Catch me if ever I fall" which is just too romantic. Atiya's ring was just stunning. We were now officially in-laws! Reception dinner thing in the evening, which was good~ Met with more of their cousins, from Michigan this time. Met Allysha, one of the daughters. My age, and almost has the exact same music taste as me! Which is crazy cos there's only one other person in the world with the same music taste as me. We got on like a storm. About a thousand photos taken. Long night, ended well~
❈ Wednesday, the first day of relax and no marital stress =w= Spent most of the day in the car, actually. Had lunch at a bloody
mansion, the most beautiful (and fucking huge) house I have ever been in. Had dinner at a lovely Mauritian family's house, chilled in the living room watching Transfomers
❈ Thursday, Wonderland! Awesome theme park that they live literally 10 minutes from. We weren't planning on going this week, but Allysha was leaving back to Michigan on Friday and she really wanted to go. Was a bit of a rushed visit, but was so awesome, their rides are so ace. Had to leave at 5pm, but we were sure to go again next week. I got wet and I wasn't happy about it
Dinner at a fancy restaurant at night
❈ Friday, I got ill in the morning, annoyingly. Rest of the day was lazy, went to Tanveer-bhye's house for dinner in the evening. Met Fatima, his daughter, very sweet, very talented artist who loves manga, too c:
❈ Saturday, Mum and Dad went back home, leaving us kids to our own devices for one more week
Had a nice little barbeque for them~
❈ Sunday, we went fishing! Oh, that was amusing. I caught nothing, but that's cos I only cast out about three times
Nasar, Zafar and Hadi tombstoned into the lake from a 60ft high bridge XD That was brilliant. I'll upload videos of that onto FB and link them here laters. We were out for aaaages, caught about 30 fish. Nasar helped gut and descale them. After, I said to him,
"You're a special kind of descaling agent ;D" -shot-
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Week three------
❈ Monday, lazy day. Watched Lion King with Lubna, fell in love with that movie all over again <3 Went to see Transformers 2 in the evening. Wore my Autobot t-shirt and Decepticon wristband, like the geek I am 8D
❈ Tuesday, Wonderland again! Ahhh, this time it was amazing. We stayed from about 11am right the way through to 10pm, riding rides up 'til the last minute, literally.
Behemoth in the dark was incredible, so was Drop Tower, you could see all the city lights. Such a fun day, I loved it.
[link] We went on most of those
❈ Wednesday, downtown and the CN Tower. Obligatory touristy sightseeing stuff 8D CN Tower was pretty cool, the glass floor made me a bit queasy though. Wandered around Chinatown for a while, too. Went to the most awesome restaurant in the evening - it's called The RichTree, used to be called Marcher (French for "to walk") . It's basically set up like a massive market with so many different cuisines going at once, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, French, Seafood. You get a card, go to whatever stall you want, they make what you want in front of you, charge it on the card, and you can pay at the end. It was so awesome, a unique dining experience!
❈ Thursday, lazy, but spent the evening and night with Anam. Went out for a sushi dinner, came back to hers and stayed up for ages just chatting. It was so wonderful being able to spend time with her again after so long.
❈ Friday, Anam took me to the Pacific Mall - basically, China in a Mall, it was fantastic. I got her on a DDR machine! Haha, amusing. Managed to get a load of Kuroshitsuji stuff, yaay~ She made me try Poutine, too, a French-Canadian cuisine of chips, cheese and gravy.. XD It was interesting, to say the least. Spent the evening with her and her Mum and they dropped me back after dinner. I'm glad I'll get to see her again next year.
❈ Saturday, our last full day! Went cherry picking, ahh, that was lovely ^__^ We picked a whole six baskets full! Each basket holding seven litres. It was a shame we couldn't bring any back home with us, they were so nice~ Got some fun photos of that 8D Had a little picnic in a nearby park before heading off to Niagara Falls. That place is so gorgeous. You could honestly just stare at it for ages. Was very humid though, so my hair turned into a mane... XD Which we could've spent more time there. But we had to head back early to make the dinner reservation.
❈ Sunday, our last day. Morning was spent packing and cleaning/tidying the house completely. Got back to theirs and they were preparing a massive barbeque for us ;___; The departure was so sad, we really didn't want to leave. They had been so good to us, looked after us so well, never let us reach into our pockets for anything, all of them, so sweet, so accommodating, we all got on... well, like family! They really showed us amazing hospitality and a wonderful time. Not to mention, Zafar and Atiya's parting was very sad, not going to see each other for another year... (the actual wedding will be next year which is when she'll be moving to London, too).
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So that's it.
TL;dr Every day of our fantastically lovely holiday. Got lots done, brother's married, in-laws are the sweetest.
Super long journal, but it won't be up here for long, I'll give a shorter update in about a week or so. Missed everyone so much, haven't seen many people yet, but hoping to soon~
Hope you guys are all well, interesting summer so far? Do let me know
~ <3
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RiRi now has 20 points
♥~
Ffff...
Yearning
Neglect
Longing
Distracted
