Goodbye Blighty

RSS Archive

The tales and musings of a British man who worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but is now in England. All photos are mine unless otherwise stated.Email Me
Read my posts About Me --My Story in Pictures--Books--Diet--Saudi Arabia--Football--Mecca--Medina--My Face--Travel--Teaching--
50 Questions to Expand Your Mind--My Photography-- or Recommend me Ask me anything

March 23, 2012

I’m in awe of Islam and I’m in awe of science

because, for me, they both show Allah’s creation. For me, they both show the beauty and splendour of the universe we live in.

It saddens me when Muslims see science as some kind of enemy. It saddens me when Muslims don’t understand concepts in physics, chemistry, or biology and see it as an attack on religion. We should further scientific understanding. We should further true religious understanding.

My nephew told me he wanted to be a scientist and it filled me with joy. The world needs more scientists. The world needs more physicists, chemists, and biologists. The world needs scientists who are also imams, who are scholars of Islam and religion. I’m not scared. There’s nothing in science that scares me or challenges my belief as a Muslim - in Allah. For me science is a way to Allah. They go hand in hand.

I’m going to encourage my nephew every step of the way in his pursuit for scientific knowledge. I’m going to try my best to answer his questions about science and about religion. I’m going to try my best to help him understand the beauty of the world.

We are science and science is us.

That doesn’t take us away from Islam but makes us better Muslims. When you contemplate the universe, how can it not lead you to contemplate Allah and His majesty?

11:48pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyISUiWM

(Notes: 34)

January 25, 2012

A new video blog where I talk about a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

January 23, 2012

I write one of these post every few months…

So many people on my Tumblr dashboard are back at college this week and it’s making me damn jealous. I really, really miss school. My own students start back on Saturday and I’d much rather be in their place with school starting for me on Saturday.

I wrote a post like this a few months ago and was waxing lyrical about my time as an undergraduate student. The thing is, I didn’t appreciate school at all at the time. I was never as enthusiastic about education then as I am now. I wasn’t a bad student but I wasn’t anywhere near as good a student as I could have been - except in my Government and Politics of the United States from 1945 - 2004. That class was amazing. The lecturer saw something in me and really pushed me to learn and contribute. I coasted in the rest of my classes.

Anyway… This time next year I’ll have a really good idea with what’s going to be happening with my life. Who knows… there might be a chance I’m not so jealous of people going back to school.

What classes are you taking this semester?

8:02pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyFFD3zF

(Notes: 15)

Filed under: college school jealous enthusiastic education politics government classes

January 9, 2012

Hmmm…

Interesting choice.

9:09pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyEWgt73

(Notes: 49)

Filed under: marriage wedding marry divorce phd education study lazy lucky

December 12, 2011

Yeah, bitches!

My university beat Oxford AND Cambridge to be declared the best research centre in the UK. The LSE was ranked number one for research. The department where I did my masters, The European Institute, is the best in the world in its field of research.

I’m proud right now.

Link here.

10:50am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyD9CPX_

(Notes: 19)

Filed under: lse oxford cambridge university ranking education uk england proud europe european union masters

October 9, 2011

My greatest ever achievement

Okay, this post is going to be kind of sprawling but I don’t care.

I landed in Saudi Arabia just before Fajr on the 10th of October 2010. Today marked a full year in Saudi. 365 days. I’ll write a post about my year here tomorrow but this isn’t about that.

Let me give you some back story and then tell you about what I achieved today. Before I came to Saudi I wasn’t the best Muslim in the world. I never stopped believing in Allah or even doubted my faith but I didn’t pray much at all. I used to pray Jumma and that was about it - and that was in a good week.

I decided to make sure I got my salah in order in Saudi and it started right away. As soon as I checked in to my hotel I prayed Fajr. In the first few days after I landed I maintained praying five times a day and realised that I had prayed more frequently in those days, weeks, and months since landing in Saudi than I had at any other point in my life.

I just finished praying Isha. That prayer signifies 365 days since I missed my last prayer… Isha on October 9th 2010. I have prayed five times a day, every single day, since then.

Alhamdulilah.

I feel my faith is stronger now than it ever has been at any point in my life before. I feel my understanding of what God means to me is better now than it ever was before. I feel I’m a better Muslim now than I ever have been before. I’m not saying I’m perfect, I’m not saying my journey is complete - this is just a first step, but I can see the path in front of me and I know what I need to do to walk it.

Something that has been on my mind for the last year since I started on this journey of spiritual renewal was a Hadith that I would like to share with you now. On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Allah the Almighty said: I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assemble better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.

I walked towards Allah and I am testament to the fact that Allah embraces those who open their hearts to Him.

The best piece of advice I can give any of my Muslim brothers and sisters out there who struggle to pray is that you should just start praying and not stop for anything. It might be hard at first, especially waking up for fajr, but if you maintain your resolve you can do it for sure.

I feel like my life has been in extremes in so many ways. I used to be extremely fat until I resolved to change my situation and I lost 45kg/100~lb. I used to be extremely lazy when it came to education until I changed my resolve and started working which helped me get very good bachelors and masters degrees. I used to be off the path of Islam until I changed my resolve and Allah blessed me, like He has over and over, and now I’m working towards becoming a better Muslim everyday.

Who knows what I’ll resolve to do next and how that works out for me…

(I know there are so, so many people who haven’t missed a single prayer in years and years but when you compare the me now to the person I was a short while ago the changes are very drastic and I feel like my whole life has changed)

September 16, 2011

Today has been a good day

Alhamdulilah. Today has been really good.

I just found out that my sister and brother-in-law have both been accepted on to a CELTA course and will be starting it in October. They’ll be studying together, part-time, over the next three or four months and then they’re going to come to Saudi to work here, in Riyadh!

We’ve been talking through their plan for the last few months and it’s actually happening now. They’ve got the ball rolling. It’s bringing back all these thoughts that I had when I first applied to come out here and the excitement and apprehension I experienced.

I’m so ecstatic for them. In sha Allah, they’re going to have the best time in Saudi Arabia. Their experience is going to be so different from my experience here but it’s not going to be any less wonderful. It means that, when I come back for a third year teaching, I’ll actually have family here. I’ll actually have people in my life right here who I can see everyday and be with those who love me. It’s the most amazing thought. I’ll probably live with them and might even work with my brother-in-law.

I’m excited. Today’s been good in a lot of ways and I’m happy about it. May it continue, in sha Allah.

6:51pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy9arJDX

(Notes: 3)

Filed under: CELTA TEFL tesol teaching education study efl saudi saudi arabia riyadh family love travel happy ecstatic

September 9, 2011

College

So many people on my Tumblr are going back to university or college and it makes me miss it like crazy.

I miss the pace of life as a student. I miss how simple life was. I’m not saying it was easy, although it was at times, but it was certainly simple. I didn’t have many, if any, worries at all. I just had to get through one class at a time and I made a lot of time for my friends and cool people in my life.

Undergrad was weird for me. The first couple of years were really slow (but not bad, I made some AMAZING friends who I love to this day) but the last two years were really great fun. I met hundreds of people, did some really memorable things, and enjoyed myself a whole lot.

When I think of university I think of it as a combination of all of those things. I mix the academic and the social in my mind. I feel like it has to be appreciated as a whole. Undergrad was great.

Postgrad wasn’t so bad either. I certainly focused more on the academic than the social but there were more than a few highlights on the social side during my masters.

I miss learning in a formal environment. I miss meeting new people. I miss being challenged by everyone around me. I miss randomly entering intellectual conversations and making some brilliantly well-informed comment. I miss being in the loop of everything that is happening in the world (as a politics student I really had to be on top of it all!).

I feel like my brain has turned to mush in so many ways but there are still people in my life who challenge me in so many ways and they’re the ones who keep me sane in more ways than they realise.

There’s so much to miss.

7:27pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy9K63Cf

(Notes: 8)

Filed under: college university first day student simplicity easy worry worries friends undergrad postgrad love education challenge politics intellignet sane

July 12, 2011

25. What are you most grateful for?

There was a time where I didn’t see the good in my life. I was too short-sighted to realise that life was full of wonderment, excitement, and good. I was blind to the fact that life itself is something to be grateful for. I didn’t see the richness of the things around me. All that is changing now. There are still times when I over look these things but I’m far more aware of it than I ever have been before. Let me run through the things…

July 8, 2011

Charity

My brother started a charity with a couple of my uncles a few months ago and it’s really kicked off in a big way over the last few weeks. I didn’t really know all that much about it but I talked to him a couple of times and, I have to admit, I was very impressed with what I heard. Let me tell you all about it…

9:39pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy6ude1e

(Notes: 4)

Filed under: pakistan charity help school education welfare money donate

June 27, 2011

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

Well, this question seems to sum me up in a few really big ways. The way I live my life has, for some people, been an area of fascination for others. Some of the things that they are curious about is my working abroad, my education, my weight loss. All of these things, and others, have made people say that “(I) lead a charmed life”.

10:40am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy6VRt4G

(Notes: 2)

Filed under: God charmed life control deserve diet education fate forrest gump good life path plan ramble religion saudi saudi arabia weight loss 50 questions

June 25, 2011

8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?

Well… I’d already be close to 75% of the way through my life which is a fairly depression thought but if the average life-span was closer to half of what it is now I’m sure there are a few things that would be very different. How we project the path of our life has a lot to do with when we ‘think’ we might die. Of course, in reality it could be any minute but we think of these far off numbers like 70 and 80.

6:37am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy6QwzXE

(Notes: 3)

Filed under: 50 questions what if age life question love live education learn work school children mariage religion history

June 22, 2011

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

This one is really interesting. I asked a few people at work about how they would answer this question throughout the day and the way they responded was fascinating. Some people were selfish and thought to change themselves. Other had a list so long they had no idea where to start. When I first read this question I thought of a single answer and not much has happened to change that since.

June 1, 2011

Teaching is done! Over! Khalas!

I’ve been in Saudi since Oct 9th 2010 and I started my first real teaching job the day after. Since there there have been ups and downs but I didn’t think the end teaching would come upon me the way it has. I remember sitting and working out the number of days of teaching I had left and now it’s all done and I have mixed feelings about it all.

7:16pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy5gFcGD

Filed under: saudi arabia teaching teacher tefl esl over finished anti-climax empty bright creativity education independent thinking critical thinking discipline mixed feelings

April 20, 2011

So, I had an observation at work…

I had my second semester observation yesterday after it got postponed a couple of times. The first postponement was because there was a clash of dates and then because I was kind of under-prepared for the class and didn’t get my documents in on time. Anyway, my observer and I decided to schedule it after the professional development week and we decided on yesterday.

4:35pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONy4SopJO

Filed under: teacher teaching tefl esl saudi arabia work meeting observation education

RSS feed: http://goodbyeblighty.tumblr.com/rss

1 of 2 Next page