social gatherings/new job for hubby?
Still feeling sort of 'blah' these days after hearing the news from the Embassy on another 6 to 8 months here. I think Shakil is handling it well and he's trying to remain so strong for us. We are STILL waiting to receive the forms that we need to use to file for the waiver. I did however finish my hardship letter and the paralegal advised that it would be a good idea for Shakil to write one as well. From what Shakil has told me, he only has 1 paragraph done so far. He better get working it on it. :-)
Shakil got offered a job to work at TRG. This is an American international company and I think after some time it could be very beneficial for him. However, the pay is not too good to start. He goes through a month's training that is from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Oh and it gets better. He would be working until like 4 a.m. once the training is finished. TRG is an American company so they work on U.S. time. Hence, that explains the working hours. When it's nighttime here in Pak, it's daytime in the U.S. He's still pondering over it. I don't feel to comfortable staying here all night by myself but it's possibly more money than he's making now. I did however tell him that I wanted unlimited internet if he accepts the job. At least I could keep myself occupied on the net every now and then and talk to my Mom much more often. It would also make it where Shakil and I don't have much time together. He'd be wanting to sleep while I'd be wide awake. I guess I could just go on the same schedule as him. Nahhhhhhh!!!!!! I told him to at least go to the training and really see what they have to offer. He has nothing to lose. :-)
Anyways, it's almost been 4 months now that I've been here. A couple of days ago Shakil and I were invited over to a dinner at his Abdullah mamus. I had been contemplating even bringing this story up but have decided to blog about it anyways. So we were invited over there for dinner. His mamu said to be there by 8:30 p.m. Initially, I didn't want to attend because of the segregation that goes on sometimes. You know, men in one room and women in the other. So I sucked it up and I told Shakil we'd go. So we got there at about 9 p.m. and it was me, his mami and his female cousin on one side of the room and then Shakil, his mamu and 2 male cousins on the other side of the room. His mamu did ask me some stuff to make conversation but the women really didn't say much. These particular members of his family have lots of money and I've noticed to be very "stuck up".
More people started to arrive and the room became very full. One of his other relatives did come sit next to me and we looked at the photos from the recent engagement of Shakil's cousin Haroon. They were great pics by the way. When Haroon's fiancee arrived with some of her family the men all moved to a different room and left all us women in this room. So Shakil left. That's when I start to feel uncomfortable is when Shakil leaves. He is sort of my support cushion (weird choice of words). To make a long story short, I had to sit in this room for about 1 hour and NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON talked to me. Oh I lied, 1 female cousin of his asked when we came back to Lahore from Karachi. Well la-de-dah. Can ya think of something better than that? I've told Shakil it's as if these women do not even know what to say to me because I'm American. They were just blabbing about clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. I only know a few words in Urdu and that's what I picked up they were talking about.
It really does make a person feel very uncomfortable though when NOT ONE PERSON speaks to you or wants to carry a conversation with you. My feelings did get hurt. At 11:00 p.m. dinner was FINALLY served and at this point I thought I would be able to hook back up with Shakil. Unfortunately not. All the women went in first to get their food. It was set up buffet style. Then some women sat down at chairs that were against the wall but around the table. So I did the same. I basically just sat in one by myself where there was no one else sitting. You'd think that 1 person might have come to sit next to me, but nooooooo. Not one single woman sat next to me. So there I am sitting and eating all by myself. I felt sooo uncomfortable and I was so upset. Then all of the sudden, the women start to leave the room. I didn't know what was going on and nobody told me. I just saw men starting to come in so I knew what they were doing. I left the dining room and grabbed Shak and as I started to tell him what was going on, I burst into tears. It just really hurt my feelings that none of them would even talk to me. I do admit there were several there that probably didn't know me too well. But there were some that did know of me at least that could have started some sort of conversation. Sheesh.
Anyways, I've decided to take a break from attending any social gatherings. I just got so upset at this one and I don't feel like subjecting myself to it again very soon. There was another gathering the next night but Shakil and I didn't go. Shakil understands how I feel but he also thinks that I should initiate some sort of conversation sometime too. It would have been so hard that night considering no one was even looking my direction. They were all just talking amongst themselves. We'll see again when I decide to go to another one.
On that note, that's all for now.
Until later...
Bye for now.
Shakil got offered a job to work at TRG. This is an American international company and I think after some time it could be very beneficial for him. However, the pay is not too good to start. He goes through a month's training that is from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Oh and it gets better. He would be working until like 4 a.m. once the training is finished. TRG is an American company so they work on U.S. time. Hence, that explains the working hours. When it's nighttime here in Pak, it's daytime in the U.S. He's still pondering over it. I don't feel to comfortable staying here all night by myself but it's possibly more money than he's making now. I did however tell him that I wanted unlimited internet if he accepts the job. At least I could keep myself occupied on the net every now and then and talk to my Mom much more often. It would also make it where Shakil and I don't have much time together. He'd be wanting to sleep while I'd be wide awake. I guess I could just go on the same schedule as him. Nahhhhhhh!!!!!! I told him to at least go to the training and really see what they have to offer. He has nothing to lose. :-)
Anyways, it's almost been 4 months now that I've been here. A couple of days ago Shakil and I were invited over to a dinner at his Abdullah mamus. I had been contemplating even bringing this story up but have decided to blog about it anyways. So we were invited over there for dinner. His mamu said to be there by 8:30 p.m. Initially, I didn't want to attend because of the segregation that goes on sometimes. You know, men in one room and women in the other. So I sucked it up and I told Shakil we'd go. So we got there at about 9 p.m. and it was me, his mami and his female cousin on one side of the room and then Shakil, his mamu and 2 male cousins on the other side of the room. His mamu did ask me some stuff to make conversation but the women really didn't say much. These particular members of his family have lots of money and I've noticed to be very "stuck up".
More people started to arrive and the room became very full. One of his other relatives did come sit next to me and we looked at the photos from the recent engagement of Shakil's cousin Haroon. They were great pics by the way. When Haroon's fiancee arrived with some of her family the men all moved to a different room and left all us women in this room. So Shakil left. That's when I start to feel uncomfortable is when Shakil leaves. He is sort of my support cushion (weird choice of words). To make a long story short, I had to sit in this room for about 1 hour and NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON talked to me. Oh I lied, 1 female cousin of his asked when we came back to Lahore from Karachi. Well la-de-dah. Can ya think of something better than that? I've told Shakil it's as if these women do not even know what to say to me because I'm American. They were just blabbing about clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. I only know a few words in Urdu and that's what I picked up they were talking about.
It really does make a person feel very uncomfortable though when NOT ONE PERSON speaks to you or wants to carry a conversation with you. My feelings did get hurt. At 11:00 p.m. dinner was FINALLY served and at this point I thought I would be able to hook back up with Shakil. Unfortunately not. All the women went in first to get their food. It was set up buffet style. Then some women sat down at chairs that were against the wall but around the table. So I did the same. I basically just sat in one by myself where there was no one else sitting. You'd think that 1 person might have come to sit next to me, but nooooooo. Not one single woman sat next to me. So there I am sitting and eating all by myself. I felt sooo uncomfortable and I was so upset. Then all of the sudden, the women start to leave the room. I didn't know what was going on and nobody told me. I just saw men starting to come in so I knew what they were doing. I left the dining room and grabbed Shak and as I started to tell him what was going on, I burst into tears. It just really hurt my feelings that none of them would even talk to me. I do admit there were several there that probably didn't know me too well. But there were some that did know of me at least that could have started some sort of conversation. Sheesh.
Anyways, I've decided to take a break from attending any social gatherings. I just got so upset at this one and I don't feel like subjecting myself to it again very soon. There was another gathering the next night but Shakil and I didn't go. Shakil understands how I feel but he also thinks that I should initiate some sort of conversation sometime too. It would have been so hard that night considering no one was even looking my direction. They were all just talking amongst themselves. We'll see again when I decide to go to another one.
On that note, that's all for now.
Until later...
Bye for now.
posted by Tara at 6:35 AM
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