Night time prayers

I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow it was about 8pm by the time I got to bed. I remember hours after I went to bed Marwuan came in and gave me kiss on the cheek goodnight before he went to sleep, it must have been very early in the morning because not long after I heard the call for morning prayer blasting through the window above my head. The mosque was directly across the road from the house so this was the loudest call for prayer I had heard yet with the speaker pointed directly at us. Marwuan's mum woke up and hoped from bed and covered her hair shbegan to pray, whispering to herself standing on a little rug she had facing towards the mosque. She didn't know I was watching as the room was still dark with little light coming through the bedroom door, I was intrigued I had only seen how Muslims pray on television. She would bend down on the rug placing her forehead on the ground then sit up on her knees then back up on her feet again she did this two or three times once back in the kneeling position she would turn her head side to side like she was greeting someone then back on her feet. This went on for several minutes. After the prayer she uncovered her hair and went back to bed and minutes later was snoring.

Because I went to bed so early I now lay awake not able to get back to sleep, I thought about sneaking out to Marwuan but the sun was still not up yet. So I laid there thinking about religion. Marwuan had always said to me he did not mind if I was Muslim or not but would that be different when I lived here. Marwuan's mother did asks me earlier in the evening if I would convert to Islam and as I had also told Marwuan I would read into it but I am not changing just because I am moving to an Islamic state. I had heard many bad things about Islam and I remember after September 11 I was scared for a little while of anyone resembling a Muslim. I grew up in a country town with no or very little contact with this religion I only knew what I had seen on television or in a movie. I did now have a few Muslim friends and staff back in Melbourne but did not know much about the religion at all. I have to make sure I asks lots of question to Marwuan when I get the chance and when I get back to Melbourne purchase an English version of the Quran to wrap myself around Islam because I'm sure I will be asked if I will convert by many people once I am living here.

Hours passed by as I nodded in and out of sleep, the room lit up with the sunlight coming through the window it had to be after 7am now so I got up and walked through the apartment. Everyone was still asleep as I snuck up to where Marwuan was sleeping. I gave him a kiss on the forehead and he mumbled something but did not wake. So i just sat there for a while watching him sleep. But I got impatient after about 10 minutes so I shook him a little. This time he woke up a little startled. It took him a second or two to realise what was going on. He pulled me close and kissed my forehead but I pulled back quickly I didn't want his family to walk in and see us like this, what would they think of me then. I sat back up in one of the chairs and told Marwuan about me seeing his mother this morning and what I had been doing for hours. He nodded his head but was not in the mood to talk about religion now "We have heaps of time to talk about that" he said "Let get some breakfast".

By the time Marwuan actually moved from where he was sleeping a good thirty minutes after he said "lets get breakfast" his whole family was up. Mumma and Sally were getting ready for work. They both worked at the Cairo International Airport so we would all go together as Marwuan and I had to catch a plane to Sharm el Sheik in a few hours. Breakfast would have to wait until we got to the airport as we had no time to prepare anything now.
At the airport it was time to go our separate way from Sally and Mumma as we were at a different terminal. This would be my goodbye to them for this trip as I was flying directly out after our trip to Dahab. Both of them hugged me for a long time. Sally kept telling me that mumma and her both loved me would miss me very much. I got a bit teary even though I had spent only one night with them I felt like I was already a part of their family. Once they were out of site I hugged Marwuan and thanked him for inviting me to meet his family. Now I was excited about the future very excited about the next 9 days that we would be spending alone in Dahab. What was going on in the rest of Egypt with the protest were very far at the back of my mind.