Posted by sieni on March 26th, 2007 — Posted in Family, Trips
Hard to believe 
We just returned from a weekend away in Prague and Hluboka for the marriage of our dearest cousin Naeem and his beautiful bride Maryam. Oh my gosh, where do I begin to describe this radiant couple?! Absolutely beautiful and smiley and loving and, as Nasime said at their ceremony (she was the MC), absolutely perfect for each other The wedding itself was beautiful as all weddings are, but this wedding was sooo enjoyable to be present at. So relaxed and fun and humorous, the setting delicately decorated and romantic. It was truly an international affair with guests traveling from all over Europe, the States, Samoa and of course Haifa to attend. There were also many familiar ex-staff from the World Centre which was so lovely to see. The wedding lasted about 10 hours from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. (I knooow!) at a lovely hotel in Hluboka called the Park Hotel. The couple entered the ceremony under a canopy of what looked like to be coconut leaves/ferns held by their friends and family; the seats were covered in fine Samoan mats; and the rings placed in a Samoan kava bowl with rose petals. It was so heartwarming to see Samoan elements mixed with European. The temps inside the ceremony area also reached about 30 degrees celcius despite the freezing cold rain outside. The ceremony was simple and dignified as most Baha’i marriage ceremonies are, bringing together a blend of prayers and Baha’i Writings in several languages and musical instruments. The reception was a formal sit-down buffet dinner (such good food!), and Shamim (groom’s bro) and Neysan (bride’s bro) entertained guests as the MC’s with funny stories of the couple. Naeem and Maryam had no plans, no idea of what programme the reception would entail, this was left up entirely to their siblings, cousins, and friends There were songs sung by friends; powerpoint presentations of the couple; videos of their friends sending their best wishes from Haifa and Australia; an Island dance performed by Sham and Sahar (groom’s siblings); Samoan siva performed elegantly by Nasime; Neguin (from Spain, yes our orientation Neguin! singing her infamous blue-eyes like the sky, brown eyes like the ground song; Samoan taualuga; couple’s cuuute first dance; cake cutting; and of course dancing the night away. Naeem melted a lot of hearts when he surprised Maryam with a song “Earth Angel” on the guitar. He introduced the song as one dedicated to “the most beautiful girl in the world looking at me right now” aww! haha, auu stob your faa-cheesy. Sorry ladies! The lady I felt sorry for that night though was my poor Tara. Kalofae si au kama. Too much excitement and noise and not enough sleep time. Ok, here are a few pics for now cos I know you’re all DYING to see them and for me to zip up. These are just a few of the thousands upon thousands taken, but they will all soon be up in our gallery so you can check back laterz.
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Posted by sieni on March 20th, 2007 — Posted in Random moments, Tara
Last week Tara had her first mouthful of water and taste of “solid” food–green pea and spinach soup. She has also had spoonfuls of avocado where her facial expressions were so hilarious. I froze the soup in an ice cube tray, and everyday I pop out a few cubes, zip it in the microwave, wait for it to cool down, and then Tara has this for lunch.
Yesterday Tara crawled for the first time across the living room floor to reach a toy of hers. We spread out her toys around the carpet so she can go after one at a time. She does this for a little bit then gets bored and always moves off the carpet to the tile floor where she enjoys licking the cool surface. Here she is contemplating her next move; finding relief for her gums; and playing in her crib.
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Posted by sieni on March 17th, 2007 — Posted in Random moments
from Saba, Tara, Sieni & Nasime
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Posted by saba on March 16th, 2007 — Posted in Random moments
Well while I’m busy getting the galley back up… our blog is getting flooded with spam attacks!
So I have changed the security settings to only allow instant comments to people who have been previously approved, otherwise the comment will need to be approved by Sieni or I before it will appear.
In other words as long as you use the same e-mail address every time you post a comment you should see your comment right away
listen to the Monty Python “Spam Song“
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Posted by saba on March 16th, 2007 — Posted in Random moments
Sorry guys, no pictures will display on the blog because for some strange reason I thought that it would be a rocking good idea to upgrade my photo gallery program to the newest version… It did NOT go as planed so I am afraid that you will have to give me some time to get it all back to how it was. 
Check back this time tomorrow and see if I worked it out.
Signed
Saba (please don’t kill me cne )
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Posted by saba on March 15th, 2007 — Posted in Family, Random moments
Luckily I was keeping an eye on things in the kitchen or we would have had a very crunchy omelet! 
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Posted by saba on March 14th, 2007 — Posted in Family, Random moments
Imagine coming home from a hard day’s work. There is a major grumble in your tummy from fasting all day & while you wait for sunset out of nowhere a stunning waitress… comes out with food…
What food you may ask?
oh ya!!!
HOG’s BREATH BABY
only 100 times better!!!
So we wolfed down the scrumptious, lip-smacking, tasty dinner
So this post is a tribute to one heck of a great chef!
Thanks Sieni - you rock!
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Posted by sieni on March 11th, 2007 — Posted in Family, Tara
Tara will be turning 6 months in 2 days time, and when people have said about babies, “they grow up so fast”, she really has grown so fast. Tara is at the stage of trying to sit herself up and at the same time crawl. She’s had many bumps attempting to master the crawl, especially when she lets go of her arms and her face goes smack on the ground, but 30 seconds of singing later she tries it again. Here she is with one of her adoring auntie joons, Nasime, and with, of course, her beloved bottle.
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Posted by sieni on March 7th, 2007 — Posted in Random moments
send me your link to add… and i have to know you 
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