Better Late Than Never

So it seems that I have been rather (okay, extremely) remiss in posting. Don't worry, I have no illusions of fame - does anyone really care if I say anything here? Not likely. Regardless, I did make a promise to keep this alive, and so I shall. School is school only now even more intense (GO JUNIOR YEAR!). I'm enjoying winter break here in Pakistan (mera des, the motherland, the home country, the place I'm dragged to at least once a year) with the family, though, despite SAT results, pre-cal and Spanish IV waiting for me at home. The Ashura (the two holiest days in the Islamic month of Muharram in which Hasan (R) and Hussein (R), grandsons of the Prophet (S), died) bombing in Karachi two days ago did put a damper on things, to put it lightly. We were on the way to see Badshahi Masjid again (we went last year as well) and were driving through Hall Road, one of the seedier markets in Lahore where the moms only let the boys go, when we abruptly reached a seemigly hastily erected police checkpoint. Imagine my surprise when the police motioned for us to exit the car! Amna, Mariam, and I were patted down by waiting female police while the boys were checked by other cops. Still other police thoroughly searched the car and finally an explanation was given: not ten minutes ago a suicide bomber felt the need to meet his Maker and coincidentally take 43 others with him during an Ashura procession. We were shocked, of course, and dismayed. When will this madness end? More to the point, what will become of this country? Questions that will remain unanswered, it seems. But taking into account that I am just a mere teenage girl venting her pointless feelings of fury on a blog, for goodness' sake, I will take a deep breath and move on...We go to the village tomorrow. Let's hope my stomach, battered and beaten by the food here, is up for the trip. I certainly am. 9 days til return to the good ol' U. S. of A. This'll be the last post of 2009, no doubt. Have a good New Years', kids.

-S.