9

So... I'm on page 195 and I need to get a move on if I'm going to finnish 165 pages by friday. Not to worry, I will.
I thought this was rediculous: (page 139)
"Hey, girls, is my hair OK?"
"Yes, Yasmeen."
"Any frizz?"
"No, Yasmeen."
"Is it straight?"
"We can smell the iron aid from here, Yasmeen."
"You would too- I spent two hours on the ironing board last night," she says.
"How about my scarf?" I ask.
"It's fine," Leila says.
"Is the front curve, OK? I mean, are there any dents in the shape? Is it too tight? Are my cheeks squashed up so my face looks fat?" I take a mirror out and scrutinize my veil.
"It's perfect," Yasmeen says. "Quit panicking."
"You have hair static."
"What? Where? Give me the mirror!"

REDICULOUS! How can these girls obsess over their looks SO much?!
Things are getting better between Amal and Adam. Their friendship is growing and he is getting a lot more comfortable with her hijab and talking to her about it. So far, I've leared a TON about the Muslim religion and culture and also life in Australia. I guess that Muslims belive in Jesus... sort of. They belive that he was one of the mightiest prophets of god, and that he preformed miracles with God's permission.

Amal is still really worried about what people are thinking about her hijab. One lady on the bus in the morning was really nice to her and complimented her on her "lovely shawl" and Amal was really touched. The lady on the bus talked about how she used to be envious of the girls who wore the shawls because of the pretty colors of them and how they always brought exotic food to lunch and her and her friends only had boring turkey sandwiches. This was a totally different side to seeing the Muslim cluture than previously in the book. On the bus the bus driver glared at Amal and turned up the radio when they were talking about the problems with all of the Muslims. I thought that was very rude of him. The nice bus lady friend yelled at him and told him to turn it down though :)

Lately Uncle Joe has been introducing his family to a lot of his friends and aquantences. He always is raving about how "broad-minded" his family is for socializing with people who are outside the Arabic community. (pg 185) "We live in Australia. So we should assimilate and act like Austrailians. How can we be accepted and fit in if we are still thinking about Palestine and speaking in Arabic? Multiculturalism is a joke. We need to mix more. Make friends outside our own community. Look at my family. We're not stuckin Palestinian or Egyptian or Turkish ghettos. WE're part of the wider community. Our friends, our colleagues, they're all average Austrailans."