Today after Fajr around 10:00 am, I prepared myself and Hafsah for Hajj practice. I packed my backpack, put Hafsah in the front carrier and walked to the wheat fields with two of my sister-in-laws and one of my husband's nieces (she is Hafiz al-Quran, Masha-Allah).
It was a good walk in the sun about one mile. I walked over a rocky dirt road, and through the fields. Walking through the fields reminded me of walking on a balance beam because the base of the wheat is down and the walking path is up. The farmers leave a tall walking path so they can get to their fields without having to walk through the wheat. I fell off the balance beams twice, but Alhamdulillah Hafsah and I are fine.
Upon arrival, Abdullah was already in the field with Daddi Ami (my husband's mother). He had a mess in his pants because he is affraid of the Pakistani toilets. He had to go this morning but because he is scared of the toilets he wouldn't go to the bathroom. He then quickly left with Daddi Ami early this morning while still having to go. The toilets in Pakistan are a hole in the ground in which you squat to relieve yourself. Abdullah is scared of those things, Masha-Allah.
Nuni (my husband's youngest sister) cleaned Abdullah up with some leaves until my husband's other sister and niece could fetch some water from the farmers whom we passed on the way to the field. My father-in-law was back there also with those farmers tending to the buffalo. As soon as the water arrived, Nuni cleaned Abdullah with water and then washed his pants. They dried fast thanks to the heat of the sun, Alhamdulillah.
We sat in the field on a Munjee (this thing looks like a cot with a wood frame and a rope foundation for sitting and sleeping on). We sat on the munjee until Daddi Ami picked enough sag (mustard greens) for dinner. As soon as Daddi Ami arrived at the Munjee, we sat for a bit and then headed back to the house on the same route as before.
The sky was overcast this time, so we didn't have the sun bearing down on us, Alhamdulillah. I fell off the balance beam only once this time, Alhamdulillah.
As we walked up the rocky dirt road, a man was smashing the rocks with a big roller machine. They are preparing a new road and almost everything is done by hand. The men physically smash the rocks with hammers breaking them into pieces and then they use this roller machine to push the rocks into the ground, Masha-Allah.
The children were walking along side the big roller watching the man do his work. Then, a woman and her son came along on a tonga (this is a carriage like thing pulled by a horse). The woman and her son were riding very slow because of all the rocks and construction on the road, so the children were walking behind the tonga trying to jump onto the back and fetch a ride. The woman was upset and yelled at them to get down, so I told them to get down also because generally the children will listen to me instead of their Ami (mommy), Masha-Allah.
After reaching the house, I went straight upstairs to my room. I fell asleep after Asr and slept until Fajr. I got up only for prayer and for retrieving Abdullah from downstairs. Abdullah went with my husband downstairs sometime before maghrib and fell asleep down there, so my husband left him there to sleep with Dadda Abu (my husband's father) as a test run for when we leave to perform Hajj.
Abdullah was retrieved by my husband around 11:30 pm. Abdullah was mad that we had left him downstairs. Finally we all slept again around 2:00 am.