Apparently it's not just being "Middle Eastern" that would mean you are fucked wherever you go, from the west all the way to down under,
It's also being Muslim.

I had an interesting conversation at work, while the Internet was down - again, with a half-British, half-Swedish woman, married to an Egyptian.
She's Muslim, and lives here for a while so her kids would learn Arabic. She is veiled, so the inevitable question that I asked her, was how she gets treated in Sweden.
She told me she, and many of her Muslim but non-Arab women she knows, only get veiled in the Arab world, when they go to their countries - being it US, Sweden or wherever - they take it off.
The woman is as white as anyone could be, blue eyes, blonde eyebrows (a true sign of being a true blonde), the few hairs you do get to see are ash blonde, yet she's still not comfortable enough to walk with her veil.

So basically, you are veiled --> you're fucked, you look "Arab"--> You're in quite a pickle, you ARE Arab --> you're fucked!

Despite of all that, I still maintain that the Muslims/Arabs brought all of this on them, and it's like 90% their fault.

I love Internet!!

The Internet is an awesome Invention!!

I found my family tree online,, along with information and pictures of each generation.

http://www.egy.com/people/chamtree.htm

It's quite impressive, I wish I had seen it before I went to turkey - apparently we have a Mosque there. I have one more reason to go to Turkey again!
Although the links to the grandchildren of the corrupt presidents of Egypt is not something I am particularly proud of.

My grandma was quite amused by this family tree.

poll - what do you think?!

I am contemplating changing the colors of my blog

you think?!

note that my favorite color on earth is Pink!
I cannot promise a free election, i am after all from the land of Mubarak - he has to rub off on me!

you know you work for Ercisson

when you make ur appointments in swedish time,
when the other person automatically shows up on time, eventhough you did not specify it's swedish time
hey you greet people with Hej!

and count your money in SEK

and you actually know what the hell SEK is!

I wanna job where,,

I spend April to September in Egypt,
And October to March in Australia,

I can't believe it's summer in Australia - lucky bastards
It was 29 degrees last week, but it's getting cold again :(
(yes 22 is COLD!)

The Merchant of Venice! wow!

Yesterday i went to see the Merchant of Venice, i assume it was a british production.
It was breathtaking!
Al Pacino's perfromance was simply divine! The story itsself, and the words, the verses everything was awesome. It's definetly one of Shakespeare's finest!
I have read some of his work but not this particular one, and i regret it now.

The best scene was the monologue that Al Pacino did, in the middle of the movie about how Jews breath the same air as christians, eat the same food - etc.
I had to fight to urge to stand up and cheer and applaud.

I am definetly going to go see the movie again,
I will put the book on my reading list, however the book will not have that big of an effect - since my imagination is now limited with the movie and i cannot picture it myself.

I urge everyone of you to go see it - it's fantastic!

A prize Idiot!

Yep, that's me!
I mess up so often, if there was ever a prize for dorkiness, it would be me!
I just emailed 400 people with an announcement, that had the first name of a top manager, and the last name of another top manager merged together in one name!
Though recalling the email was not 100% effective, but thank god for outlook

My own version of Sidi bou Said

When i got home from Tunisia and while flipping in my mom's old photo album and saw her pictures there, 30 years ago when she was just about my age.

a flame that is dying out

The parliamentary Elections have been ongoing for a while now, and i keep distancing myself from it further and further.
I buy various newspapers in hopes of keeping me up to date, but i end up throwing them away, and take comfort in my fictitious Novel(Codex by lev grossman).

Whenever i am faced with it on blogs and on TV, i keep reminding myself to apply for those Green Card ads in the newspaper,just in case.

I have hear that christians here in egypt go to the US embassy and claim that they are being discriminated against here, to get religious assylum and move to the States.
If the Muslim Brotherhood takes over, that will be their way out.
I wonder what will be ours!

3 days, 3 nights

in tunis...
So work sent me on a three day assignment in Tunisia - following "Glamour's" advice in their last US issue, i shall not blog about my work.
What i will say though is that they put me in a sweet hotel, but VERY far away from anything even the airport!

So here's what i know now
1) Tuna in French is called "thon" - and boy you see that everywhere here, on pizzas, sandwiches, pasta you name it
2) the 7th of november is a REALLY important date for tunisians
3) The taxi's are nice - but expensive!
4) i have been ripped off in the market - but i guess there is some sort of justice in that since people get ripped off all the time in Egypt
5) Sidi bou seid is Beautiful !! simply divine!
6) Barsha - means a lot in tunisian Arabic
7) 5 minutes = drj in tunisian Arabic
8) my leabanese arabic is better than my tunisian arabic - if you know how good/bad (depending how you look at it) my lebanese arabic is like, you would understand what i mean, if not check with my roomie she can explain
9) Tunisians greet you with Maa'Sleme - which means bye in Egyptian arabic, so you can understand my level of disorientation
10) I understood a third of what has been said to me, simply because that third was in French!

Great three days!!

If one more person...

Calls me MADAM! i will KILL SOMEONE!

GRRRR

ramz el Shisha! (symbol - Shisha)

For all of you non-Egyptians, in Egypt every parliamentary candidate has a symbol so that the 50% of the Egyptian population that cannot read or write can recognize him/her.

Once again I will not be able to vote - Elections in my home town (Alexandria) are on Sunday, and on Sunday I am leaving to Tunisia insha'allah.
My disappointment is not that great - nothing can be done now. Another elections pre-determined.

In light of this, I was having a conversation with my driver today, he asked me what I would vote. And I bravely responded, well anything but NDP or Islamic. And the discussion began, why not Islamists!
I wonder what he thinks of me after this discussion, he will probably stop playing his koraan tapes whenever i am in the car!

I was reading the blog of Kareem Amer who was arrested for his writings about the recent incident in Alexandria. He wrote about how those Muslims do not tolerate the different and have high double standards.

My conversation today showed exactly that. I asked my driver, "If we allow the Islamists to have their "Islamist Party" then we should allow Christians to have a "Christian Party" right?"
His reply was "you cannot equate the Muslim religion with the Christian Religion"

The religions are different but the people that practice them must have the same rights, those double standards in the Egyptian Society are ridiculous!
There are double standards everywhere!

Equality and acceptance are just not in the Dictionary!
and tolerance (which is the minimum you can expect from anyone) is a rare thing.

And you wonder why people fear Muslims!

Rice Fiasco Part II

I am getting sick of this,

my second attempt at rice - this time it IS chewable, just a little too much!
and i have to eat it for 2 days!

and while i was drowned in my disapointment - nisrin was very amused!

15 hours of sleep later...

Our National Conference for 2005 is officially over!
Today there were no roll calls in the morning, just the school a block away singing the National Anthem.

I would have loved to post up the logo of NLDS 2005, but I fear being sued for plagiarism.

Now life gets more organized, and more work is done!
The next few months are going to be awesome!
I am looking forward to my company visits lined up - and my LC growing and kicking ass!

And I am looking forward to my long weekend at the beach - in 2 mere weeks!

I am on the IC Master Output :)

AIESEC 2010 session was one of the best and most inspiring sessions i have ever attended (thanks to mike from AI)
We had clay so i played around with it while i was deep in thought about all the life changing stories i just heard, and this is what i came up with!
I had it on my computer for ages, and just as i am reading the IC master output i found it there.

I know it's stupid, but i like it :D

Injustice!

On Friday we had an Iftar with work, I was planning to go, but due to an unfortunate event I needed to be in Alex for the weekend.
I don't know those people from work that well, anywayz - so i went home for a nice meal with my mommy :)

Apparently they had a raffle, and they drew my name out - and I won a DVD player!
Yaay first time for me to win anything!

Well tecnincally i won!

Because I was not there, they drew another name out - and that person got my DVD player!

GRR!
Could I be more unlucky?!

My consolation is that the girl who got it, is the really nice secretary - who is superduper friendly and nice to me.

Are we free or are they just plain ignorant!

At work I have a lot of free time, so I have been checking many random blogs especially those for Egyptians.
I am yet to come across a pro-mubarak blog - but I guess people who have access to internet and would blog are the type of people with a better worldview and education - so they know better than to be pro-mubarak (I hope!)

The interesting thing is that so many anti-government blogs are out there, and no one controls them. There are news about people all around the world being arested for things they say on their blogs, but in Egypt? no one knows about it except the bloggers.

This makes me wonder - is it not controlled because the government does not know it exists? or because we are actually free to say what we want?

On a different note: If you want to get a Nobel Prize, be born in Egypt, just don't live there!

How to make the world's worst pot of rice!

Following up on trent's post "Zen and the Art of Steaming Rice", and my latest cooking lesson, here is how to make the world's worst pot of rice:

Get rice out of bag - wash rice thoroughly (it's the worst one not the dirtiest one) until the water is clear and transparent
then put rice in pot
forget to put butter
put water - don't boil it, coz you just don't know that you should boil it before hand
water should cover up the rice by 1.5 to 2 centimeters - you have to get one thing right huh?!
remember butter and just add it in there
turn stove on
leave till the water is no longer there - I have no idea what happens to it
then put it on low temperature, and cover it and leave it for 10 minutes!

Result? The world's least edible rice!
now try that for ifar when you have been fasting for 12 hours, you will love it anywayz

keep in mind - Pizza hut's number is 19000

What i want, but can't afford

I was arguing with my sister the other day, i think i am not a big spender - yes nisrin!! i'm NOT - and i could live happily with just a little more money. She thinks i will always want more.

So i am going to document what i want but can't afford now, and once i get all of them i will prove to her that i do not need anything else:

1) a laptop (with a working screen)
2) a small i-pod, or another creative mp3 but with 1 GB memory
3) 2500 L.E.
4) an external hard disk
5) a new 14'' TV
6) Channel 4

see that's not too much!
the amount i spend on that is how much bill gates spends on a breakfast out!

The palestinian Dilemma

So here in Egypt people march down the road, and protest against what is happening in Palestine, the go on a massive funeral for yasser Arafat and shed a considerable amount of tears when he dies.

You sit those people down for a cup of tea and a conversation and ask them what they think about yasser Arafat, and they start going on about how he's a thief and how he's to blame for most of the suffering that the Palestinian go through. They don't think very highly of him

Same goes to the Palestinian population. Egypt has Palestinians living here in Egypt, quite a lot I may say.
However Egypt has a wall between its boarders with Palestine, and if your mother is Egyptian and your father is Palestinian, getting the Egyptian passport is as easy as getting to mars.

Most young kids at Uni want to go and "fight" in Palestine and want to sacrifice their lives for it. But when a Palestinian is interested in their sister, they politely decline - the reasoning "he's Palestinian".
At university Palestinians have their own clubs and socialize very little with the rest of the Egyptians - and I have experienced that first hand in both a private and a public university.
Every person you talk to has a negative experience with a Palestinian.

I have often tried to understand why this big discrepancy - and the reply is usually the famous Arabic quote
"Me and my brother against my cousin,
Me and my cousin against the stranger"

As for what I think, well since i do not belive in this whole arab "unity" thing, so palestinians for me are just like guatemalans. If religion and language unite us, then they can divide us - and that is not right.

ahhh Ramadan!

The hardest thing about Ramadan is not the fact that you cannot eat or drink during the day. That is a piece of cake!

The hardest thing is to stop swearing!

I woke up in the morning looked at my alarm clock and thought "A7a, it's 7 am" , then i remembered it's Ramadan, and you shouldn't swear, so i though "fuck luly, you shouldn't swear"
then i realized that i just swore again and thought "Oh Shit".

I decided to get up and go to the bathroom and STOP thinking!

Mastering Inefficiency

When you have to work for 8 hours with tasks that could be done in maximum 4 hours (on a good day) you need to learn how to be inefficient.

It is the higher "authority" that dictates these longer than necessary hours, and being a slave to the wage, you gotta do what big brother wants you to do.
So the first while, you finish your work in 4 hours, then spend the rest of the time bored to tears, bumming around or checking random blogs of people who you don't even know.
Then you learn to master inefficiency.
You can actually do the work in the 8 hours, by doing one zillion things at a time. So you are constantly working, but at the same time blogging, checking your email, chatting with colleagues etc.

Even though it's the same thing - but it gives you the fake feeling that you are at work 8 hours a day because you need to and not because big brother wants you to.

i want a maid :'(

Today, after 2 painkillers i was able to move.
dusting, cleaning, mopping ain't a picknick.
I wonder how our maid at home is so big, she should be a supermodel by now.

My mom disagrees with getting a maid and thinks that cleaning after myself will be a good discipline.
My strategy is next time i will fake an injury in my back, and call her crying.
If that doesn't work, then my starategy is what mommy doesn't know, won't hurt her.

As for nisrin, i will revert to the great tool of brainwashing, and nagging and pestering!
and if it doesn't work, i will get the maid to come for the two weeks i have to clean in, and nisrin can do the other two weeks :P

You can tell i have spent a great deal of time contemplating tbout this, that should give you an idea about how i feel :)

Bye Bye German

Today I worte an email to my favorite german teacher, in german.
I just butchered the german language and scarred it so bad that it will eternally suffer.

Damn that american University system - hehe

on a different note, today is cleaning day!
Part of being an independent person is cleaning after yourself (and sometimes your roommate)
Let's see how that goes
Something new every day huh?!

You know you've become too lazy when...

You go check out the gym
and wish they had escalators instead of stairs!

A new Race in town

With the Race for becoming President of Egypt over, a new race is in town.
The Race for the biggest presidential ball-sucker in Egypt.
And it's a tough one. Hundreds of prominent individuals are trying to guarantee their place, hanging big-ass signs and billboards costing thousands of Egyptian Pounds.

According to those business men's common sense, it is better to invest thousands of pounds in ball-sucking than donate them to the poor, or start a small project to help underprivileged families, or provide a few jobs for that endless supply of unemployment.

And the race is ongoing, so far the candidate that is ahead in my humble opinion, has a BIG giant billboard with fireworks and says "Mabrouk Mubarak" which was hung only few days after Mubarak's re-election. I guess it helped to know the results before hand huh?

Luli's Joint :)

No, it's not a cigarette full of "herbal remedies".
It's actually my new place!

- A newish fridge,
- No cockroaches anymore - well there are still some suvivors but they will DIE very soon!
- running water - finally
- a "haraami dish" (some cable that gets you some cool cable channels for 20 pounds a month)
and yes Susanne - haraami comes from haraam :P
- an awesome balcony - where your clothes dry off in exactly 6.5 minutes (I swear)
- pink wastebaskets
- a quilt with pink flowers on my bed
- 3 computers
- Elevator - HAH I wish! (I live in the 6th floor)

and last but not least a cool roommate!

Casa de Luli and Nisrin is up 'n running

Victory over Cairo!

I have finally had victory over the Streets of Cairo.
Today I showed the taxi driver a new route to go to maadi - well it was new for HIM!
and he actually thanked me for teaching him a new road.

On a different note, every time I go to work, and when the stupid taxi driver takes the route I tell him to take (which does not happen very often) I get on a bridge and see one of the most beautiful scenes in Cairo.

It's a view of the Nile, from one side there are big buildings but the other side has this big green area with trees and plants for agricultural purposes. That view is just awesome, in a grey city like Cairo.
It brings a smile on my face.

The biggest dumbass?!

I think I am the biggest dumbass in nomadlife who still cannot put pictures up on her weblog!

On another note, my quest for independence is still ongoing and not that pleasant at the moment.
Moving out is harder than I thought

MENA Number 1

Yep It's official, MENA GN is or the roll.

With the new member countries of Algeria, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, we will be 8 countries! Yaay!
Which means, more MENA people!

Special thanks for the people who worked hard on those extentions, mainly Tamer and Jen, as well as others.

Hurraay for MENA

Thank you India !

So I am back in Egypt after 17 AMAZING days in India.
At first I had something to look forward to when I came back, but as it looks that thing is not happening.
So now I wish I were in India now ....

What I will miss about India:

1) the awesome parties :)
2) seeing old friends
3) Paneer!!
4) Naan
5) the elephant ride
6) driving next to a camel! - yes even for an Egyptian this is a first
7) the confusing traffic, crazy and on the wrong side (or right depending how you want to look at it)
8) Paneer and Naan
9) the rickshaw (or toktok)
10) the nice colorful clothes, and the beautiful scenery

Well, back to reality now - it's time to see what I want to do with the rest of my life, since in the society I am in, being female and 22 ain't fucking easy

The Graduate!

Yes! I am officially a graduate!
My graduation ceremony was yesterday night, and i celebrated in style!

The ceremony took place in Alexandria, Egypt - miles away from where i am.

Yet i celebrated by watching a bunch of guys, dressed up as girls giving lap-dances to poor AI dudes at the Miss IC party (great performance from Abhinav haha).
Only In AIESEC huh?!

So i guess this is the End of an Era, i am officially an adult now.



oh and by the way, ingrown toe nails SUCK!! 9 years of suffering and they are still going on - even in india - grrrrrrrrrrr

Branding Fiasco!

We just received our business cards today and my heart is broken!

The colors were totally wrong and AIESEC in Egypt is the "International Platform for young paople to discover and develop their potential"

GRRR - I am sooo Pissed!!

So now we can't hand out those ones :S - how can i be on the global communications team and have the WRONG LOGO!

It's like having a phone that says Mokia, or going to Pizza Hot and MacDonaaalds.

I am sad :(

Live from India I

So I am Finally in INDIA!!
YAAY!

So we left Egypt Tuesday night to Amaan, where your 21 hour transit became a 25 hour transit!!
Luckily Royal Jordanian Airlines were Angels and gave us a hotel! We got to tour the city for 3 hours. Jordanians were really nice to us, and some of them were really hot!!

In the Airport we waited for like 5 hours for our plane since it was delayed so we spent our time singing, and entertaining/annoying (however u wana look at it) our fellow passangers!

Surprizingly there were many Israeli's in Jordan - we sat next to quite a few - chatted with them for a while.
We also talked to a friendly indian woman who was surprized at how happy and jolly we were despite of that delay. She of course did not know how much we had been through to get to india!

SO after a long plane ride - not interesting at all, no turbulences at all - much to my dimay!
We arrive at the Airport and again surprisingly the Congress Committee IS ACTUALLY WAITING FOR US!! yaaay!! good job there boys!
We exchanged all our money and walked around with humungous stacks of money - IT FELT GREAT!!
My first surpize was that people drive on the other side of the road, it totally slipped my mind. I realize that i cam totally unprepared for this country, i had no time.
The weird thing is that all those cows in the street did not strike me as odd at all. I didn't notice them untill someone pointed them out.
when i looked outside my window it felt like i am still in Egypt, but in the smaller poorer cities like banha and the oasis and those places.
The women in their sari's are really cute, i think i may get one!
I slept for most of everything in the trip - in the hotel, on the plane, on the floor waiting for the bus, on the bus! and everyone was soo jealous of me. Comon i haven't slept in ages - i need some sleep sometime.

Indian time is worse than Egyptian time! can you imagine that?! the bus was meant to be leave at 1:30 and it left at 3:00!! in egypt you'd be 30 mins late, and hour tops - but 1.5?!
so you ask indians how long does the bus ride take and they say 3 to 5 hours! 3 to 5 hours?!! it's either 3 3and a half 4 4 and a half or five!! not from 3 to 5?! i found that funny.
I was talking to one indian frriend a minute ago and he is in AIESEC Switzerland now - amit
and he went to visit his family. so i asked him how far away they are from here he said 8 to 10 hours!! so i HAD to laugh!! 2 hours approximations are funny! so he commented " oh well i guess i am back on indian timing haha"

Now the conference site is breath taking!! it's huge! and very nice. The rooms are really nice with everything you can think of. Also there are gardens, pools and a beautiful scenery.
There are also monkeys!! Today while attedning one of the sessions i glanced out of the window and saw a monkey walking around. Quite interesting. On my window door it says do not open as there are monkeys outside. Now that was a surprize!

The food is okay - a bit too spiciy for my taste but bearable.
Sofar things are great!

that's it for now!

Salaam re-cap

So after the second year of the Salaam Program running, I have concluded that I may like the old salaam trainees better, but I have learned more from the new ones.

I learned more about my country, about AIESECers and about Americans.
The most interesting thing was the Jewish/Israeli issue that came up, as we had a few trainees that were either Jewish or Israeli.
Since I communicated with State Security about our situation I have realized that our government is not as closed minded as I thought it would be. No extra special procedures have been done for the Israeli and Jewish trainees. It was the same old thing. They were also more flexible with them going to Israel and the Westbank then previous years. One interesting comment I received when we informed them that they will be going to the Westbank, they said " westbank is Israel"
But in a nutshell, things went smoothly. My only problem was that most trainees were not very helpful in the process of communicating their travel schedule - which is a mean for us to guarantee their safety and to keep the officials updated about our activities to maintain their support.(that needed to be done for all trainees regardless of origin, religion or nationality).

The other interesting thing was seeing and hearing how people react to meeting and dealing with Jews or Israel's - it was just like I expected. And it proved that educated people are not necessarily cultured people.

Mixing the word Jewish and Israeli did not only happen with us Egyptians - but it happened when the trainees threw a Jewish dinner serving Jewish food. Sadly I couldn't attend as I was visiting my parents.
I wonder though - is there Muslim food? or Christian food? How come I have never tasted them !!

I have interacted very little with the Americans here, mostly because whenever I visited them I felt welcome by only a couple of individuals. But this little interaction gave me a better insight of what Americans are like.
Last year I thought they were amazing - and I was dying to go visit all of them in the US.
This year gave me a more realistic view.

Life - or something like it

So lately I figured out why people disappear once they start work.
I have now slipped back into my much anticipated routine of working from 9am till 10 pm!
with AIESEC and Ericsson there's always something to do.
Lately things have been quite crazy though. Too much work and no play!
I am in desperate need of a good laugh - but neither kaitlin, nor shady nor poo are here.
I am looking for my own place.
Also I am planning to go to India next week, still having trouble with the Airline as the Travel agent screwed us over big time.
It's voting time in Egypt, and sadly if I go to India I will not get to vote, as I will be missing my First presidential Elections and that means I have to wait for 6 more years for the next one.
I do not know what I want more - go to India, or vote!
But since my vote won't be counted, I guess India is the priority.
I would also be missing my graduation - which takes place on the 31st of August. So that's for the cap and gown I will never see. It would have been nice to be there, especially since my name will be the second name called in my class :) would have been a nice memory

Sometimes I think AIESEC asks too much of you.

Cairo is a chaos, I finally know my way a little better and can get myself to work without getting lost.

After IC I am planning to go have a retreat in Hurghada in September. Probably gona go solo for that one!
This summer I have become Tan-less! I have not been to the beach once! But I am now allergic to the crowd, which makes the beach a no-go for me.

That's all from louly's corner - now I will go back to my mega-ass to do list for the day.

:)

After a 2 of the longest busiest craziest hectic weeks - right before I switch into my Weekend mode I came across this:

"Thoughts from Gannat : Since I came here some of my perceptions about issues in life have been changing & I would like to share one of those with you, I'm an average Egyptian person that was raised seeing Rafet el hagan we Gom3a el Shawal knowing that Israel is a sort of enemy because of the Sinai war & the current problems with Palestinian & Jewish in general was associated with Israel But here I have met a Jewish person which is my boss & really she have changed my perception of all Jewish people she is a very nice, understanding, intelligent & professional person I even spend a weekend at her house where she took me in a tour in San Francisco & I really felt the Jewish hospitality & I have learned never to judge a whole group of people according to movies & stories that a person can hear "

Eventhough I did not directly contribute to this person's experience - but just being part of it put a big smile on my face!
One by one we change lives.

Loads of people work to achieve what has just been achieved - one outstanding person would be Suzanne, that super chicka who started all of this!
Hats off to Suzanne!

Another Super Chicka!

Now here's a Chicka who kicks some great ass!!
http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/

May I just say - what Nancy Agram did, going to Sharm and checking up on the victims and trying in her line of work to help out those who are suffering make me like her even more!!
She Rocks Big Time!
Politicians get together and talk - others take active steps.

So here's for 5 more years of talking, talking and even more talking!

Presidents of Egypt!

Yesterday i looked at the newspaper! I know i said i won't do that anymore but i couldn't help it.
This week candidates from all over Egypt are putting themselves forward to run for the Presedential Elections.
At some point I managed to live a lie and assume there is a fair Election here - and i got really excited about seeing how they will campagin and how i can attend all their speeches and hear about their plans.
But living in La La Land hardly ever lasts - you can ask Bob Marley!

There are 9 candidates sofar! 7 from Parties - and 2 Independent.

Sofar the race is still starting!
Though i usually like to know the ending of a movie beforehand - in this drama, i wish the ending was at least unknown, and at most different.

A first!

On thursday i made my first purchase as a working woman!
my first salary - half of which was spent on the first day - was AWESOME!!
I got myself a brand new blowdryer!! nothing fancy but i am so happy with it.

yayayaaaaay!

Hate the news

I hate the news now!
I used to be addicted to reading the newspaper, watching CNN and checking all the websites that are related to news.
Since I read the constitutional amendment a few months back, it felt offended - I found it to be mocking my intelligence.
That is when I stopped reading local newspapers, it reminded me of how my country treats me like I am an idiot.
But my interest in international news was still ongoing.
This past month though I feel the news is bombarding us with London attacks, abducted ambassadors, bombs in London again, turkey, Egypt, and so many more.
And every time I read the news it just gets me depressed.
The first two attacks left me furious, and angry. But after that the rest left me just plain sad.

So my hate towards the news is growing by the second.
I wish I could stop reading the news!

A little honesty could work

So last night I am going out with a few friends. We were supposed to meet at 9:15.
Naturally I was late, for no good reason.

I arrived there at 10:45 and on the way I kept thinking of excuses for my being late, and I decided to try a new approach.

Upon my arrival I told them " I wish I had a better excuse for being late, but I am egyptian"

Surprizingly everyone found it quite amusing so they laughed and I was off the hook.

Sometimes honesty is the best way huh?

Al Salaamu Aleikom

On my daily Metro/Subway/Underground/Tube ride which lasts a minimum of 40 minutes per day, today for the first time i thought - what if this was the last Metro ride i will have.

Images of people trapped in this sardine-like train, and explosions came into my mind, leaving me sadder than ever about what the world is coming to.

And for the first time I will say the following words while thinking about what they actually mean instead of repeating them automatically:

Al Salaamu Aleikom - may peace be with you

AIESEC Egypt Office is a few days away from welcoming any visitors!

Today was my first day in the AIESEC Egypt office. The day started with my sandals being torn.
But that did not affect my amazing mood! if it's one thing that gets me thirlled is taking something that is crappy and turn it into something awesome!

So that is my quest!
So our office now has a bell :) and all the lights and switches are working! how AWESOME!!
Now the next quest is the Air Conditioning, but I am still in the process of seeing whether it is fixable or not. But frankly speaking the office is not as hot as i thought!
and it helps that i picked an excellent spot for my desk :)

The next big bulk is the cleaning, now that person who will clean has my utmost sympathy! but i know it ain't gona be me ha ha

I have only cleaned my desk and organized it - chose a the coolest chair that rocks sort of :)

Another great thing about today is that it's my first day of being healthy! 4 liters of water a day! and my lunch?! TUNA!! and some salad!
who could believe i could be that healthy!

well i will go put all my excitement into something productive - so ta ta for now!

Life.....

So here's a bunch of things that have been going through my mind:

I am unofficially a graduate ( still pending results)

driving in Egypt sucks ass

Southpark overload!

No 1 trainee for this year is Halima - my bet's on her being the new "queen of alex" after the original one left her throne.

moving to cairo sooo soon - excited? scared? i dunno

ashton kutcher is H O T

the next milestone in my life is ......... marriage!! ain't getting there anytime soon

I really hope i get to go to india this summer see Taj Mahal and ride an Elephant!

Information Overload!!

Taxes, debit, Marx, Bureaucracy, TB, medicine, rural areas, crime, juvenile delinquency, Marx, Population, 4 Ps, Jujitsu, NPV, Marx, communism, Social suicide, Anomie, Pasrsons, Spencer, division of labor, Marx Marx Marx!

ENOUGH!

after exaclty 2 weeks of CONSTANT examination, my mind is ready to explode! So much info in so little time!

I keep wishing those will be my last exams for some time now, but i have a gut feeling that i failed one class in one major.
And i try being postive about the other major despite of the fact that i blew that 4.0 right out of the window when i picked a fight with my Prof! ( he's a bastard)

But the only thing that puts a smile on my face is that come Thrusday i will be Tanning on the beach in my new tanning oil, with good music and maybe - if i still have my eyesight after all that cramming - that other Dan Brown book.

i have 5 hours till my next exam - and 10 hours till the one after, so blogging is not such a good idea at the moment.

Salaamomania!

Yes it has begun!!
Another summer of Salaamomania!
This time around things are much smoother!
My babies are so excited about the trainees so they have been with them 24/7 ever since they arrived.
And it helps that they are 3 hot girls!! hehe
All of my LC are guys so they are taking goooood care of the Salaam girls :)

I hope they get along well with Purvi..

And for now i am stuck studying for my injustice exams!

Salaam Frenzyy!

I have never been the type to have Butterflies in my stomac before an exciting trip, or to cry when a friend is leaving, or to even have this knots inside when you are really sad.
That's why when poo left, i didn't cry much - i teared, but i could have stopped them easily.
Few things make me sad.
Or that's what i thought until last night - i finished my exam and for the past 4 semesters my ritual is to have the day off studying that day - and it usually includes Poo.
Yesterday it was off - but completely poo-free!
and that's when the knots came!

I am somewhat looking forward to the Salaam Frenzy this summer - but i have my doubts, will they be as fun and dorky as kait? will they be as annoying and obnoxious as Scott? will they be as funny and sweet as Eric? as crazy as marianne? as girlie and smilie as Holly?

I guess we will see - partaaaaaaay is on Thursday and i must say kenny is gonna kill us for spashing a considerable sum of our - now not so big - budget for these dudes!

But hey - am still the boss till the 18th! so i might as well enjoy it :P

The End of an Era

Poonam Pinakin Thacker has Left the Building!

My Political Profile!

So i saw that on Bowman's Blog, and i decided why don't i just see what i am like.

Turns out i am more conservative than i thought - huh?

Your Political Profile

Overall: 65% Conservative, 35% Liberal

Social Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Goodbye, Farewell, Aufwiederseh'n, Adieu

This Post goes out to Tom and Thea, who will be leaving Egypt in 3 weeks.
Tom is going to the Netherlands to work on AI, and Thea is going to Ethiopia to work with Ericsson.

Tonight was probably the last night we went out together all 3, we went for fish in Bahari, and then we went to the Hisham Hindi spot, which is a coffee shop right by the sea. We got totally ripped off there (which i kinda feel guilty for, each item cost 8 pounds, even water)

I had such a great time, as thea and tom are one of my few friends who i can enjoy a simple outing with, like that cofee shop on the beach plus we alsways have the most interesting conversations.

I felt kinda blue coz i will seriously miss them both eventhough i know i will see tom in IC inshaallah and thea will definely coming back to Egypt.
Among other things I will miss how positive tom always is and how he loves everything about Egypt.
And i will miss playing the arabic-maltese game with Thea.

So to those to nomaders, have fun in your next chapters of life

ta ta for now :)

I am 22!!

Last Friday the 29th was my 22nd Birthday!
22 Years of Louly on this Earth.
Now let me tell you, 22 is quite a meaningless age coz i have no new age to look forward to. I already have my ID card, my Lisence, i am allowed to drink, enter a Pub, vote and do whatever the hell i want!
For my Birthday i got a new phone, 4 new tops a nice purse and 6 pairs of socks :P - 3 oof those from my mom ( yep i am mommy's little girl)
On the day i headed off to Cairo, to the Airport to take a plane to Shram El Sheikh where i spent a nice 3 days. And I am now quite sunburnt!
NB: Egypt Air SUCKS!!

And strangely enough my two brothers did not even text me on my Birthday!

Hooked

After months of delay i am finally reading the da vinci code.
It took me a month and a half to read the first 60 pages, i didn't do much reading then.
It took me yesterday to get to read the following 200 pages!!
And i am officially hooked, my mind is now thinking 24/7 of what secret that the curator is hiding!
Yesterday I opened the book at 11:30 only to put it down, with a struggle, at 4 am!
I am expecting a few more days of lack of sleep.

pathologic cleaning disorder!

Yes! that is me.
I am a pathological cleaner.
I am sitting in the NC office working on a computer when i realize that the Keyboard is extremely dirty, with some letters you cannot even see from all the dirt. So i turn off the computer and get my baby wipes and start cleaning it.
Now it still not sparkling but it's acceptable.
Tom of course was deeply disturbed not by the fact that did it, but by the fact that i really genuinly enjoyed it!
up untill now i have mentally cleaned up the office a zillion times, and i have a set plan for how i will start cleaning it when i move in.
Today i just realized,,, why wait?
I could do it over the labor day vacation. I have sunday and Monday off, just enough to do the first round of cleaning in the office.
Then by mid June i can do the second and round of cleaning, and finally by end of June the final step.
The worst thing about me which Tamer is yet to find out that I need a good physical working environment inorder to perfrom.
The good thing is i like creating it. :)

I am excited about cleaning Day - let's see hoe many people i can get to join me.

Yikes!

thumbs up!

Thumbs up and hats off to Mustafa,
You're still a winner in my Eyes!

Love ya
xxx

time to say goodbye

For the past month I have been convinced that it's cool that i am leaving my LC, and it will be great to receive less calls from the zillion i get daily from all my members.
I seriously could not wait to start my MC term and finish my LCP term.

But yesterday the Elections took place, and at one moment it hit me.
Someone was calling " Hey LCP,,LCP" so naturally i turned around and yelled "YES", only to get a reply " not you, we want margo".
It hit me,, my babies will no longer be my babies.
All those people who you have around you all the time, who can't wait till you call them to go out and hang out, who offer you their seat, or a ride in their car eventhough you live miles away.
I will not get to see them everyday, and hang out on a daily basis, i will not be pestered all the time with their phonecalls at 2 am and 8 am, and i will not be constantly asked questions about AIESEC.
And it hit me that i will seriously miss all of that.

I look at my LC and see people who I have grown really fond of, people that make me feel good about myself and happy with my LC and happy with the effort my team and I have done when we started all of this from scratch and I now feel so sad to leave.
Nader, Mamdouh, Mustafa, Hany, Ozzie, Hashem, Sara, Alaa and soo many others all my babies :)

(i really sound like jen and those ppl who've been in AIESEC for ages)

And soon my role will deminish, and Margo - also one of my babies, will be the new LCP, and a fine one i may say!
I never realized how much i love my LC till yesterday.

and quoting my dear friend poo " gay-sec will have to end someday"

what is this, week of the dead?!

damn, what a week.
I thought the exams made it bad but apparently not.
First, you have the Pope who passed away, and his funeral which was today.
Second, you have Shireen's grandma passed away as well.
Third, you got all those people who died and were injured in Khan El khalili.
Fourth, it's Nora's grandpa who passed away too.

I hope there are no weeks like that in a long long time.

my biggest flaw

i plan too much and i want everything.
i hate that

so my motto from now on is
Carpe Diem!
this is THE challenge of the YEAR!

I am challenging myself to not think about anything that could or could not happen.
I am only allowed to think about events that are a maximum of 7 days from now.
(let's face it, i can't live day by day, and i already have a daily plan till the end of the month, so i can't not use it)

let's see if i can do that.
comon, i managed to food-control alright untill now. i should be able to do this.

Addictive TV!

Yesterday was monday, the day where the TV from 9 to 10 and from 11 to 12 is sacred.
This is the time when the TV show 24 is shown.
My sister does not go on her daily Jog, my brother does not go out and goof around with his friends or play with his Need for Speed.
My friends are not out having fun, they don't answer their phones.
What's happening?
24
I have heard about and seen all sorts of people addicted to that show.
Each episode of the show represnts one Hour or Jack Bower's (the main character) Day.
Each season is 24 episodes each representing a day - therefore seasons are called Day one, Day two, Day three..etc
I have started watching Day one a year ago in one of its re-runs but decided not to watch it coz i didn't want to be committed to staying home to watch it.
It's now in Day three, and people still follow it and make it a highlight of their day.

TV can get sooo addictive. especially shows like 24 where you can't even blink, otherwise you'll miss something.

anyone here addicted?

A nightmare called Cairo

Some facts about Cairo:

Cairo is one of the largest cities in the world with 20-22 Million people living and working there (including day workers)
Along with Bombay and Rio de Janeiro, Cairo is the worst city to drive in.
An average taxi ride costs 10-20 pounds.
Getting ripped off is the norm.
If you are a girl in a Taxi, there is a 75% chance that the reason why the taxi driver keeps looking at you it's because his hand are in his pants, giving himself some "pleasure".
The amount of veiled girls/women and bearded men makes you feel like you are in an Iranian movie.
The color blue does now exist: the Nile has a brown color, kind of like the color you see in the toilet when you have diarrhea. The sky is gray as it is covered with a thick layer of Fog.
There is no correct accurate map of Cairo.
Crossing the street is an adventure that is as life threatening as jumping off the Himalaya Mountains.

And finally,,,,
Cairo is going to be my home in the very near future

this week

This week has been and still is an eventful week.after trying to memorize the countries of the world in a song, the highlights of my week are :

i had my first LC teambuilding, and it ROCKED!! that is the happiest i have ever been as LCP! i think it's by far the best AIESEC day of the year!and the great thing about it is that i have a kick-ass LC! i love them, i can finally say they are my babies ( just like jen says about like everyone in AIESEC :P )

The second highlight is that i get to see JEN!! yaaay! jen comes back to egypt for like a week - she arrives TOMORROW! awesmoe huh?

I have died my hair. it's hardly noticible, i have made it darker, from medium brown to dark brown. and i kinda like it. the problem is it has a red feel. i have never died my hair before! this is a first!

as for now i am officially taking a one week break from any serious or meaningful conversations ever. so assem and tamer, i am not participating in your discussions.
any one interested in talking about how hot brad pitt's ass is i am here :)

veil, uncovered!

check this article out
http://egyptelection.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=105

Becoming a Ninja ( face veiled)

this is an experience that i remembered because of tamer's discussion about the term ninja.
At my first year in Alexandria University a public uni here, i had a friend called Hanaan. She had recently gotten veiled before entering college, she wore regular clothes, nice scarfs and wore make-up and looked very good, compared to all the others that go there.

The year after, i saw her - i only go for exams and field work, so i only see her a few times every semester - i found her still vieled, but she started to wear very long gowns and extremely loose.

The year after that, i didn't see her for an entire term. So i called her up and asked her where she was, and she told me, i got face-veiled, i keep trying to make eye contact with you so you would recognize me but you never do.

This year i have not seen her yet, maybe she dropped out and is reading koraan at home all day- or i still cannot tell her appart from all those face veiled girls in my department.

On the same topic, my first year the tayaar el eslami ( islamic group on campus) put up posters all over, encouraging girls to get veiled and stating how bad they will suffer in hell if they do not get veiled.
And as a matter of fact, more girls got veiled in the first year, where they were more than the un-vieled girls.

The second year the posters said that the veil is not enough, you should wear loose clothes and not show any detail of your body.
Consequently the amount of girls wearing loose clothes and gowns increased.

The third year, they started attacking the regular veil, calling it just like not wearing it at all, and Haraam etc. , and you should be face-veiled to be a good muslim.

They put being veiled with praying, when praying is a corner stone of religion, you have to do it to be a muslim. and being veiled is "supposedly" something you have to do. But if you do not do it, you are still a muslim.
The point of view now is changing, to be a muslim you HAVE to be veiled!
One of the students once said in a class with half of the girls not veieled (me included): "there are plenty of girl out there not veiled, but they are still good girls" one of the other guys objected.
ouch!

That is the evolution of the Islamic movement.
I bet you this is how it started with Iran.

a little something i got from paddy

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:36
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Abu Ali ( Egyptian Movie-sucks)
4. What is your favorite TV show at the moment? Friends
5. What did you have for breakfast? doughnuts
6. What is your middle name? Abd El Salaam
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian
8. What do you dislike? the smell of sweat
9. What is your favorite crisp flavor? salt and vinegar
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Nancy Ajram
11. What kind of car do you drive? Fiat 126 ( soooo tiny)
12. Favorite Sandwich? turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, oviles
13. What characteristic do you despise? Envy
14. Favorite item of clothing? Bra - it's such a great invention
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on holiday,where would itbe? the bahamas
16. What color is your bathroom? white
17. Favorite brand of clothing? uhh..brands, me? no
18. Where would you retire to? uhh.. me? retire? never
19. Favorite time of the day? when i cuddle in my bed and sleep
20. most memorable birthday? 21st, my LC threw me a surprize birthday party - i didn't know at all
21. Where were you born? Alexandria
22. Favorite sport to watch? Soccer/Football
25. What fabric detergent do you use? let me ask my mom
26. Coke or Pepsi? i have converted to coke
27. Are you a morning or a night person? NIGHT NIGHT NIGHT
28. What is your shoe size? 39
29. Do you have any pets? no
30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? i may be getting new make-up!
31. What did you want to be when you were little? a stinking rich housewife :P

You are now reading the Blog of the MCVP Elect of AIESEC Egypt 05/06

With all sorts of Knots and Butterflies STILL in my stomach, I am Pleased to say,
I AM ON THE MC!!
After more than a month of waiting and convincing myself that it was a sure thing, I headed to Cairo for my Interview.
At exactly 12:35 pm of the 11th of March, I stepped into the AIESEC Office and greeted the 7 other candidates that were running for the MC.
At about 12:40 pm I started to Panic.
There I am with 7 great Individuals who are the Best people in AIESEC Egypt, and we are all running for the MC. Those dudes are as committed as passionate and as qualified as I am; probably even more, to be on this Team.
Suddenly I realized, it's not a sure thing anymore.
I entered my Interview and gave what I fear was one of my worst performances ever, where my face was all red, where I couldn't even force a smile and where my legs were twitching so bad it felt like an earthquake in there and where I went blank like so many times.
But the worst was yet to come, 24 hours of waiting, the 24 hours from hell (as poo would so eloquently put it).
And from exactly 8:14 pm of the 12th of March, till now, and probably for a few more days, I have the biggest most Stupidest Smile on my face - just like the one I had after my first kiss.
I AM ON THE MC!!!!!

It was a hell of an Experience, where -yes Assem you were correct- I learned A LOT!!
I learned not to take things for granted, not to be too sure of things otherwise you could become too big for your own shoes, and I have learned how badly I wanted to be part of this Team and how much it meant to me.

And so I would like to say to AIESEC in the Whole Wide World, Brace yourselves for the Best Team Ever, coz Tamer, Louly, Martha, Maggie, Tarek and Askoura will show you things you never dreamed possible!

I am So Happy :D:D:D:D so i will sing:

I feel Prettyyyyyyyyy oh so prettyyyyyyyy
I feel Prettyyyyyyyy and wittyyyyyyyy and Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
ha ha ha - i am not i swear, single and looking (for male)

The University of Doom and Gloom

For those who do not know I happen to be pursuing 2 Different Degrees.
A Marketing Degree in the Arab Academy for Science and Technology (a private uni) http://www.aast.edu/
And a Sociology Degree in The Faculty of Arts, Alex Uni (a public University) http://www.facultyofarts.com/
Difference? One costs 32.5 Egyptians pounds per year, and one costs 18,000 Egyptian pounds a year.
So which one in the University of Doom and Gloom? It's the Public one!
Why is it the Faculty of Doom?
Well coz if you go there, it means you are Doomed! Doomed to failure and mediocre Jobs that are not related whatsoever to your field, or you become a more appealing bride coz you have a higher education.
The mass that studies there, are people who could barely score anything in their finals, who are one of the worst possible college applicants in Egypt. (Excluding the other lower institutes or community colleges)
Only a few actually go there, to do something meaningful with the precious Knowledge in a faculty like this, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, History, Arabic and Islamic Studies, English and French lit.
But generally, if you are in this Uni, you are Doomed till doomsday!
Now why is it the Faculty of Gloom then?
Well it's a place where all the misguided ignorant youth find their way in life, usually they are miserable.
Some turn to Drugs and I ain't talking about a couple of spliffs every day!
Some turn to the Religious Group called El Tayaar El Eslamy (The Islamic Current) http://www.gam3aonline.com/
Those are not Terrorists, they just post posters on how even Hijaab (the veil) is not enough and is as haraam as not having it at all, and how you should cover all of yourself, like a Ninja.
They give girls like me dirty looks, or look the other way while recalling some verses of the Koran.
And they organize protests and put up posters encouraging people to go to/on ( thank you chris) "holy" Jihad with the US and Israel, and to stop eating McDonalds.
They put up the most peculiar (I have no other word to describe it) Slogans, kaate3oo montagan tankezoo mosleman (stop using a product, and you will save a Muslim)
Al Hegaab Al Hegaab Kabl Yom El Hessaab (The veil the veil before judgment day)
They also interrupt classes to read Koran out loud to people and urge people to leave their classes to go and pray.
So they are not actively violent, but they are a stepping stone to becoming a Terrorist or to becmoing an extremist who makes his life and the life of his family a living hell.
Other than that Students can get into other stuff, like Gawaz 3orfy, which is a marriage where two people sign a paper with 2 witnesses that they are married, and once they tear it apart then they are no longer married.
So it's an excuse to sleep well at night while you are doing your girl/boyfriend.
Girls end up pregnant and guys tear up the marriage paper once they find out about the baby, and the girls life is ruined - either suicide, being killed by her family, she runs away and becomes a prostitute or gets disowned by her family.
Now the least of the Glooms is you meet a good guy/girl, the guy becomes a mechanic or opens a shop selling mobile phones, and the girl is a good housewife, who works as a secretary with a sleazy boss and they live on their minimum wage and get 4 kids!

I am not saying people can't become a great success - but the likelihood is a Question.
And that was a glimpse of the Egyptian Life, which I think I am very lucky to have seen and even luckier that I am not actively part of it :)

The Queen of Poker!

Yep that's me!
Today my LC and i and Chris Bowman ( Salaam Trainee in Cairo) went to spend a day in my Beach House.
We spent our day outside where the weather was great.
We had a great time, so if you didn't come, you missed out.
We started off by Playing Bullshit, which i was okay in ...
Then we moved on to Poker, We played the 5-Card Draw, and I RULED!!
i got a straight, a tripple, 2 doubles, doubles, and i think i got a full house too! and i got ALL their money!! ( well we played with monopoly money coz we were all broke)
Then chris decided to have us play some texas hit 'em or something game, where i completely sucked and lost all my money :)

The highlight of the day, was me kicking Kenny's ASS!! Kenny was a Tae-Kwoondo ( how the hell do you write that)
I have had 5 Lessons of Kickboxing in my Life,
And the Match begun!!
we were as excited as ever, kenny's lungs and my fittness thought differently!
So we ended our 90 Second match - sat in a nice shady place smoking and drinking pepsi.

A great Excercise!

the eco. development theory!

okay everyone,
the economic theory of development ( check it out in my December Post i dunno how to link it here) is just a theory, not all theories can and are applied.
I believe people should have as many kids as they want as long as they can provide them with good chances and opportunitiest and resources to become good successful citizens and live a good life.

There's no way to enforce that except by educating people, you can't exactly force anyone!
More Educated people understand that concept, and have a bit of a long term view of things, uneducated people usually have many kids without looking at the consequences.
Of course we cannot generalize, but this would be the norm here in Egypt.

So if you educate people, then you got yourself a way to develop economically.
Look at this cenario:

Amm Mohamed El Bawaab ( Mr. Mohamed the doorman) is a man that cannot read or write, he has 2 kids and sends them to a public school, they both finish elementary school then work, therefore they can get jobs that are a bit better than a bawaab (doorman) their kids will go to school and stop after secondary school,( they can do even better than their parents) then they can get their kids all through high school, then their kids go to public college, and the next generation goes to a private school then a public uni and finally the generation after - goes to the AUC!

takes a long time when u start from the bottom but you get there at the end ! and you could jump a step or two.

but if the bawaab has 7 kids he wont be able to afford getting them to a school, and you have a whole new generation of Bawaabs!

so now do you see my point?!!!

kefaya

I came across this website called www.kefaya.com this is the campaign against having Mubarak be president for another 6-year term and also against having his son as his successor.
Interesting, but rather depressing.
There are several gloomy ways of looking at this "change" , pessimism is the norm while optimism seems minimal.
I have finally gotten a hold of the Egyptian consitution, which was a big surprize for me.
It was really hard to find i must say, has many stupid stuff in there, but it had great news :)
The conditions for being president are
1) Egyptian
2) from Egyptian Parents
3) Above 40 years of age
4) has all civil and political rights

So the president can be christian, and can be a WOMAN!!
In your face kenny :P

I told that fact to 3 of my friends from Uni, one of them - a muslim - comented that she does not want a women president. ( that friend is a female ).

Later on she commented how she would never have a christian president - she did not say that infront of my other 2 friends out of respect for them as they were christians.

If this is how educated people who will soon have a University Degree think like, i wonder what those other 51% illiterate Egyptians think!

funny

if you check out the comments on my previous blog post you'll see that i am probably going to Israel alone.

this is where i wana go.

Before i die, i would like to go to

1) France, becuase everyone says if you haven't been to paris, you haven't been anywhere. plus i get to practice my french.

2) Italy, the main attraction there is the history and monuments. The Music, the Opera, the night life.

3) the US of A! well whatever subject you talk about the US comes up, so it's a good thing to speak based on first hand experience. plus i wana see kait and holly :)

4) England - again. My dream is to have my masters there.

5) Ughanda, i dunno why but it's poor and it looks cool in all pics.

6) India, although the food will be an issue.

7) The carribean, okay it's not a country, but anywhere there would be nice!!

8) Israel - out of curiosity.

So who wants to join me on which trip?

Democracy or conspiracy?

So Egypt is now going to have an Election like all civiliezed and some of the uncivilized countries of the world.
A step forward? yep it is.
But important questions do arrise:

1) how will the constitution be ammended? the wording of the amendment is as important as the decision its self.
2) why did this decision come in February after voting card are no longer being issued? this knowing that supporters are usually the ones who do vote!
3)why did this decision come so close to the elections? this leaves little time for candidates to announce themselves, prepare themselves and for parties to develop their leadership. it also leaves little time for us to make sure the wording of the amendment is correct. We may want to add more to it, like women being allowed to be president, or that the president can only be president for two terms, or to cut the term to 5 or 4 years instead of 6.

All too suspicious.

Is this a way to get Mubarak Re-elected and leaving America with no excuse to hassle Egypt about it?
Is it a way to get Jimmy ( Gamal Mubarak - Hosni Mubarak's son) to be president without upsetting the masses and America?
Or has Mubarak decided to call it quits and leave with the remainig dignity he has left?

Despite of all those concerns this is still a ray of light in a long dark tunnel.
Maybe in 20 Years they will let women run?
Maybe in 30 years we'd have the first female candidate.

What i do know though is that now and more than ever, i do want to eventually stay in Egypt and fight for what i believe in.
Kenny thinks me and him had a role in this decision, we opposed, we talked to people, we convinced people. We may have not worn t-shirts saying "Kefaya" ( Enough is Enough) like others have done, but he thinks we had a share.

my song

contrary to common belief my song is not independent woman it is:

that I would be good even if i did nothing
that I would be good even if i got the thumbs down
that I would be good if I got and stayed sick
that I would be good even if I gained ten pounds

that i would be fine even even if I went bankrupt
that i would be good if I lost my hair and my youth
that i would be great if I was no longer queen
that i would be grand if i was not all knowing

that i would be loved even when i numb myself
that i would be good even when i am overwhelmed
that i would be loved even when i was fuming
that i would be good even if i was clingy

that i would be good even if i lost sanity
that i would be good
whether with or without you

i think this should be everyone's song