My Enemy!

Well now that we've established that Israeli's are not my enemy
THIS is who i call my enemy!


Last week i got the pleasure of having one of them
take a stroll on my foot becuase SOMEONE forgot
to put the lid on the drain!

My screams almost gave my mom a heart attack

I will give a Million Dollars to whoever completely causes them to get extinct!

(it is because of 3 of those, that tom got the privilege of seeing me in a relativeley small towel)

no to stress

My life's pretty boring right now.
This past two weeks i have put all my energy to de-stress and be relaxed.
And i think i have no need to stress - i work 3 days a week, the rest of the time i do AIESEC, where i do not have to get up early or work really late.
So i decided to say No to stress.

Now i think i am quite relaxed - i might actually enjoy myself Cairo!

So what is my plan? I am gona do something i like!
1) I am gona sign up for dance classes.
I was gona sign up for the gym - but i hate that, it could wait, i still have some time before i hit the 200 pounds mark! haha

2) I am gona go to Dream park - yes i want to go on the roller coaster, and i will do it!

3) gona go to the Arcade! play some air hockey and kill some cockaroaches and maybe fall on my ass again while bowling! but i need a partner in crime - wana join?

i also wana join a choire - but that'll have to wait for next time

i am planning the up coming vacation from the 20nd till the 25th of April - do i want a nice chilled tanning session at basata with my sis? or a big party thing in Hurghada? (i do not DO sharm anymore, the water's too poluted now)

that damn chill

so i came accross this blog of an Israeli - i am assuming it's a girl, i do not know why.
and read this post
www.israellycool.com/blog/ModerateArabsandMuslims

I have always been a firm believer that Israel is not an enemy, and that you cannot hate someone just coz they are israeli. I am all for peaceful relations, and active peace between Egypt and Israel.

But this blog let me see the other side, especially that sentence "it doesn't change my opinion that Egypt is no friend of ours"
I realized - well if most of the Egyptian population hated Israel so much, and would do horrific acts of brutality if they come across an Israeli, then this must be reciprocal.
Israeli's would feel pretty much the same towards us.

The idea that someone hates me so much - without even knowing me, sent a chill through my body!

It's scary

(I still stand behind my opinion, that Israel is no enemy of mine)

the demographic of the progressive Egyptians

Recently I have been checking loads of blogs, mainly of Egyptians.
When I read some of them I feel elated! It is great to have Egyptians that think and even better when they think like me - haha!

Okay seriously, it's a sad truth that the amount of Egyptians that actually use this brain that they possess to make sense of what happens around them and try to learn more and develop analyses for what happens.
I would like to believe I am one of those, despite of my few readings in the issues I care about - my concentration span is really limited, watching a whole movie is an effort.(yes mom, I am working on it wallahee)

So some blogs that have blown me away are Freedom For Egyptians, Egyptian Sand monkey, Manal and Alaa, Snefru and that is only to name a few.
So my quest is to find out, who exactly are those people - their identities are not shown - well with their views it is understandable.
What are the demographic of the Egyptians that give me some hope?

First of all, they blog A LOT! and have good language skills - Arabic or English - which leads me to believe they may be journalists who use blogs as a futile attempt to satisfy their need for Freedom of Speech.

Second of all, quite a number of them write English is really well, and they have a lot of references to the US, and its culture. Which leads me to believe they have lived or experienced the US culture.
This is a good and bad thing - it's awesome that those people chose to direct their energy towards their country and towards making themselves heard. But it's bad since it means that the Egyptian system of education and the Egyptian upbringing does not nurture those minds.
I guess I would be the exception here :)

Third of all, this has been a debate between me and roomie, fellow blogger and fellow AIESECer Nisrin, their age.
They kefaya movement has been driven by people who are in their 40ies on average. Look at them, they are OLD!! Opposition and demonstrators when it comes to Egyptian issues are also in their 40ies on average. Young demonstrators of the AUC, Cairo University and my all time favorite Alexandria University ( Yay for the Faculty of NO Arts) demonstrate about evil United States, poor Iraq and the innocent Palestinians (please note sarcastic tone), but they rarely demonstrate about their own country.
The necessity and rationale and effectiveness of demonstrations are not in question here, but it merely demonstrates the areas of passion for the people.

So Nisrin thinks that those bloggers must be in their mid thirties, to forties to fifties. Professors, or Journalists, or better Journalism Professors.

Though it does make sense - but I am hoping that they are not that old and they are in their early twenties like me, University Students and Fresh graduates who want to change things. Or should I loose complete hope in the youth of today.
I blogged last year about Egyptian Youth in my eyes - University of Doom and Gloom

Wondering how to end this post…

Mixed Feelings

1) poo was here :) , then she left :( - I offered her 100 dollars to stay and nassef offered her another 100 dollars but she still left!
2) Friends is doing more episodes - WTF?! We liked them, but move on bee-bolz!
3) We won the friggin Africa cup - in your face Tunisia and Morocco!!
4) Egyptian Sandmonkey's blog is cool! It will keep me entertained at work
5) More anger around the cartoons - again WTF?! More about this later
6) AIESEC Egypt has an MCP - Congrats Samy, I hope you induce a cultural change in this organization towards excellence and value-orientation. God knows i tried!
7) 1000 people are dead - it's like Titanic, without the love story
8) My 23rd valentine's day is here - and since I do not like change, it will be spent like every other 22 Valentine day


So about the cartoons:

In AIESEC you get taught the basics of cultural sensitivity. Meaning when you travel to another country you need to sensitive of its culture.
Does that mean that when you are in your country you only need to be sensitive to your own culture and not to anyone else’s?
Forget what we should do, what does actually happen?
Are we as Egyptians culturally sensitive and aware as not to offend any belief or culture outside of our own?
Don't we make fun of Indians, and their religious practices?
Don't we think it's gross for the French to eat frog's legs?
Don't we make fun of re-incarnation?
Don't we call Africans "3abeed"? (Arabic for slaves)
if we give ourselves the right to be insensitive to other cultures outside of our own, then we need to give others the same right.
If a Danish newspaper decides to be culturally insensitive to those living outside its boarders, then why are they wrong? Noting that Muslim Danes support the Freedom of speech they have, so they have not been offended.

Another case of Arab double standards i guess!

I am happy that the African Cup took the entire spotlight away from all the events of the world; at least Egyptians haven't done anything stupid about these cartoons.
But it also meant people forgot about those 1000 people dead in the bottom of the sea - no help is being sought for those victimized families or survivors.

My 5 cents to whatever's been goin on

So i saw the cartoons, and yes i was offended. Uhmm but it is just a catroon at the end of the day. many movies, cartoons, and people offend god, mohamed, jesus, moses - makes me upset, disgracing holy figures offends me because i believe in them.
if someone offends budda, or an indian goddess i would not give a damn, i do not believe in them anyway, so why should i care.and i am being honest here - that's how i would feel.
so i am sure this reporter thought the same - i do not believe in them, so why should i care.
tayeb, he can say whatever he wants, doesn't mean it is true, doesn't mean i have to believe it.
so if you haven't noticed yet - it is JUST A CARTOON for heaven's sake, stop fussing, there are more important things in the world that needs our attention, and for this poor editor or cartoonist, i am pretty sure god can defend his name and his prophets in the right time - don't think he needs us to do that for him.

I am more concerned with the 1000 people that died on the ferry. makes me wonder what is worse: dying for a cause, dying for hate, dying for love or for just plain stupidity!!!
I am pissed!!

and one last thing - GOOD LUCK to Egypt in the semi-finals!!!!

The longest ride

Yesterday, we had the longest ride driving back from our National Conference.
Though it should have taken us an hour to get to Cairo, it took much longer, and felt longer than the drive from Alex to Sharm el sheikh.

The second bus carrying half of AIESEC Egypt, had a huge accident on the way, where the bus ran into a truck, that suddenly slowed down.
While everyone was fine, just some minor injuries, it was torture for us to have a phone call from girls crying histerically, and having to wait to find out how bad it was.

They were trapped in the bus for a few minutes since the front of the bus was very damaged and the door could not be opened, until the boys broke the windows and jumped out.
Their first instinct was to run after the truck driver and kick his ass - but the driver ran for his life, and they did not catch him - thank god for that, he would not have survived.

With a few injured people and a few girls in shock, we headed back to cairo after hours of trying to arrange everything.
The "men" assumed control of course and tried to manage the crisis - which of course could have been done more effectively, had the MC been in charge of the situation.
But the long night ended well, when we returned safely, to Cairo.

An unforgettable experience - a horrible night, with a good ending.

But i guess "Ende gut, alles gut!"