So that's the mainstream thought now?
Have we become the dumping ground for the world's rejects?
Everyone is looking at Gaza like it's this plague (i am not saying whether i agree or disagree with this). From this perspective it means that the mainstream now is to think - oh, israel's getting such a headache from those gazans, let's give them to the egyptians coz it's ok for them to eat shit.
WTF?
What a nice reality check to see how the world really views our country! Egyptians rejoice, your failure to get off your fat bums and fix your country has paid off. Ba2ena Zebalet el 3alam mel 2a7'er!
P.S. just to be clear: i am not saying i believe that gaza/gazans are bad - it's the world that views them as this evil thing. whether they are that or not is not the question here. so please, spare me the hate mail!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Sights and Sounds of the Cairo Airport
7 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is bustling. Flights to Riadh, Beirout, Damascus and all those other Arab countries are leaving. Morocco’s just scored another goal bringing its total score to 4 against Namibia’s 1. Some 20 Moroccans are boarding my flight gleefully watching the big plasma screen TVs across the different corners of the Airport, and some hundred Egyptians secretly thinking “we’ll show those Moroccans when we play them” but half-heartedly praying we never have to play them.
I make myself comfortable in my seat, and start calling everyone I know to keep me entertained while we wait.
The flight attendant was very nice/flirtatious. He seems to think I am gorgeous. I responded with "enta kollak nazar" (which sort of means you’ve got a correct eye on things). I look in the mirror in the bathroom, let my hair down and decide he’s right. I told him I am engaged so he stops flirting. He’s old.
8:30 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is still bustling. This time all the travelers have gone, except for us – our flight got delayed to 4 am because of bad weather in Casablanca. The airport staff and security are dutifully watching another football match. Our TV screen is not on. There’s French commentary from the TV from the next waiting hall. One team is wearing green and the name Drogba keeps being repeated. It’s probably Nigeria. The other team seems to be Ivory Coast but I’m not sure. The Airport staff and security are excited, they are cheering and ooohing and aaahing at every play. It’s hard to tell who they’re supporting, I am more inclined to say Ivory Coast, because they fear a match between Egypt and Nigeria.
The most adorable little boy is crying. His cheeks are so red coz it’s very warm and his mommy won’t take his coat off. I don’t usually find kids adorable, especially when they cry. But this one is just so cute, big brown eyes and chubby cheeks and all. He’s Moroccan. I wink at him and his eyes widen, making him even more adorable.
This doesn’t sound like me.
The couple right opposite me just kissed. They’re not cute.
They just announced another flight, the woman making the announcement has an annoying French accent that accentuates every single letter. “Egypt Air annonce le depart do son vole numbero 685 a riadh”. Then she put on this fake British accent and repeats the same in English.
They promised us a hotel till 4 am, and just called the Business Class passengers. I hope we start moving soon. I hope the hotel has internet.
But it’s ok, I have good movies, and good books with me.
8:45 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is getting quieter. There’s just the French commentary from the TVs and the whispers of the bored passengers waiting. Even the little kids are quiet. Our cheeks aren’t as red – it’s getting breezier in here. I don’t know where the breeze is coming from.
Some Americans just walked in, it’s getting louder. They seem to have an annoying George-Bush-kinda-accent. They are your typical western tourists here on some packaged trip with minimal interaction with Egyptians, coz who wants that!
It’s going to be a long night.
9:00 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is the same. A rude security personnel comes and tells everyone to exit the gate so they can get checked by security. An old Moroccan woman tries to explain to him that we’re from the previous flight and we are waiting for further instructions. He’s not listening and being rude, she’s clearly offended by the vulgar way he’s speaking. I tell him off for not listening to what we’re saying. His response is rude. Some one else calls him on his rudeness but we quietly obey his instructions. The Americans don’t understand what’s going on. I explain to them that they need to exit the gate so they can check their hang luggage. And a wise-ass American says “oh you mean coz they didn’t do their job in the first place”. I understand his frustration.
10:00 pm – I didn’t think this post would be that long. We’re on the bus. Most of the passengers decided to wait in the Airport because they want to send us to a hotel in Haram. Haram is at the far west of Cairo. The airport is at the far north-east of Cairo. It would take us two hours to get there. A hot shot journalist is fighting with the Egypt Air officials and promising to publish this and escalate to higher officials (a very standard threat in Egypt). The Egypt Air official shows exemplary customer service skills by telling him “if you don’t like this, then go complain” (a very standard comeback to the threat in Egypt).
11:37 pm on a Monday night and we are at the Cataract Hotel in Sakkara Road, Haram. No information has been given on when we should get up, and what will happen next.
Egypt Air’s organizational skills are abysmal at best. Security levels on this whole situation are poor. We do not have our luggage; I do not know how it will be handled in the morning. Anyone could have left without noticing. I hope they do not put any luggage on that plane without verifying the owner and checking its safety. But it’s Egypt; so I rely on mere hope and not faith.
5:00 am on a Tuesday morning and we’re back at the Airport. An Egypt Air official came on the bus and actually asked us if we’re all present, and if anyone is missing. Interesting! I guess keeping count is an alien concept to them. By now the passengers of flight 847 are almost certain that this was all a not-so-elaborate ploy to put us on the next flight which departs at 7 am, because they did not feel like operating two flights at about 20% occupancy. I made my mother check the weather conditions in Morocco; humidity was at 95%, it was foggy and visibility was 4 km. I do not know if this is suitable flying conditions or not. (I found out later that there was actually too much fog and all planes to Casablanca we re-routed)
5:39 am on a Tuesday morning and I am sipping my hot drink. As I approach Starbucks I notice a familiar logo next to it. It’s Coffee Bean. I am thankful I decided to head towards Starbucks since they lead me to my ultimate Chai Latte addiction that is in Coffee Bean. I am sitting with McDonald’s on my left, Starbucks on my right, Cinnabon in front and Coffee Bean to my back. And I am in Egypt. Sweet huh?
This post has lasted too long.
Our flight leaves at 7 am. This is my 32nd trip, and probably my 55th flight, so I am not bitter. The odds are good: 1 horrible flight in 55 flights? I can live with those odds. It gets very gloomy if we make those odds exclusive to Egypt Air flights. But I won’t go there.
On our flight we have an Echo, reclusive and alone, a John Locke who is old and thinks he knows everything, we have a Charlie that looks all doped up and we have a Jack Shepard who takes the lead.
I watch too much TV…
11:10 am on a Tuesday morning. We’ve just landed in Morocco.
I have a meeting a 120 KM away that starts in less than 3 hours.
The End
P.S. if you’ve made it so far, I’ll take you out for a Chai Latte. You deserve some compensation for those 10 minutes of your life you’ve just wasted.
I make myself comfortable in my seat, and start calling everyone I know to keep me entertained while we wait.
The flight attendant was very nice/flirtatious. He seems to think I am gorgeous. I responded with "enta kollak nazar" (which sort of means you’ve got a correct eye on things). I look in the mirror in the bathroom, let my hair down and decide he’s right. I told him I am engaged so he stops flirting. He’s old.
8:30 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is still bustling. This time all the travelers have gone, except for us – our flight got delayed to 4 am because of bad weather in Casablanca. The airport staff and security are dutifully watching another football match. Our TV screen is not on. There’s French commentary from the TV from the next waiting hall. One team is wearing green and the name Drogba keeps being repeated. It’s probably Nigeria. The other team seems to be Ivory Coast but I’m not sure. The Airport staff and security are excited, they are cheering and ooohing and aaahing at every play. It’s hard to tell who they’re supporting, I am more inclined to say Ivory Coast, because they fear a match between Egypt and Nigeria.
The most adorable little boy is crying. His cheeks are so red coz it’s very warm and his mommy won’t take his coat off. I don’t usually find kids adorable, especially when they cry. But this one is just so cute, big brown eyes and chubby cheeks and all. He’s Moroccan. I wink at him and his eyes widen, making him even more adorable.
This doesn’t sound like me.
The couple right opposite me just kissed. They’re not cute.
They just announced another flight, the woman making the announcement has an annoying French accent that accentuates every single letter. “Egypt Air annonce le depart do son vole numbero 685 a riadh”. Then she put on this fake British accent and repeats the same in English.
They promised us a hotel till 4 am, and just called the Business Class passengers. I hope we start moving soon. I hope the hotel has internet.
But it’s ok, I have good movies, and good books with me.
8:45 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is getting quieter. There’s just the French commentary from the TVs and the whispers of the bored passengers waiting. Even the little kids are quiet. Our cheeks aren’t as red – it’s getting breezier in here. I don’t know where the breeze is coming from.
Some Americans just walked in, it’s getting louder. They seem to have an annoying George-Bush-kinda-accent. They are your typical western tourists here on some packaged trip with minimal interaction with Egyptians, coz who wants that!
It’s going to be a long night.
9:00 pm on a Monday night and the Airport is the same. A rude security personnel comes and tells everyone to exit the gate so they can get checked by security. An old Moroccan woman tries to explain to him that we’re from the previous flight and we are waiting for further instructions. He’s not listening and being rude, she’s clearly offended by the vulgar way he’s speaking. I tell him off for not listening to what we’re saying. His response is rude. Some one else calls him on his rudeness but we quietly obey his instructions. The Americans don’t understand what’s going on. I explain to them that they need to exit the gate so they can check their hang luggage. And a wise-ass American says “oh you mean coz they didn’t do their job in the first place”. I understand his frustration.
10:00 pm – I didn’t think this post would be that long. We’re on the bus. Most of the passengers decided to wait in the Airport because they want to send us to a hotel in Haram. Haram is at the far west of Cairo. The airport is at the far north-east of Cairo. It would take us two hours to get there. A hot shot journalist is fighting with the Egypt Air officials and promising to publish this and escalate to higher officials (a very standard threat in Egypt). The Egypt Air official shows exemplary customer service skills by telling him “if you don’t like this, then go complain” (a very standard comeback to the threat in Egypt).
11:37 pm on a Monday night and we are at the Cataract Hotel in Sakkara Road, Haram. No information has been given on when we should get up, and what will happen next.
Egypt Air’s organizational skills are abysmal at best. Security levels on this whole situation are poor. We do not have our luggage; I do not know how it will be handled in the morning. Anyone could have left without noticing. I hope they do not put any luggage on that plane without verifying the owner and checking its safety. But it’s Egypt; so I rely on mere hope and not faith.
5:00 am on a Tuesday morning and we’re back at the Airport. An Egypt Air official came on the bus and actually asked us if we’re all present, and if anyone is missing. Interesting! I guess keeping count is an alien concept to them. By now the passengers of flight 847 are almost certain that this was all a not-so-elaborate ploy to put us on the next flight which departs at 7 am, because they did not feel like operating two flights at about 20% occupancy. I made my mother check the weather conditions in Morocco; humidity was at 95%, it was foggy and visibility was 4 km. I do not know if this is suitable flying conditions or not. (I found out later that there was actually too much fog and all planes to Casablanca we re-routed)
5:39 am on a Tuesday morning and I am sipping my hot drink. As I approach Starbucks I notice a familiar logo next to it. It’s Coffee Bean. I am thankful I decided to head towards Starbucks since they lead me to my ultimate Chai Latte addiction that is in Coffee Bean. I am sitting with McDonald’s on my left, Starbucks on my right, Cinnabon in front and Coffee Bean to my back. And I am in Egypt. Sweet huh?
This post has lasted too long.
Our flight leaves at 7 am. This is my 32nd trip, and probably my 55th flight, so I am not bitter. The odds are good: 1 horrible flight in 55 flights? I can live with those odds. It gets very gloomy if we make those odds exclusive to Egypt Air flights. But I won’t go there.
On our flight we have an Echo, reclusive and alone, a John Locke who is old and thinks he knows everything, we have a Charlie that looks all doped up and we have a Jack Shepard who takes the lead.
I watch too much TV…
11:10 am on a Tuesday morning. We’ve just landed in Morocco.
I have a meeting a 120 KM away that starts in less than 3 hours.
The End
P.S. if you’ve made it so far, I’ll take you out for a Chai Latte. You deserve some compensation for those 10 minutes of your life you’ve just wasted.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
40 years of shame
On April 5th, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy's delivered a speech called " the mindless menace of violence in America"
The following is in my opinion the most powerful part of an overall great speech:
RFK started his speech saying "This is a time of shame and sorrow"
He could have delivered this speech this morning and it would still hold the same validity; the same truth as is did 40 years ago.
He could have delivered this speech to every nation in the world today and it would still hold the same validity; the same truth as it did for the US.
The following is in my opinion the most powerful part of an overall great speech:
"When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a
lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when
you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or
your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but
as enemies – to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated
and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our bothers as aliens, men
with whom we share a city, but not a community, men bound to us in common
dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear – only
a common desire to retreat from each other – only a common impulse to meet
disagreement with force. For all this there are no final answers."
RFK started his speech saying "This is a time of shame and sorrow"
He could have delivered this speech this morning and it would still hold the same validity; the same truth as is did 40 years ago.
He could have delivered this speech to every nation in the world today and it would still hold the same validity; the same truth as it did for the US.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Maashi ya harry
Harry is jealous coz i never posted about him - but posted about other people, so here goes.
This is Harrison everyone, and he knows how to throw a party :)
He's blessed with the ability to get to know every living person on the face of the earth, and fills our Cairo life with excitement because of his excellent planning ability and tactics.
He also enjoys flattery and doesn't mind demanding it from his poor friends (like me)
This is Harrison everyone, and he knows how to throw a party :)
He's blessed with the ability to get to know every living person on the face of the earth, and fills our Cairo life with excitement because of his excellent planning ability and tactics.
He also enjoys flattery and doesn't mind demanding it from his poor friends (like me)
Guess who's coming to scrabble night,,,again!
It's Mr. Luke Bonney!
As i was sleepily getting dressed yesterday morning i thought my day was meticulously planned out. Embassy meeting at 9 to renew visa, back home, shower, work, cook, scrabble, sleep.
Well that all happened, but with a little twist.
A frantic call from a freaked out Luke at 8:30 am revealed he had overslept and missed is flight. He woke up 1 hour after his flight had left Cairo.
So the multi-tasking began! While meeting with the embassy official, and arranging my own very confusing travel arrangements for the next two weeks i was on the phone with Delta Airlines to fix this. Wiggling out of a penalty was not possible because Delta is nothing in Egypt.
So i met up with Luke, we got him seat on the exact flight the next day and then headed to Gezira Club for breakfast and a walk around the gardens. All the while Luke kept trying to kick himself in the butt and i got a kick out of his poor-ass situation :P
If you'd told me two days ago that this is what would be on my couch on Tuesday, I'd tell you that's a load of crap.
So while Luke and my bro slept and snored i worked, showered, watched balls of fury (hilarious movie) and whipped up some amazing lasagna (with the help of purvi's instructions and Nis advice)
So while Luke and my bro slept and snored i worked, showered, watched balls of fury (hilarious movie) and whipped up some amazing lasagna (with the help of purvi's instructions and Nis advice)
The most priceless moment is when i told Nisrin "Come, i want to show you something" and i pulled her to the living room so she can see who's on the couch. I laughed SO hard!
Next came Dave's reaction - he sees Luke, thinks for a split second "oh there's Luke" then realizes that he shouldn't be here, stops for a minute then says "well, first off, i am glad to see you - second, whahaat?"
Next came Dave's reaction - he sees Luke, thinks for a split second "oh there's Luke" then realizes that he shouldn't be here, stops for a minute then says "well, first off, i am glad to see you - second, whahaat?"
Then there was Annika and Kathleen who were also hilarious - i had fun :D
So after the good food - we started with the scrabble. It was a very very shameful scrabble board, we all sucked SO bad i don't even know who won.
I guess last week the ending was too unrealistic, we had to be snapped back into reality as the loosers we are! (great loosers, but still... loosers :P)
Finally, at 4 am - with the help of 5 alarm clocks and 2 people - Luke got up, took the taxi and made it to his plane.
I think i'll let him fill in the rest when he finally blogs about this...
I am still inclined to laugh every time i think about this day..
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Back to the grind
It's over, khalas! no more, finito. In 7 hours i have to be up and get ready to go to work. I feel like a school kid about to start school after a long summer break. Except school kids are excited about seeing their friends and giggling about what they did during vacation.
My best friend at work is the computer screen - and it's a pretty darn nice one.
My lunch buddy is the Ahram newspaper.
I work with 400 other people, and i could not be less interested in any of them. Conversations about the weather and airport stories are what we talk about, and i know no one is interested anything more.
See relationships at work in Egypt are very superficial. Because you never leave home you keep the same friends since kindergarten. And you keep acquiring more and more friends, so by the time you graduate from college you're set. People at work are mere acquaintances and connections.
It's kinda sad, work is where i spend most of my time - in a day of 24 hours i spend 9 hours at work 3.5 hours in my car, 7 hours sleeping, 0.5 hours getting ready in the morning leaving 4 hours for other things - food, fun and friends.
Spending most of your time with strangers is a sad choice, yet almost all of us choose to do it.
Tomorrow morning; I am going to try really hard to stop myself from doing a countdown to the next time i am on vacation, it's just not that motivating - but i have a feeling i'm going to struggle with this.
I may not be that happy about going back to work, but going back to my job is quite alright - and i plan to be very efficient in hopes that my efficiency will cheer me up a bit.
Work, adulthood and life...
No body said it was easy, no body said it would be so hard
My best friend at work is the computer screen - and it's a pretty darn nice one.
My lunch buddy is the Ahram newspaper.
I work with 400 other people, and i could not be less interested in any of them. Conversations about the weather and airport stories are what we talk about, and i know no one is interested anything more.
See relationships at work in Egypt are very superficial. Because you never leave home you keep the same friends since kindergarten. And you keep acquiring more and more friends, so by the time you graduate from college you're set. People at work are mere acquaintances and connections.
It's kinda sad, work is where i spend most of my time - in a day of 24 hours i spend 9 hours at work 3.5 hours in my car, 7 hours sleeping, 0.5 hours getting ready in the morning leaving 4 hours for other things - food, fun and friends.
Spending most of your time with strangers is a sad choice, yet almost all of us choose to do it.
Tomorrow morning; I am going to try really hard to stop myself from doing a countdown to the next time i am on vacation, it's just not that motivating - but i have a feeling i'm going to struggle with this.
I may not be that happy about going back to work, but going back to my job is quite alright - and i plan to be very efficient in hopes that my efficiency will cheer me up a bit.
Work, adulthood and life...
No body said it was easy, no body said it would be so hard
Thursday, January 10, 2008
yet another farewell post
In an epic night, the weekly scrabble crew has officially said good-bye to Luke. Don't bother checking his blog - it's BO-RING!
The night started with me in what i call the "show-dance" mood. People in my apartment building enjoyed a rendition of luli-in-the-bath which covered artists like Audry Hepburn, Elvis, Beyonce and Mariah Carey. All the while Luke and Nis were not so enthusiastic about my jumping up and down..suckers..
On the menu, i made some home made brownies and some instant Betty Crocker mashed potatoes. Me and The Nis made stir fried veg, and Luke - the "man" - was very proud of his steak - which was truly delicious.
Note: Luke's last name is apparently an old Irish term for gay, coincidence?
After a lovely meal, i got started on kicking some English-native-speaking ass. It was an epic game. We were all so close, and each of us took the lead at one point in time. We also covered the whole board with games - north, south, east and west. It was about time we learned how!
After consistently being in our scrabble crew for 4 whole months, Luke is leaving us with no replacement. He also leaves the scrabble night in need of some testosterone and me in need of someone to be passively aggressive towards.
We all stayed up till 4 am talking and following the primaries and Luke was overly comfortable in my colorful apron. You can tell he's going through a whole lot of separation anxiety.
The night started with me in what i call the "show-dance" mood. People in my apartment building enjoyed a rendition of luli-in-the-bath which covered artists like Audry Hepburn, Elvis, Beyonce and Mariah Carey. All the while Luke and Nis were not so enthusiastic about my jumping up and down..suckers..
On the menu, i made some home made brownies and some instant Betty Crocker mashed potatoes. Me and The Nis made stir fried veg, and Luke - the "man" - was very proud of his steak - which was truly delicious.
Note: Luke's last name is apparently an old Irish term for gay, coincidence?After a lovely meal, i got started on kicking some English-native-speaking ass. It was an epic game. We were all so close, and each of us took the lead at one point in time. We also covered the whole board with games - north, south, east and west. It was about time we learned how!
After consistently being in our scrabble crew for 4 whole months, Luke is leaving us with no replacement. He also leaves the scrabble night in need of some testosterone and me in need of someone to be passively aggressive towards.
We all stayed up till 4 am talking and following the primaries and Luke was overly comfortable in my colorful apron. You can tell he's going through a whole lot of separation anxiety.
He might not have been the most challenging scrabble player like the uber-smart Annika, or the most contributing cook like the oh so yummi Kent but he surely was an entertaining piece of eye candy ;-P
There will definitely be a scrabble reunion sometime in the future. Till then we'll be busy interviewing new candidates for the new opening in our scrabble crew.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
what? 2008 already?
yeah yeah, the required new year's post - predictable, i know!
So 2006 witnessed no big resolutions, celebrated in dahab and made my first pot of rice.
By December 2006 i was so relieved that year was over!
So i made my 2007 resolutions - 2007, the year of LULI. Oh and it was!
I moved into an awesome apartment that i furnished myself (with generous donations from my family), dropped two sizes, bought my own car and named her Battouta after the traveller "ibn battouta", spent a over 75 days outside Egypt, travelled to Sweden for the 10th time, walked in markets in Morocco, had dinners in Algiers, went dancing in Tunisia, had the spiciest pasta in Ethiopia, took a boat in the canals of Copenhagen, shopped myself to near-bankruptcy in Malmoe, froze my ass off in September in Vienna and went sandboarding in the dunes of Siwa.
I fixed my deviated septum and vowed to avoid surgeries unless absolutely necessary.
2007 was indeed the year of Luli!
My resolutions were:
1) stop drinking pepsi/coke
2) low carbs
3) visit the US
i did not accomplish any but still managed to have an awesome year!
so 2008, I'll let it fly by and see where life takes me, and my resolutions are different:
1) Be a nicer person! a little less road rage, a little more smiles and a whole lot more friendliness is planned for 2008
2) Be more active - a little less conversation a little more action!
3) Study! nail that long overdue statistics exam, take the GMATs and the TOEFEL
4) Give,,,,,,time energy and money to a well deserving cause
so 2007, that's a wrap....
2008, bring it on,,, bee-atch!
So 2006 witnessed no big resolutions, celebrated in dahab and made my first pot of rice.
By December 2006 i was so relieved that year was over!
So i made my 2007 resolutions - 2007, the year of LULI. Oh and it was!
I moved into an awesome apartment that i furnished myself (with generous donations from my family), dropped two sizes, bought my own car and named her Battouta after the traveller "ibn battouta", spent a over 75 days outside Egypt, travelled to Sweden for the 10th time, walked in markets in Morocco, had dinners in Algiers, went dancing in Tunisia, had the spiciest pasta in Ethiopia, took a boat in the canals of Copenhagen, shopped myself to near-bankruptcy in Malmoe, froze my ass off in September in Vienna and went sandboarding in the dunes of Siwa.
I fixed my deviated septum and vowed to avoid surgeries unless absolutely necessary.
2007 was indeed the year of Luli!
My resolutions were:
1) stop drinking pepsi/coke
2) low carbs
3) visit the US
i did not accomplish any but still managed to have an awesome year!
so 2008, I'll let it fly by and see where life takes me, and my resolutions are different:
1) Be a nicer person! a little less road rage, a little more smiles and a whole lot more friendliness is planned for 2008
2) Be more active - a little less conversation a little more action!
3) Study! nail that long overdue statistics exam, take the GMATs and the TOEFEL
4) Give,,,,,,time energy and money to a well deserving cause
so 2007, that's a wrap....
2008, bring it on,,, bee-atch!
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