What is going on ?!?!?!?

I was chatting with a few friends a couple of days ago ... and then one of them said something like she sometimes gets surprised when she finds out that "some respectable looking people live in "notorious" districts !!" What !??!!? Here we go again I thought to myself ... another generalisation.... what is it with everyone? So I found myself saying " Why do you find it surprising? It's so simple...people used to take flats under the "old rental system" (egar 2adeem)and start their families wherever they found a reasonable flat....those people were all types of people ..."mowazafeen", engineers, doctors ... people starting their lives and families..... sometimes the districts they chose to live in long ago would turn into "notorious" places with time .... what were they to do about that?!?!?! Move ?!?! What if they didn't have the money to do so (which is the case with many) ??!?! What were they supposed to do then ?!??! Was their reputation going to go "down the drain" because of something like that? Besides, people make their reputation for themselves not by the places where they live.... people know who's who." So she said "I know....but that's for the people who know them ... what about the people who don't really know them and judge from outside?" ..... "Then they don't have the right to judge." was what I said .. .and that was the end of the conversation ..... we weren't snapping at each other... it was a kind of "by the way" conversation .... but it got me thinking about what's happening here in Egypt .... then I read this post in Arabic and got me thinking even more .....
What is going on ya gama3a ?!?!?!?!?

Quiz result

You scored as Islam. Your beliefs are most similar to those of Islam. Do more research on Islam and possibly consider taking the shahadah and officially becoming a Muslim, if you aren't already. Despite the actions of some - who go against the teachings of Islam - Islam is a religion of peace; the word "islam" means "peace through submission to God." "Muslim" means "one who submits to God." Islam is the third of the three Abrahamic faiths, and it shares much with Judaism in Christianity; its differences are the acceptance of Muhammad as the last and final prophet, and the oneness of God - in other words, that Jesus, though he was a revered prophet, was not in fact God, and only one God exists. Apparently the Taliban could not read (though their name means "students"), because the Qur'an states that men and women are equal as believers, and that all believers should be educated and seek knowledge. Modesty in dress and behavior is required in Islam for both men and women to preserve the values of society and move the emphasis from superificial appearance to intelligence, knowledge, and God. Islam 96% Judaism 67% Buddhism 50% Paganism 38% Christianity 29% Hinduism 13% Satanism 8% agnosticism 0% atheism 0% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

Now I understand....

All throughout my life, we'd spend most of our vacation in Alexandria... then go back to school/university/work ... i.e our lives... every year I'd enjoy my vacation to the full... but by the end of it I'd feel I miss my friends/school/work .. i.e my life...I'd be a little tearful saying goodbye to my grandmas, and the rest of my relatives .. but really looking forward to going back ... I always felt a little guilty cause I felt that they missed me more than I missed them.. that they wanted us to stay more than we wanted to stay .... I realised that "the ones leaving" don't feel as much as "the ones staying" watching the others leave... I realised that when I was of the "ones leaving" ..... and now that I'm of "the ones staying" I feel it even more....... Now I understand......

My aunt left yesterday... me and my mum went to stay over with my maternal grandma to keep her company and be next to her after my aunt's family leaves ... it was heartbreaking seeing my grandma cry after she left... seeing the pain on her face... and hearing her sob....and her saying how she's going to miss them.... how the kids would've grown by the time she sees them again isA next year... I watched my little cousins ... and remembered how it was with me and my brothers... they were too " a little tearful" but I guess quite enthusiastic about going back to their lives in a way ...... now, being on the other side I can imagine how things must've looked when we used to leave...

My brother's "S" little family (wife "M" and little, adorable, amazing baby girl "N") should be leaving with him next month isA...S has been away for a few months for work on a project that was supposed to take a lot less than what it ended up taking ... M was pregnant so she stayed back here and he'd come for short, sporadic visits... then little baby N came into the world last July..... and the project that S is on may take another year !!!! So of course S and M decided that it was time that they all got together..... M is looking forward to being with her husband ... trying to get things done as soon as possible.... little N doesn't understand much yet as she's only 40 days old ..... but her aunt "Me" is dreading the day they leave.... I've become good friends with M and crazily attached to baby N !!! I will miss her enormously and I can't imagine not seeing her grow..... Now I think I understand how my aunts loved me and why they'd hug me that way when I was leaving....

My parents are leaving soon as well ... now I guess that's going to be the hardest part... but I'll probably be going to visit them and pack the rest of my stuff very soon isA so that makes me feel sort of better in a way ... el7amdulilah ...

Laughing my head off

Just 15 minutes of pure, simple fun with my brother !! It was great .... well my Dad has this sort of small, hard,sponge ball he's been using to exercise his wrist (after it got fractured last year) ... anyway, the ball looks so cute and feels so nice ... so my brother was taking a break and he looks at the ball, looks at me and suddenly throws it hard at me ... so I pick it up and throw it back hard .. then we realise we'll end up demolishing everything in the house .. so we sneak into one of the relatively emptier rooms (house not completely furnished coz we just got here and could even be moving house soon inshAllah).... so here we are .. me and him in the room .. with the door sort of shut so that my Mum doesn't hear us ... just like we used to do when we were doing something naughty as kids !!!! so he throws the ball at the ceiling and it bounces back hard and I have to catch it.. then I throw it back ... then we start counting points and squabbling over who cheated and who caught it right .. and who's the butterfingers around !?!?!? ... and laughing our heads off...
15 mintues of utter, childish enjoyment... with not a worry in the world for once....
Then we got back to our work...studies .. unfinished assignments... phone calls to make... emails to answer.... etc etc ... feeling much ligher than 15 minutes earlier ....and with big grins on our faces :-D.... el7amdulilah

Donating......medicine!

Been meaning to write about this lately.. then I found this post on Roora's blog ... so I commented ... then commented again here... then she asked me to post this on my blog too so here it is....

The idea is quite simple actually... it's all about collecting medicine people have stored at home and they don't use .. to give it to people who need it and can't afford it...

Step 1:- You need a group of volunteers to tell their friends/co-workers/relatives/ etc etc to give them all the medicine they don't need..(sometimes people buy medicine for a specific purpose and they don't use it all .. so the rest goes to waste... it happens all the time)

Step 2:- You sort of need to have a "base" (that can be an NGO for eg. or if you're a group of individuals then it could be someone's house or whatever where the volunteers can all put the medicine they collect

Step 3:- A group of pharmacists sort out the medicine to see if things are expired/ can't be given away for any reason (some ointment/gel should be thrown away after opening by a certain period) etc..)

Step 4:- A group of doctors give out the medicine to their patients according to their needs.. these doctors usually work in public hospitals or have access to the poor who can't afford medicine....

If organised, it works .. believe me ... but there "have" to be doctors and pharmacists working on the project... I've been working on it and collecting medicine for a couple of months and the collecting part is going very well ... at one point you may sort of "run out" of people to take medicine from (coz they've given it to you already and nothing has really accumulated yet)... but then sub7an Allah .. you find them telling people they know and giving you the medicine .. so the network grows el7amdulilah....

Hope whoever can apply this tries it out...
Thank you Roora for making me bring it up ... Jazake Allah khayran :-)

The mosque....

So what's so special about that mosque? Basically it's "free"... now I can't find a word for it.. but the atmosphere is I guess what draws all those people to it ... I've been going to it weekly to attend a lecture every Saturday between maghrib and 3ehsa and now I'm addicted ... (we pray maghrib..listen to the "dars" .. then pray 3esha )

Everybody and anybody goes...you see the veiled,unveiled,monaqabat,old ladies,young girls .. you name it... nobody bugs anybody... nobody bothers anybody... they're all there to listen for whatever purpose they have in mind... want to feel closer to God... want to learn and understand more... want to boost their religious feelings... just want to be "there"... whatever... if people start getting friendly they might advise each other on issues or discuss after the prayers but nobody just suddenly jumps on you out of nowhere and tells you "Why do you do so and so? " ...I know girls who stopped going to certain mosques and lectures because of this approach... because they didn't want anyone they didn't know to bug them about anything .. they wanted to sit and quietly listen and change from their hearts whatever they felt they should and could change... and that's the change that lasts...

Another thing that really "got me" about this place is more of a personal experience...I got back to Egypt a few months ago ... and since I got here I've been making friends or you can say socialising in different areas of life...I made friends with a girl during my temporary job with the British Council, then another one while volunteering to help out in a symposium held in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, then another one while attending sessions on Macrobiotics, then another during an intensive teachers training course....and after that I met them all at the mosque !!!! Never knew they go to that specific mosque, neither did they know that I go... none of them know each other... ( well...now they do ... through me :-D ) ... I don't know how to put it ... just felt nice .....

We all go .. say hello.. pray .. listen .. then pray again .. no time to really talk to each other but it's nice being all there ... in "the mosque" :-)

No time...

Just sooooooo busy these days .. trying to make time for work, family gatherings, going to the mosque, charity work, volunteering, updating my CVs and applying for other work, seeing friends, having fun,commenting on blogs ( this and this and this !) and sleeeeeeeeeep.... and on top of all that I have an awful awful cold (which makes me want to sleep more than ever).... seems I do need some time management.....

Parents are back !

My parents are on vacation at last! ... here in Egypt for a month to spend with me isA :-) ...actually with "me and my brothers".. but since my older brother is now "independant and married" and the young one is so engrossed in his studies and activities ... so it's "me" :-D... been quite busy with them the past few days .. trying to make the most out of those days...want to "enjoy" isA ...

Things don't always go according to our plans..

... They go according to God's plans ... I don't mean to say that we should sit around waiting for things to just happen ... I mean that we may plan something, work and strive for it, then end up doing something else because that was God's will....

I feel that about my life... never planned to teach English... all I wanted was to be an Engineer which el7amdulilah I am (and I worked pretty hard for it)... started teaching English by complete chance ... unplanned... found I enjoyed it so I decided to work as a teacher in a centre part time alongside my engineering job.... was quite exhausting but I wasn't willing to give up either of them ...

I was born and raised outside Egypt and I worked outside Egypt as well (whole family .. but my brothers had to come back for the "army" ... that's another story) ... as I started growing up I'd have relatives bugging me to come back to Egypt to settle....actually they meant "to get married" .. and they'd go on and on about there not being many Egyptians in the country I was living in and stuff like that... and I'd always answer that when there's "naseeb" nothing will ever stop it ....and I wasn't going to give up my 2 jobs and leave my parents for a reason like that...

Anyway, I was on vacation last summer (2004)... and I met someone nice.. it was sort of arranged I know, but it went well and we "clicked".. we were both what we were both "looking for" .... I must say there were a few problems between the families concerning "logistics" but both of us "fought" to be for each other and we cleared up matters ... I stayed in Egypt for another month and a half during which we had "2erayet fat7a" and I started looking about for opportunities and jobs ... trying to see what I could do etc... he was great help with all his connections too ... as I still had obligations at both my jobs back outside Egypt I had to go back to finish projects I was working on etc... that took around 4 and a half months.. we'd chat everyday on the net (video and voice sometimes) and get to know and explore more of each other and get closer ... we planned if everything went fine to get married in August 2005 as that was the only time my Dad could be in Egypt... I came for a short time to Egypt and felt that opportunities here were good and that I'd like to start and learn more here .. which I did .... so I finally came back...
But what happened wasn't what was planned... things went wrong and we didn't get married.. we broke up instead... to this day I don't know exactly why... everything seemed just fine.. too good to be true in fact ... but then again ... God's will ....
Looking back now, I can see that maybe God was planning for me to move back to Egypt and my ex-fiance was just a "sabbab" .. but not the "main issue"... I still don't have a "permanent job" here in Egypt .. but I'm looking and doing my best...learning new things and getting to know new people....el7amdulilah :-)

"Allahomma enni 2as2aloka kol alkhayr, ma 3alimt minhu wa ma lam a3lam, wa a3othu beka min kol alsharr, ma 3alimt minhu wa ma lam a3lam" .....

Creativity

Around 2 weeks ago I attended a seminar on "Creativity".... made me think a while about how I view things ... the basic fact the lecturer pointed out was that "Creative thinking is a natural ability that everyone possesses, but few know how to use effectively." .... also spoke about how you can turn a crisis into an opportunity .. things like that ... it was quite interesting actually .. but I really need to read more on that.... I quite liked the "Six Thinking Hats" method which I'd heard of but never really "practised". Yesterday while surfing the net I found an article on how this method can even be used in the classroom ! Pretty interesting... Though I don't know if one can actually go around saying to himself " Ok now I'll put on the yellow hat... been wearing the black one for too long"! I'm trying to apply it a little ... sort of just means that you try to think and act in a rational way I think :-) ... anyway I might be attending workshops soon .. just hope they do start soooooooooooooon....

It3am

Two days ago I got together with two "newly made" friends and we made food for the poor .. "it3am" .. it was an amazing experience !! I've always been into charity work and donating and all that ... but I never actually "collected money, bought food, stood in the kitchen, made food, wrapped it up and went out to distribute it".It was a totally different feeling ... especially the distributing part....and even though we were only 3, everything went smooth and easy (we made food for 25 and packed it in 4 and a half hours).. sub7an Allah ... el7amdulilah... isA Rabena yataqabbal minna ...

PS. I got back sooner than I thought !! :-D

Blogging... or not?

I started this blog thinking I'd be able to write and pour out everything ... well .. hasn't been working well so far I don't know why.. maybe there are too many things going on in my mind.. maybe I still don't "trust" the blog....I think it's something like building up trust with people you meet and slowly, gradually turn into friends... I do hope so....

I really like the way some bloggers write ... for example Loulou, Nermeena, Doshar and Dallula .... I love reading their posts even when I don't agree with them... but I feel they write what they really are and express what they truly think... Rabena yewafa2hom :-)

Will go now and come back some day soon to "open up" isA ... full of so many things I am not able to express at the moment.....


PS. Forgot to say that I also enjoy Roora :-)