Sightseeing...

As you might have realised these past 4 days have been spent sightseeing. After having been at the mercy of my father, yesterday and today Tom was in my hands...

Now that we've seen all the south coast there were only 2 things left, the north coast and Valletta, so voila! We've spent the last two days doing that.

Tom sightseeing.......

... and bonding with Jesus!!!!!

It was nothing interesting for me, obviously been there, done that! But it was cool going around Malta again, seeing all the things you've missed, driving along the coast, which i love so much!!!

I even got to go to the Malta Experience with Tom.... to refresh my memory on Maltese history, i have now realised that i have been twisting some of the Maltese history in these past few years!!!!!

I also got the opportunity of catching up with Maria who just came back from Australia, and Cynthia again!!!!!

So now tomorrow is the 2nd big day of the holiday, after warming up during Xmas Eve, tomorrow is the sacred New Year's Eve!!! Lets see if we'll survive this one!

Surprises....

Coming back to Malta brought a lot of surprises.....

1. The most agonising surprise is the banning of cigarettes in public places!!! How can you no longer have a cigarette with your beer!!! This is torture! I was quietly sitting in Dubliners ordered my Export and lit a cigarette, when a barman came running to me and told me that I had to put out the cigarette. The surprised me, sat up and told him since when???? Well obviously there was no arguing about that!!! Cigarette out!!! The barman kept on teasing me all throughout the night..... when I went up for a beer, the guy kept on telling me 'What would you like? A smoke??' - Ha Ha.... Its very hard to get used to, even today when I went out of coffee with friends, and I got suddenly bored and had nothing to say, I could not put a cigarette in my mouth.... I guess its good though..... less chances of lung cancer!

2. I forgot how to drive!!! As soon as I stepped into the car, I could not start the car, and then I could not balance the clutch and the gas anymore!!!! and I could not remember which side to drive on!!! After a couple of mins I got the hang of it, but it took a while!

3. The best surprise of all though is the surprise I got yesterday morning, when I went for an innocent coffee with Tasha, Tom turned up!!!!!!

Tom and Thea in Malta

He surprised me and came to Malta for new year!!! I was in shock!!! I could not even stand up and hug him!!! It was the best surprise ever! Its nice to show Tom where I come from and what I have been speaking about in these past 6months! We spent these past two days sightseeing round Malta together with my parents..... My father was very excited to tell Tom all about Malta......

Daddy showing Tom around Malta

I guess I can say that I don't really miss much from Egypt now!!! Tom's here and I'm at home!!!! Though I must say I do miss my freedom and some of my friends there!!!!

Hangover???

I seriously had forgotten what its like to have a hangover until early this morning, when my sister tried waking me up at 9am so I could go to 10 o'clock mass with the family.

I had forgotten the splitting headache, the inability to open your eyes and the inability to think...... no need to say that I did not make it for mass!!!!!

Yesterday was great!!!! I went out early with Cynthia who is my best of friends, where we started off our first rounds at Dubliners together with a large dose of catching up!!! I had forgotten how good an Export tastes..... later, after 5 or 6 beers we staggered up to Paceville, on to Black Bull, Huggins and Coconut, then back to Black Bull where I left Cynthia and went to meet some other friends in Saddles...... needless to say that I was not in the best of states to walk down to Saddles and meet the people I have not been seeing in 6months!!!! The night could not have been better!!!!! There was Geraldine, Tania, Barbara - I missed Barbara, Donnie, Xelle, Ging, Simon, David - ahh I really missed David too, I still have his funny pic hanging up on my wall!!!! etc etc etc!!!!

Xmas Lunch...

So, I had to wake up with this terrible hangover, and face a day of 2 pairs of grandparents!!!!! Ahhh the headache!!!!!!! It was not that bad!!! Thank God it was only the 1st hour where I got all the attention from all 4... but later they took to talking to each other, and catching up on grandparents stuff.

Jevon being tortured by my mother..... and two grandmothers.... obviously suffering from a hangover too!!!!

The lunch could not have been better...... welcome drink, soup, followed by cannelloni, followed by potato bake, stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce, and stuffed lamb with mint sauce on a bed of vegetable, and to top it all up a nice chocolate gateaux. The meal lasted from mid-day till 3!!!! We had an hour break then had tea at 4 with panettone, Xmas cake, mince pies and Xmas pudding!!!! I can't move at all!!!! Forgot to say that loads of wine was used to wash this down!!

!

My Grandparents modelling the hat they found in the Xmas Cracker

The day ended with me having to go to mass, and driving for the 1st time in over 6months!!!! It was strange, I could not balance the clutch and the gas properly, but that's only till I got the hang of it!!! I met Ger in church, so after mass we went for a drive and did some catching up!!!!

My sister modelling the Xmas presents i gave her, and my father showing off the cannelloni!!!

I guess I can now say that after experiencing Xmas in 3 countries, there is really nothing like Xmas at home!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home.....

It has now been 24hrs since I've set foot on this island, and now I know why I missed it sooo much!!!!

I missed the tranquillity, the white buildings, the blue sea, the Maltese language mixed with English and above all the shops and the Xmas shopping!!

As soon as I got home, I ran once round the house to make sure all is still there and headed straight to bed! Woke up at 2 to find a nice good plate of Bragioli - Maltese dish of veal stuffed
with pork in a stew with potatoes!! - ready for me!! Already in heaven!!! Then I raided my old wardrobe to see if I've got any clothes I can still wear, as I've left most of my clothes in Egypt, and the rest of the clothes I have are too big!!!!

Then I headed off to Sliema to do my shopping - ahh I missed Sliema sooo much!!! Half of Malta was shopping there - I met so many of my old friends, old primary school friends, old uni friends!!! It was cool actually, I'll be walking by and I hear 'Haqq ghal madoff ara Thea' - which translated into English means something 'Shit look, there's Thea' or something like that!!!

I realised that I got accustomed to a lot of things in Egypt - the taxis!!! I decided to go into Sliema without the car cause I didn't feel like traffic, only to find, that unlike Egypt, when you're tired and exhausted, you cannot just holler a taxi to take you home - I had to keep the strong instincts of putting my hand out to get a taxi!!!

Another thing is that there is hair!!!!! No veils, girls in stylish clothes with hair! Though I actually saw 4 veiled women!!!! I never noticed if there were any before! but now I can
see that there are a couple!

The house is now smelling of mince pies, lamb and turkey, with Christmas decorations all over the house and Christmas carols playing in the living room!!!

As Becky told me when I met her in Sliema -

There's nothing like being home for Xmas!!!

Can't wait for my Xmas eve Celebration in Paceville tonight - packed with beer and fun!!!!

Off to another house....

For the 3rd time since I've moved to Egypt, i am moving house. My housemates decided to abandon me, so the apartment was too expensive for me to afford.

Thus Purvi and i decided to do some house searching and find the ideal place for us two....

After a weekend of apartments, we finally decided to take a little cozy apartment walking distance from both my place of work as well as hers!!!

Apart from the fact that the appartment walls and floors are painted in a gaudy green color, it also has satellite TV and a washing machine!!!!!!!! Ahhh luxuries!!!!!!!

We decided to move in overnight, so yesterday was a day of packing.... luckily i had work, and Tom was at home, so he did all the packing for me!!!! So once again we transported everything i owned from one place to another!!!

I fell bad cause i left my apartment in a rush, and did not even tell the landlords, the doorman was also sad, not cause i am leaving, but cause his only source of revenue.... ME.... is leaving!!!!!!

Last night a slept in the new house, and you cannot imagine how nice it is to sleep in a house that is warm and cozy!!! I do miss the sea, and the bright sunlight in the morning - but nothing
seems to be perfect!

Purvi is glad that she finally had privacy!! We made it clear to the landlady that we are having boys over, which she didn't seem to object to...

So we are both looking forward to nights of cooking together....... Washing machines.......... Satellite
TV...... the most amazing PUMPKIN cakes and last but not least....... BOYS!!!

Happy Birthday to me.....

So, as the title suggest, last Sunday was my 24th birthday..... can't beleive how time is flying, almost a quater of a century old. At this age my mother was already married and had me..... and i did not even start my career yet, let alone got married....

Anyway, although with the absence of alcohol, my birthday was great.... It started at midnight with phone calls from friends from Malta, and from Egypt.

I woke up on the cold Sunday morning - and i had to go to work! :( - nevertheless, i found a nice surprise..... as soon as i walked, in the receptionist played happy birthday on the piano in the hall, and when i went down to the garden, i found my old students waiting for me there with cake and tea and presents singing happy birthday!!!! A wonderful surprise! i was sooo touched!!!

Throughout the day some of my students came over to tell me happy birthday, one of my students drew a painting for me and gave it to me as a present!!! It was great cause i love her paintings!!!!

At the end of the day, work got a nice big cake and sang happy birthday to me!!! It was nice!!!! Dr Ahmed also gave me a present which was very nice of him!!!

The day did not end there! I then went home to find that Tom had re-decorated the house in a nice romantic athmosphere! with candles and stuff and a gorgeous dinner ending with stawberries and chocolate................

What a day!!!!!!

Change of Blogs.....

Ah I have finally decided to change my BLOG!!! I will miss my old MINDSAY, but I guess its about time to move onto new technology!!!!!!! If you still want to have a look at my old blogs go
ahead on thea.mindsay.com ...

Xmas in Egypt...

As Egypt is a 90% Muslim country, you would not expect any big do about Xmas. In fact there is no real big do about Xmas. In Cairo there are commercial celebrations on Xmas eve, that is the 24th of December, but no real religious celebration.

The religious celebration happens on the 7th of January, which is the day of the Coptic Xmas, where 7,000,000 out of the 70,000,000 people in Egypt gather at home, and thank God for the birth of Christ.

This is the first time I have not felt the Xmas spirit, no Xmas carols, no streets decorated in red, green and gold, no Xmas bazaars, and no Xmas shopping rush.... and funnily enough I can say that I miss it!!!

Though I must admit I have done my Xmas shopping in the bazaars of Manshejja!! :D

Last Friday we decided to feel some Xmas sprit, so Luli - the President of AIESEC Alex, took me and Purvi to a tiny Xmas bazaar organized by the scouts of one of the Christian school!! It was really nice to hear Xmas carols being played, everywhere decorated in red and green, children's snowmen drawn on the wall etc etc. The Bazaar was not very good, not much of a variety, but the highlight of the evening was a little children's choir!!!! They were adorable!!!! There was not much of a variety of songs as they only sang Jingle bells, in English, French and Arabic - can you believe there is Jingle Bells in Arabic too!!!!!! They were soooo cute!!!

Luli, Purvi and I then decided to go to Carrefour, as we heard that there was a Santa Clause there!!!! Purvi and I sand Xmas carols all the way to Carrefour, probably giving poor Luli a headache!!!

Santa was pretty disappointing, as he was not big and fat, and he was brown instead of white - besides he found posing with the teenage girls more exciting than with the screaming little children!!!

Can't wait to go home and spend a nice warm Xmas at home......

Gerry has been updating me on all the plans.... the choices are apparently barhopping or .... barhopping.... I guess we should then do what we do every year for Xmas..... barhopping.....

I wonder if we still go to midnight mass??? I guess if we start at Time Square, by the time we get to ST Julians we'd be a bit too drunk to go to midnight mass.... though on the other hand what would be different from the other years, where we piled up on the church stairs and slept which the poor boy was saying his Xmas sermon, which this poor boy has probably been preparing for, for these past 2 months!!!!

Another tick on my list....

Finally after 2years in Belgium, and 6months in Egypt, I have got down to doing what I really wanted to do...... community development work. I had tried joining some groups or NGOs in Belgium, but due to the lack of spoken French or Dutch, I was unable to be of any use to the associations.

This time I have found the place for me!!!! One of the reasons for accepting Egypt was also the ability to do some community development work, as obviously it is more needed here than in Belgium. I have finally bumped into Caritas which is an international organization. Here in Egypt they work with street children, HIV/Aids, Leprosy, community development - micro finance, woman's rights, health and many more!!!!! Caritas is also heavily involved with WHO and the UN!!!! coollll!!! - and they are right here in ALEX!!!!

So last Saturday stumbled into their office begging them to give me work!!! I accepted to work for free 3 times a week before a start work!!! - total night mare! that would mean that I'd be working for 14hrs 3 times a week!!! 8.30-11.30 caritas and 12.20-10.30 work!!! ahh!! but it will be worth it!!!

I haven't decided which section I would like to work in, as we decided that I will speak to the responsible when I get back! For the time being I am going round each department having a look at what they do. I am currently helping them write articles for their website....... and maybe later I might work on creating some proposals for the projects the association is running!!! I am really excited!!! The coolest thing is that I could also do some field work as well as administration work!! WOW!!!

Working with them there is also an Ex-Consultant to WHO - ahh can't wait to have chats with him!!!

The people are also sooo cool, and so nice and friendly!!! Two days ago we went out for sheesha with a German and an Italian volunteer, and this other Egyptian girl already invited me to her house next week. They are all so nice! and keep on telling me that if I feel lonely I can also come by!!

The disadvantage is, as in every Egyptian Organisation, there is a lot of bureaucracy, and at time things take a long process and a lot of work is done for no reason. But I guess I could try dealing with that!!!

My Private Chauffeur........

Ever thought how convenient it would be to teach English to a taxi driver??? Yesterday, while riding in a taxi, the taxi driver started asking the usual standard questions taxi drivers ask foreigners, or rather the questions I always encounter. First they laugh at the broken Arabic I use to tell them where I want to go. Then they ask the usual questions: You're not Egyptian right?, Where do you come from? Do you live in Alexandria? Are you married? Are your parents here? What are you doing in Alexandria? etc etc.

This taxi driver funnily enough got very excited when I told him 'Ana Mudaressa tal-Inglizi' which as far as I'm aware of means I am an English teacher. His sister and him wanted to learn English and he was asking me if could give him and his sister English classes, and how much would I cost etc. At that point in time I was getting a bit scared!!! A weird taxi driver wanting classes from me!!!! Ahhh and he also knows where I live!!!! I obviously told him no, cause where I work does not allow me to give lessons....

But I'm actually thinking about it now....... wouldn't it be great to teach a taxi driver in return for rides to different places???? I would teach him English and he would be my private chauffer to work................. I wonder if I'll encounter him again........... but thinking about it, although I've been in Alex for 6months and have taken on average 2 taxis a day, I don't think I have ever encountered d same driver....... so there goes my dream of a private chauffer!!!!!

Culture in Alex

Finally I got to do one of the things I have been wanting to do in a long time. Yesterday I decided to go and see what Cultural Events does the Alex Library have to offer - ( I also managed to get work to let me go at 8pm!!). Fortunately there was an Independent Bands Festival going on. It was great!!! We went into this massive auditorium, where we could hear a band playing live!!!

It was nothing mega spectacular, but it was nice to be able to sit back and listen to live music again!!!! I did not realize how much I missed it! It was a sort of soft rock music, maybe close to lounge music. You have the same things a normal band would have, though with a touch of the middle east, you had a guy playing the flute and another playing different types of tabul's - in addition to the usual drums, bass guitars, and electric pianos.

There was no singing as such but sort of sounds, which made it very relaxing. It felt as though I was in Belgium again. I could hear a lot of French and Arabic amongst the people present, and they were all wearing funky clothes - the type I have experienced in Belgium when I went to the cool places!

I wish I could do this more often - if only I had a 9-5 job :( !!!

Purvi and I then went to the one and only Mohammed Ahmed and feasted ourselves on homos, shakshuka and lentil soup!!!!!

The real world…..

It has now been 2 years since I finished university, and 6months since I left the student life – that is AIESEC and came into, what people call the real world. These past 6months did not seem like the 'real world' to me, cause I was always in contact with students, going out with AIESECers and young people, until last weekend.

Last weekend some selected teachers at the center attended an EgypTesol seminar (TESOL – Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages). Namely it was Amira (Egyptian - head of department), Dina (Egyptian English teacher), Maria (American English Teacher), Shaimaa (Egyptian English teacher), Mr. Demetre (Greek English Teacher and the eldest), and me. Accompanying us there was also Dr Ahmed (Boss and owner), Hebba (General Manager), Ahmed (Finance) and Essam (Technician and head of testing department). Quite a combination of people I must say.

The conference was held in Cairo, at the Sheraton Towers in Giza, one of the classiest hotels in Cairo.

Cairo

The view of Cairo from the roof of the Sheraton

The conference was definitely quite different from the conferences I have been too, which were mainly scouting or AIESEC conferences. There was no dancing in the morning plenary; there were no roll calls (thank God!!!). Everything was sooo very serious!!! – I guess this is what they mean by the real world. Nonetheless it was great fun!!! I was amazed by the way they take English teaching so seriously. It was not only about techniques of teaching etc., but it was also about

- how people learn,

- how to train

- how to teach social responsibility to students through English

- how to start educating the young children about culture through English.

- how to overcome cross-cultural communication and how to teach it to the students.

It is not just about learning a language, and in fact that is why I found it so interesting, because this is exactly why I am teaching English, not simply to teach other people a language, but to give them much more. I also got the opportunity of socializing, speaking to other people attending, namely also Professors of AUC (a big university in Cairo) and of AAST Alex (big uni in Alex), as well as Professors from big universities all over the world, namely UAE, Taiwan, UK, Australia and the US. I now know what I really want to do in life (or so I think) – no don't worry, I won't be teaching English all my life!!!!!!!

One thing I also found different from the AIESEC conferences and which I most definitely missed are the delegation meetings as well as the creative use of PowerPoint!!!! Our delegation was in such a mess, everyone was confused, and we got on each other's nerves very often, though always resulting in a big laugh. And the presenters used OHPs can you believe it!!!!!! I haven't followed a presentation using OHP in years!!!!!!!!!!! Though mind you, the few who did have PPts did not even know how to use the computer!!!!

The coolest thing about the trip was not only the conference, but the fun we had outside that!!!! First and foremost we left Alex at 5.00am to reach Cairo by 8.30am. We were meant to go in two cars. One car driven by Dr Ahmed (Boss) and the other by Ahmed (Finance guy). I got picked up at 5.30am – Thea as usual half asleep – to find Maria, Hebba, Dr Ahmed and Dina in the car singing and dancing to loud Arabic music!!!!! Ahh I though I could have a good sleep in the car – NO WAY. How could they have so much energy at that time in the morning?

Essam and Dr Ahmed trying to fix the car

Dina, Maria, Amira and I piled up in the back seat!

Anyway, after about 2hrs of driving, Ahmed's car decided that he's had enough. So smoke started coming out of the car in the middle of the desert road!!! The car totally gave up, it did not want to drive, and the 9 of us where there stranded on the desert road on the way to Cairo. Finally after Essam and Dr. Ahmed's attempt at repairing the car, we decided to all pile up in Dr Ahmed's car and drive the rest of the way to Cairo while Ahmed and Essam tried getting back to Alex to change car!!!!!! Ahhh what a laugh!!!! 7 in one car lost in Cairo!!!!! We finally made it to the conference 2hrs late, totally exhausted and unable to walk, to find out, that the conference had started and we were not allowed to enter the plenary (the AIESEC way!!!!). Ahh we did not worry much!!! We just sat in the Sheraton's luxurious lobby, drinking coffee until we were allowed in!!

Ahmed and Essam not impressed by the Belly Dancer!!!

Mr Demetre making the most of his time with the Belly Dancer

Mr Demetre having a chat with the Sufu Dancer

The evenings were also great fun!!! We decided to go on a Nile Cruise. Unfortunately due to the day's happenings we had no time to book, so we ended up going on a lousy boat with lousy food, but really cool entertainment. The Sufu dancer, as well as the belly dancer were a good laugh. We definitely had loads of fun. And it was cool sailing on the Nile and seeing Cairo at night!!! Cairo is most definitely a magical city!!!! It is always awake!!!!!

Celebrating Hebba's Birthday

We also got the opportunity of shopping in Cairo - way better than in Alex!!!! And enjoying Sheesha at Fishawi - the coffee shop that has been open for 24hrs every day for the last 200 years!!!!!

We then headed back to Alex, on Saturday at about 1am thus arriving in Alex at 5am - once again we got lost in Cairo and could not find out way out!!!!!