New Name for Babies in Egypt....

Babies in Egypt are no longer going to carry the Muslim names of Mohammed, Ahmed, Zieneb, Aya or Dina.....

From now on all babies are going to be called Thea!!!!!

Well, this is according to the maid at the Center I work at....... Yesterday she came running to me!!!! My usually communication to her is:

Enter the Center

Thea: Sebah il khir (Good Morning)

Maid: Sebah in nur Izzejjek Ya Thea (good day, how are you 'Ya' Thea)

and that is it!!! Until yesterday she started blabbing in Arabic to me really excitedly, that is when i figured that it is not only a good morning!!!!!

Apparently, after a translation i figured that she was really excited cause her cousin had a baby, and they did not know what to call her so the maid suggested to call the baby Thea after me!!!! Obviously with an Egyptian pronunciation which would be Tdia!!!

I was thrilled!!!! I want more babies named after me!!!!!!!!

Coolest Site Ever....

While looking for info about the Muslim Population and the Christrian Population, i bumped into what, in my opinion is one of the coolest website!!!!

The ranking website!!!!

And the coolest of all is that i found out that Malta is not at all the Smallest country in the world Yippee!!!! but it is the 9th Smallest country in the world with the Vatican being no. 1 and Liechtenstein ranking above Malta Yippeee!!! Though i guess Malta does not have too much of a chance in winning its fight against Luxembourg in the EU, as its still smaller than Luxembourg!!!!

Also Malta ranks 19th in the Highest life Expectancy Ranking with an average death age of 78.68 years - long live the Maltese!!!!

Nevertheless the Australians rank 7th with 80.26 years, but that's only cause most of the people in the country are Maltese descendents! ;P

I hope Tom won't be too sad for living the last 2yrs of his life without me! ;)

Though mind you, i have my doubts whether i'll actually reach the age of 50 let alone 78, at the rate i'm living life right now!!!! Should start that jogging on the Strand!!!

P.S. - did you know that the least happy country in the world is Russia and the Happiest country in the world is Nigeria!!!!! - I'm off to Nigeria!!!

P.S......

Forgot to add an important point of change in my life.....

8. My viewpoint on Islam...

After skimming through a book i got from a student called 'Allegations against Islam' and discussing it with Luli and Kenny i have realised that i too had a couple misconceptions about Islam, and realised that all the thing some 'Muslims' claim is from the Quoran is not really from there but its really an adaptation.... The discussion of the fact whether Islam is for Arabs or not, and why are the majority of Muslims are Arabs is also something we discussed thoroughly while sipping funny Indian drinks and eating Tikka Massala and Poo jumping up and down trying to tell us to shut up and enjoy her food!!!!!!! We also discussed Christianity vs Islam etc etc, very interesting and cool!!!!! I guess i have a different opinion on Islam and Christianity now!!!! I love being in Egypt and talking about these things!!!!

9. My view on life..

I have actually realised (from what i'm passing through now) that i do not view life in the same way!!! After living in Belgium i learnt how to plan, be organised and have control over my life, after coming to Egypt i have learnt how to forget all i have learnt in Belgium!!!! I have learnt to relax, have fun and take it day by day as life can be very unpredictable and worring only makes you grow older faster!

Changes and Adventures....

So much has happened in my life since I last wrote!!!! As I don't have all day I write, and probably you guys won't have all day to read I'll make sure they're brief.....

1. Quit my job..

This is I guess the biggest change of them all..... Probably loads of you are saying why this and why that!!! There are many reasons why and I am unable to list them down!!! Anyhow the decision has been made and the resignation letter has been delivered!!! I will finish the work I have by mid march and then start a new life!!! I will most definitely miss my work place, my colleagues and most of all my students, but I definitely wont miss the working hours, the slavery and the queasy security guy who tries chatting me up every day!!!! What next you might be asking!!! Ahhh I wish I could answer this question too.......!!! I hope inspiration comes to me soon cause time is running out! But continue reading and you'll find out in Point 2.

2. What Next...

I have not decided 100% on what's next...... There are many options.....

a) Go back home and settle there,

b) Go to Cairo and live the adventure a bit more

c) Beg Dr Ahmed to give me the job back

d) Ahh, I don't think there is a d.

I think the plan right now is to move to Cairo, try getting some random jobs so as to survive and enjoy my time in Egypt!!! Definitely still have to do my tour of the Red Sea and explore Cairo more!!! I don't know whether to be sad or happy!!! I am actually happy cause its a really big step for me! I have now gotten out of the shell I was in and all on my own!!! On the other hand I am dead scared - though after ll, why worry?, if things come to the worst Malta is not that far off!!!! In case of lack of cash I'll give it a go at swimming! I'll definitely miss Alex, the sea and the people - it surely has a small place in my heart!

3. Found the Man

Yeah, my mornings are brighter now, my man is back (I am sorry Tom, you still have a big place in my heart don't worry)!!!!! Once again I have a nice smiley toothless old man to say good morning to every morning - though not for long :( - I guess I'll miss him too!!!

4. Two Nights of Drunkenness

Ok Ok it might not be a change in me, but it is most definitely a change in my Egypt lifestyle!!!! Yes, on Thursday night I decided to celebrate my bright decision of quitting by opening a bottle of Maltese Wine with Kenny and Purvi which turned out to be a big party with Luli, Nassef, Poo, Rudy, Saki, Amanda, Hashem, Emad and actually I cannot remember who else!!!! On Friday night I then decided to open another bottle of Maltese wine as a despirate call to foget about my stupid decision of quitting, which turned out to be a night of Pasta and Wine with Kotteiba gossiping about work and life - Kotteiba actually promised to be my guardian angel in Cairo - I hope it was not the effect of the wine!!!

5. Clearing my stuff...

Yeah indeed, Thea is throwing away!!! The maniac who keeps every rock and torn ugly shoe decided to
get rid of unwanted stuff..... I figured that I cannot really get to Cairo with a convoy of 3 cars filled in with my rubbish (as was the case in all the 3 times I have moved till now), so I figured that if I start throwing away bit by bit it would not be as painful as throwing away everything altogether!!!

6. Exploring..

This is actually another stupid Thea weekend adventure!!! Thea, still hangover and overcome by the total madness, decided to go exploring down town with a camera round her neck, and totally resolved in taking pictures and finding the second hand book market!!! I totally succeeded in finding the second hand book market, in getting followed by and middle aged Egyptian maniac, as well as getting hopelessly lost and definitely succeeded in not taking any pictures what so ever!

7. Curry at Poo's

This has definitely caused a change in my intestines, as, after a night of Indian Curry at Poo's I woke up with a really bad upset stomach!!! Sorry Poo, the Chicken Tikka Massala was excellent and even that vegetable thing, but it seems as though my stomach does not totally agree with me!!!!

Another Cooking Disaster!!!!

After two years in Belgium, in the heart of the best cuisine in Europe, I have mastered the art of cooking and of feeding myself with meals that don't consist of frozen pizza or packets of crisps!!!!

..... until I came to Egypt, where Mc Donald's, KFC and any other restaurants in Egypt for this matter, delivers to your door. So who can be bothered with cooking when you have places such as Mohammed Ahmed which costs nothing, and La Casetta or KFC which come to your door????

Thus after 7months of no cooking (only maybe a plate of pasta here a there - with ready made sauce) I had my doubts whether I still had the hang of cooking!!!

Emily sent me an e-mail lately saying that she has finally managed to cook specialties such as Thai and Chinese, so if she managed then I definitely could try out Egyptian Cuisine!!!! (no offence Emily! ;))

And what best to start with than my favorite dish in the whole world - Baba Ganoush!!!!! For those who don't know this is a Middle Eastern dip made out of eggplant and Tehina. My eggplants roasted beautifully and filled the house with the wonderful smell!!!!! But I don't know what went wrong after that and my attempt at making my lovely Baba Ganoush failed miserably!!!!! I guess as a non-Egyptian I could not master Tehina very well!!!!

Anyway as you can imagine that was not very good on my morale, so I decided to attempt making the Maltese Qassata or you could call them little pies - so the first ingredient was the short crust pastry - not too bad considering I did not have any weighing scales to know how much butter, flour or water - the texture was satisfactory - though I still prefer the ready made ones - considering that as well as flour in the pastry I got flour all over myself and the kitchen floor!!!! He he I was quite a sight when the landlord knocked on the door and found a weird foreigner covered in white from head to toe!!!!

Nevertheless the pastry looked fine, and now the filling was left!!!! I had no meat for a meat pie, and no cheese for a qassata, so I decided to make a vegetable pie, so I boiled and fried all the vegetables I had in the house, and turned it into what I thought was the perfect mixture for my pies!!!!

Then the final thing was left!!! Rolling out the pastry and turning them into pies!!! I had no rolling pin, so I turned an old jam jar into a rolling pin, and rolled out the pastry on a chopping board - the result was - the chopping board, the jam jar, the kitchen table, the kitchen floor, some plates and Thea where full of pastry and flour!!!!!

Eventually I managed to make 6 funny looking vegetable pies!!!!!! Which after all the effort I could not eat, so I put into the freezer for the weekend!!! If I do not survive the weekend, you might know the reason why!!!

So this is the end of my 4 hour cooking experience yesterday night!!!! I am now totally exhausted with a
really low morale!!!!!! - I can't cook!!!!!!

Ps. Kull sena u inti tajjba (happy new year!!) for all the Muslims and Happy St Paul's day for all the Maltese!!!

I lost my man.....

It is actually very sad, and my days at work are no longer the same......

For the past 7 months that I've been working in Egypt, namely at the Egyptian American Cultural Center, I've always seen this old man, with a big broom in his hand sweeping the pavement in front of the Center. He was not employed by the center, but I guess he was employed by the government.

He is quite an old man, with snow white hair and a funny cap, a bit of a hunch back, nice sparkling eyes, and a nice toothless smile.... quite a character.....

I never actually spoke to this man, but every morning, when I get to work, and every evening when I finish work I see him sitting on the pavement with the broom in his hand, and every day, every time I pass from next to him he stands up and he tells me ' Ma Salaama ' which would mean hello or literally translated ' Bless you'.

At first I used to ignore him and think that he was one of those weird Egyptians who you see in the street who greet you cause you're white and obviously a foreigner, and who follow you in the street shouting 'Welcome welcome' in the funny Egyptian accent.

But he was not one of those, how could you resist the persistence in telling me hello every time I walked passed even though I ignored him??? So I gave in, and took it in as a habit to look out for him every morning and make sure I reply to his 'Ma Salaama' which is what I have been doing for these past 3 months.....

Until lately I have not seen this man anymore..... I wonder what has happened to him..... maybe he fell sick...... maybe God decided to call upon him...... or maybe he gave up on me and went to
look for some other foreigner........

It has actually been one week since the last time I saw him, and I miss him - he used to start my day and close it with his 'Ma Salaama' but now he is no longer there......

He did not know my name or where I came from and I did not know his........ and now my MAN is no longer there.........

Natco 2005...

When I was first asked if I could chair the Egyptian Natco I was very hesitant, the main reason being that I had had a chairing experience before when I chaired the Maltese NLDS, it was probably one of the most satisfying AIESEC experience I have ever had, and I did not really want to ruin this picture I still had in my head....... the second reason being that I had left AIESEC 7months ago, and did not remember any of those things a chair usually remembers......

Anyway eventually I decided to agree, and after one hour of intense convincing my boss also agreed to give me the day off.....

The experience was great..... yeah, I still didn't remember any of those roll calls and stuff, and yeah I did not really feel the AIESEC feeling and motivation etc etc, but I did feel the spirit of the people..... I did understand sparkle in their eyes when they spoke about realizing more exchanges about goals etc etc and above all I really felt the excitement and nervousness the candidates felt both the ones running for President and the ones for vice-president!!

I have realized that Chairing is pretty much the same as teaching, you have to keep your audiences' attention, you have to motivate them to learn and act and you can also have good laughs and chats with them - I guess that is why I love teaching so much, I love seeing my students looking forward to come to class, I love having a laugh with them, practicing my Arabic with them during the breaks etc !!!!

One great thing about the conference was also that Jen Harwood was there!!! Jen and i had been meeting once every 6 months for the past 4 years, since the first time we met in IC in Switzerland!!!! It was so nice to see her again, see that she is well, and see that she still kept her great spirit and personality!! I wonder where life will take us in the next 6months, and whether we will be able to meet again!!!

Finally this experience was great!!!! Although you had to be mega careful about the culture, and you definitely cannot do the things we did in Malta or Belgium, you could still have a good laugh without people acting out sex positions, or licking chocolate off each other, or getting really drunk during conferences and having kissing competitions etc!!!!!!

I guess this is also one of the things i love most about the Egyptian culture........

And now i am suffering the after conference consequences, though for the 1st time in 8yrs i could not take a day off after the conference, or scive lectures, i had to turn up at work nice and bright the following morning to work!!!! You can just imagine what a sight that was.....