I can't wait for Ramadan.
In my (thus far) unsuccessful ventures to find permanent employment, I've been a yo-yo. I'm up, I'm down. I'm "man I need a job" to "maybe I can take time off and work on my writing/painting/sleeping." That second option sounds good, I know. But how long can it last?
There is something so desperate about making plans, making plans for your entire life, and then coming to a point where they're just not materializing, they are beyond your reach. And all you can do is seriously hope and pray that there is a better plan for you, even better than what you've been dreaming about.
Which is why I'm glad Ramadan is around the corner. Amidst the chaos of everything, the confusion of being, sometimes you need to clear it all out, vacuum your mind, wipe away the cobwebs (you get the metaphor), and get a new perspective on things.
Random doesn't always cut it for me. I am dying for a new perspective.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Bookshelf Identity
As per Faraz's general tag, my bookshelf. Let's see what we can deduce from the random stuff here.
Exhibit A
Textbooks from school, as well as one (very out of place) Stephen King book which I have never read. I promise you I didn't buy it. It was a gift. Various writing guides, a book of super-old English plays, stuff on mental health. In the left bottom corner there are some copies of The Muslim Voice from when I was editor (vanity much, I know).
Exhibit B
My favourite textbook of all time: Deviance and Social Control. That was possibly my all-time favourite course. I realized that society does not like deviants such as myself, but that it's okay because there are people out there who understand. As well as other random texts. The Brothers Grimm complete compilation of stories (which I borrowed from the MSA office once when we were cleaning it out. Nobody knows why it was there in the first place). Let me take this opportunity to say that they were perverts. All the fairy tales you read are watered down versions of the originals.
Exhibit C
Top left corner is a bunch of AlMaghrib course packages, then there's cream, sunglasses that I never wear, a jar of seashells I picked in Egypt three years ago, old poetry books. The Muqaddimah is there somewhere, too. Have yet to make a significant dent in it yet.
So Deduce what you will. Analyze what you will. I think it's a fair representation of my interests (except that Canadian Literature book which was full of super super boring stuff. Not that I dislike Canadian literature in general).
So how well do you think my bookshelf represents me? Not that you know me, really.
Exhibit A
Textbooks from school, as well as one (very out of place) Stephen King book which I have never read. I promise you I didn't buy it. It was a gift. Various writing guides, a book of super-old English plays, stuff on mental health. In the left bottom corner there are some copies of The Muslim Voice from when I was editor (vanity much, I know).
Exhibit B
My favourite textbook of all time: Deviance and Social Control. That was possibly my all-time favourite course. I realized that society does not like deviants such as myself, but that it's okay because there are people out there who understand. As well as other random texts. The Brothers Grimm complete compilation of stories (which I borrowed from the MSA office once when we were cleaning it out. Nobody knows why it was there in the first place). Let me take this opportunity to say that they were perverts. All the fairy tales you read are watered down versions of the originals.
Exhibit C
Top left corner is a bunch of AlMaghrib course packages, then there's cream, sunglasses that I never wear, a jar of seashells I picked in Egypt three years ago, old poetry books. The Muqaddimah is there somewhere, too. Have yet to make a significant dent in it yet.
So Deduce what you will. Analyze what you will. I think it's a fair representation of my interests (except that Canadian Literature book which was full of super super boring stuff. Not that I dislike Canadian literature in general).
So how well do you think my bookshelf represents me? Not that you know me, really.
Friday, August 24, 2007
♥ Canada ♥
I'm back, and it's great. I missed the quiet. I missed actually having the option of putting a seatbelt on in a car. I missed the pedestrian's right-of-way. I missed cleanliness and not being fearful of encountering large crawling things every time you venture into the outdoors (and indoors too actually). I missed fruit! Oh man, I missed fruit. Peaches and bananas and oranges and grapes that don't have flies hovering over them.
The funny thing about changing environments so fast is how you end up feeling about yourself. In Egypt, I'm practically considered irreligious. Aparently all the really dedicated Muslim women wear niqab or are on their way to doing so. But I just tended to blend in with all the other hijabi women. It was harder for me to focus on my Islamic identity there for some reason, even though you hear the athan 5 times a day and there are mosques everywhere. There's something about being in a non-Muslim country that makes me feel like I need to hang on to Islam a little tighter, that I need to be a stronger Muslim here. Someone please analyze this for me since I'm still too jetlagged to think straight.
I've decided that I love Canada. That is all. And now I am off to sleep for the next 15 hours.
PS: if anyone has a job they'd like to offer me, please feel free to do so. Thanks.
PPS: anyone wishing to phone me should realize that I no longer have a cellphone. Will likely buy one once I have more than $40 in my bank account. Bye.
The funny thing about changing environments so fast is how you end up feeling about yourself. In Egypt, I'm practically considered irreligious. Aparently all the really dedicated Muslim women wear niqab or are on their way to doing so. But I just tended to blend in with all the other hijabi women. It was harder for me to focus on my Islamic identity there for some reason, even though you hear the athan 5 times a day and there are mosques everywhere. There's something about being in a non-Muslim country that makes me feel like I need to hang on to Islam a little tighter, that I need to be a stronger Muslim here. Someone please analyze this for me since I'm still too jetlagged to think straight.
I've decided that I love Canada. That is all. And now I am off to sleep for the next 15 hours.
PS: if anyone has a job they'd like to offer me, please feel free to do so. Thanks.
PPS: anyone wishing to phone me should realize that I no longer have a cellphone. Will likely buy one once I have more than $40 in my bank account. Bye.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Buckles and Beads
So I'm traveling back to Toronto in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to coming home. Sometimes I get so frustrated here because I don't know my way around and have to rely on other people (who are often unreliable) to take me places. That's what I most about home: my independence.
But then, being still unemployed when I get back is going to suck. Being unemployed in Egypt isn't that hard since you'd fit in with the majority of people anyways. I think I'll miss it here.
Sometimes I think it'd be okay for me to live here for longer, to get a better taste of what every-day life entails. For some reason I've been thinking about what the Sound of Music would've been like if it were made in Egypt...
Bright neon clothing and shiny gold buckles.
Bearded old men with thobes and bloody knuckles.
That scraggly grey cat and the tune that it sings.
These are a few of my favourite things.
Bad English grammer on storefronts and t-shirts.
Glittery hijabs and tight short beaded skirts.
Half pound sandwiches fit for fat kings.
These are a few of my favourite things.
When the cars smash
when the streets stink
when I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things,
and then I don't feel so bad...
So yeah, Egypt has definitely had some unforseen effects on my brain cells. I need to re-grow them and come back to Canada.
But then, being still unemployed when I get back is going to suck. Being unemployed in Egypt isn't that hard since you'd fit in with the majority of people anyways. I think I'll miss it here.
Sometimes I think it'd be okay for me to live here for longer, to get a better taste of what every-day life entails. For some reason I've been thinking about what the Sound of Music would've been like if it were made in Egypt...
Bright neon clothing and shiny gold buckles.
Bearded old men with thobes and bloody knuckles.
That scraggly grey cat and the tune that it sings.
These are a few of my favourite things.
Bad English grammer on storefronts and t-shirts.
Glittery hijabs and tight short beaded skirts.
Half pound sandwiches fit for fat kings.
These are a few of my favourite things.
When the cars smash
when the streets stink
when I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things,
and then I don't feel so bad...
So yeah, Egypt has definitely had some unforseen effects on my brain cells. I need to re-grow them and come back to Canada.
Friday, August 10, 2007
The girl is MARRIED
No, not me. My sister got married yesterday here. So far two of my sisters have gotten married in Egypt...so yeah, it's been a busy time :)
It was chaos, pure and utter chaos. We went to the mosque and found that it was packed with other people who we didn't know. They had apparently double-booked the place: 2 nikkahs at the same time. So we sat in the crowded and hot prayer area and waited for the other nikkah to be over, which took just under an hour. My sister was sitting there and saying to me "uhh can you go make sure this isn't MY nikkah going on" since we couldn't see anything due to the crowdedness of the place. People pressing up against you while you're trying to breathe in the moment, very distracting.
So the unfamiliar crowds finally dissipated and we were left with our guests, mostly family (of which we have an unspeakable amount). There we were, looking over the balcony at the men's area, pointing out our cousins, waving at random relatives, listening to our uncles making speeches before the marriage was performed. It was surreal. You know when you have to do a double take in your mind to make sure what you're seeing and hearing is actually real? That's how it was.
Then she went down to sign the contract and fingerprint it, and came back up. We watched our dad with her fiance, now husband, "giving her away." And it was really a couple of seconds and it was over, and I looked at my sister and thought, you're married now. I cried like a baby, it was pretty despicable. To make up for it, I took around 200 pictures.
So the groom's family gave out chocolate and mango juice to the Egyptian crowd. Another custom they have here is that the groom gives the bride the "shabka" which is jewelry, including a diamond ring and blah blah. So what they do is put the jewelry on a platter and walk it around the mosque for people to ooh and ahh at. My sister was irritated. We all came back to our apartment and ate cake and drank pepsi and 7-up from glass bottles.
I must have greeted at least 80 people, most of which I didn't know. And each one got three kisses (sometimes four, depending on who they were). It was interesting, watching all these people, some complete strangers congratulating my sister so sincerely. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. I'm pretty sure every single person who said salaam to me said "3obalik," meaning "may you be next." I was afraid. The pressure is on.
The end. Amongst all the stress and arranging stuff for the wedding, I told my sister that as long as she's married by then end of the night, nothing else matters.
Now that's the end.
It was chaos, pure and utter chaos. We went to the mosque and found that it was packed with other people who we didn't know. They had apparently double-booked the place: 2 nikkahs at the same time. So we sat in the crowded and hot prayer area and waited for the other nikkah to be over, which took just under an hour. My sister was sitting there and saying to me "uhh can you go make sure this isn't MY nikkah going on" since we couldn't see anything due to the crowdedness of the place. People pressing up against you while you're trying to breathe in the moment, very distracting.
So the unfamiliar crowds finally dissipated and we were left with our guests, mostly family (of which we have an unspeakable amount). There we were, looking over the balcony at the men's area, pointing out our cousins, waving at random relatives, listening to our uncles making speeches before the marriage was performed. It was surreal. You know when you have to do a double take in your mind to make sure what you're seeing and hearing is actually real? That's how it was.
Then she went down to sign the contract and fingerprint it, and came back up. We watched our dad with her fiance, now husband, "giving her away." And it was really a couple of seconds and it was over, and I looked at my sister and thought, you're married now. I cried like a baby, it was pretty despicable. To make up for it, I took around 200 pictures.
So the groom's family gave out chocolate and mango juice to the Egyptian crowd. Another custom they have here is that the groom gives the bride the "shabka" which is jewelry, including a diamond ring and blah blah. So what they do is put the jewelry on a platter and walk it around the mosque for people to ooh and ahh at. My sister was irritated. We all came back to our apartment and ate cake and drank pepsi and 7-up from glass bottles.
I must have greeted at least 80 people, most of which I didn't know. And each one got three kisses (sometimes four, depending on who they were). It was interesting, watching all these people, some complete strangers congratulating my sister so sincerely. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. I'm pretty sure every single person who said salaam to me said "3obalik," meaning "may you be next." I was afraid. The pressure is on.
The end. Amongst all the stress and arranging stuff for the wedding, I told my sister that as long as she's married by then end of the night, nothing else matters.
Now that's the end.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
A summary of why shopping in Egypt is hard...
a) hideous clothing.
b) english that gives me a headache.
c) naked, dismembered mannequins.
b) english that gives me a headache.
c) naked, dismembered mannequins.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
If Only
Looking beyond the irritable flea and mosquito bites that are on every part of my body, the roaches as big as my face, and the general air of stinkiness, I like it in Egypt. People here are open with you. If they're angry, you'll know it. It's kind of entertaining actually when you see men getting out of their cars to argue with one another on who's right-of-way it was.
Or you know, weddings in the street with full out bands, blocking traffic. Or bearded men on motorcycles, with their niqabi wives and sometimes babies riding behind them (this entertains me to no end). There's the walking on the shore of the sea every day and watching the sun set. Everybody will talk to anybody.
Then there's the hearing the adhan 5 times a day, or more, and seeing people flock to the mosque, or pray in the streets because there isn't enough space in the mosque. And sometimes you'll find shops that close during prayer, and a sign on the door that says "we're praying." On Saturdays we attend this halaqa at the mosque for women, and there are always more than 100 women there, probably around 150 who come to listen each time. Makes me wonder about the sad halaqas I've been to in Toronto with a 4-people attendance.
My 7 year old cousin, who wears hijab now was telling me that her parents didn't want her to wear it yet. She's like, "I had to cry and scream so that they'd let me wear it." So I asked her why she wanted to wear it at all, and she replied "because it's summer, so it's going to be hot and I'll get more rewards because of the heat." There's being with your extended family and how it gives you more of a sense of identity and heritage.
This is likely why I find Egypt to be a place that's full of a culture that is so far from being indvidualistic. You can probably make this conclusion about every "back home," not only Egypt. So yes, if you look beyond the fact that you may not have hot running water, or that blackouts happen more often than you'd like, there is an enchanting quality to being among your peers, and when you've always wondered why you were a certain way, you find out.
And yet, I miss Toronto. I miss my university, Hart House Jummahs. I miss the subway, I miss MULTICULTURAL FOOD (esp somalian and Indian)!! I miss my buddies. If only, yes if only I could transport all of those things to here, I would be happy.
Or you know, weddings in the street with full out bands, blocking traffic. Or bearded men on motorcycles, with their niqabi wives and sometimes babies riding behind them (this entertains me to no end). There's the walking on the shore of the sea every day and watching the sun set. Everybody will talk to anybody.
Then there's the hearing the adhan 5 times a day, or more, and seeing people flock to the mosque, or pray in the streets because there isn't enough space in the mosque. And sometimes you'll find shops that close during prayer, and a sign on the door that says "we're praying." On Saturdays we attend this halaqa at the mosque for women, and there are always more than 100 women there, probably around 150 who come to listen each time. Makes me wonder about the sad halaqas I've been to in Toronto with a 4-people attendance.
My 7 year old cousin, who wears hijab now was telling me that her parents didn't want her to wear it yet. She's like, "I had to cry and scream so that they'd let me wear it." So I asked her why she wanted to wear it at all, and she replied "because it's summer, so it's going to be hot and I'll get more rewards because of the heat." There's being with your extended family and how it gives you more of a sense of identity and heritage.
This is likely why I find Egypt to be a place that's full of a culture that is so far from being indvidualistic. You can probably make this conclusion about every "back home," not only Egypt. So yes, if you look beyond the fact that you may not have hot running water, or that blackouts happen more often than you'd like, there is an enchanting quality to being among your peers, and when you've always wondered why you were a certain way, you find out.
And yet, I miss Toronto. I miss my university, Hart House Jummahs. I miss the subway, I miss MULTICULTURAL FOOD (esp somalian and Indian)!! I miss my buddies. If only, yes if only I could transport all of those things to here, I would be happy.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
A Tactless Nation
Check out this picture. This was a huge ad in a really upscale mall that I went to. Egyptians don't know what tact means, it's hilarious. 
Simiarly, this is a video of some dude calling out "Bikya." He basically rides around yelling this, and he means for people to come sell him their old stuff like pots and pans, then he sells it after he fixes it up.
Simiarly, this is a video of some dude calling out "Bikya." He basically rides around yelling this, and he means for people to come sell him their old stuff like pots and pans, then he sells it after he fixes it up.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Egyptian Hospitality
Egyptians and food, ahh well what can I say? It's really a great wonder that Egyptians are not an obese nation. You might find a small handful of relatively fat men and women, but I have yet to see an actual obese person. Egyptians love food.
When you go over to someone's house for dinner (which by the way is around 4pm here), you should basically make sure you've starved yourself for the previous two days, or else you'll likely die of being overstuffed. We were at my mom's friend's place, and she kept putting food on our plate, despite our pained cries that we were full. Egyptians get offended when you don't eat a lot. I'm sorry, they get offended even if you do eat a lot, but aren't writhing on the floor in pain. I know we're supposed to honour our guests, but this is taking it to a whole new level...
Needless to say, I got sick after the visit, and am still getting over it.
In other news, so far I've seen a fist fight in the street, and a fire in our apartment (Alhamdulillah none of us were hurt). Also, I saw this shirt that said "your boyfriend thinks I'm hot." I did a double take at this point, like uhhh what? Are you serious? But when I came closer to the shirt, lo and behold, it actually said "your boyerend thinks I'm hot."
Nice.
When you go over to someone's house for dinner (which by the way is around 4pm here), you should basically make sure you've starved yourself for the previous two days, or else you'll likely die of being overstuffed. We were at my mom's friend's place, and she kept putting food on our plate, despite our pained cries that we were full. Egyptians get offended when you don't eat a lot. I'm sorry, they get offended even if you do eat a lot, but aren't writhing on the floor in pain. I know we're supposed to honour our guests, but this is taking it to a whole new level...
Needless to say, I got sick after the visit, and am still getting over it.
In other news, so far I've seen a fist fight in the street, and a fire in our apartment (Alhamdulillah none of us were hurt). Also, I saw this shirt that said "your boyfriend thinks I'm hot." I did a double take at this point, like uhhh what? Are you serious? But when I came closer to the shirt, lo and behold, it actually said "your boyerend thinks I'm hot."
Nice.
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