Flickr

I have jumped on the great Flickr bandwagon too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/souzanmansour/

:)

Baladna.

Baladna [noun]: our country.

Last month, if you had asked any young adult in Egypt who's country this is, they would've said, "baladhom" - their country. Theirs. The people at the top. The people who have been running this country for the last 30 years or so. The corruption, the poverty, the unemployment, the inhumanity. Theirs. Baladhom.

Tuesday January 25th 2011. I remember thinking, "Why is everyone calling it a revolution? A few thousand people are hanging out downtown. Whats the big deal? They're gonna get rounded up by the riot police before we can all blink." By the end of the night, there were a couple of hundred thousand. The next day there was a quarter of a million. By Friday, there was a million. There was violence. People died. But there was a revolution, and nobody could deny it or say otherwise. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 3 weeks, then you've heard about all this already.

Friday February 11 2011. The end of Hosny Mubarak's dictatorial 30 year rule over Egypt. But I bet you knew that too.

Here's what you don't know: the Egyptian youth have memorized more nationalistic songs in the past 3 weeks than they're ever likely to memorize. They have stood shoulder to shoulder with people they were willing to die with. They know who our ministers are. They understand politics. They even have a political opinion. They have learned to hope. All of them.

I have never felt quite as Egyptian as I'm feeling right now. I've memorized the songs, stood with them, understood our politics, hoped with them. Felt the change. Wanted and fought for freedom, humanity, liberty, and dignity. Basic human rights that the youth of this country are only starting to feel today for the first time. Human rights I would've fought for anywhere in the world.

Today, if you ask any young adult in Egypt who's country this is, they will say, "baladna" - our country. OURS. Mine and yours. Mine to stamp out the corruption, mine to clean up (literally and figuratively), mine to voice my opinion about, mine to work in, mine to thrive and grow in.

For someone as homeless as me, the events of the last 3 weeks have reassured me that I will always have a home in Egypt.

Balance

Ok. So have you ever felt like you life is completely whacked out? I've been feeling unbalanced lately. Something is just completely off these days. And it's leading to some serious focusing problems, where I can barely keep a thought in my head long enough to even know what I'm thinking about. It literally feels like I'm walking a tightrope and I keep slipping and forgetting to just put one foot in front of the other. D'you know wha I'm talkin about?

Ok. So maybe it's because I've been cooped up in Cairo for the last month and I'm gonna be here for the next month before I start traveling again. First I was just taking a breather between travels, but then the whole political revolution (YAY) is now happening here and traveling in and out of my house has become difficult, let alone trying to travel in and out of the country. Anything can happen right now and if I do somehow manage to travel out, then there might be problems coming back in...

Ok. So maybe something else is going on. I just started reading this book, Getting Things Done, by David Allen, it's supposed to be really good. And right off the bat in the first chapter he says that whenever there are unfinished things in your life, they keep pulling at your attention, and your subconscious mind keeps thinking about them in the back of your head, making you unfocused in the rest of your life. Does that make any sense? It kind of hit a note with me. I'm just not sure what kind of unfinished business I have going on. Maybe it's an unfinished conversation, or maybe it's a relationship I'm trying to figure out, or maybe it's just all in my head. I need to get out of my head and do a complete life assessment. Sounds easy enough...Right?

Houston, we have a problem

Alright. So I'm in Egypt, Cairo to be exact, right now. Things are tense. The country might explode. And I'm too glued to the TV/Internet/Twitter etc to actually be blogging. However, I shall post as soon as things calm down a little bit.
Prayers plz!

Note: I have jumped on the awesome Twitter bandwagon! Find me: SouzanMansour
*gasp* you now know my real name haha it wasn't kept a secret on purpose but it really didn't matter... did it?

Let's go to Malawi?

This young man makes me want to visit his village in Malawi just to see how he built a windmill to power his family compound jut by reading about one in a book. Such inspiration.

La Vie En Rose

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose

When you kiss me heaven sighs
And tho I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom

And when you speak...angels sing from above
Everyday words seem...to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose


Such simple words, such beautiful meanings, such a good song. Soundtrack of another favorite movie, Jeux D'enfants (English title: Love me if you dare).

Let's call the whole thing off...

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Can you really go wrong?
Yes it has nothing to do with traveling, but it does have something to do with miscommunication... which happens a lot.
Plus I just really like this song :) And it reminds me of one of my favorite movies, When Harry Met Sally.

Day of Anger

January 25, 2011.
The Day of Anger, as it was called.

If you've been paying attention to global news, you might have realized what's happening in the Middle East. The people have had enough. Enough corruption, enough unemployment, enough poverty, enough is enough. And this is how Egypt has responded. This is a picture of Tahrir (which means Liberation) Square in downtown Cairo on the night of Jan 25th. Over 30,000 protesters gathered here, with tens of thousands more in different cities across the country. A day that might change Egypt forever. We can only wait and see.

The Middle East, my beloved Middle East, has had enough, and things will never be the same again - I hope.

(Note: I didn't take this picture, but I sure am proud of it.)

Today I Learned...

Family > travel plans.
Sometimes a change to the itinerary can be a good thing.

Today I Learned...

That the power of imagination is unrivaled by anything in this world.

Qatar: Top moments

Qatar really grew on me.


Moment 1:
The perfect skyline of downtown Doha, the capital city, that you can see from loads of places. I love the contrast of the old dhow boat against the all the modern buildings. Another meshing of old and new that I love so much.


Moment 2:
Sunset at Souq Waqif, the old bazaar area, in Doha. Enjoyed this day with new friends and old friends. My favorite place in Qatar hands down. Interesting fact: what is today known as Souq Waqif is actually a recent reconstruction of the entire place. This same place used to have the main bazaar of the city, which was taken down to make room for the new city. However, in an effort to restore places of important heritage, Qatar has rebuilt the Souq once more. So it's old... but new.


Moment 3:
(It's blurry, I know, but it was night time so the shutter was open for ages cuz I hate using flash and the only source of light were those little spotlights that you cant see but can only see the light emanating from them in the top of the picture. Point is: I still love it :)
Exploring new places with new friends that I feel like I've known forever! This was at the beach at the new Cultural Village, an area full of art centers, open air theaters, restaurants, coffee houses, music festivals, photography and art galleries, AND a beach. Yup.

Bahrain: Top moments

Moment 1:
Visiting the breathtaking Al-Fatih Mosque in Manama. Such serenity. A beautiful portal to an information center on Islam.


Moment 2:
Iqra'. Read. The first word to be revealed to the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from God. Bahrain has an amazing way of capturing real culture, arts, history, and tradition. I wish other countries would take a hint on how to preserve greatness.


Moment 3:
Me + sunset + the gulf = love.

Kuwait: Top moments

Moment 1:
Great food + great company = great night! Having chocolate fondue at Chocolate Bar while catching up with friends I've known since elementary school. Eating out in Kuwait is an intensely amazing culture, and I took full advantage of it!


Moment 2:
Shopping at Souq Mubarkia, the old trade area in Kuwait. Probably my favorite place in Kuwait. Also the best place to have chai haleeb (milky steeped red tea with herbs) and qeymar (cream) - honey fatayer (large round layers and layers of soft puff dough, oven baked), which tastes as heavenly as it sounds.

Andddd I'm back

Just got back to Egypt from my trip through the Gulf region. I did Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar for about a week each. In the next couple of days I'll be posting up the top moments from each country, as well as my take on each one.

Stay tuned! :)

BB

Today I Learned...

That, for me, being in a place more familiar is usually more stressful than being somewhere new. I guess you can call traveling my personal therapy.

Qatari proverb

Well...I'm not sure if it's a proverb or not. But apparently calling someone a bee is a good thing.

It is said that someone is a bee when that someone is optimistic and sees the good in everything. Even when a flower is covered in insects and all sorts of nasty things, a bee still manages to see the sweet honey at the heart of the flower. Like a bee, this person sees the good at the heart of all matters.

Be like a bee :)

Island Girl

Sunset of my last day in Bahrain, Jan 2nd 2011. What a great way to end a great trip. Can't ever forget this day.

Bahrain...

...where you feel like you really are on an island, where you can see the water from almost anywhere, and where you can smell the ocean every time the breeze wooshes by.

Top 5 Moments in Kuwait

There were many, but these ones top the list, in no particular order:

- spending time with childhood friends I haven't seen in over 10 years
- attending my first Kuwaiti wedding
- dipping my toes in the beautiful Gulf
- having too much chai haleeb, Kuwaiti milky tea in the very old Souq Mubarkia
- going to a horse riding competition

Kuwait, I will be back.

Today I Learned...

That just because you haven't talked to someone (minus facebook) in over 10 years, doesn't mean your friendship had died.

Fun in Kuwait!

Alright, hello there Kuwait :)
So as I mentioned before, I was born and raised in Kuwait for the first 11 years of my life. Despite all of those years, I'm back in Kuwait after 10 years... and I don't remember a thing! I thought maybe my memory will be jogged by the things around me, but things just look so different and... smaller? I think I was just much smaller so things seemed so big when I was a kid.

The things I do remember: my school (Kuwait English School), the big (not-so-big) supermarket, the building where I used to live (but I have no idea how to get to).... okay so maybe I don't actually remember that much.

However, I'm meeting up with friends I haven't seen in 10 years. This is by far the best thing about re-visiting Kuwait.

I'll post about the best of Kuwait soon :) I'm too busy taking it all in for the moment.

Living vs Visiting

There are two tell-tale signs that you are now living in a country vs just being here for a visit:
1. You can go grocery shopping alone
2. You bake

So yesterday, I did both of those things! I was out and realized we're missing a few things and that I was close to the store where we usually buy our groceries, so I just popped in and bought a few things. Alone. It felt kind of weird and great :)

Naturally, I also bought some ingredients that I normally wouldn't buy if I was on the road: cinnamon, brown sugar, a big block of chocolate, walnuts... It just felt like a great day to bake something. One of the blogs I love is Joy the Baker's cooking/life blog. Makes my day that much sweeter. The reason you normally wouldn't bake while on the road is the simple fact that baking requires utensils and ingredients that aren't everyday, for example, whisks, flour, brown sugar, etc.

I made some delicious apple crisp last night. And I feel closer to living in Egypt than just being here for a visit.

Op.

The TSA 'gropefest' - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The TSA 'gropefest' - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

I just wonder how far this ridiculousness will go.

JOA

http://joamuslimah.blogspot.com/

...because we are all on our own journeys, together :)

Dr Tariq Ramadan 1

One of the professors who make my brain tick and who's ideas I like to read up on.

I'm looking at some of his articles and came across this one that really spoke to me today. Enjoy!