Thursday, September 29, 2005

crazy

when two crazy people meet, the only thing expected is that the conscience is having a rest and the only thing left there is a dream... after that crazy moment, no one knows was it real or not, there is no proof except what is in the mind which is already crazy trying to figure out the reality from the dream, maybe it was too good to be true or too unexpected to believe.. at the end of the day, the sun has gone, the moon is high in the sky, people go to sleep, or watch tv, maybe going out, the life keeps going but the crazy is more crazy, trying to hold on that crazy moment too much that it is becoming now the reality...
i guess i'm turning crazy myself, and it is only the beginning of the day!! maybe the effect of the last day of work before the weekend ;)

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Jean de La Fontaine

I attended tonight a spectacle of modern dance of 3 of the compositions of La Fontaine. he is a french poet who wrote many poems of animals. the show was great, it was original, simple but expressive, a nice experience.
here is the text of one of the 3 played tonight in french then translated in english.
this is a link for all texts (french and most of them translated in english) http://www.jdlf.com/lesfables

Le Corbeau et le Renard

Maître Corbeau, sur un arbre perché,
Tenait en son bec un fromage.
Maître Renard, par l'odeur alléché,
Lui tint à peu près ce langage :
"Hé ! bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau.
Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau !
Sans mentir, si votre ramage
Se rapporte à votre plumage,
Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois."
A ces mots le Corbeau ne se sent pas de joie ;
Et pour montrer sa belle voix,
Il ouvre un large bec, laisse tomber sa proie.
Le Renard s'en saisit, et dit : "Mon bon Monsieur,
Apprenez que tout flatteur
Vit aux dépens de celui qui l'écoute :
Cette leçon vaut bien un fromage, sans doute. "
Le Corbeau, honteux et confus,
Jura, mais un peu tard, qu'on ne l'y prendrait plus.

The Crow and the Fox

Master Crow perched on a tree,
Was holding a cheese in his beak.
Master Fox attracted by the smell
Said something like this:
"Well, Hello Mister Crow!
How beautiful you are! how nice you seem to me!
Really, if your voice
Is like your plumage,
You are the phoenix of all the inhabitants of these woods."
At these words, the Crow is overjoyed.
And in order to show off his beautiful voice,
He opens his beak wide, lets his prey fall
The Fox grabs it, and says: "My good man,
Learn that every flatterer
Lives at the expense of the one who listens to him.
This lesson, whitout doubt, is well worth a cheese."
The Crow, ashamed and embarrassed,
Swore, but a little late, that he would not be taken again.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

news

i didn't know that the US is learning from Egypt, arresting protestors cos they protested without an authorisation in front of the white house against the war in Iraq... we should be very proud!!http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/26/wardemonstrations.ap/index.html

Monday, September 26, 2005

Ce qu’on ne peut pas dire, il ne faut surtout pas le taire, mais l’écrire.
[ Jacques Derrida ]

What we can't say, it must not be kept in silence but be written.
(my translation).

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Report 5 (14/08/05)

We went to Bonn by train in the morning. it is a nice city but it was raining. it is not that big, but it has beautiful scenes on the Rhine. also there's the house where the famous Beethoven was born. it is a museum now, we had visited it. without talking much about history (i know my friends heard this million of times). i love his music, he is one of my favourite composers from a long time. i think first pieces i played for him was bagatelle and fur elise. now i play sonata pathetique which is extraordinary, it takes u from one place to another and i begin to play moonlight sonata (i bought it from the museum, 1st piece to buy by myself). i guess i'll post someday about beethoven. i discovered that he was not that rich, he was in debt, he owned one of the 1st if not the 1st bond in i don't remember what in zwitzerland.. etc.
after this we went for a walk. we entered the cathedrale, there's an coptic icon, gift grom egypt. we had a walk in a street with very old houses (starting from the 1400's). it was unbelievable, we couldn't believe they were that old, they were as bright as new.
we met in the street an old man, who stopped us and whe he found that we were from egypt, he kept talking and talking, in german. we had with us egyptian friends living in Bonn so they talked with him and the rest of us, just waiting till end of discussion.. and suddenly, he began to sing. i don't remember why he sang, but it was so funny. we had a nice lunch (than God it had stopped raining during it, just after finishing it ran again).
at the end, we took the train, we went to Liverkusen to attend a celebration mass for all volunteers. it was too crowded, imagine big stadium, the BayArena, almost packed with volunteers in red (about 27000 people). we made the mexican wave (1st time with me). it was cool. in overall i was excited to be there and had a great time.
after that, it was a disaster. imagine all that number going to the train station. we finally get in a train to go back to Cologne, but we were like in a sardine can (as the proverb says), even worst than the transport bus in egypt (not the CTA). i don't remember i was in that situation in the metro in egypt. anyway we arrived with no damage, except that my ID holder was torn, for the 1st time (it became a habit after that.. lol).

i forgot to say, Beethoven died in the same day as i was born (of course not in the same year).. i know my friends will kill me cos i have been repeating this. forgive me, i couldn't not tell.

one last thing: would u like me to continue posting these reports? or do u think it's an old story? or writing with a very slow rate and i just have to write the rest all together?

answer: Jean Philippe Lauer

i was hopping that anyone could anwer that.

in my opinion, Lauer is the gardian angel of Sakkara. In 1926, he came to Egypt after obtaining the diplome of architecture. he lived in a small house near Sakkara. what is different about him? many egyptologues or archeologues came to egypt. well, not at all, nobody was like him. for about 70 years he reconstructed the old fence surrouding the Sakkara complex. He rebuild the colonnades and the funerary temple, stone by stone. can u imagine how it was before that, what a great job he did!! he discovered socle of a statue of Djeser (Zoser) with inscription of Imhotep as the architect of this place and great priest. Imhotep is the oldest known architect known in history, he is behind the Sakkara complx, 2800 years BC.
He gave life to Sakkara, and spend most of his life living there. his dream was to build a museum there.
He died in the 15th May 2001, at the age of 99, but he'll live forever in the heart of the city.

P.S: this is a brief overview about him, he wrote many books, he achieved great work. if u ever go there, just have a look at the place and think about him. i guess u'll discover more and more about him if searching on the net.

this is an interview i found on the interent but in french in 1999
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jean-marc.mercier/lauer.htm

colonnade at sakkara complex, reconstructed by Lauer Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 23, 2005

question

Hello, i'll ask a question, u just comment yes or no.
Do you know who is Jean Philippe Lauer or did u hear about him before?
if yes, plz don't say who he is. if no, i'll write about him so don't worry.
this is not a survey, i just wonder how many people know him.
thanks.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

when the desire revolts

2 days ago i attended a great play (theatre). it was a monologue, just one guy talking. it was really cool and he was brilliant. without getting into details cos i won't be given him enough credit, i'll take just one idea among all subjects touched.
the guy was impersonating 3 characters inside the subconsience: the desirs, the mind and the dreams. the desirs want to go out, to get free, but the mind stops them and doesn't give them any freedom and eventually kills them. the desirs have only one chance, which are the dreams that can take them from one place to the other side, through the thick walls of the mind.
i was really impressed by this, and now i'm thinking about my life. currently, i have desirs that want to go out and be achieved but a lot of things just block them and destroy them like when a cup of glass is broken into million of pieces, after having a crack. i feel this crack and i want by any way fix it or at least stop it from expanding.. these days i don't dream that much, i guess i am too tired and have to get up early for work so i just don't dream or maybe i dream but i don't remember what i dream of the following day.. so i need that thing to pass through these walls, to not suffer cos of the desirs i have even though most of the time we have to suffer till we arrive to what we want.. why everything is that difficult? why life is that difficult? why can't we just live as we want to live? why we have to think about every single detail that might happen just in case. i'm tired of all that and i wish that this time, it's my desir who breaks the wall of the mind and of all the obstacles that the world put in its way. that's my desir.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Report 4 (13/08/05)

i'm not supertituous but, really that day was a boooooooring day. be patient and u'll know the reason.
i think our team was finally complete. we met in the morning, we went to the information center near the Dom to meet other teams and the "great" Thomas. our team leader, Markus, didn't know what we'll do except that we have an important task which is saving the water tower. anyway we walked till we arrived to a building, we went upstairs, maybe 5 ot 6 or even the 7th floor, i only remember too much stairs. we were maybe about 40 people. it was supposed to be our training for the job. so, what's the big deal? it should be peace of cake and having fun. well, not exactly, thomas was trying to be nice, playing a stupid game at the beginning then in the middle, playing a more stupid game. it was boring. for example, telling us open the book on page 42, rad the 1st sentence in the 2nd paragraph. after we read it, he then talks about a totally different thing. he showed us the hierarchy of the system, the secretary general, the i don't know what, the group leader.. etc. or for example tell us a place and we have to look for it in the map. it was a real torture. the most important was when talking about our task. by the way, this wasn't in the plan, our team leader had a phone call telling him we have this to do. well, our job was to guard the water towers. i guess u r wondering now, what r those water towers, it sounds like we r in warcraft. not at all. those water towers r for people to drink water, very simple, right? instead of giving million of bottles for everybody participating in the WYD which will lead to an ecological disaster, they drink from those water towers. so the question is guarding from what? well, there r 2 kind of problems, small problems and big problems. and in different situations, at the end we have to call thomas to report to him. one funny thing, he said that he knows that the international phone calls from mobile costs so all we have to do is to ring then he answers make sure who is the person then hang out and he'll call, so it doesn't cost. but he have to answer first, not cancel the call!! after all that boring training, we had a rest to go and have lunch. we planned to go to the food center near the place then to take a touristic tour in the Dom then be back... but it was the 13th, not any day. after we arrived to the place (we were lost first), we discovered a lot of volunteers there, maybe all of them, and there was a very long queue. we waited and waited.. and when almost there, the food was finished, so we had to wait till they bring more. it took about maybe 2 hours to get the food. but we were not that upset cos we won't go back to thomas soon, we were just hungry. but due to this, we didn't have dinner, we had to choose either lunch or dinner. and an extra person came to share food with us. but he was a nice guy from Brazil, i don't remember his name. there was a church just near the place where we were, and there was a marriage. try to imagine the bride and the groom arriving and discovering hundreds or maybe thousand of volunteers around the church. after they finished the celebration inside the church and came out, we all cheered them. i can't imagine myelf in such a situation. i met there the sister of my friend at univ, i was happy about it though i didn't meet my friend. well, we had to go back to the training after that, to make the schedule of the shifts. we had to choose on 2 days 2 shifts of 9 hours!! and everyone alone but can see the others who have the shift at the same time. poor boys, they had to take the night shifts. after this, we went to the Dom to take a drink in a cafe there, then we went to eat our 1st Brutwurst in Koln. i don't remember what we have done, we just had walk in the streets there.

I need your help

Hi all, i need your help. One of my friends in Italy is making a research for the universiy of Venise that could lead to a project but she needs data to have something to start with.
so if you can answer those questions here on the blog or send me email to marianneayad@gmail.com i would be grateful.

if it is possible, advertise this on your blogs, forward emails about this survey and publish it everywhere. i know that the blog is really powerful and can reach a lot of people so i'm counting on you.

1) what type of books do you prefer to read? what subjects?

2) what type of books would you like to read but you can't find in libraries or in bookshops in egypt or in arab countries?

3) what aspects of the italian life are you interested to know or discover through litearture or books: everyday's life, travel and trips, philosophy, science, art, politics, biographies?

4) are you interested by books about the "italian point of vue" on the current problems in the world (international politics, globalisation, pauverty, ethics.. ). please specify

you can write about what you think, not just answering yes or no or "3ala 2ad el sou2al". it will help more if you talk and say your opinion.
this project is to translate italian books to arabic but they need to know what the regular readers would like to read or are interested into. this project aims to let the arab world and egypt, discover what the italians really think, about their life.. etc


Thanks a lot for your cooperation

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

my life

well, a lot has happened to me in the last month. i'm now working or preparing to be radio network engineer. I'm working with a french company subcontractor, so currently i'm working with Alcatel Egypt. so i spend my days in Smart Village (it's outside Cairo, before the gates of the road to Alex). it's nice but i have to wake up early to catch the bus and i return tired, and most of the days, i go out after work to meet friends or attend a concert or.. so i end up, looking for my bed to sleeeeep.. lol
yesterday i went to concert of Wust el Balad at el Sakkia with my bro. i have told friends to come but couldn't come. but really i enjoyed it. i really appreciate the time with my bro cos we have a lot of fun together, we laughed a lot and the band is really great.
few days ago, i went to Opera Aida with a friend. i didn't know that it will take that long, we finishied at around 1am. but i really had a good time, it's very impressive, it was 1st time to hear it complete and i enjoyed it very much with my friend. so thanks for coming with me.
one of my best friends is leaving on saturday to study masters in France. till now, i didn't realize it, i mean not thinking that she'll be away for 2 years. we are friends since school for 18 years now and she was there when i needed her the most.
and finally, i'm currently very happy in my life, though sometimes i wonder, what if things don't work out but i have faith that everything wil be just fine, it's just that sometimes, we need to work a little harder to get what we want but i know and i'm certain that we'll get it at the end.. i know maybe it sounds strange, talking with symbols.. but don't worry, everything will be clear at the right moment.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Report 3 (12/08/05)

we started the day but having breakfast for the 1st time. all i can say is that the yogurt is so great and also the "bolbief".
after that we met our team leader and also one with us in the group, a polish lady who is 52 years old and came to germany riding a bicycle from poland (about 1000km). well she didn't continue with us after that cos she went in another team to work on the bicycle.
anyway, our team leader said, our first task will be at the RheinEnrgie Stadion, that we'll go and know what we'll do. so we went there, we waited to do anything.. the boys just moved 2 chairs and a table, i don't know exactly, i was sitting in the stadium, with the polis lady, talking about life in our countries.. and it was raining.
after that, we decided me and my friend Mina, as we didn't have anything else to do, to go to the train station and meet our friends, Milad and Mina there. we met them, and took them to the registration center. well it wasn't as easy as the previous day when i registered, there were too many volunteers to register, long queues, we took about 2 hours just to get it for registration!! we met also another group of egypitan volunteers, i knew most of them.
after the registration we took them to our accomodation. i became expert in the metro after one day.
after that we went for touring. we visited the Dom (the cathedral). then we decided to study in the guide to see what events to attend when we have free time. but we didn't study a lot, we heard some music, went to check it. some people playing music, other artists drawing with chalks on the ground in front of the Dom. we went after that for a walk in the streets, on the Rhein, it was superb and it didn't rain. we returned to a meeting with the team, more members arrived, 2 germans and 1 from the philippines. after the meeting, we went to the train station to meet our last friend to arrive, Tony. we didn't know on which train he is coming, or what time exactly, just coming from Dusseldorf. i went to ask at the information desk while the others went to check the inofrmation boards. after waiting in the queue, for a time, i arrived to the guy sitting there, he couldn't speak or undesrtand english, only german. i tried to explain to him, saying train, arrive, dusseldorf airport. he wrote me a time on a small piece of paper. well we checked all possible train that pass by dusseldorf. and waiting on the platform, and every train that comes we look if he arrived or not (i didn't meet him before, just contact by email before travelling). and finally after few trains and about half an hour he arrived, at the time that the information guy told me about (he understood me) and we returned all at the accomodation to sleep :)

Quiz

on demand of free soul.
so here it is finally. sorry, i was busy, just started work. i'm taking a small break from reading documents... lol

10 years ago:
I was at school of course, i had a little group of friends and i am proud that they are still my friends though years after that i was away from them.
i was and sill dreaming of a better world. i was listening to music a lot. i began to write about my daily life (like diary). i used to read a lot, not like now :(. i started to have pen friends, writting letters...

5 years ago:
starting unversity. maybe i was excited first but i didn't like my 1st year at univ though i got my best result, cos i stopped my activities cos of the study but thank God, the following years i returned back to my activity life.

1 year ago:
I began to really be close to my univ friends, b4 that, they were my friends but i didn't consider them more than that. i also had a short happy time in my life, followed by a sad time but this is all behind me and i started a new life.

Tomorrow:
tomorrow exactly i'll be at work, reading documents.
tomorow the future, i'll be somewhere on earth, but the most important is to be with the person i love... so waiting for tomorrow ;)

5 snacks I enjoy:
excuse me but some r iraquis so don't worry if u don't know
beryany, ma7shy bassal, spaghetti, any meat, molokheya.

5 bands/artists that I know the lyrics to most of their songs:
the beatles (but they have too many songs), boyzone, celine dion (but not the latest).

5 things I'd do with $100,000,000:
have a trip around the world, buy some books, give to the people in need

5 locations I'd like to run away to:
my room, cologne, the nile, sinai on the mountain, the oasis, the beach

5 bad habits I have:
i interrupt people, i talk fast, i stick with my opinion, (the rest i'll keep it to myself)

5 things I like doing:
play piano, reading, watching movies, watching tennis, go on walk with friends or alone

5 TV shows I like:
the pretender, tru calling, alias, roswell,

5 movies I like:
sound of music, you only live twice, the little mermaid, amelie...

5 people I'd like to meet:
einstein, beethoven, my grandfather...

5 biggest joys at the moment:
thiking of you, eating ice cream, talk with someone, sleeeeep, listen to The Magic Flute

5 favorite toys:
lego, computer, scrabble, clue, risk

I'm tagging:
everybody, come on and do it

Monday, September 05, 2005

Report 2 (11/08/05)

i left egypt at 4am. i didn't sleep except one hour. i slept a little in the plane but that's all. before leaving, when i was saying goodby to my family, my mom was very touched i was going away for that long (i think it is the longest time so far to travel) so she was about to cry but thank god.
when flying in the sky, it was really incredile to watch the sky early in the morning, with all the clouds over there, making great piece of art.
the 1st situation i faced, was in my 2 hours transit in Milan (i travelled Cairo - Milan -Dusseldorf). I went to the WC, and... i was trapped inside. i was knocking in the door, an italian woman talked ot me but apparently she didn't understand or she left. I knocked again, and finally i heard a french girl asking in french of course: "is there anyone inside?". i was happy cos finally someone i can talk to and explain the situation. i told her i'm trapped, they tried to open but couldn't, she went to get some help and finally they opened the door. i could hear the french (they were about 5) saying poor girl!! it is funny now but back then, not at all.
arrived at Germany, i took the train. 1st an old couple helped me, told me from where to stamp the ticket. other people helped me with my bags and to find my way to the place for registration. after doing the registration, which was not easy cos there was a little problem in my ID, someone had registered for me, even there we can face those problems.. lol. anyway after the registration, i had 2 extra bags, one or me and one for a friend i did the registration for him. so u can imagine, me alone carrying all that in an unknown city, knowing only ya or no in german. well i didn't go straight to my accomodation, a school somewhere. i asked to have lunch, i shared it with people from spain, poland. they were really nice people. after that i took my courage and strenght, and went on the street to go to the accomodation, knowing only the metro station i have to go to, but how, still to discover. a german saw me with all that, offered me help, he was a volunteer police officer. he was going in the same direction, so helped me carrying the bags and explained to me how to use the metro (it is more complicated than in egypt). i don't know if he wasn't there what i could have done. arrived at the station, it took me a while before finding the school but finally i arrived there. well also there was a little problem, my name wasn't in the list, but it was ok. i went up to the gym, and i was chocked, no matrices. i have to sleep in my sleeping bag on the floor (i thought there would be matrices, lik when i go camping in my school). anyway, it was the reality, i was too tired, no other option. i didn't do something special that day, i called my team leader and told me to meet the following day. my friend whom i made registration arrived at night. the rest of them arrived in the following day.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Report 1

Introduction
i will try to tell everything i remember about my trip. little small things, and also the big things.
i went as volunteer in the World Youth Day, in Cologne (Germany) for 2 weeks then one week in Italy.
it was a wondeful vacaction, i enjoyed it very much and i had a lot of fun and a big experience.
i will tell u a little today about my general feelings about those 2 countries which r different.
in Germany in general, u feel that everything is in order. u have the timing of all trains and all metros, u can know everything u want. people r very sportive, they use a lot bikes, u can see a family going in a tour on bikes. people respect the traffic signs.
in Rome, u feel like walking in an open museum. each building has a history, is a piece of art. but it is more like in egypt, people selling in streets, people cross the road as they like (not all of them but a lot). i was lucky i went in a season where people r in vacation so it wasn't that crowded.

in the WYD, there were a lot of young and even old people from everywhere in the world. it was amazing to meet people, talk to them although u know that u probably won't meet them.
we had our egyptian flag with us, people were amazed when they knew we r from egypt, and came asking for photos and autographs. i was proud when holding the flag or when walking beside it. it is a great feeling.
well, one of the funniest thing about the flag is that an italian came and ask a friend with the flag: 'r u from nepal?".. lol
also about the flag, here is another story. we were in the team: 5 egyptians, 1 philippinos, the rest germans. when we walk or we want to have a special sign, we were all following the egyptian flag!!!
about italians, we (me and my friends) called them "heksous". they were too many italians, everywhere italians. u know them right away, they sing, and talk in loud voice, they invade everything. we even thought that there r no young people in italy, cos they r all in Cologne.
i was really thinking before going to italy that i will go to the heksous. but it all went well. even in rome, i saw people with the WYD bag. everybody participated got a blue bag. so when u see it u know this person was there. it is like we all share one thing together and i felt nice. one day i was taking train from rome to ciampino where i stay (just 15 min away). there was 4 italians with the blue bags and also big bags. when i was getting of the train, they saw my bag and asked me if i was there so i told them.

end or report 1