Qu'y a-t-il de plus jouissif que de s'arrêter de penser? Cesser enfin ce flot débordant d'idées plus ou moins utiles ou plus ou moins importantes. S'arrêter de penser! Comme si on était mort tout en pouvant redevenir vivant. Etre le vide. Retourner aux origines suprêmes. N'être même plus quelqu'un qui ne pense à rien. Etre rien. Voilà une noble ambition.
extrait du livre "Les Fourmis" de Bernard Werber
Translation
What is more enjoying than stop thinking? to finally cease all those ideas flowing more or less useful, more or less important. Stop thinking! As if we had died while being capable to become alive again. To be the vacuum. Return to the supreme origins. Not to be someone who doesn't think of nothing. To be nothing. This is a noble ambition.
from the book "the Ants" by Bernard Werber
I was reading this book the past few days, and this passage just moved me... maybe cos i have lot of free time to think these days, and sometimes wondering too much about an issue makes it hard, cos u end up asking too many questions, not knowing the answer, not knowing what to do cos obviously thinking too much leads u to several roads and at the end u don't know which one to choose.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
adventures = ?
r u curious about the answer? try to guess...
well it is difficult, since what i'm going to say doesn't happen a lot.
ok, here is my little story, for u it will be very funny, and u'll say the poor girl, what a luck!
Here is the whole story... just don't laugh too much :)
everyday i come back to the hotel, i notice a small pizzeria near it, on the corner of the street. by the way pizzerias and taxi phone (shop for talking on the phone) r everywhere in Algeria.
I decided today, since i was a little hungry and well i thought it would be nice to go out for a little on my own, to go and have lunch there.
There was a even a movie on the tv, and i wanted to see it, but i told myself i have to go out, not stay in the hotel as almost everyday.
so, i went out and.. as soon as i stepped out in the street, it began to ran. i decided, it just just 2 steps, i can just walk quickly and arrive at the pizzeria, and have dinner and hopefully rain will stop by then. actually, things didn't go as planned. first in the few mintues i walked, i was like drowned. i always try to look to the bright side, i don't get to walk under heavy rain a lot in cairo.
but sometimes the bright is too bright that it makes u so blind and u see it dark. well it wasn't only the rain. there is a cafeteria beside the pizzeria, i just entered for shelter from the rain, and well thought i can find something to eat like sandwich or a meal. well, i was surprised that they told me there is no food, no sandwich, no french fries, nothing except croissant and drinks. they told me if i come earlier, at 3-4pm, there will be but since it is 5h30pm, everything is finished. it is so weired. in egypt, any cafe, u find food anytimes, sometimes u ask for something and there is not, but i never faced a situation like that.
anyway i decided to take a croissant and a pepsi, and to wait for the rain to stop. i waited about an hour, sitting on a chair that is not very stable, watching the sky, feeling like i'm out of the picture. it was crowded, no girls or women, young guys talking loud... and i just was sitting there thinking my sense of adventure got me to that point... then i rememberd a friend telling me that he doesn't like the number 13. i don't believe in that stuff, but at this moment, i just smiled and told myself, he is right today ;-)
well it ended that the rain became light, so i just walk out back to the hotel. and i'll probably have a yogourt or cereale for the dinner tonight.
see.. this is what adventures lead to :-)
well it is difficult, since what i'm going to say doesn't happen a lot.
ok, here is my little story, for u it will be very funny, and u'll say the poor girl, what a luck!
Here is the whole story... just don't laugh too much :)
everyday i come back to the hotel, i notice a small pizzeria near it, on the corner of the street. by the way pizzerias and taxi phone (shop for talking on the phone) r everywhere in Algeria.
I decided today, since i was a little hungry and well i thought it would be nice to go out for a little on my own, to go and have lunch there.
There was a even a movie on the tv, and i wanted to see it, but i told myself i have to go out, not stay in the hotel as almost everyday.
so, i went out and.. as soon as i stepped out in the street, it began to ran. i decided, it just just 2 steps, i can just walk quickly and arrive at the pizzeria, and have dinner and hopefully rain will stop by then. actually, things didn't go as planned. first in the few mintues i walked, i was like drowned. i always try to look to the bright side, i don't get to walk under heavy rain a lot in cairo.
but sometimes the bright is too bright that it makes u so blind and u see it dark. well it wasn't only the rain. there is a cafeteria beside the pizzeria, i just entered for shelter from the rain, and well thought i can find something to eat like sandwich or a meal. well, i was surprised that they told me there is no food, no sandwich, no french fries, nothing except croissant and drinks. they told me if i come earlier, at 3-4pm, there will be but since it is 5h30pm, everything is finished. it is so weired. in egypt, any cafe, u find food anytimes, sometimes u ask for something and there is not, but i never faced a situation like that.
anyway i decided to take a croissant and a pepsi, and to wait for the rain to stop. i waited about an hour, sitting on a chair that is not very stable, watching the sky, feeling like i'm out of the picture. it was crowded, no girls or women, young guys talking loud... and i just was sitting there thinking my sense of adventure got me to that point... then i rememberd a friend telling me that he doesn't like the number 13. i don't believe in that stuff, but at this moment, i just smiled and told myself, he is right today ;-)
well it ended that the rain became light, so i just walk out back to the hotel. and i'll probably have a yogourt or cereale for the dinner tonight.
see.. this is what adventures lead to :-)
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Destination Kourou 99
7 years ago, from 5/9 till 14/9, i had the most wonderful trip of my life.
it all began in the year 1998/1999. it was a competition between schools, and at the end, we were 9 winners, from 9 schools.
we didn't just win a 10 days trip, we won something more important, friendship, which is priceless.
i can't believe that it has been actually 7 years since we travelled. i still remember our first meeting, we barely knew each other, we were gathered by fate.
now, after 7 years, we graduated from universities, we have different carriers... each one of us had his own life but, we still have this common thing that bond us together, Kourou.
we shared great memories together, even after our return to egypt, with the famous Tomber la Chemise ;)
I miss u all, i wish i was there to celebrate.
it all began in the year 1998/1999. it was a competition between schools, and at the end, we were 9 winners, from 9 schools.
we didn't just win a 10 days trip, we won something more important, friendship, which is priceless.
i can't believe that it has been actually 7 years since we travelled. i still remember our first meeting, we barely knew each other, we were gathered by fate.
now, after 7 years, we graduated from universities, we have different carriers... each one of us had his own life but, we still have this common thing that bond us together, Kourou.
we shared great memories together, even after our return to egypt, with the famous Tomber la Chemise ;)
I miss u all, i wish i was there to celebrate.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Egyptians in the eye of Algerians
i heard many things from algerians i met about egyptians & egypt..
the most funny one is that egyptians have a big table on breakfast, eat a lot of things. and this comment was by many, not one only. they have this picture from the egyptian movies.
when i tell them that i eat bigger breakfast in hotel here than in egypt, they were surprised.
breakfast for algerians, just coffee and maybe croissant.
algerian women like to watch egyptian series (el mosalsalat). it is very important for them.
so u can imagine what is the idea about egypt.
this is the reason why it is more easy for algerians to understand egyptians rather than the contrary.
they see egypt as a big country, with a big civilization.
very crowded, live and noisy.
egyptians still preserve their identity. u see cos of the colonization by the french, they got a lot of things from the french. it affected everything from the style of life till even the language, all algerians speak french, and they use it daily also, not only arabic.
the most funny one is that egyptians have a big table on breakfast, eat a lot of things. and this comment was by many, not one only. they have this picture from the egyptian movies.
when i tell them that i eat bigger breakfast in hotel here than in egypt, they were surprised.
breakfast for algerians, just coffee and maybe croissant.
algerian women like to watch egyptian series (el mosalsalat). it is very important for them.
so u can imagine what is the idea about egypt.
this is the reason why it is more easy for algerians to understand egyptians rather than the contrary.
they see egypt as a big country, with a big civilization.
very crowded, live and noisy.
egyptians still preserve their identity. u see cos of the colonization by the french, they got a lot of things from the french. it affected everything from the style of life till even the language, all algerians speak french, and they use it daily also, not only arabic.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Road to Algeria
I heard that Algeria is a nice country to visit, but you should see it yourself to judge.
But to get there, it is not easy, especially if your flying in Algerian Airways. At the ticket office, they told me to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight, i think they should have said, 2 hours after the flight. ok i'm exagerating a little, but our flight was delayed 1h30. we were supposed to fly at 16h15, they annouced boarding at 17h00, we took off at 18h45 (you never forget exactly the time of everything if you are in that kind of situations.. lol)
Anyway, i thought that it was some kind of emergency that caused that delay... but i found at later that this is the normal, the plane is always delayed 1 hour at least.
The plane was very small, very crowded, no entertainment at all, no TV (only screens to see where we are in earth, to wish to just arrive as soon as possible), even no radio (this is the least in the aeroplanes, for a 4 hour trip).
The only good thing that made me forget all about that, was the good company. i was sitting next to the corridor, on my right, was a young woman and her mother, both algerians, on the other side of the corridor was a young girl, 19 years old, algerian too.
it made the trip totally different, we talked about everything, about differences between our cultures, it is very interesting.
We finally arrived, landing was a little bit hard, but we made it safely. there was a funny thing, my friends warned me that algeriansw will get up and open the hatch for hand luggage, before the plane is completely parked. and they did, and the crew had to just ask everybody to sit down several times.
anyway after finishing the passport thing and get my passport, went out to look for the driver that was supposed to pick me up. well i found a guy with a paper written on it the name of the company but with a name of another guy. so i asked him is there another driver from the company, he answered no, i asked if he knew there would be someone waiting for me, negative answer too. i went to try and look for someone else, didn't find, so i returned back again to ask, he said he is waiting for a guy. so since i had colleagues in algeria, i just contacted them and they told that the driver is in the airport. you won't believe this... it was that guy, he was supposed to pick me and 2 other guys, and had even my name in the schedule.. i don't know if he thought my name was a boy's name or what.. anyway finally after maybe an hour, we left the airport just me and one of the guys, the 3rd one whose name was on the paper didn't show up.
so.. after that long day, sleeping was the best to do :)
to be continued
But to get there, it is not easy, especially if your flying in Algerian Airways. At the ticket office, they told me to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight, i think they should have said, 2 hours after the flight. ok i'm exagerating a little, but our flight was delayed 1h30. we were supposed to fly at 16h15, they annouced boarding at 17h00, we took off at 18h45 (you never forget exactly the time of everything if you are in that kind of situations.. lol)
Anyway, i thought that it was some kind of emergency that caused that delay... but i found at later that this is the normal, the plane is always delayed 1 hour at least.
The plane was very small, very crowded, no entertainment at all, no TV (only screens to see where we are in earth, to wish to just arrive as soon as possible), even no radio (this is the least in the aeroplanes, for a 4 hour trip).
The only good thing that made me forget all about that, was the good company. i was sitting next to the corridor, on my right, was a young woman and her mother, both algerians, on the other side of the corridor was a young girl, 19 years old, algerian too.
it made the trip totally different, we talked about everything, about differences between our cultures, it is very interesting.
We finally arrived, landing was a little bit hard, but we made it safely. there was a funny thing, my friends warned me that algeriansw will get up and open the hatch for hand luggage, before the plane is completely parked. and they did, and the crew had to just ask everybody to sit down several times.
anyway after finishing the passport thing and get my passport, went out to look for the driver that was supposed to pick me up. well i found a guy with a paper written on it the name of the company but with a name of another guy. so i asked him is there another driver from the company, he answered no, i asked if he knew there would be someone waiting for me, negative answer too. i went to try and look for someone else, didn't find, so i returned back again to ask, he said he is waiting for a guy. so since i had colleagues in algeria, i just contacted them and they told that the driver is in the airport. you won't believe this... it was that guy, he was supposed to pick me and 2 other guys, and had even my name in the schedule.. i don't know if he thought my name was a boy's name or what.. anyway finally after maybe an hour, we left the airport just me and one of the guys, the 3rd one whose name was on the paper didn't show up.
so.. after that long day, sleeping was the best to do :)
to be continued
Monday, September 04, 2006
Bye Bye Andre
Andre Agassi, after a long career, played his last match yesterday at the US Open.
I'm not going to talk about his achivements throughout his long carrier, i'll leave it to others cos it is easy to get the records.
what i want to say is what i feel personnaly about him as a person. I began to have interest in tennis in the early 90's, and Andre was the first tennis player i cheered for. I still remember him, with his long yellow hair.
after that period, i don't have much memories about him, till i saw him playing in the French Open in 1999. and i almost didn't like him at that period, i don't know why, but when u just don't like the guy. maybe cos his image had changed from the time i watched him, maybe cos he had beaten my favourite player in that tournment (the 98 champion)...
anyway what struck me most, during that match, that though he was far beyond, he came back in the final to win it. he never gives up, he is dedicated himself to what he is doing.
so over the past few years, i was just pleased to know he his playing around even though lately not that much. He had proved that it is not all about the age, it is about the heart, though there are younger players with more energy, he was still present in tennis courts with his hardwork and his love for the game.
it is rare to find nowadays people doing their job with so much dedication, love, respect without being caught in the routine of life.
so, farewell Andre, will miss u.
I'm not going to talk about his achivements throughout his long carrier, i'll leave it to others cos it is easy to get the records.
what i want to say is what i feel personnaly about him as a person. I began to have interest in tennis in the early 90's, and Andre was the first tennis player i cheered for. I still remember him, with his long yellow hair.
after that period, i don't have much memories about him, till i saw him playing in the French Open in 1999. and i almost didn't like him at that period, i don't know why, but when u just don't like the guy. maybe cos his image had changed from the time i watched him, maybe cos he had beaten my favourite player in that tournment (the 98 champion)...
anyway what struck me most, during that match, that though he was far beyond, he came back in the final to win it. he never gives up, he is dedicated himself to what he is doing.
so over the past few years, i was just pleased to know he his playing around even though lately not that much. He had proved that it is not all about the age, it is about the heart, though there are younger players with more energy, he was still present in tennis courts with his hardwork and his love for the game.
it is rare to find nowadays people doing their job with so much dedication, love, respect without being caught in the routine of life.
so, farewell Andre, will miss u.
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