Korba Festival

Korba Festival or Spring Festival or whatever it is named.. It was a nice experience. They closed Baghdad street in Korba, only pedestrians. on both sides of the streets, tables, people eating, drinking, buying stuff.. kids with their parents drawing on the street with chalks or paintings. You can see people of all ages, the old and the young, the rich and the poor. There was a little parade but actually just few cars with little decorations for the sponsor, not impressive at all. Only 2 bands played on stage. I believe that if they made it from morning, with different bands to play, it would be more interesting, to discover different types of music. I don't say it wasn't nice, on the contrary, Wust el Balad performed and they were really great.

There are 2 things that really touched me, the place, you could feel that you are transported to a strange, with all th placee specific architecture of El Korba, and the ambiance in the place. It was very charming. The 2nd thing is that i really had a great time with my brother, it has been long time that we didn't do something together. i enjoyed it a lot and somehow i forgot what i was missing. It was a nice day though i wished for a better ending.

faculty of engineering, cairo univ, 100 years ago...

Le Clemenceau fait demi tour

Few weeks ago, there were some concerns about Le Clemenceau (a french military ship) to continue its trip to India where it was going to be dismantled and disamianted (not sure about this word). It stayed a week in Suez Canal before allowing to continue its trip to India.
And now according to La Tribune, arrived to destination, it will go back to France to reexamine it and determine how much dangerous material is on it (officially they say it is around 40 tons of amiant but some reports say it is far more than that).
but this time, the way back to France will not pass by Suez Canal, but all around Africa.

This is how things should go, even if this operation will cost a lot of money for the country, even if at the end they will discover someone hided the truth of how much it is dangerous, they are not afraid to admit they were wrong and assume theire responsabilities and show the example to the rest of the world.

EGYPT vs COTE D'IVOIRE

it was my 1st ever football match to attend live, but not the 1st time to enter a football stadium.
i was impressed. overall it was a nice experience though i'm not a big fan of soccer. it's totally different to assist a live match than to watch on tv. u don't feel bored at all, u hear all kind of cheers...
i was in the 3rd class cos there were no tickets available for the 2nd, but i didn't feel that there was any difference. we went earlier but already at 4pm it was so crowded to enter. the electronic gate didn't work or was too slow so they opened the normal gate, but this was en exception.

some of things i liked:
when the national antheme of cote d'ivoire was played, some people were whisteling (which i didn't like at all) the guy beside me, stood up for respect.
at some moment, some guys made bad signs with their hands for the cote d'ivoire fans who were seating under us, but other guys told them to stop it.
hearing the cheers and making the wave (i've experienced the wave thing before).
holding my big pink hand and waving.
and of course.. winning :)

some of things i didn't like:
the big screens don't show the match during the play.
they start the match without a notice.. after few seconds, i just noticed that the players are playing.

Invitation

starting from thursday 28/07, in the garden of el sakkia (in zamalek), u can leave anything to express ur feelings about what happened in sharm el sheikh and about terrorism. just put anything u want, a picture, a draw, a candle, flowers...

for more information:
http://africano.blogspot.com/2005/07/blog-post_26.html

for photos:
http://digressing.blogspot.com/
http://marianneayad-focus.blogspot.com

Make Poverty History

Today, 8 concerts in different countries Live to get the attention of the world, especially the leaders of the big countries about Africa. These concerts are not for collecting money, they are for free, but to deliver a message, a cry for help for the most needed countries. It is time to stop this, it is a pity that the rich countries always gain more and the poor countries are more and more in debts. It is a pity what the world had arrived to this extent, it is time to take an action.
http://www.live8live.com/
http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/extras/live8.shtml

I wanted to post this cos i think it is a positive thing that many people around the world are trying to do and it really touched me and if i share it with people, they'll share it with others and the message continue to run.
sometimes we can't make big things but we can begin with little things and look to the people that need the most our help in our country. i am sure that a lot of u already don't need to hear that cos u already doing it, so i'm giving u a big sheer and my encouragements :)

Robocon insight

I won't talk about the competition itself but about what is behind the scenes..
(for the people who don't know, robocon is a competition of robots constructed by students from different univerisities)
I went there 2 days, sunday and monday cos my brother was participating and also a team from my promotion at univ, today the round of 16 is held.

it may seem strange what i'm going to say next, but it really moved me.

the 2nd day, i went alone first (my mom came later), i was sitting in the stadium where the competition was held, waiting for the beginning of the competition. i was in the 1st row, right behind the fence. there was a tissu hanging from it to the floor. a worker came and he was adjusting every part, no one would have cared about it adjusted or not, no one would have noticed it, but yet he was doing it with precision.

how many of us do his job with all his heart and doing his best even if knowing that no one is watching or it is not a big thing to be done?

2 different attitudes: after a match was finished, winning team greeting the other team (this scene was rarely).
after another match, one of the loosing team threw away the thing he was wearing (i think he has to be disqualified cos it is not the spirit of sport).

how many times when we are so angry with someone or with ourselves we act without reflection and in an agressive way?

People in the stadium, cheering with loud voice, different students from different universities, government and private. it was nice to see the entousiasm but... sometimes it crossed the lines (not in a bad way but still i didn't like it) .

a small group from my faculty came to encourage the team, not only that but they were helping them too in their robot, this was really great to see, i was very happy about it, this is the spirit we need.i This was also for other teams, especially some teams from same univ, they were helping each other, passing their tools, even asking for help).

well, that's all i can remember now, last thing i want to say is that i'm happy to see all those students participating, 41 teams from different universities, in cairo and outside cairo.
it was difficult for some of the teams, working hard for months, to loose in 6 min (2 matches) but i think they gained more than this loss, the experience, the joy and passion to make something, the friends they got to know... etc

Pope John Paul II

well, i can't say that i really knew him or all of his work. but while watching the tv, the past few days, my admiration for him grew more and more, for his life, for his achievements, for his person. how he reached and touched the heart of millions all over the world.
i can't express how i felt, but watching the funeral today, was a special thing. i was touched by everything, the atmosphere, the choir, listening to different languages..
all the world recognizes what great man he was, what message he wanted to pass.
this makes me wonder, what is my role in life? what is my quest? i guess this is what i'll try to figure it out these days.. and i'll tell u when i arrive to something.
i'm sure that everyone has his own role but it's harder to discover it than to realize it.
so, think about it.

Last but not least, here's a quote from one of my favourite books.

"En général, la mort fait que l'on devient plus attentif à la vie"

Paolo Coelho from L'alchimiste.

"In general, death makes us pay more attention to life."

(sorry for the translation if it is not that accurate).