In search for truth

Are you living the fast lane? I am...

2009-05-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to come across this research, there was a research done on countires who had the fastest walkers in the world..

Singapore topped the charts followed by:
2. Copenhagan
3. Madrid
4. Guangzhou
5. Dublin
6. Curitiba
7. Berlin
8. New York
9. Utrecht
10. Vienna

http://paceoflife.co.uk/

I wonder the what are the health implication of living in a fast city? IF there is a correlation of living in a fast city and stress?

Hello Hollywood..

2009-05-24T20:34:00.001-07:00

This weekend I gained insight in the filming industry when I got to star my brother film project. I always thought acting was easy, you either can or can not do it, and was in latter group because of nature of laughing at inappropriate times.

I was pleasantly suprised by the experience, as much as it was challenging I have grown a new found respect for actors and actresses, for their ability to re-do scenes countless times and are able to express the same emotions is really gift.

Looking forward to see the final outcome...

2008 Signing Off

2009-01-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

Looking back at 2008, with all the ups and downs it has never-the-less been a fantastic year. Recaping the year..

Jan:
Start of the year with Susu, Omar, Selma and Marcus at the lovely surreal red sea in Dahab. Then spending it with my favorite girls on the slopes of the Alps and having a near to death experience, but discovering Hundertwasser and Sacher cake.... Falling in love with Prague and visiting Linda and Leyla in Budapest.

Feb:
Making my daddy proud finally a graduate! The best graduation outing..... :P You know it Naz and Raz

March:
Birthday Month, not much of a celebration, but visiting Tunisia and enjoying my last AIESEC conference.... Reunion time with Siwar and Ameni...Gannat, Captain Hariri, Cosmo Boy, Dolly and the rest of the faci team and delegates you totally rocked

April:
Wow... badabing, badabom... life is tough, family comes first.. I am in Singapore... WTF... I found a job...

May:
IQPC experience begins... I cant believe I have entered the corporate world.... Energy Market on a bomb... early signs of recession...

June:
My baby brother is graduating high school... Menna has tied the knot, lovely reunion with Salma and baby Lina... Jou jou first bday.. he turns one...

July:
Rainforest music forest in Borneo... partying in the rainforest knees into mudd.... and seeing the orangutan reserves... One year has gone by since my father... God rest his soul.. finally finished FPSO Asia... first conference ever...

August:
Reunion with Farah, Sarah, Rhea and Ingrida... Partying it up.... WOW Reunion.... Akino ties the knot and we travel across the globe to see her big day...

October:
Reunion with Xiaomin, China, Hong Kong, massage, and disney land

November:
End of my Life in IQPC, HSE Risk Management is over, go on a magical get a way in Perhentian Islands, Mai comes to visit, Vimal and I embark on our first travel adventure to Vietnam....

December:
Back to Cairo, seeing my top three loves and family, friends and loved ones...... Operation Success, Malak and Shereif got engaged..

What a lovely way to spend the rest of the year...In Tajikistan they believe the way you spend your new years is the way your year will turn out.. and I am sure that 2009 will be FABULOUS..... Live life as if its your last day...Remember that at the beginning of every year we open up a new book, with empty pages and as we are the authors of our books strive to create beautiful opportunities for yourself... Be kind to those around you and never underestimate the power of a smile...

Be FABULOUS in 2009 and may all your dreams comes through, but if they dont just remember that something better will come along.. I look forward to many more reunions and adventures in the year to come..

The Pearl of Indochina-Vietnam

2008-12-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago a dear friend Vimal calls me up to ask if I want to go on a trip with her, I suggested she come to Egypt with me but because she was limited by her dates we decided to go to Vietnam instead. The irony was 3 months ago when I first met Vimal we actually talked about going together. We had had an awesome vacation singing Vietnamese songs.... Viettttnaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmm.. Ho Chi Minnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.......

The journey began at the South's of Vietnam in Ho Chi Min City, formerly known as Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh after he led the Viet Cong communist region...we were convinced by cyclo driver that he was the best in Vietnam... we couldnt refuse.. we were cycled around from parks and museums throughout the city.. as much as i enjoyed the day one of the main highlights was our driver, he was so pro globalization and was glad for the foreign intervention saying "Got mouth to eat, Got no mouth to speak".... Coming to Vietnam I didnt know much about the country it was eye opening because it gave me a lot of understanding of the situation of the French Indochina and the harshness of the war...a must see is the war remnant museum... We visited the Tai Chi main city park, the Mussoleum, the Notre Dam cathedral beside the Post Office and Reunification palace. We chilled by a roadside cafe taking in the sights and smells of the cities before treating ourselves by a massage by the blind association... we then met up with Nhu to eat a lovely VIetnamese dinner....

We had signed up for a tour to visit the Cao Dai temple. Cao Daism is a very Vietnam specific religion and one of the three most practiced religions in Vietnam. The temple was like going through some mad alice in wonderland dream... so much modern art and detail everywhere.. The architecture was like nothing I have ever seen before, but when we watched the prayers it gave me a peaceful feeling which reminded me of a masjid. The religion was quite intriguing because the lead its founder, Ngo Minh Chieu (or Ngo Van Chieu), was a French civil servant and was also a mystic who was well-versed in western and eastern religions, he began receiving revelations about the truth of religions from God (Caodai) that told him to combine the teachings of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam and other religions into one religion to promote peace.

We then went to the Cu Chi Tunnels which was were the VietCong controlled underground because the Americans controlled the sky and land... I found the tunnels extremely genius... our tour guide was an actual Viet Cong fighter which gave us a new perspective on how Vietnamese perceived the west.... we watched videos at the beginning where Viet Cong rewarded people for being brave fighters against the evil americans.... it also made me realize how nationalism went along way in the sixties and seventies, i doubt it would be the same now...... that night we had another lovely dinner and partied vietnamese expat style... music scene is not the most happening, but we had a quite a good night... hearing the fussion of francophone culture..

we then took an internal flight to Danang... it was like taking a busy public bus, people were flying with huge plastic bags.. the flight was noisy and for three girls who got less than three hours of sleep it was not the most fun especially when we were harassed when we arrived to find cabs to take us to Hoi Ann.. We eventually found a cab, and after five minutes of driving, he stops the cab, opens the trunk and there was a black car behind us. Once we realize what happened, Vimal tried to open her door, and it was locked. My immediate reaction is like I am not going to have my things robbed from me. It wasnt going to happen. I jumped to the passenger seat of the car, rushed to the trunk and pushed the driver aside, not sure what I was yelling. We all took our bags and walked back to the airport. The driver kept saying it was cheaper to take a private car but after hearing the horror stories of backpackers in Vietnam we werent going to find out.

An hour later, we eventually made it to Hoi Ann.. It was one of UNESCO Heritage Sights, we spent the day with out rented bicycles seeing the city drinking lots of Vietnamese coffee and tea in the pouring rain.. The city is magical, no wonder it was soo loved by all the foreigners who colonized Vietnam, and thank god it was not touched during the Vietnames war... The pagados, the old houses, and the atmosphere.. We also had loads of fun singing at the top of our lungs.... nothing beats the tailored clothes... We wondered the city for days before taking our next adventure to the Hue another world Heritage sight on the sleeping bus... This bus is hilarious, they actually have beds, three rows of beds in a regular bus unfortunately it is customized for the Asian body...

Hue was stunning unlike Hoi Ann there are less tourists and city seemed more real, we cycled around visiting the old fortress, temples, and played football with a group of young Vietnamese girls... it was hilarious realizing how bad we sucked...

The bus driver was hilarious... on the bus to Hanoi, he stops on the way walks into a shop to try on jackets... I have never seen anything like this.. he made us all wait for a good 20 minutes so he could try on jackets which in the end he didnt even buy...

My final stop was to Hanoi.. the second biggest city in Vietnam, which was a bit overwhelming after enjoying the peaceful countryside... we met up with Vimals friend and her mom, where we wondered the city. The highlight was the water puppet show.. a must see for anyone going to Hanoi... it shows the imprint of Chinese arts in Vietnam...

"Suppaa" Austria

2008-02-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Feb has dawned upon us, and I cant imagine another way of expressing how "Suppaa" this past month has been. The trip was born after Dr Rostom and I concluded that the Silk route would need to wait till after Jan, as the harsh weather conditions would require alot more than just warm clothes. We decided to try skiing, and found the Austrian Alps. Neither of us had much experience, mine was one day in Whistler where I learnt about pizza and French fries, and attempting snowboarding in Queenstown when I was 14.

In the end after much talk, our ski trip comprised on myself, Dr Raz, Naz and Radwa. After random online searches we decided to spend a week in a small town called Saint Johann. Our pick was based on our understanding, that we would have 24 hours delivery of hot buns. We never did see the hot buns, but we all fell in love with the town, the mountains, skiing and of course tobaggoning.

Highlights of skiing, was an accident I had on the second day where I skied into barb wire and into the trees to eventually cry out of frustration because I knew the only way down was on skis. That didnt stop me from actually enjoying skiing, after I changed my instructor to someone I found more comfortable, and was able to regain my confidence to actually enjoy the blue slopes. The view was stunning, and the people were so nice, and the applestrudel was sinful, but overall things were as they say in St Johann "Suppaa".

The pain from skiing was ridiculous, and that pain very much accompanied how horrible it was leave this little paradise. Radwa flew home, and we were on our next destination, Salzburg, or better known as the place where the "Sound of Music" was filmed. This tour is a must have, and I came aware of it, after Reina shared her experience. For all fans, imagine your own a bus hearing and singing to Sound of Music songs, and going to places where the film was filmed. We had a treat by having a real live descendant of the Van Troup family lead the tour for us. After that, we were off to Vienna, where Mai also joined us.

Impressions of Vienna, it's really hard to start, I knew from the moment I saw it the day I arrived it was something magical. Not only is it a place of great history, its also a cultural capital where many great artists, musicians have come from. The streets, the architecture, watching Queen's "We will rock you", seeing my first real Opera "L'eliser L'amor" and of course seeing Klimt's painting "The Kiss" is breathtaking. Of course also being able to spend some time with Kaisa, and remember all the wonderful times spent with my crazy "World on Wheels" family three and a half years ago. We will also lucky enough to get exposed to artist, philosopher, ecologist and architect Frederick Hundertwasser. His work is phenomenal. Vienna is a place where you can get lost in it's countless museums because of it's huge diversity. In short Vienna has something for everyone. Next post will be on Prague, Budapest and of course my graduation :P

2008 The Year of New Beginnings!

2008-01-12T04:39:00.000-08:00

Nothing beats starting a New Years by the beach with the company of good friends! Looking back at 2007, it has been by far the toughest year of my life. Balancing University, AIESEC, and family stress was unimaginable. But nevertheless no matter how hard the experience, in the end its all part of must do's of life.

Professional ending my term on the National Board of AIESEC in Egypt, facilitating in the first regional conference for MENA, and then representing AUC at SIFE National competition and winning third place. And not evening stopping there, then moving to the regional board and facilitating at International Congress, the largest conference I have ever be part of. When I type it I feel already overwhelmed! But in the wise words of Voltaire: "If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new".

Personally, watching my father's health deteriorate and finally losing him, made me realize the importance of prioritize what and who is important to you, and letting them how much they mean to you!

Enjoy my beautiful mountains of Sinai and the coast of the Red Sea, and make sure that for 2008, you all put visiting me and Egypt as one of your resolutions!

Best of luck in this year adventures and hardships!

Village Boys are back in town!

2007-11-29T16:37:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting night last Wednesday, my good friend brother was getting married! And the wedding was beautiful, the bride and groom looked lovely, everyone looked so beautiful. Mai was super ecstatic and it was great to be there sharing her joy!

At the same time, the wedding had a lot of first times for me, I choose to get to the point, and pinpoint straight to what I found bizarre. From a quiet peaceful hall, all a sudden I felt I was in a scene of one of the village boys videos, because all at once there was 50 guys in cowboy hats line dancing. I really didnt know what to think of it, or how I felt about it, it was just a strange sight to see in a wedding!

Just so you can enjoy! Check out the guy's video, you can catch glimpses of his team!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoGhXUm5e5Y

Do you suffer from graduation anxiety?

2007-11-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't
own it, but you can use it. You can't keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it
you can never get it back." Harvay MacKay

In less than 4 weeks, I will complete my fifth and final year of my life as an undergraduate, fewer friends are in university. Somehow I never thought my last semester would feel like this... With only one last presentation, 4 papers, 4 assignments and 4 finals, and how I feel is a mixture of confused emotions. Being able to count the final days has made me reflect back and seeing how much I have changed, what I have done and achieved. And its sort of a pre-nostalgia of a place I havent even left yet.

The wonderful places I have been, and amazing people I have met. All the personal hardships I had to gone through to become this woman I am now.. as I watch my friends who have already graduated - the space between their lives and mine never felt as large as it does when I walk on campus and sigh over how flooded it is with freshmen who are just starting their journey.

In addition to the anxiety and a little loneliness, I also unready to deal with the actual process of getting my degree. That one piece of paper, the diploma. I actually feel confident that I can do something positive with my degrees, once I get over the frustration of finding something which is challenging enough for me to get committed.

I dont think I am regretting my past, but in a way, Im so conscious and so scared of regretting my future.

Ahh... Graduation Anxiety! Does everyone go through this?

Im on a global Campaign

2007-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

"Yasmine experienced how AIESEC empowers youth a few years ago while attending a conference in Ghana, where she met 210 individuals from over 23 countries that all shared a similar passion: a desire to change the world.

Yasmine had always thought that was crazy, but before long she joined in, determined to also make a difference.

She didn’t need to look too far, as right in front of her eyes were the after effects of September 11th and the conflicts between the West and Middle Eastern world.

Yasmine got involved in the Salaam program, which challenged her mindsets and stereotypes of the conflict that existed by building relationships with Americans. As a growing personal interest Yasmine was happy to take the program even further, and had the opportunity to work on the program at a national level in Egypt.

This role also gave Yasmine the opportunity to facilitate at the first AIESEC Middle East and North African conference. Continuing to play a part in Bridging the Gap between the two regions, Yasmine was most touched during a group sharing where a participant shared with her the importance of addressing this conflict by stating,
"If I know you today, I will not kill you tomorrow."

The conference gave her the first and rare opportunity to interact with many Middle Eastern youth. This taught her how similar the problems in the region were, and how much the region needed empowered leaders.

It allowed her to play a role in empowering women, who are not as engaged in their communities as they should be. She enjoyed seeing the sparkle in female members’ eyes, when asking them the role they wanted to play in this world, a question most of the Arab girls are never asked.

Today Yasmine is continuing in her work to Bridge the Gap and is working as a Project Manager for the AIESEC Middle East and North Africa regional board."

Yasmine’s story is just one of 23,000 lived each year by members across AIESEC’s
100-country network. Yasmine is a student just like you. Would you like to live a similar story?

Contact AIESEC at your university to join today! www.aiesec.org

Lets Stop Climate Change

2007-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Climate change, is a growing concern, and a worldwide epedimic, and at the G8 summit meetings every year, where Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States come together and pretty much decide the priority areas, as they make up 65% of the world economic power... On June 4th days the leaders of the G8 and the five other most polluting countries in the world meet in Germany. These 13 men and women will decide the fate of the world's climate.

These 13 representives come from countries which produce over 70% of global warming emissions.
For more background, to read Avaaz's climate change blog (http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/climate_change/)

265,000 people have fought to put the climate crisis at the top of their agenda. Global public opinion have power. Now we need an outcry like never before for the summit to produce not just hot air, but real action. If each of us gets just 4 other friends to sign our call, we can deliver the largest climate petition in history on June 6th. So please, forward this email now to anyone who could help -- they can sign at the link below:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_g8/

For more information about G8 meetings check this link!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G8

Strength, Courage and Wisdom

2007-05-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

These past few days, everything seems to be focused on disease and disorders. My friends fathers went through an open heart surgery, which my granduncle also went through. one of my other mothers went through back surgery, and then there is seeing my fathers health deteriorate, its overwhelming

To make matters tougher, my research paper for developmental psychopathology class is on sexual abuse. Going through the research is like going through a horror movie. One of the books I read was called "Don't Tell", by Michel Dorais which shares childhood sexual abused stories of these grown men.. Reading those real life experiences, and how it affects the child life development from creating positive relationship, high substance abuse, conduct disorder, etc is disturbing... what is even more troubling is how high the prevalence of sexual abuse is, in some communities of the world as high as 60-80%.

I decided to take a break from it all to watch a movie(Jenifer), which happed to be about a women named Jenifer Estress who had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which is degenerative condition, which attacks the cells that control the muscles, that eventually they cant walk, cant move and eventually suffocate to death after suffering for two to five years.

When Jenifer was diagnosed, doctors said there was no cure, and that she continue to live comfortably, and prepare for the worse. Jenifer and her sisters showed great strength when they fought against what the doctors said and established a project called project ALS. This project would work on finding a cure for this disease, during an interview Jenifer shares that although she could no longer walk, "I can still speak. And while I can, I'll make sure no one else has to hear that there is no hope and no cure. That's absolutely unacceptable."

In another interview she shares her wisdom of life and death that "Once you conquer the fear . . . of losing your life, a lot more opens up to you"

All these stories takes strength, courage and wisdom...

Businss is religion and religion is Business!

2007-05-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

Business is religion, and religion is business. The man who does not make a business of his religion has a religious life of no force, and the man who does not make a religion of his business has a business life of no character.

-Maltbie Babcock

Life in transition!

2007-05-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

Its wonderful when you realize, that once something ends, its often really just the beginning! At the end of the semeseter this epipheny often hits me, but its never been as powerful as this year! This is most likely because most of my friends have already began their professional careers, and it seems odd still having to go through the hustle and bustle of hectic finals week in university. Papers, more papers, projects, and those subjective exams which assess our performance.

Although it may be the end of one element, it opens up other realms of many! Many peoplw are off to spend adventurous summers away, while others come back home, and now as we age there is a new epidemic of ring exchanging is occuring.

Last weekend, I got to attend two of my oldest friends engagement ceremony, and at both occassions I felt uncomfortable at first, because it hit me, its been five years since high school. This five years has changed who we have become, but our roots are still the same, just like our tree which is growing strong since the day we planted it. It was undescribable feeling of not so much getting old, but realizing that its a new phase of my our life.

It also hit me, that this is a point of our lives where we make decisions about where we are going, and who will partner with us throughout this struggle of life.

In the heartfelt words of K'naan "I know struggle, and struggle knows me, my life owes me, like an overdose I'm slowly, drifting in the arms of trouble, then trouble holds me, and nothing else's close to me, more than pain unfortunately, like a self fulfilling prophecy, I'm suppose. "

Fight Hunger: Walk the World

2007-05-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have been passionate for fighting hunger after attending an info session for this organization called EWB(Engineers without borders), where six individuals in a silent auditorium, snapped their fingers three times! And one of them came forward to say that every three seconds a child dies of hunger.

We can make poverty History! I felt goosebumps thinking of how lucky my family, and friends are! We not only had plenty of food, but we had variety, and we still had room to complain.

I got sucked into this organization, organizing discussion around development. We had crazy events on campus, like running pranks, games, a Hershey kissing booth.. We petitioned in downtown Vancouver, and had tons of public supporters... And how can I forget attending the national conference in Ottawa, where we got ourselves on TV, and walked and creating a giant bridge to link developed countries support to developing countries...

So I couldnt help but jump at the opportunity to get involved in this opportunity where in all countries all around the world, people are supporting the cause...

The event was held at the Citadel, it is a beautiful location, I went with Dr Mai, my partner in crime, and it was great bumping into Amira and Gina.. It was alot of fun, as Amira and I were chanting Fight Hunger: Walk the world.. we didnt get much support but it was fun anyway....Unfortunately, the event was poorly publicitized, and not enough people were aware of the event.. Next year Im going to make sure that thats different..

The words have been spoken

2007-05-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

So this year has definetely been an emotional battle for me, coming back coping with my family situation!! Thanks to the special people, who said I could fight through this, all that moral support have played it's part..

So how did I cope with it all, for the first part of the year, I just ignored the fact that my father was sick.. I was in complete denial... The denial hit at the faci wrap session in Singapore over Christmas, I heard Francois share a story of why he was here, and I just broke down.

The tears flooded my eyes, and for the first time since I got back from Vancouver, I spent time with myself, I questioned myself alot during that trip what I was doing, and where I wanted to be, and how I wanted to support my father. All questions had no response...

But thats life, sometimes there is no answer, but we still live through it..

Out of confusion of life, and I guess expectation I decide to run for MCP.. It was overwhelming finding out some of the politics behind every story. Im proud I didnt participate in all of it...
I prayed, and the the results were a blessing...

Next thing I knew I was in Morocco for MENA LDs, I cant even begin to express what I felt in that conference. Out of all the international experienes, I have never been moved so much. As an Arab woman, I have never seen so many Arabs in one place! I have never really felt that our region could be any better than what it is. But there I really believed! I believed again in my region, and my world!

I come back, and reality hits me again, and I had forgotten what I had just rediscovered. But something better came along, a person who reminded me of the things I used to enjoy... I got lost in more questioning, where I asked myself who am I? who have I become? Where do I want to go?

Oddly enough I had no words to describe myself!

I also decided to spend yet another year in AIESEC, I guess the feelings from MENA woudnt go away, and I applied and am elected for the new Middle East North Africa(MENA) Growth Network Project Manager

The journey starts within yourself.. Throughout this year, I guess I forgot that..

"If you don't know who you are, how do you expect somebody else to know you"