738) Shik ... Shak ... Shok !

Once upon a time there was Mr."Shik" who was heading a country for looong years.. one day he decided to run for the zillion's term, so Magles el "Shak" decided to nominate him, only him, and none but him (so help us God). Magles el"Shak" called for elections where people of "Shok" voted for their beloved leader "Shik" to "run" their country till further notice, and since then this country's nick name has become "Shik, Shak, Shok" with national anthem carrying the same name (listen to it here).

Of course the previous paragraph is purely imaginary and "doesn't ever" happen in reality! For example, in 2005 presidential elections, the last thing I could have imagined is to have President Mubarak running for 2011 elections. The question is: should I be prepared to see President Mubarak running for 2017 elections?

Before you say: "no way", note that on the day this picture was taken (in Italy) Muabark said he will be inagurating -along with Berlescony- the Italian Univeristy in Egypt in 2017.


In your dreams Mr.Mubarak ...


Mohaly

737) Teeshink Angeleesh (Teaching English) !

Continuing with our discussion about Education (see last post 736), let's see a sample of our most important education phase..the elementary school teaching methodology. This sample is from a 6th grade English language class (although taught in Arabic). Let's see it together and then discuss.
Mohaly

736) Changing Education Paradigms !

Contintuing my call for change in our educational and career attitudes (ref last post 735), I am sharing with you this video regarding current education systems and how they may be efficient but not effective. Of course, the current education in Egypt is neither efficient nor effective.
Mohaly

735) What it takes for Career Breaks!

I wonder why do many employees in Egypt insist on joining or at least contracting for a new job before quitting their old job. I see the decision of quitting an old job has nothing to do with joining another one. It is like someone waiting to hook up with a new wife in order to divorce his old wife! 

If you cant take it anymore and can afford yourself for a while, why don't you get a career break to stop and see where are you heading and adjust your path to what serves your vision.

A career break is a period of time out from employment. Traditionally, this was for mothers to raise children, but it is now used for people taking time out of their career for personal development and/or professional development.

A career break is usually between one month and one year and is adopted by many employees in Europe and the US. Sometimes you stop to think, sometimes you stop to learn & explore, and sometimes you stop to rest... I think everyone should experience a career break every 5 years specially if he/she can financially afford it....What do you think about that?

You can check here if you are interested (this is not an ad).

Mohaly

P.S. Happy New Hijri Year by the way :)

734) E3terafat Mohaly Part 4::: Noor aka Tooti !!!

I didnt know people can experience heart breaking in different forms other than the typical man-woman relationship.

After more than 4 months of experiencing fatherhood with my lovely niece "Noor", she left back to Jeddah a week ago. I feel awful, awkward, and hollow. Living with her made me feel that I have something much bigger than career to live for.. everyday I used to finish my work as early as possible to comeback and have my prize.. 1 or 2 hours of playing, laughter, even crying and fighting.. 

I even miss the days that I worked from home and lost a lot of time for babysitting her, but was enjoying wasting my time for the first time... I miss the minute she wakes up and asks for food especially if were alone at home and I go and prepare food for her (sometimes I mix up completely wrong ingredients, but it worked). I miss that every single thing I eat or drink, she had to come running and ask for a bite or a sip. I miss buying her stuff that makes her happy and teaching her new tricks (that can drive her mum crazy sometimes) -see the picture to the left for her wearing H-dabbour wig-.

I even miss watching very silly stuff on TV that makes her happy, I even memorized songs that I hate but make her smile.

I have always loved and adored children, but living with one is an experience that you are not the same person after it ends. I will be counting the days & hours till she comes on a short visit (hopefully in 1500 hours).

Please God, help me make the right choice and marry a lovely woman and have lovely kids like Noor.

God Bless all our children :))

Mohaly

733) Wa7ed ... Etneen ... Baladna Ra7et Feen?!

Since I see this whole fuss about the Egyptian Parliament elections is just a big fat joke... I'd like to share this small clip from an old egyptian movie produced in the 80s (Al Bedaya) where it shows how the Autocratic leader is telling his people about democracy and how do they react..
Mohaly

732) Communicate before it is too late !

Communication is THE most important aspect in the success or failure of any relationship. It is a real pity when both parties like each other and they have to break up because they can't smoothly communicate. It is not an easy decision but it is inevitable.

Please don't ruin your relationship with lack or mis-communication.

Mohaly 

731) Personal ::: The Cocoon !

It is weird when you feel that you are like a worm turning into butterfly trying to get out from a cocoon. I am passing through this feeling nowadays... I went away alone for the past couple of days to help myself through it, but I guess I still need more time to realize the momentum and impact of this change...!!!
Mohaly

730) Being Positive: Smile in Eid :)

Smile... It is Eid Time :)

Mohaly

 عندما تستيقظ من النوم ابتسم واشكر الله على نعمة البقاء ‏..

 عندما تتوجه إلى العمل.. ابتسم فالبعض لا يعمل ويتمنى التواجد مكانك

عندما تتذكر بعض الضغوط التي مررت بها ... ابتسم لأنها مضت  ..

عندما تمر بموقف صعب .. ابتسم لأنك تملك رباً عظيما تستطيع اللجوء إليه في أي وقت ..

عندما تفشل في تجربة معينة .. ابتسم فقد يكفيك شرف المحاولة ‏.. والتعلم

عندما يجرحك شخص عزيزا عليك .. ابتسم فهناك العديد من الأشخاص من يحاول يداوي جروحك ..

عندما يظلمك من حولك .. ابتسم لأنك لم تظلم أحدا يوما

عندما تعرف إن فلانا من الناس لا يحبك .. ابتسم فهناك العديد من الأشخاص الذين يحبونك ويتمنون لك السعادة ..

أنت من تملك حياتك وأنت من تعيشها فبإرادتك أن تجعلها جنة صغيرة سعيدة وبإرادتك أن تجعها سوداء مليئة بالأحزان .. فلك الخيار لتختار

وابتسم لأنك تملك الخيار الصحيح 

729) 3alam Wara2 !

Isn't it Ironic that your whole life is just about some pieces of paper .....


A Birth Certificate shows that we were born... 
A Death Certificate shows that we died... 
and Pictures show that we lived !!


Mohaly

728) Money, Energy & Time !

Money, Energy, & Time are 3 major components in the success and achievement of our goals. We try to have them together, but there is always something missing in each stage of your life:

School age: You Have Time + Energy, & No Money

Working Age: You Have Money + Energy, & No Time

Old age: You Have Time + Money, but no Energy

You'd better make the best of the components that you already have or else you will end up losing in all the stages.

Mohaly

727) House Wife ... Get a Life !

I wonder why do some women consider their husbands literally everything in their lives. Their whole life starts and ends with and at their men! I am not against house-wives but against the woman who doesn't have anything in her life but her man..

I think the wife should share, help, please... her man, but she should have her own activities (other than house duties) whether as at work or just for fun. I think this is even better for the man who will not be taking her for granted, and it will boost her self-confidence.

One of my female friends was telling me that she has to be involved in everything in her husband's life so that he wont be used to doing anything alone!!! Why, this makes men trapped and gets an opposite effect.

To all house-wives... Would you get a life?

What do you think?

Mohaly

726) Waiting for "Life" ..... Waiting for"ever" !

Two Friends went to fish
One of them got a big fish and put it in his bag and got up to leave ..
The other asked him: Where are you going?! ..
He replied: Home, this big fish is enough for me 
Second person: Wait to catch more & bigger fish..
First person: Why should I do that?! ..
Second person .. When you catch more fish then you can sell more
First person: Why should I do that? ..
Second person: to get more money ..
First person: Why should I do that? ..
Second person: to save and increase your savings in the bank ..
First person: Why should I do that? ..
Second person: to become rich ..
First person: What shall I do with wealth?!
Second person: when you grow old you can enjoy your time with your children and your wife
First person: This is exactly what I'm doing now. I do not want to postpone it till I grow old!

Enjoy what you have now, don't wait for tomorrow or next year in order to enjoy life... In each stage of your life you will have challenges, setbacks, and success in one of the different aspects of life.. it is a whole package that you have to get its best and overcome its worst in every stage...

If you waited till you are secured to start enjoying life..... You will never do!

Mohaly

725) Rushing Your Life ::: A Matter of Perception !

A beautiful Email I got, and I wanna share it with you and know your opinion
Mohaly

In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 60 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.  After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing.  He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly.  The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time.  This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all.

 
 No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a Stradivarius violin worth $3.5 million dollars.  Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

 This is a true story.  Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the DC Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
Watch Video Here
------------------------
Questions:

1)In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
2)Do we recognise talent in an unexpected context?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: 

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . .

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Mohaly

724) The Road to Hell & the Good Intensions!

The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intensions..1855 H. G. Bohn

I remember this quote everytime I read about something Dr.Ahmed Zaky Badr does or says. This man is saying a lot of stuff that makes good sense and really need to be implemented to save our sinking and stinking Educational "System". However, everytime he decides upon changing it, he chooses the worst tactic that just lead to more and more problems.

Some quick examples:
Teachers and Students have to be attending school from first to last day.... For sure, but The Schools have to be clean, fixed, and equipped first in order to make this happen... Why do you start by the result and leave the cause.
Teachers and Students should use the school book and syllabus to study and train... Of course, but when the school book is well prepared, organized, understood, ...etc as some of the external books do, then you can prohibit the use of them and only use the school book (i'd rather call reference book).
Teachers should not be delivering private lessons...Can't agree more, but do people have a real option, do they have reasonable class sizes, enough teachers, do teachers get tempting salaries...etc?

What I wanna say is that if he only focused on the infrastructure of the Educational System for the next 2 years, it will automatically develop, people will be less resistant to change, and your job will be much easier than in implementing your development strategies, but I am afraid that after couple of years from now all what we remember is your continuous fights and appearance in all sorts of media.

Education is our Nation's most serious challenge and a double-sided weapon that can be the reason for our development OR our mass destruction in the near future.

Mohaly

723) Muslim ... Mase7y ... Egyptian!

I really don't understand the silly discussions regarding Muslims and Christians that are taking part in all sorts of media during the last couple of months.

I think there are some major stuff regarding life, principals, morals...etc that has to do with our everyday life that are common in both religions and that is the most important thing. Co-existence and our relations have no contradiction with what came in both religions.

Our differences come about major stuff as well, but stuff that has nothing to do with the present life, it is either about what happened in the past or what will happen in the afterlife. In both cases we shouldn’t waste our time about it coz both followers (Muslims & Christians) won’t change their believes, and even if they did, it won’t matter in such case.

Jesus was crucified or not, who will go to heaven, will he come back to fight with or against Muslims... all of these issues don't affect our current life and having major disputes and even fights about it doesn't benefit anyone.

We do both agree about the main values in life, ethics, morals, we look alike, talk alike, and have common history and common destiny. This should drive us both to unite in order to save ourselves and our country from its long setback and don't take into further drops... None of us benefit from what is happening, only common enemies do.

I do like my Christian friends and colleagues -actually the girl I liked the most in my life was Christian- and I don't know a reason of hating them or considering them different in any form. Or as my dear friend Ehaab Abdo sings: "Muslim...Mase7y... Ana Masry".

We are both Egyptians, and we both own and will live this land till the end of life...Other than that, we won't have a country to fight about in the first place!

Mohaly

722) El Gama3a ::: Drama or Reality?!

Have you watched el Gama3a series in Ramadan?

What do you think about it?

Did it reflect a real image of one of the important groups in Egypt?

Was it fair or biased?

Actually I enjoyed the drama work, the acting, directing..etc and I see it was trying to reflect a balanced image (except that the part regarding Amn El Dawla was not realistic at all, they are not as angelic as they were shown). I also liked the non-expected ending focusing on the regret of Hassan El Banna for drifting into politics instead of focusing on religion only. May be it is a message for the current Ikhwan who is playing politics as far as it gets.

I personally don't beleibe in Ikwan's ideology or methodology, but I think such topic/series worth discussion specially that we are heading into a very hot year on the political level. Ikwan whether we like them or not are an effective part in the Egyptian politics, and can't be just ignored by fooling ourselves and saying "El Mahzoura - The prohibited". 

The quote I liked the most and I think it summarizes it all was said by Ezzat El Alaily: "Our government causes the suffering & pain of the people, political parties and ikhwan gamble with it, while no one really cares about the welfare of the people."

Mohaly

721) Arabs Money .... Down the Drain !!

Arabs should be entitled for the World Records in consumption, with distinction regarding how silly the fields of consumption are. I will just be mentioning selected numbers from the non-periodical reports of Arab World Consumptions, and briefly commenting..although sometimes I feel that there is no comment, but I will leave that to you to decide...

Outcome of monthly cellular SMS messages that appear on the bar at the bottom of the screen of Arab satellite channels in the downlink convergence (8) million dollars! 

The cost of producing video clips of Arab songs is (16) billion dollars per year! 

Total annual income of domestic servants is Arab (35) billion dollars ! or approximately (3) billion dollars a month!! 

Total spending by the Arab Women on beauty products in a single year is (2) billion dollars (1.5 billion share of Gulf women!

Total spending by all the Arab countries on scientific research is (1.7) billion dollars annually, representing (0.3%) only of the gross national product. 

For comparison: in France, 2.7%, Sweden 2.9%, Japan 3% (ie, 10 times as much Arab countries combined), In Israel, 4.7% according to figures from UNESCO for the year 2004)!

The number of illiterates in the Arab world is more than the (100) million,  this means that one of every 3 Arabs can not read or write!!!  And for those who spend their money on books: The average number of books read by an American per year (11) books, and European (7) Books, The Arab in a single year does not exceed a quarter page 

!!!!!!!

P.S. Thank God that the report did not mention how much do Arabs spend on prostitutes and sex escorts.

Mohaly

720) Being Positive ::: Yes We Can... Save Lives !

Accidents in Egypt specially Cairo has reached a scary limit. We are loosing thousands of lives each year most of which are young people. I lost my dear cousin in an accident, and some of my friends too.. May be it is not the first time I talk about this but it is dramatically increasing and I think we must be working in parallel with the government (if they do anything about it aslan) to size it down.

For example, the driving licence requires a test but it is a fake one. Why don't we make sure that we really can drive before driving not for the sake of issuing the license but for the sake of our and others safety.

Why don't we teach our younger siblings and kids to respect the ambulance and stop to the nearest right when we hear its alarm.

Why don't we exert some more effort and have some patience to cross the street from its intersections and when the traffic light is red (now the new monitored lights are really respected by cars).

Why don't we drive on the right when we are moving slowly so that we don't get hit by someone driving fast on the left lane?

Why don't we stop holding the mobile with one hand and driving with the other?

Why don't we place the children in the back seats?

And many other stuff that we can do without a need for regulation or law, even if this will make a 10% difference, it is enough to motivate us to do it, we are talking about lives here...

I still miss my cousin and I wanna be a reason for saving someone else's cousin..

Mohaly

719) El E7sas El 3asry Lel Ensan El Masry !!

I am Egyptian ...

Ana Masry ...

What do you feel when you say that?

In other words Law Sa2ltak Enta Masry te2oli eih?

Do you feel Proud? ... Challenged? .... Frustrated? .... Worried?....or you simply don't care? or even worse you are Ashamed?

I am personally having a mix of all these feelings..

Proud of the ability to survive all these years and all these challenges

Challenged to make any difference

Frustrated coz I can't see any real development

Worried about the future and our kids

Don't care about the fictional democracy and meaningless speeches

and Ashamed of what we have become in &  to the world.

Am I being Pessimistic? or I am just as Realistic as it gets and dreaming of a major change coming soon !!

Mohaly

M.O.H.@.L.Y.I.©.S ::: Choose Your Topics !

I hope you had a nice time off in Eid.. :)

I am currently planning to continue the 5 Episodes Series "Challenging Yourself" that I have started before Ramadan, in addition to some of the suggestions I had from couple of the blog readers and followers.

I thought before doing that to take your opinion and know what you wanna read about..

So Would you kindly comment (in this post) stating the 3 topics you wanna discuss and read about during the coming period?

The topics should be within the scope of community and personal development (covering political, social (relationships), economic, technological and cultural aspects).

Mohaly

* * * HAPPY EID * * *

Kol sana wentom taybeen, 3eed sa3eed (balash mawdou3 3eed mubarak plz).

Mohaly

718) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: Ruling Egypt !

We all know that President Mubarak was ruling Egypt in the turn of the 21st century & the 3rd Millennium.
El Fazoura: can you identify who was ruling Egypt in the turn of the last Century, and last Millennium?

-20th Century (1901)

- Turn of the Millennium (1001) 

Bonus: Who will be ruling in 2101 ;)

Mohaly

717) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: Peace Ya Man !

Ahhhh, 3amaleyet el salam, saba7 el fol !!!

El Fazoura: Can you spot the "differences" and "similarities" in these 2 photos of the peace process direct negotiations (in the 90s and 10s).


P.S> Tab3an one of the similarities doesn't change abadan ;)


Mohaly

716) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: Number C !

El Fazoura: Where does the letter "C" appear in the spelling of the numerical figures (One, Two, Three...etc)?
Mohaly