860) Cairo Friendship Association !

On the same day 20 years ago (24.4.1994), I and some distinguished friends established a small student organization that grew really fast till winning the best Club at the AUC (American University in Cairo) and extended its chapters to 2 local Universities in Egypt (Ain Shams, & Helwan), and 3 International ones in Europe (Switzerland), North America (Canada), and Asia (Bahrain). It extended to have subsidiaries like the Pro-Action Team for Development, Arab Cultral Integration Conference, Publications (like CIFA, Thursday in Cairo,..etc), and mega projects (like Cairo Anniversary, Cairo Cultural Trips, ..etc) that attracted students and graduates from all over Egypt.

To all those who once took part in any of CFA activities in its golden age (1994-2000) including Pro-Action Team, Arab Cultural Integration Conference, CFA Egypt, or CIFA, I would like to deeeeeply thank you for your precious and sincere contributions that made us have such successful experience.

Special Thanks to CFA & its subsidiaries' icons: Yasmine Fahmy, Al Moataz Selmy, Karam El Tobgy,Sherif Saleh, Lana Gad, Mohamed Farag, Tamer Breakah, Mohamed Badran, Amr Youssef, Khaled Helmy, Rhonad Kotb, Nermine Abdel-Fattah, Noha Hatata, Mohamed El Batta, Noha Nasrat, Marwa Nosohy, Ahmed Farrag, Reham Farouk, Randa Hamza, Zaki Zahran, Tarek Genina, Mohamed El Ammamy, Nehal El Naggar, Waad El Hadidi, Mohamed Khamis, Khalil El Bawab, Ahmed Hafez, Kareem Farahat, Lana Malky, Tamer Mahdy and a lot more :)

I can say proudly that these days were some of the best days of my life.

M.O.H.@.L.Y

859) To Pee or not to Pee ... !!

I think that William Shakespeare would have written it this way if he had a simple walk in the streets of Cairo, and had witnessed himself the view, smell, and feeling of "Pee" allover the walls, sidewalks, bushes, alleys, ...etc.

The scene of people peeing in the streets is becoming quite normal, something I almost see every other day. The last time I did was yesterday when a Taxi driver pulled over beside a 5 starts hotel and went to the other side of the car, opened the door, unzipped his pants, and simply peed between the passenger door and the car !

Although it seems disgusting, but insisting always to put myself in others shoes instead of framing or judging makes me think that most of the time people do that because there are no practical alternatives (
a decent or even functioning public toilet) specially if they are using public transportation or just walking. It gets even worse if you are a female.

I tried it myself, and walked for 2.5 kilometers thinking about something I wanna do work, and I had all that walk without finding one single public toilet, and wondered, what if I really cant hold it anymore during that walk, what should I have done?! So instead of thinking strategically about "being" or not "being", I turned out to be thinking about "peeing" or not "peeing".

M.O.H.@.L.Y

840) مع البلطجية !!

فى يوم عيد الحب السنة ديه

كنت رايح فرح أعز أصدقاء ليّه

فرحان و بأغنى مع ثومة الأغنية

و الإشارة واقفة و الزحمة لا نهائية

طلعوا عليا فجأة البلطجية

فى عز الزحمة و ناويين أذية

واحد شمالى و عامل نفسه ضحية

و واحد قدامى قافل طريقى بسوء نية

مد إيده مابين الباب و الإزاز

و خطف موبايلى و شد الكوفية

قعد يشتم و يزعق عشان أنزل

و يخطف هو بسلامته العربية

سبحان من ثبتنى فى الليلة ديه

و كأن الكلام ده بيحصل لحد تانى مش ليّه

رجعت لورا .. و بسرعة تانى لقدام

و طوحت اللى قدامى بعصبية

جريت و معرفوش يلحقونى

و رجعت بيتنا أخد نَفَسى شوية

و حلفت إنى مش هأخاف من اللى حصل

و إن الليلة دى لسة مش منتهيه

وقفت الخط و غيرت الباسوردز

و فوّقت نفسى بسرعة  بشوية ميّة

نزلت الفرح و عديت على نفس الشارع

عشان أنسى اللى حصل فيّه

من الأخر خالى باكم و ماتقفوش أبدا

حتى لو دوستم حد بالعربية

دى ناس ضايعة و عن روحها مستغنيه

مايفرقش معاها إنت إبن ناس ..  و لا إبن جنّية

و على فكرة القصة دى حقيقية

فى الخليفة المأمون قُرب الإتحادية

الساعة تمانية و نص و شوية

 فى عيد الحب .. مع البلطجية

M.O.H.@.L.Y

20.02.2013

837) Cairo Part-Timer !!

I am not gonna talk today about politics, love, relationships, life, or anything. This is one of the personal posts that I bother you with every now and then J

I finally took the decision that I have long waited for ; I am moving out of Cairo by the end of 2015 in-shaa-Allah. Before you say, that is still far away, I would like to tell you that it cant be sudden, and it has to be gradual in order to pull out slowly of the corporate business and establish another in the new destination, and handle how I will continue teaching at AUC as well, and do the Social work at Nahdet El Mahrousa. My Mission is the same, but I may need to change some strategies.

This will take at least 2 years to handle, but just taking the decision itself is a big relief. 

Although I loved Cairo a lot -when I was younger- that I have established a club in its name at AUC and other Egyptian and Foreign universities, but I really cant bare living there or being a full-timer in Cairo anymore. Cairo became a blood, mind, and soul sucking city with all its traffic, air, pollution, aggressiveness  and lost feeling of security. This is not only because of the aftermath of the revolution, I was actually thinking about it since 2006, but the revolution aftermath just came to push me to take the decision without regrets.

So what about Marriage? Ah, I won’t wait to get married and take the decision, that stage is over. I am where I am, and will be where I will be, and the woman who is gonna think about marrying me will know that from the beginning and it is her full choice to join me in such life or “enjoy” Cairo. In addition, I am more closer than ever now regarding not looking for an Egyptian wife with all my respect to Egyptian women.

The challenge is that I still have lots of ideas in development and corporate, that I cant still figure out how to handle while not always being in Cairo. I am sure that I will be able to handle it, specially that I wont completely move out, I will be a part timer being in Cairo 2 or 3 days every week or something of the sort.. The things I know for sure is that I don’t want Cairo to be my home anymore as I already don’t feel belonging there anymore.

Will I succeed in such new life challenge … I don’t know, but I know that I will do my best to take the challenge till the end J

M.O.H.@.L.Y

Published Article ::: Cairo's Magnetic Attraction !

This is my latest article published in AUCToday Magazine about Cairo. May 2012

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

714) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: Home Parking !

There are lots of weird stuff you can  see everyday in the Egyptian streets, but I don't think you can see this picture everyday..


EL Fazoura: 
1) How did this car get there?
2) Is it a new way of parking  (like in 5th element movie)?


Best Regards,
Mohamed

711) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: The Stolen Painting?

A Van Gogh painting worth an estimated $55 million was stolen from a Cairo museum on Saturday and after reporting it had been recovered, the state news agency quoted a minister as saying it was still missing.


El Fazoura: Who stole it? & Why did they report finding it if they didn't?
(please don't tell me Karim Abdel Aziz and Maged El Kedwani stole it and it is hidden in Hanan Tork's Red Wedding dress ;)
Mohaly

709) Fawazeer Ramadan - Kahraba !

Why do we have irregular electricity cut-off in Ramadan? and if it is necessary, why dont they schedule it instead of the daily loss of equipment and data?

Just a small paragraph about the only case when they cut off electricity in UK because the user didn't pay the bill, read and respect...

Cut-Off Process Information

The basic process is that if you don’t pay a bill, the electricity supplier will give you 28 days between sending a bill and sending a notice to disconnect you. They must then wait at least seven days before coming in to perform the cut-off. That basically gives you only five weeks between receiving a bill and being cut off.

In reality these dates are minimum figures and it's very rare that anyone would be cut off in that short a period of time. After all, the energy companies would rather have money coming in from a customer than a cut-off customer who then pays nothing. 


Compare this to what is said here in Egypt for people who fully pay their bills: Click Here


I really wanna know the answer.
 Mohaly

701) Taxi ... Sorry, it is for Women only !!

Why do all the signs indicate that we are heading into the separation of the society between males and females. Females cars in Metro, female queues, female hours in some services, female only restaurants (like Hanan Turk's one), and lately female only taxi (check). I wonder what else will be female only!

I am not against women having their privacy for one reason or another, but I am afraid one day - especially with the fake religious and wahabi waves invading our society- to wake up and find Cairo another Riyadh!

Mohaly

699) The Chronic Traffic Challenge !

Have you ever though how much does the traffic jams and problems in cairo cost us every year?

2.3 Billion Pounds (2,300,000,000 LE). Imagine!

This means that we lose an average of 4,400 LE every MINUTE of the day all over the year. Imagine if this amount is used to fund Education or Health or even helping the poor people! The weird thing is that this problem has been there for more than 40 years now and guess what it is getting WORSE!

Same traffic jams, same blocked spots, same stupidity in handling it (e.g. having a 4 lane bridge ending in a 2 lane street!!!!, and having a 3 meters wide pavement on each side for the Tram in a 10 meters wide street!)...

I stopped going out in cairo except around home or AUC, other than that. I rather stay home and get bored. (the other option will be heart attack in the street, those who have driven their cars last Monday will know what i mean).

I think Carpooling is something that we have to adopt right now, we cant wait longer for the government as it seems that they aren't serious enough about fixing this chronic problem! Any other suggestions dear readers?

Mohaly
(writing from Alexandria heading back to Cairo)

682) A Quick Guide for Cairo Traffic Light !

The Traffic Light in Cairo:

Green Light is just stating the obvious, you gonna pass anyway.

Red Light is just a suggestion to stop, that you "might" consider.

while Yello Light is ...... just for decoration!

Mohaly

678) "On the Stay" !

I have been wondering lately about the status of "On the Run". I thought from the name, it is a quick-buy shop where the average time stay doesn't exceed 5 mins at most. However, it has been lately noticed that it is always crowded and people may spend 30 mins or more socializing there although the place is not designed or capable of handling all these people for that long! The amazing part is that its current FM Radio campaign has a slogan saying "2abelni Henak" which means Let's meet-up there which I see totally contradicting with the cocept of "On the Run"... Why?!
I am suggesting that it will be more realistic and matching to what is really happening  if it changed its name to "On the Stay"... 2abelni henak ;)
Mohaly

615) Bright Side - Episode 3 ::: Egypt Car Poolers!

I know that I haven't added any new episodes in this series for more than a year but there weren't much to write about then. I was tempted to add a 3rd episode to this series when I found out about this good initiative and spirit. When I finish Being Yourself Series, I will try to add more episodes to the Bright Side of Egypt.. we need to see more of this side of the country...

I am glad that there are positive initiatives of young people (Hisham A.Wahab, Hind Rasid...)who made use of their brains and skills in trying to make a positive change in their society. We all know that the traffic problem in Cairo has reached a level that is beyond normal and abnormal tolerance. These young group has worked hard since summer 2008 to finally launch their website promoting Car pooling in Cairo that reduces both traffic and pollution.

I am quoting the initiator Hisham Abdel Wahab:

"For those of you who don’t know, www.egyptcarpoolers.com is Egypt’s first online carpooling community! The website aims to promote carpooling in Egypt by creating a forum where potential carpoolers can connect and coordinate rides.

Anything to reduce the traffic :)!!

Feel free to sign up and forward to friends. Your support would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Hisham"

Thank You Hisham, Hind, and all your team. I am urging fellow Cairians to join or at least promote the idea (You can link this post in facebook or your blogs).

Mohaly

601) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: The Street Sign !

El Fazoura: Can you figure out the relation between the 2 signs?

Mohaly

596) Fawazeer Ramadan ::: Donkey Gas!

El Fazoura: What is the donkey doing in the Gas Station?

Mohaly

592) Honna Al Kahira - Part XXI - 3al Raseef !

Cairo SideWalk (Pavement) has been registered in Genis Records as the highest in the world!!
I do really get provoked of the continuous increase in the side walk heights (if it exists aslan). I see old people and children struggling to CLIMB it. The door of my car is ruined from the continuous pumping into the side walk. WHat is the point of having the highest side walk in the world?!
Ah another thing, why do they change it almost every year?!

Mohaly

587) El Escort wal Doctor !!

Since Maha couldn't tolerate more of the last post, so i decided to give her el darba el 2adia :)

Omar -tab3an- has forwarded me a website - i wont publish its URL, hehe ;)- that announces sex escorting service, where ya 7elween?in CAIRO! we eih, details el details, nas professional el sara7a, every thing has its own price and most of the girls are from eastern Europe.

Tab3an I won't even discuss the concept and how did it penetrate Egypt! That is an endless story. El mohem, how much ba2a for a day ..... kam, 1000 LE la2 tab3an da yemken el entag el ma7ali, kam, aiwa... 10,400 LE !!!!! (mesh fahem ana eih el 400 LE!)

Tayeb, I am a PhD holder, teaching masters and diploma students in a reputable university, managing consultant and board member in a reputable company, and a reputable trainer in Egypt and arab region.... If I got crazy and asked for this amount in 1 man day of consulting, training, ..etc, It will be akeed the last day in my career... I know that -surprisingly- renting minds is much less profitable (no comparison aslan) than renting bodies, bas mesh keda!

So ya Maha, and all my dear blog readers ... I need your opinion, how should i feel about that?!

Akhokom El Mafrous,
Mohaly

570) Why is it hard to be CLEAN ?!

I realized that all the precautions to avoid Swine Flu are simply about "BEING CLEAN" and I also realized that the danger in Egypt is not because of the flu itself as much as not having the "being clean" culture.. I kept on thinking and I wondered Why aren't the majority of the Egyptian people in the 21st century clean? what have led to this? If the religions tell us to be clean, and all creatures care about being clean, so why aren't we? why are many of us:

throwing garbage?

spitting?

even pissing in streets?

not washing hands?

not washing teeth even once per day?

not showering every day?

not cleaning after us in public toilets?

smelling awful? and many other examples..

I am not talking about everyone but in 3 non-successive days I counted the people I saw and this was the result:

• Day 1: have seen/met 76 .... 21 clean, 55 doing one or more of the above.
• Day 2: have seen/met 53 .... 23 clean, 40 doing one or more of the above.
• Day 3 (weekend): have seen/met 35 .. 17 clean, 18 doing one or more of the above.

so clean is always the minority!

My question again, WHY? and what led to this?

Mohaly

(busy detaching a gum from my shoe!)

489) Fe Shebr Mayah!

Is it believable that the greatest city in Middle East and Africa gets paralized every time it rains?!!

Mohaly