The woman in Al-Hussein

I'm not sure how to begin this entry but her face keeps coming into view. She was an old woman in the mosque of Hussein in the old city of Cairo, Egypt. A large gray headscarf covered her frail little body. She instructed people where to stand and indicated to me that my scarf was not covering my head completely. I made the necessary adjustments. Her life it seemed revolved completely around this landmark. I imagined that she had spent everyday here standing by the door and helping the tourists and locals to pray in an overpacked hall. It felt so simple and so beautiful. Having a life completely dedicated to God.


When I finished the evening prayers she turned around to me and again gave specific instructions. "Go say salaam to him," she said. She motioned towards the ornate doorway that opened into the gallery where Imam Hussein's body is entombed in iron and gold. Imam Hussein, Grandson to the prophet Mohammed (s), son of Fatimeh Al-Zahra (a) and a distant grandfather to myself, died defending Islam and his family against tyranny. The room was vaste and all around me I could hear whispered prayers. I saw Americans there and others praying too. I asked that I be united with those that have left this world but spent their living life serving God. I asked that my life and deeds and God's mercy would put me in his shade beside the great leaders of the past.

Imam Hussein was murdered because he would not pledge allegience to Yazid. He gave his life, literally, to defend his people. His life and death directly impact the way we live today.

I know that I don't need to have a life that consists entirely of sitting in a mosque and helping others to pray, or a life of war and struggle ending in martyrdom. But I do know that my life must have the same purpose and dedication.

Visiting the old Hussein mosque reminds me of this. Everything in life should remind me.

Its all just sand

I am in Al Arish now; which was once a beduin camp that grew into a common tourist destination. How funny that the wandering Fatimeh is now living on the grounds of a beduin camp. Al Arish is also a small coaster city located 25 miles to the East of the Palestine border. As far as finding a calling, this is closer to being in a hotspot than ever. When Palestinians broke the borders this was the city they came to in need of medicine and supplies. This is the city that was sold out of many things for months to come because the Palestinians were unable to buy it in their own county... their own strip of land. Many young Araishees sport the Palestinian Kafeya.  The symbol of pain and ongoing relentless struggle.

Those who know me may hear me speak my mind freely. This is actually a common trait of Egyptians and usually leads to a negative result. Egyptians have opinions. But in the subject of Palestine, many stay silent. Al Arish itself was under Israeli military occupation from 1967 to 1979. Since 1979 Israel and Egypt have abided by a peace treaty. However, I think being over 4 hours away from Cairo makes the residents of Al Arish more Palestinian than they are Egyptian.

Al Arish is full of other little discoveries. Electricity usually works seamlessly, but not always.

And there is not one wireless connection in this city so far.

And running in the morning on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea is an amazing experience.

And I think no one wakes up at all before noon in this city except me. I'm told that I'm crazy to be awake so early... there is a first time for everything.

And now its time for breakfast.

Over and Out.

The Fiat and Fatimeh of Arabia

On Thursday my cousins that I am staying with in Cairo, Egypt took their TOEFL exam and then were free in the afternoon. While they were gone we went out with another cousin to visit two aunts whom we have not had the opportunity to visit so far this week. I must say this has been my favorite day so  far, that must be why I blogged it. Unlike my usual sleep schedule in Kansas City, I am the first awake every day around 8 or 9 am. Generally my cousins leave for work at about this time. The rest of the house sleeps until the Adhan of Dhuhr (the call to noon prayer). 

Many who travel the world boast of a host's hospitality and generosity. My trip has exceeded expectations. Everyone is so generous with their time and efforts here. Every home that we have visited has offered for us to stay for a night or two. Everyone begs that we take our lunch with them, or dinner. Every aunt has presented to us the candy stash from the freezer and plethora of fruit on a platter. My brothers are extremely sick of Pepsi and Coke because everyone offers it and of course they drink it. I make excuses and drink water.

The point of this posting isn't necessarily the unending hospitality from our family and this host country. Rather I noticed something very interesting about these generous people yesterday when I was cruising Cairo with my cousin Leena. More than half of the cars I saw on the street were Fiats, like hers. And of those we guessed that almost all of them were built in the 1970s. The car I was crammed into, with two brothers, an aunt, Soha and Leena sported shag carpeting on the dash and a super keen aftermarket Sony stereo cassette player.

I spent the day thinking about how Egyptians were so generous. The Fiats were always jammed in traffic and crammed with people beyond their threshold. In Kansas City the average person seemed to drive a Chevy Yukon or Ford Explorer that would seat 10 Egyptians comfortably but usually only took one person to and from work.

Was it generosity to seat more people in a car that you barely keep running as it is? Somehow I went back and forth on this. At moments I felt so selfish.  Leena shouldn't have to make this car treck 6 people across the city in stop and go traffic. We could have easily hailed a taxi with more room. I pondered, everyone here seems to have a Fiat or similar and I can't imagine that they are all mechanics. So I concluded that it was perhaps the selfessness of  Leena and others that kept the old Fiats running. I'm sure there are more logical explanations, but I really like this one.

In the evening I took an hour and a half drive smashed in VW Beetle with 6 other family members to get to the pyramids. Poor planning made it impossible to go inside like we had on previous visits. However, this trip had to be the best as I didn't do something so touristy and investigate the graves of people long since deceased and removed. 

Instead we road Arabian horses in the old city and in the sand dunes that surround the pyramids. Aside from the random 4-wheeler who's headlights rudely broke our darkness, we road like explorers. I was Fatimeh of Arabia, with soar butt, back and hands I felt proud. Not only had I not forgotten how to ride a horse, I mastered my horse. I road fast into the darkness disturbing the sand. I had  illuminated pyramids at one side and sand as far as I could see at the other.

Perhaps other tourists have ridden the horses around the pyramids.  I saw locals riding near us and so it seemed as though I may have belonged. Then I had the epiphany of the day.

If I was in the right place at the right time and atop an Arabian stallion, I would discover something great.

Reporting live from Cairo, Egypt

CAIRO, Egypt: My journies have begun. For some reason borrowing my cousin's laptop to type my blog makes it seem impersonal. Like I'm out of place. As if being in a foreign country doesn't do that enough.
Well here goes on the travelling recap. I was set to leave Thursday from Kansas City to Minnessota to Amsterdam to Cairo. The plan was to spend a day in Amsterdam to do the Netherlandanese thing. I was supposed to be in Cairo Friday night / Saturday morning (2am)... instead I wasn't here till Tuesday night. Minnessotta had rain and apparantly planes can't go through rain like cars do. So we missed the flight to Amsterdam and slept on the floor in Minnessota. And got rerouted to Paris. And, well, it stunk. Literally.
But for real. I am not disheartened. I am so happy I got here in one piece, and when they lost my luggage they found it the next day. And my cat successfully made the 3-day treck here and will stay with me forever so long as I can find a grocery store that has cat food and she will figure out that Egyptian sand is just as good as the store-bought kitty litter.
I intend to keep this as a way to share some short stories and keep you updated on my quest to do whatever it is I am doing. I won't be twittering as often as planned because apparantly you can't e-mail from phones here. As soon as I figure out a fix, you will know.
Oh and in other news, Cairo won today. One step closer to the World Cup.
Over and Out.
Fah

My Resume

I am moving to Egypt, I am open for other opportunities. Please review my resume and don't hesitate to ask for references or clips.

Objective: Teaching or training in the art of Business, NonProfit Management or Human Resources. Or to obtain a position as a Human Resources Specialist, Corporate Manager, Reporter, Editor, Column Writer or Public Relations Agent.

 Education: University of Missouri- Kansas City, May 2008

M.A. Business and Public Administration,

Emph. Strategic Management and Human Resources

University of Missouri- Kansas City, May 2004

B.A.  Communication Studies,

Emph. Urban Journalism and Mass Media

Work Experience: Assistant Store Manager, The Sharper Image Co.

Kansas City, MO & Leawood, KS, March 2006- May 2008

Recruited, hired and trained new sales teams

Consecutively ranked as a top Assistant Manager

Gained recognition for revenue, credit card sales, loyalty, add-on purchases

Consistent mystery shop scores of 90% and above

Department Supervisor, Best Buy Co.

Overland Park, KS & Leawood, KS, June 2003- March 2006

Developed business plans after analyzing prior results and market trends

Recruited, hired and trained new employees to achieve top results

Consecutively ranked top 100 in business results

Specialty coach for Customer Service, Geek Squad and Computer Sales

Trained Grand Opening team in St. Joseph, MO location

Editor In Chief, UMKC University News

Kansas City, MO, August 2003- May 2004

Coordinated Story budgets with section editors

Assigned and assembled all sections for layout, copy editing and production

Hired and maintained student staff of writers, columnists, photographers, etc.

Handled monetary allocations, managed bottom line and eliminated deficit

Special Skills: Fluency in Arabic MS Office Applications Quark/ InDesign

Typing 55 WPM Wast Law / Lexis Nexis Library research

PC Networking Customer Service Mac Proficiency

Honors, Awards, Memberships and Certificates:

Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society, May 2008

MCNL Fundraising Certificate, May 2008

Ambassador for Peace Award, March 2006

MCMA Best in News Photography, 2nd place, March 2006

KCABJ Roy Wilkins Scholarship, November 2000

UMKC Chancellor's Scholarship, May 2000

A. Mir Scholarship, May 2000

References: Available upon request.

don't give it to someone bored

For the first time in my life I have absolutely nothing to do. Last Friday I walked across the stage to receive my Masters Degree and on  Tuesday I worked my last shift with Sharper Image. Up until this point in my life I have always had something important to wake up to do or stay up late to finish. Maybe this moment of emptiness is good, but I will argue that it isn't.

I waited forever to be done with school. Now I can't call myself a student anymore. I won't have the excuse that I have tuition and books to keep me broke. I won't even get a discount at AMC anymore... technically.

The other downfall to this newfound freedom is that  now I have no excuse not to finish the ever-growing to-do list. I have always been a list-writer and have lived by what my Palm Centro (or its ancestors, may they rest in peace) has announced as the day's task. Now that there are no tasks as time frames in my day there isn't much to get me awake before noon. It also means that posting a list of items to Craigslist.org didn't get done because... I had too long to do it.  

The moral of the story is that if you have something that needs to get done... I highly recommend you don't give it to me. I have too much time on my hands and am likely to get nothing done.