"During Eid, I had heard rumours and secondhand "friend of a friend" accounts of chaos in downtown Cairo on the first day of Eid - apparently a massive crowd of less-desirable characters were roaming the streets in a huge pack, finding women on the street and mass assaulting them. I was far away in Dahhab and didnt really want to think about it, and when I got a few minutes of internet access I couldn't find anything at all about it." (Tom Gara)

"The stories:

• One eyewitness recounts a large crowd of youth (shabab) that run after a woman in her early twenties when she trips and falls. The men then start groping her and take off her clothes. The woman gets up, runs, and hides inside a restaurant. The men surround the restaurant until someone shouts, "there is another one at ....". The crowds then run to that location to find another woman completely surrounded by hundreds of men trying to feel her and take off her clothes. A taxi driver takes that woman in his car but the men surround the car and shout for the girl to come out. A Security Officer (appears to be non-government) tries to fend the people off by hitting them with his baton. The crowds do not easily disperse until they see two women wearing the overall Saudi/Gulf veil & abaya walking alone. The crowds then completely surround them, before touching them and taking off their veils. They attempt to take their clothes off while 10/11 year old boys get in their abayas.
• A well known actress, Ola Ghanem, was seen surrounded by her bodyguards fending off the crowds but were unable to completely protect the actress.
• A woman in a veil and abaya is harassed by men who take off her abaya before two building Security guys took her into the building and locked the door to protect her.
• A woman in tighter pants and a normal shirt is harassed and men take off her shirt and bra. A security person takes her into a shop fending off people with a stick.
• Much worse assaults are reported by the word of mouth but are not witnessed. One in which a woman was sexually assaulted against a wall after taking off all her clothes.
• Men cheered this before attacking a victim, "yaay, we will f***, we will f***". (yaay is my rough translation for 'heyeh').
• And when they find another victim, "another woman, another woman".
• And when they see women in veil & abaya, "go Saudi, go Saudi". (go is my rough translation for 'beep beep').
• And when surrounding a taxi and calling for a victim to get out of the car, "get out you sl*t, we will show you". The woman was later forced out like they wanted!
• Some bloggers warned women against entering the troubled areas, and most listened. Some women sought protection with the bloggers as they had cameras. The men did not assault these women fearing that they might be journalists.
• Some men were observed to use their belts to ward off the crowds and then take the victim in a taxi and flee.
• Some shop owners sprayed water to disperse the crowds and hailed for the women to come inside." (Mechanical Crowds)

"I am one of the females who got sexually harassed on downtown streets, more specifically on Talaat Harb street starting from Metro Cinema until the beginning of Sabry Abu Alam street.

It might be useful to carry and know how to use them. I was involved in more school fight that I would have liked back in the Island. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to avoid a crowd in the first place. The next best thing is to take the next man down and make him your hostage (you have to fuck him up pretty badly to be able to do it) - so instead of emptying your self defense spray to 7 guys in the mob, empty it to one or two guys only and make them wish they were dead.

When people are in the mob, they are in a bubble of denial of accountability and the one way to put the fear of God back into them is to make an example of one or two of them.

Then withdraw as soon as possible from the scene.

Have you ever been staying overnight in a private Egyptian hospital?

1. It is the policy of the 7th floor ward not to provide bath towels in each room because this ward is a surgery ward, where they tend to use the towels to wipe blood off the floor.

2. The nurses do check every two hours.

3. The accountants leave at normal hours so you cannot leave the hospital when it is no longer required near midnight and must stay overnight before all your bills are accounted for.

4. The hospital charges 30% over any medicine you get from their pharmacy and call it "delivery charge".

5. The hospital room is all painted green. It is clean.

6. They do not have lock in the room.

7. The nurse needed three attempts before geting an intravenous procedure set up properly (meaning, blood pouring out everywhere from failed attempts)

8. The private bathroom is clean.

9. For 250 LE a night, you can get a single room with a view of the Pyramids of Giza, the Nile river and a showtime movie channel. That's just for the accomodation btw, not including the mandatory blood tests, medicine costs, etc. A guest staying over costs another 100LE a night.

10. The chicken dinner is recommended. It's actually one of the better grilled chicken I've had in Cairo. Go figure.

11. The fattest person in the ward is the head nurse (no lighter than 170 kilos I think).

12. Two doctors and two nurses on the floor speak English.

13. Methylprednisolone is a steroid and it takes about an hour to take through IV (mixed with glucose) - Glucose and all that IV kit costs 20 LE. The streroid costs 165LE.



Overall the service is competent.

"In point of fact—and it is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless—America is not winning in Iraq, which means that it is losing. Iraq has fallen apart both as a nation and as a state. Its capital and lands containing almost 50 percent of

the population remain deeply insecure and plagued by rising internal divisions. Much of the south, which is somewhat stable, is subject to gangsterish, theocratic and thoroughly corrupt local governments. To recognize this reality does not mean that there is no hope for the years to come. There is—but hope is not a policy." (Newsweek)

 

Newsweek is concluding that the US is losing Iraq.

(source)

The last time I saw my parents I was still 23. I am 28 now.

It's funny that saying "I haven't been back for 5 years" is less of a deal than saying "I was 23 the last time I came back home".

I was closer to 20 back then. Now I am closer to 30.

What will I find back home? How would they perceive me?

If my old friends met me, what questions would they ask? How would I feel about them or they about me?

(A view of Tarakan Island - tin roofs !!!!!)


I shall find out soon :)

I had a break for two days this weekend off work which I am forever grateful for - days spent just laying around soaking the fall sun.

I hate free time because I start thinking and pondering again; this time about fear.

I am an optimist by nature - I do many things more for the purpose of finding what will happen instead of planning everything meticulously. And so far, it works out ok.

On the other hand, there's always this feeling of fear I carry everyday, of decisions that I have made or will have to make and about uncertainty of the future.

It has always been there. It does not get worse but it doesn't get better either. Day after day. My monkey brain is worrying about survival and I think it's one of factor why I tend to work a bit over.

I have no safety net. I burn the bridge that can take be back to the previous ravine.

I am always running out of time !!!!

The more things I accomplished, the crazier things I attempt. There's always a new venue to play in - unfamiliar territories and unpredicted challenges.

I fear so I do.

Monkey brain, you can take it out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of it.

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