Life in Cairo Continues

Hello everyone,

A new semester here at AUC begins,
A new overload application to take more courses than before. Hopefully this could be my second before last semester and I could graduate on Fall 2010 instead of Spring 2012!

I will be taking my first course towards my specialization in communications engineering, my professor, Dr. Ahmed Abou-Auf, the dean of electronics engineering at AUC, asked us in our first class yesterday to tell him our dream of where does each one of us see himself in 10-20 years from today... I gave him an answer that was interrupted by too many umms and maybes. In the same time I was thinking and I realized; I stopped dreaming about my future very long time ago.

Maybe it's a good thing that for the past five years I've been focusing on doing what I was doing... but also I think it's about time to stop for a moment and look up and see where the road is going... As Dr. Abou-Auf put it, one of us can become a boring (or even an interesting ) professor, a filthy rich businessman, or spend the rest of your life near an oil pump in the desert.

I think I should give myself an hour this week to plan my next ten years, before classes begin because then I will not remember to do so until the semester is over...

Ramadan this year is more beautiful than many years before... It seems that when we grow older, learn new things and understand more things... our perception to life deepens and we start looking beyond apparent qualities.

I have not been looking at Ramadan this year as the month of fasting only, but more also as the month of mercy. I saw the happiness on the faces of poor people when they know that they are not hungry, thirsty or sleepless alone. When everyone sees that everyone else is hungry and sleepy, people stop complaining about that and become more productive than they are in other months of the year! It is a truly amazing mercy.

I received the good news of the death of AlHakim at the beginning of this month, and I became very optimistic all of a sudden. May this Ramadan bring an end to injustice and evil people, and bring mercy and forgiveness on the poor wronged people.

On Obama's Speech

I am quoting myself from a previous post,

[... How] could Obama still say that he will 'seek a new way forward' with the Muslim world when he promises Israel a military support of 30 Billion Dollars over the next decade, and that no other nation will get as much aid from America as Israel will?!

that's what he calls politics?

I call hypocricy.

He didn't only say it this time, but he boasted about it too...

...boasted hypocricy.

No More Pigs?

AUC has announced that the thirteen suspected cases turned all negative, thankfully. All classrooms and meeting places are being sanitized in preparation to resume classes on Monday the 15th.

There will be briefings to all staff, faculty and students about Swine Flu on Sunday and Monday on both campuses where fact sheets and FAQ sheets about Swine Flu will be distributed to the AUC community.

The university has FINALLY posted a link to actual information about Swine Flu (after so many 'theories' spreading among AUCians on cure and treatment etc...)

The link takes you to a WHO page, here it is.

So, it's all done, hopefully we don't get another burst like that one once classes begin. I'd better go revise what we were studying before classes stopped :)

Pigs Everywhere: 13 more new Swine Flu cases

The good news, all test results from residents of the new campus dormitory came out negative.

The second good news, the university began sanitizing all classrooms and areas of public gathering before resuming classes.

The bad news, 13 more students from the Zamalek Dormitory were taken to hospital after having high fever earlier today, test results will come out hopefully tomorrow to confirm if they are all infected with Swine Flu or just food poisoned from too much Pizza.

Classes were postponed one day extra, and hopefully we'll be back to classes on Monday the 15th.

That's all about now,

AUC Swine Flu Cases Go Up to Seven

Five Additional AUCians had their H1N1 tests return positive - four students and one staff - all living in Zamalek Dormitory. The quarantine will be extended until Sunday the 16th. David Arnold, President of AUC, said to the media that AUC sent boxes of pizza to the residents of Zamalek Dorms to show support.

Well, if you were going to lock them up with sick people until they all get infected, you'd better give them some pizza with that for sure.

Both AUC clinics are over crowded with panicing AUCians in a very dangerous way, increasing everyone's chances of getting sick while waiting for more masks (which they ran out of yesterday) to come,

Up until now, no test results came back from the New Campus Dormitory (the other AUC dorms with all-day long shuttle service connecting it to Zamalek Dorms)... But it is also quarintined now.

AUC Confirms Two Cases with Swine Flu

Two American students who arrived to Cairo on May 28th to study at the American University in Cairo were taken to hospital two days ago after they had fever. Analysis came positive that they both were infected with the H1N1 - Swine Flu - virus.

A third student - also American - was taken to hospital last night with high fever, results did not come out yet whether she was also infected with H1N1 virus. This is a quote from the message sent on June 8, by Mr. Brian MacDougall, Vice President for Planning and Administration at AUC,

Please be advised that overnight the Egyptian Ministry of Health confirmed positive H1N1 test results for two AUC students. These two students have been hospitalized and are receiving the necessary medical treatment.

He also mentioned in a later email that,

As a result of the two confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu in the Zamalek dormitory, the university has decided to suspend classes until Sunday, June 14, 2009.

This bring a serious question to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, both patients arrived on May 28th, and virus was found in them on June 8th. It takes the virus 1 to 4 days inside the body before symptoms start to appear. This means that the two American students are likely to have received the virus from someone else in Egypt, not in the States. Local newspapers are heavily attacking the Ministry of Health; after weeks of boasting their precautionary measures, it seems that all their efforts were just a bluff.

Update on AUC Student Delegation for Gaza

The delegation has crossed the boarders!

there was one girl who was left behind because she carries a Palestinian passport. Can anyone enter Palestine except Palestinians?

AUC Students in Solidarity with Gaza

On Monday May 25th, a group of students from Cairo attempted to enter
the Gaza border to deliver aid. Thus far, all efforts to enter have
been stopped by Egyptian authorities.

The student delegation from Cairo is planning to meet with numerous
other delegations from around the globe. Each group has medical aid
and supplies, sports equipment for children and monetary donations.

The Egyptian authorities have been completely aware of everyone
attending and everything that we are carrying. All members attending
were told that they were given full clearance to enter Gaza. However,
now at the border, they suddenly refuse. We are being either blocked
from entering or even turned back at checkpoints before the border
itself.

Knowing that our efforts are supported worldwide, we are compelled to
reach out to all media outlets within and without Cairo, Egypt.

For more information
twitter.com/studentsforgaza

For More Info: Kat Sullivan

Mobile Cairo: +2 019.264.1283

Six Years Since the Fall of Baghdad...

Oh Baghdad, what have they done to you?
seas and deserts took us far apart,
but do not worry, Dear, I will be back to you,
Don't you see that I left you with my heart?

It was a solemn morning and I’d been preparing myself for the last two days not to cry. You won’t cry, I kept saying, because you’re coming back. You won’t cry because it’s just a little trip like the ones you used to take to Mosul or Basrah before the war. In spite of my assurances to myself of a safe and happy return, I spent several hours before leaving with a huge lump lodged firmly in my throat. My eyes burned and my nose ran in spite of me. I told myself it was an allergy.

- Riverbend

I wish now that we had cried, to let our tears mix with the soil that we was leaving toward an unknown future.