The People of Egypt

School girls





With kids in a mosque





Crowd outside a mosque

Our boatmen

Traffic police

A bread maker

Staying and Leaving

It's been an eventful year where human relationships are concerned. Being on Facebook helps - you get to know your friends' status in realtime. Who's getting married, who's engaged, who's divorcing, who's single again.

It's a happy happy occasion to find out friends who are getting married. They are bubbly and overflowing with joy that you can't help but celebrate with them. Here are testimonies that no matter what the couples have gone through - the highs and the lows and the breakups and the getting back together - if both are willing to fight for their relationship, a happily-ever-after is possible.

And I also tip my hats off to the guy who is so brave to take on a woman with two extra packages in tow. Not many guys would dare to come close to someone who has got a history.

But it's the breakups that shatter one's perception of how "Love conquers all". It can be quite surprising / devastating / disorientating when you find out. Whatever happened to the relationship that had looked so perfect and comfortable? Perhaps there had been warning signs - or none at all. All one can do as a friend is to provide comfort and a listening ear to them.

And all these staying and leaving make you think of your own relationships (or lack thereof) and you become introspective and retrospective about it all. How fragile human relationships can be. And how precious.

And then there are endless questions: Where does one go from here? What happens now?
Only God knows.

(Sorry for the pointless rambling. Just me and my brain processing all these news and trying to make head or tail out of them.)

The Gateways of Egypt

As the sun sets in Egypt...

Camels by the River Nile

Felucca at sunset






Bridge over River Nile




Pyramid of Giza



Temple of Kom Ombo

Prelude

Oh Land of Pyramids, Pharoahs, papyrus,
Sand, camels, museums,
River Nile,
Here I come.


(P/S: Thank you all for your well-wishes, journey mercy prayers, etc!)

Life

Life is invariably tough. The moment you think you’ll finally find rest, something else gets thrown onto your face, blinding you from the road ahead and gets you a little sidetracked. You lose your bearings, and try to regain your balance. And all around you, mayhem. You have stepped into a quagmire. You try to get out of it only to be sucked in deeper.

Is there a rope nearby? A helping hand? You call out for help.

Maybe help arrives immediately. Maybe it takes its time while you try to keep your head above the waters. And all the time, you hold on to dear life.

Almost certainly you will get out of it alive. Not necessarily unscathed. Not necessarily without pain. But you survive. Perhaps you emerge from it all the stronger. You may have learned something valuable from it all. You emerge victorious.

You get back on the road, with brand new resolution. Brand new hope. Stronger faith.

Without fail, you’ll get thrown off again. But you are more prepared now. You look at your troubles square in the face, ready for a fight yet again.

You roll up your sleeves and dig in.

Of Weddings, Bouquets and Prayers

Romance & Marriage

I attended a wedding recently. I have to admit it was one of the more touching weddings I have been to. The pastor was engaging and his advice about marriage and romance was heartfelt. I cannot remember his exact words but it went something like this: a marriage is not only about that loving and romantic feeling for your partner. It is about accepting that person despite his/her faults and idiosyncrasies. It is not about finding your soul mate, but working together to build a successful married life with that person you have chosen to spend your life with.

No Karaoke, OK?

Much later, someone asked me how I would like my wedding to be. I said I haven’t thought about it much. As long as it’s not garish and there is no karaoke involved, I am fine with it. Then I questioned myself. Why haven’t I, like most girls, imagined exactly how I would love for my wedding to be like? I’d like to conclude that I would rather be planning a marriage – instead of a wedding. And, the less prudent side of me would rather be imagining a honeymoon, instead of a wedding.

Flower Power. Not.

Another thing about wedding I cannot fathom: the tossing of the bouquet. A feminist would despise such a blatant show. Pictures of girls jumping for and snatching the bouquet always make me wince. Many a time, I have been pushed to the crowd of girls to be among the catchers by well-meaning people. Excuse me if I appeared reluctant and even annoyed. To me, it’s demeaning. Why should girls be expected to clamber for a wedding? I don’t see the groom’s side doing the same thing. Imagine the groom tossing say, a piece of cake and all the single eligible guys rushing to catch it with their mouths open. Hehe… But then again, knowing guys, they’d probably be on the next boat to Indonesia in a blink if that was ever to happen.

Prayers

On a different note, there’s a list of prayers to be done for friends. You know who you are.

- For she who is waiting for a reply for her PhD application. Am praying for a favourable answer soon!
- For he whose boss is making his life at work hell, I pray for a light to shine through the dark clouds ahead.
- For the couple who had just blessed us with their wedding, may their married life be wonderful as they learn to grow old together.
- For she who is bearing a precious life within her, I am amazed by her courage and her trust in God to take care of all things.

Free to Leap?

I was reading this book, Five Little Questions which asks this particular question: Are you free? I'm going to put a different spin on that question and ask myself:

- Am I free to leave this country and go off to a place far far away for as long as I wish? And not waste a single thought on money, job, family, friends, etc? NOT just for a holiday, but for work or even to live? BY MYSELF?

- Am I free to do crazy stunts like sky dive, bungee-jump? Without worrying about the price I have to pay - for the jumps which would cost a bomb; and also the price I may have to pay if things went awry? (I may lose a leg, become blind, get strangled by the bungee cord...)

- Am I free to live life recklessly? Like not caring to obey laws, or bosses? Wouldn't it be nice if once in a while we can rebel and refuse to carry out an order given by a "higher authority", which we think is foolish, morally-corrupt, or a waste of time, etc?

There are so many restrictions that we put up for ourselves. We cannot do this, we must do that... When, oh, when will we be truly free?

Why Egypt?

Two of my favourite author's books were set in Egypt. One in the 1930's and another in 2000BC. One had a romantic setting onboard a Cruise ship, "Death on the Nile" and the other was set in Ancient Egypt, "Death Comes as the End".

It helped that Agatha Christie's second husband was an archeologist in the Middle East. The flavour of Egypt in both her novels was strong and decidedly delicious. They painted Egypt as a mysterious and dangerous place. Sweltering heat, shifting dust, rolling boulders, scheming tourists, conspiracies, dead concubines.

Which are reasons why I want to go there. ;)

My Favourite Poetries

Here's a selection of my favourite poetries:
(Click on the titles for the full works)
~~~

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?


Tyger, Tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

-The Tyger, William Blake

~~~

And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--
Why look'st thou so?'--'With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.'


-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

~~~

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

- The Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson

~~~