Another taxi ride story

I decided to have an early start of the day so i met up with Helen to get some work done, although we are still on holiday. We decided to start "in style"and we went for a delicious breakfast at Lucille's on Rd 9. I was very pleased and stuffed!
But the day didnt quite start as pleasantly as it sounds; since i had no Egyptian pounds i decided to go to the Grand Mall first to get some money exchanged. I took a taxi from Kimo market and asked him to wait for me at the Mall.
Well, as soon as i got on the taxi the driver kept going on and on about how beautiful i am. I should be blushing now! LOL Then he went on asking personal questions (which i usually do not mind - especially coming from the children in my class): am i married?, do i have a boyfriend?, do i work in Egypt? etc. It was rather uncomfortable, especially when he started saying that he is single.
At one point he lit up a cigarette asking me if i smoke; my "No"led to another question: Why?
I was puzzled and didnt know what he means; he kept going: "you are beautiful, you do not have a boyfriend, you do not smoke ... you have everything!" He said me and him should be together ...
Hmmm, i pretended i didnt hear that.
Thank God my phone started ringing right when he started saying that he wants to see me again. But he made sure i get that info, so when i got out of the taxi he said it again! I said: "I'm not sure about that!"

So, according to this man, i "have everything" - i guess this is what they look in a woman when they want to get married - single, beautiful, not smoking.... Hmm, i wonder how many eligible women are there for this guy? Probably thousands!lol

Trying to find peace

This week has started pretty rough ... very challenging children, very challenging behaviour but something that i kind of wished for, since i love challenges. it does tend to get overwhelming at times....

I wanted to cry today, but i couldn't ... i haven't had that feeling in a very long time; and i cry a lot! It is my way of letting frustrations and stress out. Today i couldn't ... Why? Don't ask me! I don't know!

I have come to realise that there are just so many things that i "do not know"about myself ... things/ emotions/ reactions that i do not understand. People often come and ask me: "What is wrong?"I cannot explain to them and if i try it makes no sense, although it does help me at times; as i vocalize my thoughts, it starts making sense to me. But, once again, it takes people who are willing to listen to all of my "junk"... and those people you do not find easily.

I have come to realise that i put other people's needs above my own and i never do what i want/like, but what other people want.... Sometime you think that is what Christianity is all about, but i dont think God wants me to "burn" myself.

Then, people hurt me and i do not say anything ... i tolerate it, ignore it for a while, but with every drop of hurt, i get more and more upset and anger starts growing inside me.... Does that sound like i am a doormat?? It kind of does to me! I usually ignore it, because i think people do not do it on purpose and it is just an accident that comes out of lack of knowledge and understanding of who i am, how i am, my culture etc.

I was talking to a friend saying that i like to be myself and i do not pretend to be somebody i am not ... "what you see is what you get!", but not standing up for myself and what i like/want/think, instead of what others want proves the opposite.... Shocking!

All i want is to find peace, first of all peace with myself ...

I need discipline ... i need to finish all the books i have started, i need to finish my cross stitch, i need to go for walks, i need to do something more than school-home every day ...

Overwhelmed?

Life is insane ... everything seems to be hectic around me and i get lost in my daily schedule. I feel tired, i feel exhausted, i feel overwhelmed, i feel helpless, i feel misunderstood, i feel i cannot express myself, i feel sad and frustrated.
I go to work and it seems that everything is not working as it's supposed to, everything i do is not right, everyone seems bitter, everyone's got problems, everyone complains about something, there is no joy, no peace ... and then i wonder why i feel the way i do.
People around are sucking all of my energy .... i feel drained and have nothing to offer. I've been quite antisocial this past week - something totally opposed to my personality; i love people, i love spending time with people and talking, but i guess we all have our limits. Just like one of the little boys in my class says: "Excuse me, i need alone time!"that is what i should be saying, although loneliness kills me!

I get so distracted with so many things! As someone said: busyness is a modern illness from which many of us suffer. Rest is its opposite and of the things the Lord came to offer. In Matthew 11:28-30 He said: "Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I’m gently and lowly in heart, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light"

Maybe i can keep this in mind for this week!

What’s It Like To Wear a Burqa?

British journalist Liz Jones wore a burqa for a week and chronicled her experiences in “My Week Wearing a Burka: Just a Few Yards of Black Fabric, but It Felt Like a Prison.” Her inspiration? Lubna Hussein, the Sudanese woman who will receive 40 lashes for wearing pants in public.
When she went to pick up her daily coffee, she realized that she had no idea how to eat or drink in a burqa. Upon seeing her reflection in a window, she wrote, “Instead of me staring back, I saw a dark, depressed alien. A smudge. A nothing.” Wearing the head-to-toe garment, she felt physically oppressed. “I felt blinkered, like a racehorse. Walking to the platform, I could hardly breathe: I kept getting my nose out from beneath its shroud for fresh air. I felt weak, and faint and itchy.”
On one occasion, an Arab man shouted at her, but she had no idea what he was saying. She wondered whether being out alone or eating was her sin. A British Muslim woman told her, “I have had so much abuse on the train.” A Western friend commented: “How fantastic, you don’t have to bother to put on make-up, or wash your hair. How liberating and at least you won’t catch swine flu or be leered at.”
Inside the burqa, she says, she felt “clumsy, slow, and fearful.” For her, the experience was like being disabled. By the end of the week, she felt like a Muslim schoolgirl. “I know now exactly how they feel: marginalised, objectified, kept box-fresh for the eyes of male relatives.”
Ultimately, this journalist’s experiment wasn’t all that dissimilar from Tyra Banks running around in a fat suit. It was close to touching on something important about women in the world.

This was Posted by: Olivia Allin on www.thefrisky.com and it does not necessarily reflect my personal oppinion.

The first low cost company in the Middle East

I am often amazed when it comes to prices of flights within the Middle East. It is cheaper to fly to Asia most of the times than to fly from Egypt to Lebanon.
Well i came across this information today and i am thrilled!!
www.flydubai.com is the first low cost company in the Middle East. They fly from Alexandria to Dubai and have other flights between The Emirates and Lebanon, Syria ...
A flight from Alexandria to Dubai is 535 EGP one way; return - you add another 800 EGP. At least these were the prices when i checked them today.
Happy flying! :D