Egypt Update: 22 FEB Tuesday

Well, life for OUR family was more of the same ole, same ole.....BUT the Chief of the Military Council finally came on the air and made a really long-winded statement in which he said that he accepted the resignation of the Cabinet. He's not stepping down. The military has no desire to extend the military rule, etc. and blah blah blah the presidential elections will be completed by July....2012. Yeah. So, people not happy. Whatever.

I can kinda see his point on one hand. I mean, you don't just hand over the country prior to elections and just hope for the best. There is no government here other than the military council. Things seemed to have calmed down a bit in Cairo the last time I checked the news stations a couple of hours ago. My eyes started to get that donut glaze over them and I was hearing Charlie Brown's teachers voice "Wah, wah, wah, wah....wah, wah..."
so I changed the station and let the kids watch Rush Hour while I did the dishes.

Alexandria is a mess. Not where we live....but across the city mainly in Samouha district (where my cardiologist is.) The police vans were firing huge tear gas cans into the crowds in a downward angle from the mount on the roof of the vans. People are being shot in the head and eyes with rubber covered bullets. It's been pretty bad according to the reports. Camera-wise in Alex, they seemingly only have one street covered (Al-Jazeera International.) They announced on State TV that a curfew is in effect and no one can be on the streets after 6 pm but you know how much anyone is respecting the police right now. It's 11:34 pm and I just got home from grocery shopping. My husband and one of my son's went to the gym to work out. S.S.D.D.

Ultimately, you can't go from a dictatorship to a democracy in a relatively short amount of time. It requires a lot of building and change and trust. At present, the supreme high court has announced that the announcement by the military last week that they will not be overseen by civilian leadership and that the military funds are not going to be accounted for by civilians, etc is either constitutional or unconstitutional. I don't know. You have a neighbor who doesn't have television but does have 4 kids under the age of 10 stop by to catch up on the news and the whole house goes nuts and you end up missing a word here and there. I'll let you know when I play catch up. Also, elections are still scheduled for 28 November. We shall see. I'm tired and need to go make a late supper for my weight-lifters before they get home. Peace out.

URGENT Update on Egypt Situation

Hey. I don't know what's being covered in the US right now as far as the 

demonstrations and clashes starting up again here.....but it's true. Tomorrow

they are calling for a "Million Man March" and there are already thousands in

Tahrir Square in Cairo and all across the country gearing up. 

The people are protesting that we're still under military regime (Mubarak's

leftovers) and the elections that were supposed to be held back in September

were pushed back until October (because of Mubarak's trials that never happened)

and then again to November 28. My kids are taking exams this week for mid-terms

but it looks like the schools are preparing for the "fit to hit the proverbial shan", as

it has been rumored that those exams may end up being their mid-year exam

grades. Samiya and Aiman are scheduled to get out of school at 11am tomorrow

morning. I'm planning, God willing, to meet them at the gate with a buttload of 

groceries for them to help me carry home and then we're hunkering down to ride

out the storm. The really good part in this, Mohamed is at home right now so it

won't be as scary.

We are still living on the outskirts of the city of Alexandria in the beach community.

While there will probably be some demonstrations here, it probably will not reach

where we live. We don't live near any military or police installations or government 

offices, so we're probably safe. Mom, you met my friend Sarah when you were here.

She lives next to a prison and police station. Keep her family in your prayers, please.

They had a lot of violence by their house last time. 

I just wanted to touch base and let you know what's going on right now---- It's currently

9:30pm (Egyptian Standard Time) Monday, 21 November. The last report on Al-Jazeera

English (International) and the BBC Arabic news channels, the military council has 

accepted the resignations of the Interim Cabinet members but nobody cares. The cabinet

ministers are really just puppet heads for the military council at this point and have done

virtually NOTHING since being appointed. They're all Mubarak-leftovers as well. The 

people are calling for the resignation of the Head of the military council. 

What you ARE seeing on tv (if you're watching) is probably the people in Tahrir Square.

There are thousands of people milling about and shouting. Also, there are makeshift

hospitals within the square set up by volunteer doctors helping the injured and so far, there

have been over 33 dead reported and thousands injured. They've made an assembly line 

to carry the injured from the side streets into the middle of the square for treatment. The

more serious injuries are being carried back out and put into ambulances for hospitalization.

What you ARE NOT seeing on tv is the attacks by the internal security forces, police and

military against peaceful demonstrators. They are firing a plastic bullets, shot gun shells full 

of bird shot and now they are using a more powerful tear gas (per the 

correspondents on both channels who've been reporting since Jan) than in the 25 Jan rev-

olution and in the demonstrations last month. Here in Alexandria (specifically in Samouha

district), the cops are up on roof tops firing plastic bullets and bird shot into crowds of 

unarmed people. I haven't heard about what's going on down in the Upper Egypt areas and 

in Suez....but it's probably the same as here and Cairo.

At any rate, as long as the internet is up, I'll give you all updates every day to let you know

that we are okay. If you want to call, that's fine, too. I probably won't be calling out because

if this goes to shit again like earlier this year, phone cards to refill balances on prepaids are

going to be impossible to get ahold of. So I'll be saving for emergencies.

Nikki, Mohamed and kids

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Last night I was in a really shitty mood. I know. Language, language. But I don't know that there is a better adjective to use than 'shitty.' So I'm not editing.

So you know how when everything in your life as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) becomes rote and goes on in a sort of "autopilot" mode and you wake up the same everyday and brush your teeth the same everyday and buy bread the same everyday and take the kids to school the same everyday and yell about watching cartoons before homework the same everyday and you're late with dinner the same everyday and you consider jumping from the balcony the same everyday only to argue yourself out of it the same everyday because let's face it a dive off the first floor balcony is only gonna get you into a cast and not into a dirt nap and then life would be the same everyday only in a friggin' cast which would just complicate shit and not really solve anything or give the same selfish result that ultimately you want anyway and that would be that the people in your life THINK ABOUT YOU more than just to locate some lost random item like a backpack, cigarette lighter, or adapter to charge a mobile phone. And it would be really itchy and hard to walk.

So you just suck it up day after day thinking "it's going to get better...it has to....I chose the SAHM life and I love my kids and my family and I wouldn't trade it for the world." And you know that deep down you never would trade your husband or children for one of those hot firemen calendar poster guys on a big red fire engine with his ropes and hoses....oh my! Although there would probably be a big long 'pros' and 'cons' list, if only mentally. But in the end, the SAHM-gig would still win out. Because after all, you ARE making a difference in the world by repopulating the planet with intelligent, kind and productive people. And you love them and they love you. And that husband, even after all these years, is still really hot. And he's seen you in the throws of childbirth and helped you during a really messy miscarriage and helped change the poopy diapers and made you dark-chocolate covered baklava for your birthday and he's seen you in bad flourescent lighting with all your stretchmarks and 'still planning on losing this' pregnancy fat and hasn't run screaming down the street in search of a younger, hotter version of you....AND STILL WANTS YOU.

But from time to time that overwhelming, 'oh dear God help me not to puke from boredom' feeling  hits you. And this is how I felt last night. And I told my husband that I was bored. And his answer was, "Go to bed."
NOT what I was hoping for. But men aren't intuitive like women. We have to lay it on the line with them. No hints-dropping because they're not designed to pick up on that sort of stuff. If we want flowers, then we have to say: "Hey, Honey. My birthday is Saturday and I want red roses with daisies mixed in and I want a gold bracelet and if you get me another kitchen gadget that plugs in, you can also hire me a divorce lawyer."
That's how you get what you want from men. Telling them stuff like, "I am bored with my life and I need a change," is NOT going to get you a hired babysitter and a night out on the town. I know this. But I hoped for a fleeting moment. And instead of living up to my weird female expectations, he lived up to the reality that is male. So I went to bed.


This morning I decided to wash the curtains in the foyer for a change of pace. So, I climbed up on the four foot wooden painter's ladder and took the curtains down. Randa was complaining because her brother farted next to her and it stunk. (The computer is in the foyer and she was playing on the computer.) So I told her to turn on the ceiling fan judging that I was at least a foot or more out of reach of the blades. She told me, "Be careful, Mommy." I thought, "How sweet. My little girl has overcome the autism speech issues enough to worry about my concern." And then I noticed that the curtain was stuck to the wooden splinters on the ladder so I lifted my arm out to pull the fabric away and stuck my damn hand right in the path of the metal ceiling fan that was on high.

I don't know about you, but five stitches in my index finger before noon definitely counts as a change in my regular routine. Think I'll keep my mouth shut from now on and just count my blessings.

My Love of Irish Actors

I've always had a love for Irish actors. Maybe it's my Irish roots (details of my heritage here.) While the love of my life is the Egyptian man that I married, on screen the likes of Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Dempsey and Colm Meaney grab my attention. I love the coarse language and dry humor and hilarity of such dire situations in comical tones that usually fill Irish movies. "In Bruges" was right up my alley. Where else would you have two stoned Irish hitmen, a Dutch hooker, and a racist American little person getting high in a Belgian hotel room? F-bombs a-plenty.

I think I got hooked when I first watched "The General" with Brendan Gleeson. I wonder if the Irish were the original "black comedians." After seeing "Billy Elliot", "In America," "The Commitments," and "Waking Ned," I felt reconnected to my Irish comedic gene...you know, "me funny bone." I love the dramatic films, too. "Veronica Guerin", "Michael Collins," and even "The Crying Game," are movies I've seen at least three times each. But I think that my favorites are still the comedies. I just read about "The Guard" online tonight and I'm waiting impatiently for it to be released to satellite tv so I can see it. In the mean time, I'll just keep watching my faves without dropping my own f-bombs so my kids don't ask me if I'm feeling Irish.