Saudi Arabia

This is when I reluctantly switch the direction of my blog towards other countries of the Middle East and away from Egypt. And I've decided to start with Saudi Arabia because I lived there for about two years.

Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the Middle East. It has the world's largest oil reserves, so that must explain a lot. It currently has a very stable economy, however, a few years down the road when all their oil is gone, they're going to be in a very tough situation. Let's hope by then their economy will be built on other sectors such as tourism and industry and away from oil and natural gas.

I lived in Saudi Arabia for about two years and I don't remember a single thing. This is sort of unfortunate because my parents constantly tell me that I've been to Mecca and made Um-rah. And to a Muslim, this is a very big thing. However, I thank God for allowing me to live there, even if I don't consciously remember anything, I have memories locked away in my subconscious.

I lived in the capital of the country, Riyadh. Currently, Riyadh is a very rich city in the Middle East that has an enormous role in the economy of the country. Nowadays, Riyadh also has many of the wealthy Saudis with their "Arab Money" and fancy multi-million dollar cars. A large number of millionaires live in Saudi Arabia; and the average standard of life in the country truly reflects the countries' wealth.

Other Countries...

Other Middle Eastern countries that entered the uprisings either had different reasons to enter, or the outcome still is yet to be announced. For instance, there were a series of protests that occurred in Bahrain. And when I first heard that I was confused. The reason why I was confused was because Bahrain is filled with people who were able to obtain a relatively high standard of life compared to other countries in the region. And the ruler of the country wasn't necessarily corrupt. So I researched this particular topic and later found out that the reason of the uprising was because of the unequal rights granted to Shia Muslims. So I didn't really expect this particular "revolution" to get that out of hand.

Syria has it pretty rough. I don't know too much about them except for the fact that it's still ongoing. But basically the reasons for the revolution is the same as most of the other countries; Bashar al-Assad (current president of Syria) needs to step down. Also they want the Baath political parties to exist, and for more flexible laws regarding freedom of speech and assembly. I sure hope that Syrians succeed in removing this man only because I want them to be apart of the "successful" countries under the uprisings.

Yemen's reason for starting a revolution were somewhat similar to that of Egypt's. Reasons such as high unemployment, economic conditions, and corruption. In fact, both uprisings of Egypt and Yemen were happening at the same time. The only difference between them is that Egypt was able to fulfill their goal faster and Yemen's case is still ongoing. They plan on reforming the constitution, dissolution of parliament, and the resignation of Ali Abdullah Salah, the president of Yemen. After nearly 270 days of protests, I sure hope that the Yemenis are able to accomplish their goals as well only because I feel their pain.

Jordan didn't really have much problems with their leader as much as they did with the condition of the country. Factors such as inflation, low salaries, unemployment, and regressive taxes led to the Muslim Brotherhood lead many Jordanians into the streets sometime in January. King Abdullah II didn't want any problems in his country like he saw what was going on in other countries. So he quickly made a huge reform in the cabinet and promised to improve the infrastructure of the country, even though the country still struggles somewhat economically.

Now, places such as Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia didn't really suffer from revolutions and the situations that come after it. This is because the list previously stated includes oil rich countries, stable countries, and countries suffering from other other problems. Don't get me wrong, some protests occurred, however they were shot down really quick for reasons irrelevant. 

Middle East Uprising

It was a simultaneous effect that occurred throughout the Middle East beginning in early January of 2011. Of course Tunisia was the initiating country. The country that began it all. They were the first ones to actually stand up against their corrupt government; and for that I tip my hat. And it's not like they weren't successful, no, they were able to kick their president out. And that is what threw everyone off. The western world was in a state of awe, while the Middle East was in a state of happiness; even though most of the happy people weren't Tunisian...

Egypt came in second with the whole uprising thing. However the Egyptian revolution got pretty nasty in the beginning. And I remember the day when the army stepped out onto the street, so many people said it was like deja vu again; with reference to the 1952 Egyptian revolution. However this one was much more intense, due to the fact that the army was attacking the citizens. And every Egyptian thought they weren't going to be successful like the Tunisians because they were fighting up against an army... However this fear quickly disappeared when the Egyptians received much support from neighboring Muslim countries and the Egyptians living abroad. And in the end, Egyptians were able to dismantle the government. This threw off the entire world and that's because many people knew of the strength of the Egyptian government. Strength and wealth...

The Egyptian revolution led to the amazing Libyan revolution. Gaddafi needed to be kicked out. I mean, a man who has been dictating the country for 40 years is entitled to step down, right? Well at least that's what the Libyans thought. And they implemented a vivid manifestation of their plan. However what was supposed to be another Middle Eastern revolution turned into a civil war... What? Yes, Libya was the only country in the Middle East involved in the uprisings to enter a severe civil war. The Libyans versus the army, and Gaddafi's thousands of children. And after a severe civil war that spanned out over several months one of Gaddafi's children was killed as well as...Gaddafi!! So as far as fulfilling goals, the Libyans took that crown. I'll tell you why. All of the countries involved in the uprisings hated their rules to the point where they (the people) wanted to personally slaughter them. However, in most countries, that goal was impossible to reach, so what is the next best thing? To remove the rulers. Now, Libya had that same goal (to kill the ruler) and they were able to fulfill it; and again for that I must tip my hat.

Successful

The moment everybody was waiting for, the reluctant resignation of Hosni Mubarak. The day he stepped down, I was so happy I couldn't contain myself. My house was in a state of awe/happiness/what's next? Everybody knows that the day Mubarak stepped down everything was going to go back to normal because there are numerous steps that need to be taken before the country returning back to its normal state. However, there was nothing wrong about celebrating possibly the most important step of all; remove this man from office. And that's exactly what the people did. And if my house here in this country, thousands of miles away is roaring with happiness, I couldn't imagine what Egypt was like and I really wanted to know.

I asked my cousin again what he personally did when he fist heard that Mubarak had stepped down. He replied with my entire house jumped up and down and the entire neighborhood ran into the streets yelling out of excitement and cheering. He also told me his father started handing out large sums of money to him and his sisters (my other cousins). This was just a miniature form of a small celebration that took place.

I would have loved to have been in Tahrir Square the night of the announcement. I would have loved to have been apart of the excitement that was occurring over there. However, the excitement in my house was enough for me at the time but there's no denying that it was just a very small representation of what actually was going on back in Egypt.

Everybody Contributed

I've always wondered how I would have reacted to the revolution if I was actually there in Egypt right when the turmoil was at its peak. I've also always wondered if I would have been down in the streets contributing to the action with the rest of the citizens. Would I have spent the night in tents in the middle of the street along with the rest of the people? All these unanswered questions seem to anger me because it's during the hardships when you're supposed to show your true patriotism towards your country. There's no doubt that I would have been contributing some other ways of course, such as attending lectures, going around for fundraisers, and other ways. However, I don't know how I would feel like if I went down one day to contribute to the protests and just never returned. I can't be selfish, I have other people to worry about and think about. However, all these doubts and thoughts are coming to me when I'm a few thousand miles away from the action. The condition may have been significantly different if I was to be in Egypt at the time. To be among millions of people with absent fear and ready to remove the corrupt government.

Little kids were out there, fighting, crying...contributing. Everyone knew their roles. There were the people who would spend the night out in the streets in Tahrir Square showing their support and then there were people who would remain at their homes for security reasons. Of course these people still had a hand in removing the government, however they did it a different way.

On January 28, the police force released thousands of criminals from the jails. There is a secret video that leaked showing one of the officers saying this same exact sentence to the prisoners before letting them loose," Alright men, I want you to go out and ruin the country." Word for word. I mean who has the nerve to even say that? And just as this corrupt officer said, the prisoners did. They would go to homes and break in and rob the homes of their valuable items. They would trash the streets (more than they were already trashed) and just add on to the chaos. Now, the citizens had their own way of responding to this nonsense. One way was that late at night, the youth and the healthy men would go down late at night in the streets bearing knives, rocks, and wooden sticks. They would hide around the cars parked along the sidewalks and wait for the criminals to show up. And when they would, the hidden men would jump out of no where and beat criminal up so hard so that he was inches away from death. They wouldn't kill him because they would then go and drop him off at the nearest police station; where he would get beaten some more.

These tactics and plans were among many factors that lead to the success of the revolution.

The Corruption and Egypt

What do I think when it comes to the ongoing revolution in Egypt. And I'm not talking about the current state of the country; I'm mostly referring to initiating factors of the revolution itself. Many people thought that Hosni Mubarak just stole money from the country and that was it; now, that is true to a certain extant, however Mubarak and his gang surely performed much more actions than just stealing from the countries' wealth. However I will soon elaborate on the wealth robbing.

What kind of things did Mubarak and his gang do? I'll let you know that they operated like a criminal  organization; performing acts such as bribery, murder, theft, and much more. Bribery? Yes. They would bribe known judges and high officials around the country because court cases that could potentially expose these men would reach them instantly. Also, they would rob the country of it's money. They stole so much money that was supposed to be invested back in the country. This money that was robbed was among the main reasons why there is such a high poverty rate in the country. I have also noticed that even today, Egypt bears a considerable amounts of wealth, however Mubarak's corruption and the government had trouble distributing that wealth evenly. Either you have some of the richest people in the world, or you will have the people who can't afford to buy bread. All of the people that receive good amounts of money have some sort of connection to Mubarak somehow. It may not be a direct connection, however they may be connected to someone connected to him. It's like a chain; one that eventually will lead to Mubarak. However you can always trace this chain back to the people somehow.

Murder. Mubarak and his gang operated the police force as if they were gangsters. They loved to kill for some reason or another. I realized that many people died because of the police force and that there was nobody to stop them because the only people who could, were the ones making them do it. Mubarak's corrupt government also had this thing for arresting the knowledgeable in Egypt. Not necessarily every smart person, but those who seemed to be a form of danger to him. I realized that Egypt has many knowledgeable people that operate at international levels, however most of them don't live in Egypt. This is because they either are afraid of being arrested if they went back, or that they just have a better opportunity elsewhere, however still representing Egypt.

The government was in the worst shape it had been. People finally realized that they didn't need to bear this burden anymore and soon they all formed this...
 

Ahly vs. Zamalek

The two largest soccer clubs in Egypt are the Ahly and the Zamalek club. And I honestly have to admit the fans of these two soccer clubs have to be among the most loyal fans in the world. They literally will die for this club. They will actually take a bullet for this club versus a bullet for their best friend. In fact, a very powerful friendship will easily be broken because of the fact that the two kids developed a love for the different clubs. My cousin showed me some fights that broke out during some matches between the two clubs that were brutal. It was like a gang war except that the fight wasn't gang related, it was soccer related.

To prove the loyalty of these fans; during the time of the revolution that just took place, numerous matches were supposed to be taken place. You would think that out of respect for their country they would cancel the matches, however they didn't and they played each other. As if what was going on wasn't bad enough, playing this match and starting a fight because of it just added on to the hassles of the country. Ahly is the red dominated photo and the other photo is the Zamalek team.

Fights in Egypt

It's every man for himself when you are in Egypt. Many people start to form their own little groups just so they could be backed up. I have seen some fights all around Egypt that were really disturbing and left me scarred. I have always wondered why the police doesn't usually do anything. The answer is that they are usually among the spectators who are rooting for either side. Then of course if the situation becomes life threatening that's when they will make the smallest effort to attempt to stop the fight.

They don't mess around in Egypt when it comes to fighting. Even if it comes down to killing the person who cracked your younger brother's skull; they'll do it. Many of the low life youth over there do not operate without some sort of weapon, whether it maybe a pocket knife, a razor, and sometimes unlicensed gun. This form of protection ensures the individual that if anyone tries and makes a problem, they have their second guy (which is the weapon) around to back them up. And you'll find that they are extremely skilled with the use of their weapon. Within a split second you'll instantly find the pocket knife drawn and aimed at you and there's absolutely no other way out of it is to fight them. You'll suffer some serious injuries, but you deserve it for getting yourself caught in the mix. Actually, it's not always your fault. Sometimes people there just think fighting will solve anything. A few examples of initiating fight starters include cussing out someone, giving them a bad look, looking at someone's wife, car crashes (which are the worst), and much more.

Car crash fights can get serious. The reason I say that is because the drivers always think they are right. Even if they're both wrong, they will find a way to be proven right and if there's no way, then a fight is inevitable. Also, many shop owners always carry some sort of weapon with them. One of my friends this past summer was bearing a small sword that had the potential of slaughtering someone. He said he's had it for a very long time. Probably since the revolution. He says it can come into good use, although I don't think he's ever had to take it out.

One fight I witnessed this year involved two bus drivers. I don't know what really started this fight because I was in the lane opposite them, however I did see that there were swords waving in the air and blood was pouring from multiple people. They also were holding up the traffic so bad that in the lane where the fight was taking place, the traffic was backed up for a very long time. I was wondering what these people were thinking; what could be the hold up this time. Little did they know that there was a ferocious battle taking place a few hundred feet in front of them.

Driving in Cairo

I have to admit, patience forms in the back seat of a car in Egypt. Any use of profane language will not get you anywhere except maybe a scuffle with the grumpy taxi driver in the car ahead of you. Honking there will never get you anywhere either. It's like a baby crying in a nursery hoping to get attention...how many kids are crying there? Many people have just formed a unique way of dealing with the horrendous traffic of Cairo, just go with the traffic; even if you move a fraction, so be it. It's much better than the hassles of what might come from behind your temper being expressed. And back to the continuous honking. I've heard somewhere (as a joke) that Egyptian drivers honk more than they drive. The more I experienced the deadly hours in the back seat of a car in Egypt, the more I think that it might actually be a fact. And after getting out of the car sweaty, angry, dizzy, etc. my ears start ringing from the lack of honking. I've gotten so used to the noise of the musical of horns that peace and quiet seems unnatural.

One thing I've noticed this year with the drivers in Egypt is that they are very skilled; despite the fact that there are many accidents. It takes a great deal of talent in order to drive within the roads that contain absolutely no rules. The drivers make up their own rules. It's like some sort of silent language that they all (even the women) use to communicate with. The lack of rules on the roads forces the drivers to do this. Seeing this spectacular thing this past summer made me have a great deal of respect for the drivers.

There's a downside to this unique driving language, though. The downside is that some people might not recognize or be familiar with this language; and they contribute to most of the accidents and fights. Fights? Yes, fights. I'll tell you where a fight might generate from. So, let's say there's a driver who speaks the unique driving language, and then there's the other driver who isn't really familiar with it. The two meet at an intersection and there's some sort of confusion on who is to go first. Now, the guy who speaks the language decides to let the other guy go. The other guy, however doesn't understand that and remains waiting. This forces the "native" speaker to go; and behind this guy is another line of cars. So the guy who doesn't know the language is sitting there thinking it's all good and little does he know that there's a line of cars (full of native speakers) behind him waiting to fight him because now he made them all wait.

People in Cairo usually drive for their lives...

Merghany Street

Merghany street is a very long street inside Cairo. It's also notorious for housing some of the most expensive and exotic cars in Egypt. Egyptians have Friday off, so every Thursday at midnight, many people gather around with their expensive cars to host races, drifts, and other competitions. And like I said, this street is long and the effect of it being long, it's busy as well. Or it can get very busy. However, all the drifters and races on Thursday night don't care about that at all. My cousin told me that some of the people who go voluntarily take their cars and park them in such a way so that people can't pass through the street. This makes the other drivers re-think their routes every Thursday night.

So one Thursday night I really wanted to stick around and watch some of the drifts and races that occur their, however we had no car at the moment and my cousin said that it would be difficult to stick around. He also said that if you don't have a car, you can't stay. So that night we were on our way home from some other place and the bus we were in went on Merghany street to get to its destination. It was a little before midnight so the street was open, however some of the drifters and races were already their and their cars were parked. It was a very amusing scene. It seemed like it belonged in a movie or something. So it was extremely unfortunate that I couldn't see any racing or drifts, however I found this video online that took place on that street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z2QH8xufS8&feature=related.My cousin told me that this video is a very good representation of an actual Thursday night on that street.

Now, the reason why I put this post was because I one night I asked my cousin where the nice cars were found in the country and specifically told me this street.

Mohandessin

When a foreigner nowadays thinks "Egypt", he or she immediately thinks of corruption and revolution and absolutely no peace. Now, that may be right up to a certain point, however I would like to prove them wrong in this post.

One of the nights I traveled with my cousin, my brother, and two other kids to an affluent district inside Cairo called Mohandessin. This literally means "engineers" in Arabic. Mohandessin is one of the cleanest and richest areas I've ever seen in my entire life. I loved the few hours that we spent there. It was a very modern place and the contemporary touch to the buildings made me temporarily forget which country I was in. I realized I loved this place so much because it wasn't in a state of turmoil like the rest of the country.

Like I mentioned, Mohandessin is a very modern place. All the shops are very new and clean and even the streets are very clean. And every single car parked along the side of the road was either a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz (2010-2011). This place proved one thing; it proved that Egypt really has a problem with distributing wealth. The middle class is slowly disappearing and you're either very rich or very poor. Just take a look one more time at the photo above; perfect representation of Cairo.

Mohandessin is also one of those twenty four hour places in the city. I realized this because it houses many high-end restaurants, five star hotels, bars, and one of the two red-light districts in Egypt (unfortunately). I only found this fact out when we left the area. One of the shops we went into that night was a clothing store and it was a very clean yet expensive place. Inside the store I saw a completely different side of Egyptians; for lack of a better term: cleaner Egyptians.

One of the two kids that went with us that night resided in Mohandessin. He was one of those well-off kids. That was mainly the reason why we went there that night; it was to drop him off and take a tour of the place a little bit. I bet living in Mohandessin really showed an elaborate side of luxurious city living and I really liked that a lot.

The Youth

I really enjoyed hanging around with my cousin. He's about 20 years old and he's studying civil engineering. This year he introduced me to a bunch of his street friends as well as college friends. And I really was looking forward to hanging out with these guys because I had on question in mind that needed answering; how are the youth of Egypt. I was really interested in seeing how they acted, their interests, their style of clothing, and all the other things that defines the youth.

In my stay with my cousin  and hanging out around his friends I realized a lot of things about the youth of a different country. Being raised in America and adapting to American culture made me look at the other kids' actions differently. I was always analyzing what they would do. Even those other kids would notice that I do somethings differently from them, but they eventually realized that I was trying my best to be like them; even if it were to be temporary. The thing that differed the most between the kids and myself was the way we dressed. I was more into the athletic type of attire and they were more into the classic, casual western European style. That particular style really appealed to me and I adopted some of it and sort of apply it here in this country.

The other thing that seemed to differ greatly between myself and them was the type of music we listen to. The biggest and most obvious reason why our taste differed so much was because the two types of music were in different languages. And I have to admit, among the things that I took in from these kids, music was not among them. The reason is that Egyptian music just didn't appeal to me. I don't know what it was, whether it was the beats, the topic of the song (which is the same throughout every song;romance), or just the style. I could never really put a grasp on what it was, however, I came to the conclusion that music equals "no".

Topics of discussions differ between the youth of Egypt and the youth of America. The American youth tend to speak of the more materialistic aspect of life and they seem to enjoy that. Egyptian youth conversations are very down to earth and when they would make some sort of reference to the whole materialistic side, they'd criticize it and quickly get off the topic. Almost all the Egyptian youth want to get out of Egypt as soon as they can. I understood why this year. Egypt might not have the most opportunities for them so the kids don't want to take that chance. Some children though love Egypt and say that they'd die if they moved out of it. So it really differs among the people because to you have to take into consideration their aspects of life 

Back to Cairo

It's always a weird feeling the day I step foot back in Cairo again after leaving Alexandria. The reason is because I adapted to the Alexandrian culture and morals. Even the weather of the two cities differs significantly, with Cairo being much more humid and Alexandria having the Mediterranean type of air to it. Also, like I mentioned before the people in Alexandria differ greatly from their counterparts in Cairo. However, this peculiar feeling I seem to get disperses in a very short amount of time only because I love Cairo very much and I quickly adapt to it again. Also, this time when we returned to Cairo, my brother and I were supposed to go and spend some time with my cousins, who are about our age. So I was sort of looking forward to returning.

Cairo is a beautiful city indeed, however if you're not accustomed to the hassles of it, you'll quickly develop a hate for it. And there's no telling if I actually love the city, or if I love the cover of it. What I mean by that is I have never really never had any responsibilities inside the city and I only witness the touristic side of it. But there's no telling that I'm proud to be Cairene.

Erfan Pasha Street

Erfan Pasha street is one of the oldest and known streets in Alexandria. It's parallel to Othman Jalal, however it's much longer than it. A crowded, noisy, and polluted section of the district, yet it's very respected. What I mean by that is...this street houses many different stores and shops, ranging from butchers and bread ovens to the contemporary western European clothing style stores with the modern lights along the perimeter of them. Even the apartment buildings along the side of the streets vary greatly in terms of style and modernness. You'll have the  extremely old and haunted buildings (which is the majority of them) along the sidewalks and right next to them you'll have the newer and taller high-rises towering over the street.

Erfan Pasha is also one of those streets that runs 24-7. You go there anytime during the night and you'll always need to find something going down; whether it's a fight, a funeral, a discussion, anything, there's always something occurring. Also, there's a large amount of elder men that go to the numerous hookah shacks at night for their nightly meetings and tabla tournaments. I'm proud to say that my grandfather is one of those men who's always found at these cafes at night, just tearing up the tournaments and always getting first place.

Erfan Pasha also houses many mosques, with the minarets of each mosque towering into the sky, illuminating the street with various colors of green, blue, and white. And despite the large amount of noise that the inhabitants of the street emit, you'll still hear the numerous mosques call for the time of prayer. And regardless of what the shop owners might be in the middle of, they'll suspend their work for a short period of time just go pray and return to continue where they left off.


Erfan street is also a very convenient street in terms of the supplies it has. Around noon time every few days, my grandmother would require some groceries from outside. And all of these "exotic" groceries can be found inside Erfan Pasha street. For example, some days she'll need tomatoes, fish, and cheese. And instead of getting into a car and driving to the nearest supermarket, I can take a five minute walk to Erfan Pasha street and buy them off the souks and outdoor shops. And above all that, I get to witness this side of Egypt; for lack of a better term, the old school side. I also heard that one of my great aunts was the owner of a vegetable stand on Erfan Pasha street. And from what I heard from my family, she was a very mean woman, who ran her business like a criminal organization. She would form monopolies just to run her competitors out of business. And I realized that everyone on this street does the exact same thing as her; and they all are very grimy people. It's always fun getting groceries for my grandmother from this street, because I get to witness many interesting things.