Missed me? :p

I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have indeed been writing 24/7.  I written many lyrics and poems that'll make no sense, a greater amount of pure 'rants' but I'll start edited them up and posting them isA :)
Until then I'd like to share this beautiful deep song with you, If you haven't already come upon it. This song somehow means so much to me, has taken a toll on my life, and is already dedicated to my future husband isA. <3
Women reading this: Prepare to cry
Men reading this: take your ego aside, unwrap the bundle of feelings you've stashed away and let this song touch your heart and melt into your soul. And then come and tell me how it felt to feel like John. Capish?

lol on a side note, ill try to make my posts short so I can actually post them and not get lazy about it! Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450p7goxZqg

(Copy and paste the link into a new tab to view)

I have No Pictures to Show.

I repeatedly tried to take a picture of the sunset and it never came anywhere close to its mesmerizing beauty I saw with my own eyes. The lens did it no justice.

I realized that sometimes the most beautiful things can't be captured, like laughter, the feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you're on a high of happiness or that ease you get once your eyes meet with the eyes of one dear to you. So I put what was blocking me from seeing the beauty of the world back in my pocket and just stood there till the very tip of the sun finished sinking, put to bed and tucked by the horizon, leaving a soft cotton candy glow to illuminate the sky.

I had nowhere to be, No rush. Don't look at me funny I'm watching one of Gods beautiful creations, no shame. We see pictures of beautiful places around the world on some random Facebook page we probably liked called 'luxurious places' or 'best beaches' wishing we could go to that place because we know Its better to actually experience the atmosphere personally. Yet when we're there, we dare to take out our own phones and take a dozen of snapshots rather then actually letting the beauty of the place put us in the state of trance we wished to feel when we were once while looking at the picture online. Ironic.

Our generation should never forget for a second that there's a better life, an actual life outside our phones. If we do we could miss a breathtaking sunset, like what I just saw.

Stop and take a moment to admire all the beautiful things you take for granted every day. (:

Sidi Heniesh - August 12th 2013

Gets me every time...

This video keeps me in check of my goals for Masr isA. I dont know why but I literallly cry everytime I watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsVdo_dSXgE

A Feminist Critique of Ms.Sara Bellum

I've made a discovery! Kinda...you know how now we realize all these subliminal messages in the old cartoons/ movies we used to watch as kids? Like how Shaggy from Scooby Dooby Doo is actually a huge pot head? lol Well heres a few things about Ms. Sara Bellum, it's completely right wing I admit but still interesting. And as always, tell me your thoughts :) ( ask.fm/askShourouk)

Ms. Sara Bellum

As a character in the Cartoon series ‘The Power Puff Girls’, Ms. Sara Bellum is the Mayor’s very competent, statuesque, and redhead right-hand assistant who often handles things the Mayor can’t, which is practically everything. The multi-stereotypical face is never revealed on screen, clearly producing a gaze that objectifies women as it shapes the minds of the youngsters to believe that you don’t need a ‘head’ in order to be successful.

Among eyes Ms. Bellum is a common predilection because of her sexy appearance. The hyper-feminist has an ‘Hour-Glass’ shaped body that the majority of men dream about. Simply constructed from a thin waist (the base); making its way up to large breasts or down to her round hips and toned butt, her body is considered as full. Characters in the cartoon often claim that she is very beautiful (Pro.  Utonium is always stunned and usually weakened in her presence) which makes sense because all her features are ‘long’ which is considered beautiful or attractive now, and apparently when the cartoon was being produced. She is a tall woman with long legs, hair, nails, and also a long neck which is said to be beautiful as is symbolizes a horse’s neck. Ms. Bellum with her perfect lady-like posture always struts herself in a pair of red (the color of seduction) heels, a short skin-tight skirt, a golden necklace, and a black belt to make her tight, slightly revealing business vest even tighter. Whenever in the center of attention an object has to cover her face or just her great deal of curly red hair does the job. But what impact does this have on the viewer and did it affect our society today? Yes, the girl eyes staring at screens know that since they are smart they will have a successful future but because of Ms. Bellum they now think that there success won’t come a long unless they have the exact appearance as Ms. Bellum, including the incorrect fact that what matters is what’s going on from the neck down. This applies to the society today as millions women who were never able to climb up to the standard of ‘Ms. Bellum’, end up feeling incomplete, unconfident, not good enough, or just the plain old unattractive loser who was never able to have the highlight of correcting a teacher while she glows emitting her beauty. She also indirectly teaches a type of seduction to kids in one episode through teaching ‘The Power Puff Girls’ to be nice the ‘Rowdyruff Boys (villains)’ (in other words, kiss them) instead of fighting to destroy them which ended up working. Furthermore, Ms. Bellum is also the reason why men only focus on women’s bodies because that’s exactly what she did. She taught the once young boys to only focus on what underneath the head because that is what is important.

At first Ms. Bellum is seen as a sex object, ironically until she speaks, even though her voice sounds insouciant. Matching her appearance Ms. Bellum’s tone is kept constant while her throaty, alluring, and quite unruffled voice displays her intellectual side. While it’s hard to believe that as she says stuff like ‘It’d be my pleasure…’ her “Do tell…’s” show the stereotype of a very successful woman were her only super power is her high intelligence. Unfortunately, this does criticize the patriarchal structure or the society because distinctly she is the brains of the Mayor operations, deserving his position. Yet she’s just an assistant to the dumb unproductive male just because being Mayor is defined as ‘a male job’ like being the president. In one episode she expresses an obsessive attachment to the Mayor after he died, proving that she is in love with him which easily connects to the society now as usually the assistant ends up falling for her Boss or vis versa.

The gaze of Ms. Bellum strongly objectifies women as it teaches youngsters to judge from the head down and that it is only possible to be ‘something’ high in life if you have ‘The Look’. Although, no-matter what your IQ is men remain inferior to women, and women have to stay trapped under their planned authority. Who knew a headless woman in a cartoon for kids could explain today’s society moreover; engrave such a huge impact in the world today, huh?

Hey stalkers! <3 lol

Okay so I found this on my camera and I dont know... I think its a cool shot.

Anyways... this was taken last week when my aunt and uncle visited us in chicago <3 It was the best time ever, we basically ate out every night at fancy restaurants (cha-ching!) (I forogt how our parents have to fight for the check to pay for them #EgyptianCulture101 you must always pay!), I got to sit in the business lounge with all the representatives of the Rotary districts around the world! o.o Only one person per district and yall know being a boss runs in the family so course my uncle was chosen to represent district 2450 again. All the people were super fancy too, even the hotel, it started raining lightly and they gave us all free fancy wooden umbrellas I wish I didnt had mines so I could take one low key haha :p

First things first, that day I spent 4 hours in Lord and Taylor with my aunt helping her pick out dresses for my cousins... like don't get me wrong, I absolutely love her, but over FOUR hours in just one shop? Whatsapping pictures to them back in Egypt, to see which ones they like? and me turning into a manikin? Dragging 40 dresses? no, just no.

And you probably think im joking about the 40 dress, hail nah I aint, she picked out any nice dress she saw, they were really heavy to, I stared doing curls haha ;D.  I only got cranky because she wouldnt eliminate some dresses and when we went to pay she disappeared to look at more dresses and I was holding her phone and stuff trying to whatsapp the cousins but then there wasnt internet connection, and it was all a big mess. Yea, she left, when we were at the casher! hahaha omg I literally was like 'excuse me shes not from here... and shes a shopaholic' lol . But the best part is when she talked to any American here because she's always joking around. She's just going up to employs speaking in arabic, totally serious, using like two English words in her sentences to play around. Wa kaman fe wesho7om bet ol 'inty habla wala eih? bayenlak habla?' and stuff like that hahaha.
Mini story: she was buying a really nice BCBG red dress I picked out for her and the cashier was Russian and CRAY, and of course my aunt is just mocking everything she says, anyways the women asks me if its for me all shocked because the size was huge for me... and my aunt goes 'Its mines ya habla' and she goes 'ohhh its for you ;)' Aunt ' yessss ;) shofty ba2aa, its for my boyfriend'
Cashier 'ohh red for your boyfriend ;) are you getting married then'

Aunt ' yes next week *bats her eyelashes like cray, by this time my brother and I were like dying of laughter*

Cashier: Ill put it in a special bag to keep it safe!
Like really, no bride in the world would ever buy a red cocktail dress for her wedding?! Habla fa3ln! lmao

That was a great day expect for the fact that I couldnt find a dress my size for prom, not even a ugly dress. In every store I went to, NADA... ._.
And that was like what, the forth time I spent a whole day on a hunt for the 'Perfect Prom Dress', and now theres nothing my size.
I hope you guy have a good ya hear? In the mean while I'll be crying in this corner till cause I'm dressless and Proms two weeks from now...

T.G.I.F

Thank God it's Friday!

These last weeks of senior have seriously been a big  'blekh', but its Friday, another week passed thankfully!

Pictures? If you insist...

I seriously cant, beach? Tanning? You gotta be feeling me now I know i'm not alone on this here. If you're not, you got problems bro go get a check up. lol I cant wait for spring either cause it defiantly ain't spring in Chicago! -_- Literally havn't seen light in two weeks, the weather is so depressing. :(

 Fresca guy <3 haha  the best ones are the ones with pistachios<333...just saying o.o

I'm on a hunt to find these...so cute <3 And theyre perfect for graduation ;)

High fashion, they look soft, love <3

There will always be a light :)

This is the saddest image ever and my favorite... it makes you think about so many things, also makes you cry. Or maybe that's just me, I tend to put myself in other peoples places so yes, I have sobbed after seeing this multiple times. Brave, strong kid... ugh there are really no words to describe this. Makes you thankful for having your parents around too, elhmduallah. And if you're reading this and you've lost a parent or both, you should know that you're not alone. <3

Me starting today, I need a lot of motivation though... :/

Quote of the day, make of the best of today, embrace it because you only get to live it once!

And to end this post on a funny note lol...
"Bitch be drunk as hell, losin' shoes and shit"

HaVe A gReAt WeEkEnD!! <-- harakat el sees :P

Querencia

Hey guys! :)
Sorry that I have been slacking on blogging... merp :/ But anyways today I have another lengthy post, it'll be a querencia essay. I actually wrote this for English class but i honestly think it is of my best pieces of writing that its worth sharing. Also I'm kind of too lazy to type something up, heck i'm to lazy to do anything that involves effort anymore! I have a bad bad cause of 'senioritis'. For those who don't know what a Querencia is, it's specific a place that makes you feel at home, a place where you feel comfortable and feel all the good stuff inside. Whether it's on a bench at the park, at your grandpas house or in your bathroom haha. I hoped you liked the last post and without further ado I present to you... *Sound the trumpets*, My Querencia!

A Vacation spot

                At an open lunch beach bar on the Titanic Beach Resort in Hurgada overlooking the Red Sea is where I realized how beautiful life is. With the gentle sea breeze softly whisking across the fine hairs of my cheeks as I gently took a sip of Pepsi from a giant plastic beer mug to rehydrate my evaporated body and sun kissed skin, I found myself in the cool comfort of a beautiful tropical paradise. Sitting on my bamboo chair, I allow the ocean sounds of the soft rolling waves to hypnotize my mind into a state of wide-awake-trance with every shut of my eyes during the brief slow sips.

 The golden sun casts its rays upon my tired and exhausted body as I notice the pretty pastel colors of the environment. The crystal waters of the Red Sea darken the farther you look away from the shore reminding me of the pleasant time when I snorkeled among the colorful chorales and parades of fish earlier in the day. This all reflected a sense of experiencing the pure pleasantness of life as I look upon the water. A friend of mines finally found me. We walked to the bar to grab some food to revive our empty stomach from the calorie burning, water sport action filled day. The happy feeling of not having to pay for food as it was included in our package made me thrilled like never before to eat French Fries. At that point I was thankful for everything in my life. While standing in line among all the tourists one of the chiefs calls us up and asks us what we want. As I leaned over the smooth marble table all I could smell something awful, beer. We asked for two plates of fries and two hotdogs while some worker behind the counter exclaims to him that there’s a line for a reason. The chief quickly put a smile on his face, rested his arm on the waiter and swayed his hand out towards us as if we were some masterpiece yelling with pride in Arabic, ‘Dol Masreyen ya 3am! (They are Egyptian man!). The waiters face smiled instantly, it glowed along with the chief and it apologized to us, in fact to prove his apology he yells to all of the staff behind the counter, “Guys if these mademoiselles ever come upon you, wait on them hand and foot, Egypts beauties first”. At that point the muscles behind my smile hurt from smiling to hard. My friend and I constantly glanced over at each other so surprised and proud of their treatment towards us. The hilarious waiter turns around and says ‘See I hooked you guys up perfectly(shoft zabatokom)’ and asks us what we’d like to drink then ran to the drink machine with two cups and of course yelled out ‘Beera?’ as a joke. The whole staff seemed to be taking part in our conversation now as they laughed and giggled at every joke Jala, the Waiter and I exchanged.

A Russian tourist next to me complained about us being waited first with a thick stench of beer in his mouth, I quickly turned around to be able to breath; I could not take the scent any longer. The Chief whom was busy on the grill looked up clearly irritated, said in Arabic “Go sit a side drunken idiot(Ro7 a3d 3ala gamb yahbal ya sakran) ”. We busted out laughing, I laughed as if I never heard a joke before in my life, my stomach contracting, my mouth wide open and hands clapping like an odd seal. The chief laughed with us and when we looked over at the man, we laughed some more because of course he did not know what we were laughing at. The waiters around asked for our names and told us theirs proudly becoming friends with their own people. Ahmed came back with our drinks, telling the chief to stop making fun of the tourists, reassuring the Russian man something in Russian and waved bye to us as we made our way back to the chairs.
            Passing through the confused drunken tourists while laughing hysterically at what just happened we finally reached the corner of the bar, sat down and caught our breaths. After I thought I stopped I would look at Jala and laugh again, and then she’d laugh and then we ended up laughing without reason. I could not believe how happy I was to be there at that moment, in a beautiful place, laughing, with a friend, making new friends, and still relaxed and undisturbed. The scent of the ocean mixed with the warmth of the fries reaching deep into my excited stomach. As the fries in my hands moved closer to my mouth, the tide of the sea moved towards the shore. The scent of the fries got stronger, the tide even closer and once I bit into the crunchy deliciousness the tide I was keeping track of collapsed hugging the shore while the insides on my mouth felt the texture of the fry changing as my tongue opened the soft center.

Jana left to see what her mom was calling her for and I remained still till I finished my plate. Longing to swim in the clear waters before me, I stood up and strolled over to the emerald waters washing upon the soft sand. Looking into the sea lagoon, I saw a whole world that exists under the depths of the sea. The plants and animals of this majestic place seemed to sway like the waves of the ocean. My eyes were drawn to a scene of sparkles glistening underneath the water. Dancing and piercing through the water, the majestic fish are like shimmering sequences. Gazing at these beautiful creatures I decided to swim with them once again.

So yea... I kinda like the beach. lol that was my specific moment in time but the general place is on vacation in Egypt :)

That was long aye? If you have any questions feel free to ask at ask.fm/askshourouk... and if you're cranky about this being long be like this cute kitty below!

haha meoww ;D Toodles :*! 

Never give up on Egypt.

This happened three days ago during school when I was excused from class for an interview and the people amazed me! From the amount of likes i got on Facebook for posting this I believe its a good read and a great first post! :) Let me know what you think by commenting, stay classy :*


I had an interview with 5 elder adults full of life, they seemed fascinated by just the fact that I am Egyptian, that I have lived through the revolution, that I moved from continent to continent and back, out of all of their reactions to my responses to their questions, one stood out to me the most, left me day dreaming all day in fact.

This one lady who said her job had to deal something with ‘multi-cultural affairs’ asked me from where exactly in Egypt I was from, with this delightful grin on her face. I replied 'Alexandria :)' just hoping they knew the main cities in Egypt. The women’s hands had burst into the air, her smile immense, as she shouted 'Iskandariyya!' with strong vibrant passion. My heart skipped a beat, and before I was able to question myself whether she actually just exclaimed 'Alexandria!' in Arabic. She continued... "That is my favorite place in the w-o-r-l-d! The most beautiful city I have ever been too!”. Her hands fell back on the table as she leaned forward and gazed at me as if I were the city of Alexandria. I think the man on my right, Brian, felt ashamed that he haven’t been because he immediately added "As a diplomat I traveled a lot as well and the closest I got to Egypt was Tunisia..." The only thing that has been coming out of my mouth since we started this conversation was 'Really?!’ The woman said "well when I visited I meet Nasser and chatted with him a lot." Smiles exchanged around the table when fireworks continued going off in my head. Nasser? The President? "What was the name of that artiest? I love her! om? om...?” At this point I did not know what would happen to me if she was making reference to the great Om Kalthoum. 'Om Kalthoum?' I asked hesitantly. "YES! Om Kalthoum!" And even oh so proper Brian added "Ohhh, Om-Kalthoum! ^_^". 'Woah, I love Om Kalthoum!' I exclaimed. "Her music is very old now but it's gold, she is THE best artiest in history!" I had to pause to absorb what was happening all in, keep in mind I was not walking into this meeting expecting to talk about anything related to Egypt.
"Wow, I love that you love Alexandria." I said.
"How could I not?" She smiled. "So tell me how has Alexandria been? The Citadel? How is it like now?"
I felt like she wanted me to paint her a picture for her or like she was ready to be taken back in time to her visit in Alex by a story I would tell her, and then I thought to myself about all the negativity I have been hearing about Egypt from my friends now, the ‘Ugly Truth’ everyone calls it. I was afraid to tell her "Oh well it kinda sinks right now", I didn't want to wipe of that genuine smile on her face…
"Well since the Revolution things have gotten really bad honestly..." I admitted.
"Well yes it’s a changing period now" she said. "Ofcourse we have to expect so, the country has gone through a Revolution, it takes time for change and adaptation."-Brian agreed. "...but the beaches are still gorgeous haha :)" I joked. *laughs all around* "They will always remain gorgeous and so will Alexandria :)" the woman smiled.

I was in complete shock, how in the world did a worldly old woman living in Oak Park be bestowed upon me to express he love for Alexandria? A woman that made me want to get in a 'But I love Alexandria more' competition? A woman who gazed at the ceiling in thought of the Great Om Kalthoum, or almost jumped out of her chair after hearing the word Alexandria slip out of my mouth? A woman who was not even Egyptian?
For the whole day I have been thinking about that 5 minute conversation. And realized something, those two people have spent there entire life working with multiple cultures and countries, and the smile on their faces remained there after I revealed the 'Ugly Truth'. These people were alive in the years of Nasser, I have no doubt theyve have been through a lot of life changing experiences that followed by rough times themselves, especially with their jobs that brings them to countries outside of the U.S. Maybe, just maybe, they learned to always be optimistic, like an Egyptian has always been? I think through their experiences they learned that things always come around, that there will be light at the end of a tunnel. Because if not they would have shown a sign of worry, concern, disappointment, or even contribute an analytical statement. But No, all smiles.

Even if it’s going downhill now, there will be an uphill isA. The Great Depression passed, Wars, Epidemics, Earthquakes, Hurricanes they all passed! Remember the 8.9 Tsunami that engulfed Japan two years ago? Look at them now, standing on their feet! I don't know about you but to me that must have been a much worse ‘rough time’ than what's happening to Egypt currently. Have faith that things will get better, because they will, it just might take a longer time than expected. That woman seemed too look on the bright side of things, the same way us Egyptians used to always do. Looking on the bright side doesn’t mean that you’re hiding from the ‘ugly truth’, there is no ugly truth. It’s just reality and reality is… it only takes a drive on the Cornish to be captured by the mesmerizing sea, to have the natural beauty of Alexandria alone take your soul on a journey that will make your day. Like the lady said "The beaches will always remain gorgeous and so will Alexandria". . No need to emphasis the bad, nothing good comes from it. Instead emphasis the unalterable beauty of our Nation, the same way the glorious elder women from Oak Park did. If there is such thing as a moment of pure complete ‘Happiness’, talking with that women, yup that was it for me. 

Never. Give Up. On Egypt. ♥