Wellesley College Wonders

                                            Adventurous storm!

                                        Cold but crispy and fresh up to my nostrils

                        Wild flowers have the best arrangement of all                       

                                    

                                                     I love this burst of pink

                                                              

                                                  Nature made arch

So bright!

     This was as close as I could get before mamma duck gave me the "prepare to attack" stare

                          I would love to just slowly sink into the tall grass

Look who's been hiding!

 

                      They look like little white fairies hanging from the tree

Under the bridge lies the home of the wood elves!

                                          I can almost hear them ringing

Spring is nearly here!!

Blooming flowers are on their way! Here are some early risers that have decided to peep their heads:

I miss the mediterranean summertime!!

Just as Boston was getting warmer, Christmas felt jealous and decided to intrude with a little sprinkle of snow and some frost bite on the side.

Dark green forests emmersed in bright white foam, beautiful I know, but cold...very cold. I am also getting rather homesick, and keep dreaming of my airy beach house on the mediterranean I go to each summer, with another thirty something family members.  We would arrive at 2 in the morning at the dusty house that hasn't been touched for a year, throw ouselves onto any available couches, and suffer through a long night of breathing in dust and old bug spray. BUT...We would wake up and.....

Tadaaaaa!!!!!!!!  The beautiful beach no farther than 10 metres away from our balcony. We'd open up the house while all the women and young ladies cleaned and polished, and the men and boys would do their DIY business and go get breakfast. We would then set up the very balcony that has witnessed generations of family beakfasts, just like the one I am dreaming of now.

We would all rush to grab the best seat in that balcony, which would be on the flowery couch seen in that picture. My grandma believed that when you sat there, you were sitting on a chair in heaven. I fail to disagree when I feel the warm, thick falafel sold accross the street sink into my hollow stomach the very same way my body sinks into the hugging couch. Pots and pans of flava bans mixed with tomato and cheese, flat thin Egyptian bread, and eggs sunny side up stuck to the pan would attack the barely stable plastic balcony table, and our fingers would atack the food in an almost identical fashion....All that is left to do is smell the sea breeze while savoring every rich bite and let your senses do the talking.

A revoluion beneath the snow

My country has just come out of a revolution, cousins, friends and neighbours were in in heated protests,  my people's unknown future hangs suspended in the post-revolution smoke, while I stroll through breezy air and snowy hills. As thankful as I am to have been in Boston during these difficult times for Egypt, I feel more frustration than gratitude...Yet, while my Egyptian friends here cried, screamed, and glued their faces to the news, all I could do was walk and walk and walk; through knee deep snow and under frozen icicles that stop mid-fall, awaiting their fate with the same apprehensive suspension that looms in the heart of every Egyptian. My frustration and anger could only succumb to sparkling white, glowing frosts of snow layered like spring sheets. Walking in a world of ice extinguished my fiery chest... Just like those beautiful few moments between snow falling and snow melting, when the world is in a deep sleep beneath the white sheets, I realized the beauty of my country's suspension, it is at a stage where it will finally awake, and right now it exeriences a peace that has not been there for a long time. I thank God for sending peace...I thank God for sending snow.

Hello Boston

I'm now in the centre of the snow blizzard in Boston, and it looks like Santa Land. Life here is very different from Egypt. In Egypt, whether its 3 o'clock in the afternoon or 3 o'clock in the morning, there are always people walking along the streets, and the pavements are scattered with shops, restauants and supermarkets awake 24/7. Here though its a bit less alive; there are houses everywhere and many alive centers in the city, but in between the houses and centers its almost like a void, nothing happens, there is no life. Ofcourse, since its freezing cold outside it makes sense that people prefer to cuddle up at home rather than stand outside turning into icicles, but I'm told that in general people are not very fond of walking. But we will wait and see.

Another observation I made, automation. Machines are the new civilians. This could explain why people walk less now. Everything depends on machines. I think that if you take these people and put them on an island they'd try to make a cooking bowl out of coconuts before considering eating them.

Finally, food. Portions are HUGE. There is exra of everything on everything. While soooo yummy, it is also so unnatural, I can barely taste the food itself there is so much cheese and so many spices and sauces.

My observations may change over the next 3 months, hopefully I'll become more adapt to their way of life.

I'm leaving the Arab world and Egypt and off to America for three months. I'm going to miss the sunny Egyptian skies and smiles, the informal attitude that lingers in every street, and the brotherly helping hand of strangers.

Goodbye also to my beautiful shrine, my zone of peace, happiness, and daily bliss: