Saturday, August 30, 2008

Um al Donyia

This week i decided to Show and tell With Mel a little about the month of Ramadan. If you're a hater or anti-M.us.lim or just don't care, you've been warned, you can leave now if u want, but hey how did you get here anyway... oh right, this is the internet.

As we approach the month of Ramadan, starting on Monday, I think of the poor who will indeed fast for the day but will not know if they will have something to break their fast with at sundown.

When I look around me and see so many people fullfilling a commandment from God, I am in awe and humbled.

Egypt is often referred to as "Um al Donyia" or Mother of the World. And she sure feels like it especially during the month of Ramadan. I have talked to many travelers and they all agree that Ramadan in Egypt is something they have never experienced anywhere else.

Try to imagine Cairo just before sunset, usually its a bustling city of close to 18 million people, busy streets, packed taxis and buses, yet in Ramadan, as soon as the sun sets, and the call to Magrib prayer is called, the streets are completely empty and still.

The silence would be eerie if it weren't for the fact that it is indeed beautiful when you stop to think about it.....

I mean imagine all these people going to pray to God at sunset (and five times total throughout the day) to thank Him for their day and other things they are grateful for. Then breaking their days fast whether it be a humble small meal along many of the streets set up for poor people to eat for free or a lavish dinner at a 5 star hotel. The contrast is amazing and yet all of these people are doing the same ritual, fasting for the sake of God, no matter how poor or rich, young or old, it is amazing.

Then about an hour or so after eating iftar, or the fast breaking meal after sunset, the streets get CrAzY! On the one hand you have many folks going to the m.os.que to pray Taraweah prayers, extra night prayers that are only performed in this month of Ramadan and on the other hand you have many folks who go to one of Cairo's THOUSANDS of cafes for a shisha (water pipe) and drinks, sometimes staying out until sunrise the next day. The contrast, yet again, amazing and is what makes Cairo, Cairo.

So, whatever your belief, or not, try to respect those who do believe in something. While we don't always have to agree with each other, and don't for sure, take a minute this week to find out a little bit about those who are different than you. You never know, if a few of us take the time to actually meet someone different and find out about others we just might make a small impact in making our world a better place... or at least our place for now.

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The Month of Ramadan

Ramadan is the month of fasting for Muslims the world over. Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse from dawn to dusk for the duration of Ramadan. For some, fasting may appear as a form of deprivation and of bodily exertion. On one level, abstaining from sensual needs and pleasures is indeed a physical experience. But those who stop at the physical aspects of fasting miss the essence of Ramadan and its purpose.

Fasting the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. These are the foundation upon which the entire structure of Islam is built. These consist of the declaration of faith, prayer, fasting Ramadan, paying of Zakah (the annual charity payment), and performing the pilgrimage to Makkah, known as hajj.

Three of the five pilars of Islam are rituals, that is, prescribed religious acts whose rationale is not immediately available for understanding. These are prayer, fasting, and hajj. Muslims are required to do them because they are part of their religious duties, that is, they are part of their covenant with God.

As a ritual, fasting is a symbolic act whose meaning becomes gradually apparent through experience. The meaning embodied in a ritual is always unveiled when one immerses himself or herself in the act itself. This does not mean that fasting is not open to intellectual delineation, but rather any intellectual delineation either presupposes or predicts a meaning that can best become apparent through performing the symbolic act itself.

If you would like to finish reading about Ramadan, the rest of the article is here

IVF chip test

Hey ladies, miss you all so, so, so much! I am still infected, my laptop that is. I can connect to internet now though which is cool.

I plan to post later, but wanted to share this very interesting article. Science never ceases to amaze me...

Chip test for IVF embryos

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Trojans

Hey ladies, what's shakin?

I got a nasty tr.oj.an, can't seem to get rid of it! I keep sweeping my laptop, but it seems to want to hang out and not leave. I think I got this little guy from using my flashdrive at work, on their computers and NOT scanning it before I put it in my laptop at home. Smart I know.

Anyway so have been having a heck of a time these past few days, trying to get rid of it. Another brilliant thting I've done was disable my firewall, i know super smart too.

Before my computer kept shutting down, its not shutting down now, maybe just maybe its almost ready to leave.

So please know I miss you all and plan to start posting again soon. Hope all is well and talk soon. xoxoxoxoxo

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Random Thursday morning thoughts

Good morning gorgeous infertiles and others... Just doing my daily morning computer session and thought to post a few ramdom things.

It's the weekend for me, yeah! Friday and Saturday being my days off. My birthday is this weekend too, I'll be 18!!! So will try to plan some exotic Egyptian celebration.

Seriously, I will be more than 18, i think you guessed that right? Yet another year, no children, times a tickin'...hopefully this year or next will be THE one. (I say that EVERY year). I will try to have some fun though. The man always does something nice and I always enjoy this day each year with him. What a guy I tell you!

So here's my randomness for this morning......


- First off, babymakin' 101, go give her some love.  Many of us know how hard this sh*t is...I so luv her and know she will be okay real soon. She is such a sweet sista!

- Did you hear Ricky Martin gave birth to twins, ? Those baby boys will be Livin' La Vida Loca for sure!

- Did you know that 21 US States still allow corporal punishment in their schools? I was floored!

- So its not just here in Egypt that food prices are sky high. They say food prices in US have risen and will continue to rise. They say this is the highest rate of increase since 1990! That blows...our friends who are here from NY say that food in NY in the most expensive they have seen in 20 years....

- School is good. Had some training this week. Very informative, classroom management, learning centers, teaching reading, etc. I have really learned some things. But you know I so miss the excess of  the USA right about now. I won't elaborate too much, but things are definitely different here. Not all bad, just takes some getting used to, will post about it later...

- Party for IVF babies in England. Cool I say. I wish i could attend... i know you do too. Someday ladies, someday.

- I want an IVF baby with my fifth husband AFTER I've posed for Playboy, have you ever said that? LOL

Happy Thursday to you all, miss you, love you and talk soon. xoxoxoxoxox

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Are you on alltop yet?

Hey ladies, some of you are even more famous now!!!

I sent an email to alltop.com and they created a category just for us, check it out!

If you are not there and want to be, send an email to the coolest chick ever, Neenz at info@alltop.com .

Be sure to tell her Wishing4One sent you. She rocks by the way and so does alltop.com, especially since we have our own category now.

You can put an alltop banner on your site by getting code here.

So how cool is that? Pretty damn cool I say!

SEVEN!!!

Wow, isn't it funny how life goes.....

I am SO HAPPY for her really. I hope she can find the means to raise her kids well, by "WELL" I mean just being able to feed them. God Bless her for real....

An Egyptian woman who has given birth to septuplets says she might need financial support to help raise them.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

First day of my Second Week

Hey goreous infertile ladies, and all others- oh how I have missed you! I am so sorry haven't been visiting you nor posting here. As I said before, its hard for me to get back into "the swing" of things...hopefully this week will be better.

So first week of school, last week was cool. No kids yet, they will not come until early October, can you believe it? I will have PLENTY of time to prepare my room, lesson plans, etc. which is AWESOME!

The Ministry of Education has said that all schools will start late due to Ramadan starting on approx. Sept 1st. So most kids in higher grades will start second week of September and the Kindergartens will start early October. All schools MUST have 180 school days.

The Kindergarteners starting late, they did this as teachers and students will get three days off before the end of Ramadan and then another few days after Ramadan is finished. I assume the thinking is Kindergarten age kids would be better suited to start fresh after the Eid Al Fitr holiday and not come in for just a few weeks then have a vacation, make sense?

So I want to answer a few questions I have got about teaching here...

1. The main language spoken in Egypt is Arabic
2. The school I teach in is an American Curriculum school, all instruction is done in English and based on a state in the USA
3. My class will be less than 20 students and I will have a co-teacher
4. Pay is not very good comparing salary in the USA,  but very good for Egypt
5. Our technology for both teachers and students is FAR from what is available in US schools, but I will make do
6. Teacher resources are non-existent here, the internet is your best friend (printing, info, etc.)
7. There are no stores to buy decorations, ready made charts, etc. for your room, again the internet is a life saver! I heard there are a few, but NOTHING like back home....
8. I have to become very creative and crafty as I have to make all my decorations, charts etc. Boy am I ready to do this too. I have soooo much info from online, will print out, cut and paste and make my room rock!
9. All in all the teachers and staff seem to be very nice. But get a bunch of ladies together anywhere and you have an unavoidable water cooler environment, (although we have no water coolor, LOL). It's been awhile for me, so I mostly stay quiet saying hello and not getting into any clicks, I so hate them!
10. Our work week is Sunday - Thursday, Friday and Saturday being our weekend.
11. We will get most American holidays off, woo hoo!

So that's it for now, today was the start of my second week, I like it so far and am excited and anxious at the same time.

I will try to post a few times a week, but maybe only one, we'll see.

I love you all and hope all is good in your world... xoxoxoxoxoxo

Monday, August 11, 2008

yes 12 years and no kids....

hey lovers...yes I am still here and been bad in blogging, I know.

had my first day of work yesterday, no kids just teachers, went well. seems we have a nice group of teachers which is cool. principal seems to be awesome which is very exciting. she is very demanding and organized which I love actually so this is great.

i have to get myself on a good schedule. i am used to staying up late, sleeping in late and that is not going to work now is it?

i took a little nap when i got home yesterday, like 2 hours, felt better after. then, planned to sleep early, didn't happen. one cool thing is they pick me each day, so no driving in this crazy cairo city, i love that. I just have to walk a few minutes from my house to their bus, very very cool.

anyway, i will play around with my sleeping schedule in these days, it will work out, just been awhile , eh um, three years, since I had a job, so will take a bit to get back into the swing of things.

many of teachers yesterday were discussing thier children of course, and when it came to me, "yes I am married, 12 years actually, yeah I know, no kids yet...." so once again it'll be FUN times. no really, it's cool, everyone was very nice and i know its just one of those things that come up in small talk, I am sooooo used to it.

here a few pics from our latest pyramids and cairo tower adventure, love you guys and talk soon. xoxoxoxox


Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Off to see the....

... no, not the wizard, but the wonderful Pyramids of Giza.

I have been many times, just as recent as last month if you remember and we are going again tomorrow, well later today as it is after 1AM Wednesday mornign here now.

You may remember our friends are here from NY and their daughters have not yet been to the pyramids, so we will take them. We plan to go maybe have a boat ride on the Nile after.


What a lovely day, huh? LOL!!! It's still surreal to me that I type this as a daily outing, I swear.

So more pics coming of the pyramids and Nile River. I think we may try to take camels too into the desert, those pics are AMAZING.

My header above is from atop a camel in the desert in front of the pyramids. Our feet are from Dahab, what photo editing can do I tell you. (i didn't make it myself, a friend did...)

The two pictures below were taken in 2006 when my mom came to visit.

Will your Wednesday will be as exciting as mine? I hope it will.... xoxoxoxoxo



Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Pics from the best place on Earth

Most of you know my love affair with Dahab on the Red Sea. And some of you know we went there last week.

Here are some promised pics....I'll post more later.

Look CAREFULLY at last one, can you see it? It is forever etched in hard sand....


Sunday, August 3, 2008

Vacation is over... My Shown and Tell for Today

My Show and Tell with Mel for today is a funny one, a funny one to me anyway. But a good, funny one though.

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the class is showing today too.

As some of you know I have been living in Cairo for three years now. I have not worked during this time at all. Sure it's been fun relaxing, taking care of our new house, gardening, and just loungin' around, but enough is enough.

I have always worked, both for corporations and in my own business for years- so this new found joblessness was a new concept for me. Nice, but kind of too long.

It's not that I didn't want to work, but here it is different. Different in so many, many ways and quite honestly I just didn't look much.

But guess what? I am a teacher now!

Hi, I am Miss Wishing4One. (Can you hear the kids calling me that? "Hi kids, my name is Miss Wishing4One, i'm your new teacher, you will love me, and oh, you surf the internet, be sure to check out my blog.")

Yes, thats right, I will be teaching Kindergarten!

Now, do I have any teaching experience? Nope!

Can I do this? Yup! You bet your .....

I have been THE QUEEN of gathering info from the internet. Lesson plans, themes, centers, activities- you name it, it's saved on my laptop buddy!

Its so truly amazing how much information teachers put online for poor souls like me, new to teaching. AMAZING really, really AMAZING I tell you.

So why did they hire me, with no experience you ask? Um, maybe my astounding good looks and charm?

Seriously, I think maybe it was my enthusiasm in the interview, my excitement to want to help these kids learn and my love of children.

I know that some of you are teachers, different grades, but what is the best piece of advise you give me starting as a new teacher with toddlers?

I don't drink, so bother telling me to, LOL. I know it may be CRAZY for me at first, but seriously, some words of wisdom from those of you who know.

C.h.i.c..k.a   c.h.ic.k.a   b.o.o.m   b.o.o.m... will there be enough room?



Saturday, August 2, 2008

Blogger Bug

i cannot bring up my blog in internet explorer, says internet explorer cannot connect and operation aborted.

i checked blogger help fourm, many people are experiencing the same thing.

I know this is getting posted but I cannot VIEW my blog, can you? leave a comment if so. i guess I will find out that way as comments come to my email.

oh, do you like the new background?

hope this issue is fixed soon as i want to post my Show and Tell tomorrow.

peace. xoxoxoxo

Excuse the edits

I am currently changing my background. Although you now see tan, you won't tomorrow. I am leaving it for now as its almost 2Am and I need to be AWAKE to do these changes.

Hopefully tomorrow my background will be funk-tified. xoxoxoxoxo

Friday, August 1, 2008

A Friday Loser Post for real

As many of you probably know Lolli posted the Roundup Extravaganza results today.

My reviewer chose this post of mine as her favorite. I had to laugh, it was truly a super corny little ode I am sure you will agree. But you what, I guess laughter and craziness and corny-ness and loser-ness is how I deal with this IVF shizit sometimes.

I am ok. I am ok. I am ok. I tell myself.

It's all in God's Hands this I know. I believe that if it is meant for me to be a Mom, I will be. But you know what, sometimes it is just so darn hard to wait this long. But I'm waitin', i'll be waiting and will wait as long as it takes for that day to come.... or not. What else can i do? Um.... nothing.

My life has been filled with so many many blessings; I am grateful for everything I have and grateful for so many things I have left behind as well. If you understand that last sentence great, if not, well trust me, leaving a lot of things behind has really been my biggest blessing of all.

So off again I go, still no IVFnumber SIX in sight, not yet anyway. I will be busy again real soon. I have been on a vacation for three years now and enough is enough.

Come back Sunday to see how busy i will be when I post it for my Show and Tell with Mel, a.k.a. the Superwoman, Supa-bad Lollipop Goldstein.

Again, I love you all and so glad you are in my laptop. (man sounds like a farewell speech huh? )

Peace. xoxoxoxoxo

Pink

I was given this lovely pink rose by Hope2morrow, what a lady by the way. Go show her some love...





I am flattered that she should think of me, and am grateful. That little virtual pinkie sure makes you feel good when you read that someone has taken the time to think about you.

I just want to say how much you ALL mean to me, blogging has helped me cope with so much stuff, especially IVF related and I love you all.

So I would like to give ALL of you the above virtual rose, yes YOU reading this right now.

Here are just a few blogs that come to mind to award this rose to as well. Remember, your blog is included, I just can't type all of them!


Babymakin' 101

This girl is something. You may know her, or not. This is her first IVF and am wishing her all the luck in the world, she sooooooo deserves a baby or two. Love ya girl!



I'm A Smart One

An original gangsta, creator of this pink rose award and an AMAZING, AMAZING woman. I am so sure she has received more times than one, but here's another one Kym, you deserve bouquets daily girl!


It's Stork Season... And I've Bagged My Limit

Well what can I say, I just love Fiddle1 ! Its something about her blog, about her, that i feel I just connect to. She has a very interesting and adventuresome job, she is kind and I just like her! She is pregnant now and I am so waiting for the arrival of her healthy little one! Her gender ultrasound is August 11th, I can't wait!


If you'd like to pass this award on, here's how you can do it:

1. On your blog, copy and paste the award, these rules, a link back to the person who selected you, and a link to this post: "Pink is my favorite color." You will find the story behind the Pink Rose Award and other graphics to choose from there.

2.Select as many reward recipients as you would like, link to their blogs (if they have one), and explain why you have chosen them.

3. Let them know you have selected them for an award by commenting on one of their posts.

4. If you are selected, pass it on by giving the Pink Rose Award to others.

5. If you find that someone you want to nominate has already been selected by someone else, you can still honor them by posting a comment on their award post stating your reasons for wishing to grant them the award.

6. You do not have to wait until someone nominates you to nominate someone else.