I think that a lot of us know HSBC’s slogan….the world’s local bank.
Last friday(yes I know most banks in Egypt are closed on Fridays) I was at the CIB (Commerical International Bank) branch near my house. I had a look at their slogan (or what seemed to be a slogan)…egypt’s global bank.
I found it relatively hmm….interesting..
Cheers!
Akef
Hey there everyone…
Well..I’m currently in Dubai on a business trip. If you need to reach me, you could call me on:
+971 50 6407934
I’ve been to Dubai a little bit less than a year ago…and man….there has been considerable changes. 2 new shopping centers opened…ibn Batuta and The Mall of the Emirates. I visited the latter yesterday with a friend of mine and from what I understand it claims to be ‘the’ biggest mall in the world. It has all you could think of when it comes to shopping…it has its own skiing slope…but that I didn’t try.
I’m not sure if I talked about this before but basically here’s what I think of Dubai….its a very nice place…things are clean…they’re fancy…but here’re some things we should think about…is it ‘too’ good to be true? Is it just a big bubble that will eventually burst? Go to someone and ask him…tell me one building that has been here for the past…50 years. The majority of people won’t be able to answer this question. One thing I like about major capitals in Europe is that although they’ve the fancy skyscrapers….they have buildings that are centuries old. Dubai simply lacks that. Anyways…enjoy it while it lasts…
The weather nowadays is really awesome…its not cold…not ‘too’ hot…just awesome.
Cheers!
Akef
With regards to this post a friend of mine sent me the link to the article.
Cheers!
Akef
I’ve been meaning to write about this issue for quite a while now, I’ve talked a little bit about this in my previous posts however I didn’t dedicate a post to it…and the time for this has come…
For some reason a lot of jobs that are very essential for the successful continuation of our society are looked down upon. Some would actually be considered disgraceful (I’m talking about legitimate jobs) .Go tell your parents while you’re in highschool that you’re thinking of getting an evening job in a petrol station or as a waiter (or waitress) and they’re going to think there’s something wrong with you. Some of them would actually consider it a disgrace if any of their friends or relatives saw you working. I hope you know what I’m talking about…
Seriously do the majority of Egyptians respect their garbage man? The guy helping in the petrol station? The waiter at the restaurant? The person who cleans the bathrooms in the mall? And the list goes on…
Today a friend sent me this photo…it explains what I mean…
Over the past several generations families always encouraged their children to study either medicine or engineering. How many times did you hear a mother saying…I wish my son could be a good doctor….or a good engineer. How many mothers said I want my son could be a good nurse or a good electrician?
After many generations believing this we have a lot of doctors and a lot of engineers…however we have very poor nursing. So the doctors make the operations, however many times did you hear of a patient dying due to the poor post-operation monitoring and care? How many good electricians do we have? How many are educated? My electrician doesn’t know how to read nor write…Egypt is really lacking on good craftsmen.
Moving on…Egypt is also lacking on non-technical skills…the soft skills. The labour market in Egypt lacks qualities like good management, presentation and commmunication skills. There’s a very good space for improvement in these fields.
Our society isn’t balanced. The gap/problem is getting worse and worse everyday. I think it is time we start thinking about issues like this…
Have a nice day…
Regards,.
Akef
A little comment, in today’s edition of the International Herald Tribune/The Daily Star Egypt, pictures from this post have been used. Of course after they took my permission 
So as a friend of mine put it…I’m now a ‘published photographer’.
Cheers!
Akef
Ahlan Wasahlan everyone..
Been back in Cairo for a couple of weeks. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to update my blog since I was in Paris, I didn’t have much time in Rome and been too lazy since I came back to Cairo. After Paris I went to Rome where I spent around 4 days.
On my first day in Rome I visited the Colosseum. WOW…impressive structure. Now for all of the people who saw Russel Crowe’s Gladiator….well..this is the real place where it all happened. This is where gladiators used to fight other gladiators and lions for hours. I heard the show used to last for around 9 hours. It is shows like this that the Roman emperor allowed and organized to please the people. I guess it was one of the ways where the savage nature of the human being was very clear. I guess it would’ve been an interesting show to attend. A very very bloody one…I’m sure
Near the Colosseum were simply lots and lots of Roman ruins. Take a look at them…close your eyes…and use your imagination and think about THE GLORY OF ROME a few thousand years ago. Venice is pretty romantic…Florence is beautiful….Rome is glorious (this the correct spelling?).
The ssecond day I visited a relative of mine living in a town called Avezzano which is a little bit less than a 2 hour train ride to the east. That day was pretty awesome, I got to spend the whole day with a semi-Italian family (one of the parents Italian the other Egyptian). Around noon we went to a place that makes nothing but raw fresh pasta….bought around 1 kg of Ravioli and went back home where my relative cooked it. Very very tasty. Now something to note about Avezzano, its located in a beatiful valley that is surrounded by mountains. Its population is around 30,000 people. Now to a guy coming from Cairo, 30,000 people is around hmmm….well…my street…and a few ones parallel to it. But of course it doesn’t in Avezzano, the 30,000 are spread across a bigger area than my neighbourhood. After having lunch it was time to go up the mountains. We went to a skiing resort…just to have a look..it was too late to ski (and its not like I know how to ski anyways). But you know what…this was the first time I go to a skiing resort. And this was the first time there was snow as far as the eye could see. Yes there was snow a few years ago in St.Catherine….but it wasn’t covering everything. You know…when everything is so white…its very tiring to the eye…anyways…moving on….took the train back to Rome.
I already had some plans from the people from the hostel to go out….it was Saturday night. So I had to experience the night scene in Rome. Decided to go chill out in a place called Campo di Fiori (or something like that). This is basically a square that has a lot of bars. However the bars aren’t indoor ones which are usually packed with people and full of smoke….most of the bars had seats outside on the square…so it was pretty chilled out. I had some gelatie…mmmmmmmmm……tasty….very tasty…
It is the 3rd day in Rome….what am I going to do today…well…day kicked off by visiting the Roman forum which is basically a collection of Roman ruins…some still kind of intact…others in really bad shape….all whats needed when you go there is imagination…and probably a good guidebook. Went back to the hostel around noon where I met some of the guys and we went to an AS Roma match…I don’t remember what the other team was called though. One thing to note about the seating and tickets….the tickets have your name on them…which ’sort of’ minimizes or eliminates the black market…and the tickets have assigned seats…which means you don’t have to go hours and hours before the match to reserve good tickets. Overall it was very well organized. Now the Roman fans are awesome. Really high spirit…I really felt sorry for the other team. And the game itself was a very nice game…I actually enjoyed watching it.
After the game finished went back to the hostel rested for a while then went out with some people I met at the hostel for dinner. I had some of the best pasta I ever tasted in my life. Now for the majority of pasta I ate in my life the sauce was simply too much, making the whole eating pasta operation a rather ’sloppy’ one. But in that place the amount of sauce was exactly enough such that it was very tasty….not sloppy…and when I finished the pasta there wasn’t any sauce left in the plate.
It was an early start on the 4th day in Rome. It was time to visit the Vatican. WOW…very impressive. Visited St.Peters Bascilica and the Sistine Chapel. I also saw the ‘Swiss guards’.
I spent the rest of the days shopping…didn’t really do a lot of shopping before that.
The next day I went to the airport, I went around 3 hours before the airplane because I wanted to get the Tax refund for some of the things I bought. Checkin was very efficient (I guess because I was pretty early….there wasn’t a queue yet) and didn’t have any queues at the customs office either. So I finished everything more than 2 hours before the plane. Flight was on time…arrived in Cairo to the new terminal 3. It actually pretty nice…very fast (but I don’t think there was another plane though).
So its….back to Cairo….
I wonder where/when will my next trip be…
I’ll be posting mroe pictures very soon Insha2Allah.
Cheers!
Akef