Monday, March 26, 2007

don't watch the game...

find it incredibly boring but....

Bangladesh victory puts India out

SUCK ON THAT! :D

The elimination of India and Pakistan leaves the World Cup in the West Indies a happier, less toxic tournament;

But for the tournament itself, nothing could have been more tonic than the purging of Pakistan and India, the dysfunctional giants of South Asian cricket.

Instead of these glowering bruisers, the extravagantly gifted Sri Lankans and the plucky Bangladeshis will represent South Asia in the next round, the Super 8.

(BBC News)

tee hee. 'Plucky'. I like.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

quick update!

Ok I'm going to do this Nay-Nay style, and take a short cut as well. It's been too long, way too much has happened, and before I start getting amnesia, I'm going to note down the last (nearly) 2 months of my life:

6th Feb: Flew to Singapore. Spent a week there with my family, shuttling back and forth between home and hospital.

17th Feb: The decision was made to take my uncle back to Bangladesh. All of us flew back with him to Dhaka. There I spent a couple of weeks, taking care of him with everyone and just spending time with him. Too many heart wrenching moments, the worst being the day I had to say goodbye to him, because I was flying back to Cairo. I don't know how to describe how one feels saying goodbye to someone you realise you will probably never see again.....and them knowing the same thing all too well. I will never forget his tears, or the way he wept like a baby.

12th March: Flight back to Cairo. One-way ticket. Gulp.

13th March: Arrival in Cairo. Work sends me a car :D Somebody awaits my arrival with a big-ass sign saying my full name in big felt letters. LOVIN' the VIP treatment :D (Ok i'm easily pleased)

15th March: Start my job within a mere 2 days of arrival, going promptly into production period, meaning.....no weekends off until end of the month :O

Experiencing the sheer joy of waking up at 8am every morning. Something I have not done in something like 6 years....Realising strangely, that I'm not moaning or complaining because.....I like my job. :O

Had a strange epiphany on the train to work one morning. A very happy morning where I realised that I am NOT dependent on ANYONE to be happy. It doesn't matter if things happen to get me down, or people do things to get me down, shit happens, yes, but it doesnt affect my disposition ultimately. For the first time in my life, I like who I am, I like where I am, I like what I am - and at the age of 23 - I am where I wanted to be. Which makes me happy :D Alhamdulillah.

Finally visited *something* other than Alexandria and Cairo........ Fayoum! To be honest, not that impressed lol. Fun day trip though.

Got my first writing assignment at work! Conducted my very own interview - and get this - with a photographer tagging along behind me! :D That WAS so friggin' KEWL! HAH!

Got my first bout of food poisoning in Cairo. Not pretty. I spend 3 months here with no problems. You would've thought I'd be immune to all Cairean poisons by now. But no. It had to happen i guess.

Still crashing with friends. Promise to start writing again, soon as I settle down into my own place......

Monday, March 05, 2007

Since I left Egypt...

... nearly a month ago, life has not been very blog-worthy. It has bordered between dull and depressing, really. Depressing because since I landed in Singapore, my whole family and I have been absorbed in caring for my uncle, who is suffering from brain cancer. Over the last month or so, we have watched as this tiger of a man has slowly deteriorated, in health, speech, movement and mental energy. His diagnosis came very late, and the cancer was caught only in January, in its last stages. Chemo seems pointless at this stage, besides offering unnecessary suffering. So we sit with him everyday. We feed him, we talk to him, massage his legs, his arms...

His rapid deterioration, especially post-surgery, came as a shock, most of all to him, I think. He's very depressed, especially because of his speech impairment, frustrated when we don't always understand what he is trying to say. Everyday the house is filled with people as if it's Eid. 3 times a day we help him walk from his bed to the dining table to the living room. Because of the brain surgery performed on his left brain, his right side has become paralysed, and he needs help walking. 2 of us prop him up from under his shoulders, and another person holds his back, encircling his stomach, while a fourth person squats behind him as he walks, pushing his right foot ahead to align it with the left foot.

And yesterday, something happened, which I finally thought was something I had to write about.

We got my uncle out of bed, wanting to take him to the dining table for dinner. We prop him up as usual, me and Katrina, my cousin, under his arms, and as we neared the door, suddenly my uncle takes a deep breath, and in his loud gruff voice, starts counting his steps, "Chalo! ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE!...".....as this was happening, me and Kat suddenly realised Mama wasn't being pushed by anyone, he was taking these steps himself, hardly even placing any weight on the two of us. Behind us, my mum and aunts, realising what he was doing, started cheering him on. It was a delightful din. Everyone cheering and clapping, his loud voice counting his way out, and quietly under his arms, me and Kat bawling like babies, overcome with emotion. We made it to the living room in 10 STEPS. It was a record blessed in heaven. It was just so morally uplifting to see this burst of energy and determination in him, especially since it seemed he had given up on himself. This event was later relayed to everyone we knew, all over Bangladesh, and all over the world.

Anyway, I also celebrated my 23rd birthday the day before. It was the first time for me to celebrate it here in Dhaka with my family. We never actually come to Bangladesh in February, its always either Christmas or in the summer. So we did the usual family birthday 'do' (albeit a little more low-key this time) a 'surprise party' which the birthday girl/guy knows about from before, and usually has to organise him/herself :P Nevertheless, the highlight of the day for me was blowing out my candles with Mama - he took care of half, and I took care of the other half. I felt honoured at having been able to share that with him.