Egyptian Era .... part 2

The Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "Convey (the message) from me; even if only one verse.

So to make my blog more meaningful, I will try to convey a message, not to impose my beliefs on anyone, but to really have a purpose of having a blog other than telling about myself and my life.

I believe that no matter how poor we were, we were rich with morals, and rich with people’s love. Material things do not stay forever, that’s what we were though.

Even though we were poor, we were happy. I remember when I had one only one pair of pants, I used to put it below my mattress so that it ends up as ironed in the morning. I remember how I sprayed water on my mattress to have the sense of cooling in the summer days.

I never looked at others out of jealousy when they had what we could not have; I was satisfied of what we really had on hand, as little as it was.

I do not remember getting upset coz I did not have a bike like my friends, I never asked my Mom to buy me new school uniform, coz I was happy with what I was wearing…. I say this, coz I feel those feelings do not exist on the mind of the new generation, I will explain what I mean later on, when I write blogs to explain how things have changes, and how people have changed.

School went well to an extent, I was not the top of the class, but I was doing well, getting a B average in my 6^th through 9^th grades and a C+ on high school.

My life was normal, just like any teenager life, till I got to high school, and I started skipping classes, to attend new movies at the movie theater nearby the school with a friend of mine who was a relative as well. He would ask me to wait outside the school door, and he would come to take me with him.

Of the whole school years, I skipped 30 days, one day short from being terminated from high school. I do not know why I didn’t skip that  J

To encourage me, and to help me pass my high school, my father had promised me that if I pass high school, he would send me to the USA to study. That was enough for me to study day and night… in the last 2 months of school, I would only sleep 2 hours, and the rest of the day would be spent studying. I loved those days.

I did pass high school thank God, and I started getting my documents and certificates translated and sent to the USA. My brother was already there, and he had helped me to get the acceptance and Emporia State University, in Kansas, the land of OZ, as it used to be called.

After all this done, the time to say goodbye to my family, my friends, and everyone else I knew or dealt with was the worst time I had gone through, my tears wouldn’t stop from falling, I am a bit emotional when it comes to Saying goodbyes.

I never imagined myself leaving the my mom, and my house, and Egypt,,,, It was a day to remember for a long time.

Next >>>> my trip to the USA………

The Egyptian ERA .... Part One

I do remember that we were so poor in Egypt, I only vaguely remember our first apartment, but I know we lived in the roof of an old building, my mom tells us that she used to sell old furniture and newspaper to get us food. My dad salary was 20 Egyptian pounds, this is equal to 4 dollars, but it was of big value at that time.

Anyhow, I did not have many cloths, no toys, didn’t eat chocolate (I guess I am making up for those days now).

But yet, we were tough that education is our only way out. That’s why my mom, who by the way, dose not read or write, insisted on us to study hard, I remember her sitting with us on the table and encouraging us at times, and yelling us at others to study hard. And of course we did to the best of our ability:

My older brother S has a master degree from Arkansas, USA

Sister A has an MBA (Master in Business Administration)

Sister L has a diploma in social work

Me, Master degree in GIS & Remote sensing

Brother N is an architect

Sister E is a graduate of literature.

I mention that to give credit to my mom, who after God, I give her full credit to what we have become.

Ok, back to our life in Egypt.

I think Egypt has had a big influence on making up my personality. It’s well known to us Arabs that Egyptians have sense of humor, even at their worst times. I learned how to laugh from them, I like a good joke, and it was a challenge for me to mix well with Egyptians as a young boy, so I had learned how to make others laugh, without disrespecting anybody around.

Was I the class clown??? I do not know, coz in Egypt the whole class is the class clown J

As time passed by, my father started traveling more, and would spend few days with us and then off he went. Our financial status started to improved drastically, from having one pair of pants for the whole year, I had more than five (see how we used to measure our wealth as kids….by pants !!!)…

And life started getting better and better, in the seventies, my dad had bought his first car, an OPEL car, then He got the Peugeot, followed by VW, then VOLOVO…I am mentioning the cars and their brands now coz it’s a way of recording my memories to those who will read my blog in the future.

see u in part 2 soon ....>>>>>>

Where on earth should I start from ???

Isn’t that the question we all ask when we start doing something new to us? well.... that goes to writing first blog as well.

I took the advise of a very special person in my life and I decided to start my OWN blog. I always wanted to do that, just did not know how and where to start.

Let me start, by telling you (the reader, If any) who I am ,

My name is Sanad, Born in Yemen, south of Yemen that is, a country I have no memories of. and I think I will start by telling you how it all started....

Like I said, I  was born in South Yemen, during the occupation of the British forces to that part of the world. I do not carry a birth certificate, or a photo of me as a child or any other proof of my life as a child (lately one pic was discovered, in the natural history museum J ).

The reason for not having all those things that a normal person would have, is the mere fact that, my father, uncles, and the whole family were fighting the British Army, and for our sake my Mother and my grandmother (God bless her Soul), had buried all of our pictures and documents in fear of being discovered by the British army and then our identity would be revealed,

This would have put an end to our lives, as many neighbors have had their house blown by bombs, when the army knew the identity of their fathers.

I do not remember my early days on earth, either because it was centuries ago, or because there was not much to remember anyways.

We did not have a lavish life style, but we were not that poor either. My family had ruled sections of south Yemen, as my grandfather was the Sultan assistant, and because all of the stories we heared about him , I think I should specializea blog of him alone… because stories about how he had his life is are unbelievable.

As my father tells us, my grandfather was so powerful and feared by the people around him. I never got a chance to see him, He died before any of us brothers and sisters were born.

My grandfather got this idea that if he married one lady from each tribe in the area, and wait till she get a baby boy, he would win the loyalty of the whole tribe, SO he did that, he married 18 wives, not all at the same time of course, but He would marry, get a baby boy, and then divorce (What a life !!) ….

Anyways, so I had so many uncles and aunts (24 ...I guess, some of them died before I got a chance to see them)…

Now back to my father, he used to fight the British, and he was highly respected and appreciated by his peers. He was totally different from my grandfather. Diplomatic, educated, and compassionate to others.

He tells me that he did not see me from the day i was born till I was 2 years old, coz he was fighting, and could not put our lives at risk by visiting us.

At early age, I was left behind in Yemen with my older sister, while my father took the rest of my brothers and sisters and flew them to Cairo, in fear that something would happen to the family, we were divided.I remained with my grandmother 2 more years before they flew me to cairo to join ghe rest of the family.

Ooh forgot to say, we are 6 total brother and sisters , and now I have another 2 from my father second marriage.

My dad had asked for political asylum in Egypt, and worked for most of his life as an opposition leader against the socialist regime that took over the government in South yemen.

My second blog will be the Egyptian period >>>>