“The period spent in Egypt for a student is inversely proportional to his/her complaints & reactivity towards certain local issues.”
I remembered during the first year in Egypt, we lived in Masakin el-Fustat, Masr el-Qadeemah, Cairo. At the main entrance, proudly stood a big sign-board “جنة الفسطاط” or “Fustat Paradise”. (Yeah that sounds ironic!)
The so called "Fustat Paradise"
First year was the year full of complaints & reactions. Finding any possible reasons to complain, quarrel, & to fight for. The rent, electric, water bills, 10 cents rise in Tokmiyyah’s price, crowdness, zahmah, taxi, bus, Visa, household prices, weather, winter, summer, almost every corners & points in our daily life. Complaint has been a matter of daily basis for 1st year students in Egypt. At restaurants, at shops, at emigration office, at university, everywhere even in the ‘masjid’! There MUST be something wrong, somewhere & somehow. And most of the fights & complaints definitely have something to do with MONEY, SYSTEM, & BAD COMPLEX of EGYPTIANS.
Second year, the complaints reduced by 25 % in most of the cases. As a matter of fact, the ‘joy’ of complaining & quarreling diminishes progressively as the result of ‘tolerance’.
Third year, most of the students start to realize that complaining & quarreling give them nothing but a severe acute migraine headache which in most cases progressively turns into chronic migraine headache in 2-3 years time. Unbelievably, this symptom happens only after 2 years of enjoyment in complaining & quarreling with Egyptians. The theory of “why only after 2 years? Why not earlier, so people can avoid the migraine headache” is not known. Perhaps the enjoyment & tension released by quarreling overcome the pain of the headache. (Well, thanks to seniors who did well in exaggerating the ‘dark side’ of Egypt during pre-departure orientation that was influencing enough to enhance the hatred to Egypt & Egyptians.)
Stop 'ache-ing' your head!
Years after the 3rd year, most of the students get bored & tired, & suddenly stop complaining & quarreling. They become cool & more relaxed. I think the reason is,perhaps they start to understand the meaning of ‘Peribahasa Melayu’ “ bagai anjing menyalak bukit” or “bagai mencurah air ke daun keladi” or ‘yang sama waktu dengannya’.
I just want to share an Arabic phrase I remembered, taught by Syeikh Redha of Masakin Fustat(many of Cairo University students know him)…
الحر حر والبرد برد
“Hot is very hot, & cold is very cold”
Which means, the summer here in Egypt is VERY hot, & the winter is VERY cold(for Egyptians & most of Malaysians). Meaning, there will be always something to complain of, reason to start to feel ungrateful, to start quarreling.
And the only solution, is to be grateful.
Start to look at people below us to see how lucky we are, & start to look at people above us to be a humble person. Do not act to be seen superior in front of human, but do something to be seen noble in front of Allah.
Wassalam…
Aidilfitri 2007, Masakin Fustat
Wassalam…
6 comments:
haha.
masa awal2 dulu mg semangat carik gaduh.
konon2 sbb nak impruv arabic.
tapi bila makin besar malas nak bertekak.
redha je kot. maybe sbb tahu akan dapat sakit hati je
to be honest, mcm makin kasar sket dok sana.
sbb nk survive kot. bengang bila kene discriminate n all.
kene layan mcm alien.
maybe aku kot tak pndi nk blend.
smpi bila nk org layan mcm tetamu la kan.
masuk kandang kambing mengembek la kan. watpe nk wat kerek.
mesir hny untuk org yg tabah. personally ive learned a lot (n eager to learn lots more) in egypt.
semoga kita semua najah.
kurangkan kontrovesi dan tingkatkan prestasi.
jgn nakal2 skem :D
in the end of the day, what doesn't kills u makes u stronger..
my dad hidup 17 thn kat egypt and after 20 years all he can think about egypt is good stuff.. pelikkan?
bdk2 sekarang ni je kot yg ngade2 hidup senang, bile ssh skit dh tataw nk handle.. agaknya lah kot
hemo2.
"Hungga bungga" antara perkataan yang menarik bila duduk mesir selain "ni hao" dan "whats ur name".
nice post. saya semakin meminati tulisan abng. silalah jalan-jalan di blog saya pulak.
minta tunjuk ajar. :p
masih lagi dalam mode mengutuk india.kena tunggu tahun ketiga baru redhoooo kot?
sebulan di sana, nampak korang macam redha je,tak bising apa2, membuatkan kitorang insaf, "perlu banyak belajar bersyukur dari budak mesir ni,"
rupanya, ini hakikatnya.heh.
salam ziarah kembali.
tahun pertama paling seksa. tapi tahun pertama tu jugak la tak boleh lupa sampai bila-bila
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