Arabisc: Egyptian Bloggers Tie the Knot

Wedding

Like in Egyptian movies, there is a thin line between imagination and reality in Egypt, where two politically active bloggers get close to each other at an anti-government rally, then fall in love and finally get married.

Blogger Albara Ashraf reports this happy story, without failing to conjure some of the feelings of insecurity many Egyptian bloggers feel.

حين أخبرت “رضوى” – العروسة – عن قلقي من أن تكون عربات الأمن المركزي الخضراء في انتظارنا على أبواب الجنينة.. خرجت منها ضحكة صادقة، تناسب فتاة مصرية شابة ليلة خدرها.. وقالت: “تصدق.. أنا كمان كنت خايفة”!
لعنت الأمن المركزي في سري، وتذكرت لقاءاتي الأولى مع العريس وعروسه، “عمرو عزت” صاحب مدونة “ما بدا لي”، و”رضوى أسامة” صاحبة مدونة “هكذا أنا”.. اللقاء كان في المكان الطبيعي لتواجد المدونين.. ولتواجد عربات الأمن الخضراء.. مظاهرات وسط البلد ضد تمديد فترة رئاسة مبارك..
بعدها فترة طويلة من المعرفة الانسانية عبر المدونات، ولقاءات متقطعة في فعاليات للمعارضة على طول العام الماضي
ثم.. “عمرو” و”رضوى” سيتزوجان قريبا..
“When I informed Radhwa, the bride, that I was concerned that the green public security cars outside were waiting for us, she gave out a genuine laugh, which quite suited an Egyptian girl on her wedding night. She said: Believe it or not..I was afraid too. In my heart, I cursed the Public Security and remembered my first meeting with the bride and groom..Amr Ezzat from What Seems to Me and Radhwa Osama from This is Me. Our meeting was in the natural place bloggers meet, where the green security cars are present and during the down town protests against extending Mubarak‘s term.
“Following this, they met online through the blogs, then during the protests throughout last year and finally we heard that they were getting married,” he wrote.

Congratulations to Radwa and Amr, whose wedding, at a park, was attended by a host of bloggers, including Malek X who took some video footage and photographs.

Just like any bride, Radwa had her moments before the wedding.

تنتابني الان نوبة بكاء سخيفه لا اعرف لها سببا ..لا عارفه يمكن علشان خلاص هتجوز وهسيب هنا ..يمكن علشان بحبه قوي … و يمكن لاني حسيت ان في ناس كتير بتحبنا وفرق معايا كلامهم ويمكن لاني احبطت قوي امبارح لما قرايبي قالولي انك كسرتي فرحتنا بفرحك العجيب ده ..لم يتفهموا طريقتنا للتعبير عن الفرح بشكل مختلف ..لم يعترفوا باي شكل اخر ..ان تكسر فرحة احد شىء صعب لم افعله من قبل ولو علي حساب سعادتي ..كم كان الامس سخيفا وانا استمع الي كلامهم واضطر للمدافعه عن حقي في الاستمتاع بشكل فرحي ..كم كان سخيفا ان يحزن ابناء عمي الصغار لان رضوي مش عامله فرح
“I don't know why I am crying so much. Perhaps it is because I am getting married and leaving this place. Or maybe it's because I love him a lot ..and that a lot of people love us. I could also be sad because my relatives told me that I runied their happiness with my ‘different’ type of wedding. They cannot understand our desire to express our happiness in a different fashion. They will not accept anything else. To ruin the happiness of others is something extremely difficult and it is something I have never done before, even at my own expense. Yesterday was miserable, as I sat with them and tried to defend my decision to stage my wedding the way I want to. It was silly that my younger cousins weren't happy because Radhwa wasn't holding a (huge) wedding party.” she wrote.

Let's now move away from feelings to th emore materialistic things in life. Cars are a status symbol in Gulf Arab countries, especially in the more affluent Saudi Arabia.
Saudi blogger Essam paints a hilarious picture of some of the drivers he encounters in his capital, Riyadh.

سيارته غير، لا أقصد ذاك الشاب بتلك السيارة غريبة اللون التي غير بعض ملامحها الأصلية وكتب في الخلف (****@hotmail.com) وبعض الكلمات الإنجليزية، الذي يجوب شوارع الرياض ليل نهار وخصوصاً في شمالها!!!
وبالتأكيد لا أقصد به صاحب تلك السيارة الذي يعرف في الحارة (بالتفحيط) والإزعاج حتى في آخر الليل والكل يعرف سيارته لأن (الكفرات) دائماً جديدة وبالمناسبة لديه ولاء غريب للمدينة التي يرجع نسبه إليها عرف الناس ذلك من خلال كتابته لأسم مدينته بالخط الأبيض على الزجاج الخلفي!
صاحبنا الذي (سيارته غير) لم يكن أخونا الكلاسيكي الذي فهم الأصالة بعدم سماعه إلا أشرطه المطربين القدامى فهو يقدر الفن الأصيل!!!
ولا عكسه الشاب العصري، الذي (ترج رج) سيارته بالأغاني الغربية وليته يكتفي بسماعها، وأظنه كريم يحب أن يسمع كل من في الشارع وفي البيوت القريبة أيضا، (ويا ليته يعرف معناها كان تهون المصيبة شوي)!!!
أما الأخ الذي سيارته لا يوجد بها مسجل ولا رادو ولا حتى مكيف، ولا يركب سيارته إلا للضرورة القصوى وغالباً يركبها وهو مهموم مشغول البال. ليس هو الذي نعنيه في مقالي هذا.
ولا الرجل الوقور صاحب السيارة الرسمية الذي يقوم (بمشاويره) بسرعة ويذهب إما إلى مكتبه أو إلى بيته أو إلى (الشلة).
“His car is different. I don't mean that young man with a car with a weird colour which he had modified and wrote in English a few words and his email addresson its back. He is the one who is on the streets all day and night, especially in Northern Riyadh.
I also don't mean that man, who is known in the neighbourhood, for making a lot of noise with his car, which is easily recognisable because he has new tyres on it all the time. He also has a lot of loyalty to his hometown and you can see it written in white all over his back window.
Our friend, whose car is different, isn't that man who loves classical things and who only listens to old songs because he appreciates original things!
He is also not that modern man, whose car is blasting with loud Western music, which he is only to happy to make all the other road users and even the people in the houses he passes be listen to. I only wish he understands the meanings of the words he listens to. That will make this catastrophe more acceptable.
And that man who doesnt have a stereo in his car, and not even a radio or an air-conditioner, and who only drives that cars when he absolutely has to, is also not the person I am refering to in this article.
I also am not interested in the man who has an official car for going to work, returning home and meeting his friends.”

Essam‘s model driver is that who benefits for his time in the car and listens to things he can learn from while driving – like listening to the Holy Quran, for instance.

From Jordan, Batir Wardam is in shock after university professors refused to answer a questionnaire for a study.

إسترعى انتباهي في الاستطلاع الأخير لمركز الدراسات الاستراتيجية في الجامعة الأردنية إن تحليل الاستجابات من عينة قادة الرأي العام اشار إلى أن أساتذة الجامعات كانوا الأقل تجاوبا مع الاستطلاع، حيث رفض 26 من أصل 100 أستاذ جامعي الإجابة على الاستطلاع.
ومع أن هذا قد لا يعتبر مؤشرا يمكن البناء عليه، ولكن من الغريب أن يكون أساتذة الجامعات هم الفئة الأقل تجاوبا مع المشاركة في استطلاع يعتمد الأسس العلمية ويهدف إلى المصلحة العامة، في الوقت الذي كانت فيه نسبة الطلاب الجامعيين الذين أجابوا على الاستطلاع 99 من أصل 100.
“The last study conducted by the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Jordanian University drew my attention because the analysis of the answers of the sample for those who lead public opinion showed that university professors were the ones who least interacted with the survey, with 26 out of 100 professors refusing to fill out the survey.
“Even if this isn't an indication we can draw conclusions from, it is strange that professors were the least interested in taking part in a study which is based on a scientific basis and which aims to serve society as a whole. At the same time, 99 out of 100 students answered the questionnaire,” he wrote.

Wardam is also quick to point out that university professors have another passion closer to their hearts, and that includes filling their wallets by signing lucrative deals with consultative agencies.

Meanwhile, in Kuwait blogger Frankom wonders why Arab countries block blogs and internet sites.

قانون حجب مواقع الانترنت بالدول العربية هو قانون نوعا ما غبي ! قالمواقع يتم حجبها على اساس الاعلانات في ذلك الموقع ، حتى و ان كان الموقع سليم ! أي أنه لا يخلو من محتويات جنسية أو عنصرية أو ما الى ذلك !
منذ الصباح و أنا أواجه هذه المشكلة مع نسبة كبيرة جدا من المواقع
“This law of blocking sites in the Arab world is really stupid. Sometimes they block sites, even those whose content is not offensive, because of the ads on it. This may be because the ads have a sexual or racist content. I have been facing this problem with blocked sites since morning,” he explained.

Our last stop this round up is in Palestine, where blogger Al Horani informs us about a new book to hit the shelves, which claims that Former Iraqi president Saddam is still alive.

صدر كتاب جديد عن مكتبة مدبولي بالقاهرة تحت عنوان “صدام لم يُعدم وعدي وقصي لم يقتلا. أكاذيب أمريكا وأسرار لعبة الشبيه”، لمؤلفه أنيس الدغيدي. يزعم مؤلف الكتاب أن لديه 147 دليلا بين صورة ووثيقة تؤكد أن صدام لم يقبض عليه ولم يعدم وأن ولديه لم يقتلا.
.
“A new book has been published by Madbooli Bookshop in Cairo entitled Saddam was not Hanged and Uday and Qusay were not Killed and the Secrets of the Doubles Game, for Anees Al Dughaidi. The author claims that he has 147 proofs, including photographs and documents, which prove that Saddam was not arrested nor was he executed by hanging and that his two sons are still alive,” he wrote.

6 comments

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  • how nice to start off with romance…!

    i am interested in the tradition of weddings in egypt…what religion are these bloggers? i usually connect a white wedding dress with christianity and church weddings, are they coptic?…and also it’s interesting to me that if these bloggers consider themselves progressive or not…because they seem to hold onto very traditional ceremonies, like for example the one of matrimony…

    i like the story about the man and his musical car….thanks!

  • CE

    Best wishes to them.

  • Jordan and Maria,

    It certainly is a nice story. Perhaps our Egyptian readers can give us an insight into Egyptian weddings.

    In Bahrain, where I come from, almost all brides wear white gowns – Muslim and non-Muslim. Matrimony is also a sacred bond in our part of the world, and is legitimately the only way a man and woman can coexist under one roof in – it would be safe to say – almost all countries in the Middle East.

    Oh and before I forget: men and their toys. A car is a status symbol, especially in the more affluent Gulf states, where it isn’t strange to find some individuals with different cars for different ‘tasks’: like a car to go to work, another for official functions and ceremonies, one to take the children to school and a fourth for the weekend.

    Hope this helps!

  • thanks for the report

    iam Amr Ezzat , the groom
    me and radwa were engaged, when we joined the opposition activates ,and then started blogging .

    the white dress – and of course the tie ! – is a common traditions in egypt, and in many arab countries i think ,regardless the religion of the couple

    we didnt deny all wedding traditions, we have hold a 30 minutes traditional and some kind of religiuos matrimony (katb elkitab) in a hall attached to a mosque , and then we moved with friends to Al-Azhar park (open air park) celebrating our wedding setting on the green ground , singing .

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