July 6, 2013

• Report # 1019

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great weekend so far. After typing up my last entry, my grandmother arrived quickly and I loaded up my luggage into her car and we headed to Willowbrook Mall. My grandmother was looking for some sort of dress, but after checking a number of stores she wasn’t able to find anything that she wanted and was ready to go. We had lunch at IHOP and then headed to her house and stayed there for a couple of hours until it was time for me to go to the airport. I got to the airport early and got through the security very quickly. The plane was about 20 minutes late, so I just used the internet for a while to kill time.

  Oddly enough the guy I was sitting next to in the airport sat next to me on the plane as well so that was a very unlikely occurrence. I got into Calgary at around 10:30 pm and my aunt picked me up and we headed to my grandmother’s house. I had a little bit of cake and a few other things, but I wasn’t too hungry at that hour. With the hour difference in the time I didn’t head to bed until kind of late, so I was a bit tired in the morning. I ran around the golf course on Thursday morning and later in the day my aunt drove me to various different points in Calgary to see what the flooding had done to the city. The actual flooding took place about two weeks ago, and there really weren’t too many signs left of what had happened, through as we drove through some streets down by the river it was obvious that a flood had occurred.

  There were basements completely flooded out, mud lying around on the grass, sand bags, and lots of disposal bins completely filled up with the debris from the flood. So while the devastation to the city has been huge, they’ve done an amazingly great job of cleaning up and just a few weeks on from the horrible flooding, things look surprisingly normal. We stopped for lunch at the Diner Deluxe, which is kind of a 1950′s style diner with very interesting food. I ordered a Monte Cristo sandwich and while it looked totally dark and the same colour, it tasted good so that was the main thing. We drove around a little more after and returned home in the afternoon.

  In the evening we had dinner and played cards and just relaxed so it was a good way to finish out the day. I ran again yesterday morning and then I went with my grandmother to do some grocery shopping at Safeway and CO-OP. We came home and had lunch and in the afternoon I went to Nose Hill with my aunt. It was a very cloudy day by this time and we could see the interesting cloud formations all around the city from up on the hill so it was very cool. Some dark clouds were forming and it started drizzling so we decided to walk back to the car. We got sprinkled by the odd rain drop, but we were able to get home before the storm began.

  Within half an hour of arriving at home, it started pouring and the lightning and thunder began as well. It was nice that we were able to get in a good walk before the storm began else we would have got soaked. I watched an episode of Cachito De Cielo for the 2nd day since I arrived and now I have just eight more episodes to go, so I’ll definitely have it all done by the time I get to Mexico. And once I’m in Mexico I’ll be around Spanish everyday again and I’ll be super busy, so I won’t have to watch any more telenovelas. We had a nice dinner and I was absolutely stuffed afterwards seeing as we had eaten a late lunch.

  I definitely plan on going for a run around the golf course after I’m done typing this up as I certainly have some calories to burn from yesterday ! This morning I went with my aunt to a pancake breakfast at a local art gallery. I had some pancakes, sausage and fruit with juice, so it was a nice breakfast. There was a small band there performing, lots of people conversing, and of course the art inside to see. There were some very creative and wonderful pieces of art, though other ones just kind of shocked me. Seeing a picture of a local fast food chicken place selling for $ 1,100… that was not expected ! In the end though, art is art and it can be anything. There is no certain type of art that would appeal to everyone, and each piece always appeals to someone; Art can be whatever is in the mind of the artist !

  So I’m back at home now at my grandmother’s house and later today I believe we will go shopping. The weather has been pretty nice. The first day was around 26 C (79 F) though it was certainly a little humid. Yesterday was sunny most of the day, but it got cloudy and stormy in the evening, and today is cool and cloudy. It’s certainly nice to have some cooler days as once I’m in Monterrey I can’t imagine I’ll have much for cooler days, at least until the fall. I’ve been reading about the situation in Egypt and I can say it’s very unfortunate. Egypt has been through so much in the last couple of years, so it’s just very tough that the country is going through more violence and unrest.

  I know that I’m not Egyptian, and I know that I’ve never been to Egypt in my life, so obviously I don’t understand things as well as the people who live there, or someone who is more connected to the country, but someone can always have an opinion about these type of things. From what I think, former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who had just finished his first year in office before being removed from power, had failed the Egyptian people. This man was democratically elected last year, and he got just over 51 % of the vote. Mr. Morsi should have respected the confidence that the slim majority of Egyptians had given him, while trying to reach out and be someone who could bring all Egyptians together and move his country forward.

  Unfortunately Mr. Morsi failed miserably in doing this. In his year in power he worked not to improve the lives of so many Egyptians, but to try and give himself more power… this was just a selfish and stupid move on his part. He failed to govern in a way that separates religion from politics….. though when you are part of a party called the Muslim Brotherhood, that certainly would be a challenge. I can respect that being part of a party such as the Muslim Brotherhood requires a careful juggling act, but to get into extremist Islamic rule while trying to make himself more powerful…. Mr. Morsi abused his powers and that is one of the main reasons that he is no longer president today.

  Now while these type of military coups can’t really be supported in most cases as they are against everything that democracy stands for, from what I’ve been reading, it sounds like the military has no desire to hang on to power, and they’d like to see new elections as soon as possible, given Egyptians a second chance at democracy and allowing them better options in a future presidential vote. While it’s unfortunate that their first taste of democracy didn’t work out, at the end of the day Mr. Morsi will have to look in the mirror and realize he has only himself to blame for this failure.

  The Egyptian people have been through so much in the last few years, so they are obviously very resilient and strong-minded people, and I do believe they have a great chance here to build on their first democratic elections, and elect themselves a person worthy of holding the Egyptian presidency. It’s very sad that there is fighting going on and that more people have died, but for the sake of the country, I hope the military can work with the people to get the country back on track and setting up presidential elections in the near future. It’s important that the Egyptian people have the best of candidates to choose from and that they are given an opportunity to make the right choice this time as the future of their country depends on it.

  What happens over the next few months will not only determine the future of Egypt, but if the country can become a safe, democratic, and stable nation, where the unfortunate tragedies of these past few years are left far behind and Egyptians can map themselves out a future filled with future and prosperity. After everything those people have been through over the years at this point in time, they deserve nothing less. For the next question:

  Have you been following what is happening in Egypt ? What are your thoughts on what has happened, and how the country should move forward from here ?

  That is all I have for today. I’ll leave you all with some pictures from Canada Day on July 1. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

  • 1:53 pm
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