Technical Difficulties & The Hybernation of VC

Dear beloved reader (aka: my mom and a few others),

I'm really sorry to have not written for a month, now. More sorry for myself, actually, because of the set of circumstances that have kept me from blogging and because this is such a useful and fun project for me.

To make a long story short, my computer is broken and is in NYC for repairs. It would be difficult (and boring) to describe everything Curie has done to get my warranty recognized and my computer repaired, so let's keep our fingers crossed that I'll have it before I get back from India.

Speaking of --> I'M GOING TO INDIA!

As we all know, Desi has been living in Bombay* and I will be going in late April to spend a few weeks, there. The itinerary is not hammered-out, yet, but I do know that I'll be flying from Cairo to Delhi on 20 April on Gulf Air and returning on 6 May to Cairo from Bombay. I'd wanted to pay a visit to Dubai, and then fly from Dubai to Kabul and travel through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and then down to the closing of the border ceremony, going from Lahore (Pakistan) to Amritsar (India), but in the end my itinerary is already crazy and has Desi quite stressed. Instead, I'm ONLY seeing India, with an airport stop in Bahrain (I'll tell Michael Jackson everyone from the VC blog says hi).

Speaking of travels --> I'M SPENDING EASTER IN JERUSALEM!

Shakira is the assistant to a rather well-known AUC professor and activist (perhaps most sadly known for the lasting effects to his health of the torture he experienced in an Egyptian prison), and he wanted to go to the Occupied Territories to meet with government people. He opened the trip up to students, and I'm going! It will NOT be an easy trip -- a lot of checkpoints and bureaucratic hassle, but I think that the opportunity to meet the kinds of people we'll be meeting with is a once in a lifetime (for a 24yo, that is, not for like Kofi Annan...) opportunity.

I don't know the exact dates for the trip, yet, because they will be leaving at the end of the second week of April and will be coming back overnight on the 19th/20th. I think that I will come back with the group, but I would like to maybe go to Israel early just to have some time alone and in vacation mode before the more hectic travel sets in...perhaps just a few days in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The good news is that we have the support of the governments involved, and I'm not too worried about safety. The bad news is that we have to take a bus, and it's something like 18 hours from Cairo. I think that I'll fly to the Egypt/Israel border (Taba) and cross, there, but it will depend on the price of the flight (the INSANELY-priced flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv are more than $1,000!).

It will, of course, be quite hectic to be traveling around Palestine, take an overnight bus, and then just hours later fly to India, but I'm hearty lol.

You know, I'd wanted to make some comments about the experience of not having a computer, how my attitude about Egypt has been changing, etc. but I think this is a good start for now.

I want to quickly, and colourfully wish Curie a happy 25th birthday, today (28 March). I also want to apologize to the people (eg: Pookie) whose birthdays I wasn't 100% certain of.

Well I should go, but I'm happy to be back, and I hope I didn't lose too many readers (especially since each reader I lose represents like 25% of my total readership!).

Miss you! ;)

VC