neighbors to the north

Yesterday we had a day off for Coptic Christmas, which was a nice surprise. I didn't really find out I was getting another day off until like the day before. Some people also took off Thursday and gave themselves a four-day weekend, but I just took off a bunch of days to travel with the fam, so here I am at work on Thursday.

In more serious news, any of you who are following the goings-on of the Middle East will know that there is fighting in Gaza and rockets being fired into southern Israel (and apparently the north from Lebanon also). It does and does not affect my life in Cairo. Egypt is involved (Gaza is also bordered by Egypt at the Rafah crossing, which is closed most of the time but re-opens every now and then to let Palestinians into Egypt. It most recently opened for a few days a couple months ago so some Palestinians in need of medical attention could come to Egyptian hospitals), and the Egyptian government is pushing for a ceasefire and has offered to help broker peace talks.

And in the meantime, Cairo has been home to some protesting, the biggest of which was at Cairo University about a week ago (a week and a half?). I was traveling with my family at the time, but I read about it in the papers and online. I also heard about it from some other AIESECers planning to attend, since the AIESEC chapter I am affiliated with here is CU. We talk about the situation, of course. But there isn't really anything I can do from here.

I don't plan to use this blog to air my political feelings, or even my opinions on the conflict as a whole. But suffice it to say that while I stopped seeing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in black and white a long time ago, it doesn't make it any easier for me to always articulate what I'm feeling. All I know is that with every story and opinion piece I read on Israel and Gaza, I find myself heartbroken all over again. For both sides.