I'm going to Germany!

I will be leaving you soon and going to Germany doing some practical work in my master thesis (I'm doing my masters in Medicinal Plants) Basically my stay there is for only three months but frankly speaking I will do my best to make them longer, as long as possible. I'm leaving on Tuesday Feb 20 Enshaallah. Doing research in Germany has been my dreams for over ten years now, since my first days in the Faculty of Pharmacy I found myself drawn to the medicinal plants study, we call it Pharmcognosy, a huge subject that we study it over four years. That was when I started to develop this passion for medicinal plants, herbal medicine, alternative medicine and other related sciences. Knowing that pharmacy started by herbal medicine in ancient Egypt with the pharaohs who were the pioneers in such science in addition to the chinese, Indians, Greeks and Romans. Soon the Muslims became the pioneers in this science as well as many other sciences and during the great Islamic civilisation the first pharmacy was opened in Bagdad, a small shop selling herbs and herbal preparations that was established from Sandal wood, then came to be called Sandaleya and from thisthe word Saydala originated. I think most of you have heard about Tazkaret Dawood, one of the oldest medicinal textbooks focusing on Herbs. During the eighteenth century, the leadership moved to Europe and for hundreds of years it nourished with preparing plant extracts, isolating active compounds and doing tests on animals and humans. This whole era was crowned by the discovery of Penicillin from a kind of fungus and then preparing its synthetic analogue from chemicals. Same happened with aspirin that is originally an extract from the willow bark (Salix alba) and its synthetic analogue was prepared in the lab under the name of Acetyl Salicylic Acid that was soon called aspirin. By the begining of the twentieth century, most herbal drugs were replaced with synthetic ones and the industry of medicine became one of the bigest Buisness in the world. Only by the end of the twentieth century people started to notice the harmful effects of synthetic drugs and it was the back to nature call that drew the attention to herbal medicne once again. Of all the countries of the world, Germany is the mother and center of modern herbal medicine research. With huge investment in research, production and progress of herbal medicines. So finally I'm going to Germany, a dream that is coming true and a huge challenge in my life, personal and career wise but I'm ready for that. I will need your wishes and prayers, I'm sure you all wish me the best and your love will keep me warm in the cold loneliness of Germany.

From the Deserts of Siwa

I have decided to go to this remote part of Egypt escaping from the pollution I have been suffering from lately. Pollution of this modern stressful life I have to live inevitably. My life is polluted, not only from the car exhaust turning the air into a nightmare of horrible smells and suffocation, not only from the water of the Nile polluted by all kinds things thrown in it and destroying the once sacred and worshiped river. My life is polluted by people themselves, by liars and deceivers, by ungratefulness, betrayal, disappointment, acting and all kinds of evil that humans do as part of their daily lives without even asking themselves why am I doing this, what is the consequences, who will suffer from this and is what I am doing really worth the results, is it right or wrong. Questions that are simple and logic but Alas, no one asks himself any of these questions until it’s too late. So I decided to go as far as I can escaping from all this to Siwa, a land of virgin beauty, of pure kind people who trust each other without thinking, who leave their shops open and go around feeling very secure, who are so caring and warm with everyone, who are so cheerful and happy in spite of living a simple primitive life in a very harsh environment and hostile nature. In Siwa I found the purity I was looking for and in its springs I managed to wash the stains of this life and forget a lot of things I wanted to forget. Siwa had a very important place in the pharaonic civilization; the ancient Egyptians believed that this remote Oasis belongs to the God Amoun-Ra who represents the united god of Ra (the sun) and Amoun (The moon) From this point, situated in the far west of Egypt, the God leaves our world to go and rule his other world of eternal lives, leaving the world in the darkness of his departure only to rise again strong and mighty. That is why the oasis is sometimes called the Sunset Oasis. But Siwa became a celebrated place in history during the Greek era in Egypt after the famous pilgrimage of the legendary Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great to the Amoun Temple in the oasis. A huge coronation ceremony was awaiting the young prince in the temple and from there he became the Pharaoh of Egypt, the son of Amoun and a God himself after the divine soul of the God Horus replaced his human soul. It was there that Alexander met the Oracle of the temple whose prophecies was the driving force for the young king who was 26 at that time to conquer the world with insatiable power. For the next seven years, Alexander conquered most of the known world at that time and his kingdom reached the far east, as far as India and Caucasus. The legend of Alexander ended when he was 33 by Malaria which infected him in the jungles of India. It is believed by many historians that the great king ordered his fellows to be buried in the oasis beside his father the God Amoun-Ra. I started my first day by renting a bicycle and going around, roaming the narrow paths between the palm trees, going to the open deserts, climbing up and down and watching the beauty of this untouched nature, inhaling the fresh clear odorless air as much as my lungs could take. I visited the spring of Cleopatra, the temple of Amoun wondering how the coronation of Alexander in such place was thousands of years ago. I got several warnings from the native people not to travel alone between the fields at night as I might get encountered by the demons who guard the tombs and treasures buried there, my curiosity to meet any of these creatures prevented me from listening to their advice and I took my bicycle late at night, wandering for hours in the dark fields but without meeting any creature. The second day was a long safari that started early in the morning, we took a 4x4 car and roamed the deserts, enjoying the unlimited view, the virgin land, the clear pure air and the serenity of the moments. A long bath in the hot spring, a natural hot spring just in the middle of the desert and only some meters away another spring but with ice cold water. The sand duning as amazing, the car going up in a steepy sand dune only to go down from the other side, I don’t know why I imagined life with its ups and downs, yes it’s very much like sand duning, you go up with difficulty and effort and only when you reach the peak it’s time to go down again only to get encountered by another dune and so on. It was life in its simple unnoticed fact. I visited the old ruins of Shali, the remains of the mud houses that have been washed away by rain showers in 1926 standing there as a symbol and lesson, nothing lasts forever, everything will end someday and will leave only a symbol, a memory, a monument that is roamed by people, photographed by tourists and visitors and inspiring writers and poets. I enjoyed my days in Siwa so much, the purity everywhere, the friendly people, the nature and the food. In Siwa I met people from all over the world as a lot of foreigners come to visit this beautiful oasis for tourism, medical treatment and like me escaping from their lives. I made good friends with Al from Ireland, Keesan from Japan, Claudio and Juliano, a couple from Italy, Jenny and Albert, a couple from Australia, I met nice people from Alexandria with their famous cheerful attitude, I will never forget Elham, Dina, Reham, Mustafa, Tarek, Ahmad and Mohamed. From the beautiful native people of Siwa it was easy to make friends with beautiful people like Mohamed, Hassan, Ahmed, Fakhr, Hussein and Saber. It was a good decision to go to Siwa, I really found what I was looking for. A place I will never forget and purity of land and people we all need in this life we are living among people who know nothing but lies and deceit. I invite everyone to go to Siwa, may be there you can find the purity you need and may be in its everlasting springs you can wash away some of this evil and come back with some of the good things that God planted in our human nature in addition to this evil.

Spring in Winter

It's raining heavily, the wind is blowing The cold is more than we could bare But I cannot feel but warm For your heart radiates warmth everywhere Your world is always in spring A world where winter doesn't dare

A True Heart

The sweetness of your presence and the warmth of your heart Brought me back again to the point from which I did part For although this world is full of liars There is still a true heart

I'm still a Tulip

My failure with you is my greatest success. My inability to grow in your desert is the biggest proof that I'm still a Tulip

The Closed Door

Closing your door gave me the chance to turn around and look at many opened windows from which I can see wonderful things in the world, things I could have never seen from this back door.