* Every Other Person *

My mother once told me a very valuable lesson during when one of the streetlights in front of our house went dark; she said, "Everyone is waiting for the other person to do something about it." Then, she called TNB.

Today, we experienced a blackout. At first, I thought this was just another repeat of what happened yesterday (yes, we have been experiencing this for a few days in a row) and the lights will be on again around 1pm. But, my housemates told me that the lights had been out since 3am. Woah.

By 2pm, the lights were still out and we began to wonder if no one ever thought of calling an electrician. That was when I remembered what my mother said.

Of course. Everyone is thinking the same thought; someone will call someone.

In the end, we called an electrician (twice!) and, thankfully, he came by around 2.30pm. He charged the whole building LE300 for the repair (each house had to pay LE50, so it was quite alright).

And that is the story of how we experienced a blackout for more than 12 hours.

Today's lesson: Make that call. Take an initiative. Do something. Be the other person. Don't be everyone else.

Personally, I think Egypt is going to miss us a WHOLE lot and that is the reason she decided to give us this very memorable parting gift.

As we all know, Egypt is the expert in building patience, more than anything.

***

"Protesters have begun a sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution that toppled their long-time ruler, Hosni Mubarak.

It is a year since Egyptians, inspired by an uprising in Tunisia, took to the streets to call for reform and to demand the resignation of Mubarak, Egypt's president for 30 years.

"Down with military rule" and "Revolution until victory, revolution in all of Egypt's streets" were chanted by one group of mainly youths in an area of Tahrir on Wednesday."

***

Augustana - Mayfield