A Tiger’s Story

I’m very happy of my new release YA short story. A Tiger’s Story means a lot to me. Tigers are my favorite animals. I saw many abused tigers in the zoos. Some tigers were kept in tiny cages. Some were starving and others were sick, very thin and broken. That’s how tigers live in captivity.
Tigers are being killed and sold for their skin and body parts. Living I Asia opened my eyes on how tigers are being slaughtered and mistreated.

In 2012 my husband and I traveled to Malaysia and there I learened of how the lonely tiger of Lankawi island survived poaching, unfortunately her mother wasn’t lucky. The baby tiger survived and she is alive. However, she is kept in a small place. After this trip I really wanted to write about tigers and the fear they face everyday. Tigers don’t belong to captivity, they don’t belong to a zoo, they don’t belong to a circus and they shouldn’t be killed. Tigers should be free.
I wrote this story hoping to help educate young adult about tigers and the extinction of those beautiful creatures.

A Tiger’s Story is free on book promotion from Nov 12th to Nov 14th. Please download my story. The link is below
A TIGER'S STORY

Bulgogi Soup

One of the most thing I like of being a traveler and an expat is eating ethnic food. I’m always open to try something new. I love good food and I love cooking.

Korea has a lot of delicious dishes and Bulgogi soup is one of my favorites. It was my second dish I had during my first visit to Korea and I fell in love with it.

There are two types of this dish. Bulgogi grill, it’s marinated beef and you get a chance to grill it when you go to a Korean bbq restaurants. The second type is the soup and it’s a a stew made of beef, glass noddles and mushrooms.

Bulgogi is one of the most loved Korean dishes to Koreans and foreigners.

The Funny Adventures of Little Nani Review+Giveaway

Book Synopsis:
Little Nani is a little girl who likes helping people. However, when she helps people the results can be a bit unexpected. Why is that? Little Nani is a witch! Or at least she wants to be a witch. With her magic wand, she will try to cast different spells to help her friends, but she won't be successful all the time. Follow Little Nani in her funny adventures and meet her extraordinary friends. Funny ostriches, horses that love reading, super-fast turtles, grumpy zombies... Little Nani has lots of friends! You can also draw your own characters! Little Nani is willing to become a good witch. Will she manage to do it? Who knows? Read the stories and discover what happens next!

You can purchase the book on Amazon THE FUNNY ADVENTURES OF LITTLE NANI

I want to start my review by thanking the Author for her great children’s book. Cinta Garcia de la Rosa writes in English as a second language, just like me.
Writing in a second language is always a challenge. However, the author could write in English and kept the writing interesting which is a hard thing to do.
As for the book, it was a good read. I know for a fact that the children in my family will love this book. The Funny Adventures Of Little Nani will help them to read in English and learn it in a fun way.

The book is a complete work of 10 short stories. The illustrations are beautiful. The stories are funny, interesting and moral. And I love the idea of the drawing exercises. Children can read and draw and have fun. Little Nani is a little girl who wants to be a witch, she has a wand and she does magical spells. Little Nani and the wand go through many adventures.

My favorite story is Little Nani And The Caffine-Addicted Zombie. I like this story a lot for many reasons. I’m addicted to coffee and I feel like a zombie without having a cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

With a firm gesture, Little Nani opened the kitchen door and saw a hunched creature trying to hide under the kitchen table.
“Oh, someone came to visit me!” exclaimed Little Nani with delight.
The creature moved under the kitchen table and said, “Coffee, where is the coffee?”

The story is well written and has a good meaning. Someone ugly can be beauitful on the inside.
I don’t want to give spoilers because it is a book your child must have. I gave it five stars!

GIVEAWAY

Enter now to win these awesome prizes:

 

Seoul Ice Gallery and Nanta For My Husband’s Birthday

If you live in Seoul and your wife/husband’s birthday is coming and you don’t know what to get them, just do what I did.

I took my husband for a date, which was amazing. The first thing was having lunch in On The Border restaurant at COEX. Mexican food is one of my favorites and On The Border has a delicious menu.

The Ice gallery in Anguk is very cool place to go. It’s small on the inside. They give you a winter jacket because it’s cold.

Ice Gallery link


Then we walked around the area and we had coffee at HIDDEN SPACE café in the back streets of Anguk. Such a nice café with artwork to look at while you having coffee.

NANTA was the last stop on our date. It’s totally worth the watch. The performers are very talented. The show is funny and creative.

NANTA website

Weekend at Daecheon Beach

My husband and I spent the weekend at Daecheon beach. We wanted to go before the summer ends and we didn’t want to go during the mud festival. It’s very crowded over there in the festival time and you have to book a room months in advance.

We took Saemaul train from OnyangOncheon station, it’s one hour trip to Daecheon and the train ticket is around 6500KW. Once you arrive at Daecheon station you can take a bus to the beach. We stayed at Coconuts Motel, good location, nice and helpful staff and reasonable price.

Trick art museum

Angels-in-us café has the best summer menu ever

Dutch coffee Bingso.

Brownie with ice cream and bubble snow coconut juice.

Food we had there.

Baked chicken with eggs.

Beef burger and chicken sandwich.

And the beach.

Obama continue lying

I remember in 2008 when Obama was elected to be the first black American president and his campaign Change. People in Egypt really hoped for a change and for new American foreign policy. Millions around the world believed in Obama, in his fancy words and beautiful promises. Obama even won a Nobel prize for nothing he did. He won it for a promise he made, a false promise. Obama vowed to end the war, and yes he did. The Iraq war ended in the same date as Bush scheduled it. Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but it is still open until today and they’re forcing prisoners to eat.

And now Obama keeps lying to his people and to the rest of the world. In the last few days, Egypt has been facing the darkest days in our modern history. A year ago the election was fixed for Morsi, and from Morsi’s first month of ruling Egypt people went outside protesting against him. However, the western media refused to see what was happening. Morsi made a lot of crimes against Egyptians and yet the west didn’t see.

I was in Egypt last June and Egyptians, millions of them, were in the streets asking Morsi to leave. For a week the peaceful protesters were in every neighborhood of Egypt. Morsi’s answer was to kill them. Hundreds of people died and thousands got injured in 2 days. And that was the reason why the military had to interfere to protect Egyptians. I saw with my own eyes millions of people celebrating in the street. They were happy that Morsi is leaving. Then the western media called it a coup.

The Muslim Brotherhood party is killing everyone in their way and yet the west is blind. Last Thursday, August 15th, Obama made a speech from his vacation house. I read the transcript of his speech and can’t get over his lies and hypocrisy.

“We know that many Egyptians, millions of Egyptians, perhaps even a majority of Egyptians, were calling for a change in course. And while we do not believe that force is the way to resolve political differences, after the military’s intervention several weeks ago, there remained a chance for reconciliation and an opportunity to pursue a democratic path. Instead, we’ve seen a more dangerous path taken, through arbitrary arrests, a broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters and now, tragically, violence that’s taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more.”

Yes, the majority of people don’t want Morsi, but yet America going cancel the military exercise with Egypt. Yes, there is violence in Egypt, but seriously you don’t know that Muslim brotherhood thugs started it?

“The United States strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by Egypt’s interim government and security forces. We deplore violence against civilians. We support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. We oppose the pursuit of martial law, which denies those rights to citizens under the principle that security trumps individual freedom or that might makes right. And today the United States extends its condolences to the families of those who were killed and those who were wounded.”
How about the Patriot Act? How about arresting people and putting them in jail for years with no trial and no proven crime?

“Let me say that the Egyptian people deserve better than what we’ve seen over the last several days. And to the Egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. We call on the Egyptian authorities to respect the universal rights of the people. We call on those who are protesting to do so peacefully and condemn the attacks that we’ve seen by protesters, including on churches. We believe that the state of emergency should be lifted, that a process of national reconciliation should begin, that all parties need to have a voice in Egypt’s future, that the rights of women and religious minorities should be respected and that commitments must be kept to pursue transparent reforms to the constitution and democratic elections of a parliament and a president.”
Some churches were attacked, and a lot of people got killed inside mosques as well. No one gives a fuck to speak about Muslims who are getting killed by the Brotherhood’s thugs. The west is always blind when Muslims get killed. I just love how the American government is talking about women’s rights and the religious minority’s rights. Half of the American government wants abortion to be illegal. Guess what? Millions of Egyptian women went to college. And let’s talk about minority rights in America. Profiling people in New York based on their race and skin color. That is freedom. Calling people terrorists on national TV just because they’re Muslims.
August 2012 I applied for an American tourist visa at the US embassy in Seoul. At that time I had been married to an American for 17 months and I’d been living in Korea for 2 years and they treat me like shit because I’m a Muslim Egyptian. The person who interviewed me asked me all kind of racist questions. He even asked me if my husband is American or if he has Egyptian ethnic background. Because that would change their decision on whether or not give me a visa. I got my visa after submitting a lot of paperwork and after a long time.
“Let me make one final point. America cannot determine the future of Egypt. That’s a task for the Egyptian people. We don’t take sides with any particular party or political figure.”
I’m going to stop you right there. Last year at the final debate between you and Romney you said, and I quote from the debate:
MR. SCHIEFFER: May I ask you, you know, during the Egyptian turmoil, there came a point when you said it was time for President Mubarak to go.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Some in your administration thought perhaps we should have waited a while on that. Do you have any regrets about that?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, I don't because I think that America has to stand with democracy. The notion that we would have tanks run over those young people who were in Tahrir Square, that is not the kind of American leadership that John F. Kennedy talked about 50 years ago.

So you did say you wanted Mubarak to leave and that means you took a side.

“I know it’s tempting inside of Egypt to blame the United States or the West or some other outside actor for what’s gone wrong.
We’ve been blamed by supporters of Morsi; we’ve been blamed by the other side as if we are supporters of Morsi. That kind of approach will do nothing to help Egyptians achieve the future that they deserve. We want Egypt to succeed. We want a peaceful, democratic, prosperous Egypt. That’s our interest. But to achieve that, the Egyptians are going to have to do the work.”

I just want to make this clear Egyptians don’t want help from any country; we just want the west to be honest and stop lying. We want the western media to tell what exactly is happening.

The final debate between Obama and Romney

The transcript of Obama's speech on Egypt

Writing in English as A Second Language

People always ask me why an Egyptian woman writes in English. Well the answer is very simple. I write in English so my American husband can read my stories.

Writing in English is always a challenge, there are some mistakes like grammar, or when to put “a”, punctuations and misspelling. Usually I write with a pencil in a notebook and sometimes I forget to write a whole sentence.

I started writing in English 3 years ago and I learned one thing. Writing in a second language isn’t that hard, it’s not as hard as people would think. For this reason my dear friend Val Hamer and I started a Facebook page to support authors who write in a second language. We are more than happy to give advice, to help you and talk about writing. If you have any questions please join the group. The link's below.

ESL Authors/writers

Ramadan and feast culture in Egypt

Egypt has a unique taste of everything. It’s not just an ancient country lives in modern days. Or the pyramids with a city view. I’m talking about a different taste of things.
Ramadan and the feast are things in the Islamic culture. However, in Egypt they have their own taste that you will never find at any other Islamic country.
Today is Eid Al-fater or feast of breaking fasting in many countries. Here are the reasons why I like it so much in Egypt.

1- The majority of Egyptians are Muslims but even though our Christians brothers and sisters join us in celebrating the month of Ramadan. Muslims and Christians decorate the streets of colorful paper decorations.

2- Ramadan is all about sharing with the others and helping the poor, almost in every neighborhood there’s a table of food for the poor. People who love charity they set up the table, cook food and make drinks and serve it for free. I wish they do this all year long.

3- Some people stay on the road with bags of food and at the breakfast time, if they find people walking home or riding cars, they stop them and give them food for free. And that happened to me a few times. I was late for breakfast time and a stranger stopped me and gave me a bottle of water and a meal. I told him that my house is a few minutes away and he should save the meal for someone else. But he insisted and said all passersby should have a meal.

4- My favorite reason in Egypt we celebrate Ramadan with Fanous. Fanous is a lamp to light darkness. The story goes back to the year 969 when an Islamic leader Al-u’izz Li-Dinillah came to Cairo Ramadan 7th. It was a dark night, people of Cairo went out to the dark streets and each one carried a lamp in their hands. And ever since this day lighting the dark streets with Fanous became a tradition. Muslims and Christians buy Fanous as well. Now a days Fanous is a beautiful piece of art, a decoration and a toy for children. In Egypt Ramadan can’t be Ramadan without a Fanous. And it’s a unique thing only to be found in Egypt.

Breaking of fasting feast
Egyptians celebrate the feast not just for breaking fasting.

1- In the first day of feast parents and the older give money to young children and their children no matter how old they are. It’s called Eidia.

2- New cloth. Everyone should buy a new cloth and usually parents buy it to their kids.

3- Families get together for dinner and young people go out to parks and walking by the Nile River.

4- Balloons, balloons sellers make good money this day. Everyone buy balloons.

All of those reasons make this time of the year very special in Egypt.

Fried Pigeons Stuffed with malt

This dish is one of the most popular dishes in Egypt. People love it for different reasons. It’s tasty and some people claim it helps men to be better in bed and make their sexual lives better.

Ingredients:
1- Five pigeons
2- Half a kilo of malt
3- An onion (optional)
4- Teaspoon of salt
5- Teaspoon of black pepper
6- Tablespoon of butter
7- Oil
8- Water
9- Bay leaves


Preparations for the stuffing:
1- Wash the malt and leave it in water for 30 minutes.
2- Bring a deep pan and melt the butter.
3- Add the malt and stir for 5 minutes.
4- When it turns golden add some water, just enough to cover it.
5- Add the salt and black pepper.
6- After few minutes the malt will absorb its water.
7- Turn the stove off. At this point the malt is half done.


Preparations for the pigeons:
1 - Wash the pigeons from inside.
2- Stuff the pigeons with the malt.
3- Use a needle and cooking twine and stitch the pigeons.
4- Bring a large pot and used it to boil water.
5- Once the water is boiled add the pigeons.
6- Add the onion and bay leaves and have some flavor to the soup.
8- After 30 minutes take the pigeons out of the soup.
9- Bring a large frying pan and add oil.
10- Fry the pigeons until they’re golden brown.

And Be Al-hana we Al-shafa

Interview with Beverly May Killaire Children books and novels author

I’m honored today to host and have an interview with Beverly May Killaire the author. I love her work and I’m enjoying talking to her.

1. Please tell me about your novel. Who or what was your inspiration behind it?
If you pick up one of my three novels, expect to read tales of motherly frogs, Christmas ornaments that come to life and two chihuahuas on the run. My latest is called The name is Emmy Lou Sue. The little "Brat" Emmy Lou Sue gets herself into all kinds of trouble when she decides to run away from home. Over 50 pages of fun rhymes and pictures. Join Emmy on this adventure as she drags along her best friend Chilli and how they find themselves lost, scared and wishing they had stayed home. Read about the other animals they meet and how some are not as friendly as they may appear.
My inspiration for the adventures of Betty and Bo­Bob came from watching the reptiles in my pond. They are fascinating to watch, especially when they play.
The Christmas book called Treasures Forgotten came from when I was moving and had to get rid of alot of things. The old ornaments that mother had and had given to me. I felt bad getting rid of them because they were not as nice as my new ones. That is how that story came to life.
A young woman purchases four unique Christmas ornaments that have a sentimental meaning only to her. Follow her and these four lovable characters over a span of seventy years. Listen as their life of joy turns into hardship and loneliness, only to be recovered by a young artist in the twentieth century. These are all children’s book. Now if you pick up the soon to be released PRIVATE KEEP OUT expect something very different.
A psychological thriller with supernatural undertones. The inspiration for this one came years ago. Always had a love for thriller movies and books. This one is about Casey, the youngest of three sisters, whose psychic abilities awaken while stranded in an abandoned farmhouse while on a road trip vacation with her family.


2. When you sit down to write, do you do it the old­fashioned way with pen and paper or do you use a computer? Do you prefer one way or the other?
I do it the old fashioned way. Pen and paper and of course lots of coffee, actually use pencil. I do this because I can erase and rewrite without a lot of marks on the paper


3. What do you look for in a book when you sit down to read for fun?
I look for it to grab my attention right of the bat. I mean, like the first or second page. I learned this from a professor at the university I attended. Right now I am reading a book by a New York Times bestselling author. I am very disappointed in it. It did not get my attention at the beginning but I gave it time. The detailing she goes into is crazy and it goes on and on page after page. I am on page 130 and most of the story is so detailed that it is boring me. The main thing is it has nothing more to do with the story. If you needed to know how the sun reflected off the crystal vase and the rug was described for at least four pages. I could go on and on but then I would be boring you. lol


4. Besides writing and reading, what is your most favorite thing to do?
My favorite thing to do in my free time is to spend it with my fiance and if he is busy or watching a game, I paint. I am an oil painter of landscape and now an illustrator. I illustrated the Betty and Bo­Bob cover and pictures inside. I do have a gallery called B.M.Killaire for the arts. Its on my

webpage. Even though I am busy I always find time to give hugs and kisses to my two Chihuahuas Which were the inspiration for the book, The name is Emmy Lou Sue.


5. Did you get to quit your day job and become an author or do you still have a day job and writing is something you do for fun? If you still have a day job, what is it?
I do have a job other than writing. I work at Chrysler Canada. I build the mini vans. So when I am on day shift I do not get as much done as when I am on afternoon shift. On afternoons I stay up till 4am. That gives me 3 hours to do computer stuff. I like this time because it is quiet and no interruptions.


6. What has been your favorite part of being an author? What has been your least favorite?
Is seeing the finished product. What a feeling to hold it in your hands. My least favorite is the criticism from family member. I have had only three people purchase my books from my family. One is my niece Penny who I just adore, One of my cousins and my sister. I have given them free books but I have not heard if they liked it or not. I have heard I found a mistake and thats about it. That hurts. Its easy to take from a stranger than it is from a family member. I have had great support from my good friends and that means alot to me.


7. Who was your current novel dedicated to? Any particular reason?
My first novel was dedicated to my oldest sister who passed away from non hodgkin's , Linda told me once. If anyone can do it you can. I never forgot that.
The new book is dedicated to a friend of mine and her dog Rex. Rex is a big part of the Emmy Lou Sue book. Shortly after I did the pictures of him he past away from old age. This way Rex will live on in the pages of my book.


8. What genre are you most looking forward to exploring during your writing career? Why?
I like alot of them. I want to do more children and more suspense thrillers. I can write about anything except nonfiction. Do not want to try that one. I have a love story going, a comedy and a tear jerker. I get a feeling for a story when I look at something or hear a word that would make a great title and then the story pops in my head. I wish I could write for a living and not have to work because I would have tons of books out by now.


9. Compared to when you first started writing, have you notice any big changes in your writing style or how you write compared from then to now?
Big time. The novel coming out Private keep out. I wrote that years ago. When I took it out of the closet, I had to rewrite it. Ten years later I cleaned it up some more. Each year I think I get better. Even with the spelling mistakes. I am terrible at that and thank god for spell check. Which reminds me. Can you check this over before you print it. Thank you.


10. Is there anything else that you would like to share or say to those who will read this interview? Yes don't get hung up on errors because it will drive you crazy. My fiance has helped me with that. He is a dedicated newspaper reader. Each day he highlights the missed spelled words in the paper just to let me know that mistakes happen. This is a newspaper and the writers have

the work checked by editors before it goes to print. So my point is get a good editor or two. I did with my novel Private Keep Out. She is working on it now. Fingers crossed. When I was at the university the professor told me I am passing you because you are a great storyteller but your grammar sucks. lol In grade school my teachers said I had a wild imagination. So don’t let your grammar stop you and discourage you from writing. If you have a great story share it.

One last thing. I have two causes that I support and raise money for..
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Awareness
And
Ontario SPCA and human society


Biography
Beverly May Killaire was born and raised in Ontario Canada. In her younger years she studied dance. Her passion for dance,oil painting and writing have made her a name in the art's . She now resides in a small town in Ontario with the love of her life and two chihuahua. She writes about things she loves including animals and wildlife. She is an advocate for the safety of all animals. This is Beverly May Killaire third children's book to be published. If you would like to learn more about her and her books go to Beverly Killaire on Facebook or check them out on B.M.Killaire on Amazon.com, B.M.Killaire for the art's. Website: BeverlyK.thefanbase.net


I have two pen name. For children’s books. B.M.Killaire
For my suspense thriller and other like this is BeverlyK



Books are available on Amazon.com and .ca Also Amazon Kindle.
Follow me on Facebook and my web page Beverlyk.thefanbase,net
Watch for the new one coming this summer. Thank you so much for this interview.

My pleasure Beverly and thank you for joining us today.

Samgyetang 삼계탕 My Favorite Soup

Samgyetang is one of my favorite Korean dishes. It's chicken soup with ginseng, ginger and dried seeds of jujube fruit and other herbs. I love this soup it's not just tasty, it's healthy too and Koreans believe it prevents illness. I have to say I always feel better after eating it when I have a cold.
I order it from the local place and it comes with rice and some side dishes like kimchi and tofu.

The Worst Zoos I Have Been To part 3

Giza zoo, Egypt. That zoo has a great history it opened on 1 March 1891 and it was built on 52 acres. Giza zoo had birds, animals and plants from all over the world. And it was considered one of the best zoos in the world in the early 20th century.

The zoo was always featured in the black and white Egyptian movies. Lovers went for a date there, have tea in the tea garden with a pond view where the swans were swimming freely in the huge pond, and the birds were flying not kept in cages. And the big animals had big enclosures.

Green plants and high trees everywhere you look. And a unique architecture. My parents told me that was the real image of the zoo a long time ago. Time changed everything.
Last time I went to the Giza zoo was 11 years ago and it was heartbreaking.

All of the animals were kept in tiny cages and the animals looked so broken and sad. A lot of the trees were dead. The beautiful buildings were broken and no one cared to fix it. There is no fine if a visitor harasses the animals and unfortunately I’ve witnessed teenagers harassing the animals and the guards didn’t stop them. And trash was everywhere at the zoo.

I’ve heard about the vets and the guards abusing the animals in Giza zoo but I haven’t seen any evidence. However, if the rumors are true I wouldn’t be surprised.
Last May there was an incident. Two female bears got killed and the statement that came out of the zoo administration was shameful. The statement said that the 2 females got in a fight in mating season and the fight went on for few hours until the bears died. Where were the vets and guards? They even didn’t give them sedative.

Here’s a link for the article in one of the newspapers below. Warning: it has some disturbing photos.
This is the article

Alex The Cat for free

I just published a fiction short story Alex the Cat. It’s a story about a cat who lost his parents at early age. Alex faces dark and cold nights, he suffers hunger and he can’t trust a human. Alex the Cat is free on amazon.com from July 19 to 21. I wrote this short story as a tribute to my cat Alex.

Alex was abused before he was rescued by a shelter in Seoul then by us. Alex the Cat is the second story of my project Writing For The Animals. The first story was The Elephant Park which I donated to The Elephant Nature Park in Thailand and you can read it for free on the blog.

I'm hoping to increase the awareness of animals rights by writing. It's a free read so please download, read, review and spread the word. Click the link below to order.
Alex the cat

Mursi The Terrorist- Egypt's journey for freedom

Egyptians are fighting for freedom, for future and for democracy. A year ago when Mursi was elected to be presdint I knew for sure that the election was fixed. As a muslim Egyptian I know how much people dislike Muslim brotherhood, people don't trust them and people know their bloody history. Muslim brotherhood wash their hands with blood.

Last night Mursi spoke and said "I will not step down." And the speech was a threat for everyone spoke aganist him. Mursi said the word "Legitimacy" about a 100 times in one hour. He pointed his finger as he said legitimacy. Right after the speech Muslim brotherhood supporters went out and attacked the peaceful protests in every sqaure in Egypt. Hundreds got killed and thousands got injured. The brotherhood sent thugs to terroize women, the thugs raped women and stabbed them in their vagina. They did that to force women to stay home. They killed and still killing children.

Mursi is a terrorist, he knows nothing about democracy. How many people have to die?
Mursi is killing Egyptians and the world is watching. Mursi is a criminal and should be in jail where he came from.

The Worst Zoos I Have Been To: part 2

A medium sized zoo in Guilin, China is one of the worst zoos that I have been to. All of the animals are kept in small cages even the big pandas.
The scariest thing for me was that there were no guards to take care of the animals in case of emergency. And the visitors were feeding the animals all kind of food. There were no safety measurements for the visitors and for the animals.

A loose monkey who wandered the zoo and no guard was watching to make sure the monkey won’t attack any kids.

Even the goats were kept in small place.

I was sick that day and couldn’t stay long in that sad zoo, so I couldn’t take a lot of photos.
I truly wish that the zoo take better care of the animals.

The Worst Zoos I Have Been To. Part 1

I come from a family that respects animals. I grew up hearing stories about my grandfather and how he saved a horse from getting beaten by its owner. The story goes like this: a long time ago in the early 50s my grandfather was standing in his shop and saw a weak horse moving a big wagon and the owner was whipping the horse to keep moving.

The poor horse fell down. My grandfather couldn’t see that and stand still, and he fought with the owner. “If you’re that nice to the animals, why don’t you move the wagon and help the horse?” the owner said.

My grandfather, who was big and healthy, did it. He put the ropes around his arms and dragged the wagon all by himself for a few blocks. He did that to let the horse rest; he endured pain to relieve the poor animal from pain.

My love for animals made me hate zoos. I don’t like seeing animals in cages, especially small cages. However, I believe animals feel happy when they meet visitors who really love them. Yes, animals have feelings and they know happiness and sadness. And that is the reason why I go to zoos.
I’ve been to good and bad zoos, but the worst zoo I’ve been to is Crocodile Farm and Zoo Samutprakan in Thailand.

Elephants are in chain and their space was tiny

No safety measures in the hippo’s pool

3 lionesses in small cage

And a crocodile show

This zoo is one of the saddest zoos in the world.

Writing For the Animals and Writing Contest Entry

When I visited Thailand I felt I was in heaven. The beauty of nature there was breathtaking, and everything else there was beautiful except one thing. which broke my heart. I saw a lot of animal abuse going on there. I’m not talking about stray dogs and cats. I’m talking about elephants. Unfortunately, a lot of owners are abusing their elephants, chaining them, make them beg for food, beating them and making them work in rides. And, unfortunately, some of the government offices are letting that abuse continue.


I visited the elephant nature park where they rescue the abused elephants, and I saw the amazing work of people who want to save the animals and give them the lives they deserve. The Tourism Authority of Thailand Newsroom is having a contest about what inspired you the most in Thailand. Once I found out about this writing contest I knew right away what I want to write about. I wrote an article about the Elephant Nature Park. I had to take this opportunity to tell people how great the elephant park is and also to make the animals lovers’ voices heard.

Please read my article and hit like on the top left of the article, the link is below.
hearts for the elephants

Beartree Park In Cheonan Review

The park is kind of out of the city. It’s very beautiful and very green. Has a lot of good sculptures. However, it is one of the cruelest places for bears and deer. The park is big wide green space but they’re keeping the poor animals in a cage with concrete ground, 20 bears in the same small cage and the pools are small, dirty and shallow.



The deer cage wasn’t any better.


And the worst thing, there were bears cubs that were very young and were separated from their mothers. Unfortunately whoever designed the place thought only about making it pretty and didn’t think of the animals.

Kofta El-Haty

El-Haty means the kofta restaurant or a kofta’s cook. Usually people just go out to the haty to buy this kind of kofta. El-Haty cooks it on a big professional grill. However, you can cook it at home on the ordinary grill and it doesn’t take long. Also you can cook it in the oven.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1- 500g of ground beef.
2- Teaspoon of salt.
3- Teaspoon of black pepper.
4- Teaspoon of chili powder.
5- Tablespoon of dried or fresh parsley.
6- Half teaspoon of cumin powder.
7- Skewer.
8- One onion, shredded and keep its water in a different bowl.


Preparations:
1- Bring a deep bowl and mix the beef and the shredded onion.
2- Add all of the spices and mix it very well.
3- Put the skewer in the onion water and make it wet.
4- Take a small piece of the beef and roll it on the skewer and make it long.
5- Softly withdrew the skewer and repeat this step until you finish all of the beef. This step is important so the heat can escape through the hole.
6- Keep it in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
7- Heat the grill and grill them.
It took around 20 minutes on the electric grill. Serve it with green salad, tahini sauce and rice if you like.

Yi Sun-Sin Festival

Asan city celebrate the birth of the great admiral Yi Sun-Sin who defeated the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon dynasty. This year the festival is from April 26-28th which takes place in Onyang Oncheon area.


The admiral's house which became a museum.


The admiral's family tombs.


The pond.


Martial art performance in Onyang area.

The festival is ongoing until tomorrow so if you're near Asan city go and check it out.

FEMEN And Hypocrisy

As I read that article I felt anger and rage, FEMEN members acts were very offensive to me on so many levels. Ever since I started my travels in 2008 I’ve met a lot of racist people, they didn’t like talking to me because I’m Muslim, because I’m Egyptian and some of them didn’t like me because I’m a feminist.

The internet has tons of false information about Islam, Muslims and Arab countries, I’ve always told myself that I can’t change the hearts that filled with hatred, ignorance and racism. I wasn’t just offended because those women who call themselves feminist insulted my religion. A lot of people insult Islam every day and I think they should be ignored. The act of FEMEN members offended me as a woman and as a feminist and because they’re liars. They claimed that all of Muslim women, millions of women and every single woman who is wearing Hijab were forced to wear it. And women in Middle East are slaves and stupid and FEMEN should save them.

I chose to be Muslim , I lived 25 years in Egypt and no one ever forced me to wear Hijab, The men in my family have never abused me, they loved me and took good care of me, my family have never told me what to do. I went to schools in Cairo, I went to college in Cairo, I have a business administration degree from Cairo, and I’ve worked in Cairo in the public sector with men and everyone in my position men or women had the same salary, I’ve traveled to three countries solo, I’ve learned three languages in Cairo other than Arabic, I love my religion and I’ve never felt I’m less than the men in my family because I’m a woman, I love Egypt I don’t live in Egypt now because I met the love of my life while traveling in Korea, I stayed in Korea and we got married, I didn’t leave Egypt because I hate it or because I felt less any man there. FEMEN members believe women have the right to be naked but women don’t have the right to cover their hair or bodies. What hypocrites you are FEMEN members.

FEMEN protested to support the Tunisian activist Amina Tyler which is fine and I believe Amina has the right to protest with any mean she chooses and as for Islamists who want to punish her they just want media attention. To FEMEN members guess what you aren’t any better than those extreme Islamists they denied Amina’s right to do what she wants with her body and you are doing the same thing to millions of women who chose to wear Hijab. Yes there are some women who were forced to wear Hijab and there are some abusive men who happened to be Muslims and Arab. Abusive men are everywhere in the world not just in the Middle East.

FEMEN you are the worst group to speak of women’s right, if you really want to help Muslim women why don’t you start with protesting against the discrimination against Muslim women who wear Hijab in countries like America, France and other countries in Europe? Of course you won’t do that because you really don’t care about those women who have to fight every day for their right to choose to cover their head.

If you think I’m stupid because I’m a Muslim I would say you are racist and you don’t believe in the freedom you talk about, and if you say I’m a slave because I’m Muslim I would say you are slaves to your own ignorance.

This is the article.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

My husband and I love animals, usually I don't like zoos because they are sad places and I'm totally against the idea of animals in cages, I think it's barbaric and inhuman. However, I'm always happy to go to a good zoo that cares about animals.

Last February we went to San Diego zoo and I was so impressed not just because it's located in very beautiful spot, there weren't any cages, the animals had a big space to move around and play and the workers seemed to be enjoying their jobs. And they donate some of the money to safe the wild life in Africa. What a great message.





For the first time I see elephants have a big space.


The rare white rhino.





We had a great day there, I wish I could work there.



Photos: Ian Porell

Oz the Great and Powerful Review

The wizard of Oz 1939 is one of my all time favorite movie, I grew up watching that movie and I loved the Oz world. When I heard of the new movie release I had to watch it. Yesterday I went to the cinema and watched the movie with friends.
Oz the Great and Powerful had such an amazing visual effects. However, the movie had some plot holes and I still like the original The Wizard of Oz much more.

Here are some of the plot holes:
1- With the first glance at Evanora I knew she is wicked. How did I know, her dress said it all.
2- Evanora convinced Oz that Glinda is evil and must be destroyed. Oz goes with Finely and china girl to the dark forest, they met Glinda and they were afraid of her but once she showed her face they weren't afraid anymore. Glinda told them she is the good witch and they believed her right the way. And Oz and her company didn't think she might be lying. All of this because Glinda had the power of the beautiful face. As Disney always said beautiful people are good.
3- Rachel Weisz who played Evanora the wicked. Evanora hated Glinda because Glinda is beautiful and the director didn't know how beautiful Rachel Weisz is.
4- Evanora deceived her sister Theodora for many years and the good sister didn't know the wicked one is in fact her sister Evanora. Theodora had a broken heart and decided to be evil with no reason. right before Theodora turned to the green evil witch she knew that Evanora is evil and lied about pretty much everything and yet she chose to be evil anyway.
5- After Theodora became evil I really thought her heart died or she doesn't feel anything anymore but at the very end "I Hate You." Theodora said to Oz. That's mean she still having some feelings in her heart.
6- Evanora and Glinda fought, Glinda won and we got to see Evanora true face which of course was a typical ugly and old witch face. If Evanora that old how come her sister Theodora didn't know about it?
7- Glinda is so good she even let the witches go free without thinking that the witches will come back to Oz someday and kill everyone.

Those are the holes that I could remember. Oz the Great and Powerful worth the watch anyway.

Disneyland the happiest place in the world

Disneyland was one of the places I've always dreamed of visiting, last February my husband and I went to California and it was my first time in America. One of the top things on my list was Disneyland of course.

I was very happy I was like a child I kept running and riding all of the rides. Disneyland is the happiest place in the world as they promised. The only thing I didn't like there was the ticket price for children. My husband and I are adult and we could afford the adult tickets prices but how about children who dream of going to Disney but can't afford the ticket?



Had my first American "American" dish. Beef gumbo and it was amazing.


The hunted house was one of my favorite things there. It's very cool.



More stories about my trip coming soon.