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.