Cairo, the 8th December, 2010

Choose your battles!!!

Living in Egypt is an extreme experience, I 've mentioned it several times. If you're an educated foreigner with values and a brain of your own living, working and creating between egyptians and arabs for four intense, crazy years (as it happens in my case), then the challenge rises up to the point of being considered a TRUE BATTLE designed not for the weak of heart.

Add to that an unwillingness to compromise what I think it's right and wrong and my own dignity as a woman while working in an environment which deals with women -and dancers, in particular- as prostitutes who will do just anything to get what they want and you have the perfect equation for madness or an incredible stamina that will put me through "Judgment Day", the "Invasion of the Martians" and the potential "End of the World".

I've survived Egypt with my body and soul untouched by all the dirtiness and lack of humanity so I can survive anything....

Between the many things Egypt has taught me, here are two of them:

1. How to be a warrior.

2. How to choose your battles.

How to be a warrior is something I already had inside me. No one really taught me that one and it all comes down to survival and inteligence (everyone wants to be happy so our choices should go towards that happiness...it sounds kind of logical to me!).

How to choose your battles is a more delicete subject because it was not always clear the things and people that were WORTH my effort, my stamina, my qualities and my BATTLING.

I've learnt that, very often, we do not distinguish the battles that are worth fighting in and the ones which do not deserve our attention, much less our efforts and battling.

Thanks to Egypt and to several face breaking episodes, I have learnt when it's time to choose my battles and HOW TO CHOOSE the ones that have enough QUALITY for me and for the GRANDIOSITY I wish to have in my LIFE.

And my LIFE is BIG so...here I am, thanking Egypt, and choosing the direction of my swords.

P.S. And how amazing can WOMEN be while doing all this in high heels and nice pink/red lipstick?

Gorgeous and fierce, honey! ALWAYS!!!