Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Why frustrated?

I never thought that I might use this name as my display!! Being optimistic was my most important character. When my friends talk about leaving the country, I would have objected badly to that, I used to say "if we all leave it, who would fix it?". We always argued about this and I always sticked to my point of view. I remember a collegue of mine who was a demonstrator in the faculty of pharmacy, he left everything behind him and went to Canada for his MD. I asked him about his planes, he had only one plan: leaving Egypt! For me, Everything was fine, I obtained my masters in a very short time. I refused to look seriously for a PhD chance in Europe or America for some religious reasons (travelling on my own for few years is not accepted by most of the experts views). Also I was not comfortable with the idea of my staying on my own in a foreign country (did i mention that i am very sentimental?). So I decided to stay where I am and register an Egyptian MD, being a staff member I always looked for changing the current situations to the better isA. I finished my masters in April 2007, the department thought about giving me a research point may be in september 2007!! (Because I was not promoted yet!!). We kept searching for a subject that fits our society and our techniques.I got them about 20 item, but all were rejected! I even looked for a double channel with an English professor, he provided me with a nice point but my dear staff refused it, they said that it is difficult and not intresting. I kept trying till March 2008 when we finally settled down, this point will cost me thousands of pounds and it will not be funded by the university, but no problem with me. Suddenly, they decided to apply a new system in the post graduate studies, but they will not be able to apply it till next september! Ok, I am ready now guys so let me register in the old system and the younger generations would use the new system. Nooooooooooooooo, you wait staying still with your new research point in your drawer till next september and apply for the new system!!! whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? because if you all registered now, then when we apply the new system we will not find candidates! (I forgot to tell you that the new system takes more money out of your pocket, but this goes only for candidates who are not staff members, I tried to explain this point to them but they insisted on the fact that we all would pay!!). Me(and another 2 collegues in the same situation of myself) had no other choice except waiting till september. Today, the nice employee told me that the nice vice dean decided that I will not register my research protocol before december 2008!!! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy? so that you finish one semester theoratical study. I have a new research point since March and I have to wait till december to register it by my name, to keep my research rights! do you imagine how many person would publish my point before I could be able to do it?? do you imagine that I finished my masters by April 2007 and I have to wait till december 2008 to register for my MD? do you imagine that I sacrificed travelling abroad and prefered staying in my country in an attempt to change whatever going on here but I can not do it? It is not that I am a snob or anything but I know very well that I am good at my work, from both the practical and the research aspects but.......I have no words to express how I feel. I have no words to express how mad I am, at the system, at people, at the country, at everyone and everything. Why can't they discriminate between someone who wants to do something and dozens who want to do nothing? Why can't they realize that we can do a lot of things simply by giving a space to some minds to do whatever they think about without facing hundreds of obstacles every day? just give us a space people, I do not need your help but back off me please, please, please you.................... Am I right to be frustrated or am I exaggeratting?

10 comments:

Crystal Lobna said...

Dear Frustrated,
of course you it's perfectly normal to be fustrated.
so you believe in changing things here in Egypt, well first you have to go with the flow go throw all the torment and pain, then become somebody important enough to have the power to change things (just as long as you remember that goal when you reach it to the top.)
you want to know why so much ppl wants to leave egypt, and are feeling hopeless all of the time, it's because they feel they are being driven away, ran over by the system, not because they are not good enough, or not workin hard enough but just because they are their.
it's a well known fact that people who are good at their jobs in Egypt most likely gets no where.
so you either can run to a foreign country or stay here and fight and know that it will cost you a lot of your energy and emotions, but hoping for a better world were younger generation don't have to go through what you are goin through right now.
Sorry for the lonnng comment

insomniac said...

ya3ne mesh kefaya ana insomniac, kaman ba2eet frustrated after reading this!!!!

right b4 your jerk of a dean said you had to stay until Dec, i was going to recommend that you file an official complaint about insisting to use the old system!! bas khalas, they are one step ahead of you that way...

we bet2ooly masr heya 2ommy, masr ya 7amatek ya merat abooky, take a pick!!! or in my case masr heya my x :D

nect time you get an opportunity barra masr, sebeeha!!! ur pharmacist friend was smart enough to leave to canada!!

Anonymous said...

C'est la vie en Egypte!

in time things will get better for you, but as you watch that happen other things will crumble as well! This is not pessimism, I'm being realistic here!

and yet we choose to stay here! you probably reach a point sometimes where you just want to dump everything and leave, but then you come back to your senses (senses?? really??) and decide to stay! No good deed goes unpunished I guess!

Good luck, isA things will improve, if not today, if not this year, then just later... you never know :) and btw, frustrated does not contradict with optimistic, optimistic people often get frustrated.. but they could still have hope!

Mohammad said...

a big LOL at the "expert views"!

so u want ur space? didn't u realize yet that it's almost "intended"? they simply don't want people to do anything! is it so hard 2 see that? u can see it almost everywhere and in every field.

and I laugh at researchers willing to pay thousands to finance their research! I mean we're not in the 19th century! to use ur way or arguing, imagine ALL researchers having to do that! simply there will be no scientific research! a system that asks a researcher 2 finance his research is a system that will take the results and throw it in the nearest basket (most probably the one in the dean's office)

imagine NASA researchers asked to finance their researches, or the Gnome project, or even the simplest electronic resrearch! and u wait to be frustrated because they didn't "register" u yet! I imagine all researchers in the world crying out loud SHAME ON YOU!

My dear frustrated friend, sometimes backing away is a very effective way to change things. that's exactly the idea of a strike. 2 use ur logic again, if all researchers decided to ban Egyptian Universities, things will change in no time. think about that and tell me what u think.

Ola said...

Crystal lobna,
First of all thank you for passing by:)
I think I had chosen the second one, stay here and fight. I do rally hope that when I reach that position where I am capable of changing things, I would still remember that goal!! you hit my fears here:)

Insomniac,
Wana mai7'alasneash enek teb2i frustrated ya fandem:)
By the way, my friend who left to Canada got his PhD arleady and he is working in a post doctor position now, but the guy is seriously thinking about returning back here! because he wants to raise his daughter (who has a Canadian nationality)here in Egypt!!

Eva,
Thank you very much for your support:) I do really need it and I do really appreciate it my dear:)

marooned,
My dear you better take my display name for you! it fits you more than it does with me:)
Don't laugh at ra2i el dein! e7na as3'ar men enena nefti, w law el fatwa gat men ahl el ra2i we7na 7'alefnaha mota3amedeen el wezr 7aieb2a 3alena bas, you shouldn't laugh at such things.
People at NASA don't support their researches because they live in the wealthy USA but we live in our ear poor Egypt! They don't have money to support me! so if I want to be good enough I should work on it on my own, honestly no one obliged me here, I shouldn't blame the system for everything!!

insomniac said...

i can talk to your friend and concince him of staying in canada :D because i have serious doubts you can


ur tagged btw, ur first tag :D

كلبوزة لكن سمباتيك said...

do you imagine how many person would publish my point before I could be able to do it??

ايوة انا متخيلة دة

تحياتي
و
رمضان كريم

Ola said...

insomniac,
Leave the guy alone! He is thinking for the sake of his daughter now, may be this is good for her:)
W ba3dain enti 3arfa eni gdeeda fel mawdoo3 da, lazem el tag el sa3b da wel e7rag odam el nas:$

كلبوزة لكن سمباتيك
شكلك اتأرصتي قبل كده
شكرا للتعاطف بس تعاطفك لوحده مش كفاية!! اتبرع و لو بقمر الدين
الله أكرم

Anonymous said...

hi, ezayek? I am brazilian and by luck I found ur blog over here and I can tell I understand quite well ur frustation. I love Egypt and I lived there 9 monthes as I am married with egyptian man. I wanted to stay forever there, but the lack of profissionalism and opportunities made me decide to come back home, where I have plenty of oppportunities. Also my husband here can apply for different things, not be stucked in the strange systems at ur universities... It is a pitty, as we miss Egypt so badly and we wish one day that our sons will be able to live there...but just if many things change!
salam

Ola said...

marina,
Thank yo u for your support! as you lived in Egypt before it seems that you got the core of the problem (though nine months are never enough). I love my country very much and I hope one day we can all live here happily when each of us can achieve whatever he / she wants.
By the way, I visited your blog but I could not understand a ward!! May be because you use Portuguese and I have not finished my 10 th level learning it yet:)
Happy that you passed by.