To celebrate the final of Golf Italiano Championship, a gala dinner and fashion show were held at the Stella Di Mare Resort in Ain Al-Sukhna. This was the first time the tournament was held in Egypt, and resort owner Ayoub Adli Ayoub was the first to receive Tourism Minister Zuheir Garrana and many Italian and Egyptian celebrities. The evening ended with an orchestral concert. Mona Zaki, a lecturer at AUC and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Strategic Consultants -- the tournament organisers -- was heartily thanked by all. photo: Osama Amin Last week Enjy El-Naggar attended a reception at the German Embassy to honour veteran journalist Mary Ghadban. On behalf of the president of the Federal Republic of German, Horst Köhler, the German Ambassador in Cairo Bernd Erbel handed her the Cross of the Order of Merit of Federal Republic of Germany for her contribution to German-Egyptian relations and distinguished efforts in the field of cultural dialogue. Present were, among many others, the famous actress and Al-Ahram Weekly columnist Lubna Abdel-Aziz, TV and cinema director Hani Lashine, and his wife former TV announcer Mona Gabr, actor Mahmoud Hemeida, Kol Al-Nas magazine Editor-in-Chief Mona Serag, Al-Ahram writer Mona Ragab, and Al-Ahram Weekly former correspondent in Washington and Director of United Nations Radio and TV in New York Ayman El-Amir. Last week, Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF) and Goethe Institute proudly introduced the Mahmoudia Box house. The attempt to nourish the culture of sight is a joint effort of young art students from Alexandria University and that of Frankfurt. The box house on Mahmoudia Lake, an art effect compiled of plastic fizzy drinks boxes, is the outcome of a workshop held last march by the two famous German artists Finter and Herbilt. Among those who attended the ceremony was Alexandria Governor Adel Labib, German Ambassador in Egypt Berndt Erbel, head of Goethe Institute Johannes Ebert. This initiative is supported by the Federal German Bureau for Foreign Affairs, Marina Blast Company and Alexandria Governorate. This art effect attempts to add visual and social livelihood to an industrial district that became dull and falls into the boarders between town and suburbia. The oil company BG Egypt signed a memorandum with the British University in Egypt (BUE) to establish a lab on campus for the benefit of students of engineering -- a project worth $325,000 and will be completed by 2009. "I am pleased to be here today to enter into this partnership with the British University in Egypt," BG Egypt's President Ian Hewitt said on the occasion. "As one of the largest British investors in Egypt, BG Egypt has a strong commitment to supporting the community where we work. We are pleased to respond to Egypt's need for the quality enhancement of higher education." Al-Ahram Weekly staffer Youssef Rakha gave a talk on travel writing and reportage at the American University's Department of English and Comparative Literature on Sunday. Inaugurating the Emerging Creative Voices programme -- one of many, many signs of Ferial Ghazoul 's superhuman devotion to literature -- Rakha spoke of the switch from fiction to non- fiction, praising journalism as a method of literary engagement and presenting his photo travelogue Beirut shi Mahal. Present, as well as Ghazoul and opera singer Gala El-Hadidi, who as a literature graduate student was presenting the speaker, were professors Abraham Anderson and Barbara Harlow. Congratulations! Al-Ahram Deputy Editor-in-Chief Abdel-Wahab Hamid received the Swedish Spiritusmundi Foundation Shield of Excellence for writing on Islamic issues in a way that reinforces acceptance of the other and endorses cultural dialogue. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Swedish Ambassador to Egypt Stig Elvemar at the Diplomatic Club. The Spiritusmundi Foundation is supported by the European Union and specialises in Islamic issues and Muslims in Europe. Honorees included the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa. On the occasion Henrik Melius, head of Spiritusmundi Foundation, pointed that after his visit to Egypt he had concluded that Muslims and Christians in Egypt co-exist in an exemplary way. The first graduating class of the American College for Girls - 1912 Generations of graduates came together on the age-old grounds of Ramses College, formerly the illustrious American College for Girls, this week -- a huge reunion to mark the school's centennial celebrations. The foundation stones for the college were laid in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, who was not yet president of the United States. Graduates from the class of 2005 met alumnae from as far back as 1936. Present was Olga Yassa, the mother of piano virtuoso Ramzi Yassa -- who is due to perform next spring in honour of his mother and her school, as part of the school's ongoing celebrations -- as well as Martha Roy, one of the college's oldest and best loved staff members. Alumnae also included school Councillor Fatma Hamza, Aziza Hussein, Marie Asaad, Mona Abu Seif, Saneya Saleh, Esmat Shukry and Khaireya Khairy, -- a positive array of pioneers in their respective fields. Worth mentioning is that school records include the late prominent author Sahair Al-Qalamawi and Egypt's first woman ambassador Baheega Arafa. Holding the fort is school Principal Fadia Makram Ebeid, who was happy to stand in the midst of no less than 800 graduates. Cinema Palace in Garden City is organising a course for expatriates on Egyptian traditions and culture through cinema, supervised by actor-cum-singer Samir Sabri and starting on 1 December through to 28 February 2007. Al-Geneina Theatre will have a warm winter this year: the Cultural Resource foundation has created a stage there and given it the title of Al-Sobah (The Greenhouse); its activities will start in December. A rich programme of unconventional workshops -- on mask-making, karakoz and shadow puppets as well as documentary filmmaking -- will take place, together with a symposium on video art and, notably, children's parties every Friday 1-29 December. The mask-making workshop will be given by Mohamed Saad, Theatre Sciences Department assistant professor at Helwan University, on Sundays 1-3pm, while Nabil Bahgat, Theatre Sciences Department professor at Helwan University, hopes to preserve traditional puppet arts through his own workshop. The documentary filmmaking workshop, to take place on 9 December, will be presided over by the well-known director Atteyat El-Abnoudi. The Association of Social Services in Boulaq district will inaugurate its annual charity bazaar at the Arab Contractors Sporting Club, 122 Al-Nil Street, Giza, on 2 December.
