photo: Youssef Rakha Brief interlude This summer was a painfully brief affair: no sooner had school ended than the build-up to Ramadan began, and few people could take as much time as they would have liked to relax on the beach. In a moment of tranquillity at the boat-making workshops on the beaches of Bahari, Alexandria seems to say good-bye before it has had a chance to say hello. photos: Ayman Barayez The Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike gave a reception at the embassy in honour of Special Olympics Egypt, marking the country's participation in the World Summer Games (2-12 October) to be held in Shanghai. Present were Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Moseilhi, President of the National Sports Council Hassan Saqr, the president and the executive director of Special Olympics Egypt, Ismail Osman and Magda Moussa, respectively, as well as MENA regional managing director, Ayman Abdel-Wahab and Special Olympics Goodwill ambassador, actor Hussein Fahmi. Former member of parliament and American University in Cairo political science professor Mona Makram Ebeid will join the international election-observation delegation sent by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to oversee the legislative elections in Morocco on 7 September. It is noteworthy that Morocco, which officially invited the NDI to organise an international observation committee, is only the third Arab country or territory to welcome election observers after Yemen and the Palestinian Authority. The high-profile wedding of Mahmoud and Hadeel took place at the Semiramis Hotel. Attending on an impressive range of well-wishers were gynaecologist Emad Abdel-Meguid, the father of the groom, and former prime minister of Yemen Mohsen Al-Ayni, the father of the bride. Enjoying singing by superstar Hakim and belly dancer Katia were veteran Al-Ahram writers Anis Mansour and Neam El-Baz, permanent representative of Saudi Arabia in the Arab League, Ahmed El-Qatan, Bahrain Ambassador to Egypt Khalil El-Zewadi, former ambassador Abdel-Raouf El-Reidi, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, head of the Arab Publishers Union Ibrahim El-Moalim, president of the Garden City Lions Club, Awatef Serageddin and actors Ezzat El-Alayli and Yehia El-Fakharani. Nor did that self-same Awatef Serageddin rest content with attending the wedding. In an event all her own that took place in Damascus under the auspices of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Serageddin, the president of the Garden City Lions Club was named Distinguished Arab Woman for 2007. Nine other Arab women received medals on the same occasion including head of the Syrian Women's Union, Souad Bakour, head of the Women's Affairs Secretariat in Libya, Amal Nouri, General Director of Environmental Affairs at the Kuwait Petroleum Association Fatema Al-Abdoul, Arab League Secretary-General assistant, Nansi Bakeer and member of the Syrian People's Assembly, Ghenwa Galol. Present, among other Arab diplomats, was the Egyptian Ambassador to Syria Hazem Khayrat. In a daring and unprecedented move, the General Egyptian Book Organisation, presided over by Nasser El-Ansary, has launched Forty Pyramids from Egypt and its Surroundings, a high-quality bilingual picture book showing the stunning work of our very own Sherif Sonbol, with English text by another Al-Ahram Weekly veteran, Peter Snowdon, translated into Arabic by the well-known vernacular poet Bahaa Jahin. The perfect coffee-table souvenir, Forty Pyramids from Egypt and its Surroundings tells the story of Egyptian pyramids from the earliest attempts at constructing them to the glory of their heyday. With cooperation from the Indian Culture Centre in Cairo, Chef Udaykumar Mani, the man behind the Maharaja Indian Signature Restaurant at the Ramses Hilton, recently presented marvellously innovative ideas in a series of "Indian culinary sessions". Mani is the way forward: ladies can now prepare the most amazingly authentic Mughal full-course meal. According to the master, "there is no such thing as lists of ingredients or complicated methods; this is simply good food prepared using fresh ingredients, and designed to please the individual palate." Congratulations! Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Sameh Abdallah has been elected head of the Foreign Affairs Analysts Association at the Journalists Syndicate. Asmaa El-Husseini from Al-Ahram won the union membership. A warm wedding at the Sonesta Hotel marked the marriage of Haytham Abdel-Aziz, the brother of our Al-Ahram colleague Heba Abdel-Aziz, to Amani Afifi. Journalists galore... Last Friday, Egyptian fashion designer Abdu Shabaka made the catwalk tremble in Mohandessin to mark the opening of his fashion house in Egypt. Shabaka arrived from Iraq, where he had lived for 30 years, only a few months ago.
