Week 1, 2026: Write that down
Preface: I’ve been writing weekly entries for two years now. I spent the first nine months publishing them on Substack and then decided to privatise them. Now that I’m coming onto my third year, I thought it might be fun to start publishing them again here on Bear. Here's to hoping I stick it out this time.
It’s been so nice having Medo here. I’ve cried thinking about it. On his first or second day back, I said something silly to make him laugh and he took out his phone and said ‘I’m going to write down what you just said’. Since then, I’ve been saying even sillier things and then going ‘write that down’. I didn’t realise how much I’ve missed just shooting the shit.
I’ve also been feeling really down. Something in the air. My cycle or the end of the year or the start of another. Something inexplicable, like Middle Eastern markets mostly selling Spanish olive oil. A Tunisian and a Syrian hidden in the back if you take the time to inspect. Nobody wants to give me my Oratene top-up and nobody wants to buy my turntable. Maybe that’s it.
My Egyptian media diet has been rich and varied. I recently finished a five-star read. I could feel ancestral ghosts looking down at me approvingly for having finally picked another Arabic five-star. Do Arabs have their own version of an NYT Best Sellers list or do they pray to Allah and hope for the best? In any case, I’d vote for Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq’s Utopia. Or pray for it. I also went to rewatch El Sett, an Umm Kulthum biopic. I love biopics. I love Umm Kulthum. I love it. What's going on with cinema etiquette? Phones should be banned in theatres.
Then there's the football with my dad. It’s the Egypt Capital Cup or something. There are a lot of corporate teams. The army team won last night against a pharmaceutical company. All I know about Egyptian football is I inherited being an Ahly fan and the team was formed to play against English imperialists. Oh and people hate Mo Salah for celebrating Christmas for some reason. Success is expensive I guess.
I had a deep knackering for halloumi and a latte on Monday morning so I bought cheese and milk and got to work. Halloumi, eggs fried with liver, hummus, latte with whole milk. Happy girl. We had pizza on NYE because my brother is starting a new, strict diet in 2026. Chicken and salad.
I woke up on the new year to the sound of cheers and fireworks. That was my cue to pee. My friend from London sent me a voice message wishing me a happy new year in Arabic. It made me smile so big. I went through trackers I kept throughout 2025 and tried to extract some insights for the year ahead. I was planning on drinking NA beers while my brother showed me how to play various video games but I fell asleep on the couch. I like the quiet start to the year. I like that I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do.
My birthday present from Medo was fast-track tickets to a water park. We stopped by the new Tim Hortons first for a latte and a donut. I was asked if I wanted a tiramisu latte instead of a regular latte and I said why not and then was able to immediately come up with several answers. A sugar rush later, we were at the water park. They were playing pop music from the 2010s and it was like being fourteen again. I enjoyed every minute. We did all of the non-scary rides and made sure to chill out at the Lazy River at least once an hour.
There is a whole new section of the park that was only installed six months ago and that was a blast too. We disagreed about which of the rides most closely recreated what Yunis must have felt like when he was swallowed by the whale. But we also agreed on a lot. I had a corndog for lunch, he had chicken and salad. When we got home, I spent my evening detangling my hair.
I tried to go for a run on Sunday but didn’t get very far. It turns out that timing your first run in a year to take place at noon during the Gulf's beach season is not a wise idea. Write that down.