February 12, 2011
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A Toast to Mubarak's Exit at Starbucks in Korba
I’ve been following the events in Egypt on Twitter a lot over the past two weeks (more immediate and interesting than CNN and BBC) and after Mubarak stepped down last night, one tweet caught my attention. Egyptian blogger and activist SandMonkey invited everybody for a party at Starbucks in Korba, Heliopolis, to toast Mubarak’s departure. As SandMonkey was mentioning champagne and beer, a picture of the likely scenes of celebration became quite vivid in my mind.
A little over ten years ago, I used to live only a five-minute walk from this very spot in Korba. We teachers used to hang out at a pub/restaurant called Palmyra – which now is now where Starbucks is – so the tweet about partying in this area of Korba brought back a lot of memories. As Palmyra is now a Starbucks, I can imagine the scenes last night: celebrating anti-Mubarak protesters can only order coffee so they scuttle across the street to the off-licence to buy beer while the Starbucks staff looks on. However, considering that Hosni Mubarak had just announced he was stepping down after 30 years as President, I’m pretty sure the Starbucks crew didn’t mind one bit.
Also, I remember very well when Egypt won over South Africa in the finals of the African Nations Cup in 1998. My flat in Korba was on the fourth floor and I remember people dancing in the streets below for hours and hours, way into the wee hours.
Anyway, this one tweet by SandMonkey created a very vivid picture in my mind of what the celebrations in Cairo would have been like last night and I bet they surpassed the scenes in Korba from 1998 by several miles.
I wish I’d been there!
Comments (2)
Thirty years ruling Egypt ... he certanly didn't do it only for the good of the country, according to the news: he is richer than Bill Gates.
A toast for his exit, and a toast for the future of Egypt.
Oh my Bjorn - this evoked memories! I believe the beers were purchased out of the back of a car! I remember the Africa Cup celebrations but suspect the volume and crazy driving with guys on the roof of cars would have been even wilder!!
