Ghalia Taman or if you prefer UOO (Unidentified Orange Object – My friends believe I am not of this Earth!)
An AUCian and a Psychology major student with a minor in writing waiting eagerly to graduate in the Summer of 2020!
Born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where I attended the British International School of Jeddah for ten years and made a wonderful group of friends from countries like Singapore, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and England. It allowed me to be exposed to a multitude of cultures from a very young age.
I love travelling the world especially to volunteer. I completed a one month mental health placement in Bali, Indonesia wherein I worked with a variety of service users such as children with autism and orphans with the aim of promoting positive mental health through a wide range of activities.
Another passion of mine is writing. Last semester, I wrote several chapters of an autobiographical fiction about a gender non-conforming wealthy Saudi Arabian girl who constantly attempted to express her identity despite the consequences she had to face from her strict, domineering father. I also did some travel writing and one of my pieces was about my hometown Alexandria.
I left my biggest passion to the end. Obviously it is food! Other than my love of eating which I am sure many of you can relate to, I also have a strong passion in delving deeper and learning more about food in terms of its history, its anthropology and its diversity. My devotion to food lies in its ability to be a common, unifying factor in human life. We all eat food regardless of our nationality, gender, age and so forth. That is why I hope that this blog can bridge the gap between countries and even lead to a unification of cultural ideas between Egypt and the world. I also hope that it can inspire young Egyptian foodies and travelers to create innovative restaurants and dishes that incorporate the successful features of the countries mentioned in this blog.
