I´ve been thinking about Egypt a lot lately, pondering at my fascination with that ancient country and really, why is it so stuck in my heart? My own memories, my love of history, wonderful people, no concept of time, genuine hospitality, what else...On the left here is Tita and Baby Bilel, with Mohammed in the background. This picture is from Summer 2004, when I became a member of their family in the three months I lived with them in Giza. They jokingly called me Laila Salmawi, and genuinely drew me into their lives in spite of language and cultural barriers. I think back on those months there and I know that there were hard moments of loneliness, weariness, and frustration. But I don´t really remember those too well, and instead I think back to nights of sitting on the cold tiles of the front porch eating bamya and watching tv on the little portable black and white set. I remember watching Tita messily eat a manga as the yellow juice runs down his grimy fingers and down his chin. I can hear him in the morning shouting as I come down the stairs, "Sabaah il-khiir, ya Laila!" I remember walks in the evenings along laberynthian streets with Asmaa and the neighborhood girls, arms linked and being totally clueless as to what they were saying the whole time. Mostafa´s face makes me laugh every time I think of him telling me that I´m crazy ("Inti maknuunah"). Countless hours I spent doing nothing but resting on the living room floor and rocking the baby...who peed on me regularly, learning how to make stuffed eggplants with Aymaan and keeping Mohammed company on some of his work days. I think of the amazing women at the Papyrus Shop and their kindness and humour. I think of Sinai and the Great Pyramid, camels in the desert, and all the shay you can drink, fabulous food, crazy (CRAZY) traffic, and the beauty of driving on the ring road toward "home" and seeing the familiar sight of the pyramids of the Giza plateau hazy in the setting sun.
Maybe it is memory that crystallizes and enhances our experiences, but there is something powerful and captivating in Egypt, and I haven´t even seen all of it yet!!! But I´m going back...
1 comment:
By the time I got to the end of your entry, I had tears in my eyes... Oddly enough, I've been thinking about Egypt for the past week almost nonstop as well, which resulted in me getting one of my pictures from Egypt blown up to a size big enough to put on a wall, AND I started writing a short story titled "4 dollars a night"- about my 2&half days in Luxor among Nubians.
I'll be praying that God will show you where and when He wants you... I wish you with all my heart that you could go back there, because I understand your heart... Unfortunatelly I won't be able to go back for at least another 2 years (school expences won't allow me). But more than Egypt, I miss YOU.
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