Three Boys

On the airplane from NY to Cairo an Egyptian woman sat with her fussy grandchild. A little over a year old he wanted to be held for the entire 12 hour flight. I had a bad seating arrangement; a very tall woman with bronchitis sat behind me her knees jammed into the back of my ramrod straight chair, her head a foot above mine so she could hack on my hair. So I wandered and made Fairy Godmother eyes at Grandmother's baby. I distracted him with the red reading glasses that hang around my neck. At some point during the night Grandmother needed the rest room. She simply walked toward me arms outstretched with this prince of Egypt dangling from her hands. A smile was the only communication needed between her Arabic and my English. I held his dark curls under my chin, patted his back and sang a lullaby.

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On the busy Corniche in Alexandria vendors came at us as we descended our tourist bus to Qaitbay Fort. One boy, probably 12 years old, had some beat up postcards to sell. I've seen beggars in Portugal and in Romania and I know the hustle -- a little dirt on the face, the mother sends the child to beg. But this boy, near the age of my boy, had no shoes on his feet and no mother in sight. I went back to my seat on the bus by the window facing the busy street. The boy walked onto the asphalt and looked up at our windows. By now I was used to the grand display of the Egyptian vendors but this boy put his head down and tapped his mouth with two fingers. I'm not to feed beggars, I'm not to feed beggars, I'm not to feed beggars. In my purse were 2 chocolate chip fiber bars worth 2 Weight Watchers points each. I knew I'd count those points later in the day when I tallied how much I'd eaten. And this boy had no shoes. I'd regret the calories late in the week or worse, end up hauling the bars back home where my husband would scold me for bringing sugary temptation into the kitchen. The boy looked around to see if anyone on the street could see him and he tapped his mouth again. Well at least he'd get 35% of his daily fiber.
In the street a 3 lane road which in typical Egyptian driving is 8 cars abreast, I stood near him and said, "I thought you might enjoy a cookie." I knew he wouldn't understand but if he was was going to be subtle then I'd be casual. I passed the bar palm to palm, as if we were shaking hands, then went back to where I belonged.
I expected nothing. Or I expected a torrent of street children. Instead this prince of Egypt came back to my window with empty wrapper in hands, chocolate smeared into his dirty cheeks and a wide grin. He blew wild kisses to me and I returned them.





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On the East side of the Nile is life on the West side is death. Where the sun rises Pharaohs built cities and temples for daily life and worship. On the setting sun side they built tombs. In Modern Egypt the East side is tourist Egypt: 5 star hotel & swimming pools & antiquities & cars & horse buggies & shops.














On the West Side is delta farmland into Grand Canyon cliffs of Sahara sand stone. From the deck of the ship facing West is the real Egypt: fathers
preparing fishing nets, women washing clothes in the Nile, camels and donkeys, sugar cane harvesting, felluccas sailing, and boys playing footbol. Every game appears to be 5 boys sitting while two keep goal and one shoots.

















On this day, one of the boys was not in the game in fact he apeared to be napping on the banks of the Nile. As our ship went by he roused himself slightly. Dressed in tan Galabeya he saw our crowd taking pictures of his life. Then this prince of Egypt waved his arm in big strokes from the shoulder, "Welllllllllcome! Weeeeellllllllcome to Eeeeeeeeeeegypt! Wellllllllcome!!!



"

Light and Momentary

That the Lord speaks and that He still speaks to me is beyond my understanding. And to the heartache and confusing path He reminds: These are light and momentary troubles! They will not last. I AM eternal.

And then he's asked me to pray this every night this week:
Psalm 20 For the director of music. A psalm of David.
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.

Isn't He just great?

Sick of it yet?

You may be but I'm not. Be heb Masr. I love, love Egypt. And I'm loving my research on Egypt too, almost as much as I loved actually seeing it.

So here is the rest of our day at the Pyramids. The sphinx is, of course, is with the Pyramids and we saw that right after our tour of the 2nd pyramid.




These are my favorite pictures ever really. My mother is a petite lady an she has the habit of cutting off someone's head in every picture she takes. In this one, caught both me and Dad, but managed to slice the head off the Sphinx. Ah well.






I did want to have a record of how close the town is to the Antiquities so I had Dad take this of me at the side of the Sphinx towards the town.



My tour group was constantly amused at my extensive research, writing down of everything Hala our guide said, and then repeating it back to them as we toured each site. Here's Hala at work with Mimi.


Later we drove to Saqqara the site of the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid. Slightly embarrassing to the proud American that I am, Hala told us that the Step Pyramid was built 200 years before the Great Pyramid. Yes, 200 years goes by in a flash. The step pyramid is the oldest structure in the world.



So here, Dad took a picture of me in front of the Step Pyramid.


Then I went off around to the corner to watch the archeologists work. They have just discovered the tomb of a queen that they have been looking for around the Step Pyramid. So while I was there I tried to take a self-portrait of me near the scaffolding. And once again I was caught by the Tourist and Antiquities Police. He insisted on taking me to show me the feet of some statues in the temple area. And of course he wanted to take the picture of me in front of the Step Pyramid. So he got a dollar, a pen and a kiss on the cheek.

Pyramids

Everyone said to me -- oh the pyramids. They aren't that interesting. They're actually boring. And, you won't believe it! There's a 7-11 and a KFC right by them! It's really not as majestic as you think it will be.
Oh AND, they aren't that impressive because in paintings and pictures they look like they are covered in smooth limestone, but they're just big stones.Well, let me just tell you I was overwhelmed, completely. My emotions were so huge and I just wanted to touch the stones and sit quietly and cry. What can you say about seeing something that Napoleon saw? Saladin saw them. Herodotus was there. Maybe Moses. Possibly Mary and Joseph. The Pyramids were antiquities when Jesus was born. What can you say?

Certainly it is good to prepare yourself for the reality of the pyramids. There was at one time limestone covering each of the 3 pyramids, and that was taken to build the mosques and palaces of Cairo hundreds of years ago. Herodotus says that the smooth white limestone casings were covered in carvings and paintings. That seems likely having seen Upper Egypt and Luxor. And now there is only a limestone cap on the 2nd (Khafre's) pyramid. So yes, paintings of the pyramids are of them in their glory and they are now 5,000 years old! And indeed there are people everywhere, especially the vendors who want to sell you postcards and singing camels and camel bone necklace and scarves. And there are men dressed in turbans and galabeya trying to get in pictures with you for a tip. And these vendors have families and the live quite near the pyramids. And they eat KFC.










And there was even something dynamic to that fact for me. People live next to the Sphinx.
I scratched in my notebook: How can anyone say these antiquities don't measure up? They are masterworks of detail, precision and artistry.



I climbed up on to the Great Pyramid but I did not go into it. I did go into the second pyramid (Khafre). So these photos are of my dad & me on the Great Pyramid and then going together into the 2nd pyramid.

It is next to impossible to have a quiet moment in Egypt and especially around any antiquities. Every second you are there, vendors are chasing you trying to get in a picture with you for a tip, selling you trinkets or trying to get you on a camel. Watching over you are the Tourist and Antiquities police. And they need a tip too. But they are like character leads at Disney -- they have taken thousands of pictures of the pyramids and know the right spot. So here are some pictures of Dad & I taken by the Tourist police.


We stooped down and walked into the 2nd pyramid, hunched over down a small tunnel but still walking. This was the workers exit for the workers who 5000 years ago put these structures up. The guides warned me -- your back will hurt, your legs will hurt and there is nothing in the tombs. All has been looted during antiquity or moved to the Cairo museum so there's nothing in there. And they were correct. There was nothing in there. Except stone on stone that a day laborer put up millennium ago. And I walked under tons of stone to stand in a room that they built.

It's damp and humid and very hot inside. And that was in January, and you can probably tell that I was freezing outside.The pyramids are up on a hill in the desert and it was cold. My parents had the great idea that since all three of us are Rollins grads or associates, we should wear Rollins shirts. So they brought shirts -- long sleeve for them and a t-shirt for me. And I didn't listen to Hala, our guide. She begged me to bring my coat, but I thought -- it's the desert, it's Egypt! That's why I ended up with a my scarf around my head, frozen. Except inside the stuffy pyramid. I had a few claustrophobic moments, and was so proud of dad (who had knee replacement a year or 2 ago) and how he climbed up & down the ramps inside the chamber with me. Yes, no stairs, it's a wooden ramp over the stone. And it's one person wide -- so if people coming back up and you are headed down -- it's a little scary. But don't think about the 4 tons of stone over your head, rather smile at your fellow travelers towards the grave and move on.

After we went to the pyramid we were looking everywhere for Mimi (my mom). Couldn't find her but a friendly tourist police who was guarding a tomb of a noble/doctor found us. He was guarding the tomb, which means he could choose people at random to invite in. So we got pens (Egyptians love a pen as a gift) and folded American dollars ready and let him take us inside a tomb. There were still carvings on the wall which we could see and not touch, except he got a pen from Nasa, so okay, go ahead and touch.... And sadly we didn't have a camera with us! But we took a picture of a camel driver coming past that tomb.




All the gentlemen of Egypt are quite taken with my hair and when I'm with my dad they think he's married to a wild young thing. The Tourist police and vendors would come after me wanting to stand with me and look at my hair or tell my dad 'Lucky man!' I got used to this and learned how to rebuff or say 'daughter, daughter' or just let them take a picture with me and give them a tip.

People

Before I left for Egypt my pastor told me that Cairo was his son-in-law's favorite city because loved the people so much. Well sure, he went to work in Cairo and partner with Kasr El Dobra church so he spent time with people. I was going to see monuments. It never occurred to me that I'd come in contact with Egyptians because mostly I thought I'd be isolated in a tour group.
But before I share with you pictures of the places of Egypt, I have to share the people. They are truly the most fun, kind, funny and warm people.
One of the specialties of Grand Circle Travel is their 'home hosted' dinners. You visit with a family and have dinner with them, without your program director/guide so you can have totally candid conversations. Which we did with this great family. Our hostess and my mother chatted a bit, because my mother hosted dinners (2 a month) when we lived in Sweden as diplomats. Dad and our host had something in common -- both retired military men. So here is the General from the Egyptian Army with the US Naval Captain enjoying their retirement.

And here are the daughters -- their daughter with her 8 month pregnant belly and me with 40 years of eating belly. She spoke for the family most of the time, and her daughter put on a little show (she was a toddler and it turns out they are the same world-wide.) We talked about faith and the choice of the veil, which she has chosen and will instruct her daughters but will have to wait and see if they choose the veil or not. "God is gracious," she said, "he will be patient and he will be gracious if you choose later in life. But if you do not choose the veil, well, there is judgment for that." I admired her frankness.




And here's the dear one, Mohammad. Our bartender on the ship, my Dad & I enjoyed his company as we had a nightcap each evening. Mohammad took great care of us, always willing to let me try out my Arabic. His delight was genuine when I would get the 'huchk' sound (as in the beginning sound of Hanukkah). I started simple with 'Omar Khayyam. No I was not discussing the Rubaiyat, it's the name of an Egyptian wine I recommend. I'd try Scheherazade Reds next, and save the Obelisk for desperate times.
There is always, always noise in Egypt. Horns honking. Donkeys braying. And everyone loves to have a sound track. For some reason each afternoon at 3:30pm the background music would turn on up on sun deck only in Egypt the BGM is always one level too loud. So I'd head to the bar and beg them to turn it off. Mohammad and his best friend & co-worker, El Masry (which is his last name because his first name is also Mohammad. I rightly guessed that El Masry means "The Egyptian" and they were both so pleased at my progress with Arabic) would turn it down or turn it off if more folks came down to beg for quiet on the Nile. Then Mohammad would make me something special and I would write at the bar and cool off until I was ready to head up to the sun deck again. I just wish I'd taken pictures of some of the drinks Mohammad made for me. Once I asked for a little Baileys in my coffee and suddenly this frothing latte on ice in a brandy snifter with bits of chocolate on top with green maraschino cherries and a slice of lime appeared. Oh my, lime and chocolate and coffee and Baileys.
It was his birthday today, February 4th. Well, today is tomorrow in Egypt, so I missed it but Happy Birthday Mohammad.



More on the ship: Our server at every meal was Ali. And we loved Ali. One of my favorite qualities of the Egyptian people I met is their genuineness. They are genuinely themselves. Ali is often irritated, and mostly with those he's serving. Each time he would bring a dish he'd stand behind you with a plate and say loudly, 'Excuuuuuuuuuse me!' Because you were in the way of him serving you. But at every meal time there would be red napkins on our favorite table in Ali's station. There were no assigned seats, it was come as you can in the dining room, but a place was always saved for us with Ali.
So here we are in our traditional Egyptian dress, the Galabeya. Mine is very thick Egyptian cotton that I bought in the Khan Al-khalli bazaar in Cairo. My mother is wearing the one she bought on her last trip to Egypt some ten years ago. Ali is wearing quite the get-up and loving it. I'm sure it's the actress in me, but I didn't want a simple Galabeya. Even though I knew I'd only wear it once, I wanted the real deal. Most Galabeya, especially for married women as our guide pointed out, are black. But that turquoise with brown trim in double thick cotton. Well, I couldn't resist and when Mohammad exclaimed, "My queen!" I felt it worth the investment.
This is Megid -- the Captain of the ship. He does not drive the boat, he's more like a hotel manager, he captains the people and this ship has a pilot rather than a captain. But Megid and my father and I had a long and interesting conversation one evening about his faith. Megid is a Copt -- a Coptic Christian. Very close to Greek and Russian Orthodox. The Coptic Churches I visited looked a lot like the Monasteries of Romania. The quite amazing thing to me about the Copts is that their services are conducted in an Ancient language. Like mass used to be in Latin. Only the ancient language the Copts use is not Latin, rather they speak Ancient Egyptian. When the Rosetta Stone was discovered it was the Copts who helped decipher the language, one of which was Greek, one of which was shorthand of the hieroglyphs called Demotic, and one the hieroglyphs. The Copts speak and read Demotic and were able to help archeologists read the hieroglyphs.
Megid said, as he pumped his fist, "The Copts... we are really tough." Yes, to survive all the conquering by other nations and to have the national religion change to Isalm, yes I can see that the Copts are one tough breed.

Let my people go

The adjustment from Egypt is continuing to be very difficult. There are a number of reasons:
1. The change in reality:
5,000 year old pyramids to the Fake Italy.
2. The change in status:
Lounging on a barge on the Nile while men bring me drinks and say things like "My queen" to Henry telling me what he likes best about me is "I happened to you."
3. The change in pace:
Ancient time to Facebook time.
4. The change in perspective:
Everything I do seems silly in comparison to structures and sculpture that have outlasted time and weather and sand and water.


I chide myself that it is possible that the artists who carved the Colossus of Ramses II and the painter who filled in the relief of Nefertari probably had days where they said: What am I doing here? What is the point of this? Shouldn't I be home with my family or doing some great work of my own creativity instead of this small carving in the desert?

Priveleged Life

Being a daughter and a girl is one of the great privileges in life. And here I am getting to be just that. I'm in the home of my father's friend and business partner Mostafa. His gracious wife Dina and his exceptional daughter Yussra hosted us and my parents friends Mary and Danilee for an amazing dinner. My expectation was that we would meet at a restaurant with Amr & Mostafa. Instead we drove through old Cairo from Zamelek Island (where we were staying) up past limestone hills into the suburbs of Cairo to Mostafa's home. When we got out of the car Amr, my father's other friend, greeted him in the traditional Egyptian men's greeting of hugs and kisses. Women greet each other this way too, if they are close friends. But Amr's delightful wife Nellie rushed to meet me and my mother and our friends and we all hugged and kissed. Nellie is a teacher in an French Language school in Cairo and once she found out that I spoke French once upon a time, she proceeded to teach my Egyptian Arabic via French.

I adore these women. What a privilege to meet such diverse personalities all sharing of their gifts in passionate ways. Dina is a doctor and is working to train women to care for themselves in order to care for their families. Yussra is looking at her master's degree square in the face and it was so exciting to be near someone who is in a growing phase of her life. And Nellie's gift for students. I asked Nellie about the people in Cairo. What did she think? Was it being a river city like Paris? Everywhere I went I saw couples holding hands, veiled women in stylish clothes with men gazing into their eyes. Young mothers with children climbing all over them while their husbands gazed at them with devotion. Is it the romance of the river? What did she think?
"It is Egypt. We are so full of passion!"
Indeed.