So I'm not a political person normally as my much more politically savvy friends can tell you. But the events over the past couple of weeks in Egypt have really gotten to me. As any of you who have been following this from the beginning know, the beautiful fabric sitting beside me getting all sequin-ed up came from the fabric market in Cairo. I went through Tahrir Square less than a year ago, going to the fabric market from lunch at the old AUC campus right off the Square, and crisscrossed it a few more times that afternoon hurriedly shopping for the last few souvenirs for my family - and myself - before heading back to Kerry's house to carefully cram it all into my suitcases and head to the airport for my (very) late night flight home. But of course that was not the only time we had at least gone through the Square. We decided against going to the Egyptian Museum as we had to prioritize and there were other sites and museums that we thought were more important/more relevant to the "theme" of the trip that organically popped up. But we still walked/rode past it many times and talked about it as a possibility if we ended up with more time. And the first day, after spending the morning in Zamalek at a Coptic Church, we walked (most of the way) back to Kerry's stopping to take a couple pictures on the Kasr al Nile Bridge, because as Kerry told me, you can't visit Egypt and not take a picture or two of yourself with the Nile in the background and where better than on a gorgeous bridge over the river.
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| The bridge - aka pretty lions |
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| Me on the bridge |
I'm pretty sure that I never told Kerry that this trip was the best vacation of my life. I may have traveled Europe for a year (with annoying breaks for school ;-) but it got me there so I can't really complain) but traveling alone is no where near as fun as spending the time with an amazing friend and her awesome friends. Not to mention getting to see a friend from France and catch up with him. He took us out to dinner and then we went to the Corniche to stroll and people watch.
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| Dinner out with Rushdy |
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| We met a couple taking their wedding photos on the Corniche and Rushdy's brother asked them if I could take a picture with them. |
It has been very sad and surreal to see all these places looking the way they do now and to recognize the names of the neighborhoods in the news reports, especially the areas we spent the most time. But it wasn't the places, as amazing as they were, that made this the best vacation ever, but the people. Kerry, of course most importantly, and I have thanked God every day that she was not there this year, not caught up in this and not in danger; but also her roommate, who I spent a couple days alone with while Kerry was in class; all of her friends that I got a chance to meet; Rushdy, my Egyptian friend from my study abroad in France; and his brother. But also all the people we interacted with who were friendly and welcoming - from the people of the church in Zamalek who did their best to talk to me even through the language barrier, to the fabric seller who invited us to come into the stall/shop and sit out of the sun while he measured and cut my fabric, to the Coptic young lady who gave me her own prayer scarf when we asked her where we could find a store that sold them, to Kerry's neighbors and the vendors in her neighborhood who always had a smile for me. They were the friendliest of the people from all the countries I have visited and that certainly makes the trip. And while I thank Kerry entirely for offering me the chance to experience this amazing country, I have to give Rushdy some of the credit. I spent the 2001 - 2002 school year in France and was supposed to fly out on 9/11 (yes that one), so we ended up having to delay our entry into France and as such had no decompression time between getting to the country and starting class. Needless to say I was rather shell-shocked and unwilling to trust anyone of Arab background when classes started, and while that could have been that I avoided them all year and stuck to other groups (and some people in the CIREFE program did that - sticking only to people with similar backgrounds to themselves). But Rushdy and a couple of the other Middle Eastern students did not give up on befriending me, and they gave me the space I needed to process and were the first ones there for me when I finally lost it - in school of course. Were it not for Rushdy showing me the compassion of his culture and country I may not have considered going no matter what Kerry said about it.
So I have worried about him and his family. And while I was able to talk to him that first week, rather early on, and he said that he was ok and was not getting involved and his family was not either, I still worry that he will be in the caught in the crossfire or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And reading that one of Kerry's friends, who I had met had had some trouble, makes me wonder what has happened to the rest of the kind people I met while visiting her. Did they get involved? Are they hurt or worse? Answers I will never know on people I probably would never have seen again. But I still wonder. As I have said before it is the people that are most important to me when I travel. There are beautiful monuments and landscapes in every country but it is the people that make it special. I am sad for the families of all who have died and I pray for those who were injured and for the country to right itself. But I don't know enough to have an opinion on what should happen. All that I know is what Kerry has been explaining to me and what Rushdy spoke of on the phone. I don't want to try to formulate an opinion on what should happen in their future - but I do believe that it should be up to them alone as a nation and the rest of the world's governments should back off and let them, particularly ours because if they can't successful run our own country why do they think they have the right to tell others what they should do (I have almost no faith in our government anyway so I don't trust their evaluation of the situation - not the way I trust my friends'). I don't want to be revisiting my friends' thoughts so I will personally refrain from saying anything about that future but I do have to say the reports of Christians and Muslims working together, helping each other and stating that it takes all of them to be Egypt gives me more hope for humanity - if we could all put aside those differences that aren't important at the end of the day and all work together the whole world would be much better off.
I hope things improve quickly and that it doesn't to get any worse, and that these wonderful people get the freedoms they are looking for in whatever way will be best for them - which only they can determine.
