Things/people I will miss (immensely)

My beautiful Middle Schoolers. So fun-loving. See post below.

My boab Rabeya. We barely understood each other, but he was so kind and giving and gracious. I hope that he knows how much I appreciated him and how much I valued his care of building 1/3.

lemon-mint juice. Whoever realized that freshly squeezed lemons/limes went with mint, you are a genius.

Cost and availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Mangos, pomegranates, strawberries oh my!

Mohamed the fruitman. Even when I moved away from the fruit stand, he still sent delivery boys to my apartment, and still made sure I was looked after.

The church of St. John the Baptist, Ma'adi. Never have I been part of a church that knows and understands its situation and mission so well. Let by Paul-Gordon and Ben, I have been pushed, fed and nurtured and will miss Friday morning church so much.

Friends from the church of St. John the Baptist, Ma'adi. I should write a paragraph about each of the wonderful people who have become such dear friends.

Revolution and the pervasive national pride shown afterwards. Finally Egypt has something to be proud of. I swear you could see Egyptians walking all a bit taller in March this year.

Riding in taxis everywhere. This has been the source of two years of entertainment. Negotiating, arguing about prices, giving directions in half-English and half-Arabic, but almost always arriving safely and in one piece, being spared the need to navigate Cairo's streets on my own.

A constant sense of “What's going to happen next” whenever leaving the door of apartment 12. (Although this could also be put in the previous Things I will Not Miss post as well).

Delivery everything. When the above-mentioned sense of adventure became too much, I did not have to leave apartment 12. Everything can be delivered.

Being cold at 25 C and wearing a scarf and a light sweater

Being sick of sun, and wishing for a cloudy day.

Nadia the housekeeper. I regret not hiring her until January of this past year, but have absolutely loved the feeling of coming home to a spotless apartment once a week. I wonder if she will immigrate to Canada???

Being the centre of attention. People stare and point, and I have grown used to it.

Shokran, ya Masr, for all of you have been.

Things I will not miss...

I want to end with a positive, happy list about things that I will miss about Egypt. But in the mean time, there are several things which I will NOT miss, that I am ready to leave behind.

• Harassment. Verbal. Physical. Emotional. Never have I been touched, stared at or made fun of the way I have here. It is demeaning, difficult and hard to handle. From what I hear, I've not even had the worst of it. I've never been groped, nor has a man ever masturbated in front of me. I have, however, been told I “have big boobs,” that I was “mozah” (Hot!), and been asked repeated in a taxi “fuck me? Fuck me?” I'm done with you, men of Cairo.

• The dirt. I haven't had clean feet in 2 years.

• The traffic. Sitting for hours and moving inches. Usually the reason is puddles covering deep, deep potholes. Sometimes it is people who cannot drive, sometimes it is diesel shortages.

• The traffic part 2: commuting to work on a school provided bus has been a great way to read a lot and listen to a lot of CBC podcasts, but I'm pretty done with spending 11 hours a day with AIS colleagues, and talking about work far too often.

• The blatant inequalities of day-to-day life here. Although I'm not naive enough to consider my own country perfect or without its problems, I have on more than one occasion been embarrassed for Egypt and it's inequalities, and lack of social systems to offer aid. And then when I remember that I am usually part of or exacerbating the problem, I become deeply ashamed and realize this is one of the reasons it was time to go.

• Going to three different grocery stores to find what I want/'need' to cook with. And then, opening it to find it stale and not edible because it has been on the shelf for 3 years after being imported on a ship via the Mediterranean.

• Saltines. The only cracker available in Egypt.

• Water bottle showers. Waking up and not having water.

• Brownout season. It's a season, right up there with the “very hot” season.

• Crappy, slow, or non-existent Internet connections.

For all it's trials, tribulations and exhaustion, this country has given me its best and worst, and through it all an adventure. Shokran, ya Masr.

Turkey

Turkey has been in the news a lot lately, at least in comparison to the ever changing Middle East. Many commentators and analysts are using this European country as an example of what a secular Islamic state could look like.

Last week I headed with a dear friend and two of her guests for some travel time through Istanbul and then on my own to Cappadocia.

After learning to pair things like the call to prayer and women wearing coverings with things like disorganization, harassment and seemingly backwards ways of doing things (and a million positives as well) Turkey was a surprisingly different place.


There was still not a single place where you could avoid the call the prayer (including our hotel room at 4:15AM!). There were beautiful, huge, impressive mosques everywhere. However, Istanbul was a city that moved, and worked. Public transit ran on time, people left me alone, for the most part, and the food was delicious.


After spending 3 days in Istanbul I flew to Kayseri, and then drove for an hour to the Cappadocia region. The region is famous for its magnificent rocks and what the locals call "fairy chimneys." Three volcanoes erupted many many years ago, and as the sand and rock eroded, the region was left with beautiful hills and valleys. I slept in a cave, and spent two days hiking the region. I could have stayed longer.