masalaam misr/Goodbye Egypt

Life tends to become a time warp when you travel to another country for three months. As soon as you are getting adjusted to a new environment, you find yourself packing the bags to go home, wondering where all the time in between ran off to.

And so I survived Egypt--all the moments of exhaustion, incomprehension of language, trash-filled streets and heaps of people. But besides the harder aspects of life here, the positives are what I will return with the most.

Final thoughts:

• I loved Beni Suef, a village and city combined. The endless hospitality of Egyptians who will feed you until you are stuffed beyond memory of ever being hungry in the first place, or will invite you to live with them forever and you know they aren't joking.

• I learned about the patience in Egyptians' blood that gives them the strength to survive a frustrating government and lack of sufficient public services. Watching the hours pass without 'doing anything' in school offices or homes isn't as big a deal anymore for me, since tea is always provided and people want to visit.

• I discovered that I love to teach, and teaching English as a second language is a great way to mix with people of other cultures. Doing charades to explain new words and being able to correct misconceptions about Americans is fun.  Potential future job?...we'll see.

• I exchanged my last Egyptian guineas today, and now cannot buy anymore pomegranates, sweet sesame candies and pasteries, nor felafel sandwiches. I have stuffed my suitcase with all that I can!

• My last week in Beni Suef, I was practically proposed to by one of our fellow English teacher-friends. I think there may be different meanings of the words 'I love you' in Arabic, but regardless it was a big pronouncement. At this point, I was already completely exhausted, and tried to handle the situation in the least awkward manner possible. Later, I thought of the perfect response: I signed a contract with Goshen College that said I wouldn't marry anyone on SST. One of the minor stipulations... 

The SST group is about to have our Last Supper, and all of us are ancy to get on the plane. Time for the next adventure, and waiting to see how this rich time incorporates into the rest of my trajectory. See you soon, inshallah.

p.s. upon return I will either post some photos here, or give a link to another photo site. and I will give an Egyptian greeting (4 kisses) to anyone who won't refuse me :)