I had a delightfully relaxing weekend. Saw No Strings Attached, went to a friend's fantastic birthday party, ate a delicious galette des rois from Payard, saw The Dilemma on Sunday, strolled through a gorgeous snow covered Central Park, followed by Downton Abbey. It was all quite fun but what's been on my mind has been this amazing call for democracy in Egypt, and Tunisia for that matter.
Years ago, I went to Egypt with my parents for vacation and it was there that I ate pigeon for the first time. There were lots of discoveries on that trip, the pyramids, the Nile, gekkos on the windows of our hotel room in Luxor, so many tombs, such intense heat. Everywhere we went in Egypt people said welcome home, they said it so much that I actually began to feel at home. I was a horribly moody teenager during that first trip to Egypt but it's a country whose people and beauty and made an impression on me nonetheless. The second time I visited Egypt was to see my friend Ali during a vacation that was spent half in Cairo and half in Paris. On this trip, I was an adult, just barely at 23, traveling on my own, legal and saw the city in a totally different light. Even though I was there during Ramadan, the night was pregnant with opportunities for adventure. It was so much fun. There were so many people to see. The energy reminded me of New York City, kind of non-stop and cosmopolitan in the same way. I used my newly learned beginner's Arabic whenever I took a cab and managed to have a conversation with a taxi driver about the makes of all the cars on the road and the countries where they were from.
I have fond memories of that trip. With Ali and a guide we cantered on skinny horses around the pyramids at sunset. That image is ingrained in my head forever. I also remember seeing a dead horse, one that I think was decapitated, in the neighborhood of the pyramids. At night, we'd go to a little cafe/restaurant and eat something delicious and finish the meal off by smoking the best smelling, best tasting apple tobacco in a hookah. During the day, while Ali worked I wandered the city, took the metro and went to the Coptic Christian part of town, went to the National Museum, went to the souk, walked and walked.
It's amazing to see the images from Cairo over the past days, to recognize the city but not really. It's incredible to see change happen, to see the faith in its ability to happen, the hope and even the anger. It makes me want to go back to Egypt, back to the beautiful Middle East and it makes me want to learn Arabic again, or vastly improve my Arabic so that I can understand all the signs and chants.
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