Egypt in reflection

Today there is as much culture to be seen in the museum, which by the way forbids any picture taking, here in the outskirts of the metropolis called Cairo.

Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Perhaps they don’t allow pictures because they want you to use your imagination and instead of looking through your Nokia camera phone lens, you look from within. Maybe they hope you will bring more back home if you have to retell the captivating images and experiences with your own words.

Who knows.



But here from the 38^th floor of your hotel room, as you gaze out, the thick layer of smog that chokes out sneaky sun rays coming through even on the coolest of late summer days, and the deep bellow of the mosque bells calling out a frequent reminder that now is the time for prayer brings your thoughts back to the present.

Each city takes you to another place in history, another moment in your own lifetime. With each noisy uncomfortable bus ride and every monument visit on the schedule you are placed in a span of time that is not only timeless but unforgettable.

 

No matter how many places you have traveled in the world, Egypt reminds you, every single day, that here, is a place you have not yet been.

Living in East Africa

Living in East Africa has its benefits, as well as its set backs. 
 

View of Cairo from above. See the Nile?

Pyramids of Giza.

  

This is a place where modern living meets traditional standards that are ingrained in every passing moment, every daily meal, and each sporadic run-in with a stranger. You go where you have never gone before and expect to expect absolutely nothing, you just live. And in living sometimes wander about, while other times every hour of your day is planned to the fullest extent.

Aeesh. Yumm...

There is so much beauty and mystery in life that we often feel the need to hide behind the white smoke and keep up the façade…well when that façade and the billowy smoke that created with each exhale is actually coming from my shisha water pipe, it may be about time to admit the gig is up.
 

 
 

Egypt is such a magnificent place stuffed full of foul sandwiches and eggplant dips, camel-riding nomads and BMW-driving 17-year olds. Fresh fruit markets line the streets while children run about in dusty clothes and the kind of thong sandals often reserved for foreigners on vacation. Cars toot and screech along the unmarked streets that only a local can circumnavigate and a visitor merely attempt to cross, at best. This place is so magical: the land of Pharaohs and Queens, monarchs and colonists, travelers and militants, students and heiress’, cats and stray dogs.

Sahara Desert.

Introduction

Blogging.

So, I am hesitant to begin this paragraph mostly because I am/have been intimidated by the blogging community. They seem to be a host of strange people that loathe legit human interaction and hide behind Sims characters and phony names because they cannot come face to face with their true personalities in what us non-bloggers call "the real world."

And yet, here I stand, well sit rather, conforming to this trend...using fake names and hiding my true self. Well, only half of that is true. I am a real person.

I love eating and cooking almost equally, which works out well for my host of friends around the world who drop in occasionally for a chat or quick meal or to grocery shop in my kitchen. I value the need to take risks, small ones of course, and like the rush of trying something new.

My ego is a bit fragile, in that, say when I prepare homemade chickpea burgers for the first time, I need to know if you REALLY liked them, otherwise I may not make them again. But I suppose everyone needs social acceptance on some level.

I plan to write about a lot of things: food, history, culture...but mostly I imagine this will be a spectacular outlet for the day I break away from the matrix and run off to live in a log cabin in Alaska. (*shout out to Dick Proenneke) All jokes aside, I am a funny person, funny in the strange obscure way, not the hilarious kind and I LOVE people. People watching, people mocking and such. As with all things, my topics may seem a bit random, and they will be, of course.

This blog is dedicated to my sister, whom I love and believe in.

She will will forever be the hip to my hop.