First Impressions

Well I have to say that my first journey through the city of Cairo, Egypt seemed quite surreal to me. I arrived here in Egypt around midnight Tuesday night (So Wednesday morning, technically) after beginning my journey from Calgary on Monday afternoon. Since this was only my second time ever being on an airplane, I had great difficulties in falling asleep while flying. Because of this, I made it all the way to Wednesday without getting any sleep. So that sets the stage for my arrival in Cairo.

Once in Cairo, Heidi (the other intern) and I were met by John Tucker, the youth pastor at the church we’ll be working with. Along with him were his wife, and a few of the kids from the youth group. They made welcome cards for us and signed them and stuff, so that was pretty cool. They seemed like really fun people and I’m sure they’ll be a blast to work with. But of course, I was running on zero sleep when I met them, so I could just be imagining how cool they were. Haha, just kidding.

The surreal part of the journey began when we got into the car. You see, in Cairo, lines on the road are just a suggestion. Realistically speaking, they mean nothing! Two lanes very easily become four, depending on the widths of the cars. You don’t necessarily drive directly behind the person in front of you, either. Instead you stagger the car so you can see around them and possibly even squeeze by them! As we drove, I couldn’t believe people weren’t crashing into each other one after another. It seemed kind of like watching a herd of cattle get through a gate. You can’t exactly tell the cattle to go two by two; they just kinda do what they want. Such is the case with driving in Cairo.

Another thing I found interesting about the drive to Maadi (the part of Cairo where I will be living) was the scenery along the way. Many of the buildings seemed quite similar to the shabby quality that you see in movies set in Russia: lots of clotheslines and cracked walls and such. The part that made it seem really odd were the palm trees lining the roads. The palm trees made it feel like it should be all luxurious like Hollywood or something, but the buildings in some areas made it look almost like the slums. It was certainly an odd juxtaposition.

It is just after 10am Wednesday morning now, and I’m feeling very sleepy, but not tired enough to sleep. As soon as John wakes up, I think we’re going to go out for lunch, and then the youth group is riding falluccas down the Nile. Falluccas, which I have no idea how to spell, are sailboats that are used on the Nile. I’ll be sure to post some pictures when I get back from all that stuff! So, goodbye for now.