Farewell

Today is my last day in the office at Maadi Community Church. Tomorrow I hand in my keys, my phone, and my bike. Most of the students in our youth group have already left the country for the summer. My sister, Felicia, and my friend, Matt, are both here right now. On Sunday we will begin a journey through the lands of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. We're hoping to kick off our journey by climing Mount Sinai and watching the sunrise. I will probably not be blogging during this journey. I will, however, be carrying a fish-leather journal that I hope to fill with writing over the next month. If you ever want to read it, I guess you'll have to come to Calgary! I will include pictures taken by my sister's new Canon EOS Digital Rebel. It's time to say goodbye, to you my faithful readers, and to all the friends I have made here in Egypt. I think goodbyes are overrated, though. I'd rather just leave, be gone for a while, and maybe return another day and pick up where we left off. So, with that said and done, catch you later. Maybe.

Uncle Ryan: For Real

I know that when you see a blog titled "Uncle Ryan" have come to expect to hear a witty baby-bashing commentary from me. Although I would love to continue in that manner, I think that my hormone-filled sister would probably shoot me if I said anything bad about her baby. Although it is against my principles to post pictures of babies on my blog, you can visit Felicia's blog to see pictures of the baby. Interestingly enough, this story made its way to the local English newspaper here in Egypt. Here is a snippet of the story:

A Fear of Yesteryear

Have you ever seen a movie called, “The Shawshank Redemption”? It’s a classic from 1994 about a man who is sent to jail after being convicted for the murder of his wife. I admit the subject of this film is a little bit darker than, say, “The Wizard of Oz”, but it’s still a good movie nonetheless. I haven’t seen the movie for a couple of years now, but a few days ago I was remembering a particular scene from it. The scene came to my mind because I think that my feelings currently parallel those of the character in the scene. In this scene one of the characters, named Brooks Hatlen, receives early parole from his prison sentence. Brooks had spent the majority of his adult life in prison and so the thought of being released from it scared him. He had grown so used to the prison culture. It became his way of life. He didn’t know how to function in the world outside the walls of the prison.

So how do Brooks’ feelings correspond to mine? Well, as I near the end of my time here in Egypt I have begun thinking back to how different Canada is from Egypt. I’ve grown so used to the friendly, laid-back culture of Egypt that I’m sort of scared to return to the mile-a-minute stressed out culture of Canada. As I was trying to fall asleep last week, I envisioned myself returning to Canada. The first thing I did after getting picked up from the airport was to purchase a Slurpee from 7-11. Since I had just gotten back to Canada, I didn’t have any Canadian cash on me... so I pulled out my debit card and proceeded to pay for my Slurpee with it.

Just then, the man in line behind me burst out, “You’re going to pay for that with a credit card!? We’re going to be waiting in line all day just so you can buy a Slurpee with your freaking credit card!?”

Looking back, had I not been so startled I probably would have pointed out that it was a debit card, not a credit card. In reality, though, (the reality of my daydream, that is) I was so stunned by the rudeness of this man that I stood there speechless. How is it that only twenty-four hours prior I was in a culture with friendly, laid-back people, and now I was in a culture where people only make eye contact if they’re glaring at you as they hurriedly rush by?

I took a big gulp of my Slurpee, looked at the man and said, “It’s good to be home.” I was promptly greeted with a throbbing ‘brain-freeze’ from the Slurpee.

Of course, the daydream wasn’t without hope. I went on to imagine that an acquaintance of mine entered the store as I was about to leave and loudly welcomed me back to Canada. The grumpy man listened to our conversation as he paid for his food. I told briefly of my time in Egypt and what the culture there was like. As the grumpy man walked towards the door he stopped by us and apologized for being so impatient with me. He said he didn’t realize my circumstances and had no right to react the way he did. I thanked him for apologizing and we both left the store.

So what’s the moral of the story? Grab change from the car before going to buy a Slurpee. I’m sure this daydream was exaggerated (although I have had similar incidences while purchasing a Slurpee), but the truth is I am sort of reluctant to going back to a civilization that is so ordered and organized. I guess it’ll just take some getting used to, just like Egypt did. Does McDonald’s do home delivery in Canada yet?

The Month of the Party

I'm thinking of renaming my blog The Lazy Blogger because I'm always too lazy to blog these days. It's too hot to sit around typing on a computer. It's been hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 F)for the past week. I'm having troubles sleeping because of the heat. Anyways, enough complaining. Here's what I've been up to the last few days: partying! Don't get too envious, though, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. On June 2nd, the seniors at the American high school here in Maadi graduated (The graduation ceremony took place in front of the Pyramids of Giza). Following graduation, pretty much every senior has to throw a graduation party. Since we are dedicated youth workers, we had to grace each senior with our presence at each respective party. From 2 pm to 10 pm on Friday we were hanging out at different parties. I know I may hide it well, but I'm actually not a huge fan of parties. Being social is fairly exhausting for me because I am naturally an introvert. So, after wearing myself out on Friday, Saturday came and I partied even more! First with some high schoolers (it was our small group's end of the year party), and then at the Tucker's going away party. This weekend I have another party or two to look forward to. I had no idea Christians partied so hard. I thought all we did was have potlucks and fellowship events. Maybe that's just a Baptist thing.

Now, if you haven't completed The Monson Quiz (Actually I forget what I called it), then do so now!

I'm Still in Egypt

After living in Cairo for ten months, I find myself getting used to all of the things around me that once seemed so odd. The once insane traffic is normal. The women walking around in berkas (fully veiled clothes), the men walking around in galabayas. It's all so normal to me now. I leave my house and pass a man selling fresh vegetables that are on a cart pulled by his horse. Around the corner I swerve around a donkey and his cart as I make my way towards the walkover. Nothing out of the ordinary here. But every once in a while things happen that cause me to realize that I'm still in a foreign country. Yesterday I noticed a couple of those instances.

The first one occurred while I was getting my bike fixed (yes, AGAIN). As I walked up to the bike shop, I noticed a car alarm going off. Nothing too odd there. But as I sat at the shop for the next hour, waiting for my bike to get fixed, the car alarm continued blaring... For the entire hour! Nobody did anything about it. Nobody seemed to mention it. They just kept going on about their day. I rode by there later on in the day and the alarm was still going. I imagined what the situation would be like if this happened in a more Western nation:
After 5 minutes people would be cursing to themselves about it, and grumbling about it to the people around them. After 10 minutes a crowd would gather around the vehicle and people would try to figure out how to disconnect the alarm. After 15 minutes, someone would come along with a sledge hammer and beat the tar out of the car until it stopped. Or at the very least they would shatter a window, pop the hood, and disconnect the alarm. A tow truck might even turn up and impound it as well.

Not in Egypt, though. People just went about their business as the streets echoed with this car alarm. The best part about this whole ordeal was the car that was equipped with the alarm. It was a beat up white car probably from the early 80's. The alarm probably cost more than the car.

Now, onto the second incident that reminded me I'm still in Egypt. As I rode home for dinner I made my way to the walkover that leads over the Metro tracks. I made it half way up the walkover and then got caught up in a huge traffic jam of people, motorbikes, and donkeys. In fact, it was a donkey that caused this whole mess. The donkey was so overloaded with watermelons that when it came down the ramp it collapsed under the weight of the load and refused to move. There I was, on a walkover packed with Egyptians and delivery bikes, and before me lay an injured donkey blocking the way. It's situations like these that remind me I'm still in Egypt and not just another copy of a Western country. I think I'll miss all these crazy adventures when I return to Canada.