Home Sweet Home

This past week was quite an interesting week for many of us here in Cairo. We were paired up with an Egyptian family to spend the week with simply to experience and understand what family life is like here in Cairo. Some of us were paired with Coptic families, other Muslim, some were with middle class families, others with lower income families, and some families had members who spoke some English, others no English at all. I was set up with a middle class Coptic Christian family. I was a little nervous going into it, not knowing anything about the family, and was expecting, rather, dreading the many awkward situations that were bound to come. Well, I did have a few awkward situations at the beginning of the week as I was getting accustomed to what their family life was like and what their expectations of me might be. It turned out to be a really amazing week. Andrew was my contact person, and he was not much older than I am, still in college, and studying Engineering, like 4-5 different types of Engineering. Well, they were a rather laid-back family, lounging around in the evening watching tv and drinking tea. I think they actually watched more American tv than I did in the states. I got to see some popular Egyptian films that had come out recently; I didn’t hardly understand a thing that was going on. They one thing many of us found out in our time at the families was that most Egyptian families have a much later bedtime that we were even used to being in college. Many were up well past two in the morning. I thought I was pretty good in my college days, but they bested me on every level.

The day before I left, Friday, I got to join them for church at a Coptic church out in a more rural area of Cairo. It was a wonderful experience to watch their service that morning, eat with them and their priest afterwards, and then just hang around meeting with Andrew’s friends and listening as they talked and joked — all in arabic — and otherwise napping in the hot sun. It was this day that I felt I really was able to see their family in an environment that is very comfortable and relaxing for them. It was a place I was able to observe them around their friends and the people the know and notice so many similarities between us, more than any difference there might be. Well, as you can expect this made leaving all that much harder, and being a guy who is not great at saying goodbye, I did the best that I could, past on a few gifts, and left. I left knowing I would see them before I left, but not really knowing if I would ever see them when I left Cairo. I owe them a great thanks for their willingness to take me in, and their graciousness and hospitality towards me while I was there.

Other than that, life is still life. I am well on into the semester, contemplating upcoming papers, behind on my Arabic homework (it’s going to be a late night tonight), and getting ready for Dahab and Mount Sinai this weekend. We get to climb Mount Sinia for a sunrise, and then travel to the arguably the most laid-back beach town of Egypt. Dahad is probably every Californian guy’s dream place in Egypt. There we will be lounging on the beach, snorkeling, hopefully I will be able to SCUBA dive, and just enjoying a great weekend around the Red Sea. Despite all the fun and adventure, I am beginning to feel the strain of being in Egypt. I am finding myself day-dreaming about my own house in Ohio, the days with my family and friends, and realizing the things that I miss about my own home. I think living with another family will do that. You notice in their home all the great things you like about your own.

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