My Egypt adventure

Cairo University Administration Building

In 2010 I was awarded a 9-moth Fulbright grant to go to Alexandria, Egypt to conduct research at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina--the New Library of Alexandria-- and to teach classes and seminars there. I knew immediately that this would be a great adventure and after talking it over with son and husband, we decided to go as a team.  The prospect of living in the city established by Alexander the Great, of visiting the pyramids and floating down the Nile was tantalizing.  Preparations for the trip took a few months, and we finally reached Alexandria in the fall of 2010. 

After arriving at our destination, the first priority was to set up house in an unfamiliar environment.  We had to learn where to shop for food, how to find a school for my son, how to get our computers up and running and do all those little things that make life possible and that back home we just take for granted.  Every day was an adventure and brought countless new experiences.  We were strangers in a strange land and had to make the best of it.

Our apartment was located in a very comfortable area of town, very near the sea, good restaurants and St. Stefano, a huge complex consisting of a hotel, shopping mall, grocery store, coffee shops a cinema and much more.  Countless shops, bakeries, pharmacies vegetable stands that lined nearly every street in the neighborhood satisfied our daily shopping needs.  We were located several miles from my son’s school and from the library where I was going to spend much of my time, so transportation became an issue.   The school we had selected for my son had a bus service that picked him up in the morning and brought him back after school.  For other transportation needs we relied on the local taxi service and public transport in the form of an old tram line that connected us with the downtown area. 

Out first impression of Egypt was a combination of astonishment and awe. Egypt gives a new meaning to the term ‘overpopulation’ and urban congestion.  Great throngs of people crowded the streets of the city day and night.  In fact, much of the social life and business was conducted after dark.  The city did not turn in until three in the morning.  We quickly had to adjust to the new life style, which included an afternoon siesta that helped compensate for the sleepless nights.

The other overpowering impression was the hospitality and kindness of the people we had met.  This can be neither overstated nor expressed in meaningful terms.  People greeted us each day as we left our building, strangers would offer directions if we seemed lost, strike up a conversation on the tram and generally go out of their way to help.  Since people spend much of their time in the outdoors, this includes eating and drinking tea which seems to be the national pastime. Countless time we were invited to tea or offered food by strangers.  We were made to feel comfortable and safe, even after the world around us began to spin out of control, as it did soon after we arrived.

It all started on New Year’s Eve.  The city was alive as people partied all around and we watched the fireworks exploding all around.  The next morning I received a call from a colleague at the library. “Don’t go out anywhere.  There was a terrorist attack.  A Coptic church near you was bombed last night.”  This came as a shock, since nothing like this had happened here in the past.  We were in shock, as was the rest of the city.  This set the tone for the remainder of our stay in Egypt.  Our carefree days of wondering around the city were severely curtailed.

The rest of January was a busy time.  I worked at the Bibliotheca, giving seminars and starting my research project.  The memory of January 1 had begun to recede when the phone rang again.  This time, a colleague from the library warned about demonstrations that were planned for the next day and suggested that we should stay off the streets.  We spent most of January 25 indoors, watching the first day of what came to be knows as Arab Spring, on Television.

During the next week we heard gunfire in the neighborhood, were poisoned by tear gas, saw the neighborhood police station go up in flames, watched tanks and personnel carriers rumble down our street, and heard ambulance sirens screaming constantly.  We lost our phone and Internet connections. Our only source of news was the BBC and some other English language stations. The situation remained tense and we had no inkling of what was to come next.  Our Egyptian neighbors and acquaintances took good care of us, and continued to reassure us that we would be fine.  Street protests went on for more than a week and did not seem to be letting up.  After a few days we received a call from the Fulbright officer from Cairo instructing us to leave Egypt as soon as possible.  We were fortunate the get a flight out of Alexandria in just a few days.  We returned to winter weather and thoughts of what could have been had we stayed.

As the situation in Egypt stabilized, we were given the opportunity to go back and without much hesitation we returned to our old digs a month later.  Our flat was still there and the neighbors were very happy to see us again.  The rest of our stay consisted of more work for me and a bit of travel for all of us.  We flew down to Luxor to visit the famous Valley of the Kings and the temples of the pharos.  We took short trips to Cairo and visited the Sphinx and the pyramids.  Back in Alexandria, my son took every opportunity to visit the ancient sites there, including the Roman amphitheater and ancient cemeteries scattered around the city.   We swam in the sea and took a little boat tour of the harbor.  Before we knew it, it was time to return.  I wrapped up my work at the Alexandria Library and we headed home. As we were leaving Egypt, the whole experience seemed somehow unreal.  We returned rich in memories and new friendships.