His Story

On the eve of the eve of my departure, I could hardly contain the joy I found exuding from my spirit (as evidenced in the look on my face in the above photo). It's been an incredibly difficult year, and my exodus is upon me. But before I go, some wiseacring about the year behind me...

Having come to Egypt almost on a whim (that's too long a story to add here), my time here might have been marked before I even arrived. This fact--that I turned my life upside down in a two week period of time just to come to Egypt to teach--sounded the first note in a sordid and dischordant octave that has been my year here. I become almost physically ill when I think about all the insanity that has befallen my professional life here this year; but I will think of it here for the sake of you readers out there. (Actually, so much craziness went on this year, I'm finding it hard to make a starting point on this point. I think I'll just make a top-ten list for ya!)

10. (admittedly not a professional matter) Our Christian housekeeper greedily begging and pestering for us to give her all manner of items before we leave the country for good (i.e. shoes, clothes, kitchenware, school supplies, electronics, etc.). Topped by the fact that she definitely stole several albeit inconsequential items such as hand soap and an extention chord.

9. Second term of school starting with an impromptu field trip to the Citadel (this one was just dropped in my lap when I got to school that day!)

8. A student poking a hole in the bottom of my water bottle with a compass point without me noticing Of course, he lied about this multiple times later, despite many reliable witnesses. (stupid punk)

7. Having a taxi driver preach and proselitize to us about the necessity of converting to Islam lest we burn for all eternity in a fiery pit.

6. Being accused and blamed for both punching and tripping a student. (police involvement was threatened for one of these.)

5. Having to change a student's grade because the parents called and complained.

4. (a general one) Having my salary used as a threat against me if I didn't do some irrelevant task for the school.

3. Being one game away from winning the softball tournament in the league I played in, and then losing it in a shameful fashion. (The other team had to beat us twice in a row to win the tournament, which they did on one day, each game decided by no more than two points.)

2. Getting a bout of the Pharoah's Curse two days before leaving Egypt for good! (blasted country just won't let me forget about this one)

1. Watching some excellent students (and my best one) get terribly disappointed at not being able to participate in a spelling bee because the bus driver got us there almost two hours late! (This was a result of the transportation manager at the school completely dropping the ball with directions and planning. We drove for over three hours looking for the spelling bee site, wound up way out in the desert by the Darshur pyramid--a trip which should have taken no more than one and a half hours. This experience was the most crushing as an educator, and a prime indicator of the essential problem in this culture, or at least the strata of it that we taught in this year. The problem being, namely, that those who are responsible and hard working tend to get punished for these very virtues.)

And so, it is with little regret that I leave this land for what probably will be the last time. However, the year has not been filled with only non-positive experiences. I'll sum up:

Around September, I became friends with a shop owner in a huge mall here in Cairo, a souvenir shop for oils, papyrus paintings, statues of all kinds, etc. He and all his employees truly welcomed me into their world; I graciously entered. Over the course of the year I have spent many many hours just hanging out in the shop, talking with the employees or Saber, the owner, or with customers, or watching the painter paint, or the metal engraver engrave metal, etc. I became friends with all these guys (and one gal). So when I left the shop for the last time the other night, these folks were genuinely sad that I was leaving not to return. And the biggest hug I got was from the guy who spoke the least amount of English (and consequently with whom I conversed the least this year). He really bear hugged me, and hesitated with letting go. I walked out of there feeling like a part of a family of friends in the truest sense. My heart was touched, and I shall take that with me along with all the other madness touched on above.

It's been a pleasure being a guest in Mr. Flinn's blog here. Hope you enjoyed!

Bill's greatest roommate ever,

Alex