Final answer

This is the voice of KC, the quiet half of the Americans in Cairo. Tiffany asks me why I don’t post more to this blog, and the answer is that I rarely feel like I have that much to share. That may sound a bit silly, since I too spent the last year rebooting my life over on the Left Coast with a healthy dollop of scars and bruises to show for it. However, when I Skype with Tiffany or read her blog posts, I often reflect to myself that the ups and downs of my life in California are more run-of-the-mill and predictable than those of Egypt. The incidence of (in no particular order of importance) shouting, camels, shouting at camels, being shouted at by camels, and cancelled flights (see other blog posts) is far higher… and far more likely to cause someone to get hurt. I just hope it’s not us.

We’re currently driving back from the new campus, and as a case in point, I just saw some dude sweeping the sand off the highway. In the grand universal scheme of things, I think that’s on par with digging holes just to fill them in again – except that the holes are in the middle of a firing range, and the guns are firing ultra-deadly “Egyptian Driver” bullets.

In a strange bookend to our two-year love affair with Egypt, Tiff and I trundled around the New Campus today, her for the last time, I for the first. Quite frankly, I was astonished at the progress since we arrived in Cairo two years ago, and in many ways, anyone involved can and should be very proud of the accomplishment. Tiff asked me what I would miss most about Egypt, and my response was the opportunity to be freshly amazed every day that I walk around the city. However, I wonder how long it takes for that feeling to dull into a sense of complacency about your surrounds, and whether one truly finds happiness in that familiarity.


Tiffany will experience much the same thing, I imagine, once she arrives back on American soil. We’re going to have to do something about the yelling, but I think she can be placated by a great draft beer, and a heaping plate of bacon-wrapped bacon. I’m glad we’re relocating to somewhere that should be equally absorbing to explore, but I can feel a poignant sense of loss everytime Tiffany goes somewhere for the last time, or says goodbye to a friend or colleague that has enveloped her life here for the past two years. Yesterday, Tiffany started to feel sick, and today she has a bit of a fever. On top of that, she burned her hand and got electrocuted. This country has managed to get in a few licks, but I’m hopeful that we’ll both end up wanting a little bit more as we fly over Giza one last time.