The wake-up catch-up

Every so often, I'll finish a blog leaving something unsaid.  Last night, I knew that my ramblings were getting a little lengthy, and the hour was getting late, so I figured I'd leave out this part of last night's conversation.  Unfortunately, I woke up after far too short a night's sleep and my mind went back to one of the questions the manager asked me last night.

"What do Canadians think of Egypt?"

I started by confirming my impressions of Egypt to date.  The people are incredibly helpful and so far I'm thrilled to be here.  I love the history here and the museum was incredible.  At this point he stopped me and asked me to redirect my thoughts towards my impressions before I got here both of Egypt and the Middle East.

With apologies to my grade 9 geography teacher

I would anticipate that most people's immediate thoughts would gravitate towards the following:

• Geographic features:  Nile, Desert, sand, Suez
• Cities:  Cairo, Alexandria
• Exports:  Oil
• Monuments:  Great pyramids, Sphinx
• Historic Figures:  Cleopatra, Tutankhamen, Ramses
• Movies:  Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Taylor
• Zahi Hawass:  (gets his own category)
• Politics:  The Revolution
• Artifacts:  Hieroglyphics, mummies, Rosetta Stone

Middle East?

Given that our conversation was more philosophical than superficial, I didn't share these initial thoughts; but I realized that in my mind, Egypt was a country without a category.  It came as quite a surprise to me ... and I'm glad that my Liberal Arts training helped develop my "where did this thought come from and what am I going to do with it" skills so that I could communicate this concept with some hastily constructed justifications.  When I read the BBC, it still feels strange to be clicking on the Middle East when I'm looking for articles about Egypt.  Iran and Iraq ... definitely part of the Middle East.  But Egypt ... it feels like a country of its own.  I know that Egypt is part of Africa, but I think of Africa as those parts south of the Sahara.  Overall, the best description I could come up with is an Arabic Athens.  Egypt has that Mediterranean feel to it in my mind and that separates it from the other African and Middle Eastern countries.  But, there's a little too much sand to place it totally within the Mediterranean category.

We have always treated Egypt as a source of awe and amazement (which is probably why the revolution seemed to come as such a shock).  I remember when the Tutankhamen artifacts came to the Royal Ontario Museum; the tour spawned a two-year Egyptian art pop-culture fad.  I can't think of a movie based in Ancient Egyptian History that wasn't a success:  Cleopatra (and upcoming remake), Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy.  Until recently, any press that I can remember has always been sympathetic to Egypt.  Unfortunately, the best description of how Canadians feel about Egypt escaped my mind at the time - when I told people that I was moving to Egypt, the vast majority of people either wanted to visit Egypt or knew someone who had been and loved it.  And with a sly grin, I now get to say, "I'm here."

Well, for now I'm preparing to return to my battle with the greedy washing machine.  I'm hoping that they're able to repair it on Monday as the contests of wills when I'm trying to open the door is getting tiresome.  As school starts in three days, it's definitely time to get my prep done and lessons prepped.  And depending on how my day goes, tonight may end up being one of my geeky tourist moments as I've yet to take any photos of Cairo at night.