Never give up on Egypt.

This happened three days ago during school when I was excused from class for an interview and the people amazed me! From the amount of likes i got on Facebook for posting this I believe its a good read and a great first post! :) Let me know what you think by commenting, stay classy :*


I had an interview with 5 elder adults full of life, they seemed fascinated by just the fact that I am Egyptian, that I have lived through the revolution, that I moved from continent to continent and back, out of all of their reactions to my responses to their questions, one stood out to me the most, left me day dreaming all day in fact.

This one lady who said her job had to deal something with ‘multi-cultural affairs’ asked me from where exactly in Egypt I was from, with this delightful grin on her face. I replied 'Alexandria :)' just hoping they knew the main cities in Egypt. The women’s hands had burst into the air, her smile immense, as she shouted 'Iskandariyya!' with strong vibrant passion. My heart skipped a beat, and before I was able to question myself whether she actually just exclaimed 'Alexandria!' in Arabic. She continued... "That is my favorite place in the w-o-r-l-d! The most beautiful city I have ever been too!”. Her hands fell back on the table as she leaned forward and gazed at me as if I were the city of Alexandria. I think the man on my right, Brian, felt ashamed that he haven’t been because he immediately added "As a diplomat I traveled a lot as well and the closest I got to Egypt was Tunisia..." The only thing that has been coming out of my mouth since we started this conversation was 'Really?!’ The woman said "well when I visited I meet Nasser and chatted with him a lot." Smiles exchanged around the table when fireworks continued going off in my head. Nasser? The President? "What was the name of that artiest? I love her! om? om...?” At this point I did not know what would happen to me if she was making reference to the great Om Kalthoum. 'Om Kalthoum?' I asked hesitantly. "YES! Om Kalthoum!" And even oh so proper Brian added "Ohhh, Om-Kalthoum! ^_^". 'Woah, I love Om Kalthoum!' I exclaimed. "Her music is very old now but it's gold, she is THE best artiest in history!" I had to pause to absorb what was happening all in, keep in mind I was not walking into this meeting expecting to talk about anything related to Egypt.
"Wow, I love that you love Alexandria." I said.
"How could I not?" She smiled. "So tell me how has Alexandria been? The Citadel? How is it like now?"
I felt like she wanted me to paint her a picture for her or like she was ready to be taken back in time to her visit in Alex by a story I would tell her, and then I thought to myself about all the negativity I have been hearing about Egypt from my friends now, the ‘Ugly Truth’ everyone calls it. I was afraid to tell her "Oh well it kinda sinks right now", I didn't want to wipe of that genuine smile on her face…
"Well since the Revolution things have gotten really bad honestly..." I admitted.
"Well yes it’s a changing period now" she said. "Ofcourse we have to expect so, the country has gone through a Revolution, it takes time for change and adaptation."-Brian agreed. "...but the beaches are still gorgeous haha :)" I joked. *laughs all around* "They will always remain gorgeous and so will Alexandria :)" the woman smiled.

I was in complete shock, how in the world did a worldly old woman living in Oak Park be bestowed upon me to express he love for Alexandria? A woman that made me want to get in a 'But I love Alexandria more' competition? A woman who gazed at the ceiling in thought of the Great Om Kalthoum, or almost jumped out of her chair after hearing the word Alexandria slip out of my mouth? A woman who was not even Egyptian?
For the whole day I have been thinking about that 5 minute conversation. And realized something, those two people have spent there entire life working with multiple cultures and countries, and the smile on their faces remained there after I revealed the 'Ugly Truth'. These people were alive in the years of Nasser, I have no doubt theyve have been through a lot of life changing experiences that followed by rough times themselves, especially with their jobs that brings them to countries outside of the U.S. Maybe, just maybe, they learned to always be optimistic, like an Egyptian has always been? I think through their experiences they learned that things always come around, that there will be light at the end of a tunnel. Because if not they would have shown a sign of worry, concern, disappointment, or even contribute an analytical statement. But No, all smiles.

Even if it’s going downhill now, there will be an uphill isA. The Great Depression passed, Wars, Epidemics, Earthquakes, Hurricanes they all passed! Remember the 8.9 Tsunami that engulfed Japan two years ago? Look at them now, standing on their feet! I don't know about you but to me that must have been a much worse ‘rough time’ than what's happening to Egypt currently. Have faith that things will get better, because they will, it just might take a longer time than expected. That woman seemed too look on the bright side of things, the same way us Egyptians used to always do. Looking on the bright side doesn’t mean that you’re hiding from the ‘ugly truth’, there is no ugly truth. It’s just reality and reality is… it only takes a drive on the Cornish to be captured by the mesmerizing sea, to have the natural beauty of Alexandria alone take your soul on a journey that will make your day. Like the lady said "The beaches will always remain gorgeous and so will Alexandria". . No need to emphasis the bad, nothing good comes from it. Instead emphasis the unalterable beauty of our Nation, the same way the glorious elder women from Oak Park did. If there is such thing as a moment of pure complete ‘Happiness’, talking with that women, yup that was it for me. 

Never. Give Up. On Egypt. ♥