Sunday, February 8, 2009

how does one disconnect?


its hard to explain but lately i had been feeling a loss that i couldnt quite put my finger on. little snippets of visions and emotions here and there were causing me to feel a bit saddened but i couldnt connect the dots and get the whole picture. finally it occurred to me, with the loss of my husband also came the loss of my connection to egypt.

ive always loved egypt even before i met him. anyone that has a connection there or has visited for vacation knows what im talking about. the smells, the people, the food, the traffic. nothing compares.

ive been to egypt many times and loved every visit. i had my favorite places to visit as everyone does, mostly the local markets not touristy places. i did love to take one of the boat rides at night as pictured above. i loved a tiny stinky restaurant called morgana behind tahreer square that only locals frequented and no decent foreignor would dare to enter (lol what does that say about me?). we always sayed in al zamalek in the same set of flats. loved it there. our doorman knew us well. the hijab shops...well lets just say the owners loved to see me coming. same with the perfumes and oil shops. egypt has an oily smell. i cant describe it but theres nothing like it. once in a while, here in the states, ill get a whiff of something that "smells like egypt" but its always so brief. so fleeting. i would sniff hard trying to find it again. i loved sitting in the center of tahreer square at night and watching the constant flow of people. the traffic. the lemon scented tissue and flower necklace peddlars. i loved grabbing freshly cooked taameya from a small cafe. sitting and having tea or buying the most fantastic koshari in khan el khallili not to mention trying to buy all i could there and play beat the price game. i loved hearing the adhan floating through every single street of cairo at prayer time. i loved the mosques there. i was always really happy there in egypt. the people are truly welcoming.

i have a large community of friends there. i have a lot of memories there. inshallah one day ill visit again. its very hard just to disconnect from a place that means so much.

but

im about to enter another world that i never in a million years would have ever thought i'd be a part of. and i mean never. actually TWO worlds. one not so different from my own but the other...hmmmmmm. and there are many women with blogs regarding their connection to this country and its not always good. so we shall see.

i guess you may wonder what thats supposed to mean but ill explain later inshallah.

anyway, just some thoughts. will miss egypt. yes i will but its time to move on to the next big thing!



7 comments:

  1. Oooooooh, I'm excited to know the surprise! InshaAllah, whatever it is I hope it brings you much blessing and happiness!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. well well miss A!! those two pics at the bottom of this post are two huge hints...you just have to figure out what cities those are.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're going to live in Scotland with Elji, who's from Pakistan, because he asked you to marry him?

    *squinting eyes shut, crossing fingers, repeating "please be right"

    ReplyDelete
  5. well you don't sadly , in time you will and it will get easier but a lot of bloggers down these days so cheer up its a new day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. yeah well i feel a bit cheerier these days anon!!! its been one long hard journey though.

    ANGELA!! loooool. not saying a thing....my lip is zipped....for now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. May God make it work for you, and bless it for you!

    ReplyDelete