To begin. The Walter family did indeed trek out to the mighty Sahara, braving marriage proposals and aggressive carriage drivers to see the wonders of the orient (and the mess that is my apartment). Now, a week is hardly any time at all to recover from jet lag and begin to experience a brand new country, but they did as well as they could--even attempting roasted pigeon for lunch and spending an evening with my Arabic-only host family. All in all, it's hard to botch a week of lounging by the Nile and Red Sea, camel riding, and exploring the pyramids. Highlight: getting congratulated by a vendor in the central market for bargaining with him so hard and watching my sister and her friend get offered 100,000 camels a piece for their hand in marriage.
Low point: saying goodbye to my family at 10pm at the Cairo airport as they sat forlorn and waiting for their 4am departure.
A scarce 72 hours after my family touched down safely in Chicago (just in time for a grueling and jetlagged Monday morning), I was catching my own red eye flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Why pay $500 to travel some thousand miles into the horn of Africa, you ask? That's the price of love, my friends. And, well, because I can. I strongly recommend that all of you find post-college jobs that simultaneously pay the rent and provide unrestricted vacation time. Peace Corps and random English gigs abroad both do the trick nicely.
Yes, I was fortunate enough to spend the last three weeks traveling with the esteemed Mr. Razi through his adopted homeland--the land of injera, the birthplace of coffee, home to world class runners, hyenas, baboons, avocado juice, grass huts, and my boyfriend. Not a bad combination of things. This morning in Cairo, where the smog is creating a cozy grey cloud over the city and every man over 14 smokes like a chimney, the mountains of Ethiopia feel very far away. But for the past three weeks, they've provided a welcome respite from the urban congestion of Egypt.
My first hours in Ethiopia were completely deer-in-the-headlights; for all my travels, this was my first foray into "real" Africa (Arab North Africa being much more linked into the Middle East than the rest of the continent). It's a uniquely humbling experience to be so completely disoriented.
"Um, Nod, where the toilet? Oh, there aren't toilets? I'm squatting for the next three weeks? No, that's cool... Oh and, um, how do I eat? How do I shake hands? Could you order a bottle of water for me?" Luckily, Nod was a gracious and accommodating host, and by the end of three weeks, I was ordering my own tea like a pro. Er, not exactly like a pro, but I had at least an ounce of a clue about what was going on around me.
Ethiopia turns out to be an entirely different country from Egypt, though only Sudan is separating the two. Green acacia trees, jagged mountains, hyenas, baboons, tribal dancing, a unique and flourishing orthodox Christianity, and the best coffee you've ever had in your life. Just to breath clean air and step away from the roar of Cairo's traffic was enough to make me feel a world away. Being able to wear short sleeves and do a full handshake/shoulder-bump greeting with Ethiopian men was a welcome break from Islamic modesty and gender roles in Egypt. The only downside: being a healthier country than Egypt, there is a lamentable lack of desserts in the country. I ate rice pudding for breakfast at 5am on Egypt Air, and thanked God for Egyptian waistlines.
While a lot of our trip was simply spent taking in Ethiopian culture and scenery and enjoying each other's company, a few important life decisions were made, too. It all began as my falafel-and-lard-fueled Egyptian body was pushed to the max by a two day hike at 14,000 feet through the simien mountains. Determined not to be the pudgy flatlander of the group, I worked myself into an exhaustive, meditative space by the morning of our third day in the mountains. Stunning cliffs and troops of playful baboons along the way also provided a nice backdrop for contemplation.
It was in this serene environment that I decided to accept an offer from Georgetown's MA in Arab Studies program, rather than a few other grad school options I had on the table. And then, best of all, Nod decided to join me in DC this fall, hopefully finding some kind of job in health/development kind of work. No matter what, it's a fun fact that Amharic is the #2 language spoken in DC. Ethiopian injera from now 'til 2011!
Many more stories to come from the horn of Africa...but for now, just an update from a delightful month of travels.
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