a fond farewell.

And so, dear readers, this is it: my last post from Egypt. Twelve months and two days ago, I touched down on the tarmac in Cairo, wide-eyed and excited as I took in all the tangy, dusty, flourescent sights. From interrogations at the Israeli border to slowly becoming part of an Egyptian family; sweating out intensive Arabic courses, sitting in the grand Arab League assembly hall as a gangly intern; spending a night in a crack house in Alexandria and lounging at my favorite cafe by the red sea and traveling with my best friend to three continents--it's been a full and wonderful year.

The last two days were spent undertaking hard goodbyes and riding out an emotional roller coaster, packing my bags, and putting all the last minute bits and pieces of life in order. I spent most of my time in Maasara, trying to say goodbye to my host family there. Only, my host family recently gutted their entire apartment to undo damage from leaky plumbing and had recently brought back home my host sister from her abusive marriage, so they had more things on their plate than a slightly weepy foreigner--in a loving, you're-part-of-the-family kind of a way. As they scurried around feeding babies and taking tiles out of their floor, I decided that I would rather have it that way: to simply be part of their lives, and them part of mine, up until the last minute. When there are crying babies and leaky pipes, the best thing to do is simply to pitch in.

The day certainly had its charming moments, however--like when I was fed pita bread and bbq sauce for lunch ("Here, this is American, you'll like it!"), or when I learned that my Christian host sister's birth certificate lists her name as "Jihad" instead of "Jihan" because her father mumbled when he was telling her name to the government official. The evening ended with lots of hugs and tears and reminders from my host mother that there is no such thing as a "foreigner" since we're all God's children. Now that's a sweet note to end on.

Today, though, was a much more typical summer day--running errands, hopping metros and taxis, stripping down to your skivvies the second you run back inside to the refuge of air conditioning, eating gorgeous fruit for only pennies, then following it down with some fried 'n fabulous Egyptian food. I bought my friend Sally a new headscarf as a going away present; she told me about the most recent developments in her world of arranged marriages. I called up old friends and co-workers to say goodbye--luckily, facebook now unites the whole globe in one common webpage, so you don't have to worry about losing touch. Tonight I'll say goodbye to my ex-pat friends over crepes and nutella. Then, in one last typical Egyptian gesture, I'll meet up with my friend Alaa at 2am, since Egyptians don't really sleep in the summer. Alaa's been rocking a full nocturnal schedule since he got out of exams. Luckily, shops and cafes are all open late, so we'll have time to grab one last sheesha before I head to the airport around 5am. And thus ends a beautiful chapter of life.

Thank you, dear readers, for following all of the sagas of this past year and forgiving my occasional lapses in publishing posts. I expect that I may have a new blog up and running for this fall... I'll keep you posted.
Until then--take care, and I'll see you all back in the states.