Impressions

A few years ago I heard from Kelly Lashly (director of the YLP discipleship program in Sioux Falls, SD in which I participated for a month during the summer before my senior year of high school) that she once took a “blue book” essay exam in seminary which consisted of a single question. Sounds like a student’s dream come true, right? Not quite. It’s a fairly intimidating task to write a final exam essay to answer the question: “Who is God?” (All the same, it’s a question worth pondering.)

On several occasions throughout the past few weeks, people asked me “What do you think of Egypt?” While I’m hesitant to claim that this question is as daunting as the former, at the time it seemed equally difficult to answer.

“What do I think of Egypt?”

Well, I liked it.

There’s a lot of fascinating history. The workmanship in the temples, tombs, statues, and monuments is astounding, and the artifacts are as beautiful as they are ancient. The waves of the Mediterranean and the current of the Nile were cleaner than I expected, and the scenery along both was breathtaking. The traffic was just as congested and crazy as I had been told it would be, although crossing six “lanes” of traffic was much more fun than others warned me it would be. The food was delectable, especially the stuffed pigeon, foul (it’s pronounced “fool”, and tastes a bit like refried beans, but better) and falafel (deep fried chickpeas with parsley), and koushary (lentils, rice, pasta, and some tomato sauce).

The experience of navigating a city of 20 million people (mostly) by myself filled me with an unexpectedly refreshing wave of confidence at my independence. True, it would have been nice to share my experiences with someone whom I know well, but there are a lot of advantages to traveling alone. One of the things that I liked most about it was meeting so many fascinating (that’s my new favorite word) people. Perhaps they were as accommodating as they were because they took pity on me. But I’m unwilling to grant that that was the only reason.

So, instead of telling you about the places I went and the things that I saw, I’m going to tell you a bit about the people I met. You can visit:

the Giza pyramids;

the Cheops Boat Museum;

Alexandria Community Church;

the Mediterranean sea;

the Alexandrian Roman Theatre;

Amud El-Sawari (aka Pompeii´s Pillar);

the Kom El-Shuqafa Monuments (aka Catacombs);

the Citadel of Fort Qaitbay;

the Alexandrian Library;

a Nile cruise;

the temple complexes at Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Philae;

the Papyrus, Alabaster, and Essences “Museums” (aka tourist trap gift shops);

the Valley of the Kings; Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple (aka Hatshepsut´s Temple);

the High Dam in Aswan;

the 13-hour Egypt Rail overnight passenger train trip from Alexandria to Luxor and back from Aswan to Cairo;

the Anglican Diocese´s Guest House;

the Cairo Opera House (to see Aida);

the Egyptian Museum;

the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids from the rooftop of Pizza Hut across the street;

After Eight (an Cairene night club to which I went to hear an Egyptian band);

Khan-al Khalili (a huge maze of open air shops down narrow cobblestone streets in Cairo);

Felfela (a Cairene restaurant which I highly recommend);

and the Cairo, London, Madrid, and Sevilla airports for yourself.

But I doubt that the people who I met there will be there when you go. So soon I´ll tell you a bit about them.