Egypt Money

Admin | December 17, 2011 | Comments Off

Egypt Money

Egypt Money

Loud speakers of prayer exploded suddenly into the streets from every building in the city. My eyes popped open and slowly I began to comprehend again where I was, what I was doing there. The noise. What was the noise? I rolled over and looked at the bright red LED flashing from the bedside table clock - 4:58 am. Morning prayers. It was time for azam.

No matter how long we lived in Egypt I could never get used to that call, especially the early morning prayers. To my Protestant American ears, the call for prayers were a jarring cacophony that closely mirrored the chaos of everyday life in Egypt. They always seemed to startle me into the day. Living in Egypt wasn't easy, and although we learned how to function there, Egypt poked holes in my being. I left there not even understanding the disturbance that I felt. At the time I said I'd probably never go back, but slowly over the months my views began to soften a little. Fond memories of friends started taking over, and I started to find my own inner peace.

But at the time, I realize now, I blamed the people.

It seemed to me that very few individuals took pride in their country, despite its grand history. For the benefit of tourists, they would talk about the great pharaohs of the past and their most beautiful queens. They boasted about the power and glory of dynasties gone-by. But then they would throw their Arabic-emblazed Twinkie wrappers and pull-tab Coke cans on the street and in the river at the same time that they acknowledged in what a dirty place they lived. The dichotomy was astounding to me. But changes like this in the modern era take time, right? It’s a mindset. And I left believing that until they had decided as a people that they had to make changes to make life better for themselves, no changes would occur. So, Egypt was what it was.