July 23, 2008
Back in Japan!
I just arrived at my parents' house. It was a loooooooong trip, and I'm exhausted.
It was difficult to say good-bye to the Egyptian family this morning (technically yesterday Egypt Time since it's now already the 23rd). It was especially difficult to say good-bye to Bola and Nanna. I feel bad when I think that I come into their lives one day and then leave them. I think they now know that I can come back again, but I know it is difficult for young children to understand why I'd have to leave after having so much fun with them!
It was a relatively short trip (2 weeks in Egypt and 9 days in Turkey), but it was wonderful in every way. I met a lot of wonderful people on this trip. I look forward to seeing them again in the near future.
On the Airplane
This was my last trip with Egypt Air this year. I went from Tokyo to Cairo, from Cairo to Istanbul, back from Istanbul to Cairo, and now from Cairo to Tokyo. Each time, I got to talk with some fun-loving Egyptian flight attendants on the plane. This time, too, I got to talk with Egyptian workers.
I talked with one of them and got 4 seats all to myself. I lied down and slept for many hours. Whenever I woke up, one of the attendants came and asked "Do you need anything else? Can I get you more mint tea?" Because I wanted my nephew to have something written in Arabic, I asked if I could have a child's toy that they give away to young children. They gave me a plastic airplane with the logo of horus (Egypt Air Symbol).
During one of the workers' breaks, he changed his clothes to a casual shirt from the uniform and came to chat with me. He said he could sit with passengers if he was not wearing a uniform. He asked me a lot of questions about my experiences in the US, Japan, and Shobra. It seems to always surprise Egyptians when I say I spent some time in Shobra.
Olives
My father wanted some olives from Egypt, and my Egyptian family bought some for him. I was afraid that the juice would leak and make a mess in the suitcase, so I put the big jar of olives in my carry-on bag. I knew that they'd ask me questions about that, so I was prepared to give my explanations.
At Cairo Airport, they stopped me at the inspection area. I said "These are olives from Shobra" and the Egyptian workers laughed. "From Shobra???" and I said "Yes. I'm a little from Shobra." When I said all of this in Arabic, we all laughed and these men said "OK. You can go", so I got on the plane with the olives. Now I gave them to my father. (^^)