I'm a Celebrity

There are certain things that I will not miss about Egypt when I leave next month (hard to believe it's coming so soon), but there are certain aspects that I will miss. One that comes to mind right away is how a lot of Egyptian teens treat me as some sort of celebrity.

Today Dad and I were visiting a fort of the Mediterranean and a Roman theater, and it didn't take long for the group of teen-aged girls to start speaking in their limited English to me...and me in my limited Arabic. A little later as we were looking at some other things, the girls got the courage to ask for a picture with me (usually when I take a picture with people I put my arm around them, but I am careful not to do this in Egypt). One picture turned into quite a few pictures since all the girls wanted one.

Later today two Egyptians guys asked to take a picture with me because they said I look like some famous DJ they know. No problem. I really should start riding around Egypt in a limo.

Sometimes there can be so many kids/teens that it becomes almost impossible to move in the direction you want because there's just so many of them asking "Where are you from" and "What's your name." And if you start talking in Arabic with them then they get even more excited. Oh, the pangs of being a tall, white American guy in Egypt...

I think I'll miss having girls randomly asking to take pictures with me when I get back to Purdue. For some reason I just don't think that is going to happen.

But I don't get the full extent of the stardom--Johan is tall, white, and BLONDE! People started clapping for him when he walked onto the metro train one day! I'm going to have to step up my game...

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Ben