Shaken, not stirred.

I need to finish my story about the trip over to Egypt. I guess the only notable part would be the person I met on the plane ride from Portland to Frankfurt. We rode on an Airbus with 8 seats per row, two on each end and then four in the middle. Well, as luck would have it, I ended up in the very middle of the row, not a place I would have chosen for myself. But just as I was cursing my misfortune, a young woman, in her early 20s sat down beside me. So, for the next 10 hours we had the opportunity to talk. I discovered that her name was Nadia and that she was on her way to Ukraine. As we talked, I learned that she was originally from Belarus but had been living in the United States for 8 years. Currently she was working as an accountant at Intel in Hillsboro, and was taking a vacation to visit her family.

At one point during the flight, as drinks were being passed out, Nadia announced to me that she was going to be consuming alcohol. I told her that it was fine with me, and then I proceeded to get a Sprite while she chose wine. She asked me why I hadn’t ordered something alcoholic, and quickly followed that with an assurance that if I was underage she would gladly get something for me. Also she informed me that the drinking age in Germany, (our flight was on Lufthansa Air) was 18 so I would be fine. So sporadically for the remainder of the flight she decided to try to get me to drink. At one point she returned to her seat with a glass of Bailey’s in hand. She offered it to me, but since it smelled like paint thinner, I thought better of ingesting it.

Despite her penchant for liquor I was very glad to have someone friendly to talk to and joke with on the otherwise long and dreary flight. Even after disembarking at Frankfurt International Airport Nadia and I stuck together for the hour until my next flight. She even took me to the Duty Free store pointing out which bourbon and whiskey was the best (She was purchasing it for her father since it was cheaper at the Airport then in Belarus). When we finally parted company I was sad to see her go. She was the last American I spoke to before arriving here in Egypt, and I suspect I won’t forget her for a long time.

So now I find myself sitting in my darkened room at 5 till 7 listening to the sound of car horns outside and waiting for my alarm to go off. Today we’re going to church across town in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo. I hear the journey is quite epic, and I am excited about my first chance to ride the metro. But for now, I wait…