neil and i just finished having turkish coffee (which i like to describe as espresso on steroids) with our new friend faisal. apparently the airport in luxor isn't too busy at 3 am, when we were scheduled to fly back from egypt to kuwait. so there we were in an empty airport trying to keep our eyes open. then this tall, thin man takes a seat next to us. i'm not even sure how the conversation began but it lasted a good 90 minutes. as we boarded the plane we took our respective seats (neil and i in front because we're americans--read the airport post for more info on that) we agreed to meet after the flight and share a taxi home.
i know some of you are thinking, what!? you just met this man and now you are going to share a taxi with him at 6 am? and then you are telling me that you just had this same man over to your apartment for coffee? have you lost your mind!? perhaps.
coffee was great. faisal is quite the chatter, eager to share with neil and i about his family, his dreams, his experiences. in the midst of conversation i brought up the fact that people in the united states would think we're crazy for doing this. faisal agreed.
but here's the thing. we all complain about our 'busy lives' and yet we never slow down. this is where the united states definitely has it backwards. we probably haven't even had coffee with the person who lives next door.
1 comment:
This kind of thing has come up in my life recently, and when I was 5. When we moved to this country, I remember my parents complaining that no one says "hi" to their neighbors here in the states and that you can't visit people without calling ahead. It seemed odd to me that they were annoyed by this. I preferred privacy as a 5-year old! Read: more time to play with toys and less time spent having to behave in front of strangers!
But after the last 6 years in Blacksburg and the subsequent year here in Raleigh, I'm experiencing the same thing... I miss that I could just stop in on Meredith on the way to or from downtown. Imiss that I could pop in on someone on the way home from work. Here in Raleigh, seeing even good friends takes days, sometimes weeks to set up a free evening.
I hope that as our culture becomes more urban again, we can be a little more middle eastern in our ways!
Post a Comment