Five days to remember

It was one of the very few times in my life that I received something I needed without asking for it. You know that feeling when you have been walking under a summer’s sun for an hour and you finally you decide to make a turn and find yourself walking through a narrow shaded alley?
That is what happened to me over the past few days.

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a previous employer and asked if I was interested in teaching a Tourism English intensive course on a boat in Luxor. “I am in for it!” was my reply without asking about any details.

I spent five reviving rejuvenating self-assuring days of my life. I was given a chance to step outside my current self and see her through others’ eyes, the thing I had been trying to do for months.

I headed to the airport on early Saturday morning. On the airplane, I sat next to and behind a group of French tourists who seemed surprised why I was not as excited as they were. I was just still hot with the two hours’ walk in the sun I told you about.

At Luxor airport, I was met by a quiet Mr. Khaled who was holding a sign with the company’s logo. He greeted me with a broad smile, carried my laptop, pushed the trolley to the micro bus and, in less than ten minutes, escorted me into the reception of the boat. These things never really happen to me in Cairo. At least not getting anywhere from the airport in ten minutes.

Day 1: Abercrombie & Kent Sunboat III. Cabin 108.

I can never describe how warm the boat and the cabin felt; it was one of the places that immediately make you feel home. That could be one reason why Sunboat III is more expensive than the more modern Sunboat IV. The boat can accommodate for thirty two guests only and the friendly staff can and do take excellent care of every single one of them.

“No, Miss. We’re talking abut VIP’s. The First Lady, ambassadors, the owner of CNN, the Chief of CIB, Naomi Campbell, Gulf Kings and Princes, etc. With A&K, you expect ZERO mistakes,” a tour operator and one of my students once told me.

I was still at the stage of testing the waters. I did not leave my cabin often, nor wandered around.

In the evening, I took a walk by the Corniche, listened to the quietness of the city and watching the sunset.

Day 2: Moroccan?
“Yes, speak some Arabic please. People here are already debating whether you are Moroccan or Tunisian, Miss,” one of my students said teasingly. It seems that being silent made them think I was trying to be mysterious.
“No, my color can only be that of someone from Aswan, no?” I answered.
“No way! You are Aswani?” his eyes gleamed.
“I have Aswani roots and my dad is your color,” it felt proud to say so for some reason, although I have never been to my dad’s village, nor was he born there.
“That’s what I thought. You can’t be but from here. You look so much like my fiancée. Same everything. I call her Nefertary,” he replied.
“And you are Ramsis II?” I asked him.