Today, President Obama makes his highly anticipated speech in Cairo. Why is this important? Because he is engaging the Middle East and the Muslim world in a way that we never have before. Diplomacy in the region had been intensely focused on Israel, while any attention brought on the Arab nations was military and strategic in nature.
Traditionally friendly relations with countries like Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and the Gulf nations need to be strengthened and expanded
Say what you will about him quoting the Koran but let’s be real here, there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, it definitely wouldn’t hurt for him to garner some of their support.

Anyway, in honor of such a momentous occasion I will write a little bit about what I learned from Egypt. I have visited three times, and spent a total of three months and a week.
The first time I went I didn’t enjoy being barraged by sketchballs trying to sell me their crappy, unimaginative wares. But for the most part I enjoyed myself.
When I returned, however, I felt like I had my eyes closed that first visit. There can be a pretty sullen atmosphere in the streets, despite all the movement. And everywhere you go there are scanning gazes, almost overbearing at times.

Egypt is chaos loosely strung together in a society; culture formed out of the tension of living in survival mode.
Cairo is at the center of this milieu, and the spot most visitors choose to launch their explorations. There is trash and people everywhere, some lounging, others darting through traffic, others shuffling about on disorienting routes.
This is what a country becomes when the government neglects its people, its infrastructure, and the educational system and locks up anyone speaking out about it.

Perhaps most disparaging is that Egyptians unwisely mistreat whatever tourism it attracts through the exploitation of its historical sites.
The pyramids are being encroached upon in all directions. One can walk 10 feet out of the entrance and sit in a Pizza Hut with Khufu’s magnificent tomb as a backdrop.
It doesn’t take much time for the foreigner to realize he is a walking dollar sign to most of the populace. Entrance fees are one example. An Egyptian ticket into Al-Ahram is 2LE while everyone else pays 100LE.
For me, the tourism industry is about facilitating the sharing of a host country’s wonders with visitors. Egypt makes this concept ridiculous.
Its people have succumbed to desperation in the face of debilitating poverty, unemployment and overpopulation. For this reason the “take the tourist for everything he’s worth” attitude is understandable, and certainly not a new concept in the developing world.

And really, what we spend on our vacation can be easily re-earned in a few months if not weeks.
Try working 11+ hour days 6 or 7 days a week and getting paid $180 a month.

Try imagining a life where your only aspiration is to save money to buy and furnish an apartment and then marry a woman of your same religion.

Family and society dictate your decisions. While in secret, Egyptians partake of all the usual sinful pleasures- drugs, alcohol, sex.
They all have cell phones, use the internet, download shit illegally, watch porn (featuring an all-American cast no less).
And most, if not all, young Egyptian men wish they could come to America. They long for a steady job and to be able to date aimlessly, no pressure.

They watch our movies and listen to our music, they wear imitations of our clothes. They love practicing their English (mostly men can speak it). They think we are promiscuous, fun-loving, incredibly privileged and happy people. This is true, except the happy part. For some reason Americans find it so fucking difficult to be happy. You have it good here buddy, really and truly.

We are free in ways that millions of people in this world only dream of being.

Egyptian society is incredibly invasive. Random people in the street feel they have the right to tell you how to dress and what is considered appropriate contact with your significant other. Case in point, I leaned my head on my boyfriend’s shoulder at a café, and the owner came over and told me to sit properly. If you travel from one city to the next by bus or car, you will hit at least 4 checkpoints an hour.

But ruins are magnificent and most are in pristine condition, the museum has the coolest shit I’ve ever seen, even 3000 year old mummies with teeth, hair and nails still in tact. The beach towns are pretty laid back and there are a lot of foreigners chillin there and having a good time. These sites have some of the best diving the world has to offer.
Smokin shisha is very nice, Sakkara beer is fantastic and the food is cheap and tasty. And Arabic is by far the coolest looking language ever, and it sounds lovely.

I would definitely recommend spending some time in Egypt. I hope to go back, I have some unfinished business with Siwa Oasis (yes real oases do exist) and I want to get my PADI certification.

Ultimately what I learned is that one cannot truly be a free-thinker until one is able to isolate culture from identity.
I was allowed this objectivity in Egypt. Who I am is not tied to my likes and dislikes, what I wear, listen to, eat or do. Even what language I speak and my physical appearance have no bearing on this person that is “Fatima.” Egyptians easily mistook my facial features for theirs.
What I’m saying is that, one places too much emphasis on the box that their respective society has built around them. But this is not who you are, one can easily adopt a different way a living and realize that their true being rises beyond a certain set of human behaviors.

Who would you be if you were not American?
Who would you be if you were not white? Or black? Asian or Hispanic?
Who would you be if you were born elsewhere?

This is why I think travel is so important. It exposes you to yourself.