Weekends

There was an anonymous complaint that I hadn’t written in a while. Please accept my sincerest apologies. The following is meant only to be humorous, not ethnocentric or culture bashing in any way.

This weekend, our youth staff of 6 (-1 since Kev is taking some leisure in the good ole U.S. of A.) plus 3 generous, sacrificial volunteers spent our selves from Thursday at 4:00 p.m. until Saturday at 5:00 p.m. with 80+ middle and high schoolers. Upon the conclusion of the camp we as a clump concurred in a cumulative constructive criticism that quarters were a bit crowded and we could’ve connected a couple more counseling compadres close to our kids to cut the quantity of crew-to-kid into a quality control. Just for a little extra humor and test of patience, the Big Kahuna allowed for a croaked engine on one of our two transporting buses. Indeed, the grass was greener on that side of Egypt than any other I’d yet been, however, at that point, it was only the other side of my pillow I truly cared to embrace.

In true Egyptian fashion I will recount the rest of this story with the a logic I simply refer to as “Welkham to Ejyp(t)” mentality (Welcome to Egypt, ‘t’ is silent). The rest of this story will be backwards as to slowly reveal more only when deemed necessary assist the conversation in some way, however, I do apologize if there is a touch of coherence. That may detract from the full experience a bit.

Let me begin at the end by explaining how the shade we experienced at a Christian owned complex brought about an appreciated coolness from the oppressive heat of the crescent moons atop the local minaret. There seemed to be an unusual joy floating among the other residents. I will note that I am still unsure of where this perceived joy is sourced. I did not ask but I guessed that one group was a gang of business folks together for some teambuilding weekend activities. This guess is only led in this direction because of the experiential evidence I gathered from watching the upper class businessmen here in Ma’adi. If not Christ, the only other reason I could give to the flocks of laughter would be due to the apparent youth of our fellow retreaters.

Even in this appreciated shade, the Egyptian mentality towards work shined bright despite any cooling cover. There was a reluctance to work beyond anything required or even keep one’s word after constructing a negotiation. We argued politely for use of the ropes course, our cabins, and our general meeting room, all of which had been previously “taken care of”.

One thing I have learned from our fearless leader Travis, if you lay down for the desires of deceitful business, no one win. Lose-lose (thanks again, Covey.) So again, as so often he has, bossman took matters into his own hands by requesting the room from the people occupying it. We received full confirmation at 1 a.m. after the first day. To remain humble, I’ll just say we were tired. But by 1:40 I finally found myself scuffling across the dark of our wood cabin floors clawing for the rod iron poles of my bunk nearly as hard the floor itself. The blanket was pleasant, though.

I typically try to make a strong effort to avoid monocultural comments or anything that could be construed as rude. It does seep into my writing a bit and for that I apologize. I have a genuine affection for the people here, despite the difficulty it is to work with them on occasion.