The Curse of the Gypsy Blood (and Unpacking)

 FACT: Unpacking is almost, quite nearly, as bad as packing.

I have been peeking miserably into the bins in the basement that’s stored long lost treasures and at my desperate looking suitcase that has profusely regurgitated shoes and unmentionables all over my floor.

While I’ve been thinking about unpacking and making room for lovely new trinkets that I’m bound to find over the summer and in Berlin, I’ve also been pondering the most important things that I must do this summer. In case you didn’t know, I am the master of list-making (and also the master of list-losing).

Here’s what I have so far.

Summer To Do List:

1. Go through my closet/basement/unbelievable amounts of boxes hiding around the house. I’m greatly looking forward to all of the wonderful types of outfits that I’ll be able to wear in the coming months—Egypt really cramped my style.

2. Learn German. Easier said than done, right? Jaaaa!

3. Read (at least) one “leisurely” book per week. I’m excited by this one!

4. Finish my graduate thesis proposal (and a major chunk of the blasted thesis itself) regarding mainstream female activists and women’s empowerment programs in Egypt.

5. Purchase a new drivers license. Mine has been misplaced, somehow.

6. Go camping and hiking somewhere in the Great Smokey Mountains! Any takers?

7. Have my second Alice in Wonderland garden themed party. I LOVE hosting parties and planning parties. Friends, prepare yourselves!

8. Allow myself one cup of coffee per day. Seriously, I mean it.

9. Find a perfectly quaint little flat in Berlin.

9 ½. Talk myself out of purchasing the cutest Pug puppy in the world to take to abroad with me. I really, REALLY want one…

10. Strengthen my beliefs in God and my church.

*Some of you may be wondering why #10 is the last on my list, but I’m almost certain this will be the task that takes the longest to achieve. I’m not afraid of this, and I greatly enjoy a challenge—and it seems as if this challenge will be the greatest out of all this summer.*

So it seems that this minute list will help me to focus on the tasks at hand instead of my wanderlust and urges to travel, far and wide (preferably with my German boy, of course). That doesn't mean I can't have my own adventures here though. :) One of my dearest friends sent this poem to me the other day, she knows my heart and spirit so well. 

"There's a race of men that don't fit in,

A race that can't sit still;

So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will.

They range the field and rove the flood,

And they climb the mountain's crest; Their's is the curse of the gypsy blood,

And they don't know how to rest."

— Robert W. Service

Perhaps this is why I dislike unpacking so much, because it softens the spirit of excitement and hope of a new adventure begins to vanish with each item that is removed from my beaten parcels. Until August, this gypsy girl will have to make due with everything just south of the Mason-Dixon line!

Now, to find some clothes hangers and the Moscato wine my amazing Mother brought home yesterday...

The Last Bretzel

Why are so many airports charging for internet these days?

Instead of Facebooking, online lusting, or stealing these killer black and peach heels off the woman beside of me I just decided to get one last “bretzel und apfelshorle” to help me prepare for my next flight from Frankfurt and provide brain juice for a rather lazy blog post.

It was incredibly difficult to leave Germany today, for several reasons I am sure you can imagine. It’s strange to be going home after almost one year away from it. I never attended those absurdly useless international student meetings regarding “reverse culture shock” but I have a feeling that it will be wonderfully strange being back in America after living in a third world country for so long (and after joyously gallivanting through Deutschland drinking radlers, watching Seb play American football AND winning a big game, watching copious amounts of European football AND watching Germany win, seeing the most unforgettable sites in Germany *Neuschwanstein Schloss and the Alps, the enchanting Bodensee that’s surrounded by Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as the lovely UNESCO World Heritage Site—Regensberg*).

Also, I should mention that packing proved to be as terrible as always. If I could somehow manage to continuously hire someone to properly pack all of my bags I would be the happiest girl in the world. Egypt Airlines is completely ridiculous and is not capable of properly measuring luggage weight (technically I shouldn’t complain about this but I had to leave about 12 pounds worth of items with Sebastian since it wouldn’t all fit in my bags! I owe a certain German man lots of gifts from America). So around 1:30 a.m., right when eye twitching delirium was beginning to kick in, I discovered that all of my things would not fit…which caused me to have a slight panic attack, so I just decided to go to bed and crammed everything in when I woke up—this proved to be a very good idea. No extra charges for overweight baggage at the airport—Lucky, lucky me!

So here I am: one and a half massive and very suspicious looking carry ons, a Vogue magazine given to me by a sweet lady who finished flipping through the last good bits, lack of mascara from airport crying (which I loathe entirely but sometimes it can’t be helped in such circumstances), kasebretzel that tastes like salted cardboard, disastrous hair askew, and the beautiful feeling of building anticipation.

Tennessee, be home soon! 

Germany, I'll be seeing you. 

I love this song by Billie Holiday! Quite appropriate. Don't you think? :)

Johnny Cash and Koshari

It’s strange, this feeling I always get in the pit of my stomach, when I’m about to leave a place for a very long time. Cairo has been wonderful these past two or three months, and I’m finally coming to terms with this crazy city. I realized this when I went with a complete stranger (who wasn’t really a stranger after all, my darling friend Acom arranged that he would pick me up so we could all have shisha and koshari near Tahrir Square together) and we were stuck in traffic over the Nile. Somehow I didn’t even notice the cars honking away and felt at peace with myself, even after sharing conversations with this new friend about the troubles that I’ve had in Egypt.

He apologized to me, for the wrongdoings that every Egyptian man had ever done. It was the FIRST time EVER that any Egyptian guy has done that. I could tell he was being sincere. My breath was taken away from me. I could tell he was furious as he listened to my melodramatic stories. He continued to grip the steering wheel and sat in silence while listening to my every word. Never once did he tell me that I should dress a certain way, or that I should do this or that in order to protect myself from the harassment. He never cracked a smile or rolled his eyes, which has been the norm in the past. We talked about politics in Egypt, how he wants to move to England so badly to get out of the city, about Germany and my boyfriend, and about music. This guy has such a love for music and I was thoroughly impressed with his iPod playlists. Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, and great musicians I’d never even heard of!

“I’m an everywhere man…” filled my ears as we edged closer to our destination. I was really looking forward to meeting my friend Acom, the first female Egyptian friend that I ever made here. We sat down at one of the streetside café’s beside of Tahrir, and I ordered my favorite drink called Aneb and apple shisha (the only flavor available at this little shop), and began to chat away. Acom’s friend slipped away and I found myself asking her about FGM (female genital mutilation) because I’d always been curious about the situation in Cairo, have read about it constantly, but have never asked a close Egyptian friend about it. Needless to say her responses were what I expected to hear, and made me love her even more! I love all of the strong and outspoken women I’ve met here. 

My friend from AUC, Marie, showed up just in time and we all went around the corner so I could experience koshari for the very first time! Now let me tell you something about koshari. It is not, by any means, an elaborate meal and involves throwing rice, spaghetti pasta, lentils, hummus, tomato sauce, little round pasta, and maybe a few other things into a massive pot…and then voila! Dinner is served. They have a bowl of cumin and bottles of extremely spicy chili pepper sauce, or vinegar and garlic (which is what I chose), to add onto your mysterious bowl of carbohydrates. 

Apparently I don’t know how to eat koshari properly because I added spoons full of cumin and salt, then way too much chili pepper and found myself completely disgusted with my meal that was supposed to be almost magical! I had been putting off this koshari occasion for months. Marie, the sweetheart that she is, gave me the rest of her koshari so I could enjoy what it’s REALLY supposed to taste like. It’s really not that bad, but very filling and I don’t think I’ll be eating it again for quite some time because…

I AM LEAVING FOR GERMANY IN TWO DAYS!

Can you tell I am excited? This summer is going to be so amazing because of time with my favorite boy and my amazing family. It seems almost surreal; I remember leaving them at the airport like it was just yesterday. I was a complete disaster with my two massive “purses” as carry on’s that were probably bigger than most 7 year olds. I just am truly thankful that I have incredible friends and family all over this great big world. Without them, I would be nothing (and I sure as hell wouldn’t have had all of these great opportunities). Thank you all for everything.