Sarah’s wedding

Engaged in April, married in August, after a long friendship which blossomed into romance. Once Coptic Christians, but now Catholic, married in the Jesuites Church in Alexandria. It’s easier, for reasons of faith, but still bureaucratic, she said. The service was in Arabic, conducted by a very warm and friendly Priest. And while I didn’t understand, it was familiar. And joyful.

Happy I could attend. It was my first Christian wedding to attend too in Egypt, very much a contrast to the others. It obviously felt and looked more familiar.

I then shared a taxi with a former colleague whom I hadn’t seen since January last year when he left. Like me, he’d been there for four years. We had an interesting chat about our expectations of coming back. In the end we concluded that it all pretty much felt normal; maybe because we were both happy there.

I had a nice morning in Cairo before I took the train to Alex. I visited my old bowab, my ironing man, and my neighbouring bowab. She’s lovely. I sat in a teeny tiny sofa/bed in her little cupboard under the stairs and drank tea. It was nice, not that we understood each other much. Her daughter was there too. I’d not been in her home before, but could see a small room behind, but I don’t think there was much more space.

Then I had a coffee with friend and colleague Ayat whom I haven’t seen since July last year. So nice to see her. She’s since moved to Tunisia, her first move away so it was lovely to see her and get the news.

Then 2.5 hours on the train, an opportunity to rest and relax.