Making Friends in Unexpected Places

When school started James and I had been living in our apartment for about three days. We knew no one in the immediate area and I'll admit it was pretty intimidating. Our first night here we lay in bed and asked each other: What did we just do? Why are we living here? During our limited time spent at the University it was obvious that the other American students had grouped themselves together and maintained a level of exclusivity. We were glad our initial experience in Cairo did not thrust us into one of those groups. We had made our decision to wait for the right friends to come along in order to make the most out of our experience while avoiding the dangers of American excess. 

During the first week, maybe even the first day of school, James and I were making the six minute walk through the dusty streets from Sakanat Maadi where the bus leaves us to our apartment. As we approached our corner a tall white man in front of us who we had been following from the bus turned around and asked "Do yall go to AUC?" I thought to myself "What gave us away? The fact that we rode the same bus for an hour or that we happened to be walking in the same direction from the bus stop to here?" "We do" one of us replied. He introduced himself as Eli. We exchanged pleasantries, the old "so good to meet you" and exchanged phone numbers with the intent to get together sometime. 

It turns out that Eli was a first semester Graduate Student at AUC. I'm not sure when exactly we first hung out but we ended up on a fallukah on the Nile with him and some other friends one night. For the two weeks following a friend of a friends would be staying with Eli. That friend would want to do all the touristy things so Eli suggested I come with them. We went to the Pyramids, to the market and to Old Islamic Cairo. 


As a resource, Eli has been invaluable. He speaks great Arabic and has helped us navigate some tricky situations. He one day saved me from a shady perfume shop and just today he helped me find somewhere to get passport photos for my visa. He also has a lot of friends and connections in the area and has really expanded my network. In addition he is a great teacher and daily adds numerous words to my arabic vocabulary. Even without my having to ask he translates things for me or will point something out and tell me it's Arabic equivalent. The other night after getting back from a Cafe I had a facebook message from him with a list of words we had gone over. I never expected a friendship such as this. 


The best part about Eli however isn't his ability to speak Arabic or navigate the Cairo streets or even his similar schedule. Eli is a great friend. He has only known James and I for about a month and we know we could ask him to help us with anything. When James wasn't feeling well the other week he called to check on him. When we meet for lunch he's always quick to ask how our days are going, what quirky things our professors did today, and how those pesky Americans behaved over their weekends. He has definitely been a godsend to James and I.


The corner where we met, the one outside of our apartment building, next to the furniture store and across from the pharmacy has become our meeting place. Whether we're about to go downtown to church or just walk to the bus we meet on that same corner where we met four short weeks ago. It's sad to think that in three short months we won't be able to meet at that corner anymore but it'll be something I always remember. 


djm