All As One

I hail from everywhere.

Every place I visit has a place in my heart, every place I've lived in has become part of me. But the one country that still makes my heart beat and gives me butterflies in my stomach will always be Egypt. The smell of the air, the liveliness, the people, the history, the noise, the traffic, the sand, the will to live, to move forward.

Over the years, Egypt and I have had a strange love/hate relationship. When I am not there, I want to be. When I am there, I want to leave. More recently, my sense of family and friendship and belonging has overcome the hate part. My childish bouts of wanting to leave Egypt for the hell of it, have been replaced by a sense of pragmatism and career goals which may or may not lead me to Egypt. All I know is that the country has me eternally bound. One day, I'll go back. One day, I'll call it home again. One day.

Until then, this blog is going to trace my sometimes trivial trials and tribulations as a child who is almost always lost in this world.

In Egypt, I am always seen as an americanized anomaly. 'Why is your accent so americanized?' 'It's the only way I know how to speak arabic?' 'Don't forget who you are, you are Egyptian afterall'.

Abroad, I am an Egyptian anomaly. 'So where in the States are you from?' 'I'm not.' 'Oh. But your accent?' 'I'm from Egypt. American schooling is all.' 'Oh.'

This is my life. A collision of cultures. How do you explain to an Egyptian that an American accent doesn't make me any less Egyptian? How do you explain to a foreigner that being an Egyptian doesn't make me any more {insert your favorite stereotype here}?

Hopefully this blog will unite all of you. I have lived my life straddling the line between westernization and well...everything else. What I've learnt is that at the end of the day, we are all the same. We want the same things; we strive for success, happiness, satisfaction.

You all come from different ends of the world, with different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs but you have all changed my life in one way or another. So I offer you this in return: a place where the exchange of cultures and backgrounds will enrich you. And maybe I can give you a little bit of insight into life from my perspective: raised an Egyptian, educated a Westerner.

B.