Guitars

Last night (this morning?) Wahied and I repeated the midnight picking up of Asian tourists drill that we've become so good at. This time there was added excitement for several reasons.

The first is that the bus that takes Wahied to the airport and brings tourists back from it never showed up. So I did what anyone would do....I abandoned my husband, and let him take a taxi to the airport and sort things out himself there.

Then the hotel was different. And not only different, it was a brand new hotel in a completely isolated place, the exact opposite side of Cairo from all other hotels. Which is fine, of course, except when you're driving through Cairo alone at 4:30am, and are trying to read the road signs, but are hindered by the fact that you read like a 5-year-old. (I still can't tell the difference between "Mohammed" and "Mahmoud", which, being the two most popular names in Egypt, lead to a lot of road names, and sometimes seemingly identical streets with seemingly identical names can lead you in very different places.) But I found it, and I found it quickly.

Wahied and I were in the car, both pleased with how quickly I had found the hotel and that we could get home for a glorious 3 hours' sleep, when his mobile rang. One of the tourists in his group NEEDED a guitar. And he needed it as soon as the group met in the morning. It was 4:45am on a Sunday in Cairo. Wahied had 3 hours.

At 7:30, after hours of Wahied's frantic phone calls and my stupid questions ('Why does he need a guitar?' 'Why does he need it now?' and 'Why don't you tell him no?') We were just about to fall asleep when Wahied received a phone call. Someone had located a guitar! Relieved, we had the most refreshing 25 minutes of sleep EVER.

Then I drove him to the hotel, and met his group. They seem like normal human beings, but I still have doubts stemming from a refusal to visit the Egyptian Museum and an insistence on attaining a guitar at 4:30am while on vacation in Egypt. Indonesian tourists get a huge kick out of me, and though these spoke little English, they were intrigued nonetheless. They repeatedly asked me two questions: "You, live?" and "Christian?" but didn't understand the answers "Here" and "Yes".

We're planning to have another brutal night tonight. Tonight Wahied has a dinner cruise with the group, and it would be a miracle if he came home before 1am. I have a business trip to London and France, and my flight leaves at 7:15am tomorrow. So I have to leave here by 4:15. My company is flying me to London tomorrow, where, on Tuesday morning, I'll have another 5am meeting, and I'll travel with my colleagues to France where we'll be working on a big project together while in a Chateau. I'll get back on the 4th, but I won't see Wahied for another 3 days, as he will have left for Sinai the day before.

Since I wanted to see my husband once more before not seeing him for 12 days, I decided that I would join him and his tour group for lunch today. I came home to "pack" (though I appear to be blogging instead) before meeting him at the restaurant. When I just spoke to Wahied I asked the name of the restaurant so I would be able to find my way there. He checked his itinerary for a moment and said "It's the......Hard Rock Cafe."

So I have busy, exciting 8 days ahead, starting with an excursion to the Hard Rock Cafe, Cairo. I probably won't post while in France (I'm not bringing a computer) but I hope to have nice things to tell you all when I get back.

Au Revoir!