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Befriending an Egyptian (by the Red Sea)!
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| Fearsomely beautiful |
As I was taking photos of the sea
one early sunrise morning, a guy happened to cycle up the wharf that I was
standing on. He commented in Hebrew about how beautiful it was, and we started
talking in a jumble of broken Hebrew (me) and broken English (him). Turns out
he is an Egyptian from Cairo,
and his name is Otman. Later on, I reflected on how funny it was that I got to
befriend an Egyptian right by the Red Sea! I
guess cool things happen when you wake up at five in the morning for the
breaking dawn! I won’t forget him.
He ended up inviting me for a cup of
coffee at his café where he also works at the water sports centre. We sat there
watching the Red Sea as
the sun rose higher and higher, peaking over the towering Edom Mountains (הרי אדום).
It was seriously so much fun to discover the thrill of speaking in a foreign
language (and Hebrew or עברית, of all languages!) as well as learning new things about
someone who has lived a totally different life from mine simply by virtue of
where he was born. I found out that he came to Eilat (אילת) to work because there was
little opportunity to earn good money back in Cairo due to all the unrest that is going
on at the moment. But he has all his friends (khaverim, חברים) and family (mishpakha, משפחה)
back there, so he is quite alone in this Israeli beach town. He loves it here,
though. What a truly beautiful (yafe, יפה) place it is – and I thoroughly agree!
I truly felt the exhilaration of
speaking another tongue in a new place. I believe God has answered my prayer
when I asked Him two years ago for a reason to learn Hebrew when the
opportunity arose. I am so glad I enrolled for the one semester of Hebrew at University of Melbourne. It helps so much that I can
at least read most signs, as well as guess what people are talking about. And of
course, being able to converse in simple terms for everyday traveling and
living is just priceless.
This is exactly what I want and love
to do when I travel: meet the locals, hang around with people who live on the
land, and allow different ones to touch my life and illuminate my perspective
in some way through the building of relationships. And sometimes, the quickest
way you can do that is to take the effort to learn the language and to read about
the history of the place. It will transform your travel experience, as well as
give you opportunity to share your story with others as they accept you into
their world and their communities!
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