Brotherhood

Assalam u alaikum,

Since coming to Egypt, I've realized that I don't appreciate the people around me. When I'm in Edmonton, I'm sort of grouchy. I don't enjoy meeting people. I go out of my way to try and avoid people, just stay at home, do my own thing. It's not that all the people in Edmonton aren't amazing: quite the opposite actually, but somehow when I meet other people I'm always trying to size them up, compare myself to them, figure out ways I can put myself over them. I never actually meet them: I just meet my own bloated image of myself.

Here in Cairo I feel completely different. When I meet other students I feel excited to be able to talk to other people. We meet someone and after five minutes it's like we've known them for our entire lives. I think other people who have travelled can relate to this. There is something purifying in leaving your own home: you're not secure anymore, you know that you hold nothing in your own hands, so when you meet other students like yourself, you know that they will help you and you will help them. And the stories of their lives are enthralling.

I met this British guy named Kaysar the other day. This guy has like I don't know how many degrees, he's worked in this place and that place, and here is, studying Arabic like Mustafa and I. I guess we're pretty lucky that Ammi and Abu trusted us to come here and study all by ourselves. It's not so simple sometimes for parents to do that, and I realize that after I meet different students and hear their stories.

Sometimes when I write I have a whole bunch of thought crowded up in my head and it comes out in a big jumble. John Milton was blind for the last part of his life while he was finishing his magnum opus, Paradise Lost. He employed a secretary to write down his poetry lines as he composed them in his head. One day his secretary was late and he reprimanded her, saying, "I need to be milked!" I start to get an idea of what that's like.

Today we started the lesson on Arabic proverbs. This I think will prove to be rich in ideas and wisdom, so insha'allah I'll try and post some of what I've learned soon insha'allah.

So until next episode of Crazy Canadians in Cairo, Stay Calm, Be Brave, and Wait for the Signs.

and meet people.

Ma'asalam,

~Ameer