My flights from Washington D.C. were both long, uneventful, and uncomfortable. It had been my intention to sleep as much as I could on the overnight flight across the Atlantic, but I don’t think I ended up getting more than an hour of sleep. Whether this was due to the discomfort or anxiety, I’m not sure. In any event, as the sun crested on the Eastern horizon, it illuminated an ocean full of icebergs far below. It was an impressive sight, and I didn’t really want to close the window afterwards in further vain attempts to sleep.
I laid my eyes on Europe for the first time as we flew over Ireland, England, and finally the mainland. The slow descent into Frankfurt revealed a countryside dotted with downs and marked by tall wind-power farms. I greatly desired to explore it, I’d have to settle with exploring the airport with only a two and a half hour layover. Upon landing we taxied for what seemed like an eternity, only to park somewhere on the tarmac and load into buses which took us to the terminal. This seemed strange to me, but I guess it is fairly normal at these gigantic airports that may have more aircraft traffic than gates.
I scrambled around the airport, looking for the connecting flight. With a little luck and perseverance, I found it with enough time to grab myself a midday meal at a nearby restaurant. Of course, any meal at this point would have been incomplete without some accompanying caffeine, and of course, I couldn’t pass through Germany without getting a taste of whatever local brew they had on tap, so that’s what I got along with Weißwurst and a pretzel. This was something a little bit off the beaten path food-wide, so I wasn’t surprised when it wasn’t what I’d consider the best German food I’d ever had, but it was easily better than the food served aboard the aircraft. And of course, the beer was delicious.
I boarded the shorter connecting flight to Cairo, and found myself getting anxious and counting the hours until my arrival. I would have liked to relax, but I found it difficult at the time. I didn’t have a window seat this time, so I missed out on whatever sights there were to see until we began our descent into Cairo a little bit after the sunset. Shortly before touchdown I managed to catch the dark silhouette of one of the Giza pyramids against the backdrop of lights in Cairo. It wasn’t long after that we parked and deboarded the plane.
My expeditor was waiting for me just off the plane, and swept me up into his whirlwind of activity as he rushed me through the airport, dealt with customs and collected my bags. In true military fashion, we hurried up only to end up waiting for nearly half an hour for our ride to show up. Apparently there had been a few wrong turns taken somewhere along the ride. When the vehicle finally rolled up, I thanked my expeditors, loaded my bags and climbed in to meet my social sponsor.
As we headed back to Maadi and the apartment waiting for me (which I was absolutely looking forward to given my state of exhaustion) my sponsor and I talked, he answered many of the usual questions I had, and laid out the other plans he had in order to get me situated. During this time I was taking in everything around me. The first things I noticed about Egypt was how dirty everything seemed, and how maniacal people seemed to drive. Neither of these were really unexpected – Cairo is a pretty dry place, with occasional sandstorms. It’s no surprise that it gets everywhere. As for the driving, well I’m still alive aren’t I?
It took us about 40 minutes to get to the apartment and I spent an hour or so with my host and his wife, chatting, eating, drinking, etc. He showed me to my apartment, where he had already collected some groceries for me, and my work sponsor and his wife had kindly left me a card, some homemade bread, and other treats. I was touched by all of this, but fatigue had caught up to me and I crashed shortly afterwards. I should have taken an administrative day off to try to adjust, but I didn’t – I was going to be going into the embassy for my first day bright and early in the morning. It was only fitting when my body refused to sleep more than a few hours.
The first day at the embassy was a blur of introductions, a maze of confusing and nondescript hallways and corridors, and an test of how much I could absorb on minimal amounts of sleep. After following my work sponsor around the embassy like a lost puppy for most of the day, I went home and had dinner with him and his family – then retired for an early night to do it again the next day. I was more than ready for the weekend when it came, and I embraced a couple of familiar faces that I had known from my time at FSI.
My first impressions were positive of both of my sponsors, but guarded about the work and interactions I could expect. Clearly, conducting diplomacy would not be limited to only foreign relations. I began to have my nagging doubts about what I was doing, and the choices I had made in life that lead me here – much as I had experienced upon my arrival in D.C. six months ago. One thing I could count on was that this post and life would test and challenge me, that I would either rise to it or back down from it. It would have it’s ups and downs, it’s hardships and luxuries, and that I’d need to work hard to ensure my success.