Ok, where to begin. My name is Peggy Michael. I'm from Brisbane, Australia and I live in Aswan, Egypt.
How did I get here? That is the question I often ask myself when I find myself in a situation that highlights just how foreign I am. I mean, I could tell the back story in great detail, but then this would no longer be a blog, more a novelette. Let's just say that, I met my husband while cruising on the Nile river. He was working in a little tourist shop on the cruise boat and once we met, there was no turning back.
It was the Australian Christmas school holidays 2011/2012 and I was taking a tour of Egypt, Jordan and Israel. My mother jokingly warned me before I left her at the airport not to marry an Egyptian man while I was away. I met Mena within my first week of being in Egypt, we clicked and from that moment. When I left him and continued on the rest of my tour it was clear we couldn't be apart. We kept in regular contact with each other on skype and he asked me to return to his home town of Aswan, Egypt to meet his mother and father. The idea of travelling back to strange and unfamiliar place to meet a man I hardly knew so he could introduce me to his family was a little scary. When I asked my mother for advice on what to do, she naturally begged me to return to Australia. But there was something about Mena and the connection we had that told me in my gut that it would be ok. So, I jumped on a plane and headed back to Aswan.
I don't think I fully realized just how committed Mena already was when I made that trip. It seems that 'dating' is a western idea that is inappropriate in Egypt, so according to Mena's friends, we were already engaged to each other. This was something he told them in order to limit the gossip amoungst his friends and family and he assured me that although he was telling his friends we were engaged I had no obligation to him and if I decided I didn't want to see him again after this visit he would just tell them the engagement was broken off. But, by the end of my week visiting his family before I returned home to Australia to start another school year, it was clear to both of us that we planned on spending our lives together.
What would this mean? Where would we live? How would we share a life together?
Everyone had their opinion about our relationship. They either thought we were crazy, or that I was being taken advantage of or well...that we were nuts. But the bottom line was, we knew each other in a way that counted the most. The details would come later.
Once I got home to Australia the plans started to evolve. At first the plan was for me to return in June/July to become Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox) and get married. But after some time it was clear that Mena's family didn't agree with our plans, and the laws regarding marriage to a foreigner were 'troublesome' so our ideas changed. Being apart from each other proved to be difficult too, so we decided that I would return to Egypt in the April school holidays and become married in a civil union, return to Australia until September and then come back to Egypt and start a new life here with my new husband.
Oh my goodness, who can wait so long when they have decided the course of their life. Plan C, takes effect. No more waiting until September, when our marriage plans fell through due to paperwork and legal difficulties in April, we decided not to wait until September. Instead I would make my move in the June/July school holidays.
That's how I ended up here in Egypt. I met an amazing man, fell in love, decided that I couldn't live without him and moved to Egypt. I've been here 3 months now and believe me, there has been a fair share of ups and downs along the way. Moving to another country is difficult. Moving to a country that is culturally the polar opposite to your own is more difficult, doing this while beginning a marriage with a man you love, but don't really know is, well, difficult. So far it's been totally worth it. I have cried, boy oh boy have I cried. Anyone who knows me well will know that it's not unusual for me to get teary. I can see my mother nodding in agreement as she reads this. But there have been a lot of laughs too and I even look upon some of the crazy hard stuff now and smile, even laugh at our adventure so far.
I wish I had started writing this blog from the beginning because there are heaps of little stories that have been worth telling and now I have to play catch up to fill you all in.
Be ready for the next installment of my crazy new life in Egypt.
How did I get here? That is the question I often ask myself when I find myself in a situation that highlights just how foreign I am. I mean, I could tell the back story in great detail, but then this would no longer be a blog, more a novelette. Let's just say that, I met my husband while cruising on the Nile river. He was working in a little tourist shop on the cruise boat and once we met, there was no turning back.
It was the Australian Christmas school holidays 2011/2012 and I was taking a tour of Egypt, Jordan and Israel. My mother jokingly warned me before I left her at the airport not to marry an Egyptian man while I was away. I met Mena within my first week of being in Egypt, we clicked and from that moment. When I left him and continued on the rest of my tour it was clear we couldn't be apart. We kept in regular contact with each other on skype and he asked me to return to his home town of Aswan, Egypt to meet his mother and father. The idea of travelling back to strange and unfamiliar place to meet a man I hardly knew so he could introduce me to his family was a little scary. When I asked my mother for advice on what to do, she naturally begged me to return to Australia. But there was something about Mena and the connection we had that told me in my gut that it would be ok. So, I jumped on a plane and headed back to Aswan.
I don't think I fully realized just how committed Mena already was when I made that trip. It seems that 'dating' is a western idea that is inappropriate in Egypt, so according to Mena's friends, we were already engaged to each other. This was something he told them in order to limit the gossip amoungst his friends and family and he assured me that although he was telling his friends we were engaged I had no obligation to him and if I decided I didn't want to see him again after this visit he would just tell them the engagement was broken off. But, by the end of my week visiting his family before I returned home to Australia to start another school year, it was clear to both of us that we planned on spending our lives together.
What would this mean? Where would we live? How would we share a life together?
Everyone had their opinion about our relationship. They either thought we were crazy, or that I was being taken advantage of or well...that we were nuts. But the bottom line was, we knew each other in a way that counted the most. The details would come later.
Once I got home to Australia the plans started to evolve. At first the plan was for me to return in June/July to become Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox) and get married. But after some time it was clear that Mena's family didn't agree with our plans, and the laws regarding marriage to a foreigner were 'troublesome' so our ideas changed. Being apart from each other proved to be difficult too, so we decided that I would return to Egypt in the April school holidays and become married in a civil union, return to Australia until September and then come back to Egypt and start a new life here with my new husband.
Oh my goodness, who can wait so long when they have decided the course of their life. Plan C, takes effect. No more waiting until September, when our marriage plans fell through due to paperwork and legal difficulties in April, we decided not to wait until September. Instead I would make my move in the June/July school holidays.
That's how I ended up here in Egypt. I met an amazing man, fell in love, decided that I couldn't live without him and moved to Egypt. I've been here 3 months now and believe me, there has been a fair share of ups and downs along the way. Moving to another country is difficult. Moving to a country that is culturally the polar opposite to your own is more difficult, doing this while beginning a marriage with a man you love, but don't really know is, well, difficult. So far it's been totally worth it. I have cried, boy oh boy have I cried. Anyone who knows me well will know that it's not unusual for me to get teary. I can see my mother nodding in agreement as she reads this. But there have been a lot of laughs too and I even look upon some of the crazy hard stuff now and smile, even laugh at our adventure so far.
I wish I had started writing this blog from the beginning because there are heaps of little stories that have been worth telling and now I have to play catch up to fill you all in.
Be ready for the next installment of my crazy new life in Egypt.
Great story Peggy....can't wait for the next installment!
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog Peggy, you are quite the story teller. I can't wait to hear all about the challenges in your new job too.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Peggy! Will keep following, Val
ReplyDelete