Stu's visit to Egypt (year 2)
04/29/2003
Dahab is a small resort town on the Sinai Peninsula misplaced by the sixties and overlooked by every decade since. Like a sarong left behind at a party around 1968, Dahab is full of Rasta wear and tie-dye and dreadlocks and beads and outdoor cafes and Reggae music. It is noticeably out of place in this conservative, Muslim country in the Middle East. But it apparently doesn't care. In fact, it doesn't seem to be aware of anything. Like most of its visitors, Dahab seems to move in slow motion.I got right into the spirit of things by falling into a shisha pit and pretty much not moving for three days. At one point I believe I drifted into a coma. I think the secret of suspended animation was revealed to me in a dream, but I lacked the motivation to write any of it down. Despite stumbling onto the greatest scientific discovery of the century so far, I don't think I was the model of productivity this weekend. I did manage to have an epiphany or two, however.
First of all, I'm going to miss this next year. Where else can I spend a four day weekend (lodging, meals AND flight) for the price of two new shirts from The Gap? I'm going to miss the economy and simplicity of it all. No time-consuming security checks at the airport, no questions asked when purchasing tickets, no need to plan ahead.
The second realization is that I'm ready to move on. Where else can I be aggravated on a daily basis by the relentless inconvenience of misguided, bureaucratic and seemingly random policies. Not to mention the pushiness of the people who mindlessly follow senseless procedures. I have lost my patience for taxi drivers who take the long way, police officers who close intersections when they go on a tea break and waiters who screw up orders.
These are not, by any means, new epiphanies for me. They are repeats of past epiphanies. Like summer television programming these epiphanies are rerun in my head. At first I don't remember seeing it before so I watch it until I figure out which episode it is and then end up keeping it on the same channel because nothing else is on and I can't quite remember how this one ends anyway.
I remember thinking two years ago, I'm going to miss the pop culture, the friends, the rituals of Wednesday Night Bowling and Monday Night Football. I also remember thinking; I'm ready to move on from the aggravation of being a public servant, the politics, and the senseless excess of a consumer driven society.
I remember thinking four years ago; I'm going to miss the security of marriage, the warmth of a loving relationship, and the comfort of a woman's embrace. I also remember thinking, I'm ready to move on from the aggravation of miscommunication, the heartbreak of love lost, and the nerve-wracking practice of walking on eggshells.
And before that I remember thinking, I'm going to miss school with the friends, the parties and the lack of responsibilities. I also remember thinking; I'm ready to move on from the aggravation of term papers, tests, and a fixed income.
You get the idea. I am experiencing the familiar mix of emotions that comes with any change. I can't say it gets any easier with practice. But I can say that I much prefer it to what I was living with before. For years my future was unimaginable and uninteresting to me. Like an impossibly thick novel that wasn't holding my interest, I just wanted to put it down and stop reading. But now, like a good book I can't put down, I want to keep turning the pages.