Familiarity in a Unfamilar Land

Dubrovnik - Walk from the the old city

As I viewed the stunning views in Dubrovnik, my thoughts turned toward the population of Cairo -- how could you imagine such a place when your daily existence is an a dusty, overcrowded metropolis.

View from our balcony

Daily I ponder on how much an impact my surroundings have on me: On one hand I appreciate the beauty that Dubrovnik offered and there are times when I yearn for patches of green and opportunities to walk in the woods yet much of the time I can  immerse my self in the busyness of my daily life, becoming oblivious to the fact that I live in a concrete jungle.







Sunset on the Nile

 And yet there are glimpses of a different kind of beauty -- in a sunset on the Nile  and the constant smiles of almost everyone Egyptian you meet.  The smiles and recognition are what I miss most when I retrurned to Canada. 





 As you walk down the street here, most everyone, whether you have seen them before or not usually looks at you head on and produes a smle that lights the moment. 

Although this is a foreign culture for us and much we still do not understand there was a familiarity in coming back.  Our apartment has everything we need (though far less than all stuff we are have for our home in London).

 

We also know where we could find most everthing else.we did -- which in the first year is a giant puzzle.  Although there is a large Walmart type store called Carrefour it is overwhelming and crazy,  busy so we source most of what we need from small neighbourhood stores and markets.  I have had the pleasure of being the "market tour guide" for a few of the newbies.


A few more views of Crotia and Montenegro on the Aegean coast -- with more pondering about the trip on a future post