The Huron Expositor, 1976-12-30, Page 9ON THEPYRAMIDS — AngelaMacLean, left, Anne James, an Egyptian guide and
Liz Watson are dwarf eckby the huge pyramid stones they are sitting on at Giza,
Egypt. The col fosal pyramid In the background is made up of the same huge stones.
ott
•f.
THE FAMOUS SPHINX — That's the huge statue in front of-the pyramid. Angela
Maciein and Anne James are in the foreground. At right is a c I which appears
to be shaking a very large paw with its master. The Sphinx lost her nose when
Napoleon's forces bleW it Off luring their Egyptian campaign.'
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Egyptia
SVRONI, -eXPQ§1TOR.?..DEPemaER 30,
tot
'THE OLD AND THE NEW — , There's., a huge
contrast in the way. the rich and The odor live in
,'Egypt. Farm labourers Ii ve in the houses above, in
town, and 'go out to the fields• every day to work. The
house below is a summer home in Adorn', owned by
:Europeans and it is empty for most of the year.
Agomi is a summer resort near Alexandria where the
three women stayed. 'Egyptians only go there in the
summer because they consider-, its winter
temperature. 60°F, too
New Year Greettngs
WITH THEIR EGYPTIAN FAMILY — Anne James,
front, left, and Angela MacLean, third from left, pose
with their adopted family in Egypt. L.1iWatson, who
made up the trio who visited Egypt last summer,
'took the photo, Their godmOther, BoUssina Abd -
El-Harnid, back left, 'and her family treated the''
women like their own. She is 31 and was married at .
13 and, is now a widow.
MO
Angela MacLean pose with a friend, Mimi, cousin of
Mrs.!. Ali Farag of Seaforth iii Alexartdriae LIZ and
Anne, daughters of „I'vlr and MM. Norman MacLean
of ,EgmondvIlle and. their sister-in-law Angela,
aughter of Mr. and Mrs. Art Devereaux of Seaforth
spent several weeks' In Egypt &wing the summer.
.THE SHEIK OF ARABY? --No, it's Liz Watson of
m Egmondville, wife of Bob and other of Sadye who
, had a camel ride during her visit to Egypt thiS year.
The camel's name is California.
pen
Larry Wright. of Red Deer,
AIb iiita k home for the holidays
with Mr. and Mts. Percy Wright.
• Mr. --7-and Mrs. Clarence
Duel-taunt' 'and family of .
Kitchener spent Christmas with
.Mr. and Mrs. Ken McLellan..
Mr. and Mrs! .Ed. M Bride>
9
vier.' in North Bay for Chris as
V. jib their.: daughter and farm
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Pine.
"Mt,. rind Mrs. W.L.Mellice
Were in Wroxeter for Christmas.
Mr. and Mrs. Schenk spent
Christmas at Shclbourne
Mr. and Mrs. McCallum
spent Christmas with Mrs. Pearl
KoOler
Joanne Van Wiere% who has
beta. orking for 1 1/2 years in
liollan4 is spendiing•the holidays
with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.'
Wieren and Clarence
Va n Wieren who has been
attending Fanshaw Collage is also
horne for the holidays,
Burns UCW • •
eting
tTri- f 'ember meeting of the
Burns. ,was held at the
home of MrS. Briice Shillinglaw
on Wednesday afternoon with 20
present. Mrs. Rice open-the
meeting with the/reading
"Christmas Time".Christmas
carols were sung.
Kay Konarshi read the scripture.
Mrs. Scott gave- a reading
''AThoughts by the way". .41,1rs...,
Rice gave a reading from the batik •
"Christmas . Treasurers;',
followed by prayer, and singing of
Christmas carols.;
Mrs. R iice was of the
business, and gave a reading.
was answered by, a Bible
versi.,with the word Shepherd:
The Treasurer's reP6rt was
given by .1canleiper. Thank you
cards•were.received from Betty
Salverda..4'Nelsont Lear and the
John 'Milton' society.
'On behalf of Miss Mae Smith,
Ria Smith thanked the ladies.
Muriel Bell and Mr. Mel/Maid
personally thanked ,the
Donations were made to the
Londeshoro 11,C..VV." rand the,
Manse Committee.'The meeting
closed With the Lord's Prayer
Members 'exchanged Christ
gifts, Grace was sung and I eh
served.
('by Len Fixzei)
When Anne .4=4, Liz Watson and Angela
Maclean landed at Cairo airport last summer,
they were immediately struck by the crowded
conditions, "We arrived at the airport at
eleven P.M.",; said Anne James. "Cattle is a
city of.abdut 9,000,09() people, and I'm sure
that at least 6,00(3,00 of them were at the
airport that night." The heat, too was a
shock, "I just about pasieTOut", said Anne.
"I've never been so hot in my whole life.
Cairo's busy a'nd crowded streets are
amazing to a, visitor used to 'the ordered
sameness which characterizes our large cities.
Donkey carts compete' for space with cars of
all 'Shapes and sizes. Vendors carrying trays
filled withlhe inexpensive flat bread which is
the staple diet of poorer city • dwellers weave
effortlessly among the throngs of people and
animals', And the noise can be overpowering.
Proning music wafts over the city from
loudspeakers outside dozens ef mosques. Taxi
horni honk incessantly.
Riding in one of those taxis is.an experience
not to be missed. On one trip through downton-
Cairo the women spent all of their time gazing
out of the back window, much to the delight of
another taxi driver following closely behind .
"He thought' we were making eyes ,at him. In
petrified to look fact we • were ' just too
forward'',
No trip to Cairo would' be complete without
taking the short ride to Giza,, just outside the
city, where the pyramids and sphinx stand
mysteriolisly on the fringe. of the desert. The
three women made the long and tiring climb
to the tomb high iniide the Great Pyramid of .
Cheops where the. stone sarcophagus which
once held the mummified body of the'pharoah
can be seen,,Arab guides are plentiful here,
-they recalled, and are always willing' to; you ,_
in on their individual theories -about how the
rnotfutnetits came to be constructed and about
their history. ..?;„
Shotinng in . Cairo is A fascinating
experience. It 'is a tradition with shopkeepers
that their place of bujness is like an extension
of their hdme, and customers, especially
tourists, are treated with hospitality..
Refreshments are Offered, usually tea or a soft
drink. • "You ..go . into a store to ' buy
something", said Liz, "and you sit down arid
have 'a bottle of pop and talk."
Bargaining is a necessity in Egypt. The idea.'
• is to'reach an equitable compromise -on the
'price of any article. "If they don't &nine, down
to what you want to pay you walk out on
them," Liz explained. "No matter whether
"you want the article er not." It can be an
exciting experience for those who aren't easily
intimidated.
One of the most attractive produCts for sale
thronghout Egypt is gold jewellery. It, Is
possible to buy a 14' carat gold -.ring for 8
Egyptian pounds, or $12., and an 18 carat gold
necklace can be bought for about one third of
its Canadian selling price.The reason foi•
these low- prices that in , Egypt, by
government regulation., gold is- sold by
weight. An object is valued according to the
international gold price, plus a ,mere five
percent.
, From. Cairo the three headed north
to Alexandria by train. The train was crowded
and they had to spend the trip h the bar ear,
no other seats being available.
A fellow traveller had warned them to keep
an eye 'out for the emiduCtor, who had a
reputation for being fractious and irritable. It
wasn't long,' however, before he had struck up
• a conversation with the women.
It turned out that he had a cbusin inToronto
and was pleased' to meet three people from
Canada. By the end of the short journey
everyone in the car was chewing the chiclets
the women had brought along in great supply.,
and puffing on Canadian cigarettes, even the
'cefidnetor, who was a non smoker.-They Inok
down his address and later sent him a card
thanking him for his helpfulnesi. •
. Everywhere they went, the three__ found
the People friendly and hospitable. '-'We just
loVed them. I've, never met people like them in
my life", said Liz. • ,
"They wanted tOknow all about us" Anne
remembers, "what we did and so on". They
couldn't have been nicer to, us." '
The Egyptians, too, are a generous people.
Anne remembers, person they met who lived'
on in'income of only eleven pounds ($16.) per
month, yet when he passed a beggar in the
street he placed a feW small coins in the
beggar's hands.
They were struck by the class distinctions in
Egyptian society, There is a Very obvious elite
and a large proportion of the people live in
extr*opoverty. "We don't 'h ave that much
of a, contrast (between, rich and poor) in
Cottaff.g..')W,cliPz.
more than they 4(0' -There.., .!.•
acceptance. o f life s..
•-• Egypt that '1.094144:put *he n, there,; and that
is. what .they nre made ,far.'' . - • •
Neotraveller Egypt can avoid? seeing the
poverty. example o °the poor m410 A:Att,,TP,og,elte.'t4011,
Alexandria) you had to ga F a•4'044Y.. Pt 0..
district, a farming district, andYoww0tlid we.'"
.children out there with sieves, taking the dirt
beside the highway .and sifting it for rice; or
anything else that might have
Yet the 'tourist does not feel any rq-14itinunt
• from those who have less than he ciiles.."111,yo•
met any peasant people, it wasn't as if they
despised Os'.' said Liz. "I was the one who felt
guilty for having so much."
One of the differenceS the trio =noticed
between Canada an Egyptian lifestyles 'was
that the Egyptians seemed to them to be far
More active than people' here-. As Liz
,explained it: "People over there use their time
So much better than we do here. They're
alwayS ..doing things. They don't just . sit
aroUnd watching television. TTey're always
busy. They're either playing tennis or ping
pong, or going for walks. Nobody WOuldtakOA
car to go to a store a few ,blockS away."
Liz, Anne and Angela feel. that their
impressions of the Egyptian 'lifestyle . are . „
accurate, "We stayed out of the tourist area's
as as much as we could" said Liz, "and so we got
to meet the people. I think we do have a•good
idea of how they live," .
'Another of the differences the travellers
noticed was that young people,,,,,.iti Egypt •
seemed to stay at home far. longer than they
do in Canada. It is very cdmmon to find young
people in their twenties living, 'with their
parents.
Education
is free in Egyptendthetravellers
were amazed to find that a great many people
. whom they met were fluent in three
languages, E s , French • and Arabic.
Making a f, le.phone call in Egypt cart be an
exasperating experience. It took. ,Anne six
days to plac a call to Canada..-4hen she'
received word that the call had been Placed ..
. she was told to go to an office, down the road •
from their flat, where the call was • waiting.,
The office was crowded with people, the
connection was very bad, and it was necessary
to shout over the din of two dozen voices.
Communications are not a high priority with
the Egyptian, Government. . • .
,But the government is not altogether aloof.
Long before': she left for Egypt lJz, just foi
fun,,had sent a letter to Jehan Sadat, the wife
of Egyptian president Anwan Sadat , saying
that she wduld soon be in Cairo, and asking if
she might pay her a 'visit. -
' Liz was surprised. to receive 'a' registered
letter from the Office . of the First• Lady of
Egypt. It said taht she might by .all weans
drop 'by and -gave two numbers' which she
ccild call while in Cairo, presumably to
arrange the visit. " We, stood,ber up, thotig10'
said Liz: There just wasn't" enepah,time for
them to follow; up the' invitation. ) '
r • ." •
Did the trip change them in any way?•Anne
felt it . did. "You come hom e 'a different
person, whether you want ,to be or not."
According, to Liz: "One 'thing travelling does
is make you appreciate 'what you have here.
Whoever appreciates a sink or, a ,4tower?"•
After a 'stay in Egypt, apparently, such
commo4lace-- things take on a neW'
importance.
The three made many friends in Egypt,
and -now write .letters",to people whom they
r-tieti.•:What of the future? Would they return,scr
Egypt? "We, will go back- Soon:, we hope".
Ffow .soon they did not want -to say. .
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