I have been feeling quite childlike during my first couple of weeks here in Egypt. I rarely know where I am going and I require assistance to get anywhere the first time. I have the same Arabic understanding of a very small child. I can currently only talk about things that happened yesterday. Egypt seems to be full of mother figures. My Arabic teachers are not that much older than me but they force me to repeat words and phrases over and over again until I have said them close to correctly. I have been riding the Metro (Cairo’s Subway equivalent) almost 2 hours a day to and from my Arabic classes. The Metro has cars for women and cars for men. Most days the women on the metro become my mothers. Today I felt a hand tug at my shirt before I exited the Metro and realized that the women behind me was adjusting my shirt that had ridden up during my ride. Another time a women asked when I was getting off and I told her the name of my station. Later as we approached that station I had several women including a girl of about 13 reminding me that this was my stop and I should get off. Even within MCC I am the youngest and I have the shortest term. My SALT term of only one year places me at the bottom of the totem pole.
At first all of this mothering made me bristle up. I wanted to make sure that people knew I could take care of myself, I can get off at the right stop and I am saying this Arabic phrase the exact same way that you did! But then I began to realize that this is a blessing not a curse. I have probably 100 Egyptian women watching out for me on the metro everyday. I can ask really dumb questions and not feel like I should have known. I had to get one of the other service workers to show me how to use my gas stove this weekend. I get tongue tied and confused with Arabic words and sounds but my teachers are always celebrating my little successes.
So this year I am preparing to be mothered. While I am on the other side of the world from my actually mother, my many Egyptian mothers will be taking care of me. And maybe I will learn a thing or two.
