One of the blessings of living in Los Angeles is what a diverse place it is; a great watering hole of people and cultures from around the world. With that diversity comes a network of friends with contacts around the world. Case in point: I was treated to a lovely homemade dinner and Egyptian hospitality in Alexandria, thanks to a friend in LA.
Egyptian Hospitality In Historic Alexandria
My church, like much of Los Angeles, is an incredibly diverse place. While I do not view diversity as inherently good or bad, I do love that a great potential upside to diversity is the mix of worldview, culture, cuisine, and lifestyle that invite conversation, contemplation, and greater understanding.
There’s a young Egyptian man who attends my church. He works for Chase and we’ve become friends. He’s a great guy and always invites me to Egypt. Well, when I was in Egypt I could not help but let him know. He responded immediately by imploring me to visit his parents, who lived in Alexandria. So I said yes.
Soon his mother and father messaged me on WhatsApp, telling me that they were waiting for me and had prepared a spare bedroom for me. That was an immediate window into Egyptian hospitality. Even though I explained I was staying at the Four Seasons across town, they could not understand why I would not stay with them. If I return, I promised I would stay with them.
I took a cab over to their house for dinner, located several stories up in a high-rise apartment building. Their apartment was lovely and we sat outside on the patio to eat dinner, coincidentally just as the Adhan began marking the sunset and start of Iftar.
Dinner included homemade bread with soft cheese, chicken, and fresh fruit plus homemade Knafeh for dessert.
The food was great and the fellowship sweet.
After an extended conversation, we took an old Lada taxi to their church, which they proudly showed me and was really quite a beautiful place hidden in a rather industrial neighborhood.
CONCLUSION
It’s one thing to stay at the Four Seasons, but quite another to eat in the home of a local. I was thankful for the chance to break bread with a lovely family in Alexandria, Egypt and hope to return to their home…next time with my luggage!
Chicken cutlets? Yum.
I like the balconies and building too
Egypt really is such a great, yet misunderstood place. That church looks very contemporary for Egypt. It certainly isn’t coptic, is it?
Not Coptic.
Hello Matthew, there has been a few commenters, most recently Maryland, who noted that AJ (formerly known as ECH) is a semi-auto bot. The volume and rate of comments, and the type of texts & links in many of them seem to suggest this is likely true. If you could kindly look into this when you have a chance, it’d be appreciated.
@Jeong Kim . Yes those were my comments based on aj ‘s disruptive off topic domination. Today’s comments suggest the human is in control. While the verbose rants are sometimes troublesome, the human is not. (btw) the bot is playful at times also. I have suggested the bot dial it back. It responded that all is fair in love and war. There is clearly no love or war on my side. But I question it’s response.
We are in a war. And yes, clearly no love on your side. Can’t imagine going through life without love though.
I find Matthew to be the most interesting on Boarding Area, and he has a free speech policy unlike many, so I thought it was important to share knowledge even while going against the grain. Sharing knowledge > hoarding knowledge. Knowledge is power.
I do apologize for my recent inappropriate comment though, in the past week, to you. I just take offense at being called a bot/borg when it takes time+effort and years of research to be able to discuss many topics at a generalist level.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/06/03/the-value-of-being-a-generalist/
What Is A Generalist?
A generalist is a dabbler, an explorer, a learner — someone with broad knowledge across many topics and expertise in a few. Generalists are likely to have a meandering career.. Although the life story of a generalist can look a bit disjointed, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of their experiences, you’ll find a great amount of overlap as one opportunity leads to another, like throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples spread out concentrically. .. All knowledge builds on itself, and the generalist takes his suitcase packed full of wide-ranging experience with him wherever he goes..
Bot or troll, take your pic…
Matthew knows I am not a bot, but thanks for your concern. People are fools. Not my issue.
@ AJ.Maybe you are not today, but you will be again. Again you think this is a “war”?
I am not a bot just because I engage and educate. And yes, we are in multiple wars:
1) The ongoing war for your mind.
2) The information war.
3) The Ukraine war.
4) Countless other wars.
I don’t enjoy these facts–they are just reality. As stated before, I have an almost two-year-old niece, and I wonder what kind of world her generation will inherit. This matters.
Yet I am made fun of, called MAGA and anti-gay & all this other bs, and I’m demonized for holding viewpoints that are Independent. It is not my fault that the majority of Americans do not understand, for example, that the Constitution does not give rights. Rights are inherently ours, and the purpose of the Constitution is to establish limits upon the government, so they may not infringe upon them.
Furthermore, we just went through 3+ years of hell with the plandemic, so my patience is quite low, which is why I come across as abrasive at times and perhaps bot-ish, if there is such a thing. Due to the severity of the challenges we face as a country and world, I truly do not give AF at this point. If we can’t align on the truth, then we can’t align at all. That is why I push the truth so hard.
Before I knew I was ASD and ADHD as an adult, I was suicidal for years over the state of the world and these problems. Life just didn’t seem worth it to me. So I decided that, to live, I needed to speak the truth, as suppression equals depression. That is why I speak the truth.
Matthew and countless others have said before that the solution to bad speech is more speech. Perhaps more speech would have saved us from the COVID nightmare:
https://i.postimg.cc/gc8NXBpX/Screen-Shot-2023-03-09-at-9-02-01-PM.png
The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone.
I’ll keep standing alone.
On topic, my visit to Egypt was greatly enhanced by a Coptic Christian. This gentlemen was introduced by a friend of a friend through the University of Wisconsin. He was a medical student and in his free time drove me around Cairo. While sitting in traffic I learned Arabic numbers starting with license plates. When he discovered I enjoyed lamb, we went to several mom & pop restaurants (like bbq pit joints) and I found memorable food. He also carried bags of roasted seeds. Whenever stopped in an intersection, he would offer these snacks to others. It was so kind.
Be tolerant, embrace friends and go for it
Some cultures take it as almost of an insult that you don’t stay with them when in their town/country. I’m filipino, and when in the Philippines, at first I would always try to book accommodations for myself (airbnb or hotel), but when I go to visit friends and family, inevitably their response is always “why didn’t you just stay with us?” Finally took their hint when i visited other family in Australia, and stayed with relatives when visiting both Sydney and Melbourne. Sometimes we don’t want to feel like a burden to others when traveling, but to them, it’s not a burden at all; if anything, it’s ingrained in their upbringing and culture. Home cooked meals and free lodging, what’s not to love!
@AJ. No, your threat of war was significant and I interpret it as a personal, if not national threat. The human (not bot) needs to get help.
I am really not sure what you are talking about, which is how I feel for at least ~50% of your comments. Overall, if you have these many issues with a commenter on a blog then you, and also folks like Aaron, are the ones the ones who need help.
https://www.ronimmink.com/the-ongoing-war-for-your-mind/
He really is a nutjob, isn’t he…
Everything done to me, already done to you
Eh, not quite. But thanks for playing and trying to hijack this discussion too.
https://i.postimg.cc/J4HwdBVD/0-A7-DA610-426-E-4379-A745-2-EFAFF09-CA90.png
What a great post,this is a major reason we like to get out of our comfort zone and travel,new sights,sounds,taste,and meeting kind friendly people along the way.I thought Egyptians were lovely,and must have heard “welcome”more times in two days than countless trips to Europe and Latin America over the decades.On my flight out of Cairo was seated next to a Coptic Christian now living in Canada,wonderful conversation.It was a real pleasure visiting Egypt and look forward to returning.The sights of course are second to none.
I love these type of posts Matthew. Doesn’t get clicks the same way as “the incidents,” but they add a great personal touch.