A Brief Glimpse into Egyptian Family Life

So we promised to explain more about our evening with the assistant manager of the Luxor post office and his family… Ahmed had been very helpful to us as we prepared to ship a few things home and his English was also pretty good, so we were able to joke a bit about our packing job, laying odds on what would be broken by the time it arrived. He asked us where we were from and what we did for work, and Denise mentioned that she worked in marketing and architecture. He was eager to hear this as he was building a small apartment block near the Luxor Temple. He would live in one unit and rent the other 3 units. Would we mind coming over to his place to review the rental contract? It was in English and our review as native speakers would be most helpful. His wife would prepare dinner. Would the next night work for us? Against Pelle’s better judgment we agreed to come back to the post office at 8 the next night.

We arrived at the appointed time, realizing too late that we had forgotten to bring a gift for Ahmed’s wife or kids. Nothing to do about it but hope that our contract review would suffice. We loaded onto the back of Ahmed’s motor scooter (yes 3 full-size adults on a 125 cc machine) and zipped through a maze of back alleys to Ahmed’s apartment. It was the start of the weekend, so the streets were full of kids playing the coffee shops were full of men smoking the shisha, far from the touristy areas of Luxor.

Ahmed’s home was small, with a bedroom and a kitchen flanking the main living room, but neat and well lived in. We met his young daughter, two sons and wife, talking with them as best we could through the little English they knew and the zero Arabic we knew. We were just getting around to asking Ahmed about the contract he wanted us to read when the electricity went out. They hurriedly lit a few candles and Ahmed went out to find out what had happened. For about 20 minutes, we just sat there, accompanied only by Ahmed’s 3-year-old daughter who was quite pushy in her zeal to play with us. Ahmed finally came back and explained that a wedding party taking place down the street had likely blown the power supply, but it would be fixed soon. He also told us that he no longer needed us to read over his rental contract, as his lawyer had done so that very day. Oh, and none of the family would not be eating with us either, as they had eaten earlier. Um, OK.

 Ahmed’s wife brought in dinner and as forewarned, it was just the two of us eating fried chicken and french fries on their couch over candlelight. Awkward. Pelle was beginning to wonder aloud just why we were really there when Ahmed finally returned and asked if we wanted to see some of the antiques that he liked to collect and sold on the side. Um, OK. Thankfully the power had returned so we would be able to see everything really well. 20 minutes later, Ahmed’s bed and small side table were laden with miniature stone heads of pharaohs and pharaonic gods, coins, carved scarabs, and an assortment of beads. Were they truly ancient? Were they high quality fakes? Alas, we had left our Egyptian Antiquities Pocket Reference Guide at home. 

With the air in the room beginning to fill with cigarette smoke, and Ahmed urging us to tell him what we wanted to buy, and the sound of the wedding next door growing ever louder, and thoughts of the dinner that his wife had just prepared without eating any of it herself, we, we, we caved. Denise bought two small carved scarabs and, beaming with pleasure, Ahmed threw in two coins, no doubt feeling a little guilty about his “Come to my house for dinner and enjoy the evening with me” cover story. With some relief, we then piled back onto his motor scooter and he dropped us back at our hotel.

It was, um, an interesting evening that provided much insight into modern Egyptian culture, manners, and attitudes.