the green door

I'm spending a few days away from the city in Ain Soukhna.

It's hard to believe that I'm just a couple of hours away from the honking cars, the dust, the real city that never sleeps. New York has nothing on Cairo.

But today is not about Cairo. Today is about the azure blue water of the Red Sea, soft white sand, and fresh air.

I am, by far, not a city girl. I grew up in a small, sleepy town, as far removed from Cairo as you can get. I could easily pass a herd of cows on my short walk from home to school. I could see the Drakensberg Mountains from my bedroom window. Everything was within walking distance, and everybody knew your name.

And now, here I sit in the balcony of a quiet resort, where you could hear a pin drop, and this little bird keeps perching on my balcony rail, chirping away, and I find myself wanting to shoo it away.

Cairo - what have you done to me?