Back to the Motherland

It's been just over a week since the protests that ousted Mohamed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency began. My family was out there in the streets protesting, and I'm thankful they are all safe. The pro-Morsi folks were camped out in the neighborhood where my would-be apartment is still empty and waiting for me...like Godot, sad to say.

I'm still in DC, but not entirely because of the current security situation (although the embassy in Cairo is under a mandatory evacuation so even if I had gone I would have been back here anyway). There was another hiccup after the ambassador changed her mind to let me go to Cairo and there were a lot of interagency politics being played which eventually led to a stalemate...and then Egypt had another revolution, if I may be so bold as to call it that. (We're certainly staying away from the word "coup" because of the political and economic ramifications, but the military overthrew the president so call it what you will.)

The June 30th protests in Egypt had been planned for months so I decided to wait and see what would happen there before I tried again to cut through all the red tape and go claim the desk that is rightfully mine. Fact: not only do I still have an empty apartment in Cairo, I also have an empty suite of offices in the embassy. It's such a waste, because Cairo is now completely off the table. I'm so disappointed I hardly have the words. Terribly, awfully disappointed. BUT, we pick up the pieces and move on, so now I'm in the midst of convincing the powers that be to give me a spot in the consulate in Dubai. If they don't have room for me then we'll ask the embassy in Abu Dhabi, and if they don't want me we'll ask the embassy in Amman. It reminds me of something my bonus dad, Steve, told me at the beginning of my budding legal career - "somebody somewhere WILL hire you!"

In other news, I had my last Arabic class a couple of weeks ago. They gave me a certificate and everything! I will miss my teacher, Ahmed - we've been buddies since February and he's heard all about ALL of the ups and downs during this entire process. They should give him a bonus for putting up with me for as long as he did.

July 4th was last Thursday (interesting that Egypt's "independence" was the day before) and I spent the holiday weekend in St Louis with Lindsey, her husband Chad and their friends. We were mostly at the pool, with the exception of a quick mud run on Saturday morning, no biggie. I actually volunteered last-minute to help out along the course since I hadn't signed up to run - mostly because I didn't think I would make it through 5 miles of mud and obstacles. Looking back I probably could have done it, but then we wouldn't have those sweet action shots of the rest of the team! Good times.

SO - no Cairo, but I'm still the Intellectual Property Attaché for the Middle East & North Africa. They can't take that away from me! I'll still be doing the same work, just from a different place than I had planned. And we all know that when we make plans God laughs. I would imagine He's having a pretty good chuckle with all the plans I've made in the last few years :) Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

p.s. Ramadan Kareem!