A year ago today, I arrived Cairo Airport holding a return ticket departing after two weeks. But I knew my life wouldn't be the same anymore. I would no longer have a job to return to. I would no longer be getting a bi-weekly paycheck to cover my expenses.
Before I landed Cairo Airport, I was an experienced Revenue Manager at a well-established international hotel chain in the United States. For many years, as a Revenue Manager, I was busy dealing with numbers, forecasting, calculating and explaining the downturns of the hospitality market.
As much as I felt blessed having a stable job, I was unsatisfied.
Therefore, whenever I wasn’t busy killing my brain cells, I had a different identity. I was a belly dancer with my sparkling fairy alike costumes flying through life.
I started nurturing the idea of moving to Egypt to expand on belly dancing and cultural exploring but the fear of uncertainties was talking sense in my head. It wasn’t an easy to change so I decided just to travel for a 10-day long belly dance festival. After I purchased the ticket for the duration of two weeks, immediately I realized I made a mistake. I wanted to take a chance. I wanted a change. I wanted to break my routine. I wanted to break my unsatisfying life.
My heart started imaging the journey.
The possibilities finally overcame my fear. I walked to my boss’s office and told him my decision. He was shock. He asked me, “are you sure you don’t want to just go and see if you would even like it?” Yes, but I knew if I keep the job, then for sure I would feel the “need” or “comfort” to return.
My mom was crying on our way to the airport. Mom always knew, even I showed her my return ticket telling her that I was only going for two weeks. She knew… her crazy daughter was about to throw her life away and start a new one...
So exactly year ago, I came, with a return ticket due home after two weeks. And of course i didn’t go home after two weeks. I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t speak any Arabic besides "shokuran" (thank you). I didn’t find a place to stay until the day before I was supposed to take off. I called the airline the day of, claiming I was too sick to travel... (yeah according to my mom, I was sick in the head! so i wasn’t really lying)
During this past year, Egypt and I both had revolution. It definitely has been difficult to adjust. Maybe things will get worse before it can get better. Taking a leap of faith is an learning path. Most importantly, we didn’t go on our lives wondering if we could have made the difference in our lives...!
And story continues....
