Because I Believed in Me (My Egyptian Fantasy Came True)

© 2012 Randi D. Ward. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/21/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8916-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8915-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-8917-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012921730

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Contents

Dedication And Heart Felt Appreciation

Introduction Reflections Before I Begin My Love Story Of Egypt

Chapter One The Beginning Of A Love Affair With Misr

Chapter Two A Surprising Invitation

Chapter Three A Problem That Led To My First Great Egyptian Adventure

Chapter Four The Beginning Of Beautiful Friendships

Chapter Five My Humorous Moment As A Star

Chapter Six Randi, The Wedding Crasher!!

Chapter Seven A Chance For A New Life Opportunity

Chapter Eight Getting Ready For The Greatest Experience Of My Life

Chapter Nine Getting Settled In My New Homes

Chapter Ten Modaressa Randi Begins Once More

Chapter Eleven The Most Rewarding Experience In My Career

Chapter Twelve Mohamed, Heba, And Egyptian Family Hospitality

Chapter Thirteen Pyramids, Camels, Koshary, The Nile, And So Much More

Chapter Fourteen Acts Of Kindness

Chapter Fifteen Awesome Days At The Culture Wheel Chinese Festival And More

Chapter Sixteen An Inspirational Day With My Hejab

Chapter Seventeen Too Close To The Revolution

Chapter Eighteen First Year Celebration Of Independence Day

Chapter Nineteen A Fun Day As An Egyptian University Student!!

Chapter Twenty A Very Special Couple – A Love Story

Chapter Twenty-One Let Me Entertain You

Chapter Twenty-Two Good Times With New Friends And Reunions With Old Friends

Chapter Twenty-Three Egyptian Art Through The Creative Eyes Of Mohamed Farghaly

Chapter Twenty-Four My Personal Physician And Friend Emo

Chapter Twenty-Five Final Return To My Oasis Paradise

Chapter Twenty-Six Honorable Mentions

Chapter Twenty-Seven Islam, As I See It!!

Chapter Twenty-Eight My Last Days In Egypt

Sources Cited In My Book

DEDICATION AND HEART FELT APPRECIATION

This book was truly an act of love for me. With a genuine smile on my face, I would sit at my desk, write on my laptop for many hours each day, and dream once more of being back in Egypt. This book has also been a blessing to me in many ways. It has helped me to keep from being so homesick for Egypt and my friends there. It has provided me with the opportunity to relive my life with my Egyptian friends and to record permanently these special memories. Finally, it is now giving me the great honor to share with others a look at Egypt and its people through the eyes of an ordinary American woman.

The writing of the book was easy because of my passion and love for Misr (Egypt). However, choosing the perfect title for my book became very tedious and challenging for me. Thus, after brainstorming for a solution, I decided to have a contest on Facebook and request the aid of my helpful friends. I indicated that I would dedicate my book to the winner. I posted the chapter titles of my book to assist the participants, told them to compose a title that was personal but also included a connection to Egypt, and set the deadline for one week. The suggestions were to be sent to me via a private message on Facebook. Thirty-three people submitted a little over one hundred possible titles. I was so impressed with these thoughtful and great titles. It was a very difficult decision, but finally I narrowed it down to two titles and decided to combine them. One was very personal; the second one was about Egypt. They were exactly what I felt and wanted. At last I had the perfect title!

The WINNERS are these wonderful and creative friends:

EMO (AMIR FATHY MAHMOUD ALI EL GARHY)

and

RADWA MOKHTAR HAMMAM FARRAG.

CONGRATULATIONS, RADWA!!

The first part of my title Because I Believed in Me was created by Radwa Mokhtar HammaM Farrag. Radwa is an amazing young lady. She was actually one of my special students in one of my Tuesday and Saturday evening Level One classes at SYE during my first session. Before the course was over, Radwa became one of the leaders of the class and not only demonstrated great improvement in her English proficiency but also impressed me with her ability to keep her group organized and on task. She was also always smiling and pleasant in class and therefore, absolutely delightful to teach. Radwa is now a really good friend of mine, too, and we chat as often as we both have time to do. She knows how important the word BELIEVE is to me, and I believe this is the reason she was so successful in helping me to name my book. My sincerest gratitude goes out to my dear friend Radwa. The title is perfect!

Radwa is a 2009 graduate of Cairo University from the Faculty of Commerce. Her specialties were Arabic and Business Administration. However, Radwa also speaks English and Spanish. Her dream is to work for a bank or some other large business. She has already had Customer Service training at the National Societe Generale Bank and the Egyptian National Bank. From January 2010-April 2010, she was a Software Engineer at Apple Line Company. Currently she is a Customer Care Representative (Dealer Contact Center Representative in Risk Management) at Vodafone Egypt. Her varied interests and hobbies include writing, traveling, listening to music, watching movies, and surfing the internet.

CONGRATULATIONS, EMO!

Amir Fathy Mahmoud Ali El Garhy called Emo by his family and friends understands my passion and love for Egypt so he created the second part of the book title–-My Egyptian Fantasy Came True. A chapter of my book will discuss Emo so you will get more acquainted with him later. Thus, I will describe only some details about him now.

Emo is a 2010 graduate of Suez Canal University with a medical degree and a specialization in dentistry. He graduated with a grade of very good. Emo is a highly intelligent and dedicated doctor and dentist currently serving his year as a military doctor in the Egyptian army. He will finish his year of service in September 2012. When he is on leave from the army, he visits his family in El Fayoum (a university city about an hour away from Cairo) and works at his two dental clinics in this community.

Emo has a variety of interests besides becoming successful one day in his field of dentistry. As with most Egyptians, his favorite sport is football (soccer). He and his army buddies play soccer during the recreational periods given to them. When he is on the computer, he enjoys chatting with friends, playing several of the Facebook games, and reading, such things as the world news online. Emo has taught himself to speak and write English and has continued to become more and more proficient. His dream is to travel to the United States and get his medical license here one day and eventually have his own dental office.

RUNNER-UPS

The effort to help me was so incredible that I have decided to also indicate the next top ELEVEN SUGGESTED TITLES. These bright and creative friends are from Egypt, Morocco, and the United States.

#2 EHAB MOHAMED–Randi in Misr Land

#3 KERRY DONK–Getting Lost Into a People and Finding Myself Again

#4 AHMED SALAH–-Soul Searching on the Banks of the Nile

#5 MAHMOUD SAAD–Egyptian Magic in My Life

#6 AHMED AFIFY–-Egypt—The Warmth That Changed My Life

#7 HEBA BAHAA–Journey to the Center of My Life

#8 ESRAA KHALED–Love and Faith and Hope

#9 MOHAMED MOSTAFA–The Biggest Gift in My Life

#10 NADA ABDEL RAHMAN–My Love Story With Egypt

#11 SAM SABIR–-I Was There!

#12 ABDULLAH EMAN–-Live It Before You Die!

#13 KERRY DONK–-Breathing New Life Into an Old Soul

HONORABLE MENTIONS

These entrants also deserve to be mentioned. They represent people from Egypt, Morocco, Bangladesh, and Germany.

Ahmed Shewail, Hakim Nadiri, Neon Hussain Bijoy, Maha Mohamed, Radwa Nabil, Ursula Lorenz, Samar Elgendy, Heba Fathy, Salma Gamal, Maha Mohamed (another lady with the same name), Ayman El Bendary Halla Mohamed, Samar Adel, Ahmed Hamid Azza, Heba Mady, Haythem Ragheb, Ahmed Mohamed Hitch, and Samar Farouk.

My deepest and heart-felt appreciation and love go out to all of these dear people who took the time out of their busy lives to become a part of my beloved book. I will remember each and every one of them always!!!

I must also express my sincerest gratitude and love to some very special people who supported and encouraged me during the process of writing this book.

1. Bill, my husband who allowed me to spend many hours during the day writing, would take me out to eat so I did not even have to stop to prepare meals often, and always expressed his pride in my writing in my book

2. Tamie Smith-Glaze, my dearest American friend who made wonderful suggestions to help me to enhance my book and was always there for me

3. Dr. Selma Traljic Selimovic, an Anti-aging specialist and physician and my sweet friend who read my book and strongly encouraged me to continue with the same writing style and passion

4. Ehab Mohamed, a former student and one of my best friends now, who insisted on being the first person to read my entire book and has been a great source of encouragement to me throughout this entire writing process

5. Heba Bahaa, a young lady who could be my daughter but insists that we are more like sisters and has listened with great interest and much patience during the many long chats about my book

6. Ahmed Sami, my extremely talented and gifted artist friend, who illustrated my book cover and made my words come to life in his exquisite art

7. Samar Farouk, my wonderful Egyptian friend who will translate my book into Arabic for me and has been there for me since the first day I started writing my first word with so much support and love

8. Yahia Ehab, my fifteen year old Egyptian genius friend and angel on earth, who was totally responsible for repairing and saving over forty book photos by upgrading their resolution to the book publishing requirements

My heart is genuinely so full of all of the wonderful friends and family members mentioned in this dedication……..I truly love each and every one of them so very much…. I hope my book has truly expressed my love, my admiration, and my passion for my second home Egypt.

In memory of my mother WILDA D. WINTERS who died on June 19, 2012. My mother was my life teacher, my role model, and my best friend. Sadly, she was not well enough to read my book. She was an English teacher like me, and I so wanted her to critique my book. I will forever regret this.

INTRODUCTION

Reflections Before I Begin My Love Story of Egypt

How and where do I begin to tell the story of my brief life in Egypt, the ancient land of pharaohs and incredible pyramids–called Misr by Egyptians, meaning Mother of the World? Since my first visit to Egypt in July 1996, I have always had a hidden passion for Egypt and for its amazing ancient treasures and antiquities but also for the spirit of the Egyptian people. I have been fortunate to have traveled to a total of forty-nine countries so far, but my first love after my own wonderful home of the United States has become Egypt.

In the early spring of 2011 I met a Facebook friend who informed me about an English training center called SYE (Spread Your English) that he was organizing, and he invited me to come to teach at his school. I had retired from teaching high school English in Georgia in May 2008 and missed teaching very much so the thought of teaching again