Thursday, April 26, 2012
Egyptian Revolution Part 4
After about a week, we finally got the notice that we were going to be evacuated. I remember my Dad taking pictures of everything we owned before leaving, in case looters broke in, or the building was destroyed for any reason. When we got to the airport it was absolute chaos. Lines stretched for what seemed like miles, as people desperately tried to get on flights going anywhere. Luckily the company we were with had a charter plane, but it was delayed by about 20 hours, so we spent the day at the airport talking to other families and napping. First we were taken to London, where it turned out I might have to finish off my senior year. My parents made the decision to head to Houston instead, because it was where my Dad was more needed at the time. We stayed there for about 2 weeks in a hotel. While the hotels were nice, it was the longest two weeks of my life. I spent the entire time glued to the TV, hoping that the revolution would end and I could return home. We started visiting schools in case I had to stay in Houston and graduate there instead. One morning I woke up and turned on the TV to see that Mubarak had finally decided to step down, meaning we could head back. When I got back my school was missing almost half the people due to evacuations, but classes proceeded anyway. Oddly, the rest of the school year carried on almost as if nothing had happened. Definitely the craziest three weeks of my life though.
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This uncertainty of whether or not you would be able to finish high school in your own school must have been very strange. I am sure that up to that point you would have never guessed that you would be displaced so far from where you lived and planned to graduate. It also must have been strange seeing your city constantly on the news; it reminds me of the Penn State riots when all we could see on the news were riots that were going on right outside our windows.
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