Ágúst í Kaíró

Bænakall í Baalbeck rústunum

Að vera staddur aleinn í musteri Bakkusar í Baalbeck þegar bænakall í moskum bæjarins byrjar er eftirminnilegt móment.

Sjá vídjó (3gp-staðall, þarfnast Real Player og hugsanlega að uppfæra það (gerist sjálfkrafa) áður en hægt er að horfa)

Last Dance

Cairo Airport, 03.00 local time

This is it. Goodbye Cairo!

It's a strange feeling going back home. Maybe the two shorts stops will make it easier. From here to Istanbul and from there to London. Only 36 hours in Istanbul and then three days and a half in the UK.

It was emotional to say goodbye to my closest friends here, Gavin and Aisha and Aline. I hope I've gained friends for life in them. In an ancient old Icelandic way I think I can say Gavin is a "foster-brother" (fóstbróðir) to me. We didn't cut our wrists and shake hands like in the old Icelandic way but they've certainly been my substitute family for the last months. Aline is one I care enough about to spend an whole evening reading on how I can make here a cappuccino to her satisfactory. I'm going to miss them.

I'm not that sad though. Mixed feelings. Plenty of tearful emotions but, like I said tonight, in a way I feel like when one's had a really good day and now the day is over. Tomorrow is a new day, with new adventures and new experiences. I don't feel sad, because I've accomplished many things. I've seen so many things; I've had such a good time. I've met interesting people (and one crazy landlady) and I've even learned some Arabic!

But I've learned the most about myself. My strengths and weaknesses. So when I add to it my opportunities and threats I should have a good SWOT analysis :-) Over Anatolia 05.15 Cairo time

When the plane to off and flew over Cairo I could see Zamalek and the Nile from the window, like the city was saying goodbye to me.

The more I think about it, the happier I am with the fact that I’m starting work in two weeks time from now. I'm "quais".

I'm really looking forward to seeing Warwick, where I'm going to live for a year starting in October. Especially since I'm really not sure what to expect.

I'm going to see a lot in Istanbul, inshallah. Now the plane is going into landing so I need to pack the laptop again. I'll post this when I get to my hotel room.