TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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An Egyptian Wife Acquired and a
Dream Fulfilled
By
Ryan Harper
Before
the moment of my departure at the beginning of this adventure around
the globe I remember hearing my mother’s last words as she attempted to
seem cheerful despite her strong emotional urges, “Don’t forget to
bring me home that Egyptian wife Harper!!” I acknowledged her humorously sly comment at
that moment but had no real intentions nor
any idea that her wish would become fulfilled as it did on my last
night in Egypt.
The sun was setting over the harbor in
Alexandria when Evan, Brent and I met two young Egyptian girls who were
both around 19 years old and very eager to chat and show a few Western
boys around town that Valentine’s Day evening. We bought them roses
from an elderly woman on the
street and then we made our way to their
“favorite place to eat” where they insisted to go in and order for us
because otherwise we would have
paid far too much. As we sat at a park
bench and ate our falafels I mentioned my mother’s last request before
my departure, and within minutes I found one that one of the Egyptian
girls was willing to accept my marriage proposal! After which Brent
followed suit and was also awarded a yes response to the same question
and from then until the time we had to return to the ship for
disembarkation we all played
along with our superficial engagement.
It was very interesting to observe their
excitement at what appeared to be a much different situation than they
were used to, in that they were often able to play the role of the
person in charge over the course
of the evening. This is always the
male’s role in Muslim societies, however we were forced to play the
more or less submissive role rather than aggressive one simply because
we did not know where we were nor what we were doing while we were
there. A similar scenario regarding the male dominated Muslim society
is discussed in an article entitled “Ethical Considerations in
Anthropology and Archaeology, or Relativism and Justice for All” in
which Marrilee H. Salmon describes female circumcision as a repressive
force and states that “women in cultures that practice genital
mutilation claim that is done for the benefit of the men, but women
alone are responsible for
arranging and performing the operations.” The
oppression represented through this painful procedure performed for no
reason other than to provide satisfaction for the males is an example
of the type of cultural norms present within the Egyptian society and
helps to understand why we possibly seemed rather appealing to the
women we met
because of our easy going and passive behavior.
Whether it was the way they protected us
when we crossed the busy Egyptian streets or the way they insisted on
buying us sodas at the grocery store, there was certainly a general
consensus among Brent, Evan and I that we were being looked after as
though we were the submissive people in the relationship and this
seemed to please the two girls very much. The girls described most
Egyptian men in a negative manner and stated that they were all liars
who are only interested in physical connections, which certainly might
have contributed to their admiration for us as well.
We followed them to their “favorite
place” which ended up being a mall which was quite a distance from our
prior location near the port so that they could show us what they enjoy
doing, which was shopping, and it was in the parking lot where we took
pictures together and exchanged gifts and “love notes” to help signify
our engagements. Although cultural norms prevented us from being
allowed to hug our new wives goodbye after they escorted us back to the
port to make sure we made it alright, it was very clear that a
significant connection was made between the three of us American boys
and these two Egyptian women which not only crossed physical borders
but cultural barriers as well.
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