Because I grew up in California, every time I see a large body of water I refer to it as an ocean. When I arrived at Alexandria a week ago for a weekend trip with friends, I couldn't stop raving about al-muheit.
Our taxi driver corrected me. Al-Bahr, he said emphatically. The sea. Ma'alesh, I said. No big deal. Sea or ocean, the important thing was that it was big and blue, unlike the Nile which is a putrid green.
As we drove along the narrow cobblestone streets, catching glimpses of the Mediterranean at every corner, I told the taxi driver how I thought that laid-back Alexandria was very European, especially compared to high-frequency Cairo. My comrades--two Germans, two Swiss, and a Swede--were unconvinced. I suggested maybe it was more like Southern Europe. The taxi driver, a middle aged Egyptian man, agreed from the front seat.
Enti mineyn? Where are you from?
I told him I was American. So you are European, he said. Well no, I said. Fi muheit bein Amrika wi Europe. There's an ocean between America and Europe.
I'm often bewildered at poor education system I see here in Egypt. But here in Alexandria, a city at the center of so many of the world's great civilizations, I was deeply saddened by this taxi driver's ignorance.
USAID gives more than a billion dollars in aid to Egypt annually, close to $30 billion since 1975. However for a grown Egyptian citizen to not even know the whereabouts of his country's largest benefactor suggests deep-rooted problems with how that money is spent.
A visit to the recently built Alexandria library-- a monument to global scholarship-- provided a stark contrast to my conversation with the taxi driver. Large, glass, and imposing, it is the most beautiful and pristine library that I have ever seen. For a few pounds, anyone can come in and use the reference materials, books, and computers.
Inside I met a group of female Egyptian college students who asked me to help them with their English homework. After the study session, I gave them all my email address and told them to let me know if they ever had an English question.
These women are highly educated, but I doubt they will ever learn how many billions of dollars Americans give their country each year. I take comfort that at least they will know that there's an American across the ocean who is happy to correct their syntax.
