To Egypt and Back 1: Last Working Day and Prelude

Egypt--the land of mummies and pyramids. Did I ever want to go there? Of course I did. I guess many of us did, at some point of our lives. For me, Egypt was never too far away. I spent a significant portion of my childhood in Saudi Arabia. You must be wondering what's KSA got to do with Egypt? Well, we had this Egyptian couple as neighbors, and I have many memories regarding them which still gives me a feeling that I kind of grew up with Egyptians! So Mr. Abu Bakkar (Abu Bakkar Uncle for me) and his wife were really idiosyncratic people. They were infamous for washing fish using detergent before cooking (yuck!). I remember visiting their home a lot. Sometimes the Abu Bakkar auntie would give me raisins and fruits. During my childhood, I was very fond of small matchbox cars. I had many of them in my collection. I used to keep those cars in a leather bag. That bag was gifted by the Bakkar family. It had pictures of some ancient Egyptian people. e.g. "Lady Anhalla" and also some images of gods.

Sphinx and one of the three Pyramids in Giza

So I always felt connected to Egypt. Thus it really didn't come to me as a surprise when my boss told me that he suggested my name for a 2 day conference on messaging in Cairo. Well of course I am joking; it was a big pleasant surprise for me. There was always a possibility of going to Cairo, as Banglalink is a part of the Egypt based telecom giant Orascom, but I didn't think that opportunity would come so soon.

So the stage was set. Initially my boss, and then his boss were supposed to accompany me. But at the end, only I and two others from the technical department managed to book them for the event. Our flight was on 9th November, 11: 10 PM from Dhaka International Airport. We stop over at Dubai for an 8 hour transit, and finally we'd reach Cairo at around 2 PM local time on 10th November, Saturday. The conference was on 11th and 12th. Our return flight was set at 13th November, 7:15 PM.

I completed the 4th year of my job life on 6th November. This made November 2007 a very special month for me. The Egypt trip made it even better. After a long, long time I was actually prepared; mentally and physically for this trip. I struggled to sleep the day before. At office, I was absent minded. I had the pressure of handing over my responsibilities to my juniors, and I also had to get done with a number of pending works--to add icing to the cake, I had a makeup class at NSU.

Let me remind me of the things I did on that last day at office. I collected my visa and passport, converted taka to US Dollars, opened access to my UCB international credit card, attended three meetings, wrote 10-20 emails, and some other stuff which are too non-memorable for the time being.

After the hard days work at office, I dragged my tired body to SPZ 403, a very small classroom in NSU. The subject is very interesting, but the teacher isn't. I did the same consumer behavior (now it's called buyer behavior in MBA) course with JK in BBA, and now I have to do it with such a pathetic faculty. It's really sad, actually.

I came back home, but I didn't pack anything at all. I sat in front of the PC and did the usual--facebooking and stuff. Went to bed real late, and still struggled to get a proper sleep.

I was really tensed. So many things could go wrong; so many things could prevent me from going to Cairo. A small, useless list (yeah, I thought about these things):

1. I may not be able to pack in time
2. My passport might get lost
3. My dollars might get rain soaked (thought they were securely stored)
4. The airport authority may refuse to admit me
5. My VISA may not be authentic
6. My car might run out of gas whilst I am going to the airport
7. I may lose my baggage
8. My car might break down
9. I might miss the flight
10. I might have been dreaming all this time (lol)

I am not really a paranoid type of person, but this time I was really tensed. I woke up in the morning and found out that it was a bright sunny day.... (To be continued)