the end of an era

im moving on

thanks for reading

considering this closure

black and white

i love life in Cairo. i've written about my love for Cairo, i've talked about it, i've defended and promoted this city at every chance i got

And i still love it whole heartedly and put no other city above it, no matter how glittery and appealing.

but life in cairo is like a movie in black and white. its a classic, irreplaceable. it cannot be created anywhere else or at any other time.

its genuine.

the city's warm buzz cannot be imitated. it's history and culture so prominent in everyday life that everything outside of it feels fake.

but still, it's in black and white

It misses that sprinkle of color. and by color i do not mean an actual rainbow or spectrum. but im talking about the "full experience"

watching a movie in black and white is beautiful. but a movie in color, or better yet 3D, takes you on the whole ride, the full experience. and Cairo is not like that

It can be very limiting. You can go to a soccer game and have a blast, but there is no live music or marching band. You can go to an outdoor concert and the sun would be beautiful but the music would be crap. And that's the problem: the "but" is always there. a great big city festival would be organized, and hard work put into it weeks ahead, but on the day everything goes to chaos. it is a city that does not follow through

it drains you

it becomes a struggle to grasp a full life

and it makes you wish that within this struggle, you were getting the full experience