In our defense, we arrived in Cairo in late July of 2013 just as former president Mohammed Morsi was being booted out of office. Then there were the violent clearances of camps of protestors. Note: ancient wonders lose their allure when bullets are whizzing about and barrel bombs are being ignited. And there was the damn curfew and the massive street protests every Friday after prayers. We follow a Muslim work week here in Cairo, so Friday and Saturday constitute the weekend for us. Another note: ancient wonders lose their luster when throngs of angry protestors are throwing Molotov Cocktails at nearby security forces. Most Saturdays we did not really feel brave enough to be driven down towards Tahrir Square to cross the river to Giza. By the time the situation here in Cairo was safe enough for us to easily go for a visit, we found that we already had other plans; we had shit to do. So we kept putting off a trip to the Great Pyramids.
Until June.
June is graduation month at Cairo American College (CAC), and the graduate Eagles of CAC have their graduation ceremony at the Pyramids. Yep, every year the school rents out the sound stage just in front of the majestic structures in order to host the two-hour graduation ceremony. The place has to be the all-time, Top-5 greatest graduation venues in the universe. Let me tell you, the ceremony is THE most important tradition at CAC, full of pomp, processions, and speeches. And the spectacle plays out with the the Great Pyramids and the somber face of the Great Sphinx in the immediate background.
Let me tell you something else, the ceremony is an absolute mother----er to prepare for. Planning begins almost a year in advance, characterized by preliminary negotiations with the Ministry of Antiquities and with the U.S. Embassy. This year these negotiations were more than a little difficult. Following the preliminary meetings, there are security details to plan out, seating arrangements for a couple of thousand spectators to be arranged, and local police with whom to consult. Then there are more meetings. At one point this year during a later round of negotiations, the Ministry of Antiquities jacked up an already astronomically high rental fee. At another point this year, the diplomats at the U.S. Embassy expressed their fears that they would not be able to permit their families and their CAC graduates to attend the ceremony due to security concerns. When a suggestion was offered to perhaps hold the ceremony in the gym, the outrage expressed made Tea Partiers seem sane and tame.
So the tense negotiations finally end and the decision is made to go ahead with graduation at the Pyramids. CAC grads and their parents heave a huge collective sigh of relief as Dana and I make plans to attend. One of our colleagues scores a great rate at the historic Mena House Hotel just across the street from the Pyramid complex and so Dana and I make arrangements to stay. The hotel is over 100 years old and has played host to royalty, celebrities, and scores of politicians. Back in the late 70s, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy Carter met at the hotel for one of the rounds of peace talks between Egypt and Israel. One of my favorite authors, Arthur Conan Doyle, stayed here as did both Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower. Walking the marbled halls, peering into paneled oak rooms filled with trophies and old guns and over-stuffed red leather chairs, it is easy to imagine Ernest Hemingway and his buds here, getting absolutely sloshed while planning their next big hunt. That is the kind of ambiance the Mena House Hotel possesses.
The day before graduation, we set out from our school to the hotel. We are being driven in one of the school vans. Thank goodness too, because the neighborhoods surrounding the Pyramids and the Mena House are poverty-stricken. At one point while stopped at a stop sign, beggars and cart-drivers run up to the sides of our van, beating against the sides and demanding money. It is a little bit frightening.
A few tense minutes later, and we are ushered through the gates of the hotel. Check in goes quickly. We are on foot now, walking through the lush gardens of the hotel, a far cry from the streets just outside of the hotel walls. Passing through several sets of metal detectors, we are gently escorted to our room, one of the rooms with a Pyramid view. And the view is astounding.
We are now gypsies in the palace. We eat at what is reported to be one of the finest restaurants in Cairo. We stuff our faces full of Indian food. We watch the sun set behind the Pyramids. We order room service.
It is all lovely until 4:30 AM the next morning. That is the time I have to get up in order to catch the bus over to the ceremony stage. The venue owners will not allow us to set up the night before, so we must complete the ceremony preparations the day of graduation. The bus ferries us, groggy and sleepy-headed, to the venue where we are greeted by an army of CAC and security staff. They have been waiting for a while, and by the looks of them they are already well into a second pack of cigarettes and a fourth or fifth cup of tea.
With scores of able-bodied individuals to help, the set-up goes quickly and efficiently. The graduates, resplendent in their crimson and white robes, arrive right on time. Proud parents and equally proud, if not a little relieved, faculty stream through the security checkpoints to take their seats. Invocations are made by imams and pastors, Muslims and Christians. Students take to the podium to deliver well-rehearsed speeches. Parents cry as graduates cross the stage to received their diplomas. Tassels rake across mortar boards and then those very same mortar boards are tossed high in the air.
And all the while, the silent stone faces of the Great Pyramids peer down upon us from on high, watching impassively as the ceremony draws to a close.
As parents and graduates slowly exit the venue, Dana and I walk towards the timeworn monoliths. Today's ceremony has been a metaphor for our year here: lots of planning and preparation punctuated by unforeseen events and peppered with a healthy dose of chaos. But amidst the chaos, there is a beauty and a timeless sense of majesty looming in the distance, providing a rich backdrop against which we play out our daily lives. We go to work, spending our week days in much the same manner that we did when we were in Memphis. We have similar ups and downs, we share similar school-related triumphs and frustrations. Different from our existence in Memphis however, we are foreigners in an ancient land. We are amazed at some of the sights and sounds of our foster country. Sometimes we are frightened because this can be a dangerous place and these are dangerous times in Egypt.
And all this time, the sun rises and sets on the Great Pyramids and on the Great Sphinx. And the Nile flows gently and easily just as it has done for thousands and thousands of years.
