Day 4 of Protests (cont): I was meant to be here

6:00pm

Protesters are welcoming the soldiers to the streets and celebrating the departure of the police. I watched a crowd rocking an armored truck and pushing it towards the Nile. One man climbed up the cockpit and was dancing on top of the truck. Then they set the truck on fire.

Army tanks are moving through the streets.

It is really shaking to watch all these events unfold in places I recognize very well, very close to my apartment in Dokki. Places I have been many times already. It’s hard to imagine. I wonder if I will find scorch marks or blood stains on the pavement when I return.

People don’t seem to be adhering to the curfew very much. There are still plenty in the streets, welcoming the soldiers, burning abandoned police trucks, and taking pictures with their cell phones and camcorders.

Kareem just called and confirmed that he is safe at Wafaa’s apartment, and that he was not in the streets today. Al hamdu liAllah. Thank God. Still no word from Amr. I pray that he’s ok. Rabbina ma’ahu. God be with him.

Just talked to Tanya again. Sara Abou Bakr returned safely from protesting all day. She survived the tear gas and the action. I’m so glad she’s ok. I was praying all day that I wouldn’t see her face amidst the crowds on TV.

Tanya says they’re having a meeting in Chicago right now to decide on a contingency plan. They will wait to hear what Mubarak says and to find out how long this curfew will last before deciding whether or not we will go to Sinai tomorrow. I seriously hope that we don’t. I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to be here witnessing the news with my family. I expressed this to Tanya. I also expressed my concern about the impression it would give if the University of Chicago study abroad program sends its students on an excursion the day after a military-enforced curfew. Tanya agreed that these are very legitimate concerns, and she values my perspective and sentiments. Another concern, however, is the safety of the group as a whole. If two-thirds of the group is in Dahab (on the eastern coast of Sinai), the program might decide to send the rest of us to St. Catherine’s or straight to Dahab for the sake of reuniting the group. I understand this concern, and it again makes me angry that they still decided to go to Dahab for a vacation at this time. If it complicates their return to Cairo or mandates that I leave Cairo on their behalf I will be very upset. I’m really hoping that they postpone the trip to Sinai until next weekend. I do not think going to Sinai tomorrow is the right thing to do at all.

Tanya also said that if worst comes to worst and UChicago has to pull us out of Egypt, they will move us to Paris. I would certainly prefer that to having to return to Chicago early, but I dearly dearly hope it will not come to that. I will weep if we have to leave Egypt. However, I will still be grateful for the incredibly profound experience I will have had thus far.

Once again, and now more than ever, I firmly believe that it is no coincidence that I am here in Egypt at this time. I was meant to be here, to witness this with my own eyes, at this turning point in my life.