Watching pictures of the protesting crowd in the streets of Cairo, I think with very fond memories and no little concern of the many individuals we met in various parts of Egypt.

I give a sampling from my 2007 journal.

Mon, 30 Apr: We go by appointment to the apartment of the Faruck family. The daughter is Noe, 24, unmarried, recently graduated from university, and working in a bank. The boys, both studying marketing in a university, are delayed in traffic, and the mother is nervous because she isn’t confident of her English. As she becomes engaged in conversation, however, it’s evident her English is quite adequate—and more correct than I hear all the time in America.

Our tour company usually places us in homes more socially and economically typical of the country. Few such in Egypt are able to accommodate Americans because of poverty and sanitary conditions. The father operates a farm about 100 miles distant and wholesales produce in several cities.

I ask about Egyptian reactions to American television. One boy is quick to make clear he knows it does not accurately represent America. He doesn’t seem as familiar with American movies, but he feels the most popular television show is Oprah.

Tues, 1 May: We visit the nearby pyramids at Giza and Sarkara. These [vendors] fake great liking for Americans and exercise a banter that seems intended to flatter socially and disarm commercially. One says: “Hi ho, Silver!” Another: “Hi ho, away Silver!” I find it curious they seem to think this strongly American, whereas America has almost forgotten the Lone Ranger.

A common trick is to say he has a “free gift for you.” He puts it in one’s hand or, if the tourist won’t take it, somewhere on the body. Then he tries to charge for it, saying the person bought it. I refused to let them put it on me. When they succeeded, I just brushed it off onto the ground. I won’t even hold it long enough for them to take it back, which they won’t do. As I try to take Ann’s picture against a pyramid, a costumed man insinuates himself into my picture, expecting a consideration.

There are plenty of things to spend tourist money on. In addition to the camels, there are a lot of horse-drawn carriages that just drive around between the pyramids. I have the impression the tourists aren’t as much viewing the pyramids as they are just joy riding. We find it more instructive to sit on a prominence and watch the circus. [The pyramids are now closed, and all these people totally out of work.]

Back at the Marriott, a wedding couple dressed the way Hollywood has Egyptians dressed is having their picture taken by another Egyptian dressed the way they do in Hollywood.

Wed, 2 May: We take a train across the Nile River delta to Alexandria on the coast. The land is so valuable for farming, housing is concentrated to reserve as much as possible for planting. A few houses are in the middle of cultivated fields, but they have minimum ground floor space and rise as high as seems practical. Some houses appear to have one or two rooms on each floor but there might be three or four stories. More common is stone tenement style buildings of eight to ten stories. But they are close. When we look up the streets between buildings, we see no motor vehicles, and they are not as much streets as passageways. It looks as if a person leaning out a window could shake hands with another from across the way.

We see few tractors or other modern farm implements. But we see a lot of donkeys and water buffalo. Most work is manual.

As rich as are the fields, the people are not. There are no signs of prosperity and everything appears impoverished. I think what most strikes those in our group is the trash and garbage everywhere. Nothing is disposed of or even collected. Everything is just thrown out.

When we come out of the famous Alexandria Library, we meet a large group of middle schoolgirls quite properly dressed in colorful gowns. Muslim as they obviously are, they are above all early adolescents: excited, silly, and delightful. They want me to take their pictures and clown for me. I would like to hug them, but I dare not as much as touch a female.