Home sweet home

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 At the dawn of your life, from the stage of four to two legs, as the Riddler would say, we all have dreams and ambitions. School, if you are lucky, helps you shape them or it can also discard them. Soon enough, you have a make a decision about the career you would like to have when you are old enough to join the wonderful world of money and profit making.Coming from a small town, at the very top of the European hexagon, home was very clearly defined and where some of the best memories will lie forever.

At the time, with an eye sight limited by the invisible limits of cultural awareness, the Mediterranean side of France seemed exotic, it was different and felt more dynamic, yet more relaxed compared to the Northern nest. It is still one of my favourite places: the landscape is beautiful and since the destination isn’t too close to the coast, the towns still have their local feel, as well as the best products to feast on. There, you do not have to think twice before stepping out in a skirt, but your wallet must be ready to face European prices.

A decade ago, I decided to open the door and step into my neighbour’s land, England. As I strolled around the town, devastated by the fact that no one walked with a cane and a top hat or was impressed by my strongly accented Queen ’s English, the Spleen Baudelairien engulfed me but dissipated as soon as I agreed to open all the windows and all the doors and let some other light come in. That is when the travelling sickness started.

A new connection was now built at the top of the Baltic pyramids, a country that is mostly unknown, where you could drive from North to South within 3 hours. 

In summertime, it reveals its best assets: the sun only sets for a few hours, making those interminable summer evenings even more delightful. To enjoy them, the forest and greenery is all around you and your olfactory sense is forever pleased by the smell of wood burning, be it for a camp fire or to add to the heart of a sauna oven. This wonderful physical purifying tradition feels its best in winter, when climate change doesn’t show its extent, and you can jump in a meter of snow in your Adam or Eve costume. After having lived in Cairo for a year, it is a little surprising to feel the rain whilst walking through a peaceful pine forest, picking blueberries at will under the sun of a chilly month of June. In this land, which has undergone much oppression and delivered itself with the power of a million voices from a warmongering Red bear, things are working efficiently. People are even more wonderful once the vodka has removed some of the deepest inhibitions, and you will find a very limited amount of foreigners that will break the pattern of fair headed northerners.

My home though, at this stage of the journey, is currently located in Cairo; Nowadays, I cross the city with the right song in my ears and the positive pair of glasses and find myself smiling with a sense of belonging.

It sometimes reminds me of the Mediterranean France, for instance when my mind plays tricks, to the point where I can mistake a leaking garden hose for a southern French chirping cricket! Although, reality sets in when this chirping sound is disturbed by the comments of my favourite bunch of workers (who I still have the immense pleasure of meeting daily) a few steps away from my place. I have for them the most incredible collection of colourful text messages, typed on my phone, as I walk past them.

Dahab also makes Egypt incredible. In the Gulf of Aqaba, you have to relax, which some of us are better at than others, but all you need is a good buddy!

Having dived recently, it is the Canyon (by day a breathtaking experience and makes you feel weightless and in space at night), the Blue Hole and finally “Bob”, my first sea turtle swimming by on the blue backdrop, that are the best assets of the place.

Each destination, person, friend, student and adventure is like a brick. You’ll see my place from the distance: Mounted on French traditions and Belgian influence, covered in a layer of union jacks bricks with many new open windows and open doors, and in the center, my Estonian rock. Above them and all around, an entire section dedicated to the old Constantinople, where a piece of my heart is forever trapped; that is the most beautiful room of the house, where the two strongest and most precious foundations were built. The top of the building is in the shape of a pyramid. This room doesn’t always have electricity, the purpose is to remind you to light a candle and read a book, instead of staring at a screen. The tip is now garnished with red bricks and welded wires sticking out - they all make me who I am and it is still under construction.

As a leaf in the wind, let’s see what the future holds. To another wonderful year in Egypt!!!