A last Welcome

I will miss “Welcome, welcome to Egypt!” and “Where are you from?”
I will miss movie nights with my girls
I will miss feluccas on the Nile
I will miss melted marshmallows with melted chocolate in honey cookies
I will miss sitting in Al-Azhar-Mosque and enjoying being in that quiet place, where people go to pray or just to relax
I will miss Helen dancing around wearing 15 layers and still moving her hips so very sexy
I will miss our baoab talking to me although I can’t understand him
I will miss PEANUTBUTTER, in tons as we had in our cupboard
I will miss the Gilmore Girls
I will miss telling people that I am from Estland or Liechtenstein
I will miss our tea sessions, the morning- and the evening cup, mint tea, green tea with mint, shai, hibiscus and then again, morning- or evening-cup, choice between mint tea or green tea and as final the amazing hibiscus tea and if you really want to go over the top, just have another shai at 12 o’clock in the night!
I will miss our belling stag on the wall
I will miss Jayanthi bargaining for hours at Khan al Khalili, shop owners there got poor now
I will miss men singing to me on the street, I won’t miss when they said bad things to me
I will miss good food, as there are chick peas, lentil soup, green beans, koshari and lemon juice but as well pumpkin ice cream and tons of popcorn
I will miss the relaxing and constantly sound of toilet’s water running out
I will miss the muezzin’s calls for prayers but I won’t miss the aggressive Friday prayers from our mosque
I will miss ripping off the handles of washing machines

I won’t miss the smog
Maybe I will miss a little bit the pyramids – but not very much, just because they are so photogenic.

Habibis, I will definitely miss you a lot! But wherever the flowers might have gone to...”when you leave I will follow anywhere that you tell me to, if you need, you need me to be with you, I will follow anywhere!!”

Yours Lise/a



Where have all the flowers gone?
by Marlene Dietrich

Where have all the flowers gone?Long time passingWhere have all the flowers gone?Long time agoWhere have all the flowers gone?Young girls have picked them, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?Where have all the young girls gone?Long time passingWhere have all the young girls gone?Long time agoWhere have all the young girls gone?Gone for husbands, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?Where have all the husbands gone?Long time passingWhere have all the husbands gone?Long time agoWhere have all the husbands gone?Gone for soldiers, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?Where have all the soldiers gone?Long time passingWhere have all the soldiers gone?Long time agoWhere have all the soldiers gone?Gone to graveyards, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?Where have all the graveyards gone?Long time passingWhere have all the graveyards gone?Long time agoWhere have all the graveyards gone?Gone to flowers, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?Where have all the flowers gone?Long time passingWhere have all the flowers gone?Long time agoWhere have all the flowers gone?Young girls have picked them, every oneOh, when will they ever learn?Oh, when will they ever learn?