Return to Egypt and the Sphynx Who Loved Me...

I realize that most people who follow this blog think that international business travel is all glamorous and that I’m living the life of a rock star. Some of this, perhaps, is true. This job does indeed have its wonderful moments when I can be a pampered tourist on the company’s dime. However, the vast majority of this travel consists of me wedged into an unknown airline’s economy seat (which will barely accommodate their own 4’ tall Lilliputian citizens…much less my 6’4” frame). Then, when we get to the airport, we must continue the compression at an even greater rate. So, imagine fitting FIVE full-size Americans (plus a local driver, PLUS all of our luggage) into a taxi meant to seat four local people. Yeah, that’s glamorous all right!

The next morning, we had to visit our customer in Cairo. To get there, our distributor hired a huge van to carry us around. We loaded up the van and let the excitement begin! I did my best to film the journey from our hotel to the customer site (a trip that took 40 minutes each way). We were able to see a lot of the regular Cairo life through the windows of our air-conditioned van. I captured a bit of it on film.

As you watch the video, be sure to notice the prison van that we pass. This dark-blue van is the Egyptian answer to the “Paddy Wagon” from America 100 years ago. They actually lock people up in this wagon to transport them from place to place. It’s somewhat like a dog catcher’s van…complete with little windows for the prisoners to see the outside world and catch a breath of “fresh[er]” air. I see these wagons every day that we are here. It makes me think that Egypt is being discriminatory against its Irish immigrants!

When we arrived at the customer site, I was offered “coffee” to drink, which I readily accepted. While I appreciate my hosts’ generosity, the “coffee” I was given is of the Turkish kind. This means that it consists of mostly coffee grounds. It is so thick, that you can literally stand a spoon on end by sticking it into the black muck. I did my best to drink it so as not to offend anyone.
As soon as I was done, my boss (Phil) walks over with what appeared to be a fruit smoothie! He had the decency to offer me a bit to knock the coffee grounds from the back of my throat. I’d like to know where I was when these drinks were being offered (probably working…)

During our entire time at the customer site, we had to deal with their elevators. Not that there’s anything wrong with their elevators; they do indeed lift us from floor to floor. The only “problem” is that the elevators don’t have doors. The best way to understand my meaning is to watch the video…the video of the Elevators Of Death…

Once we’re at work, I felt quite comfortable filming with my camera. So, you are going to see us doing what we do to earn a paycheck. We’re operating our equipment, talking about throughput and data integrity. Pretty boring stuff overall, but this is what pays the bills. This is why we are here.

If you have been following my blog, you should know by now that Tony Novoa is a business partner of mine. But I want you to understand that over the last three years, he’s become much more than that to me. He is very much like an older and wiser brother to me; I have learned SO MUCH from him and I have every respect and admiration for his abilities.

Having said that, I have also found Tony to be a master of slapstick comedy. While we were at the customer site, we had a bit of “down time” and Tony asked to hold my video camera. I handed it to him and showed him the basics of its operations. As he was playing with it, he accidently knocked an un-opened can of Coca-Cola off the table and hit the ground and rolled around quite a bit. Tony picked it up, set it on the table, and started to move as if he would open the can. I exclaimed, “You’re not going to open that, are you?!?!” To which Tony replied “No, of course not…” and then he opened the can! I wish I had my video camera rolling at that exact instant, because when he pulled the tab, the entire content of the can exploded and deposited itself on Tony’s business suit. I nearly wet myself from laughing so hard…as did Diego!

As you will see on the video, Tony explains that when I asked “You’re not going to open that?”, he thought I was referring to my video camera which he had been playing with…which is certainly a reasonable assumption. In reality, I meant was he going to open the now explosive can of Coca-Cola. What fun! I still laugh about this…

Later that evening, after Tony changed into dry clothes, we went on a Nile dinner cruise. The food was very good and the entertainment was enjoyable. However, I’ve done this river cruise before, so I knew what to expect.

Well, that’s all for now. Suffice to say all is well, I’m happy, the company is doing well, and I’ve captured what I hope is some interesting video for my friends…

Love you all!