Egyptian man and woman from California (USA)...here we go again?

[jacqueline6001]

Ciao,

I guess here we go again...I'm an American woman who held her heart very close to her then finally let it go in the past 1-2 months to an Egyptian man. In May of this past year I left my job, my apartment, everything to do a study abroad program in Italy for 6 weeks. Well after the program was done I wanted to do a little more traveling since I was already on that side of the world. After Italy I went to Greece, Egypt (I'll come back to that), Dubai and India before returning back to California.

I arrived in Egypt on July 4th in the late evening. The bellhop guy suggested maybe a tour from the service center downstairs in the hotel but the guy was already gone for the night. He would pass my room number along to Mohamed in the morning. Boy oh boy! He waited ALL day for me until I came downstairs about 7:30pm-8:30pm in the evening...lol. I did not understand all of his accent at first but it has become usual now. We planned a tour on my type of budget (pyramids and Saqqara only) then arm wrestled (I lost) but I won at thumb war!

The next day I stayed around the hotel and went to Pizza Hut of all places for lunch. I couldn't eat all of the pizza so I offered the other 3 slices to him and he accepted. Once I got in the elevator and went upstairs, he would call my room "just to make sure I made it safe". Then a couple hours pass by and he'd call again to see how I was doing and when I would like to come downstairs to join him at the cafe next door for tea. I kept telling him I would but I never did that night.

The day of the 7th I went to the pyramids and came back. I finally said yes and followed through with hanging out with him at the cafe to drink tea and walk around afterwards. There was one time where a car almost hit us and he stopped the car and put his hands on the hood of the car and yelled at them in Egyptian Arabic. He'd also walk along the side of traffic on the "sidewalks" with me closer to the businesses.

The last night before I was leaving Egypt I finally gave into a "date" you could say by American terms where we caught a cab from the hotel, took me to dinner, went on a private felucca ride and then caught the same cab with me back to the hotel and called my mobile 5 minutes later to make sure I was okay. He went home after he dropped me back off at the hotel.

The next day he insisted that I come down early because he had a surprise for me. He ended up giving me some jasmine perfume and crystal pyramid things. We took some photos together (come back to that a little later) and I went on my way to Dubai.

Every city that I went to, he insisted on getting my new country number so he'd contact me. He'd call me 3 times a day while I was on that side of the world. I came home homeless and he knows of that. I recently got a job for an airline and I'm looking at going back in April of this year. Those photos that I was talking about...well 2-3 months ago he posted them on Facebook and people asked "who is that?" and he responded "دى الموزة بتعتى" (that's my banana) his friend said "حرام عليك منين اسديكى" (Oh boy, how did you get her?). We now talk 2-4 times a day, share things with each other on Facebook, I've talked to his father several times, his brother as well, his mom twice, a couple nephews and his silly aunt that lives downstairs. I told him that I want to meet them in April and he says "Okay, I trust you." I don't know what he meant by that, but okay. He also wants to come visit the USA. He says that I have to furnish proof of where he will be staying. Though I've read elsewhere that I have to show my income even for a visitor visa for him. HE's the one paying for the tourist visa to come to the USA. Is this true? I know some very personal and dark secrets of his and he knows about my past as well. I've heard his temper on the phone before, I understand his mindset when it comes to politics in Egypt, religion (he becomes very peaceful when talking about Allah), long laughing he does, and the embarrassment of him kissing the phone while at work, in front of his friends, family and at home while he's on the balcony and neighbors are looking at him weird.

We are talking about marriage, children (2 inshallah and raising them Muslim of course), where to live, financial matters, goals and places to visit for vacation down the line.

He:
26 years old, tour guide manager, lives in Old Cairo with parents right now, almost down paying for apartment of his own (gets keys in 1 year more), makes 1500 LE a month, has car, university degree and speaks about 5 languages pretty good (still working on English, Spanish and Italian with me- I'm teaching him).

Me:
25 years old, ramp agent for airline, lives with female roommate, makes $900 part-time right now but accepting new job offer for additional job full-time on Tuesday...total income will be $2,000 month, have car, A.A. degree (community college 2 year degree) and I speak 3 languages pretty well (English of course, Spanish and Italian...learning Arabic from him).

What do y'all think? Go or no go? When we first met I was very cautious and held up a VERY strong wall (after all I had just been sexually assaulted while living in Italy and was VERY skeptical of all men). He knows of this incident and says he is always open to hearing it whenever I want to talk about it but sorry that it happened. I only recently started actually hearing him as he spoke and started to really listen to his words. Oh! And when I was admitted to the hospital nearly 2 months ago, he panicked! He asked his boss for an advance on his salary to add credit to his mobile and he called me every 2 hours while I was in the hospital to see if doctors said anything new.

[Gounie]

Originally Posted by jacqueline6001

I guess here we go again....

Absolutely And thank goodness you said it.

I think everyone that has lived in Egypt could have written the rest of the message for you.

[MaidenScotland]

Sorry but I am closing this post as we no longer do the love story saga.. simply because the story is never new only the place and dates.. and although we have lived in Egypt for many years and whenyou ask for advice you really don't want us to tell you run you want us to say come on over it will be a bed of roses.

Maiden