JOURNALISM 392W - Q & A #1

June Hart is a graduate student in the Environmental Conservation department here at UMass. We have known each other since high school and over the course of the last five years she has told me about her experiences growing up in a variety of places. One of her most memorable was Egypt where she lived from the ages of 8 to 10. She has also lived in Burundi, Brazil, and in a couple of different states. She agreed to tell me about some of her more memorable moments in Egypt.

BA: Tell me about some of your memories from Egypt.

JH: We did all sorts of things. Camel riding, visiting the great pyramids, snorkeling in the Red Sea. It was an incredibly unique place with an interesting culture and environment. I’ll always remember the sandstorms too. They can be really dangerous, but they were kind of fun to experience…from a safe place.

BA: Why were you in Egypt?

JH: My dad is an international business consultant, which basically means he’s an economist but he focuses on working with trade organizations. It was a U.S. government job. I was just along for the ride. I went to an American school there.

BA: What was daily life like in Egypt? How was it different from your life in the U.S?

JH: We never had school on Fridays, but we did on Sundays. That was because Friday is the Muslim Holy day. Several times a day you would hear prayers going on. It was part of their routine. The people would stop whatever they were doing, set up their prayer mats, face East, and do this prayer. I had a nanny who would do this named Aziza. Another unique thing was that there were armed guards everywhere. They were like our police, except they were with the military and carried loaded rifles.

BA: Did you do any sightseeing while you lived there and if so tell me a bit about it.

JH: We went to see the Pyramids. You could ride horses up to them or take guided tours inside. At that point you could get really close to them, but you couldn’t climb on them. You could go inside of a few of them. I’m not sure how close you can get to them anymore. But I remember going inside was kind of neat. It was really dark and creepy and there were mice scurrying around. I remember thinking “Why would they build all this just to rot in?” Some of the tombs were really interesting though. They had some artifacts like pottery and figurines in them, though most of the stuff had been removed to museums. The tour guide taught me how to read hieroglyphs.

BA: Was there anything else about your time in Egypt that stands out in your memories?

JH: There were really relaxing felucca tours. Those are Egyptian sailing boats that toured the Nile. They would go through some of the more commercial areas, but also through some really cool locations where we would sail through papyrus stalks. I remember the guide teaching us how to make paper, but I don’t remember the process. I still have this bejeweled regal black cat painting on papyrus.

NOTE: This interview was conducted via email on September 11th through September 13th.