Blue -- the color or the emotion.

The view of the Mediterranean Sea from our villa

It is April 2002. It is my second trip to Egypt. I am reunited with my Egyptian husband, Azim. We haven't seen each other in nearly four months. We are on The Desert Road, heading to a villa at a resort on the Mediterranean Sea, about a hour east of Alexandria.

We'd left Cairo early that morning to drive the over 200 kilometers. We've had an enjoyable drive. Egyptian music is playing on the radio -- a mix of the classics -- Um Kalthum and Faurouz -- and the modern -- Hisham Abbas and Hakim. We'd stopped on the way to have lunch at a zoo. We had kofta (my favorite Egyptian food) and bread baked fresh in a stone oven.

Our villa on the Mediterranean Sea
(we were bottom right)

We've seen nothing but sand for an hour. Everything is flat. Sometimes we pass military vehicles filled in young soldiers. The soldiers are standing in the back of stakebed trucks, holding onto wooden rails. The soldiers have rifles slung around their bodies. Azim tells me it is mandatory for all young men that they serve in the Egyptian Army for two to three years. Most of the men are from poor families, with only a high school education. He tells me they are not trained well on how to use the weapons, and that military life is like a prison sentence. He tells me happily that his son, Khaled, will never have to serve in the Army because he is the only son and therefore is exempted.

We've seen nothing but sand for an hour. Everything is flat. Sometimes we pass military vehicles filled in young soldiers. The soldiers are standing in the back of stakebed trucks, holding onto wooden rails. The soldiers have rifles slung around their bodies. Azim tells me it is mandatory for all young men that they serve in the Egyptian Army for two to three years. Most of the men are from poor families, with only a high school education. He tells me they are not trained well on how to use the weapons, and that military life is like a prison sentence. He tells me happily that his son, Khaled, will never have to serve in the Army because he is the only son and therefore is exempted.

As we continued up The Desert Road, I am reminded of a saying we had in the 1970's when I was in college in California. If a boy lived to far away to date we said that he lived in "Butt-Fuck Egypt" -- and he was labeled "BFE." The conversation would go like this:

"I met this total fox, but he's totally BFE!"

"Where does he live?"

"Out in the valley" (I lived in Orange County).

"Oh, yeah, he's so BFE!"

"Yeah, I know."

I suddenly realized that I was literally in Butt Fuck Egypt! I started to laugh, and told Azim the story. He had a good laugh about it, too.

So if you live in Orange County and Mr. Right lives in Los Angeles County, it's never gonna happen because of BFE. But if you live in Orange County and Dr. Right lives literally in BFE, then it's okay to spend 24 hours of travel time to reach him. After all, there's really nothing that special in LA, but nothing's better than a trip to Egypt!

We drove a while longer, and I looked out sand as far as my eyes could see. Suddenly, there was a sliver of blue on the horizon ahead. I thought it was the sunlight playing tricks on the sand -- like a mirage. But the closer we got the blue got bigger. Now there were two colors of blue -- a deep navy blue and a lighter navy blue. I kept watching. Now there was another layer of blue -- a torquoise color. Finally I asked Azim what was happening with the sky.

"That's not the sky, Gamila! That's the Mediterranean Sea!"

I didn't believe him. I'd never water that color. I'd never seen water with so many colors.

Now there were more colors.

Finally we were on the top of a knoll -- even though it seemed we had been driving on flat land. The Mediterranean Sea was directly in front of us. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

We stayed at our villa on the Mediterranean Sea for a week. Our little patio looked directly out upon the sea. Sometimes we'd sit and watch the water. I never got tired of watching the water.