Wherever we go in the world, we always take plenty of pictures. Some (maybe me) take way too many! But I just see so many great shots. **tangent** Spencer was wiping my laptop clean and said I have 35 gigs of just pictures. Hmmm. **tangent done** The point being, I think wherever anyone travels, you are trying to capture everything about the experience. We also get out the video camera (** another tangent ** What do I call my video cam? It doesn't have a video tape in it. It's a 30G hard disk drive that records.**) We try and remember to record when we have the chance. Just the visual of a panorama or a kid smearing spaghetti in their hair! The movement, sound and pictures.
Last summer, we met up with some friends that used to live in Egypt. We were reminiscing about the craziness that is Cairo: traffic, pollution, pyramids, etc. But then they brought up a very valid point.
"We have gigs of pictures, more video recording than we can handle and oodles of souvenirs. But what really rounds out an experience is the smells."
And you know what? That's very true. We've shown family video of the city, traffic, pictures of pyramids and the Sphinx, but they still don't get the whole picture. Smell is the last sense that rounds out an encounter with a different country or city. Don't you smell fresh baked bread and it immediately transports you back to your Mother's kitchen? Or some not so nice smells? Like the putrid piles of garbage bags on my way to the gym each morning?
I was driven down this road of thought when I dropped Grant off at preschool this morning. It has been a little warmer this week, maybe low to mid 70s. Nice. So some trees are now blooming. The garden area of his school has quite a variety; lemon, papaya, some tree that grows green fruit, and a few other shade trees. We walked through the gate and I was immediately overcome by the smell of blossoms. Like a physical curtain when I walked from the street into that walled nursery. I discovered that it was the lemon tree in the corner right by Grant's little classroom. It was such a gem of an experience. I looked up at the sun shining on those pink blossoms and inhaled that sweet scent. I noticed bees buzzing from petal to petal and just felt transported out of this country! It felt like Spring! (We don't really have noticeable season changes in Egypt. Just Hot, Warm, Cooler and Windy.) Oh the wonder and magic of our senses! I think I will miss some smells about Cairo. One of my favorites, the spice shops in the Khan el-Khalili. Open barrels filled to the rim with saffron, cumin, vanilla, ginger, vanilla. The list goes on and on. Even the stinky fish section at Carrefour will have a small (very small) place in my heart!
2 comments:
I so agree. I tell my parents and family, "If I could just send the smell of Korea to you..." You can try to describe it, but nothing compares to smelling first hand.
I can so do without the stinky fish smell and the piles of garbage smell personally. No fondness for that here... There are things about Egypt I do miss! Watermelon juice for instance. Very pleasant smell there.
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