Katie & I took this picture for Mhairi. Her favorite expression is "Are you from Syria?"
Mhairi & Mahmoud
As I said before, Mhairi is from Scotland, and she was one of the first girls I met when I arrived here. Mhairi is 24 going on 40. I say this because she has been through a lot in her life and has had to face some things that most girls her age haven’t had to deal with. Mhairi’s mom left them when she was young and to this day she has no idea where she is. Therefore, Mhairi was raised by her father, and she was really close to him while she was growing up.
Mhairi’s father remarried at one point, but then ended up divorcing his second wife. Mhairi has one full sister who is older; this sister lives in Scotland, is single, and doesn’t have any children. For many years she was not close at all to her older sister, but over the past 2 years, they have finally developed a relationship and now they talk regularly. Mhairi also has a half-sister who is younger than her. This sister is living in Spain, they have never gotten along, and they have no relationship what so ever.
Mhairi’s father died two years ago, which was extremely hard on her. She inherited some money from a factory he owned, so she left and has not been back to Scotland since. After she left Scotland, she worked as a teacher in England for a year. While she was living in England, she met an Egyptian guy who was there studying English. His name is Mahmoud, but Mhairi refers to him as “Hot Egyptian.” They started dating while they were both living there, but after his semester abroad was over, he returned to Egypt.
The next year Mhairi moved to Turkey and worked as an English teacher in Istanbul. Mahmoud and Mhairi continued their long-distance relationship, and he is the reason she decided to come to Egypt this year. Mahmoud is from a very wealthy family in Egypt. His father died when he was a teenager and since he is the older of two sons, he has been in charge of his family’s affairs for quite some time. His family owns a house in Cairo, and they own another extravagant house in Hurghada, which is a city on the Red Sea about 6 hours from Cairo. Like most wealthy Egyptians, Mahmoud attended college, (but just for fun and to meet people—when you’re rich and you know you have Daddy’s businesses providing money for you, you really don’t need to study to work towards a future or a career).
Mahmoud and Mhairi’s relationship seems to me and to all of the other girls to be very one-sided. Mhairi sits around by the phone waiting for him to call, talks about him constantly, and literally worships him, but he hardly gives her the time of day. They fight and argue constantly, and she is lucky if she sees him 2 or 3 times a month. Mahmoud is a really nice guy in the sense that he is a very generous person, and he looks after us girls and makes sure we are enjoying our time in Egypt. He is sort of like our personal, good-looking tour guide. However, I don’t like the way that he treats Mhairi sometimes, and their relationship has really been taking a toll on her lately.
Mhairi seems to be kind of an insecure and unhappy person inside. She has had a hard life, and I sometimes think she is to be putting all of her future hopes on Mahmoud’s shoulders. Mhairi is the most fun person in the world to be around when she’s in a good mood. She’s outgoing, she’s funny, and she likes to joke around and laugh. But, when she and Hot Egyptian are arguing, she is depressed and moody, and often snaps and yells at people.
I have tried to be a good friend to her and to be there for her, but lately her mood swings have been causing problems between us as well. All of the other girls are kind of afraid of Mhairi and walk on eggshells around her, but I don’t take any of her shit, and I am always honest and direct with her if I think she’s behaving badly. We are definitely the two alpha females of the group, and this causes us to butt heads sometimes. But overall, Mhairi is a very good and sweet person, and I really like her. We have become close friends in the 3 months we’ve been here and I am her one true confidant. Out of everyone, I feel that Mhairi is the person who has been brought into my life for a specific reason. I hope she can heal herself while she is here, because she has so much to offer the world. She is teaching Prep 1 at our school, (which is like 7th grade), and she is a great teacher. She’s very creative and she cares a lot about her students.
