Local Mom Has Son Studying In Cairo: 'Why I'm Tracking Egypt, Second By Second' - SacBee

[WillyT]

Why I'm tracking Egypt, second by second
By Anne Gonzales
Special to The Bee
Published: Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 - 12:00 am

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The phone jangled me out of an uneasy doze at 5:30 a.m. Friday. "Hi Mom, it's Drew," came the ever-casual greeting. As a 19-year-old college sophomore, our son is not given to histrionics. But he followed up with, "It's bad now, Mom, Cairo is really being hit hard."

From our modest home on a cul-de-sac in Elk Grove, we have a personal connection to history being made in Egypt. Our son Drew, a 2009 graduate of Elk Grove High School and a political science student at Rutgers University, is studying abroad in Cairo, Egypt.

For the past two days, he has been camped out in a two-story penthouse apartment with more than 20 other American college students and their study abroad program directors. From their viewpoint 17 floors from street level, they could see demonstrators chanting in the streets and clouds of smoke, he told me hurriedly. They could smell the tear gas. His phone call culminated a week of surreal developments in a country we envisioned as stable and Westernized. "Why Egypt?" our friends and family asked nervously, when they heard of his plans to study in Cairo. We pooh-poohed the critics and took our lead from Drew's confidence, his desire to be immersed in an exotic culture.

He landed in the most populous Arab country on Jan. 8, started making friends, learning Arabic and taking classes in Mideast foreign policy. He felt safe walking in neighborhoods, using taxis, buying food from street vendors. His Facebook page sports a picture of him straddling a camel, the massive Giza pyramids looming in the background, with his characteristic cheesy smile and thumbs-up pose. Before Tuesday, this was our glimpse of Egypt. Pyramids, camels, grinning college students, the Nile River lit up at night and visible from his apartment balcony through his webcam. He explained to us the roots of Police Day and the planned demonstrations. Interesting, I thought.

Then the e-mails took a disturbing turn...

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Link: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/29/3361057/why-im-tracking-egypt-second-by.html

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[WillyT]

1. Kick !!!

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