Dear All,
It's been a wild ride these past few weeks - first starting with a few days off in Stockholm and Uppsala, visiting an old friend and enjoying the cool, Swedish nature - and then Egypt.
Egypt was a wonderful adventure. In the late summer I was selected to participate in the symposium, which gave me a trip to Egypt with 7 artist colleagues from Denmark and Egypt.
The purpose of the program facilitated by DEDI (Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Initiative) is to create dialogue and exchange between Egyptians and Danes.
We started in Cairo, got a feel for each other and a whole lot to see in the first few days in the big city. Among other things, a bunch of galleries and exhibitions, meeting artists, being inspired by the contemporary art scene, visiting a comics festival and being positively overwhelmed by the diversity of places, people and things there.
Barely digesting the first impression of the capital, which only begged hunger for more, we hopped on a train through the magnificent countryside to Aswan. The beauty of arriving at night is the surprise you get the following morning - my god I was surprised. And peaceful. It was as if the loud sound of the city had been replaced with a long sound of silence. It was as if I was back in the countryside where I grew up and my whole inner process could really blossom.
We would spend the next 8 days in a beautiful hotel on the Nile. Visiting the great temples of Philae and Abu Simpel, sailing Lake Nasser at the Aswan Dam - oh, and I even tested my boating license by sailing the Nile on one of our many trips between cultural sightseeing. We got a thorough impression of the Nubian culture and gained insight into their traditions, crafts and way of life. I was amazed at the botanical island where one of the workers would give us a tour of the wonders of the garden's many seeds, flowers and mysteries. Overall, I was just amazed by the open mindedness and sense of community among the locals in Aswan and how they shared it with us. Whether it's crafts, coffee making, music, stories or just their time.