Maybe you’ve read about my blissful afternoon sailing in a Nile felucca in Luxor, and wanted to know more, the good and the bad, about my adventures during that week I spent as a tourist in Egypt. If so, I have good news!

The acclaimed British Shooter Literary Magazine has published “Trust On the Nile” in the winter issue on the theme of “rivalry.” Editors say,

Maryah Converse’s memoir “Trust on the Nile” […] contrasts her experience of Jordan versus Egypt while working in the region as a Peace Corps volunteer. The differences between the two countries set up a rivalry inside her mind, and Converse provides some fascinating cultural insights as she unravels her internal responses.

Like my story of khawaagah, it’s maybe not my proudest or smartest moment, but I learned a lot about myself and about Egypt, Jordan and America. It starts with the heat, and Abu Wakeel:

His name was not Abu Wakeel; I don’t remember his name, and I regret that I can’t ask the next of my friends who travels to ancient Luxor, “Find out how Samir—Arabic teacher by day, driver and caretaker of overly ambitious tourists during the holidays—is faring in the new Egypt.” Because he wasn’t just a driver, and he wasn’t paternalistic. He was a father, and a teacher, which in some ways is the same, and he took care of me.

Get the whole story from Shooter Literary Magazine.