Egypt
In 1981 Glorya, Don, and her daughter Gayl went for a week's long vacation in Egypt. She had trips planned to Cairo, Abu Simbel, Aswan, and Luxor.
They had flown in on a plane from an Israeli airline company. One of the first odd things they noticed on this journey was their flight was not on the arrivals board along with all the others. They were met by police who confiscated their passports and escorted them through their entire trip. During their first outings in Egypt Don had noticed an unusual number of soldiers that were dressed in all white uniforms. That same day Anwar Sadat, an Egyptian politician and former president of Egypt was assassinated. Dignitaries from all over the world came to Egypt to grieve the death of their leader.
Glorya and her family were forced to leave their lodging and made to stay in a shabby run down hotel for four days.
It was in this hotel that Gayl had one of the most frightening experiences of her life. In the middle of the night she awoke to soldiers breaking in, terrified she ran to her parents room where she stayed until the intruders left.
Glorya recounts how she does not have many memories of this trip, but has an everlasting impression of the strong emotions she felt during that time.
One story that she does recall was a chance encounter on the Nile river. They had struck up a conversation with a couple from Chicago. Glorya knows many people, but not many from Chicago in fact at the time she only knew one person named Joe Wolfson. She casually mentioned him thinking nothing would come of it, that was until the woman loudly explained that Joe was in fact her cousin.
“I find that the universe connects me to those I am destined to meet, and sometimes those are in the most random situations.”
- Glorya Kaufman
