Jeevay jeevay, jeevay pakistan

So its summer time and I'm visiting my family in Pakistan.

When I was younger and becoming more practicing, I went through a phase where I looked down at and thought of everything Pakistani as dumb/backwards/stupid. And parts of every culture are indeed just that.

I've come to realize however that much of Pakistani culture is really in synch with islam. And there are parts of Pakistani culture that I love. I love some of clothes and the food as well.

However, due to circumstances and preferences, I don't wear many Pakistani clothes and I don't cook much Pakistani food(spices not available easily in egypt to get the full authentic experience although I did recently find some shops but just didnt get a chance to try them out yet).

Anyway, before I came to visit, I was craving familiarity and comfort.  Since I spent a few years in my childhood in Pakistan, I have memories and comfort associated with certain places and experiences.  Visiting relatives and friends on Eid or otherwise in Pakistan is something I really enjoyed for instance.

When I came here, it was like ahhh I couldn't believe it. Its like I really indulged in everything emotionally. Seeing rikshaws, seeing tongas(although way fewer now I think), speaking urdu, going to a restaurant to eat real authentic Pakistani food...I didnt realize how I missed all this small stuff that somehow made me feel at home.  I think getting to  understand what everyone is saying and being able to speak Urdu somehow was at the top of the list.

I think if I had married a Pakistani, I would have less of this nostalgia and more of 'oh god i have to deal with the dumb cultural concepts of how women are supposed to be and all that junk'.  But since alhamdulilah I think Egyptian culture is a lot more liberated when it comes to women compared to Pakistani culture, I just get to miss the good stuff from Pakistan.

On another note, I find it so strange that I don't miss much from the US which is where I spent most of my life. Ok I do miss libraries.  But other than that, I don't miss much. I can get books in Egypt from certain libraries and bookstores, but the libraries in the US..you can't beat them.  I mean I used to devour books...
..

I think the difference between someone like me and alot of sisters who miss the US when they move overseas is that they grew up in solely in the US whereas I enjoyed and experienced certain things in Pakistan in my childhood that were instilled in me at a young age and forever became a part of me.

I got to experience how it feels to be a mainstream Muslim, what balanced modesty feels like, what it feels like to be respected and not treated as a second class citizen and to always be trying to 'explain' and appease and dispell myths ad nauseum.

I think maybe another reason was that after 9/11 things really changed. No matter how American you were before 9/11, after 9/11 if you were a practicing Muslim it wasn't going to be the same for you.

So in a way it feels like all the good things I loved in the US .. they are available in Egypt more or less combined with the Muslim society norms so what is there to miss but Pakistan :-)?