When someone from M's school picked us up from the airport, and drove us to our new home, the windows of the minivan were covered with curtains, I remember picking them up and looking outside. I didn't like what I saw and I was so scared. I was asking myself, What kind of a place this was and why were we here? We went to Ragab Sons, the supermarket by our house in Maadi. This place was very different from the supermarkets I would go to in Istanbul. It wasn’t that clean, the veggies and fruits didn’t look that inviting, the meat and chicken section had a different smell, all the products were in Arabic. It was difficult for me to decide what to buy, everything looked so strange to me. It was during the Ramadan - the holy month for Muslims - a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community. It was packed inside, everyone was hungry, thirsty and in a hurry. They were listening to the Quran inside the market and most of women had covered their hair with hijab, there were some with niqab, I was the only woman who was not covered with my American husband. I only heard the Quran at the ceremony after someone died in Turkey. I don't come from a religious family. I didn’t see many covered women in my surroundings. We picked up somethings and started waiting at the check out, it was like a lifetime for me. A young boy helped us carry our bags, we had to cross the street to get home and there were no street lights working - complete chaos - I’ve never seen anything like this in my life, no one was going to stop for me, I was scared, I felt so helpless, was almost about to burst into tears. The young boy from the supermarket helped and stop the traffic for me so that I could cross. Thank God we made it back safely. That was it, I told M that I will never leave the house again and I locked myself inside our apartment. I don't even remember for how long. I didn’t want to step outside, I was missing the posh, beautiful and peaceful streets of my neighborhood in Suadiye (Istanbul). I was comparing everything. I didn’t like anything about Egypt, I didn’t understand the language, I couldn’t read the signs on the streets or at stores, I was afraid to eat and to drink, I didn’t feel safe. But then something started changing in me, both the warrior and the goddess in me were waking up for the first time. Little by little I started to go out, to meet people, to learn Arabic, to learn to judge less, to learn to accept, to learn to respect all beliefs, to take photographs of everything I was seeing, finally I got myself out of the prison that I locked myself in, there was a beautiful world outside waiting to be explored, I came over my fears, was able to conquer my mind and was able to look behind the naked eye and see the real beauty Egypt and the Egyptians. Egypt became my home, Mexico is also my home, the whole world is my home, . #donotfear #gobeyondfear #explore