The K2B Show

Russ Berger, a great friend of K2B and one of the most respected studio designers and acousticians on the planet was in Egypt last week doing (what else?) a new studio design there for a client.   He JUST barely escaped during the riots and emailed us about it.  Thanks, Russ, for allowing us to reprint it here -

<email from Russ Berger>

It was all just fine over there, until all of a sudden it wasn’t.

My project in Egypt is in Sharm El Sheikh, which is a 1 hour flight from Cairo and on the coast.  After everything started unraveling with the riots on Friday, the local design team and I were anxious to get home, but wondering if our early morning flight back to Cairo would make.  It did and I spent a tense morning and early afternoon with my clients family at their home, which is in president Mubarak’s neighborhood, no less, listening to the local TV reports.  At this point they still hadn’t announced the airport closing, but since there were no phones or internet, it was impossible to confirm my flight, get any real information, or let anyone know I was still alive.  As my flight time approached, I had to chance that it would make and chance the drive to the airport at curfew.

The drive to the Cairo airport was treacherous, through machine-gun emplacements and past tense Uzi-wielding kids in uniform, arriving just after the newly imposed 4p curfew.  And it was only Tuesday, almost two days after returning, that I was able to confirm that my architect friend who drove me to the airport, thankfully made it home to his family that night.

The Cairo airport is normally chaotic, but Saturday it was unhinged.  After fighting my way through a security cordon, I managed to bluff my way past the barricades to get in through TSA-like screeners into the airline counter area.  I spent almost 10 hours with nothing to eat or drink (I mean no water, nothing – something that many other Cairo citizens are still dealing with) in the hope that my flight would appear on the board.  BTW, that board only begins reporting flight status 3 hours before flight time, indicating if my flight would make.

After many tense and uncomfortable hours with no place to sit, my flight appeared on the board, indicating that it was now time to wait with a throng of terrified travelers crushing forward toward the counter to confirm that a seat to safety actually existed.  I really don’t know what I would have done if my flight was canceled, since I doubt I could have made it back to the safety of my friends home through the curfew.  Who would take me?  There were no cabs.  They were all at home protecting their families.  The closest hotel is miles from the airport entrance, was booked to capacity, and locked down.

Fortunately, I made it out on one of the last four flights on Sunday at 1:30a, after they closed the airport at midnight Saturday and two hours late.  They let the plane go only because we were already in the cue on the runway.  I made it to Madrid, only to spend another 8 hours in layover there, but took full advantage of the executive Iberia lounge, while waiting for my 12 hour flight home.

I feel so sorry for the people of Egypt — their discontent is nation wide and over the entire economic and social spectrum – from the richest to the poorest, from the least educated to the pillars of the community.  This isn’t just a few students, radicals, or malcontents fomenting discontent.  This is everyone.  They have been under martial law for almost 30 years.

We complain about our government?  Ha!…theirs is a government that well and truly sucks.  They’ve been mistreated, lied to, cheated, and abused physically, psychologically and most every other way.  I’m pleased that they finally stood up to this and are able to regain some sense of pride.  I hope they get the change they need and deserve, and pray that the transition will be peaceful, effective, and sustainable.  Looks like Bush was right, that it was all on the verge of coming down — as a house of cards, as row of dominoes — a warning that no one heeded.  It will be interesting to see how this sorts out.

The things we do to make a living…and the sad part is that I love it over there, I love my client and his family, and the members of the local design team, and can’t wait to go back.  :-)  Next time I think I’ll find a rout direct into Sharm El Sheikh and avoid Cairo.  Thanks again for your concern and very thankful to be home.

<end of email>

WOW Russ, thanks and clearly you lived a blessed life!  SO GLAD you’re back!

(Btw, soon we’ll have an interview with Russ posted here, so check back for that!)