A City of Surprises

So today was quite a day. This morning we got up early and headed to Al Azhar Mosque, the oldest Muslim university. We were met by an expert on the Mosque's history who gave us background on the architecture and studies from the 13th century on. We walked in (took off our shoes of course) and through a stone corridor into a large open square with brilliant white marble floor, beautiful arches all around and two tall minarets reaching into the bright blue sky. Young men, and some women, sat here and there, studying, memorizing, praying. It's finals time right now for Egyptian students. We next made our way into the main teaching and prayer room of the Mosque, a long room with red carpet, stone pillars and young men sitting and studying. It was peaceful inside and, despite some stares from those who wondered who this large group was and why they were taking pictures of a study session, we were well welcomed.

After a normal day of classes, we all got dressed up for our first official program dinner. We went to Al Azhar Park, and it was absolutely amazing. The park was actually built by a religious group over a landfill that had become an eyesore in the city. Now waterfalls and shallow pools run through beautifully lush garden lined with palm trees. The restaurant sits at the top of a hill overlooking the park and we watched the sunset to one side over the city and looked out to another side and saw the Citadel- Salahadin's great fortress- looming over the city nearby. The food was great and after the sun went down, the park lit up (but just a bit, leaving a feeling of mystery and self-reflection to the night). The call to prayer could be heard from all directions- each mosque has its own muezzin who does the call.

Later, a few of us walked through Khan Al Khalili (the famous bazaar) again. It's different at night, especially on a Thursday night. Friday, in Islam, is the holiest day of the week and the midday prayer on Friday is very important. Therefore, the weekend here starts on Thursday night and the week starts Sunday morning. That means everyone's out late on Thursday and the bazaar is packed with families and merchants well passed 11:00. We walked around and were goaded into this shop and that. It was nice to be in a smaller group and be there at a time when most tourists weren't.

When the sun goes down in Cairo, the temperature is perfect. It's warm, but not hot, and a soft breeze usually blows in to keep things cool. I never would have expected the lush vegetation that hangs in the park or in other parts of the city, the contrast of that green to the city's old browns and grays makes it stand out brightly. The people here, as I've mentioned before, are incredibly friendly- rarely does a day go by where I don't get a "welcome" while walking down the street. A smile goes a long way here to start off an interaction and people usually reciprocate with a huge smile, usually a wave, sometimes a "hello"- I've run into no anti-American sentiment; though I'm sure it exists here and there, people are always excited to hear I'm from America and try to find some family connection to the states (usually it's pretty distant). Also, family is very important here and it's very evident when you walk around the parks and the bazaar on a Thursday and everyone is out with their children. This city has surprised me in many ways and, despite my talk of its dirty streets, terrible pollution, rampant poverty and sub-standard food, there are so many redeeming things (and even the not-so-great stuff you get used to) that have made this a great city to try out for a while.

I Want My Babyback Babyback Babyback

Just a couple things on Westernized Cairo. I'm not really sure what the general idea of Cairo (or Egypt in general) is as far as "modernization." However, I figured, as we were at Chili's last night for a classmate's birthday, that most people would be surprised how familiar much of Cairo's businesses are. (I'm also writing this while sitting in the square on campus using the school's wireless internet network)

After class yesterday, a few of us got a ride from Sherif, the AUC liaison to our program, to the mall in New Cairo. I swear this mall is exactly the same, if not nicer, than any mall I've been to in the US- by the way, I hate the mall in every country. One of my classmates was looking for a decent, cheap, digital camera and, though she didn't find one she wanted, we did get some delicious ice cream (I went with mango and strawberry). We got a cab (read: death trap) back to Zamalek. We then met up with some other people at Chili's for dinner (don't worry, I do spend time studying).

Across from the Sphynx is a Pizza Hut and a KFC, sorry to ruin that for you. Both of the restaurants are all over the place, as is Hardee's and of course, McDonald's which sports the McArabia sandwich (seriously). Besides these things, Western dress is pretty much typical, as I said in earlier post, and wouldn't be hard to get around without knowing absolutely no Arabic words at all.

Also, there are a couple different coffee shop chains in Cairo that are probably nicer than Starbucks, albeit, usually smaller.

I wasn't sure exactly how "backwards" people though Cairo was, and it does have its inefficiencies and oddities (it's pretty dirty here and cleanliness with food is no exception). But Cairo is also a major city in the world and as such has many amenities most people (including me, to an extent) don't expect.


p.s. Turkish coffee is delicious.

Who Ruined The Pyramids?

So yesterday was the big day- pyramid day. But before that, let's go back to Friday. We all met in the morning for a bus tour with Dr. John Swanson, Egyptologist Extraordinaire, to see the city of Cairo on a broader scale. Once we started out, an hour early mind you because of runs to Costa Coffee, we made for Cairo's ring road. The highway encircles the entire city of Cairo and we were able to see the city, with the invaluable commentary of Dr. Swanson, in a very large and historical scope.

To say that the outskirts of Cairo are poor would be an unethical understatement. The city's 19+ million population is expanding rapidly and the city is constantly swelling outwards. Because of this move, the poorest of the city have been pushed to living in slums in the city's outer ring- which has now begun to break one of Dr. Swanson's general rules of urban Cairo and build "housing" on incredibly fertile farmland. The people who live in these areas make about $200-300 per year and live in unthinkably deplorable conditions. This is about 10% or 1.7-2m people. Because of this extreme poverty, and because of the fact that I landed in Egypt with about $900 cash, I don't feel all that annoyed when I'm asked to pay and extra 2 or 3 Egyptian Pounds (L.E.) for things. I think I can afford the $.20.

We saw a lot of Cairo on this bus trip, eventually making our way up to the cliffs that overlook the Nile river valley and the city. Cairo's wealthiest people, another 10% of the city's population, have made their way out to these cliffs beyond the outskirt slums and begun to build beautiful communities there. We also drove through the "city of the dead," or the neighborhood near the cemeteries, Old Islamic Cairo, medieval Cairo and downtown Cairo, initially set up to imitate the Champs d'Elysees in Paris. The majority of Cairo is very poor and polluted by American standards, some of it is very beautiful and amazing. Generally, the people are incredibly friendly. The tour was a great tool to get to know where the city has been and why it is who it is today.

The Rock Piles

Yesterday was our trip to Giza and Sakara. We made our way by bus (with a terrible tour guide who may or may not have known things about the pyramids, but definitely couldn't convey it well in English) first to the Giza pyramids (about a 20-30 min. drive from the dorms). The great pyramids actually aren't at Giza. At one time, they were about 15 miles from Cairo- to get to them, you'd have to use the outer village of Cairo, called Giza, as a jumping off point. However, now the city has expanded so far that it surrounds the pyramids on almost all sides. Despite the surroundings, the monuments are impressive. The structures stand tall (there's three pyramids there) and the stones from which they're built are massive unto themselves. We walked into the mid-sized pyramid, which is really more of a crawl down a long shaft (which smells like Egypt's armpit) and then up another shaft, and eventually into the burial chamber which is a large room with a small tomb. A man stood inside, pretending to work there and direct traffic in and out of the room, he was really just there to take tips by taking pictures for people.


We wandered around the pyramids for a bit. Not a lot of shade there. And we told countless people we didn't want camel rides (secretly I did, but I didn't want to get hosed on the price). Even more people are there selling bottled water (a necessity- though if you didn't bring your own, you're dumb), head scarves and souvenirs. All of these things suck and aren't worth the price and the people get pretty pushy. I finally resorted to speaking the few Irish Gaelic phrases I knew when people tried to sell stuff to me, knowing there's no way they'd be know that language- it worked pretty well and threw people off their game.


We next made our way to the Sphynx, which sits behind a small labyrinth of stone pillars. I found this to be the most impressive of the monuments, as the sculpting is absolutely exquisite. To think that such work lasted so long, except that whole nose incident, kind of floors you. However, these people hawking their wares were even more pushy than at the pyramids! It would have been nice to get 5 minutes just to stand and look at the sculpture without 10 kids crowding around me trying to sell me useless bookmarks and overprices postcards. It's hard to
balance the knowledge that these people are incredibly poor with the fact that you just want to enjoy the history of the sites, but at the time, it's just so distracting. I did, however, talk to a little girl who was selling bookmarks. She was 7 and her name was Dina. She told me, in very good English, that she likes school and learns English and Math there. I paid her a little to take her picture and it reminded me of the kids I used to work with back home and how good a life they have, and I had growing up, in comparison to children in almost all other parts of the world. Yet she was still a sweet little girl, happy and funny- it'll take me a long time to figure this world out.



We finally made our way- after a short lunch and trip to a small museum dedicated to Imhotep, the ancient architect- to Sakkara, the site of the oldest pyramids. The step pyramids at Sakkara sit behind an elaborate hallway of large columns, the residence of many stray dogs. By the time we got there, we were all exhausted and the sun was blazing hot. There is no shade at the ruins and we stumbled slowly around, taking pictures and missing air conditioning. The beautiful part of Sakkara is the view out to the desert, where you look and see a few other pyramids in the distance, the great pyramids the other way, and vast fields of sand in between. However, the beauty was a bit lost on me, due to the heat. I got some good photos and hopped back on the bus.

Last night was not all that interesting. Long nap after the trip and drinks and sisha (don't worry, that's just the name for the Egyptian tobacco pipes everyone- and I mean everyone- smokes here; aka hookah) with some people in the program. Today should be an uneventful day of studying.


My old link for snapfish should work for my new photos. If it doesn't, email me and let me know. I got a lot of the group in the last couple days. Peace

A Short One

So there's not much of a point to go through a day-by-day for the latter half of this week. I've been reading a lot, going to class, hanging out in coffee shops near campus, drinking as much bottled water as I can and eating at suspect restaurants.

However, a few things:

Tonight we moved from the Victoria Hotel near downtown Cairo (the hardware district of the city) to the AUC dorm on Zamalek (a tiny island in the Nile) which is nice, homier and in a bit of a more upscale neighborhood- we have a Cinnabon!

Tomorrow is a bus tour of the city with John Swanson, an amazingly brilliant Egyptologist who will show us the entire city and it's scope when we get out of the valley and look down on everything.

Saturday is the pyramids, Sphynx, Memphis and Sakaara.

I'm getting a few of the common phrases down (Egyptians use a lot of their own phrases outside of typical Arabic).

I've become really cheap. I spend a lot of time arguing with taxi drivers (before I get in) over 5 and 7 Egyptian Pounds (the difference between a little under $1 and $1.20).

Guys who ride on bicycles with about 100 pitas on a board balanced on their heads are amazing and if I don't see one wipe out in the crazy Cairo traffic before I leave here, I'll be very upset.

That is all. More to come.

Photos II

Below is a link to my updated snapfish account. I've got my last pictures from Paris and Marseille (I don't think there's anything new in the Marseille album). Also, I've got a few pictures from Cairo up, but haven't taken very many so far because I've been spending a lot of time in orientation or class. What I do have up is from Khan-al-Khalili, the famous large bazaar of Cairo. Enjoy

http://www1.snapfish.com/shareereg/p=6221212413013235/l=382049857/g=91561454/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB/pns/share/p=6221212413013235/l=382049857/g=91561454/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Falafel? OK, You Sit!

So we finished up our two day orientation both to AUC, our program and Egypt in general. AUC has three "campuses" but they're all so close to each other that they're pretty much one campus spread 0ut over a few blocks. The Greek Campus, which is where I'm sitting right now, is beautiful (though AUC is in the process of moving from this location to the outskirts of the city where the rich Cairenes are building new communities). The vegetation is plush with palm trees and lots of green space which is nice for shade at midday. By the way, the heat isn't too bad unless you're in a sunny area at midday- otherwise it's definitely hot, but sometimes more bearable than a humid day in Chicago. People are young and friendly on campus and it definitely has the feeling of a real academics (and seems a lot like a hotter US).

We were given a long, incredibly interesting and incredibly boring lecture by the Associate Provost (an American who has been here for about 30 yrs. and is one of the utmost scholars on Egypt) about recent Egyptian history and the issues that have shaped the current country. It did a lot to explain how a country with such an amazing history and such promise has become so impoverished, overcrowded and undereducated.

I also had a day of classes today. International Human Right Law is a mix of reading articles on a plethora of human rights issues, United Nations and other governing bodies' works, IMF, etc. work and discussion in the context of our background in American law. It should be really engaging and will focus on globalization and its pros and cons toward human rights issues. Islamic Jurisprudence will be incredibly interesting as it looks at how Islamic jurists have interpreted the laws set forth by Muhammad in the Qur'an and how those interpretations differ and shape the Muslim and non-Muslim world. Interestingly (for those law-minded of my readers) Islamic law is based on private individual interpretations of the Qur'anic laws as opposed to State legislated laws, as there is no authority in Islam besides God and Muhammad- therefore it's like American courts using the Restatements as their bases rather than the legislated laws, since the legislators would have no authority over the Qur'an.

Dinner

So last night, a small group of us stopped studying for a bit and headed out for some food. We wandered a bit and into a couple restaurants, some of which didn't have English menus. In Cairo, as in Paris's Latin Quarter, the restaurant owners all stand outside and goad you into their businesses- oftentimes by having an employee run and set up tables and chairs when they see you coming. We finally settled on a place with outside seating and asked if he had food- he told us "falafel? OK, you sit!" We sat. He then told us it was a coffee shop and he didn't serve food and bade us to wait. A minute later he came running from down the block with the menu from the restaurant we'd been the night before. Shortly thereafter, the waiter from that restaurant came down with the owner and told us if we wanted to sit inside, he'd save our table at the coffee shop. It was weird. We went. I once again had a bowl of lentil soup with hummus and pita which once again ran me 9.50 Egyptian Pounds (a little under $2). The marketplace in Cairo is, needless to say, a lot different than in the States. In some ways, it's much freer and more fun.


A Note on American Misconceptions of Cairo

People here don't all dress differently than in the US. On campus, it pretty much looks like the US, though many of the women do keep their heads covered. In the streets, most young people dress like American youth and the men dress similarly. I have seen some women in full burkahs, others cover their heads with scarves, some don't. Women often walk together or alone without a male companion.

The people of Cairo are incredibly friendly. They don't hate Americans, though some probably do, as some Americans probably hate Egyptians. I get a lot of "hellos" and a lot of "welcomes" while walking down the street and a smile goes a long way to making friendly encounter.

Cairo is not the desert. It's hot, no doubt, and it's definitely dirty and polluted. However, there are plenty of trees (palm and otherwise) and plenty of grass. The desert is close-by, but the city, for the most part is not in it.

I haven't seen a camel yet. I have seen a number of donkeys pulling carts. I have also seen a good number of men on bikes with gigantic boards with upwards of 100 pitas on them.

There's a toilet and toilet-paper in every bathroom so far.

I think that's all I've got so far. If you have any other questions about Cairo, let me know.

Cairo- First Couple Days

Cairo, It’s Loud and Busy

First off, I have to say that a Boeing 777 is a comfy plane. We flew from Amsterdam to Cairo fairly easily (despite about 11 children who cried the entire time) and landed at 2:20am Cairo time (GMT +2). When we got into the terminal I looked around for a sign from the guy who was picking me up- no dice. Eventually I ran into three other people who looked equally lost and all turned out to be from my program. Our merry band made its way through the passport line and picked up our luggage after calling our program director and being assured our ride was waiting for us somewhere out there. Finally, we linked up with our driver and a few other program mates and headed off toward the hotel.

Cairo defies your first stereotypes. It isn’t all sand and desert. It isn’t all poor. It is pretty typical as far as the highway system, the stores and foliage. It is quite dirty and a little rundown in most places- it’s a poor city in a poor country. We finally got to our hotel and checked in by about 4am- the Victoria hotel is an old style British hotel with high ceilings, large armoires made of dark wood and old “lifts.” As we made our way inside we heard the first call to prayer. It’s early and loud- starting with a low rumbling voice and eventually calling out to the whole city in treble tones. I made a quick call home and crashed on my semi-OK bed.

I woke the next morning to the sounds of a loud city. I looked out my window and saw Cairo for the first time. There’s not one person in Cairo who drives without his hand on the horn- there are no lanes on most of the streets, they just kind of drift where they may- and they don’t stop or slow down for people to cross the street (think a real life Frogger). I found another program mate and we decided to just wander about for while. We walked outside and wandered the streets, people staring at her a bit with her long hair uncovered and some saying “hello” and “welcome to Egypt.” We quickly dubbed our area “Mechanictown” since every shop sells some sort of hardware, appliance or machine part. We walked through an open fruit market as the midday call to prayer sounded and men knelt down on mats in the street to stop and pray for a bit- their dedication to their faith is incredible.

Khan-al-Khalili- Social Anxiety Disorder Sufferers Beware

We met up with some other folks from our program who were headed out to Khan-al-Khalili, the famous open market/bazaar. I experienced my first Cairene taxi ride which is easy and deathly frightening at the same time (we haggled our price before we got in). Brian, our director’s assistant, was a student in the program two years ago and was able to give us some good tips as we walked through the market. As soon as we got there, we were bombarded. Anything you could possibly want to buy, and many things you wouldn’t, you can find at the Khan; from spices, to jewelry, to silk scarves, perfumed, tobacco, toys or knock-off watches. You’re constantly goaded by the shop owners “please sir, I show you the second Egyptian museum,” “little shop, big price, how can I take your money?,” “Amerikah, where from?” It certainly is a noisy, crowded, hot, amazing barrage on the senses. But it’s Cairo, you tell yourself, and this is what I’m here for, and you press on. Step after step is an adventure and is exhausting as you politely, then forcefully tell them you’re not interested. We left the Khan after a walk through (about 45 minutes) and found (another) pizza place near our future home on Zamalek Island (in Cairo, middle of the Nile).

We ended the day as a group (about 30 or so of us were in the city by that point) at a nice restaurant on Zamalek. We sat on a deck alongside the Nile as the sun went down and the breeze came in. While dirty, poor and loud, this place can also be absolutely gorgeous, when the sun hits the water and the temperature goes from the mid-90s to the mid-70s and the breeze sways the palm leaves. We drank Egyptian beer (Budweiser-esque) and paid a little under $20 for a big, great meal at Sequoia, the place to be seen in Cairo.

School? Really?

Saturday was spent, for the most part at American University Cairo campus, in orientation. The campus is pretty, the main building is a large white open building with large columns and a plush courtyard where students sit and study. We went over, mainly, the way the program would work and what we should expect from our time in Cairo. I also signed up to teach English to Iraqi and Sudanese refugees twice a week which I’m excited and nervous about. Tonight a small group made our way into the neighborhood and, after telling an impromptu tour guide we wouldn’t pay for his services, found a coffee shop where we sat and sipped Egyptian coffee- small espresso cups full of unfiltered coffee which tastes like thick strong chocolately sludge. It’s actually some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. Finally, a large group (too large) wound up at a local restaurant where I had hummus and pita and lentil soup and (bottled) water for a little under the equivalent of $2. Cairo should be good on the wallet. I’m in my room now as I prepare for another day of orientation, studying and lamenting the fact that my computer’s wireless card is broken.