Protest Here, Protest There; Protest, Protest Everywhere

(Less) Fun Fact # 5:

There are generally thought to be fewer than 100 Egyptian Jews still living in Egypt. That's right, in the whole country. 

For the past week and a half, AUC students have been protesting. They want to get rid of their tuition increase, they want higher quality instruction, they want transparency from the administration, especially about the budget, but mostly they want to show that they have the power.  Protesting is part of the way of life here, I get that. But the AUC students haven't convinced me yet.

The locked AUC gates.

 That's not to say that I don't understand. The AUC administration is a mess, the budget is a mess, and I totally side with the students in terms of their general goals. However (and this is a big however), the students have completely ridiculous, impractical, and unrealistic demands and an unrealistic timeline, in general seem to know very little about what they're actually fighting for, and come across as spoiled, naive, and entitled. I mean, on the first day of the protest they blocked a gate with a BMW and a Mercedes. I've known more about the university's finances than all but one student protester with whom I've spoken. And I've only been here for a month. For the past week they've chained and locked all of the gates to campus, which prevents anyone from getting in or out and is why classes have been cancelled. The administration removed the gates last weekend, and the student protesters responded by building their own gates. I was actually pretty impressed. The whole situation is still fascinating, but I'm ready to go back to school. And I'm not alone. Many of the Egyptian students I've spoken to express views quite similar to mine, particularly the scholarship students. It's usually along the lines of "I generally agree with the cause, but we've paid for this semester and I would really like to graduate on time, so please stop wasting my time."

Mubarak Style?

The student protests have created some more interesting situations for me though. On Sunday I went to school because there had been no official announcements cancelling classes. I take the first bus of the morning, so the only thing to do is go and find out. Once at campus, I took tons of photos of the protests and talked to students and faculty and protesters. By the time my friends and I were ready to leave, the buses had all been cancelled. This was problematic because the campus is literally in the middle of the desert and not within walking distance of anything other than construction sites. So we hitched a ride to a nearby mall, took a cab from there to the nearest Metro station, took the Metro to downtown, and walked back to Zamalek. It was quite the expedition. Don't worry, I'm not making hitchhiking a part of my routine. And I certainly wasn't alone. Sometimes you get stranded in the desert, so you do what you've got to do.

The view of the Mosque of Muhammad Ali from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun

In the past week I managed to be a complete emotional mess, fall down a flight of stone steps, piss off a professor, make a professor love me, see another neighborhood of Cairo, skip multiple trips accidentally, try sugar cane juice, consume an obscene amount of mango juice, and also visit some sights. I saw the Nilometer, which is this really cool old monument thing that was used to measure the water level of the Nile in order to calculate taxes. It's basically an example of ancient engineering. I also visited the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo Tower, and went back to Tahrir Square because I wanted to see the new graffiti. The wall that I visited a month ago was painted over last week, which made people really angry since it was basically a memorial to heroes and martyrs of the revolution.  So I went back and took a lot of pictures. I'm really glad I did because now it's all far more angry than it was before. It used to be sad and angry, but also hopeful. Now it's just angry. Really, really angry. And the blockade that used to be partially dismantled and had people climbing over it is now back up in a solid wall. I also a bought a book that I really wanted. It's a timeline of revolutionary art from the past year and a half, and it was definitely worth my 200LE ($32).

The Joker and Morsi

The Southern view from Cairo Tower. Garden City, Rhoda Island, Gezira, and the Nile. Yes, that's smog.

My last thoughts for now are about anti-semitism in Egypt, and surviving Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur here. I knew that anti-semitism was a big thing here. It doesn't surprise me when I hear about television shows that are outwardly hateful towards Jews or when I'm on campus and I hear people say really horrible things. It's not news that many Egyptians equate all Jews with the Israel, and therefore hate them. There are basically four people who know I'm Jewish, all from the US or Canada. It's not something I discuss and it's not something I should discuss. When my roommate asked if I go to church, I said no but didn't elaborate. In the US I would totally have elaborated. Yet these were all things I expected. What I did not anticipate was how difficult it would be for me personally to get through the holidays here. I sort of assumed that since I'm not super observant, it would be easy for me to be on my own for the holidays. But I've never not attended synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Synagogue is not even an option here. Sure, there are a few synagogues. But it's very much an "attend at your own risk" sort of situation. And most of the synagogues are orthodox and have trouble making a minyan even on holidays. It doesn't help that it's not entirely unheard of for people to throw booby trapped suitcases through synagogue windows.

Basically, I miss having other Jews around. Even in Appleton, Wisconsin, where the Jews are few and far between, there are still Jews. They gather together. There's a community. So as much as I knew I wouldn't be going to synagogue while I was here, I guess I just didn't really put all the pieces together. I didn't realize that there would be no honey cake or crazy dinner to break the fast. It's ok, I did my own thing. The "Jewish girl in a Muslim country" version of the high holidays. It still counts. And I broke my fast with a fresh mango lassi and a samosa. And about a liter of water.

New graffiti on Mohammed Mahmoud Street.

Also, I've been taking TONS of photos and they're all on Flickr. They're not all amazing examples of my photography skills (probably because I don't have photography skills), but they get the point across. Most of them are not on Facebook because there are too many people without a Facebook. So if you're thinking "hey, what's the Nilometer?" you can check Flickr. Or not. I don't care. But I know some people are just here for pictures. And that's where they are. 

Happy almost October!

Places I don't live: 1) Libya

So even though I wasn't going to write a post for a few more days, I've decided to because I continue to receive concerned emails from people. Thank you all for thinking of me, I appreciate your concern. Try not to worry too much, I'm totally fine. I'm a big believer in the phrase "no news is good news," so sometimes I forget that other people out there are wondering about me. Luckily, I have my sister to provide wisdom like, "when big things happen in the city where you live, you should problem mention to Mother that you're still alive."

What might be surprising to you (or not), is that none of the international students were really concerned until we all started receiving panicked messages from our respective homes. I live about 30 minutes from Tahrir on foot or 10 minutes in a cab, so I can't see or hear what's going on there. And the media coverage here in Egypt is definitely different. Like on Tuesday and Wednesday media here was like "oh hey, there are some protests in some cities about the US and Islam and a film," and the media in the USA was like "OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO EXPLODE BECAUSE THERE ARE PROTESTS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES AND THEY WANT TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE USA AND ALL AMERICANS!!!" (This is my interpretation of the press coverage, obviously.)

The thing is, there are protests here all the time. Usually they're on Fridays, but in general we don't think much about the protests. There's sort of a general agreement that Friday night isn't the best time to go to Tahrir, but protests are old news. Obviously this week was a bit different. Normally there's no tear gas, no flag burning, and no other countries jump on the bandwagon. And normally they're not explicitly anti-Western protests. So yes, we took extra precautions. But no, we didn't panic.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were normal days for me. You know, school and stuff. In fact, on Tuesday I went to the Egyptian Museum, which is in Tahrir Square. No problema. The protests and riots were pretty isolated to Tahrir and the American Embassy, so the rest of the city continued on as it usually does.

On Friday my friend and I ventured out to Tahrir. Before you freak out, let me explain.

First of all, it is REALLY difficult to resist the urge to go to Tahrir. We're only a 30 minute walk from the spot that the rest of the world is watching, and we know it. Basically every international student I've spoken to here has said the same thing as me. We want to go, and it takes every bone in our bodies to be like "hold up, is that a good idea?" So, I walked to Tahrir with a friend. We gave in to our desire, but we weren't entirely stupid. We went on Friday morning/early afternoon with the hope that the crowd would be smaller because most people would still be at mosque.

So we're walking around Zamalek to get to the bridge and we see riot police all over the island. Normally I don't see any police anywhere on the island. But we keep walking and when we get to the bridge we start to get a bit weirded out. It was empty. Cairo is so overpopulated and has so much traffic that there are literally always people everywhere. If there are no people, it's time to be concerned. And this bridge that connects Zamalek to Tahrir Square normally has tons and tons of traffic. TONS. So it was definitely strange.

The empty Qasr el Nile Bridge (the famous revolution bridge with lions)

My friend and I proceeded to cross the bridge. Each time a person walked by us they would say something nasty in Arabic or English to us. And we saw a little kid holding his father's hand and carrying a black flag like the one they replaced the USA embassy flag with. The very few cars that passed would slown down to yell at us through the window. It was definitely more than the normal street harassment we get. And this time it wasn't because we're female, but because we're white. We walked to the Tahrir end of the bridge which is about one block from the square. We could see a large crowd, and tons of Egyptians were pointing at us, looking, saying things, etc. At that point we had both seen enough. We'd seen the crowd, seen the people, seen the gestures, and so we left. We turned around, crossed the bridge, and took a cab back home. And then we had lunch. By mid afternoon, the riot police had entirely blocked off the bridges in an attempt to contain protests to the square. Good thing we went early.

I'm actually really glad I went. It was definitely the most uncomfortable situation I've been in so far in Cairo. But at the same time, I'm glad I got to see what the square was like when there were protesters there. Even if I was a block away. Plus, I never felt like I was unsafe because it was still early and relatively quiet. I'm living in this country as they go through historical changes and events with the whole world watching. It's hard to balance the interest with the obvious dangers of going. But I think I've done okay so far.

I'm sorry I couldn't take more photos, but as a white, unveiled female I draw plenty of attention to myself even without a camera. I totally understand why all the international photographers for the NYTimes and Associated Press are male.

My friends and I stayed on the island for the rest of the weekend. It's just easier and safer and there's no reason to put ourselves in an unsafe position. And it was nice to have a relaxing glass of mango juice along the Nile. It seems like things have died down now, so that's good, though no one is convinced that this is over. Egyptians have a century's worth of anger built up, and it's certainly not surprising to me. Between other countries screwing them over and their own country screwing them over, of course they're angry. But I hope it's also clear that the vast majority of the country is not involved in the riots. Yes, many people agree with the anger over the film and anger toward the west in general, but most people wholeheartedly oppose the violence. And as I've mentioned before, many Egyptians are working hard to convince the West that they're not radicals or terrorists. They know that flag burning and rock throwing don't help.

Please, feel free to email me or Facebook me or whatever if you get worried about my well-being. But please also keep in mind that Western news media blows this stuff way out of proportion. At least the violence part. I was reading CNN and it sounded like the entire city was dealing with rocks and tear gas and that this was Armageddon. So yeah, something about a grain of salt. Cairo is a huge city, and it is quite easy to avoid Tahrir. Everyone here who I've spoken to, both Egyptians and international students, is far more concerned about what this means for diplomacy and the future than they are for their personal safety in their day to day life. Things are quieter now, but I'll definitely keep you all updated if things change.

Oh, and Shana Tova! Don't worry, I won't be saying that to anyone else this week.

Don't Eat the Pictures

Fun Fact #4

Falafel was first made in Egypt. Though in most other countries (including those in the Middle East) it is made with chickpeas, in Egypt falafel is made entirely of fava beans.

It's definitely been an interesting week. Though I had a few overwhelming moments this week, I'm feeling much better about being here and dealing with cultural challenges than I was last week. I've given lots of taxi drivers directions in Arabic, made purchases, and survived another week as a clearly foreign, white, unveiled female in a conservative Muslim country.

The Baron's Palace (I stole this picture from the internet.
I don't know who took it, but it wasn't me.)

 This past weekend I was invited to City Stars Mall with my roommate and her friends, so I tagged along. It pretty much looks like the Mall of America but with women in bedazzled niqabs and prayer rooms. Though there were tons of western shops like Zara, H&M, and Armani Exchange, there were also quite a few Egyptian stores at varying price points. I don't really plan to go back, but I was quite glad I went just to see what is was like, and I was able to get to know my roommate and her friends a little better. It's clearly the place to be for young Egyptians who just want to hang out and eat and window shop. I also bought a scarf for 20LE ($3.28) that I can wear when I go on field trips to mosques. Possibly the most exciting part was driving by the Baron's Palace, a privately owned house in Heliopolis that Egyptians think is haunted. There are a ton of other stories about the place as well, but I think it might be the coolest looking house I've seen so far in Egypt. I really want to go inside, but apparently the only way in is to bribe the security guards. We'll have to wait and see about that...

Sorry it's blurry. My stealth photography needs some work.

 This week, my professors have begun to actually teach since the add/drop period is over. This is far more interesting than last week, but also means that I have to do homework. I took (and bombed) my first pop-quiz on Egyptian turf, which was a big disappointment since I had actually done the reading, but now I know that I have to step up my game. And somehow I managed to move on with my life, because that evening I went to Khan el-Khalili with two friends (one male, one female, yes this is relevant info). Khan el-Khalili is this crazy market/bazaar place with endless aisles of stuff. We got yelled at and gawked at a bunch in Arabic because it's in a more conservative area and Hannah and I were not veiled, but it was generally very cool. My friends and I have become skilled at dealing with people who follow us or are excessively aggressive about selling stuff to us. After leaving the market, we ate a delicious dinner of meat, meat, and more meat, with some okra and rice. It was quite fun and challenging since the whole menu was in Arabic and the waiters spoke no English, but we managed to get food and eat. In general it was a great night, though I certainly wouldn't have felt comfortable navigating the market without a male companion. I will definitely write a post soon about gender roles and sexual harassment in Cairo, but it's certainly a subject that people could (and do) write entire books about.

The Egyptian Museum

Tuesday was another good, but weird day. I got off to a late start and did some homework before heading to the Egyptian Museum. The Museum is quite large and overwhelming, with very few labels and absolutely no clear organizational plan. My friend and I wandered through the museum and looked at tons of stuff from dead people. Everything was absolutely beautiful, especially the items buried with King Tut. Nearly everything that was found in his tomb was gold and beaded. Sadly there were no pictures allowed inside the museum, but everything really was breathtaking. The famous mask of Tutankhamen's mummy is especially gorgeous in person. And I decided that I, too, should probably be buried in a gold tomb.

While wandering around the Egyptian museum I was reminded of how much of Egypt's history was removed from its original location by foreigners, and that much of it still resides outside of Egypt. Some pieces have small labels in French or English, and some credit archeologists or organizations with clearly Western names (I especially liked "Mischigan University"). When I saw a sign saying "This was repatriated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011," I was immediately reminded of the 1983 Sesame Street special entitled Don't Eat the Pictures, when Big Bird and friends get stuck in the Met overnight and make friends with an Egyptian Prince in front of the Temple and reflecting pool. Since you're wondering, I watched the VHS of this wonderful special throughout the mid to late '90's, and believe that everyone should see it. I guess my point is two-fold. First, see that special. Second, Egypt has been victim to so many outside forces that one needn't come to Cairo to see Egyptian history. The Met and the British Museum, as well as many other American and European museums have extensive Egyptian collections. The more time I spend here, the more depressing I find that. 

I mentioned that Tuesday was a weird day for me because of the date. I guess September 11th is always a weird day for me. I've grown up and moved far from home, but I always remember the fear that fifth-grade Deborah had on that day as she was picked up early from school and surrounded by crying adults, and the impact that it had on the NYC metro area. It's especially strange being in a Muslim country where Tuesday was just another day, but also where many people are working hard to prevent Westerners from viewing them as terrorists. When I read news from the US, I'm always sad to see the extent to which Americans connect radical Islam and Islam in general (really Murfreesboro?), and I see much of that as a result of post-9/11 USA. At the same time, I understand that 9/11 is an incredibly painful day for many people, and my thoughts are with everyone back home. 

I'm anticipating that next week will be a bit strange too, since it will be my first time in memory not attending High Holiday services. I'll see how it goes and let you know. (Mangoes and honey instead of apples and honey? Seems like an adequate substitution to me...)

School and Freedom

Fun Fact #3

Only 6% of Egypt's land is inhabited, and the vast majority of that is on the Nile! Everything else is desert! 

The past few days have been pretty crazy. I finished Survival Arabic with a delicious meal and a crazy car ride, started classes (on a Sunday!), and spent my Tuesday exploring in the general vicinity of Tahrir Square, before getting henna in Zamalek in the evening.

The AUC campus is essentially a resort with classes.

The whole school thing is turning out to be far more of an annoyance than I wanted it to be. Everyone is very friendly, but as with most universities it is not always enjoyable to wade through the bureaucratic stuff. I discovered on Sunday that the Islamic illuminated manuscript course for which I had done the most preparation (a pre-requisite at Lawrence, summer reading, and communication with the professor concerning my background) is a graduate level course. I was the only undergrad with three grad students who are working on theses concerning Persian painting, Turkish painting, or illuminated manuscripts. The two and a half hour class was quite interesting, but also well beyond my scope of knowledge and I felt entirely unprepared and in over my head. I dropped the class, which was quite disappointing, but I want to be able to explore Cairo and travel and have cultural experiences, and I would miss out on that if I spend all of my time on graduate level work in the rare books library. Dealing with registration on Monday was nuts, and Monday was the first day where I really felt a bit homesick with just a bit of "Why don't they understand me? Why is this so difficult? This makes no sense..," but I know that this is all part of being in a new place with a new culture, so I'm taking it in stride. I had ice cream after dinner last night, and that helped a lot.

Koshary is a mix of three shapes of pasta, lentils, chickpeas, fried onions, and tomato sauce. It's cheap and delicious.

We have Tuesdays off, so I went downtown with a few of my friends today to see Tahrir Square and the surrounding area. I was fantastic! It has a much different feel than the affluent, tree-filled area where I live. We spent a long time looking at street art from the Revolution, which is quite beautiful and interesting. It made me wish I could read more Arabic, but most of it was understandable without knowing what it said. We also ate the best koshary I've had so far and visited two perfume shops of varying quality. We concluded our afternoon in El Horriya, a wonderful and apparently Leftist café (the name means "freedom"), with some Turkish coffee and Egyptian beer.

Street art near Tahrir Square

I'm definitely becoming used to Egyptian things, like tardiness and crazy driving and the heat. My Arabic has improved enough that I can give a cab driver directions home and I understand when people say basic things to me. I'd probably say that the thing I find most unpleasant so far is actually when mysterious water drips on me from  above. This is pretty common in all parts of the city, and the water generally comes from window air conditioners above the sidewalk, but it can be a bit gross and surprising, especially because it is so hot and dry here.

I was pretty sure that I was not going to be one of those people who spends all of their time updating their blog, but now that I've realized that it takes all of ten minutes for me to post, and that I kind of enjoy reflecting on what I've done recently, I might consider making it a more regular sort of thing. So check back in a week for more updates. And before then, feel free to look at TONS OF PICTURES.