Parents and Protests

Fun Fact # 10
The ancient Egyptians prayed to Sobek, the crocodile god, because they were afraid of crocodiles. It is for this reason that  most of his temples are in places that used to have lots of crocodiles, particularly Fayoum and Kom Ombo. Now crocodiles only live upstream of the High Dam.

Crocodile!

So I realize that it's been a while since I've written a post with, uh, substance. So here it is! With LOTS of pictures too!

Hypostyle Hall at Karnak Temple

My parents were in Egypt last week and we spent a few days in Cairo before heading to Upper Egypt for some hardcore tourism. We saw all the major sites in Luxor and Aswan, and also went to Abydos and Dendera Temples. My favorite was Dendera because it's still in decent shape and has lots of colors. Plus it was in the first half of our trip, so I wasn't completely templed-out yet. By the end of our trip I was ready to avoid temples for a while, but I'm really glad I was able to see more of Egypt and some very cool ancient sites.

First Hypostyle Hall at Dendera Temple

Inside Abydos Temple

While my parents were in Cairo, we hit up PhotoCairo5 to see some contemporary art and I showed them around the downtown a bit. (Contemporary art sidenote: Everyone should look up Shirin Neshat because she's super interesting and some of her art films are cool. I saw her speak a week or two ago and I don't know that I would say that I like her, but I'm definitely interested in her.)  I ate quite well while my parents were here, so that was great! I was definitely reminded that Cairo can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Now I'm adjusted and used to living in this bustling and culturally challenging city, but it wasn't always that way. Helping my parents out was certainly a reminder of how much I've grown.

Egypt's youth forming itself out of stone

But Marc and Kay left Egypt just in time to miss all the excitement! Morsi announced that no one can challenge his presidential authority, and he's validated his new power by claiming it's so they can make a constitution (whoa simplification, but I'm not a newspaper so go look it up). People have started calling him a Pharoah. In addition to last week's protests remembering those who died  at the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes one year ago, there have been serious protests across the country since Morsi's announcement. The Muslim Brotherhood has rallied in support of Morsi and the necessity of this decree, but other more liberal and secular groups have come together to protest it.

People have camped out in Tahrir Square, and yesterday there was a very large protest in which groups marched together from all around Cairo. I went early in the day and left before it got dark, both because I was tired and because I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. It ended up being mostly peaceful, but you never know. But I did go to the protest earlier (sorry Mom!) and I'm so glad I went. It was quite interesting. The murals on Mohamed Mahmoud street are constantly changing, and watching people protest and listening to them discuss their political views is endlessly interesting. I did feel a bit weird, and of course attracted a lot of attention since I'm so clearly not Egyptian, but even so it was pretty easy for people to ignore me in favor of their cause and I was perfectly fine with that.

I did take a look at some of the damage from Friday and last week. There are a few buildings with clear fire damage, as well as numerous broken windows. Most surprising to me though was the massive number of bricks in the street. I of course assumed there would be some rubble and trash and all that, but there really are tons and tons of bricks in the streets.
 

I check on Nefertiti every time I'm downtown.

I stuck around long enough to watch as the crowd grew significantly and to watch as some kid threw rocks from a building's roof and created a stampede. But I was tucked safely away around a corner, so I had no problems. I shot the video below with my sucky point and shoot camera (definitely one of the best pre-Egypt purchases I made) so it's a bit shaky, but you can definitely get the point. The crowd actually goes back much farther than you can tell just from my perspective.

I'm definitely interested to see what happens next. It's a really fascinating time to be in Egypt, and I'm so glad I get to experience it. But don't worry, I'll make good choices!

Cats of Cairo

I have no fun facts today. Stray animals are too depressing.

I received a request for a post about the cats of Cairo. At first I was excited to have an excuse to share some of the numerous photos I've taken of cats, but the cats of cairo are really quite sad. Many are adorable, and I've seen lots of the cutest kittens ever, but it's still sad. All of these photos are of stray cats that I've seen on my walks, indoors, in trees, etc. 

So Cats. Cairo has them. Lots and lots of them. Cairo has dogs too, but the cats are more visible.

It's really depressing. I've read a bit about abandoned animals during the revolution. It makes sense of course that Egyptians were fighting for their country and animals weren't a priority, but it's also incredibly sad. The massive numbers of street animals across Cairo are generally ignored and forgotten, or worse. Occasionally I see kids chasing or throwing stones at dogs or cats. Most of the AUCians I know are afraid of dogs and cats, or just completely despise them. Cats get hissed at or kicked and people try to scare them away. But no one's taking care of them, and there are few steps taken to reduce the numbers of stray animals. They continue to reproduce so there are probably millions of stray cats eating garbage in Cairo.

 I don't know a ton about animal welfare in Cairo, but a friend of mine did a bit of research into shelters and animal protection laws. She said that there are in fact animal welfare laws, but the police in Cairo are so useless and the government has many higher priority issues, so animals are just forgotten. There's not nearly enough shelter space for all the stray animals, so they tend to live where they can feed themselves, which is usually in less affluent areas. There's less trash in wealthier areas, so the animals are less able to feed themselves. But even in the affluent neighborhood where I live there are numerous stray cats. They're on the AUC campus, in the courtyard of the dorm in Zamalek, on the streets and bridges and cemeteries. They're everywhere. They're even get inside buildings through open windows and doors. 

 Of course, animal welfare concerns aren't limited to just strays. Egypt has tons of working animals like camels, donkeys, mules, and horses. Many of these animals are poorly taken care of or left to starve. The significant decrease in tourism after the revolution has really harmed working animals in the tourism industry (like camels) because their owners can no longer afford to feed themselves, much less care for an animal. If you want to read more about the plight of Egyptian animals and the main group helping them here's a link to the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals. 

Mosques and Stuff

Fun Fact #9

Cairo is nicknamed "the City of a Thousand Minarets". (This is my blog so I can ignore punctuation rules if I want to.) I can't tell you how many minarets there actually are in Cairo, but there are tons. Minarets were originally built as a place from which the call to prayer was made, but that was before loudspeaker systems. 

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali.

Well, for me this week is about school. It's a bit annoying, that whole school thing, but at least some of it is interesting. I'm currently working on three research-based papers, two of which require me to go places that aren't the school library or the internet in order to do research. Those two are good and interesting, the other one sucks. I've been to a few art spaces and spent some time in their libraries and institutional records. And I wandered around Cairo with my Canadian friend and his Egyptian friend, looking for the mosque that we're writing a research paper on. The mosque was assigned to us, but it's small and rundown and very few people have heard of it. So it was a bit of an adventure (like pretty much everything in Cairo). We've also been in the rare books collection at AUC looking up the mosque and its history and old photos and all that. Of course I love smelling and feeling the old books, so I'm a fan of the rare books library.  Though it's more time consuming, researching is also way more interesting when you have to actually go places.

Unfinished details on the portal of Sultan Hassan with a Chinese lotus motif.

The mihrab in Sultan Hassan

I had a field trip to the Mosque and Madrassa of Sultan Hassan today. We had a bit of extra time, so we also went to the Al-Rifa'i Mosque, which is where King Farouk, Ismail Pasha (the grandson of Muhammad Ali), and the Shah of Iran are all buried. Al-Rifa'i is pretty impressive, though it's a neo-Mamluk style mosque built in the late 19th century, so it doesn't really compare to the older mosques I've seen. Sultan Hassan is a Mamluk mosque built in the 14th century. It's quite large and has the tallest minaret in Cairo. It's pretty cool.

Kurdish tourists on the path between the mosques of Sultan Hassan (R) an Al-Rifa'i (L).
I don't know anything about the mosque that's straight ahead.

Muqarnas in Al-Rifa'i

This weekend I'm just doing homework and and trying to have a bit of fun too. I do have to attend a few different artist or art-related talks in the coming weeks, so there will be lots of art. I've been asked to teach the environmental group on campus how to make recycled paper, and of course I'm super pumped about that. I'm also looking forward to the start of Photocairo 5 and starting to wonder about the fate of the 13th International Cairo Biennale, which is theoretically supposed to begin in December. And Marc and Kay arrive in only a week! Parents!

With that, here are some recent photos of Cairo. I only wish I could also convey the smells and the sounds.

Piping hot sweet potatoes

This 17th century mosque is an island in the road. They built the road around the mosque.

The interior of the mosque I'm researching. It's built in a distinctly Ottoman style, so resembles many mosques in Istanbul, but has very few references to Cairene mosque architecture. Note the sinking floor...

The mosque we're researching is a bit rundown...

There's something so perfect about the Pyramids through the smog of modern day Cairo.

The INTERNET!

I know I only posted a few days ago, but I have an immense amount of Arabic homework that I've been procrastinating lately, so I've had a lot of time to spend reading and watching all of the internet. Here are some interesting/cool/fun/serious internet things that I want to share with you. Some of these things are Egypt related, some are just things I like. Feel free to use this post to assist you in procrastinating.

This is from Hyperbole and a Half. You can read my FAVORITE post here.

So as I've mentioned before, sexual harassment in Egypt is kinda a thing. A big thing. Last night I walked around downtown Cairo and Garden City alone for like an hour and a half and then took the metro, and I had more than a few people direct comments my way (probably like a dozen separate men/groups). I was wearing long sleeves and long pants and was rather well covered up. I'm lucky because I've never had anyone try to touch me. I like to believe I've got pretty thick skin and I can deal with the verbal harassment, but I wouldn't say it's pleasant. So yeah, sexual harassment. It's been getting a lot of press lately, as have responses to street harassment. This coverage from NPR discusses a group of vigilantes who I'm a bit conflicted about, but I think the author of this article from Daily News Egypt has some good points. Here's an older article from BBC News that's about street harassment. I always think of this article, particularly because of the comment about women wearing tight niqabs being "up for it."

Since this is my blog and I can do what I want, I will now use this as a segue into policy in the USA. While the US has certainly made strides in many areas relating to women's rights, I wouldn't say that things are all good. I've been horrified with some of the things coming out of politicians' mouths in recent months, but I think that Nicholas Kristof has very good points about sound bites and policies relating to women and rape. This (possibly TRIGGERING) article from a former Amherst student has been widely publicized, but I was very disappointed that it was not surprising to me. I've heard from friends both at my own (beloved) school and at other universities that sexual assault is not taken seriously, and is not handled by people who are educated about sexual assault or who know what they're doing. Even in the general population, a victim's attire, sexual past, or alcohol consumption are often called in to question. It kills me that people haven't yet figured out that no man or woman's actions are "asking" for rape. So yes, we might be doing better than Egypt in terms of street harassment, but let's not pretend that things are great and dandy in the US.

Now that I'm done ranting about sexual harassment and assault, here are some lighter subjects that might be of interest.

Here's a link to a cool website with old Arabic pop music. You can listen and download. It's not all Egyptian, but Egypt was and is pretty important in terms of cultural stuff coming out of the Middle East. When I was in Jordan last week, the Egyptian guy I met at my hostel commented every time Egyptian pop music came on the radio. Apparently in Jordan like 90% of the pop music is Egyptian. Also, I definitely stole this link from a friend's blog. Hey, I've been reading your blog. Thanks for the link.

Bahia Shehab is an artist and art historian, as well as a professor at AUC. She's got a TED video about her stencils that she's been spray painting all over the city. It's not the greatest TED Talk I've ever seen, but it's interesting, it's only five minutes, and her point is very nice.

As for things that don't relate to Egypt, as many of you know, I'm obsessed with reading the New York Times. I do read the news and the op-eds, but I have a particular love of things I can't have/can't afford/don't really want but still want to dream about. This naturally includes tandoors (I legitimately want one) and of course homes in Sweden. In that vein, here's a short video that I've now watched like five times. It's a week or two old, but you should watch it. THERE ARE PAC-MAN DUMPLINGS.

This is my obligatory reminder that you should all go vote next week if you haven't already. I voted like a month ago, so now I have plenty of time to annoy you until you vote.

And finally, I'll leave you with a clip of the love of my life, Andreas Viestad.