I Can Officially Stop Talking About Wanting to Go to Jordan

 Fun Fact #8:

More than 40% of Jordan's population was born in another country. Jordan has huge numbers of refugees and immigrants, from other Arab countries as well as from Eastern Europe and Western Asia. In particular, there are many Palestinians and Christian Iraqis now living in Jordan.

Last week I had a few days off from school for Eid al-Adha. It's basically a super important holiday and animals get slaughtered and it's pretty interesting. Clearly this is a huge simplification of Eid, in case you were wondering. I saw lots and lots of animals waiting for their deaths and apparently in some parts of Cairo blood literally flows down the streets. That alone made it pretty tempting for me to stick around, but I decided to use my free time to get out of Cairo.

I (finally) went to Jordan. It was AMAZING. I went by myself, I stayed in hostels and took buses and visited Amman, Petra, the Dead Sea, and a few other towns and mountains and all that. The Jordanian Dinar is worth almost 1.5 times the dollar, so I'm nearly broke at this point, but it was worth every cent! Amman is a really interesting, not super touristy city with lots of culture and delicious food and a bit of history too. And I think everyone should float in the Dead Sea (and watch women swim/float in full burqas and niqabs!) and see the beauty of Petra at some point in their life. Petra is unbelievable.

The Temple of Hercules and the city of Amman

As much as I like the people I know here in Cairo, I'm so glad that I went alone. Even though lots of people told me I was stupid (mostly American females living in Cairo), I had no problems and got some much needed time to remind myself of how capable and independent I am, and how much I enjoy my freedom. The social scene at AUC often reminds me of high school, and since I barely survived high school the first time there's really no reason to repeat the experience. Basically it was time for me to get out and do my own thing. 

 

I did experience much more verbal sexual harassment in Amman than I normally experience in Cairo and though it was certainly unpleasant, I still felt much safer walking alone than I do in some areas of Cairo. Part of this may be that Amman is a smaller, and very walkable city. I also found the children to be far more aggressive than they are in Cairo, as I had young boys (maybe ten or eleven years old) screaming at me to take their picture and following me until I told them off. A few girls pulled the hair tie out of my braid and tried, but failed, to pick my pockets. Unfortunately for them I'm far too intelligent to keep things in my back pockets. I've never had anyone touch me/my hair in Cairo, so I wasn't a big fan of the children in Amman. Even with these small issues, I found Jordan to be very safe and welcoming and I had no problems being on my own.

Amman, as seen from the Citadel

View of the Dead Sea from the Dead Sea Highway.

I wish I had seen more of the country, but unfortunately it's just not possible to properly see an entire country in five days. I was so glad I spent my time where I did, particularly in Petra. I had heard that you can see Petra in a few hours or one day, but this is just not true! There is so much walking and climbing to do in Petra in order to see much of the ancient city, and I would have missed so much of it had I not spent multiple days there! My legs were a bit sore afterwards, but climbing to the top of every hill or mountain is the only way to see all of the city's monuments and get out of the masses of tourists that gather in the main walkway but are too lazy to climb up. There are more than 800 steps to the Monastery and more than 600 steps, plus a bunch of boulders to climb, to get to the High Place of Sacrifice. Many of the other sites, like the theatre and some of the tombs, have more than a few steps as well. And it's a mile walk from the ticket gate to the Siq and another mile in the Siq until you reach the Treasury. So two days was a good call. In addition to my workout, I got a bit of a sunburn which was probably the worst part of the whole trip.

The Siq and the Treasury in Petra

A look back into Petra (that's the Monastery) from the View of the End of the World

View from the High Place of Sacrifice in Petra

The Street of Façades in Petra

Of course after nearly six days without internet, I was shocked to return to Cairo and discover that a storm hit the New York Metro Area! I hope that everyone there is safe and dry and that not too much damage has been done. Keep your chin up! I wish everyone a safe, happy, and electricity-filled Halloween, and hope that you all dream of drinking tea and smoking shisha with Bedouins in the mountains of Jordan.

Bedouins drinking tea and smoking shisha

Arts and Farts

Fun Fact #7:
Lower Egypt is actually the North and Upper Egypt is the South. These labels came about because the Nile flows North, making the Southern part of Egypt upstream. Though the labels are old, they are most definitely still used in contemporary Egypt.

Still hungry?

The two weeks since I last posted have been interesting. But I guess every day in Egypt is interesting. All the pictures here are from my class field trips, except the last one! 

School sucks. I hate that this is the case since I've generally always loved school, or at least college, but it is. I have to say that I am not a fan of AUC. As if that wasn't already apparent. The university as a whole does not have its act together. At first I thought my frustration was entirely a cultural thing, but the more I meet and interact with Egyptian students, the more I realize that it's not. Most of the Egyptian students I know have more negative things to say about AUC than I do. That's not really a good sign. 

Trash in an iwan (look it up!) at a former madrasa

I have one particularly frustrating class in which the professor teaches in Arabic much of the time and answers students' questions in Arabic. The class is supposed to be taught in English. It's an Egyptian film class, but all of the films have subtitles and all of the readings are translated. So the problem is really only with the professor. It's frustrating, to say the least. I had asked her on the first day of class if my lack of Arabic would be a problem and she assured me it wouldn't be. Clearly it is. 

Aside from that, classes are okay. I have a class on the architecture of Cairo, which means that I get to go on weekly field trips to sites in Cairo. The field trips are awesome and the professor is incredibly knowledgeable. At first I thought he wasn't the nicest person, but he's slowly grown on me. Solid class, solid professor.

Our field trips can get a bit adventurous.

My favorite class is called "Contemporary Issues in Arab Art." The class is interesting (at least it was during the whole two class sessions we've had since school started in August!) but the subject matter is even more interesting. And I've officially decided that I will become best friends with the professor before I leave in December. For those of you who know School Deborah, you know that this goal is the highest compliment that I could possibly give and is totally attainable. The professor is super young and is a really helpful and accessible professor. She also geeked out with me about Jonathan Bloom, knew all about the Center for Book Arts, and went to a small liberal arts school in the Midwest before heading to MIT for her PhD (she's still working on her dissertation on 20th century Syrian painting)! She also wasn't creeped out that I had Googled her, and that is clearly a sign. Plus her class is actually intellectually stimulating and engaging! 

Speaking of which, I've visited a few different art spaces lately. For class I was required to attend the opening of an exhibition of Basiony's art. He was an Egyptian artist and professor who was killed during the revolution. I wasn't all that into the art (primarily sound and video installations), but the space was very cool and seeing the viewers' reactions and involvement with this guy who people clearly loved, and who died for a cause that many people are reconsidering, was very interesting. The exhibition was held at Darb 1718, which is this cool art space that has workshops, shows art films, has indie bands, and holds art exhibitions. It's located in Old Cairo and is totally out of place and hard to find, but is very interesting. The most exciting part was that I took a taxi there all by myself at night and took the metro home all by myself at night! I'm (finally) like a real grown up! 

View from Bab al-Futuh

Once I got over my fear of going out on my own in Cairo (we were essentially told that we'll die if we go out on alone as white females), I've found that I really enjoy being out on my own. I like my friends, but I did miss the freedom of coming and going as I please and doing the stuff I want to do whether or not someone wants to join me. One night this week I went to Townhouse, which is basically THE gallery in Cairo. I briefly browsed the entire space, but mostly I went to utilize the library as I do research for my class! Townhouse is on a little side street in the downtown, but I found it fairly easily. I didn't find a another nearby but equally hidden gallery and class space whose library I wanted to use, but I did wander around downtown for nearly two hours looking! I was alone and it was dark and people were looking at me, and it was wonderful! 

A small gathering at Horriya.

So now I go out on my own. And it's awesome. Lately I've also been writing a column for Lawrence's school newspaper (skip it, my articles are poorly written and make Egypt seem horrible, and I'm bitter about being censored). I've finalized my plans to go to Jordan for Eid, confirmed that my parents will be here for Thanksgiving, and done a lot of school work. I've revisited Horriya, my favorite Leftist hangout, and made a few new friends. So things are going. In fact, they're even going pretty well. My foray into Yemeni food turned out to be the MOST DELICIOUS thing I could've ever done, so I'm pretty pleased. I also learned how to say the word "fart" in Arabic. It's an important word to know. I did avoid today's protests, though my field trip took a slight detour and I watched people throw rocks on the television.

I would like to apologize to all the people who I suck at keeping in touch with! I was reminded this week by a few people that I'm horrible at keeping touch, and I'm sorry! But I do miss everyone, and I know that as much as I like Egypt I will be so happy to be back at Lawrence in January! I miss you all (and not just Lawrentians!) and would love to hear from you and please take care! 

Fish and Flesh

(Less) Fun Fact # 6:

Over 4 million tons of rice straw are burned every fall in Egypt and burning straw is the primary cause of the black cloud which spreads across Cairo during the month of October. In Cairo, the presence of the black cloud corresponds to the highest rates of reported hospital visits and respiratory illnesses each year. 

Well the protests are over! And it's a good thing too, because if we had missed two more days of class AUC would've had to cancel the semester. I'm a little disappointed because I had just started to make plans to gallivant around the globe with my partial tuition refund, but I guess there's some value in a formal education as well. Tomorrow will be my first day of school in two weeks. Basically everything relating to the university is a complete mess right now, so we'll see how it goes.

Alexandria

Last week I took advantage of my time off and spent a few days in Alexandria. It's about a three hour train ride from Cairo, and I spent most of the ride taking a nap and watching people burn their fields. Alexandria is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean, and I can't believe it took me five weeks to get there. I spent a lot of time walking along the shore looking at the views. To me, Alexandria looks much more European than Cairo. It's still old and falling apart, but the buildings look different and the air is actually air. It was definitely nice to get away from the pollution in Cairo. 

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

While in Alex I visited all the main sights, starting with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It's a beautiful new library on the sight of the ancient Alexandria Library. It's huge and modern and contains three museums, as well as books in French, English, and Arabic. I was very excited to see an exhibition on printing in Alexandria, which contained a few different printing presses, a litho stone, as well as metal and wood Arabic type. Woo letterpress! 

Stealth photography skills right here.

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

I also went to the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, where they searched our bags and made me check my camera. But after they found one camera they stopped looking, so I got to practice my stealth photography skills with my point and shoot. This is why people buy iPhones. The catacombs are basically a labyrinth of tunnels where a family was buried. It was built in the 2nd century CE, and I thought it was very cool. I do believe that the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. 

Citadel of Qaitbay

After the catacombs, I went to the Citadel of Qaitbay. It's basically a giant castle built at the mouth of the harbor. It used to be for defense, but now it's just an old building with a history and beautiful views. 

Just chilling in the middle of the city.

One of the more unfortunate parts of my visit to Alex was driving by a dead woman on the road. I was in a Taxi with my window down and we drove within two feet of her. Egypt has the third highest traffic-related death rate in the world, so I've certainly seen similar scenes in Cairo. But in Cairo it's usually bloodier, and there are usually two vehicles involved. I've also never been so close. In Alex the woman was a pedestrian and had clearly been mowed down by a car. It's unfortunately one of the realities of crossing streets here, both in Cairo and in Alex. Cross at your own risk. Still, it was very sad to see, and it was even more sad to me when I realized that I wasn't surprised by it.

Even so, I really loved Alexandria. I ate fish, I saw King Farouk's Palace (also called Montaza Palace, it was actually built by King Farouk's father, but whatever), I saw tons of livestock just hanging out in the roads, and I got to see much of the city by driving around in a taxi or walking. It was nice to see water that wasn't the Nile, and to smell the saltwater in the air. The whole trip cost me about $60, including getting there and back and staying overnight and eating. It was wonderful, and it was great to get out of Cairo. I fully endorse Alexandria and think that everyone should spend a few days there. As much as I love Cairo, I think that Alex is a much more livable, and less overwhelming. I'm so glad I'm studying in Cairo, but I can't imagine living there for years and years. But I could imagine moving to Alex.

A horse and the Citadel.

I guess that's all for now. I've been in Egypt for nearly six weeks already! It's crazy. I'm starting to feel like I belong here. When I was wandering around Cairo today, I had multiple people ask me for directions! And one of them was even Egyptian! That's a sign of belonging if there ever was one. Obviously there are still many challenges every day, but I'm generally feeling good about being here and doing my own thing and all that. It also rained for all of three minutes yesterday and I got to watch the Egyptians freak out and celebrate and be so excited about a drizzle. It made me so happy. Yay Egypt!

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.