Bad news, amigos

According to my counting, I have 8 papers and 4 exams that fall within the month of May. With that said, I'm afraid I won't be writing much about my last month in Egypt (although I'll make time for silly tidbits).

I still have many exciting stories to share and can't wait to tell them in person, which is coming sooner than we know.

Byblos, Lebanon

Notes from April 8, 2009

On plane. 

Crazy man looking at me and talking excitedly. Seats are nice. Crazy man loose, runs to back. Sitting next to lavatory. No smoking on plane, why ashtray in bathroom? Crazy man offers me candy tray. Crazy man apprehended and restrained. Candy tray returned. I am the only one with candy.

Take off.

Egypt fact:

The general populous is incredibly hospitable. 

Egypt fact:

Dead animals are an all too frequent find.

SB '09

Alas, it is Spring Break in Egypt land. I will be leaving for Lebanon on the 8th and traveling to Syria around the 12th, returning to Cairo on the 19th. I will have limited internet access and will be using these fleeting moments to notify my anxious parents of my safety. I look forward to recounting my adventures, which should, inshaalah, include wine tasting and castle climbing. 

To rectify my upcoming absence on the net, here are a few recent happenings:

• My professor admitted to being hungover in class. I provided him with 4 pain killers.
  
• Yesterday I woke up to several swollen mosquito bites. On my face.
  
• We were wrongfully accused and chastised by everyone on our floor for leaving garbage on the stairs. Patronizing lessons on how to open chute ensued.
  
• I found an embryo in my chicken egg. I subsequently lost my appetite for the only source of protein in my diet.
  
• I discovered the lone cafe on campus that has lattes, as opposed to warm flavored milk. Caffeine addiction commences.
• I made friends with the children in the flat facing ours. They now throw rocks at our windows.

In summary, I'm still thoroughly enjoying myself here, and am tentatively planning to return in 2010. (!)

Egypt fact:

It's true: the pyramids are on the brink of suburbia.

Egypt fact:

THERE ARE CATS EVERYWHERE.

Accidents

In a city where the road resembles a major department store during the holiday season, I've become fairly numb to the absurdities I see on the way to school and back: three people on a one person moped, children plopped on their mother's lap, disuse of indicator lights and lights in general (even at night), disuse of seat belts, etc. Combined with the lack of speed limits in Cairo, the road is a perilous place.

I knew it was only a matter of time before I got in a car accident, and I prayed it would fall on a day where I found a working seat belt. Fortunately, it did. I've been curious about how an accident would be handled, since all transportation in Cairo seems to be in shambles. After a young man on a moped attempted to squeeze in between two cars (one being my friend's) and promptly failed (securing his handle bars and hands into both cars), my friend got out of his car, surveyed the damage (removed the man), and drove off. No exchange of numbers, names, or information - it was rather painless (although I can't speak for others).

Genocide

After a long week of avoiding the kitchen, Anna, Jess and I decided it was high-time we attacked the variety of "friends" occupying our cooking area. Although a relatively peaceful occupation, our rivaling families could simply not coexist, and being the chief bug-catcher, I took the liberty of starting a genocide of all trespassers. I can proudly proclaim that I did a fine job of executing the invaders, and have in fact, become quite murderous (with proper weaponry). I took great delight in protecting dear Anna and Jess (who dutifully assisted me), and was pleased to hear the slew of obscenities released as our co-residents dissolved (perhaps this imagery is too literate).

Although I don't plan on selling my talents on the market, it's nice to know that I can handle this notorious creeper sans anxiety. I may have killed useable brain cells, but my Raid overuse has left us with a beautiful kitchen -- Bon Appetit!

Egypt fact:

Those fortunate (or, arguably, unfortunate) enough to own a car in Egypt typically outfit their cars with the gaudiest accessories available: colorful fur, stuffed animals, sparkle beads, black lights, stickers, etc. The most conspicuous (and naturally, the most popular) seems to be the oversized Tweety bird headrest cover.

Apologies

This is the last apology I'll make for my lack of blogging: I have food poisoning - again - and I'm feeling a bit uncreative at late (among other terrible feelings).

I've moved into a new place, which is quite lovely despite several critters that have made our kitchen their neighborhood.

My recent travels have provided me with amusing stories for those of you that rely on my Egypt recounts as a source of escapism. As soon as the poison leaves my body and midterms finish, I will write to our hearts content. In the meantime, peruse my photos at your leisure.

Simon says:

Simon says: MOVE OUT

In this case, Simon is a our landlord. Details about said move and vacation to the Red Sea soon.

Khan al-Khalili bombing

Hello friends!

I just wanted to update you quickly to let you know that I am safe and away from harm, as Cairo's famed Khan al-Khalili was bombed this evening. As you probably could have guessed from my previous Khan post, I have no intention of ever stepping foot there again. 

I appreciate your concern - hopefully my existence here will remain bomb-free. 

Karma

It appears that I am eating my words about AUC - I have quite a bit of homework due this week, which will be taking up most of my time. I won't be available for lengthy conversations until Thursday; I hope you can last.

Egypt fact:

Egyptian men can shake their ass[ets] better than I can ever hope to.

Ibn Tulun tiptoe

There are various ways we roommates seek vengeance against AUC for their lack of consideration and fondness for picking the pockets of their own students. We've recently taken to placing stray toilet paper rolls into our purses, and today I jumped at the opportunity to sneak onto a private field trip to the Nileometer and Ibn Tulun mosque. 

Both Jess and Anna (in addition to many other friends) are enrolled in a class covering the art and architecture of Cairo, which takes students to interesting locales throughout the semester. The first field trip, which was today, included two of Cairo's more notable tourist attractions, the Nileometer and Ibn Tulun mosque. The Nileometer is a measuring column used to predict droughts and floods for the coming year; Ibn Tulun is reputed to be the oldest mosque in Cairo and is the largest in terms of land area. Both of these sights are worth seeing and it was clear to me upon first hearing of the trip that I must attend. To my dismay, sneaking onto the bus was quite easy; I had spent several long minutes devising many ways to avoid detection and was pleased with my cleverness that unfortunately would never be employed.

Regardless of my false cunningness, the trip was amazing. The Nileometer was very interesting (and cavernous), but Ibn Tulun was truly breathtaking. A few of us lagged behind the tour in order to climb to the top of the minaret (a tall slender tower with a balcony from which a muezzin calls Muslims to prayer), and we had the most astounding panoramic view of Cairo. The ascend was slightly unnerving, as the very last few steps were extremely narrow and rail-less, but I'm very pleased I made the climb. After admiring the view, we rushed down (carefully) to catch up with the group and this is when we actually entered the mosque. As we walked in the call to prayer sounded, which I previously posted as a video. The whole experience was quite magical - I highly advise readers to peruse my flickr account for photos.

Future sneaks are certainly in order; despite the ease of tiptoeing onto the trip, I'll continue to admire my guile to rectify AUC's blunders.

Call to prayer at Ibn Tulun

خان الخليلي (Khan al-Khalili)

Khan al-Khalili is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists. Naturally, we had to go.

After minutes of careful deliberation, it was agreed that we (Anna, Jess, and I) should go at night, in attempt to find Khan tourist free and relatively vacant. We had heard the massive market was overflowing with Egyptian spices, perfumes, jewelry, and other gaudy trinkets. All day we listed the wonderful things we would barter down to virtually non-existent prices, imagining authentic Egyptian bags and rings and precious stones that would soon become our most prized possessions. 

We climbed into a cab and whisked out of Zamalek, on what is still the most hazardous cab ride I've ever been a part of. Our driver, an ardent football (soccer) fan was listening to the North African Cup, aggressively hammering his steering wheel with every word the commenter uttered. With limited Arabic knowledge, we merely saw an infuriated man exceptionally prone to road rage, shouting (what we assumed were) obscenities at every passerby. With nervous fits of laughter we gripped any visible surface, as there were no seat belts, until we stopped in traffic five cars wide. Khan is located in a part of Cairo we are not familiar with, so as we left the inner-city and our driver's intensity increased, we contemplated how badly we would be injured if we had to jump out of the taxi, seeing as he surely was driving us somewhere to be killed. Shortly after announcing this worry in the backseat, we discovered our humorous mistake; upon our realization, Egypt scored the winning goal and we were able to join the joyous raucous that was shared between taxi cabs abound. The rest of the ride was spent dodging our cab driver's loving stare through the rear view mirror.

We figured Khan would be hard to miss, so we didn't do too much research about where it exactly was located. Unfortunately, we were terribly wrong. We got out and walked down a tiny stretch of meager markets, merchants stepping in our path every spare second in hopes of luring us in. (No merchants were successful; although I have a tendency to lead them into thinking I'm interested, only to scamper off the second they remove their gaze - I must learn to be firm, for this is quite an exhausting trick). Eventually we wandered back to the sidewalk, deciding to meander a little farther in hopes of finding our destination of treasures.

After several wearing treks back-and-forth across the street, we entered into what we were sure was Khan. As planned, we were the only tourists in sight; unfortunately, this resulted in an obscene amount of attention. Our plan had totally failed - not only were we the only obvious tourists, but the market was still packed with Egyptians, resulting in a much more tiring experience than if we had gone during the day. We didn't find anything that was remotely interesting, and could barely discuss our disappointment with each other without being interrupted; "WELCOME TO CAIRO COME INSIDE!" or, "YOU SO BEAUTIFUL, ALL OF YOU!" or, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM? WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!" Needless to say, we lost our spirit and finally gave up, agreeing to go home. Bolting to the nearest way out, I ignored every call, whistle, obscure gesture, and succeeded, for once, in showing my honest disinterest. At one point, an enthusiastic young man dashed up to me, breathlessly motioning to come with him. I didn't have the heart to totally ignore him, and opted to let random noises fall out of my mouth until the man was convinced he couldn't communicate with me. This is easily the best idea I've ever had, and I plan on employing it whenever possible for the rest of my life.

We crammed into the first cab within sight and instantly felt better. Incredibly, Anna rivals my appetite for dessert and we managed to alleviate all gloominess with brownies and chocolate cake, a perfect end to a less than perfect exploit.

Egypt fact:

About 95% of Egyptians live in Cairo.

Egypt fact:

Roughly 95% of Egypt is Muslim.

class list

Arabic: Modern Standard

Egyptology: Ancient Egyptian History

Art: Ancient Egyptian Art

English: Mediterranean Folklore

Anthropology: Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East and Northern Africa

Egypt fact:

Ambulance and fire engine sirens are largely ignored.

Shower Prayer

Will some sort of deity hear my cry? Bring me hot water. Bring me a shower curtain. Bring me a working shower head.

Taking a shower includes flooding the entire bathroom, considering the shower head doesn't fix to the wall and we don't have a shower curtain.

As of now, the little mishaps in our cutesy pseudo-Potemkin village flat are endearing. We have a faucet that doesn't turn off and a leaky window (?), our kitchen houses a portal to Hell, and our closets are chock full of mystery gear from years (and years) of mystery tenants.

Ana vs. Anna

This post is for Anna, my flatmate, who will undoubtedly read this at some point.

In Arabic, "ana" translates roughly to "I am...". Upon even the smallest of social interaction, most Egyptians inquire about your name, which requires a response like, "Ana Caitlin." Poor Anna is asked to repeat her, "Ana Anna" several times before the understanding Egyptian laughs and laughs at her unfortunate mix up.

We wonder if this will ever stop being funny. Luckily for Anna, most people think my name is Kevin.

AUC

Acquiring internet is more grueling than we thought - I'm writing from a cafe. This won't be the lengthy post I promised, but I do want to update about my school life at AUC.

Let me preface this post (and future posts) with an apology, because I'm growing more and more incompetent each day. I chalk this up the increased usage of a foreign language; I can barely speak gud Engleesh anymore, and my spelling has gone completely awry (e.g. "so" became, "os" and "built," "buitl"; I'm blaming this on Arabic's right to left read). Anyway, I'll scour this post for spelling/grammar errors, but please overlook the missed ones. Shukran!

To begin, AUC is a stark contrast from the rest of Cairo. Whereas Cairo is friendly, poor, and culture-rich, New Cairo/AUC is elitist, rich, and bland. The new campus is quite beautiful, but does not reflect Egypt in any way, which is a major disappointment. At the risk of sounding pretentious, AUC's educational standards are quite subpar to the University of Michigan's, and unfortunately class has been rather dull. I hoped to really increase my Arabic skills, but I'm beginning to question how much I'll actually be learning - my Arabic professor announced we could only miss 12 classes a semester (12?!?!?). With that said, despite everything, I'm still enjoying myself. The campus is brand new and is still working out various kinks; in addition, I'm in Cairo, where patience is the first virtue learned. I'm meeting wonderful people, and it's quite interesting to view Egypt's elite in a social setting.

All of my classes revolve around Egypt or Middle Eastern culture, and undoubtedly I'll learn something. For example, I've already learned that Egyptians are rarely on time, as my professor prefers to walk into class 20 minutes late. 

On a good note, some of my classes have several field trips planned - we may be going to excavation sites, which will be incredible, to say the least.

In other good news, the Obama craze continues, and one man actually "raised the roof" when he found out I was American. 

Also, I feel compelled to tell you that it's 80 degrees here - wah-wah!

Egypt fact:

No flushing toilet paper.

Egypt fact:

There are virtually zero public trash cans.

update

Flat hunting was quite stressful, and pulling it off on little sleep proved to be trying. We found a fantastic place right off the bat, and were thus disappointed with every place afterward that paled in comparison. Unfortunately, the flat we fell for was too much for our budget (still very little in comparison to Ann Arbor - har har!), and the landlord refused to negotiate. We were crestfallen all day, and over dinner our exhaustion and disappointment accumulated to silence, a first for us three conversationalists. 

However, lo-and-behold, shortly after acknowledging our poor morale, we got a phone call from the sheepish landlord of our dream flat, explaining this and that, but has "decided to lower [his] asking price." AL HAMDUH L'LAH! - We have a Nile view!

currently...

I'm eating breakfast on the veranda. 

Little kitties at my feet.

Breakfast of shai (tea) and two loaves of bread with fig jelly.

60 degrees.

Anyway, I've decided to stop uploading pictures to my blog and start using Flickr instead. There's a slideshow of my Egypt pictures on the left.

We're going apartment hunting in Garden City - it's as nice as it sounds.

breakfast

where I eat breakfast:

my view:

beginning in Egypt

What has struck me most about being abroad is the amount of people that, upon finding out I am American, exclaim their joy about President Obama. 

I spoke with a woman from Norway who went on and on about how handsome and eloquent he is, saying, "Oh, and when he smiles, he lights up the room!" 

I also had a long conversation with a Czech man, who wanted to be sure I didn't vote for McCain - haha.

Every foreigner I've encountered has been quite friendly; I've gotten some mixed feelings from Egyptians, because most of them think I'm Egyptian as well. An Islamic woman hit me as I walked by, I'm assuming because I was with an American-looking male (which is disproved of, if I were indeed Egyptian). We had a good (stifled) laugh over that. Everyone else has been quite friendly, and I'm enjoying Egypt immensely.

Egyptian quirks:

• Mannequins. So many mannequins. In my exhaustion, I thought a children's clothing store was a doll shop. We got to our hostel at 4am, and I kept thinking, "GOOD GOD, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DOLLS?!"
• Everyone smokes. 
• It's green! The Nile provides certain areas with enough water to sustain beautiful plant-life.
• Street dividing lines are just for show. Our various taxi drivers preferr to use any method of getting ahead, nearly annihilating crowds of people at a time. It's actually quite fun...

Tomorrow I go to New Cairo. From there I'll get a bus tour and a horseback adventure; what a drag. Adieu!