Cairo

It's been a couple days, which I've spent getting acclimated to our surroundings here in Cairo. Arabic class has continued to be a great experience, and I've slowly been able to practice my Arabic while out in the community; for instance, today we went on a search to find a new power cord for Brett's computer, and we were able to ask for and get directions in Arabic. Definitely a big step up from what I would have been able to do even a week ago.

Another thing that we've been working on is trying to put our service projects together. The original idea was that we'd be helping local businesses by creating websites for them, so that their products would be available to more people all across the globe. We've hit some snags, though; for instance, one of the sites we were supposed to help already has a website up and running. The other "snag" seems to be the issue of child labor associated with that same site, which is a carpet-making shop. My class was unfortunately unable to visit this site along with the rest of the group, so I didn't see what the conditions were like, but apparently some children are employed; as part of the deal, they go to school for 4 hours in the AM, get 2 meals a day, and work for a few hours, getting to keep wages too. I'll come back to this in a second.

The other place we might be working is called Stabl Antar. It's a poorer community set in the outskirts of greater Cairo. In a two minute drive, we went from seeing a Mazda M-3 to seeing dirt streets lined with trash, and bread lines (the pictures show scenes from the drive up). I have to say, and I don't mean to be callous in saying this, but I was expecting the community that we arrived in to be much worse off than it was in reality. I myself have seen people living in much, much worse conditions (one example- Batey Libertad was well off by the standard of bateys in DR, and it was worse than Stabl Antar).

Given all this, it was very interesting to listen to others speak at the debriefing meeting. I was very turned off by what seemed to be the majority opinion. Basically, everyone was saying how horrible it was and how they'd been turned off by the whole thing. The consensus seemed to be that although we might still work their, we'll more or less be judging them with our noses held high. I have several problems with this:

1- If your nose is in a perfumed hankie, you can't even smell the shit you're in, pardon the language. Let's tackle the full reality of the situation before we judge it.

2- These kids could have it so much worse. Like I said, I've seen worse myself. In many places all over the world, there are kids who don't even get the opportunity to go to school. Work is the only thing they know. And furthermore, they only get to eat if they can scrape together the money for a meal. I wish every kid in the world could enjoy the kind of childhood where they didn't have to worry about their next meal and if it would come, or where they could have fun and play in the yard instead of sewing carpets for hours. For those of you that know me, you know how much working at HSTF in the afterschool affected me. I love kids and I think that helping them is the best way to improve the future of the world. That said, these kids, while they still have far from an ideal upbringing, are still better off than many of their counterparts. In sum, I'm not saying we shouldn't help these kids or shop in which they work. What I object to is the attitude of the majority of this little American bubble- I understand that the group is concerned with the welfare of these kids, but to get to the heart of the matter, the imposition of our own values and judgments will not help us.

On to happier subjects, we experienced a (nearly) historical event here: RAIN! It was a very brief shower the other night, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the only time we see it on our trip.

We've been doing a bit of exploring every day that we're here; the other night we went to Mohandiseen (a neighborhood across the Nile) for dinner and walked home, and today we went to another spot in Mohandiseen in a futile attempt to find a computer cord for Brett. Along with all this exploring comes taxi rides. The picture here shows the six of us that went to dinner at Al-Omda the other night...yes, crammed into one taxi (if DR people are reading this...yes...exactly like a concho, only more expensive). Today's taxi ride, though, was ridiculous. First in a funny way, then in an I-fear-imminent-death way. Let's just say it involved driving backwards through many blocks as well as burning rubber and a near-incident with a Mercedes. I can safely say that although the cabby gave us his card, we will never be calling him.

Tomorrow's (today's now that I'm posting this) schedule includes a 6 hour tour of Islamic Cairo; it's for the Arabic 2 kids (my class) as well as a few Arabic 1 kids that want to hear some more Arabic spoken (the majority of the tour is still in English though). After the tour, we are going to a feast at Abduh and Hayaam's (I'm so excited, since I was sick the first time). I think today we did some good preparation for the tour; a few of us sat in the El-Sawy Cultural Center here on Zamalek between 11-2, which is when everyone goes to mosque (Friday is the holy day in the Islamic religion). The Cultural Center is right next to a mosque, so we could hear the sermon and the prayers (the picture shows a night shot of the Arabic script on the side of the mosque). I have no idea what was being said, but the sounds alone are beautiful and invoke a state of meditation within me. I'm sure that me not understanding it is in big part why I think it's beautiful (in addition to the fact that it is more musical than prayers in Christianity). A few of us were talking about the negative reactions we'd have if local churches started broadcasting their sermons for all and sundry to hear. It's really a remark on the cultural differences between our country and Egypt; here's it's just the culture that religion, which we consider part of private life, is really part of the public sphere. Anyway, I was also able to get a sound recording (the best that I've taken to date), and as long as I can edit out the bit of talking at the beginning, I will post here shortly.

On a last note, mosquitos suck.

Settling in at the Longchamps Hotel

Here in Cairo, I’m in my new home, the Longchamps Hotel. It’s awesome, there’s no other way to say it. We have free internet, balconies, nice rooms, and friendly staff. Plus, you can do so much with the name (breakfast of longCHAMPIONS, anyone?). The 9 students in Arabic 2 plus Oscar are staying here, and our class is also in the breakfast nook. Hooray for waking up at 9 AM. The other 25 students here in Cairo are staying at a slightly less awesome hotel, and have to travel to AUC every day for class. Admittedly, their situation does have some advantages, like being forced to get out in the city more often. But I’m not too worried, as I want to go exploring anyway. This picture above shows me, Brett, and Katharine figuring out a cheap authentic place to eat dinner tonight! Al-Omda, here we come.

Monday was our first Arabic class, and I loved it. Our teacher, Nermine, is intense but a sweetheart at the same time. She’s doing a good job of picking up the pace where Dominic left off, and I think I’ll learn a lot this semester (aka for the next 4 weeks).

We also had a meeting down at AUC (American University at Cairo) about the expectations for the service work we will be doing this semester. Things still don’t seem to be hammered out too finely, so who knows yet exactly what I’ll be doing. Wednesday after class we are going to see one of the sites where I might end up working. A lot of people from the group are really angry about the changes that are taking place, like the hotel switches and the undefined service projects. It’s just one of the lessons of working and living in a developing nation, I think- you need to go with the flow and make the best of things, and it will all work out in the end. There’s no use in complaining, so just do what you can. I think a lot of the complaining also stems from the fact that many of the students in the group are either young or haven’t travelled much. That’s all fine and well, and this will be a great experience to open their eyes. After my experiences in DR, though, it’s a little different- I especially miss my group there, because everyone from the get-go was really eager to dive into the culture and enjoy each experience for the lessons that they taught us. I am glad that I have a little core group of my own forming and that we can go and do our own thing and make the most of our time here.

On a final note, I had dinner Monday for under $3 American. It was a delicious pasta dish with cooked vegetables and spicy tomato sauce, and it probably would have sold in the North End for at least $15. My level of excitement was pretty high. Next thing on the list? Going with Oscar to the shwarma place he discovered downtown and getting a crazy sandwich for L.E. 8 (~ $1.60 American). MMM. Also, because we are trying to save a little cash now that we’re back in Cairo, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches has become an integral part of the day. This is my roommate Katharine working on our daily sustenance.

Today (Tuesday), Arabic class was awesome again- I feel challenged, yet not to the point of frustration. Also, after class a few of us went to drop off our laundry (what we didn’t wash in the tub, at least…)at a nearby place and wander around a bit, and we were able to practice a little speaking with the locals. It was a thrilling moment when I was able to ask “Where are the children’s books in Arabic?”

Random Thoughts

Recently we were talking about The Yacoubian Building and the idea of martyrdom in Islam. Someone said that a follower’s devotion to accomplishing this is almost so powerful as to be sweet. On one hand, I agree to a certain extent; feelings that strong brook no argument, and their strength and purity are innocent in a way. But on the other hand, I almost feel as though martyrdom is a cop-out. I feel very strongly dedicated to certain ideals as well; in fact, almost to a high degree of religiosity. But instead of killing myself, I’d rather work to make my ideals actually come to fruition. I don’t mind sacrificing other things, like larger paychecks, my free/private/personal time, even my sanity (oh, afterschool at the Kennedy…). But why give my life? More inspiring than ending it would be to create new possibilities out of it.

Perhaps my inability to understand martyrdom is partially linked to my skepticism of any religion. There are certain things about religion that I enjoy, because of their ability to inspire my own spirituality. For instance, we were buying cell phones at dusk the other night, and the call to prayer began to ring out through the air. The beauty of the moment coupled with the ululations of the cryer’s voice invoked in me a strong current of peace. However, religion as a whole does not appeal to me because I hold logic and self-determination sacrosanct, and I feel a strong disinclination towards giving myself up to this higher thing when I can’t fully trust or believe in it. Going along with the whole IAF major and greater degrees of perception, although martyrdom contradicts my own convictions, during my time here I would like to improve my understanding of this concept and a person’s reasons for carrying it out. Something that has impressed deeply upon my soul during my time here already, short though it has been, is the connection to the past that Egypt has. Both the call to prayer and our time at the pyramids, but on an especially deep level the temples that we’ve seen recently, invoked this strange longing within me for eras long gone. This is because the sheer magnitude of time (the longevity of time, if you will) is something that demands with respect without requiring that you surrender yourself to it. For me, these approach the most religious experiences I’ve ever had, because I can appreciate this thing which is larger than myself without losing myself to it or in it.

Luxor

We very quickly discovered that Luxor was a very touristy area. It’s virtually impossible to walk down the street more than a few feet without being asked to go for a sail on someone’s felucca, ride in someone’s horse carriage, or eat someone’s peanuts. I think in general the best strategy is to more or less ignore people and say as little as possible. After a nap and a terrible Jackie Chan movie (but one of those movies that’s also great in its terribleness), Julia, Ben, Bret, and I went out to eat and discovered an awesome dinner place. I haven’t laughed so much in a while; my abs still hurt from it. Following dinner, we were joined by a few others for some sing-a-longs, political discussions, and more laughter. It feels really nice to be finding my niche with certain people and having a good time in general.

The next morning was kind of a whirlwind of activity, beginning with the now-famous Valley of Kings, where (among many others), Tutankhamen was buried. For $8, we were able to see the body (and I do mean body; all his mummy wrappings were gone) of this once-great king (although, since he died by 20, let’s think about the fact that he is currently famous for having a really rich tomb…). His body was very well preserved, and VERY short; maybe 5’2” tall. The gold outer sarcophagus is as awesome as it looks, too. In the Valley of the Kings, though, every other tomb that I wanted to see (Ramses II- the famous Ramses, Horemhab, and the Amarna Cache) was closed. We made a cool discovery; Rebecca, Julia, and I ended up wandering into the tomb of Siptah, which had incredibly well-preserved hieroglyphics all through the entrance of his tomb. The outermost sarcophagus was also still in the burial chamber, and it was so big that it could have been a room unto itself.
I have to say that, for having read so much about Egypt and Valley of the Kings, I was disappointed to some extent. There were so many tourists there, and because of this the area (obviously) doesn’t look like it did thousands of years ago. I guess I should have expected that. But in my mind I was still picturing these well-hidden catacombs and a long trek through the desert to reach them. My bad. Futhermore, most of the loot is in museums, so I’ll have to wait to see more mummies and whatnot. Also, if you are all wondering why Tut’s pic isn’t posted here, it’s because no photos were allowed in the tombs…boo.

From Valley of the Kings, we went on to Deir Al-Bahri, the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. She literally stuck it to the man (or men) by building her temple into the cliffs in front of the Valley of the Kings burial area. The view is so impressive, and as usual, the camera does no justice in capturing the area, but check out the picture on the right nonetheless.

Next was Medinat Habu (the Ramesseum), which was a temple of Ramses II..or III? I loved this place because of the sheer size and how overwhelming the scale was. It dwarfs you and in a way is an ego check. Although, apparently it wasn’t an ego check for Ramses: he portrayed himself to his subjects as being divine while he was still alive and ruling the country (usually pharaohs weren’t thought to attain divinity until after death), and images in the temple show his sons making offerings to him as though he were part of the pantheon of gods.

Our final morning stop was the Colossi at Memnon, by Amenhotep III (the father of Akhenaten, the rebel/heretic pharaoh who only believed in one god). Quick stop but again the sheer size was impressive. We were also told that previously an entire temple was behind these statues, stretching back to the road in the distance (if you can’t make it out in the picture, it’s really far).

After some rest and showers, Luxor Temple was our final stop for the day, and we went right before dusk. The sun was setting as we toured this giant complex, and because of the time of day and the beauty there, this was definitely my favorite site of everything we’ve seen, with the Philae Temple running a close second. Something about the size, the beauty, and the knowledge of what care and effort went into these constructions demands from me a certain awe, admiration, and even reverence and devotion.

The picture to the right is about as close as they came to pornography in the temples. Showing two people seated on a bed holding each others’ elbows was tantamount to showing their sexual union, and this one shows the mother of Amenhotep III mating with Amun-Ra. The pharaoh had this depicted to show that he was of divine descent and therefore had the right and duty to rule Egypt.

May 10 we made our final stop at the Karnak Temple in Luxor. This was dedicated to the worship of Amun-Ra, the most important god in the Middle and Late Periods of the Pharaonic times. A.K.A., this temple was a BIG deal here for a very long time. I know how many times I’ve mentioned size. But this place was as big as my high school, if not larger. I’m not even bothering to show a picture of this because any image that I took will just diminish the impression you should have of it. I also want to make the point that almost every single temple or statue that we’ve seen in the past few days had been buried in sand and/or silt for centuries between their final days of use and their rediscoveries in the past few centuries. In most cases, they were very close to the Nile, and years upon many years of successive floodings evertually covered them up, only to be found once again. This kind of endurance and passive existence through the millenia as they bear witness to everything around them gives me tingles all over my body. Being in them, I almost felt as if these places themselves had souls, perhaps because of all the emotion once vested in them. But their grandeur was awe-inspiring, and the reverence I feel for the greatness of these places makes me think that had I lived in those times, I would have been much more likely to have been religious.

The afternoon was spent at the pool, where Julia and I met two really nice Irish brothers now living in England that we talked to the rest of the day. This Dialogue trip that I’m on is obviously supposed to help us enter into conversations with Egyptians, but this was also a great opportunity to exchange opinions with two cool people. The topics of coversation ranged from music (generally agreed the the Brits led the music scene back in the day and those same groups are still good) to learning languages at a young age (it’s a good thing) to movies (apparently Keira Knightley is “rubbish”) to opinions on George Bush abroad (he’s a joke, albeit an unfunny one) to the idea of PC-ness in modern society (it’s going too far sometimes) and finally to the English majority having to bend over backwards to accommodate its growing minority population (this reminds me of a book I read called Londonistan, which I had originally thought to be a piece of alarmist conservative junk but apparently is based off of some grains of truth).

After taking the midnight train to Georgia, or at least the sleeper train from Luxor to Cairo, I’m in my home for the next four weeks, an awesome little place called the Hotel Longchamps. It’s quaint and cute, with gorgeous balconies and best of all, free wireless! Now to upload all of these outdated blogs, get some groceries, and rest up for classes tomorrow!

Aswan: The Greco-Roman Temples and Other Fun Monuments to Human Power

Aswan has been a steady stream of visits to monuments and other historical sites, in particularly a series of Greco-Roman temples. I've signed up for a picasaweb page, and the pictures from our trip down the Nile as well as our time in Cairo can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/haughney.t

The quick run-down on everything we’ve seen:

Unfinished Obelisk (at left)- Although small if it were to be erected, still powerful in size, especially from the angle from which we saw it and given that it would weigh over 12000 tons. Since it’s unmarked, no one knows whose obelisk it was supposed to be.

Philae Temple- One of the most beautiful sites we've seen the entire time in Egypt. It's on an island in the middle of the Nile down near the Aswan Dam, and the Greco-Roman style of the temple combined with the luxurious fauna all over the island reminded me more of Greece or Italy; it was unlike anything I would ever have pictured here in Egypt. However atypical I might have found the surroundings was compensated by the very Egyptian themes in decoration; the temple was for the goddess Isis. The other interesting thing about this temple was the damage done by later Christians and Muslims, who were intent on destroying the pagan artwork. The Christians also recycled the building, as it were, and carved their own symbols into the stone, like the cross shown amongst hieroglyphics in the picture to the right. Also, we were able to see the remains of grafitti from the 1700 and 1800's, which was really interesting.

Aswan High Dam- Even more impressive than the dam itself is Lake Nasser behind it, which is so huge that you think you’re staring at an ocean. There are also some really interesting Cold War politics behind its construction; basically, Egypt had remained neutral for a long time during this period, but needed the dam in order to supply electricity to the country. Lacking the financial means to erect the dam, Egypt courted the U.S. for money, but other ties pushed us to say no, and this resulted in Egypt getting tighter with Russia. However, especially since the renewal of good relations between our two countries during Sadat’s time, the U.S. has invested a lot in the upkeep of the dam as well.

At night in Aswan, we went to visit the souq, or the local market place. At the market, you can find all kinds of goods, from spices to T-shirts to jewelry and other trinkets. It’s also supposed to be a great place to practice bargaining skills (and practice numbers in Arabic!). We ended up bargaining at one of the corner spice shops; many of us wanted to pick up some karkadeh powder (mixed with water this makes a delicious hibiscus tea). In the end, I’m pretty sure we still ended up paying higher prices than things were really worth. At the same time, I keep in mind the fact that while I’d like to get a good deal on stuff, we still ended up paying only $5 American for enough powder to last years, so a slight overcharge is not a big deal. One of the cool parts of this whole bargaining session was that as the salesman was telling the cashier the prices that we were supposed to pay (in Arabic), I caught him telling the cashier a higher price and called him out on it in Arabic as well. All I saved us was $0.40, but being able to understand that much was a good feeling.

Kom Ombo- Probably the smallest temple that we saw, the most impressive feature at Kom Ombo was the extremely detailed calendar from the pharaonic times. Michael, our tour guide, explained to us that Egyptians used to have a calendar (right) based on 12 months made of 3 weeks, each with 10 days. This resulted in a calendar year with 360 days divided into three seasons. However, the Egyptians eventually figured out that this wasn’t quite right and that they were missing 5 days because of the gradual change in the occurrence of the floods.

Edfu- The huge scale of the temple here was its most impressive feature. Also, it was at this point that I thought heavily about the convoy that we were travelling in; it is now required that tourists travel together in these huge bus convoys throughout this area of the country and that they stick to a strict time schedule. Besides the fact that we had to rush around and couldn’t take our time exploring the monuments, this was also a very poignant reminder of how much time Egypt puts into guarding its tourism industry and making sure that no unpleasant events occur (in the past there had been attempts on tourist groups in this area of the country).

This is the god Horus, to whom the temple at Edfu is dedicated.

A final interesting note as we’ve been travelling is the persistence of Ramees towards Julia; though he knows we are travelling on the Nile and not in Cairo, he has been constantly sending her text messages, including queries as to whether or not she will be his girlfriend. Given that they’ve seen each other twice, this is obviously jumping the gun a bit. She’s told him to back off and that in Americans we don’t take relationships that fast, but so far it hasn’t sunk in. I think this is probably in part a cultural difference and in part something that should be taken as a warning sign too.

Arrival in Aswan

I never expected to be sitting by the Nile River with my laptop working on my next blog post, but that’s what I’m doing. Right now (May 6, not whatever day I post this), we are in Aswan, in Upper Egypt (in the south). At this point, thanks to lots of water, rehydration packets, and the help of Lily and Julia, I am feeling almost completely better. Unfortunately, over the past few days I did have to miss the feast at Abduh and Hayyam’s as well as a trip to the pyramids at Saqqara (which the rest of the group was able to go inside!!). All the bed rest did give me a chance to reflect on the symphony of sounds that is the street in Cairo. Honestly, I was either so out of it that I was hallucinating, or else some of the car horns legitimately sound like trumpets, birds, or people speaking. Also, I was able to hear what sounded like a guy conducting his own street racing game around the block near our hotel (innocent pedestrian? 5 points!); I definitely heard him slam into another parked car at one point. Maybe a good day to be sick, in hindsight. I remember reading an article on nyt.com before we came about the level of noise pollution in Cairo; in some areas depending on the day the volume apparently reaches 85 decibels. Even in Zamalek, which seems a little more quiet and removed from the downtown area, it can be a raucous area. In a city with a population of 18 million, it perforce must be densely packed with people kind of piled on top of each other. I realize that different people have their own opinions (and I’d love to find out soon what Cairenes think of their home city) but I wouldn’t mind it; in some ways I find it comforting to think that there are so many people nearby.

So once I finally felt better, it was time for our group to head for Aswan- by overnight train. I’ve been on the train a few times, but usually just the commuter rail out of Boston to nearby places, so for me this was pretty much a novel experience. We boarded the train for dinner at 8 PM, but my still-delicate stomach wasn’t interested in the slightly sketchy looking meats. Then we spent the next 15 hours mostly sleeping or reading. Or, in my case, mostly listening to music (my sleep schedule must be more off than I originally thought, because I haven’t actually slept through a full night in Egypt since our first one here). Anyway, this morning we were awoken by the knocking of our train attendant, and I was able to stare out the window for a few more hours and ponder…life.

The train from Cairo to Aswan follows the Nile pretty closely through the country. Again, I was struck by the contrast of the verdant area right on the banks, with the crests of the desert rising directly behind. I was also able to see the fellahin (Egyptian farmers) working their crops. Ignoring the telephone poles, the metal wheelbarrows, the occasional ferries on the Nile, and the fact that I was on a train, I was again reminded of much earlier times in history. As I watched the farmers at work, I couldn’t help but think about the Dominican Republic again. I was in communities that made their living in the same way, and it’s not an easy life. In DR, though, it was very clear that certain mechanisms were in place to bring enjoyment to their lives anyway. We were in this hardworking rural community that didn’t even have basic toilets (we were there for the weekend building latrines). But Saturday night, once the work was done, the bottles of rum came out, the bachata was turned on, and they still danced and took pleasure from the world. I’m not saying that everyone’s mode of relaxation and enjoyment has to be drinking and dancing (that’s obviously not so culturally appropriate here), but I wonder whether (and hope that) the fellahin find some kind of enjoyment in their existence.

After arriving in Aswan and crashing for a few hours, it was time for another felucca ride on a much different part of the Nile. In contrast to Cairo, Aswan is a smaller, sleepier town with a population of about 300,000. It’s also a bit more lax than Cairo in terms of how we have to dress, and thank goodness, because the temperature here is about 108 F, and it feels wetter than Cairo too. So our cruise on the river showed us a calmer, less built-up area, with lots of hotels and sailboats directly on the river. Sailing around Elephantine Island, which is smack in the middle of the Nile, we drifted over near the Tombs of the Nobles, a burial site for (what do you think?) ancient nobles. This burial site is set right into a sheer crest of the Sahara (or Western) Desert. Atop the crest was a tower for keeping watch on the desert. To me, this was the most impressive part of our boat ride, because it ties in closely with the books that, for many years, I’ve been reading about Egypt and its history.

The boat ride was followed by an excursion into the market area to find Chef (or “Chief”, as the sign said) Khalil, a restaurant featuring delicious seafood on the menu. I was able to use my Arabic twice in the market, asking directions to the restaurant…too bad the policeman didn’t know what he was talking about when he pointed me back where we’d come from. The marketplace was busy and not all at the same time; many people were present, but I can’t verfiy how much business was actually being done. All I know is that Rebecca has a lot of “cousins” here in Aswan. Before returning to the hotel, Julia, Bret, Pat, and I ran into this cool guy on the corner. Halli was a taxi driver from Nubia, and we were able to scrap together a half-English, half-Arabic conversation which began with him guessing Bret’s Moroccan ancestry. It ended with an invitation for us to attend a Nubian wedding tomorrow, which sounds fun. Part of the conversation revolved around religion. Halli went into this whole spiel about how all three major monotheistic religions came from “Father Abraham” and talked about the branching off of the three. Eventually, he got into asking who was what, and my response was “Nothing.” That doesn’t really fly here; you have to be something. It was a vivid reminder of the importance and influence of religion in other cultures; being in the U.S. one person can be religious and at the same time accepting of another person’s non-religiousness, and that makes me forget its key position in other societies. I think as humans we like to peg each other down as a method of organizing our own thoughts and opinions about each other. For me, as a spitirual but nonreligious person, I don’t really enjoy having to bear a religious association, but considering how much religion intersects with everyday life here, I can see a little bit more why a religious peg is one of the pieces that people here want in order to define others.

The Beginning of My Obsession With the Call to Prayer

May 3 was the day for our tour of Coptic and Jewish Cairo. More than just a complex of religious sites, though, this area is really a testament to the many cultures that have influenced Egypt. First we visited the ruins of a Roman temple, built in 98 AD (it’s funny to realize that was almost 2000 years ago, and yet Egyptian civilization was already old by that point). From there, we visited a few Coptic Christian sites, like the Hanging Church (pictured to the right), the Convent of St. George, and the Church of St. Sergius (this one is built over a cave where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were supposed to have slept for a night while fleeing Herod).

Next was the Ben-Ezra Synagogue, the oldest in Egypt. Right outside the synagogue is a well, and it is claimed that it lies over the spot where Moses was pulled from the Nile by the pharaoh’s daughter. Our final stop was at the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As, and it was the first mosque built in Egypt. The picture here cannot do it justice; the size was enormous (a few of us estimated the size of the entire site to be somehwere between 8-12 acres). I took this picture shortly after we'd walked in the entryway, and it's facing the courtyard of the mosque, with another prayer section on the other side.

Seeing the blend of all these cultures that went into the making of Egypt left a strong impression on me. As Prof. Sullivan said, you can see globalization here millenia before the word or its meaning had ever been imagined. It was really cool to see how these cultures could mesh and blend. For instance, in Ben-Ezra, we talked about how in that synagogue, women and men were separated for prayer, just like in Islam. In the news, we hear so much more often about the divide between Judaism and Islam (Palestine and Israel are the obvious notables), and to see this proof of strong connection and shared values between the two almost made me want to cry. Sometimes I think humanity is too obsessed with dividing itself down into these infinitesimal groups instead of seeing the larger connections (cross-cutting cleavages, as Prof. Rezvani would tell us).

(The picture to the left is the Well of Moses, where he was supposedly pulled from the Nile).

Later in the evening, we enjoyed a felucca ride on the Nile, drifting right through Cairo. It was a beautiful time to be out, as the sun was just setting. And sunset happens to be one of the five times each day during which the call to prayer is announced from the minarets of mosques all over. I have to say, it’s the call to prayer that in large part has helped it sink in for me that we are in EGYPT. It’s so foreign from anything I’ve ever heard or known. And I love it. Faithful readers have already seen my awesome video, but trust me, like all the photos and videos I will post, justice is not being done.

Things got interesting after the felucca ride. We all decided to walk back from the area right near our embassy all the way to our hotel on Zamalek, which was a good hike (eventually over an hour). After using the bathroom at the Four Seasons, we started on our way, and soon enough I noticed a man escorting us. I was confused- people are friendly, but was someone from the hotel walking us all the way home? Then I saw the heat he was packing, and I do mean guns- a toolbelt full of them. This man was from the Egyptian government and had been assigned- by Mubarak himself- to keep an eye out for us. So because we decided to walk home, this guy had to stress every single block- making sure we all crossed the street safely (no easy feat given Cairo traffic), ensuring that we stayed together, etc. All for a group of forty American students. Granted, the publicity would be bad if anything happened to us, but it was surprising that we merited so much attention.

I don’t think you could pay me to take that man’s job. First of all, he works for a president who isn’t enjoying popularity (for instance, May 4 is Mubarak’s birthday, and there were whispers about potential riots and demonstrations that day, although apparently the heavy security presence downtown quelled those would-be protesters). Then, in the course of working for this president, he is assigned to guard a bunch of American students. Can you imagine stepping out into busy traffic to stop the cars so that forty college kids can cross the street? You have to halt your fellow countrymen (and believe me they are none too eager to yield to you) because you were assigned by a president they don’t like to guard students from a country that they’re not that much more fond of.

Additionally, it was strange to me to be part of this huge group of kids. A few of us crossing the street at a time would have been just like a few Egyptians crossing the street. But 40 people plus a government official stopping traffic is a different thing. I feel a little like we are in this weird bubble, which both impedes us from experiencing the real culture as well as gives these misconceptions about us to Egyptians (for instance, that we can’t hack it here on our own and need Daddy Mubarak to look out for us). Perhaps there are other factors at play that I don’t know about right now which necessitate these kind of arrangements. Also, I know right now we are doing some of the touristy stuff before we really settle down. I’m hoping that once we’re all initally acquainted with Egypt and begin taking classes that some of these things will change. I really want to start meeting people and actually getting to know Egyptians.

Speaking of that, I was able to begin with this goal on the same night. Some of us decided to go to a local shisha (hookah) bar. Lily, Julia, and I decided to head over together. The instructions we had weren’t quite clear, so I ended up asking a policeman (in Arabic) where the den was. He must have thought that my Arabic wouldn’t have been good enough to understand the directions, because he immediately called to this young Egyptian on the street to ask him if he spoke English. He did, and by chance he was headed to the same place as us. So we all walked together. His name is Ramees, and he lives here in Zamalek (apparently two blocks from our hotel or something). A recent graduate from a university in New Brunswick, he has come back to Egypt to work in his father’s stationary business. He ended up hanging out with us in the shisha place all night (and taking quite a liking to Julia!). Just to be able to meet someone from Egypt and sit down and talk to them for a while was like a breath of fresh air, and I hope that we can continue to make these kinds of connections in order to have an escape from our little American enclave as well as to form a more well-rounded idea of this country.

My final thought on the experience tonight was that if the Egyptian government put as much effort into looking after its own citizens and their best interests as it did to protecting forty American students (and all tourists in general, more on that in the next entry), that a lot of progress could be made. But, and readers bear with me, the gift and curse of the IAF major is the ability to understand both sides of a story and being able to argue anyone, even yourself, into the ground without ever going anywhere because you can see valid points on either side of the divide. So while I don’t necessarily like the decision the government here has made in terms of favoring tourists, I also understand that a lot of the country’s revenue must come from this source, and in order to maintain that cash flow they must cater to the interests of tourists. I’m not really sure that there can be a satisfactory solution to this dilemma, but I think in the long run the strategy is going to backfire on the government; how could the people not get fed up? Then again, if Alaa Al-Aswany is to be believed, “the Egyptian keeps his head down his whole life long so he can eat…The moment you take power, they submit to you and grovel to you and you can do what you want with them” (p. 85 of The Yacoubian Building). So perhaps my assumption that people will eventually work for their own interests and essentially rebel is incorrect also. Maybe I’ll be able to gain some insight into this over the next few weeks.