The Third and Final Continent

7.2 Megapixels of Zionism: the West Bank

2008-04-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148622&id=5614018&l=0a4462ecc0

The best way for me to show you the West Bank is through my pictures and their extensive captions, which I put up on Facebook; I plan to put more pictures on Picasa at a later date. Go to the above link and look through the pictures and read the captions. Please share in this, please comment and let me know your thoughts on my pictures and commentary.

Of all the things that I have posted, and said, this is the most meaningful experience I have had while studying abroad, the things I saw and felt and reacted to in this most contested part of the world. Please read, please learn, please think and read and consider with open eyes.

In addition, please check out the following related article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0425/p07s03-wome.html

With hopes for peace in the Holy Land and for humane treatment for all of humanity
Laura

Jerusalem, my Destiny---or rather, my destination

2008-04-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Jerusalem yesterday at like 4:30, after like 20 hours of traveling. Needless to say, it was a long couple days. Luckily, Ayesha was only detained for like 25 minutes, as opposed to 3 hours for the first time. We will count it a success.

As for Jerusalem, or القدس as it is known in Arabic. There is nothing to really describe the feeling of coming around a corner and seeing the Dome of the Rock for the first time. Even though I am not Muslim, I have longed to see it ever since my old religion teacher had the Jerusalem panorama on his wall; it rises above all the other sites of Jerusalem, a gorgeous golden dome (that puts Notre Dame's to shame) rstanding above the holy city on the Temple Mount. It's breathtaking, but "breathtaking" doesn't really even come close.

Our hostel is in East Jerusalem, which is an Arab part of the city, so it feels a little bit like Cairo, with fruit vendors downstairs, delcious Palestinian food next door, and I can speak a little Arabic with them. We are within view of the Damascus Gate to the Old City, and we went walking around there a little last night. It's a little like Khan al Khalili in Cairo, with people selling all kinds of things: food including produce, dead cow, roasting chickens, fresh fish, along with tons of shoestores and shops selling Jewish, Muslim and Christian souvenirs, scarves, Muslim clothing, T-shirt stores selling Pr0-Palestine and Pro-Peace shirts alongside Israeli Uzi ones. . . like Cairo, it's a 1000 things at once. And the funny thing is, we were on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, without even realizing it till we saw a part marking the Third Station. It absolutely blows my mind that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall are 10 minutes away. And the Orthodox Jews were heading, many at a run, or sort of a trot to the Wailing Wall and the Synaogogue before sundown, as the Call to Prayer played above our heads. it was just everything.

In all of this, I had a vision of what Jerusalem could be. Religions intermingling in the holy areas like they could be all over the country, if only politics could be sorted out and the Palestinians actually had their rights. It was a beautiful vision, but I know enough about the history and the current situation to realize this is make believe. Our Taxi driver, Ahmed, told us that even though he is one of the few Palestinians with an Israeli Passport, life and mobility are incredibly hard. Our hostel owner Hisham told us that Palestinians in the West Bank can't even visit Jerusalem because they have no passports of any kind. No matter how hard Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush tries, this isn't changing any time soon. We'll go to the West Bank tomorrow, so more on that later, but on the surface, the New Jerusalem is an amazing place. . . and my dream, my prayer at the Wailing Wall and at every station of the Cross was that this could be realized, peace with justice.

Today we tried to go to the Dome of the Rock, but the Israelis have closed it on account of Sabbath and Passover, because they do that. So instead we followed the Via Dolorosa, which is beautiful. They have small chapels in the midst of the market place, and it was nice to sit and reflect on it, but this will be easier to describe when I can add pictures from backin Cairo. We got to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I in all honesty preferred the rest of the stations, because the Church was nuts, obnoxious Eastern European tour groups, it was crowded and the line for the tomb was 2 hours, and I decided that the Church didn't feel holy enoguh to wait 2 hours for 2 minutes. It was still really special and sacred to be there, but felt strange all the same.

Alright, enough for now. Check back for pictures in a few days. I hope this gives you a little taste, but let me tell you that I can't actually describe my joy at finally seeing Jerusalem, its sacredness and its modern challenges all at once.

With love and peace from the Holy City,
Laura

about that

2008-04-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

I unfortunately can't say much right now and I can't show you anything. Actually, the first statement was a lie. My laptop's AC adapter died, it is khalas, finished, kaput. Egyptian electricity apparently has that effect on electronics, so I can't upload pictures to my computer or post them online right now. And another reason:

IM LEAVING ON SPRING BREAK TOMORROW!!!
(So I've been busy getting ready for that)

What's the plan? Leave for Jerusalem tomorrow on an overnight bus to Taba then another bus to Jerusalem, spend like 4 days there and hopefully seeing the West Bank and Bethlehem as well, and experiencing the Holy Land up close with all of its beauty and religious history and general holiness, as well as getting a taste of the modern political issues and contradictions and issues, to hopefully get a better grasp on that. I'm really excited about being able to stand in the city I've been hearing about since I was born (I 'member. . . . ), because there's nowhere in the world like it, nothing even comes close.

Then, to save ourselves a little bit of money, we will be taking a bus back to Cairo, meeting up with some people who aren't coming to Jerusalem, so we can fly to Istanbul on April 23rd. We spend 5 days there and come back on the 28th. Istanbul is supposed to be spectacular, I love the people I'm going with, and we're going to have a great time. I want to visit museums, see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (which I've been dying to see since AP world Sophomore year), and experience the Ottoman empire's seat up close and personal, since I've realized how big an impact the Ottomans had on Egypt. And live a bit of the high live, go out, live it up.

and THEN, we have 2 days of class (most people are just skipping them altogether but I'm being a good girl, and taking some time to breathe and simultaneously write a research paper), and then we have a 3 day weekend in which we're going to Luxor, in Egypt, where Valley of the Kings is. It's going to be SO hot.

Whirlwind, crazy trip and by the time I come back for any extended period of time it will be May, and I'll have less than 4 weeks of classes left. TERRIFYING.

Things that have been going on here in Cairo since I wrote last:
1)We're starting to wind up the English class I've been teaching with my friend Pat, only 2 more classes to go. I'm overdue on a blog entry about this; it’ll get done after Spring Break.
I registered for classes at Notre Dame, and am madly in love with my 3-day weekends (no Friday class) and I hope it stays that way. And since I'm mostly done with my majors, I am taking classes that will challenge and interest me, and then Economics because it's helpful if I want to go into a policy-related field. And it somewhat interests me.
2) I saw a GREAT Arab-American comedian named Muhammad (Mo) Amer. Check him out on YouTube. Just as soon as you think the joke about everyone in the Arab world being named Muhammad could never be funny again, you realize that, when everyone is named Muhammad, how could it ever NOT be funny?
3) Temperatures have begun to be consistently in the 80s and 90s. While still better than freezing for 3 months at ND, it's going to be HOT, and not all in a good way.
4)Today was International Day, with performances, food and exhibits from all the different countries represented by AUC. It was pretty cool, and we got out of class (including an in-class essay) for it. Pictures later, Insha’Allah.
5) Jimmy Carter is speaking at AUC tomorrow when he is in Cairo to talk with Hamas. A big deal. I'm going to try to attend for as long as I can before leaving by bus to enter the land of the fray myself. Read about his visit HERE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/16/israelandthepalestinians.usa

OK, that's enough for now. But until I have time to write again, with sweet pictures and great stories, here are some more articles about Egypt for your enjoyment. Assigned reading. There will be a pop quiz.

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7876
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/world/africa/17traffic.html?st=cse&sq=cairo&scp=9
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/world/middleeast/14cairo.html?st=cse&sq=cairo&scp=1 (this one is absolutely true in my experience; we had a great discussion in my English class about it, and the author has this one right on, although as an outsider he sees it as more of a problem than the locals do)
Check out the other NY Times articles about Cairo as well

Talk to you after I acquire a few more passport stamps! Keep reading!
Laura

Mafish Thawra: There is no revolution

2008-04-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be a big deal. Activists were calling for a general strike throughout the whole country. Everyone was supposed to stay home, wear black, and then there were plans to march on Midan Tahrir, which is the Plaza de Mayo, the Times Square, the Washington Mall of Cairo. What were they protesting?
Primarily inflation. Reuters wrote, “Egypt's urban consumer inflation jumped to an 11-month high of 12.1 percent in the year to February.” which I have even started to notice. When my cheap food-sources, while still cheap, go up a pound or two, I notice. But it doesn’t hurt me seriously. But when you’re trying to feed a family, it matters. And in Egypt, there is no minimum wage, wages of government workers and others haven’t kept up with inflation. There used to be price caps but that hasn’t even been in place. IN addition to the economic issues, activists added a laundry list of grievances: lack of freedom, security, etc. etc. etc. The day was chosen because to make a statement before municipal elections in 2 days, but if it’s any indication, I didn’t have a clue about the elections until a couple hours ago.

The strike was publicized primarily through the modern technology of Facebook. Yes, Facebook. Around 100,000 people RSVP’s to the event. “Dr. Ayman Nour, former Al-Ghad Party President, announced on 'Facebook' his and his inmates' participation from Torah Prison”
Words also spread with blogs, text messages, word of mouth and flyers, but activists got into a little trouble for handing those out. But the internet, unlike in Burma, will not be turned off here.

For the sake of security, solidarity and in response to the rumor mill, some AUC teachers cancelled classes. Mine did not, in keeping with “official University policy” and told us to leave extra early (in her defense, we spent the first 45 minutes of class talking about what was going on and what it means for Egypt, and I don’t blame her for holding class). Since AUC is literally on Midan Tahrir, I decided to go to campus a whole 4 hours early, camp out on the roof of the Main Building and watch the drama unfold. We were told to go nowhere near the square. Demonstrations and strikes aren’t allowed in Egypt based on the emergency laws passed in Egypt after Sadat’s assassination in 1981, and foreigners most certainly are not allowed to participate in any demonstrations that might occur.

Everything happened and nothing happened. I waited for 3 hours with other would-be-witnesses, and all we saw were a couple hundred policemen in riot gear blocking off entrances to the Metro and standing in groups on the Square with their blackjacks. I ran into Fatima, my ‘ammiya professor and she explained to me, in Arabic, within my limited ‘Ammiya vocabulary that there were plainclothes policemen everywhere as well. .
It's what they call "a significant police presence." There were small groups of protesters, but nothing noticeable. And then AUC Security kicked us off of the main building where we were standing after a couple of hours. We asked “lay,” why?
“Likidda,” Because.

There were a handful of major events going on all over the country. I’ll post the links to some stories at the end of the article that I really encourage you to read. There was a factory strike in the Nile Delta that was shut down (somewhat brutally according to a couple articles), and a couple of events outside Cairo and at universities here were subject to a crackdown.

But in Cairo, it was business as usual. Traffic was a little lighter, indicating that some people, some workers stayed home today. But for the most part was riot police looking bored. The Government had proactively arrested a spectrum of people, and more were arrested today in different parts of Cairo. But in Midan Tahrir, I witnessed only the non-history of Egypt. In fact, there was a dust storm sweeping the city, so we couldn’t really see much at all, part of the "50 days of dust" from the Sahara that hits the city on a yearly basis. The BBC deemed the strike a “failed one.” All day, the weather combined with the apprehension created a strange and eerie atmosphere.

It’s really a lot more complicated. This is only my side of things, my understanding, what I’m gathering from the internet from English sources. But even I haven’t been in Egypt long enough to really understand how the machinery works. I’m just trying to understand and convey as much of to you as I can. I would bet that a general strike in the US would be even more of a failure; it’s just not a part of our political culture. But in Egypt, it’s about the only recourse. And all the news isn’t available; from what I’m reading on the internet much of the news about arrests is based on hearsay and rumor. It’s about as smoggy as Cairo afternoon, and I can’t really illuminate it any more than that; I won’t try to piece the puzzle together when I’m still missing half of them. When I read about what happened on the news, it feels very abstract because it's a different perspective; I read the news like an outsider, but also have the parallel realization that I was there.
Today was supposed to be a big deal.

Check out these sites, or just Google April 6 Egypt Strike for more information.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06488125
http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogID=7&blogEntryID=1015
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a47Lg9rBLPFA&refer=home

This one is especially interesting, talking about the violence in Mahalla in Northern Egypt >>
http://arabist.net/arabawy/2008/04/06/police-abort-mahalla-strike/

UPDATE: Fatima explained in class today, in ‘Ammiya that several AUC students were arrested in Tahrir, one of which was an American taking pictures. Of course, the American, after contacting the US Embassy, was released within the day, but the rest, unless they have “Walid Kabir,” as Fatima put it, a big or important father, who knows what will happen. She said Cairo University students have been put in prison for 15 years before.

We talk about “Blue Magic,” or the special privileges of our pretty blue American passports, and this is a clear example. And I’m just not sure how I feel about it. I don’t want another American in an Egyptian prison, but I wish the treatment of Egyptians weren’t so dramatically different.

A day in the life. . .

2008-04-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, i noticed i was late. . .
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
--The Beatles, and my life in general

So many of my most recent entries lately have been about traveling and sightseeing, so I decided to bring the Third and Final Continent back to earth as I also bring it up to date. It’s been a really tough week here, because midterm exams in any country are simply an enormous pain in my academic bum. I had a midterm on Monday for my Modern Movements class in the form of the class dramatization of “The Trial of Sayyid Qutb.” Sayyid Qutb is one of the major thinkers behind Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which I don’t have the time, the space or the knowledge to explain satisfactorily myself. It’s hard to find a balanced report, but I’ll just refer you to Wikipedia for the bare bones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt
I spent most of the weekend preparing for that and writing a paper for my literature class, which involved several late nights, which, combined with 8 AM class resulted in some serious exhaustion, but I lived. It can only make me stronger, right?

Anyway, on Wednesday April 2nd, I tried to take pictures of my everyday activities, and I’ll give you a brief narration of one of my days of school, so you know a little about Egypt beyond traveling and tourism. I wake up at about 7:00 every morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, throw on clothes, check my e-mail and run downstairs to catch the University-provided shuttle by 7:30 that goes between my dorm in Zamalek and the campus in downtown Cairo, close to the main square Midan Tahrir. This involves crossing half of the Nile on any given day, which is really cool even if we start to take it for granted after a while. Based on how much Cairo traffic there is and how aggressive our driver is at any given time, it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.

On this particular day, coffee is a must. It’s instant coffee produced in bulk and absolutely terrible, but it costs 1.25 pounds and is a means to an end, with my primary end being staying awake enough in class to learn Arabic. The weather was gorgeous on this particular morning, so I sat in the sun, drank my coffee and then climbed 4 flights of stairs to Arabic, part 1. We did 1 hour and 20 minutes of grammar, vocabulary, culture, and self-awakening exercises on my part. Then, at 9:20, we picked up and move to a different classroom on a different campus known as Greek Campus (AUC has 3 separate campuses within a couple blocks of each other. An hour and a half more of Arabic, and then we were done, finally, at 11 AM. Then I had to finish a novel before my 12 PM class, so I camped out on “the Plat,” a big platform on Greek Campus that is kind of the “see and be seen” locale of campus. I spent my free hour finishing the book (Wild Thorns, an excellent Palestinian novel that I have to write a presentation for this weekend), grabbed a 60-piaster falafel sandwich at the "Magic Window," recognized by its blue and yellow tiling, and then moved to campus #3, known as Falaki for my Gender and Arabic Lit in Translation class. There are only about 12 of us in the class, and the discussions are usually quite intense and stimulating, since we’re dealing with controversial and important issues: men, women, colonialism, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and on top of that, most of our authors are some combination of feminists, Marxists, radical thinkers, nationalists and other random ideologies. We had a good discussion, and by this point I was pretty hungry.
I decided to go on an all-out favorite Egyptian foods binge, so I started with a shawarma sandwich from a take-out restaurant across from Greek campus. Then I stopped by the fateer place and grabbed some Fateer b’asl, or with honey for a glorious 75 piasters, and then, realizing I had some small change in my pocket, I snagged some Boreos, my other favorite Egyptian snack food. They’re essentially fake Oreos, except a small pack is 50 piasters, so much cheaper and absolutely delicious. And then I sat out in the sun with my friend Kyle by AUC’s lone fountain, chatting and homeworking for the hour and a half until my last class of the day, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, or ‘Ammiya.

‘Ammiya is kind of a drag because it’s the last class in a long day, because it’s the 4th of Arabic language in one day, but on the other hand it’s a lot of fun because 1) I am actually able to communicate with real people on the street thanks to the class 2) ‘Ammiya, unlike formal Arabic, is taught a lot more like a 6th grade Spanish class, with games and role-playing and other stuff that makes the late-afternoon class a lot more bearable than it otherwise might be. My professor is a very enthusiastic young Egyptian woman named Fatima, and we’re all rather fond of her. I think the lesson was reading restaurant menus and talking about names of places, so it was quite fun. Not to mention, so many of the words are borrowed from English, that it’s not too big of a deal to learn words like “siinima” and “muul,” (guess those, please, min fadliku) although “mustashfa” and “mathaf” are a little trickier (hospital and museum for any of you following along at home).

After ‘Ammiya I get the 4:30 bus home to Zamalek, come back and do homework for a while. Then a friend of mine is in the hospital with a stomach bug, so we went to visit her. I took Bad Bat the Bedouin Benguin to keep her company, and I think he was a hit Then it was back to the dorm (the hospital is right across the river in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Mohandiseen, so it’s not a long haul) to do more homework and get my life together for the next day, the last day of a very long week!!! Here’s to the weekend.

Thanks for skimming, more exciting new soon. There's going to be a general strike tomorrow!
Laura

Main Campus:

Greek Campus, and the road I cross daily to get there (and frequently almost get hit)

Falaki Campus

I have trod on the ground where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have trodden. Watch and see

2008-03-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Because I like posting. And procrastinating, I found this indisputable video evidence of how amazing Petra is, and Harrison Ford, and Sean Connery, and all of that, and that I HAVE BEEN HERE.

OH! and I forgot, another cool picture/factoid from Petra. The people selling souvenirs and being guides in Petra, like the Pyramids and Wadi Rum and Dahab and many sites in the Middle East are generally part of Bedouin tribes, and many inhabit the caves and mountains in Petra itself, and try to make a living off of tourism. Here's a picture of Muhammad, who came to us asking for candy. Our guides for the donkeys were younger boys, one of whom said that his mother was one of 4 wives, and he was one of 15 children, and he lives in a cave with his friends. . . . I'm still trying to get my head around this, and figure out how I feel about the way Bedouins are today, but it's a cool picture and food for thought.

I love you all, thanks for reading, and watching!

In other news . . .

2008-03-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

I completetely forgot to write about my birthday. I've been bitter for a while that, although my 21ST birthday was theday before St. Patrick's day, when the kids back on Campus, drinking and being merry, and it would have been a spectacular time to turn 21. I still had an unforgettable birthday, and best of all, I still remember *almost all * of what happened.

The night before my birthday, we took a Felucca, a kind of Egyptian boat out on the Nile, with a few bottles of wine and a bunch of my new friends and some of my old ones. It was a GORGEOUS night, and I had a great time, got quite tipsy, and then they took me to Hard Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, I was quite quickly too far gone, so had to be taken home before I got my special birthday treat. It was a 21st Birthday American-Style, only in Egypt, and I am so grateful for my friends here who made it sweet. My family did the coolest thing possible: I have a YouTube video in my name (if you're bored, search "Birthday Wishes for Laura"), and it was a little taste of being at home with them, even if we were thousands of miles away.

Also, for all my ND friends (Mom, DON'T READ THIS) I purchased a sheesha/hookah pipe for personal use next semester, and AJ was nice enough to take it home for me so I don't have to deal with it at the end of the semester. I am actually quite fond of it already, because it's so pretty, but all I have left are pictures, so my feelings towards it are like those for an adopted child from China that I only have pictures from for the time being. I plan on having sheesha nights at my apartment, perhaps accompanied by Egyptian food, and you are all invited. I am also contemplating the idea of sheesha tailgates, if only for the strange satisfaction I'll get out of explaining to the Indiana State Police that I am, in fact, only smoking tobacco (Here, Officer, try it, it's great, no seriously. Try it, I mean it.) Be there.

OK, enough for now. I have to write the longest paper I've written in 4 months today, and I'm not liking that idea at all. I should get on that.

Thanks for reading, questions and comments welcome!!

Laura

Indiana University Joneses: Easter Weekend in Jordan!

2008-03-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

So I just need to give up on the whole up-to-date blog thing, and just do my best, in between hanging out and school and an extracurricular or two. I should summarize my weekend in Jordan, though, although the best summary are my pictures posted on Picasa. Also, some of this is a rehash from my previous entry, but please bear with. I was on a roll.

Getting to Jordan was a little complicated. A group went ahead of us, but since AJ was coming from Notre Dame at 10:30 PM, it was too late for the 10:00 bus, so myself, my friend Kyle and AJ left on the 6 AM bus to Taba, Egypt, where we crossed the border into Israel without too much trouble, just interesting questions at the border. . . My friend Ayesha, a Pakistani-American who was a part of the first group was detained for 3 hours, though only interrogated for about 10 minutes of that. I’ll post a link to her blog soon so you can get her side of things. It’s an interesting and enlightening story.

We took a Taxi ride through Israel for all of 20 minutes to the Jordanian border (Born and raised in America, the idea of being able to be in 3 countries in the span of an hour is absolutely beyond my imagination). Our taxi driver gave us an earful of Israeli nationalism, which was an interesting side of things. We paid a 70 shekel ($23) departure tax, and crossed into Aqaba, Jordan, where we took another taxi to our hostel, the glorious “Bedouin Garden Village.” When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that our accommodations were none other than a bamboo hut, without doors, without an actual roof, a light bulb for electricity. See the picture for details. It was roughing it, and that was fun for a while, but when we started waking up to progressively more and more bug bites (we suspect flies), I came to understand why my parents never took me camping. Once again, when you pay $8 a night, you get what you pay for. The bathrooms were also quite sketchy, but alas, it was an experience and ON THE OTHER HAND, through our doorway I could wake up in the morning and see the light hitting the mountains across the Red Sea, so the view and the 5-minute beach access made it worthwhile.

The beach was SWEET. The Red Sea is bright blue and perfectly clear, so if I went out like 50 feet into the water, I could see beautiful coral reefs and fish I’d only seen in aquariums or books I also found a dead blowfish, who I named Hootie, and had a lot of fun chasing the boys with him, since apparently I was more of a 3rd grade boy than they were. There’s nothing like seeing things with your own eyes that you only could imagine as a child, yet it’s right there in front of you, to be experienced and photographed, you could hold it in your hands and avoid the stings of jelly fish and sea urchins. Amazing.

The first full day there we went to Petra, which is an amazing ancient Arab city, full of Greco-Roman architecture but carved into the red rock of this canyon. It’s now one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, so I can add another to my short list of 2. You have to see it to believe it, and if you’ve seen Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, you HAVE seen it, since that’s where they ride to in order to find the Holy Grail. AJ, Ayesha and I got separated from the larger group, and took a donkey ride up to find the Monastery, which is another feat of architecture (I promised my mountain climbing days were over but I lied, mostly because donkeys are awesome and so surefooted), and sang the theme song all the way up, except when AJ was freaking out. Trust me, I have video. Petra is huge, and it’s hard to imagine what it was like in its prime, at the height of a very unique and sophisticated civilization, but it would have been sweet to see. You MUST go to Petra. Also, check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra. Then we saw another gorgeous sunset.
That evening in Aqaba, I saw the WORLD’S TALLEST FLAGPOLE, bearing the Jordanian flag, of course. Also, I spent the best 1 dinar of my life on an INFLATABLE PENGUIN, which has since been dubbed “Bad Bat the Bedouin Benguin,” based on too many inside jokes to explain. He’s going to be my new best friend, photographed in every country I ever visit. Stay tuned. On a side note, Jordan is very interesting in that every establishment, hostel or restaurant or tourist destination, has pictures of the royal family, especially the Prince and his wife posted. They seem to love the prince. It was a reminder that monarchies are alive and well in the 21st century.

The next day we bummed on the beach in the morning, then went to Wadi Rum, a famous desert in Jordan where Lawrence of Arabia once had his stronghold. We saw the amazing scenery that I couldn’t photograph enough because my camera was dying, but I saw another amazing sunset, had a great time with my friends, saw ancient rock carvings and climbed rocks, which my childhood prepared me well for. Amazing.

The next day was Easter Sunday, and since we needed to get into Israel ASAP in case Ayesha was detained again, there wasn’t time to go to Church. Ayesha was only questioned for like 15 minutes this time, so we went to a shopping mall in Elyat Jordan to pass the time till our bus came, and unfortunately shopping in the Holy Land is about as close as I got to being religious, given the circumstances of traveling and national security and all that jazz. Being in Israel is very strange. I couldn’t speak Arabic anywhere near the border for fear of drawing suspicion, and it’s being back in the first world again, with rather nice bathrooms and a ton of infrastructure, and Europeans everywhere. Having spent 2 months in Egypt, I felt very out of place in the first world, and looked forward to being back in Egypt. It’s definitely starting to feel like a second home.

Then we crossed the border, decided not to take the bus and found a Minibus driver who would take us for 40 pounds each. After much delay (and arguing with him) we headed back from Taba to Cairo, and our driver Hassan was going literally 90-100 mph almost the whole way, when converted from kilometers. It was terrifying and crazy and awesome. I was glad to make it home alive, but exhilarated at the same time. "Travel Young" is my new motto, because I’m experiencing this so much differently than I ever will in 10 years or more.

And then we applied lots of cortisone cream and slept, then woke up for 8 AM class. Life goes on. And Life is good.
New Vocabulary word: Alhamdulillah, Praise be to God

Especially this time, you need to totally check my other pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/CrazyDaisyLady/Jordan. It's the next best thing to being there, and obviously, looking it up on Wikipedia. Also, AJ's awesome and I miss her already. Anyone else bored and have a few hundred bucks lying around, COME VISIT, I promise I'll make it worth your while.

In Peace, Laura

Under the Jordanian moon (an entry on the run!)

2008-03-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

Since I am once again behind, I thought I would write a quick entry from Jordan itself. I've been in 3 different countries today, which for someone from the United States is incredible, since in North America that would take DAYS. today, it was a matter of hours.

My friend AJ from Notre Dame is here and we're having a great time. She arrived at 11 PM last night, and today, we took a 6 hour bus from Cairo to Taba at 6 AM, crossed into Israel and dealt with border security and silly questions there, took a 20 minute taxi ride across the very bottom tip of Israel along the Red Sea, then crossed into Jordan. We are staying in Aqaba on the Red Sea, home to the world's tallest flagpole (pictures when I make it back to Egypt!!), and today altogether I bought an inflatable penguin (see 2 previous entries), watched the sun set over the red sea, swam a little bit, dealt with 3 different currencies in a matter of hours. the Jordanian dinar is actually worth MORE than the dollar ($1=~.8 dinars), so, still thinking in pounds, I'm spending way more money than I think. Alas, this is life. Also, our hostel is a camp, and our room for the evening consists of a bamboo hut without a door, but at least it won't rain!!!! I'm still young, and traveling on the fly, sleeping in unique conditions, living every day like an adventure, this is being alive. Of course, ask me that in 3 days. . . . Whatever, i could potentially tell any potential children in the very distant future some very interesting stories, as soon as they reach an appropriate age, say 25. And the red sea is 5 minutes away. Here's to the Bedouin Garden village, in all its wonders. Tomorrow we go to Petra (google it!!!!) where the 3rd Indiana Jones was filmed, there will be pictures in abundance soon enough. We leave at like 630 AM and will spend all day there, so I should probably "yalla" along and get ready to crash. Especially as I'm going on like 4 hours of sleep. More when I get back!!!

Salaam,
Laura

I may have photographed the Apocalypse. . .

2008-03-14T02:01:00.000-07:00

While waiting for the Sunrise on Mount Sinai, I took this awesome picture that deserves an entry of its own. . . Somehow a flash was going off at the same time and I got this couple in the corner holding each other like the world was going to end. I don't know how it turned out this way, but I like it. A lot. And I hope you do to, for what little time we have left on this earth. Here's to Egypt.

About that time we climbed a mountain in the dark singing Savage Garden

2008-03-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

I’m about a week behind on the whole blogging thing, but I’ll just skip ahead to this weekend (the exciting part) and maybe do a rewind later on if I have time. Insha’Allah, if God wills. This weekend was crazy, unbelievable and so much of it can’t quite be summed up into words, English, Arabic or otherwise. Team Penguin, this one’s for you.

My new friends Teresa from Georgetown, Pat from Indiana, Kyle from New Jersey (the school is escaping me, my apologies) and Matt from Georgia Tech and I ventured to Dahab, which is on the Red Sea. The bus ride to get there lasted from 5:30 PM to 3 AM due to all the stops, going through Sharm Al-Sheikh etc. It was a big bus full of Arab men. And us. But we made it, and learned quickly there are no actual taxis in Dahab, only men that drive pickup trucks, and call them taxis. So Kyle and Teresa got to ride in the back of the truck to our hostel, the name of which is actually the Penguin Village.
Yet there are no penguins, and this was disappointing. It was cozy and only 30 L.E. a night, which is less than 6 bucks. Not exactly the 4 Seasons, but it was home. And when we got there, I went to sit in the reception era, heard the sound of waves and realized that we were right on the water. And across the water, we could see lights from SAUDI ARABIA . . . how insane is that? I waved to the Wahhabis and probably incurred surveillance from the US government for it.

Then the next day we went to the beach, and this time we ALL got to ride in the back of the truck. Then the beach. The water is bright blue, perfectly clear, cool but swimmable. We laid on the beach, ate Boers ( you guessed it, the 50 piaster Egyptian equivalent of Oreos), , and mostly enjoyed being in the sun, relaxing, BSing about everything, getting hassled by Bedouin ladies and their children trying to sell us things. The water was really salty so it was easy to float; we could see the Sinai Mountains rimming the water. In short, it was AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, RELAXING, and just PERFECT. I love this country, and every once in a while it is nice to live the expatriate life, just as long as I don’t take it for granted. That night we smoked sheesha and drank wine and listened to the sea, even went wading with some adorable Egyptian children. Life is sweet. That’s all. And Mom, I thought of Oregon with the whole Mountain-Ocean thing. . . Frankly, Egypt is better. No running necessary.

We left the Penguin Village at midnight for the mountain. Our driver raced around short and steep mountain curves in the dark, and out our window we could see the silhouettes of the mountains against the stars. We got to the mountain at 2 or 230, got our belongings stored away with a guy for the ride home, and got ready to climb a mountain.

We were assigned a Bedouin guide, but we manage to, um, somehow lose track of him. I.E. we used the cover of darkness and the abundance of tourists to make our own way. Climbing the mountain I can’t really describe, but I’ll do my best. First of all, Mount Sinai is really really big, and we didn’t even realize how big it was, except that you keep expecting to be at the end shortly, but an hour and a half later, you’re still climbing steadily, still thinking you’ll be done soon, and 30 minutes later you’re still at the last, and most difficult leg of the journey, the “Steps of Repentance”. If we could have seen and understood its enormity, we might have turned back. Ignorance was bliss, leading to periodic frustration. And trust me, I repented. We took the “camel path” up, which meant we spent most of it looking at a camel’s hind end, and Teresa even got somewhat trampled by one. It was dusty, slippery, hard to find footing and physically strenuous, but WE CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN, I’ve been to the mountain top, I have been like Moses and something I’m really proud of and bewildered by. And that my friends and I are still speaking. Altogether, this weekend can be summed up by the quote from which I named my blog. . . everything I’ve done is beyond my imagination.
And it gets so much better. For starters, I saw more stars in Sinai than I had ever seen before. It was like a book of the constellations, only so incredibly real. I could see Scorpio, the Big Dipper, and others. No light pollution, no air pollution, just stars, all around me. You can really feel like you were looking at “the heavens.” While we were climbing, we could see a line of the glow of flashlights stretching out for miles behind us, more pilgrims to Sinai making the ascent. It was a steady stream of people, most often 3 or 4 abreast, plus a camel or two thrown in for good measure. The line of light kept us realizing how far we had come . . . and how far we still had to go.

As for the sunrise over the Sinai Mountains . . . there’s nothing like it in the world. I won’t try to describe it; I will only let you see pictures so that you might, almost understand what it was like to be there. It was quite crowded and hard to find a vantage point, there were people speaking in tongues (someone commented it was like Borat), Africans singing religious songs, and a lot of tourists with cameras at the ready. I had no idea what to expect, but it definitely wasn’ tthat.

Ba’da Kidda—After that, we climbed down, another 2 or 3 hours, which was almost worse, dustier and we slipped a lot, but at least we could see where we were going. We decided against hitting the monastery, St. Catherine’s where supposedly the “Burning Bush” is because we were far too tired. We grabbed food, found our driver and returned to Cairo dirty, smelly, and exhausted but on a high that you can only get from seeing truly unforgettable things.
Then we came back, but that was long, hot and boring, so I’ll stop here and write again as soon as I can. It’s going to be a relaxed weekend, celebrating my 21st birthday, getting work done, since the next weekend for Easter Break my friend AJ from Notre Dame is coming and we are going to Jordan! Because we can, and because it's cool.
I climbed a mountain this weekend. In case you didn't get that.
Sincerely,
Laura

Cubist Cairo: the Puzzles of Egypt

2008-03-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

I can say it with pride. I have never regarded painting as an art merely for the purpose of entertainment and amusement. As my pen and my paint do happen to be my weapons, I wanted to use them to penetrate deeper and deeper into a knowledge of the world and of people so that this knowledge might set all of us more and more free each day.
--Pablo Picasso

I am trying to be a little more up-to date with this, and I have a lot to write about, not merely a list of things I’ve done since I last wrote, but some of the things I’m experiencing, reflecting on and trying to interpret as much as possible. I want to tell you all about the pyramids and the Sphinx and my travels, but this also my space to try to make meaning of the barrage of sights and sounds that surround me in Cairo, and share this with you, to “penetrate deeper into the knowledge of the world and of people,” although I’m not sure about setting us free. I don’t really think that’s up to me.

Last Sunday I went with my roommate Sandy to a movie about Islam called The Fog is Lifting. It was a video introduction to Islam, and given that I’ve been studying Islam in one form or another since high school, I knew many of the basics, although there are many different ways to interpret and explain the tradition. The movie was targeted at non-Muslims, and an international audience although, if anything, it seemed to direct itself to Americans, trying to correct common misconceptions about the faith. It was strange to watch an introductory video about Islam to a roomful of faithful Muslims, but it was standing room only by the time we arrived.

Cairo continually challenges my own assumptions that I am not yet aware of, and this was a case in point. I understand intellectually that, as professor Omar from Notre Dame said, there are almost as many Islams as there are Muslims, though all share the same centers of gravity. Yet going in, I did not expect there to be such a lively discussion afterwards. I assumed that, among Muslims, the basics would not inspire that much debate. Yet the foreigners in the audience asked about the usual hot topics, women’s rights, polygamy, jihad, how Islam can be reconciled with “acknowledging faith in Jesus alone,” etc, and the film’s director and former Imam at American University in Washington, provided answers and food for thought. And in response, many Muslim members of the audience offered their own interpretations, explanations and ideas about their faith to the non-believing members of the audience. They also asked their own questions, seeking greater understanding of their faith. It was lively, thought-provoking and one of the continual reminders that I cannot assume consensus or uniformity when there is none. Cairo has far too much to teach me, but if I let my implicit assumptions go unchallenged, I will return home with only a caricature of what the city really is. Its people, its faiths, its politics are dynamic and too complicated to comprehend, but I must continue to struggle with it.

There was more fuel for thought at the movie screening. As I said, when we got there, it was standing room only, but while we were standing, I saw people who were already seated ahead of us suddenly stand up. Sandy and a couple of the ushers told me that they were clearing seats for foreigners, and I was welcome to take a seat. I decided I would rather stand. I was tired, I wanted to sit. But I didn’t, because I would rather stand by my roommate than sit among strangers; there were many there who deserved to sit much more than I. And it was my act of rebellion against the special treatment of foreigners in Cairo. Don’t call me Rosa Parks; I wouldn’t even call this solidarity. I just have a strange relationship with all this special treatment. In Cairo, English is the language of money. Foreigners get taxis and tables at restaurants, get into clubs and behave much differently than the locals can simply because they are foreigners. It’s not right, and it’s not fair, but it’s how it works. I can’t avoid the advantages all the time, but I found it important to make a stand. I can’t quite reconcile in my mind how I feel about being an American in Cairo. We do a lot of good. For example, half of AUC’s equipment has the USAID sticker on it and most of the buildings have plaques declaring themselves “A Gift from the American People.” But what are the costs of this much American influence? I am grateful for what my country does to Egypt and for my opportunities. But because of us, in some contexts, Egyptians are second class citizens of their own country. It’s about as much of a puzzle as a Picasso painting.

And more food for thought. The other day I tried to get some reading done on the top floor of the library. There’s a nice sitting area in the open, on the roof. I looked down and saw something I couldn’t have expected. There’s an empty lot across the street from campus surrounded by high walls; I often pass it by when going off in pursuit of lunch. But from high up, I saw that the lot isn’t at all empty. There are 3 or 4 shacks there, made out of whatever materials were available. I observed laundry hung out to dry, and then a mother and two little boys, maybe 3 and 5 years old playing in the stony, empty ground. Who are they? Why are they allowed to remain? Have I witnessed the world’s most sparsely populated slum? I really don’t know, but I can’t get over the presence of these makeshift houses, hidden from view yet so close to downtown Cairo, with its banks, universities. Yet they have not been forced out even though they occupy prime property, and this is a blessing to them; the US can be all too willing to relocate the poor for convenience or progress, as I saw clearly in Chicago. Since I cannot really provide much knowledge or insight here, I will use my camera as my weapon to penetrate into the knowledge of the world, or at least crack it a bit. Thank you for listening, I hope this makes at least a little sense to you.

In constant pursuit of understanding,
Laura

Oh, Baby it's a Wild World

2008-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

Izzayaku? How are you all? Sorry I haven’t written in a while, I’ve been pretty busy. Thanks for coming back for more news from the 3rd continent.

Things are pretty spectacular here. 8 AM class is still a thorn in my side, the weather here, pollution and all is still so much better than freezing in South Bend right now, and I’m enjoying life in general—friends, classes, food and crazy, crazy Cairo.

Good news on this front. Notre Dame has these travel grants for this year only, and I have been awarded $500 (in the form of reimbursement at a later date) to go to Istanbul for Spring Break. My current plan is to do 5 days in Israel-the West Bank (NOT GAZA, I PROMISE MOM AND DAD, DO NOT REVOKE MY PASSPORT) and 5 days in Istanbul, with whoever will go with me. Not sure in what order, since the second half of break falls on Eastern, or the Orthodox Easter celebration, which would be really sweet to be in Jerusalem for, but maybe a little too crazy. All this is in the works. Notre Dame did, however, decide not to fund me for the Israel leg of the trip, given travel warnings, which is kind of ironic. It’s a constant reminder that you can’t go to places looking for the past, or even to the most holy and sacred spaces of the world without the messy, chaotic present getting in the way.

Aaaaand because I feel like, a quote that seems to fit.
But if we’re to start living in the present isn’t it abundantly clear that we’ve first got to redeem our past and make a clan break with it? And we can only redeem it by suffering and getting down to some real work for a change --Anton Chekhov, the Cherry Orchard
We can’t keep living in the distant past of the Middle East, the place of Pyramids and the birthplace of Christianity, and we have to, as a world, and as people from the West, especially, acknowledge the injustice done by colonialism, and maybe redemption might be possible. Does that make any sense? It’s just a thought, with the constant hints of a colonized history by the British, a few years by the French, and then the current state of affairs where the US gives Egypt about 2 billion yearly in military aid, and I have to deal with all of this just to experience past wonders and try to understand what Egypt is today.

I don’t know where that came from, but anyway . . .
Friday was pretty low-key, getting a little bit of work done. On Saturday, we met up with some Notre Dame Alumni Prof. David Burrell, a former Theology and Philosophy professor from Notre Dame who used to run the Jerusalem Study Abroad program among other endeavors. The alumni were on a tour of the Nile they signed up for through the Alumni Association. We had a nice lunch at the Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant in Khan al-Khalili, the really cool souq, or market in Islamic Cairo. I’ve been there like twice, but have never really done enough exploring, bargaining or shopping for that matter. It’s on my list of things to do. I have bought a couple of scarves and my bargaining skills (haggling is the way of commerce in Egypt) are so-so, definitely in need of some practice.

After lunch, Dr. Burrell took the ND kids to the Azhar Mosque. Azhar University is one of the most noted schools of Islamic scholarship, training scholars and imams in the Sunni tradition. The mosque is simple and gorgeous, with open architecture, subtly-placed stained glass windows, and just a beautiful sense of tranquility mosques tend to give off. Then we went up in the Minaret, the tall tower. It was a awesomely terrifying climbing narrow stone stairs, sometimes in complete darkness, but the view was amazing and the overall experience made me feel a little of what the Muezzins (those who lead the call to prayer) must have felt, climbing towards heaven to call the faithful to worship. Of course, now muezzins use microphones and loudspeakers at the top of the minarets instead of climbing up there themselves, and some use recordings. And they say Islam can’t adjust to the modern world. . . That seems pretty well-adjusted to me.

Although I don’t hit the pubs and the clubs like my fellow students in Europe, I do go out sometimes, believe it or not. Cairo has its share of clubs, but I’m just not attracted to the idea of coming to Egypt to live purely like an expat. I can’t help living beyond the means and the imagination of most Egyptians, but hitting a club called “Latex” every weekend seems a little extreme, kind of sketchy and not very fun. Saturday we went to Cairo Jazz, a club on Saturday night and listened to “Modern Egyptian Folk,” ordered “Scheherazade” wine (named forthe storyteller from Arabian Nights), and spun our own tales. And we’re going back this weekend for more fun. I realize every day that have really cool friends, American and Egyptian, in Cairo and those currently all over the planet.

Week 2 Highlights

2008-02-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I did this thing for a while where I tried to live on about 20 Egyptian pounds a day for 3 days. That's 4 dollars, and I did it, although there was free food one night which was pretty awesome and helped a lot, but more about that in a sec. It's very possible to do, but difficult to do indefinitely. For example, there's this one place we call "Magic Window" next to campus where you can get pita bread with veggies and Ta'miyya/falafel for, just wait, 50 PIASTERS which are like Egyptian cents. I can eat 2 or 3, but the sum of it is that I can get a decent lunch for about 30 US cents, altought bottled water is usually like a pound if I want to hydrate. It's possible but not easy

And I can eat better for about 10 pounds in the pretty tayyib (tasty) cafeterias on campus and in the dorm.

And it gets better. Somewhere in the Middle East has developed this delicious concoction known as Fateer, which is essentially a croissant in the shape of flatbread, and for 75 piasters (you do the math), I get it with sukkar (obvious) or asil (honey). DELICOUS AND ADDICTING, great for breakfast or dessert or lifting your spirits. I asked for sugar and honey once and they made fun of me, although some people apparently get away with it.

So living on the cheap is possible, but if I did it all the time, I would miss out on a lot of adventures, and to some extent, it's hard if not impoissible to break away from my normal standard of living altogether given that I eat most often with other Americans and after a while, if the comforts of home are at all affordable, we're going to gravitate towards them.

That free meal I mentioned earlier? Courtesy of the Zamalek dorms, we had this great party with delicious food, entertainment by a Sufi Dancer and a "horse." I got to try my hand at being a whirling dervish, and then there was a dance party. Best. Dorm. Dance. Ever. Most of you probably know how I feel about dances and clubs (skipped my prom, avoided getting dates for BP dances, just not a huge fan). But this one was awesome. No prior notice, no alcohol, no fancy dresses and no cliched power ballads from the 80s or obnoxious rap. Just trying my hips at Arabic dancing, mingling with Americans and Egyptian girls, desperately trying to keep a rhythm and having a great time. loved it. Loved it. And then we went upstairs and did homework.

I had my first major incident of sexual harassment, other than the whispers, catcalls and all of that we've mostly gotten used to and learned to laugh off. A boy, who couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 thought it would be a good idea to touch my, let's say, bum. I didn't realize what happened until it was too late to do anything, so I flung a "Haram alayk", or "shame on you" after him, but he was gone and the damage was done. I was irritated and annoyed, but you just have to have a thick skin and keep your sense of humor perpetually on hand.

The rest of the week was a blur of meetings (I'm doing 2 extracurriculars involving teaching and tutoring English to refugees and under-resourced Egyptian public university students, more when we actually get started). I stopped into see Professor Mason from Notre Dame and we had a nice chat, catching up on life in Cairo, etc.

now Friday. . . I finally got to see the pyramids an sphinx up close, touch them, take a couple hundred pictures of them, pose in front of them. We also went to a sweet step pyramid a few miles away at a place called Saqqara, where you can see how the practice of pyramid-tombs developed. And as much as I know that the rest of Cairo is that much cooler, they are pretty spectacularly amazing to finally see in person. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a lot of fun. When you finally come to Egypt, and you SHOULD come to Egypt, it's important to step back, stop taking pictures, try to stop being a tourist even though you really can't. You have to sit and take in what the pyramids are, their effort, their age and dignity, really appreciate them as wonders of the world. Also, you must people watch. Listen to the languages, mock the inappropriately dressed European and American tourists, watch the big tour buses, in all their modernity crossing between these ancient monumental tombs. Watch how people behave, and the mixing of them all. Watch guys in native dress and some on camels pose for pictures with unwitting tourists and then demand money, baksheesh. Watch the souvenir sellers, how they work, how their livelihood is dependent on selling miniature pyramids, dancing camels and the like, never mind that Islam, built up long after the pyramids, is the center of everything in Egypt and yet peripheral on one level. We found out the hard way that these guys know just enough of enough languages to sell their wares, so "No Hablo Ingles" failed dramatically as a deterrent to the sales people, when they respond to you in Spanish. It really is crazy. And of course, there's a Pizza Hut and a KFC across from the Sphinx. Welcome in Egypt.

Friday was not without mishap. We went with AUC on a the trip, and trying to wait for people, we were running late, and as a result didn't eat "lunch" till about 4 PM. It was exhausting and irritating but still worth it. And then, after showering and relaxing, I went with some people for a little bit of Sheesha and conversation.

There are some pretty cool pictures, some are here but the rest you can find on my picasa album. (once again, http://picasaweb.google.com/CrazyDaisyLady/CAIRO) I've been a little muta'akhira (late) about captions, but I'll get there eventually. Questions about the pics or anything else? Leave comments!

Mabruuk Yaa Masr wal Hafla Al Kabira: Congratulations Egypt and the Big Party

2008-02-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well, you see, for all you athletically-isolated Americans out there, too distraught with the end of football for another few months and perhaps caught in the drama of college basketball, I have a bit of news for you. The rest of the world doesn’t care.
We adopted Misriyiin (Egyptians) have been a caught up instead, of the drama of the African Cup, a semiannual tournament of a sport we like to call كرة القدم, ball of the foot, football to the Brits and soccer to the Americans. Egypt was both host and champion 2 years ago in 2008, and I have been paying attention as this year’s Egyptian team worked its way up, quarterfinals, semifinal match against Cote D’ivoire (4-1, Egypt) and THEN, last night’s championship match versus Cameroon.

Since I stayed home from Alex (Egyptian English for Alexandria, but Iskanderia in Arabic if you’re curious), I was on top of my homework and when a couple people suggested we go downtown to Midan Tahrir, the center of downtown Cairo, where AUC is located. Our philosophy was, “we’ll only be in Egypt for this once” We checked out Hurriya (meaning freedom), a bar/Café, and crowded among Egyptians, students and foreigners to watch it from a medium-sized TV like 25-45 feet away. The view wasn’t spectacular but the atmosphere was fun, because everyone was so excited and enthusiastic. Ayesha stood on her chair for most of the game, and the rest of us were sitting, standing, talking, and most of all watching.
The score was 0-0 for the majority of the game, until late in the second half, EGYPT SCORED. After that, Cameroon tried frantically to score, but just couldn’t pull it off. Egypt rocked the game essentially.

Now, AFTER THE GAME,

We had been told to expect “a riot,” and were frankly curious, although as women we knew we had to be careful in such a testosterone-laden environment. Which we were. But what we saw and heard was insane, amazing, just so outside the culture in which I was raised, it was great to be along for the ride.

Pictures tell the stories better than words, but to sum some things up, people (mostly men in all these cases) everywhere singing “Ole, Ole, Ole” (Notre Dame kids, you know what this reminded me of), lifting people (Americans were a popular choice) on shoulders and carrying them through the streets, waving Egyptian flags, Jumping on top of cars/trucks, riding around and waving flags, shouting Masr, Masr, Masr over and over, lighting aerosol spray on fire so it created a huge jet of flame, dancing, singing, taking pictures of all us foreigners like we were the greatest novelty ever. The police herded people around but I never saw them get violent, and I didn’t see any property destroyed. It was a celebratory mob, not an angry one. Then we walked across the bridge to Zamalek, which was fun, and made it back home safe, sound and exhilarated.

Also, my alarm didn’t go off this morning, so I was 45 minutes late for Arabic. Oh well.
Everyone check out the pictures, and a video from when we won. Also, if you want to see any of my pictures better, click on the slide show at the top left, and that will go to my Picasa album, with these and more.

In football and falafel,
Laura

The Nile at night after the match

Coffee, Please: (قهوة امريية من فضلك) The first week of Classes

2008-02-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, I’ve survived my first week. I might finally be getting used to the fact that the work/school week runs Sunday-Thursday here. We’ve sort of developed the logic that Thursday is the new Friday, Friday is the new Sunday b/c of its religious function, the day of Jum’a, or gathering in the mosque, and Saturday remains Saturday.
My classes are as follows:

Intensive Modern Standard Arabic: There is nothing like 2-3 hours of Arabic at 8 AM 4 days weekly to make me regret my life choices. The professor is really intense, in a good way since I’ve been needing a challenge to make me really work at learning the language. The lovely Jules and Megan Sweitzer join me in this endeavor.

Gender and Modern Arabic Lit in Translation: There will be a lot of intense intellectual discussion in this class, as we tackle 10 novels 1950s-present by Arab authors through the lens of gender. Small, seminar-style class. I’m excited, given my love of postcolonial lit (yes I’m serious, not trying to be stuck-up) and the fact that I haven’t had a good novel-based literature class in a while. We had 4 token men at last count.
This class also made me realize how strange it is to be taking a class composed of half Egyptian students, with an Egyptian professor, reading translated novels by Arab authors, in Egypt, but conducting classes in English. Arabic is surrounding us, but not spoken, and it’s just a bizarre sense.
[a picture from the library of what we call "Greek Campus"
Intro to Colloquial Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic, I’ve learned, isn’t exactly useful in Cairo, and the difference between what is spoken on the streets and what I’ve spent 2 years learning (and the 10 hours/week this semester) is approximately the difference between Spanish and French, but they’re both still Arabic. Reassuring, eh? Sooo, this conversation-based class with a very animated professor named Fatima is necessary and fun, except it isn’t till 3 PM, so I’m usually on campus between 8 AM and 4, Monday-Thursday, and exhausted by Wednesday night.

Some important vocabulary:
Mumkin: Is it possible, would you please?
Aywa= yes
Ya’nee= “like” or “it means”, a placeholder. My Literature professor will interject this into her lecturing, it’s quite funny. If I had a pound for every time she said ya’nee, I’d have about 3 bucks. You do the math.
Ayza=I want, if you’re a chick. Aayiz if you’re a guy.
Kuwayyis/kuwayyisa=good, great, etc.

Modern Movements in Islam: This class may kill me with the workload, but it’ll totally be worth it, dealing with political and intellectual movements that incorporate Islamic language and ideas in some way or another, including Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah, to name some of our more famous subjects. 2 ½ hours every Sunday, a delightfully small and intense class. More to come

Beyond that, we’ve been hanging out, having study parties, going out to dinner, spending way too many pounds on our textbooks and food. I’m getting into football, soccer to the rest of you Americans. Egypt is now in the finals of the African Cup, to play Cameroon on Sunday. When in Egypt, do as the Egyptians do. At the pro level, football is a lot of fun.
This weekend a lot of the international students went to Alexandria on a big trip, but I’ll go with my roommate some weekend, Insha’Allah. Instead, I bummed around and did homework today, caught up on sleep, and then went to the City Stars shopping mall in Nasr City (an up and coming region in Cairo_ with my friends Laura, Teresa, an Egyptian Girl named Dina. It’s like 10 stories, bigger than any mall I remember being in, pretty expensive, but full of staples like Claire’s, Virgin Records lots of European stores and the food court has everything from Fuddrucker’s to Papa John’s. It felt disconcertingly Western, but the shopping populace kept me keenly aware I was in Egypt. A great place to people watch, observe kids that could be American teenagers, European-dressed men with the scarves and loafers and then all the women in the niqab, just a big cross section. Also puzzling were the scandalous clothing for women that was advertised, low-cut halter tops and the like. If you look around at the shoppers, the majority are dressed really conservatively. You can argue that they are clubbing outfits, or that women can layer clothing to conservatize it, but still I observed a dramatic difference between what is advertised in storefronts and what women wear. An advertising strategy or an incomprehensible paradox, perhaps?
Also I bought a 15-pound scarf I’m rather fond of. More scarves will be purchased, have no fear, especially when I hit Khan al Khalili either tomorrow or Sunday after class.
Alright, sleep now, homework tomorrow and more Cairo fun for tomorrow!!
In Peace, Caffeine and capitalism,
Laura

Orientationalism (if you get that joke, you're a nerd, and I like you)

2008-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

Marhaban everyone, sorry I’ve been gone so long. Between the internet outage, which is getting better and almost back to normal and the unfortunate fact that I came here to, you know, learn things, I’ve been busy with orientation sessions, then classes and homework.

A couple notes about cool parts of orientation. 1) we had this party in a palace from Muhammad Ali which was an awesome building. GORGEOUS. An interesting guy I intend to read more about, for more information check the following. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_of_Egypt
I went on a big mass trip to Old Cairo, which was a mistake b/c tours in big groups are rarely fun. But this time we did get to go to a mosque that’s on the site of the oldest Mosque in Cairo, except it’s been destroyed by an earthquake a couple times. It was serene, and very interesting. I luckily had a scarf on, but some of the girls had to put on these big green things reminiscent of one of Mrs. Grupe’s stories. Also, our tour guide explained Islam in a nutshell, but said mistakenly that the Shi’ites worship Ali as a prophet, and girls tried to argue with him, but how do you go about telling someone about his own religion he thinks he knows more than a bunch of white girls. Yes, we’ve started calling ourselves “white people” in self-effacing way. Face it, we just kind of stick out. This is Sunni country.
Also, I blew out my hairdryer when, frustrated with the Internet, I absentmindedly stuck it directly into my power adaptor instead of my converter. Teresa and I went hunting for one, and we found an 85 pound model that served our needs. Trust me, when you pay 17 bucks for a made-in-China hair dryer, you get what you pay for. Also, I successfully bargained them down to 160 total for the two of us. In Cairo, almost anything is negotiable.
Alright, more soon.

Hair dryer adventures!

Mumtazic (Mumtaaz=excellent/perfect + fantastic)

2008-02-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

January 31st, 2008

I just had the EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME. I went galloping across a desert on a pretty awesomely fast horse with the Pyramids of Giza over my shoulder, then watched the sun set over the desert with tea cooking on a campfire, and looked up and saw stars, looked around and saw the sprawl of a very modern city juxtaposed with an ageless landscape. Alright, poetic, but that’s just how it made me feel. just exhilarating.

I got to do it as an orientation activity, for free no less, with some fabulous people that I’ve met over the last week. I could have ridden a camel, but PLEASE, me turn down a horse? I miss riding far too much, and as many Black Stallion books as I read as a kid, it’s time to live it.
Tonight’s experience brought together a lot of Egypt’s many threads (or to be more precise, my understanding, my interpretation of this country). I could simultaneously see the pyramids, the last remaining of the original 7 wonders of the world, but also the urban sprawl of an overdeveloped city struggling with modernity, judging by the light and air pollution blocking the stars. And too even get to the pyramids, we had to pass through some pretty poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Cairo, a reminder that I am so lucky to be able to experience Egypt like this, as a student-tourist. Although we don’t have as much money as all the shopkeepers, taxi drivers and papyrus-sellers think we do, by comparison, we’re too wealthy for our own good.

As a part of orientation today we had a lecture about Egypt, trying to decipher “what is Egypt and who are the Egyptians?” This professor, Dr. Swanson pointed out that the remnants of Ancient Egypt draw tourists, whose money Egypt is dependent upon. But these tourists come to experience a world that no longer exists, hasn’t existed for a few millenia, if it ever existed at all, and for them, modern Egypt “gets in the way,” and they ignore the breathtaking, confusing and fascinating presence of 21st century Egypt. Those who come for the pyramids only ignore the beauty of the minarets, and those whose eyes are fixed on the minarets have come to take the pyramids fro granted It’s a tension, a paradox, it’s Egypt in a nutshell. Trying to be a thousand things at once to a thousand different forces. And it is a thousand different things. I tried to absorb all the sights, sounds and smells: the donkey that stuck its head in the bus to say hello, winding on horseback through narrow streets past people’s front doors, watching children playing in narrow, dirty alleyways, the call to prayer echoing down the streets of the town even as the pyramids come closer and closer, the little boys handling the horses and asking constantly for a little baksheesh, women in the Niqab (black full-face veil), power plants in the distance and the horse I rode home from the campfire, far too skinny to be healthy, enormous camels blocking the bus in as we tried to depart back to campus.

This is Egypt.

(to me, anyway)

Peace be Upon You All,

Laura

What NOT To do in Cairo, part 1

2008-02-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

[my entries are a little delayed due to an internet outage in Egypt, see the following for details http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRQi2agl1ORyqre-b3ZTP83Zt_EwD8UH80D80]. Also, the pictures will have to wait.

Well, let’s start with a few simple lessons
1) Don’t drink the tap water. Natives don’t do it, and I don’t either. So I’ve taken to chugging 1.5 liter bottles and cutting out the middleman of the glass. PS: I pay 1.70 pounds for 1.5 liters of familiar brands. Americans: You’re getting RIPPED OFF.
2) If someone on the street is being unusually nice to you, they probably want you to buy something, so don’t trust too much.
3) Don’t get conned. JUST SAY NO. FIRMLY. And perhaps run away.

Well, you see, one day we went to campus to do registration stuff, more of the aforementioned logistics. Then I went out in pursuit of lunch with Jules, Courtney and their 2 roommates Emily and Tina and Ryan from William and Mary. Lately we’ve been wandering around into what I call “real Cairo,” not Zamalek, not the AUC compound, but parts of the city where there are no “McFood” places, almost no women and certainly no other foreigners in sight. Today a guy started talking to some members of the group, and then someone (cough cough, Megan) let slip we were looking for food. So he wants to take us to a “traditional food” restaurant, and we know better. It was everything they told us NOT to do in Orientation, was to follow a stranger, but hey, we’re in a group, there’s a guy with us, whatever. He said “why are you hesitating, I don’t want anything from you?” LIE. We get roped into following for a while to a restaurant, sat down, and he (Solomon) sat down with us. And ordered for us, and stayed the entire time. So we ate falafel, and it was good. And he kept staying. Tina, whose parents are Egyptian had heard him say something about a papyrus shop, and understood a little exactly where this was going: we end up buying a stranger lunch and then we go to his papyrus shop to buy things, and our buddy Solomon gets a kickback from the restaurant for taking us there. . So we keep repeating “we’re late, we’re late for class.” After lunch, which was cheap and delicious anyway, we finally try to break from his company, and when he realizes we’re not coming to the papyrus shop, he started getting mad, and said “bloody Egyptian” (referring to Tina) under his breath. But it at least ended OK. . Stupid Americans got conned. But it could have been much worse. Lessons learned.

4) Don’t drink out of the metal cups. They probably don’t wash them. Check all other cups. In general, we probably don’t want to know what we’re eating or how it’s prepared most of the time, but there again it hasn’t killed us, only made me stronger. All I know is I’m eating very unhealthily and need to find a way to have a balanced diet in this country ASAP.
5) Don’t let the men get to you. Especially when wandering through “Real Cairo,” the comments come frequently. Most of the time I can’t understand what they’re saying, but I can certainly see that the men of Misr probably need “Cairo-practors” (a shout-out to my little cousin Christina who suggested the joke) from the whiplash of staring at every woman, and especially white/foreign woman in sight. I’ll probably write more on this later, but I’ve learned thus far that you have to approach this irritating aspect of Egyptian culture with a sense of humor and an attitude of “that’s their problem,” and go about your day with caution and modesty. I know it’s not personal, it’s just that men are pigs J. One guy the other day shouted “I Love You,” which was rather sweet sexual harassment, all in all. Needless to say, we didn’t return the affection.
6) Don’t stop looking out for the next lesson of what not to do. Also, don’t ignore your better judgment.

Ta ta for now,
Luuraaa

Transitioning

2008-01-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Now that I’ve been here a week, of the newness has worn off, and we’ve been busier with the logistics taking care of enrolling in a new university, in a new country. You know, visas, classes, helping later arriving-students with classes and logistics, shopping for necessary and not-so-necessary items at Zamalek’s many supermarkets, actually preparing to live here instead of just playing tourist indefinitely. Also, there is a minor issue where we can’t get student visas until AUC realizes that ND has paid our tuition, but hopefully after some angry e-mails that will get worked out before we get deported.
AUC is a huge bureaucracy, which requires, primarily, patience and persuasiveness/persistence, and if you don’t have either or both, you just end up frustrated, when things usually do end up working out. ND team Kairo is so grateful we showed up like 5 days earlier than everyone else, since getting into classes, getting phones and other big things were 10x simpler. It’s only been a week, but it feels like 2 or 3. In a good way.

First of all, the weather. Saturday we had nothing to do and kind of wanted to get out, but I woke up and it was POURING. Not surprisingly, this city doesn’t know how to handle rain and when you combine this with rough/aging/worn-out pavement, this means that the puddles were really deep mini-rivers/lakes on the sidewalks, the streets and everywhere in between. The end of January and February are rainy season in the desert. Delicious. There were guys out there sweeping the water trying to get it to drain, to little avail. Check out pictures which were taken 1-2 days later of a puddle near AUC. And it’s still there. Currently (Tuesday) the city has gotten kinda chilly and very dusty. Yuck, but better than South Bend.

On Sunday we ended up going to a museum like 6 blocks from Campus. It was built in a former palace for the Egyptian Royal family, and very conscientiously Western in its design, almost like a tropical Versailles plus some Roman-esque pavilions. It was pretty. The museum itself was a museum of weaponry, meaning lots of sharp and shiny objects which got old after a while. It was rather surprising to find suits of armor in downtown Cairo, and there was a “penknife” approximately the size and shape of a brick with 96 different tools. The rest of the museum was kind of like a presidential library for Mubarak, with lots of portraits, and then all the diplomatic gifts given to him. It was quite a work of homage. The security was super-tight, since there are still state rooms under serious security, but when we tell the soldiers we’re American they are more inclined to treat us well. As strange and scary as it is, I’m learning that that’s how Egypt works. Baksheesh and an American passport/accent work wonders.

Sunday Night I went to mass with a couple other ND students at a church around the corner. It was in English, and the service itself wasn’t spectacular, but it was really cool, in that it was the most “catholic” church I’ve been to in terms of the nationalities represented. Also, the lady across the aisle form me looked just like Condi Rice. I will definitely go to church at 8:30 AM in Arabic sometime, just to see what it’s like. Then a couple Egyptian girls invited us to the movie theatre to go see Atonement. The strangest thing about it was, except for the Arabic and French subtitles, it was so easy to forget I was in Egypt at all. A movie theatre in a shopping mall was so generically American, but all along we were next to the Nile, which is just so ancient, historic, whatever Alas, welcome to the world. And then we almost got run over by a bus, making MEAN GIRLS all the less amusing. If I can accomplish anything by this blog, it will be getting my readers to understand the insanity of Cairo traffic, because it might very well be the biggest difference between this city and all the other ones I’ve been too.

Some Egyptian students have come back already, and I’ve had some really great conversations about politics, cultural differences, aspirations, and some about. Also we talk about chocolate and accessories, so we’ve covered most essential matters The girls all want to know if we expected tents and camels, so we talk about exaggerations, stereotypes, religion, terrorism and the like. I like to ask them in return if they had the impression that there is poverty in America, and it often comes as a surprise that there is. Yes, the degrees of poverty are different, but the images sent by a constant stream of sitcoms (I’ve thus far seen Frasier, Just Shoot Me and My Name is Earl, plus ads for Desperate Housewives) are far from accurate about the chinks in the American dream. I love our conversations, so I need to be careful not to spend too much time with the other Americans and forget why I was here in the first place: to study and to make really cool friends across all kinds of barriers that will really challenge me.

Salaam,
Laura

At-Tarikha wa Ad-Deen: History and Faith (Only 4 Metro stops away!)

2008-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Thursday we went to the Cairo/Egyptian Museum, where most of the Ancient Egyptian artifacts are, at least those that haven’t “found their way” to Berlin or Great Britain, as our tour guide pointed out frequently and quite bluntly. The tour guide gave us some really deep and detailed history about the sordid lives of several dynasties of Egyptian monarchs and many of the artifacts, meaning that in over 2 hours, we barely scratched the surface. But, yes I saw the famous mask and all but 1 of sarcophagi of King Tutankhamen, which were beautiful. His mummy is currently residing in Luxor. It was cool, but after a while Ancient Egypt is a little overwhelming and less interesting than the mix of real, living people outside the museum grounds. I do need to go back again at some point on my own and dig a little deeper, although at 25 pounds it’s not an everyday affair. Hey, 5 bucks is a lot even in America, for me anyway. And the fee for the tour was about 20 each, plus “baksheesh,” tips which are just part of courtesy here for nearly any kind of task. Unfortunately, I hardly ever have the small change to really participate in this Egyptian tradition. And, sorry, sorry, sorry I don’t have any pictures from inside the museum b/c it’s not permitted. Otherwise, I would definitely have pictures of King Tut’s underwear (currently framed) and a linen “condom,” at least according to our guide. Wouldn’t you love to have your underwear framed in a museum someday?
Later in the night we went looking for dinner, checking out a couple “holes in the wall” for Egyptian food. I got a shish tawook sandwich, which reminds me of an arab Chicken Philly, essentially. Our little gypsy caravan continues to grow as more and more American students show up, and team Kairo, even if we’ve only been here like 4 days, feel at least acclimated enough to take newer arrivals under our stubby wings. The American students here are from schools all over, but I sense we’re alike in a lot of ways, ambitious, smart, most want to do some kind of foreign policy work, and then there are varying degrees of Arabic and international experience.

Now today was, in a word, mumtaaz. We went down to Old Cairo, and it was just oozing with history and faith. We in the West, and especially we Catholics think of Rome and forget the REAL cradle of Christianity, and monotheistic religion in general is really the Middle East and Cairo is a huge part of that. But today we were exploring old-ish Greek Orthodox Church of St.

George (who famously fought the dragon), a couple even older Coptic Orthodox Churches that were built on top of Roman ruins. Furthermore, the Biblical journey of the Holy Family through Egypt is a part of modern religious memory here. I touched a well where it is believed that Jesus, Mary and Joseph drank, and behind an old (and largely unused) synagogue there was the well where, before the Nile changed course, the Egyptian princess found Moses in the bulrushes. These sites, not far from one another or from the oh-so-modern Cairo Metro are the intertwining of religion, history and legend; they’re almost tangible here. The Church of St. Barbara houses the relics of many saints, some familiar and the rest are either lost to history or exclusively Coptic. I need to read more on Coptic Christianity, and I hope to go to one or more of their churches while I’m here. Unlike the synagogue and Greek Orthodox Church, the Coptic churches feel more alive, and even though one, known as the “hanging church” is supported by ancient Roman structures, you can also hear children’s voices singing their prayers. Jules and Courtney’s apartment-mate Tina is originally Egyptian Coptic Christian from LA, and she remembered learning the same prayers as a child. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get into the mosques, because Al-Yawm al Gom‘a, today is Friday, the Muslim day of prayer. So back to Old Cairo I shall go. Islam could not be forgotten today, given the constant stream of Arabic from the different minarets of old Cairo, courtesy of quite effective loudspeakers, a clear example that Islam and modernity get along well

Below from top left: St. Barbara's interior, the well which once hydrated the Holy Family, and candles in St. George's.

After old Cairo, we went to Lucille’s, a diner-esque place in Madiyya, where it’s easy to forget you’re in Egypt. A lot of the American embassy employees live there, and you’re surrounded by wealthy Egyptians and expats and things that make one nostalgic for America. It was fine, but spending too much time there is just artificial, being a bubble or an island (Al-jazeera)’s like how I feel about gated communities if you’ve had the pain and privilege of that particular rant. You know who you are.

Alright, I’ll let pictures tell the rest. On other notes, I am developing “Cairo Lung,” courtesy of the pollution and a culture where "nonsmoking" is a farfetched idea, and especially our death-defying 45-minute walk from Zamalek to campus along highways and reeeeally busy streets. It’s like human Frogger on crack. The cough-drops, miyya (water) and my inhaler, formerly used only when I worked out, are all going to get lots of play time this semester. I started breathing through my scarf on the cab ride back from old Cairo because our taxi had terrible emissions. Yuck. The pains of the third world, due in part to the excesses of the first.

Oh, and good news: a man at a souvenir store said I was worth 5,000 camels. I'm going to take it as a compliment and leave it at that.

I think that will suffice. More is, of course to come. Please leave comments below and send me e-mails to let me know what you think, and what you’d like to hear more about. I can now also be reached at lcmeyer@aucegypt.edu.
Ma‘Salaama, Goodbye for now,

Laura

Below from top left: the Roman Ruins that form the foundation of the Hangng church, its interior, an icon of St. George fighting the dragon from the Greek Orthodox church, and a tunnel at the bottom of the well where Moses was found in the bulrushes (according to history, faith and legend)

Oh, and as a special treat here is some footage of the traffic we have to deal with daily, and, when we can't avoid it, have to cross in front of. You can see that Glen kept walking on the narrow island in the middle, for kicks apparently. Just imagine Frogger on crack, and you have some idea what Cairo is like. Terrifying, and exhilarating. I'll stick to the shuttle.

[NOTE: no members of Team Kairo were injured in the creation of this footage]

With All My Expectations Long Abandoned: The First Couple Days

2008-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

Alright, I can’t quite say that ALL my expectations were abandoned, or that they were all untrue. As I was told, traffic in Cairo is UNREAL. There are no laws, and to those new to Cairo have no sense of safety. Lanes are rough guidelines, car horns are the city’s theme song, and maneuvers are attempted and completed that James Bond’s car wouldn’t have a prayer at. But you have to see it to believe it, so I’ll get some footage as soon as I can. As for parking, double parking is normal, and triple parking is perfectly OK. It’s barely controlled chaos, but while most of the cars have some kind of damage, it seems that the system works and total accidents aren’t super common, at least I haven’t seen any. Oh, and if I thought Boston was bad, the drivers sometimes seem to speed up when they get close to pedestrians. I just have to learn how to walk quickly and guardedly across, and if you look “indignant” as John Paul, an ND student who’s spending a year here, they let you pass.

We dropped Jules and Courtney off at their apartment in Garden city, which is close to campus, then arrived at Zamalek. Which is pretty nice. I can’t really complain about the accommodations. The bathrooms aren’t what I’m used to, but I’m not in a 1st world country anymore, and from what I’ve seen, Zamalek the region (which is an island in the Nile) is much more upper-class than some parts of Cairo I’ve seen. I’m a spoiled American, and it’s time to stop feeling entitled. Even if being American in this city can get you better spots at restaurants, through customs no questions asked, into secured regions of the city, etc., that’s not justice and a sense of entitlement is something I must learn to shake off.

Soo many things that absolutely defied my expectations. Like my first meal here was none other than Hardee’s. My roommate was ordering food, asked if I wanted some, and I asked from where. She said Hardee’s and I burst out laughing, but I wanted to get to know her and I was starving, so I ordered a cheeseburger. Globalization is alive and well. KFC, or dajaaj kenduukii and McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are endemic. It’s terrifying.

Another unexpected thing: a cat giving birth on the chair in the Zamalek (dorm) lobby. Cats, feral and domestic are all over here, and this one, while Megan and I were minding our own business, this cat started mewing so loud it was almost barking, then something comes out of its hind end, and, suspecting birth, I asked the security guard, and yes, the cat gave birth to 1 kitten in my presence and 1 later, judging by the 2 kittens that were there when we came home. I don’t know what to say other than ولدتان قطتان امس, or 2 cats were born yesterday. In probably mistaken Arabic.

I’ve been actively participating in the Egyptian Economy. There are about 5.5 pounds to the US dollar, and when I hand over 20 pounds for a sandwich, it feels like a lot, even if it’s less than 4 dollars. I withdrew 100 pounds from an ATM and it only cost me about 18 bucks. Not to mention, you can get a huge bowl of this really filling national dish, kushrii, I think, for 3 pounds. That’s about 60 cents, but it’s phenomenal. And with it, you can get Coca Cola, Sprite, and most important of all, bottled water. And I’ve been to a grocery store to get oranges and bottled water, where a small box of cheerios is like 37.50 LE, like 7-8 bucks, which is ridiculous because it’s imported. I’ll stick with the off-brand for like 8 pounds, when it’s likely just as good.

The most unexpected thing of all was that it rained the first 2 days I was here. Yesterday, walking down narrow rough streets in the rain made me question whether I was actually in Egypt. Today is nicer, although, the city is really polluted, you can see the constant haze in the pictures. And no, I haven’t seen the pyramids yet. We might go tour tomorrow. Cairo is pretty in its own chaotic way. Someone threw out the statistic that it has twice the population of NYC on half the territory. Even if it’s not accurate, it definitely feels like it.

Goodness, there’s so much more to say, but this is long enough already. More later, of course.
Salaam alaykum
Laura

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2008-01-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, traveling was long, exciting, exhausting and probably not too much fun to read about, so I’ll keep it to the highlights.
1. I was flagged by THE AIRLINE, i.e. American out of St. Louis for extra security screening once I told them I was going to Cairo. They didn’t even bother to say it was random.
2. Lufthansa is a fantastic airline. I expected decent care, but even in coach, the free stuff and excellent service was flowing like champagne on New Year’s. As was free alcohol in general.
3. Speaking of which, I consumed my first legal drink somewhere over Canada, a sparkling wine. God Love the Germans. My German neighbors on the plane were mocking we sparkling-wine orderers, saying “That’s not a drink, that’s a feeling.” They're probably right.
4. No members of Notre Dame Team Kairo were lost in the process, at least not permanently. The members are as follows: From the left: John Busch's hair, Glen (background, standing), Jules, Courtney and Megan. And Kairo is from German spelling. Better pictures later.
5. All my baggage arrived largely unscathed. My luggage is fantastically visible from a thousand miles away. And customs was easy, although hauling the luggage thereafter not so much.

Packing, Preparations and Goodbyes

2008-01-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, let’s see. I’ve gotten shots for the following diseases: Yellow Fever, Polio, and Hepatitis A (2 doses), TDAP, including Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis. I’m taking an oral vaccination for Typhoid. I think I’m covered. If I were going to Uganda, I would have gotten a rabies shot, so I’ll count myself lucky.

As for packing, I made the right call to ask for luggage for Christmas. I wish that luggage weight limits were on the metric system, as the 50 pound limit may not work in my favor.
I’ve packed the most conservative clothing I own, and some that I’ve purchased. Ironic, after all my arguments with my parents as a teenager about “here I am, come get me” clothing, I’m going to have to learn to cover up, dress conservatively and seriously think about the messages I send, otherwise I’ve been warned about unwelcome attention. Not that I’ve ever been particularly radical in my clothing, but this is a whole new set of standards. Looking “white” sends enough messages by itself, and all the stereotypes of “American women” will follow me everywhere I go. Helloooooo (or Marhabaaaan) button-downs and crewnecks. Also, my room is more of a disaster than normal with all of this "organizing"

Other things: power converters, lots of “walking shoes,” a money belt-thing, lots of toiletries so I can continue being a spoiled American and various consumer electronics Oh, GOOD news. 4 days pre-departure they let us know that I will be in AUC’s Zamalek dorms. It’s nice to finally have a home away from home to look forward to.

Now I’m down to 2 days. I need to make a last run to Target for various essentials, finish my last load of laundry, and make everything fit in my suitcases without going over the weight limit. And then it will be time, soon enough, to spend a few last hours with the people close to me who are still in Columbia. My sister and a certain boy have already been goodbyed, hopefully satisfactorily. My parents, my youngest sister, my good friend are left to go. It won’t be easy, but hey, it’s not like this is forever, and though my parents get more anxious as Sunday at 10 AM draws nearer, but I can only reassure them as much as possible and enjoy my last time at home before the adventure begins. Life is good. I'm so lucky to be able to do this.

Also, some links. Check them out. Probably more interesting than my previous chatter.
The Weather in Cairo at any given time.
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/EGXX0004?from=recentsearch
It’s going to be 70 in Cairo tomorrow and 20 in Missouri and 13 in South Bend. . . This is definitely the right call weather-wise

AND last but not least, recent news about American-Egyptian relations as of late. President Bush simultaneously needs Egypt for his Israeli-Palestinian peace push and is gently prodding its democratization. It will be an interesting time to be there
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7191679.stm

Egypt/Cairo Factoids

2007-12-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

Population of Egypt: 80,335,036 (July 2007 est.)
Capital: Cairo >>Metro Area Population: 17,856,000
To Arabic-speaking Egyptians, Egypt is known as مصر , or Misr. Cairo is القاهرة, or Al-Qahirah, meaning “The Triumphant.” However, in colloquial, spoken Arabic Cairo is also called Misr. . . just so things aren’t confusing at all.
The official language is, of course, Arabic.

Egypt is 94% Muslim, with a small Coptic Christian population. Almost all are Sunni Muslims, which contrary to popular news coverage are 80% of Muslims worldwide. Egypt does not have that much oil. It’s North Africa, not the Persian Gulf. If in doubt, refer to the map.

The current leader of Egypt is Hosni Mubarak, their president. He has been president since 1981, when he succeeded Anwar Al-Sadat after he was assassinated. There is a "rubber-stamp" parliament, but the president holds the majority of power

Cairo is on the banks of the Nile and near its delta. Only about 3% of Egyptian land is arable, and that’s all along the banks of this river, the world’s longest, and one of the very few that flow from South to North. It is incredibly loud and overpopulated, incredibly polluted, essentially an overdeveloped 3rd world city/country, if that makes any sense. 85% of the population has access to satisfactory drinking water, and 99% of Cairene citizens have electricity, primarily powered by hydroelectric and gas power.

Yes, the Pyramids are on the edge of the city, and I’ve heard that they are visible from campus, although I am much more interested in modern day Egypt than that of millennia ago. Have no fear, I still can't wait to set eyes on the last remaining of the original 7 wonders of the world.

There’s so much else I could say, but this brief intro will suffice for now. This semester will be unlike anything I’ve experienced before, and I’d like to believe I’m ready for it. . . we shall see. Let the packing commence.

SOURCES/FYI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html
http://www.cairotourist.com/cairostatistics.htm

The American University of Cairo, my future home:
http://www.aucegypt.edu/Pages/default.aspx