I have officially been in Cairo for one week, and today I absolutely fell in love with the city. I finally got out of the commercial center and downtown, and got to see some of the "real" Cairo. It's much more beautiful and human then downtown, and those traits make it far less overwhelming and foreign. For the first time since I got here, I can see myself settling down and establishing a life here (not for good, never fear!).
I've made a good friend who is also in ALI. Her name is Christal, and she's from upstate NY. She's a student from Mt. Holyoke, and oddly enough knows a friend of mine that goes there that I've known since elementary school. She has the same sort of goofy sense of humor that I have, and even likes to eat scary street food and lots of ice cream like I do (I had the best cantaloupe ice cream today!). I must admit, it's nice to have a friend again so soon; I really thought it might take awhile to find a good buddy.
I had yet to see the Nile, and so Christal and I met in front of the school and walked around Cairo for about three hours. We crossed the Nile at several points and went through several districts, both poor and wealthy. Some neighborhoods had donkey carts in the streets, other Mercedes. Some even had both. There was laundry hanging from most balconies, and food vendors everywhere. I got some really lovely pictures of the city, and for the first time, I found it to be a pretty city. The river makes all of the difference; the Nile is the soul that runs through the city and transforms it into something worth cultivating and remembering. I can see why it has such an important place in the culture. This may sound cheesy, but you can feel the power that flows through the river, and can't help but be aware of all of the history that has taken place on and around it. I can't wait to go for a sail!
I also went on my first solo taxi ride today. I've been walking when and where ever possible, and have only taken taxis when I've walked too far in the sun to walk back (which I am proud to admit has only been twice). By the time we reached Christal's flat, I was beat and decided that a taxi was the best way back. Thankfully Christal speaks quite a bit more Arabic then I do, and was able to give driver good directions to where I was staying. The driver also spoke some English, and seemed very nice. He pointed out some of the things on the way home and it was lovely to see more then just the ever present shoe shops that line my street. I didn't get ripped off (my second biggest reason for not taking taxis) and the crazy ride was fun after all of the walking I've done in the last week. So I end the day on a much better mood then I started it in, and we'll see how tomorrow goes.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
To Higab or Not to Higab
After almost two years of dreaming and planning, I finally find myself a resident of Cairo. It's not exactly what I thought I it would be like (big shocker...). It's certainly not as hot as I thought it would be- It's been in the upper 80's, and is pretty humid. I sweat like a pig most of the time, but so far I haven't been too uncomfortable. The pollution here is bad (terrible really) but other then making me feel slightly grimy, it hasn't bothered me. Both of these come as welcome surprises as they were my two biggest concerns.
What has been the biggest surprise to me is how many women here have chosen to wear the higab, or head covering. I had lunch in the mall across the street from my hostel, and while waiting for my food to arrive, did a quick count of the women present. Of the twenty-four I counted, only three were uncovered. Two of those three looked to be under the of 10. I knew that there would be a lot of women wearing the higab, but I expected that it would be closer to fifty percent. I don't know how much my neighborhood affects what I saw, but from all the walking around Cairo I have done, this high percentage seems to be about right. I am immensely curious to see what the student population will be like, and if it mirrors my current observations.
A lot of people asked me if I would cover my head while here in Cairo, but I was never really able to give an definite answer. I have no problem wearing one in a mosque, or if I were to leave the more liberal confines of Cairo. But I did not expect that I would stick out so badly here in the city by not wearing one. That being said, I've had much less verbal harassment from men here in Cairo then I did when I was in Israel, which is a bit of a surprise. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks until school starts and I move in an apartment to make any decisions of whether or not to wear one. I'm not sure that it would make me stick out any less, but it might give me the illusion of anonymity that I badly miss.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
King Tut and Kushari
Cairo, August 25/26 2006
I love food. I like the fellowship that you get when eating with others. I like shopping for food, and the reaction you get when you cook someone special a good meal. But what I especially love is going to some shady street vender or hole in the wall local joint and ordering something that you can't pronounce, let alone identify what exactly it is. For me, finding a new dish is like reading a really good book for the first time. Each bite, each turn of the page brings a new set of flavors, and the realization that this is definitely a keeper and that you'll be coming back to it again. Yesterday over breakfast at the hostel I met a really lovely couple from London, and it lead to a couple of really good meals and wonderful company.
David and Francis were planning to go to the Egyptian Museum, which is about a mile from our hostel, and about a block away from my school. I joined them on the walk there and by the time that we got to the museum I decided to go in with them rather then head over to the school. The Egyptian Museum is a huge red brick building, and houses some truly amazing things. Unfortunately, it is very poorly organized, and explanations of what you are looking at are short and outdated. That all being said, it was well worth the time that we spent in it and I'll be gong back. I saw King Tut's treasures- they gave me serious goose-bumps- but my favorite thing was a little room off the second floor that housed the animal mummies. There was everything from a 20 foot mummified croc, to a pharaoh's favorite hunting dog. It gave me such a sense of connection with the ancient people to see how much love and respect they had for their animals. I also saw some of the Tel Armana tablets, which are around 4000 years old and are Akkadian tablets. Akkadian is the earliest known form of writing, and this set of tablets mentions the ancient city in Israel that I did the archeological dig at two years ago. I had to write a huge paper for school about these, and it was really neat to see them in person.
After the museum, we decided to shower back at the hostel and go grab a bite to eat. I'm staying on street called Taalat Harb, which is in the heart of downtown. It's the Fifth Avenue of Cairo, and shops and vendors crowd the narrow sidewalks. You can hear them trying to sell their goods well into the late evening, and traffic is pretty crazy. Because there are so many shops, there aren't very many restaurants. David remembered a place that was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide that was close, so we headed out. The restaurant was called Kushari, although we had no idea what that meant at the time. We into the wonderful smelling doorway, grabbed an upstairs table, and waited for the waiter to bring a menu.
Well it turns out that the only thing that this place is sells is Kushari- and there was a great amount of confusion on all of our parts when we tried to order. Finally we figured out that there was only one dish on the menu and got it and some water. After a couple of minutes, the waiter came back with three large bowls of starchy goodness. It turns out that Kushari is a combination of noodles, macaroni, and lentils that has a tomato and onion sauce on top. You can add a lemon or spicy sauce to it, and I decided to add both. The first couple of bites were great, and then I literally felt like someone had lit a blow torch in my stomach. I gave a quick prayer that I wouldn't be worshiping the porcelain god the rest of the day, and dug in. About half way through the meal I glanced out the window and saw that there was a juice stand across the street and excitedly suggested that we go there after dinner. Both David and Francis were agreeable, and we finished up and asked for the bill. The waiter brought it by, and it made grin. Our three bowels of Kushari, and a bottle of water came to a whopping eleven pounds. Now keep in mind that the exchange rate is very much in our favor at 5.7 dollars to the pound- which meant that our meal came to a little under two dollars, and my part of the tab was an astronomical 67 cents. It was fresh, tasty and dirt cheap- my kind of meal. It sure beat a big mac.
We dodged the traffic to cross the street, and I was able to order us two glasses of mango juice and a fresh glass orange juice in Arabic. It felt really good to be able to put enough words together to make some kind of sense. It was freshly squeezed and was just as good as the kushari. The the rich mango juice put out the fire in my belly and was almost a meal in its self. Like the kushari, it cost under two dollars. Feeling much better we set out for the underground metro to see Coptic (Christian) Cairo. The metro is clean, somewhat easy to navigate, and was going right to where we wanted. We hopped on the first car, and almost right away figured out that we had done something wrong. Turns out that we had gotten into the women's only car, and boy were we getting looks. They weren't hostile stares, but I was enormously aware and uncomfortable never the less. At the next stop we got into another car about five minutes later, changed lines and made it our station. By that time, the three of us were totally beat ( I had been up since about 4 AM) and when it turned out that most things were already closed, we spent about 15 minutes walking around and then headed back.
I went to bed not long after that, and today I've been so exhausted that I slept most of the day. Tomorrow I check into school, and so the next couple of days will be busy.
It was really nice to hear from some of you, so if you get a chance, thrown me an email. It will be a couple of days before I'll have enough time to sit down and pound out another email, but it would be lovely to hear for you. Also, some of you may know that my best friend Laura is doing the same thing that I am doing, but in China. She has a fabulous blog that is really funny here- http://batgirldrivesbatmobile.blogspot.com/
Also, if you would prefer to just keep up through the blog, or want me to use a different email, let me know and I'll gladly take you off or change your email on my list.
Wish you were here!
Sarah
I love food. I like the fellowship that you get when eating with others. I like shopping for food, and the reaction you get when you cook someone special a good meal. But what I especially love is going to some shady street vender or hole in the wall local joint and ordering something that you can't pronounce, let alone identify what exactly it is. For me, finding a new dish is like reading a really good book for the first time. Each bite, each turn of the page brings a new set of flavors, and the realization that this is definitely a keeper and that you'll be coming back to it again. Yesterday over breakfast at the hostel I met a really lovely couple from London, and it lead to a couple of really good meals and wonderful company.
David and Francis were planning to go to the Egyptian Museum, which is about a mile from our hostel, and about a block away from my school. I joined them on the walk there and by the time that we got to the museum I decided to go in with them rather then head over to the school. The Egyptian Museum is a huge red brick building, and houses some truly amazing things. Unfortunately, it is very poorly organized, and explanations of what you are looking at are short and outdated. That all being said, it was well worth the time that we spent in it and I'll be gong back. I saw King Tut's treasures- they gave me serious goose-bumps- but my favorite thing was a little room off the second floor that housed the animal mummies. There was everything from a 20 foot mummified croc, to a pharaoh's favorite hunting dog. It gave me such a sense of connection with the ancient people to see how much love and respect they had for their animals. I also saw some of the Tel Armana tablets, which are around 4000 years old and are Akkadian tablets. Akkadian is the earliest known form of writing, and this set of tablets mentions the ancient city in Israel that I did the archeological dig at two years ago. I had to write a huge paper for school about these, and it was really neat to see them in person.
After the museum, we decided to shower back at the hostel and go grab a bite to eat. I'm staying on street called Taalat Harb, which is in the heart of downtown. It's the Fifth Avenue of Cairo, and shops and vendors crowd the narrow sidewalks. You can hear them trying to sell their goods well into the late evening, and traffic is pretty crazy. Because there are so many shops, there aren't very many restaurants. David remembered a place that was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide that was close, so we headed out. The restaurant was called Kushari, although we had no idea what that meant at the time. We into the wonderful smelling doorway, grabbed an upstairs table, and waited for the waiter to bring a menu.
Well it turns out that the only thing that this place is sells is Kushari- and there was a great amount of confusion on all of our parts when we tried to order. Finally we figured out that there was only one dish on the menu and got it and some water. After a couple of minutes, the waiter came back with three large bowls of starchy goodness. It turns out that Kushari is a combination of noodles, macaroni, and lentils that has a tomato and onion sauce on top. You can add a lemon or spicy sauce to it, and I decided to add both. The first couple of bites were great, and then I literally felt like someone had lit a blow torch in my stomach. I gave a quick prayer that I wouldn't be worshiping the porcelain god the rest of the day, and dug in. About half way through the meal I glanced out the window and saw that there was a juice stand across the street and excitedly suggested that we go there after dinner. Both David and Francis were agreeable, and we finished up and asked for the bill. The waiter brought it by, and it made grin. Our three bowels of Kushari, and a bottle of water came to a whopping eleven pounds. Now keep in mind that the exchange rate is very much in our favor at 5.7 dollars to the pound- which meant that our meal came to a little under two dollars, and my part of the tab was an astronomical 67 cents. It was fresh, tasty and dirt cheap- my kind of meal. It sure beat a big mac.
We dodged the traffic to cross the street, and I was able to order us two glasses of mango juice and a fresh glass orange juice in Arabic. It felt really good to be able to put enough words together to make some kind of sense. It was freshly squeezed and was just as good as the kushari. The the rich mango juice put out the fire in my belly and was almost a meal in its self. Like the kushari, it cost under two dollars. Feeling much better we set out for the underground metro to see Coptic (Christian) Cairo. The metro is clean, somewhat easy to navigate, and was going right to where we wanted. We hopped on the first car, and almost right away figured out that we had done something wrong. Turns out that we had gotten into the women's only car, and boy were we getting looks. They weren't hostile stares, but I was enormously aware and uncomfortable never the less. At the next stop we got into another car about five minutes later, changed lines and made it our station. By that time, the three of us were totally beat ( I had been up since about 4 AM) and when it turned out that most things were already closed, we spent about 15 minutes walking around and then headed back.
I went to bed not long after that, and today I've been so exhausted that I slept most of the day. Tomorrow I check into school, and so the next couple of days will be busy.
It was really nice to hear from some of you, so if you get a chance, thrown me an email. It will be a couple of days before I'll have enough time to sit down and pound out another email, but it would be lovely to hear for you. Also, some of you may know that my best friend Laura is doing the same thing that I am doing, but in China. She has a fabulous blog that is really funny here- http://batgirldrivesbatmobile.blogspot.com/
Also, if you would prefer to just keep up through the blog, or want me to use a different email, let me know and I'll gladly take you off or change your email on my list.
Wish you were here!
Sarah
Greetings from Cairo
August 24, 2006-- Cairo, Egypt
After twenty one mind and butt numbing hours, I am finally in Cairo. The trip was uneventful, my baggage made it unscathed, and I am pathetically grateful that I don't have to make the return trip anytime soon. I am sitting in my hotel room listening to the cacophony of horns, traffic and people five stores below me, trying to decide if I want to leave the hotel to hunt down some street food for dinner. So while I am deciding, I'll give you two snapshots of what I have seen.
It's a little after eight PM in Cairo and I'm flying down a three lane road with cars five and six wide. The sun has just finished setting through the thick smokey sandy haze, and for some reason, none of the drivers on this road have their headlights on. And you can just forget about turn signals. That's what the horn is apparently for. With a grin, the taxi driver pops in a cassette tape. The sound of the American pop star Avril Lavigne merges with the call to prayer that is coming from three or four mosques in the general area.
A public bus that would make the number 7 route in Seattle look good is rolling through a busy intersection. As cars weave around the diesel belching bus, men expertly jump on and off the bus while it's moving. I guess you make your own stop here.
Continued on Friday, August 25
Perhaps it is because I am on a brand new city/travel high, but I already love it here. I and some other people at the hostel went to the Cairo Museum today, I among many things, got to see some King Tut's treasures (which was so very cool!). Anyway, things are a bit crazy because Friday is the Muslim Sabbath, so everything is closed including the school and most Internet cafes. Once everything has settled down, I will be able to blog and send out more personal emails. For sure tonight I will have some pictures posted on my webshots page here- http://community.webshots.com/user/1frmseattle
After twenty one mind and butt numbing hours, I am finally in Cairo. The trip was uneventful, my baggage made it unscathed, and I am pathetically grateful that I don't have to make the return trip anytime soon. I am sitting in my hotel room listening to the cacophony of horns, traffic and people five stores below me, trying to decide if I want to leave the hotel to hunt down some street food for dinner. So while I am deciding, I'll give you two snapshots of what I have seen.
It's a little after eight PM in Cairo and I'm flying down a three lane road with cars five and six wide. The sun has just finished setting through the thick smokey sandy haze, and for some reason, none of the drivers on this road have their headlights on. And you can just forget about turn signals. That's what the horn is apparently for. With a grin, the taxi driver pops in a cassette tape. The sound of the American pop star Avril Lavigne merges with the call to prayer that is coming from three or four mosques in the general area.
A public bus that would make the number 7 route in Seattle look good is rolling through a busy intersection. As cars weave around the diesel belching bus, men expertly jump on and off the bus while it's moving. I guess you make your own stop here.
Continued on Friday, August 25
Perhaps it is because I am on a brand new city/travel high, but I already love it here. I and some other people at the hostel went to the Cairo Museum today, I among many things, got to see some King Tut's treasures (which was so very cool!). Anyway, things are a bit crazy because Friday is the Muslim Sabbath, so everything is closed including the school and most Internet cafes. Once everything has settled down, I will be able to blog and send out more personal emails. For sure tonight I will have some pictures posted on my webshots page here- http://community.webshots.com/user/1frmseattle
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