Football and Arabic music addictions

This morning we had class again. I really like it. Four hours is a big chunk of time to stay focused, but I think it's more effective that way. After class we went out for lunch with Professor Sullivan and Cynthia at a restaurant that served authentic Arabic food. I had Taboula and Koshary (which is like a mix of rice, pasta, lentils, onions, tomato sauce, and probably some other things). The food was really good and it gave us a chance to talk about how the trip was going so far.

After that, a group of us went to a Ahlee soccer game. It was the last game of the season and the stands were pretty bare. Even though there weren't too many people there, both teams' fans were really into the game. Ahlee seemed to have a never-ending repertoire of cheers. There were probably more crowd control officers and tourist police there than actual spectators, which was pretty funny. Some guy handed his kid to Jackie and took pictures of them together. We think that he thought she was a celebrity or something. Anyways, we were pretty much escorted around while we were there just because we're American, which was weird. They seem to be pretty mistrusting of their own people. On the way home we blasted the "yanee yanee yanee yanee" song about shisha in Zaizu's van, which was really fun.

Later, Jackie, Chris, and I went out for ice cream.

1. the low attendance of this game did nothing to dampen the spirits of this section of devoted fans

2. Our group can't get enough of this song. We listen to it during almost every van ride. By the way, "hashisha" is marijuana, you'll hear him say it in the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCB7_2jVbY

3. confined: Everyone keeps telling us that Cairo is huge and there's so much to do and see. I feel like we've been sheltered on our little island of Zamalek and I'm not satisfied with that. Newest goal: go out and explore the big city.

HEAT

It was hot. Really hot. About 115 degrees and really hazy. Luckily I got to spend the morning visiting the NON-AIR-CONDITIONED Egyptian Museum. My brain was in a fog from the heat the whole time so I didn't get as much out of it as I would have hoped. The mummified animals were interesting though, and it was pretty funny when our tour guide disappeared several times. Unfortunately it was 50 pounds extra to see the human mummies, so we skipped that part.

After the museum we went to our 2nd dialogue at the University of Cairo which was much better than the one at AUC. The students really had a lot of interesting points to make as we discussed terrorism, democracy, and culture. The students basically chased us out the door to get our numbers and facebook information.

When we got back I was not feeling really great from the heat, so I stayed in the air-conditioned room and did my homework while some other people went out for Chinese food. There's only so much Egyptian food you can take sometimes.

1. haggling: at markets, for cab rides, for museum guides, YOU NAME IT. Taxis are the strangest part, I think. You just hop in, tell them where you want to go, and a lot of times they'll just take you there. Then you give them how much you want to pay and they'll bug you for more. Apparently there are certain cabs with meters, but I have yet to come across one.

2. Egyptian hospitality: every day in Arabic class, Hasna asks us if we want anything to drink and she'll have Nescafe or Kalkade (hibiscus tea) brought for us. I've never had school like THAT before. Also, when we were leaving UC, the students truly wanted ways to keep in contact with us and continuously welcomed us to Egypt and asked us how we were liking it. I haven't travelled anywhere else that was so welcoming.

3. Heat: At home I usually try to avoid air conditioning, but today I was so so SO thankful for it. If I've ever thought it was oppressively hot before, I take it all back. Maybe I could have handled 115 degrees on a normal day, but on a hazy day? Forget it. I felt like I was walking around completely unfocused and like it was taking twice as much effort to do anything.

Coptic Cairo Day

Today was Coptic Cairo day. We visited mostly Christian churches (but also a synagogue and a mosque)and had to give a presentation on one of them. I presented on the Ben Ezra Synagogue which was interesting; supposedly when the Nile flooded, the basket that Moses' mother left him in washed up and was found in the well behind the synagogue. We also visited a mosque, and it was the first time I had ever been inside of one. It was huge and was definitely the most serene place of worship I've ever visited. I think the best site overall though, was a cave church that the "Zabaleen" (trash people) attend, and I was completely in awe. It seated 20,000 people and was carved into the side of a huge rock formation. I really still can't get over it. The pictures couldn't capture a fraction of how fantastic it was.

After leaving the cave church we drove back through the Zabaleen village, which was really strange because a bunch of us had seen a documentary about the village and could recognize some of the areas that had been in the film. We saw their recycling practices in action, and they are really great at what they do. They recycle 80% of the garbage they collect. Next, we went to Abduh's house(the guy who coordinates our vans and security), and his family cooked us SO MUCH FOOD. Abduh is the nicest and funniest guy and he played a bunch of hilarious games with us.

After we left Abduh's house we came back to the hotel for a little bit and then went on a feluka (small sailboat) ride on the Nile at sunset, which was really relaxing. We ate dinner at this little sportsbar not far from the hotel and then hung out at the Flamenco for a couple hours.

1. spirituality: I think the mosque and the cave church were probably a couple of the best suited locations for religious practice I've ever been to, and I think it's because both of them are partially or completely outside. It is so nice to be able to look around and see further than the four walls of a building.
This woman was at one of the churches we visited, and she was asking for money. When she walked by me, she sort of blew me a kiss, but in a "blessing" kind of way. I got the feeling she is a tough lady.
the mosque we visited
the cave church

2. what are we doing???: The Zabaleen recycle 80% of the trash they collect, WITHOUT a lot of modern technology. We have the technology, but we're nowhere near 80%. These people have things to teach us, and we have technology to share with them. The answer to a world problem is right there in that village.

3. hummus: Katie Borge, I'm back on my hummus kick. The hummus here is SO GOOD. It's spicy but not hot and I could eat it for every meal. Abduh's wife gets an A+ in my hummus book.

the last thing I expected

Surprisingly, I am actually posting this ALMOST on the correct day because I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still Friday to me (well, my computer also thinks it's Friday because it's still on U.S. time...) but it's actually almost 2am on Saturday here. Anyways, today I woke up late and had some breakfast and then worked on my Coptic Cairo snap writing assignment for when we go on our tour tomorrow. It's actually kind of a cool idea:we each got assigned to a group and each group member has to do some research on one location on the tour and speak about it when we get there. I got the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which has a torah from the 6th century and houses a well where the basket that Moses' mother sent him off in was supposedly found.

We were supposed to meet up with our TA from Arabic, Nahda, at 4:00 today, but she never showed up. Hopefully we can meet up with her eventually, seeing as she lives in Cairo. At 5:00 we left for the pyramids to go watch a motorcross competition. This was definitely the last thing I expected to be doing in Egypt, but I'm actually really glad that I went, even though I was feeling some regrets about buying the ticket at first. It was a head-on view of the Sphynx and you could see all 3 of the Giza pyramids at sunset and when they were lit up at night. It was a very interesting justaposition of motorcross bikes flying through the air with that as the backdrop, and I just thought to myself the whole time "when is this ever going to happen again?" It was also really interesting to see the kind of Arab people that showed up to the event. It was definitely mostly people with a heavy western influence, but there were some people who were more conservative too.

1. water: I just drink SO. MUCH. WATER. I refuse to get dehydrated. They sell huge water bottles almost everywhere, and the other day I only paid 1.95 pounds per bottle, which is roughly 35 cents, so this exchange rate is really supporting my water habit.

2. I know I already posted pictures from the pyramids, but motorcross + pyramids is just a whole new animal.


the best police EVER? camel police.


3.

one of my top 3 strangest panoramic views of all time, hands down.

Thursday is Friday

For May 13th: Because Friday is the Muslim day of prayer, "Thursday is Friday" in Egypt. Today we had class in the morning, and I am still really enjoying it. During our break we talked with a security guard out in the courtyard and he was teaching us all the slang words for clothing, a lot of which were really similar to French and Spanish. Then we grabbed lunch at a little falafel stand across the street from the Flamenco. The falafel cost us 2 Egyptian pounds which is roughly 40 cents American. Then we bought tickets for a motorcross event at the pyramids(!) that Riley suggested.

Then at 3:30 we left to go to the American University of Cairo, which is a pretty long drive. We met with students from the university and talked about our experiences in Egypt so far. After, We sat out on the quad and discussed the first book we had to read, The Man in the White Sharskin Suit. Then we headed back and we went to the grocery store, which was an interesting experience. I bought some water and some fruit and we ate out on the patio. We walked around the city a little and then met up with the people staying at the Flamenco.

1. Spontaneity: I'm not a huge fan of motorcross. But motorcross with the backdrop of the Giza pyramids and the sphynx? When in my life is that ever going to happen again? No regrets.

2.

The American University of Cairo. Such a beautiful campus, but definitely a drive from the city. The girl I talked to at the dialogue was from New York and was doing a semester abroad at AUC, but she had an apartment in Zamalek and said that a lot of students commute because apartments are so cheap and the campus is pretty secluded.

3. language: I'm finding that it's really fun to speak in Arabic to people, especially now that we know a little more about the daliect. People really appreciate it when you just say "shukran" (thank you) or "ahlan" (hello). I even tried out "bikam" (how much) at the falafel stand today. It's really rewarding when people respond and you know that they understood you. Everyone is also really eager to teach you. The man working at the front desk of our hotel always makes us tell him our room number, "itnasher" (12), and taught us the word for key, "muftaH".

Ana Hadia

SO MUCH HAPPENING. Today was our first day of real classes. We had class from 9-1 and I actually really enjoyed it. Our teacher's name is Hasna and she's really funny and giggly. I like the Egyptin dialect we're learning because it's much simpler grammar than standard Arabic. Class is a little lengthy but I really feel like I'm getting something out of it.

After class we came back and grabbed some shawarma from a little stand called Baraka and it was fabulous. Then we came back, changed into nice clothes and visited the U.S. Embassy. We were supposed to be meeting with some important guy but he got caught in traffic so basically some random guy was just giving us really diplomatic answers to everything and I didn't think it was very interesting.

After that a few of us decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant that Rob suggested (Caire 1940), and we probably walked around for over an hour trying to find the place, only to realize that we had walked by it twice and it was like 5 minutes from our hotel. They had authentic Arabic food and it was really worth the hour of wandering around.

1. "Hadia": It means "calm and quiet". Hasna nicknamed me Hadia when we decided we should all have Arabic names because she was having trouble remembering some of our names that are hard to pronounce for Arabic speakers (Conner, Curtis...). Anyways, I really like the word, because it sounds like what it means.

2. diplomats: I don't want to go on a big rant here, but I can't stand listening to them address groups. Even when we get to ask them questions, they only answer the questions they want to answer. It's frustrating. I want to know what they're really thinking, but sometimes I wonder if I will ever have what it takes to get involved in diplomatic relations enough and know people well enough that they would tell me their true opinions.

3. Adventure: When we went to the restaurant, Jackie, Tori and I decided to order dishes that we had no idea what was in them. Tori and I both got stuffed grape leaves with "kawari". We didn't know what it was but we ate it and it was delicious. The next day we asked Hasna what it was and she pretty said "ewwww" and we were freaking out. Then she told us it was the meat from a cow's leg. It totally could have been WAY worse.

the best birthday ever... even though it wasn't mine

It was Zack's birthday and I don't think anyone will have a better birthday ever. We rode to the pyramids on camels in the morning. Then we rode back and saw the sphynx. Then we had an authentic Arabic lunch. We took a looong nap and then went out to eat at a restaurant called Bodega's that Cynthia recommended. Then we came back and Katie, Tori, Curtis, Miguel, Conner, Caitlin, Zack, Jamieson, and I hung out on our patio thing. Does a birthday get any better than that? I think the day is best summed up in pictures:

1.

part of my first ever camel train

2.
we couldn't get close to the pyramids because someone climbed to the top last month and had to be picked up by a helicopter, but they really were magnificent.

3.

Shakir's Arabic class homies + Conner, Miguel, and Sphynx

THE. BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER.