This is a few days outdated...but here you go anyway. :)
Our two weeks in Jerusalem are over and we’re now back in home sweet Agouza. It was amazing while it lasted though. We got to have Shabbat dinner with Jewish families one Friday we were there, and visit a service at a local synagogue. The guys looked great (mostly, hilarious) in their kippas! I was amazed by how Western that whole experience was. The synagogue felt just like church – except they were speaking Hebrew, and women and men sat on separate sides of the room. And Shabbat dinner. Wow. The family who hosted me was from the states, and their house could have been anywhere in suburban America. Except that after dinner they took us out to the backyard and showed us that the green line (Israeli borders pre-1967 war) basically ran through their property. In some ways the whole thing was really removed from the conflict, except they were literally living in the disputed territory. Crazy. We spent a day touring the Galilee, the Golan Heights, and Nazareth.
We went into Haifa to meet Elias Chacour, who is the archbishop of the Greek Catholic church for the Galilee (and author of Blood Brothers – read it!). He was great! That afternoon we went to Jaffa and Tel Aviv, and enjoyed wading in the Mediterranean. We also found the best playground ever in Tel Aviv – the US really should make playgrounds for adults and get rid of all the ridiculous liability rules. J Tel Aviv ended with our first and (in sha allah) our last medical emergency. We were heading back to meet the bus, and Mariel was jumping along the metal pilings in the parking lot. She slipped and hit her head on the next one. Those were some really terrifying moments – at first I thought she was laughing at herself, but then she rolled over and we realized she was unconscious – her eyes were unfocused and she was moaning. And then there was a huge crowd of people around us – MESPers and random Israelis who were throwing blankets and water at us. Someone called an ambulance, but it took awhile to find us. She eventually came to, but she was really disoriented. She thought that Sam’s name was Tim. And she didn’t remember anything about being in Tel Aviv. She knew who wrote Metamorphoses though, so we figured she was ok. She wound up with a massive bump on her head, a sprained wrist, and cracked rip, but other than that she’s ok now. She even remembers everything right up until she actually started jumping on the posts. I’m guessing next semester’s MESPers will get long lectures about jumping on posts – we were going for an amendment to the Covenant/safety rules…Mariel might have pulled it off for us.
We also spent a second day in Bethlehem – we went back to Holy Land Trust, the Church of the Nativity, shopped (it was our last day in Israel/Palestine, so we spent our last shekels), and toured some housing developments. We ended the day by going to dinner with Palestinian families, mostly from Beit Shahour. It was great food, but the whole thing wound up being a little awkward because our family spoke really limited English. And our Arabic, of course, still sucks. The guy showed us some sweet olive wood carvings that he’d done though. The next day we had to stuff everything into our suitcases – we’d all bought way too much stuff, and had a hard time getting it to fit. And then we got to drive from Jerusalem to Cairo. We left at 8am and didn’t get back until 11pm. We spent a couple hours at the border (mostly because we didn’t want them to stamp our passports so that we have the option of travelling in the Middle East again without getting a “clean” passport. They let people do this all the time, but it takes longer) but still, it was a really long drive.
We got to Cairo the day before Thanksgiving, so we spent Thursday going crazy cooking and baking for our Thanksgiving potluck. Kareema cooked 2 huge Turkey’s and a ton of mashed potatoes, and we brought everything else. I was really impressed with MESP’s culinary capabilities. We wound up with all the traditional thanksgiving food, except pumpkin pie since you can’t buy pumpkin in Agouza or Mohandaseen. You can apparently get it in Maadi, but no one had time to go all the way out there. I made pie – without shortening, a rolling pin, or an oven with a temperature gauge. It wasn’t the prettiest looking thing, but it tasted good. Anyway, it was a fantastic thanksgiving! We know each other well enough by now that it felt like a normal big family gathering, complete with the random Aunt or Uncle whom you really love but don’t ever know what to say to, and the cranky sibling-in-law….we were actually fighting over those titles. J We went around the table and had everyone say what they were thankful for, and ate a lot of good food, and played cards. For Thanksgiving in Egypt, it was remarkably normal. The next day made up for it though – it was a Muslim holidy...They were slaughtering animals in the streets. We learned that a gun shot just means another cow died. There’s still puddles of blood everywhere.
Since then, it’s just been working on papers and my debate. The debate was this morning, so now I can just focus on papers. 1 down, 3 to go. It’s scary how quickly this is going to be over. I’m really not looking forward to saying goodbye to MESP. After living so closely together for 3 ½ months its going to be rough to not see anyone again – maybe ever. In a lot of ways I’m really ready to go home. I miss my AK people, and my SPU people, for that matter, so much! But now I’m just going to have a 3rd group of people to miss…great.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Holy Land
We’ve been in Israel almost a week, and have been living and breathing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the whole time. It’s intense. We’ve met with a Fatah leader, the Israeli foreign ministry, Zionists, Pastors in Jerusalem, and the US Embassy, and numerous human rights organizations. We went to Bethlehem and walked along the wall. We went to the Holocaust museum and Mt. Herzl. We did the Via Dolorosa. We’ve eaten excessive amounts of Falafel. We had shabbat dinner with Jewish familes, and visited a synagogue. We’re staying at the Austrian Hospice in the Old City, which is right on the Via Dolorosa in the Arab quarter – we get to use our Arabic here, even if they make fun of our Egyptian dialect. It’s a really great hostel – they serve fantastic breakfast, with real coffee. It makes my life.
As Dr. Heather likes to tell us, experience without processing is tourism. So feel free to skip the following paragraph if you want – it’s just me processing. If you want a heads up to what I’m thinking when I try to talk to you about the Middle East when I get back this might be a good place to start though. The issues we’re discussing are ridiculously complicated. Sometimes I find myself just disengaging completely because there doesn’t seem to be a solution. At all. My unfortunate tendency to insist on solving problems when they’re presented to me regardless of whether I’m qualified or not, makes it hard to deal so closely with stuff that’s so obviously beyond what I can fix. But just checking out definitely isn’t going to help anyone. So I’m trying to deny my “fix it” syndrome and am concentrating on just learning and listening. In so far as Nationalism offers a valid claim to a state, I see both Israel and Palestine as having legitimate claims on the Holy Land. Since Palestine, as a distinct nation-state didn’t exist prior to the British Mandate, their claim of “we were here first” rings a little hallow. But the land did belong the individuals who now call themselves Palestinians. And the Jews right to self-determination is just as valid as any other people group’s right. But the fact that the land they chose as the place of their nation-state was already home to another group of people seriously undermines that validity. So basically, it’s a mess. I think the only possible solution is a 2-state solution. If we attempted one state, the Palestinian population would rapidly overtake the Jewish population, and the hope of a Jewish state would be lost (which, is bad, unless we want to completely reject the Nationalist rubric…which would mean questioning the legitimacy of basically every single country in the world). This realization led our speaker from the Embassy to comment that there are 3 things Israel wants, and they can only get 2 out of 3: 1-The whole land, from the river to the sea. 2-A democracy. 3-A Jewish state. Hence, 2-state solution…there can be a Jewish democracy, but only if it doesn’t take the whole land, and leaves a viable option for the Palestinians. Two-state however, requires solving the question of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall are the same place, but both sides claim them as holy: problematic, to say the least. Clearly, in order for the 2-state solution to proceed, settlements have to stop. Israel can’t take Palestine’s land. The question though – for me, anyway – is what the heck America’s role is supposed to be in all this. I mean, many of the people we’ve talked to are pretty disillusioned with the US involvement in the peace process. George Bush is basically hated. We were told by a Palestinian speaker that “your policies are killing us”. While I’ve always known that recent US foreign policy has upset a lot of people, but it’s still hard to encounter, because I still love America. Basically, there’s way too much feeling involved in any US Middle East policy. Again though, that doesn’t mean I can just check out. Dang it. Soooo, according to the guy from the embassy, we need to maintain our strategic relationship with Israel because of our historical alliance (justified by the Cold War), and because they support core US values – i.e. democracy and free press. Also, according to the Embassy, the US is the only state with the ability to negotiate between the two sides. As such we have to be careful to maintain our credibility with both. Which still doesn’t solve the settlement issue! In order to “maintain credibility” with Palestine, the US needs to force Israel to freeze settlement. But in order to maintain our cred with Israel they have to be sure we will defend their borders – i.e. protect their settlements. But the settlements are against international law, and hurt a lot of Palestinians. But I still think Israel has a valid claim to its state….
Also, along with trying to figure out all the intricacies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I’m trying to figure out what I think about conservative thought. I mean, I’ve always been pretty libertarian, if we’re going to go around sticking labels on things, but in general I fall more republican. The more I’ve learned about conservative foreign policy however, the more I disagree – that definitely intensified through being here. But for domestic policy I still agree with basic things like states rights, capitalism, gun rights, etc. So next elections should be fun in my life. J The US really needs a multi-party system, so that people don’t get shoved into these boxes…!
Too bad I have to write papers on all of this. Paper week might be incredibly mentally stressful.
In other news…Kandyce is here, which is great! I haven’t gotten to hear her side of the story yet, but apparently she tells it in about 15 minutes – Jon took 3 hours. We have also discovered the joys of playing Mao – you’d think we spend enough time arguing, but apparently MESPers don’t know how to do anything else. And we found really cheap candy in Jerusalem, which is cool. Ohh, and I ate THAI food for the first time since my SPU going-away party in June. It was exciting, even though it wasn’t very good. AND I got to talk to Meghan and Dan on skype the other day. I’m pretty excited for them!! J I wish I could be in AK to help them make decisions – apparently they need it. Meghan does know one of her colors will be blue, though. Big surprise. :) Final Point: I haven't gotten lost in Jerusalem yet!!
As Dr. Heather likes to tell us, experience without processing is tourism. So feel free to skip the following paragraph if you want – it’s just me processing. If you want a heads up to what I’m thinking when I try to talk to you about the Middle East when I get back this might be a good place to start though. The issues we’re discussing are ridiculously complicated. Sometimes I find myself just disengaging completely because there doesn’t seem to be a solution. At all. My unfortunate tendency to insist on solving problems when they’re presented to me regardless of whether I’m qualified or not, makes it hard to deal so closely with stuff that’s so obviously beyond what I can fix. But just checking out definitely isn’t going to help anyone. So I’m trying to deny my “fix it” syndrome and am concentrating on just learning and listening. In so far as Nationalism offers a valid claim to a state, I see both Israel and Palestine as having legitimate claims on the Holy Land. Since Palestine, as a distinct nation-state didn’t exist prior to the British Mandate, their claim of “we were here first” rings a little hallow. But the land did belong the individuals who now call themselves Palestinians. And the Jews right to self-determination is just as valid as any other people group’s right. But the fact that the land they chose as the place of their nation-state was already home to another group of people seriously undermines that validity. So basically, it’s a mess. I think the only possible solution is a 2-state solution. If we attempted one state, the Palestinian population would rapidly overtake the Jewish population, and the hope of a Jewish state would be lost (which, is bad, unless we want to completely reject the Nationalist rubric…which would mean questioning the legitimacy of basically every single country in the world). This realization led our speaker from the Embassy to comment that there are 3 things Israel wants, and they can only get 2 out of 3: 1-The whole land, from the river to the sea. 2-A democracy. 3-A Jewish state. Hence, 2-state solution…there can be a Jewish democracy, but only if it doesn’t take the whole land, and leaves a viable option for the Palestinians. Two-state however, requires solving the question of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall are the same place, but both sides claim them as holy: problematic, to say the least. Clearly, in order for the 2-state solution to proceed, settlements have to stop. Israel can’t take Palestine’s land. The question though – for me, anyway – is what the heck America’s role is supposed to be in all this. I mean, many of the people we’ve talked to are pretty disillusioned with the US involvement in the peace process. George Bush is basically hated. We were told by a Palestinian speaker that “your policies are killing us”. While I’ve always known that recent US foreign policy has upset a lot of people, but it’s still hard to encounter, because I still love America. Basically, there’s way too much feeling involved in any US Middle East policy. Again though, that doesn’t mean I can just check out. Dang it. Soooo, according to the guy from the embassy, we need to maintain our strategic relationship with Israel because of our historical alliance (justified by the Cold War), and because they support core US values – i.e. democracy and free press. Also, according to the Embassy, the US is the only state with the ability to negotiate between the two sides. As such we have to be careful to maintain our credibility with both. Which still doesn’t solve the settlement issue! In order to “maintain credibility” with Palestine, the US needs to force Israel to freeze settlement. But in order to maintain our cred with Israel they have to be sure we will defend their borders – i.e. protect their settlements. But the settlements are against international law, and hurt a lot of Palestinians. But I still think Israel has a valid claim to its state….
Also, along with trying to figure out all the intricacies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I’m trying to figure out what I think about conservative thought. I mean, I’ve always been pretty libertarian, if we’re going to go around sticking labels on things, but in general I fall more republican. The more I’ve learned about conservative foreign policy however, the more I disagree – that definitely intensified through being here. But for domestic policy I still agree with basic things like states rights, capitalism, gun rights, etc. So next elections should be fun in my life. J The US really needs a multi-party system, so that people don’t get shoved into these boxes…!
Too bad I have to write papers on all of this. Paper week might be incredibly mentally stressful.
In other news…Kandyce is here, which is great! I haven’t gotten to hear her side of the story yet, but apparently she tells it in about 15 minutes – Jon took 3 hours. We have also discovered the joys of playing Mao – you’d think we spend enough time arguing, but apparently MESPers don’t know how to do anything else. And we found really cheap candy in Jerusalem, which is cool. Ohh, and I ate THAI food for the first time since my SPU going-away party in June. It was exciting, even though it wasn’t very good. AND I got to talk to Meghan and Dan on skype the other day. I’m pretty excited for them!! J I wish I could be in AK to help them make decisions – apparently they need it. Meghan does know one of her colors will be blue, though. Big surprise. :) Final Point: I haven't gotten lost in Jerusalem yet!!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Oh the places we go: Turkey, Syria, and Jordan
The rest of Turkey was fantastic! It rained basically the whole time we were there. Unfortunately, my dad was proved right once again – always pack a rain coat even if you’re traveling some place like Cairo. Also, I only had sandals, which made for some froze toes. But that’s ok, I loved every second of being cold! J
We went the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The Aya Sofia was amazing, but somewhat diminished by the scaffolding holding up the central dome. I unfortunately couldn’t get too many great outside pictures because it was pouring rain. The Bazaar was great too – there was way more tourist junk than I could ever possibly want to know existed. We also had lectures with amazing journalists, and lawyers. One day we went to Koc University and met with students there. Just based on how it looks, I would totally do graduate work there! It’s a gorgeous campus! On Sunday in Istanbul we went to a protestant church near downtown – it was kind of strange (but really nice) to be singing worship songs again. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop, and then wandered through book stores. Later we went to another church which is a lot smaller than the Aya Sofia, but has much better preserved Mosaics/frescos. They were fantastic! The food in Istanbul was great. “Tost” really meant an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, and there were a ton of little street vendors and such that sold roasted chestnuts, corn, etc. We also got a lot of Turkish delight and Turkish coffee…. J
Ankara didn’t have as much character as Istanbul – our Turkish tour guide informed us that the best part of going to Ankara was coming back to Istanbul. We still had a pretty good time there, though. We went to the foreign ministry and discovered that being unable to provide any real information in the answer to a question is apparently an international trait among bureaucratic officials….We also went to Anit Kabir, which is Mustafa Kemel’s (Ataturk’s) tomb/monument. Ataturk is basically George Washington + Lincoln + Jesus for the Turks – kind of a big deal. We made many Ataturk jokes, and spent a lot of time looking for ridiculous Ataturk paraphernalia – I thought about buying the tie that had his face on it, but couldn’t think what I would actually do with such a thing. Anyway, Anit Kabir was really impressive. Since had stopped raining by the time we finished a few of us decided to take the “short walk” back to our hotel instead of the bus. That was fine until we realized that none of us had actually asked for directions…and that we didn’t have a map. Or a phone. Or the name of the area where our hotel was located. And only a very few Turkish words. So we just kept walking. After going in a big circle we got in a taxi and told them to take us to the Hotel Royal Anka. He took us to the Hotel Ankara Royal. Oops. Thankfully on the way to the Ankara Royal Eric saw a restraint that he recognized from walking around the night before, and I saw the minarets of the mosque on the same street as our hotel. So after arriving at the wrong hotel, we were able to wander with at least some idea of where to go. We eventually made it back…where the rest of mesp proceeded to make fun of us, and reminded us that we’d been given emergency cards with the address of all of our hotels. Again, oops. But we got to see a lot of Ankara…!
We flew from Ankara to Hatay and then drove from there to the Syrian border. We went through what used to be Antioch on our way! The first border crossing went down with no problems, just a long wait. I’m so happy that I’m travelling with Dr. Diaa who takes care of all the details and gets us all visas, etc. We’re going to miss him in Israel! After the border we drove to Hama and stayed the night (or what was left of it) at a really sketchy hotel. Pretty sure that pillow could have been used as the cornerstone of a mosque… The next morning we checked out the Hama waterwheels, and roman-era aqueducts before getting back on the bus to go to the Krak des Chevaliers. This is the classic crusader fortress – we had a blast pretty much running around it. We found a “secret” tunnel, and stumbled down it in the dark. We considered climbing out of it via the wall instead of the stairs – but we ran out of time. After they dragged us away from the ridiculous awesomeness of the castle, we had a fantastic Syrian lunch. I’m not really sure what I was eating, but it was really good. J ohhh and I saw MOUNTAINS! Real mountains with lots of snow on them. They were apparently in Lebanon, and I really wanted to go visit them, but they wouldn’t let me.
After the Krak we drove to Damascus! They gave us a lot of free time there which was nice. We spent a lot of time in the Old City, and got to know the “street that is called straight” very well. We visited Ananias’ house, and read the chp in Acts which talks about him – it was pretty sweet. During our tour of Damascus we went to the “star wars” mosque – named for the ridiculous jedi-style coverings given to all the girls to ensure proper covered. Actually, it’s the Ommayad mosque, which is one of the most important to Muslims. One of it’s minarets is called “the Jesus minaret” because they think Jesus will come back – on that minaret. Anyway, I got some cool pictures with my jedi cloak. I think the guys were all a little jealous that they didn’t get jedi cloaks too. We also met with some missionaries in Damascus, and got to hang out in a real house for awhile. We also visited the American Embassy, which fed us cookies and water. Turkish hospitality at the AKP was way better. J
We managed the Syria-Jordan border without a problem also – Thanks Diaa! We got here last night, and spent today at the Dead Sea. Um, we floated. It was cool. They actually took us to a nice resort, so we got to play in the pool too after we couldn’t deal with the salt any more. Tomorrow we’re headed to Israel! And we have to manage this border without Diaa…he and Jim are headed back to Cairo tomorrow morning. Kandyce (Jon’s fiancé) gets here on Sunday though. I’m really looking forward to these next two weeks even though they’re going to be pretty intense – both emotionally and homework-wise. Not to mention we’re just going to be really busy. But it’s totally ok, because we’re going to be in Israel!!
We went the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The Aya Sofia was amazing, but somewhat diminished by the scaffolding holding up the central dome. I unfortunately couldn’t get too many great outside pictures because it was pouring rain. The Bazaar was great too – there was way more tourist junk than I could ever possibly want to know existed. We also had lectures with amazing journalists, and lawyers. One day we went to Koc University and met with students there. Just based on how it looks, I would totally do graduate work there! It’s a gorgeous campus! On Sunday in Istanbul we went to a protestant church near downtown – it was kind of strange (but really nice) to be singing worship songs again. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop, and then wandered through book stores. Later we went to another church which is a lot smaller than the Aya Sofia, but has much better preserved Mosaics/frescos. They were fantastic! The food in Istanbul was great. “Tost” really meant an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, and there were a ton of little street vendors and such that sold roasted chestnuts, corn, etc. We also got a lot of Turkish delight and Turkish coffee…. J
Ankara didn’t have as much character as Istanbul – our Turkish tour guide informed us that the best part of going to Ankara was coming back to Istanbul. We still had a pretty good time there, though. We went to the foreign ministry and discovered that being unable to provide any real information in the answer to a question is apparently an international trait among bureaucratic officials….We also went to Anit Kabir, which is Mustafa Kemel’s (Ataturk’s) tomb/monument. Ataturk is basically George Washington + Lincoln + Jesus for the Turks – kind of a big deal. We made many Ataturk jokes, and spent a lot of time looking for ridiculous Ataturk paraphernalia – I thought about buying the tie that had his face on it, but couldn’t think what I would actually do with such a thing. Anyway, Anit Kabir was really impressive. Since had stopped raining by the time we finished a few of us decided to take the “short walk” back to our hotel instead of the bus. That was fine until we realized that none of us had actually asked for directions…and that we didn’t have a map. Or a phone. Or the name of the area where our hotel was located. And only a very few Turkish words. So we just kept walking. After going in a big circle we got in a taxi and told them to take us to the Hotel Royal Anka. He took us to the Hotel Ankara Royal. Oops. Thankfully on the way to the Ankara Royal Eric saw a restraint that he recognized from walking around the night before, and I saw the minarets of the mosque on the same street as our hotel. So after arriving at the wrong hotel, we were able to wander with at least some idea of where to go. We eventually made it back…where the rest of mesp proceeded to make fun of us, and reminded us that we’d been given emergency cards with the address of all of our hotels. Again, oops. But we got to see a lot of Ankara…!
We flew from Ankara to Hatay and then drove from there to the Syrian border. We went through what used to be Antioch on our way! The first border crossing went down with no problems, just a long wait. I’m so happy that I’m travelling with Dr. Diaa who takes care of all the details and gets us all visas, etc. We’re going to miss him in Israel! After the border we drove to Hama and stayed the night (or what was left of it) at a really sketchy hotel. Pretty sure that pillow could have been used as the cornerstone of a mosque… The next morning we checked out the Hama waterwheels, and roman-era aqueducts before getting back on the bus to go to the Krak des Chevaliers. This is the classic crusader fortress – we had a blast pretty much running around it. We found a “secret” tunnel, and stumbled down it in the dark. We considered climbing out of it via the wall instead of the stairs – but we ran out of time. After they dragged us away from the ridiculous awesomeness of the castle, we had a fantastic Syrian lunch. I’m not really sure what I was eating, but it was really good. J ohhh and I saw MOUNTAINS! Real mountains with lots of snow on them. They were apparently in Lebanon, and I really wanted to go visit them, but they wouldn’t let me.
After the Krak we drove to Damascus! They gave us a lot of free time there which was nice. We spent a lot of time in the Old City, and got to know the “street that is called straight” very well. We visited Ananias’ house, and read the chp in Acts which talks about him – it was pretty sweet. During our tour of Damascus we went to the “star wars” mosque – named for the ridiculous jedi-style coverings given to all the girls to ensure proper covered. Actually, it’s the Ommayad mosque, which is one of the most important to Muslims. One of it’s minarets is called “the Jesus minaret” because they think Jesus will come back – on that minaret. Anyway, I got some cool pictures with my jedi cloak. I think the guys were all a little jealous that they didn’t get jedi cloaks too. We also met with some missionaries in Damascus, and got to hang out in a real house for awhile. We also visited the American Embassy, which fed us cookies and water. Turkish hospitality at the AKP was way better. J
We managed the Syria-Jordan border without a problem also – Thanks Diaa! We got here last night, and spent today at the Dead Sea. Um, we floated. It was cool. They actually took us to a nice resort, so we got to play in the pool too after we couldn’t deal with the salt any more. Tomorrow we’re headed to Israel! And we have to manage this border without Diaa…he and Jim are headed back to Cairo tomorrow morning. Kandyce (Jon’s fiancé) gets here on Sunday though. I’m really looking forward to these next two weeks even though they’re going to be pretty intense – both emotionally and homework-wise. Not to mention we’re just going to be really busy. But it’s totally ok, because we’re going to be in Israel!!
Oh the places we go: Turkey, Syria, and Jordan
The rest of Turkey was fantastic! It rained basically the whole time we were there. Unfortunately, my dad was proved right once again – always pack a rain coat even if you’re traveling some place like Cairo. Also, I only had sandals, which made for some froze toes. But that’s ok, I loved every second of being cold! J
We went the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The Aya Sofia was amazing, but somewhat diminished by the scaffolding holding up the central dome. I unfortunately couldn’t get too many great outside pictures because it was pouring rain. The Bazaar was great too – there was way more tourist junk than I could ever possibly want to know existed. We also had lectures with amazing journalists, and lawyers. One day we went to Koc University and met with students there. Just based on how it looks, I would totally do graduate work there! It’s a gorgeous campus! On Sunday in Istanbul we went to a protestant church near downtown – it was kind of strange (but really nice) to be singing worship songs again. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop, and then wandered through book stores. Later we went to another church which is a lot smaller than the Aya Sofia, but has much better preserved Mosaics/frescos. They were fantastic! The food in Istanbul was great. “Tost” really meant an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, and there were a ton of little street vendors and such that sold roasted chestnuts, corn, etc. We also got a lot of Turkish delight and Turkish coffee…. J
Ankara didn’t have as much character as Istanbul – our Turkish tour guide informed us that the best part of going to Ankara was coming back to Istanbul. We still had a pretty good time there, though. We went to the foreign ministry and discovered that being unable to provide any real information in the answer to a question is apparently an international trait among bureaucratic officials….We also went to Anit Kabir, which is Mustafa Kemel’s (Ataturk’s) tomb/monument. Ataturk is basically George Washington + Lincoln + Jesus for the Turks – kind of a big deal. We made many Ataturk jokes, and spent a lot of time looking for ridiculous Ataturk paraphernalia – I thought about buying the tie that had his face on it, but couldn’t think what I would actually do with such a thing. Anyway, Anit Kabir was really impressive. Since had stopped raining by the time we finished a few of us decided to take the “short walk” back to our hotel instead of the bus. That was fine until we realized that none of us had actually asked for directions…and that we didn’t have a map. Or a phone. Or the name of the area where our hotel was located. And only a very few Turkish words. So we just kept walking. After going in a big circle we got in a taxi and told them to take us to the Hotel Royal Anka. He took us to the Hotel Ankara Royal. Oops. Thankfully on the way to the Ankara Royal Eric saw a restraint that he recognized from walking around the night before, and I saw the minarets of the mosque on the same street as our hotel. So after arriving at the wrong hotel, we were able to wander with at least some idea of where to go. We eventually made it back…where the rest of mesp proceeded to make fun of us, and reminded us that we’d been given emergency cards with the address of all of our hotels. Again, oops. But we got to see a lot of Ankara…!
We flew from Ankara to Hatay and then drove from there to the Syrian border. We went through what used to be Antioch on our way! The first border crossing went down with no problems, just a long wait. I’m so happy that I’m travelling with Dr. Diaa who takes care of all the details and gets us all visas, etc. We’re going to miss him in Israel! After the border we drove to Hama and stayed the night (or what was left of it) at a really sketchy hotel. Pretty sure that pillow could have been used as the cornerstone of a mosque… The next morning we checked out the Hama waterwheels, and roman-era aqueducts before getting back on the bus to go to the Krak des Chevaliers. This is the classic crusader fortress – we had a blast pretty much running around it. We found a “secret” tunnel, and stumbled down it in the dark. We considered climbing out of it via the wall instead of the stairs – but we ran out of time. After they dragged us away from the ridiculous awesomeness of the castle, we had a fantastic Syrian lunch. I’m not really sure what I was eating, but it was really good. J ohhh and I saw MOUNTAINS! Real mountains with lots of snow on them. They were apparently in Lebanon, and I really wanted to go visit them, but they wouldn’t let me.
After the Krak we drove to Damascus! They gave us a lot of free time there which was nice. We spent a lot of time in the Old City, and got to know the “street that is called straight” very well. We visited Ananias’ house, and read the chp in Acts which talks about him – it was pretty sweet. During our tour of Damascus we went to the “star wars” mosque – named for the ridiculous jedi-style coverings given to all the girls to ensure proper covered. Actually, it’s the Ommayad mosque, which is one of the most important to Muslims. One of it’s minarets is called “the Jesus minaret” because they think Jesus will come back – on that minaret. Anyway, I got some cool pictures with my jedi cloak. I think the guys were all a little jealous that they didn’t get jedi cloaks too. We also met with some missionaries in Damascus, and got to hang out in a real house for awhile. We also visited the American Embassy, which fed us cookies and water. Turkish hospitality at the AKP was way better. J
We managed the Syria-Jordan border without a problem also – Thanks Diaa! We got here last night, and spent today at the Dead Sea. Um, we floated. It was cool. They actually took us to a nice resort, so we got to play in the pool too after we couldn’t deal with the salt any more. Tomorrow we’re headed to Israel! And we have to manage this border without Diaa…he and Jim are headed back to Cairo tomorrow morning. Kandyce (Jon’s fiancé) gets here on Sunday though. I’m really looking forward to these next two weeks even though they’re going to be pretty intense – both emotionally and homework-wise. Not to mention we’re just going to be really busy. But it’s totally ok, because we’re going to be in Israel!!
We went the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The Aya Sofia was amazing, but somewhat diminished by the scaffolding holding up the central dome. I unfortunately couldn’t get too many great outside pictures because it was pouring rain. The Bazaar was great too – there was way more tourist junk than I could ever possibly want to know existed. We also had lectures with amazing journalists, and lawyers. One day we went to Koc University and met with students there. Just based on how it looks, I would totally do graduate work there! It’s a gorgeous campus! On Sunday in Istanbul we went to a protestant church near downtown – it was kind of strange (but really nice) to be singing worship songs again. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop, and then wandered through book stores. Later we went to another church which is a lot smaller than the Aya Sofia, but has much better preserved Mosaics/frescos. They were fantastic! The food in Istanbul was great. “Tost” really meant an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, and there were a ton of little street vendors and such that sold roasted chestnuts, corn, etc. We also got a lot of Turkish delight and Turkish coffee…. J
Ankara didn’t have as much character as Istanbul – our Turkish tour guide informed us that the best part of going to Ankara was coming back to Istanbul. We still had a pretty good time there, though. We went to the foreign ministry and discovered that being unable to provide any real information in the answer to a question is apparently an international trait among bureaucratic officials….We also went to Anit Kabir, which is Mustafa Kemel’s (Ataturk’s) tomb/monument. Ataturk is basically George Washington + Lincoln + Jesus for the Turks – kind of a big deal. We made many Ataturk jokes, and spent a lot of time looking for ridiculous Ataturk paraphernalia – I thought about buying the tie that had his face on it, but couldn’t think what I would actually do with such a thing. Anyway, Anit Kabir was really impressive. Since had stopped raining by the time we finished a few of us decided to take the “short walk” back to our hotel instead of the bus. That was fine until we realized that none of us had actually asked for directions…and that we didn’t have a map. Or a phone. Or the name of the area where our hotel was located. And only a very few Turkish words. So we just kept walking. After going in a big circle we got in a taxi and told them to take us to the Hotel Royal Anka. He took us to the Hotel Ankara Royal. Oops. Thankfully on the way to the Ankara Royal Eric saw a restraint that he recognized from walking around the night before, and I saw the minarets of the mosque on the same street as our hotel. So after arriving at the wrong hotel, we were able to wander with at least some idea of where to go. We eventually made it back…where the rest of mesp proceeded to make fun of us, and reminded us that we’d been given emergency cards with the address of all of our hotels. Again, oops. But we got to see a lot of Ankara…!
We flew from Ankara to Hatay and then drove from there to the Syrian border. We went through what used to be Antioch on our way! The first border crossing went down with no problems, just a long wait. I’m so happy that I’m travelling with Dr. Diaa who takes care of all the details and gets us all visas, etc. We’re going to miss him in Israel! After the border we drove to Hama and stayed the night (or what was left of it) at a really sketchy hotel. Pretty sure that pillow could have been used as the cornerstone of a mosque… The next morning we checked out the Hama waterwheels, and roman-era aqueducts before getting back on the bus to go to the Krak des Chevaliers. This is the classic crusader fortress – we had a blast pretty much running around it. We found a “secret” tunnel, and stumbled down it in the dark. We considered climbing out of it via the wall instead of the stairs – but we ran out of time. After they dragged us away from the ridiculous awesomeness of the castle, we had a fantastic Syrian lunch. I’m not really sure what I was eating, but it was really good. J ohhh and I saw MOUNTAINS! Real mountains with lots of snow on them. They were apparently in Lebanon, and I really wanted to go visit them, but they wouldn’t let me.
After the Krak we drove to Damascus! They gave us a lot of free time there which was nice. We spent a lot of time in the Old City, and got to know the “street that is called straight” very well. We visited Ananias’ house, and read the chp in Acts which talks about him – it was pretty sweet. During our tour of Damascus we went to the “star wars” mosque – named for the ridiculous jedi-style coverings given to all the girls to ensure proper covered. Actually, it’s the Ommayad mosque, which is one of the most important to Muslims. One of it’s minarets is called “the Jesus minaret” because they think Jesus will come back – on that minaret. Anyway, I got some cool pictures with my jedi cloak. I think the guys were all a little jealous that they didn’t get jedi cloaks too. We also met with some missionaries in Damascus, and got to hang out in a real house for awhile. We also visited the American Embassy, which fed us cookies and water. Turkish hospitality at the AKP was way better. J
We managed the Syria-Jordan border without a problem also – Thanks Diaa! We got here last night, and spent today at the Dead Sea. Um, we floated. It was cool. They actually took us to a nice resort, so we got to play in the pool too after we couldn’t deal with the salt any more. Tomorrow we’re headed to Israel! And we have to manage this border without Diaa…he and Jim are headed back to Cairo tomorrow morning. Kandyce (Jon’s fiancé) gets here on Sunday though. I’m really looking forward to these next two weeks even though they’re going to be pretty intense – both emotionally and homework-wise. Not to mention we’re just going to be really busy. But it’s totally ok, because we’re going to be in Israel!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Travel Component Part 1 - Istanbul
After a really long week of writing papers and getting very little sleep we’re now in Turkey! We flew in Wednesday morning and it was RAINING! It was really exciting. We took a boat tour on the Bosporus that afternoon, which made me want to move to Istanbul. Maybe I should stop trying to learn Arabic, and get to work on Turkish. We keep accidentally using Arabic here, which is really funny. The shopkeepers look at us like we're insane when we say "shokran"...it's so terrible, and really funny at the same time. We also keep trying to cross streets Cairo-style. I hope none of us wind up getting ourselves killed because of it - too bad Turks don't understand the "wait" sign. Yesterday we met with a Turkish journalist in the morning and then went to the Ottoman palace. We had the afternoon free to wander around and look at cheesy tourist stuff. We were going to go the Grand Bazaar, but it was closed because yesterday happened to be Turkey’s independence day. I wound up walking back to our hotel with three other MESPers and we got a little lost. What was supposed to be an hour walk wound up taking us about two hours. It was fantastic!! We got to see a lot of the city. J The fireworks last night were ridiculously impressive – I had a great view from my hotel room. The Turks definitely have a lot of national pride. Seriously every building had at least one flag up yesterday, and most had many flags along with a few pictures of Ataturk for good measure.
Today we met with a representative from the AK Party (it stands for Justice and Development in Turkish – not Alaska, I promise!), which is the current ruling power in Turkey. They fed us tea and cookies. He was a really great speaker and if we were Turkish, they might have instantly wound up with 30 new members. Afterwards we went to the US Consulate which was awesome as well. The security there was crazy though! I was surprised we were able to get our Canadians (the intern Dena and one student), and the Brit (Dr. Heather’s husband is traveling w/ us until Israel) through. The whole complex was very impressive – we kind of took over a whole hill. Also, it’s in Asia! It’s crazy how Istanbul spans two continents!
I'm really not sure what internet access is going to look like the rest of the time we're on the road, and I know they're keeping us really busy, but I'll do my best to keep you updated. We're in Istanbul for a few more days and then headed to Ankara on Tuesday. On Thursday night we're crossing into Syria, and then the next Monday (Nov 9) we'll go to Jordan. The following Wednesday we're going to Israel, where life will get really busy! And then back to Cairo on Nov 25. I'm so excited!
Today we met with a representative from the AK Party (it stands for Justice and Development in Turkish – not Alaska, I promise!), which is the current ruling power in Turkey. They fed us tea and cookies. He was a really great speaker and if we were Turkish, they might have instantly wound up with 30 new members. Afterwards we went to the US Consulate which was awesome as well. The security there was crazy though! I was surprised we were able to get our Canadians (the intern Dena and one student), and the Brit (Dr. Heather’s husband is traveling w/ us until Israel) through. The whole complex was very impressive – we kind of took over a whole hill. Also, it’s in Asia! It’s crazy how Istanbul spans two continents!
I'm really not sure what internet access is going to look like the rest of the time we're on the road, and I know they're keeping us really busy, but I'll do my best to keep you updated. We're in Istanbul for a few more days and then headed to Ankara on Tuesday. On Thursday night we're crossing into Syria, and then the next Monday (Nov 9) we'll go to Jordan. The following Wednesday we're going to Israel, where life will get really busy! And then back to Cairo on Nov 25. I'm so excited!
Alexandria
Again, I was going to post this awhile ago, and then didn't. Sorry!
All 30 MESP students are completely stressed out right now since we’re trying to write 4 papers before we go on travel component – in a week! We also have finals in Arabic and ITP coming up. It’s been interesting watching everyone become more and more exhausted – after devos this morning Dr. Heather commented that we all “look so fragile”, which is a pretty good summary. If we actually survive this week, we’re all going to be useless when we get to Istanbul. Yay finals week – especially when you know there’s another one coming after travel.
On Friday most of us went up to Alexandria, which was amazing. The train took 4hrs to get there – it’s supposed to take 2 ½! We were all pretty frustrated, and it cut our time short but it worked out in the end. We went to the catacombs and I climbed around in tunnels and tombs where I wasn’t really supposed to be. We lost the “tour guide” as quickly as we could because he didn’t know anything anyway. It was great. So was the library. It’s huge - so many books!! And the shelves weren’t even half full! The whole thing was really open, with lots of space. It’s got a slanted roof so that the sun is always reflected onto the reading desks. I also really loved how many different languages the books were in. English, Arabic, French…it was so sweet. Oh, and they have a museum in the basement. With some of the earliest Iliad manuscripts. And 3rd century New Testaments. And really amazing combinations of Greek and Ancient Egyptian art – Horus sculpted in Greek style. Greek Gods wearing the double crown. It was crazy. Seriously, that library was awesome. I WANT one. We also tried to go to the Greco-Roman Museum. It took us a really long time to find it, and when we finally made it, we discovered that it had been closed for 2 years. Oops.
I also felt very cultured this weekend, because I helped other white people figure out what their train tickets said! Why yes, I can read Arabic numbers!
All 30 MESP students are completely stressed out right now since we’re trying to write 4 papers before we go on travel component – in a week! We also have finals in Arabic and ITP coming up. It’s been interesting watching everyone become more and more exhausted – after devos this morning Dr. Heather commented that we all “look so fragile”, which is a pretty good summary. If we actually survive this week, we’re all going to be useless when we get to Istanbul. Yay finals week – especially when you know there’s another one coming after travel.
On Friday most of us went up to Alexandria, which was amazing. The train took 4hrs to get there – it’s supposed to take 2 ½! We were all pretty frustrated, and it cut our time short but it worked out in the end. We went to the catacombs and I climbed around in tunnels and tombs where I wasn’t really supposed to be. We lost the “tour guide” as quickly as we could because he didn’t know anything anyway. It was great. So was the library. It’s huge - so many books!! And the shelves weren’t even half full! The whole thing was really open, with lots of space. It’s got a slanted roof so that the sun is always reflected onto the reading desks. I also really loved how many different languages the books were in. English, Arabic, French…it was so sweet. Oh, and they have a museum in the basement. With some of the earliest Iliad manuscripts. And 3rd century New Testaments. And really amazing combinations of Greek and Ancient Egyptian art – Horus sculpted in Greek style. Greek Gods wearing the double crown. It was crazy. Seriously, that library was awesome. I WANT one. We also tried to go to the Greco-Roman Museum. It took us a really long time to find it, and when we finally made it, we discovered that it had been closed for 2 years. Oops.
I also felt very cultured this weekend, because I helped other white people figure out what their train tickets said! Why yes, I can read Arabic numbers!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Arab League and Siwa Oasis
So I was going to post this awhile ago, but didn't. oops. :)
Last week we got to visit the Arab League which was amazing. Except for the part where we all had to be dressed really professionally, which is uncomfortable, especially when you’re in Cairo and it’s super hot and you’re taking a taxi down town. Anyway, at the AL they took us into their big conference room and we got to take ridiculous pictures pretending we were AL delegates. I made a speech. J Too bad none of us look like we’re from the Middle East – oh well, we all felt important. Afterwards we went to one of their small conference rooms and talked with someone important whose name I can’t remember right now. It was a pretty fantastic discussion. We happened to be there the day they were opening a Gandhi exhibit, so we went to the end of the panel discussion related to that and the reception afterward. We got to wander around eating Indian food mixing with (mostly just looking really out of place) with really important people. It was pretty cool. The exhibit was interesting as well – it was basically a series of posters with pictures and quotes summarizing Gandhi’s life. It culminated by making a big deal about Gandhi’s anti-Israel statement. Like I said – interesting…
Last weekend we left Cairo for our Siwa Oasis. Siwa is technically in Egypt, but it has its own distinct culture – language and all. Jon has a Siwan friend, Ismayil, so the first day we were there we got to go hang out with his family. Siwan tea is incredibly sweet and strong; it was kind of like drinking syrup. Oh, and Siwan dates are abnormally good, just fyi. Women in Siwa are extremely sheltered, and basically have no rights. Ismayil told us that most girls are engaged by the time their 13, and get married at 16. The marriage is arranged between the man and the girl’s father, and even after she’s engaged the girl probably will only get to see her fiancé once or twice a year for a minute or two. A women always has to have permission from a male family member in order to leave the house. If she does leave the house, she is fully covered. The few women we saw on the streets were sitting in donkey carts wearing a burka with an extra shawl over their head and shoulders for good measure. When we went to Ismayil’s house the MESP guys were of course not allowed to meet his mom, sisters, etc. So we just sat and talked with him for awhile, while he told us about Siwan culture. We then kicked all the guys out, and the girls got to actually talk to some Siwan women. Ismayil stayed to translate, which made the conversation difficult. We felt like they might not be answering questions fully because they had to say everything through Ismayil. When we asked if certain aspects of their culture were frustrating or difficult for them, they usually just responded by saying “it’s normal”. Even if we didn’t get the whole story it was still really interesting. They also gave us henna which was pretty awesome. Mine’s mostly gone now, but it was sweet while it lasted.
We rented bikes that first day to ride around Siwa – pretty sure 30 white kids singing Do Re Mi while riding down a street in the middle of the desert is a sight the Siwans won’t forget for awhile. That night we went out to a salt lake and floated there watching an amazing sunset. We then went to a spring to get the salt off, and swim some more. We then got to bike home in the dark while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. After dinner some of us went to explore the old city/fortress. It looks like a giant sand castle, that just had one little wave wash over it. Apparently it rained for a week once, and the fortress melted. The next day we headed out into the desert. As in, the Great Sand Sea. Yeah, the Sahara. I was there. We took jeeps out there and our driver was crazy. I definitely hit my head on the roof a couple times. He thought (and we agreed with him) that it was fun to make really sharp turns for no reason and go over the steepest parts of the dunes whenever possible. Definitely drove down some dune cliffs. We went sandboarding on the dunes, which was slightly disappointing after spending too much time on real mountains with snow where you can actually go down at a decent pace. But that’s ok. We then did some more swimming and watched another amazing sunset. There might have been skinny dipping as well. Maybe. Then we went to a “Bedouin camp” (of questionable authenticity) and spent the night drinking more Siwan tea, dancing to a Siwan band, and staring at the stars. The stars were truly incredible. The band was also pretty awesome – they were drunk and high, but Siwan men know how to dance. It was really funny watching the MESP guys try to dance in comparison to the Siwans, because they pretty much failed. We also helped some random Egyptian policeman and his friends celebrate his birthday – he was high and was blasting American music from his jeep. So funny. That night we all just took our sheets and blankets out into the desert and slept under the stars. I was told it was cold, but I think everyone else was just confused. There were a couple different groups of us out there, and the people I was with definitely got “caravan raided” by a “Bedouin sheet tribe”. I joined the tribe and went to raid the other camp. But they were already asleep so we couldn’t do anything to them – sad day. Dana and I then got into an epic wrestling match with Brian and Chris because Brian stole Dana’s sheet because he was trying to kick her out of the sheet tribe. Overall Siwa was probably our least mature weekend, but it was a ton of fun. And we all needed a chance to relax because now we’re writing papers. We leave for travel in 2 weeks, and have 4 papers, plus finals in ITP and Arabic to do before then. Fun stuff. When we got back from Siwa we went to Al-Azhar. Unfortunately we had transportation issues (our bus didn’t show up) so our time was cut short, but we still got to have some pretty great conversations. The representative who was talking to us was very good at evading questions, which was frustrating. I talked to a student from Nigeria who held forth for a really long time on the problems of corrupt government, but his accent was really difficult to understand so I couldn’t really engage in the conversation as much as I wanted.
We also had an awesome girls dance hafla in flat 5. We baked brownies and such and invited all our Egyptian friends over. A little music, some food, a lot of people, and a big enough space to dance makes for an awesome night. And a lot of dishes. It was fantastic. I’d love to put up pictures, but many of the ones I took can’t go up online because the muslim girls unveiled once they got to our flat.
Last week we got to visit the Arab League which was amazing. Except for the part where we all had to be dressed really professionally, which is uncomfortable, especially when you’re in Cairo and it’s super hot and you’re taking a taxi down town. Anyway, at the AL they took us into their big conference room and we got to take ridiculous pictures pretending we were AL delegates. I made a speech. J Too bad none of us look like we’re from the Middle East – oh well, we all felt important. Afterwards we went to one of their small conference rooms and talked with someone important whose name I can’t remember right now. It was a pretty fantastic discussion. We happened to be there the day they were opening a Gandhi exhibit, so we went to the end of the panel discussion related to that and the reception afterward. We got to wander around eating Indian food mixing with (mostly just looking really out of place) with really important people. It was pretty cool. The exhibit was interesting as well – it was basically a series of posters with pictures and quotes summarizing Gandhi’s life. It culminated by making a big deal about Gandhi’s anti-Israel statement. Like I said – interesting…
Last weekend we left Cairo for our Siwa Oasis. Siwa is technically in Egypt, but it has its own distinct culture – language and all. Jon has a Siwan friend, Ismayil, so the first day we were there we got to go hang out with his family. Siwan tea is incredibly sweet and strong; it was kind of like drinking syrup. Oh, and Siwan dates are abnormally good, just fyi. Women in Siwa are extremely sheltered, and basically have no rights. Ismayil told us that most girls are engaged by the time their 13, and get married at 16. The marriage is arranged between the man and the girl’s father, and even after she’s engaged the girl probably will only get to see her fiancé once or twice a year for a minute or two. A women always has to have permission from a male family member in order to leave the house. If she does leave the house, she is fully covered. The few women we saw on the streets were sitting in donkey carts wearing a burka with an extra shawl over their head and shoulders for good measure. When we went to Ismayil’s house the MESP guys were of course not allowed to meet his mom, sisters, etc. So we just sat and talked with him for awhile, while he told us about Siwan culture. We then kicked all the guys out, and the girls got to actually talk to some Siwan women. Ismayil stayed to translate, which made the conversation difficult. We felt like they might not be answering questions fully because they had to say everything through Ismayil. When we asked if certain aspects of their culture were frustrating or difficult for them, they usually just responded by saying “it’s normal”. Even if we didn’t get the whole story it was still really interesting. They also gave us henna which was pretty awesome. Mine’s mostly gone now, but it was sweet while it lasted.
We rented bikes that first day to ride around Siwa – pretty sure 30 white kids singing Do Re Mi while riding down a street in the middle of the desert is a sight the Siwans won’t forget for awhile. That night we went out to a salt lake and floated there watching an amazing sunset. We then went to a spring to get the salt off, and swim some more. We then got to bike home in the dark while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. After dinner some of us went to explore the old city/fortress. It looks like a giant sand castle, that just had one little wave wash over it. Apparently it rained for a week once, and the fortress melted. The next day we headed out into the desert. As in, the Great Sand Sea. Yeah, the Sahara. I was there. We took jeeps out there and our driver was crazy. I definitely hit my head on the roof a couple times. He thought (and we agreed with him) that it was fun to make really sharp turns for no reason and go over the steepest parts of the dunes whenever possible. Definitely drove down some dune cliffs. We went sandboarding on the dunes, which was slightly disappointing after spending too much time on real mountains with snow where you can actually go down at a decent pace. But that’s ok. We then did some more swimming and watched another amazing sunset. There might have been skinny dipping as well. Maybe. Then we went to a “Bedouin camp” (of questionable authenticity) and spent the night drinking more Siwan tea, dancing to a Siwan band, and staring at the stars. The stars were truly incredible. The band was also pretty awesome – they were drunk and high, but Siwan men know how to dance. It was really funny watching the MESP guys try to dance in comparison to the Siwans, because they pretty much failed. We also helped some random Egyptian policeman and his friends celebrate his birthday – he was high and was blasting American music from his jeep. So funny. That night we all just took our sheets and blankets out into the desert and slept under the stars. I was told it was cold, but I think everyone else was just confused. There were a couple different groups of us out there, and the people I was with definitely got “caravan raided” by a “Bedouin sheet tribe”. I joined the tribe and went to raid the other camp. But they were already asleep so we couldn’t do anything to them – sad day. Dana and I then got into an epic wrestling match with Brian and Chris because Brian stole Dana’s sheet because he was trying to kick her out of the sheet tribe. Overall Siwa was probably our least mature weekend, but it was a ton of fun. And we all needed a chance to relax because now we’re writing papers. We leave for travel in 2 weeks, and have 4 papers, plus finals in ITP and Arabic to do before then. Fun stuff. When we got back from Siwa we went to Al-Azhar. Unfortunately we had transportation issues (our bus didn’t show up) so our time was cut short, but we still got to have some pretty great conversations. The representative who was talking to us was very good at evading questions, which was frustrating. I talked to a student from Nigeria who held forth for a really long time on the problems of corrupt government, but his accent was really difficult to understand so I couldn’t really engage in the conversation as much as I wanted.
We also had an awesome girls dance hafla in flat 5. We baked brownies and such and invited all our Egyptian friends over. A little music, some food, a lot of people, and a big enough space to dance makes for an awesome night. And a lot of dishes. It was fantastic. I’d love to put up pictures, but many of the ones I took can’t go up online because the muslim girls unveiled once they got to our flat.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Homestays!
Like I said – amazing stories. I wound up being placed with Jeem, who also happens to be our belly dancing teacher. She lives in Shoubra in an average middle-class flat. She has three kids (Ahmad -9, Adham – 6, and Allahe – 2, but goes by LuLu). Her husband Adhel works really random hours for a tv company – I didn’t see him much. Jeem and Ahmad both speak pretty good English. They could understand most of what I said, but had a harder time actually speaking English themselves. Which was ok, of course, because it meant I learned a lot more Arabic. When we first got to her house, Jeem took me into the kitchen and told me the Arabic words for everything. She then yelled at me when I promptly forgot most of what she’d said. It took me awhile to figure out that yelling is her way of joking. Ahmad thought it was the most hilarious thing ever to teach me Arabic tongue twisters and then laugh at me when I tried to say them.
Living in their house for a week was very strange because I was in a sort of limbo between guest and family member. I’d be folding laundry one minute and the next minute be served my own huge bowl of aatz as the rest of the family shared one the same size. Jeem also like to yell at me for not doing my homework, but also yell at me for not sitting and drinking tea with her. I’ve never had so much tea and coffee in my life as I drank last week. She made me Nescafe every morning – and I absolutely had to finish it, because if I didn’t I could never get married. When she told me this I laughed because I thought she was joking, but she was serious. She also gave me multiple cups of tea and Turkish coffee every night – it was great. I learned how to make tea “properly” and serve it nicely, too. Egyptian hospitality is a complicated art! By the end of the week I was getting pretty good at it though. Random friends and relatives showed up the house all week, and Jeem had me take care of the tea sometimes. I got the distinct feeling she was showing off her American “daughter”.
I got some pretty interesting insights into Egyptian family relationships as well. Jeem is veiled, but vocally complains about said veil all the time, and takes it off the second she gets inside. (I can’t blame her). There is very clear difference between what happens in the home, and how people act on the street here. Leaving the house – even just to go grab some groceries – is a complicated process because you have to dress up. Out on the street people are pretty reserved, women especially. But once you’re in the house, there’s basically no reserve at all. We went to Jeem’s parent’s house for dinner one day and her sister just sat cross legged on the table to eat, because it was relaxed family meal. Egyptians also don’t have the concept of a quiet conversation inside. Or maybe that was just Jeem’s family because we always had to talk over LuLu’s screaming. She would seriously just wander through the apartment screaming for no reason at all and the parents never did anything about it.
I had a very interesting conversation with my host parents about Obama. Most Egyptians view of America is really very strange. They idolize the average US citizen because they want our rich lifestyle – they’re always trying to be more “western”. But they really don’t like American politics, have a huge mistrust of any US involvement in the Middle East, and absolutely despise Bush. Many expected Obama to change everything, though, and make US-Middle East relations all perfect all of a sudden. Now that he’s been in office for awhile and they haven’t seen any real changes, they don’t really know what to think. So they always ask us what we think of Obama. When Jeem and Adhel asked me, I said that I didn’t think he’d be able to accomplish a lot of what he’d promised during campaigns. And then I told them about some of his domestic policies that I really didn’t agree with – like abortion. This led into a huge discussion about morals, and the states role in morals which was really weird to have with a Muslim family when we barely spoke the same language. They were shocked by what I told them about abortion in the US – so shocked it was almost comical. At the same time as they took a very conservative position on the abortion question they took a very liberal stand on foreign policy (and I know Jeem is basically a “fem-nazi” disguised in her veil). It reminded me again why I don’t like the two-party system, which tries to make everyone fit all their decisions in one box or the other, rather than allowing actual thought and a multiplicity of views. That whole conversation made me really happy that my family spoke English, and realize what an awesome opportunity our home-stays are.
Another favorite moment for me was trying to explain what a moose is. I was trying to tell them about Alaska, so I showed them a picture of a cow and calf. They thought it was a horse. Unfortunately I didn’t have a picture of a bull so they remained very confused. And I didn’t know the Arabic word for deer, so that whole conversation just didn’t really work at all. Getting to Agouza from Shoubra every morning was also fun. This was the first time I’d really traveled alone in Cairo. Thankfully the metro here is incredibly easy, and I lucked out with good taxi drivers. I also had a whole conversation with one taxi driver (in Arabic!) and it took him a couple minutes to figure out that I didn’t speak Arabic fluently. I was so excited! At the end of my homestay, they gave me a number of incredibly random gifts. I got a huge (ugly) necklace, with massive matching earings, AND an identical set to take home to my mom in Alaska. And a pair of socks. And a wooden car. And a half-used jar of nail polish. It was very strange. It was also really sweet, because it was so sincere. They clearly were just trying to say they’d enjoyed having me stay with them, and the way they gave them to me managed to be a lot more genuine than some of the really nice gifts I’ve gotten in the states. It was crazy! Basically, that is a week I will never forget – ever. And according to Jeem, if any of my relatives ever come visit Egypt they aren’t allowed to stay in hotel, they have to go stay with her.
Next post I'll tell you about our visit to the Arab League, which was an experience and half! And also Siwa Oasis. We're leaving tomorrow and come back Saturday. Should be fun. :)
Living in their house for a week was very strange because I was in a sort of limbo between guest and family member. I’d be folding laundry one minute and the next minute be served my own huge bowl of aatz as the rest of the family shared one the same size. Jeem also like to yell at me for not doing my homework, but also yell at me for not sitting and drinking tea with her. I’ve never had so much tea and coffee in my life as I drank last week. She made me Nescafe every morning – and I absolutely had to finish it, because if I didn’t I could never get married. When she told me this I laughed because I thought she was joking, but she was serious. She also gave me multiple cups of tea and Turkish coffee every night – it was great. I learned how to make tea “properly” and serve it nicely, too. Egyptian hospitality is a complicated art! By the end of the week I was getting pretty good at it though. Random friends and relatives showed up the house all week, and Jeem had me take care of the tea sometimes. I got the distinct feeling she was showing off her American “daughter”.
I got some pretty interesting insights into Egyptian family relationships as well. Jeem is veiled, but vocally complains about said veil all the time, and takes it off the second she gets inside. (I can’t blame her). There is very clear difference between what happens in the home, and how people act on the street here. Leaving the house – even just to go grab some groceries – is a complicated process because you have to dress up. Out on the street people are pretty reserved, women especially. But once you’re in the house, there’s basically no reserve at all. We went to Jeem’s parent’s house for dinner one day and her sister just sat cross legged on the table to eat, because it was relaxed family meal. Egyptians also don’t have the concept of a quiet conversation inside. Or maybe that was just Jeem’s family because we always had to talk over LuLu’s screaming. She would seriously just wander through the apartment screaming for no reason at all and the parents never did anything about it.
I had a very interesting conversation with my host parents about Obama. Most Egyptians view of America is really very strange. They idolize the average US citizen because they want our rich lifestyle – they’re always trying to be more “western”. But they really don’t like American politics, have a huge mistrust of any US involvement in the Middle East, and absolutely despise Bush. Many expected Obama to change everything, though, and make US-Middle East relations all perfect all of a sudden. Now that he’s been in office for awhile and they haven’t seen any real changes, they don’t really know what to think. So they always ask us what we think of Obama. When Jeem and Adhel asked me, I said that I didn’t think he’d be able to accomplish a lot of what he’d promised during campaigns. And then I told them about some of his domestic policies that I really didn’t agree with – like abortion. This led into a huge discussion about morals, and the states role in morals which was really weird to have with a Muslim family when we barely spoke the same language. They were shocked by what I told them about abortion in the US – so shocked it was almost comical. At the same time as they took a very conservative position on the abortion question they took a very liberal stand on foreign policy (and I know Jeem is basically a “fem-nazi” disguised in her veil). It reminded me again why I don’t like the two-party system, which tries to make everyone fit all their decisions in one box or the other, rather than allowing actual thought and a multiplicity of views. That whole conversation made me really happy that my family spoke English, and realize what an awesome opportunity our home-stays are.
Another favorite moment for me was trying to explain what a moose is. I was trying to tell them about Alaska, so I showed them a picture of a cow and calf. They thought it was a horse. Unfortunately I didn’t have a picture of a bull so they remained very confused. And I didn’t know the Arabic word for deer, so that whole conversation just didn’t really work at all. Getting to Agouza from Shoubra every morning was also fun. This was the first time I’d really traveled alone in Cairo. Thankfully the metro here is incredibly easy, and I lucked out with good taxi drivers. I also had a whole conversation with one taxi driver (in Arabic!) and it took him a couple minutes to figure out that I didn’t speak Arabic fluently. I was so excited! At the end of my homestay, they gave me a number of incredibly random gifts. I got a huge (ugly) necklace, with massive matching earings, AND an identical set to take home to my mom in Alaska. And a pair of socks. And a wooden car. And a half-used jar of nail polish. It was very strange. It was also really sweet, because it was so sincere. They clearly were just trying to say they’d enjoyed having me stay with them, and the way they gave them to me managed to be a lot more genuine than some of the really nice gifts I’ve gotten in the states. It was crazy! Basically, that is a week I will never forget – ever. And according to Jeem, if any of my relatives ever come visit Egypt they aren’t allowed to stay in hotel, they have to go stay with her.
Next post I'll tell you about our visit to the Arab League, which was an experience and half! And also Siwa Oasis. We're leaving tomorrow and come back Saturday. Should be fun. :)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Luxor/Anafora/General Life in Cairo
Another week of classes down. Awesome lecture from Dr. Heather’s husband about how to live cross culturally. Fantastic engagement party for Jeem’s sister (our belly dancing teacher): I learned that white girls just really can’t dance, and that Egyptian guys can shake their hips better than I can, which is a little disturbing. :) Intense grilling of the poor guy who came to talk to us from the American embassy – I think he’d been in the bureaucracy too long because he seemed unable to answer a direct question. We took the night train to Luxor and I took an excessive number of pictures of incredibly old statues/temples/etc. They no longer allow pictures in the Valley of the Kings, unfortunately, so I don’t have any pictures of Ramses’ sarcophagus to share with you. Our hotel had a pool on the roof, which was fantastic. The only down side to Luxor was that the harassment was worse there than it is in Cairo – or maybe we just realized it more because they spoke more English so we understood more of what they were saying. We took the night train back to Cairo, and a wonderful free day to sleep/do homework. Service project day – I usually get to hang out with adorable Sudanese preschoolers for 5 hours. When Kelsey and I got there though, the school was closed because of Eid (the end-of-Ramadaan holiday). More classes. Crazy lecture from a pastor who seemed to be arguing that one could be a Christian without accepting your need for salvation. Belly Dancing – Jeem yells at us a lot, and we never really understand what she’s saying. Cooking class – my favorite part is trying to identify ingredients since the teacher doesn’t speak enough English to say what it is. Pretty sure I’m not going to be able to find everything for these recipes in Anchorage. Seattle maybe, Anchorage no.
Yesterday we went to Anafora, which is a Coptic retreat center and hung out with a bunch of Coptic Christians all day. Bishop Thomas talked with us in the morning about Coptic identity and the challenges the church faces, so we all got a little insight into why Dr. Heather always says “Bishop Thomas for president”! He had some pretty amazing stories about his encounters with Muslim extremist groups – most of which are not supposed to be “published”. We spent the afternoon talking with the other students about our different faith backgrounds and trying to explain Protestantism to them – which was difficult since none of us had the same definition. In the evening we went to their prayer service, which none of us understood a word of, but the singing was amazing! We also spent some time just worshiping God together – we sang a few songs in both Arabic and English, but then we just took turns singing one of our songs, and then one of theirs. It was really beautiful, and Anafora is an amazing place. It’s far enough outside of Cairo that the air is actually clear, and it’s pretty green too – they have orchards and stuff. We get to go back to there for a 3-day retreat right before we come back to the states…so good.
Tomorrow we start our weeklong homestays which is really exciting and a little terrifying. All of the girls will be with Muslim families – it’s harder to get Muslim families to take the guys since the women in the family would never be able to unveil – and most of us will be in poorer neighborhoods really far away from Agouza, and there’s a good chance our families will speak no English. So yeah, I’m sure I’ll have some pretty amazing stories after this week.
Yesterday we went to Anafora, which is a Coptic retreat center and hung out with a bunch of Coptic Christians all day. Bishop Thomas talked with us in the morning about Coptic identity and the challenges the church faces, so we all got a little insight into why Dr. Heather always says “Bishop Thomas for president”! He had some pretty amazing stories about his encounters with Muslim extremist groups – most of which are not supposed to be “published”. We spent the afternoon talking with the other students about our different faith backgrounds and trying to explain Protestantism to them – which was difficult since none of us had the same definition. In the evening we went to their prayer service, which none of us understood a word of, but the singing was amazing! We also spent some time just worshiping God together – we sang a few songs in both Arabic and English, but then we just took turns singing one of our songs, and then one of theirs. It was really beautiful, and Anafora is an amazing place. It’s far enough outside of Cairo that the air is actually clear, and it’s pretty green too – they have orchards and stuff. We get to go back to there for a 3-day retreat right before we come back to the states…so good.
Tomorrow we start our weeklong homestays which is really exciting and a little terrifying. All of the girls will be with Muslim families – it’s harder to get Muslim families to take the guys since the women in the family would never be able to unveil – and most of us will be in poorer neighborhoods really far away from Agouza, and there’s a good chance our families will speak no English. So yeah, I’m sure I’ll have some pretty amazing stories after this week.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Classes
So we’ve been studying. This is a good thing, I think. What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger, right? The majority of our classes will be taught by Dr. Heather, who is the program director this semester. She is filling in for Dr. Holt who just got married and is spending this semester in the states with his wife’s family. She is wonderful, but we’ve decided she would be really scary if she ever got angry at you. The interns – or program assistants if you want to be official about it – are Jon and Dena, and they are pretty fantastic. Seriously, I want to be Dena when I grow up. She takes care of so many details and is so capable at pretty much everything, but she never makes us feel ridiculous when we’re so obviously incapable at so many things here in Cairo. Also, she’s really sweet and hilarious. Jon’s pretty cool too - he’s really good at making people feel comfortable and keeping everyone included in the group and all that. We like to call him Papa Jon. The other staff member is Dr. Diaa who takes care of everything for us from train tickets to dispensing medicine. So that’s the staff. Like I said, Dr. Heather teaches, but we’re going to have a lot of guest lecturers too. We had an Egyptian sociology professor come talk to us last week about poverty and gender issues in Egypt, and today the founder of Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights talked to us about human rights in Egypt. We also have Dr. Chahinda for our Islamic Thought and Practice class. We’ve only met for that class once – and that was in a mosque. We did a tour of some of the oldest/coolest mosques in Cairo with Dr. Chahinda and even got to go up the minaret on one. The view was fantastic! Anyway, these classes will obviously pretty ridiculous – we’re going to dig through some really hard stuff and I’m a little scared. Already I’ve come up against a deep rooted hatred for the US, which I knew existed and to a certain extent can understand but is hard to deal with anyway. Seriously the stuff we’re reading is blowing my mind a little. But that’s ok, I’m sure it’ll be good for me eventually. Our other class is, of course, Arabic. My Arabic teacher is ridiculous and likes to tell random stories. She’s also teaching us songs in Arabic – and the Lord’s Prayer. It’s good stuff. J So, yeah, just thought I’d let you know what I’m doing with my brain this semester.
Weekend in Dahab
We just got back from Dahab yesterday, in various states of sunburn. I managed to only get a little lobster-ish on my back. We left Cairo Wednesday night and drove to Gabal Mussa (Moses’s Mountain – Mt. Sinai). That bus ride was the first time I’ve been cold since I’ve been here. Apparently the AC had only one setting – full blast – which made sleeping a little difficult. We got there around 2am and headed up the camel trail. The Bedouins had a bunch of little shacks set-up as rest stops along the way - at which they sold water and such for lots of money. They also followed us most of the way up the mountain trying to get us to ride camels because “is very long way”. The last bit of the hike consisted of 700something steps. At the top we ate breakfast while waiting for the sunrise. The view was incredible! It kind of felt like going on a pilgrimage since we were at a place of such Biblical significance, and because there were so many other people there with us. There was probably about 150 people up there all waiting for the sunrise – we cheered when the sun finally poked out from behind the mountain. We headed back pretty quickly after the sun was up to try to beat the heat, but failed at that. It was ridiculously hot by the time we made it back down. It was around 8am by then, so we waited around – I slept – for about an hour, until the St. Catherine’s Monastery opened. They have a pretty impressive collection of really old Bibles and icons. I was going to buy some souvenirs there until I realized the prices were in Euros, not Egyptian pounds. The monastery also houses the “burning bush” – contrary to Jon’s (one of the MESP interns) claim, it is not still burning. J
After the monastery we piled back onto the bus and drove a few more hours to Dahab. Despite having basically pulled an all-nighter and hiking a mountain that night we went out for lunch (at a restaurant called the Funny Mummy – so good!) and then went swimming. After a shower – which was in salt water, so not very effective – we went to dinner. The restaurants in Dahab are mostly open air places right on the water with a nice view of Saudi Arabia. Dena (the other intern) and Jon (our interns are awesome, btw) told us we couldn’t try swimming to the kingdom unless we happened to have a burkini. The next morning we went to the Blue Hole and went snorkeling. It’s apparently the 2nd best snorkeling location in the world, and for the kid from Alaska it was pretty impressive. The colors of the coral and the fish just blew me away. I also swallowed a ton of salt water. I went to the Funny Mummy again for dinner with a small group of the girls and we wound up staying for 4 hours. We were about ready to leave when a bunch of the other MESPers showed up, so we stayed and ordered dessert instead. We then went back to the hotel and played cards and talked till 2am. I was going to get up early the next morning for one more swim but was too lazy to get up when the alarm went off. After one more amazing meal at Funny Mummy we piled back onto the bus and drove 9 hours back to Cairo. We got Jon to tell us his epic engagement story on the way back which took over 2 hours to tell, and definitely shortened the trip back. It’s such an amazing story – it could seriously be a movie and make lots of money. We got back to Cairo and most of us went for dinner at this great fast food place in Agouza where you can get fool for 1.25LE (around 25 cents). I’m going to have a really hard time buying stuff when I go home because everything is so ridiculously cheap here.
Pretty much, it was the best weekend ever.
After the monastery we piled back onto the bus and drove a few more hours to Dahab. Despite having basically pulled an all-nighter and hiking a mountain that night we went out for lunch (at a restaurant called the Funny Mummy – so good!) and then went swimming. After a shower – which was in salt water, so not very effective – we went to dinner. The restaurants in Dahab are mostly open air places right on the water with a nice view of Saudi Arabia. Dena (the other intern) and Jon (our interns are awesome, btw) told us we couldn’t try swimming to the kingdom unless we happened to have a burkini. The next morning we went to the Blue Hole and went snorkeling. It’s apparently the 2nd best snorkeling location in the world, and for the kid from Alaska it was pretty impressive. The colors of the coral and the fish just blew me away. I also swallowed a ton of salt water. I went to the Funny Mummy again for dinner with a small group of the girls and we wound up staying for 4 hours. We were about ready to leave when a bunch of the other MESPers showed up, so we stayed and ordered dessert instead. We then went back to the hotel and played cards and talked till 2am. I was going to get up early the next morning for one more swim but was too lazy to get up when the alarm went off. After one more amazing meal at Funny Mummy we piled back onto the bus and drove 9 hours back to Cairo. We got Jon to tell us his epic engagement story on the way back which took over 2 hours to tell, and definitely shortened the trip back. It’s such an amazing story – it could seriously be a movie and make lots of money. We got back to Cairo and most of us went for dinner at this great fast food place in Agouza where you can get fool for 1.25LE (around 25 cents). I’m going to have a really hard time buying stuff when I go home because everything is so ridiculously cheap here.
Pretty much, it was the best weekend ever.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Classes started on Wednesday, which was a pretty harsh reminder that this isn’t vacation. I’m actually going to have to study. Arabic is going to be harder than I thought. So far my Fusha training is just confusing me since so much of the aamya (Egyptian dialect) is different. I keep pronouncing everything wrong and using the wrong words. I can at least read the street signs though – but most of those are in English as well as Arabic so that doesn’t really make a difference. Our other classes are going to be pretty intense as well. We’ll be writing lots of papers, and I’m guessing Dr. Heather won’t grade very easily.
The other night we randomly got invited to an Egyptian family’s house for tea – which actually turned out to be juice. We met this woman on the street and were trying to practice using our Arabic. She was trying to practice her English. So then she took us up to her apartment and we met her sister and brother-in-law and their kids, and her kids, and her mom. It was hilarious because we couldn’t really communicate, but we had a good time anyway. They were so sweet and welcoming. Egyptian hospitality really is amazing.
The weekend here is Friday-Saturday instead of Sat-Sun because of Friday prayers. I’m starting to feel like I kind of know my way around Cairo – or at least around Agouza. We went to the Citadel (11th Century fortress) today which was pretty impressive. Salah Al-Din apparently knew what he was doing when he built it because it’s definitely impenetrable. I discovered that first hand as I had to walk all the way around it since our taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong spot. He then tried to ask us for more money…jerk. Anyway, we did eventually get there, and saw some amazing views of the city, with the pyramids in the distance. The mosque there is amazing as well. I tried to get pictures but I was kind of burning my feet on the stones in the court-yard (no shoes in the mosque), so I’m not sure if the outside ones really turned out. The inside pictures are fine though – I now have a crick in my neck from staring straight up at these fantastic painted carvings and lights inside the domes. It was very impressive.
Next weekend we’re going to Sinai and Dahab. So I’ll be hiking Mount Sinai, and then snorkeling in the Red Sea. Yeah, I know you’re jealous – I’m sorry. Tomorrow we’re going to the pyramids and possibly the Egyptian museum.
I miss you all! Sorry this turned into another long post.
The other night we randomly got invited to an Egyptian family’s house for tea – which actually turned out to be juice. We met this woman on the street and were trying to practice using our Arabic. She was trying to practice her English. So then she took us up to her apartment and we met her sister and brother-in-law and their kids, and her kids, and her mom. It was hilarious because we couldn’t really communicate, but we had a good time anyway. They were so sweet and welcoming. Egyptian hospitality really is amazing.
The weekend here is Friday-Saturday instead of Sat-Sun because of Friday prayers. I’m starting to feel like I kind of know my way around Cairo – or at least around Agouza. We went to the Citadel (11th Century fortress) today which was pretty impressive. Salah Al-Din apparently knew what he was doing when he built it because it’s definitely impenetrable. I discovered that first hand as I had to walk all the way around it since our taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong spot. He then tried to ask us for more money…jerk. Anyway, we did eventually get there, and saw some amazing views of the city, with the pyramids in the distance. The mosque there is amazing as well. I tried to get pictures but I was kind of burning my feet on the stones in the court-yard (no shoes in the mosque), so I’m not sure if the outside ones really turned out. The inside pictures are fine though – I now have a crick in my neck from staring straight up at these fantastic painted carvings and lights inside the domes. It was very impressive.
Next weekend we’re going to Sinai and Dahab. So I’ll be hiking Mount Sinai, and then snorkeling in the Red Sea. Yeah, I know you’re jealous – I’m sorry. Tomorrow we’re going to the pyramids and possibly the Egyptian museum.
I miss you all! Sorry this turned into another long post.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
MESP orientation has been crazy, so this entry has a lot to cover. It’s going to be pretty ridiculously long – sorry. J I can’t believe I’ve been here almost a week! The flights here were long, of course, and I didn’t sleep much, so I was pretty exhausted when we finally made it to Cairo. Once we cleared customs we met the MESP staff and loaded onto a bus for the ride home. The airport is pretty far out from Agouza (our neighborhood), so we got to see a lot of the city driving through. If we hadn’t been so tired we would have been super excited when we drove over the Nile – it’s beautiful! They dropped us off on the corner and we got to drag our suitcases down a couple blocks to our flats – amid many stares from locals. Unfortunately for us the elevator in the girls’ building broke after the first trip up so most of us got to drag everything up 5 or 6 flights of stairs. Fun times! The flat is fantastic though. Everything in it is kind of falling apart, but that just adds to the character. All the décor is overly ornate and completely mismatched. Except for the quilts which are exactly the same in all three rooms. Our washing machine is possessed, and I’m still convinced that the oven is going to explode one of these days. Also, the day after we got here my roommate Tiara got stuck in the bathroom because the latch jammed. I couldn’t get her out even after taking off the handle. So we called the villa and Asharof came over and pretty much pounded out the door around the lock. And this was only day 2… Like I said, our flat is fantastic.
Since getting here we’ve gone on a bus tour of the city, a felucca ride on the Nile, visited a mosque, smoked shisha at the Khan, gotten our visa extensions, explored Garbage City and a Coptic monastery, and figured out how to get around Cairo which seems to involve a lot of arguing with taxi drivers and dashing across six lanes of chaotic traffic. When we visited the mosque all of us women had to veil, and I’m pretty sure 16 veiled white women wandering the streets of Cairo is incredibly entertaining. One night they let us be tourists, so we got to go out on the Nile which was amazing. We went at sunset, so the weather was cooling off and there was a nice breeze – we also had some pretty awesome views of the city. Afterwards we went to the Khan, which is basically the tourist bazaar. They made an exception to the no smoking rule to let us try shisha. In my typical klutzy fashion I kind of choked on it. It wasn’t very good. J We then wandered around the market which was huge. There were so many people, and so much stuff! It was a bit overwhelming. The guys trying to sell their wares were entertaining too – no flattery was beyond them. I had one tell me I could get ¼ price if I smiled for him, and another say I should buy something from him because he liked my eyes. Except for the fact that they were ridiculously persistent it was pretty entertaining. At Garbage City I had the chance to interact with some Egyptian kids. Mardeena is 6 years old and her mom works at the orphanage we visited. She tried to teach me Arabic, but kept on throwing random French words in too. Neveen is 9 and has quite the attitude. She attached herself to KK and I at the monastery. She was adorable, but I could only understand about 1 in 100 words. I think she wanted me to give her my camera. She pouted when I refused.
Anyway, sorry to subject you to such a massive entry. I just wanted to give you some of the highlights of what I’ve been doing. There’s many more stories that I can (and probably will, eventually) bore you with, but I think that’s good for now. Ahalan wa sahalan.
Since getting here we’ve gone on a bus tour of the city, a felucca ride on the Nile, visited a mosque, smoked shisha at the Khan, gotten our visa extensions, explored Garbage City and a Coptic monastery, and figured out how to get around Cairo which seems to involve a lot of arguing with taxi drivers and dashing across six lanes of chaotic traffic. When we visited the mosque all of us women had to veil, and I’m pretty sure 16 veiled white women wandering the streets of Cairo is incredibly entertaining. One night they let us be tourists, so we got to go out on the Nile which was amazing. We went at sunset, so the weather was cooling off and there was a nice breeze – we also had some pretty awesome views of the city. Afterwards we went to the Khan, which is basically the tourist bazaar. They made an exception to the no smoking rule to let us try shisha. In my typical klutzy fashion I kind of choked on it. It wasn’t very good. J We then wandered around the market which was huge. There were so many people, and so much stuff! It was a bit overwhelming. The guys trying to sell their wares were entertaining too – no flattery was beyond them. I had one tell me I could get ¼ price if I smiled for him, and another say I should buy something from him because he liked my eyes. Except for the fact that they were ridiculously persistent it was pretty entertaining. At Garbage City I had the chance to interact with some Egyptian kids. Mardeena is 6 years old and her mom works at the orphanage we visited. She tried to teach me Arabic, but kept on throwing random French words in too. Neveen is 9 and has quite the attitude. She attached herself to KK and I at the monastery. She was adorable, but I could only understand about 1 in 100 words. I think she wanted me to give her my camera. She pouted when I refused.
Anyway, sorry to subject you to such a massive entry. I just wanted to give you some of the highlights of what I’ve been doing. There’s many more stories that I can (and probably will, eventually) bore you with, but I think that’s good for now. Ahalan wa sahalan.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Finally here!
After a 2 1/2 day journey across the country, I'm finally here in Cairo. It's ridiculously hot, but I think I'll survive. The other MESP students are great, and my flat is amazing, even if it is falling apart. I seriously think the oven is going to explode it we try to use it, but I guess we'll find out. They took us for a bus tour of Cairo today to help us figure out what's where so that we aren't completely lost when they set us loose on the city alone. We drove past the pyramids and over the Nile. Pretty amazing. :) I can't wait for a chance to go back. The architecture here is also fantastic! Alot of it is really old and falling apart, and since it doesn't rain here it's all pretty filthy, but you can still see how beautiful it is. I definitely need to get some pictures up for you soon.
They're going to keep us pretty busy for the next week, but next Wednesday our normal classes and such will start so I'll have more of a chance to update (maybe).
They're going to keep us pretty busy for the next week, but next Wednesday our normal classes and such will start so I'll have more of a chance to update (maybe).
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Two Weeks
Summer is short. Home is just starting to feel like "home" again. But now I'm leaving for something completely different in just two short weeks. I still have a ton to do before I'm ready to leave, of course, but I'm starting to realize that this trip is actually going to happen. Scary. And amazingly exciting! I'd appreciate all your prayers as I prepare to (again!) leave behind everything (and everyone) that I know for what I'm sure will be the adventure of a lifetime.
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