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!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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. :)
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