Well... I spoke too soon about feeling better, apparently, because I had another flare-up just in time for our trip to Sinai, in which I was to climb to the top of Moses' mountain. I was more than a little stressed about this idea, but a few sorta sketchy Egyptian pills later, I managed to make it up and down the mountain without an emergency mountain-goat-esque bathroom run. There are no mountain goats on Mt. Sinai, but neither are there trees or any sort of sheltering vegetation (this, like the library of Alexandria, was a shock that should not have been a shock. Of course there wouldn't be vegetation on a mountain in the middle of the desert! What was I imagining, the Rockies? Sadly, yes... I was.) so at any rate, the stark and rocky terrain would not have been a pleasant bathroom experience...
We left our hotel at 2 a.m. in order to start the hike and make it to the top in time for the sunrise, and because of the altitude plus nighttime desert temperatures, I was cold outside for the first time so far in Egypt. (!!) We had a Bedouin tour guide to help us up the mountain, though we could have followed the whole string of pilgrims with flashlights and lanterns if we were truly lost-- it was really impressive to look above you and see a line of lights slowly ascending in a squiggly switchback line. All nationalities of people were there, from Romanians in head coverings to Spaniards quoting the Bible in Spanish as they climbed. (for myself, considering my lack of energy from the sickness it was all I could do to breathe on the ascent, let alone sing or read, but I was impressed.) The sunrise was quite a respectable sunrise, and though my camera doesn't do it justice at all, I have many pictures that I will be posting to Facebook in the future. However, the main highlight of the Sinai hike was the vast number of camels that we got to share the trail with. I can't imagine anything worse than riding a camel up a steep, rocky trail, but there were more than enough Bedouin camel owners who thought that we were going to poop out every time we stopped for a breath. "Camel ride, very cheap? You will be tired soon?" The poor camel guides closer to the top of the mountain got a far less gracious rejection, I'm afraid. And I cannot even describe to you the sounds a camel makes, but I can say that they do not help when you are already feeling rather queasy.
And did I mention my very favorite camel encounter: the love nibble. After being run off the trail several times by camels that I couldn't see because it was still dark, our group stopped for a break in a small space next to several resting camels. I tried to squeeze between one of my group members and a seated camel to look at something, and suddenly felt HUGE LIPS touching my side. I yelped and sprang forward just in time to miss getting nipped by this big guy's yellow teeth. Way too early for that kind of closeness.
The rest of the trip went by without much event... we returned to our barely-used hotel rooms to shower, then visited St. Catherine's monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai before continuing on to Dahab, a tourist town on the Red Sea. This was by far the most Westernized place we had stayed so far, and it was honestly a really nice change after several weeks of the constant harassment and attention we get out in public. I was able to walk around without getting stared at, even when I was wearing my swimsuit to go snorkeling--and this was such a mental and physical relief. And the snorkeling itself... amazing. This was my first time, and though I am not a strong swimmer, I managed to get the hang of it eventually (after swallowing an awful lot of seawater) The reefs were fantastic, and the water was the perfect temperature for splashing around on a hot day. Completely worth the 25 LE (less than $5, that is) that I paid for renting water boots and flippers.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Upper Egypt... which is actually the south...
This week we had only 2 Arabic classes, then took off for a 4-day excursion to Upper Egypt. And most people probably learned this already at one point or another, as did I once, but I forgot, so:
to clarify, Upper Egypt is the south of Egypt, and Lower Egypt is the north-- because the Nile flows south to north. This is why after getting (slightly) spoiled by Cairo temperatures that were only in the 90s for the last couple weeks, we once again had to plunge into 110+ degree heat down south. Blarg! Luckily most of the places we were staying had air conditioning, for a change... including the sleeper train that we took both ways.
I had high expectations for this sleeper train after watching The Darjeeling Limited, and yes... it was pretty much that awesome. We arrived in Aswan by mid-morning and spent the day visiting a couple temples there. Then we had a felucca ride (sailboat) in the Nile, which was beautiful and excellent for tourist-watching. We saw some excellent British tourists all wearing neon orange life-vests, as well as a very Amurrcan cruise boat that was in fact flying a huge U.S.A. flag from the front. Wow.
It was interesting to see how different everything is in that part of the country-- the countryside is much lusher since we were out of the metropolis, and even the people look significantly different there. I also noticed there was a significant change in selling tactics: many of the street merchants tried flattery and reverse psychology to get you into their shops, whereas in Cairo I feel there is not quite so much strategy! I lost track of how many people yelled "nice eyes" at me before even mentioning what they were selling, and I also got several offers of camels for marriage. Anywhere from 5 camels (conservative offer) to 10,000,000 camels (desperate attempt to sell me a scarf).
We were in Aswan just one day, then traveled to Luxor for the next 3 days. Luxor is one of the ancient capitals of Egypt, and it is also going to be one of the service locations for a couple guys in my SST group, so we needed quite a bit of time there. Probably the most exciting part of Luxor for me was visiting the Valley of the Kings. I had no idea what to expect, but I definitely didn't realize that this was an entire area full of excavated tombs that you can go inside. Our tickets allowed us to go into three different tombs of our choice. Because these tombs have been pretty well sealed in the desert for thousands of years, they have an amazing amount of color still inside them... Many of them had several huge connected rooms, all covered on all the walls and ceilings with huge painted carvings. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I sat and gaped as long as I was allowed to. One of the tombs I went into was a pretty far hike up the side of the rock mounds, followed by a huge set of stairs down inside and then another back up to get to the inner chamber of the tomb. This led me to accidentally think of another bad pun... in addition to Cairobics, we were now experiencing... (wait for it...): Luxorcise. By the time we got to the inside we were already dripping sweat, only to find that this tomb was at a much higher elevation and therefore unbelievably hot and stuffy. I'm pretty sure I have never been so sweat-soaked in my normal clothes-- it was like my job in Kansas this summer, only I was just standing still instead of doing manual labor in work clothes. But totally worth the Luxorcise that it took to get there, and totally worth the jello-legs I had for the rest of the day!
In Luxor I also experienced my first serious illness since arriving in Egypt. We for some reason went to McDonald's for our group meal one night, which I'm sure would have been at least a little more appealing to me if I hadn't already been having stomach pain that day... and then I ordered my meal, a harmless(?) hamburger which ended up to be AS BIG AS MY FACE! This, on top of the internal issues I was already having, led to me and my stomach rejecting all food and water for most of the next day. The most exciting stomach upheaval happened in the very first room of the Luxor Museum, while I was surrounded by a huge group of tourists... lovely, I know. Luckily I had brought a plastic bag! I'm actually the third in our group so far to throw up at a museum, so it's kind of a badge of pride... haha. And no worries, it has been a few days now and I am feeling mostly recovered.
to clarify, Upper Egypt is the south of Egypt, and Lower Egypt is the north-- because the Nile flows south to north. This is why after getting (slightly) spoiled by Cairo temperatures that were only in the 90s for the last couple weeks, we once again had to plunge into 110+ degree heat down south. Blarg! Luckily most of the places we were staying had air conditioning, for a change... including the sleeper train that we took both ways.
I had high expectations for this sleeper train after watching The Darjeeling Limited, and yes... it was pretty much that awesome. We arrived in Aswan by mid-morning and spent the day visiting a couple temples there. Then we had a felucca ride (sailboat) in the Nile, which was beautiful and excellent for tourist-watching. We saw some excellent British tourists all wearing neon orange life-vests, as well as a very Amurrcan cruise boat that was in fact flying a huge U.S.A. flag from the front. Wow.
It was interesting to see how different everything is in that part of the country-- the countryside is much lusher since we were out of the metropolis, and even the people look significantly different there. I also noticed there was a significant change in selling tactics: many of the street merchants tried flattery and reverse psychology to get you into their shops, whereas in Cairo I feel there is not quite so much strategy! I lost track of how many people yelled "nice eyes" at me before even mentioning what they were selling, and I also got several offers of camels for marriage. Anywhere from 5 camels (conservative offer) to 10,000,000 camels (desperate attempt to sell me a scarf).
We were in Aswan just one day, then traveled to Luxor for the next 3 days. Luxor is one of the ancient capitals of Egypt, and it is also going to be one of the service locations for a couple guys in my SST group, so we needed quite a bit of time there. Probably the most exciting part of Luxor for me was visiting the Valley of the Kings. I had no idea what to expect, but I definitely didn't realize that this was an entire area full of excavated tombs that you can go inside. Our tickets allowed us to go into three different tombs of our choice. Because these tombs have been pretty well sealed in the desert for thousands of years, they have an amazing amount of color still inside them... Many of them had several huge connected rooms, all covered on all the walls and ceilings with huge painted carvings. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I sat and gaped as long as I was allowed to. One of the tombs I went into was a pretty far hike up the side of the rock mounds, followed by a huge set of stairs down inside and then another back up to get to the inner chamber of the tomb. This led me to accidentally think of another bad pun... in addition to Cairobics, we were now experiencing... (wait for it...): Luxorcise. By the time we got to the inside we were already dripping sweat, only to find that this tomb was at a much higher elevation and therefore unbelievably hot and stuffy. I'm pretty sure I have never been so sweat-soaked in my normal clothes-- it was like my job in Kansas this summer, only I was just standing still instead of doing manual labor in work clothes. But totally worth the Luxorcise that it took to get there, and totally worth the jello-legs I had for the rest of the day!
In Luxor I also experienced my first serious illness since arriving in Egypt. We for some reason went to McDonald's for our group meal one night, which I'm sure would have been at least a little more appealing to me if I hadn't already been having stomach pain that day... and then I ordered my meal, a harmless(?) hamburger which ended up to be AS BIG AS MY FACE! This, on top of the internal issues I was already having, led to me and my stomach rejecting all food and water for most of the next day. The most exciting stomach upheaval happened in the very first room of the Luxor Museum, while I was surrounded by a huge group of tourists... lovely, I know. Luckily I had brought a plastic bag! I'm actually the third in our group so far to throw up at a museum, so it's kind of a badge of pride... haha. And no worries, it has been a few days now and I am feeling mostly recovered.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Alexandria/Iskandria
I promised an update after our Alexandria trip, then realized when I got back to Cairo that I was more pumped to talk about food... typical.
But there were some things of note in Alexandria, such as the amazing amazing library there. Silly me, I was not aware enough of history and thought maybe there was still a small bit of the original library still in existence-- there is not, but the rebuilt modern library was still extremely awesome to see. It's built (they think) about 200 meters from the original site, and is a huge complex that includes the actual library with a million books (literally... they have capacity for 8 million, but since the library was only finished 7 years ago, they have "only" one million so far), connected to a planetarium, connected to a huge conference center. All of these connecting passages are filled with artifacts from all throughout Egyptian/Middle Eastern history, set up museum-style so that you basically have no idea where you are going to come out next. I would have gotten myself thoroughly lost, except for the fact that we were limited to 45 minutes of free exploring. Was this enough time for the biggest library in the world? Definitely not.. so obviously I am going to have to come back some day.
Next we visited Pompey's Pillar, which I'm pretty sure I read about in my Art History class. And in comparison to most of the ancient sites we have seen so far, I have to say it was not all that impressive. The issue was mostly the hot September sun, which made it hard to rally group spirits-- especially considering the growing number of monuments we've taken in, in a short span of time. (I'm reminded a bit of my complete lack of appreciation for geysers and hot springs after stopping at about the 34th "point of interest" in Yellowstone Park that one vacation... ahem.) :) We slugged our way up the slope and did the necessary poses by the pillar and the sphinx, but I think all of us were a lot more excited about climbing underground into some catacombs, which is what we did next...
I don't have my ticket stub in front of me so I don't remember the exact name of the catacombs, but there were 90-something steps leading down into a space that was carved full of hieroglyphics and Greek/Egyptian imagery. That's one of the most interesting parts of Alexandria--the fact that you can still see how much Greek culture has intertwined into the architecture, the religious symbols, the monuments, etc. The statues from this time period look like normal Pharaonic style, until you look at the faces and hair that are completely Greek, curls, bow-shaped lips and all.
That was about it for our sight-seeing, after which we had a seafood dinner and roamed the city, then spent the night in a hotel close to the sea. Another opportunity to get really confused by a new and different shower (so far I have struck out three times with getting the water to actually come out of the shower head), and another opportunity to hear some new call-to-prayer recordings through the night. The next morning we visited the Alexandria museum and then concluded the trip with a couple hours splashing around in the Mediterranean. This would have easily been the biggest highlight, except for the huge conundrum we faced upon arrival at this beach... where absolutely none of the other women there were dressed in less than a fully covering pants outfit and hijab. Very self-consciously we ladies finally decided to swim with shirts and shorts over our swimsuits, though this still drew a lot of attention to our group. And also led to some pretty awkward tan lines.
And now as I'm finishing this update, I've actually just returned from another trip, this time to Upper Egypt (Aswan and Luxor). More stories to come in the next post!
But there were some things of note in Alexandria, such as the amazing amazing library there. Silly me, I was not aware enough of history and thought maybe there was still a small bit of the original library still in existence-- there is not, but the rebuilt modern library was still extremely awesome to see. It's built (they think) about 200 meters from the original site, and is a huge complex that includes the actual library with a million books (literally... they have capacity for 8 million, but since the library was only finished 7 years ago, they have "only" one million so far), connected to a planetarium, connected to a huge conference center. All of these connecting passages are filled with artifacts from all throughout Egyptian/Middle Eastern history, set up museum-style so that you basically have no idea where you are going to come out next. I would have gotten myself thoroughly lost, except for the fact that we were limited to 45 minutes of free exploring. Was this enough time for the biggest library in the world? Definitely not.. so obviously I am going to have to come back some day.
Next we visited Pompey's Pillar, which I'm pretty sure I read about in my Art History class. And in comparison to most of the ancient sites we have seen so far, I have to say it was not all that impressive. The issue was mostly the hot September sun, which made it hard to rally group spirits-- especially considering the growing number of monuments we've taken in, in a short span of time. (I'm reminded a bit of my complete lack of appreciation for geysers and hot springs after stopping at about the 34th "point of interest" in Yellowstone Park that one vacation... ahem.) :) We slugged our way up the slope and did the necessary poses by the pillar and the sphinx, but I think all of us were a lot more excited about climbing underground into some catacombs, which is what we did next...
I don't have my ticket stub in front of me so I don't remember the exact name of the catacombs, but there were 90-something steps leading down into a space that was carved full of hieroglyphics and Greek/Egyptian imagery. That's one of the most interesting parts of Alexandria--the fact that you can still see how much Greek culture has intertwined into the architecture, the religious symbols, the monuments, etc. The statues from this time period look like normal Pharaonic style, until you look at the faces and hair that are completely Greek, curls, bow-shaped lips and all.
That was about it for our sight-seeing, after which we had a seafood dinner and roamed the city, then spent the night in a hotel close to the sea. Another opportunity to get really confused by a new and different shower (so far I have struck out three times with getting the water to actually come out of the shower head), and another opportunity to hear some new call-to-prayer recordings through the night. The next morning we visited the Alexandria museum and then concluded the trip with a couple hours splashing around in the Mediterranean. This would have easily been the biggest highlight, except for the huge conundrum we faced upon arrival at this beach... where absolutely none of the other women there were dressed in less than a fully covering pants outfit and hijab. Very self-consciously we ladies finally decided to swim with shirts and shorts over our swimsuits, though this still drew a lot of attention to our group. And also led to some pretty awkward tan lines.
And now as I'm finishing this update, I've actually just returned from another trip, this time to Upper Egypt (Aswan and Luxor). More stories to come in the next post!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
FOOL, cold beans are for breakfast!
This post will be especially for those of you who are jealous/curious about what I am eating here in Egypt. Before this trip one of the things I was most excited about was trying new foods, especially since I have liked every other food I've ever tried from Middle Eastern cuisine. Well... Egyptian foods are a little different.
First of all I heard while we were still en route to Cairo that a staple of Egyptian breakfasts is cold beans. If I had not already eaten breakfast beans when I was in England last year, I might not have believed this to be true... but it is, in fact. One travel book I read confirmed this very emphatically, or so it seemed, when I read: "Fool, fava beans are eaten for breakfast." Fool?! Whoa now. I thought at first that the author had gotten a little too much American pop culture influence (Mr.T?) but then I realized that the dish itself is called fool. Ah.
I haven't quite acquired the taste for cold, oily fava beans in the morning (somehow the British baked beans were easier for me), but I'm trying. It didn't help that our first introduction to them happened to be the one morning I was feeling really queasy in the first week...
Other than fool, our breakfasts usually consist of some combination of the following: scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, fig jam, soft cheese, and falafel. All of this (excluding the jam) prepared with copious amounts of SALT, which I am not used to at all, but at least it is encouraging me to stay hydrated! And did I mention bread... whole wheat pita bread that accompanies any and all of those breakfast elements, as well as every other meal. Our group's appetite for pita bread has drastically dropped since the first day, though we are still served basketfuls at every meal.
We buy lunches on our own, which is usually a desperate attempt to either a) stock up on fruit to combat our grain- and grease-heavy diets, or b) when we can't afford fruit on our lunch budget, opting for the 3-guinea (~50 cents American) bowl of "kushery"-- a mixture of lentils, rice, macaroni, spaghetti noodles, spices, and some more macaroni. Both options are within a short distance of our school, so we basically decide based on how our insides are treating us on that particular day...
I'm definitely enjoying the fruit options here, though many are not in season now because of the heat. Since our arrival, though, I have tried my first fresh figs (love), my first fresh dates (if I could figure out how to choose the right ripeness, I would probably be a fan), and my first fresh guava (DISLIKE). I've also discovered that the type of bananas I am used to have to be imported to Egypt, since local bananas are more or less the size of a large adult's thumb. That is okay with me, it just takes a lot more peeling.
Other favorite new dishes in Egypt are kofta sandwiches, which are kind of like meatballs and tahini in a pita, and fiteer, which I can best describe as a cross between crepes and pizza-- pancakes stuffed with vegetables, meat, olives, and cheese. Genius.
But by far my greatest gastronomical discovery so far has been a lovely thing we call "Fantaloube" (also known as cantelope-flavored Fanta for the unenlightened). :) It is a beautiful shade of green, since Egyptian "kanteloube" is actually green, and the orange melon is called something else... and it may sound questionable, but oh my. Delicious. Unfortunately for us, the cantina that is part of our church compound home ran out of bottled Fantaloube immediately after we developed our obsession, so the search is on for another mass provider. I think the main issue was that the cantina gave up on trying to restock it at the rate we were buying it... but we haven't given up on pleading them to order more! We have almost four weeks left of our study term in Cairo, so I'm hopeful...
First of all I heard while we were still en route to Cairo that a staple of Egyptian breakfasts is cold beans. If I had not already eaten breakfast beans when I was in England last year, I might not have believed this to be true... but it is, in fact. One travel book I read confirmed this very emphatically, or so it seemed, when I read: "Fool, fava beans are eaten for breakfast." Fool?! Whoa now. I thought at first that the author had gotten a little too much American pop culture influence (Mr.T?) but then I realized that the dish itself is called fool. Ah.
I haven't quite acquired the taste for cold, oily fava beans in the morning (somehow the British baked beans were easier for me), but I'm trying. It didn't help that our first introduction to them happened to be the one morning I was feeling really queasy in the first week...
Other than fool, our breakfasts usually consist of some combination of the following: scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, fig jam, soft cheese, and falafel. All of this (excluding the jam) prepared with copious amounts of SALT, which I am not used to at all, but at least it is encouraging me to stay hydrated! And did I mention bread... whole wheat pita bread that accompanies any and all of those breakfast elements, as well as every other meal. Our group's appetite for pita bread has drastically dropped since the first day, though we are still served basketfuls at every meal.
We buy lunches on our own, which is usually a desperate attempt to either a) stock up on fruit to combat our grain- and grease-heavy diets, or b) when we can't afford fruit on our lunch budget, opting for the 3-guinea (~50 cents American) bowl of "kushery"-- a mixture of lentils, rice, macaroni, spaghetti noodles, spices, and some more macaroni. Both options are within a short distance of our school, so we basically decide based on how our insides are treating us on that particular day...
I'm definitely enjoying the fruit options here, though many are not in season now because of the heat. Since our arrival, though, I have tried my first fresh figs (love), my first fresh dates (if I could figure out how to choose the right ripeness, I would probably be a fan), and my first fresh guava (DISLIKE). I've also discovered that the type of bananas I am used to have to be imported to Egypt, since local bananas are more or less the size of a large adult's thumb. That is okay with me, it just takes a lot more peeling.
Other favorite new dishes in Egypt are kofta sandwiches, which are kind of like meatballs and tahini in a pita, and fiteer, which I can best describe as a cross between crepes and pizza-- pancakes stuffed with vegetables, meat, olives, and cheese. Genius.
But by far my greatest gastronomical discovery so far has been a lovely thing we call "Fantaloube" (also known as cantelope-flavored Fanta for the unenlightened). :) It is a beautiful shade of green, since Egyptian "kanteloube" is actually green, and the orange melon is called something else... and it may sound questionable, but oh my. Delicious. Unfortunately for us, the cantina that is part of our church compound home ran out of bottled Fantaloube immediately after we developed our obsession, so the search is on for another mass provider. I think the main issue was that the cantina gave up on trying to restock it at the rate we were buying it... but we haven't given up on pleading them to order more! We have almost four weeks left of our study term in Cairo, so I'm hopeful...
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
week 3
Update:
(this is getting really difficult with the computer situation here, but I'll try to remember key points since the last post)
-We have now gone on another group field trip to Anafora, a Coptic Christian retreat center a couple hours from Cairo. It was absolutely beautiful. The entire compound is the brainchild of Bishop Thomas, the "top guy" there, which includes the designing of all the buildings, gardens, etc. They are fairly sustainable with food, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables organically there in the compound. We picked fresh dates right off the trees outside our guest rooms. The buildings are mostly all made of straw and mud/plaster materials, most with dome shapes and skylights and stairs leading up to the roofs... I loved it! I shared a guest room with one other girl in my group, and we each had separate bedrooms complete with double beds, high ceilings, and princess-style mosquito nets (which are not actually as awesome to sleep under as I imagined as a child! Unfortunate.)
While there at Anafora we were able to end the evening prayers and the morning mass, which was very different from my past church experiences. The Coptic church makes up about 10% of the population of Egypt, and their liturgy is often spoken in the Coptic language, which is a mix of Greek and ancient Egyptian. It's really amazing that they are still so tied to the ancient Egyptians, and most Copts consider themselves the original population of Egypt--as opposed to much of the Muslim population, which has more mixed Arabic descent (I'm doing a terrible job of summarizing Egyptian anthropology, but that's one part that was really interesting to me!)
-This week our field trip is a 2-day excursion to Alexandria, where we will get to visit the library of Alexandria and swim in the Mediterranean, among many other things I'm sure. This will be the farthest we have been outside of Cairo so far, until our trip to Upper Egypt in a couple weeks.
-I feel like I should include at least one little anecdote about life in Cairo, but it's hard to narrow that down... but yesterday I had my first real interaction on the metro, which was exciting! Summer and I sat down in a corner of the women's car on the metro, and suddenly the women across from us said "Welcome to Cairo!!" and presented us with a tupperware container full of sweets. We took a couple and ate them, then spent about 5 minutes trying to come up with any sort of response besides "shukran" (thank you). Finally I managed to formulate the phrases to ask her if she had made the sweets herself, and what they were each called. We talked in really broken Arabic-English to each other until the end of our ride, and I really did feel welcomed. With the gender issues here on top of our limited language skills (I am definitely improving but still only know how to speak in past tense) it is difficult to strike up a conversation with just anyone, but any little bit is really encouraging. Every day the time here seems to go faster and faster, as we get more immersed and comfortable exploring the city.
Update about the Alexandria trip coming soon... :)
(this is getting really difficult with the computer situation here, but I'll try to remember key points since the last post)
-We have now gone on another group field trip to Anafora, a Coptic Christian retreat center a couple hours from Cairo. It was absolutely beautiful. The entire compound is the brainchild of Bishop Thomas, the "top guy" there, which includes the designing of all the buildings, gardens, etc. They are fairly sustainable with food, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables organically there in the compound. We picked fresh dates right off the trees outside our guest rooms. The buildings are mostly all made of straw and mud/plaster materials, most with dome shapes and skylights and stairs leading up to the roofs... I loved it! I shared a guest room with one other girl in my group, and we each had separate bedrooms complete with double beds, high ceilings, and princess-style mosquito nets (which are not actually as awesome to sleep under as I imagined as a child! Unfortunate.)
While there at Anafora we were able to end the evening prayers and the morning mass, which was very different from my past church experiences. The Coptic church makes up about 10% of the population of Egypt, and their liturgy is often spoken in the Coptic language, which is a mix of Greek and ancient Egyptian. It's really amazing that they are still so tied to the ancient Egyptians, and most Copts consider themselves the original population of Egypt--as opposed to much of the Muslim population, which has more mixed Arabic descent (I'm doing a terrible job of summarizing Egyptian anthropology, but that's one part that was really interesting to me!)
-This week our field trip is a 2-day excursion to Alexandria, where we will get to visit the library of Alexandria and swim in the Mediterranean, among many other things I'm sure. This will be the farthest we have been outside of Cairo so far, until our trip to Upper Egypt in a couple weeks.
-I feel like I should include at least one little anecdote about life in Cairo, but it's hard to narrow that down... but yesterday I had my first real interaction on the metro, which was exciting! Summer and I sat down in a corner of the women's car on the metro, and suddenly the women across from us said "Welcome to Cairo!!" and presented us with a tupperware container full of sweets. We took a couple and ate them, then spent about 5 minutes trying to come up with any sort of response besides "shukran" (thank you). Finally I managed to formulate the phrases to ask her if she had made the sweets herself, and what they were each called. We talked in really broken Arabic-English to each other until the end of our ride, and I really did feel welcomed. With the gender issues here on top of our limited language skills (I am definitely improving but still only know how to speak in past tense) it is difficult to strike up a conversation with just anyone, but any little bit is really encouraging. Every day the time here seems to go faster and faster, as we get more immersed and comfortable exploring the city.
Update about the Alexandria trip coming soon... :)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
week 2
Ahlan wasahlan! I made it safely to Cairo last Friday, which already seems like weeks ago though today is only my 9th full day here. The trip went smoothly other than a little trouble with customs (the official thought our group visa looked sketchy, but we argued our way through).
We were bussed to our home for the next 7 weeks, a Christian church compound in Helwan, which is on the southern edge of Cairo. Our group of 19 is split into three dorm-style guest rooms, which are not luxurious by any account, but very livable. Our single shower is generally cold and has a tendency to flood if we aren't careful (though this is more the fault of 5 long-haired girls rather than the shower), and I had an exciting moment of panic the first night when I accidentally locked myself inside it. One pair of tweezers and a few shrieks later, I got myself out, no worries... And so far I haven't minded the cold water, as our room is extremely stuffy by the end of a hot Egyptian summer day. The beds have proven to be more of an adjustment-- we sleep on thin stuffed mattresses on basically a cot made of loose planks. But I'd been sleeping on the floor during my last week in the States anyway, so no big deal... that is, until I went to bury my face into my pillow and realized it was more sandbag than pillow. (thus, these heavy pillows have inspired the creation of a roommate exercise plan, which we call "Cairobics"... but that's a story for a different blog post!)
Our church hosts are very friendly and accommodating, and we are also lucky that they happen to have a full kitchen and dining area included in the compound. We are served full Egyptian meals for breakfast and supper every day. Since it is still summer vacation here for a few more days, the compound is full of church kids of all ages at pretty much any time of day. Many of these have become our main source for entertainment and conversation partners, though they have a better English vocabulary by age 6 than we do right now in Arabic. Ah well. When we get exhausted of trying to talk about brothers and sisters and dogs and cats (which is about the extent of my vocab, at least), we can always join in a game of soccer or volleyball in the dirt lot.
So far, our typical school days consist of getting up around 7 (though I personally am still waking up to the 4 a.m. call to prayer every day which resonates on loudspeakers from about three different local mosques), eating breakfast, then catching the metro to our language school. We are split into three classes with two teachers each--one for grammar and one for society vocabulary. Class is done by noon, at which point we set out in small groups to find lunch. This will be significantly easier this week since Ramadan is now over, so restaurants are reopened. Then we often have a lecture on the culture and history of the area, then are free until our 7:30 dinner.
We also have just had our first field trip: yesterday we left early in the morning to spend the day at the Pyramids, Memphis, and Saqqara. It is amazing that we are only half an hour or so from some of ancient wonders of the world! I'll probably write more about those later, but so far it's difficult to get time on the computer regularly, so this is already getting longwinded and I need to close!
Thanks for reading and thinking of me... I miss you all and think of you often, even with so much going on here. :)
We were bussed to our home for the next 7 weeks, a Christian church compound in Helwan, which is on the southern edge of Cairo. Our group of 19 is split into three dorm-style guest rooms, which are not luxurious by any account, but very livable. Our single shower is generally cold and has a tendency to flood if we aren't careful (though this is more the fault of 5 long-haired girls rather than the shower), and I had an exciting moment of panic the first night when I accidentally locked myself inside it. One pair of tweezers and a few shrieks later, I got myself out, no worries... And so far I haven't minded the cold water, as our room is extremely stuffy by the end of a hot Egyptian summer day. The beds have proven to be more of an adjustment-- we sleep on thin stuffed mattresses on basically a cot made of loose planks. But I'd been sleeping on the floor during my last week in the States anyway, so no big deal... that is, until I went to bury my face into my pillow and realized it was more sandbag than pillow. (thus, these heavy pillows have inspired the creation of a roommate exercise plan, which we call "Cairobics"... but that's a story for a different blog post!)
Our church hosts are very friendly and accommodating, and we are also lucky that they happen to have a full kitchen and dining area included in the compound. We are served full Egyptian meals for breakfast and supper every day. Since it is still summer vacation here for a few more days, the compound is full of church kids of all ages at pretty much any time of day. Many of these have become our main source for entertainment and conversation partners, though they have a better English vocabulary by age 6 than we do right now in Arabic. Ah well. When we get exhausted of trying to talk about brothers and sisters and dogs and cats (which is about the extent of my vocab, at least), we can always join in a game of soccer or volleyball in the dirt lot.
So far, our typical school days consist of getting up around 7 (though I personally am still waking up to the 4 a.m. call to prayer every day which resonates on loudspeakers from about three different local mosques), eating breakfast, then catching the metro to our language school. We are split into three classes with two teachers each--one for grammar and one for society vocabulary. Class is done by noon, at which point we set out in small groups to find lunch. This will be significantly easier this week since Ramadan is now over, so restaurants are reopened. Then we often have a lecture on the culture and history of the area, then are free until our 7:30 dinner.
We also have just had our first field trip: yesterday we left early in the morning to spend the day at the Pyramids, Memphis, and Saqqara. It is amazing that we are only half an hour or so from some of ancient wonders of the world! I'll probably write more about those later, but so far it's difficult to get time on the computer regularly, so this is already getting longwinded and I need to close!
Thanks for reading and thinking of me... I miss you all and think of you often, even with so much going on here. :)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
2 days to Cairo
So, here I am starting my first ever blog online. I kind of thought I would never do this, but after thinking about how many different people I would like to keep updated while I am in Egypt this semester... yes. It makes sense.
As most of you reading this probably know, I will be spending this fall semester in Egypt for my SST (Study Service Term) through Goshen College. This means I'll be with 18 other people from my school for 3 months, plunging into a new culture, a new place, and a new language. The first half of the term I will be studying in Cairo, and beyond that, I really know very little about what I'll be doing.
I also happen to know very little Arabic (yes, even after taking 2 whole semesters of it). Thus, I could not think of a better title than "Ismee Raychuul", which, loosely transliterated, means "My name is Rachel." I'm afraid that might be all I'll be confident enough to say when I arrive in Cairo, since I managed to lose 4 of my 5 Arabic books during the summer and therefore did not brush up on even my very lacking bit of skills! I only hope I'm exaggerating... we'll see.
And by the way, since I am new to blogging and short on time, I decided to go with a pre-made template rather than design my own. Just so happened that there is one that looks suspiciously like SAND!! How cliche for an Egypt blog. But I had to have it.
Stay tuned for a real update in the next week or two-- we arrive in Cairo on Friday afternoon, or early Friday morning for most of you. (and please still write individual e-mails to me if you would like! rachelcf@goshen.edu. I'll at least be able to read messages and keep up with big news that way.)
As most of you reading this probably know, I will be spending this fall semester in Egypt for my SST (Study Service Term) through Goshen College. This means I'll be with 18 other people from my school for 3 months, plunging into a new culture, a new place, and a new language. The first half of the term I will be studying in Cairo, and beyond that, I really know very little about what I'll be doing.
I also happen to know very little Arabic (yes, even after taking 2 whole semesters of it). Thus, I could not think of a better title than "Ismee Raychuul", which, loosely transliterated, means "My name is Rachel." I'm afraid that might be all I'll be confident enough to say when I arrive in Cairo, since I managed to lose 4 of my 5 Arabic books during the summer and therefore did not brush up on even my very lacking bit of skills! I only hope I'm exaggerating... we'll see.
And by the way, since I am new to blogging and short on time, I decided to go with a pre-made template rather than design my own. Just so happened that there is one that looks suspiciously like SAND!! How cliche for an Egypt blog. But I had to have it.
Stay tuned for a real update in the next week or two-- we arrive in Cairo on Friday afternoon, or early Friday morning for most of you. (and please still write individual e-mails to me if you would like! rachelcf@goshen.edu. I'll at least be able to read messages and keep up with big news that way.)
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