Day 8

Today we went to Islamic Cairo. Kind of a weird thing to call it seeing as most of Cairo practices Islam and all. But this area is where many very important mosques and Islamic monuments have existed since 969 A.D. what?! The first mosque ever built in Africa was there and Napoleon's army took up shop in Islamic Cairo in the late 1700's/early 1800s. Here's a little background if you are interested. In fact in one of the mosques is a HUGE broken clock given to Cairo by Napoleon. It was broken when he gave it to them and has never worked to this day. What an ass. You can see it here on the far right.

The mosques we went to are all enclosed in the Cairo Citadel which was built in the late 1100's to protect important Islamic and governmental sites from those damn Crusaders. When you enter a mosque you have to take off your shoes and though it's not required, it is respectful for women to cover their heads, legs, arms and chest. Modesty is very important in Islam and covering one's body is a key part of that. Of course not everyone chooses to show such respect - especially swarmy European tourists. Now, in all fairness, Katy (Sarah & Dina's childhood friend) is English and she was all sorts of covered with us, but MY GOD. There were loads of European women wearing tank tops and short tight shorts and tube tops and all matter of totally inappropriate clothing. I was honestly shocked. But I digress. The mosques are amazing. 5 times a day Muslims go to mosque for salat (prayer). Walking around Cairo you see men with calloused spots that look like bruises in the middleof their foreheads from praying. On Fridays there are sermons. Prayer time is initiated by the "call to prayer",or adhan, which is called from the top of the minaret by a muezzin (literally a guy whose job it is to do the adhan). Many mosques in Cairo are outdoor or at least have outdoor meeting areas where they cleanse themselves from a big fancy tub of water (at least I assume its water...) before going into the carpeted area where prayers take place. Many mosques separate men and women on different floors or with a room divider. In those that don't the men stand in front and the women in back. I know, I know, at this point you're probably thinking "how sexist" but the reasoning is actually fairly hilarious if you ask me. Back in the day women didn't attend mosque except for Fridays since it was recognized that women had a lot more responsibilites than men so it is was moredifficult for them to attend 5 prayers a day. Nowadays it is easier for women to attend, but prayers require you tokneel down and touch your forehead to the ground. It is important for people to not become distracted during prayers so they put the women in back so the men are not distracted by their ba-dunk-a-dunks (rear ends) constantly being in their faces. And that's that. So here are some pics from the various mosques we went to. They are all in the citadel except for the very last one which is about a 15 minute walk away and where Dina wants to do her Kateb el Kitav - the signing of the religious marriage contract. The contract has been adapted since the time of Mohammed to meet the times. Within it the manhas to answer 'yes' or 'no' to a number of stipulations such as "do you allow your wife to travel, etc". Pretty interesting stuff that is actually quite cool. OK, enough with the religious/history lesson. I know that's not why you are here, so here are some pics of Islamic Cairo:

After a brief but much needed nap we went dinner and then the Cairo Jazz Club to see some live music. It reminded me a lot of bars in Chicago. While Muslims don't drink it is ok for non-Muslims but booze is INSANELY expensive. One beer can cost more than lunch. The band was really good - they played all American covers - Michael Jackson, Jamiroquoi (sp?), DMB, and tons of other stuff. As we were leaving Khaled Aboul Naga, a famous Egyptian actor who is semi-openly gay (a BIG no-no in Egypt) walked in! I've never heard of him before but apparently he's kind of a big deal. K, that's all for now!!!

Day 7

We planned to leave the house this morning at 10am so around 11:30 we finally made our exit. Today we headed to Coptic Cairo which is the Christain hold out in Cairo. This part of the city dates back to the 6th century BC and it is thought that Jesus, Mary and Joseph frequented the area on vacation from time to time. The Copts are Egyptian Christains who have been around since right after Jesus. I really don't feel like going into the details of coptic Cairo, so if you want to know more, go here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_Cairo. There is some violence against the Copts in this area, so there were a lot of guards and military police. In 1992 there was an earthquake in Cairo andmany of the buildings in Coptic Cairo suffered major damage. We went first to the Hanging Church which dates back to around the 3rd century AD. Its called the Hanging Church because the middle is suspended over a below ground fortress of some sort. It's being renovated so we didn't get the full effect but it was cool anyways. Parts were being repainted by those scientist/artists who repaint ancient things. I can't think of what they are called at the moment. Here are some cool pics though:

From there we went to the convent and church of St. George which was rebuilt after a fire in 1904. Much of the Coptic art and propaganda is reminiscent of that of Latin Catholics. Here are a few pics from the courtyard and from the street outside as well as one of the most fantastic discoveries I've made thus far - apple Fanta!!!:

Once we got our Jesus fill for the day (which didn't take long)we decided it was time to go shopping. We went to a little silver shop Sarah has been to before where we haggled our way into a pretty sweet deal. I got 2 pairs of sterling silver earrings and a sterling silver pendant for about 200 Egyptian Pounds which comes to about $35 US. AWESOME. For dinner we ordered pizza - mushroom and oregano - delicious!!!! Tomorrow we are headed to Islamic Cairo to see the Citadel and Mosques, better break out the Burqa!

Day 6

The pyramids at Giza!! We hopped in a cab around 10am for the hour drive to Giza. When you picture the pyramidsyou imagine them being out in the middle of the desert surrounded by sand, right? Yeah, that's just not at all the way it is. They are actually at the far end of Cairo surrounded on 3 sides by metropolis. This does not make it any less awesome though. I was in history freak heaven! Definitely nerd-tastic. There are 7 (or 9, depending on who you ask) pyramids @ Gaza - 3 big ones and the rest small ruins. We got there, hopped on camels and were off! Here are some pre-camel pictures:

For the ride out they make you ride with them to "get used to" the feel of the camel which is very strange and slightly awkward. The camel sits down on all 4 legs, you hop on, then they raise their hind legs and then the front ones. Not too steadyfeeling at all. We rode out past the pyramids where we stopped for super touristy pictures and Cokes. It was definitely hot but not nearly as bad as I'd imagined. The camels are really bumpy and pretty hilarious as well. When we stopped the camels rest and mine kept rolling around in the sand like a dog outside in the dirt. It was pretty funny. Hereare some of the better pics from this stop:

It was then on to the Sphinx, or "sphinkus" as our "guides" called it. Who knows. We got to ride the camles by ourselves at this point with the guides walking in front leading them. Much better.

Once we got to the sphinx (about a half hour) the camels left us and we were on our own to walk around.I bought a pretty cool Cleopatra statue outside of the Sphinx and talked with the guy for a minute. He gave me a free scarab which Egyptians believe brings good luck. I also got some postcards which I will hopefully remember to mail. Muahahaha. The Sphinx was pretty surreal, I definitely got goose bumps.

After the walk back to the road (about 10 min) I definitely started to feel the heat. I had already downed 3 liters of water and all I wanted was more. So we sat in the shade for awhile before heading into Giza for lunch. Once we got home (which took FOREVER because there was some issue with the bridge over the Nileand it was down to 1 lane which is catastrophic in a city that doesn't even use lanes) it was definitely nap/shower time. I was caked in dust and insanely tired. Later that evening we went to dinner at another cafe in Zamalek and smoked some hookah. Then Dina's coiusin came to pick us up and we headed to the Cairo Jazz Club downtown. There was a pretty decent band playing all American covers - DMB, Michael Jackson, Jamiroquoi (sp), etc. It was a lot of fun. At one point a famous Egpytian actor whose name escapes me came in. He is as close to openly gay as you can be in Egypt and so he is a bit controversial. It was pretty cool!

Day 5

Today was a relatively low key day. We woke up late (around 12:30, what?!) and sat around watching TV for awhile. I am a bit obsessed with the BBC News channel here. Sooooo good! We then went to a little cafe in Zamalek which is a part of Cairo that is on an island in the Nile. It is full of cafes, art galleries and small shops along with the typical Egyptian open store fronts and street vendors. It has an aura that I really like, this bohemia meets the 3rd world kind of thing. It is close to the university so it caters to a younger and more international crowd. From there Sarah left to go to the airport to pick up a friend of their family named Katy and Dina and I walked around and shopped.We regrouped back at the apartment to get ready to go to a beautiful restaraunt named Sequoia for Sarah's birthday. Sequoyah is in Zamalek at the tip of the island. It is all outdoors with all white couches and comfy chairs around low white tables with candles. It has a very posh feel and you are surrounded by the Nile River and all the fallukahs (sp?) and other boats that go up and down giving tours. There is a big white tent that covers the top but the rest is open. Here's a pic of us singing happy birthday to Sarah and then a pic of Sequoia that I stole from their website:

Day 4

Ahhh I loved today. We (Dina, her sister Sarah and me) woke up super early and caught the train to Alexandria. Alex (as the locals call it) has been in the news a lot lately because a few weeks ago a university student was sitting in a coffee shop writing a blog thatwas very critical of the Egyptian government. Armed police officers stormed the shop and beat the guy to death. So for the past few weeks therehave been massive protests in Alex by the train station. Fortunately that had all cleared up by the time we got there. Though Egypt is a fairly modern city they still do have to worry about possible consequences of political dissonance especially if it is published. Anyways, I digress. Alexandria is a city on the northern coast of Egypt that was started by Alexander the Great. At one point Cleopatra alsotook residence there. The train has 3 classes, 1^st, 2^ndand 3^rd and we were in 1^st. Obviously. Hahaha. The cars are nice; the seats are much like airplane seats, very comfy and they go back. 2^nd class has more like bus seats and3^rd is just benches. The trip is a little over 4 hours through the Egyptian countryside. We went through lots of small towns and fields all along a tributary of the Nile.

Each town, no matter how small or rundown, has a beautiful mosque with a towering minaret. At one point I saw them constructing a mosque using only horses to pull the materials. The orchards and stables are all handmade out of sticks tied together to make small shelters and I didn’t see one piece of farm equipment. There were people trapping fish in the Nile barefoot with nets and women carrying towering baskets of who knows what on their heads for who knows how far. It was very surreal in that it is exactly what I picture when I imagine sub Saharan Africa. Interesting side note, many Egyptians do not consider Egypt tobe in Africa. Alexandria is the northernmost city in Egypt and is on the Mediterranean. Alexander the Great built it to resemble the cities of the Greco-Roman Empire and so the city feels much more Mediterranean that African. The food is also much more similar to the Mediterranean and there is a Greco-Roman Museum and remains of a Greco-Roman stadium thing. We first went to a restaurant on the coast for coffee (all coffee in Egypt in Turkish. super charged.) The inside was beautiful – very ornate decorated in red and gold with dark wood tables and chairs. It reminded me of something you might see in the 1920s. The whole coast actually feels that way. Back in the 1920s the city was full of Europeans and you were more likely to hear Frenchor Spanish spoken in the streets than Arabic. Once the Europeans moved on the city stayed very modern – western dress and liberal thinkers. Many greatEgyptian writers and intellectuals livedand/or worked in Alexandria. Recently however, as in the rest of Egypt,the ideology has become much more Islamic and conservative. Now many women in the street arewearing Buras, some even in Galibayas (the long black robes with black head and face coverings.) As few as 20 yrs ago it was not so common to see this type of dress anywhere in Egypt. OK, sorry, that’s the history teacher in me. So after coffee we walked around for a while and then headed to the Alexandria National Museum. All historic sites in Egypt are discounted for Egyptians, so for Dina and Sarah it was 10 pounds to get in and for me it was 20. Pretty awesome concept though it kind of blows for me. heh. We always end up paying all together and splitting it 3 ways though so I can’t complain. The museum was perfect – one of everything instead of 40 different statues of the same thing, arranged well so that you can see it all and get through quickly. I love museums in theory but damn do I get bored. There was a room of artifacts that were found by fisherman and divers in the Mediterranean – everything from small figurines to giant parts of statues. Much was Greco-Roman.

There was a sketchy security guy who followed us EVERYWHERE. Egypt likes to remind you who’s in charge. Seriously. They do. The basement housed 2 tombs each with 3 sarcophagi and mummies still inside. Holy heeby jeebys. There were also 2 cannopic jars – the jars they put the brains and organs in. Awesome. After the museum we went to lunch at a seafood place on the coast. Alexandria is known for its amazing seafood, which is prepared ina very Mediterranean style. You first handpick your fish and they then prepare it and bring it to you. We chose some prawns (GIGANTIC shrimp) and Burundi. As you wait for the fish they bring you “salad” which really means like 10 different small plates of sauces and differently prepared vegetables. AMAZING. The fish were fried and served whole which was a bitdisheartening, but hey, when in Rome. Holy balls I swear to god it was the best fish ever. Sorry Florida, Alex got you beat!

After lunch we headed to the Library at Alexandria, a pretty famous spot. So famous that you have to pay to get in. The original library housed thousands of years of Egyptian literary history but waay back in the day it was burned by the Christians or Jews or pirates. Depends on whom you ask. It’s still very impressive. The architecture is unlike anything I have seen and thereare a lot of…books. I mean honestly, it’s just a big library. But you can’t come to Alexandria and not go to it.

After the library we caught the train back to Cairo. Once back we headed to Sarah’s boyfriend Hassan’s house for a surprise birthday party for Sarah. On the way we drove through an area called the City of the Dead, which is where many of the modern day cemeteries and tombs are. The people who tend to the cemeteries all live in this walled area. How creepy. Literally there are small houses between tombs and cemeteries. It is a whole community of people that just live in a giant gravesite. SOOOOO creepy. But then again I guess the Egyptians have never really had too many qualms with being around the dead, right?! At the party there were about 15 people including Hassan’s parents. There was amazing food of course and they spoke as much English as possible so I didn’t feel too left out. It was a very humbling experience to have them make such a point of including me. It’s something that would never happen in the U.S. since we don’t speak any other languages for the most part, but they all speak Arabic, some French and English. After all Sarah’s friends left it was me, Dina, Sarah, Hassan and his parents and we stayed and talked with them for awhile. They were so gracious and fun to be around. We talked a lot about politics (shocking I know). At one point his dad asked me how we teach about Columbus and the Native Americans in American high school. It was almost embarrassing to tell him about the hypocrisy and outright lies we use to justify the annihilation of the people who rightfully belong on the land we call home. It was also interesting (albeit not surprising) to find out that he knew more about the Native Americans than I think most Americans do. He told me I did not belong to the United States but rather to the world. Ahhhhhhhhh what a relief. They spent awhile trying to convince me to move to Cairo because they feel I “belong here” which was so so flattering. Teaching jobs here pay well and in U.S. dollars and many are tax-free. They are looking for American teachers since they speak mostly English in the classrooms and I must admit, I am more than tempted. Cairo has a really great vibe to it and I love the culture and history that it embodies. It was a great but loooooong day. We left the house around 8am and didn’t get back until about 2:30am. Yeesh. So I am off to bed. The Internet has been a little dicey so hopefully I will be able to post tomorrow but no promises….

Today was a perfectly lazy day. We left the house around one and went to a bookstore near Dina’s apartment called Diwan Bookstore. It’s similar to Borders but much much smaller. I bought a few books by Alaa Al Aswany, an Egyptian author, who Dina likes. After browsing the English translations of Arabic authors I checked out the US politics/history section. It was AWESOME. Well, I think it was awesome. Some of you would likely have hated it. Let’s just say if you want to know how people abroad view your country you should

check out their selection of books on you.

The first two pictures are the top 2 of 5 or 6 shelves. I promise I didn’t move anything around or choose the worst (best?) examples. Noam Chomsky had a good showing, which made me smile. They also had a section of Twilight and Harry Potter books. At least they’re getting the best we have to offer. (please note sarcasm). After all that browsing it was definitely time for a snack so we headed to a coffee shop. Along the way we went past a Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut and Hardees. I tried to take pics of them all but some guy at the KFC who was sitting below the sign was giving me the stink eye and I got too nervous.

Next to all these American chains are little Egyptian shops that sell actual fresh fruits and juice and where men are sitting welding silver, making shoes, etc. The U.S. chains are such an eyesore in such a culturally rich and vibrant city. I had an aseer mooz (banana juice) that was DELICIOUS. And that I may regret later. Meh. Then it was back to Dina’s for naptime! Around seven we went to the Wekalet El-Ghouri Theater to see Al-Tannoura, a traditional dance group of Whirling Dervishes and musicians. The show wasn’t until 8:30 though and we were starving so we walked to the first place that smelled irresistible. We got some kebab (as in shish kebab, fairly self explanatory) and kafta, which is a very falic looking blend of lamb and spices that is grilled and served on greens. Mmmmm mmm good. Someone needs to find me a pace in the Chi that has kafta that is up to par with Cairo. And somewhere that gives you pita and assorted delicious dips as opposed to hard rolls and butter. There are stray cats everywhere in this city, which keep the rats away so I guess it’s all right. However, since most everythingis outside, one found its way under our table and brushed against my leg and scared the crap out of me. We were on a bust street (Cairo brings busy street to a whole new level) and I shrieked and felt like a total ass. The manager attempted to teach me some Arabic which I immediately forgot but what the hey – he was amused. We paid and were off to the show. Much like everything else has been so for, the Dervishes were incredible. The musicians played for a while first – mostly drums and flute type things; it was so good that it gave me goose bumps. Not an easy task in the desert. Then came the dancers. For those of you unfamiliar with the Whirling Dervishes they are dancers that, well, whirl. And damndid those dervishes whirl! The first guy spun around in a circle with his big skirt thing for OVER 30 MIN. Without stopping. I almost vomited for him. Apparently they go in to some religious trance blah blah blah. However they do it it is AMAZING. We had big plans to go to a bar to see some music once the show was over but after watching homeboy whirl we were exhausted. So naturally we went to go get food and sheesha. Egyptians are big fans of sweets, which is perfectly ok by me. I tried apple sheeshah which was decent and hammed it up with the guy who comes around to take care of the hookah (changes the coals, lets you know what you are doing wrong ;-), etc). As we walked up the street to get a cab home there was a big group of people watching the Germany/Bulgaria soccer game. I felt like it was one of those sappy ATT world connect commercials. There were a few Muslim guys, some European women and a few others whohad all stopped to watch the game on this tiny TV sitting on a chair outside a storefront. It gave me a little international warm fuzzy. Tomorrow morning we are off to Alexandria for a fun filled non-American 4^th of July. Hope you all have fun and stay safe and remember not to hold on to fireworks for too long!

Cape video

Day 2

Goodness did I have issues trying to do this today! Apparently my computer decided that since I was in Egypt it would display all internet sites in Arabic. WTF. Arabic is written right to left so I couldn't even type in my username/password. Yeesh. All better now though. Masa'a al kheir! Let me just being by saying this city is LOCO! I mean that in the best way possible of course. I slept in until about 10:30 when the construction workers began piecing together shabby wood planks to build the building next door. Awesome. Drank some coffee and ate some DELICIOUS eggs. By the way, when I say delicious I am not kidding. Egyptian chickens must be much happier than American ones because these eggs are off the hook. I watched some Egyptian cooking show then Al Jazeera news for awhile which was definitely eye opening. I saw video of the Gulf Oil spill that I have never seen in the U.S. Disgusting. Once morning prayers ended around one we took off for Khan el Khalili Market, a gigantic hodge podge of open front shops and kiosks weaving through blocks and blocks of streets and alleys.

They sell everything from spices to clothes to hookahs, TVs and visor/sunglasses combos. Those of you who have spent time abroad know what I'm talking about. And man, are those people pushy!!! They literally step in front of you to shove their wares in your face. (did I really just say wares?) "What do you need?! I have everything here!" More than once I was asked if I wanted an Egyptian husband (kind, but la shukran! no thank you!) "How can I take your money" at least made me laugh. One vendor told Dina he would kill his wife for her. WHAT!? ha ha ha. The trick to the Egyptian market is to haggle. So haggle I did. I found this amazing tiny lamp that the man wanted 25 pounds (about$3.50US) for and then a second that he wanted 80 pounds for. I talked the poor guy down to 80 for both. Lets just say I was bursting with pride. I wound up with a bunch of awesome stuff which I won't list here since most if it is going to all of you. We stopped at a little coffee place for this lemon mint drink which is possibly the most refreshing thing ever. My favorite spot was a linens store where I got a gorgeous scarf. The owner was half Egyptian half Italian and was pretty hilarious (and not bad on the eyes either.) If I can get it to post ever I have a great video of me trying on a belly dancing cape thing. Then it was definitely time for more food. So off to Tabouleh it was. Lebanese food heaven.

I swear if I wasn't walking and sweating so much I'd probably gain a hundred pounds. Lucky for me Egypt has nap time planned into the day after lunch and before the evening call to prayer, so after all the walking and eating I passed out for an hour. Once we pulled our shit back together we headed to Al Azhar Park for a concert at this outdoor theater called El Genaina (the garden) The park is beautiful and the amphitheater was amazing as well. Nothing too special about it other than the building behind it which is thousands of years old. The band was a Dutch group called Coparck and you should download them because they were pretty awesome. It was such an awesome mix of old and new. Sappy, I know... As we walked out Dina and I were stopped by Nile TV and interviewed about the show. I should have taken a picture or something but I was way too nervous. Dina assured me I did well though. Phew. And likely a lie. Then we headed to the small cafe they have in the park which looked like something out of a movie. We sat on the second floor and the view was incredible.

We could see the Citadel, mosques, old and new Cairo and the Cairo tower. I tried to take a picture, but that whole nighttime/flash thing got in the way. Cairo is definitely a night city since it is so much cooler, so even now at 2:30 am (whooah didn't realize it was that late) the streets are full of people. I really do dig it here. It is quite possibly the busiest city I have ever seen and due to that pesky Sahara desert they really have to pack everything in.

There's a good mix of people and everyone is super friendly.

Most speak at least some English so I don't feel too helpless. The streets are insane and I am realizing why they say the biggest medical concern in Cairo is car accidents. Holy balls. There are no set lanes and no rules and apparently cars get the right of way over pedestrians. yikes! The weather is still pretty amazing, upper 90s during the day and low 80s at night. Cross your fingers that it stays this way! Tisbahi! (good night)