November 2nd
Election Day- and all the world waits. I want to keep track of everything, but we are so far ahead in time that we won't really know anything until the morning. Some people are worried about Egyptian's reactions to the outcome (meaning they are afraid of some post-election, American-aimed violence) and are keeping indoors for a day or two. I think that sounds kind of silly, but stranger things have happened. We'll just have to see how it goes.
October 29th-31st
This weekend marked our halfway point and we celebrated by doing all things American. Okay, let's rephrase that: for 3 days we managed to eat nothing but American food. Friday Devon and I went back to "Roy's Country Kitchen" for omelettes and brewed coffee (woo hoo!) and wound up talking to a British investment banker for an hour and a half. He invited us out for drinks. Um, we'll see about that. That night a group of us went to Johnny Carino's (home of my 1st waitressing job) on a boat on the Nile. The boat doesn't move or anything, but it does tilt a tremendous amount, causing all of us to sort of lean left throughout the meal. It was kind of surreal- we were in Johnny Carino's, with all the same decorations that they have at ours back in New Mexico (plus all the Ramadan lamps and flags), but when you look out the window there's the Nile! The food was decent and we had a nice evening.
Saturday took us (a big group of girls) out to Ma'adi- the ex-pats' haven. It's lovely, there are English speakers everywhere! The whole place is a big, green suburb full of all things American. We had lunch at Lucille's, a little cafe where all the waiters wore leather vests and bolo ties. And as my friend Stephanie said, "all the decorations could have come from Colorado!" After that we went out to a mall, remenicent of an American mall. I still haven't bought anything here, though one store offering "Hippie Veils" was pretty cool.
The day after that was Halloween, though it was kind of a bummer. Halloween is not celebrated here at all, though my Egyptology professor did have on some very large, tacky sunglasses that she wore all day. That night we went to my friend Anna's apartment for a Tex-Mex birthday party. We bought her a big inflatible hat that had a giant "21" and a birthday cake on it and forced her to wear it for the rest of the night.
October 27th
I'm not quite sure how, but I know have an (unpaid, of course) internship at the Supreme Council of Antiquities. It sounds impressive, doesn't it? The lady that we are working with is awesome, and we are working next door to one of the most famous Egyptologist alive. Of course, I can't remember his name. But there are pictures of him all over with famous people (the Bushes, the Clintons, Princess Di, etc.). He's an amazing Egyptologist, but thinks highly of himself, let's leave it at that. Right now, all the lackeys (=interns) are working on putting together a massive bibliography of all Egyptology sources that will be posted online as a resource. A giant task.
October 24th
Ramadan is upon us. Ramadan is the holy month in the Islamic world where everyone fasts (as the Prophet did) during daylight hours (this includes food, drink, smoking, dancing, sex, etc.) and then at sunlight break their fast (Iftar) and then towards dawn eat another meal (Sahur). So obviously, this means that people are incredibly grumpy during the day, then take an afternoon nap, and then are up all night. It's really festive, most buildings are decorated with Ramadan clothes (blankets? I don't know), most stores and offices have shortened hours, and many restraunts close completely during the month, usually for renovations. I'm not fasting, but I'm trying to be respectful and not eat in front of people- meaning we're pretty much limited to the school cafeteria for lunch. At sundown the streets are completely empty as everyone races home for the breaking of the fast. As soon as the call to prayer sounds, the 16 million people of Cairo are chowing down. They also have some really interesting t.v. shows on during Ramadan. Now, t.v. in Egypt is interesting anyway (think even more-dramatic-than-Mexican soap operas), but during Ramadan it's even better. They get all the movie actors to play in t.v. shows and people just sit around and watch the tube between meals. It's really a great time to be in the Islamic world, because you can kind of get a different perspective from what others see.
Tonight Devon and I went to a Ramadan festival, "Ramadan Around the World," at our university. They had food (we had Egyptian, Saudi Arabian, and Sudanese), drinks, dancing, crafts, and traditional music. Most excellent.
October 15th
So, yeah, I've been in Egypt for almost 2 months and have just now gotten around to visiting Giza. I know, I know, that's really awful. Some ancient history buff I am. But ''malesh'', I finally got there. We went with a large group of Egyptology students and 2 professors, so it was like having 2 really informative, helpful tour guides, uh, without speach impediments (see below). My crazy Egyptology professor got us into the Great Pyramid somehow. Usually only a small number of people get in per day, but somehow she smuggled us in. Yes, it was very cool, indeed. Going inside I got a bit clostrophobic ("the hydraphoby" as my grandpa would've said), I guess I was just remembering the last pyramid I was in, which included going down a incredibly small and dark tunnel into the middle of the structure. Or maybe it was because before we got in, my professor mentioned that, "Remember, all of the foundation stones in the Great Pyramid are cracked and one day it will all come tumbling down. Okay, go climb inside!"
We also went inside a queen's tomb (or mastaba, it's nothing like a pyramid), which was painted inside, and then to the Solar Boat Museum where we saw a boat that had been buried next to the Great Pyramid and that has now been put back together using only rope and wooden pegs. There, we had to wear these ridiculous floppy, baggy, clown shoes over our feet to keep the dust down. I was so glad that the prof. didn't lecture here, because there is no way to take someone wearing those shoes seriously. Later on we went down to where the sphinx is, which really is a lot smaller than it looks. What also kind of ruined it is that the pyramids are not in the middle of nowhere. In fact there are hotels, apartments, and restraunts all the way up to the sphinx. It was nice to see everything, but there are just too many tourists. Also, I was kind of sick with one of the many strange Egyptian diseases going around. Everyone is sick here all of the time, either from lack of nutrients (Egypt is not an Atkins-friendly place, we eat lots of carbs and milk products, not a lot of anything else), pollution, or weird African germs. I very nearly threw up on a pyramid, which in retrospect, might make for a cool story. How many people can say that, really?
October 9th
This morning my roommate, Layne, and I walked down to the Gezira Mariott for breakfast. The hotel used to be a palace, and is quite amazing. I think though, that I'm getting pretty used to seeing great Islamic architecture. We walked by the American Embassy and the first thing I thought was, "What an ugly building!" I will miss that about this place. Okay, anyway, we ate breakfast at "Roy's Country Kitchen," so with that title, let your imaginations fly. It was Egypt's attempt at something like Western American country cooking, the decor was old timey posters (for things like Budwiesser and talcom powder), antique looking furniture, and all the waitresses wore overalls. They had things like pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon (not pork, of course, it tasted like fish), biscuits and gravy, and omeletts. But best of all... they had BREWED COFFEE!!! You cannot find anything except instant coffee or espresso here, it just does not exist at all. I have been without good coffee for a month and a half, and was missing it terribly. I drank around 5 cups and have spent the rest of the day jittering around our dorm room, annoying the crap out of my roommate. By Egyptian standards it was very expensive, but completely worth it. The first thing I'm going to do when we land in New York? (Well, probably change some money) But then, buy a cup of freaking American brewed coffee.
October 6th-8th
Ahhh, Alexandria. An amazing city. Alexandria is very different from Cairo: it's clean, less crowded, on the ocean, more European, less crazy, etc. Alexandria is a city of about 5 million people spread out along the coast of the Mediterranian Sea. The city prides itself on being cleaner, greener, and less crowded than Cairo, and in that it succeeds. It has very much a European, laid back feel which we all were in need of after big-city life. It also has some amazing art and architecture that combines its Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Islamic elements very well.
The first day we did all the very touristy sight seeing. But first we picked up our tour guide- a very interesting lady. Not only did she have a very thick Egyptian accent, she also had a little bit of a French one, combined with a speech impediment- she didn't pronounce any of her R's. The whole day she showed us the "Gweek and Woman awtifacts" of the city. She really reminded me of the bishop(or priest?) from "The Princess Bride." ("mawwige. mawwige is what bwings us togevaaaaa today. And wove, twue wove...") Anyway, our first stop was the Grecco-Roman Museum. So very cool- this is the time period and area that I really want to focus on, so I was totally eating it up. However, our speech-impaired tour guide kept giving us the wrong dates for things, so I kind of took my own tour. Then I fell up some stairs and made a total ass of myself in front of our trip leaders.
Next were the ever impressive Roman catacombs. These underground tunnels (found by one very unfotunate donkey in the 1900's) housed the Roman dead from the 1st century AD. One tomb, the govenor's, was very large and decorated with carved Egyptian scenes. There were 3 types of burials for the Romans to choose from- mummification, cremation, or putting your body in a little hole and closing it up by a big piece of stone. After that we went to a recently discovered Roman amphitheatre- which was the best part of the touring. We only had about 15 minutes there to take pictures and such, which was in no way nearly enough time. The place is still being excavated. Hmmm, maybe I have a future here?:) It was suprisingly intact and well preserved under about 19 centuries worth of Alexandrian layers. We stopped at Qaitbay Castle/Fort next, but didn't have the time to tour it. It was built in the Middle Ages on the exact spot of the ancient Alexandrian Lighthouse and served as a defensive strongholds against invaders. Beautiful, but somehow after the pyramids anything younger than 1,000 years just doesn't seem as impressive as it used to.
The next day we started out at the brand new Biblioteca Alexandrina, built in memory of the very famous library that was destroyed a couple of millenia ago. The thing is 8 layers deep, but the way it is built sunlight hits even the very last floor. It is quite possibly the most amazing building I've ever seen! It also has several museums, a rare books collection, and a planetarium attached. I walked through an exhibit of Ana Pavlova photographs and Polish advertisements before meandering through shelves of books. A good way to spend a lazy Alexandria morning. Later on that day we bribed some police and went to a private beach. It was a bit crowded (for a private beach), very dirty, and contained no bar from which to get fruity drinks with little umbrellas. Wrong country, I suppose. Not worth the bribing that our trip leader did, but probably nicer than the public beaches. That night we ate dinner at a traditional Alexandrian fish market. Fish market meaning you pick out your fish from a big bucket of ice, they weigh it, scale it, and cook it in front of you. We ate in an alley that had been converted into a restaraunt by putting green panneling between two buildings and setting up tables. It was clean enough (as far as Egyptian fish markets/restaraunts go) and the food was decent. The gave us piles of brown rice (not real brown rice, but it was rice and was brown), cold boiled herbed potatoes, stewed tomatoes with eggplant, and cucumber/tomato salad. After dinner we had milk flavored ice cream. I didn't know that there was such as a thing as milk flavored ice cream. It sounds plain and gross, but it was actually very good. A very Alexandrian dinner.
That night a few of us girls went to a cafe down from the hotel (which was on the edge of the sea and had a balcony) and had coffee and ''sheesha''. A ''sheesha'' is basically a water pipe that you smoke flavored tobacco coals in. It's usually huge (about 2 or 3 feet high) and made out of metal and colored glass with a long hose and mouthpiece. Basically, it's a very large bong. No, it doesn't get you high, but it gives you a year's worth of tobacco after a few puffs. I tried a little of it and although enjoyable at first, (it tasted like strawberries-you don't inhale, just hold the smoke in your mouth) it gave me a headache. The ''sheesha'' cafe culture is huge here, everywhere in Egypt you can see men (it's almost entirely male dominated, like many things) sitting outside with the bubbly water pipes. Very cool.
We left Alexandria early the next morning and headed to our university's farm about an hour from Cairo. Oh, yes, we do have a farm. We took a vote on what to do our last day of vacation. I voted beach, but was somehow outvoted by a farm. What the hell? But the farm was pretty cool, I guess. It's sort of an experimental thing, in that this place (in the middle of the desert) is trying to develop new crops that can survive and flourish in the harsh climate, including new forms of oranges, grapefruit, nectarines, and mangos. They also grow regular crops to sell in Cairo and are growing acres of trees that are transported to our new campus which is currently being built, uh, somewhere. I don't really know where, but it won't be ready for a few more years. The only thing I know is that there will be a lot of trees. I'm not sure if any students actually work there, maybe as an internship having to do with agricultuaral science or biology or something. I thought it would be heavy on the lameness, but it was kind of nice. They also served us an amazing lunch and gave us a bag of fruit which totally sweetened the day.
When we reached Cairo agian, our trip leaders told us about the bombing in Sinai that had happened the day before. I'm not sure why they waited, maybe so we wouldn't worry. Everything is fine here, as far as I know. No plans to fly home or anything, just tightened security and a lot of uncertainty. Tomorrow we have class so it will be easier to get a feel of what people think. You never can tell when or where things like that will happen. People always asked me if I was afraid of going to Egypt. Well, right now I'm afraid to go anywhere (look at Madrid), but I figure something can happen anywhere you go so you can't let fear run your life.
October 2nd
For anyone who's still reading, I finally did something related to ancient Egypt! Today we went to Dahshur and Saqqara- outside of Cairo. All of the Egyptology classes went and we climbed up, down, and into a few of the pyramids. The first one we went to was the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. As you can tell from the name it is indeed bent at an unusual angle halfway up. The theory is that other pyramids that had been built at that same angle were collapsing, so the pharoah had it changed part way through the building process. Another theory is that that was diliberate, in order that the pyramid resemble the Ben-Ben Stone, a meteorite that was worshipped by the Egyptians. So, really, no one knows for sure. After that we went to Red Pyramid (it's really not that red)- also at Dahshur. We actually got to go inside this one which was cool, but a difficult task. First, we walked up the outside of the pyramids by means of several steep flights of stairs. Once inside, we crouched down and walked down a ramp made of wood with pieces of metal for stairs. The ramp was so we didn't slip and fall down a steep shaft down to the center of the pyramid. It was completely dark (most of the lights inside this part were broken), smelly, and cramped. Not for anyone with a fear of enclosed spaces. I don't, but still I was a bit nervous. The air inside doesn't move at all and it was incredibly hot. I had sweat dripping off of my nose and chin, and moving down my back. At the end of this tunnel that never seemed to end, we hit a pyramidal shaped room (with lights) where we could stand up and look around. After climbing a few more flights of stairs we came to another pyramidal shaped room where the king was supposed to have been buried. He wasn't there anymore (of course) and this pyramid was from a time period before pyramid decoration or inscription. But nonetheless, we can now say, "oh, yeah, I've been inside a pyramid!" It was cool, but after climbing back up the tunnel and down the side of the pyramid, my legs were absolutely shot. It was working an entire set of muscles that you never use!
After the Red Pyramid we went to the nearby Saqqara necropolis. We went inside Teti's Pyramid, which was smaller and way cooler than the other. It was built at a later time and the inside was covered with very fine heiroglyphs- to help the king and his family find their way to the afterlife. I could actually read a few glyphs, which was great. The roof of the room where Teti's body would have been was painted black and covered in stars. Very cool. Next came some smaller tombs- not pyramids. The were above ground, built kind of like houses for the dead. They had different rooms and everything. I think this was the best part of the trip because inside the tombs, every wall was covered with painted reliefs of daily Egyptian life. There were people hunting, fishing, dancing, eating, etc. They just went on, room after room. As someone said, "This guy wants to have a good time in the afterlife." Keep in mind that this is Old Kingdom, meaning they aren't as detailed and colorful as some other tomb decorations are, but still impressive. You could even see some of the original paint! We weren't allowed to take pictures here, but I think this will be burned into my brain for awhile. As for the rest of you, sorry. :)
This weekend (a long holiday weekend) we are going to Alexandria on the Med. coast, and then the next weekend we're going to Giza and probably to Pelusium and Tanis in the Eastern Delta.
September 28th
My miserable attempt at interpreting Predynastic Egyptian art.
Prof. "Ms. M, what is this?"
Me "I have no idea."
Prof. "Try."
Me "Um...a cow?"
Prof. "And?"
Me "It's upside down."
Prof. "Um, oookay, what about its legs?"
Me "They aren't there."
Prof. "What is this man doing?"
Me "Reaching into the cow?"
Prof. "Hmmm...interesting."
September 24th
My Egyptology professor is crazy. She's got a great British accent ("shedule", "dinisty", "closss") and she bounces around the classroom making grand hand jestures and using us as props or characters from her lectures. She makes us stand on chairs or sit on the floor (in the middle of the Cairo Museum) to get a different perspective of an art piece. She wears baggy bright colored clothing and waves around her matching scarf as she talks. Her classes are some of the hardest at AUC but she, as entertainment, is worth that, I think.
September 20th
Nothing works in Egypt. When you go through Customs someone should say, "Welcome to Cairo! Be warned, everything is broken!" Item 1: Our washing machine. My clothes washed 2 cycles but didn't spin on the last one, leaving them very clean but very wet. Item 2: The elevator sensor. Meaning the door closes on me on a regular bases. It leaves very funny bruises. Item 3: Toilets. Toilet paper is a fairly recent invention and the pipe system can't handle very much, which causes the toilets to back up.
Some other things that are a bit odd. No one uses washclothes here. I had to buy one of those little pink floofy things with some awful smelling body wash. Also, no one mops. The floors are clean, yes (sort of), but to clean them they dump buckets of soapy water on the floor and then squigy it off into a drain, the street, off a balcony, etc.
But despite all that, I still love Egypt. :)
September 17th
Tonight Devon and I did something that was in complete contrast to our evening with Lamees and her friends. We went to dinner in a very posh restaraunt with shnazzy decor from the 1960's, with a girl named Maggie, a very liberal, forward, Christian Egyptian. Right off the bat, she chastised us for wearing long sleeved shirts (as we were all told to do before we arrived) and for trying to look like Muslim girls. She herself had on a low-necked, short sleeved t-shirt, jeans, and gold jewelry- including a tiny gold cross. She said we could ask her anything we wanted to, it was kind of like she had appointed herself our cultural gaurdian while we were in Egypt. We asked her about politics, religion, sex, all those culturally taboo things (in America, but especially in Egypt) and she was quite honest and frank. She gave us a different point of view than what some of our other friends had. There are so many different sides to Egypt and Egyptians that it's hard to say, "Egyptians think that..."
September 16th
Tonight some friends and I went to a traditional Egyptian potluck out in Nasr City (other end of Cairo) with Lamees and some of her friends. 12 of us squished into 2 cars and made the treck to a rather plain looking apartment building. Cairo's like that though, because of neglect, sand, and pollution the outsides of all the buildings are dirty and grey and the insides are sometimes like palaces. This apartment was like that, it was full on antique furniture, paintings, and china. Once we had all arrived, all meaning around 50 girls, they took off their ''hijabs'' (scarves/veils) and the long coverings they wear over their other clothes.
I still can't get over Egyptian hospitality-it's amazing! From the second we sat down they gave us candy, water, juice, dates, food, and most importantly, conversation. As one of the girls said, "If you aren't talking and if you aren't eating or drinking something, then it must mean you aren't having a good time." We ate the dishes everyone had brought (we brought a very-American cherry pie), talked, danced, sang (they sang, we don't know Arabic), ate more, danced and sang more, etc. This was totally Egyptian, nothing Western or American about it, aside from the English that the girls spoke to us. We saw something that the tour groups don't see. We were really accepted into a traditional, intimate setting of Egyptian women having a good time.
September 15th
Yes, a postdated entry, as are all of these so far. I'm a slacker. I'm sorry, Jesse. Haven't had a lot of adventures the past couple of weeks- we started classes so that has really been eating up a lot of my time. It takes so long to get anything done here- we take efficency for granted in America. We need ID's for everything here (school ID, hostile ID, gym ID, international student ID, in addition to registering your passport with the government and getting a student residency visa) but you can't just walk in to an office and say, "hey, I need an ID." Oh, no. One has to fill out 3 forms, attach 2 passport size photos, get a physical, pay a fee, and then come back in at least 10 days. However, going to an office is also a challenge. Most offices are only open from 9am to around 2 or 3, with an hour lunch break. Add into that smoke breaks, bathroom breaks, tea and coffee breaks, "no I'm sorry she's on the phone/with a student" and it takes a while. Being here teaches you patience.
But besides all that, we have managed to squeeze in a few activities. My roommate and I conquered the Cairo Atiquities Museum (one of several trips that I'm sure we'll be taking there). It was awesome, of course, but unfortunately the museum is usually always crowded with scantilly clad European tour groups. Also, nothing is labeled very well, so Devon and I spent a lot of time going, "Um, is that a spoon?" The grandest area (and therefore the most crowded) is the Tutankhamum room, which is filled with all his golden burial goods. Quite impressive. As we were leaving the exhibit (which is in its own air-conditioned room) we saw a lady run smack into one of the locked glass doors, leaving one of those little oily face prints. We tried not to laugh but were unsuccessful.
Today some friends and I went to the American Research Center in Egypt (my friend's stepdad is the director) to hear a lecture on an excivation near Abydos. It was a nice lecture, but the old Irish guy sitting behind us was snoring loudly. After the presentation they served beer and cookies. Later in the evening, my roommate told me a story about the time she glued her foot to her butt. It was a nice day.
September 2nd-5th
This weekend was our off-campus orientation trip to Mt. Sinai and Sharm el-Sheik- a super posh resort town. As is expected in Egypt, the trip to Mt. Sinai took 6 hrs. longer than it was supposed (for a grand total of 11hrs on a bus with no food), putting us into St. Catherine's village at about 2:30am. We had a quick dinner at a hotel that was snuggled right up to these incredible, barren mountains and then rode the buses to a Bedouin village/St. Catherine's monestary- the start of our climb. From the beginning, the Bedouins tried to sell us camel rides (for about $10) and 3 hours into the climb, I was almost ready to take them up on it. It's not a particularly steep climb, but it's a climb nonetheless. Because we were so behind schedule, I know few people who made it up in time to see the sun rise. My Trinidadian friend Asiya and I took it pretty slow and easy, we figured seeing the sunrise on Mt. Sinai and on top of Mt. Sinai were about the same thing. From what we could hear and see, the top was crowded and noisy anyway! As the eastern horizon got lighter we decided to stop at a little crook in the trail. As we went around the corner, we came upon 3 Muslims in prayer, on a little ledge that hung out over the trail and over the valley. It was really beautiful- their movements were devotional, syncronized and fluid. Afterwards, we chatted with them a bit and they went on towards the top. Asiya and I stopped there to watch the sunrise, which was completely amazing, as you could probably guess. We could see the whole valley, full of smaller, jagged mountains and canyons. There were no trees or houses or anything. I could liken it to being on Mars or alone on a desert island. The wind was still and the sound of silence was overwhelming. It sounds cheesy, but you could really feel the power of that place up there.
After that physically and emotionally exausting trip, we traveled on the buses (during the course of this trip we developed a distaste for bus rides) to the resort town of Sharm el Sheik. Sharm is located right at the place where the mountains end at the Red Sea coast. It's made up of different high class, high price resorts grappling for European tourist money. A nice place to relax, swim, and shop, but unlike the rest of Egypt, it drains your finances! We did manage to go snorkling out on a Coral Reef in the middle of the Red Sea, right next to a ship wreck. The water was blue blue, warm, and salty- not like the oceans I had experienced. Quite enjoyable.
August 30th
Got sick from the tamayya.
August 29th
Before classes start, the international students are taking a short "Survival Arabic" course. Some helpful phrases that I learned today: ''ana mish khowaga!'' (I am not a fool tourist), ''ghur'' (go to hell- or "get to the hell" as my Egyptian prof. said), and ''khalli balak'' (take care- for when cars try to run you over). After class we had tamayya, an Egyptian falafal.
August 28th
My roommate Devon and I made our first Egyptian friend today- her name is Lamees and she is one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. We told her we wanted to eat Koshari, so she took us to one of the cleaner places downtown. Koshari is what we'd call, "a workingman's meal," meaning it's quick and cheap. It's made of different pastas, rice, chickpeas, lentils, friend onions, tomato sauce, and an optional garlic or tomato sauce. Quite enjoyable. My friends and I have decided on a weekly Koshari date.
August 27th
Got my first taste of the craziness of Egypt today. I met up with some other international girls at our dorm and took a taxi across town. Driving in Cairo is quite an experience. There are no lane markings, stop signs, yield signs, traffic lights, crosswalks, or traffic signals. The only element of stability in this is the horn. There is a very definite and organized system of honks to alert other drivers of your intentions. Mixed with occasional hand signals (some are like we use in America- use your imagination), this is how one gets around in the city. Despite the liquid chaos that is traffic in Cairo, I have not seen any traffic accidents. Dozens of close calls, yes. Actual accidents, no.
After a couple of exilerating cab rides, we wound up walking around Tahrir Square- one of the busiest tourist sections of the city. Here, you do not stop to talk to anyone because you will imdeiately be whisked upstairs "to their office" to "receive their business card." This means you will be whisked upstairs to their shop where they will show you every product in their store in order to get you to buy something. In our case it was a perfume shop. Now, I was prepared for this, and despite honeyed words, drastic price cuts, and kisses on my hand, I walked out of the shop with no perfume. A couple of the other girls did not.
The most exciting thing we did today though, was to visit Khan al-Khalili, the largest bazaar in the Middle East. This is most definitely a tourist trap, but they have some very nice things. To name a few: belly dancer costumes, jewelry (some nice, some very cheap), clothing, fruit, spices, vegetables, used cassette tapes, scarves, bronze items, and nick-nacks. The place is a system of interconnected, dark, narrow alley ways simply cramed with people. It overloaded our senses. Actually, come to think of it, that's kind of a good description for Egypt in general.
August 26th
I arrived today in Cairo, Egypt, 24 hours after I had left my home in New Mexico. The trip was uncomfortable, as any intercontinental trip is bound to be. Flying over Cairo was really amazing. The desert is so large and empty and then all of a sudden, BAM! here is a city of 16 million people. We didn't fly over the pyramids, which was disappointing, but we did get a great view of the city. From the air I was able to see Gezira Island (which is a bit repetative- Gezira means island in Egyptian Arabic) where we would be living and the Cairo Tower, which dominates the city. Seeing my awestruck American face squished up against the window, the Egyptian business man next to me chuckled, and in his Arabic purr said, "Welcome to Cairo."