I could upload more pictures and continue my Sinai story, but the internet is slow here at the AUC old campus, so I'll just post something random and do pictures later.
Two days ago, while I languished in bed with King Tut's revenge, my friends had dinner with Sheef Sherif (Chef Sherif), the cook at the koshary place we eat at at least twice a week. (Koshary is a staple of the Egyptian diet. It's noodles, rice, lentils, and crispy onion-like things mixed up in a bowl, and you pour on tomato sauce, garlic sauce, and a spicy sauce. It's what we eat when we can't find anything else that's quick and fast). Anyway, we've been practising our Arabic with Sheef Sherif each time we visit, and two weeks ago he said we were friends and invited us to his house for dinner. My friends told me the story of the dinner the next day, and I was almost glad that I had been sick...
Sheef Sherif's family consists of his mother and younger sister and brother. They greeted my friends warmly, and they were especially warm towards Jennah, because Sheef Sherif wants to marry Jennah. At least we think he does. Jennah is American, black, and Muslim, which makes her both interesting and a good marriage prospect. Everyone sat down at the table and the meal began. Hospitality is a big deal in Egypt, which apparently means you're supposed to stuff your guest until they burst. Sheef Sherif's family prepared "a ton" of different appetizers and main courses and desserts, and made them literally keep their mouths full the entire meal (everything had meat in it, so I'm doubly glad I wasn't there). The mother sat next to Jennah and, when she started slowing down, started shoving food in her mouth so she would eat more. She also hand-fed my friend Annette, but Annette accidentally bit her, so the force-feeding ended. This went on for a while until Jennah was at the breaking point, and Sheef Sherif called a halt to the feeding. My friends stayed for four hours, but the family was a little offended that they didn't stay longer. That's something I've noticed a lot here, actually: when you visit people, you're supposed to take your time--not like take your time like "hang out for an hour in between other commitments", but take your time as in "put off everything else and spend hours together".
So, in short, Egyptians are very hospitable (it reminds me a lot of my Grandma O, who was Serbian, so maybe it's a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean kind of thing). But having Egyptian friends seems like an awful lot of work; it's definitely worth it, but I'm not sure if people have "casual" friendships.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Escape from Cairo: Sinai Peninsula
I intended to post an update a few days ago, but I came down with a bad case of food poisoning and couldn't do anything. I might be sticking to Pizza Hut and McDonald's for the next few days.
Anyway, last Tuesday three friends and I decided it was time to get out of Cairo and find some fresh air. We spent Tuesday frantically planning and booking bus tickets (Egypt is the land of last-minute travel plans. You can't even book round-trip bus tickets). We left at 12:15 am Thursday for the 8-hour trip to Dahab, a town on the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula. I'd heard people say that bus drivers on these overnight trips like to play movies for the entire 8 hours, and this turned out to be completely true: our driver played three Egyptian gangster films, with the volume cranked way up so we wouldn't go to sleep and miss part of the movie. We also stopped four or five times for passport checks, which didn't improve the sleeping situation.
But the bus ride was worth it...
The Red Sea was the bluest, clearest body of water I've ever seen--totally unlike the Nile, which is filthy and polluted. We were actually on the Gulf of Aqaba, the more eastern gulf of the Red Sea. In the distance you can make out the mountains of Saudi Arabia; nearer to our hotel, Saudi Arabia seemed so close that I wanted to take a quick boat ride over and touch it, just to say I was there. Before we played in the ocean, though, we went to the mountains. Our goal was to see St. Catherine's Monastery, the oldest continously-functioning Christian monastery in the world (it was completed in 565 CE), and to climb Mount Sinai. Unfortunately, the monastery is only open from 9-12 am, and we got to Dahab at 8:15...but some nice taxi drivers called around and found us a minibus full of European tourists who graciously allowed us to squeeze in at the last second for the 2-hour drive to St. Catherine's. We ended up with only an hour and a half to explore the monastery, which wasn't enough, but we still saw quite a bit.
A bell tower inside St. Catherine's. A Russian tsar--I forget which one--donated the bells. St. Catherine's was Russian Orthodox for a long time, but now it's associated with the Greek Orthodox church, and the 14 monks who live there are Greek Orthodox.
St. Catherine's holds many relics and places that are considered to be authentic, including the well where Moses met Tzipporah, St. Catherine's wheel, and the burning bush, above.
After the monastery, we had some lunch and decided to climb Mount Sinai in the afternoon to see the sunset, rather than starting at 2 am and reaching the top for sunrise, which is the traditional time to do it. We were all up for the 2 am climb, but the next day was Friday, the day of Jummah for Muslims, and we were afraid we wouldn't get a ride back to Dahab until after the noon mosque meeting. So we headed up the Steps of Penitence at about 3:00 pm with a Bedouin guide, Salah (the picture above was taken when we were coming down, but it's the only good one I have of our guide). The Bedouin call the mountain Jebel Musa, or Moses Mountain, and it's Bedouin tradition that says that this mountain is the one on which Moses met God. Most scholars now think the actual mountain was in Saudi Arabia or farther north on the Sinai peninsula, but Jebel Musa is the traditional pilgrimmage site for Christians, Jews, and Muslims looking for Mount Sinai.
The 3750 Steps of Penitence are tough...we were pretty penitent by the end. Salah asked us why Americans always wanted to climb the steps rather than take the easier camel path. Salah, of course, does the climb a couple of times a day, in sandals, so I'm sure it's not nearly as difficult for him as it was for us.
A bell tower inside St. Catherine's. A Russian tsar--I forget which one--donated the bells. St. Catherine's was Russian Orthodox for a long time, but now it's associated with the Greek Orthodox church, and the 14 monks who live there are Greek Orthodox.
St. Catherine's holds many relics and places that are considered to be authentic, including the well where Moses met Tzipporah, St. Catherine's wheel, and the burning bush, above.
After the monastery, we had some lunch and decided to climb Mount Sinai in the afternoon to see the sunset, rather than starting at 2 am and reaching the top for sunrise, which is the traditional time to do it. We were all up for the 2 am climb, but the next day was Friday, the day of Jummah for Muslims, and we were afraid we wouldn't get a ride back to Dahab until after the noon mosque meeting. So we headed up the Steps of Penitence at about 3:00 pm with a Bedouin guide, Salah (the picture above was taken when we were coming down, but it's the only good one I have of our guide). The Bedouin call the mountain Jebel Musa, or Moses Mountain, and it's Bedouin tradition that says that this mountain is the one on which Moses met God. Most scholars now think the actual mountain was in Saudi Arabia or farther north on the Sinai peninsula, but Jebel Musa is the traditional pilgrimmage site for Christians, Jews, and Muslims looking for Mount Sinai. 
The 3750 Steps of Penitence are tough...we were pretty penitent by the end. Salah asked us why Americans always wanted to climb the steps rather than take the easier camel path. Salah, of course, does the climb a couple of times a day, in sandals, so I'm sure it's not nearly as difficult for him as it was for us. There are monuments everywhere on the way up. This is the first of two arches carved by monks. There are also churches, mosques, and one giant tree at a place called Elijah's Basin, where Elijah spoke to God.
And now it's time for another nap, or maybe a nice, clean lunch at Hardee's. I'll finish this update later today, inshallah.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Great Scott, it's the Great Pyramid!
Once again, my pictures are in reverse order. Sorry.
The Sphinx! There are lots of Sphinxes in Egypt, but this is, obviously, the most famous. Odd story: while we were sitting and contemplating the Sphinx, we saw a horse and rider tumble over the drop-off you see in the background, which is a good 20-25 feet. The horse landed on top of the man. Both of them walked away, the man with some help from friends...but it was pretty scary.
The Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khafre (sidenote: everywhere we went, especially when we got away from Khafre and Khufu and looked at some of the smaller pyramids where there were more Egyptians and fewer tourists, there were people asking to take pictures with us. Grown men, women in niqabs, children, families...they all wanted pictures. We must have taken 50 pictures with people we didn't know. It was a fun way to meet people).
The Pyramid of Khafre is smaller than the Pyramid of Khufu, but it's prettier because it has some of the limestone casing at the top; originally the whole pyramid was covered with the casing, but some of it crumbled during earthquakes and some of it was taken by later rulers of Egypt to build other things. Apparently many of the buildings in Cairo are made of pyramid stone. There might also have been a gold top, but obviously that was taken a long time ago.
The Sphinx! There are lots of Sphinxes in Egypt, but this is, obviously, the most famous. Odd story: while we were sitting and contemplating the Sphinx, we saw a horse and rider tumble over the drop-off you see in the background, which is a good 20-25 feet. The horse landed on top of the man. Both of them walked away, the man with some help from friends...but it was pretty scary.
The Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khafre (sidenote: everywhere we went, especially when we got away from Khafre and Khufu and looked at some of the smaller pyramids where there were more Egyptians and fewer tourists, there were people asking to take pictures with us. Grown men, women in niqabs, children, families...they all wanted pictures. We must have taken 50 pictures with people we didn't know. It was a fun way to meet people).
The Pyramid of Khafre is smaller than the Pyramid of Khufu, but it's prettier because it has some of the limestone casing at the top; originally the whole pyramid was covered with the casing, but some of it crumbled during earthquakes and some of it was taken by later rulers of Egypt to build other things. Apparently many of the buildings in Cairo are made of pyramid stone. There might also have been a gold top, but obviously that was taken a long time ago. I'm not sure what the thing in the foreground is...there really aren't many signs. I think it's a temple, but it might be a smaller tomb.
On Friday we saw the pyramids of Giza! There are pyramids and tombs all over Egypt, but these are the pyramids you usually think of when someone says "The Pyramids". This is the Great Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Khufu, and it's about 4,500 years old. We took a half-hour taxi ride to get to Giza, which is just outside the city of Cairo. The drive took us through fields that were astonishingly green, even compared to Zamalek; we shared the road with donkey carts and shepherds with sheep. And then the driver pointed and in the distance were three pyramids rising above apartment buildings and farms.
The tip of Zamalek (a fancy restaurant and an unfinished high-rise, a typical combination in Cairo). My friend Janis and I have Tuesdays off, so this Tuesday we decided to take the ferry across the Nile. With our combined knowledge of Arabic (about 10 words), we managed to purchase two tickets (2 LE, or about 36 cents) from a man who knew just about as much English as we knew Arabic. We were the only two non-Egyptians on the ferry, so we got quite a few looks, probably because the other side turned out to be a poor neighborhood with nothing to do except buy car parts. We did see some brown sheep and lots of interesting-looking people, and all of them saw us, because just about everyone stared at us as we walked by. Next time we take the ferry we'll know more Arabic and dress in drab colors instead of blue hoodies.
A sidewalk on Zamalek. Zamalek is covered with huge trees that arch above the streets, so it seems very peaceful during the daytime, even though there's always noise and people and cars. It's been sunny just about everyday so far.
Another shot of the AUC campus. This is a 3rd floor rooftop/balcony/giant ballroom-like area I stumbled across one afternoon. AUC New Campus would make a wonderful tourist destination/palace, but it's not very practical for a university. It's fun to stumble across random courtyards and fountains, but not when you're late for class or looking for a bathroom. Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is an alumna of AUC, and she's visiting the new campus this weekend; unfortunately, it's invitation-only. And I wasn't invited.
On Friday we saw the pyramids of Giza! There are pyramids and tombs all over Egypt, but these are the pyramids you usually think of when someone says "The Pyramids". This is the Great Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Khufu, and it's about 4,500 years old. We took a half-hour taxi ride to get to Giza, which is just outside the city of Cairo. The drive took us through fields that were astonishingly green, even compared to Zamalek; we shared the road with donkey carts and shepherds with sheep. And then the driver pointed and in the distance were three pyramids rising above apartment buildings and farms.Only a certain number of people are allowed to go inside the Great Pyramid each day, but we got there early enough to get tickets. It's a hard climb up a stuffy, cramped ramp, and you end up in a dim, echo-y, stuffy chamber that holds only the unfinished sarcophagus. It was definitely a tomb, and it's definitely not for anyone who's claustrophobic...but it was well worth it. When Napoleon came to Egypt, he sat in the same space alone and came out terrified; he never said what happened to him inside. We weren't allowed to bring cameras (we smuggled ours in but didn't take pictures. It seemed like that would break the mystery of the place).
The tip of Zamalek (a fancy restaurant and an unfinished high-rise, a typical combination in Cairo). My friend Janis and I have Tuesdays off, so this Tuesday we decided to take the ferry across the Nile. With our combined knowledge of Arabic (about 10 words), we managed to purchase two tickets (2 LE, or about 36 cents) from a man who knew just about as much English as we knew Arabic. We were the only two non-Egyptians on the ferry, so we got quite a few looks, probably because the other side turned out to be a poor neighborhood with nothing to do except buy car parts. We did see some brown sheep and lots of interesting-looking people, and all of them saw us, because just about everyone stared at us as we walked by. Next time we take the ferry we'll know more Arabic and dress in drab colors instead of blue hoodies. 
A sidewalk on Zamalek. Zamalek is covered with huge trees that arch above the streets, so it seems very peaceful during the daytime, even though there's always noise and people and cars. It's been sunny just about everyday so far.
Another shot of the AUC campus. This is a 3rd floor rooftop/balcony/giant ballroom-like area I stumbled across one afternoon. AUC New Campus would make a wonderful tourist destination/palace, but it's not very practical for a university. It's fun to stumble across random courtyards and fountains, but not when you're late for class or looking for a bathroom. Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is an alumna of AUC, and she's visiting the new campus this weekend; unfortunately, it's invitation-only. And I wasn't invited.
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