Town'n It Up

So no big events this month minus the White Desert trip, which was amazing, but Paul and I are trying to save for our next big adventure to Alexandria and Siwa, so money is a little tight. I’m super pumped though since we’ll finally be doing something on our own. Everyone here is so generous we get picked up and toted around everywhere without having to do a whole lot of fending for ourselves. I swear, you can’t hang out with anyone for more than 10 minutes before they offer you a ride to somewhere. It’s great, but like I said, I’m really excited to be doing something off the beaten path. We’re going to stay in Alex for a couple days, eat some kick ass seafood, party it up in the Mediterranean, and then head to Siwa to see some crazy ruins and ride bicycles.

Paul and I have taken to aimless walks on the weekends. Our favorite thing is to take a cab to Midan Tahrir and just start walking. Last time I came prepared. We hit the rode in the afternoon with my purse stocked with a change of clothes for the clubs and a water bottle full of vodka. We meandered through Zamalech, the pretty green island on the Nile, and then got terribly lost in some part of town which I’m still not sure the name of. We picked up a Herald Tribune from the newsstand to keep ourselves updated on the withering American economy while we sipped Turkish coffee at an outdoor café. We met an interesting Egyptian engineer who has lived virtually everywhere on the planet. After a lot more walking and random stopping we found the culture wheel that promotes smaller concert venues, puppet shows, old movies, and seminars…it had some really great prints of the White Desert as well as our future destination, Siwa. Then we stumbled into Mahandaseen where we peaked in some cute shops and surprisingly hip thrift store that had a furry hat I should have bought (dammit!). Then we passed the cab the address for Abu Tarek, which we got from the perfume guys we met during a previous adventure and ate delicious Koshary. And just when we thought we were done we saw a beacon of light…a neon sign declaring ‘STELLA’! Oh it’s the little things. We walked hopefully down the dark alley to be greeted by an incredibly loud Egyptian Bartenderess who led us into a dark room with music you could barely hear yourself think over and served us an icy cold Heineken…heaven! After a few beers, the locals asked to take pictures with us, which has become kind of the norm, but they were friendly and less weird than the creepy matron at school who is always insisting that I kiss her. After a few beers, Paul and I got antsy and were debating whether or not we wanted to kick it downtown for another few hours and wait for the clubs to pick up or head home. We ended up getting even more lost and decided it was time to break out the Vodka, bought a bottle of 7up and started walking again. This time we stopped at an outdoor café and smoked sheesha while we discussed my crazy roommates and kept drinking. Then, speak of the devils, my phone started blowing up and it was Faye telling us they were all headed to the Cairo Jazz Club. Sweet, exactly where we were headed! I hit up a fast food joint and put on my dancing shoes and we hit the rode again this time with a little more bounce in our step.

The Cairo Jazz Club is my favorite bar/club so far. I had been there one other time with Faye so she could see her new guy do his DJ thing. The place has decent music played at excruciatingly high levels which leaves your ears ringing. It’s the first place I’ve seen some people that remind me of home. The place is crawling with hipsters. I was getting a huge kick out of this guy sporting the tightest pair of yellow corduroys I’ve ever seen, topped with skinny suspenders, and white sunglasses breakin’ it down on the dance floor. Yay for funky fashion! Anyway, after a lot of wiggling and toe tapping, we hitched a ride back with friends. I slept like a baby. I guess that’s what 8 hours of walking and 4 hours of dancing will do to you. All together a good day.

So this is totally out of the flow of things, but I forgot (and how could I) to mention an interesting incident that occurred during our first few hours in Zamaleck. After we crossed the bridge over the Nile, went down to walk along the esplanade underneath and got stuck at the other end. We jumped the fence and ended up on a typical downtown street where we were greeted by an 8 year old kid asking for money. This is very common, they’re everywhere. You feel bad, but there’s just too many to give to them all. A typical response is a firm “La-a Shukran” (no thank you) which means they follow you for second hoping you’ll change your mind and then scamper off to someone else. This one however decides to pull out a teeny tiny knife to which Paul and I responded with surprise and slight amusement. He wasn’t very serious, but started waving it around. When an 8 year old starts waving a knife you realize that logic has nothing to do with it, and start getting a little nervous. I think he was just messing around at first, but once he got a whiff of “the fear” he got coy about it and started getting a little closer. A loud, “get back!” and a hand raise that’s says “I’ll smack the shit out of you kid” and he ran off. Totally random and weird. I was quite amused after and kept joking with Paul that he almost got jumped by an 8 year old.

So that’s my story for now. I really do plan on writing some interesting culture stuff, but I get distracted every time I come to the Café. Thanksgiving is this weekend and we’re planning on making a feast and inviting some fellow teachers. Happy Turkey Day!!!! more...

The White Desert

This was an amazing trip. It was only 2 days long, but really cool and laid back. Basically we set out in a van to an Oasis and then jumped in an all terrain jeep driven by a local Bedouin. Then Saule (the driver) drove like a madman through the desert; quite possibly the best part of the trip. You bounce around while the driver either shifts the jeep on the sand or drives at about 100km per hour around rock formation obstacles. I felt a little like I was part of an Indiana Jones movie. Throughout the trip we made pitstops at different areas like the black desert, crystal mountain, the mushrooms, and the white desert where we camped out for the evening. Saule made us one of the best meals ever! We brought a couple bottles of Vodka with us and played cards, traipsed around the surreal landscape, and then slept out under the stars. It was amazing! At night, when I went to find a spot to pee I kept hearing all these little howling noises which turned out to be desert foxes, one of which tried to sneak into our camp and steal our marshmallows. Anyway, the pictures are way better than anything I could really tell you about the trip. But really, you just had to be there.

This is some of us inside the jeep getting ready to take off.

Another picture of the Jeep.

Pretty desert scene at the beginning of our adventure.

The Black Desert. Basically a big Mountain covered in some kind of volcanic rock. No worries Mark, I saved you few pieces :)

More of the black desert.

Me being a dork.

Amazing view from standing on top of the mountain. Our jeep is just a tiny spec in the distance.

Part of Crystal Mountain. Basically it's a big rock completely covered with quartz.

When we rolled up to this spectacular view Paul and I had the insane urge to start humming the theme to Star Wars.

Rock that looks like a wave...you can see Faye taking a little snooze inside.

The mushrooms. This is what the white desert is covered in, strange white rock formations. The rock is made of chalk and is eroded by the wind into strange shapes.

White desert landscape.

Really amazing view of a mushroom.

How's is it standing like that? Pretty neat, huh?

Since the white stuff is chalk, you can do fun stuff like this.

And this is where we camped, right next to the jeep. Some friends claim the rock on the right looks like George Washington, but I'm more apt to think it looks like a goat or something...you be the judge.

I'm really excited about our vacation trip to Alexandria and Siwa at the beginning of December. Siwa is supposed to be gorgeous so I'm looking forward to getting some more pretty photos. Unfortunately I'm on the run...I get to fill out progress reports today. Ugh.

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Persepolis

I played hooky from school today…I've got a pretty awful cough and a sore throat. So I thought today would be a good day for blogging.

In the meantime, last week I was reading a copy of “Stop Smiling” magazine when I stumbled upon an interview with Marjane Satrapi about her graphic novel “Persepolis”. So Paul was sweet enough to download it for me and I have spent the last 24 hours reading it feverishly. It’s absolutely wonderful.

The novel is basically a memoir about her extraordinary life which is separated into two parts. The first part takes place while she is very young and living in Iran with her family. The second part takes place while she is a teenager living in Austria and her later return to Iran to be reunited with her family.

Much of her book revolves around her liberal minded family who are activists and avid protesters in Iran. Many members of her family and friends are sent to prison or executed for being communists. Other members of her family flee to Russia. While her parents and family members are inspiring and her relationship with them is really touching, she still allows you to see their imperfections and imbedded hypocrisy.

She does a really beautiful job of interweaving her personal experience with the complex history and conflict of her homeland. Coming from someone who has little to no knowledge about the history of Iran, I found the politics and complications of the country easily accessible. Much like the simple black and white illustrations, her writing is very simple and to the point. Yet, she’s still able touch on complicated themes like isolation, borderlands, and assimilation. I found myself thinking back to discussions I had in my Latina Literature class where we spent a lot of time discussing the meaning of borders and the feeling of belonging, along with complications of embracing parts of one culture while still assimilating to another. Iran is often depicted the “axis of evil” by our own country, and I felt like she made a point to show that you can’t always characterize historical disputes as good versus evil. There’s always a grey area, and it’s important to recognize that much of the media only portrays one side of the story. While she doesn’t necessarily portray Iran in a positive light, she lets you have a sneak peak at people working to make it a better place, as well as provide insight as to what role the western part of world has played in it’s problems.

A large portion of the second half of the novel takes place in Austria where she is estranged from her parents. She recognizes the opportunity and freedoms she has there, but she also misses some of the values found in her own culture. She winds up changing in such a way that she never fully accepts until the end of the novel. She knows her culture is oppressive, but she feels this great burden of guilt that in some way she is betraying or denying her own heritage. She winds up assimilating to some degree, but realizes she’ll never fully be accepted in her new culture. In the end, when she returns to Iran, she comes into a further realization that she isn’t really accepted in her original country either as she’s been tainted by the west.

Everything about the book is incredibly interesting. I felt like I learned so much. But it’s also great entertainment. Her life is thrilling and the novel is touching and at times heartbreaking. I found myself with the warm and fuzzies and at other times (I hate to admit it) a little blurry eyed, but I’m a sap sometimes. I’d recommend the book to anyone and everyone. It’s a really easy read…I’ll give my personal guarantee you’ll be hooked in the first 5 minutes.

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Shortest Post Ever!

Ahhh! I'm sitting in a cafe and I feel like I've warped into the twlight zone. There's a football match and everyone's gone mad! I keep jumping whenever a goal is scored because the place erupts with shouts and screams and clangs. I'm having severe flashbacks of Brazil during the world cup. We even got out of school early today so everyone could get home for the game...just like in Brazil. So why is U.S. the only country that doesn't give a hoot about soccer? It's so much more interesting than American football.
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Pyramids!!!

So we've finally seen the pyramids relatively up close and personal. Not that looking at them from Mousad's balcony wasn't already impressive. We went to this part of town that's full of horses and camels and basically rented them for a few hours to ride around in the desert with a spectacular view.

Giddyup!

Paul's horse refused do anything he wanted it to. At one point it stopped to eat some garbage. But if you want to see something entertaining, you really have to see Paul ride when the horse is going at full trot, he'd just let himself be bounced violently up and down. Faye and I couldn't stop laughing. I have to say he looks rather dashing in this picture though.

Pyramids, Camel, Desert, Cairo...perfect! It's been awhile since I've seen a camel. The things are TALL! When you get up on one, they get up with their back legs first so you feel like you'll topple over. I witnessed this actually happen to a fellow teacher on a field trip. Scary...but a little funny.

How would you like to four-wheel it here?!

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Insert Witty Title Here...I got nothin'

EEEEEeeeeeee!!!! I’m super duper caffeinated! Paul and I woke up really early this morning and made a fabulous breakfast of eggs, veggies, and potatoes, all of which were purchased from the veggie stand on the corner, and we’ve been drinking coffee ever since. I have Turkish coffee in front of me right now and I’m almost afraid to drink it. I was really hoping all the caffeine would spur a writing extravaganza. With all the positive feedback I’ve been getting on the blog I’m feeling a little like I need to write something fantastical. Before I felt like I was writing, but no one was really paying any attention. Unfortunately, nothing super fantastical has happened as of late. I love the comments though so keep ‘em coming. (Bob-"the road of dangerous curves" should be a strip club-Brilliant!)

So Halloween just happened…yesterday. The sad part is that Halloween really isn’t an Egyptian holiday that’s celebrated; they're aware of it, but people don’t get dressed up. The kindergarten section at school did throw a Halloween party for all the youngsters though on Thursday. All the little one’s came dressed up. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many Spidermen in one place. The costumes with the built in muscles were especially hilarious. One of my kids came in traditional Muslim garb with the turban and the flowing white scarf complete with a band aid which his mom had colored black and stuck to his upper lip to look like a mustache…hahahahahahaha. He kept having me reattach it since all the chocolate smeared on his face kept it from sticking. Eventually the band aid was lost which caused him much distress.

Just to clarify things in case I didn’t earlier, Paul and I are working in the same school so we have all the same holidays…yay! We are both working in the National school instead of the American school so we get slightly fewer holidays. I’m pretty sure both of us will be working on Christmas, but we’ll see.

The Kindergarteners are kept in a seperate section of the school. They have their own play area, and classrooms. I wasn't sure how I'd fair with kindergarteners, but they've really warmed up to me. Plus, kindergarteners get a party or go on a field trip every week.

Speaking of Kindergarten parties you should see these things. I was in my classroom one day and all of sudden there’s this loud techno dance music outside. All my kids run out of the classroom to find a DJ and many of their favorite animated characters dancing around. Mickey, Spiderman, Baby-bop, Barney, and some Egyptian character I’ve never heard of. At one point while I was trying to comfort all of the terrified children, the other teachers ganged up on me and sent Spiderman over to ask me to dance. I had no choice, I danced with Spiderman, which if you’ve ever danced with a giant headed cartoon character is really, really weird. My students loved it!

In other news, the elections are coming! Man oh man am I excited…Paul is fortunate enough to get CNN international so we’ve been following the campaign closely. The debates were on really late so we could only watch one. I find myself actually really excited about Obama. He’s young, eloquent, tolerant, and I really feel like he’s in this thing for the right reasons. I feel like he has a plan of attack for the whole economic crisis, a pretty decent health care plan (one which doesn’t exclude those of us with pre-existing conditions), and he’s up for diplomatic conversations with foreign countries.

Egyptians are also pro Obama. I can’t help recall the cab ride I took to Paul’s where the cabbie asked my nationality (don’t ask me how I knew what he was referring to because he didn’t speak a lick of English). After discovering I was American he kept asking “anti-bush? Anti-Bush?” to which I nodded, prompting the cabbie to give me a double handed thumbs up and a huge yellow toothed grin. Let me tell you, a double handed thumbs up in Cairo traffic is terrifying. He then proceeded to chant “Obama” the rest of the way.

Well, Paul has finally successfully downloaded “Pineapple Express” and I’m dying to see it so I’ve got to pack things up. If anyone has fun pictures from Halloween I expect e-mails.
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