More Wierd Info

Adoption. Paul teaches a private lesson to a girl he met through someone at work. They just practice her conversational skills, so Paul thought it might be fun to send her home with some American sitcoms. She watched The Office, and 30 Rock. The 30 Rock episode was all about Liz Lemon wanting to adopt a baby. Anyway, it spawned a conversation about adoption in Egypt. Apparently it exists, but it's not the way you or I would have imagined it. A family can adopt on a child from an orphanage, but it is Harom to bring him/her into your home. So you can donate money and visit, but that's the extent of it. Since you don't know who the child's parents are, you don't know what kind of child it is...thus they can't be brought into your home. Sad.

There is no change anywhere! Small bills are impossible to find...and you need them! I don't know why it's such an issue, but it really, really is! Walk in anywhere with a semi-large bill and buy a cup of coffee, your guaranteed the stink eye from the cashier. I've had numerous situations where people will start asking around and digging in their pockets to even make the smallest of change. It's also common for them to run to a shop next door to get change. Coins are around, but they're fairly rare. There are paper notes for 50 and 25 piesters. A lot of cash registers will have candy in the change section of their drawers to give you in case they don't have the 25 piesters they owe you.
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Al Azar Park and the Citadel

I realize I have kind of disappeared of the face of the Earth for some, but I’ve been in a writer’s rut as of late. Until I snap myself out of it, and find something positively riveting to say, I’ll keep the blog alive with some pictures I totally forgot to post. I know, I know. It’s a total cop-out, but what can you do?

Anyway, while Faye’s friends were visiting, we took the time to do some touristy stuff around Cairo. The pictures below are from Al Azar Park and the Citadel. Al Azar was absolutely beautiful, a spectacular oasis in the middle of Cairo with an amazing view of the city.


This is the view from the lookout in Al Azar Park. Pretty cool. We happened to be there on a Friday and heard all the calls to prayer from every direction of the city. The sing song reciting of the Koran took on a beautiful but ghostly quality.


Pretty groomed gardens with Gazeebos.

View over most of the park. The building at the top is a cafe and restaurant.

Arty picture of tree and Mosque. Go me!

Oooo. Pretty!

This is inside the Cafe...with yet another spectacular view of the city. One thing you'll notice about Cairo is that while its a major city, it's not very modern. There are no skyscrapers, just giant cement building everywhere with a mosque about every 100 yards.

This is at the citadel. Well, part of it. It's basically a fortress with Mosques in it. The Citadel was pretty, but there's not a whole lot to it.

Another pretty view of a mosque in the Citadel.

This was amazing...would have been even better if there weren't so many people, but oh well. It's the first Mosque I've been in that wasn't open air. The candles and the ceiling were amazing.

Picture of some ceiling art.

Also in the Citadel is a military museum. It was outrageous. I wish I had some pictures of the inside reenactment mannequins but you had to pay to bring in a camera. I'll leave it to your imagination.

P.S. Dad, if you have any idea what these thingy's are, feel free to comment. I have tons more pictures of weaponry, but kinda felt like, if you've seen one piece of artillery, you've seen them all.

Tanks. Cool.

This was one of many plaques around. Interesting imagery. Also note that it reads from right to left like Arabic does. Ironically it's labeled in English.

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Holy Poop! Surgery in Egypt!

So my poor roommate Faye got her appendix taken out. She was feeling a little feverish not that long before and then had some cramping in her side for a few days. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but the nurse at Kenana said it would be a good idea to get things checked out by a doctor. Lucky for her, she went in that night with our friend Hesham to get a check up, and was stunned when they told her she would need to go in for surgery at 11 that evening. Poor girl, she had no idea what hit her.

So I packed an overnight bag and booked it down to the hospital. She was in good spirits in the beginning...her and I were cracking jokes and making the doctors and nurses giggle. Faye is an outspoken no-nonsense kind of girl and let it be known she was none to happy when the nurses prodded her hand without gloves to hook her up to an IV. We had to have Hesham politely explain to them that Faye would no longer accept care without gloves. We also got to accompany her to get an ultrasound. I got to see more of Faye than she's probably seen of herself.

Joking aside though, the whole thing was pretty scary. We wound up waiting in her hospital room for the results of her blood test to know for sure whether or not she was officially going under the knife, but by 11, the doctor still hadn’t showed up. We sent Hesham to ask the nurse about it, but instead of sending the doctor in to talk to us, the nurses came in, tossed a gown at Faye, and put her on a gurney. I was pissed we didn't get any kind of assurance or information about the procedure, but Hesham spoke to the doc and assured us everything would be fine. Apparently they were only 80% sure before surgery, but they don’t wait to be positive in women because the appendix can do serious damage to your female goodies if not taken care of. We like to think they were protecting Faye’s unborn children.

Poor Faye was quickly wheeled downstairs and we all waved at her as they took her into the operating room. I guess they didn’t explain anything they were doing to her on the operating table. They just poked her with morphine and something to knock her out. It sounded terrifying. After an hour she came out of surgery shaking with tears in her eyes. Mousad and Raf surprised her by being there when she came out though, which made her cry more…she had quite the fan club cheering her on and assuring her everything was okay. In the two days at the hospital, she probably had at least 3-6 people there with her the whole time. Hooray for Egyptians!

Good thing they took her appendix out though. The doctors were cracking up when they handed us the jar with her appendix…apparently it was the biggest one any of them had ever seen, not to mention the fact that it was in the wrong spot. It looked like something out of x-files to me. Lucky for her though, the doctor was really great. Hesham’s step dad is a doctor and hooked her up with the best tummy doctor in Egypt. Her scar is only 3 centimeters long and the stitches are on the inside so it should heal nice and smooth.

I don’t know. Getting operated on in Egypt would be the last thing I would want to go through. While the hospital wasn’t terrible, there were still a lot of basic things that made you squirm: lack of gloves, pain killers given in saline solution and not directly into the IV, lack of communication, no biohazard anything, smoking in the stairwells etc. That’s also not to mention that since sanitation isn’t what it is in the States, and we are in Africa, the risk for HIV if higher. The guidebook specifically says to stay away from dentists. From what I read though, it sounds like as long as you’re at a good hospital, the risk is low.

Good news is Faye is at home and doing well. She’s walking less and less like an old person and in good spirits…which means wise cracking and being sassy as hell.

These are my graphic interpretations of the event that transpired on late Tuesday night. For those of you that don't speak Arabic, "a-haa" (emphasis on the "ha") means "shit".

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Wierd stuff you may not know about Egypt

Egyptians refer to the northern part of Egypt as “lower” Egypt, and the southern part of Egypt as “upper” Egypt. This is because the Nile flows north.

There are virtually no wood or steel structures; everything is made with brick and cement. Also interesting is watching them take down these cement structures. I was watching in horror from the bus window as several men sledge hammered away at the very foundation they were standing on about 10 or so stories up. Brutal.

You can buy knock-off's of just about every name brand anywhere: Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry,etc. I'm not big into brands so I could care less, but it's still funny to walk through the mall and see entire stores dedicated to fakes.

Egyptians if not married cannot rent a hotel room together no matter how old they are. If they are married and want to rent a room, they have to provide a copy of their marriage certificate. If the couple is not married and rents two separate rooms, but get caught sneaking into each others rooms, the guy is usually taken home, and the girl can be arrested. Foreigners are allowed to stay in the same room without being married, but must prove they are foreigners by showing their passports.

"Velcome to Eg-ypt!" A phrase I have become incredibly acquainted with and have learned to despise. I am sure I will hear it until the day I leave.

Egyptians love talking to foreigners. They really just want to know you or offer a helping hand. On an expedition around Egypt, you'll probably accumulate quite the array of business cards and phone numbers. They also jump at the opportunity to practice their English. The amount of English spoken in Egypt is outrageous. I would venture to say 4 out of 5 people know at least some English; and 3 out of those 4 can carry on, at the very least, a strained conversation.

Egyptians are excited at the opportunity to speak English, but can be terribly shy about it. I don’t know how many people I’ve met that are constantly apologizing for their accents. Funny thing is, Egyptians hardly have an accent, which can be really misleading. Often I’ll start a conversation with someone, and since I don’t hear an accent, I assume they speak fluent English, launch into some topic, just to have them start frantically shaking their heads, “ana mish fahem!” (I don’t understand).

The “helping” gene, every Egyptian has one. Egyptians would give you the clothes right off their backs if you asked for them. Another good example is asking for directions. Nour explained this to me while we were driving around in circles looking for the post office. It’s typical for people, and taxi drivers, to stop random people on the street and ask where such-and-such a place is. Problem is, everyone wants to help…even if they don’t know where you’re going. So sometimes you end up on a wild goose chase, but at least it’s all under the guise of generosity.

Egyptians take antibiotics for everything! If there were ever to be a place where an unstoppable new strain of something be created it would be here. People here will simply not accept that antibiotics are something to be avoided and used as a last resort. They also seem to think that the common cold can be cured with antibiotics. Cairo is a prime location for a zombie outbreak.

You can get prescription drugs without ever visiting a doctor. Walk into any pharmacy, point to where it hurts, and the pharmacist will give you something. You can also ask for specific drugs, which has proved incredibly useful for me…I’m able to refill my prescription for Diclofenac without ever setting foot in doctors office.

Egypt lacks child labor laws. The teeny-tiny grocery store across the street is run by a family, the young sons, which I would estimate to be about 10-13 work the cash register, make change, bag up items, and deliver water. There is also a 12 year old looking boy who works at the KFC at the end of the street. He wears what looks like an adult size uniform all the way down to his shoes, which only accentuates the fact that he should not be working. He mops the floor, buses tables, and takes out trash. Strangest run-in with a young entrepreneur was when we peeked in Hugo Boss to look at the prices of suits for Paul. A kid around 12 found Paul’s size and told him the price all in English.

Sorry animal lovers, but Egypt has a different take on pets. Pets are a pretty new idea that only the upper class has taken up. Basically, the upper classes are the only folks that can afford pets, so most people think paying to feed an animal, when you have other human mouths to feed is silly. There are, however, stray cats everywhere, and many of them look pretty mangy. I can always hear cat fights from my room at night when I sleep. There are also stray dogs that run in packs, so if you give food to one, expect the whole pack to come looking for you. There are also unique animals around, like camels and donkeys, but they’re used for labor…if you believe in the whole reincarnation thing, hell would be better than coming back as an Egyptian donkey.

There are plenty more weird items, but that’s all I’ve got in me for now. I’ll be sure to add to my list as I think of them.

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Party Pics...gotta love 'em

So it was pointed out to me that I don't have any pictures of people. To me it just seems like the kind of stuff one can't appreciate unless one was partaking in the activities, but what do I know? So below I've posted some pictures of Halloween, Christmas, but mostly New Years.

New Years Eve a bunch of us paid a whopping 600LE (120$)to go to this club called Sangria. Pricey for me, but I guess that's the going rate for New Years in Cairo. We got all the food we could order, open bar, DJ's, and a belly dancer. It was a good night with the usual binge drinking that happens at such events. My wonderful roommie Faye let me borrow a dress that made me feel like a cupcake.

Halloween. Makes me wish my hair still looks that good.

Christmas cab photo. The cutie on my right is Faye...my roommie.

Cupcake!

Faye and I being dramatic.

My other roommie Chrissy.

Awwwwwwww.

Anise, Sherief, and Mousad

Faye, Anise, Sherief, Mousad

Me! Apparently my face of the night.

Yay Bellydancers! This is as naked as it gets folks!

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Belated Alex and Siwa Trip

Although Paul was amazing enough to load a crap ton of our vacation pictures into our photo album, I never actually wrote an entry about our trip. So, while I’m kind of over the whole thing, I’ll post a quick blurb here about our adventure along with a few highlighted photos.

Alexandria. Amazing. It’s still a lot like Cairo but the air is fit for the living and the bay is beautiful! There’s also more seafood than you can shake a stick at. We stayed at an adorable budget joint right on the main drag called Hotel Crillon. We spent the day stumbling about and hyping ourselves up on Turkish coffee from the period café’s around town. Our café of choice was Athineos; while the service leaves a lot to be desired, the coffee was good, and it had the perfect 50’s look with big windows where you could sit for hours reading and soaking up the breeze off the Mediterranean. After a lot of caffeine we wandered through Anfushi which is the poorer part of town but for once had buildings painted with bright colors which made it quaint. We also did some typical tourist type stuff like visit the catacombs. The streets in Alexandria though are packed. Walking around can be a lot like driving in stand-still traffic. The first night we ate at a fancy smancy seafood joint where we got to pick out our fish of choice and have it grilled to perfection. We also ate a delectable seafood soup which I find myself craving all the time. The next day we ate at a popular joint that everyone knows by name. It sits in an obscure little alley where the seafood sits out in big pots. A guy helped us order a big plate of everything…no silverware; you just dig in with your fingers…delicious. That night we made drinks in our hotel room and hit the town looking for an old French bar called Comp D’or. Unfortunately the place was closed due to the fact that the big Feast was taking place…bummer. But we did meet an interesting old fellow who dubbed himself Sammy Davis Junior. He kept using the phrase “if you know what I mean jelly bean” which made me giggle. He was nice enough to explain about the bar being closed, and escorted us to another bar called the Mermaid where we drank a few beers.

After a couple days in Alexandria, we hit the trail again and jumped a bus to Siwa. Siwa is the equivalent to being in any po-dunk town in the states, except…well, it’s in Egypt. When the bus stopped we got our luggage and were promptly offered a ride to our hotel in a donkey cart, the main mode of transportation. We woke up early the next morning, ate breakfast at a far too tourist populated restaurant, and then had coffee at an outdoor café overlooking the Shali fortress. After that we rented bikes…which was amazing…and then hit the palm groves to see some major archeological sights. Siwa is basically good for this and only this…sightseeing. It’s beautiful, and lazy, and quiet, but lacks any semblance of a “night scene”…it is in the “country” mind you. The first stop was the Temple of the Oracle, where Alexander the Great was said to travel and was basically told he would take over the world. Once at the top there’s a great view overlooking the Oasis. As you're looking out you can see each layer and beyond: the town, the palms, the great sand sea, then the desert plateaus. If you venture further down the path, you’ll run into the Temple of Amun, which is basically the Temple of Zeus, but the only thing that remains is a single wall with some low relief pictographs. The rest of it was blown to smithereens by the governor due to lack of building material. The rocks from the temple have been transported and used to build what is now the town police station. Hah! After that you run into Cleopatra’s bath which is a natural spring that’s been there since the beginning of time. Some Europeans were brave enough to jump in, but it was pretty freakin' cold. After a long day of cycling we treated ourselves to dinner atop the Shali Fort which was beautiful and had a big open fire. Our last sightseeing event were the Roman Tombs. The tombs were basically dug right into the mountain. During World War II, when Siwa was being bombed (why and by who? I have no idea), the town used the tombs like a bomb shelter. After lot of mosquito bites later, we decided we had our fill and came home.

We took so many pictures over this vacation it was really difficult to decide which ones to post in the actual blog, but good news is (if it’s not already obvious), there are a ton of photos in the Picasso Album. Enjoy.


Me being a typical tourist and looking through our guide book in Athineos.


These sheep have two magical powers...
1. They can fly
2. They have invisible fleece and skin

More meat! And a little dancing man!

...and even more meat. Can you tell this is during the Eid? For all of you who were left out of the loop, Eid is a big feast where they slaughter a ton of animals on the streets and give the meat to the poor. They have to slaughter it a certain way to make sure the sacrifice isn't Harom.

This is just some crazy looking old building I saw. I thought it kinda showed the Roman-esk aspect of Alexandria.

The streets of Alexandria. I kept taking pictures hoping I could, at some point, capture how absolutely packed the streets are. This is the best I got.

Pompey's Pillar.

This is what's under the Pillar. Our guide (a police officer looking for a tip) who didn't speak very much English told us that this is basically an archaic library. Imagine checking out books here!

Overlooking the Bay in Alexandria.

Paul in front of the Library in Alexandria.

Shali Fortress at the center of Siwa.

Cutest kid ever driving around his family, in as I said before, the main mode of transportation...a donkey cart.

Temple of the Oracle.

View from the Temple of the Oracle. You can see the small town below and the Mountain Plateaus in the background, but the Great Sand Sea gets kind of lost.

Temple of the Oracle.

Me and my bike! Wonky pedals, but a sweet little ride none-the-less.

This is the lake that all the palm groves drink from. Strange. A lake in the middle of the desert. I guess that's why it's called an oasis.

Cleopatra's bath.

Paul and I playing with our Shadows...Neato!

This is a Postcard worthy photo of the Roman Tombs. We went at sunset and climbed to the top, right as we were climbing down the prayer went off, which we could here coming from all different directions...it was ominous.

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Israel vs. Palestine

I always feel a little cut off from the outside world living in Egypt. Internet is not usually very reliable, there's the language barrier, which means printed or televised news isn't always accessible either. In any case, the bombings in Gaza have made huge waves in the Middle Eastern world.

While Egypt is an U.S. ally (I feel mostly because the U.S. provides a huge amount of economic support), and tolerant of Israel, the general Egyptian sentiment I've experienced is anti-Israel. That was the general sentiment before the massive and seemingly endless bombing of Gaza, so you can imagine the sentiment now. One of Paul’s students told Paul that he wanted to strangle the President of Israel with his bare hands (I'm sure he's repeating what he's heard at home). Unfortunately, Egypt’s economic wealth and militant power put it in a complicated political position.

So here's how I understand it. Israel gets lots of U.S. backing and is outrageously wealthier than it’s neighbor Palestine. Israel also recently became officially recognized as a state; however, Hamas, the extremist group in Palestine, doesn’t recognize Israel as a stae. To make matters worse, Israel has been sneakily trying to inch its borders even further into Palestinian territory.

So while the situation has been escalating, Hamas sends a homemade rocket into Israel which kills a civilian. In retaliation, Israel starts sending in massive teams of bombs with the idea that if they demonstrate their military superiority, Hamas will simply back off. But its only aggravated Israeli/Palestinian relations even more, and it's put many other nations in a rock and a hard place.

Maybe, just maybe… if Israel had not decided to blow Gaza to pieces, I could empathize with their aggravation with Palestine. A bomb, is a bomb, is a bomb...even if it is homemade. Part of me feels like Palestine was asking for it, and the other part of me feels like Israel is a big bully, that's instigating Palestinian aggression.

But things are never black and white, and the situation is complicated. Israel wants to get rid of Hamas, but Hamas has created a strong leadership in Palestine. Many people wrongfully assume that followers or supporters of Hamas are always religious fanatics, but that's not necessarily the case. While leaders of the group may hold extremist religious beliefs, the follower’s motives are somewhat different. Being in a country as lacking in resources as Palestine, means people are desperate... and desperate times call for desperate measures. Hamas gives those who may not otherwise be able to take care of themselves or their families, the protection and aid they need in exchange for their support.

Also note that Hamas was legitimately elected into political power in Gaza about 4 years ago, and has pushed all rivals, including the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, to the Western Bank. While there are still many Gazans that would prefer to be governed by Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the less extreme Fatah group, they aren’t as organized or strong enough to overthrow Hamas.

Some people feel taking out Hamas may be the only way to restore peace to Gaza and southern Israel. However this attack may only strengthen the party, thereby nullifying the entire reason for the attack in the first place. What they've really done is kicked a hornets nest.

The complications continue if you look at Egyptians role in this debacle. Egyptians are Arabs, and the Palestinians are their "Arab brothers". However, as I mentioned earlier, Egypt has relatively good standings with the U.S. and doesn’t support the Palestinian extremist group. But their brotherly ties, the massive bloodshed shown on El Jazeera, and the presence of Egypt's own extremist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, means that many Egyptians are still criticizing their government for not taking further action to help Palestine…specifically opening it’s borders. Mubarak seems hesitant, but he’s brought many wounded Palestinian civilians to be cared for in hospitals and has also sent aid to the country. Some suspect he's hesitant to open his borders because if he lets Hamas through, there could be terrorist activity in the Sinai, which would reflect badly on Egypt.

There have been large protests in Egypt, right in our very own Tahrir square, where many me and Paul's aimless adventures begin. A large group of protesters gathered in front of the Lawyer’s syndicate holding up placard signs and chanting. Security officials and police officers were forcefully controlling the group. Journalists were harassed and made to leave the area or be detained. From what I gather many were detained, particularly those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact that there was a protest surprises me since many people here won’t directly criticize Mubarak or the government in general.

(Protesters in Midan Tahrir courtesy Daily News Egypt)

I’m no Poly-Sci major, and just because I’m in Egypt doesn’t make me an expert on the Middle-East, so if I've got this all wrong, help me out here...

So that’s all I have for now. I heard today that Israel has started a ground attack which means the situation is only going to get worse. I’m wondering if there won’t be more protests. I’ll be sure to post any updates. more...