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...

Christmas in Cairo

I’m pretty sure being in Egypt makes me closer to Jesus than everyone else in the States so, Hah!

I was originally really excited about skipping out on all the Christmas shenanigans…the insane last minute holiday shopping, Christmas music played everywhere you go, excessive holiday cheer, juggling family gatherings…but Christmas here pretty much felt like every other day of the year, and I found myself missing home a little.

Well, I guess Christmas wasn't completely forgotten this year. For about a week there were some street kids selling the creepiest Santa masks you've ever seen. I also asked my students' parents to send Christmas decorations so I could decorate my classrooms. That got me a whole lot more than I bargained for. I got streamers and ornaments galore, as well as other random party favors like party hats and balloons which said “happy birthday”. One mom was particularly generous and made a trip to the school so she could deliver a life-size fake Christmas tree. She said she thought this year would be difficult for me being away from my family and friends so she wanted to make me feel at home…aaawwwww.

On Christmas Eve we threw together a last minute dinner party with some friends and then went down to the British Club for drinks. Definitely an “old fart” bar. We befriended the bar owner, a spunky white haired British chap dubbed “Uncle Mike” by friends. Being the youngest and probably the drunkest group of people at the bar, we took to the dance floor shakin’ it to tunes like “if you think I’m sexy” and Cher’s “do you believe in love after love”. “Uncle Mike” offered us free seats at the big Christmas dinner the next day, but admittedly, none of us felt very good, so we had a very late dinner with friends at a little Italian place in Zamalech. All in all, a pretty decent Christmas.
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Chauvinist Non-Alcoholic Birell Beer Ad :)

Paul and I have taken to reading the Herald Tribune whenever we happen to find a copy, which isn’t as regular as I’d like. Funny thing is my favorite part is reading the Egyptian Daily News that comes inside. It has far more weird, outright hilarious, or just plain head-shaking articles than whatever the Herald Tribune prints. Gently put though, it’s probably because some of the stuff just doesn’t make for topical discussions in the U.S. and Egypt is generally a more conservative society. So things that typically aren’t that scandalous make headlines, and things that just simply wouldn’t be a problem in the U.S. are printed here.

There was a scary article about activists taking a stand against local bloggers being taken by “state thugs” to unknown destinations. Writing anything about Mubarek or the government is a big "no-no". (Perhaps I should not be blogging this?) If you want to know more, you can read it here.

The article that really caught my attention was printed only a few days ago and it’s HILARIOUS…as well as terrible. It’s titled “Birell Beer ad Campaign Triggers Debate on Egyptian Blogosphere”, which is only really eye-popping if you know that Birell is a non-alcoholic beer. They sell it at all the kiosks and Paul and I can never figure out why you would want to buy the stuff. Anyway, the new ad’s slogan is “be a man, drink Birell.” So article talks about how chauvinist the ad is, but I can’t help but laugh as it’s a non-alcoholic beer…what is masculine about that?! Only in Egypt. I highly recommend reading it for entertainment value. The article is here. I couldn't dig up the actual ad, but if someone else finds it, let me know.

As for American news, has anyone heard the infamous story about Bush being hit with a pair of shoes? I’m sure it’s old news by now…but hilarious! Paul was actually at the grocery store the day the video came out and the check-out guy asked him if he was American and then excitedly offered to send him the video from his phone if he had blue tooth. Too funny.



He really hurls those things!
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Dowtown and Zamalech Pictures

So I published the last post a little prematurely. I was hoping to keep things orderly and in a chronological fashion. Anyway, the pictures I’m posting below aren’t terribly exciting, but are a kind of narration of the afternoon of the “Town’n it up” post. They give you an idea of what the open streets of downtown and Zamalech look like…and of course there are some pictures of the Nile.

Mogamma. This is the large government building on Midan Tahrir where Paul and I got or Visa's.

This is a general picture of Midan Tahrir. It's basically a really big round-about with really tall buildings and small shops below. It's the center of the city and a common location where Paul and I start our aimless walks. The museum is about a block from here.

Big lion statues adorn each end of the 6th of October bridge that crosses the Nile and takes you into Zamalech.

One of the Lion's from the 6th of October bridge and the Ciaro tower behind it. Cairo tower is actually a controversial piece of architecture. The American's tried to bribe President Gamal Abdul Nasser with a bunch of money so he could buy arms, but he used the money to build the tower. Basically, it was big "finger" to the U.S.

Downtown liquor store. They aren't much. I only drink I.D. vodka or beer. Most of the Egyptian stuff looks like it should belong in a medicine cabinet rather than a liquor store.

Picture of the infamous black and white Cairo cab.

Pretty view of the Nile.

Another pretty view of the Nile.

Pretty view of the Nile, along with the beginnings of the set-up for the Cairo film festival.

Look! It's green! Welcome to Zamalech!

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women, sex, dating...scandalous!

Busy, busy, busy! Man, there has just been so much stuff going on this week I am a pooped puppy, but I can’t resist the urge to write. This week has been “wrap-it-up” week at school since it’s the end of the first quarter and the second Eid is coming up. Yay for vacation! I need one bad. I had to fill out progress reports this week. We also had “fun-day” which was the most pointless waste of a school day ever. “Fun-day” basically consisted of a bunch of blow up bouncy things, music and a lot of just standing around. I will say that there was a rather intriguing blow up thing that was basically a life size Foosball table. The sides were air filled tubes with big nets on either end with poles running all along the middle where small children could Velcro themselves into their respective spots on the “table”. There was also some gladiator type stuff where the P.E. teacher set up a balance beam and put kids in plastic vests and gave them jousting sticks. The only protection from the hard asphalt below were a few scattered quarter inch thick mats. Paul and I watched for impending doom but luckily no one was seriously injured.

I also had parent-teacher conferences today, which I found out about…this morning! Parents are stressful. But Ms. Samar was so wonderful! She teased me for being so nervous, and then acted as my translator.

Thanksgiving was also this weekend. We had to postpone celebrating until after the weekend with all the school stuff. We managed to pull off a feast on Saturday which was surprisingly American, hahaha! No turkey, but a ton of chicken complete with stuffing, green bean casserole, orange-ginger carrots, ambrosia, mashed potatoes, gravy, and apple pie…mmmm. The ingredients were a pain to come by and our gas tank for the oven and the stove ran out about halfway through. Nothing to stress about though, with a little help from the door guys downstairs, we successfully had the tank replaced within the hour. I’m really excited about all the leftovers in our fridge.

Besides looking for tutoring gigs, I’ve also been hosting events with my roommates. I feel a little skeazy about it, but the events and the pay make it worth it. Basically it’s this agency that gets cute girls to dress up and temp-host high end events which could involve anything from seating people, passing out fliers, giving out prizes, etc. etc. etc. The one I’ll be working in December is a concert Mobinile is hosting at the pyramids, and it’s my job to seat the VIP’s…yeah!

I’m kind of disappointed we’re not going to wear the original dress for the event. It the weirdest outfit I've ever seen! Think black witch/gladiator costume. It was black and silver with a giant cross at the breast, another big dangling cross on a belt, complete with a headband and a cape. I would have loved to have gotten some pictures in it. Anyway, it was terrible, and they were having trouble getting girls to agree to wear it, so now we’re wearing black pants with white button up shirts. They’re providing the pants and shoes, and I get to keep them along with the 300LE they’re going to pay me for one night of work! Pretty sweet deal. Not to mention the event is going to take place at the pyramids in the evening and there’s potential for a light show. I haven’t even been up close and personal with the pyramids yet!

So I mentioned last time I’d talk some about women, sex, dating, etc. in Egypt, and once again, I’m at a loss for where to start. On the surface, it seems like Egypt’s a relatively progressive society. “Relatively” is the key word here. There’s a pleasantly surprising mix of veiled as well as un-veiled women, with about a handful of Burka’s thrown in. But the veil is really the least bit confusing part about women’s role in Egypt.

Let me stress that women here do have the potential to achieve anything they put their minds to, and some overcome the obstacles and succeeded…however, you can still seriously sense the oppressiveness in the air. There are a lot small instances or circumstances that may strike the average liberal American as a bit strange.

Egyptians have incredible respect and love for their families, and thus divorce rates are relatively low, but they still exist. I happened to be doing a little research on Egyptians right to divorce out of plain curiosity and was disturbed to discover reforms to women's rights to divorce have only recently leveled the playing field a little. Men have an unquestionable right to divorce. They have the power to divorce their wife for any reason, and assets and alimony are always distributed equally. In the wife’s case, she must go to court and apply for an “at-fault” divorce, which basically means she has to provide proof that she has been harmed during her marriage. One article stated that even in domestic violence cases, the woman must have eye witness testimonies in order for her claims to be valid. If she "wins", she's free and alimony is distributed equally. Until now, those were the options. If she wasn't able to prove she was harmed by her marriage, that's it. She simply had to live with it. The only recently added the option for a “no-fault” divorce. This allows the woman to divorce her husband for any reason, but she relinquishes any financial rights and is required to pay back the dowry gifted to her by her husband.

My roommates have also noted many Egyptian women tend to be total gossip hounds, and are incredibly jealous and catty. I sympathize. I can’t help but think of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex where she discusses the habits of the women in the Victorian period. Many of these women were backstabbing and viscous, which De Beauvoir pointed out was because women were only able to improve their social standing through marriage; therefore women were in constant competition with one another. Now maybe it’s a stretch, but because Egyptian women are (for the most part) expected to get married and play the typical role of the good housewife, their catty gossiping ways may be similarly attributed to De Beauvoir’s observations.

Dating is one of the most difficult things to understand in Egypt. There’s no one answer you’ll get for anything, it’s contradictory, and full of unwritten rules. The first thing I noticed while I was here was that almost every Egyptian we knew between the ages of 20-23 is or has been engaged. The ending of an engagement, in my humble opinion, is similar to the ending of a serious or long-term relationship. After a lot of questions and a lot of ambiguous answers, the way I understand it is this. While youngsters are able to do a mild bit of dating, if they continue to see the same person for an extended period of time; questions get raised and family members begin to get skeptical…so to satisfy the older generation, youngsters are agreeing to get engaged so they can hold the relationship in this dating period without upsetting tradition. This allows them to continue a long term relationship by basically legitimizing it to the rest of society. But, as many of you have probably guessed, these relationships seem to end before they make it to the big day.

Sex? The big question. It’s another confusing one, but I’ll give it what I can. Couples are technically not supposed to have sex until they're married. There are several parts to the marriage. After the paperwork is completed, they young couple is officially married and able to consummate the marriage. After some time, there is a big ceremony, and a party after which I would equate to a wedding reception. At this time, everyone knows the young couple are sleeping together and there are giggles and the guys are slapping the groom on the back and the girls are asking the bride what it was like, etc, etc, etc. So this is the ideal situation. Young Egyptians do have sex, but it’s complicated and generally more complicated for women. Courting is a must and the relationship moves much, MUCH slower than a typical American relationship. Also, women that have sex are not always regarded very highly. A man might casually date a woman he's having sex with, but just knowing they "put-out" means they get the boot from the marriage market. I can’t forget the disgusted feeling I got when one of our Egyptian friends, during a discussion, said he would only marry a virgin, not long after discussing some of his escapades with various women. “Why? You’ve had sex? Why can’t she have sex?” was the general consensus, which only got us a few mumbles and something about how men need more practice at sex than women.

On that note, one of my roommates recently dated an Egyptian guy. Apparently the sex wasn’t so great. From the gist of it, he simply had no idea what to do, and was completely opposed to giving oral sex (but okay with receiving it). Now this guy did turn out to be a pretty all around douche bag, but (and I may be generalizing too much here) I would still venture to say that this may not be too far from the norm. If women are supposed to be submissive, I’m not sure pleasure on the women’s front is highest in a list of priorities.

My roommate Faye had a much more interesting discussion in the teachers lounge about masturbation. Funny thing is I can’t believe these women were bold enough to be talking about it in public. I don’t know the whole story since I wasn’t there, she explained many of the women had differing views. Some felt it was hazardous to your health. Some felt the men in their lives would not approve of such a thing. And, some felt that it may be “okay”. One woman, who just got pregnant, blamed birth control for the 7 years prior of trying without success, and was hell bound on convincing the other young women that birth control was unhealthy. I guess her doctor attributed her infertility to her birth control. Another friend of ours told us that another doctor told her the small bumps you can sometimes get on the back of your upper arms were due to masturbation. What?!!!

Also, men and women, who are not married, are not supposed to sleep in the same home together. Not usually a problem for Egyptians in that most of them live with their parents, but it does become a problem even when traveling together and getting a hotel room. Egyptians of the opposite gender who are not married are not allowed share a room. In order to rent a room, they must provide their marriage certificate. If they were to rent separate rooms, and then sneak into one another’s rooms, the police would be notified and the guy would be taken home and the woman to jail. Paul and I didn’t have any trouble on our trip because we are foreigners. All we had to do was show the hotel a copy of our passports.

Foreigners have their own standard of conduct which is far less restrictive than any Egyptians. We are not held to many of the moral codes here. But that’s a whole other story. We are however having some recent problems at the boy’s apartment. Because our apartments are parent free (unique to many Egyptian apartments as I mentioned earlier), they have become kind of a hub for other Egyptians to hang out at. Fine, except that apparently the neighbors in Paul’s apartment are very upset at the amount of girls coming over all the time, which is putting Paul and Tom in a possible homeless situation. No reason to worry yet. I have high hopes for this one. Paul and Tom’s apartment leaves little to be desired and this whole thing may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Well, I’m exhausted and I’m hoping to post some more pictures so I’ll go ahead and end this here. There should be several more posts rolling in so happy reading! more...

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...