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So Tuesday a few of us went to a Lebanese restaurant called Taboula in Garden City. We split a few appetizers (Hummus, Taboula, Spinach rolls and goat cheese balls) and we got one main dish (Kofta with yogurt), which was by far one of the most satisfying meals I have ever had. Two of us decided to sit and get coffee and split Shisha (Hookah) and we ended up sitting there for four hours. On the return ride home from Midan Tahrir at rush hour, I honestly felt like I was in the middle of Lagos, Nairobi, or Kinshasa. People hanging out of bus windows, desperately trying to get home; hundreds of people crossing the deadly streets; old, decrepit cars creaking along the bridge over the Nile River; and me, sitting in an older model taxi heading back to the Zamalek. By the time we got home, 5 minutes later, we paid 5 LE (less than $1), but since we have been warned to exit the cab before paying, I accidentally left my mobile sitting on the seat.
After thinking for awhile how I was going to explain this to Vodafone, I received an instant message from one of the other girls on my trip telling me that my taxi driver called her and has my phone. He wants to bring my mobile back to my building that evening on his way home. Unbelievable. So after talking to the front desk, the driver arrived at about 9:30pm and the man is so happy to see me. He tells me that he is so glad that he found me and that I can have my phone back. I slipped him a quick tip (which he was very appreciative of) and I told him Salaam Aleikum (Peace be with you). And then I had my mobile back (and I saved myself quite the hassle).
I came to Egypt with suspicions about people’s motives and their thoughts not only about Americans, but about Westerners in general. I have yet to have one bad experience with an Egyptian. They have been by far the friendliest people I have ever encountered. Just standing on the sidewalk waiting for a friend to grab a shwerma, someone will say hello and ask how I am doing. I have had a dozen conversations where people are excited that I am an American and excited that I am showing in interest in Egypt and the Middle East. And everyone of those people has been even happier that I have been attempting to speak to them in Arabic. It is our perception that is wrong. We cannot continue to just assume that everyone hates us and that there is nothing we can do about it. I implore you all to think about stereotyping in everyday life and remove yourself to see the bigger picture.
In sha’allah (God-willing) – we will all be able to solve our differences and exist side-by-side because the people here really do appreciate us.
My school provides airport pickup if any student so desires for a nominal fee.
I decided against it for two reasons. First, I didn’t submit my information to the NY office in time. And second, I just wanted to see if I could do it by myself. Well… I did. Following a quick run through customs, where I spoke to the Egyptian customs agent in French, got my American passport stamped by an Ethiopian and listened to a Russian blab into his mobile the entire time, I walked outside into the blithering heat followed by my two pieces of luggage that luckily arrived with me. After scanning the road and looking a slight bit lost, an Egyptian (as they do best) saw my struggle and immediately swooped in for the rescue. He grabbed one of my bags and offered to take me into the city. I reluctantly agreed since I saw no other, pardon my French, crappy taxi cabs anywhere around, and I followed him to his nice Mercedes parked in front of the airport. I spoke a little bit of Arabic to him, and gave him the address of my building. Mohammed Abdul AlHanin (yes I can read) was clueless about the location but his boss knew exactly where I was going. So after grabbing my cash and punching (physical punches) Mohammed around a little, the boss and I were off into the desert. I heard that Egyptian drivers were crazy but was I in for quite the surprise.
22 kilometers to the island in the middle of the Nile later, we had been in almost 10 accidents, saw another 10 accidents, almost hit 10 people (I kid you not) and squeezed 10 cars into 6 lanes of traffic. Yes, drivers here are crazy. So I get to 16 Mohamed Thakeb Street on the Zamalek, checked in, met my roomies, and just sat around for a little before grabbing a quick bite to eat. Food here is wicked cheap – usually under 10 LE (Egyptian pounds) which is less than $2. So after settling in, meeting some new people (and old friends), we decided it was a great idea to head Downtown for a cheap eat and some good drinks. We squeezed six people into an ancient cab and by the time we arrived 1/2 hour later Downtown (which is only 2 km away – traffic is that bad), we paid him 12 LE (about $2). We went to a rooftop lounge (yes Rooftop, but not nearly as entertaining as Five) and got a few drinks and tomato soup and just chilled out until 1:30am. Pretty decent first night.
Monday I woke up late. Like really late. 3pm late. One of my roommates was walking back to campus (about 45 minute walk) so I decided to join him and actually “check-in” with the International Student Services Office since I had yet to do that. Cairo in the middle of the day is HOT. Always sunny and Monday it was about 95 degrees so walking along the Nile River brought a much needed breeze. I arrived on campus which is this little oasis in the middle of Downtown off the Midan Tahrir (Tahrir Square), with top-notch security, etc. After I signed in, I decided I should probably schedule my classes.
American University in Cairo does a phenomenal job of scheduling. Completely ficticious. So they have 400 study abroad students and one lady to do all the scheduling in six days. Nightmarish, I know. They had 10-minute slots all day but there were say 50 a day so barely half of all students would get an appointment; the rest were told just to come the last day and wait it out. I decided to just sit and hope that someone canceled their appointment or just wait until the end of the day and hope she would take us. I lucked out and only waited for three hours and got three out of the four classes I wanted. My friend Tim waited for seven; Meghan six. After what I would call a successful day, we walked around Downtown a bit finding an iron and a cell phone (two desperately needed items) and returned to campus where I crashed after being physically and utterly exhausted.
In general, Cairo is one of the most incredible cities that I have ever experienced. Different on so many levels than I anticipated but so much better than I ever could have imagined. Twenty million people squeezed into a tiny city, smaller than Washington DC and clearly on the level of most third world nations. Parts are lavish, but most of it is poor and slummy, but the charm equated with every area of the city is incomparable to anywhere, especially in the West. I take for granted the quick cab rides between campus and where I live (5 LE, or $1) while everyone else is squeezing onto the buses or simply taking the cheapest and simplest (*minus the risk of Cairo drivers) by walking. Even the poor neighborhoods have their own unique style and flavor that I cannot even to begin to describe. I have only been to a few parts of the city (not even the Pyramids yet) and I cannot wait to spend the semester here… or even longer.
Item of the Day: Hookah – 10 LE ($2)
To quote our President, I misunderestimated how anxious and excited I would be on the morning of my departure. I actually slept most of the previous night which is unusual for me on travel days. Things went well heading to National Airport. I grabbed breakfast with a friend before rushing a goodbye so I didn’t miss my flight to New York. But as a result of fog, my American Airlines flight to JFK was delayed (big surprise there). I ended up being delayed an hour, just like my previous flight the week before from Pittsburgh into Baltimore-Washington, luckily I allowed enough cushion time at Kennedy because I haven’t been on an on-time domestic flight this whole year. After a quick and smooth check in with Alitalia, I sat, catching up on my backed copies of the Economist, despite much of the news being obsolete and sitting in awe of 747’s heading to all corners of the globe.
Props to Alitalia: boarding began promptly at 3:45, concluding at 4:30 and we taxied away from the jetway exactly at 4:45, our scheduled departure time. I couldn’t believe an on-time departure from an American airport; I was just glad to get begin my journey as soon as possible. No personal entertainment system perturbed me since I was traveling alone and I fly jetBlue and get spoiled by DirecTV for a short hop up the east coast. Two points really stuck out about the flight from New York to Rome. First, I signed up for a kosher meal because I was on my kosher kick when I bought my flight months ago, but instead they gave me a low-calorie meal, which was actually delicious. And I got it half an hour before everyone else in my section, except I had to wait until the flight attendants made their way to us before getting wine. I know, I complain a lot. Second, the descent into Rome was breathtaking. We had been following the Alps over France and eventually over northwest Italy into the airport which is located along the Mediterranean Sea and we hugged the coast with the gorgeous villas clinging to the hills and overlooking the sea. Combined with the sun-rising to our east, the light cast one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. Much to my satisfaction, we landed early; I could have dealt with a delayed arrival since Leonardo da Vinci Airport lacks any charm whatsoever. We had to walk off the plane on a staircase and take a bus to go through customs/security.
The highlight of my travel day was by far the five minute encounter I had with two Italian girls at the Duty Free shop. So I was hanging around the… well that isn’t important… and these two girls with cameras approach and ask me if they can take a picture with me. And they seemed really really excited about it. So I said sure, and I asked them why and the one responded, “we want a picture with George Bush’s son.” I told them that I wasn’t George Bush’s son, and they said that clearly I have to pretend like I am not his son so I don’t get so much press. The one girl said she saw me on television with him and instantly recognized me; these girls refused to leave the shop without a picture with GWB’s son, so I reluctantly agreed, despite telling them say a hundred times that he just has two crazy daughters. If he had a crazy son like me, he would really go off the deep end.
Following an even earlier boarding of my flight to Cairo, the flight attendants closed the door with the flight about 40% filled, but with people scattered, three to a row throughout the plane. When I tried to switch seats, I got a jumbled mess saying something like “you cannot change seats because we have balance problems on this plane.” Great. I expected problems with an airline in Africa but not the national airline of Italy. Come on. (We all switched once takeoff occurred, anyways). For breakfast, we had chicken, carrots, lemon cake, strawberry yogurt and fruit (+white wine) at 10am Rome time, which is 11am in Cairo, or 4am in DC. Fifth meal in twenty-four hours; don’t worry – I am trying to gain weight before I arrived so I don’t come back bare bones in four months. We landed safely in Cairo (after passing over Greece and the Mediterranean, as well as many tiny towns which from the air look like slummy areas) about fifteen minutes earlier than expected…
And if I thought my day had been eventful already… man was I in for a surprise.
**This post was written mid-air over the Mediterranean, so if you are getting bored, all of my other posts will be much more concise. I just had nothing to do and no attention span to read anymore. My actual arrival post will happen in a bit when I have time to write one.
i’m here. and this place is Amazing. i can’t even really put it into words (although iwill try). i just need to take it in.
check back tomorrow
During orientation I would tell students about a scenario involving how busy they would be in October with papers, exams, friends, clubs and other things and I always told them to describe how they felt in one word, but it couldn’t be stressed…. well that is exactly how I feel right now. So stressed. I feel so overwhelmed right now even though I could just hop on the plane in five minutes. My bags are packed, I’ve said my farewells, so why do I feel so incapable of dealing with things?
I have been here at AU since last Thursday for welcome week which has been fun but has also kept my mind off the stress of leaving. Spending as much time as possible with my friends has really made the transition easier but I still have been experiencing stress because couch-hopping is by far the worst possible way to live for over a week in DC. I appreciate everyone who has offered a couch or bed for me to crash in (or a floor in the most extreme circumstance). Being here has yet again made me love AU even more. When I am here, I never want to leave to go abroad, so it will be all the more difficult to get in the car tomorrow to head to National Airport (although driving in the convertible with air I can actually breathe in will be something I will give up for four months).
I leave tomorrow AM for New York bound for Rome and finally off to Cairo. 24 hours from now I will be sitting on an Alitalia jet on the tarmac at JFK waiting to takeoff for the next chapter in my life. With a little help from the past three weeks of The Economist, a lack of sleep this week, and some great red wine, I will arrive in Cairo feeling refreshed and ready to fulfill a dream I have had since watching the Rugrats Passover Special and learning about the Ancient Egyptians in classes. I’m excited and I will miss y’all (thanks O-Staff). I hope everyone has a great few months; check-in with me here however often you desire.
See everyone in December.
Ma’salama
Welcome to my blog. Throughout the next few months, I will be updating this regularly to keep everyone back in the U.S. informed about my experiences, travels and other great things that I do in Cairo.
Today is Sunday, August 12 and although I don’t leave for Cairo until Saturday, August 25, I am just beginning the process of packing and saying my good-byes. I actually will be in Washington for Welcome Week at my school, American University, so I need to be packed up and ready to go to Egypt by Thursday, August 16 (very scary, I know). I have so much to do in the next few days that I am bound to forget some item or forget to say goodbye to someone, so if you are that item and/or person, I apologize thoroughly.
My next update will probably come the day before I leave.
Salaam aleikum (Peace be with you in Arabic – yes, I know Arabic, or at least enough to survive in Cairo for 4 months)
