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All good things come to an end. My semester here in Cairo is officially over and it has been one of ups and downs, great triumphs and failures, happiness and sadness, and feelings of emotion that I have never experienced and probably never will experience ever again. Would I change the way I did some things? Yes. But do I regret anything? No. Two quotes tend to sum up how I tend to live my life: the first, by Jack Kennedy usually pushes me to take action and not sit on the sidelines: “those who dare to fail miserably, can achieve greatly.” I always try to take a risk, I try to live on the edge. There is no status quo to my life (just like in the Middle East, ironically) but that is how I want to live. I thrive on change. I feel at my best in the midst and that leads into my second favorite quote, which was exemplified when I pledged Sigma Chi. “Life is about the journey, not the destination.” To me, living in the present is the most important aspect of life. Yes, the past and present are important, but all too often, we forget about the moment we are living in right now. I tried to have as many “Now Moments” as possible where I just stopped and took it all in, but I still always felt like I was thinking about the next step.
It is incredibly hard to believe it has been four months. Yesterday, I was driving through my hometown and I can’t even really fathom the fact that a week ago, I was driving through the most polluted city in the world, sharing the roads with eighteen million, while I now barely share it with eighteen thousand in Murrysville. Being home feels rather surreal; the people are different, the weather is different, the atmosphere is different, the lifestyle is different. Flipping on the TV and every channel being in English is nice, but it was a semester barely spent watching television whatsoever (so, clearly I am catching up during break). Junk food didn’t exist in Cairo, well it did, but it was double or triple the price of American junk food so with the standard of living seen as so cheap, I wasn’t about to spend five days worth of food budget on a box of cookies.
The inevitable question keeps coming up, every time I see someone new: how was Egypt?? they always ask. After all the gushy “well it was great, so nice to see you, I love being back for the holidays” deal, I normally say that it was full of highs and lows, goods and bads, but such is life. I moved to Egypt for four months anticipating nothing less. I studied abroad for the feeling of life, not just a feeling of travel. Four months is an incredibly long time to only have ups and goods and never have bad moments. Even on a two-week trip to Israel or three weeks in France, there will be moments of disconnect or dissatisfaction, so in a society that is nearly the antithesis – in some regards – to American culture, I would say I was rather successful during my time there.
Despite certain life changes, I was able to adapt decently. I longed for home (read: DC) at certain points during the semester, but I never feel like it caused an issue that detracted from my semester in Cairo.
I have been thinking a lot about over the past two weeks and there isn’t really anything more to say, other than I am glad to be back in DC and I am glad to restart my life. I met some great people, saw some great places, learned some great things and overall had a great time. I hope this blog made you feel like you were there, at any point during the past four months, which is what its intention was. I tried my best not only to let you know what I was doing, but it also served as a sort of journal so I could keep track of the stuff for myself.
Ma’asalaama or goodbye in Arabic. I nearly forgot how to write/say/spell it…
So, in lieu of the inevitable post about Rome or my grand finale on the semester, I finally made it home. Only ten hours after I was supposed to but, hey, at least I made it.
My flight from Rome got in on time, although we had a wicked hard landing. We basically fell out of the sky onto the runway because the wind was devastatingly strong. A couple of the oxygen masks fell down into the cabin (yes, they do exist) and some Italians began shouting, so it wasn’t a pretty scene. After claiming my luggage, I walked out of Terminal One at JFK into a torrential downpour with near-horizontal rain as the wind was blowing the rain in every direction. Needless to say, I was happy to be back in the United States.
I made my way to the Jet Blue terminal only to realize… that my flight scheduled for 10:15 had now been delayed until 1:15am. Great. After checking in and waiting for twenty minutes to check my luggage (and getting lectured on how to travel by myself by the ticket agent: “okay. So walk upstairs. Make a right. See your gate on the ticket? Follow the signs for the corresponding gate. Go through security. You will need an ID and your boarding pass. Don’t lose any of those. They are important. Once you are through security, find your gate. Blah blah. I wanted to deck him, but his nice little blue Santa hat [for Jet Blue, clearly] would ensure my ascent to the non-existent Jewish hell), I looked around for a place to eat. I settled for a Sports Bar and ordered a salad and a burger and a beer. Oh wait – I’m not 21. Whoops. I got carded and felt like such an idiot. I waited in the restaurant for two and a half hours, talking with friends on the semi-manageable free Wifi before heading out and reading a bit. By that point, my flight had been delayed to 1:55am, and eventually 1:56. I slept a little until about midnight when I walked over to the monitor to discover another delay: 2:51am.
After kicking myself for coming home from abroad right during the middle of the holiday travel season and flying through JFK and flying on Jet Blue, I glanced up again to see: Jet Blue #1057 Pittsburgh: Canceled. I ran to the customer service line to get re-booked when they tell me they are providing a bus for us. I thought, oh how nice, a bus to the hotel. No. A bus from JFK to Pittsburgh Int’l Airport. A mere seven hours away. I was clearly delusional as I traipsed down to claim my bags (which took another thirty minutes) and eventually followed other people with PIT luggage tags to the other side of the Departures terminal. This was at 1am. The buses didn’t arrive until 2:30. We didn’t leave for another fifteen minutes and arrived in Pittsburgh at 9:45am, passing my house and my town along the way, with my dad driving a few cars behind our buses.
For most of the night, I was trying to be optimistic about it. Oh, it’s the weather both in New York and in Pittsburgh. Oh, the plane isn’t here yet. Oh, it’s Christmas. But by the end of the night, I nearly lost all respect for Jet Blue since it was clear they didn’t have their act together. It took over two hours once they canceled the flight until they got us buses, there weren’t nearly enough pillows or blankets, the bus drivers didn’t know where the airport was, the sassy ladies at baggage claim shrugged us off AND all other airlines canceled similar flights earlier in the day. If Jet Blue had just canceled the flight during the evening, it would have given us more opportunities to figure out alternatives.
It turns out all the flights the next day on Jet Blue were booked so going standby, on Christmas Eve, out of JFK, on Jet Blue, didn’t seem like the most plausible option. So I took the bus, sucked it up, and slept a little, whilst this guy tried talking to me about how awesome the full moon was or how good cashews tasted after you heated them up in the microwave. Welcome back to America.
Well my Alitalia flight from Rome to New York was an adventure in itself, culminating in a near-falling out of the sky – luckily onto the runway – because of the incredible winds around the New York area.
With that said, 90% of the Jet Blue flights are either delayed or canceled this evening. My flight – originally scheduled in September for 8:30 has been pushed back several times over the past four months finally scheduled for 10:15 – was delayed as soon as I landed to 1:15am (on the 24th, meanwhile), now delayed again until 1:55am, arriving in Pittsburgh at 4am. Beautiful.
And I didn’t sleep because the personal in-flight entertainment system (the only good thing about my flight to New York) had so many good movies I have been dying to see but don’t want to actually pay to rent. So I got no sleep on the nine-hour flight.
Now I am suffering. I just want to get home.
Immersing myself in a new culture for four months means many things. Some bouts of Egyptian culture I will bring back with me to the United States, while others must be left here. Here are a few phrases (both in modern standard Arabic and Fusha Egyptian Arabic) that I most likely will say all the time when I get back:
In Sha’Allah: which means “God-willing.” I will probably use this phrase the most because it is something that I frequently add to phrases which, in my vocabulary, closely relates to hopefully. I say it all the time and when I am talking with people on the phone or online I keep having to stop myself from saying it and instead replacing it with “hopefully.”
Yahnee: means “like.” I don’t say this as much but sometimes when I am stuck with a word I don’t know how to say, I used “yahnee” and wave my arms a little, hoping that the person understands what I am talking about.
Yalla: one of the most important words because I have said it even before I came to Egypt. It means “Let’s Go.” Everyone says it here and everyone in Israel says it as well. Great word. You should use it to.
Mumkin: means “maybe.” Let’s go to the park later, mumkin. That is exactly what we use it for here and that is exactly what I will use it for at home.
Shukran: “thank you.” Plain and simple. Just like I said Merci after returning from France or Todah when I came back from Israel, it will be a nasty habit to break for the first few weeks, but slowly I will settle in.
La La La: “no no no.” This can be used in many ways. It normally is used in relation to telling a taxi driver that I will not pay him more money because of the color of my skin. It also is used for people trying to sell me something or when someone misunderstands what I want to eat or drink or smoke.
Shwaya: “in between” or “kinda.” The best example is anytime anyone asks if she speak Arabic (Tetekelim Al-Arabia?) we reply “shwaya, shwaya.” It’s that “well sorta” “I do, but I don’t” mentality.
In another instance of “do as much as I can before I leave next week,” we decided to head to the Giza Zoo, if only for the reason of playing with lion cubs. Yes, with a little bribing (i.e. 10 LE) we can hold a lion cub and take photos with it. We also got to play with some monkeys and feed some other animals. Fun? Sorta.
For you see, the Giza Zoo is a place of utter horror by western standards for a place to keep animals. First, the zoo has very rundown facilities, no apparent maintence staff or upkeep, and the habitats for the animals are atrocious. Case and point: as we are walking along, we see a dozen or so lions being held in cages. Not in a natural habitat (or even an unnatural habitat, for that matter). Simply barred cages with loud music playing, kids screaming wanting to hear the lions roar, and in some instances, several lions in one cage. At one point, three younger male lions began pacing around inside their cage and – reminiscing about my Lion King days – looked like they were getting ready to attack. It was horrible. They simply don’t know how to take care of these animals.
Once we bribed the zookeepers to play with lion cubs, we walked back and saw caged tigers and the zookeepers did as much as they could to provoke them! Yelling, singing and poking fun at them, to the point of utter annoyance to the animals. I have videos but I can’t seem to figure out how to put them up on here, so go to my youtube site to view all the videos: http://www.youtube.com/somedude535http://www.youtube.com/somedude535
We walked around a little more, got mobbed by little Egyptian kids (and big ones too) and played with some monkeys before being disgusted enough to leave. I was appalled at the conditions but how often do you get to play with lion cubs?
It was incredibly interesting to say the least. Now back to studying! Don’t forget to check out my videos: http://www.youtube.com/somedude535.
Little men, cruising through the heavy Cairo traffic on their mopeds. No, this isn’t an unfamiliar scene to anyone who has been in Europe, or even some congested American cities. What is unique is what they have on the back of their moped. No, not a family of five (although you can catch that on a regular moped), but a metal box with an advertisement attached, displaying a five-digit number to, what else, but McDonald’s. Or Pizza Hut. Or Euro Deli. Or Fuddruckers.
One aspect of Western culture that is evident all over Cairo is the advent of the food delivery service. Western food in particular is a sign of social status and in a place where a Radio Shak can employ ten people at any given time or a sports restaurant can support two dozen employees, restaurants galore offer delivery service all over Cairo. For a small fee (less than $1 usually) or no fee at all, most establishments offer quick delivery to your door, regardless of how far away you live.
One website, however, that I didn’t learn about until about a month ago, was otlob.com. Check it out if you like. It is the ultimate food delivery website in Cairo. You pick your neighborhood, it comes up with several dozen restaurants that deliver to your area, and you pick from thousands of items on the menu. Since a delivery surcharge is usually added, a tip is not required. Thus far, I have ordered Little Caesars Pizza, Fuddruckers, Hardees and Euro Deli (two of which are within three blocks of where I live), but I still don’t feel like getting out of my pajama pants and walking.
But clearly the best part is when the delivery boys arrive at the dorms. They tell the person at the front desk who ordered and the attendant shouts into the microphone (which echoes around the entire first floor common area): (screech) “Mr. Adam” (screech).
Exactly one week from today I will be doing as the Romans do, and not as the Egyptians do. With less than seven days left, clearly we are cramming as much as we possibly can in, still not quite ready to believe that we are all leaving here soon. Between my final days of classes (this past Monday) and my only day of finals (this upcoming Sunday), I have five days of no official academic commitments, so I am free. Free to lounge around and hang out with friends. Free to sleep. Free to procrastinate. I have set up goals for my papers and finals so that I can do one fun Cairo thing a day and study. Yesterday, I went to the Egyptian museum, which was rather disappointing, although the King Tut exhibit was pretty incredible. Much of the artifacts I simply have seen, in action, in temples, tombs and monuments elsewhere in Egypt, so just being thrown into a warehouse-museum with little or no labels doesn’t quite do it for me.
So with seven days left, we went back to the Pyramids, to say our goodbyes.
We got up early and were the first ones into the Pyramid complex this AM (yes!). We spent a little more than we bargained for but hey! how many times do I live in Egypt? We were there early enough to go inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, which if you recall from one of the posts the first week or so, is the only remaining ancient wonder of the world. It was incredible. We walked around all three of the huge pyramids and then took a camel ride to an incredible overlook (much better than the last time) and I managed to stay on the camel this time. Enjoy!
So as school ends, this post just sat in my draft box for much of the semester. I don’t know why… but here goes.
The American government is notorious for spending our money. By no means do I oppose big government – reasons for government tend to outweigh reasons against it – but rarely do I actually see my tax dollars at work. Yes, everyday when I drive down the highway, or turn on the faucet to clean water, but those basic tenets of my life aside, actually seeing American tax dollars hard at work is very relieving. The U.S. Department of Defense just asked for some ridiculous amount of money to fund the “wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq (to the sum of $150 billion, I believe), so clearly I am not seeing results there. A bridge to nowhere in Alaska is also a waste of my tax money. But interestingly enough, I have had the pleasure of utilizing several gifts from the American people. The USAID, or United States Agency for International Development is the group responsible for the dispersal of billions of dollars worth of aid worldwide, and lucky as I am, I now classify myself as a benefactor of American aid here in Cairo!
The “reputable” institution known as the American University in Cairo is a private institution and considered by most the best school in the Middle East. Funnily enough, this private institution receives millions of dollars worth of American aid. Adorned on one of the walls in the lobby of my building illustrates that my building is a gift from the people of the United States. Congratulations! your own private instutition cannot even afford to build housing in one of the cheapest cities in the world. They are reliant on the American taxpayers, who clearly don’t need health insurance for the poor children, voting rights for the most oppressed people in a democracy (DC residents!!), or bridges that don’t collapse into mighty American rivers. My school can afford a new $400 million campus in New Cairo but they can’t even afford housing for its students (let alone maintain it to livable, American standards, since this school seems to preach “The American Way” of education).
Don’t worry – it’s not only my multi-million dollar residence hall that has been donated by the American people. Walking on Greek Campus downtown, I notice another plaque… this time on the side of our library. Yes, the big, ugly, hulking building on campus was built by the American taxpayers. This, so I am told, ensures the freedom of the word (i.e. Hosni Mubarak’s censors can’t walk in and shut it down), but I think that the University would have enough clout that should we actually build our own library and fill it with books that are uncensored, we would be able to do it. I mean, my professors regularly talk about their hatred not only for the Egyptian government, but also the American one, as well. So the library is a gift from the American people. Guess what else is? All the library scanners are. And most of the computers are. The projectors. The laptops. Most technology around here has a USAID sticker slapped on it, as if we are supposed to appreciate the donation from the Americans and forget about how the whole administration has created more of a problem than they have solved, both in Iraq and all around the world. It sickens me on both ends: the fact that a private institution in Cairo – one that charges $15,000 a year in tuition, when the average family makes about 10% of that a year – cannot afford to deliver a world-class education to its students ($$$) without the help of the American people? And that the American government allows this to actually occur.
Since when did Gucci-wearing, Egyptian millionaires need to use Microsoft Office 2007 with the super-updated image library and internet servers on par with the Pentagon? American University in Washington doesn’t even have Office 2007. Furthermore, half the students here don’t even use the technology provided; it’s the international students who actually do work and utilize the library. The only reason the local Egyptian students ever use the library isn’t even for educational purposes! since the library provides a sort-of natural sunblock for those sitting in its shadow. Imagine if America knew their tax dollars were being consumed by a bunch of rich snobs as a form of sunblock?
Man, they would be upset.
Only to be surpassed by realizing that more of their tax dollars are being wasted on an unwinnable war. But hey – at least some U.S. tax dollars are going towards blocking something. Cause it’s not like the Democrats are even making a valiant effort to blocking the war.
So I got an internship for the spring semester at The Middle East Institute. Very exciting. I applied for three and had my interview from MEI and I am actually very excited. It is really exactly what I wanted to do. I will be working in the communications department and I will edit press releases and opeds, scour news sources from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, cover congressional hearings, maintain media lists, amongst other things.
Very excited. I had a great day today. Two finals, two papers to go and I will be in Rome in 9 days! Have a great week.
So this post is finally coming to fruition (ironically now that all of my classes are officially over).
On the two days a week that I have classes, I have yet again fallen into a manageable routine. So here goes:
Every Monday & Wednesday, I wake up on the dot at 8:20am and check my email before hopping in the shower. I tend to catch the shuttle at 8:55, which takes twenty minutes to get to Downtown. After getting off at the third stop, I swing over to the Fateer stand on Faliki Street where I get a fateer (thin pancake with sugar) and a bottle of water from the market. From 9:30 until about 10:45 I have my Introduction to Political Economy class, which is one of my favorite classes. After that, I sit on the cafeteria terrace on Greek Campus and chat it up with friends or grab a cup of coffee from the Aroma Coffee stand on campus. I putz for awhile, either reading The Economist or just relaxing ignoring any work I may have to do.
From noon until 1:20 I have my Comparative Politics of the Middle East class, which is the most painful since the professor has no idea what he is teaching. Yet again, being a former ambassador doesn’t qualify you as an academic. I am sorry. No matter how close you were with Slobodan Milosevic, you have no right to teach at AUC. After class, I grab an ice cream cone with Katie and we walk back to Greek Campus where I grab a beef luncheon sandwich and another bottle of water for lunch – yet again – on the cafeteria terrace. Since most likely I haven’t done my work for my next class, I walk up to the Mac lab on the 3rd floor of Social Sciences building where I read articles from Foreign Affairs, New York Times, and Washington Post, amongst other media outlets from Pittsburgh, Murrysville, and Washington DC.
I finally get to my work during my hour and a half off, and print for free since the Mac lab doesn’t charge for printing. Beautiful since the Library charges about the same rate as they do in America. At 3pm, I head to my class down the hall, where I still have mixed feelings about the class. Issues in Middle East Politics is taught by a world class intellectual who knows the Middle East inside and out but a lot of times I just wish he would stop asking us so much and just give us an insight into his brain. He actually just took us to the Arab League where we got to hear one of the ambassadors speak.
After my Issues class, I have to hot-foot it over from Greek Campus to Faliki Campus (we have three campuses in Downtown). I then hafta book it up four flights of stairs to my Survey of Arab History course from 4:30 until 5:50. This class is interesting, however, I didn’t sign up for the “History of Islam” which is essentially what the class was. We talked for 2/3 of the class about the rise of Islam and the Muslim Empire and then briefly touched the thousand years prior and the thousand years after. It also helped that I read The Economist during class under my notebook. Had I not, I probably wouldn’t have survived.
After class, I would run down Muhammad Mahmoud Street to catch the 6pm shuttle, which I made half the time and the other half I didn’t. So yes. Two days a week of classes and I’ve fit into my routine. I take the same hallways, go thru the same doors, get the same food, sit at the same areas basically every day.
I guess I will just have to get into a new routine when I return to AU in January.
With the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews finally had a homeland. And with that, came the inevitable question: how do I move there?
The Right of Return – as it is unofficially known – is the right of Jews to return to their ancient homeland, Eretz Yisrael or the Land of Israel. Enacted under David Ben-Gurion in the 1950’s, it basically guarantees automatic citizenship for any Jew that wishes to move to Israel. Not only does it do that, but many organizations have been established that provide certain benefits to those that make Aliyah (move to Israel) like job-training, Hebrew language courses, financial assistance, housing help, amongst others. Also, Israel’s laws require military conscription so depending upon the situation, those that make Aliyah must also serve in the armed forces.
Not a bad deal, right? Well…
For me, it is a very complex situation. For multiple reasons (since I am sure you are aware of the complexities that amass around me).
First, I am adopted. Second, my mother wasn’t raised Jewish. Problems A & B. First dealing with the second problem (wow I confuse people): As long as my mother has completed the conversion process, I am considered a Jew and therefore am eligible for Israeli citizenship. And since I have successfully been converted as an infant (my parents took me to a Mikvah as an infant. To digress… “A Mikvah is a specific type of bath designed for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism.” Thank you Wikipedia. So I was basically converted – against my will as an infant [I kid... pun intended?] – but I have basically affirmed my religious beliefs in Judaism. I had a Bar Mitzvah, I was confirmed, I know Hebrew, so basically I am Jewish… digression ending…) I am eligible to become an Israeli citizen! Although I can’t marry in Israel… minor details… but yes.
Should I want to, I can walk into Israel tomorrow and become a citizen.
Now that it’s settled the biggest question is: do I want to?
I have pondered this ever since January when I went on Birthright. I have always been taught (unconditionally, of course) that everything Israel does is right. From Hebrew school to regular school (in some instances), American support for one of their best friends is essential. Israel does no wrong. Every act – define it as you wish – is justified in the realm of protecting the Jewish state from the atrocities experienced by the Jewish people. I mean we are the most oppressed people in the history of the world. Don’t we deserve some leeway?
Like any good salesmen, Birthright has a pitch. I don’t know… free ten day trip to Israel, all expenses paid, in return for ten days of learning the history of the land, experiencing the rich culture, interacting with society, and, oh don’t forget, BLATANT DISREGARD for the facts. I won’t divulge any raunchy details because I respect the integrity of the program (read: I like free things. I’m Jewish). Birthright is a program meant to entice Jews to Israel, which really just adds another element to the evolving political crisis in Israel. Yes, I said crisis.
For the organizers of my trip in particular, I don’t hold any of them accountable for the overall “selling me Israel” deal. We are all involved in something that is opposed to something or critical of something else. That is the complexity of human thought, but my blame is more reserved for the ideology associated with entirety of the present function of Israeli immigration. I can’t think off the top of my head of any nation that accepts any new citizen simply because of their religion. I don’t disagree with the notion of Jews attaining automatic citizenship, but I wholeheartedly disagree with utilizing new citizens as a political bargaining chip. I am pretty sure you can’t find that anywhere in the Talmud.
Blame is a harsh word, and clearly I blame no one because it is life. We all make decisions for our well-being. Do I think they are only making the situation worse for the overall peace process? Absolutely. Lets put the pieces together. Give a Jew a free trip. Check. Encourage them to make Aliyah. Check. Help them settle. Check. Provide services and benefits. Check. But… the more new Jews that settle in Israel (both in legal and illegal settlements) only add fuel to the fire.
In an article today in The Daily Star out of Beirut, Israel is yet again building settlements in East Jerusalem in an attempt to tighten Israeli control over Jerusalem. Declared illegal or not, I honestly cannot see any purpose other than trying to undermine the peace process. What reasoning could Ehud Olmert have to continue building settlements when he just declared in Annapolis the intentions to create an everlasting peace? My opinions aside about Jerusalem, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you continue to build settlements in areas that are set to be under Palestinian control that a problem will arise. Quick background note: Jerusalem is located high up in the mountains and the settlements being built north & south of the city centre are sometimes government sponsored and sometimes just Israelis (mostly Jews) that go into the areas and buy land and build settlements. So it isn’t all the responsibility of the government, but Israel is very westernized and has laws. Israel continually cites previous plans for years or decades illustrating their right to build these settlements. That’s fine. Israel has the right to do whatever it wants. It still has authority over the land. But you may have the legal right but that doesn’t calculate into a moral right.
Plain and simply: Israel will not give up Jerusalem. They have been establishing these settlements for decades and in my honest opinion, the Israeli government will not give up Jersualem – either as an international city or East Jerusalem. And since the Palestinians want some part of Jerusalem as their capital, by the transitive property of equality, no peace. Digression. I apologize.
But yes. How can I honestly support Israel and their every move when they are blatantly disregarding necessary steps towards creating a peaceful solution? I will admit both sides have undermined the peace process with Israel building settlements and the Palestinians utilizing suicide bombers, but much of that – as of recent – isn’t government sanctioned like settlement building is. Like I mentioned earlier, I would love to live in Israel, in an uncontested area doing my thing. Maybe a kibbutz. Maybe in Eilat with a view of the Red Sea. Maybe in an apartment tower overlooking the Mediterranean. Or maybe in an apartment in Jerusalem with a view of the Old City (with access to the Kotel, of course).
I just recently had an internship interview with the Middle East Institute in Washington DC (I think it went well… I will keep you updated) and one of the main reasons I have decided to study the region is because of the unconditional support one way or another that people have regarding Israel and Americans opinions about the Arab world and Muslims are based on – yet again – blatant lies. I feel like it is almost my duty to prove everyone in America wrong. Islam isn’t evil. Arabs don’t hate Americans. We need to stop being so hateful because it is our own hatred that is the real problem. We have been a society of open arms until recently and our perception of Muslims is flagrantly based on terrorist attacks and radical Islam. Muslims here are able to distinguish between the American government (support for Israel, the disaster of Iraq, and Bush’s pure stupidity, until recently, with Iran) and the American people and welcome us with open arms and kind hearts. Americans, however, blame every atrocity committed by a handful of religious extremists on the entire Muslim population and refuse to admit fault in that thinking. It’s wrong. And un-American. And un-Christian. And un-Jewish. It is anti everything that we should believe in as Americans.
I still believe in a lot of the same things I believed in prior to coming here but I have become so much more accepting of everyone from here. I can’t blindly stand behind anything anymore. No longer can I stand behind an American government that has no respect for a human life. Or no longer can I stand behind an ignorant American public in their brash opposition to Muslims. And no longer can I believe that everything Israel does is justified.
At the present time, I will not be making Aliyah because I don’t unconditionally support every action the Israeli government takes (not that I do for the U.S. either). But in a situation that has so much gravitas, I simply wouldn’t be able to stand as an idle citizen in a situation that I knew I put myself into. So for the time being, I will only continue to hold one passport.
—Comments are much appreciated on this post. Anonymous or not, this is an important topic that I want to hear your feedback on!
So back in September of my sophomore year, I found this article in The Economist and I put it on my door. I was just recently thinking about it so I backlogged the issues and found it. I thought I would share the comedic humour of my favorite newspaper. It really has nothing to do with being abroad at all but I think it is hilarious.
Welcome Aboard
Sep 7th 2006
From The Economist print edition
In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an honest one sound like? Welcome Aboard
“GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.
The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This is the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention to. So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance where the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of survival if we have to evacuate the aircraft. Also, please keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even if the seat-belt light is not illuminated. This is to protect you from the risk of clear-air turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of disturbance that can cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food trolleys jumping into the air and bashing into the overhead lockers, and you will have some idea of how nasty it can be. We don’t want to scare you. Still, keep that seat belt fastened all the same.
Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.
Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft’s navigation systems. At least, that’s what you’ve always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn’t sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.
On channel 11 of our in-flight entertainment system you will find a video consisting of abstract imagery and a new-age soundtrack, with a voice-over explaining some exercises you can do to reduce the risk of deep-vein thrombosis. We are aware that this video is tedious, but it is not meant to be fun. It is meant to limit our liability in the event of lawsuits.
Once we have reached cruising altitude you will be offered a light meal and a choice of beverages—a word that sounds so much better than just saying ‘drinks’, don’t you think? The purpose of these refreshments is partly to keep you in your seats where you cannot do yourselves or anyone else any harm. Please consume alcohol in moderate quantities so that you become mildly sedated but not rowdy. That said, we can always turn the cabin air-quality down a notch or two to help ensure that you are sufficiently drowsy.
After take-off, the most dangerous part of the flight, the captain will say a few words that will either be so quiet that you will not be able to hear them, or so loud that they could wake the dead. So please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight. We appreciate that you have a choice of airlines and we thank you for choosing Veritas, a member of an incomprehensible alliance of obscure foreign outfits, most of which you have never heard of. Cabin crew, please make sure we have remembered to close the doors. Sorry, I mean: ‘Doors to automatic and cross-check’. Thank you for flying Veritas.”
—And you wonder where I get my irreverent sense of humour?–
So, in my normal state of mind during some of my classes (read: daydream, doodle, don’t pay attention, doze off), I realized that I leave Cairo exactly one month from today. Yes, December 19th I will be catching a cab back to the airport to take a flight to Rome for a few days before returning to the United States and getting back into my life. Weird? Yes and no. Lately, I have been in a funk since this is the first time I have ever missed Thanksgiving, which is, by far, my favorite holiday. We’re not discussing it anymore. Also, I am missing the height of the semester with my Fraternity, although there definitely are some pluses to being here.
I will be traveling this weekend to Luxor (to see King Tut) and next weekend I will be backpacking across the central Middle East (Israel, Jordan & the West Bank) visiting the beach at Eilat & Aqaba, Petra, Amman, back to Jerusalem (!!!) and finally returning to Cairo with only a couple weeks left in the Egyptian capital. Also, as of today, I have no major assignments or presentations due until finals week (that will be fun), so I can finally just relax and sit at cafes until all hours of the morning.
But with only a month left, I have compiled a list of Must-Do’s/See’s/Eat’s before I leave:
Back to the Pyramids – I have been twice but neither time have I really been close enough to touch ‘em or go inside ‘em. So one of these days I am going to go out very early and just explore the Pyramids all day.
Khan el-Khalili – the biggest market in Cairo and where I will be buying all of my gotta-have tourist junk. Been there once but literally had like 5 pounds on me.
Egyptian Museum – I have only planned this, say fifteen times, and I hear it takes two trips to really see everything… oops… time is running out but I will do it! It has the largest collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts anywhere in the world. So clearly it is a must-see.
The President’s Building on AUC Campus – Okay so one of the buildings – the President’s Building – is a former palace and I have only been there once. It is quite amazing.
The American Embassy – I know where it is and I just want to go in and say I’ve been on American soil while in Cairo. Why not?
Cairo Zoo – Not necessarily a must, but I hear if you bribe the zookeepers (who abuse the animals, meanwhile), you can play with lion cubs and monkeys.
Taboula – A great Lebanese restaurant that we went to my third day here. Meghan and I sat for four hours smoking shisha and discussing our life problems. I want to relive that (and the amazing food, minus the life problems) just one last time.
McDonald’s Delivery Service – Just once. I just want to have McDonald’s deliver me my McArabia to my doorstep. I’m not lazy. It is just one of those things that I truly cannot feel like an Egyptian until I have done that.
Unlimited Beer & Wings – Hard Rock. Clearly just one last time.
Latex – So there is this club at the Nile Hilton called Latex. The name says it all. I mean if you don’t choose clubs by their name, you really aren’t living. I hear its sketchy, but what college kid doesn’t live for sketchy moments.
Cinnabun – They deliver as well. Need it one last time…
So that is my list. Kinda long but I am sure I can square most of it away. I have one month, which seems like a very long amount of time, but since I have been here nearly three months already, chances are I am not going to get to see everything.
Taxis are the best way to travel around Cairo. They are dirt cheap, mostly reliable, friendly, but most importantly, they are deathly terrifying. That may sound like the antithesis of “best way to travel” but in fact, it just adds to the thrill. This is Africa people. I don’t expect to be shuttled around in an air-conditioned, leather filled luxurious taxi cab; I’d rather roll around in a cab with lumps in the worn down seats, windows rolled all the way down, and doors that sometimes open and sometimes don’t.
The metered system was introduced here in Cairo years and years and years ago but due to inflation, the meters in cabs have become a sign of the past, as inflation skyrocketed and the cab companies couldn’t keep up. So, in the typical way of doing things in Egypt, it is at the discretion of the passenger to determine the cost of the ride. Yes, you heard it correctly: I decide how much I want to pay for each ride, depending upon distance traveled, friendliness of the driver, time it took, etc. The key, however, is to get out of the cab before you actually pay. That way they can’t just simply start driving off until you pay what they want. It is pretty easy to just get out, grab your wallet and toss ‘em a few pounds. Now, sometimes – as an American especially – the cab driver will begin arguing with me in Arabic. Most of the time I just shrug him off, yelling back something like “I live here. I know the prices.” or “Five pounds is way more than enough. There was no traffic” in a jumbled mess of Arabic and they usually sulk off, ready to scam the next tourist they can find.
Other times, especially if we are coming from a tourist attraction or the airport, the cab drivers ask how much we want to pay before he even takes off. My favorite is the 80 pounds from the Pyramids one time (we normally pay 20 or 25) or the 20 pounds from campus to Zamalek (a ride that, at max, should cost 5 pounds [less than $1, mind you], and sometimes if I am lucky, I can pull off with 3 pounds). The drivers are usually friendly enough and the prices can’t get any better. Here are just some examples of prices we pay here for taxicabs:
–AUC Campus to Zamalek – 4 km – 5LE (90 cents)
–Zamalek to Marwa Palace (other AUC residence hall) – 6 km – 5 LE also…
–Zamalek to the Pyramids – 15 km – 20 LE (less than $4)
–Zamalek to the Airport – 30 km – 40 LE (less than $8)
**Most of the time, I just get in and have the cabbie take me anywhere in the city and toss him Chamsa Geenay (or 5 pounds).
Also, one of my favorite parts about taking cabs (and driving in general here) is driving at night, mainly because no one really likes to use their headlights. Just like horns, the use of headlights at night is a sign of letting people know where exactly you are. Sometimes, mainly when driving on deserted roads in the middle of the Sinai desert at night, headlights are used as a way of communication with passing cars. One time our driver and another had a 1/2 km conversation by flickering their lights. Kinda weird, but cool, nonetheless.
As for honking goes – as is true with all drivers, Cabbies aren’t unique – there is a language which takes a little bit to figure out. One short honk means, “I am here. I see see you there. No worries.” Anywhere I walk, I get a dozen or so cabbies just honking (since we normally walk in the road). I like to think of it as a “Hey. How are ya?” kinda greeting. Can’t stop to say hello, but I see you. No worries.
Two short honks usually means: “I am coming through this intersection and I don’t really want to slow down to see if there is another car coming.” AKA: it is when you hold onto the “Oh Sh*t Bar” if the cab has one. I have sometimes got in a cab at Midan Tahrir (where AUC is) and gone the ten minute drive home without stopping once. Sometimes I fear the cabs have no brakes… Two honks can also mean, “Hey, I need to get over the four lanes to make this exit in 100 meters. Please kindly move.” The nice part about Cairo, however, is that most of the time you can squeeze between the donkey cart and minibus on the October Bridge and no one gets too upset. Just a few exchanged words and life goes on.
Finally, three honks (or more… lots more) means the obvious: “GET OUT OF MY WAY.” They shout LOOK OUT while visibly not making any attempt to recalculate their path, let alone slam on the breaks. This rarely happens – only on expressways usually – which I dare not walk along. Since we have no visible traffic laws (or traffic lights or stop signs or lane markers or crosswalks or pedestrian laws or…) it becomes a free-for all on the streets, and so I always find myself walking into traffic knowing that the cabbies and other drivers will simply drive around me. They always do. I haven’t been even nudged yet, let alone be hit by a moving vehicle and I take some pretty risky moves, like walking caddy-corner across one of the busiest ten-lane roads in Downtown Cairo. I just know where the cars are going to go and how much room I need to be good. I listen to the honks of the buses and cars and not once have I been yelled at once (except by my friends who freak out).
So I think it is time to graduate to Honking 201, since I got the basics down in Honking 101.
The theme of today’s blog post is buckling up.
First, today is November 16, the birthday of my only sister, Kaelah. She turns sixteen and if you are from Pennsylvania you know that that means – yes she will be behind the wheel of a car maybe – just maybe – before the start of Friday rush in Pittsburgh. So buckle up Pennsylvania! Yet another teenage driver will be terrorizing the roads of Murrysville in the coming weeks (I can say that since I am not a teenager anymore).
Next, I am buckling up for the final four weeks of classes. Yes, I only have seven class meetings left per course (I only have Monday, Wednesday classes), so we are finally getting to the conclusion of many of the topics of the courses, although in my Survey of Arab History course we still have only been through about 300 years of Arabian history. It is a very interesting class and the topic is great because the professor is passionate about the subject, but the course is supposed to stretch from pre-Islamic times to the present, which is about 1,500 years of history and we are never going to make it to the present. But it is a bit too late to complain.
Now that my huge 20-page term paper and Comparative midterm are over, I can destress a bit and hang around Cairo. Wednesday night – post-nap of course – I went with a couple of friends to Chili’s for a salad (which I have basically been craving since I left in August), cherry-Coke (diner syrup style, of course), and bottomless tortilla chips. Beautiful. All for about $7. I mean clearly it was an entire day’s food budget but you gotta reward yourself sometimes.
After, we met with a friend of Carrie’s and ventured over to the Cairo Jazz Club, one of the most exclusive clubs in Cairo (I really have no idea why…) where, unfortunately, since it was Wednesday night, they are very picky with who they let in. A few of our friends had been waiting there for awhile and only half of them got in; we ended up waiting for about fifteen minutes before the bouncer ushered the four of us in without question (Meghan and I actually, based on our dashingly good looks, got the look after a few minutes but we didn’t want to separate from the other group). Now: Cairo Jazz Club is very exclusive. The rules on the wall state: Couples only, Reservations required, and a valid passport stating we were at least Twenty-Five years old. We fit one of those requirements so 1/3 isn’t too bad… but they are very picky about who gets in (mainly foreigners without question). Some would call it racism, while the club calls it “limiting the crowd size, as too many gentlemen has proved destructive before.” So we had fun dancing at Cairo Jazz while tons of creepy old guys stared at all of us, but we ended up having a good time anyways.
Thursday. I. Slept. In. Big surprise there, but I needed a little sleep since I had been up until 4am the night before (cough, cough). I really didn’t do much. I watched a movie or two and just generally relaxed all day, heading to Dido’s for dinner for some pasta and going to Versailles for shisha and conversation. After, Katie and I, as well as Ilaria and her friend Hassam, took an adventure to the African Diplomatic Club.
As fancy as it may sound, it really wasn’t. I mean it was cool brushing arms with the genuinely unimpressive, yet still flamboyant diplomats of African delegations in Cairo, but I felt kinda like at home, sipping beverages on plastic chairs, listening to a blend of African tribal music and insultingly-trivial Euro-trash music. On the way home in our friends BMW (yes the first time I had been in a private car in all of Cairo), Katie and I decided to buckle up, for no apparent reason, other than the fact that I sat on the right side in the back and the shoulder strap came down over my left side, snapping in place with the buckle strategically placed next to the door. Weird? I’d say so. It was also the first seatbelt I have worn since flying down the George Washington Parkway on August 25 towards Washington National Airport, driving my friend’s convertible, top-down, taking in the last fresh breaths of air for a few months.
Now, I am just sitting at a coffeehouse in the middle of Giza, updating my blog – I should be writing a paper on Muhammed Ali – and sipping a cappuccino with a friend, realizing how little time I have left here. So I am going to buckle up and enjoy my last few weeks before I return to reality and all the problems – or blessings depending on how you look at it – that have plagued my life since I have been gone. Cheers!
