I forgot to mention that I'm brilliant in that last entry.
I realized a week or so ago that my fictional husbands weren't really doing a good job in getting rid of unwanted Romeos. I had some fun with it for a while (I was married to a French movie star for a while, etc.), but it wasn't working and it was hard to keep my stories straight. Plus, all this lying made me feel really sick and crazy (but, it was better than the craziness I'd have to deal with if I identified myself as even remotely available: now that will make you crazy). One day in Alexandria, I decided to try something new. I told a waiter who was hassling me about wanting to see my eyes that I was married to an Egyptian man. It worked, and has continued to work 100% of the time. It's started not only getting people to leave me alone, but I'm actually getting respect. I haven't totally fleshed out his back story yet (his name's Tariq, but that's pretty much all I know). But, so far the name and the fact that he's Egyptian has gotten me pretty far. It's made getting through certain moments in my day so much easier!!
I was feeling a little depressed that I was going to have to divorce my Egyptian husband when I get to Jordan: but I realized I can just change his nationality when I get the next visa :).
Note to self: when visiting a foreign country, always bring Neosporin and a local husband.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
After Alexandria
Yet again, I've waited far too long to give an update. My apologies. Except now I have to remember everything I've done in the last few weeks!
Since the last time I wrote, I finished my blissful two weeks in Alexandria. I am seriously considering moving there. It was like dying and going to heaven after Cairo (which I've recently realized is really starting to grow on me). Along the Corniche in Alex was so picturesque. 5 PM in Alex is so gorgeous: the light is just right and it brings out all of the best qualities and colors of the Corniche. I started doubting I was still in Egypt. I honestly spent about 75% of my time there sitting at sidewalk cafes and people watching. I stopped taking cabs because I was just eating pastries and drinking 4 lattes a day. Everything about it was so relaxing. I really don't know how to accurately describe it. What I loved was that I had so much time and space and calm to start to process everything. The people are so much friendlier there so I got to ask a lot of questions and ended up making some really good local friends. My two favorites were Ahmed and Medhat. Medhat ran the internet cafe near my hotel (and wasn't trying to charge me 20 L.E. an hour!). He and I randomly started talking and I eventually started asking him questions about a few aspects of the growing conservatism that still didn't make sense to me. He had his own opinions, which he shared with me. The next night I came back to check my email, and he'd brought a good Muslim friend of his, Ahmed, to give me the other side of the story (since Medhat was Christian). It was so interesting to here both sides of this: there was a lot of overlap but they also disagreed in several ways and it was really interesting to see them debate it with other people who'd joined this conversation (until they stopped debating in English and switched to Arabic, at which point I became completely lost). I felt like those 2 weeks in Alex were the most culturally enlightening days of my trip so far. It became a nightly ritual of me going to that internet cafe and sitting and talking with Medhat and Ahmed. They're both very liberal and although I'd like to get a more conservative point of view, it's much more difficult for me to have an opportunity to talk to someone who'd be willing to answer my questions. I found that in Alex in general, if I was curious about anything I was seeing, there was always someone around who'd explain it to me.
I still haven't had my burka day: I'm going to do it when I'm back in Cairo in two weeks.
I've been really curious about the strictures for how women must act and dress (what's the rhyme and reason, etc.) and I've found several interesting things:
I had been wondering for so long how women who wore the full burka would eat in public. In Cairo, I almost never saw any in restaurants, so I began to assume that they just didn't go out to eat. The nice thing about the slower pace in Alexandria was that I could actually WATCH someone. I spent about an hour sitting at a cafe one day when I saw a woman in a burka, her husband, and her four children sit down next to me. They ordered a lot of food, and I was determined to see if she ate or not. She ended up eating last, so I had to sit there like a stalker sketch-ball in sun glasses and wait. I'd just come to the conclusion that they just don't eat in public, until I saw her pinch the front of her veil, lift it up, and slide her fork underneath it and take a bite. This may not seem so amazing to you, but this image was so fascinating to me and I was so elated that I'd finally seen it. I was so tempted to go over and thank them I was so excited. But, I'd finished off two lattes in the time that I was watching them so I headed to the bathroom instead.
A majority of the clothes that I brought with me are baggy and conservative. However, a majority of the women around my age that I see are wearing skin-tight clothes...and a hijab. I've been so baffled by this because it's such an extreme conceptual clash. I asked Ahemed about this one night and he began ranting about how ridiculous it was. The answer that he gave me was that there was no explanation for it. To me, that image of the woman in skin-tight clothes and a hijab really embodies the whole mystery and condition of this conservatism. It's a relatively new condition and was really sparked by a fear of loss of Egyptian identity: 20 or 30 years ago, it wasn't like this. I find myself wondering (and a lot of locals have agreed with me on this) if the hijab isn't actually understood, but just followed.
One thing I should make very clear is that Egypt is such a difficult egg to crack. There's a lot of disagreement among people about the right and wrong way, etc., but a lot of the people who I'd prefer to ask questions of (not that I don't adore my little liberal posse) would not give me the opportunity because of the two things I can't change about myself (can you guess what they are?). I don't mean to sound so extremist (because this sounds a little close minded, I know), but it's an unfortunate reality I've discovered. It doesn't apply to everyone, but it's hard to get the opportunity. Still trying, though.
What you see on the surface of Egypt doesn't explain what's going on underneath. There are several reasons for this:
A) Some of it doesn't have an answer.
B) There is this general attitude of "catering to the tourists". There's a ridiculously large number of Egyptians that work in the tourist industry (much more than half), and since so many people who come here are of the "get on the bus, off the bus, on the boat, off the boat, in the museum, out of the museum" persuasion, there's this tendency for locals to support the "experience". There's a huge difference between when someone talks to me like a "foreigner" and when they talk to me like a "tourist".
C) People have conveyed to me that they've very hesitant to talk about certain things because they're afraid of getting arrested for speaking against the government. A LOT of people have conveyed this to me. So, I try to respect that. However, that fear says enough.
Again, I feel like I left out a lot of things. I might need to to do a little make-up blog here in a day or two.
I'm in Aswan right now :). I'm very fond of it, to say the least. I got here about two days ago via train from Cairo. A cabin on the sleeper train would have cost me $80 where as just a chair in first-class costs about 150 L.E. (about $28). What I would have paid for a bed on that train is more than what I'm spending for 10 nights in my hostel in Luxor. Obviously, I chose not to take the sleeper car and just got a seat. That was an experience. But, I honestly preferred that to being stuck in a little room by myself for 13 hours. I managed to get a few hours of sleep (but neither deep or peaceful).
I'll save Aswan-so-far for later.
I've found out some very interesting facts about Luxor that I had NEVER heard before in my life until Atef from King Tut sat me down the morning before I left and said "Now, Phoebe: there's something you need to know about Luxor...". I haven't experienced this yet, so I can't say for sure, but apparently it's Courgarville. For the next 24 hours, this little fact kept getting confirmed by various people. That'll be interesting to see...
In short: I LOVE Egypt. It's so fascinating to me and it keeps getting more complicated every day. I'm so glad that it's nothing like I expected (because I really didn't know what to expect). I'm so excited for the rest of my trip, but sometimes I feel so tempted to cancel everything else and just stay here.
Since the last time I wrote, I finished my blissful two weeks in Alexandria. I am seriously considering moving there. It was like dying and going to heaven after Cairo (which I've recently realized is really starting to grow on me). Along the Corniche in Alex was so picturesque. 5 PM in Alex is so gorgeous: the light is just right and it brings out all of the best qualities and colors of the Corniche. I started doubting I was still in Egypt. I honestly spent about 75% of my time there sitting at sidewalk cafes and people watching. I stopped taking cabs because I was just eating pastries and drinking 4 lattes a day. Everything about it was so relaxing. I really don't know how to accurately describe it. What I loved was that I had so much time and space and calm to start to process everything. The people are so much friendlier there so I got to ask a lot of questions and ended up making some really good local friends. My two favorites were Ahmed and Medhat. Medhat ran the internet cafe near my hotel (and wasn't trying to charge me 20 L.E. an hour!). He and I randomly started talking and I eventually started asking him questions about a few aspects of the growing conservatism that still didn't make sense to me. He had his own opinions, which he shared with me. The next night I came back to check my email, and he'd brought a good Muslim friend of his, Ahmed, to give me the other side of the story (since Medhat was Christian). It was so interesting to here both sides of this: there was a lot of overlap but they also disagreed in several ways and it was really interesting to see them debate it with other people who'd joined this conversation (until they stopped debating in English and switched to Arabic, at which point I became completely lost). I felt like those 2 weeks in Alex were the most culturally enlightening days of my trip so far. It became a nightly ritual of me going to that internet cafe and sitting and talking with Medhat and Ahmed. They're both very liberal and although I'd like to get a more conservative point of view, it's much more difficult for me to have an opportunity to talk to someone who'd be willing to answer my questions. I found that in Alex in general, if I was curious about anything I was seeing, there was always someone around who'd explain it to me.
I still haven't had my burka day: I'm going to do it when I'm back in Cairo in two weeks.
I've been really curious about the strictures for how women must act and dress (what's the rhyme and reason, etc.) and I've found several interesting things:
I had been wondering for so long how women who wore the full burka would eat in public. In Cairo, I almost never saw any in restaurants, so I began to assume that they just didn't go out to eat. The nice thing about the slower pace in Alexandria was that I could actually WATCH someone. I spent about an hour sitting at a cafe one day when I saw a woman in a burka, her husband, and her four children sit down next to me. They ordered a lot of food, and I was determined to see if she ate or not. She ended up eating last, so I had to sit there like a stalker sketch-ball in sun glasses and wait. I'd just come to the conclusion that they just don't eat in public, until I saw her pinch the front of her veil, lift it up, and slide her fork underneath it and take a bite. This may not seem so amazing to you, but this image was so fascinating to me and I was so elated that I'd finally seen it. I was so tempted to go over and thank them I was so excited. But, I'd finished off two lattes in the time that I was watching them so I headed to the bathroom instead.
A majority of the clothes that I brought with me are baggy and conservative. However, a majority of the women around my age that I see are wearing skin-tight clothes...and a hijab. I've been so baffled by this because it's such an extreme conceptual clash. I asked Ahemed about this one night and he began ranting about how ridiculous it was. The answer that he gave me was that there was no explanation for it. To me, that image of the woman in skin-tight clothes and a hijab really embodies the whole mystery and condition of this conservatism. It's a relatively new condition and was really sparked by a fear of loss of Egyptian identity: 20 or 30 years ago, it wasn't like this. I find myself wondering (and a lot of locals have agreed with me on this) if the hijab isn't actually understood, but just followed.
One thing I should make very clear is that Egypt is such a difficult egg to crack. There's a lot of disagreement among people about the right and wrong way, etc., but a lot of the people who I'd prefer to ask questions of (not that I don't adore my little liberal posse) would not give me the opportunity because of the two things I can't change about myself (can you guess what they are?). I don't mean to sound so extremist (because this sounds a little close minded, I know), but it's an unfortunate reality I've discovered. It doesn't apply to everyone, but it's hard to get the opportunity. Still trying, though.
What you see on the surface of Egypt doesn't explain what's going on underneath. There are several reasons for this:
A) Some of it doesn't have an answer.
B) There is this general attitude of "catering to the tourists". There's a ridiculously large number of Egyptians that work in the tourist industry (much more than half), and since so many people who come here are of the "get on the bus, off the bus, on the boat, off the boat, in the museum, out of the museum" persuasion, there's this tendency for locals to support the "experience". There's a huge difference between when someone talks to me like a "foreigner" and when they talk to me like a "tourist".
C) People have conveyed to me that they've very hesitant to talk about certain things because they're afraid of getting arrested for speaking against the government. A LOT of people have conveyed this to me. So, I try to respect that. However, that fear says enough.
Again, I feel like I left out a lot of things. I might need to to do a little make-up blog here in a day or two.
I'm in Aswan right now :). I'm very fond of it, to say the least. I got here about two days ago via train from Cairo. A cabin on the sleeper train would have cost me $80 where as just a chair in first-class costs about 150 L.E. (about $28). What I would have paid for a bed on that train is more than what I'm spending for 10 nights in my hostel in Luxor. Obviously, I chose not to take the sleeper car and just got a seat. That was an experience. But, I honestly preferred that to being stuck in a little room by myself for 13 hours. I managed to get a few hours of sleep (but neither deep or peaceful).
I'll save Aswan-so-far for later.
I've found out some very interesting facts about Luxor that I had NEVER heard before in my life until Atef from King Tut sat me down the morning before I left and said "Now, Phoebe: there's something you need to know about Luxor...". I haven't experienced this yet, so I can't say for sure, but apparently it's Courgarville. For the next 24 hours, this little fact kept getting confirmed by various people. That'll be interesting to see...
In short: I LOVE Egypt. It's so fascinating to me and it keeps getting more complicated every day. I'm so glad that it's nothing like I expected (because I really didn't know what to expect). I'm so excited for the rest of my trip, but sometimes I feel so tempted to cancel everything else and just stay here.
Friday, November 27, 2009
( Finally) The First Blog Entry!!
Marhaban Everyone!
After a little harassment, I've finally decided to sit down and do a blog entry. All this cafe hopping and watching the Mediterranean morning noon and night really takes up my time. I figured I had to make time to squeeze it into my very busy schedule.
Where should I begin?
I arrived in Cairo on November 10th after a very long haul through Kansas City, New York, and Zurich. I was so exhausted on the plane that I was pretty sure I was going to faint/die/or vomit. I was very amused at how many people actually boarded the plane to Cairo wearing those really tacky and cliche wanna-be safari vests (which, I honestly thought were the clothing equivalent of anvils: I didn't know that they actually existed. Or that people even actually wore them unless they were auditioning for Indiana Jones). But, we finally began to land in Cairo and I saw the desert and all the palm trees and I finally felt excited rather than wishing I was dead. The weather in Cairo was perfect: I don't think it ever got much above 80 the entire time I was there. One of the first things I noticed was the traffic: I remember being in India and feeling like I could get squashed by a car at any moment. Cairo is much worse: there are no rickshaws here (even though I guess Giza bought a few from India a few years back, which really confused me when I went to the pyramids a few days ago). In Cairo, you are dodging actual cars. My first few days, I would wait for a about 10 minutes to cross the street just to find an even moderately opportune moment (which I rarely did). I found a great method of crossing the street however: I wait for a large Egyptian man to come along, crouch behind him, and walk with him a he crosses the street. It's proven very effective (I'm not dead, so that says a lot). One little detail I've found hilarious is that the little picture of the "walking" man on traffic lights for pedestrians, isn't a picture of a walking man: it's an illustration of a person sprinting. I think that's brilliant.
I spent my first few days in Cairo just walking around. My method was to pick out a cafe on my pathetic excuse for a map (Lonely Planet has let me down) and spend about 2 hours trying to find it. Getting miserably lost actually worked fairly well. By a few days in, I had very little problem finding my way around.
Cairo is a very difficult city to just relax and enjoy. It's less dirty than what I was led to believe, but the noise factor can really get to you. I really hit my boiling-point with Cairo last weekend before I left for Alexandria. The predatory male factor finally got to me and I couldn't take it anymore. I am actually very very surprised that Cairo has proven to be the stage for the worst sexual harassment I have ever received. I've spent a decent amount of time complaining about it so I'm kind of out of steam. I realized that even though I'm enjoying traveling alone, Cairo is a city best experienced with someone else.
I knew that Cairo was very touristy but I also had no idea that it was to such a strong degree. A lot of tourists there are very closed off and rude to locals (I walked into a restaurant as a woman was screaming at a waiter for not seating them fast enough(it was seat-yourself, by the way) and proceeded to bump into me on her way out. I've never had someone apologize to me more emphatically for an honest, harmless mistake than that moment. Especially in contrast to her attitude to the waiter the moment before, it was very confusing). It was actually a little rare that I would see many tourists just out on the street. A lot of them seem to feel that they are exempt from the dress-code. I never realized it was physically impossible to cover your legs and cleavage. Who knew, right? It really is true that you will get a warmer welcome from Egyptian women if you're dressed modestly.Speaking of which, I think that Egyptian teenage girls might be my favorite people in the whole world: they are the most bubbly and friendly and stereotypical teenage girls I have ever seen. For example I was going to the mosque at the Citadel the other day and this group of girls on a field trip came running up to me to ask if they could touch my hair and take a picture with me (I much more prefer this to the people who have an affinity for coming up behind me on the street and try to fluff my hair).
I think it's about time for me to give wearing a hijab for a day a try. I've found that the amount of hissing and cat-calls is significantly decreased when I cover my hair. I'm also determined to buy a burka and spend a few hours walking around.
I'm a very lazy tourist and I've found that I really don't enjoy doing a lot of the touristy things. Mainly because the only people I encounter are a lot of other tourists in daisy-dukes (not kidding: there was a girl in the Egyptian Museum the other day whose boob was actually hanging out of her tube-top. No matter what country I'm in: that's uncomfortable). However, I never really regret it when I do go somewhere touristy. I went to the Egyptian Museum on one of my first days in the city and it got me very excited about being in Egypt: I remembered an exhibit at the Nelson from way back when I was about 10 that I was so fascinated by. I accredit it as my inspiration for coming to Egypt. It was that kick I think I needed and I got very excited about my trip again.
Not even a week in to my trip, Egypt beat Algeria in that first soccer game. It had been complete madness on the street for a few days prior: about every half-hour or so you would see a little impromptu parade. I was put in contact with a former student of Dale's, Omar, who I walked around downtown with to watch some of the game in passing. (I'm very grateful I got put in contact with Omar: he's been very helpful and has offered some good insight into the culture. Plus, I've actually had an opportunity to have an honest conversation where I don't have to flash my "engagement ring" or talk about my "fiance".) It was really amazing to see the mobs of people all gathered around TVs in the street. I watched part of the end of it with some of the guys who work in my hostel (King Tut is the best hostel ever). After they won, a man who works at King Tut, Ateff, took me and two girls from California who were staying there as well out to see the riot that ensued afterwards. It was hilarious. I was so glad I got to be there for something like that. It took us almost an hour to do what should have been a 10 minute drive because the streets were so swamped. It was worth it though.
And then I got food poisoning...enough said.
As I said, I went to the pyramids a few days ago (I think the fact I hadn't gone to Giza yet was really the only thing keeping me in Cairo. After that day, I could not get out of that city fast enough.) It's very unreal to stand next to the pyramids: they're really almost supernatural. I think it's the scale, shape, age, and purpose that makes them absolutely baffling. One of my favorite things about traveling has always been getting to experience something that is older than I can even fathom. This is going to sound very elementary, but it really felt like history came alive. Those pyramids have endured longer than we can imagine. What's very strange is to be standing next to something that is one of the most mass-produced images in the world and actually touch it. I'm still not done with my meditation on them.
While in Giza, I got to ride a camel through the Sahara. I've been waiting to do that for a long long time. It's really amazing to see the pyramids peeking over the sand on one side, and just miles and miles of open desert on the other. I admit, it is a little scary to be looking into that kind of vastness. However, it's mostly fearsome in a fascinating way. The only thing that's a little depressing is how dirty certain parts of the pyramid grounds are (yes, I know it's the desert: it's dirty. What I'm talking about is the liter). A good part of it was something like a polluted construction site. It's really unfortunate and depressing to see.
I didn't get to spend as much time in Islamic Cairo as I would have liked. After you walk out of the bazaar there are just streets and streets of beautiful mosques and amazing architecture. It's nice little oasis from the rest of Cairo. I'm going back to Cairo in a little over a week to get a package my mom is sending me and get my train to Aswan squared away, so I'm going to make a point to spend a few hours there again.
I finally left Cairo and have been basking in Alexandria for about 4 days now. I am so in love with this city. The people are incredibly friendly, it's more liberal than Cairo, and the food is amazing. I'm really enjoying the fact that there isn't a whole lot to do: I've basically just been spoiling myself with coffee, pastries, and seafood. The Mediterranean is literally right outside the door of my hostel. The air feels so clean and you can just smell the ocean all the time. Along the Corniche is so beautiful: it's so colorful and bright and everything just feels very refreshing. I've pretty much been sitting, eating ($4 fresh calamari every night is literally my dream come true), drinking coffee, and writing for the better part of every day. It's so nice to just be able to sit...finally! It's so nice to be outside here! I dread going indoors, even though the interior of some of these 100 year old restaurants are very beautiful. Despite all the occasional hissing, it's lovely. I think Alex was a wise choice as my post-Cairo city: I've been able to do a lot of reflection on my trip so far. The more distance I'm getting from it, the more I know that I haven't quite figured out Cairo yet. I think it will come to me as time goes on so you'll probably be hearing more about it.
Although it gets frustrating at times, I'm really enjoying being a woman traveling alone. I can see it's going to have its benefits in the long run (I'm definitely not getting the blunt end of any experience). I think my time in Cairo was really an experience of seeing what happens (positive and negative) when westernization comes along. Alexandria on the other hand, is very Greek meets Egypt.
I feel like I should be saying more positive things about Cairo (because it was a really amazing experience!) and I will definitely want to do a blog about the religious aspects (I've been making an effort to ask a lot of questions and it's really very interesting to hear it from the source).
Sorry that this entry is kind of all over the place! As I'm reading through it, I realized I haven't really said a lot of what I want to. This is what happens when I wait too long to do an entry. Right now, I feel like i have all these fragments and I'm not too sure how to piece them all together. All in due time, I suppose (I've still got 5+ months to go, so I'm not gonna rush it). But, I will leave that until later. I have some more sitting and people watching to do.
At the moment, my plan is to stay in Alex another week, go back to Cairo for three days, spend about 2-3 weeks in the Nile valley, then onto Sinai's Red Sea coast for a week or so. Then, I'm taking the ferry to Aqaba and working my way up Jordan before being faced with my difficult decision: Syria and Lebanon or Israel? I only have the time and money to do one! Plus, the whole border-crossing rule is a pain. Either way: I'll spend either 2 weeks in Syria and 2 weeks in Lebanon before taking the train to Turkey. Or, I'll spend a month in Israel before flying to Turkey. I don't know yet. Either way, I'm starting out in Istanbul and working my way down through Konya and Cappadocia, then west along the Mediterranean coast and up the Aegean before returning to Istanbul to fly home on May 6th. Today, that's the plan.
(By the way: can someone please explain to me if "shakira" is a word in Arabic (I can't find it),or if it's just a common cat-call, or if 13 year old boys are actually attempting to address me as "Shakira"??)
After a little harassment, I've finally decided to sit down and do a blog entry. All this cafe hopping and watching the Mediterranean morning noon and night really takes up my time. I figured I had to make time to squeeze it into my very busy schedule.
Where should I begin?
I arrived in Cairo on November 10th after a very long haul through Kansas City, New York, and Zurich. I was so exhausted on the plane that I was pretty sure I was going to faint/die/or vomit. I was very amused at how many people actually boarded the plane to Cairo wearing those really tacky and cliche wanna-be safari vests (which, I honestly thought were the clothing equivalent of anvils: I didn't know that they actually existed. Or that people even actually wore them unless they were auditioning for Indiana Jones). But, we finally began to land in Cairo and I saw the desert and all the palm trees and I finally felt excited rather than wishing I was dead. The weather in Cairo was perfect: I don't think it ever got much above 80 the entire time I was there. One of the first things I noticed was the traffic: I remember being in India and feeling like I could get squashed by a car at any moment. Cairo is much worse: there are no rickshaws here (even though I guess Giza bought a few from India a few years back, which really confused me when I went to the pyramids a few days ago). In Cairo, you are dodging actual cars. My first few days, I would wait for a about 10 minutes to cross the street just to find an even moderately opportune moment (which I rarely did). I found a great method of crossing the street however: I wait for a large Egyptian man to come along, crouch behind him, and walk with him a he crosses the street. It's proven very effective (I'm not dead, so that says a lot). One little detail I've found hilarious is that the little picture of the "walking" man on traffic lights for pedestrians, isn't a picture of a walking man: it's an illustration of a person sprinting. I think that's brilliant.
I spent my first few days in Cairo just walking around. My method was to pick out a cafe on my pathetic excuse for a map (Lonely Planet has let me down) and spend about 2 hours trying to find it. Getting miserably lost actually worked fairly well. By a few days in, I had very little problem finding my way around.
Cairo is a very difficult city to just relax and enjoy. It's less dirty than what I was led to believe, but the noise factor can really get to you. I really hit my boiling-point with Cairo last weekend before I left for Alexandria. The predatory male factor finally got to me and I couldn't take it anymore. I am actually very very surprised that Cairo has proven to be the stage for the worst sexual harassment I have ever received. I've spent a decent amount of time complaining about it so I'm kind of out of steam. I realized that even though I'm enjoying traveling alone, Cairo is a city best experienced with someone else.
I knew that Cairo was very touristy but I also had no idea that it was to such a strong degree. A lot of tourists there are very closed off and rude to locals (I walked into a restaurant as a woman was screaming at a waiter for not seating them fast enough(it was seat-yourself, by the way) and proceeded to bump into me on her way out. I've never had someone apologize to me more emphatically for an honest, harmless mistake than that moment. Especially in contrast to her attitude to the waiter the moment before, it was very confusing). It was actually a little rare that I would see many tourists just out on the street. A lot of them seem to feel that they are exempt from the dress-code. I never realized it was physically impossible to cover your legs and cleavage. Who knew, right? It really is true that you will get a warmer welcome from Egyptian women if you're dressed modestly.Speaking of which, I think that Egyptian teenage girls might be my favorite people in the whole world: they are the most bubbly and friendly and stereotypical teenage girls I have ever seen. For example I was going to the mosque at the Citadel the other day and this group of girls on a field trip came running up to me to ask if they could touch my hair and take a picture with me (I much more prefer this to the people who have an affinity for coming up behind me on the street and try to fluff my hair).
I think it's about time for me to give wearing a hijab for a day a try. I've found that the amount of hissing and cat-calls is significantly decreased when I cover my hair. I'm also determined to buy a burka and spend a few hours walking around.
I'm a very lazy tourist and I've found that I really don't enjoy doing a lot of the touristy things. Mainly because the only people I encounter are a lot of other tourists in daisy-dukes (not kidding: there was a girl in the Egyptian Museum the other day whose boob was actually hanging out of her tube-top. No matter what country I'm in: that's uncomfortable). However, I never really regret it when I do go somewhere touristy. I went to the Egyptian Museum on one of my first days in the city and it got me very excited about being in Egypt: I remembered an exhibit at the Nelson from way back when I was about 10 that I was so fascinated by. I accredit it as my inspiration for coming to Egypt. It was that kick I think I needed and I got very excited about my trip again.
Not even a week in to my trip, Egypt beat Algeria in that first soccer game. It had been complete madness on the street for a few days prior: about every half-hour or so you would see a little impromptu parade. I was put in contact with a former student of Dale's, Omar, who I walked around downtown with to watch some of the game in passing. (I'm very grateful I got put in contact with Omar: he's been very helpful and has offered some good insight into the culture. Plus, I've actually had an opportunity to have an honest conversation where I don't have to flash my "engagement ring" or talk about my "fiance".) It was really amazing to see the mobs of people all gathered around TVs in the street. I watched part of the end of it with some of the guys who work in my hostel (King Tut is the best hostel ever). After they won, a man who works at King Tut, Ateff, took me and two girls from California who were staying there as well out to see the riot that ensued afterwards. It was hilarious. I was so glad I got to be there for something like that. It took us almost an hour to do what should have been a 10 minute drive because the streets were so swamped. It was worth it though.
And then I got food poisoning...enough said.
As I said, I went to the pyramids a few days ago (I think the fact I hadn't gone to Giza yet was really the only thing keeping me in Cairo. After that day, I could not get out of that city fast enough.) It's very unreal to stand next to the pyramids: they're really almost supernatural. I think it's the scale, shape, age, and purpose that makes them absolutely baffling. One of my favorite things about traveling has always been getting to experience something that is older than I can even fathom. This is going to sound very elementary, but it really felt like history came alive. Those pyramids have endured longer than we can imagine. What's very strange is to be standing next to something that is one of the most mass-produced images in the world and actually touch it. I'm still not done with my meditation on them.
While in Giza, I got to ride a camel through the Sahara. I've been waiting to do that for a long long time. It's really amazing to see the pyramids peeking over the sand on one side, and just miles and miles of open desert on the other. I admit, it is a little scary to be looking into that kind of vastness. However, it's mostly fearsome in a fascinating way. The only thing that's a little depressing is how dirty certain parts of the pyramid grounds are (yes, I know it's the desert: it's dirty. What I'm talking about is the liter). A good part of it was something like a polluted construction site. It's really unfortunate and depressing to see.
I didn't get to spend as much time in Islamic Cairo as I would have liked. After you walk out of the bazaar there are just streets and streets of beautiful mosques and amazing architecture. It's nice little oasis from the rest of Cairo. I'm going back to Cairo in a little over a week to get a package my mom is sending me and get my train to Aswan squared away, so I'm going to make a point to spend a few hours there again.
I finally left Cairo and have been basking in Alexandria for about 4 days now. I am so in love with this city. The people are incredibly friendly, it's more liberal than Cairo, and the food is amazing. I'm really enjoying the fact that there isn't a whole lot to do: I've basically just been spoiling myself with coffee, pastries, and seafood. The Mediterranean is literally right outside the door of my hostel. The air feels so clean and you can just smell the ocean all the time. Along the Corniche is so beautiful: it's so colorful and bright and everything just feels very refreshing. I've pretty much been sitting, eating ($4 fresh calamari every night is literally my dream come true), drinking coffee, and writing for the better part of every day. It's so nice to just be able to sit...finally! It's so nice to be outside here! I dread going indoors, even though the interior of some of these 100 year old restaurants are very beautiful. Despite all the occasional hissing, it's lovely. I think Alex was a wise choice as my post-Cairo city: I've been able to do a lot of reflection on my trip so far. The more distance I'm getting from it, the more I know that I haven't quite figured out Cairo yet. I think it will come to me as time goes on so you'll probably be hearing more about it.
Although it gets frustrating at times, I'm really enjoying being a woman traveling alone. I can see it's going to have its benefits in the long run (I'm definitely not getting the blunt end of any experience). I think my time in Cairo was really an experience of seeing what happens (positive and negative) when westernization comes along. Alexandria on the other hand, is very Greek meets Egypt.
I feel like I should be saying more positive things about Cairo (because it was a really amazing experience!) and I will definitely want to do a blog about the religious aspects (I've been making an effort to ask a lot of questions and it's really very interesting to hear it from the source).
Sorry that this entry is kind of all over the place! As I'm reading through it, I realized I haven't really said a lot of what I want to. This is what happens when I wait too long to do an entry. Right now, I feel like i have all these fragments and I'm not too sure how to piece them all together. All in due time, I suppose (I've still got 5+ months to go, so I'm not gonna rush it). But, I will leave that until later. I have some more sitting and people watching to do.
At the moment, my plan is to stay in Alex another week, go back to Cairo for three days, spend about 2-3 weeks in the Nile valley, then onto Sinai's Red Sea coast for a week or so. Then, I'm taking the ferry to Aqaba and working my way up Jordan before being faced with my difficult decision: Syria and Lebanon or Israel? I only have the time and money to do one! Plus, the whole border-crossing rule is a pain. Either way: I'll spend either 2 weeks in Syria and 2 weeks in Lebanon before taking the train to Turkey. Or, I'll spend a month in Israel before flying to Turkey. I don't know yet. Either way, I'm starting out in Istanbul and working my way down through Konya and Cappadocia, then west along the Mediterranean coast and up the Aegean before returning to Istanbul to fly home on May 6th. Today, that's the plan.
(By the way: can someone please explain to me if "shakira" is a word in Arabic (I can't find it),or if it's just a common cat-call, or if 13 year old boys are actually attempting to address me as "Shakira"??)
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