The Return

Back from 13 days in Egypt...there is a bit to report. I'll start with general impressions and what I did.

Day 1: Get to airport late-ish, Shawn was, thank god, there to pick me up and found me no trouble. There must have been a diplomat or somesuch arriving at the same time because car travel to the terminal was closed and we had to walk a bit to a find a cab who had bribed the guards to get in. Shawn, good man that he is, immediately took me to an ahua (the arabic word means both coffee and coffee house) for tea and shisha, after which we got kosharie, a meal of beans and pasta with spices thats everywhere and inexpensive. Because Shawn was leaving soon for Jordan he didn't have an apartment of his own, but his girlfriend Anya and her roommate Becca had a couple extra beds and we stayed there. Becca had recently gotten three kittens, which was...amusing.

Day 2: Slept in, but spent the rest of the day with Shawn at the Khan Al Khali market--a massive bazaar and sometime tourist trap with a more local market across the street and huge mosques all around that we went in (shoes off, of course). I had a post this summer about mosques, and now having seen a few more and being back in the land of churches the difference is striking. Mosques are wide open spaces, like parks of concrete, usually with a huge courtyard adorned only with an area to wash hands and feet, and stretches of space interrupted only by pillars and occasional shelves of Korans and religious texts. In the market I bought a shisha pipe and tobacco and a pocket Koran (for approximately 80 cents), and we sat down for a quick drink and puff at El Fishaway, the oldest teahouse in Egypt (note: not that old, but expensive and touristy). After dinner we watched Firefly well into the night.

Day 3: Spent a lot of this day wandering around downtown with Shawn, stopping in a desert shop, a bookshop, and a square from which Egypt's semi-illegal opposition party makes semi-illegal speeches (no one is allowed to stop and listen, and they can only make them from the privately owned building). We met up with Andy and David, two other exchange kids, and took a faluka (slow, flat sail boat) down the Nile a bit for sunset. Shawn and I had dinner with William's sister Maggie at a nearby place, which was cool, and then went back and socialized with year/semester abroads at the appartment.

Day 4: It rained! No one was out on the streets, which promptly flooded. City is not built for rain. I went to the Egyptian Museum, which was both awe inspiring and sad. Nothing is labled, so I followed various English and Spanish tours to catch a bit of what I was seeing. The size of the pieces, the size of the collection and the quality of it were only matched by how unlabled, unsorted, and unprotected everything was. Children would climb all over the pieces, and leaks from the roof let a steady stream of water down on thousands of year old carvings. It raises a tough question of priorities: which should come first, heritage or preservation? Egypt certainly has the right to the artifacts, but not the ability to protect them-and really, they'd probably prefer the money to be made from selling them. But that's temporary, whereas tourism brings in a steady flow. But for tourists to come, the artifacts have to last. Catch 22. Afterward went back to Andy, David and Spencer's apartment for pasta, then headed to an ahua to watch the Egypt-Sudan football/soccer (Egypt won 3-0).

Day 5: Went to a friend of Shawn's who owns a stable and is building a hostel, an Egyptian named Mohamed (if you plan to go to Egypt ever talk to him--foxegypt2020@yahoo.com). We drank tea at his place, then rode horses to the Abusir pyramids (which are between-and in sight of-Giza and the step pyramids, man's oldest stone monuments). These pyramids are off limits, technically, but we rode around the Beduin guard huts and were fine. We were able to get right up to the pyramids, and even climb inside one that was unfinished and had no top. Various half-standing temples and things were in that area as well, and we explored them. It was really cool because it was only the small group of us, unlike at the tourist trap that is Giza. Went back to Mohamed's for dinner, and then went out in the desert and played football/soccer with him, Shawn, Andy, David, and Spencer in the sand in the shadow of the pyramids. I learned a subtlety of the language talking to Shawn--profession, place, etc, work differently in Arabic. Rather than saying "I live in Egypt", you would say "I am a live-er OF Egypt". Place, family, and profession become identity--essence--rather than merely action.

Day 6: A "day off". Wandered around a bit, read Trainspotting, got kosharie, and went for a fancy dinner at a place called Sequoia. Tipping waiters through the meals ensures fast, good service--there's a "service charge" on the bill but it all goes into the cash register and never reaches the waiters.

Day 7: Went with Shawn to Coptic and Islamic Old Cairo. Like a slice of the past--massive religious centres in the midst of slums. We visited various early churches and cemeteries (there is a place called the "City of the Dead" which is a cemetery where the mausoleums have been converted into houses, and the cemetery now functions as a dangerous slum). We tried to find our way to the last Synagogue in Cairo, but got turned around and ended up on a back street instead, where we sat for a tea and shisha. The population of Cairo is incredibly densely packed, and this evidences itself in the homes, which for an entire family or even a few generations are often only a single room. We went to a few Mosques, talked a lot about Islam and the culture, and then went back to the apartment and watched "Bedazzled", a soul-crushingly bad movie which was a lot of fun. That night was a study-abroad student club night, so I made up an ID number and went with everyone. Sadly, the deception was more fun than the clubbing--lack of alcohol or contact between sexes takes a bit of fun out of dancing.

Day 8: Saw the American University of Cairo campus, used the internet there and bought Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore" to read on the way back. Shawn and his girlfriend's roommate had been fighting for a couple months, and on this day she threw him out of the apartment so we moved in with Andy, David, and Spencer. Such is life.

Day 9: This day was spent largely wandering, downtown and at the Khan Al Khali market (with Spencer, who hadn't been). We went to an extremely western mall and saw the upper crust of Egyptian society and ate really good, although fairly mild, Mexican food, which those who had been there all semester desperately needed and I, going back to Scotland, was not about to say no to. We went to an ahua later on, and I played a game of backgammon (something of a national pastime) with an Egyptian lawyer and ice cream store owner, who talked to us a bit. He was an ex-policeman, whose duties had included reporting people for subversive talk about the government, and he was very wink-wink nudge-nudge about not saying anything bad about it. He talked about baksheesh, almsgiving, which is one of the pillars of Islam. He claimed to have financed a kid through school (poor kids generally stop around age 10) in exchange for working in his shop over the summer. One of the fascinating things here is the way connections and professions work--there is no concept of nepotism, because that is how things work. If you want something, you have to know someone, because there ARE no official channels that operate with any sort of efficiency. Also, most people hold many jobs for the income--one of our taxi drivers was an English tutor at a university in the morning, taxi driver in the afternoon. And a note on driving in Egypt: Bolivia looks tame. There are no road signs, lines in the road are superfluous, there are no traffic lights, intersections work on a 100% playing-chicken basis, and whoever is in front has the right of way. In addition, drivers don't turn on their lights at night to save power/stop them from burning out/something. And, with no sidewalks or traffic lights, people just have to hurdle through the moving cars to cross the road. But there is a rhythm to it, unspoken rules of crossing, a special language or horn honks, and it all seems to at least function.

Day 10: Went to the camel market with the guys and Mohamed, which was in a village about an hour out of town. We ate some very authentic food in a guy's house (goat stew and something resembling grass soup with the consistency of thick snot), and, of course, smoked shisha. Daughters of people who came to the market walked through it burning incense in exchange for small tips (EVERYTHING is in exchange for small tips) to keep the smell down. On a building at the entrance, two eyes are painted to keep the evil eye away, and outside the market in the desert there is a space with probably 30 dead camels in various states of decay. Next to the camel market, which is preserve of rich rancher-type Egyptians (a camel eats twice as much as a horse and is probably half again as large--these thins are huge!), is a poor mans market/village out of scrap lumber and metal sheets that sells largely junk--used doors, broken technology, secondhand clothing and kid's toys. After the camel market I went to another university event at a massive mansion where there was free food, and from there with Shawn to a party with his friends from last semester.

Day 11: Another vacation-from-vacation day, stayed in most of the day. Finished "Trainspotting", started "Kafka on the Shore", played cards, chess, and backgammon with Spencer.

Day 12: Giza day. Whew. I needed the rest. I went alone, which was an experience as well. Did all public transit. Egypt has an incredible subway system (very cheap, very efficient. Men and women ride in separate cars), Pretty safe and, compared to everything else, really clean, although as a whitey you get some stares. Coolest thing is all the Muslim men with their pocket Korans who pull them out as light reading for the ride, and sing the verses as they read so there is a sort of low humming intonation through the car. Another side note: it is considered good, and fairly common, for guys to have bruises or calluses on their foreheads. This is from prayer. Ate fuul, beans and pita. Got to Giza and was somewhat disheartened by the commercialism of it all, though of course its amazing. You come in and there's the sphinx, then beyond it a little ways the three big pyramids and six smaller ones, along with temples and various tombs/sandstone houses for the workers. All, of course, completely unprotected so you can walk up to, and on, everything, and there's a fair bit of graffiti. Little kids and various people everywhere trying to sell you cheap trinkets, camel rides, horse rides, have you pay to take their picture or for them to take yours, etc. I had lunch with a Beduin guy who approached me as I was sitting on the side of the big pyramid. I was very suspicious, but he made some efforts to convince me he wasn't selling anything. Of course he was trying to get me to buy any number of things, but in the end I ended up sitting with him and several other guys (including guards) while he made a small fire, made tea and handed out pita, cheese, and lettuce/tomato. It was really nice because, for once, they talked to each other and took a break from trying to sell everyone everything and just ignored me--which was great. I tipped the guy for the meal, of course. Took the bus and subway back. Busses are a trip because they are privately owned by the drivers, so there are no regulations or real schedules. People pack in to probably twice actual capacity, and the bus never stops--you jump on and off into traffic as it moves, and pass money up to the driver's assistant(s). Waiting for the bus I had a couple cool interactions. An irritating guy who just tried to sell me stuff, 4 guys who were probably 16 who sat next to me for a bit and obviously wanted to communicate but didn't speak any English, and gave me a cigarette, bought pure sugar cane juice, and talked to a few wealthier young guys visiting from Alexandria who spoke good English and asked if I wanted to join them (I would have if I hadn't just come from what they were going to). Back at the guys place, we had a few people over for a quiet party, and then I went out to an ahua with Shawn for his last night in Cairo last hurrah. He's an interesting kid, and this trip certainly let me know him better. One part ego, one part ideals, and one part the real stuff--what makes it worth it.

Day 13: Woke late, taxi downtown to buy the Koran on CD/DVD ($7 or so for the whole thing, premium recording, which I'm listening to right now). I wandered around downtown and ate at a cart--sandwiches of liver and of brain. Brain was surprisingly really good--not a great taste, but the texture was soft and buttery like scallop sushi. I sat in an ahua for an hour or so and then headed back. The next morning, very early, I left Egypt.

And that's the basic recap. This trip opened my eyes to a whole new set of questions, or at least areas of interest: Islam (but I had that before), the Middle East (more than just "where the news is at the moment"), extreme poverty, more extreme poverty, the "basic" human condition in such poverty, friendships as they are governed by the rules of culture (homosexuality is not acknowledged as existing, and friends of the same sex, either sex, hold hands and are extremely physical with each other at all times, in some contrast to the US and stark contrast to the UK), modernity and human rights (?) next to tradition.