Esalem Elekum!
This is, surely, a long anticipated update.
First off, I'm fine and everything is good. There have been some small hiccups that I've learned from. Cairo is nothing like anywhere in the United States. Its completely different in every dimension; sometimes this is for the better, sometimes its quite annoying. Cairo is gigantic in a sprawling sense. For one, there is no real "office" buildings as we're used to seeing in every American city. Instead the city is simply sprawling with residencies none taller than 15 stories.
My dorm is located in the Zamalek district. As I pointed out to you on the map, its on an island in the middle of the Nile. Its mostly populated with upper-middle class Egyptians, many students, and foreigners. Its one of the areas foreigners are most present, but, that being said, I've only seen maybe one foreigner in fifty people on the streets. My dorm is about 1/3 full of International students, of which Americans compose 90%, and the rest Egyptians.
Largely due to the language barrier, whom I'm living with, and the fact that this week they have us in orientation for international students from 8am to 8pm, I've mostly made friends with other Americans. I'm sure this will change somewhat when I start having classes with Egyptians who know English but I really like everyone I've met so far. They're all pretty much poly sci, history, international studies, or middle eastern studies, like me. Interestingly enough I've made pretty good friends with a girl from U Mich and there are a bunch of people from PA or who go to college there including Allegheny College up in the NW part of the state and Gettysburg College. I also hangout with the other student from CU and a freshmen American girl who goes to AUC full time relatively often. My roommate is pretty cool. He's a Palestinian who's family moved to the US ten years ago but he keeps his Palestinian national identity including a visa issued by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Needless to say, he basically interrogated every time he goes into a new country, but he says Arab countries are the worst. This was somewhat surprising to me although I knew that Palestinians in Arab countries are largely looked down upon with similar stereotypes as we flag-waving Emerkins look down upon Mexicans, etc.
I met up today with Kevin's (Adam's friend) friend from when he was studying here: Issmaeel. He gave me a lot of good practical advice and offered to show me around Cairo in the near future and invited me on possible future trips to other parts of the country when he goes.
The AUC New Cairo Campus is absolutely stunning. Remember the architecture style that atmospheric research place right outside of Boulder, which we went to with Adam, uses? Imagine that only with a campus the size of Doylestown and the architecture is about 100 times more beautiful. Its located in New Cairo, a part of the city which right now consists of about one-hundred acres of incomplete houses, which I was told to expect them completed in about ten years at which point the place will be flooded with residents.
I haven't explored much else of yet due to the intensity of the orientation schedule, which is in the morning, and the Arabic survival course which is 4-5 hours everyday this week. In the bus we have, however, driven over some of the slums of town: they are quite vast.
Moving through Cairo either by taxi or by foot is certainly something to get used to. There don't seem to be any traffic laws and if there are, they are basically ignored: the police are not there for that purpose. There are only a few roads with painted lanes and even here they are ignored. The street is like a stream where everything mixes together. Cars will regularly be parallel parked two lanes deep on either side of the street and taxi drivers will without hesitation stop in the middle of a lane, thereby causing a bottle-neck scenario with the cars behind, to see if pedestrians want a ride. I've been trying to keep to the white taxis for the most part because they have meters so its easy to pay the correct amount, although this didn't stop an especially emboldened driver used my lack of Arabic and American nationality to try to charge 10 times the amount shown. Annoying? yes, but a good lesson in not making concessions despite wasting much time arguing (keep it up and I could become a politician).
When on foot, walking on the street is, often, the only choice and when it isn't the sidewalks are so hazardous with uneven pavement, obstructions, etc. that I find myself often picking the street over this obstacle course, anyway. There are no crosswalks in Cairo and, consequently, j-walking is the rule. Cars will rarely break speed as you rush across so timing is everything. Needless to say, one has to be entirely aware of their surroundings. Today, I made it across my first heavy traffic 4-lane highway. I was quite pleased with my ability to play frogger through the onslaught of headlights.
Egyptians are some of the most accommodating people in the world. This I had been told by many before arriving, but witnessed it in action today when a taxi driver didn't know where the street with my dorm was. He began asking people on the sidewalks (while causing much traffic behind). The first few didn't know the street either so they brought others from the sidewalks and ran across the busy street asking those on the other side until I had over ten Egyptians next to the cab window. None seemed to know the place until one looked up the location on his phone. Fifteen minutes, many wrong turns, ten pounds, and one "Sokran" (thank you) later I was dropped off at the step of my dormitory.
Egyptians refuse to say "I don't know" when asked for directions. Always, they will stop and to help you, and, if they don't know, they will help you find someone who does, and, if they can't find someone, they will point you in a direction regardless of whether they have the slightest inclination of the correct direction. I remember seeing a quote somewhere online when researching prior to my arrival that the Egyptian mindset on directions is something like "with each step you are one step closer to reaching your destination rather than standing still. this is true even if headed walking the wrong way."
Despite being in Cario since Saturday, it was only yesterday, Monday, that I experienced my first Egyptian cuisine. Until then, the residential life representatives including our RAs organized us to be fed American and European foods including such classics as: cold pepperoni pizza (pork in a Muslim country?) and cold-cut sandwiches. I'm not quite sure if our meals were actively arranged to discourage homesickness or a symptom of Egyptian AUC students desire to be Americans. This desire seems real and pervasive and includes such aspects as gangster rap and pop music blasted across campus this entire week and American cuisine available across campus, including
such classics as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, and a place called Cafe Tabasco (the name says it all really).
The first Egyptian meal I had was Koshari, a mixture of rice, macaroni noodles, lentils, chickpeas, and spices I can't identify off of taste alone. This dish, developed to be a cheap but filling meal, is a staple of the Egyptian diet. While it would certainly take some time to cook at home, over the centuries Egypt's vendors have developed an assembly line method that allows them to service hundreds of customers per hour in busy parts of town. It is Egypt's own fast-food tradition. I paid 7 LE for Koshari on campus but soon found out that the going price at vendors in the city is 4 LE. For reference: $1 = ~6.4 LE. The dish was quite tasty and, stocked with carbs, is easily filling enough to satisfy one's hunger for the majority of the day.
Each night, despite being exhausted from orientation, we get in a group to go explore the Zamalek area. Its incredibly easy to get lost because city planning seems to have been of minimum concern in Cairo's past development, but I'm starting to piece together a map in my head of the nearby area. In our nightly excursions, we've discovered that bars in Zamalek are quite expensive and few and far between. Shisha, however, is available on nearly every block. Its somewhat stronger than back at home and apple seems to be the go-to flavor.
While I living in Egypt and dorm-life to be more conservative than I'm used to in Boulder, certain things still caught me by surprise. For one, the girls and guys are separated by wing with 24 hour guards by each wing to ensure no one of the wrong gender gets past--fair enough. Gender mixing, while allowed in public spaces, must be quite g-rated. A couple hugging or even holding hands--let alone kissing--is seen as a public disturbance and, if caught in the dorm, will result in 2 points being put against each participant: 7 points and you're kicked out of the dorm. For reference, other 2 point offenses include assault, tampering with a fire alarm, and walking in drunk. One can quickly accrue a hard 4 points if a routine room inspection turns up alcohol, drugs, or related paraphernalia. Paraphernalia includes water pipes (often called a hookah in the US) despite tobacco being generally acceptable in the dorm. Its a shame because this was one of the main souvenirs I intended to bring home with me, being able to get one for less than $15 whereas the prices are usually upwards of $100 at home for comparable quality.
Besides the social rules all dorm residents less then 21 years old are subject to a curfew of 10pm on weekdays and 11:30 on weekends. The rationale behind the policy is official for security concerns but it seems the real reason is so that Egyptian parents can keep a leash on their kids. Luckily, it hasn't gone into effect yet and I don't expect it to until the beginning of classes. It can be bypassed with parental permission which I will hopefully get shortly when the administration gets around to emailing the form, in-sha-allah!
With the one-year anniversary of the revolution tomorrow (1/25), all eyes are on Tahir. We have off from orientation from the day but the official policy that we are strongly encouraged not to go anywhere near the square. My dorm is holding all day "celebration" to talk about the revolution and encourage kids to remain here. No one is quite sure what is going to happen. The military-run government seems intent to co-opt the revolution by having a parade to celebrate it at Tahir tomorrow while protestors intend to start a second revolution to remove the military from power. I intend to stay safe from harm.
I have more to say but I'll save it for another day. If you managed to read through that wall of text, I applaud you.
Until next time,
Ryan
This is, surely, a long anticipated update.
First off, I'm fine and everything is good. There have been some small hiccups that I've learned from. Cairo is nothing like anywhere in the United States. Its completely different in every dimension; sometimes this is for the better, sometimes its quite annoying. Cairo is gigantic in a sprawling sense. For one, there is no real "office" buildings as we're used to seeing in every American city. Instead the city is simply sprawling with residencies none taller than 15 stories.
My dorm is located in the Zamalek district. As I pointed out to you on the map, its on an island in the middle of the Nile. Its mostly populated with upper-middle class Egyptians, many students, and foreigners. Its one of the areas foreigners are most present, but, that being said, I've only seen maybe one foreigner in fifty people on the streets. My dorm is about 1/3 full of International students, of which Americans compose 90%, and the rest Egyptians.
Largely due to the language barrier, whom I'm living with, and the fact that this week they have us in orientation for international students from 8am to 8pm, I've mostly made friends with other Americans. I'm sure this will change somewhat when I start having classes with Egyptians who know English but I really like everyone I've met so far. They're all pretty much poly sci, history, international studies, or middle eastern studies, like me. Interestingly enough I've made pretty good friends with a girl from U Mich and there are a bunch of people from PA or who go to college there including Allegheny College up in the NW part of the state and Gettysburg College. I also hangout with the other student from CU and a freshmen American girl who goes to AUC full time relatively often. My roommate is pretty cool. He's a Palestinian who's family moved to the US ten years ago but he keeps his Palestinian national identity including a visa issued by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Needless to say, he basically interrogated every time he goes into a new country, but he says Arab countries are the worst. This was somewhat surprising to me although I knew that Palestinians in Arab countries are largely looked down upon with similar stereotypes as we flag-waving Emerkins look down upon Mexicans, etc.
I met up today with Kevin's (Adam's friend) friend from when he was studying here: Issmaeel. He gave me a lot of good practical advice and offered to show me around Cairo in the near future and invited me on possible future trips to other parts of the country when he goes.
The AUC New Cairo Campus is absolutely stunning. Remember the architecture style that atmospheric research place right outside of Boulder, which we went to with Adam, uses? Imagine that only with a campus the size of Doylestown and the architecture is about 100 times more beautiful. Its located in New Cairo, a part of the city which right now consists of about one-hundred acres of incomplete houses, which I was told to expect them completed in about ten years at which point the place will be flooded with residents.
I haven't explored much else of yet due to the intensity of the orientation schedule, which is in the morning, and the Arabic survival course which is 4-5 hours everyday this week. In the bus we have, however, driven over some of the slums of town: they are quite vast.
Moving through Cairo either by taxi or by foot is certainly something to get used to. There don't seem to be any traffic laws and if there are, they are basically ignored: the police are not there for that purpose. There are only a few roads with painted lanes and even here they are ignored. The street is like a stream where everything mixes together. Cars will regularly be parallel parked two lanes deep on either side of the street and taxi drivers will without hesitation stop in the middle of a lane, thereby causing a bottle-neck scenario with the cars behind, to see if pedestrians want a ride. I've been trying to keep to the white taxis for the most part because they have meters so its easy to pay the correct amount, although this didn't stop an especially emboldened driver used my lack of Arabic and American nationality to try to charge 10 times the amount shown. Annoying? yes, but a good lesson in not making concessions despite wasting much time arguing (keep it up and I could become a politician).
When on foot, walking on the street is, often, the only choice and when it isn't the sidewalks are so hazardous with uneven pavement, obstructions, etc. that I find myself often picking the street over this obstacle course, anyway. There are no crosswalks in Cairo and, consequently, j-walking is the rule. Cars will rarely break speed as you rush across so timing is everything. Needless to say, one has to be entirely aware of their surroundings. Today, I made it across my first heavy traffic 4-lane highway. I was quite pleased with my ability to play frogger through the onslaught of headlights.
Egyptians are some of the most accommodating people in the world. This I had been told by many before arriving, but witnessed it in action today when a taxi driver didn't know where the street with my dorm was. He began asking people on the sidewalks (while causing much traffic behind). The first few didn't know the street either so they brought others from the sidewalks and ran across the busy street asking those on the other side until I had over ten Egyptians next to the cab window. None seemed to know the place until one looked up the location on his phone. Fifteen minutes, many wrong turns, ten pounds, and one "Sokran" (thank you) later I was dropped off at the step of my dormitory.
Egyptians refuse to say "I don't know" when asked for directions. Always, they will stop and to help you, and, if they don't know, they will help you find someone who does, and, if they can't find someone, they will point you in a direction regardless of whether they have the slightest inclination of the correct direction. I remember seeing a quote somewhere online when researching prior to my arrival that the Egyptian mindset on directions is something like "with each step you are one step closer to reaching your destination rather than standing still. this is true even if headed walking the wrong way."
Despite being in Cario since Saturday, it was only yesterday, Monday, that I experienced my first Egyptian cuisine. Until then, the residential life representatives including our RAs organized us to be fed American and European foods including such classics as: cold pepperoni pizza (pork in a Muslim country?) and cold-cut sandwiches. I'm not quite sure if our meals were actively arranged to discourage homesickness or a symptom of Egyptian AUC students desire to be Americans. This desire seems real and pervasive and includes such aspects as gangster rap and pop music blasted across campus this entire week and American cuisine available across campus, including
such classics as McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Cinnabon, and a place called Cafe Tabasco (the name says it all really).
The first Egyptian meal I had was Koshari, a mixture of rice, macaroni noodles, lentils, chickpeas, and spices I can't identify off of taste alone. This dish, developed to be a cheap but filling meal, is a staple of the Egyptian diet. While it would certainly take some time to cook at home, over the centuries Egypt's vendors have developed an assembly line method that allows them to service hundreds of customers per hour in busy parts of town. It is Egypt's own fast-food tradition. I paid 7 LE for Koshari on campus but soon found out that the going price at vendors in the city is 4 LE. For reference: $1 = ~6.4 LE. The dish was quite tasty and, stocked with carbs, is easily filling enough to satisfy one's hunger for the majority of the day.
Each night, despite being exhausted from orientation, we get in a group to go explore the Zamalek area. Its incredibly easy to get lost because city planning seems to have been of minimum concern in Cairo's past development, but I'm starting to piece together a map in my head of the nearby area. In our nightly excursions, we've discovered that bars in Zamalek are quite expensive and few and far between. Shisha, however, is available on nearly every block. Its somewhat stronger than back at home and apple seems to be the go-to flavor.
While I living in Egypt and dorm-life to be more conservative than I'm used to in Boulder, certain things still caught me by surprise. For one, the girls and guys are separated by wing with 24 hour guards by each wing to ensure no one of the wrong gender gets past--fair enough. Gender mixing, while allowed in public spaces, must be quite g-rated. A couple hugging or even holding hands--let alone kissing--is seen as a public disturbance and, if caught in the dorm, will result in 2 points being put against each participant: 7 points and you're kicked out of the dorm. For reference, other 2 point offenses include assault, tampering with a fire alarm, and walking in drunk. One can quickly accrue a hard 4 points if a routine room inspection turns up alcohol, drugs, or related paraphernalia. Paraphernalia includes water pipes (often called a hookah in the US) despite tobacco being generally acceptable in the dorm. Its a shame because this was one of the main souvenirs I intended to bring home with me, being able to get one for less than $15 whereas the prices are usually upwards of $100 at home for comparable quality.
Besides the social rules all dorm residents less then 21 years old are subject to a curfew of 10pm on weekdays and 11:30 on weekends. The rationale behind the policy is official for security concerns but it seems the real reason is so that Egyptian parents can keep a leash on their kids. Luckily, it hasn't gone into effect yet and I don't expect it to until the beginning of classes. It can be bypassed with parental permission which I will hopefully get shortly when the administration gets around to emailing the form, in-sha-allah!
With the one-year anniversary of the revolution tomorrow (1/25), all eyes are on Tahir. We have off from orientation from the day but the official policy that we are strongly encouraged not to go anywhere near the square. My dorm is holding all day "celebration" to talk about the revolution and encourage kids to remain here. No one is quite sure what is going to happen. The military-run government seems intent to co-opt the revolution by having a parade to celebrate it at Tahir tomorrow while protestors intend to start a second revolution to remove the military from power. I intend to stay safe from harm.
I have more to say but I'll save it for another day. If you managed to read through that wall of text, I applaud you.
Until next time,
Ryan
