One visible woman in Cairo...

Maybe some lighter discussion today? We'll see how this entry turns out.

First, I should mention that one of my biggest concerns about this trip was my inability to deal with sexual harassment and discrimination. Egyptian men are fairly notorious for their treatment of women. For new readers and those who don't remember, I took a trip to India last Easter and got some very unwelcome attention that left me spitting mad for about a week after my return to Kenya. A few of my friends were concerned that I'd have the same reaction to Cairo, which made me worry as well.

I wrote a lot about my experiences as a white American in Kenya, but there isn't nearly as much to say on the subject in Egypt. There isn't a standard Egyptian appearance, really, so I've actually been taken for an Egyptian on a couple of occasions. My blue eyes are the only thing that conclusively sets me apart from a brown-haired, light-skinned Egyptian.

This doesn't mean I blend in, however. Being female feels like the Cairene equivalent of being white in Nairobi. I'm going to try to discuss this without launching into a rant about how much I dislike this particular element of Egyptian culture, because I understand that it's what the Romans do here in Rome, cultural relativist stuff, blah blah blah.

First of all, women are always the minority in public spaces (the university being an exception, of course). At times, I realize I haven't seen an Egyptian girl for hours. Women are the invisible half of the population. Many of them work before marriage, and a few work afterward, but most girls become housewives in their 20s and don't really enter public space anymore. Men pray in mosques, but women pray in their homes. There are shisha/coffee/backgammon cafes where women just don't go. I've never seen a woman in a restaurant or a movie theater without a man by her side. The growing professional class is certainly challenging these practices. I have two American professors and three Egyptian professors at AUC, and the Egyptian professors are all women. Professional women do exist, but there don't seem to be too many.

I can't offer a definitive explanation as to why there are so few professional women, but I can discuss my own experiences. I should mention that I've become a fairly brave traveler over the last couple of years, and I've gotten used to meeting strangers and making new friends. Here, however, my female friends and I are often totally ignored if we're with male friends. Taxi drivers, waiters, and people on the street will always talk to the men in the party before a woman. This can be annoying as all hell, particularly because we're often in charge of the expedition and are sometimes better at communicating. Women just aren't considered equal to men in this society. Being the friendly person I am, I still manage to make new friends, but I can't help wondering what Egyptians think about me being the spokesman of our group (which includes several men).

Anyway, in a city of invisible women, my female friends and I attract a lot of attention walking down a street. A LOT. It's a lot of stares, like in Nairobi, some of the catcalls and singing I heard in Mumbai, people taking pictures of us on their cell phones, and the occasional lude comment or spontaneous "I love you, you're beautiful." Only once has someone tried to follow me and touch me (it happened in Khan el'Khalili, actually, in a very crowded area of the market. I shouted at him and shoved him into the crowd moving in the opposite direction. It felt damn good).

Although these things do qualify as harassment, I don't feel particularly threatened. Of course I'm being cautious and never walk more than a block or two alone, but I doubt I'm at much of a risk. Muslim men are really very conservative. I went out to a few clubs on Thursday night and had no one bother me (though that's partly thanks to male Egyptian friends who were along). We girls get attention because we're adult women walking on streets, going to the movies, and eating in restaurants without men. This has little to do with our skin color or the fact that our hair is uncovered (which, by the way, isn't all that unusual for Egyptian women). It's just unusual to see women here, and catcalls are the standard reaction for men. I ignore them, and I keep moving.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I'm trying to maintain respect for cultural practices, but it's still exhilarating to break down some of these barriers, go places without boys, shove the creep in the market, or successfully barter with a taxi driver who tries to overcharge my male friends. It's the little things sometimes.

By the way, thanks to all the wonderful boys back home for being who you are.

This weekend was fairly quiet - today I spent a few hours exploring the first quarter of the Egyptian museum, which is PACKED with amazing things. I did see King Tutankhamun's exhibit, which was more impressive than I ever dreamed. Tourist attractions are generally worthwhile, even if I secretly don't want them to be. I'm starting another crazy week of school tomorrow. There are lots of plans floating around for next weekend, so we'll see where I end up. Sunset over the Black Desert, to end the day.

Bahariya Oasis and thoughts on this whole messy state of things

Two days later, the bombing has blown over completely. There were none of the security updates I expected. I did get a note from AU Abroad yesterday that said they had checked up on us with AUC. Good to know, I guess. No heightened security, which I'm somewhat thankful for.

I suppose I'm somewhat confused, also. There were a number of reasons for the story to disappear from the headlines. It was a small bombing. Ten times that many people die in Iraq and Afghanistan each day. The Oscars were broadcast the same evening. This struck fairly close to home for me, though. It's easy for me to write a casual blog post saying I haven't died, but what happened on Sunday did scare me, and significantly more than the violence in Kenya last spring. It's frightening how random the attack was. It's frightening that it happened somewhere I've visited multiple times, as recently as last week. It's frightening that the victims were young foreigners. Obviously the situation in Kenya was much more serious, but I feel less safe here, now.

This does not mean I'm remotely interested in coming home. I knew the risks associated with coming here. AU made me sign a waiver acknowledging these risks. My parents did not happily let me come. I very much want to be here, and I think it's important that all my wonderful, loving, concerned friends and family members hear me say that. It's now on the internet, so it must be true.

I'm here because I'm interested in understanding why these things happen. Despite my reputation as a crunchy hippie, I don't think a rousing chorus of "Give Peace A Chance" is any kind of answer. These conflicts are about economics, land, and environment, just like they are in most of the developing world. For me, the most frustrating but fascinating challenge in traveling is the attempt to understand another person's conceptualizations of money, community, and resources. I'd like to figure out how those differences can inspire three Egyptians to plant a couple of bombs in a tourist district.

Massive inequality is a fact of life in this country. I go to school with Egypt's rich and famous. I've never seen as much Prada in my life as I see on that campus every day. They film the Egyptian equivalent of "The O.C." on our campus. Not kidding. They were doing it yesterday. On the drive through New Cairo on the way to campus, the bus passes miles of new developments made up of massive luxury homes. On the ride to school we see all of the low-wage laborers piled into buses and trucks on their way to the construction sites, where they build these big ugly houses and water the desert until grass comes up. On the ride home after class, we see the laborers piling back into buses and trucks to go home to the slums of Cairo.

Statistics. Bear with me, because they're interesting. Egypt's GNP per capita is around $4000. My economics professor asked our class what percentage of Egyptians we thought live on less than $10 per day (=$3650 per year). My Egyptian classmates ventured guesses of 40%, 60%, and 70%. I apparently go to school with people living in bubbles. 97.5% of Egyptians live on less than $10 per day, and are thus below the average income. We don't even need to talk about people living on $1 or $2 per day. This is why people try to blow up tourists.

Mind-boggling. It's hard not to hate AUC students sometimes. I'll talk about that another day. And yes, for those who are wondering, I am currently at a low point on the culture shock progression.

On a much lighter note, for anyone who has persevered and made it this far: Bahariya Oasis! A four hour drive southwest of Cairo in the Black Desert (so called for the limestone that turns black when it oxidizes), and quite nice. View from the bus. For three hours.

The tombs and temples there range from 700 BCE to 600 CE or so. Spankin' new as Egyptian stuff goes. I sneakily took some photos inside the tombs where photos aren't allowed. No flash, no harm done. They aren't as nice as the tombs in the Nile Valley, since these were built in very rural areas.

Oases are not as cool as movies suggest. They're depressions in the desert where water is able to bubble through the (thinner) limestone to the surface, so people could use the water for farming and... living. But for the most part, oases are still desert. This is a green part of the oasis where they grow date palms.

So they can harvest these delicious things. Dania, I thought of you! Dates wrapped around almonds are Bahariya's specialty.

Geography lesson! Outside the Nile Valley is desert. Very very dry desert. It's not particularly sandy, except in fields of sand dunes (which are rare). Mostly it's just limestone rock with a bit of sand. Here are some lovely dunes though.

More light-hearted blog next time, maybe. There are a lot of good things to say about this place, too. I promise.

Sometimes I think I should choose quieter places to study abroad...

But these places are so much more interesting...

There was a bombing a little over an hour ago in Khan El'Khalili, a market and tourist destination downtown. I'm obviously safe (I've been sitting in sweatpants doing homework for the past 3 hours), and I've checked in with friends who were headed downtown this evening. The Residence Directors came around knocking on doors a few minutes ago, so they're checking up on all the students. I expect we'll be getting security briefings this evening and tomorrow.

There isn't a lot of information out yet, and I don't know anything more than BBC tells me. The bombs went off near the Hussein Mosque, which is a very central part of the market. Reports say a tourist was killed and a number of others injured. It was French and German tourists in the vicinity.

Here are some pictures of the mosque, the cafes directly in front of it (where I gather the bombs were detonated), and the market. Obviously a bustling place, and one of Cairo's biggest tourist destinations. This is bad bad bad news for everyone involved. I was really hoping not to go on lockdown this semester... ugh. At least I visited the place last weekend.... I somehow think I won't be going back anytime soon.

Well, I'm officially in Egypt now. I've been to the pyramids.

It's been a while, so I'm afraid this going to be a long post... and a lot of pictures. I've had some very high and very low points this week, but I'm feeling great now. Stories will start with last weekend.

Our passports are buried somewhere in the AUC bureaucracy right now (in search of student visas), so we've been sticking to the Cairo area on weekends. We set out last weekend to find a market other than Khan El'Khalili (the tourist market) and ended up wandering all afternoon around beautiful Islamic Cairo. I can't believe how old this city is. This is the Mausoleum of As'saleh Nagm Ad'ein Ayyub, for what it's worth. A nice sample of the architecture from the 1200s CE.

We stumbled upon Bab El'Futuh, one of the fortified gates of Fatimid Cairo built around 1000 CE. I need to spend a few days learning the history of this city. It's mind-blowing.
While wandering through a neighborhood behind the markets, we passed beside a little cart that smelled more delicious than anything I'd smelled in my life. Curious, I forked over 1 Egyptian pound ($.20ish) for a sweet potato wrapped in a magazine page. These are roasted for hours in little ovens on top of the carts. Carcinogenic? Likely. Most delicious thing I've ever eaten? Also likely. Caramelized and smoky... great winter treat.

We next stumbled into the peaceful Mosque Al'Hakim Bi'Amr Allah, where we wandered and relaxed for about an hour. We were there around afternoon prayers, so we stayed out of the way and watched the pidgeons fly around the courtyard.
Last weekend, we also ventured to CityStars Mall in Heliopolis. With 6 floors and over 500 shops, it is easily the largest, most glamorous, and most terrifying shopping complex I've ever been in. It had ever designer name I've ever heard of, plus a movie theater and a theme park for kids. Definitely an interesting illustration of the wide range of lifestyles in Egypt. CityStars had an On The Border Grill, so we ate some delicious Mexican food. Yay!

So then I had another exhausting week of class. My two Arabic classes are a huge amount of work (and a TON of stress), but they're going well. This weekend was a welcome break. On Thursday night, some friends and I went with some Egyptian friends to a rave at a nice hotel in Giza. It was quite an experience. The location was great, but we were the only women there (story of my life in Cairo...) and the whole party basically migrated wherever we went. Though it was really fun, I need to develop a taste for techno music before I go to any more of those.

We got home from the rave rather late, so we slept about 2.5 hours before meeting up with the rest of the gang to go to the pyramids at Giza. We took the Metro to Giza (the Metro is very efficient, very clean, and very cheap, and there are two "women only" cars on each train) and there met a genuinely nice young guy named Abdul who helped us catch a bus to the pyramids area. He suggested going to the non-tourist entrance and taking camels around the complex, rather than getting hassled in the tourist area. This appealed to us. With Abdul's help, we paid a very decent price to ride camels around the area for about two hours, seeing the pyramids, Sphinx, and tombs. It was a great time. The pyramids are really infinitely more impressive than pictures ever convey. That's me on the tall camel on the right. His name was Tiger.

Abdul had promised to meet us after our ride. He offered to take us to his home for lunch and tea. I politely refused a few times, as is culturally appropriate, then happily accepted. He took us to his neighborhood, a Bedouin village in the Giza area. Abdul, in typical Egyptian fashion, lives in a large house with his extended family and has a small, very clean and nicely furnished apartment of his own within it. We parked on cushions on the floor and Abdul's wife (of about two years - they're really very young) served us an AMAZINGLY delicious lunch and sweet Egyptian tea. It was relaxing and lovely.

Abdul works in a jeans factory downtown, but his father was an English teacher, so his English is very good. His wife used to teach at an elementary school, but now she works in the home... which is the way it works in Egypt, and is why we girls are often the only women on the streets wherever we go. They're both from that village and really love it there (and later, we understood why). We chatted about culture and family and language for a couple of hours and had a generally great time.

Abdul offered to help us find a bus back to Giza. We walked through the village, where everyone was amused to see foreigners (in a friendly way). The kids were absolutely delighted and started following us in a pack and asking us little questions in English or Arabic. We stopped for some very strong, authentic Egyptian shisha, and the kids all crowded around and wanted to take pictures with us. Definitely brought back memories of Kenya. While we were sitting, a wedding procession came through the streets. First come a half dozen cars (all honking this particular pattern of honks, which I've learned to recognize) packed with furniture and people. Everyone waved at us. Then come pretty much all the women in the village carrying gifts of household items. It was incredible.
When Abdul realized we couldn't handle the strong shisha, we headed for the bus. The kids followed us, literally clinging to us. They yelled "Bye" for about half an hour and ran alongside the bus when we left. Adorable. It was nice to be treated as a novelty without being harassed, for once. In Cairo, being foreign attracts very negative attention. In Abdul's village, it was all happiness and excitement, for both adults and the children.

He's invited us back to see him soon. I really can't wait. We'll take him gifts this time to thank him, and hopefully (if we can figure out how to do this since we all live in the dorms) we'll have him over to dinner with us sometime. I'm so happy to have met such a wonderful friend. It made Egypt feel real to me for the first time, and eating and visiting with Abdul and his wife made me happier than anything else we've done so far.

Anyway, I think I'm ready for another week of school. I have a field trip to Bahariya Oasis for my Cultural Geography class this Friday, so I'll be looking forward to that. Plus, we'll be getting our passports back with our student visas, so we can start planning more travels...

I don't speak Arabic, apparently

Today (Thursday) concluded my first week of class at AUC. Blahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sadly, I have no amazing pictures from the top of any mountains this week, but I'll try to toss in some that I took last week. Like this one! A favorite from Mt. Sinai, on the way down the 3,750 Steps of Repentance.

My class schedule has been reconfigured since I arrived, partly due to cancellations and partly due to a reevaluation of my priorities. At this point, there are almost no classes I can get credit for back at AU because I'm so close to completing my degree requirements, so this semester is pretty much just intended to improve my Arabic skills. And see Egypt, obviously. And eat delicious food, obviously. And get lung cancer, obviously? More on that next time... haha.

Anyway, I've taken three semesters of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, or classical Arabic) at American, the last of which was over a year ago. It's a tough language for me, and I hate our textbook, and I haven't had the greatest of teachers. Hence the decision to study here. Now, over the course of my studies, I was told repeatedly that MSA is useless when you actually travel. I assumed that was exaggeration. I shrugged it off. I came to Cairo. I repeatedly tried to use my Arabic vocab in difficult situations. I was looked at funny and ignored. I sighed and kicked myself for never listening.

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is a totally different language from what I've studied. There are some little things that are different. The island we live on is "Al Jaziira" in MSA and "Al Geziira" in Colloquial. Not too tough to adjust pronunciation. There are also some big things that are different, however. "Dajaaj" (chicken) is not just "dagaag," but "firaakh." "How are you?" is not "Kaif'al hal?" but "Izzaiyyak?" And "I'm fine" is not "Bi'khiar," but "Kuwaiss(a)." Verbs are conjugated differently. Rules of grammar are different or nonexistent. Etc.

*&%^#)@.

Anyhoo, I made the decision to drop a development course and enroll in a Colloquial class to take alongside my MSA class. It's solid Arabic from the moment we step in the classroom to the moment we leave, and I love it. My listening and speaking skills are awful compared to my reading and writing skills, so I'm feeling VERY good about where this class is going. In my MSA class, I'm not nearly as far behind as I expected to be following my year off. Yay!

Egypt is infested with cats. Side note.

Anyway, I'm taking an anthropology course called People and Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. Professor seems kinda dull, but the ethnographies we're reading look great, so I'm sticking with it. I'm still taking one economic development course, which, thankfully, is mostly Egyptians. After my Environmental Politics course was canceled, I spent a fruitless hour and a half in the advising office trying to get a new political science course. I ended up in an Egyptology course called Cultural Geography of Ancient Egypt. We take field trips, and the lectures make my brain purr. All is well.

Traditional Nubian dancing. I guess to illustrate the cultural stuff I'm studying?

So yeah, the bureaucracy at AUC is frustrating as all hell. Everything takes infinitely longer than it should, and registration has been a nightmare for all of us. Plus, communication continues to be an issue. I waited an hour and a half for a bus this afternoon, only to learn there IS no 1:00 bus. So I was late for class. Professor was mad. Rachel was upset. Great. I can already see that AUC is going to be the biggest obstacle to me settling in here. I've been on the brink of tears several times this week. It's frustrating that the cultural differences I can't handle are found at the "American University in Cairo" and not on the street, in shops, or in restaurants.

Anyway, I'm staying positive. I have wonderful friends, both here and back home, and I'm keeping my spirits up with their help. I got a couple of requests to ID friends in photos. A squinty picture from Dahab is in order! (Please see other photos for more attractive shots of these people. They don't always look like this.)

Back row, left to right: Dan (AU), Derek (OSU), Steve (St. Norbert's), Darren (AU). Then Heather (AU) and Jess (AU) in the foreground. Nice people. They tolerate me.

I'll be dreaming of Dahab while I do homework this weekend...