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...