Edward Said would be peeved with me

My last week or so in Cairo has been rather nice. My professors all decided against holding finals during finals week, so my last day of class (Thursday) was my final day at AUC. While everyone else finishes up their exams, I'm doing some shopping, sleeping lots, and seeing more sights around the city. Thursday, Heather and I are leaving Cairo for about a week and a half on the road. We'll be arriving back in the US on June 7th :)

All things considered, I'll be happy to leave. It's been a difficult semester in a lot of ways. I've made some incredible friends and will miss them very much, but plans to meet up in the States are keeping me from getting too upset about us going our separate ways. Cairo doesn't rank high on the list of cities I've visited. Like Mumbai, it's a fascinating place to visit, but in many ways a horrible place to live. I won't be missing much about it. Truthfully, it's hard to see the value of an experience like this right away, so I'm trying not to jump to any conclusions. My written Arabic is significantly better, and my Colloquial is much better than I'd hoped after starting at square one. I hope I'll be able to learn more one day. I've seen some really unique scenery, eaten quite a lot of unusual food, and walked through sandstorms to get to class. I've also struggled to find a comfortable place in a culture that's wildly different from my own, and have really grown to embrace my roots for that reason. Sorry, Edward Said, but there are some cultural generalizations I have to make.

I can't help feeling disappointed at how little contact I've had with Egyptians. I have a few good Egyptians friends here who I'll really miss, but I've honestly spent most of the last five months with Americans. This is partly my fault. In a lot of ways, I should have made more of an effort to get close to the Egyptians around me. On the other hand, this is easier said than done under the circumstances. I've done some thinking about it and concluded that there are aspects of my personality (and culture) that just haven't aligned with Egyptian culture. Growing up with brothers and male cousins and male friends taught me to be competitive, independent, and generally not very girly. I haven't felt these qualities have been very well-received here.... not because it's unacceptable, just because it's wildly outside the norm for women.

In Kenya, I enjoyed staring back at the people who stared at me and yelling hello back to anyone who yelled, "Jambo, mzungu!" to me. That doesn't work here. The stares here aren't friendly like they were in East Africa or violating like in India. I mentioned before the almost total absence of women in the public sphere; it's only men on the street, and somewhere near half of them will whistle at and/or verbally harass a foreign girl who walks by. Meeting someone's eyes only invites more harassment and more drastic efforts to get you to stop. I stare at the sidewalk when I walk here. The better my Egyptian Arabic has gotten, the more frustrating it's become to ignore the comments directed at me.

Additionally, friendships between men and women are highly uncommon here. Unmarried Egyptian women absolutely cannot go out with men without their parents' consent (meaning they basically need to be engaged), so it's considered strange for foreign women to do so. Hanging out at someone's house or entering the boys' side of the dorm are major no-nos as well, so spending time with my male friends means staying in public spaces where we have to spend money. Not a good thing on a study abroad student's budget. I can't express how much I miss hanging out.

We've met some nice Egyptian male friends who are slightly older, of course. At least I've been able to have some decent conversations that way. The problem is, any conversation inevitably turns toward my marital status. I experienced this when traveling in rural areas of East Africa last spring, but that was a two week trip. It got exhausting pretty fast this semester. I wear one of Ivan's rings on my right hand ring finger, which is where engagement rings are worn in Egypt, and I generally just run with that lie. It doesn't do me much good, though, as my imaginary fiancee isn't WITH me, and I am thus plenty eligible to marry any Egyptian man who comes along.

The treatment of women here is a fairly complex issue. My friend Jessica pointed out last time I wrote about it that the separation of space in society has a lot to do with us being ignored, catcalled, and generally treated as second-class citizens when we're outside the university. There's a lot of truth in that. It's still hard not to feel disrespected. I want to challenge expectations here and throw things back in men's faces, but it wouldn't accomplish much. It would just be culturally insensitive, really.

Egypt has been ranked the most religious country in the world in recent years. Modesty is very much embedded in Egyptian culture at this point, even for non-Muslims. I'm generally ok with this, but I'm also very much ready to be back in a place where I can talk freely to both sexes and wear short-sleeved shirts. The 100-degree heat is killing all of us girls. Going anywhere outside Zamalek or AUC means wearing jeans and long sleeves and often scarves. Not ideal.

Anyway, enough ranting. I haven't posted pictures in a while, and they usually helps balance out the negatives I talk about. Soooo... here's beautiful Alexandria on my second trip:

Just south of Alex is Lake Maryut. Effluent from several petrochemical plants has turned a section of it bright pink. Way to go, Egypt.

Coptic art and architecture seems to be pushed aside by Islamic art, but it's equally if not more impressive. This is the Monastery of the Syrians in Wadi Natrun, in between Cairo and Alex.


Mohammed Ali's mosque in the Cairo Citadel. Not very old or important, but still impressive.

Ibn Tulun mosque, which I believe is the oldest standing Islamic structure in Cairo that's still in use. Beautiful.

I finally made it to Al-Azhar Park for a picnic. It's Cairo's only major park, and it was built a few years back on top of a landfill thanks to a microloan. There was a little grass and some trees. I was happy.
And, at long last, a view of Cairo from above. I took this from the Citadel. It's been tough to call this city home.