My Last Day in Cairo

As I sit here in the library of AUC for one last time, I can say that I have (almost) successfully completed the semester at the American University in Cairo. (I say almost because there is one bus ride between me and being totally finished with AUC. But as soon as I make it back to Zamalek today around 3PM, my AUC experience will officially come to a close). I was finished with my last final on Saturday, December 19, but in typical AUC fashion because things close early/never open on various weekdays/weekends, I had to come back to campus one last time to visit the campus book shop, as I had promised some people I would bring them back t-shirts from AUC. I also wanted a shirt for myself, almost as a reward for lasting an entire semester at this university. I really shouldn’t complain as much as I do. None of my classes were truly awful. Some were very different than they would have been in the US, I am sure, but none were completely awful. I also think that I did well or at least decently in most of them. So when I put down AUC, I am not putting down the classes or the instructors per say because, at least in my experience, these have been fine. It’s just that it floors me that the institution itself is considered a functioning university. It needs work, no doubt, a lot of work. The sheer process of requesting a transcript on Thursday was a nightmare that involved an hour long search through the library for a book that I had already returned. And that’s not even to mention the four other offices I had to go to, and to some of them multiple times, to actually make the transcript request. Everyone helping me in the process was very nice, it was just a classic example of AUC inefficiency and extremely frustrating. The efficiency of Notre Dame is definitely something I will welcome with open arms in January. And I will feel for the seven ND students that will just be getting their first taste of AUC inefficiency as I am settling back into classes at ND.

I’m actually a little worried about what might happen for these students. There has been some talk that AUC will not open next semester (three guesses why, and if you don’t say ‘swine flu’ as your first guess, I think you should lose your next two guesses), or more likely that it will not reopen until the beginning of March. (As of now, I think it is supposed to open for the spring semester in early February. There is a winter session beginning after Christmas and ending in late January that may also be cancelled. This session actually has a greater chance of being cancelled than the spring semester). I don’t know what ND would do if this happened. The problem is that, even if AUC were to just push the semester back until March (meaning it would end in early July, I assume, unless there is some other plan about extending class hours/days in class, etc), they probably would not give sufficient notice that this was their plan. Again I understand that this is not completely their fault as the government often forces their hand at the last second in these matters, at least in my experience. The ND study abroad students are scheduled to arrive in Cairo in late January. If they get here and then AUC makes its announcement, they are really stuck here with nothing to do. At that time, we will already have had three weeks of classes at ND. (If the semester is cancelled at AUC, they will probably need to come home and re-enroll at ND as soon as possible, but if it is just pushed back until March, they are going to be forced to stay here and then start school then. This won’t be the worst thing in the world because they will have the same great opportunities we had to travel, but because they will presumably be here until July, it hurts their chances and abilities to participate in summer internships and jobs, which are important to political science majors between their junior and senior years. I don’t know what will happen, but I hope next semester brings no cancellations and even if it does that everything works out for the students that will be studying abroad here.

And to finally move away from the topic of AUC, perhaps forever, I’ve realized that I really do like Cairo and that I will miss it a lot. It’s not America. It’s a far cry from it, but there have been times this past week (when I’ve been pretty much removed from AUC) that I have thought about the aspects of Cairo that I really did appreciate and enjoy. Because we have had less work as everyone is finishing up final, we have been going around the city, trying to get as many as the ‘musts’ done as possible. This has mostly included visiting Cairo and Zamalek restaurants and cafes and buying any and all souvenirs that we may want or need. It’s actually a good thing I am leaving. Lately, I cannot control myself whenever we are around anything that can be purchased! I figure it’s not too much of a bad thing though. I don’t know that I will ever be back here and I do not want to have any regrets upon leaving. (Though I may regret the looks of my bank account especially when I have to start having to think about things in terms of, GASP, American currency! The exchange rate is something I will definitely miss!)

I would say our final exploration of Cairo began last week when some ND students visited from Rome. I was so glad that they came to Cairo because I want other people to experience what I am experiencing, and I also loved hearing about their experiences living, studying, and traveling in Europe. (That is one big difference between studying abroad in the Middle East and studying abroad in Europe. Traveling is so much easier in Europe. Everything is right there. My friends from Rome had a list of things they wanted to do in Egypt in a week to ten days or so. This included Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Dahab, and Mt. Sinai. I told them this was going to be a daunting task! There is so much more that goes into traveling in the Middle East. Everything is a trip, usually a long trip. And when you factor in security and crossing borders, which some of them will have to when they continue on to Jerusalem, you need to make sure you leave more than enough time for traveling). It seemed like they liked their experience in Rome, though I was comforted by the fact that they said their universities there were far cries from ND. But after we told them of AUC, they agreed that it seemed they had it pretty good in Rome. They also said they never thought they would see traffic worse than in Europe…until they came to Cairo. Oh, the wonders of Cairo. Anyway, we went to a small Zamalek café with them called Crave. It wasn’t the most authentic thing in the world, but it was great for a big group and it was a nice dinner. We also had another guest join us. A few weeks ago, my grandfather had a strange reaction to a flu shot and had to see a neurologist. During his last appointment about three weeks ago, the doctor mentioned that he was from Egypt and that he would be visiting family there with his family over Christmas. It came up that I was there and that his 19 year old daughter, who is a sophomore at Drexel, would be with him. My mom gave the doctor my contact information and the girl e-mailed me and asked to meet. I invited her along to dinner, and though I was worried about meeting/finding/coordinating everyone, everything worked out perfectly. I think the girl really enjoyed spending time with us and I hope we showed her a nice time in Cairo. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and to make some connections to home.

A few nights later, for a friend’s birthday we went to the restaurant Tabula in Garden City (a region of Cairo very close to Zamalek serving Lebanese food). The restaurant was wonderful! I even had ‘lamb cubes’ which were basically a lamb shish kabob, and though lamb is something I wouldn’t normally eat, I am glad I was living a little dangerously. It was a great meal. The restaurant was very nice and decorative too. And Garden City was a nice thing to see. It is a very, very upscale neighborhood. It is actually home to the US Embassy. The street that the restaurant is on is actually not accessible (at night? At all times? I’m not sure of the specifics) by car because of the restaurants proximity to the Embassy. We walked past the Embassy on our way to the main street to get a cab back from the restaurant. Although it is behind a concrete wall, it is gorgeous and massive. (I am not sure of the exact statistic, but I have heard something like it is the biggest embassy in the world outside the US. From what I can gather this means if you exclude all the embassies in the US, some of which are huge, the US Embassy in Egypt is the largest in the world. This makes sense considering Egypt is the second largest recipient of US Aid (behind Israel). (That’s another interesting thing we learned in Cairo, and some of us are thinking it might be a good idea to have a few chats with a few representatives about this issue, especially where US Aid at AUC is concerned. And it for sure is concerned in this capacity in a big way. There are “US Aid: Paid for by the American People” stickers EVERYWHERE.) It was a great feeling passing the Embassy. Seeing the words, “Embassy of the United States of America” gave me almost a giddy feeling. This is partially because I am returning home soon, but partially because I have come to realize after being away from the US everything that those words, “The United State of America” represent worldwide. They are revered and respected worldwide. It sounds cheesy, but I am not only proud to be an American but appreciative and grateful that I have experienced life as an American, that I have grown up in an American way of life. It is not a privilege all have and it’s one that is too often taken for granted in my opinion.

Aside from the trip to Garden City and also a final trip to Khan El Khalili (which was stressful and entertaining as always; highlights: fake sneeze followed by “I’m sorry I’m allergic to beauty,” “you have magic eyes,” a quest for Turkish coffee in a box (which we ended up getting in a bag and saying “fine, perfect, at this point just scoop it into my hand,” mastering the art of bargaining without even trying/wanting the item being bartered for, and an hour long semi-hostage situation that my roommate and I got ourselves into looking for a soccer jersey), we have been mostly exploring Zamalek. Last night we went to a highly recommend vegetarian restaurant, which also had meat. It’s kind of a must in Egypt. It was very Americanized, but very, very delicious. We followed that with a trip to Mandarin, our favorite Zamalek ice cream place. And earlier in the day, we visited the Egyptian Craft Center in Zamalek which sells produces made by Sudanese refugees. It was a really cool little shop in an apartment building, and we made some neat purchases.

Tonight, we are going to Sequoia tonight for dinner. It’s an Egyptian restaurant which is famed for its various shisha (hookah) flavors. Apparently, there’s caramel and that’s unheard of! I don’t smoke shisha, but everyone is excited and I am equally excited for some delicious Egyptian hummus one last time before leaving.

After dinner each night, we have been going to local Zamalek cafes to have a drink and smoke shisha. It’s really a nice way to wind down our time here. Really, I think we are just trying to spend as much time with each other as possible. The biggest thing I will miss about Egypt is the people. It has been so sad now that people have started to return home. Luckily, there are several people on my flight, so I think I may be done with sad goodbyes for the most part. Though I am sure tonight might bring a few tears. The people that I have met here have been truly incredible, and we all mean so much to each other. What we have done over the past four months has not been easy, and if we did not have each other there is not a doubt in my mind we would not have made it. Part of the reason we were able to deal with AUC each day is because we knew that we could come back each night and over delicious dorm food (I’m not being sarcastic, we grew to love it, possibly because rice, vegetables, hummus, pita, and chicken were the only sources of consistency in our lives) rehash the bizarre and frustrating events of the day. And because we had each other we could always laugh about it and get up the next day to repeat the process all over again. Because of the situation we were thrown into together, we have become closer in four months than most people are able to become in years. I am so grateful to them and they will always have a special place in my heart for having been with me through what I would consider the most challenging time in my life. They are amazing people, I wish them the best of luck in the future, and I know that they will all do incredible things both in their work and in their lives. I hope to stay in touch with all of them and I know I will never forget any one of them.

Aside from being upset about leaving the incredible friends I have made in Cairo, there is a part of me that is sad to go home. I am definitely ready to go back to the US and to see my family and for it to feel like Christmas, but it’s sad that this period in my life is ending. First of all, it has been something that I have been anticipating for almost a year (when I was accepted to the study abroad program), and even before that. And now it is over. There’s an element of sadness in that. But there is also a huge sense of accomplishment. This is, without a doubt, the most difficult and courageous thing I have ever done. It has helped me so much, both form an academic standpoint and from other perspectives as well. I have learned so much culturally here that I would have never learned in the US and that it will be greatly beneficial for me to know considering what I hope to do later in life. I have also grown immensely as a person and learned so much about myself. I came to Cairo terrified, but I am leaving feeling like I can truly do anything. Being Cairo has not always been easy, but it has always been worth it. Even knowing what I know now, given the chance to go back in time and decide not to come, I would definitely, without a doubt choose to live and study here. This has been the most incredible, unforgettable, worthwhile experience in my life. I do not regret one second of it and I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to participate in the program. I should not even comment further on my experiences here because they truly speak for themselves. I will never forget my time here. I think it will and I hope it will be a defining moment in my life.

With that, I think this blog is coming to a close. I want to thank everyone for reading. I hope it has been interesting, funny, and enlightening. It was a great way for me to document a lot of what I experienced in Cairo, and I enjoyed writing it. Right now, I am going to go grab a final ‘yogurt, granola, and honey’ from Jared’s Bagels (my go to spot on campus) and then board the AUC to Zamalek bus one final time, officially ending my semester at AUC. Tomorrow my flight leaves at 10:10AM and it is due into JFK at 3:15PM. (Thankfully although the blizzard on the East Coast interrupted many travel plans, many of which belonged to ND students returning home from Europe or simply from ND, the storm has finally passed, and if all goes according to plan, which I am desperately hoping that it will, our flight should remain on schedule. I cannot believe I will be in America tomorrow. It is almost surreal. But it’s also terribly exciting. Hopefully, as I am walking through the terminal at JFK there will be big glass windows through which I can see the snow and some greatly anticipated Christmas carols playing! I can’t wait!

Wrapping Up: Small Pyramids and the English Language

I am writing this entry on December 10th. At this exact minute twelve days from now, I am scheduled to be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean a little over half of the way home. Not that I am counting down or anything! Honestly, though, I cannot believe that I have less than two weeks left in Cairo. In some ways it feels like I have been living here forever. In other ways, it feels like I just arrived yesterday. I will say more about that in a final post, but for right now I'll just say that at this point, although I think this has been the greatest experience of my life, I am ready to be at home with my family, and for Christmas no less. Doing Christmas related things in Egypt, such as listening to Christmas songs, just doesn't feel right. On a related note, listening to an Arabic Christmas song set to the tune of "Jingle Bells" today in my colloquial class just felt weird! I think the feeling is mutual among most of the American students here. There are several ways we are counting down our time (and also several ways we are planning to sabatoge the trips of the lucky few who are leaving as early as December 16th or 17th, but I won't get into those). I can (and believe me, I have been) count(ing) it down by the number of papers I have left to turn in: 3 (1 is done; 1 is outlined, and 1 isn't started); the number of finals I have to take: 4 and the number of presentations I have to give: 1. This seems like a lot and it is; AUC being AUC operates in a way where most classes do next to nothing all semester and then have enormous amounts of work in the last week or so. Honestly, it's one of the most efficient systems I have ever seen. (That's sarcasm, sarcasm to the extreme). It is going to be hard to focus on studying; it is always difficult to study for finals after the semester ends (which AUC's semester ends after classes on Monday), but I think it will be even more so in Cairo. Hopefully, I'll be able to focus long enough to do well with all my assignments.

And finally, my favorite way to count down has to be mentioned: the number of bus rides I have to take to and from AUC: 9 (including the one I will depart on when I am finished with this entry)! The fact that this number has dropped to the single digits makes me happier than almost everything I have experienced in the past four months!

Another sign that we are coming close to the end of our time here was the last English class I taught on Monday night. It was a short class because we only administered the final exam that we had created, but I think it went very well. We reviewed right before the exam and tailored the review almost exactly to questions on the exam because we felt that it was unfair to expect the students to take a test after not having had class for two weeks (the previous week was the break week and the week before that the transportation to the center for us did not arrive at AUC to pick us up, forcing us to cancel class). Only six students came to the exam, which consisted of reading, grammar, and listening comprehension sections. I am proud to say that all six students did well. Out of 25 points, the most points lost were 5. One student, Fatima, received a 100%! I know that the exam was easy and that we did not teach all the material in our teaching packet, but I hope that the results on the test can be taken to mean that we at least taught the students something. As I have said, they really, really want to learn. Almost immediately after the test, they were asking when they would receive their results and when they would begin classes again. (We e-mailed the test results to the director as well as our recommendations about which students should progress to the next level, becuase not all students took the exam, and the director is supposed to be calling the students with their results and giving them information about when their next classes will start, which should be in February or early March). A few students also asked about attending the graduation ceremony for the Level 5B students (our students were Level 4B; if they continue to progress, they should be graduating a year from now). This shows how excited they are that their turn to graduate will be so soon. I wish them all the best of luck in the future.

Teaching, although it was difficult, so much so that I know I could never do it, was very rewarding. The STAR program is something I am very glad I was a part of. I learned a lot, not only from a 'teaching English' standpoint, but about the struggles faced by refugees and their desire to improve their situatuions. I have an immense amount of respect for all of my students. They are truly an inspiration. Shaking their hands and having them thank me was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

A Monday night spent teaching English would not be complete without a hilarious tale from the train, and this Monday definitely did not disappoint. There were three of us on the train; all girls so we were in the women's car. About half way through the train ride, a woman came up to us and told us she was so glad to see us. We did not know what she meant, but she asked us where we were from and we told her America. She told us she had an Aunt in Chicago, and then apologized that her English was not very good. We told her it was fine and they she was doing very well. She then told us she wanted to talk with us in the future, and had us put our cell phone numbers in her phone (which had as its background Jesus's face...she was clearly Coptic) and write down our e-mail addresses. As writing while standing on the train is difficult, this whole exchange took us almost the whole rest of the ride. She has yet to contact any of us, and I am not sure that she will, but the whole situation was not only funny but also surprising to us. It was complimented by a situation one of our fellow teachers then described to us from her class that day. Apparently one of her students who is going home to Sudan over Christmas break, mistook her questions about his trip to mean that she wanted to accompany him and spent quite some time telling her where she would cross the border and where his family would be to pick her up! She thinks that by the time she left the situation had been sorted out and he is no longer expecting her!

These situations are funny but they are also telling. They are funny to us because the concept of wanting to make any kind of contact possible to allow for your immigration to another country is so foreign to us. Here, in Egypt and in the greater Middle East and around the world, there is a cultural standard set that there is better out there and people try desperately to achieve this. Moving from one country to another is not thought of as such a monumental thing, as American would consider it, because it is thought to be somewhat of a common goal. Americans have no idea what it is like not only to want to leave their country but to want to leave it to create a new and better life. It was interesting to make this realization. It made me feel grateful for the fact that I am American and because of this, there are some things such as immigration, that are common to so many people worldwide, that I will never have to consider. I am thankful that my experience in Egypt has revealed to me things like this that I never would have considered had I never left the US.

And, on a lighter note, speaking of funny situations, I would not like to describe our trip, taken last weekend, to the Djoser Step Pyramid at Saqqara (which is the oldest pyramid in the world) and the Red and Bent Pyramids at Dahshur. These are some of Egypt's smaller pyramids. (There are 19 standing pyramids in Egypt).

Deciding a visit to these pyramids would be a good trip to make on one of our two unscheduled days off (AUC extended our holiday break for two class days, four days total, due to fears of swine flu), we researched a little about the sites and found that they were only about 45 minutes from Cairo. It was unclear whether we should take a tour or go on our own, and after looking around a bit, we decided to just jump in a taxi and make the visits acting as our own tour guides. We were a little concerned about having a taxi as our mode of transportation, but it turns out it is fairly common for taxis to stay with you all day when you request to be driven to Saqqara. So, without even really trying, we acquired our own personal driver for the day! (I wish we could say we were traveling in style, but considering our taxi broke down almost every time the driver put the car in park, which resulted in a quick repair at the Dahshur Pyramids where we watched him open the hood and literally bang some thing around in there before airing out the engine a bit, I certainly would not say we were living the life of luxary. We made it through the desert though, which was more than we expected because as we were going down a hill at one point all of us were looking at each other with looks that said, 'you know we are pushing this taxi back up this hill if we ever want to get back to Cairo, right.' Fortunately, we miraculously made it back up the hill, due, no doubt to the airing out of the engine that I just mentioned.)

The ride out to Saqqara was a nice one. It's very jungle like in the area where these pyramids are. There was a lot of grass, trees, and water. Those are not things you see often in Egypt, especially in Cairo. The Step Pyramid was very interesting and we spent about an hour there taking pictures and reminding ourselves why site seeing among European tourists is something we vowed to never do again!

We then made the quick trip over to Dahshur. At Dahshur, we could climb up part of the Red Pyramid and then descend down into it. Although the insides of pyramids are not all that interesting, we figured we might as well make the trip down. This was probably a bad call on our part. To go down into the pyramids, you need to almost slide down a steep wooden plank with metal steps built into it. It's not easy to do and this climb was definitely the steepest and longest we have ever done at a pyramid. It also did not help that the lights on the plank and inside the entire pyramid had gone out. (Our guess is that the fumes we smelled in the pyramid, which we are not really sure exactly what these were except that they were probably dangerous, may have cracked the lightbulbs.) So, it was pitch black, the air was thick with dangerous vapors, and we were climbing down a steep plank. As if all this wasn't bad enough, we were doing it with European tourists who were making things ten times more difficult. At some point, we basically decided to act as if we were the only ones in the pyramid and turned ourselves into what you could call a huge show. We routinely took out our (useless) cell phones in attempts at creating light and even took a few pictures (even though it is 'strictly prohibited' in pyramids, hoping the light from the flash could help us get our bearings. We called out to each other several times. One of my friends shook his water bottle and told us to follow that sound so we would know where he was. At one point when we were at the bottom of the plank, I became a little lost and disoriented and said, 'Guys, I don't know where I am. Guys, can you hear me. I don't know where I am. I'm in the middle of a room I think. I'm touching a...man...' And indeed I was, a German tourist, I presume. My friends came over and grabbed me and we spent about five minutes in the room we had climbed down to before heading back up. It was definitely an experience.

After the Red Pyramid, we made a quick stop at the Bent Pyramid, which really does have a bent shape. It's really cool. Thankfully, we could not go into this pyramid. We climbed up to a platform and took some pictures, and then decided to call it a trip and return back to the dorms at Zamalek. Overall, it was a very fun and relaxing trip and a great thing to do to wind down our time in Cairo. I think it will be our last site seeing excursion. To think that our site seeing has finally ended in Cairo is somewhat daunting. I remember arriving here and thinking it was impossible that I would ever see all that I needed and wanted to see here. This proved to be somewhat true, but my friends and I agree that we think we have seen a ton and are pretty happy with all the incredible sights that we have managed to see in only four months!

And I'll finish this entry by saying this: bus ride 'T-9 Bus Rides,' commence!

Istanbul

When I planned my trip to Istanbul, my greatest worry was flying by myself (because as everyone knows, flying is one of my least favorite things to do in the world). I realized that I have only flown completely alone one other time in my life. It helped that my parents were also flying out of Cairo that day around the same time, so it was easy for me to get to the airport and find my gate with their help. When I got to the airport, it was easy for me to check in, but it took my parents some more time. By the time we went through Egyptian Immigration, we had just enough time to walk downstairs to my gate. It soon became clear that I would be the only American on the flight. After a few minutes, they called us up to go through security to wait at another area of the gate. I said goodbye to my parents and wished them well on their long journey back to the US and headed toward this area. We (me and all the Egyptians on my flight, I don't think there were even any Turks) were kept in this area for only a few minutes before we boarded buses that brought us to the plane (there was no gate ramp, we walked onto the runway and up the steps). I boarded the plane and found my seat. It was a big plane and pretty nice. We waited on the plane for a while and then taxied for what seemed like forever before finally taking off on the two hour and ten minute flight. It was a pleasant flight. The highlight was probably when the steward coming around handing out breakfast said to me, "You're not Turkish are you?" I am guessing this was his reaction to me because it was clear that I was not Egyptian and also fairly clear that I was not Turkish. I responded that I was not. I was actually American, and studying abroad this semester in Cairo. He became very excited and told me that he was going to America next month. I asked if he was going for work, and he said yes. I told him I was going to America next month on the Cairo-JFK flight, and he said that, yes, this was the flight he would be working. I told him the date I was flying, but he was not sure if he would be working that day. We exchanged telephone numbers (I was a little skeptical about this. Honestly, I think it's an innocent, nice thing and as a nervous flier it will be great to have a contact on board for my long flight home, but as an American especially you can't help but be nervous about these sorts of things. I made sure to tell him that I would be flying with three of my friends, two of which are boys. And he seemed fairly receptive to this). He told me to contact him closer to the date we're leaving.

We landed right on time and that is when it hit me that while I was worrying about the flight I probably should have been worrying about landing in Turkey (where they speak neither Arabic nor English as their primary language) alone. I basically followed the crowd to obtain my Turkish visa and make my way through Turkish immigration. I then tried to exchange some money because I had been texting my friends (who arrived in Istanbul from Cairo several days before) and they wanted me to meet them at the Palace in Sultan Ahmet. I did not know what any of this meant, but I knew I needed to take a taxi and I knew I would probably need some form of currency other than Egyptian pounds to do this. I tried to exchange my pounds for Turkish Lira but was told that I could not exchange Egyptian pounds because (and this is a direct quote), "Turkey is part of Europe." This is interesting on many levels. England is part of Europe also, and I am assuming that they, along with other European nations, such as France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. would be able to, as the US is, to exchange any and all kinds of money. Also, certain European countries, specifically France, may have their own opinion on whether or not Turkey is "part of Europe." But I will say more about that later. Right now, thankfully, I did have some American dollars that I was able to exchange for Lira. After walking outside the airport, I also took some Euro out of an ATM. Considering I had just been told how "European" Turkey was, I figured it might be a safe thing to have.

I then quickly found a taxi and took the twenty or so minute ride to Sultan Ahmet. It was a great ride. The taxi was clean. Turkish roads are modern, and there are traffic laws, lights in appropriate places, and beeping only when absolutely necessary. It looked like there was little to no pollution in the air. We drove along the water, which the taxi driver told me was the Sea of Marmara. There were lots of ships out, many parks around the sea, and even a running route along the sea. It made me want to run outside! After marveling at all this during the ride, I was dropped off by a cafe, of which I texted my friends the name. They told me they would be right there. Unfortunately, in that time the cafe owner came to talk to me. He tried to have me tell my friends I would meet them at the Four Seasons instead, where his daughter worked. Apparently, he could also sell all of us carpet there. I warded off his pleas for just long enough before everyone arrived. I had my luggage still with me, so we divided that up among us (which meant the boys had to take turns carrying my Vera Bradley bag. I felt bad about this, but only slightly so, because it was also quite funny).

After meeting with my friends, we went headed to the palace. To do this we walked through the Hagia Sophia square, so we saw the exterior of both the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (they are across from each other). They were gorgeous. The palace was also quite impressive. It was huge and there were many exhibit type rooms. My favorite room was the room filled with the clothes of the Ottoman Sultans. Their clothes were huge. I can't tell if they were actually that big as a people (because their thrones, which are also on display) are huge also, of if they were just swimming in their clothes. Either way, most of the garments were made of silk, and one was even made of velvet, and were absolutely beautiful. The clothes dated back as early as the 16th century and as late as the 19th century, so it was also interesting to see the evolution. We also saw countless swords and jewels. Then came one of the most interesting sections. In one of the exhibits, we saw the "Staff of Moses," "Sword of David," "Footprint of the Prophet," and "Hair from the Prophet's Beard." All of us doubted the validity of these claims, but then again you never know. In this room also, were various pieces of the Karbala in Mecca, which we thought to be legitimate and very interesting.

After touring the palace for several hours, we went to an early dinner at a Turkish sort of diner. It was empty and they were not offering much of their menu because it was still during the Eid Holiday. On Sunday apparently, things would be more open and running normally. It was decent however, and over the meal, everyone filled me in on what they had been doing in Turkey in my absence. The highlight apparently had been Friday when they took a ferry to Asia (apparently part of Turkey is in Europe and part is in Asia) where they wandered around a fairly residential district. They were quite lost at one point and were having little luck with their map, so they asked a nice Turk to point them in the right direction. He told them they were probably lost because the map they were looking at was of Europe, not Asia and he helped them find their way back to the ferry. During their time in Turkey, they had also sampled the various types of street food and they recommended several types to me, including bagels, chestnuts, corn, fish sandwiches, and Salep (a kind of milk drink with cinnamon). They also raved about the Turkish Delight and Apple Tea. And they filled me in on the transportation situation. We were lucky enough to be staying at a Marriott because one of my friend's dads used to work for them, but it was quite far from the sights and cabs were getting unbelievably expensive. So they had figured out the train and trolley system, which was efficient and inexpensive. They said I would learn quickly that small change was a life saver, as each ride was 1.50 Turkish Lira. (The exchange rate between Lira and USD is 1.45, the dollar being stronger). After dinner, we went out for ice cream, and I got the chestnut flavor. It was very good.

The boys then decided to stay out to go to some bars, while the girls headed back for an early night. I was definitely fine with this because I was tired from traveling and I was excited to get up and out early the next day to see the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque.

Unfortunately, when we woke up the next day it was raining. Actually it was pouring. We decided to save the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque for the next day when the weather would be better. (The weather in Turkey was cold as it was and in the rain it would have been miserable). We went to a breakfast place by our hotel. I had Menemen, a traditional Turkish breakfast with eggs, cheese, and vegetables in a sort of tomato sauce. It was very good. After breakfast, it had stopped raining some, so we decided to go into the city. The boys went on a hunt for a Turkish Bath and the girls shopped. We bought scarves, boxes of Turkish Delight and Apple Tea, and lamps. The scarves I bought were beautiful and I love the lamp I bought as well. Shopping took us a few hours and afterward we returned to out hotel for a while before heading back into the city to meet the boys for dinner in Taxim, a 'posh' region of Istanbul. We had dinner at a fish market. I had the salmon, which was delicious. We then went to a bar on 'French Street' where the boys had been the night before. We sat at an outside table (a lot of bars and restaurants still had outdoor seating options even though it was cold; most provided heat lamps for those seated outside). We stayed for a bit and then caught the train back. It was a nice night.

The next morning I woke up early to go to the gym in the Marriott and although I had to be up very early to do this, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The gym in the Marriott was beautiful and the treadmills overlook the pool which overlooks the Sea. The sun doesn't rise in Turkey until about 7:15AM, so I was lucky enough to see the sun rise over all the ships on the sea. It was a great sight and a great way to start the day. Every time I looked at the Sea in Turkey, I couldn't help but think of my grandfather. When he was in the Navy, on the USS Albany, he was stationed in Turkey. I am not sure if his ship was on the Sea or not and I don't think that now there is much of a military presence of the Sea, but seeing the ships on the Sea did remind me of him. It's amazing to think that so many years ago he was experiencing some o of the same things I am experiencing. When I asked him about Turkey, he told me it was beautiful and very clean. I would agree with him about this. He also said it was very religious. This is something very interesting that I will talk about more at the end of this post.

We started our day by heading to a breakfast buffet in town. After breakfast, we went over to the blue mosque but it was closing for noon prayer, so we went over the the Hagia Sophia. This was the big downfall of the trip. The Hagia Sophia is closed on Mondays. We were incredibly disappointed but there was nothing we could do and it was no one's fault. We took some pictures outside and then wandered around for a bit, sampling more traditional Turkish food, such as Potato pancakes, which we were lucky enough to watch them make for us at a cafe. At about 1:30PM, we went back to the Blue Mosque and were admitted (though not through the Turkish entrance, where we first tried to be admitted. I think it could have worked out for me. My head was covered. But the blue eyes of the other three girls I was with were a give-away. It was no problem, we just had to be directed to the appropriate entrance, which someone was happy to do for us. On the whole people were very nice in Turkey). The mosque was incredible inside. It was most interesting to watch the people there praying. After we spent some time there, we went to the tower, which has a great view of the entire city. I took some amazing pictures there. The tower is near the water so after we left, we walked along the water a bit. It was very interesting to see the people fishing there. After walking around the coast for a while, we headed back into town for dinner. (I had a Spinach pancake, which was great!) After dinner, we bought some Baklava and Turkish Delight and planned to enjoy it over a movie at the hotel, so we could call it an early night before having to be up early the next day to travel back to Cairo.

The next morning we took an early shuttle to the airport for out 12:30PM flight. Having been in Turkey, we were a bit disheartened to return to Cairo, where there is pollution, traffic, inefficiency, and much less modernization and development, but we were comforted by the fact that we have only three weeks left in Cairo. (And we were also encouraged by the fact that though we would return to Cairo, we would not return to AUC. In true Egyptian fashion, classes have been cancelled nation wide until December 6 because there is a fear that the return from the Eid Holiday would accelerate the spread of swine flu. By AUC's schedule, we are only missing two additional class days, Wednesday and Thursday, but we now have four days off in a row, Wednesday-Saturday, before classes re-assume on Sunday. In some ways it's good, we're planning a sight-seeing trip to the Step Pyramid. In some ways it's frustrating. But most of all it's something we're all coming to expect and becoming accustomed to. TIE.) Regardless, we were all tempted by the 11:30AM flight to Chicago. We kept each other strong though, and we are currently back in the Zamalek dorms ready to tackled these last few weeks.

I enjoyed my short time in Turkey a lot and I am glad that I went there. Besides incredible sights, it was an interesting place to consider, considering its current involvement in international politics. It is trying as hard as it can to be "European" because it desperately wants EU membership. Our consensus opinion is that it is almost there. We said it needs about five to ten more years to perfect its development. I'd say it is maybe just a step behind Israel and leaps and bounds beyond Egypt and Jordan (if I were judging it against the rest of the Middle East). It is interesting also to consider that France is the country most instrumental in blocking its entry into the EU. The reason for this is obviously because of the huge Muslim population in Turkey. (France has taken various anti-Islamic measures over the past few years, the most controversial being its attempted ban on the head scarf, which it considers an 'bold or ostentatious statement of religion' or something similar to that). Turkey is 98% Muslim. However, we did not know this until we read it in the guide book while we were waiting in the airport. It is clear and it is interesting that Turkey is successful, whether intentionally or unintentionally (and I think it is probably at least a little intentionally) at hiding this fact. Although saying 'hiding' is a little strong. It might be more appropriate to say making this fact not instantly recognizable or at the forefront of Turkish life, society, and culture. For example, Egypt is 90% Muslim, but Islam is much more central to Egyptian life. There is no doubt that this approach to religion in Turkey is based on Kemal's secular development of the country (as Kemal is still revered to the utmost in the country), but I can see how this approach might have become even more embraced when Turkey began its campaign to gain EU membership. From the perspective of someone interested in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, Turkey was definitely and interesting, important, and insightful country to consider. For this reason, as well as many others, I am glad that I was able to visit Istanbul during my time studying in Cairo. As with most of everything else about which I have posted, it is an experience I will never forget.

A Visit From Mom and Dad

Just over a week ago, my Mom and Dad arrived in Cairo and stayed for five days. Their visit had been planned for almost a year, as they scheduled it almost immediately after I learned I had been accepted into the study abroad program here in mid-January. They decided to arrive the Monday before Thanksgiving and then spend the Thanksgiving holiday, my favorite holiday, with me before leaving on Saturday. This plan worked out well because AUC had scheduled a break for Eid El-Adha (the holiday that celebrates the annual pilgrimage to Mecca) beginning on Thanksgiving day. I was excited that my parents were planning to visit. A lot of parents of the other students have, but then again, a lot of their parents have not. It's not an easy trip to make and it's certainly not inexpensive. I was very grateful that my parents were willing to make the trip to come see me, and it was something that helped me make the decision to study abroad. I was also excited that my parents would have a first hand account of what I have experienced this semester.

My parents' flight left from JFK headed directly for Cairo on Sunday night, and they were due to land around 12:15PM on Monday, Cairo time. I told them I had classes until 2:50PM on Mondays and would take the 3PM bus home from school, then head right over to their hotel, the Marriott in Zamalek, to greet them. Some of this was true; I did have class until 2:50PM on Monday, but because I had yet to miss a class, I decided to skip the day and meet them at the airport. This was partially because I wanted to surprise them and partially because I know how crazy the Cairo airport can be (even though there was a car that the hotel was providing for them). I remembered that my flight into Cairo landed about an hour early, so I planned to get to the airport around 11:30AM. I thought this would provide plenty of time, as my parents would need to pick up their luggage and go through Egyptian Immigration. So I planned to leave the Zamalek dorms around 10:45AM, possibly a little later. Around 10:15AM, just on a whim, I checked on my parents' flight status. For some reason, it said that the flight had already landed at 9:45AM. I didn't see how this was possible, but I ended up leaving for the airport as soon as I possibly could. Luckily there was minimal traffic and the taxi driver was able to sort out with the airport guards which terminal would receive a flight from New York (I probably would have found out and brought this information with me had I had more time) and I arrived to the airport just before 11AM. Not surprisingly, when I inquired about the status of the flight at information, I was told it would be landing at 11:37AM. Why it was listed as having landed two hours earlier, I have no idea. TIE. So I sat with multiple Egyptian families and drivers in the waiting area. The flight was announced to have landed just before noon, and at around 12:30PM, passengers began to stream into the waiting area. At around 1PM, my parents , led by their driver, walked through the doors. It was great to see them, and I called to them, but because of a twelve hour flight, the fact that they were not expecting to see me, and the mass amounts of Egyptian families gathering around, they did not hear me. So I ended up walking up to my mom from behind and tapping her shoulder. She was shocked to see me! We all hugged quickly and then followed the driver who was booking it out of the airport. It was a great surprise and well worth skipping class. I am glad I did it.

The drive to the hotel was a great introduction to Cairo, as midday traffic was horrendous. We got to the hotel a little after 2PM. It was a gorgeous hotel! My dad checked in and we went upstairs to the lounge before going into my parents' room on the fifteenth floor, where they unpacked a little. My dad, who hadn't slept on the plane, settled in for a nap, and my mom, who had slept a little, went with me to my dorm to pick up some things because I decided I would stay with them on the pullout couch in their room. The walk to my dorm was interesting. I had forgotten that my parents would not be used to navigating Cairo streets, where it is often easier to walk in the middle of the street then on the sidewalk and where there is constant, constant beeping from all vehicles. My mom kept grabbing me and pushing me away from the traffic. It was pretty funny. We also walked to my dorm past the Algerian embassy. That was interesting for my mom to see, and the riot police were still out in droves on Monday. (She was also able to see some of the broken glass that hadn't been cleaned up yet after the weekend riots). When we got to the dorms, I managed to sneak her up into my room. (My dad would definitely not be allowed up to my room because he is a man, and parents in general are not supposed to be in the rooms. Apparently, AUC does not want to deal with the complaints from parents about things like their children's dorm room views. I am sure I have mentioned before how affluent the majority of the students at AUC are). My mom liked my room. It is definitely bigger than my room in Lewis Hall at Notre Dame and with a lot more closet space! After finishing up in my dorm, we walked back to the hotel and woke my dad up for dinner. We ate at a small cafe in the hotel, and it was very good. I then went with my Dad to my dorm to grab a few more things and to show him around. Again, the walk there was pretty funny because my Dad kept grabbing me, nervous about the traffic. My parents are both very city-savvy, but it's a whole other breed of traffic here! We walked back to the hotel, and we sat downstairs for a while and then called it an early night. For the first time in months, I was able to watch Around the Horn, PTI, and SportsCenter before bed. I don't know if I have ever been happier in Cairo.

The next morning, I had breakfast with my mom and then took a taxi to my internship. I spent a few hours there, but told the rest of the staff I needed to leave early because my parents were visiting. They were fine with this. I arrived back to the hotel just before noon, and my parents and I set out for the pyramids. On the way down in the elevator, I explained to them that I thought the best way for us to do the pyramids was to get in a taxi and just walk around them on our own. They agreed, saying they really had no intention of riding camels or anything like that. This ended up being ironic because somehow we ended up on a Marriott tour which stopped at the Egyptian Papyrus Museum (which was very, very interesting) and then brought us to a small shop in a small village where we were given the choice "camels or horses." Being that things were already so far out of our hands, we went for it and said "camels." Riding a camel is definitely not easy. You mount them while they are lying down and then you lean back when they stand up (you need to lean back or you would fall forward off the camel, as it stands on its hind legs first and then its front legs). The ride is tough too. You definitely sway a lot. Side to side and forward and backward. After getting up on our camels, we headed toward the pyramids with our guide, Sam, who was on a horse. We climbed a mountain for a panoramic view of the site. It was unbelievable. I had been to the pyramids before, but this was definitely a much more amazing way to see them. We took some photos before we went travelled down the mountain to crawl inside one of the smaller pyramids and then continue on to see the Sphinx. We then headed back to the town to drop off our camels and head back to the hotel. Looking back, I am very glad we decided to do the pyramids this way. You can't really be in Egypt without riding a camel, and it was great to have a guide who was actually knowledgeable about the site. He told us some really interesting information. For example, he said the slaves who had built the pyramids were killed after they completed their work because the Pharaohs did not want anyone to know exactly how the pyramids had been built or where the gold was hidden within them. Considering it is still a mystery as to how the pyramids were built, this makes sense. I think my parents had a nice time. At least I hope they did, despite the fact that we were all definitely sore from our camel riding excursion the next day.

Monday night, we had dinner with some of my friends here. It was really very nice. My parents liked everyone a lot and said they learned a lot about AUC and Egypt just by listening to us talk to each other. For the first time, I felt like my parents were understanding and relating to the fact the Egypt, and AUC especially, are not the most efficient places to be. It's hard to convey to someone who has not been in Egypt exactly what is meant by this. My parents said they could see why I've said again and again that if it was not for my friends here, I don't know how I could have done it. They thought it was great that this experience was something we were all undertaking together and said they were very impressed with everyone.

On Wednesday, we went to the Egyptian Museum in the morning. Even the second time there, it is overwhelming. We went pretty quickly through the first floor and spent some more time on the second floor. My mom was really interested in everything, and my dad thought the two mummy room and the animal mummies were very, very cool. We left the museum after a few hour and walked back to the Marriott, making a quick stop at Chili's on the Nile for a snack. My dad loves Chili's, and a Chili's lover in Egypt should definitely not leave before taking a trip to Chili's on the Nile. That night we went out to dinner at the Sushi restaurant in the Marriott. It was honestly the best Sushi I have ever tasted!

The next day was Thanksgiving, so we spent it in typical Egyptian fashion at Khan El Khalili. It was definitely less crowded during the day, but my parents were impressed by its sheer magnitude. They made some purchases and were pretty good bargainers. The funniest part of the whole day was that all the shop owners thought we were Spanish and spoke to us in Spanish. That never happens when I am with my friends. Sometimes we get German, but usually they think British or American. I guess my family is very Spanish looking. Just imagine if my sister, who looks the most European out of all of us, had been with us! After we shopped, we sat at a cafe for a while. My mom and I had lemon juices and my dad had a turkish coffee. Everything was very good, and we had a nice time talking with the cafe owner who told us about how he used to work in the US and his family. He was a smart guy and very nice. He showed us some famous Khan El Khalili sights and let us smell some perfumes from his friend's perfume shop before helping us take a taxi back to the hotel. My parents were struck by how nice he was and were pleased when I said many Egyptians were like this.

Thanksgiving dinner was not exactly everything I could have asked for, but it was pretty close. Turkey, cranberry sauce, sliced sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, bread, and apple pie (from an American restaurant in the Marriott). My parents and I all thought everything was delicious and I again told them how eternally grateful I was to them for allowing me to have my favorite holiday, even if it was with an Egyptian flair! After dinner, we sat outside for a while before turning in for bed. It was an overall great holiday.

The next day was the actual Islamic holiday. I had heard horror stories that there would be animals slaughtered in the streets on this day, as that is a traditional custom of the holiday, but it honestly was not that bad. Zamalek was actually the emptiest I have seen it. I think most families travel for this holiday. My mom and I walked to my dorm and did see some sheep pent up in the middle of the street across from a butcher shop where there was a small crowd gathered and it looked as if there was slaughtering occurring. Everything was clean and under control though and we kept our distance, so it really wasn't a problem. We spent the day packing things up and lounging by the pool, which was very relaxing. We had an early dinner and again called it an early night.

The next morning, Saturday, we all left for the airport early in the morning. My parents were headed home and I was headed to Istanbul to meet my friends who were spending the break there. (They had left from Cairo on Wednesday). It was good that I was leaving along with my parents, or I would have been much sadder to see them go. There is part of me that is shocked they made the trip to Cairo. As I said, it is not an easy trip to make. And neither one of my parents have ever traveled outside the US before (if you exclude resort destinations in Mexico, Jamaica, etc). Cairo as your first big trip is daunting! I can see why they were so astounded that I have survived as long as I have here. It's tough for me, and for all of us study abroad students, but we've adjusted because we've only been set in our American ways for about 20 years. My parents have been set in their ways for more than double this amount of time. So I do recognize how difficult it was for them to come here on so many levels, and I am so grateful that despite this, they still made the decision to visit me. It appreciate it, and it really means a lot to me when they tell me that they are proud of me. I miss them a lot and I can't wait to be home with them. The only downfall of the trip was that my sister could not have accompanied them because it would have been too much of a conflict with her schedule at ND. I think she would have gotten a lot out of Cairo and it would have been great to have someone my own age to relate to about it. I am sure she will get a vivid picture from my parents though. It would have been great to see her also, and I cannot wait to see her and the rest of my family in just about three weeks. It's unbelievable that that is all the time I have left in Cairo. And it is going to fly by. My few days in Turkey, which I will post about now, were a blur and I am sure the rest of the semester will go by just as quickly, if not more so!

What's in A Sign?

Among all the craziness of the soccer games this week, AUC did not fall short of their usual standard of entertainment. The first thing that grabbed my attention, and the attention of most American students on campus this week, was a sign recruiting people to the Model UN Club. The sign featured pictures of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and (sandwiched between the two) George W. Bush. Under the picture, it says "What do these three have in common?" The answer, under that, is, of course, "None of them were Model UN members." And the sign concludes with, "Join Model UN. Meeting on..." And...this is incredibly offensive. Bush...to Stalin? To Hitler? Seriously?

This is offensive for several reasons. First, I know he wasn't great, but the presidency of George W. Bush is in no way comparable to the rule of Stalin in Russia or Hitler in Germany. Bush may have declared war on an Arab, Islamic nation, but he was not a maniac who systematically killed people and it is wrong, even jokingly, to compare him to leaders that did this. Next, before Egyptians criticize American leaders, maybe they should re-evaluate their own leaders and their own political system. How would they feel if there was a sign made featuring the pictures of Hossni Mubarek, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jung-Il, with the question, "What do these three have in common?" And the answer, "they are repressive authoritarian leaders!" This might even be a more acceptable sign because it would be closer to a representation of true fact. Not only would Egyptians be angry with this and offended by it, they would be concerned by it. Such a representation in their country would not be tolerated. And it bothers me that they criticize our leaders even though they are politically and structurally incapable of criticizing their own. They are so blinded by their hatred of George W. Bush and the America he has come to represent that they do not realize it is American democratic values and norms that would allow them the right to criticize their own leaders in the way they are criticizing ours. That they don't see the need to criticize their own rulers, but don't give a second thought to criticizing our leaders, leaders who try to promote these democratic values and norms both within and outside the nations they lead, is offensive to me. And most Americans on campus agree with me.

Thankfully, the signs have been taken down. And apparently, the president of AUC, who is American and was out of town this week, would have never let the signs be put up around campus. This is comforting, but it is still, beyond being somewhat comical and just illogical (really how, in any way, are Bush, Stalin, and Hitler similar...if you think about it from one regard Bush and Hitler are almost opposite considering their relationship to Israel, in Bush's case, and the Jewish people, in Hitler's case), but it is still a source of concern to most American students.

The other way AUC has managed to not let us down on the entertainment front this week has been through its crafting of its new policies regarding swine flu. First of all, all Egyptian public schools have been ordered by the government to be closed for an extra five days after out break from November 26th until December 1. This would only close AUC for an extra two class days, the way our schedule is set up, but AUC, in direct defiance to the government, has vowed it will reopen on December 2 as scheduled. As for what will actually happen, we have no idea. We may go back on December 2. We may go back on December 6. We may not go back. (Some people are saying the rest of the semester will be cancelled. I don't think this will happen, but you never know. At this point, I hope it doesn't. We're so far behind already, I just want to finish the semester out under as little confusion and frustration as possible). It's a guessing game at this point.

Also regarding swine flu, AUC has advanced a few new preventative policies which rival, as far as logical thinking is concerned, the Egyptian government's policy of preventing an epidemic earlier this year by killing all the pigs in the nation. It is now necessary that all buses transporting students to AUC drive with their windows open at all times. This is because if someone on the bus were to have swine flu and the the windows were closed, the air that they breathed and contaminated would be recirculated throughout the bus, making other passengers sick. Opening the windows will cause the contaminated air to leave the bus before it is able to contaminate anyone. Opening the windows also causes Cairo city air to constantly enter the bus, maximizing the time we breath this air, and maximizing our chances of being diagnosed with lung cancer in the future. I'm not sure of the truth of this statistic because I read it on a leaflet distributed by an AUC anti-smoking club (so it may be completely made up for shock value), but I read that living in Cairo is equal to smoking one pack of cigarettes per day. Even if this is not true, breathing the heavily polluted air here cannot be beneficial to anyone's health. AUC has also decided that any classroom of any student who is infected with swine flu will be quarantined. This means that all the classrooms of an infected student can no longer be used. I am not sure what the exact reasons are behind this because I thought germs did not live on inanimate objects, but I am sure AUC has their reasons. And at this point, I don't even think it is worth questioning them.

So, it's been an entertaining week, much thanks both to African national soccer and, as always, to quote our study abroad advisor at Notre Dame, "the powers that be at AUC." It is finally the weekend though, thank goodness. And next week is a short week due to the break beginning on Thursday. This is good news, as the break is definitely much anticipated by all of us here and will be a welcome hiatus from the craziness of Cairo and the, I'll call it, entertainment, constantly put on by AUC.

Egypt 2, Algeria 0; Algeria 1, Egypt 0

Less than half a mile away from where I sit right now in the Zamalek dormitories, there is apparently currently rioting in the streets. And though I have not seen it with my own eyes, I absolutely believe that this is true. Before I continue with the background information that has led me to this conclusion, I should say that I and everyone else here in Zamalek is in no form of danger. Still, we've chosen to stay in the dorms tonight and watch a movie. This is partially die to exhaustion and partially due to the fact that we're going with the idea, "better safe than sorry."

The story leading up to the current riots begins on this past Saturday. On Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 7:30PM the Egyptian National Soccer Team played the Algerian National Soccer Team in Cairo Stadium. I am not sure of the exact stipulations of the game, but I know that if Egypt won the game by a margin of three goals, they were guaranteed a spot at the 2010 World Cup, which will take place in South Africa this summer. (Whether this excluded Algeria from going to the World Cup, I am not sure). We had originally thought it would be fun to go to the game, and we tried to get tickets, but we were unable to. I did not go to the ticket booth the day the tickets went on sale but apparently it was a scene of mass hysteria. Apparently, the tickets are not so much sold form the booth, but rather by 'policemen' who boy the tickets and then sell them at at least triple their value. The people there said there were Egyptians all over the place, and a lot of yelling, and very little order. I guess government corruption in the form of police corruption can breed that.

Anyway, I knew around ten people, study abroad students, who were successful in obtaining tickets. They paid unbelievable prices for them, but they are huge soccer fans so they thought it was worth it.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that we were not successful in getting tickets. The day of the game featured craziness all over Cairo. In Zamalek, people went into the streets, painted their faces, wrapped themselves in flags, honked horns both in cars and outside of them, and danced and cheered all day long, literally beginning in the morning. Apparently, the situation at the stadium was ten times more crazy than this. The boys we know who were there described to us what it was like entering the stadium, which they did around 2PM, over five hours before game time. They went into the stadium through the third class entrance, although they did have first class tickets. They said riot police lined the entrance and were letting only a few people in at a time. Because there were huge masses trying to enter the stadium, it turned into a situation where a mob of people was crushed in between a bottle neck created by two rows of riot police at the entrance to the stadium. One boy said that for the hour during which he was in this situation, he was not moving under his own command at all. He was simply being moved by the crowd. The boys said that when they finally neared the entrance, they were somewhat separated in between all the craziness. Two of them managed to hang onto each other though. One got through the entrance, and over the crowd, he was pulling the other one toward the entrance, when all of a sudden the policeman nearest to him took his club and hit the Egyptian man next to the boy not yet into the stadium. This man started bleeding from the head, and our two friends (one inside the stadium and the other still outside) basically had nothing to do but stare at each other with "Oh no!/Oh my God!" expressions. Both boys eventually got into the Stadium and said that the cheering was constant not only during the game but for the five hours before it. I believe this because they were showing the stadium on TV throughout the day, at by 3PM it was packed!

Back in the comparatively less insane environment of Zamalek, at around 7PM, the streets became completely deserted as anyone and everyone either returned to their homes, or more likely went to cafes and restaurants, to watch the game. Luckily one of my friends had her family visiting last week and she invited us to watch the game with them in their hotel room. This was a nice atmosphere to watch the game in. It was not wild, but there were enough of us there that it was a lot of fun.

The game itself was a great game. We had expected more fighting between the players because apparently the teams have battled in the past, but it was a relatively clean game. This was probably partially because Egypt scored within the first few minutes. Algeria was basically concerned with playing defense after that. After all, Egypt winning by one goal meant nothing. And it looked like this might happen because after ninety minutes the score was still 1-0 Egypt. Somehow, miraculously, about half way through the six minutes of extra time added to the second half, Egypt scored again. The stadium erupted! The announcer was yelling, "Allah, Allah, Allah!" over and over again. The game ended about two minutes later. Egypt winning by two goals meant that a tie-breaker game between the two teams would be played in Sudan on Wednesday night.

By the celebrations all over Cairo however, you would have thought Egypt had won the World Cup, not just forced a tie-breaker game to possibly go to the World Cup. In Zamalek, people again were cheering and dancing in the streets. Now, they were also lighting aerosol cans on fire and setting off fireworks. From the looks of things on TV, they were doing similar things all over the city and even more so downtown. We stayed in the streets for a while, even participating from time to time in the "Masr!" chants. ('Masr' means Egypt in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. In modern standard Arabic, the name of the country is pronounced 'Misr.') We then headed back to the dorms. This is where our night got interesting.

Just beyond the cheering in the streets, the riot police were assembled and ready to enter into the crowd at the first sign of violence. This was a daunting enough sight, but nothing prepared us for what we would see next. The Algerian Embassy is in Zamalek and we need to walk by it on the way back to the dorms. For the several days before the game and particularly on the day of the game, there was increased Egyptian security around the Embassy. Now the Embassy's perimeter was lined with riot police and armored cars. The street was completely barricaded and all of the lights, which aren't many to begin with, were off. As Americans, we were permitted through the barricades. It was a little unsettling being on the street with so many policemen focusing on us, but they seemed to be leaving us alone. As we reached the second barricade, which we would have to cross to get to the dorm, there was an Egyptian trying to get through the other way. He was telling the policeman, I think, that he lived on the street and the policeman was not letting him through. In fact, he was pushing him back. At the same time, we were trying to get the policemen to move the barricade over for us. It was a tense moment, and we even debated going through the barricade the other way, but eventually we were let through while the Egyptians were still forced to wait. To make a long story short, we made it back to the dorms alright and slept while the rest of the city celebrated. There was evidence of this the next morning as the smog was particularly intense, most likely for the setting of fires. There was also more evidence that we were lucky to have not been at the game. Apparently there were almost no women there. And another boy that we know broke his leg there. He was hoping a fence for some reason and did not realize it was twelve feet high. He was also wearing cowboy boots. He now has to have his leg set somewhere, and he's thinking that Egypt might not be the best place for that. All in all though, everyone survived, which, as the night played out, we thought was becoming less and less likely. And we were still not in the clear. There was one more game to go...

The game on Wednesday produced the most national pride I have seen the whole time I have been in Egypt, and that is saying a lot considering I was here on the 6th of October, which is an important national holiday commemorating an important date in Egyptian history. Students were cheering all day on campus and most were dressed in red and black. In a way it was kind of nice to see the Egyptians take pride in something and unify themselves behind it. Despite the game not actually being in Cairo (it was in Sudan), the city was just as crazy if not more so. To illustrate this, I will reference the traffic my bus hit on the way home from school. On Wednesdays, I take the 5PM bus home. It usually leaves a little before 5PM and arrives back in Zamalek between a little after 6PM and 6:15PM. The bus left on time, but I didn't step foot back into the dorm until around 7:20PM. It was incredibly frustrating, but at least I made it back in time to see the game begin. This time, we watched the game at the dorms. They set up a game watch in the lobby. This game featured more fighting between the players at first. This ended however when Algeria scored about half way through the first half. Unfortunately, Egypt was never able to overcome the deficit and lost the game 1-0. Everyone is the dorm was devastated. And we were worried about rioting. After all, the Egyptians had thrown rocks at the Algerians' bus when it arrived in Cairo before the game. Some of the players had been injured and had to play with bandages on their heads and arms. (The Egyptians formulated a story that the Algerians had actually hit themselves with the rocks and then threw the rocks threw the bus windows because they wanted to make it look as if the Egyptians had attacked them. This story was spread not only by students and young people. Some of our professors told the story as well).

Needless to say, there was potential for huge trouble. Throughout the night we heard stories of Algerians being harassed at a market in Zamalek. If the conflict was physical, it was limitedly so. And my guess is that both sides were equally at fault. I believe the Egyptians probably instigated the flight, but what were the Algerians doing out in Cairo at this time? That could be called instigation. This morning, it appeared the city had made it through the night, though again the smog was particularly intense. Today, we heard that some Egyptians had been attacked and possibly some killed in Sudan after the game by Algerians. For this reason, people were trying to riot in the streets outside the Embassy. I saw the Embassy today on my way home from school. The street was closed and it was PACKED with riot police and armored trucks. It was a scary thing to see. Though, I actually think it makes Zamalek one of the safer places to be. There's definitely an increased police presence here now and it looks like there are even some higher-ups who have been brought in to oversee the operation. So I am totally confident that whatever is happening in front of the Embassy not is well under control. I think the increased police presence will probably last a few days, at least through the weekend. It may last through the week, but I think once the Hajj holiday begins on Thursday, thoughts about the game will subside and the danger of an attack on Algeria by way of the Algerian Embassy in Zamalek will subside.

However, this sentiment was running high today. The Egyptians in one of my friend's classes talked about the national pride that the game inspired. And they compared he game to a war between Egypt and Algeria. They said for this kind of national pride to be inspired in Egypt, the country would have to go to war. This is logic that is interesting and scary at the same time. There are also other political implications of the game. One of my professors said that the game was so promoted by the government's of Algeria and Egypt because it diverted both national and international attention from the real political, economic, social, etc. problems in the two nations. This is also logic that is interesting and a little extreme, but it is an idea worth considering. If nothing else, it shows that the game, besides being one of the greatest events I have witnessed in Egypt, did have implications far beyond soccer.

The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Before beginning this entry, I'd like to thank everyone who has been following my blog. The feedback that I have received has been much more than I expected, and I appreciate this. Thank you so much to all my family and friends for your readership and for all the kind words you have said, both online and in the letters and cards you have sent me. It's great to hear your feedback, but it's also great to get a taste of home through the letters and cards. I miss you all very much and I cannot wait to see everyone over Christmas.

This week, I'd like to write about the English class I have been teaching. It's easy to get frustrated with the class because, like most things in Egypt, the STAR program (through which we teach) is fairly unorganized. I try not to be too critical however because I realize the challenges it faces in establishing itself as an organization in this country and also that its goals are important, noble, and definitely worthwhile. This is difficult sometimes though. For example, two weeks ago, the car that is supposed to pick us (me and my teaching partners) up from the AUC campus and take us to the teaching facility never arrived. By the time we contacted someone from STAR, the car would not have arrived to pick us up until after 6PM, and considering that the ride takes over and hour we would not have arrived to begin teaching until almost 8PM. Class is scheduled from 6PM to 9PM, so it did not make sense for us to go. We would be unnecessarily keeping the students there waiting for us for almost two hours and then only give them an hour of instruction.

This was frustrating for several reasons. First of all, the hour long ride each week is the most difficult part of teaching and something my teaching partners and I dread each week. By the time we make it out to the spot where we are supposed to meet the driver though, we have mentally resigned ourselves to the fact that we are going to make the trip. This is one of the hardest parts of the ordeal. To then have the car not arrive is disappointing. Also, and more importantly, we put many people in a bad position by not arriving to teach. The students are obviously disadvantaged by this, and they are legitimately upset when they don't have a chance to have class. (On several occasions, they have asked us if it was possible for them to have more classes than the one per week that they do have. As I have said before they truly love to and are eager to learn). The director of the center where the classes are taught was the one who had to tell the students that we were not coming for class. There are language barriers and she was concerned that the students would be upset with her. I can see why she would be upset about this as they did not completely understand what happened and were upset with us. One e-mailed us, and the rest questioned us about it when we had class the following week, even after we had explained the situation. I think they are confused about what we are doing in Cairo; the fact that we are students, that we rely on the organization for transportation, that we do not know our way around to transport ourselves, etc. We apologized however, and I think, at least I hope, that all of them accepted our apologies.

Class this week, when we actually had class, went very well. Over the weekend, we had had a meeting with the directors of the program about the final exam for the students. As teachers we are responsible for making the exam. This makes the most sense because, although we were given a grammar book to work from, we have the best idea of what the students have learned and should be tested on. The test will consist of grammar questions, a listening section, and a reading section. We will also be grading the exams and we will determine who should move on to the next level based both on the exam and class performance. After learning that the exam would be formatted in this way, we decided that we had reached an appropriate in the grammar concepts and drills. So this week, we did not focus on grammar. Instead, we read a considerable amount from the Matilda book and also focused on things the students had suggested we focus on.

The things the students wanted to work on included conversation and writing. For homework, we asked them to write about their childhood or a memory from their childhood. At class this week, we assembled them into groups of three and told them to discuss what they had written with each other. They would then present each other's stories to the class. (We do this often in Arabic. It ensures that we both understand and speak). They understood the concept, but all of them were so excited about what they had written that they wanted to share their own stories as well. So we heard each story several times, but it was well worth it.

More of our students than we had originally thought are from Sudan. Most of them described their childhood in Sudan. They said the name of their home villages and the regions where their villages were located. Most of them spoke about their families, farming and animals, and swimming in the rivers. Most of them spoke about attending school also. They spoke very well, but beyond speaking, I was captivated by what they were saying. It was heartbreaking in a way. Most of them said at some point that they left their villages "for fear." I know that there are obviously developmental differences between Sudan and the US, and this impacts the way people live in the two societies, even before the escalation of the conflict in Sudan, but I thought of their childhoods as parallel to my childhood. And I thought about how I would feel is something like that was taken from me, or not necessarily taken from me, but made into a distant concept in my mind to be never attained again (because it is undeniable that the Sudan of today is not the Sudan they described). It was a little overwhelming to think about. Every time I meet with these students, I gain an even greater admiration and respect for them.

I had a favorite story. I got chills when the student told it to the class. He told about his childhood in Sudan, spoke about going to swim in a river. Apparently, there were animals in the river (another student said there were often snakes in the rivers and sometimes hippos), and because of this the children's parents thought it was dangerous for them to swim in the rivers and forbid them from doing so. The student said his parents would beat him (I don't think he meant this with quite the negative connotation with which an American would take it, I think he basically meant his parents would punish him) when he came home without dirt all over him because they would know that he had swam in the river. He said that one day he and his friends swam in the river but then rubbed dirt all over themselves, hoping to fool their parents. Apparently, the plot failed because his parents could tell he had swam in the river by the fact that his eyes were bloodshot! He meant this as a comical story and it was. It was amazing that he conveyed this in English, and, as I said, heartbreaking that such a childhood anecdote is not tainted by the current situation in Sudan. As I have said before, this experience teaching English, if nothing else, has made the conflict in Sudan much, much more real for me.

The last student to present was not from Sudan, but from Saudi Arabia. He is not in a refugee situation. He is an interesting man. He is probably not supposed to be in our class. He apparently is a level below our class, but he goes to every class he can. This shows his desire to learn but it is also a problem because he sometimes takes attention from other students. This aside, he is pretty funny because his grasp on the English language is probably the worst in the class. However, when we called him up to present, he began his presentation in front of the class by scolding us, as teachers, for not coming to the class the previous week. (He came late so he didn't hear our apology). We explained the situation to him, but he didn't understand very well, and, although smiling, continued to criticize and question us. And what was most interesting was he was doing it in the name of the entire class, saying things like, "We were all here..." It was like he was trying to lead a revolt in the class! So it was a little scary, but we noted later, it was probably the best English he has ever spoken in class. We decided it might be a good idea to enrage Abdullah more in class. It would probably be beneficial to his learning of the English language!

Like I was saying, it is a struggle to get to teaching each week and we really do dread it all day on Monday, but once we are there, there is no where else we would rather be. Although teaching is a struggle in some ways, it always puts me in a great mood on Monday nights, which is the opposite of what you might expect considering my Mondays last from before 7AM until after 10PM and I usually feel like I get nothing done on these days. This has helped me realize that sometimes, especially in the situation I am in here, it is worth the struggle for the eventual benefit. I think it might be useful for me to adopt this attitude regarding more aspects of my life. It is clear that although I am the one teaching English, I have also learned things that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.

Alexandria

So, I realize that my posts will be a little out of order, but I thought it was necessary for me to post about my internship while the ideas were still fresh in my head. As a result, this post about our weekend trip to Alexandria is a little late. Hopefully, I remember all the details!

We left for Alexandria on Thursday night (not last Thursday, the Thursday before), and the trip got off to what you could call a rough start. Our tickets were for a 7PM train, but some people were not due back to the dorm until after 6PM. We planned that these people would basically grab their things and we would immediately get into a taxi (or two, there were 8 of us leaving on the 7PM train, 4 people were leaving on the 6PM train) and head for the train station, which, depending on traffic, can be a ride as long as a half hour. We knew we'd be cutting it close. However, when I arrived back at the dorm, I was pleased to find out that the people who were due back after 6PM had decided it was safer to skip their 3:30PM classes. Everyone was back to the dorm by a little after 4PM. So, we planned to meet for dinner in the lobby at 5:30PM and leave from there at a little after 6PM. No later than 6:15PM was out plan. Well, you know how things always happen. You give yourself more time and then you think you have given yourself more time than you did. Needless to say, we were piling into cabs just after 6:30PM, putting us in a prime position to miss our train, and for no apparent reason!

Traffic was not great but not bad and the cab I was in arrived at the train station with just under ten minutes to spare. And when I say arrived at the train station, I mean arrived across the street from it. And when I say across the street, I'm using Cairo's definition of street, which means a series of roads with traffic going any and all directions on each one of them. Nevertheless, it is easier to cross these streets on foot than it is in a taxi, so we figured we were saving time (and this was something we very much needed to do) by walking the last leg of the trip. (I was a little nervous about this considering that we had just seen a woman holding a baby hit by a taxi cab on our way to the station. She was just bumped. She was fine, we are almost sure. However, being that my seat in our cab was the closest to the incident, I was terrified and less than thrilled about the dodging of traffic with luggage that we were about to be doing). Miraculously, we made it across the street. Somewhere in out journey we hopped a fence of sorts. This is normally something I'd be much more concerned about doing, but considering our lateness, I just kind of threw my bags over and then jumped without a second thought. I should be incredibly late more often. I'd worry far less about the little things.

Fortunately we already had tickets, so we booked it to our car and jumped in. However, we were not in the clear. From a call to people in the second cab, we learned that they were just now beginning the process of crossing the street. It seemed imminent that they would miss the train. We sent one person back onto the platform to watch for them, but decided once the train started moving, regardless if our companions were there or not, he should jump back on the train. We then decided at around 6:58PM to call the people in the other cab and tell them to just get on the first car they could and then walk through to our car. They said they were already planning on doing this. By the end of the conversation, they told us they had stepped onto the train. No sooner had the words come out of our mouth then the train started moving. Everyone had made it! We had a sense of relief that lasted all of about ten seconds before we collectively panicked that the person waiting on the platform for the other group had not seen them since they got on the first car and had missed the train. Trying to call him, we held our breaths until we saw him walking down the aisle of the train. We actually had all made the train. I don't know how. It was a miracle. (Had we missed the train, we could have taken one at 9:30PM or 11PM, but we ran the risks of these trains being sold out and we would have had to pay for new tickets. I don't think the Egypt rail system would have been that accommodating and I doubt any of us is proficient enough at Arabic to have explained our situation to them. So thankfully we didn't have to deal with this).

The train ride took about three hours. When we arrived at the train station, we first bought return tickets for Saturday at 11:15AM (and vowed we'd leave for the train station with plenty of time to spare). We weren't sure exactly where the hotel was, but an Egyptian security officer on our train said he would guide us there. We were skeptical, but were delighted when he took us to the hotel and then refused a tip. We've become so accustomed to everyone wanting a tip here, it was nice for us to have an experience with a genuinely nice person. Our hotel was very nice. A few of us were hungry and went into the restaurant, where we were told that, despite their extensive menu, they were only serving fried fish and would not have desserts until the morning. This was interesting. I settled on a glass of orange juice and then went to bed early because we planned to wake up early to see everything we wanted to see.

We woke up the next morning around 8:30AM and were having breakfast at the hotel by 9AM. The breakfast was decent, and as promised there were desserts, though I'm not much of a dessert person at 9AM. We left around 10AM and headed to Pompey's pillar. It's a large column and a sphinx-like statue. The architecture at the site was very Roman and very pretty. We then headed to the Catacombs, which are a series of underground Egyptian and Roman tombs. They were very interesting. We thought it was funny that in one room, one wall of tombs was built by the Egyptians and one was built by the Romans. The Egyptian side was missing several 'boxes' while the Roman side looked like a perfect graph. Typical. After the catacombs, we went to a restaurant for lunch. Several people got pizza, which the restaurant is famous for. I got a vegetable oriental pie, which I was a bit skeptical about, but was overjoyed to find out was actually a Middle Eastern version of a quesadilla, my all time favorite food. It was delicious. Who would have thought I'd find a quesadilla in Alexandria.

After lunch we took a quick break at the hotel and then headed to the library, or Biblioteca Alexandrina. There was a library in Alexandria in ancient times, but this library is in no way ancient. It's huge and very modern, and an actual functioning library. I could have spent all day there. We only spent about two hours there though. We looked mostly at the art exhibits, and spent a lot of our time in the Manuscripts Museum. It was so amazing to see the Arabic translations of manuscripts dating back to the earliest centuries. I particularly liked the translated works of Christianity and Judaism. I also thought the translated works of mathematics, philosophy, and medicine were interesting. The earliest versions of the Qu'ran translated from Arabic were also very interesting. And early Islamic scholarship and Qu'ranic studies was great for me to see considering I have learned so much about it in my classes, particularly Islam last year. It's almost unreal to me that I am having to opportunity to match a real life picture to the things I have learned about. And of course, Muhammad's letters to sultans and an early papyrus scroll from the days of the Pharaohs were unbelievable as well. We also spent some time in the portion of the Museum dedicated to the history of Alexandria. This portion of the museum explained the French influence on the region after the French invaded Egypt in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Most of the architecture of the city shows this influence still today. The drawings and maps in this section were very interesting.

After we finished at the library, we went back to the hotel for a bit and then planned to go to a famous fish market for dinner. At a fish market, there is no menu. You choose your type of fish by pointing to it. We took two taxis to a market in an ally. Our taxi got there fine. The same could not be said for the other taxi. We had the owner of the fish market talk to the taxi driver on a cell phone. There was still obviously confusion. When we thought we had at least gotten the other group on the right track, the fish market closed. We did not think of the fact that the market would close when it ran out of fish. We decided to go to a restaurant with a similar dining style but with more of a restaurant atmosphere and less of a likelihood of closing early. We told our friends, still in another cab (well actually a second cab, apparently the first driver they were with got frustrated and told them they had arrived at the market, which they clearly had not), the name of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant has two locations in Alexandria. This confused even our cab driver so we were dim on the prospects at this point of possibly ever seeing our friends again. That is why we were pleased that when we arrived at the restaurant that the owner said our friends had already arrived. And then we were dismayed that the friends he meant were not actually the friends we were looking for, but another group of AUCians also in Alexandria for the weekend. It was funny that they were so happy to see us and our reaction, considering the events of the night, was "Oh no!" Eventually, our friends in the other cab did arrive, everyone chose fish, and everyone was very pleased with their meals.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and spent some time on the roof before going to bed. We got up the next morning in time to eat breakfast and make it to the train station. We actually had some extra time at the station because the cabs we took took us to a different station in Alexandria which the 11:15AM train arrived to a littler after 11:15AM because it was the second stop. We were pleased to find that we had somehow bought first class tickets. (On the way there we sat in second class, which was fine). We were able to turn seats around so four of us were facing each other. The whole thing was very Hogwarts' Express, and we had a lovely three hour ride.

We took a taxi back to the dorm after the train ride. It was a quick weekend and it definitely had its points of disorder, but it was a lot of fun and a weekend I very much enjoyed. It's a shame we were only able to spend such a short time in Alexandria. We really are so busy now though that it's an accomplishment just to manage a weekend trip. We're definitely getting ready for our upcoming break. We've been in school now for over a month, which by Egypt standards and especially Egypt-in-the-time-of-swine-flu-standards, is a lot! The break in two weeks will definitely be a welcomed time to relax and travel.