Joseph in Egypt

Places to do, People to go, and Things to…Wait…

2009-08-30T13:41:00.001-07:00

Yes, I’ve fallen awfully behind yet again, but in my defense, an awful lot has happened in the last week and a half-ish. I have done a ton of things and been to a ton of places. To give you a little bit of an idea of how crazy my life has in, in the past two weeks I have: finished classes, tried to get a new student card, moved, fasted for Ramadan, traveled to the “terrorist headquarters” of Egypt, bought a Koran, crossed two borders, and am now chilling in Jerusalem. Yes, it has been a very eventful several days…

So, where should I start? Let’s see, for that “start” to happen, I need to go check my journal. Which also means I need to write in it, as it’s about midnight and we’re seeing the Dome of the Rock tomorrow.

…

…..

……

So, now that it’s tomorrow…I think I’ll start where I left off, at least pretty close. I decided to go to South Saqqara, which contains several pyram ids and temples, and according to my book, had no entrance fee. I donned my qofia and galabeya, and took a few pictures before I was approached by the caretaker and told the site was off limits. I told him I really wanted to see it, and wouldn’t be here in October when it’s more open, and that I could read hieroglyphics. He was skeptical and told me to read the pharoah’s name. After I found a cartouch, it was pretty simple. Pepy’s about the easiest name there is in hieroglyphs. I’m glad it wasn’t something more complex, but I’m sure I would have done fine either way. I can read most names, sounding out the characters and such. He was impressed and we chatted a bit. The reason the area is closed is because it’s an active dig site for a French archeological team. At least the closing makes sense, and not like at Abu Seir where there’s no apparent reason. He did let me take a few pictures before I headed back, though none of them were as cool as I’d hoped.

The cool thing was that, afterwards, a kid was yelling at me from the walls of Saqqara Village, so I went over to talk. Ended up talking to his dad, Ayman, who’s an archeologist that works with the team when they come every year. We exchanged emails and he will keep me informed on the things that happen on the dig site. Cool! Also, his son climbed the date trees and got me some sun-ripened-on-the-tree dates. SOoooooOOooo good. Oh, and on the way back to the mini-bus stop a lady offered to let me marry her daughter. I politely declined.

I also got to talk with some of the local children, who were especially interested in the reason I was wearing Arab head gear. I explained that it’s because the sun is hot, and it’s more comfortable to dress like they do out in the desert. They were also curious about America, and the differences between villages here and there.

The next day, I went to the ancient city of Memphis. I was a bit disappointed, mostly because the great majority of the site is fenced off as a “military area,” whatever that means. It seems that there’s a military base adjacent to pretty much every archaeological site except Giza. (There might be one there that I just don’t know about…) Maybe it’s a way to deter tomb robbers or something. (But that didn’t deter Ibrahim the vendor from showing me a cash of Greek and Roman coins, shabtis, and scarabs he swore were found at the site…although the workmanship of most of it was pretty laughable, and the hieroglyphs said absolutely nothing. If it was real, I don’t believe in supporting tomb robbers to begin with. He was even all secretive about taking me back behind his booth and opening up a “secret” compartment/cabinet. Of course when I came out there was a guard right there, and nothing seemed to be the matter. :-P )

Anyway, I walked around the severely limited enclosure, taking photos and getting yelled at by the guards for walking by the fence and looking into the “restricted” area. The first guy tried to only use English on me, which consisted of “no” repeatedly, no matter what I said or asked in Arabic. Finally, his supervisor came over and answered my questions in Arabic, and everything was fine. Just talk to me people, I’m not an idiot. (No, just a sneak. I got pictures from the catwalk above a famous statue later on…haha. Take that, establishment.)

The main attraction is a 20 meter high statue of Ramses the Great, which was found on its side in the Nile near the site. Aside from water damage there and a missing leg, it’s quite impressive, if you haven’t been to Aswan (which I haven’t). Also had fun reading glyphs and was pleasantly surprised at how many I remember.

After completely exhausting available sites and humoring Ibrahim and another vendor, I decided to find my way back through Saqqara village. I bought a bottle of water, and settled down in the shade to drink it and look at the town. After a while, a few little girls who had been giggling nearby came and started to talk to me, asking me questions about why I was here (seeing Memphis and studying Arabic), why I was wearing a Qofia (it’s hot out and it’s comfortable in the sun), if I was Muslim (no, I’m Christian), why I wanted to take pictures in the village (because villages here are different from in the states, for example, lots of brick buildings and date palms), etc. I was extremely happy that I was able to answer all of their questions, and really felt a lot of love for them. Learning the language really does help you connect with the people. I sure hope I find a woman who loves people as much as I do.

At church this past Friday, I taught my last Sunday School lesson on the Priesthood. It was a good class, though I wish that the students had participated more. It was one of the largest groups I’ve had, but, as is pretty typical for that age group, they were mostly silent when I asked a question. I wish that I had been able to figure out how to encourage better participation in class. However, Sis. Cannon came up to me after church and mentioned how much Cody, her son, had said he enjoyed and learned from my lessons. It filled me with gratitude to hear that he had gotten so much from my meager effort at teaching. I hope that the Spirit was able to teach him, and the others in my class, things that they will value throughout the rest of their lives.

Bro. Cannon also took me aside and shared a little about the Utah Nat’l Guard language unit, which he thinks could be a good jumping off point for me for a career in the Foreign Service. It probably would be. I considered his offer to call a recruiter form their home, and after a nap, called Bro. Cannon and went to meet at his house.

I never did end up calling the recruiter, but we did have a really valuable (for me at least) conversation. I learned about military operations, what happens in the national guard, basic training, benefits, MOS’s, and a whole host of other interesting things. Most of all, I learned that I need to use my languages more as a means to reach an end, rather than a means to themselves. Bro. Cannon said that if I keep doing what I’m doing, people will take it as someone who lacks direction. Which is true. I hate being locked into something.

I guess I just need to find something I’m good at. I just worry that if I choose something, that I will find that I’m not happy in it. State Dept. would be great cause I’d get to travel to a variety of places. The problem is that the life seems so sterile. You are separated from the society and normal people of the country in which you live. You have to have a driver instead of riding public transportation. I don’t think I would like that. Maybe it will just be something to get used to. I want to be able to have the same range of amazing experiences with people that I have enjoyed these past few weeks, none of which would have been possible if I had to use my own driver.

I also want to do grad school. I have the credentials, just not the direction. Once again, being locked in to something really scares me. Maybe it will actually give me more freedom, but I have no idea how I will grow to see it that way. It seems that any decision I make will only serve to limit my possibilities for the future. Sure, I love Arabs and their culture, but do I want to study that exclusively? No! China? The same. And so it goes for any other country, language, and culture. I want to be well-versed in many styles of the music of human thought, not just one or two. I want to understand the world and the way it works, I want to see the big picture, not just the little pieces presented by each mind set.

I guess I really need to talk to a career counselor or something when I get home. I have faith that things will work out OK in the end when I make the right decision. If only I could figure out what that was.

The final adventure before Israel, where I am now, was a visit to Al Fayoum. The travel book was right on as to the location to catch the bus, however, it failed to mention the sheer SIZE of the minibus depot. It said it was “behind Ramses Train Station.” More like, AROUND Ramses Train Station. All around. There were no less than three separate areas I had to check before I found the right bus. Thankfully, it was in plenty of time.

When it was packed full, we headed out to the Fayoum. It was a bit uncomfortable, as for some reason everyone kept closing the windows and there was no AC, but we got there in good time. Once there, I was dropped off at some random place not on the map I had, and wandered about until I was convinced to take a carriage ride around the city to see the famous 7 water wheels.

I mentioned I was fasting for Ramadan, and so the driver assumed I was Muslim and gave me a good price. I still feel a bit bad about that. Not so much so as he ended up taking an extra 5 LE as a “tip” at the end. As if he doesn’t get the money I paid him… Haha. The good part was that he dropped me off at the bus depot I needed to catch the arabea (truck, this a modified pickup turned into a sort of bus thingy by building walls and a roof over the bed) to my next destination, a small town where I would change arbeas to the final village, known as Qasr Qarun.

The first ride was good, and I ended up chatting with everyone else for a good portion of the time. Al Fayoum is a hotspot for such radical Islamist groups as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Madrasa Islamia, who were the masterminds behind the 1995 tourist massacre in Luxor. Police presence in the area has been stepped up since then, and I was half expecting to be hassled by them, but the most the police did was smile, wave, and comment on my excellent choice of carriage drivers. I felt like one of the guys in my truck there was a member of the brotherhood. Not for any particular reason…perhaps the way he carried himself and asked questions. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Asked me when I planned to break my fast and I couldn’t remember the word for “sunset” until he said it. (It’s “maghrib.”) The feeling changed when I mentioned working for the government, but they were still civil to me.

The next bus was not as interesting, and I was dropped off at the Temple of Sobek just before the village. I was the only person there, and the police there had to get Ibrahim the caretaker to open the locked gate and take me around the ruin. It was OK, though I really don’t like having to have a guide, as I like exploring on my own. I still got to look around in the underground passages and shine my flashlight everywhere. It was great! Also went up top and took pictures of the ruins of the Roman and Pharoanic settlements surrounding the temple (which is still standing after 2000 years.)

After that, I bid them goodbye, got my 5 LE change from the front desk, and gave Ibrahim a small tip before making a beeline for the ocean. Across a bridge, I walked for 4 km along a dirt road, which changed into plowed fields criss-crossed by a series of 5 ft deep canals, which I had to find ways across (ie jumping and hoping I didn’t fall in and break my ankle on the uneven ground below or on the other side.) It was a nice walk, though I was a bit worried about time, as my guidebook said the last bus for Cairo left at 7 PM, and it took over 30 min to walk to the sea. It was cool though, cause I got to take some good pics of the countryside, a donkey riding boy (who offered me a ride, incidentally, but I said I preferred to walk), and a group of hobbled camels. And lots of people. Sleeping the Ramadan fast away. Haha.

At long last, I arrived on the beach and was greeted by the awesome site of sandstone cliffs across the deep blue acres of Lake Qarun. To add to the surreal effect, there was a small fisherman’s hut, standing guard over a soft blue pile of nets, and several blue painted boats floating placidly beside the shore. I took a picture, and then the fisherman came out and invited me inside to sit and chat for a while.

I was surprised to find no less than 7 people inside the small hut. After introductions (though I remember none of their names—except I know there was at least one Ahmed, a Mohammed, and probably a Moustafa—I asked about their lives, and found that they work 14 hours every day for a take of 22 kilos of fish, and that that is a decent catch. After a while, I bid farewell and began my walk back to the shore road, where they said a bus truck would take me back to the Fayoum.

I left as Moustafa (the one standing), a relative I assume, drove up on a motorcycle. They offered to have him give me a ride up, which was much appreciated (and had been prayed for in fact.) I waited by the side of the road, being mostly ignored by the passing traffic, including the trucks. After a while, I flagged down a truck and asked about where to get the ride to Fayoum. They let me hop on until they turned off the main road, and directed me ahead to where I thought another road met up.

OK, I can walk another kilometer. Even though I’m starting to get a stitch in my side from the Ramadan fast, and am dreadfully tempted to take a swig of the water in my bag and break my fast early. May I suggest not doing physically demanding things while fasting… Although, I did learn to appreciate what Muslims go through in Ramadan a lot more, which was the point of joining in the fast in the first place (though most sleep it away, as noted).

At long last, I was able to catch a lift on a passenger truck, where I met Hady the Duck Man (at least I think that’s what he said. He had a group of empty cages and was very happy about selling them all, whatever “they” were, at the local market. I assumed ducks, cause I know the word for dove and chicken, and he didn’t say that, and there were tons of ducks in the area for sale. :-P) After a while, he and a woman named Hani, the only other person there, helped me to know where to get off to get a bus to Cairo. However, the bus driver disagreed, and I stuck with him cause I didn’t know what else to do. He was good as his word, and flagged down a Cairo bound bus. It was empty and I worried about paying more, but it was fine. 12 LE instead of 10, but they dropped me off at a metro station (sure, it was furthest away from where I needed to be, but it was a metro.)

Maghrib (sunset worship) happened as we drove, and so I listened to the evening prayer on the radio before partaking of the packets of dates and backs of water and date juice which had been handed in for the bus’s occupants by people standing along the road for that purpose. I felt honored to participate in the fast with them, and happy it was over.

Got dropped off at New El Marg, the absolute last stop on the Helwan subway line, and rode to Sadat, where I met up with Kevin Blankenship for a drink (juice of course) and a nice chat. He even helped me get pomegranites from a juice vendor. Also, thanks to him, I now am addicted to wishing everyone “Ramadan Kareem!” which literally means “generous Ramadan.”

Next time, you get to hear about my visit to the Holy Land so far. :-)

The Last Days

2009-08-19T15:37:00.001-07:00

I’m really beginning to feel the end drawing near for my stay here in Egypt, and I am not really looking forward to leaving. Sure I miss my friends and family back in the States, but living there is just…not the same. Especially in Utah. I rather dread the bubble. It makes people have such a limited world view, and understanding and open-mindedness are so important to me. All that aside, I just really like Egypt—the people, the language, the unlimited opportunities for adventure. I have learned and grown so much, and I look forward to sharing my experiences firsthand with everyone when I get back.

Anyway, enough of the sentimentality. I’ve decided that the best way to blog is to simply give summaries of the interesting things in my journal. Interesting things, mind you. Not everything.

The last few days have been quite awesome. First off, I visited Abu Seir, via public minibus of course. When I arrived, I was informed that the site was “closed,” but that if I gave money to the caretaker, I would be allowed to go inside and take a look. Well, he came over and we discussed how much I would pay. He said the usual price of a ticket is 6 LE, but since it was closed, he wanted fifty. I replied that I couldn’t pay fifty, and told him I could pay fifteen. I then proceeded to take everything out of my “small change” pocket, being careful not to reveal the fact that I had a 100 LE note in my other pocket, and ended up getting in for 17 LE. However, I was required to have a guide so that I didn’t wander off alone into the site. (Which I most assuredly would have done…dang it.)

I really liked the pyramids there. There are three at Abu Seir, all of them in worse repair than those at Saqqara and Giza, but closer together than at the other sites, so it made for some great scenery and photo ops. Was also able to walk around in some of the temples and look into opened mastabas. My guide was a worker at the site, and pretty much just told me the names of things. But, I think it was still worth the trip, though I didn’t get to wear my desert getup and all. At the end, he wanted a tip, too, of course. And I pulled out the money I’d saved for the cab, and ended up giving him the 2 LE. Haha. Not bad, really.

Was able to get a three-wheel taxi on the way back, and pay them after getting change at a local butcher. (Which I’m sure makes the money, and hence my pockets, rather unsanitary as a result.) But they were all nice people, and I got to see my pyramids, so it was OK. Also walked back to the freeway through Abu Seir village, and chatted with a few people along the way. I really like Egyptian villages. People are really more friendly out in the country. But, I still like the city, too.

I’ve actually had a lot of opportunities to travel around in the “outback,” as it were, lately. My next trip was to Siwa, with a Muslim friend of mine from South Africa, Ayesha. We had both never been there before, and she saw a facebook comment I’d made and mentioned she had always wanted to go, so I invited her along.

We arrived in Siwa about 6 AM on Saturday morning and found our way without incident to the Palm Trees hotel, which was highly recommended by Ann, another friend who’s been to Siwa. The only problem was that the proprietor was in the middle of a deep sleep. We tried everything. Knocking, shouting in English and Arabic, setting off the alarm on my cell phone, and trying to call with the number in the guide book (which didn’t work). Finally, I found a card with the hotel number on it and he woke up after about 5 rings. We rented a room and slept for 3 hours, then arranged our dune safari and night in the Bedouin camp before heading out to see the sites West of the town.

We decided to walk, as it was fairly nice out and we assumed there would be shade from all the palm trees. Well, there was, just not so much over the main roads… Good thing I wore my Kofia. Anyway, after a while we struck off through the date plantations and just stayed parallel to the road. (As much as possible. Every so often there’d be a deep, water-filled canal that we couldn’t get across and we would walk along it till coming to a bridge. Considered swinging across on a palm branch once, which would have been uber cool, but common sense took over… )

Reaching our first site, Cleopatra’s spring, we dangled our feet in the pure, clear water and enjoyed watching an Egyptian family teaching their younger brother (stark naked and with a gourd tied to his waste for flotation) how to swim. They were full of encouragement, and it was cute to see.

After that we went to a ruined temple to Amun Re, which we thought was the Oracle that Alexander the Great visited, but turned out not to be. That was further down the road, and we walked boldly into the Oracle room, where I asked it what my name was. I got no response. The Oracle, apparently, hates me. Or only responds to questions posed in Ancient Greek or Heiratic (in both of which I am seriously lacking…) Got some good pics regardless.

Hitched a ride on a donkey taxi with Thomas from France, a trip of about 10 minutes and 5 LE (a dollar) and got back in time to catch our desert safari. We were with about 4 other people, most of whom also spoke Arabic, but much better than we did, so I especially didn’t do much talking.

However, the safari was AMAZING! Our driver, Ahmed, seemed to have all kinds of fun careening through the desert, and we all enjoyed this as well. Some of the dunes that we went over were about 50 feet high and had a more than 45 degree drop on the other side. It was rather like a natural roller coaster going up and down them.

I was struck by the raw, awesome beauty of the desert. It’s amazing how many different shades of sand can be together in the same area, and even the most subtle differences add to the harmony of the endless tracks of shifting dunes. Dunes come in many shapes, but most of those in the Great Sand Sea (a part of the Sahara covered by dunes which encompasses an area greater than the size of New York State.) are crescent or sword shaped. Some of the most mobile ones move around 14 feet per year, and can even drop over ledges and reform at the bottom.

Aisha and I also tried sandboarding for the first time. Pretty much like snowboarding, but on sand. Which makes it dirtier. And grittier. And easier to lose things (like my student ID card…) But is still definitely worth doing. I actually started to figure it out and was able to stand up all the way down for 50 feet or so. Until the bottom. When I promptly crashed. But you can be assured, it was with excellent form. Except for the headache I had from the repeated smashing of my butt into the hard sand.

The windward sides of the dunes are crusted over by a half-inch layer of congealed sand which is at times strong enough to hold my weight (about 140 lbs) without breaking. The leeward sides, however, are very difficult to walk up as you are likely to sink a foot with each step you take.

We also visited a cold water spring. Way out in the middle of the desert, with nothing for miles around it. I really wonder what kind of geological process allows things like that to form. There were several local families swimming, and most of us joined them. I, for one, stayed in the shade of the reeded banks as much as possible, and entertained myself with catching the fish that lived there. Now there’s a question. How did fish find their way out there? I mean, grass I can understand, as seeds travel by wind. But fish??

Then it was off to a hot spring. I was not so sure that I wanted to sit in a hot spring in the desert, but I was there, so might as well. It actually wasn’t that bad and was rather refreshing. Except for the gooey green algae everywhere. A group of Spanish tourists joined us, the larger ones gracefully belly flopping into the pool after slipping on the slimy steps. They were good humored about it though, and everyone had a good laugh. Also met Dave and Kevin (briefly). More on them later.

More dune hopping and a fossil bed followed (the Sahara used to be an ocean, which has since, obviously, dried up/receded. We saw tons of shell fossils and even the fossil of a larger fish.) We headed to the top of a tall dune to watch the sunset. It was quite a surreal experience, watching the dunes turn first to gold, and then vermillion, then crimson, as the sun sank slowly behind the horizon. It was made all the more poignant by the small steams of sand blowing from the tips of the dunes, continuing the onward migration which has pushed them across the desert for millennia. I put my hand down to feel the fine particles blowing against it, and wondered at the minute striations covering the dune on which I stood.

After that, it was time for a short tea break (I was sad they had no herbal tea.) and then we headed to the Bedouin-style camp where we were to spend the night. Officially met Kevin and Dave. They both work in the entertainment industry, Kevin being a storyboard artist for South Park, and Dave an aspiring movie director. (His movie is mostly in the post-production stages.) We had some great conversations in the firelight about the effect of media on society and what makes a good movie. The fact that Dave is an avid Sci-Fi buff didn’t hurt either.

In time, I felt the need to sleep (around 2 AM) especially since I wanted to be cognizant for the rest of the adventure in the morning. I lay down on the small mattress I had pulled out into the open and gazed up at the thousands of stars strewn across the sky. It really is amazing, looking at the stars right before one drops off to sleep. I miss seeing them. In Cairo we have perhaps two at any given time. One’s a planet, and the other is…moving? Oh wait, that’s an airplane…

I can’t say I slept well, but it was a good experience (especially after I found the stack of blankets for the taking.)

Woke up around 8 AM and shortly thereafter returned to the hotel. Aisha and I dumped our stuff and then headed to the bus station to change our tickets. As we’d seen everything we wanted to in Siwa, (and Aisha needed to get a good night’s sleep before work tomorrow.) we decided to go to Marsa Matrouh, a famous beach town with brilliant blue water. Had to pay a fee to get our tickets refunded, and there was no big bus today, but we planned to take a minibus instead.

Having about an hour or so, we went to explore Shali fortress, an ancient mud-brick castle where most of Siwa’s population used to live. If I remember correctly, the earliest parts date from around 900 AD, and the lower areas still boast inhabitants and a few bazaars. It is built on a hill overlooking the rest of the oasis, and there are some great views from the top. Unfortunately, due to time constraints (and the heat…) we didn’t get to see the mountain of the dead, a rock formation riddled with old Roman era tombs.

Grabbed a guava milkshake and then climbed into the mini bus. There was a bit of a disagreement with the driver about where we should sit, but Aisha finally figured out the problem. The driver wanted her in a corner so she wouldn’t have to sit by anyone she didn’t know. It’s part of the whole man-woman relations thing here, which I still don’t get, but thankfully Aisha is a lot more savvy than I in that regard. So we crammed into the side of one of the seats (which had almost 0 leg room) and waited for the bus to fill (which it did, completely) while sipping our guava shakes.

The trip to Marsa Matrouh was long, and rather uncomfortable, but I enjoyed seeing the endless expanses of desert, interspersed by herds of camels, Bedouin tents, and the occasional cell phone or radio relay station. (In spite of that, dead zones abound. It would really be not cool to get stuck out in the middle of the desert without phone service…) At about 2 PM, we stopped for the midday prayer at a small café, with a mosque to the side, in the middle of the desert. Getting stuff out there must be a bit ridiculous. Most people disembarked and prayed, and then it was on the road again.

Got to Marsa Matrouh around 4 PM, and bought a bus ticket to Cairo for 6:30, then high-tailed it to the beach for an hour or so. The beach, of course, required changing into swim suits. Which involved the exceptionally pungent facilities which we were charged to use.

And then we found a vacant umbrella and set up camp for a bit. The water was cool and very blue, and I found a fish egg, which I enjoyed showing the Egyptian family we made friends with. You could see the eyes, yolk sac, and even the brain. It was sweet, and after they all looked and were amazed I cast it back into the sea with a shout of “Aieesh!” (“Live!” in Arabic.) We all laughed.

In time, we changed back again, (And I somehow managed to drop my retainers into a pile of I have no idea what. Definitely not wearing them until after a few days of bleach…) paid for the umbrellas (I had been approached by the people who collect the money, but hadn’t recognized some of the vocab they were using…but Aisha figured it out. J) and then returned to the bus station. The trip to Cairo was fairly uneventful, except for the first decent Egyptian action movie I’ve seen, and we arrived about 20 after midnight. I even managed to catch the last subway back to Maadi, which made me very happy. (In spite of the 10 minute random wait at one of the stations. I have no idea why that happens so often…this was the longest one yet, though. I’d prayed for the train to be running, cause I didn’t have much change for a cab…)

Stay tuned for more adventures from the land of Fusha, Fuul, and Pharoahs.

Joe vs. The Desert

2009-08-17T11:09:00.001-07:00

So there I was, alone in the burning sands of the Sahara desert, not a soul in sight but myself. And, of course, the massive stone pyramid to the West, if the bones of Snefru count as a "someone." I realized that I had forgotten my water, and that it was hot, and the raging sun was doing a number on my skin, but I was determined to conquer and survive. I was tired, sunburned, cramped, and a little dehydrated as I stumbled into the ramshackle camp of the Egyptians guarding the Bent Pyramid, hoping against hope that they'd have some water to share.

But let's go back a few hours and see how I got myself into this predicament. (Or, at least in my eyes, one heck of an adventure. :-)

Most of yesterday morning was spent trying to figure out how to prove all the guide books/travel sites wrong. I mean, all of the resources I found (save one) said that it was impossible to get to Dahshur (home of the Red and Bent pyramids) by public transportation, and that taking a taxi was the only way to go. I, being the cheapskate/frugal/adventurous person that I am, decided that this was an unacceptable course of action, and opted for the road less traveled. (A common ailment I possess.)

I scoured many webpages searching for any evidence that would lead me to the site of a minibus stop servicing the desired area, which is about 30 km outside of Cairo proper, and, as I said, found only one. I also posted a query to the list serve of which I am a part, and received a response later in the day which pretty much told me what my one resource had already provided. So, I had two witnesses, and the stage was set for my adventure today.

Fast forward about 12 hours.

After arriving at Giza station, hopped off the metro and found a minibus heading to Morutayia, a main artery of Cairo which heads south along the west bank of the Nile. Had to ask the bus driver to stop at the right place, as he’d neglected to (after trying to cheat me out of extra money, I might add. Thank goodness for Arabic.), and found myself at a fairly extensive minibus depot under the Morutayia Freeway. Asked for the bus to Dahshur, and was informed that I’d have to go to Saqqara first and change busses from there. Fine. I was half expecting that anyway.

Was joined by a slew of Egyptians heading the same way, and ended up sitting next to Ali, who was heading back home to Dahshur and offered to help me get there. His English was great, and we chatted the whole way to the Saqqara Village stop, then hopped another minibus to the rest of the way to Dahshur. All told, I paid a grand total of, let’s see, under 5 pounds to get there. (Taking a taxi costs about 50.)

When we arrived, we hopped onto a truck that happened to be going the direction we were headed, with a few of Ali’s friends. His family seems to be pretty well known, and everybody recognized and greeted him as he passed by. I soon learned the reason for this situation.

Ali invited me to spend a few minutes resting at his home. A recently married college graduate in information technology, Ali helps his father manage the family date plantation. At the moment, it is up for sale for around 1 million dollars US. They do pretty well I guess. The house, large by Egyptian standards, has all the amenities of modern life, though not so opulent as those in the states (ie the shower did not include a bathtub.) Ali and his wife live upstairs, in a separate apartment, while his father and his family live downstairs. Ali’s sister, also married, lives next door. The family also has several hired hands which help out in the garden and with the date harvest.

Dahshur seems to be one of the premier date growing regions in Egypt, and there are date palms as far as the eye can see. Dates come in two varieties, the more common yellow dates, and the savory, sweet red dates. I had never had a raw date before, and Ali remedied that situation as soon as we arrived. They are definitely dates. I’m just not used to the tanginess of raw yellow ones. They are good though.

After a goblet of mango juice and a few minutes of conversation and rest, Ali walked me through his neighborhood to the entrance to the Dahshur archeological site. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, and greeting the neighbors as we walked by.

At the gate, I bid Ali farewell, and promised to be in contact (In Sha Allah.) before purchasing a ticket to the site for 15 LE. Being the cheapskate that I am, I walked the 3 km through the burning desert to the first attraction, the Red Pyramid, realizing as I did so that I had forgotten my water at Ali’s house. Oh well. We’ll see how Bedouin I can really be.

The Red Pyramid is so name because of the facing of red, weathered limestone which remains, which was originally situated beneath a veneer of whit limestone. Built by pharaoh Snefru, it is the oldest “true pyramid” in Egypt, and shows the advances of technical understanding of pyramid building. It’s nearby cousin, the Bent Pyramid, was an earlier attempt, but the architects were forced to depress the angle of the pitch about halfway up when the stress of the weight became too great. (They had been building at the same angle as a step pyramid, which uses less stone, and therefore has less weight on the supporting stone beams.)

The Red Pyramid is one of the few which you can go inside, and, so, of course, I did. And the great thing is that there’s no set price for entrance. You just pay a little Baghsheesh (a tip of sorts) to the man sitting at the entrance and walk on in—down the 100 meter passage into the badly lit, dark interior, afraid for your life at every step of the steep descent. They have stairs consisting of iron bars laid across the floor, and handrails, but at times they seemed a bit unstable. At the bottom of the initial passage, the ceiling flies above you as you step into the first chamber. Other than the support beams, and the fact you’re inside a pyramid, there’s not much of interest. The next room is much the same, albeit there is a large staircase adjoining the far wall, which leads to the burial chamber, where they found a collection of human bones.

It was pretty Indiana Jones-esque, and I appreciated the experience, in spite of the fact I sweat more inside the pyramid than outside in the desert. Haha.

Returning up the passage was easier than going down, and I didn’t cramp up as I had earlier (stupid dehydration), and I headed out past the guards posted at the head of the road to the Bent Pyramid.

According to my guide book, the Bent Pyramid is off limits, as it sits within a military district, but apparently that’s old information. After paying 5 LE for a picture on a camel named Antonio from a guard who had no idea how to use a camera (he tried to look through the lense and ended up taking a nice picture of his eye…), and who was later yelled at by his buddies and forced to return the money after I explained how poor I was due to the economic crisis. Haha. I began the walk to the Bent pyramid, striking off on my own across the desert when the road curved away. There were many times when I saw no one else, and it was just me and the desert. Very cool. And the cool breeze blowing across the plateau was much appreciated. And sometimes I wished I would have had Antonio…

By this time I was getting rather hot and a bit sunburned (the Bent Pyramid is about 3 km from the Red) and asked for a few minutes rest in the shade with the guards sitting beneath the shadow cast by an overhang of the bent pyramid. Some of the facing had caved away, and left a nice little niche. I chatted with them for a while, and they gave me some water and talked about Obama (Obama good!) and informed me the inside of the pyramid was closed, that I couldn’t go to the Black Pyramid, and the it was forbidden to take pictures of them. That’s OK, I said, I have a picture in my mind. To which they all smiled. When asked, they pointed me to the gate, though they suggested taking the road. As soon as I was out of site, I made a beeline across the desert. I mean, the shortest distance between two points IS a strait line, right?

Getting my bearings at the top of each of the rocky dunes, I made my way toward the exit, only becoming distracted for a few minutes by a few ruined mastabas. I made it back to the main road about a 10 minute walk from the gate, and decided that tramping around in the desert wasn’t so bad. Next time, I need to dress more Arab, (ie sleeved robe and kofia headdress) so I don’t get as burned.

Walking back to the bus stop, about 2 km away, I got to chat with a lot of local children, some of whom wanted money, some of which gave me dates and tried to convert me to Islam, and one cute little girl that just wanted to speak Arabic with me. One of them even climbed a date palm and provided me with a handful of dates for the road. (But didn’t want me to take his picture.)

The bus ride back was fairly uneventful, except that everyone was happy I spoke Arabic and made friends with me, which is great. Got back to the apartment about 6:30 pm, having spent a grand total of less than 30 LE on the day. And Ann said she couldn’t come cause it was expensive… (Although, perhaps it’s good she didn’t come, cause I would have felt bad if she passed out in the desert from dehydration…)

This is Yusuf. He's a Muslim

2009-08-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

So, I went to see the whirling dervishes the other night. And the main question in my mind was, "How do they not pass out?" I swear, one guy spun around for over half an hour. In the same direction. Without any spotting (that I could see anyway...) More importantly, how do they keep their dinner from ending up all over the stage? I was transfixed, amazed, and, well, a little bit nauseous. (Oh wait, that was the dancer...)

All things considered, though, it was an amazing performance, and I loved the music and the fact that I was sitting with an international group of Koreans, Egyptians, and Americans and we were having a good old time clapping along with the music and making ululations and such in honor of the performers.

What is a dervish, you ask? (Or maybe what I heard was, "You saw what? Horseradish?") Well, the whirling dervishes originated from the Sufi sect of Islam, which in turn originated in Konya (which can be found in my Ila Turkea entry.) I was informed that the dance had nothing to do with religion (which I rather doubt, especially since one of the most popular parts was when the performer spun wildly about while trailing a banner which read "Allah," the Arabic name for God), but I'm not sure how the two relate. Mostly it was just a great performance, including the musicians. Everyone's favorite was the old finger symbol player, who, aside from being uber-skilled and bouncy, was also...dainty. Yes. And his facial expressions were the best! The fact that the performance took place in an old medieval structure just served to enhance the enjoyment. Aside from the fact that the whole ditty was free. Which also served to enhance the enjoyment. One thing that did NOT serve to enhance the enjoyment was the fact that I was constantly getting yelled at for taking pictures. (Videos were forbidden. But I was only yelled at when I was taking pictures. Sneaky sneaky. :-o) Overall, it was top notch, and I'd recommend it to anyone. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to scope out possible "noisemakers to add to my collection of international instruments."

In other news, I also FINALLY went to see the Citadel. This time, Ann Johnson was my travel companion. We opted to walk from the Attaba metro to the fortress, which was a trip of about 2-3 km, but we enjoyed it, as we got to walk through one of the market districts and through some old Egyptian neighborhoods. We ended up touring an old madrassa (school) with a sister with amazing acoustics, (I sang a song in Latin and it was uber cool), and Sultan Hassan mosque, one of the 4 most famous mosques in Cairo, and then were waylaid by a pair of Egyptians who ended up just wanting us to pay money to climb up the minaret at their mosque. (Which we politely declined, saying we didn't have much money.)

We then headed to the main entrance of the Citadel, the popular name for the fortress which guarded the old city. The crown jewel of this complex, and a major feature of the Cairo skyline, is Muhammed Ali mosque, which is actually a fairly recent addition, having taken the place of some much older constructions. It was, appropriately enough, our first stop. It was immense, and rather green-tinted, but the thing I like the most were the circular patterns of clear glass globes lighting the interior. The mosaics and calligraphy were also worth noting.

For a change of pace, we headed to the police museum, which focuses more on crime, especially assassinations, than history of policing. Pretty much tells the stories of the most famous crimes solved by the Egyptian police force. None of which were particularly recent...Hmmm...

We then scoured the guidebook we'd borrowed from the Knapps to find our way into the anterior section of the fortress. Our path took us right by the Egyptian Military Museum. Hey, why not? It's free, right? Actually, I had to pay a pound (like 20 cents) for some reason or other, but we got in. There was much grandiose hyperbole about stunning Egyptian victories and commanders, along with replicas of catapults, tanks, and a few uniforms and possessions of the famous, along with rows of busts of the same. The real tanks in the plaza outside looked, how should I say...wilted, and rather dejected and sad at their relegation to the archives of glory.

When we finally escaped, we quickly made it to the small Suleiman Pasha Mosque, which seems to be rarely toured. We were the only ones there besides the caretakers, but the mosaics were amazingly crisp and well executed. All was well until one of the caretakers began to lecture me on how Ann was cute and I should marry her. And then we ran away.

And went and hid in the passages inside the defensive walls. Between two guard towers. Where we weren't supposed to be. But hey, the windows were unbarred, so it was an open invitation, right? We had fun running around inside the walls (the passages seem to go all the way around the fortress, but we stopped when we encountered large amounts of rubble, beams, and various discarded carry out containers) and took time to climb one of the stone towers and enjoy the view. And then we got a bit freaked out by the sudden appearance of strange vehicles outside, and beat a hasty retreat before we could find out who they were.

This week was also my last day of Fusha class. I passed the test, then registered for classes in colloquial, took the entrance test, and got into level 2. Wow... Skipped a few levels :-) Also had a chance to take pictures with my teachers Abdu (who taught my first 2 classes) and Amin, my latest teacher. I'm gonna miss those guys.

The final adventure of the week happened on Monday. I decided to go to a "music street" and purchase a snake charmer instrument, and per instructions received through a listserve I'm a part of, found the perfect place. The name of the street was Muhammed Ali Street, and it was LINED with music stores. (Not to mention gilded furniture stores, and cold drink carts, and vegetable stalls.) I popped into a few, and met a man named Marco who performed on the violin in Germany and the states. Then I continued on, and popped into an Ud (traditional 10 stringed instrument) to see how they were made. (Actually happened upon several workshops and took looks around.) Most of the parts on display were the amplifiers, which were stacked, or hung, or piled together like so many beetle shells.

At last, I arrived at a store where I found a flute I could play, AND said snake charmer instrument. After dinking around with them for a while, I decided to pay the piper, and bought them both, and 3 extra reeds for the oboe-ish horn-like thingy, all for the farely reasonable price of about $20.

An my way back to the subway station, I passed an immense spread of mangoes, and, being a sucker for mangoes, bought some.

I also passed a market I've been meaning to check out for some time, and decided now was as good a time as any. So, in I went.

It was the craziest market I've been to in Egypt (crazy = awesome). People packed between the dozens of tables selling clothing, and shopkeepers and their employees chanted the latest sale prices at the top of their lungs in sing song fashion (sabaea wa nus, sabaea wa nus!). I was so struck by it that I had to take a picture. Which involved setting everything down on a nearby vacant table corner so I could steady my camera correctly.

Afterwards, I headed back to get on the metro. On the way, I decided to make a phone call, except...I didn't have my phone. After a 5 second debate with myself, I decided to go back and check the table corner.

When I arrived at what I thought was the right place, all the tables were completely full. Either they had filled the corner and buried my phone, or I was in the wrong place altogether. Spoke a bit with a shop owner and he suggested calling my phone and seeing if someone picked up. "That's a good idea," I thought, "I'll do it when I get home." But wait. "I don't want to come back here just to pick it up. Better find it now." So, convinced I was at the wrong market, I walked around the block, and entered the same place from the angle I'm used to. With, of course, the same result.
.
Just then, a shop boy stole a mango from me. So, of course, I felt compelled to follow common Egyptian hospitality. (If you've ever been to a tourist site in the middle east you'll get the idea. "Here, have a soda." *opens soda and hands to you* "Now give me money) So, I asked if I could use the kid's phone. He didn't have one, but a nearby booth owner did. Einteer (that was his name, as close as I can transliterate it) led me through the jumble of tables, clothes, and shouting people, all the while repeatedly calling my phone. Suddenly, an arm to the left shot into the air, waving the ringing phone as if it was a freshly caught prize trout!

"Wal hamdu lillah!" (Praise be to God) I exclaimed, which led to a friendly conversation and everyone assuming I was Muslim. After which Einteer would tell people who were heckling me, "This is Yusuf from America. He's Muslim." I didn't want to burst the bubble, but then someone asked me straight up and..."Well, I'm not REALLY a Muslim, but I believe a lot of the same things." They were fine with that, and after pictures, exchanging numbers, and some random guy with underwear on his head. (Yah, I don't get it either.) we all parted on friendly terms. In short, I was very grateful I had lost my phone. Cause it was one heck of a cool experience.

Tomorrow will be awesome too. Cause I'm going to Dahshur. By mini bus. :-D

Life is Like One of Those Choose Your Own Adventure Books...

2009-08-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

I mean, think about it. When I was in Elementary/Junior High, I used to read those things all the time. Missions to mars, you come to a fork in the path in a dark cave, which way do you go, you know, that kinda stuff. Well, now it's for real. AND that makes it that much better. Life pretty much rocks when you're having adventures.

Speaking of which, it has been a whole WEEK of adventure. Well, a little more than a week. I'll try to give the highlights, but it will probably end up just being long. Regardless, a lot has happened, and I've learned a lot. Most of all, I think, is I'm realizing how much I'm really going to miss Egypt when I have to leave. I just love being here, and being a student, and going to Arabic class every day, and seeing and speaking with the people, and seeing my language skills improve every day.

This is also likely to end up being more of a "stream of consciousness" than chronological piece, as I'll just kinda write stuff as I think of it. More like episodes than one harmonious whole... We'll see how it goes.

First of all, I had the most singular of opportunities to go to the Mogamma, the large, Bolshevik-esque monstrosity downtown where you have to go to extend your visa. I've heard horror stories about it, but it didn't seem all that bad (despite the fact that I had to pay a fine as my entry visa had somehow canceled my residency visa...weird...)I was in and out in under an hour. They said come back tomorrow and get the visa. Not too bad, I thought. Until I came back "tomorrow" to find that they'd already closed. At 2 PM. Lame. So I came back the next day. And found out that they hadn't applied for the visa for me yet, meaning I would have to come back, or wait two hours. I chose the latter option, as I really didn't want to make the trip again.

I was pretty upset, but as I thought it out, it made sense. They have to follow procedure. And besides, I got in several hours of Arabic study, and was ALSO blessed to practice my Mandarin with some Chinese businessmen also getting visas. I needed it, too, as my language test for the foreign service was that night. I actually felt very blessed by the whole situation.

The language test...was good, till they started asking policy questions, about which my knowledge and vocabulary are seriously lacking...and at which time my verbs--and unfortunately my grammar--completely failed me. We'll see how I did when I get back to the states and request the results.

I also went to the pyramids (did I hear you say "Finally," cause i thought I did...) I was able to go with a girl named Kyra who comes to the branch every week from Alexandria. Bro. Knapp dropped us off before heading to pick some other people up for the branch party happening that afternoon, and so we headed out alone. Bought tickets from Yusuf the Ticket Man (who was glad to have my name) and then walked into the grounds. As is typical Egyptian hospitality, we were immediately accosted by a man selling camel rides, which we turned down, and who called us all sorts of bad things in Arabic when we refused to take any offer. He asked how much I was willing to pay, after we'd told him we were students and had no money, and he was angry when I replied 20 LE. Haha. After we got rid of him, things were fine.

There are actually nine pyramids at Giza, but those of Khafre, Khufu, and...oh boy, I forgot the other dude's name, I think it's Snefru...are the most famous. Khufu's is the biggest, but Khafre's is in the best condition, while only being a bit shorter. It still has some of the limestone finishing tile on the top of it, which was probably originally plated with gold foil.
And then, of course, there's the Sphinx. I was a bit disappointed, cause I thought he'd be bigger, but it was most definitely way cool to see him sitting there nobly in the middle of the desert. The area was all fenced off, though, so I couldn't touch him. How sad. Some experts think that the head of the Sphinx was carved before the great flood, while the body was carved during Pharoanic times, due to water weathering on the face (or something...) Personally, I am inclined to agree with Stargate and myriads of sci-fi fanatics. The pyramids were built by aliens. Or, conversely, as I read in a study detailed in National Geographic, through the use of massive kites... Either way, they are quite spectacular and definitely worth the trip. (All camel hawkers aside.)

Kyra and I were joined by Ahmed (we'll call him that, cause I don't remember his name and chances are that was it) an English teacher here that wanted to tag along. And tag along.... And...you guessed it...tag along. He was really nice, but just hard to get rid of. He helped us get the bus to the metro station, rode the metro with us, helped Kyra get a ticket, (and invited her to ride the train with him to Alexandria...hmmm...) and finally left when we needed to get to our party. Pretty sure he was just interested in her.

After that we headed to a ward party at an offshoot of the American embassy, which, strangely enough, I had found with Raffy, a boy in the branch, while looking for his school. Haha. It was nice to get inside and use the pool. (An toss small children into it, of course... :-)

Speaking of male/female relations, the genders here, and I'd wager in most of the Arab world, are two distinct cultures. They are separated growing up and through their education, as interaction between the sexes is often seen as unbecoming a true Muslim until after marriage. Through some conversations with Bro. Cannon, who works at the embassy and has lived in several other Arab countries, I learned that in some places technology has begun to fill the gap of courtship. For example, there is a program for cellphones, I think in Saudi or something, which allows you to input your name, age, and other info, and then put what characteristics you are looking for in a potential mate. If you come within 15 feet of someone who is a mutual match, your phones will buzz and display their number and information. Simply opening your phone and shaking it at a member of the opposite sex means, "Your phone will vibrate. I'm interested. Call me." And we all though dating in the states was hard...

This situation also leads to a lot of harassment of women, especially foreigners, who are seen as promiscuous (hey, the only ideas they get are from movies, and, well...you get the picture.) 90% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women in Egypt report being harassed, and I've heard stories which tend to the credibility of such statistics. Blend sexual repression with segregation of the sexes, and it's bound to happen. And Egypt is one of the less strict Islamic cultures. You may even see a few couples holding hands from time to time.

So, I'll post some pics now, cause everyone likes pics. And my next post will be more organized. :-P

The Old City

2009-07-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

As always, it was another amazing week in Egypt. I really have grown to love it here, and when I think about my impending return to the states it makes me cry inside. Not that I don’t have good friends like all of you waiting for me at “home” in the states, but I have found that I am happiest when I am out experiencing the world and the wonderful variety present in other cultures.

My favorite part of this week was my Thursday trip into Fatimid Cairo. The Fatimids were the Islamic Dynasty which ruled Egypt for several hundred years beginning around the 900s AD. Though Cairo had existed as a city before their rule, they renovated and embellished much of the existing medieval city, as well as constructing many new buildings, especially mosques.

The Main thoroughfare of the old city runs down Sharia Mu’zzli Din Allah, which also happens to be the street which houses Cairo’s main tourist market, Khan Al-Khaleilei. (“Sharia” means “street” in Arabic, by the way.) You may recall a much earlier post which mentioned a bombing in the same area. Anyway, this is the road which brings the walker past most of the city’s most famous mosques, as well as schools, bathhouses, and medieval mansions, some of which have been restored in recent years. It is fairly extensive, as there are several interesting districts which branch off from the main street. There was no way to see them all in one 4 hour visit, so I will be back again soon.

As with all “touristy” places, there is the usual assortment of shop owners, hustlers, and random children asking you for money. One tried to convince me it cost 100LE (about $20) to enter an adjacent mosque, but when I refused to pay, he said he was “joking” and that the entrance was free. Right… I’m sure he would have “jokingly” handed me my money back if I had paid… :-P I did go inside, but decided to forgo the trip up the minaret which cost an extra 10 LE. Perhaps another time. The insides of most of the mosques were fairly unmiraculous, marble courtyards surrounded by raised platforms porticoed with pillars. It seems to be common practice to sleep in the mosque, on the plethora of arrows pointing toward Mecca (After all, it IS one of the few clean places around...) The main attraction of the walk was the Cairo skyline. There are so many minarets that it's amazing. And, as an added bonus, there are lots of old medieval houses that have been restored, and if you jaunt off the main road, there are neighborhoods and juice shops. I met an 8 year old boy named Amr, and he showed me where a good place to get juice was. I had mango. The mango juice here is miraculous. I will really miss fresh juice. Especially of the tropical variety. Also, Amr was awesome, cause he didn't ever ask for money, or even accept a juice when I offered it to him. That really is rare. He was just a nice kid. And allowed me to practice my Arabic. And asked if I was Syrian. Perhaps my Arabic isn't so bad... It was fun following him around through the outlying areas, as there were some tunnels under the streets, overhanging buildings, and lots of colorful laundry hanging out to dry. Speaking of laundry, I should fold mine...the drying racks here are just too convenient! Anyway, after the juice, I kept on going toward the end of the street. About the time I caught sight of the city wall, I also noticed large groups of Muslim men clad in white heading into a nearby large Mosque. I decided to join them, and followed the nearest goup inside. The mosque was the largest I've been in here in Egypt, and the courtyard was probably about 65 yards sqare, all covered in shining marble. As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I recognized the feeling of the Holy Ghost. I wasn't really expecting that. I guess when there are that many people worshiping together and doing their best to please God, the Spirit is bound to be present. I felt honored to be near them as they prayed. I walked along through the lofty portico in the falling twilight, the experience made all the more surreal by the cooing of hundreds of pigeons on the lintels between the columns. When I made it to the far side, I was able to see the people worshiping through gaps in the fabric stretched out for a bit of privacy. It was interesting to note that there was a section for women as well. It seems that, as in most cultures I guess, "Sunday best" for women is usually quite colorful, but men are relegated to black and white. The white-clad men and colorful women were separated by another cloth barrier into separate groups. Meanwhile, the children (dressed in the same manner) sat in groups or scampered around the courtyard waiting for their parents. After the sunset worship, everyone cam out and congregated near where I was standing, pointing to something in the sky which I couldn't see. I was completely lost until a friendly Egyptian informed me that it was the moon. The crescent moon, as I'm sure most of you know, is the symbol of Islam, and its placement near one of the mosque's minarets was quite fortuitous. Also read a bit of history about the mosque (Al-Hazim, it's called.) It was built by a megalomaniac, homicidal Caliph in the late 9th century. Once, a victorious general was beheaded for bursting in to proclaim his success to find the caliph covered in the blood of a recent victim. However, one of the ruler's devotees proclaimed him divine after he disappeared without a trace into the surrounding mountains, and started a cult branch of Islam to his name. Interesting history. Also had the opportunity to have dinner at the Knapps again this week. They are an awesome older couple that has really just taken all of the young single adults here under their wing. They make sure that we are always cared for and well connected with each other. (And also give us plenty of opportunities to sing...more about that in a minute...:-P) Anyway, this week Nicci was in charge of dinner, and cooked some amazing chicken stuff. We had a group of ten or so there, and after dinner we watched the Lion king. Kevin have made it a habit to sing along with any music in a film we watch, which was a great hit last week with Abba songs from Mama Mia. (In fact, such a hit with Bro. Knapp that he cracked it out again and we sang through the best ones until I almost lost my voice...haha) Later, at around 9 PM, we went star gazing. I didn't have any star charts, and it was pretty windy, so all that we were really able to see was Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons, but laying on the ground and chatting while staring at the stars was worthwhile too. And afterwards, we were treated to ice cream at the JW Marriot hotel. Got home pretty late! Well, that's it for today. I think I'll post some scuba pics in the appropriate blog so you can see them. My instructor just put them up today!

Things I Never Thought I'd Do

2009-07-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

So, let's start with #1 on the list of "things I never thought I'd do." I actually mentioned it in the last entry, so it should be no surprise that the answer is...SCUBA!
.
Yay, scuba. Me love scuba much mucho awesomeness of doom. Yes. Anyway, we all went to Dahab this weekend. The trip started out...rocky, at best. Due to the fact that 2 people canceled last minute, the private bus we'd chartered cost about $10 more per person than it should have. And the roads were bad, which was not helped by the fact that the driver was intent on getting us to our destination AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE (except for the hour and a half stop at some random place where we mostly just sat around waiting for him.) I chose to view it as getting a free full body massage. And the fact we got to travel across the Sinai at night was pretty cool too, especially with all the stars. Don't get to see the stars much in Cairo, due to all the light pollution.

Arrived in Dahab around 2 AM, and slept soundly until we had to get up and jet to the dive shop around 8:30. Got the gear together and headed over to the first dive site at Moray Garden. Most of the dives we did the first two times were filled with skills we'd practiced in the pool last week. The first dive went well, except for a few problems I had equalizing the pressure in my ears, which was pretty dang scary actually.
.
The second dive...would have been good. Except that at the very start, I took off my mask to practice clearing it, and got salt in my eyes, and up my nose. And my eyes burned for the next hour. And my nose started running, and my mask started filling with snot bubbles. Gross! (Looking back, it may have been in part because I didn't snort saltwater up my nose. Strange as it seems, it really helps with equalization...) Yah, so after that, I was wondering if diving was really all it was cracked up to be.

The next day, however, proved that it was. We dived at a site called lighthouse, and actually got to see the REAL reef, something I've always wanted to do since I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid. There were fish EVERYWHERE, whole schools of little darting silver diamonds that shied away from every new stream of bubbles flowing up past my mask. And there were groups of pink and orange fairy basslets, and angelfish, butterfly fish, puffer fish, and even a stone fish and scorpion fish (they have poisonous spines). Saw a lot of cleaner wrasses, too, which made me happy. :-) And, I remembered to snort saltwater before each dive. Not likely to become my new rave addiction any time soon...

The day after, upon which we arrived in Cairo around 4 AM, mind you, I took a trip to the Medievel city here, known as Islamic Cairo (for obvious reasons). Hooked up with a friend who arrived in Egypt the day before, and we wandered about for a few hours, during which time we saw a great old mosque and took lots of pictures. However, the fun ended a bit early when Shelley came down with a mild case of heat exhaustion and we decided it was time to head back. Did see some amazing vistas of the minaret-punctuated skyline, though. I will definitely be back to that area soon. Not to mention I haven't seen the grand bazaar yet... :-P
.
Then, that night, I went to a wedding reception. I had been invited to attend by Adel Abou Saif, the father of the bride, and an old friend of my mother's. It was held at a 5 star hotel, and so I was glad I happened to have a sport jacket with me. Really, it aws one of the most surreal experiences I've had in my life. As I stepped through the doors of the banquet hall, I felt like I'd stepped out of my life and into a James Bond film. Waiters in black and silver livery lined the walls and were interspersed throughout the tables, which were crowned by immense centerpieces and adorned with opulent arrangements of shrimp, cheeses, fruits, and other orderbs. Lounge music washed over the glass dance floor, lit from beneath by thousands of golden lights, and juxtaposed against the silver sheets of shimmering crystal beads hanging from the ceiling above it.

And then the guests began to arrive: tuxedoes, suits, and evening gowns galore paraded through the open double doors and took their places at the vacant tables. I finally asked a waiter where I should sit, and was informed, in Arabic, that "any place was fine expect the high tables," which I had no plans to sit at anyway. Haha. I sat next to an older, scholarly looking gentleman who turned out to be the cousin of Dr. Abou-Saif, and met my host a few minutes later. He was a plump, good-natured man in a tuxedo with large glasses and a small boutenir on his lapel. I was glad to finally make his illustrious acquaintance.
.
I helped myself to orderbs, and watched the festivities as the bride and groom arrived. They danced. And soon so did everyone else, including some of the most gorgeous girls I have ever seen. I made my way to the dance floor, but that was as far as I got. I was afraid to make a mistake in these double cultures I didn't understand--Coptic Egyptian, and High Society. Looking back, I probably could have asked just about anyone for a dance, as that seemed to be the norm, and have been kicking myself ever since.

After a while, I noticed people with other dishes than orderbs, and, through the good graces of Adel, found my way to the sumtuous buffet. There were...probably near 100 dishes of all sorts and descriptions, from Sushi, to roast beef, to eggplant, to breads of all varieties. Yes, a true feast. And after that, dessert. I was conservative on all counts, as the richness of the food was starting to make my stomach queasy. Haha. Stayed for a few hours longer, then bid Adel adieu and made my way home by way of a 25 LE taxi ride, which I figured was my entrance fee :-) My driver, Iman, was really nice, and we had a great conversation in Arabic.

So, other than studying, and submitting my essays for the foreign service, that has been my week! Pretty dang awesome, if you ask me. :-)

Catalyst

2009-07-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

So, I apologize for the roughness of this entry. I'm in an internet cafe, so all the settings and such on my computer are unavailable. I've moved, and don't have internet in my apartment. (at least not conveniently) and so you'll have to deal with just text for a while.

I don't know if I wrote about it, and I don't have time to check right now, but I took the Foreign Service Exam about three weeks ago, sort of on a whim. I figured, you know, it was free, and it's always good to have options. 90% of those who take it fail, so I was fully expecting to fall flat on my face, especially cause I applied for the track which requires the highest score to continue in the process. I figured, "If I pass, I'll worry about whether I want to do it or not." Well...

I passed. So, I have actually been thinking this kind of a career may make me happy. The only problem is there are so many details that I worry about. Like the ethics, and the tendency of the US to be economically imperialistic, and the fact that if I'm traveling the world on assignment there's a very slim chance I will have many girls to choose from. Yah. I kinda wanna get married in this life.

However, it has also given me a bit of purpose and direction, and I am currently working to complete the personal essays for the next stage of the acceptance process. There are five, about various qualities they look for, and each requires me to relate an experience where I showed the desired virtue. I forgot how much I hate writing essays about myself...

I've also been doing scuba, and I really like it. In spite of the fact that I regularly burn through 50 SPF sunscreen. Man I hate my complexion...love the red hair though. This weekend we go to Dahab for the main event. I just hope I don't come back looking like a lobster.

So, in short, that's where I'm at! Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon!

Lata.

Changes

2009-06-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

So, last time I left off with the visit to Alex. That all happened in a day, so in reality I'm a week behind. A lot can happen in two weeks.

Two days later, I met with a friend of Andy's, who's name is Muhammed Ali. Yah, pretty cool. We did a language exchange and I really enjoyed it and felt that I learned a lot from him. I wish all the language exchanges I had were like that. We seem to work well together and I look forward to meeting with him more in the future.

Also, had two runins with the cops that week. First, got a knock on our door at 11:30 at night. I answered it to find our doorman and some guy I'd never seen before in my life on our doorstep. After I ushered them in, they started speaking to me in Arabic and I had no idea what they were saying so I went and got Andy. Turns out Mr. GuyINeverSawBefore claimed to be a cop, and even pulled out his laminated, photo copied ID to show us. He had no uniform, no badge, and no gun. If he WAS law enforcement, which I doubt, he was one of the least intimidating cops I have ever seen. Anyway, he asked us for our names (which we provided though refused to write) and then our passport information. When pressed for why, he said, "I'm a policemen." Andy asked for a specific reason and all he could get was "We're afraid for you." Hmmm... Sounds like the mafia to me. Anyway, Andy was a bit upset cause he was studying, and told the guy in no uncertain terms that if he wanted our info he could talk to the landlord. And then told him to get lost. And he did. After giving us both a dead fish handshake. Haha.

The other time we were walking home down the street we live on, and the random group of cops gathered together chatting decided to harass us. Mostly, they yelled at me for carrying a camera (in a case, turned off, and closed) past a government building. OK, guys, I'm not an idiot. I know you're not supposed to photograph military installations and stuff, especially in police states. They asked why we were on that street. We live here. We just kinda started walking and they left us alone. Egyptian cops... Boy...

Speaking of which, you see them do the darndest things with their guns. The army/law enforcement here is made up mostly of people "doing their time" in the armed forces, so they have little training and don't really care. Hence, you alternatively see soldiers/police sleeping on their guns (I saw one who'd borrowed his buddy's AK-47 and had it and his own propping up his shoulders as he slept), swing them absentmindedly around, or even pick their nose with them. It's amazing the mortality rate is as low as it is...

I've also had the opportunity to meet tons of new friends this week, though I may not get to see most of them again as they are leaving for the Summer and such. My roommate Andy has invited me to several get togethers, and I find I really like his friends. So now, they are my friends too. :-) At least we can see each other on facebook from time to time. Haha.

Oh, and I remembered another experience. Don't you ever tell me that tutoring English is a completely "safe" job. Cause it isn't. And I've got the story (and the scars) to prove it. Here's how it went down.

So, I was just doing my normal thing with Youjin, the Korean girl I tutor, and reading a book with her while helping out with particularly difficult vocabulary and such. And then, we got to this part about a wounded soldier struggling out onto the battlefield repeatedly to save his wounded comrades. And I felt my imagination running away with me. And I felt myself growing faint. And then I decided it would be a good idea to walk around and get the blood flowing a bit. (Note to self: this is a bad idea. Especially when the aimless, drunken wanderings get you into the vicinity of sharp-edged glass-covered tables. It's a MUCH better idea to lie down and elevate your feet on a comfortable couch and wait for it to pass.)

Anyway, the next thing I knew, I was having strange dreams and someone was shouting in Korean. As I came to, Mrs. Kwak was standing over me wondering if I was OK, and I assured her I would be, as I made my way to the couch and lay down for a few minutes. After that I was fine. Or so I thought.

i had noticed several injuries caused by the fall. I had a gash on my upper lip from hitting the edge of the table, a bruise on my chin, and my nose hurt like it had been smacked. My arm also had a nasty bruise, and at this point, I'm pretty sure I somehow managed to bruise my sternum. Later, I found a hole in the back of my head, which Andy and I promptly remedied by going to the neighboring pharmacy and buying antiseptic and antibiotics for it. Yah. So, don't do that. I'm lucky I didn't break my nose. I think I hit my chin, then my lip, then my nose, then flopped back and bashed my head into the glass table as I went down. I'm grateful I'm not more injured. Haha.

In other news, I'm moving. The landlord is remodelling our apartment, and much as I would have liked to stay, I have to leave. Andy is also going back to the states, and I will really miss him. He definitely makes the list of top 5 roommates ever. I have loved speaking with and learning from him, and will definitely try to keep in touch.

We got interviewed for a local TV station this past week, and saw the program this morning on public Egyptian TV. It was on foreigners in Egypt. It was kinda funny, cause they only showed Andy. I would submit that that was a good administrative decision, as his interview was MUCH better than mine, and he had a lot more experiences to share.

Literally half an hour after signing a lease for my new apartment, which I had found in Maadi so I could be closer to tutoring and not have to commute 5 days a week, Mrs. Kwak informed me that I would only be tutoring for 2 hours a week instead of 10. This really messed me up, cause I was planning on having a steady income for the next two months, to support an extended stay here. I've had to do some rethinking, but I think I will just go ahead with the plans I already made and stay till early September. Insh Allah. I hope something works out, cause else I will have little money left when I get back to the states.

Well, that's about all. I need to do some last minute packing and then off to the new apartment. Not sure how often I'll be able to update from there, as I don't know what the internet situation will be, but I'll see what I can do!

Alex

2009-06-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of interesting people and experiences, some sad, some glad, and some just generally ridiculous.
.
Let's start with the beginning of the week. Well, the beginning for me, anyway. If I have time, I'll go further. If not, you get Alex till the next installment. My "weekend," as it were, is kind of backwards, as we have church on Friday, and the Saturday is off. So, this Saturday, I went with a friend, Tegan (that's her in the pic, so you know what she looks like. She's squinting cause the sun is bright...), who I met at one of Lindsey's parties a while back, to Alex(andria). Everybody here just calls it Alex, because we're all lazy, so we all know what it means.

Anyway, Alex has been a place I've always wanted to go. Not only was it founded by Alexander the Great, and rumored to house his tomb, but it was also othe home of the famous library, the Pharos lighthouse (my favorite of the seven wonders of the ancient world, I'll have you know), as well as the site of the epic sea battle which cemented the power of the Roman Empire, and lead to the suicide of Cleopatra, last of the Ptolemaic rulers.

After arriving from our 2.5 hour train ride (I write to point five because 2 and a half is so much harder to write...wait...and now I just wasted all that energy explaining it... *angry face* >:-( we decided to hit the catacombs first. Consulting our handy-dandy guidebook, which Tegan was nice enough to bring along. We headed in what we though was the right direction. Which, as it ended up, was, of course, NOT the right direction. But with the help of random Egyptians, who all seemed to know where we were going without us asking, we somehow found Pompey's Pillar, which was the site of the temple of Serapis (Roman equivalent of Osiris) and the ruins of the daughter library, where they put all the overflow volumes from the ancient library. To give you an idea of why they needed it: It was the law, in ancient Alex, that whenever you came into port, you ship was searched, and any books were confiscated until they could be copied and returned. The goal was to collect every book in the world. They did a decent job, because at it's peak, the total amount of volumes exceeded that of known works of the time. There must have been some duplicates somewhere. Anyway, the library was underground, in a kinda cave-like-ish room, with cubby-holes on the sides that looked like they could have been used for copying/studying.
.
After that, we headed to Antonio Fortress, a medievel fortress built in the 1400s on the foundations of the ancient lighthouse. We tried to hail a taxi, and the first guy we found didn't want to take us. Luckily, there was a very excited taxi driver that volunteered. In fact, he was SO excited that he would stop and shout to everyone he knew, in Arabic of course, HEY I'VE GOT FOREIGNERS IN MY CAR! It was hilarious, and we didn't even really mind when he got a bit lost. Haha.

Arriving at the fort, we tried to find the entrance. Not knowing where or what to expect, we ended up paying to get into a very ghetto Egyptian "aquarium." I guess here that means second-rate dioramas of moth-eaten mounted ocean life interspersed with grossly out of proportion shipwrecks and divers. The only cool part was the HUGE whale skeleton. The great white shark, which looked a little like a cross between my little pony and gumby, was much less impressive.
.
From there, we actually found the entrance we wanted, which led up to the walls and the inside of the citadel. The lighting within was extremely surreal. Long halls, flanked by innumerable rooms, were lit by high, slot windows allowing the light to stream in in rays. In the rooms, many of the windows were covered by intricate laticework, which added to the aura of sultan-ness. We walked all the way aroudn the walls, watching the fisherman on teh wave-pounded rocks. They had twenty-foot fishing poles! I wanted to fish with them, but we had a lot of other things we wanted to see.

Made an icecream stop, then headed to a restaurant for lunch. The Arab pizzas we got were HUGE and we couldn't finish everything. (Though I came close.) We then walked down the shoreline, chatting mostly about the church and my mission, which I found a rather random subject of conversation, but really enjoyed answering Tegan's questions. She's had some LDS friends before, and had some things she wanted to know, and it was good for me to be able to remember the experiences I had while I served.

Walked to the modern library at Alexandria, which sits on the site of the ancient library, which was burned by an invading army in the mid-first-century AD. No one is quite sure who to blame for this blight to history, but most agree it was related in some way to the Roman conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt. (Speaking of burning, I somehow managed to burn THROUGH the 50 SPF sunblock I was wearing, though, thankfully, not too seriously! :-) The modern library itself is a wonder of architecture and style, with wide, open spaces within it's multi-tiered reading levels. It is very quiet, and the sound of chairs scraping periodically is about all that can be heard. Usually you have to have an ID/ticket to get in, but since it was near closing time, the guards let us in for free. It was awesome just wandering around. I want to live there. Haha.

After that, our stay in the marvelous city of Alex was at a close. Made our way to the train station, and ended up having to take a taxi there cause we got lost (although we saw a really awesome statue of Alexander the Great holding a miniature statue of Athena Nike (it looked kinda like Tinkerbell, actually. Maybe he could fly too...) and made the trip home.
Coming in the next installment. Egyptian cops. And why they are ridiculous. Stay tuned for more!

--Joseph in Egypt

Ramses and Regulators

2009-06-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

The tea seller at El Monib, near the Pharoahnic Village

Because those are two of the things I will be reading/already read about this week. YES, I am preparing for my Open Water SCUBA Certification, and picked up my manual this past week. And, I am reading a book about Ramses the Great, just because...he's cool...and was a redhead.
.
This week saw the end of this block of Arabic class, and the next one doesn't start until the 25th of June. Hopefully by that time I'll have another apartment lined up in Maadi, close to the church and where I tutor four times a week. It's kind of a drag having to make the forty minute trip 5 times a week, especially when the subway is packed (and not air conditioned...) Speaking of packed subways, I had to wait for 20 minutes to catch the one to church this morning. As you can imagine, being the only subway for 20 minutes, it was DANG crowded, and hot, and uncomfortable, especially because I was bringing my computer and scriptures to church for my Sunday school lesson.

However, that aside, this week has been a string of one awesome day after another. I've enjoyed studying my manual, which helps me to avoid such things as the bends, popping my eardrums, and exploding my lungs accidentally while diving. Those, I believe, are definitely good things to avoid. I just hope I can remember all the little random things I need to do for diving to be convenient/safe/fun. Well, I think it would be fun for me even without the convenient/safe parts, but those would be nice, too!

I also got my certificate for the 3rd level of Arabic recently, on which I was ranked as having overall "excellent" performance. Woot!

As far as other happenings, I was able to go to the Pharoahnic village yesterday. It's an island in the Nile, surrounded by a dike, and thick with papyrus plants. Dr. Ragab (the father of the current Dr. Ragab who I spoke with) discovered the lost art of papyrus making, and made the island as a place for people to come see how life was in ancient Egypt. The tour starts out with a boat ride around the canal, passing various statues of the ancient gods and pharoahs while a recording tells their stories (over techno music. Haha.) What's better, there are HUNDREDS of white ibises roosting in the papyrus marsh behind the statues, or even perching on their heads, which makes it that much cooler! Then, there were the shoreside reenactments of ancient life, including farming (plowing with oxen, sowing followed by sheep to tamp down the soil), honey making (beehives of clay tubes, still used today), weapon smithing, weaving, reed boat making, and...Moses? Yes, Moses too. Dr. R must be Coptic...

Landing on the island, I was taken around by Neesa, an English speaking guide, who explained the replicas of a rich and poor home, the temple (based on Karnak, though to a much smaller scale), and the exhibit displaying what King Tut's tomb looked like when it was discovered. It was pretty well done, and I liked it, as , of course, you all knew I would. :-D

I also enjoyed seeing the museums devoted to Nasser and Anwar Sadat, the two most famous presidents of Egypt. The Village boasts the only Nasser museum in Egypt, and has such artifacts as his glasses and pajamas, as well as providing a lot of information about his life and administration.

The same kinds of things are on display at the Sadat museum, though this also has a diorama of the 6th of October war, where, using Russian equipment, the Egyptian army under Sadat pushed the Israelis out of the the Sinai. There's even a district of Cairo called "6th of October City" (and another one called "Sadat") Anwar Sadat was assassinated in part as a result of peace overtures to Israel and the Camp David Accords, during a festival by three military officers. They have pictures of the assassination taking place. Over 3o bullets were removed from his body. Two of the conspirators were hanged, and the third remains in prison to this day. (No one knows why he's still there.)

While in the museums, I met a girl who is training to work there as a guide. She used to be a newspaper reporter, but is stopping for the time being at the behest of her father, I think because he believes it too dangerous. She, however, plans to resume writing under an alias. I really respect people like that, especially members of the press, because I believe the public has a write to know what's happening. I told her as much! :-)

Went around on my own a bit, then headed back to the main desk and talked with Ahmed, the director for half an hour. He wants to meet up sometime just to chat. Hopefully we can, cause he's cool! Then went on another boat ride around the whole island, and saw some kids swimming in the disease infested Nile. Not a good idea. Really, not a good idea.

So that was my main adventure this week. Hopefully next time, I can tell you about SCUBA!!! :-)

Sauntering

2009-06-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

I am...AWESOME! I actually felt like sauntering today, and it probably carried into an extra bounciness in my step as I chawed my bubblegum down Nubar street. Haha.

Today was just great. Had my last day of class for this run at things, and did really well. Got a 91 percent over all. My teacher, Khaled, also wanted to exchange skype addresses, so now I'll have someone to practice my Arabic with. Then had to go get a few pictures taken, and was able to explain what I wanted and how many to the clerk, and though I got overcharged a bit, I was still happy :-) After I returned to give documentation to the center I study at, I had a wonderful conversation about religion with some of the teachers at the school, who are Muslim. I really felt love for them and these people here, and it was great. I know God loves people that are devoted to Him, as they do their best to show it through their actions.

After that, I rested a tad, then tutored for three hours. The Korean family I teach is just great, and I really like them, though it is difficult to tutor sometimes, as I don't speak Korean. But I am learning a few basic phrases here and there. :-) An yong yi Kae sey yo! (Goodbye, to a woman) Komsomeda! (Thank you!) and such.

Then I went and found the scuba shop I will be getting my certification through, and chatted with the clerk for a few minutes as we waited for the head dude to show up. After a while, Sam, aforementioned "head dude," called and said he was stuck in traffic, so I went and ate at a local Chinese restaurant, run by a family from Harbin, China. They speak no English. Awesome. Chatted for about a half hour, then headed back to the shop where I picked up the course manual. I am way excited as I've always wanted to do this. I only worry because one of the dive days is a Friday (the Sabbath here.) but I feel like this could be another one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that God seems to drop in my lap every once in a while. Seriously, it just fell in my lap, as things usually do. :-)

And then, I headed to another tutoring appointment for math. And had a great time eating my take away Chinese food while discussing the law of Cosine. Most excellent. :-D

Rode the subway home, polishing off the latest batch of vocabulary words, chewed a big wad of gum, and bought peppermints from a handicapped guy hawking his wares on the train. Then I sauntered home and helped my roomie figure out how to get pinyin based Chinese to work on his computer, all the while chatting in Mandarin, cause it's Chinese day. In honor of Chinese day, I drank some Chinese medicine I got from a friend who recently went back to the states (thanks, Daphne!). Tomorrow is Arabic day. Maybe I'll eat hummus. Oh wait, I do that every day...

So yah, I'm doing pretty well! :-)

Testing, 1, 2, 3....

2009-06-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

OK, so, I know I didn't write last week, but I hope you will all forgive me. Things have been a bit crazy as I have started tutoring in earnest. I am extremely grateful to have a job, but it does take up quite a chunk of time, especially since I have to travel to Maadi, a trip of about 40 minutes each way including the walking, to get to and from my students' house.

I am teaching a family of Koreans, transferred to my by Jaehee before she and Aden left for the states. I teach three of them, the 12 year old daughter Youjin, her 16 year old brother Jaewon, and their mother. They are all at different levels, so it makes for some interesting times. The nice thing is that I get paid $25 an hour for 10 hours per week, which is more than enough to cover my classes and rent, and leave some left over for fun.

Speaking of fun, I'm planning on going to Dahab, the number two spot for scuba diving in the world. And, I plan to go there to get certified. It costs around $400 total, but it is way cheaper there than in the US, so I figured I should do it while I have the chance. And the certification is good for life, with a few refreshers of course. I am way stoked cause that's something I've always wanted to do!

In other news, I'll be taking the US Foreign Service Officer exam tomorrow. If I pass, I will have a chance at landing a job in the State department (after a few more levels of the selection process of course...) I fully expect to fail miserably, but I figured it would be worth it for the experience, especially since the test is free, and I kinda like tests. Because I'm weird like that.

Andy and I have been alternating days in our apartment between Arabic and Chinese. That way we get to practice both languages and it's pretty fun!

Pres Obama came to Egypt this past week, and I took the opportunity to watch the address he gave to the Arab world live on Egyptian TV. It was interesting, because for the first time, I sorta felt the Spirit while he was talking. As most of you know, I have an intense distrust of politicians in general, and so it was rather odd. I felt that, if he was serious and committed to the foreign policy goals he stated, than I would be able to enter government service on morally stable ground. We'll see. If I pass the FSO test, then I'll worry about it.

Other than that, a new group of students i in Egypt now for the summer, I'm looking for an apartment (did I say that already?), and my Arabic course ends this week so I have to figure out what to do during the summer break. Probably hire a tutor and go through Al Kitaab. We'll see! Keep in touch.

Joseph

PS. Pictures will come when I have some applicable ones :-p

The World is My Candy Store

2009-05-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Or so I've been told. I was talking to a friend online recently about my woes of career deciding-uponness, and she said the following, which has really made me think. "

This is the cool thing that i think you're missing-you can do just about anything you'd like. The world is kind of a candy store for you, becuase you have the intelligence and bravery and motivation it takes to really do what you want to do."

I am inclined to agree with her. However, that doesn't solve my probably biggest problem, one that I've wrestled with often in my life when I have big decisions looming before me. I know that God is there, and that he cares for me, but whenever I ask Him for direction in my life, usually all I get is the smallest of nudges, and mostly a lot of feelings of "I love you, and you're doing well, and I trust you." So, pretty much, God gives me a big thumbs up. Not that a thumbs up from God isn't nice, it's just sometimes I would prefer more of a point in the right direction.

There is seriously so much that I could do, and I have no idea what I really want for my life. There are many things I find interesting, but each of them also has unsolvable problems associated with it, as in things I couldn't deal with if I were to choose such a profession. For example, a spy: I love the thinking and strategy that goes into that, and have a lot of talent with that kind of reasoning, but I am, I think, a bit too anti-imperialistic for that role. Then there's a Foreign Service Officer: good salary, something worthwhile, and I would get to travel, however, the government likes to lock its employees in for years, and I hate being locked in to anything. I just don't think I could handle doing the same kind of thing indefinitely. Finally, perhaps a journalist: it jives more with how I see the world, and with how I feel the public deserves to know what's really happening, but I think the kinds of things I would delve into would likely get me exiled or worse. And, yah, that would kind of preclude me from having a family, which is something I want pretty much more than anything else. (PS: The picture is cause it's pretty, and otherwise this would look very text-heavy... :-)

To make a long story short, anything I consider, there is always a major block that comes up that I just can't get around. Maybe I just am not supposed to get a career yet. Maybe I'm supposed to go to grad school first for...something. Once again, I don't think I could focus on a limited discipline for long stretches at a time. There's just nothing I'm that passionate about, and I wante to be passionate about my studies and career. So, at the moment, I am just doing what I can, studying Arabic, writing my novel (just broke 200 pages this past week), and preparing for the Foreign Service Officer Exam in June. (I like tests, the subject is fun to study, and, hey, it's free, so what can I lose??)

Also recently started to listening to music again, something I tend to do when I am listless or down. Linkin' Park and Evanescence are my favorites, though they are hardpressed by various movie soundtracks, like Transformers, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I listen to soundtracks during my half-hour break from class each morning, just to kinda blow off steam and relax.

As far as life here lately, I really like my new apartment and Andy is a great roomie. He's easy-going, and has lots of interesting ideas and stories, plus the fact that we are both pretty close to tri-lingual, and in the same languages! (Chinese, Arabic, and English, of course...) This past week, he hosted a friend from the states, and at the moment they're touring Lebanon and Syria together.

I have had some cool experiences recently, though, like going to a Coptic engagement party. There were seriously like 70 people crammed into this tiny apartment, with 2 banks of speakers going all the way up to the cieling (The music was so loud that the vibrations shook the chandelier from the ceiling and it almost fell on the bride and groom to be...) And I danced, and made a fool of myself, as usual, and all the Egyptians thought it was great and wanted pictures with me... Haha. Reminds me of China. And, I have decided, Egyptian women can be pretty attractive. Too bad the church is still suppressed here. Haha.

And, I Love my new Arabic teacher, Khaled. Even though I am signed up for a group class, I am the only one there, so am only paying $250 instead of $400 for a private tutor. I'm using a new book, which is more structured, and the excercises really help me to learn the vocabulary, so I'm progressing a lot faster than before. And, we just have a lot of fun conversations. I find that I can finally express my sense of humor in Arabic, and it makes it so much better! :-) Now, if only I could do it in Egyptian colloquial.

Speaking of which, I have a weekly language exchange with a girl named Nariman who teaches Arabic to embassy people, but I get the training for free because I'm helping her prepare to take the GRE. She's actually roommates with one of the members of the ward here that I know. It was really fun to see all the interesting words she was having to learn, and even MORE fun trying to explain them in simple terms. We were both really tired after that. Perhaps we'll do Arabic first next time, although it was pretty good this time too.

On another language exchange, went with Ahmed to Al Alhazar park, a really popular hang out for foreigners, as it offers amazing views of the city. I had a good time, but I wonder how well this exchange is for me, cause it's so unstructured. I really need almost a classroom environment to effectively learn a language, especially at first. And, Ahmed use to call me all the time, but I think he understands now that I can only spare a few hours a week. We'll see how things go.

Also have started tutoring English. I only have one group of students, who are Egyptian and don't pay much at all, but I took them on cause I had nothing else. Next week, I will have about as many as I can handle, and at about $20 an hour for 7 hours a week. (That's my rent, in less than a week...) Jae Hee and Aden are leaving for the Summer, and I'm taking their Korean students till they get back in the Fall.

Speaking of which, I'm considering staying till October, but there are so many things happening in the states. Everything seems to happen while I'm away. Erin's having a baby, Ammon's considering marriage, and my grandpa may be dying. Yah... My life is... Really odd...

I'm enjoying my church calling of teaching the youth Sunday School lessons, as it lets me really delve into the scriptures as I prepare, and I really feel the Spirit strongly. The past two weeks, I ended up teaching combined classes (today it was with the adults...haha, I was so not expecting that one... :-) But it worked out OK. I have also started reading the Book of Mormon out loud in Chinese, and it is SO much more powerful that way. It just helps me to feel the love that God has for all people, everywhere, and how he speaks to each of them in their own language. Speaking of which, recent research proves that Mandarin is more difficult to learn than English, as Mandarin speakers use both parts of their brain when speaking and decoding, while English speakers use only one... :-).
.
Oh, and on gospel topics, had a really nice discussion with David, a guy who was visiting Cairo for a few days and came to a dinner party we had at Lindsey's the other night. He was really interested about Mormonism, and we discussed everything from the Spirit World, to Three Degrees of Glory, to the Book of Mormon and praying and knowing the truth by the Spirit. It was good to be able to share again, as I don't get many chances here in Egypt.

So, that is pretty much what's been happening lately. Nothing too exciting, but I'm sure there will be more interesting experiences forthcoming. (As well as pictures, which are seriously lacking in this entry...sorry... :-(

Of Mummies, and Temples, and Trilinguility

2009-05-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

Ah, yes. It's Friday again, which means that I have a few minutes to update my blog. This is week, it's the only day off I have, as I missed a day of class earlier on due to my teacher, Khaled's, family emergency. So I get to make it up on Saturday.

A lot has happened since Turkey. In fact, though I only posted the entry last Friday, over two weeks have passed since I returned. And, of course, in that time a lot has happened. I better get started.
.
Came back to spend a few days in my apartment in Maadi, and to arrange for my next battery of Arabic classes. (The picture at left is the statue in the center of Tahrir square. The large text on the base says, helpfully, "Statue") Turns out that my new roommate, Andy, who's American Chinese and has lived in DC for a number of years, as well as speaks Mandarin (woot!), is studying at the Fajr Center in Doqqi, which is closer to where I live now. So, I took a day and went down to the center there to arrange for classes. I had planned to take private tutoring for Ammeyya, or Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, but Andy advised against it, saying it was a waste of money and could better be served by doing frequent language exchanges with locals. So, I signed up for the next level of Fusha, or Standard Arabic. The classes didn't start for about another week.

In the mean time, I wanted to get out of my apartment in Maadi by the first of the month, as I was a little leary of the rent jump this past month and afraid of further unforeseen charges. So what did I do? Decided to move my stuff into my new apartment, and then skip to Luxor for a few days! :-)

The last day in my Maadi apartment, I invited my roomie, Ahmed, to have drinks at a local coffee shop. ("Having drinks" here does not imply alcohol usually, due to the stringent Muslim dietary laws.) We had a really nice talk for about an hour, during which I got the further lowdown on what the situation really is in regard to our apartment becoming the "Love Shack" twice a week. (Pic: Ahmed and his employees in The Tree, his veggie shop. Ahmed is in the grey shirt.)

As it turns out, Ahmed's older brother invested about 100,000 Egyptian Pounds in his store, which it was agreed Ahmed would pay back in installments. Well, low and behold, his brother decides to extort the situation by "asking" for the current arrangment, so he can have a place to meet secretly with his girlfriend, which no one knows about. So, sounds like there's some sort of Romeo and Juliet thing going on. Whenever Ahmed brings up the inconvenience of the arrangement, his brother replies with a curt, "Where's my money?" So he's in a bad situation. He is so annoyed that he's considering getting a loan to pay off the debt, or even finding a friend to pretend to be his wife so his brother goes away. Wow... I really hope things work out for him. If nothing else, he should have the debt paid off in a few months and then the leverage will be gone and he can have his apartment back.
.
Speaking of the long stretches of homelessness, I used the last opportunity to visit the Egyptian Museum here. I saw all the things I wanted to see, including all of the opulent golden stuff taken out of King Tut's tomb. I was even able to read some, due to my study of heiroglyphics, and, when I met a group of Chinese girls who worked for Emirates Air, I became their impromptue guide. It was a lot of fun. And, while I was looking at things, my mom called from China, and so we talked while I sat amidst hundreds of sarcophogi. Quite a singular experience.

Anyway, the day after my drink with Ahmed, I dropped my stuff off at Andy's and headed to the bus station. The bus was overnight, but I actually slept pretty well, all things considered, and arrived pretty well rested for the events of the next day. And it's a good thing too, as it was hot, and I had a LOT of walking to do. Checked in to the hostel which Lindsey and Daphne had suggested, and spent about an hour getting acquainted with Regi, the manager, who is also in the midst of an archaeology Ph. D. He told me the best places to see and the best ways of doing them.

Then headed down to Karnak, about a 2.5 kilometer walk by the Nile, where I was accosted by a boat owner to read a non-existant English letter. Really, he just wanted me to pay for a ride, but I was in a hurry and didn't want to spend the money at the moment.

Was so pleased and happy to be there that when I first saw the huge main entrance I almost started crying. Manly, I know. I'm a sucker for history, and it's a place I've wanted to go since I first heard about it umpteen years ago. It's quite an amazing building, and must have been spectacular in its prime. There are about 7 (I can't remember the exact number) sections, each built by a different pharoah, sometimes at the expense of existing structures. Included in the complex are rooms for washing, rooms for contemplation, rooms dedicated to the immortality of various pharoahs, including Hatshepsut, (whose image and cartouche was excised completely from the walls by order of her nephew Tuthmosis III, furious at her usurpation of his throne. see image at right), and, of course, rooms for the pantheon of gods, although in Karnak it is limited to the "Theban Trinity" of Amen, Isis, and their son...I forget his name... There is also a "Holy of Holies" in the central room, which has depictions of various rituals on the walls, many defaced by Coptic Christians when they used the ruins as a church during 3-500s AD.

My favorite part was the immense pillared hall which houses over 130 pillars over 15 meters high. The central two files are crowned by capitals in the form of opened papyrus flowers, while on the remaining, shorter pillars, the buds are closed. It is meant to symbolize the primeval swamp from which Amen was born, in fact, there is still the vestiges of the holy lake in the center of the compound, which was believed to be the remnant of this great antedeluvian marsh. Anciently, it was likely the site of many rituals of rebirth. Now, it is filled with nasty algae and floating plastic bottles, a far cry from the original splendour.

Another interesting aspect of this hall is that many of the original colors have survived, protected beneath the lintels spanning the columns. Most of the colored texts are cartouches and the epithets which attend them, the grand majority belonging to Ramses the Great, who commissioned the most lavish expansions to the temple. Also present outside are two obelisks, one erected by Hatshepsut. The surrounding walls are covered with accounts of battles and accomplishments of the various kings. I wish I knew more heiroglyphics...

I also took the opportunity to sit and chat with some of the Egyptians who caretake at the ruins. I was surprised that I could actually have a decent 5 minute conversation with one of them and understand what he was saying. More remarkable, he understood me! Perhaps I'm starting to get this Arabic stuff after all!
.
Then headed to Luxor temple, and walked through once before, and once after sundown. It's a completely different feeling, seeing the ruins lit in haunting lights, throwing the epics carved into the walls into sharp relief behind the statues and sphinxes. I wandered about till most of the tourists had left to see the very cheesy and overpriced lightshow at Karnak, stopping to help a woman from Holland who was trying to get one of the caretakers to leave her alone. After he left, I made sure she got a taxi safely back to her hotel.

The next day, I toured the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens (Where, oddly enough, I talked to my mom again...she has a knack for catching me at interesting places...), Hatshepsut's Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon. For once in my life, I went on an organized tour. Usually I avoid them like the plague, as the grand majority are overpriced and rushed, but this one was pretty good, and I made some new friends among the other tourists. Met Lauren, a girl from Australia, and it happened to be her birthday, so we "celebrated" by wandering around the ruins in 100+ degree weather. It really knocked out most of the group, who seemed to be more content to sit in the shade than see the sites. I was still ready for more!
.
In the Valley of Kings, saw the tombs of 2 Ramseses...or is it Ramsesi? Anyway, 2 guys named Ramses, who may or may not have been remotely related. Also, Lauren and I ran (yes, ran) all the way to the back of the valley so we could see the tomb of Tuthmosis III, much to the consternation and chagrin of our guide. We'd heard about this tomb in particular, as its walls contain most of the Book of the Dead. It was pretty cool, especially because it went way down into the rock before opening up into the tomb. In other tombs, we saw Coptic graffiti (if you don't want to be found, hide underground in a blisteringly hot desert. That usually does the trick) and what apeared to be some kind of chart describing characteristics of various stars, in the tomb of Ramses IV or IX. Star gate. It must be true after all.

Hatshepsuts Temple was awesome, though, once again, stupid Tuthmosis had defaced much of it, including the account of the trading expedition to Nubia, the crowning achievement of Hatshepsuts reign. Originally, the temple also included the story of Hatshepsut's birth, wherin she is shown to be the direct child of Re, and therefore has the right to rule over her nephew's claims to the throne. In spite of this, the best original paintings can be found in the bottom right of the complex, in full color. They include several "Mut" birds (Mut is a goddess, not a mangy dog, people) and a depiction of offerings given to the soul of the King (or queen...she tried to do everything like a man, even wearing false beards and mustaches. However, in the sculptures of her, the features of the face, if of nothing else, are decidedly feminine.)

To finish of the day, after resting a spell at the hostel, went on a sailboat ride on the Nile to Banana Island, aptly named due to its overabundance of tropical fruits, which range from papaya, to lemons, to, of course, bananas. Two Koreans from my earlier tour were on the same boat, with their McDonalds, and we had a great time. Also met two women from Croatia, one of whom is a freelance translator. We had some cool conversations.
.
The sun was setting as we sailed home, and made for some amazing views of the Nile. We also drank hibiscus tea, while listening to, of all things, old recordings of Bob Marley. He seems to be all the rage here in Egypt, and more especially in Luksor. Well, look at that, I spelled it as a direct transliteration from Arabic...haha.

Regi had gotten me a ticket on an Egyptian train going back to Cairo. Usually, foreigners are required to ride a special, and according to authorities, safer, but most importantly, EXPENSIVE train, which is why I took the bus on the way down. However, there is the convenient loophole that an Egyptian can buy the tickets. As long as they don't mention who they're for, there's no problem. Once you have the tickets, nobody seems to care. Nobody even looked at me twice.

I sat next to Ann, a girl from Malaysia who was traveling here to visit friends. Helped her get her next train ticket when she got to Cairo, and then headed to my new apartment for some much needed sleep.

Alas, it was not to be, as my phone rang, informing me that I had class at 8 AM, and wondering where I was. So, right from the subway, I got back on the train and went to class. Thankfully, I made it through the day.

Thus ends my adventure to Luxor, (man I really have to fight to spell it like that...) and thus begins my stay in downtown Cairo. More on that in the next entry.

Ila Turkea--Part II

2009-05-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

OK, so where did we leave off...

Ahh yes...Stop 5: Konya

.
I had been feeling a cold coming on for a few days, and then decided to take the overnight bus to Konya and tour the next day, getting almost no sleep as a result. Not a good idea, and I really don't recommend it to anyone. Most of the day I was just trying to put one foot in front of the other, and hoping that I would get something out of all the sights. After all, Konya is the birthplace of Sufism, and the original home of the whirling dervishes. (We didn't see any real ones, but took a picture with the gilded golden dervish statue in the center of town.) We visited a few museums, on of which included the tombs of the most famous dervishes. It seems like the taller the turban on the tomb, the more important the dervish was. Oh, and they had dervishes for everything. Even a special dervish to go to the bazaar and buy stuff for the rest of the dervishes. And they had special circular dancing boards, with a nail in the middle, so that they could practice "whirling." On the tram back to the bus station, after sleeping on the grass near the main road and getting yelled at in Turkish (in all fairness I think he was telling me to guard my things) we met a nice Turkish student studying English and she made sure we got off at the right stop. And then it was on to

Stop 6: Goreme

In the heart of the ancient Roman province of Cappadocia, Goreme is home to some of the most famous scenery in Turkey, as well as some of the most interesting (in my opinion at least) ruins. These consist of several underground cities, which are despite their narrow, dual entrances, engineered to discourage invasion, are immense below ground. The largest includes stables, kitchens, living areas, wells, a church, and an MTC. Yes, you heard that right, a missionary training center.
.
Cappadocia became a stronghold for Christians during the era of Roman persecution, and the walls of various slot canyons are riddled with cave churches and dwellings that date from the Coptic era and before. Lindsey, Daphne, and I had a great time exploring these churches for a day, and climbing up into places where few people go. We even found a meditation chamber in one church, which had the quality of amplifying your voice when you chanted in just the right place. I sang an old song in Latin that I learned in men's choir at BYUI, and it sounded really cool.

Goreme is also the home of the quirky, or infamous, depending on your point of view, Love Valley, which is full of rock pillars which resemble, strangely, large thalluses. Yes. So that's enough on that.

Also, we found a superlative restaurant in the main shopping district, home to a lively Turkish chef named Mustafa and a man which we know simply as "the Guru" due to his transcendental view of life. We ate dinner with him once, and wanted to get him something, and asked what he wanted. Looking in front of him, he saw what he had already, and said simply, "soup." He is a Sufi musician, and has performed in many places around the world, including Carnegie hall. And he was very good. We enjoyed listening and watching Mustafa dance, especially when he included enthusiastic Japanese tourists.
.
We stayed in a cave hostel, and my room really was a cave. In fact, everyone took to calling it my "Hobbit Hole," and it quite resembled one.

Goreme was also where we all parted ways. First, Aden and Jae Hee left for Istanbul on the 19th, and Lindsey and Daphne two days later. I stayed another day and visited the Citadel, an immense outcropping of rock which imposingly overlooks the surrounding valley, and is riddled with passages, remnants of an ancient Roman fortress. I swear I almost killed myself several times as I scurried up half eroded stairs at awkward angles, and squeezed through 3 foot doorways. I then hiked back through Pigeon Valley, adding another 2 or 3 suicide attempts to the list, mostly because the trails I was following turned out no to be trails at all, but drainage sluices, and, as you know, water takes the shortest distance down--even if it's over the edge of a cliff. I almost did as well. Haha. Arrived back to the hostel safe and sound, and prepared for the 13 hour bus ride to

Stop 7: Bodrum

.
A middling tourist town on the Mediterranean coast, Bodrum, known anciently as Halicarnassos, was the home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, King Mausolus' Mausoleum (From which the word "mausoleum" comes.) Also, it boasts the largest underwater archaeology museum in the world, which includes such things as Ottoman shipwrecks, collections of amphorae, and the oldest shipwreck ever recovered, over 3000 years old from the Bronze age. They dated it by finding a seal from Queen Nefertiti of Egypt among the merchandise aboard.

And if this weren't enough, Bodrum was also the home of Herodotus, the "father of modern history." I have a special affinity for him as I have read his book, and took an amazing course on it in High School. I took pictures with his, unfortunately, less than well-cared-for statue.
.
There is also an Alexander the Great battle site which I wandered around, as well as heading to the marina to look around and try to get a fairy to a relaxing beach (at which I failed.) However, I was serendipitously present for the last day of "Tourist Week," which entails much free food, traditional dancing by a local troupe, and INSANE pumpkin carving contests (like the ones you see on TV...) I didn't know what was going on, but noticed people with free food, so just got in line. I also tried Turkish ice cream, which is very gummy, and doesn't fall out of the cone if you hang it upside down. (Like a Blizzard from DQ, except they DO fall out...)

Saw all the ruins and most of what I had come for the first day, so was mostly bored, hot, and tired from fruitlessly wandering about in search of another ruin when I boarded the bus for
.

Stop 8: Istanbul (take 2)

And arrived the next morning. Had two days, and spent much of the time in the Spice and Grand Bazaars. The Spice Bazaar was my favorite. I took tons of pictures, but there's no way to do it justice, especially because you can't record a smell. I could have sat there and smelled mounds of seasonings all day, especially the saffron. Also looked around in the Grand Bazaar for a gift for my future wife, and ended up settling on a beautiful silver filigreed bracelet. I got it big, and can cut it down if need be.

I also had the singular opportunity to visit 3 continents in one day. (Getting lost on two of them.) Asia was the most interesting. I simply went to the ferry port, asked (in Turkish) if the ferry went to Asia, and when I found that it did, got on. I had no idea exactly where in Asia it was going. Thank goodness it wasn't Turkmenistan and was only a half hour ride. Finding my way back to Europe was a little bit more difficult, but, with some good sense of direction (rare for me), some divine help (not so rare), and some nice people who spoke to me in German, I found my way back. Saw a few sights I'd missed, like the Byzantine aqueduct and the park, and then looked for the Grand Bazaar, getting lost (again.) Finally, it was time to leave, so I packed up my bracelet, my turkish delight, and my remaining currency and headed to the airport. On the way, I gave my last few coins to a performing bagpiper, so arrived in Africa (continent number 3) with absolutely no Turkish money, but a much richer life for the experience.

Ila Turkea

2009-05-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, this will probably be one of the longest blog entries you have ever read. If the fancy strikes, I may just break it into two separate installments for your convenience.

As will be easily noted by the date of posting, it has been some time since I last wrote, about three weeks if I’m not mistaken. In my defense, for two of those weeks I was out of the country. Well, this country…and my country. Spur of the moment, as it were, I decided to go to Turkey with a group of friends from the branch here, much to the dismay of my bank account. However, I realized that were I to stay here, I would really not have much of anything to do, as my next block of classes doesn’t start till May 4^th (incidentally I plan to miss the first one, but that’s another story.) So, four days before everyone else left, I decided I might as well, bought a round trip ticket to Istanbul, and was, as they say, “in.”

Now, I was in Turkey for two weeks, and I could go on for pages and pages. In fact, I already did, and if you would like the exhaustive account I would be happy to lend you my journal. However, in the interest of time, both yours and mine (I have a dinner appointment with my hometeachers in about an hour), I will attempt to give you the highlights while still keeping it entertaining, and I think the easiest way to do that is to give you a short synopsis of each of the stops we made along the way.

Stop 1: Istanbul

Arrived around 7 pm on the same flight as the Williamsons, and as we were walking to the hostel we had booked, were met by Lindsey and Daphne, who had arrived that morning, and they informed us that we all had a pending dinner appointment with some random Turks who owned a hotel (a bright blue one, no less). So we dropped our stuff off and rushed over to meet Ali and Mike (See if you can guess which is the Turkish name) who treated us to a traditional dinner of kebap, rice, and vegetables, awed us with Mike’s massive collection of “random stuff fromaround the world,” (most of which was hanging from the ceiling above our heads like the sword of justice), let us dress up in various ethnic costumes, and then invited us to eat breakfast with them the next day.

The morrow was our “Grand Tour of Istanbul Day.” After breakfast with Ali, we saw the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Museum, and the Basilica Cisterns, at a grand total of about $50, cause none of them gave student discounts. *insert angry face here* However, the massive swaths of blooming tulips in the park were free. And I got to visit a Harem. And drink Sahlab. And the Ali took us to a Kofta (Turkish meatball) restaurant that is very popular with the locals, and rightfully so since the food is delicious. It’s been around for, oh, about 200 years, and has the Ottoman business permit of the original owner hanging on the wall to prove it.

Went home and crashed, as the next day we were leaving early for

Stop 2: Cannakale

Which was a six hour and $35 bus ride from Istanbul, including the ferry over the Agean. It was also on the ride that we began to realize that this trip had not been very well planned out. All of the hostels had been reserved in advance, which meant traveling during the day, which meant about half the time to see the sights. This, though annoying, was not fatal, and was easily remedied by simply cancelling some of the reservations.

On our way there, we passed through Gallipoli, site of the famous WWI battle between the Ottomans and the British Empire, which used mostly Australian and New Zealand troops (The origin of ANZAC day.) I found it strange that the day they got the butts handed to them on a platter became a national holiday, but a New Zealander explained it to me. This was the time when they realized their own national identities. They wanted to be in charge of their own men, and not have some other person from thousands of miles away send them to their deaths, even if that someone was Winston Churchill (which, by the way, it was.) So, that piece of information goes in the little box in my head labeled “Oceania,” along with inflatable kangaroos, roodoo, a tribe of Aborigines, some Maoris, and several Foster’s beer commercials.

After our arrival at our hostel, we rushed off to Truva, better known as Troy, and arrived in time to see the ruins before they closed. It was fun traipsing about the ancient walls pretending to be Hector, Achilles, and various gods from the Greek pantheon. Actually, we just wandered, or rather, jogged about, after taking some time to shoot photos of ourselves in the Trojan horse. With windows in it. Who woulda thought there would be people in there? Nah. Let’s bring it into our city. Epic Fail… or, more appropriately, the Fail the wrote an Epic about…

And there was an awesome market full of wonderful Turkish people who let us try umpteen kinds of Turkish delight, and cheeses, and fruits, and whatever else we wanted, and whom we rewarded graciously by buying their wares. Twist my arm. That stuff is akin to the ambrosia of the gods.

Stop 3: Selcuk/Efes

Took the overnight bus and arrived early in the morning, after which we went straightway to the ruins of Ephesus. (Efes) I had been hoping to spend Sunday there reading the words of Paul, but after the first day I had really seen all I needed to. The library was especially gorgeous, albeit thronged with hoards of rabid tourists, and we had fun pretending to poo on the Roman toilets. And Aden juggled the girls in the theater.

After that, we wandered around looking for the temple of Artemis, and actually ended up finding the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers first. (strangely enough, the signs that pointed there, led there.) Legend has it that seven Christian youths wandered out of Ephesus one day and stopped to rest in this cave. Upon waking, they returned to the market to buy food, and found themselves hailed as martyrs. They had slept for 200 years. We climbed into the tombs cut into the rocks and took pictures, and then ate these little Turkish ravioli things with yogurt that were oh so delicious. Speaking of which, I don’t think I had any bad Turkish food. In fact, not much of it was even “good.” In large part, it was EXCELLENT, even the mini cakes imparted to us by the stewards on the overnight busses. Yes, they had a beverage and munchies service on the bus. How novel.

The 3^rd wonder of the world consisted of…a large pillar. However, the magic of the place must still be fresh after 2000, for I saw no less than three different pairs of animals mating. Or maybe it’s just because it’s Spring. And Aden fell into a 3 hectare puddle of water.

That night, we broke into a castle. Ottoman, late 14^th century. Known as “The Citadel,” it stands on a hill overlooking the plains of Selcuk, and has been closed to tourists for around 3 years due to the collapse of a wall. However, Mahmet, who works at the hostel, said he would take us, and he did so. A group of about 9 of us climbed to the castle, and slipped through a hole cut in the fence. It seems the castle is open to anyone who cares to enter, as long as they’re not a tourist, cause a ton of local kids were playing on the ruined battlements. So, we walked the broken walls, took pictures of the cisterns, and climbed to the top of the crumbling minaret of the central mosque, which, though it probably wasn’t safe, was oh so satisfying.

Stop 4: Pammukale

After a three hour bus ride, we all found our hostel and went to visit the famous "Cotton Castle" hotsprings. They're on the side of a cliff and because of the minerals in them, have made an interesting series of troughs and shelves of white gypsum which seem to cascade down the mountainside. In addition, at the top are the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Heirapolis, home of one of the largest Necropolises of the ancient world. Small wonder. Even today the springs claim to be able to heal everything from rheumatism, to asthma, to obesity. (Which explains the largely obese European tourists, most of whom were partial to nasty speedos.) In ancient times, those with ailments due to age or other problems would move here to try the virtues of the springs. Apparently, they can't cure death. With that many old people, there's bound to be lots of tombs. Hence the Northern necropolis, which stretches for several kilometers over the hills Northwest of the city. We spent several hours hiking through the hills, through crumbling Byzantine churches and mausoleums cut into the hillsides, then hurried back to see te sunset over the springs.

The next day we attempted to find the red rock hotsprings, but ended up going in the completely wrong direction, which was good, because after we returned and found them, they were rather unremarkable, and we would have been twiddling our thumbs wondering what to do for the rest of the day. However, as fate would have it, we were picked up in a rickety old car by an old gentleman which we know as Hace (whether that was really his name, only God knows, but he wrote it on a piece of paper.) We tried to explain where we wanted to go, and he was like, yes yes, and drove us down a winding side road. To his house. Which just happens to be next to a 75 foot waterfall. I looked overthe edge and took a picture for my mom, and we all took pics with Hace, too. He showed us a local plant used for toothaches. I ate some. It made my tongue numb.

To be continued...

Minor hitches in the mechanism

2009-03-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

So, looks like my oath to write in this more frequently may not have been so lightly take after all. Actually, I happen to have internet access while I'm waiting for my wash to finish drying, and have nothing else to do, so why not?

Actually, this week has been quite interesting. Several things have popped up which are causing some problems, and I am more than happy to tell you all about them, if you are more than happy to read them.

Anyway, "thing that popped up" number one: Problems with roommate(s). Well, not actually MY roommate, he's pretty cool, but our OTHER roommates, also known as his brother and his brother's girlfriend. They have this annoying habit of kicking us out of our apartment for 12 hours a day, two days a week, so, as my roommate says, they can "enjoy" it. I doubt very much that they care all that much about the amenities of the apartment, and just want a place to be "alone." Yah... In other words, we want to be nowhere near here... However, this has the rather unpleasant side effect of placing me on the street without a home for 16 hours a week with nothing to do, unless I want to cart around my laptop and various study materials and find a vacant bench in the park, or rely upon the mercies of my many wonderful friends in the branch for sanctuary. Thank God for the church!

I have been pressuring my roommate to remedy the problem for quite some time, but his brother had been kind of avoiding the situation. Finally, they talked, and it was decided that it would be best if I found a new place to live. I found out that Ahmed owes his brother some money, or some such, so his hands are tied. He didn't let his brother know I was moving in, and so he (the brother) is unwilling to give up his erstwhile freedom to hijack the place each Sunday and Wednesday. So, I am apartment hunting again. A nice, quiet, private studio would be nice.

Don't get me wrong, this apartment is pretty good, especially the location, but I don't appreciate being kept up at night by loud TV programs, not to mention the loud Arabs watching them. Also, it's dirty, and Ahmed doesn't seem too hot on cleaning, and has tried to hire a maid, but for some reason she comes only sporadically. Also, I have been without water for the past 2 days, as well as having a clogged drain before that, which is not pleasant (I can't wash clothes or take more than military showers...thankfully, Lindsey and a couple other friends have stepped in and saved the day.) So, that's my housing situation.

Then, there's work. What work, you ask? Any work, as long as it pays a decent wage and there's enough of it to do. Tutoring hasn't panned out, and so far my other queries have all come up empty, but we shall keep trying.

Finally, it seems that Fjr may not be able to accomodate me for this next class block. Oh the joy. So, two options have I. I can hire a tutor, which would be fun, or, I can go traveling, which would also be fun. So, that is probably the least of my problems, as all options are, as I so astutely observe, fun.

So, that's an update. I'll keep you informed of developments as they progress!

Joseph

Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...

2009-03-21T05:09:00.000-07:00

So, this is going to be my second entry. A lot has happened in the past...wow, it's been a month. OK, so, I solemnly swear that I will do better on posting to my blog. There, that should do it. I now have no excuse for not keeping this thing up to date. Unless of course, it's that I don't have a cheap enough internet connection at my apartment.

Speaking of which... Last month I unknowingly racked up about a $500 internet bill (Yes, not Egyptian pounds, DOLLARS…DOOLLLAAARRRSSS...) Ahmed had neglected to tell me that the 3G internet I was so happy to have charged by the megabyte of interchange, 1 LE (about 20 cents) per MB. Yah, that's like 5 minutes on facebook. And I was downloading stuff, surfing the web, playing games, videochatting... you get the idea. Well, never again. Hopefully, we'll be getting a landline into our apartment soon, but until then, it's the internet cafe and a few helpful friends for me. Good thing I brought a laptop...haha. Anyways, Ahmed's brother, who runs the finances for the shop (and the apartment as well, so it appears) called me and wanted to know what was happening, and I explained that this wasn't how it worked in the states, but I was willing to cover the costs. He was very nice, and said that I would only have to pay $200 US, which is an enormous amount here in Egypt, but not as much as I was planning on having to pay. I probably should have tried to pay more, now that I look back on it, but I was glad just to have it all worked out and over with.

Sweets set out for the Prophet's Birthday

I really like the branch here. There are so many people that I get along with, and I look forward to seeing them every Sunday. I'd have to say that about half of the people work for the government in some aspect, most in the embassy here in Cairo, and we also have a few Arab members, as well as a French family, a Sudanese family, and a man from Nigeria, Bertram, who is like the coolest guy ever. I taught him to play pool a few weeks ago at the Cannons (Bro Cannon works at the embassy) and it was a blast!

Bro Griggs, an archeologist that is funded by BYU and runs a dig out in the Fayoum Oasis, about three hours from here, gave a cool presentation on their dig that I got to go to. The site they work is a cemetery who's history of use spans about 500 years, from the Ptolemaic into the Coptic eras. They shared some of the findings that they have had, including the mode of burial (Christians have their feet buried toward the East, to rise to meet Christ when he comes, while earlier pagan burials face the other direction, according to the belief that the dead go into the West), and they have also found some symbolism on the various shrouds and other textiles from the graves. He explained how archeology is a lot of guesswork, and really all you can say about theories are that they're the best idea anyone's come up with yet. Sounds like you can get a BS degree in Archeology, too. Maybe I should! :-)

On the subject of education, I found out that I did not make the cut into the U of U program for next Fall, which kind of leaves me wondering what I’m doing here and what exactly God’s plan for me is. I had kinda been having some doubts about whether a Masters in Middle East studies was the way to go, if I could really stand having to sit through that many classes based on one subject. That’s really just not the way I work, but no one seems to want a Renaissance man anymore. It’s all specialization and micromanagement these days. Maybe I was just born 500 years too late…Maybe Bro Griggs would be digging me up… What a pleasant thought…

So, as far as a life calling, sorta back to square one. I feel like Gerry in the Pixar short that plays himself at chess. He gets down to the last move, and everywhere he tries to put his king, the other him is like “Uh-uh-uh.” That’s kinda where I’m at. Every time I pick a direction, even if it seems like a good one at the moment, there’s that little “uh-uh-uh” nudge holding me back. Or worse…

And then there’s worse. Like when I planned to go to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings this weekend. Lindsey, a girl in the ward who’s studying at AUC (The American University at Cairo), her roommate Daphne, who’s American Chinese, and I, had all planned to pop down there for the weekend. Lindsey had found prices for the trains online for like 90 LE (Egyptian Pounds…about $15) and so we went down to the station to get them. Well, guess what, wouldn’t you know it that the train schedule just changed so there’s only one train that foreigners are allowed to ride, other than the exorbitantly expensive sleeper cars, and it cost 165 LE. We were sure there was some sort of mistake, but after calling her Arab friend and having him talk to the clerks, a little bit of arguing, and a friendly Egyptian man who tried to help out, we had the same results. So we went to the bus station and got tickets for 100 LE. Not as comfy, but it would get us there over night and at near the same time. And all was well. Or so I thought until the next day, when I showed up at Lindsey’s apartment for the last meal before heading out. We ordered in fried chicken from Chili’s, which is more than I’m usually willing to pay for food here (OK, so it was a grand total of like 4 dollars a piece, but hey, I’m cheap. I usually eat for under a dollar a meal at the falafel place.) Everything has delivery here, even Mcdonalds, and I think I’m going to order once just to say that I did it. Anyway, I had been feeling a bit odd, but chalked it up to being hungry, as I hadn’t eaten since around noon, and it was nigh on 7 pm. You can probably guess that outcome. I ate as much as I could, hoping it would calm my stomach down, but, as greasy food usually does, it didn’t help much it ended up being given to the mildly confused bowab (the doorman who cares for the apartment complex) in a double plastic baggy. Luckily, I had just learned the word for puke in Arabic and was able to say it to him as I stumbled out the door. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the look on his face more had I not been as worried about not falling flat on my own.

Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the bus station. Instead, I ended up staying the night with the Williamson’s, a young married couple that lives not far from Lindsey and Daphne. Jae Hee, (aka Sis. Williamson) had had a tutoring appointment fall through and had stopped by to say goodbye, and had gotten to take part in the fun. She kindly offered to let me spend the night with them, as they have a spare bedroom, and I was having chills and shaking uncontrollably from time to time. I guess I had it coming as I haven’t been really sick in over a year. They set me up with a mummy style sleeping bag (in Egypt, go figure) a queen sized bed, and a nice hot cup of peppermint tea. In spite of that, I ended up having delirious thoughts until about 4 AM, and then slept quite well until noon. Around 2:30, I finally got up enough strength to make it home, and stayed there until going to the Pixar party that night. Where we watched “Gerry’s Game.” I’ve been living on bread and Gouda cheese since then, waiting till I’m sure I can handle something more substantial.

Like the excellent Eritrean food that Lindsey and I had earlier this week. It seems we do a lot of stuff together as everyone else is busy, and it’s no fun going it alone. She showed me this place on the sixth floor of a downtown building, where one week a month the African refugees run a shop and restaurant. The goods were pretty cool, the food excellent (can’t beat that Eritrean spicy roast beefy stuff!) and the company was also entertaining. We met an Arabic professor working on a thesis on teaching Arabic to foreigners who offered to give us free lessons, and a Sudanese lady who was weaving some of the things for sale. We had a fun time, and I understood quite a bit!

Earlier this month, Jae Hee, Lindsey, and I had the great opportunity to go visit Saqqara with Bro. Knapp, who’s been in the ward for about 5 years and has studied a lot about the various ruins in the area. Saqqara is the home of the step pyramid of Zoser, the first pyramid ever built (not a mastaba, either, a PYRAMID!) And guess who the architect was? Imhotep. No, he wasn’t some disgruntled priest who murdered a pharaoh and was sentenced to an eternity in limbo to come forth from the grave every few millenia to aggravate passing adventurers. Actually, he was rather a nice guy with a round face, bald head, pleated skirt, and melodious voice (well, maybe. I couldn’t tell that from the 5 inch statue in the museum where the first impressive exhibit you see as you walk in is the chipped remains of a sculpture, consisting solely of Imhotep’s feet. That’s the mother of first impressions, let me tell you.) Anyway, after realizing that my grasp of hieroglyphics had woefully digressed from its former glory, and being greatly encouraged to review them, we left the museum to check out the temple complex.

View of Zoser's Pyramid from the Ruins

You enter through a room filled with stone pillars, meant to resemble a forest. Originally, the columns were painted red, to look like wood, and the supporting breastworks black. After passing through this, you come upon the pyramid, the great artificial mountain in the midst of the surrounding dunes. Bro. Knapp took us around to the various alcoves and tombs, some of which contain beautifully carved hieroglyphs, where the individual rays of each feather on a bird can be clearly seen, even after 4000 years. He explained to us some of the symbolism behind the monument, which has a many parallels with modern-day LDS temple worship, and even paid a guard to allow us to see the statue of Zoser enclosed in a chamber of stone, which is lit each spring on the Vernal equinox, signaling the time of planting in ancient Egypt.

After walking around for a few hours, Jae Hee started to get lightheaded. She hadn’t eaten breakfast, and had neglected to bring any water, so Bro. Knapp lead her back to the car, giving Lindsey and I directions on how to get back to the parking lot. Well, we got distracted. By many things. First, by the relief carvings on the entrance to the ceremonial walkway, which used to connect the complex to the Nile. It is separated from the ground by vaulting beneath it, making it neither a part of this world, or the next. The reliefs depicted the construction of the monument as well as facets of ancient life. I think my favorite was seeing a guy filleting fish! Above, carved stars sat in a background which still maintained some of its original blue coloring. I was happy to notice that they were actually the hieroglyph which means “star.” To the ancients, their language was art, and each artist gives his own personal flare to the inscriptions. You can see where the Arabs got their love for writing and language.

It's a little blurry but you can see some of the Detail

Coming through the entrance, we peered over the edge of the walkway to see a small group of locked doors interspersed with panels of carved glyphs, and determined to find our way down. Before we could do so, we were accosted by the gate keeper to the tomb of Wenis, who explained how, for a small fee, he would open the door to the tomb and allow us to see the “beautiful colors” of the tomb of Wenis and his son. Lindsey started to protest in Arabic, after which the man repeated exactly the same sales pitch in Arabic. Eventually he left to tend his camel or something, and we ran down to the tombs when he wasn’t looking. It was cool to see the walls of glyphs being slowly covered by the sand as it cascaded over their edges and piled against them. In Egypt, the desert reclaims all. Unfortunately, all the gates to the tombs were locked, and I had neglected to bring a set of lock picks to Egypt…

The hut and Camel of the Caretaker of Wenis's Tomb

The Desert Reclaims All

As far as seeing the sights, I also went to a local market this past week, where they sell everything from meat, to carpets, to clothes and cell phones, to small children. No, actually I don’t remember any children for sale, though I did look down once to find two beautiful pairs of eyes belonging to two cute little girls staring up at me. They were sisters who had decided that I was worthy of their oranges after hearing me speak Arabic to some other kids. I couldn’t say no, and was actually rather touched by the whole thing. Kids are the same no matter where you go. No wonder the Savior spoke so highly of them and declared that we are to “become as little children.” I learn to appreciate that more and more the more that I travel.

Classes are going well, and I’m about half-way through the second set of them. I love the language, and it’s coming along, even the verb tenses, which are a little complicated but not so bad as some other languages.

In other recent news, a guy on a motorcycle threw a bomb into a café near the main market and killed 8 people, I saw a murder victim on the way to church one Friday, I got my hair cut, which included an eyebrow and nose hair trim, and I’m trying to find Chinese people to tutor in English. I really need money so that I can stay longer if I want to. I might, I might not. I at least want to make enough to go to Lebanon in May and Israel in August. That would be nice.

Well, that’s about it for today. I really do enjoy writing these and I should do it more often, like, once a week. If I get around to it. I think I may go have some bread and cheese. Or study hieroglyphs. Or more likely just fall asleep in bed. Later.

Joseph

PS. I posted about 20 pictures, but it takes forever. And then didn't realize I had to publish to save them to the blog. So, facebook has the other pictures I was going to post...

The first two weeks...

2009-02-20T12:17:00.000-08:00

So, this is it everyone, the first installment of my so-called "Blog" of my Egyptian adventures. Needless to say, the account of my experiences in China left much to be desired and had many holes, which, I am glad to say, are not really holes, but only appear that way online. Seriously, it's all recorded somewhere in my journal, I swear! At any rate, I shall endeavor to make a more complete account of my time here in the Middle East for each of your reading enjoyment(s)(?).
I guess I should start on the day I went to the airport in Salt Lake. After visiting Rexburg, where I went dancing, and hanging out with friends in SLC, which are, of course, very important things to do but of a completely different ilk than this account is meant to convey, I began my journey as all journeys begin--late. Not so late that I was all that worried about missing my flight, but just late enough to add wings to my feet. (Or lead, as I was driving my car.) And, of course, there were not one accident, but two (yes two, within 100 yards of each other. Stressful day to be a cop I'm sure, especially when you're covering one accident and are suddenly called up to the next, which has just occurred.) slowing traffic on my way to the airport.
Got there safely at least, and parked my car in one of the absolute farthest lots away from the terminal I needed to be at, and then had to think of what to do with my keys, as Erin, my sister, was picking my ride up later that day. I finally settled on an ingenious arrangement involving a tin can, an unlocked rear door, the trunk, and an Ensign, to sufficiently hide the keys while they waited for the advent of their procurator. Then I headed into the airport for the first leg of my trip.
When I arrived in Denver, I found that London, my next destination, was under a foot of snow and shut down indefinitely, but the nice people at British Airways (Illhamdu lillah! praise be to God!) Sent me over to Lufthansa airlines to be rerouted through Frankfurt, getting me into Cairo four hours earlier than planned. (Note: This sudden turning of the weather is by no means an uncommon occurrence for me, and sometimes I feel akin to the "rain god" in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Winter weather followed me into China where it shut down 5 provinces for a week, then again came with me to WA state, to shut down the Portland area, and then actually thought it would be smart and head me off at London, but I tricked it and headed south. In Egypt it won't find me. Inshallah (God willing).
Wouldn't you know that the first person I really met when I got to Egypt was my crazy cab driver Sayyid, who was infinitely surprised by the fact that I didn't smoke tobacco (or hashish), drink, or have sex, and then proceeded to tell me all about his two wives, six kids, and how he was "number one crazy. Saddam Hussein, he number two crazy." At least he spoke a little English and was able to get me to where I needed to go.
After hauling my 60 pound suitcase, laptop, camera, and backpack full of books up four flights of stairs, I met the Ali family, who had graciously invited me to stay with them until I found a place of my own. Phyllis is a teacher here at the CAC (Cairo American College, which is really a HS/Junior High) and Adel, her Egyptian husband, does real estate...or something, I think. Sarah, their 24(ish) year old daughter then took me to meet the extended family, who, as is typical in Egypt, all live in the same apartment building, each son of Adel's father having their own floor. There was much rushing by the women to cover their hair with their "hijab" (the handkerchief-like headpieces to cover their hair, which, I found out, are more a part of popular culture than religious observance, as sometimes they just decide it's not worth the trouble...haha) and excited speaking of Arabic, and confusion on my part other than, if I recall, a very short introduction by myself consisting of my name, and a few "itsharafna"s (pleased to meet you). Lena, who is 6 or 7, took an immediate liking to me and determined to single-handedly teach me to speak Arabic, beginning with "hazozo," the word for bracelet. So far I've learned the words for necklace, earrings, watch, sandals, and shoes as well from her. :-) Man I love kids.
Fast forward a few days. I arrived Wednesday night, and met the branch here on Friday (the day that the Muslims have their weekly meetings at mosque, and which the church has also determined to be the best day for religious observance of the Sabbath.) It was fast Friday, but I can't recall if I fasted, it being my second fast day that week...I did bear my testimony and meet a lot of cool people. And learn about the upcoming Chili cook-off...more on that later.
Saturday found me searching for the Fajr Center for the Study of the Arabic Language. I found it, with Adel's help, and went through most of the registration process, then returned Sunday to complete my registration and pay my fees ($250 for a 75 hour group class in formal Arabic, or Fusha), and Monday to begin class. I would say I was surprised to find that I was the only person in the class, but they'd told me about this possibility and I was quite satisfied with the outcome. I mean, that's a great price for one on one. What was NOT so great was the fact that after every 4 hour session on the first three days I left class with a headache. My instructor, Abdu, insists that only Arabic be spoken in class, and only uses his limited English in emergencies, which is great for teaching the language, but not so much for the comfort of my cranium. After the fourth class, however, I found that I was headacheless. Excellent, now I can study like any other class (ie. right after it finishes) instead of having to have some cool-off time for my overtaxed cerebrum. Since then, Josh, a guy from church also studying Arabic, has joined the class, and things have become a bit more lively. We don't go through quite as much stuff, but we have a lot more fun. And, I am finally starting to be able to make sentences and express simple ideas, not to mention making all of the exquisite gutteral sounds that are nonexistent in English. (I swear, we went over all those letters in one day...my throat was SOOOO dry afterward...) There are also some interesting gospel parallels in the language, like the fact that the colloquial word for bread, "aieesh", literally means "life," and that the word for planet, "koukeb," is extremely close to the word "Kokob" used in the book of Abraham. Type and a shadow in all things, for sure.
When I haven't been in class, I've spent time studying, wandering the streets, figuring out the insane mini-bus system here, which is in reality a most excellent mode of transportation, as the drivers know exactly where they're going and for what price (unlike most taxi drivers, I've found out, much to my dismay and that of my pocketbook.), and looking for an apartment. Had several leads, but then struck gold after I posted an add on Craigslist. I was contacted by a housing agent informing me that his Egyptian friend was in need of a roommate. Turns out that Ahkmed, who is now my roomie, is the owner of a local fruit and veggie shop known as the tree, after the large live tree growing through the roof in the middle of the store. Very noueveau if you ask me. I pay under $200 US per month, get wireless 3G internet, a room to myself, and all the fresh fruits and vegetables I care to eat.
Speaking of food, I've found several things I love here in Egypt. Beginning with the falafels. Crunchy deep fried balls of goodness, falafels are the best friend of the Egyptian on the go. Here, they're made by grinding raw fool beans before mixing them with spices, and sometimes wrapping them around an egg, and dumping them into a vat of boiling oil. Coupled with tomatoes, cucumbers (which I can actually stand now for some reason), and an amazing sauce, all stuffed into fresh pita bread, they make for a great, quick meal in the morning before class. And the fact that all the sandwich guys shout out my name when I enter the store makes it that much more appealing. (I'm a regular there now.)
Juice shops abound, and serve everything from fresh guava, to sugar cane, to berry yoghurt banana delight, to carrot juice. (I asked for that once by mistake. I will never forget the word for carrot I'm sure...) Finally, there's Koosheree, a blend of rice, macaroni, chickpeas, and tomato sauce, sometimes with a nice sauce of foolfool kheimy (hot peppers) which most Egyptians don't like, but I relish. (China sort of spicified my palate I guess...)
Oh, and spiciness reminds me of my former vow to share the most excellent insanity of the branch chili cookoff with you all. There were entries claiming to be everything from South American shamans who ate the prepared peppers to see visions, to a recipe rumored to be from an Egyptian tomb and translated with the help of Hugh Nibley, to a long Welsh named chili, to what Joseph Smith declared to be "the pure Adamic chili." I think that I preferred the chunky, tender meet and slow-cooked perfection of the "South American" chili the most, though the "insert unintelligible long Welsh name here" chili came in a close second.
So there you have it, a short synopsis of my first 2 weeks in Egypt. So far I haven't seen the pyramids, been attacked by a terrorist (unless you count rabid taxi drivers at the airport), or spit on by a camel, but I'm sure those things are sure to come. I'll keep you informed, hopefully at the relatively short interval of every two weeks. (Inshallah!)

Cheers!

Joseph in Egypt