Cairo and Mars

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To see pictures from the Pyramids, you can check out my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2147409&l=ac1be&id=5314056

Sorry for the long delay in this one too. I seem to just suck at life when it comes to updating this blog especially with pictures. The last few weeks have provided me and my peers with some events that did not fit Egypt or were everything we love about Egypt.
About three weeks ago now, one of the AUC students reserved a boat cruise on the Nile for whomever from AUC wanted to go. Of course, as college students, the first question that came to find was would we be able to drink aboard this boat. The answer was yes and later we found out through our mad smuggling skills that we could bring our own supplies. Naturally, the Nile boat cruise with a DJ turned into a booze cruise and a great excuse for us to finally break down the wall known in Egypt as something being "haram," or illegal, immoral, not approved of by the Quran. We all were able to dance up a storm in public in ways that are only reserved for the darkness of dance clubs like Latex and Thrust. The boat took off around midnight and made its way up and down the Nile in the heart of downtown Cairo before docking at 4AM, which meant that we didn't finally go to bed until after 5AM, or in my case 6AM. It was a great night that really changed the dynamics among the study abroad group and made us all so much closer. The rest of the weekend was not as major by comparison as I especially was left exhausted from my night of dancing and had too much work to play.
The following weekend was spent in Cairo. On Friday, two of my friends and I went to Midan Tahrir, or the main square near campus, and grabbed lunch before starting our exploration and deciphering of the Egyptian Museum. Friday mornings and early afternoons are the best times to explore Cairo. Since Friday is the day of prayer, everyone is home still before going to the mosque to pray and generally taking it easy since Thursday is the big party night. The streets have 1/10 of the cars on them, the streets are in the process of being swept clean, and you can hear the call to prayer echoing through the streets as the background music to your stroll. After a nice lunch of falafel, we made it to the Egyptian Museum. We were stopped by an Egyptian who tried to get us to come see his tourist trap stop by saying there is an underground tunnel through the metro (which there is but not where we were) to get to the Museum without having to cross the busy street. After a bit of talking and humoring him, we escaped and crossed the street without losing a toe. The Egyptian Museum is this beautiful sunset pink color with a green garden enclosed by a metal gate and scattered with statues from Antiquity. Also, filling the garden are the packs of tourist groups that descend on the Museum daily. My friends and I couldn't help but notice the attire of the tourists and could already sense the reverse culture shock hitting us. Women in skirts above their knees and capped sleeved shirts seemed haram and improper to us after a month living here, so you can only imagine our shock to see a woman in a miniskirt with a top that had cutouts and tied in the back and around her neck. After overpaying since we aren’t Egyptian, we make it in only to be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of artifacts, statues, sarcophagi, jewels, accessories for the after life and people. It was the most amazing chaos I've ever seen. You walk in and are instantly greeted by the Palette of King Narmer, which shows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt through their two separate crowns being worn by Narmer. These two crowns then become a fixture in all Egyptian relief work and statues for the rest of the Ancient Egypt. Naturally, I freaked out a bit as I usually do when face-to-face with one of my favorite works of art and made my friends suffer through my explanation of what it was and why it is important. And sadly, this wasn't the only time this happened to them, as I did it again when we got to the back of the museum and happened upon the Amarna Style masterpieces with their bubble butts, big hips, full lips and soft, rounded, but still chiseled facial features.
Unfortunately, I have a fear of mummies and how creepy it is that they are so well-preserved so I explored on my own while my friends check out the mummies only to capture the heart of a guard when I ask where the restroom was. He kept asking me my name, and I kept asking him where the bathroom was, and this went back and forth with me giving in bit by bit to humor him in hopes of getting my answer. It didn't because he grabbed my hand and point to the ring I wear on my right ring finger and asked me if I was taken. In my efforts to end his affection, I told him that I have a fiancé in Greece. He seemed saddened by this news and so I was quick to ask for the bathroom before he started to ask me more questions and it worked. When I left the bathroom, I thought I was in the clear, but apparently he rotated areas in the museum and was now in the section where I was to meet my friends. As we explored the galleries I made a point of keeping a friend with me to try and scare him away. It didn't work as he followed us through the galleries and even into a dark little room filled with jewelry found in the tombs all the time watching me and not the numerous tourists manhandling every statue. After a speedy exit from the gallery when he was distracted by a fellow guard, we escaped down the next major gallery hall. I was in the clear for awhile until we were heading downstairs to leave when he reappeared climbing the stairs. I avoided eye contact after noticing him and quickly turned to talk to my friend at my side, but that did not stop him as he cheerfully exclaimed, "I found you!" and then eyed me from the railing above as we continued downstairs and out of the Museum. I have made it a point to avoid having Egyptian habibis (or sweethearts) and attracting too much attention from them, but this guy was a true Egyptian and still tried despite the fact that I apparently had a fiancé in Greece.
That weekend ended with a massive feast prepared by myself and three other GW girls for a group of mainly Georgetown and GW students. It was so much fun trying to figure out recipes, measurements, and the kitchen while having 4 cooks and one DJ once he arrived in the kitchen. We had spreads, a chicken with roasted almonds, onions and rice, stuffed zucchini and peppers, an eggplant casserole filled with veggies, and rice pudding. It was so much fun getting to spend time with the DC crowd for a bit and we plan on doing more of these throughout the semester.
The following weekend was our chance to escape Cairo. The DC crowd decided it would be wise to go to the Black and White Desert before it got too hot (which was a great idea but didn't work too well as it was still plenty hot but then again it’s the desert!). What started out as a group of 10-15 quickly expanded into a group of 50! Although some of us were a little worried about the size of the group and whether or not it would be as much fun with so many people, their worrying was a waste since it was so much fun! We met up at campus at 7AM but didn't leave (in true Egyptian style) until around 8AM and began our 4 hour drive to the desert. Previously, I have sworn that the drive from Indianapolis to Chicago is one of the most painfully boring drives b/c there is nothing to see but corn and soy beans and there are only like 4 curves in the road. I stand corrected. The desert wins by a landslide. I spent most of the trip there wide awake watching the few signs of life pass by and found it interesting how large some of the mosques are in the middle of nowhere. After our tire blowing and stopping to pray, we finally made it to the "hotel" where we'd eat lunch before dividing up into 4x4s and taking off into the desert. My 4x4 was a GW one with two-AUC GW girls and one of their roommates from back at GW. We had a great driver who knew more English than we were aware of and therefore, might have made fools of ourselves talking about things that aren't appropriate here. Our caravan made its way through the Black Desert before pulling off the road and taking to the sand. This is when the trip got super exciting as we were bouncing all over the car and the desert while our driver floored it to make it even more thrilling. Finally we came upon one of the most beautiful sites of all, Mars. Our caravan stops at the top of this giant hill of sand and rock and heads down into a valley of similar sand and rock mountains and formations. The sand has a red hue to it and seems out of this world when paired with the chalky rocks of the White Desert. You really wonder if you are in Egypt while you climb the rocks and attempt to walk through the deep sand. Our caravan moves on to this flat area that is all white with little black stones everywhere that are in various floral shapes. After collecting an assortment of these stones, we move on to an area of the White Desert where the mushroom rocks are. These are all white rocks that have formed in the shape of mushrooms, but sometimes they can look like a camel or anything else your dehydrated mind can imagine. We head towards an area where every group in the desert (which this weekend meant majority of AUC students) camps and relaxed while our Bedouin drivers set up camp with mattresses for us to sit on around tables for dinner, tents to sleep in if we want and a fire. As night fell, the hazy sky cleared revealing more stars than I knew existed. Me and "50 of my closest friends" as I like to refer to our group as spent the evening talking, taking walks, or looking at the stars trying to find ones we knew until the Bedouins finished our chicken, rice, and potatoes meal. After dinner, we either continued with our previous activities or joined the Bedouins around the fire for singing and dancing while they played music for us. Finally, we all began to crash and about half of us slept outside while the other half was in tents. Unfortunately, one of the bottles of red wine that I had in my bag decided to break open and get all by 2 shirts wet and stained. Nonetheless, my 4x4 companions let me cuddle up in between them and share a blanket while we slept outside. The next morning we had a breakfast of cheese, hardboiled eggs, bread and tea before climbing the crystal mountain. We then went to experience a "cold spring" where several of our Bedouins took baths or splashed each other and by process some of us. The spring wasn't very cold and was a little gross after you saw a Bedouin floating in it with a bar of soap. We ended our time in the desert with a climb up a steep mountain the Black Desert that offered a view of everything. My fear of falling, Alex has witnessed this far too often, made me freak out when I saw how vertical it got in some spots so I stopped with a few others who had a fear of heights about two-thirds of the way up. On our way back to the "hotel" before leaving, we did learn a bit about our driver, Rahda. He has two wives and one child (who from the picture on his cell phone that I saw is adorable). One wife lives in the oasis village with his mother and the other wife spends one month in Canada and one month in the desert with him. I'm still not exactly sure why/how he has a Canadian wife, but I didn't appreciate him eying me after he told us this. Finally, we got back into our microbuses and headed back to Cairo while playing a wonderful and very detailed game of MASH.
Yesterday morning after our weekend of drinking and dancing, the girls decided to go out for breakfast. We went to this place in Maadi called Lucille's which is said to have the best burger in Africa and is run by an ex-pat couple. Our cab ride there was interesting. 6 of us piled into a station wagon taxi driven by this really old guy who tried to get us to pay far more than necessary especially since he didn't know where we want to go and stopped and asked for directions over 10 times. We eventually knew where we were going better than he did. When we got out, we paid him what we thought was accurate for his failure as a driver, but he was not happy and got out of the cab and followed us into the restaurant. He wanted more and settled for three more pounds. We were so happy to sit down and eat after all that drama, and maybe it was the stress of it all that made food taste so much better and more comforting, but it was delicious!!! Afterwards we piled all 6 of us back in one of the tiny cabs, which is apparently illegal in Cairo we learned from another taxi driver on the way, but we had a blast with our driver who kept us entertained with good Arabic music that we could kind of dance to despite being on top of each other.
Overall it was a great last few weeks. I’m looking forward to my Egyptology class trip to Luxor over the 4-day weekend and my parents coming next week!!

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Comments

[Sherry Hamstra]

Busy times
I am glad to see you getting all over to see the sites. It sounds fabulous. Get to every place you can and take it all in is my advice. Looking forward to seeing you in several weeks time. The daffodils are blooming and Indy is as it always is in the spring..70 degrees and lovely yesterday, a high of 39 tomorrow!! Much love, Helene. MamaSherry