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Published: February 12th 2008
Marhaba!
I am finally able to get back on the internet with relatively few disruptions in the connection, although it is still working quite slowly. The past couple weeks since my last entry have been amazing, exciting, tiring and busy. I have been thoroughly enjoying Egyptian food more, and have to devuldge to you the golden food of Egypt, Kosheri. It is a mixture of like 3 different kinds of noodles, rice, cooked lentils, crispy onions, served with a dish of tomato sauce and two different kinds of spicy sauce, one of which we have named the "death sauce" after a really intense experience I had with being too careless about it's application. There is also fateer, a pizza like concoction with flakey dough stuffed with veggies or meat and cheese. You can also get it as a sweet pastry with honey, powdered sugar and the like, although I have yet to try that. Also, nearly every place serves AMAZING baba ghanouj (sp?), tahini, and other dipping type dishes. Needless to say, I'm gorging.
Aside from the food, I have started classes and they're rolling! I'm taking Arabic 102 (second semester elementary), which is proving to be challenging yet rewarding, History of the Middle East 1914-present, Intro to Sufism (a class that is right up my ally and incredibly interesting) and finally and anthro class, People and Cultures of the Middle East and N. Africa (another that I'm really excited about). Although the school is not really that small, at least one but usually more of my "group" of friends here are in each of my classes.
I took a trip with all my friends and other AUC students to Alexandria, a bustling city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The trip was sponsored by the school, and essentially free because we were each given 500 LE to use toward AUC sponsored trips. We rode in a huge tourist bus, which made us feel a little weird although we were treated fantastically. Our tour guide barely spoke English, poor career choice. We learned that a lot of people "were died here in Alexandria, but actually, not really. Actually there are two stories about when and where he were died here." We drove through a thriving market that was "actually most cheapest and most largest in Alexandria." There were vendors selling everything from racey lingerie, to colorful yet conservative dresses, to everyday household items. Apparently it was next to "actually the most biggest cemetery in Alexandria, so on one side we have the death, and on one side we have the life." We visited a citadel, although we weren't very sure about anything about it, it was full of empty tombs the just went lower and lower under ground. We were told there weren't even any bodies in it when it was initially found, which led to some interesting discussions and ideas about what happened to the bodies once buried there. We then visited "the second library in the wolerd" in Alexandria. The second what library? I have no idea. It was a brand new library that was really well designed, but we were all kind of wondering why we were there. What historical significance did this library have?? None really, but it is the pride and joy of Alex, so it was worth a visit.
Nighttime in Alexandria is hoppin. We hung out at a rooftop restaurant for a while where we had an abosutely amazing view of a clear night sky full of stars meeting the Mediterranean sea on the horizon. It was too cold for a swim, but I can now say that I've touched the Mediterranean!
The following day we visited the Pompay Pillar, where the guide told us one story about someone from Pompay coming to Alexandria and "he was died here" and asked to be buried at the highest point in Alexandria, and so a pillar was built on the tomb to commemorate him. But "this is not true story". What is the true story? We have yet to figure out. But I know that it was really old and just the fact that it is standing made it worth the trip and was amazing. Please don't get me wrong, this guide knew much more english than I could hope to know Arabic, so I am in no place to criticize her guiding, but I wish I would have gotten more out of the sights we visited. It was a fantastic trip though, I had an absolute blast. To cap it off though, I must relay two intrical parts of the Alexandria, Egypt experience: 1. our bus driver hit a man, he was okay, but we're not sure his foot is. 2. our bus driver ran into a sign on an underestimated turn causing a window in the back of the bus (a few rows behind where we were) to entirely crack. He proceeded to try to drive all 4 hours home like this, and about halfway the window shattered blowing large and small glass shards all over the back of the bus. We weren't hit, and it was safety glass (the kind that shattered without sharp edges) so no one had any problems except a windy backseat, but it was extremely comical.
Another exciting Egypt experience I've had lately is the enthusiasm with soccer (football)! The African Cup has been going on the past few weeks, and my friends and I have caught most of the games since we've been here. Every TV anywhere plays them and the Egyptians go nuts for their national team. Sunday night we were fortunate enough to be in Cairo when Egypt played in and won the finals of the African Cup! I had been sick all day and felt horrible, but although I should have been in sleeping getting over this illness, there was no way I would miss this experience. A few friends and I met some other people at a large warehouse-like bar full of both Egyptians and Westerners called Al-Hurrayah. Its the kind of place where when a bottle breaks on the floor they leave it and figure theyll clean it up later. They serve no food though, so I don't worry about the cleanliness as much. Anyways, although I thought I might pass out/ vom all through the game adrenelin started pumping when we won and the walk home was incredible. There were literally thousands of Egyptians on the streets with flags, fireworks, jumping on cars, doing all kinds of rioty things. We stayed away from the thick of it, but watching from afar was definitely enough. My camera hasn't been working very well, but I managed to snap a few shots of the insanity.
Moment that increased my faith in Egyptians as people: It was only about 9:30 when two of my girlfriends and I decided we couldn't handle being awake anymore and left the boys to riot for hours while we walked home. The street we live off of is relatively calm in these sorts of situations, but there were a couple large mobs of people walking through the streets celebrating and stopping traffic. We were forces to walk through one which was mostly little kids who seemed to have their older brothers chaperoning. Little boys started coming up to us and whistling (you know the really loud kind through your fingers) in our faces and such which was totally fine and innocent, but a couple older boys pushed everyone aside and held them back with their arms yelling to them in arabic and creating an empty pathway for us to walk through without being hassled at all. It was really an amazing gesture and he merely smiled and replied "afwan" (youre welcome) and kept walking after we showered him in arabic thank yous. The honking and celebrating when on far into the night and was welcome white noise as I fell asleep hoping for a healthier next day.
I do feel a lot better now, although I have a horrible cough/cold, but my stomach feels MUCH better. Our entire apartment and couple friends down the hall have all come down with the same thing :/. But my daily doses of Zicam seem to be helping to decrease the longevity!
Anyways, I have a lot of homework to get done (although sadly I can't say homework here is my first priority, most of it is painless and interesting) and have been so busy with school. Hopefully it will calm down in a few weeks and I'll be able to take another trip. My friends here (its about split with guys and girls) and thinking we will plan our next trip with the help of the AUC travel office, but on our own since we feel there is much more to gain from not being stuck in a huge tourist bus but actually doing the exploring ourselves. It's nice to have the travel office to consult with though because they are well versed in where we can safely go and what precautions we should take. Now that the internet is working better, I will be updating this soon and adding pictures when my camera decides to work again 😊.
Masalaama!
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kerry dreffs
non-member comment
gorging
so your gorging huh? hahah that is a hilarious way to describe it. i picture you in my own imaginative little mind of mine that tends to think in pictures, and i am laughing out loud. i picture you with a bib on and food all over your face and you have that huge smile of yours on, but then your face turns bright red because of your overindulgence in the hot sauce, and then you scream " o no im lactose-intolerant!" dont ask me why you scream that, but its funny. im so jealous you touched the mediterranean! ill get there. and i noticed you said helllo in turkish!!! well done! now you will definitely have to come visit me. o crap, i love you too much, k bye!