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Published: January 5th 2006
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Danice and I in the Muhammad Ali Mosque
Rocking some pretty sweet green smocks in the mosque at the Citadel Greetings from Cairo, home to many very friendly offers from Egyptian men. 😊 We arrived yesterday safe and sound and, after a death-defying, hold-your-breath-and-hope-to-survive taxi ride, found the hostel to be quite pleasant. We have already made a new friend. His name is Simon and
he is from South Africa and has been in Cairo for a week or so and knew a lot about the area already so he was a good friend to have around.
Cairo is SO different than anything I have ever experienced--there are mosques at every corner and, contrary to what I expected, very few people speak more than broken English. However, there are moments when I swear I'm in New York (especially when in a taxi)...and other times it seems strangely like Mexico (strange: a lot of the men call you "seniorita"). There are cats that roam the streets begging for scraps and one even jumped on my friend's shoulder during dinner! Reminds me of ND squirrels...I guess it's a small world after all (the mentioning of this song is actully quite appropriate: some of the horns on the taxi cabs play the tune instead of the traditional "beep" and we could hear it echoing around the street when we leaned out of the balcony of our hostel). 😊
Yesterday we went out to eat at a fabulous Egyptian restaurant (which had decorations that claimed to be "authentic Egypt style"...whatever that means...to me it looked like a mixture of Greek, Italian, and caveman). 😊 We
avoided the salad and brushed our teeth with bottled water that night. After dinner we chatted with a few Aussies at the hostel and then went to bed relatively early...and were among the few doing so. The hours here suit me perfectly--nothing shuts down until very late into the night (even at midnight
the streets are busy).
This morning we were up at 8am (not by MY choice, mind you) and enjoyed a lovely semi-warm drip shower (the shower situation is interesting...the shower heads are right next to the toilets so there is very little room to move, the water pressure is low, and hot water is sometimes hard to come by...but from what we've been told we're lucky to have it at all). The complimentary breakfast was quite nice with a few rolls and an egg (and plenty of tea--they love mint tea here) to get the morning off on the right foot. Then George (a friend from
ND studying here...actually the only ND student in Cairo for the fall semester) stopped by to pick up his clothes but was feeling rather ill so declined the offer to join us to the Citadel.
So, the four of us and our new friend Simon walked about 15 blocks through Cairo to get there and were simply astounded by the drastic difference between Thursday night and Friday afternoon (their Thursday is like our Saturday and their Friday is like Sunday--a day of prayer). We heard the loud, boisterous
singing of the call to prayer (muezzin) throughout the day echoing from the top of the minerets (although they pray 5 times a day normally throughout the week too). The streets were much emptier which was a freshing change from the night
before because apparently Egyptians don't believe in any street rules except for honking their horns and crossing the road is done at your own risk. 😊 The Citadel was beautiful and we spent a good number of hours exploring the mosque
and a military museum. I also tried filafil for the first time which is a fried chickpea ball (delicous!)...and I thought that I wouldn't like Egyptian food. 😊
Afterwards, we took a taxi (finally getting used to the crazy driving--solution: just don't look) to Khan al-Khalili (also called the "Bazaar"..NOT "bizarre" apparently...although that too is quite fitting), a large market full of very eager Egyptian salesmen. It is definitely a big ego boost to be an American woman walking around Cairo with all the "you have a beautiful smile" and "will you marry me?" remarks (the best sales pitch, however, was, "I do not know what you want but I have exactly what you want"), but I feel completely safe, especially travelling with Paul and Simon and with all the policemen standing around. I'm getting better at bartering but I still have a lot to learn.
Now, I'm at the internet cafe 2 doors down from the hostel which is very cheap. I'll be on pretty much everyday so feel free to respond. Tomorrow we begin the research with an interview with a few women from the CRS although we had a
pretty interesting experience at the Citadel when some women approached us and were pleasantly making conversation until a policeman came up and told them that they weren't permitted to talk to foreigners because it "caused trouble"
(as translated to us by the women after he walked away). Kind of crazy. It is a strange dichotomy with the men so forward and the women so reserved but we've
noticed that the men are not quite so obnoxious to the Egyptian women. We are looking into seeing the pyramids soon and perhaps celebrating the new year on a
boat on the Nile. Can't wait! Will write again soon!
mah salama,
Laura 😊
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Gar
non-member comment
bravo
Laura, your blog looks to be off to a great start. I just hope all the entries arent this long or i might not be able to keep up with them. Have a good and safe time in Cairo, call me when your e stateside (even though its for about half a day). Adios.