Morocco part 1

Last week was the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, which meant that we had a long weekend.  I decided to use this time to go to Morocco with Julia and  friend.  We landed in Casablanca late at night, but the next day we hit the ground running.  First we went to the Mosque of Hassan II, built in the 1990s, it was huge and new, but the best part was the location- right on the edge of the rolling Atlantic waves.  Next we went to the Jewish museum, the only museum in the Islamic world dedicated to its Jewish population.  At mid-day we walked to a little restaurant, where I had a demi baguette avec les saucissons de foie (liver sausages)- it was a nice change from Egyptian fuul and tamiya!  

We took a train to Fes, and I could not stop looking out the window.  I was absolutely blown away by the scenery.  The woman sitting with us said that there had been more rain than in the past 50 years.  There was long green grass and rolling hills dotted with herds of sheep, and across the fields was the ocean.  As we approached Fes we could see the Atlas mountains.  

In Fes we hired a guide to show us around, since we only had a day there.  We saw the old medina which was built in the 11th century, the nouvelle ville, le quartier juif, the Karaouine mosque and the souqs.  My favorite was the old medina- it was crammed with people, shops, tanneries and winding alleys.  The only way to get goods into it is by mule carts, so muleteers put rubber shoes on their mules so they wouldn't slip on the steep hills, and shouted "beleq, beleq!" which means "watch out or you will be crushed by my cart".  After this, we ran to the station to take the train to Marrakesh.  

Our traveling companions were a hoot- it was a bit like being in a compartment with a French comedy act.  The first woman shocked us by showing us her piercings, and a another young women dramatically entered our cabin and told us the story of her  life in a dead-pan voice.  "In love at 16, married at 17, pregnant and living in Saudi Arabia, divorced at 20, anesthegiologist at 23."  I don't think we spoke English the whole trip- Arabic and French only!   

I was most struck by the differences between Egypt and Morocco- both the people and the land.  Moroccans are much more educated and Westernized, and though some are very poor (Western Sahara please stand up) the crushing poverty is not as pervasive.  

Updates

The last couple of weeks have been really busy. I am really enjoying most of my classes, especially my Islamic art and architecture course. We started with Ummayad Dynasty: the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Great Mosque of Damascus, and recently the Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq. We look at the evolution of Islamic architecture, from the beginning with the Prophet Mohammad's house in Medina, to the point where elements were borrowed from the Byzantine and Sassanian empires, and finally the formation of a distinct type of architecture. I find it interesting because understanding Islam is so central to comprehending the culture of the Middle East.

Last weekend I went out to dinner with a big group of AUC students, but this was no typical meal. We went downtown, and made our way through an alleyway to find the most famous pigeon resterant in Cairo. The name of place is Gomhorriya, which means "republic" and serves only pigeon. We were the only Westerners in sight, as plates stacked high with whole, stuffed pigeon arrived at our table. I was initially a little put off by the fact that my meal was looking at me with beady eyes, but when a friend popped the head in her mouth, I realized that I had to eat it- I did not eat the head though! I didn't really enjoy the fowl, but the cultural aspect was great.

This weekend I will be going to Morocco. We have vacation for the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. We will be landing in Casablanca and visiting Fes and Marrakesh. I am really excited to see another part of North Africa and also the opportunity to speak French. We leave tomorrow after classes- I will upload photos when I return!

BIG NEWS

Today Ayman Nour was released by the Egyptian government. In 2005 he was the runner-up in the Egyptian presidential election (to the esteemed Hosni Mubarak) and the government fabricated charges to put him in prison. He lives in Zamalek, two blocks away from my apartment, and I hope to run into him soon.

Read this article. This is so exciting!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/world/middleeast/19egypt.html?hp

ps: Katie's computer is being blocked for being too radical.
Here's the link to her blog: http://katieonthenile.blogspot.com/

Interesting article

Below is the link to an article from The Atlantic about Egypt. It was written in 2002 but much of it is still relevant and presents a picture of Egypt and some of the political issues .

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200209/orourke

I'm sorry for not posting for such a long time. I'll try to update more often!

Classes have started- I'm taking Islamic Art and Architecture, politics of the Middle East, Egyptian colloquial Arabic (aameya) and a class about Islam. I'm really enjoying all of my classes, especially my Islamic Art and Architecture- the class examines the origins and evolution of Islamic architecture. It will be nice to be able to visit mosques and actually know what I'm looking at.

Housing: I'm living in an apartment in Zamalek, with 4 other girls who go to Mount Holyoke. We live on the 11th floor with a view of the Nile. On clear days we can see the Pyramids at Giza. Our neighbors are an Egyptian family, a young French man, and a houseful of Germans.

Miscellaneous: My flatmates and I do the majority of our grocery shopping at a souq (market) on Sharia Sheikh Rahan, in the Saida Zeineb area of Cairo. Most of the vendors know us- the chicken man will smile and wave, the vegetable women will shout salutations to us, and the egg man keeps old coins for me. After living in Cairo for almost 6 months, I've become a pretty creative cook. Tonight we made eggplant stuffed with rice, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Last week I made a sweet potato pie- the sweet potato man thought I was crazy to want so many sweet potatoes. Below is the conversation we had in Arabic.

Me: I would like five sweet potatoes, ya hagg. (Hagg is a term of respect for a man who has completed a pilgrimage to Mecca, or for an older man).
Him: Five potatoes?
Me: Yes.
Him: Five sweet potatoes, really?
Me: Yes, exactly.
Him: But you are so small and the potatoes are so big.
Me: The potatoes look delicious.
Him: You see that man? (points to a large turbaned worker) He eats two potatoes.
Me: Yes, but I'm going to make a pie.
Him: How many children do you have- five?
Me: Yes.

Politics: There have been tensions in Egypt since the start of Israel's war in Gaza. Many Egyptians feel that their government is abandoning Palestinians and not doing enough to advance the peace process. The military has been out in full force, especially on Fridays. Some Cairo mosques call for revolt against the Mubarak administration, so the military quashes all agitation.

There was recently a case in the news, of a graduate student at the American University in Cairo, who was arrested by the security forces and detained for several days, for organizing a protest about Gaza. Despite this, ordinary Egyptians are much more outspoken about criticizing the president and his government. This is a really interesting time to be living in Egypt.

More later!

Egypt is a pretty crazy place, in a way that photos cannot capture.

Some things that I've seen on Cairo streets:

- A man on a motorbike holding 2 goats.
- A herd of camels that were being loaded into the smallest pickup truck that I've ever seen.
- A military convoy with a tank.
- A girl wearing a peacoat in 80 degree weather.
- An entire family (grandma included) on a motorbike

Crème de la crème of Egyptian pick-up lines:

- Carla Bruni is here!
- So beautiful, so blond.
- How much?
- Wow. Very fantastic!

Some pictures

1. Before the soccer game
2. Gamal the stray dog
3 & 4. Muhammad Ali's mosque, at the Citadel

The Elections

Experiencing the American elections from Egypt was a lot different than actually being in the States. Egypt is seven hours ahead of the East Coast, which meant that the results did not start to come in until 2 a.m. and we didn't get the final results until 6 a.m. Many of the Americans either stayed up all night or woke up at 4.

For the whole day, whether I was at the University or on the street, Egyptians said, "Mabrouk, mabrouk" which means congratulation. Several Egyptian students in my classes asked me how it felt to vote democratically, which was poignant because Egypt has never had elections free of voter fraud and rigging. After classes when I went to get tamiyya (falafel) the man gave me extra because I was American- that's the first time anyone's done that! As he handed me it, he said "Yes Obama".

Tonight for dinner, friends and I will be eating at Lucille's, in Maadi (where lots of expats live). It's owned by Americans and the highlights from the menu are: biscuits and gravy, tex-mex food and "the best burger in the world" according to Time magazine. I think that it is appropriate to celebrate Obama's election by eating American food in Cairo.

Classes and Life

This is the first time that I am writing about my daily life in Cairo- I guess it's because I am still trying to process it all. Everything is so very different from my life in the U.S. I will never get used to seeing typical scenes in Cairo: old women begging, mobs of children, and the overwhelming poverty that affects most of the population. Cairo is truly a city of contradictions: most of the students at AUC are very wealthy and many of them wear designer labels, and then there are women in niqabs that only show their eyes. I'm sure that I'll go through reverse culture shock when I return home in May.

I am taking three classes this semester: Egyptian Politics, Modern Standard Arabic (FusHa), and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (Aameya). Every day I have 4 hours of Arabic classes, so by the end of the day my languages are somewhat muddled. Last week I got on the bus to return to Zamalak, and saw that there was only one seat left, next to a professor. I asked her to make some space for me, but accidentally said it in French. She replied in French, and we spoke for the rest of the trip. She is Egyptian but grew up in a household where her family only spoke French. She told me about how Egypt was during her childhood, before the 1952 Revolution.

Every Saturday I meet with two girls who I am mentoring. I teach them English and French, and they help me with my Arabic. It's really nice to practice speaking and to learn different vocabulary than I do in class.

I really like the food in Egypt. Here are some of my favorites: Koshary is a mix of noodles, lentils, chick peas, and spicy tomato sauce. It sounds awful, but it's actually delicious and costs less than a dollar for a good meal. Tamiya (known elsewhere as falafel) is also street food, and is fried bean patties, in a pita. During our first day in Cairo, Julia and I found this great bakery downtown that also had ice cream. In the evenings hundreds of people push into this small store to buy it. It's almost like gelato, but comes in Egyptian flavors like pistachio, mango and coconut. A couple of weeks ago, friends and I discovered that the Italian embassy has a cultural center with a restaurant. There's a nice courtyard, where you can't hear the Cairo traffic, and it serves excellent food.

Yesterday some friends and I went to a soccer game. It was the best Cairo club against a Nigerian club, playing for a berth in the African Cup. Our group consisted of four American girls and a boy and four Egyptian boys. There were about 30,000 male fans, and about 50 women in the stadium. After two years at Mount Holyoke, where the odds are usually the other way around, this experience was somewhat disconcerting! Our presence caused quite a stir, and we were even interviewed for Cairo TV. During the game, we held up signs that our Egyptian friends had brought and the entire section (at least 1000 men) turned around to look at us. Then they all took out cameras and began taking pictures and videos of us. After the game (Cairo won) the riot police began to move forward from the front of the stadium, forcing the fans towards the exit.

Today I went to mail my absentee ballot and I have never been so aware of how great it is to be American. The fact that we're able to have elections free of violence and coercion and little voter fraud is amazing. It was not until the 2005 Egyptian elections that they had multi-candidate ballots. The runner-up, Ayman Nour, is now in prison. Oh Egypt...

More in the next post!

Vacation: Petra, Jordan

From Dahab we were dropped off at the port and bought our tickets for the ferry. We waited in line to get our exit visa, but the line did not resemble anything I had ever seen. There were separate lines for women and men, and the men waited patiently while the women shoved and shouted at each other. My three friends and I were caught up in this ruckus, so we linked arms so that no one could push us out of the way. To dissuade the women from being too aggressive, I made pleasantries with them in Arabic. They called me a "nice, pretty girl" and then stepped off a little.

When our ferry arrived in Aqaba 6 hours later (it was supposed to only take 1 hour!) it was the middle of the night. Even in our half-awake state, we all noticed how different it was from Egypt. The roads were clean and free of traffic, and the cars that we saw were all new. In Cairo most of the cars are older than I am. We drove 2 hours to our hostel near Petra, where we got a good night of sleep.

The next day we explored the ancient city of Peta for nearly nine hours and it was the highlight of the trip. Built by the Nabateans in the 5th century BC and was deserted in the 5th century AD, the city was in the middle of the desert but was supplied with water. The Nabateans built a dam and there were terra cotta pipes that sent water to all parts of the city. It was amazing that in the 5th Century BC that they had figured out water pressure. The entryway is called As-Siq, meaning "the shaft" in Aramaic, because you walk between two very high cliffs. After almost a mile, the path opens upon the ancient city. At the time their society was very advanced, compared to Europeans. While the Nabataens were living in this amazing city, Atilla the Hun had taken control of France!

Petra was incredible, from the architecture to the rock formations. Returning to Cairo and starting classes will be mundane compared to my adventures in the Sinai! I can hardly wait to return.

On the way back to Cairo we went through Israel, and I never thought I would be so happy to be on Egyptian soil. Instead of sitting on a bus for 10 hours, we hired a car to drive us to Cairo that took half that time. The driver, who had been fasting all day, was slightly crabby. After asking several questions to no avail, I noticed green signs along the road. The driver told me that the 99 Names of Allah were written on these signs. I could tell from the prayer mark on his forehead that he was a very religious man. For the next 2 hours we would read the name together, as we passed each sign, and then the man would explain what it meant. He appreciated my interest as we talked about Islam and the history of Egypt. It was one of the most informative car rides I've ever had.

Vacation: Sinai Penisula

Before classes started, some friends and I decided to take a vacation. We went to Dahab, a beach town on the Red Sea. After an eight hour bus ride from Cairo, we were overjoyed to arrive. Dahab is very different from Cairo- it is like part of California was transplanted in Egypt.

In Dahab the air is clean, the sea is blue, and the the people are relaxed. It was really nice to wear shorts and not get hassled by men. We spent our time snorkeling, drinking mango and hibiscus juice and having a great time. We also went horseback riding on the beach, on half-broken Arabians, which was both terrifying and fun!

One evening we went on a camel ride with local bedouins. We rode up to their camp, where they made bread and delicious bedouin tea. It was pretty late when we finished and the car that our hotel was supposed to send for us had not arrived yet, so our guides took us to their family's house. One of the men had two wives and the difference between these two women was astounding. The older wife sat apart from the group, playing with the kids, and spoke no English, while the other sat next to us. When she first arrived, her father-in-law said in Arabic, "No women here" because we, as guests, were allowed to sit with the men. She ignored him and greeted us in near-perfect English.

The next day we walked around the town and prepared for our next excursion. We left the hostel at 11 p.m. in order to climb Mount Sinai and arrive at the summit for sunrise. This is where Moses received the Ten Commandments. It was a really long hike and we reached the top at 4:30. The sunrise was spectacular and definitely worth the climb. On the way down we stopped at St. Catherine's Monestary and saw her relics and an ancestor of the Burning Bush.

While part of my group headed back to Cairo, several of us continued onto Jordan- see my next post for this!

The Start of Ramadan

Ramadan is observed in the ninth month of the Islamic calander. This is when the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophen Muhammad. During this time Muslims fast during the day and pray more than usual. Ramadan began on Sepember 1st and the atmosphere of Cairo has changed somewhat. Most people fast during the day so the streets are more quiet than typical. At 6:15 is Iftar and you can hear the muezzins calling from the minarets of the mosques all over the city, meaning that the fast can be broken.

Stores close before Iftar, so that the owners can eat with their families. There are tables of food set up in the streets for the poor and for people who do not have time to return to their houses. Wealthy people sponsor these tables, and over the table is constructed a Ramadan Tent, made of bright, colorful fabric. An Egyptian tradition for Ramadan is to hang lanterns, called fanous in the street, shops and homes. Some are just small paper lanterns, but others can be huge creations of metal and colored glass.

Arrival in Cairo

Cairo is amazing. It is dirty and overcrowded but I love it. I got here several days before the American University in Cairo's dorms open, so Julia and I stayed in a hostel near Downtown. The first night we went for a walk and were overwhelmed by the traffic and all the people.

So far I have been to Old Cairo and al-Azhar Mosque. Founded in 975, Al-Azhar is the seat of Sunni ideology in the world. When Napoleon wanted to subdue Egypt, he led a bayonet charge into the mosque. I also visited Salah al-Din's Citadel in Cairo. This is where he defended the city from the the Crusaders in the 12th century.

I have just returned from Washington, where I was interning with my Congressman, Jim Ramstad. Now I am preparing for my next adventure: studying in Cairo, Egypt. I will be studying at the American University in Cairo for the year.

I leave on August 19th, so until then I will be packing and spending time with family and friends. Once I arrive and get settled I will start to describe my adventures in Egypt! I wonder if it will be anything like Tintin et Les Cigares du Pharaon.