Surviving Arabic

Survival Arabic is impossible. Arabic is the hardest language I've ever attempted to learn. Even if I manage to get the pronunciation right, it's impossible to remember. Orientation started off with confusion, disorganization, and a lot of waiting in lines. After spending a whole day on campus, I managed to accomplish nothing except for collecting a free messenger bag of AUC goodies (yo-yo included) and learning that I am simply hopeless when it comes to learning Arabic. Priorities at the moment lay in getting my student ID, a bus pass, a school email address, and a student visa. It's a shame that the technology doesn't exist to get any of these things done before the international students arrive so they don't have to spend a week running around a campus finding remote rooms in maze-like buildings. Oh wait, it does... grrrr.

We had our first adventure out into the nightlife of Cairo last night with some other AU students and a couple new friends, only to end up at a Mariot because everything is closed for Ramadan. So much for local culture, but we have four months. Tonight, Emily and I went on a quest for a phone card and got to see a little bit more of the neighborhood. It's marvelous. We stopped into a nearby wood and silversmith shop. The old man who owns the shop was very amusing. We looked around at his beautiful work and I ended up purchasing a small camel figurine. He gave us scarab beads that are supposed to bring us luck, and wished us to find the men that are lucky enough to have us. He also asked us what we drank as babies to make us so pretty. I would like to mention that these compliments were post-purchase, so they must be sincere. These past few days, I have kind of fallen into a lull of trying to get nonsense done at AUC and attempting to deal with the 100+ daily heat by seeking out all air conditioned places. For all of those who told me otherwise, the heat isn't that dry.

Shisha and Chocolate Cake

We found an apartment, well, it was the apartment that we already found, but we signed a lease for four months and got to cleaning. After a four hour adventure to the Hypermart, we had some quality apartment bonding by removing the copious amounts of dust that occupied every crevasse of the rooms. We moved one of the beds out of the second bedroom and moved it into the dinning room, so we all have our own rooms. All I need now are some gorgeous Egyptian curtains to act as a door.

Staying with Lauren was a happy break from the bustling city. The embassy has put her up in a beautiful three bedroom apartment outside of Zamelek. She was such a great hostess, letting us stay with her for two nights. She showed us the neighborhood a bit and we visited Cloud Nine to get our first taste of hookah or shisha (also spelt sheesha). I have also taken up the quest for finding the perfect piece of Egyptain chocolate cake. It's a hard task, but I'm willing to do it. We don't have internet right now, so we've taken up residence at a cafe and restaurant near our apartment. Shisha, delicious food, and free WiFi right next door. It's a beautiful atmosphere, and for less than $10 American it's a great place to spend the evening.

We are all moved in now and orientation starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to meeting more students and I'm hoping with all my might that my Survival Arabic course does something to bridge the language gap that I'm experiencing. Also, now that we're settled, I'm ready to go back into the city and seeing everything else it has to offer. It was a little too exhausting to explore, apartment search, and cope with the jet lag and the heat that was last week. Having a home base is an exciting step, and I'm so ready to adventure. Trips to the White Desert, Alexandria, Aswan, The Red Sea, and Luxor are also in the works for the upcoming months. So excited!

T-Minus Twelve Hours to Homelessness

Jet lag is a worthy opponent. Emily and I fell pray to its evil ways on our second night here, and were not able to sleep until almost sunrise. Day two of Cairo was practical. We let jet lag have a small victory and we slept until noon. Then we spent the day shopping for an apartment! We were picked up at our hotel by a driver named Mohamed, who was recommended to us by the owner of the hotel. He drives people around who are looking for an apartment and takes them to real estate agents and building that may have vacancies. Apparently, the way to do it in these parts is to go up to the doorman and ask if there is any available rooms in the building. Unfortunate for us, it's Ramadan, and all the doormen are asleep in the middle of the day. We headed out the Maadi (kinda pronounced like Maddie, with a long a), a neighborhood just outside of Cairo, near New Cairo where American University of Cairo is. I am in love with the neighborhood. It is the destination of many ex-Patriots (people living in Egypt having left their own country) and international culture. Living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country is not without its challenges and it's only the first week. I liked Maadi because it was a little more diverse, and I felt more comfortable there then I do here in downtown. There are also more trees, cafes, and shops. I suppose I could get used to the idea of living in suburbia. The first apartment we saw is AMAZING. It is all marble with new appliances and a quiet street. Unfortunately, it's not really near the metro which kind of defeats the purpose of living in the accessible city. Mohamed took us to two other apartments and with our limited Arabic and French and his limited English and French, we managed to get our point across, however, we did not manage to find an apartment. We made our way to Zamelek for dinner with Lauren, a friend of Emily's who works at the American embassy in Garden City. The restaurant was very chic and seemed to cater to the international crowd. We got back to the hotel and decided to tackle the errand of getting cell phones! The cell phone stores are a lot like ones in America, you take a number, wait a long time, get helped, wait some more, get your phone, follow 15 steps, pay 200EGP and the BAM you can make a call. He needed our passports to put the line in our names, but he was satisfied with just having Adam's passport, so we're now on the same cell plan. It's a big commitment, I know, but I feel better knowing that Adam's name is on all the Arabic contracts and not mine... sorry Adam... but not really. Emily's passport was accidentally left on the scanner at the Mobinil, so she and I had to hall our asses back there before they closed. It was the first time that we had been in the streets without our fearless male escort, Adam. There was a definite shift, more cat calls... which actually sound more like bird calls... ironic. I'm just confused what they think they are going to accomplish by tweeting at me. Almost all the men here are Muslim, so it's not like they can do anything before marriage, and I'm not Muslim, so it's not like they can bring me home to mom and dad. They are lacking motivation it seems, but not drive. 

Today involved a bit of extra sleep so that I could feel up to par. Then we headed back out to Maadi to meet with a guy who was listing apartments over Craigslist. After initial confusion about which of the three Maadi metro stops he was at, we managed to meet up with him. The apartment was literally right across the street from the bus stop. It had a beautifully tacky white hat motif and a built-in aquarium in the shape of a fish. It's 2 bedrooms, but big enough for 3 and right near a fresh produce store and a grocery store. Craigslist guy was really helpful and got us a lower price and a 4 month lease, plus a fast delivery on a new fridge and a cleaning service. We may, however, only be looking for two people now. Zoya is thinking about moving into the dorms to be around more students. A valid point, but I'm not sure I could go back to dorm life after having the luxury of my own kitchen for the last year. The rest of today was a down day, the heat and the city has been slowly wearing us down and it was time to enjoy the comforts of our hotel. Sundown came and we headed back to the restaurant we ate at the first night here, because it was freaking delicious and we knew where it was. Adam and I went on a quest for an Egyptian soccer jersey, while Zoya and Emily played a waiting game at the phone store... they totally won. While adventuring through the streets I may or may not have slipped on some sand and may or may not have fallen directly on my ass on a relatively crowed street corner. As if being white and not in a head scarf didn't make me stand out enough. Thankfully, Adam was SUPER supportive and didn't tease me AT ALL about the situation. I'm sure it was just irony when he suggested we get ice cream because I was in need of a pick me up. Harhar Adam, Harhar. 

So anyway, we have a check out time of noon tomorrow here at the hotel, but they are letting us keep our bags here until 5. Lauren has graciously let us take up her extra space in her apartment, so we're heading up to Mohadiseen to crash at her place. We've got a couple more places to look at tomorrow, and hopefully we won't impose on her for more than a night. Orientation starts in a few days, so adventures will be put on hold for "getting to know you" games and dealing with the red tape of the AUC administrative office. 

Riding Camels in the Egyptian Desert

Good byes have consumed my life for the past week. Exploring a new city is a welcome change of pace. We arrived at our hotel around 7pm last night, which was perfect. The international flight was 12 hours long with tiny seats, no leg room, screaming children and bad food. After getting settled at the hotel (which has a wonderful view of the city), we headed out into the streets of Cairo. Iftar is the prayer to break the fast of Ramadan that happens every night at sundown. The city wakes up, restaurants open, and it is time to get your nom noms on. We found a sit-down restaurant and had a delicious dinner and managed to navigate our way back to the hotel. Thank goodness that Emily has a better sense of direction than I do; I was just following the sparkly lights. The driving is INSANE here! At one point when driving home from the airport to our hotel, the driver decided to make his own third lane in the middle of the two ones that were already occupied by other cars driving the same fast speed. Sleep came easy after having gotten little of it on the plane. I don't want to speak too soon, but I think that we may have managed to beat the jet lag.

We jumped right into things on our first day. We started with breakfast at the hotel with toast, crepes, tead, and a mystery fruit later identified as a fig. The tea is so good here, I'm almost embarrassed that I brought two boxes worth of American tea (There was a great pun at breakfast about how America's relations with tea have been strained since the Boston Tea party. tehehe) We then headed to the metro to go see the pyramids... when in Egypt, right? The metro is very clean and was easy to ride for about a 20th the price of a cab ride the same distance. We got off at the metro and asked a very nice Egyptian guy by the name of Omar where we could get a taxi. Turns out Omar is about the friendliest person EVER. He offered to help us take the bus, but then we found an illegitimate taxi driver who was willing to take us to the pyramids for the same price as the bus. Omar came with us and the "taxi" dropped us off at this tour agency. Before we knew it, we were being whisked on to the backs of camels and taken up to see the nine pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Our original plan did not include camels, but I rather liked my camel, Humphrey. I was forced to change camels mid-trip and sit on the mean-spirited Jessie who gurgled a lot and liked to roll over instead of just sitting down like a normal camel. I also had to share my camel seat with one of our guides for part of the trip, which got kinda awkward. Men and women are not supposed to touch here, and I know I'm an American slut and whatnot, but still, having to rely on holding on to a sweaty man in order to remain on a 10 foot camel is really not my idea of a good time, but whatevs. The Sphinx is much smaller than I thought, but all the sights did not disappoint. By the end of the trip I was so dehydrated and tired. I have never felt heat like this before in my life. It wasn't bad in the morning, but traveling around in the desert, during the hottest part of the day, on the back of a camel really wore me out. Omar waited for us while we were touring the pyramids and met us with his friend and a car when we were done. They drove us to the metro, and we made our way back to the hotel. After taking some time to relax, we are ready to head out to Giza again. We have plans to meet up with Omar who would like to take us to his house so that we can break fast with his family.... I'm not really sure what's going on, but I did get to climb a 7,000 year-old pyramid today, and I discovered that camels are much taller than I thought they would be.

*A FEW HOURS LATER*

Ok, so dinner is not what I thought it would be. I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't that. The friend with the car turned out to be Omar's half brother or "brother from another mother." That term is actually literal here in Egypt as men, such as Omar's father can have multiple wives. So, we headed out to Giza, called Omar's brother and were picked up and brought to this random hut on the side of the road to drink "Egyptian Juice." It's this kind of frothy green juice made from sugar cane. It wasn't bad, but it's not something that I wanted to drink a full mug of on the side of the streets in Giza with all those charming flys abuzzin'. So, after finishing half the glass, Adam swapped his empty glass for mine. Omar's brother (who's name was not something I could pronounce) then brought us to his apartment where we met his wife, who seemed lovely but didn't say anything the entire time we were there until we were walking out the door. Omar is quite open about... like everything. We learned that when he was 16 he had two girl friends, and loved them both but it didn't work out because he couldn't sleep with them because they were both Muslim. He the fell in love with an older French woman, but it didn't work out. He does seem to have taken a particular liking to our friend, Zoya and is very excited to take us all around the country and show us all the spots only locals can go. Ok, so it's really great to have made a friend out of a random guy in the metro, but what's the catch? He paid for our cab, waited while we rode camels around the pyramids for a couple hours, drove us to the metro, picked us up from the metro, insisted that we have dinner with his family, and wants to take us all over the place, interpret, and guide our 4 month stay. He never once asked for money, and he was very nice and honest. I got a little uncomfortable when he brought up Israel. Believe me, four American students know better than to bring up politics with complete strangers in the Middle East, but Omar was all about sharing his views. He used to like Obama, but not so much any more because he has not followed through on promises, etc.. He then proceeded to tell a story of when he met an Israeli and told him that he hated Israel, Israelis, and Israeli government. Zoya told him that she didn't believe in discriminating based on nationality, and Omar said that it did not matter and he could never be friends with an Israeli, he could be civil, but Israelis were essentially inherently bad. Now, I'm not the most Jewish gal in the world, but I was very taken aback by this rant. It was slightly offensive and extremely uncomfortable, just sitting there saying nothing. This is the first Egyptian that I've really had much contact with, so it's hard to say if these feelings are common, universal, or just isolated, but I guess this is what friends were saying when they told me not to be open about being "Jewish." So... yeah, this is emersion I guess. What's on the menu for tomorrow? Sleep, hopefully apartment hunting, and a mild adventure into the city. Yes, we hit the ground running, but now we've got to walk off the fall, and maybe throw some dirt on the camel-riding rash.