I Am in Cairo, Egypt!

I am way tooo tired right now and cannot finish writing, but here are posts for my first two days in Cairo.  I have since then been to the Giza pyramids and the Egyptian Museum!  yee! however, I am too tired to continue writing and at this point, I think you will benefit from what I had started writing before! Enjoy.


Written Two Days ago:

Greetings from Cairo, Egypt!!! I am sitting on my bed at Hotel Pharaoh, just returned from a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, Cairo! Why on EARTH would I eat there when I am in Egypt? I will tell you. We had dinner at the hotel today and since its not Ibis caliber food, I thought I would play it safe (my stomach has been uncooperative with my wanton abandon in not caring what food I put it in my mouth. I have kicked myself in the butt...literally) and ordered a Caesar Salad. After two bread rolls, I receive my little plate. I was expecting and salivating for a salad with lettuce, but instead I got chopped up pepinos (cucumbers) and sliced tomato chunks, and chopped hot dog. Skipping the meat, I ate my cucumbers and tomatoes and three more rolls. Needless to say I was still hungry. So when a few of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe, I bought half an order of Nachos and a Raspberry Lemonade. Pretty good! I also bought a button to commemorate the fact that I was at Hard Rock Cairo, and I am so happy!!!

Okay. So enough of that. I need to tell you something. I AM IN CAIRO! I AM IN AFRICA! WHAT??? GGReyes is in Egypt! We arrived yesterday after a one hour flight and stayed at the airport for about an hour waiting for our driver. Then we drove to our hotel and I got my first taste of Cairo. Let me just say that New York is barely a farting space compared to Cairo. What does that mean? I mean to say Cairo is HUGE. It houses most of Egypt's 80 million people and you can tell!

Driving through traffic was an interesting experience. Driving in Amreeka (America) is sooo mild compared to here. Cars are everywhere, and wherever there are cars, there is honking. In a four car lane, somehow five cars fit, and the cars are so close to each other that you can reach your hand out and touch the other car. People walk through traffic as if there were no cars.

There are buildings everywhere. They are off white or beige, tall structures, and many are rundown. Clothes hangs out drying from every building unless its corporate. Unfortunately, trash lines the streets, and no street escapes this lining phenomenon. Its worse in some places than others, but there are just too many people to not have trash. Imagine San Francisco's trash on steroids and multiply that by a lot. However, I couldn't help but feel awed by what I saw. The society is developed and sure, the government needs a lot of work, but the people have worked out a way of life that compliments the busy city life. And while that may seem like a “Well DUH, you big dummy!” statement, you have to see what I am talking about to understand it. The people here are like a clock, working in tandem, its amazing to watch.

We get to our hotel, and it is no Ibis. While it is slightly run down, I couldn't really care because I am in Cairo!!! My roommate and I go upstairs to chill out (because we are pretty mad that there is no free wifi- 3 dollars for half hour! What?!) and the view is amazing. We are on the rooftop (the 15^th floor) of the hotel and can see a pretty great cityscape. One of the first things you notice is the smog. The smog is pretty heavy and persistent and after seeing that, I refused to ever take California's blue skies for granted again. Because of the thick layer of fog there is only so far you can see. I try to imagine what Cairo may have looked like prior to the advent of rapid industry and smog. I couldve seen so much farther! Looking around, you see that there is a thin layer of dust everywhere. There are also like fifteen dish satellite dish things on every building's rooftop. My roommate, Iqra, and I were discussing how while the hotel was not the best, we couldn’t help but appreciate what we had. We were sure that for some Egyptians living in these buildings was a gift and they worked hard for what they had. It is like this across the globe I am sure, that you have places that, to those who are visiting, they appear run down and not fitting homes, while to the ones living in them, they are a sight much more appreciated than their former conditions. This is not to say that I don't think Egypt has a long way to go in the way of providing better infrastructure for its people, but I won't be so quick to believe that a complete and utter overhaul is the only way to go.

It was then dinner time and we were to meet in the lobby. Our professor had a Nile cruise prepared for us. The traffic is absolutely horrific. But what else is there to be expected for a city that is home to 22 million people? More than ¼ of Egypt's population? It takes us about 45 minutes to an hour to get to a place that could have otherwise taken us about 15 minutes. We get on the boat and its pretty nice, I noticed the buffet right away and was terrified that the food was going to do me ill. We get to our table and immediately go to the top floor, to the deck and start snapping pictures; we are the epitome of the ultimate tourist group. Sad. Then we sit, order drinks (fanta for me please!) and get up and get food. I am pleasantly surprised! The hummus was okay, the mashed potatoes- excellent, the fish- pretty good (only one piece though for me), the lentil soup- mouth watering, rice- pretty basic, and as what seems to be my lot these days, the bread rolls were pretty good. I was eating quite happily, and had even gotten up to get my dessert when, on my way back, I hear the telltale signs of performing music. Sure enough, there is a belly dancer. And I want to throw my dessert away. Not that the dancer is particularly nice to look at (the black floss she believes serves as underwear is past her bellybutton, she has a really tight black skirt on that is causing a muffin top and she has a bikini top that is clearly helping the upkeep of her nice double D silicon (sp?) chest) but the sheer atrociousness of being to objectified made me lose my appetite. Plus, I was disgusted that so many people (mostly men) had their cameras out and I felt so ugly. Despite my innate uncomfortability, I was enthralled, as bad as that bug in A Bug's Life that goes towards the electric light and claims “I can't help it, its so beautiful!” before dying. Well substitute beautiful for absolutely disgustingly fascinatingly nasty to witness. So I couldn't look away until we decided to go upstairs and take some group pictures. And pictures we did take! I was on the NILE!!! I was so excited! I tried to imagine what it would feel like to be in a boat, much like the one I was in at that moment, and be an Egyptian 3000 years ago. It was pretty amazing. Then we left and I was tired enough to want to go to sleep, only to discover a bug under my pillow, and while I don't usually mind bugs in me bed, I was more than happy to just sleep on top of my covers. So I slept like a baby, while acknowledging my privileged and spoiled self.

THURSDAY

The next day we went to the International Institute of Islamic Thought. We get on the bus and don't leave for a while. Why? Because we need an armed escort! After about seven minutes, some guy in a business suit boards our bus and we are headed out. Dr. T (T for Tiger because Nimer means Tiger) said the guy came along because we were an American group and needed to be protected. So that guy got off and asked for directions, that guy checked the premises first, and that guy led the way to IIIT Cairo. At one point when he got off and his coat jacket was still skewed from sitting and I saw the massive gun he had clipped to his belt. Impressive! We get to our destination and he even stayed with us during our meeting. The meeting was with this former Jurist who worked with IIIT, and had lived in America for 25 years before he left. He left the country after the patriot act was enacted and his house was enacted. He had a very interesting view point on foreign policy. Is it sad that it was two days ago, but I cannot remember the specifics of the talk? I just remember there being a very pointed question that sparked a very heated dinner discussion. Then we had a working lunch in which we discussed the merits of IIIT's non-political stance and the value of educating the people through institutions of higher learning rather than the general population. One thing that was made very clear was the role (or lack thereof) the government had in promoting IIIT's stance. IIIT did not receive any government funding and had no endowments and wanted to eventually be as popular as the Golen movement in disseminating the values of Islamization of Education across Egypt and the Arab world. While waiting for the bus, Molly, Lauren and I were reppin the Bay Area in Cairo and were going dumb. HAHA, the fact that I wrote that out makes me a loser, but the great thing is that I recognize my loserishness! We were thizz facing and going stupid, dumb and hyphy. (okay so I am really not this cool, but who else was in Cairo and from the Bay Area? I had to do my best and even played some music Sammy gave me once to help me validate my coolness. Then we held up traffic by walking in such a big group and not knowing how to cross the street efficiently to get to our bus. Then I don't remember what we did, but we ended back at the hotel and I took a nap and was late to dinner. We then discussed what we had learned that day and it was one of the more animated conversations. Near the end, I succumbed to my stomach's protest and raised my hand, “Dr. T, we can discuss the way America can overcome it's oppressiveness in the Middle East, but can we do that while we eat?” We then gathered downstairs away from the wind and ate at the cafe two stories down. I ordered a Ceasar salad. While waiting for it, I ate two bread rolls with a bit o' butter. Then I got my tea cup saucer sized plate of cucumbers and was not a happy camper, but you know that. However, during our conversation, Dr. T picked up where we had left off before breaking and asked me what I thought the US needed to do in order to stop being oppressive to the middle east. I said that America needed to restructure the curriculum throughout the entire education system and create more “global citizens” in order for the students (our future leaders) to make better foreign policy. Education is the impetus to creating valuable change. Then dinner ended and I fell asleep to get ready for the pyramids!

That will come later when I am better rested!  


Peace