Crossing the street

This video is really accurate, thanks CNN. Although I never find it that dangerous. If you are curious this is also what many of the veiled women in Cairo look like, the anchor speaks really bad Arabic, and the streets are filled with crappy cars.

To watch the CNN video on Cairo Street Crossing click here please.

Jesus was reborn and the Jews fled Egypt so I....

...went to the Sinai.

Which, if you think about it, is a pretty holy stomping ground. Moses hung out here, found the commandments on a "mountain" top (I use quotes because I walked up it and it is barely a mountain), he also parted the Red Sea (I am guessing near the Taba Hilton, its the thinnest part), and various other holy figures spent who knows how much time here.

But, what really matters is that I chilled on the beach for a nice long weekend. Our small group went to Kumkum 3 aka Bakraj 3 aka Three Tea pots in Hebrew and Arabic. The days were hot and sunny, the nights were breezy and filled with random guitars and songs, and the sea was calm and cool. There are more adjectives to use and better ways to describe it, but ass usual I am at a loss. I was lazy about photos too because...
a) I tried really hard to use film 
b) I have been to Kumkum 3  before, pictorial evidence here

The whole Sinai was full. Every camp was booked with Israelis, Egyptians, and a random spattering of Western and European foreigners. America was horribly underrepresented! Come on USA get it together and get to the Sinai. Its like Mexico only slightly more awesome (this is my personal and uninformed opinion I have only been to Mexico once and speak no Spanish). I was trying to celebrate the re-birthday of Jesus, wrong crowd for that humor I guess. Not my fault few people have a religious sense of humor.

The completely ironic thing is that I spent the weekend chilling, serious chilling, deep deep sea chilling, with all kinds of people. Then I wake up to go to work on Tuesday, flip on BBC news (mistake maybe?) and see that Israeli is blowing up Gaza, Palestine is thinking about declaring a state, more floods are happening, Egypt is cracking down on hash (everyone in the city is a little on edge-seriously), and generally the world is falling apart.

Ahh, I whine, I complain, I say the same stuff over and over. But man, the same problems keep happening and no solutions. Maybe the time is ripe for new chat about it all. Specifically, I am looking for people who want to chat about investing in a submarine You think I am joking. I am not. Dead serious. I believe in all 2012 hype. I can't tell you why or the logic behind it all. I like to think that I don't seem like a wacko up in the mountains who is scared of cell phones and sees green men, but to much stuff is happening and not far enough apart for something to not be going on.

Call if you want to build a submarine.

Oprah inspiration

Never thought I would ever say this, but I have been inspired by Oprah. Yes, I blame this on Egypt and the lack of readily available intelligent cultural material in English. I feel like I live in a small town and Oprah is actually "opening my eyes to the world around me and introducing me to so many different people and thoughts." I have never watched a full episode of Oprah except once on a treadmill and that was because the woman next to me there really wanted to watch it, she won.

On this episode, which I caught ten minutes of, Oprah had a guest who reunites long lost family members. The reuniting man said something which struck a cord and encapsulated why I feel so comfortable here 90 percent of the time. This absolutely, epic, heart wrenching, inspiration, intelligent line is......

"Your family is who loves you when you need to be loved."

BAMMMM are you crying yet? I think the line was in reference to a foster mother who had a foster daughter who was adopted and then they did not get to see each other for 20 something years. You crying now?

No? Well I did not cry either, but I was still inspired. I think Oprah cried, or at least teared up. I completely agree with the idea that blood is not thicker than water. Nothing will ever even come close to how I feel about my family, but when I really think about it, my family includes many people who are not at all genetically related to me.

Living in a foreign country has made me cheesy, but really when you are gone for a long time you realize how much you love some people and how much they love you. Absence makes the heart grow, blah blah blah. Plus,  when you are in weird country for so long you realize how valuable being able to love people and have any sort of affection returned is.  I got a lot of love to give and I get more than I could really ask for.

Thanks for inspiration Oprah.

She takes a good shot

Katie Hollamby is my friend, she traveled with the crew to Israel, and works in Taba Heights. She also takes gorgeous photos of Egypt and the places she travels.

I do enjoy her work and if anyone is interested in checking out the photos please click here.

Connections

Minimum fives times a day I wonder why  I came to Egypt and why I am still here. Then small connections show themselves. An old neighbor and good friend, who grew up across the street moves to Egypt. You run into a girl who went to your high school when your dad taught there, lived a few blocks away from you, was on the GHS volleyball team your dad coached, and who's brother gave you rides to school in the morning. You meet people from Seattle, a lot of people at friend's parties and random nights out. One of them comes to check out the room you have for rent in your apartment.

So, why I am here? Why are all these people here too, what was it that made us think "I know I'll move to Egypt!" To many King Tut books as a child? Could be. I know I read a few of them and was mildly obsessed, in fact the obsession was only matched by my interest in the Titanic and whales. Politics of the time? The thought that the only person hiring in America is the Foreign Service Office so we all better learn Arabic fast? Was it the water in the Fremont area? All of the above? Who knows, I suppose Egypt has always been a multicultural crossroads and only recently has that slowed down.

These days I have been dealing with a new job, some serious apartment drama, and generally growing up and feeling like my life should be on a track when it is not. Then throw in the whole "I live in Cairo and can't really give anyone a clear reason why," dilemma and I have started to feel a little anxious. Part of my anxiety has been calmed by finally signing a six month lease at a great apartment in Heliopolis with a roommate who seems really relaxed, committed to living in Cairo for a while, and kind. Importantly, again friends here have stepped up far and above what they need to do and really helped me handle all the apartment drama. The rest of the anxiety will go away when I feel like I have a handle on the job and some security.

Here is what I tell people when they ask why I am here. Initially Egypt was a good excuse to travel and a golden opportunity that fell in my lap. Then some travels in Europe and the chance to live in a castle kept me around. Now I feel like I have a job, for the meantime, that would be about ten times harder to find in the states. International work experience can't be bad and I swear I am going to seriously start studying Arabic. Add in the Sinai beaches, amazing friends, an odd ease in getting some things done, and no chance of snow ever unless the world really is ending and some 2012 crap starts happening and you have the canned answer. The snow thing is serious though, I am over cold weather. But, still working on the candid answer. Maybe the canned and the candid are the same and I have just repeated the story so many times it feels likes fiction and not a reality.

Stay tuned for apartment pictures, we need to decorate, and maybe one day I'll figure out a candid answer as to why I am in Cairo.

Bethlehem with Dad and Ted

This is how you walk into Bethlehem, unless you take a tour bus. 

We are not the tourist bus types so we walked in. Talk about another world, night and day behind the wall and in front of it. You can instantly tell there must be no economy because we were hassled by cabbies to the tenth degree. I consider myself someone who has been hassled by cabbies, but this was outrageous. Then you can walk, long walk, or take a cab into the area with all the churches and Jesus sites. We walked some of the way and took photos of the crazy amounts of graffiti on the Palestinian side. There is no graffiti on the Israeli side. 

You may recognize this woman from an earlier post.

Raaarrrrrrrrrr.

Corner piece.

Best ever.

Lots of the artwork was done by visitors and peace groups. 

Well I am making that assumption because the names were not Arab at all.

Many of the pieces were huge.

The wall does not cut straight, it curves and, sometimes even seeming to cut into a house or building. 

Very weird, what's wrong with straight lines?

I realized my photos from Bethlehem and Israel seem as if  I could care less about the historical and religious importance of the area. The truth is I don't really attach much importance to a church/mosque/synagogue where someone, supposedly walked, left a foot print, carried something, or ascended to heaven. Call me a heathen. 

Although I don't subscribe to a church or single religion a heartfelt display of faith, in a loving and peaceful manner does cast a shimmering ray of hope into your soul. Dad pointed out a group of visitors walking the stations of the cross route and as he did they began to sing a hymnal. Gorgeous. The groups of young soldiers, families, and students singing  as they passed us walking home for the Sabbath dinner. Beautiful. The glow in dark crucifixes, endless Koran verses on metal plating, and the Stars of Davids seemed paltry and pathetic in comparison to the real life expressions of faith and love. 

Israel with Dad and Ted

I cannot say anything that has not been said about Israel, so I won't try. It is a trip though, the call to prayer goes off, at the same time church bells ring, and an Orthodox Jew walks past with the big furry hat on. Religion overload really. But the old city is beautiful and the new part reminded me of a futuristic kids book I had titled something like Dinosaur Utopia, weird right? 

The best part about Israel was that I was not supposed to go. I was supposed to be working, but work stopped working out, the heavens above favored me with perfect timing, and I joined the itinerary of Dad and Ted, bringing Katie along for the ride. We wandered around the old city most days gawking at the hoards, trying to remember religious history, struggling to find beer on the Sabbath, and everyone but me took a lot of photos. Katie is a photographer and was on a mission, Dad and Ted were fresh tourists ready to capture it all, and I was tired of the "get camera out and put away" routine pictures require. 

In my mind the weirdest part of Israel is how drastically different country is from the neighbors. Crossing from the Sinai into Israel is like stepping from a donkey cart to a Mercedes. That analogy sounds favorable and I do love the first world, but it was also unnerving. I have been told the Jerusalem is its own world and the rest of Israel is far different, I will go back and see more, inshallah.

What follows are the few pictures I took. Also if anyone knows the names of all the clothes that Orthodox Jews wear I am really interested and I could look it up on the internet, but this way could be more fun. Do the women have to wear skirts, or is the skirt/boot combo just all the rage in Jerusalem? 

Old wall, in the Jewish quarter in the old city.

Tiny kid, love the look, seriously all the kids were super cute.

From the building that once played host to Jesus' last supper, I bring you rock and roll.

Obligatory wailing wall shot, I will admit a very bad shot.

This was a tranquil place to sit and relax and on Friday all roads led there.

 I felt like a salmon swimming upstream sometimes. 

Dome of the Rock, where everyone flew to the heavens for a quick minute.

Dome of the Rock, Israel's hottest property.

View of the brand new wall around the West Bank.

Small kiddies in a park where Jesus supposedly walked.