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. 

Jordon with Dad and Ted

This is Jordon and I loved it.

After a successful tour of the Sinai the awesome trio went to Jordon. The most annoying part of Jordon was getting there. The ferries from Taba and Nuweiba don't seem worth the hassle and when you go overland from Israel you still have to pay to leave Israel even though you are only there for about 45 minutes. Lame.

Ignore that though and let's move to the positives. Jordon is home to Petra which is far and away the coolest ancient site I have ever see. I will go on record saying it kicks the pyramid's ass and is a close tie with the hundreds of ancient things found near Luxor and Aswan. I barely even cared about the hoards of tourists (which I will admit I am only adding to most of my time out here) and the hassle of Bedouins wanting you to buy things. 

The mind blowing gigantic buildings carved into mountain sides, ancient Roman roads still guiding you through the site, and even the hour long climb up a staircase mountain to the sacrificial rock are worth the crowds, dust in your face, and almost getting hit by one to many horse carriages. Checking out the sites is exhausting, the guide books are right on this. We stayed in a decent hostel (by decent please read really cheap) and typical hostel fashion ran into other travelers. Hostels have not really been a serious part of any traveling I have done so I still think they are fun. There are good bars and restaurants in the small city of Petra and  tourists shops too. 

The first view of the Treasury, after you walk down a path that feels like one km long. 

The beginning of our one hour stair climb.

Good for the butt and spirits. 

Side note: there were lots of Bedouin women selling wares on the way up who were willing to makes deals so that they did not miss you when you went down the other side. Also, Dad was a pro at drinking tea, making small talk, and deals.

The whole place looks like this. You think you are done then you look up or around a corner and there are more amazing structures carved into red stone. 

Still wishing I remembered anything from Rocks for Jocks.

After one night and two days in Petra we went up North to the Dead Sea. For budget travelers getting around Jordon is not cheap and I had a really hard time finding public bus routes or anything, but the upside of  private car is that they stop at view points like the shots below. 

I am Northwest girl at heart and really miss my mountains, so being up high with clean air and epic views is good for my soul. The views sort of remind me of Bryce Canyon, only I think  you could see the Red Sea on a really clear day.

Me and Dad.

Our final stop in Jordon was the Dead Sea. When at the Dead Sea one covers one's body in mud and chills until it dries. I think we were supposed to let it dry, hmmm. Instead we posed and inspired the Japanese tourists wearing socks with their sandals to loosen up a little and enjoy the place. We even did some serious not-so-synchronized swimming and Japanese bro nearby joined in, good times.

Speaking of good times I will say that the lasting feelings from the whole trip are "good times," and there is much more to say. If anyone ever gets the chance to travel like this with your parents take it, I am so glad I did. 

Sinai with Dad and Ted

Dad, Faye, and Ted adventured over the Suez Canal, out of Africa and into the little bit of Asia that is Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. We left Cairo after doing all the standard tourist activities and staying the gorgeous Marriott in Zamalek (I swear it has to be the nicest hotel in Cairo with the best location for tourist stuff) on December 23rd and stayed until the 27th, when we left for Jordon. I'll be honest I stopped taking photos of Cairo and let Dad and Ted take them, so we skipping Cairo photos for this vacation.

 I can't tell you how excited I was to bring family to the Sinai and show them in person the places I have vacationed often and worked for a short while. We did an excellent desert trip, chilled at the hotel for Christmas Eve day, spent a relaxing day on the beach on Christmas day, and ate like kings at the Castle Zaman with a great group for Christmas dinner.

Our awesome four wheel machine and our guide  Sayeed expertly letting some air out of the tires for sand driving.

There are rocks and formations like this all throughout Egypt, so easy to see how it was once an ocean. The Bedouin woman on the left provided Ted with a rad belt.

Screw shoes! I don't need shoes, I am a Bedouin!

Dad and Ted followed the Sayeed's lead and got rid the shoes, I did not.

Entrance to the closed canyon. 

Massive rock walls. 

If I had paid more attention in my Rocks for Jocks geology class in university I would know more about the photos I took, but the room was warm and the class was right after lunch so you can guess no one who took the class remembers much. 

Still, wished I knew more about rocks.

Most of the paths were sizist, you had to be able to fit through the cracks or buff enough to climb over.

Barefoot and loving it, sort of.

Sayeed, seriously awesome guide.

I have a card somewhere if anyone is going to the Sinai. 

Can't say anything but good things about this guy.

The final climb on the last of the three canyons we went to. This ladder was not to reliable, but  who cares?

An oasis we stopped at, along with the other cars of tourists doing similar treks. 

Another shot of the oasis.

Christmas dinner. 

Katie and a friend came from Taba Heights, Toby and Ken from Dahab, and their friend Chris who was visiting from Sweden. Randomly there were a few members of the Egyptian orchestra there who treated us with a post dinner show. The food was delicious and the scenery was divine. 

Ted and Katie.
Big food, good times. Go Christmas!

I have decided that spending Christmas in a non-Christian country is the way to go. We were able to really focus on the people we were with, the meal, the good times, and not on the hype. I do love Christmas at home and while nothing can replace a warm fire, classic treats, and family love this was a nice change. 

Valentine's Day

Congratulations to Hend and Adham on their engagement. Hend has been the most amazing friend to me since I came to Egypt and I could not be happier for both of them. They both have beautiful and loving families, caring friends, and good hearts. Its a safe bet they will have a happy future!

That is all for the v-day cheese. Mabrook Hend and Adham!!!!

Rain

Around January 19th there were massive floods in the Sinai, near Hughadha and in the south of Egypt. Unfortunately people lost homes and were hurt. They are still working on roads and I sure there was a loss of crops which will hurt people later on in the year. I was already gone from the area, but was planning on a mini- vacation back to Taba and Dahab when all the roads got washed out. So the vacation was cancelled. My friend Katie sent me a link to a blog with lots of good photos of the flooding. Take a look.

http://shippeyphotography.blogspot.com/

From what I hear most of life is back to normal and the roads are pretty much repaired.

Mega-Cities

 Apparently I live in a mega-city.

Sounds scary right? Cairo is crowded but, I do not have agoraphobia so its cool. 


Quick synopsis of the article linked above: as huge cities get more and more crowded they become a breading ground for dangerous politics and social unrest. At the same time nations are forced to give undue attention to their own mega-cities and ignore the outlying areas, which causes resentment towards the national government. The lack of public services present in these cities is filled by religious and political organizations who provide schools and social services-this is what groups like Hamas and Hezbollah do on the ground and why people are attracted to them. Consider the local chapter of Hamas a little like the local YMCA, only they recruit for suicide missions and not just the summer baseball league. 


Cairo is crazy, there is a noticeable lack of public services, and I have no idea how everything functions. Except that it does, vaguely, in a beautiful sort of chaos. I am sure I am not privy to the greatest tragedies in the city, but articles like this are always very negative about situations on the ground. Come visit and see for yourself, I will let you know if Cairo disrupts into absolute social chaos anytime soon.


Link to the article here and above.

Interesting

I know I said I would hold out on judging Israel, but then the Israeli Keffiyeh popped into my inbox. 

For background's sake...
 I subscribe to an email list serve, Cairo Scholars. It is very handy for apartment hunting, weird questions, and entertaining arguments. Someone sent out a link to a website advertising an Israeli Keffiyeh with the original subject line "they stole history and culture, and kill the Palestinian people." Needless to say a debate ensued about whether the email was appropriate for the list, does it have anything to do with Cairo, are we offending any Jewish students that might be in Cairo, blah blah blah. The highly unorganized email debate brought up a few relevant questions-are you anti-Semitic if you slightly criticize anything Israeli and how serious of an offence is it to co-opt a nation's symbol of resistance.

Let's examine the facts I learned from wikipedia...

The Keffiyeh can be found all over the Arab world. Various tribes and groups wear different colors and patterns, and they can be tied around the head in different styles. You could relate them to a Scottish tartan as the weave, color, and how you wear it are indicative of your family's origins. They are generally worn by men and veiled women do not typically use them. The scarf became a symbol of Palestinian resistance in the Arab revolt of the 1930s, Yasser Arafat used the keffiyeh as a national and personal symbol, Lawrence of Arabia wore one, the British army apparently wears them, and  Leila Khaled, a female member of the armed PLO, was seen wearing the Keffiyeh as a hajab (headscarf) after the TWA Flight 840 high jackings. With her it was seen as a statment of her equal footing with militant men of the time.

Here is some current knowledge gleamed from my own observations (and wikipedia love)...

The keffeyeh is still seen as symbol of resistance around these parts and when the Israeli strikes on Gaza happened last year you could buy one on any street corner in Cairo. They are also a semi-outdated hipster trend. Maybe this trend was started by socially conscious hipsters or Jewish Americans and non-Jewish Americans who were trying to display their anti-Zionist feelings. Apparently “keffiyeh kinderlach” are "young left-wing Jews." Young Americans can purchase them at the local Urban Outfitters or maybe Claire's (I have been out of the country for a while) in all colors. Even in the Middle East it is hard to find one not made in China, most things are made in China. But, you can pay a little more to get handmade scarves and it is worth the extra money. Either way they are sort of a sold out trend, but still relevent enough that when I bought some in Jordon and wore them around Israel I felt weird in  parts of the city (OK I felt weird when I wore it by the Wailing Wall on Friday, but that was a coincidence and not a statement).

But, finally the point. Apparently there a Jewish rapper/label owner/producer based out of Brooklyn who is hawking the Israeli Keffiyeh on his blog and somehow I got an email about it from a list serve here in Cairo. God damn I love globalization!

Now an Israeli wearing a keffiyeh, to be blunt, a lot like a white person wearing FUBU. Apparently the scarf says "Am Israel Chai" in Hebrew, meaning "Jewish People Live." Symbols get co-opted all the time and as an American I can't really claim I am not a huge part of it. As I see it the difference lies in the intention of co-option. When a some random guy wears a Che Guevara shirt he does not want to change what the handsome Latin rebel in the green hat stands for, he wants the coolness of Che to rub off on him. However, taking the basic design and reworking it with different colors and adding Hebrew changes what the keffiyeh stands for and could potentially obliterate the original meaning. You can't call a keffiyeh a keffiyeh when it is a totally new design under the same name.  


Innocently then the above scarf is just an Israeli hipster/national pride scarf and similar to football scarves, or an American flag speedo. Not so innocently the above scarf is another attempt on the part of Zionist Jews to obliterate the Palestinian culture, language and pride. At this point after hipsters, urban outfitters, men in the markets selling hot pink keffiyehs, and semi-political white chicks like me have muddled the symbolism does it matter if an Jewish rapper/label owner/producer does the same? The debate is still going on the email list, although the moderator is trying to stop it. Ahh petty expat student politics, you could just stay wrapped up in them forever, no? I have no answer for the debate, but my gut reaction tells me that this is not right and a little to nationalistic for my tastes. I am sure there are Israeli scarves that could create their own symbolism, no need to take someone else's. Or maybe this is just another example of how similar Palestinians and Israelis really are.

New year, still in Egypt

This update is long overdue. I left the Sinai and the castle, ultimately we were not a match made in desert hipppy castle heaven. Luckily the timing was perfect and I was able join cousin Ted and dad David on a fairly epic, historical, round about trip through Cairo, out to the Sinai, through the waters of the Red Sea to pay homage to Indiana Jones at Petra, a little further North to float in the Dead Sea, then across a bridge to Israel and all the old religious stuff that Israel entails.

Let me just say that could not have imagined a better trip. Kudos for Ted for just being awesome to travel with, really into fun stuff, easy going, and enthusiastic when we needed enthusiasm! As for dad I don't think there are many other people I would have rather visited the Holiest of Holy lands with and the much needed daddy-daughter time was much appreciated and loved. My friend Katie joined us for the Israel adventure and was an amazing trip buddy, cheerful, fun, picture taking snap happy silly bus! All in all a lot of love went into the trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. Causalities were low; besides a few annoying modes of transportation and delayed flights most things went smoothly. I have not yet organized my thoughts about Israel and am really waiting to pass judgement until I visit another part of the country. I hate it when people judge America based on New York or Florida, so I am reserving judgement until I am more traveled. I will say this though the Crowne Plaza Jerusalem has the worst customer service of any hotel I have ever stayed in. Never go there, ever.

After the trip I returned to Cairo and began a new job search. Why am I staying in Cairo? Who really knows. I have found a job, but will reserve judgment on it until a few weeks or months have passed. Am I staying in Cairo for the job? Maybe, the pickings seem pretty slim in America at the moment. Am I staying in Cairo for the fun? Maybe, there are beaches, craziness at every turn, and good friends around. But, ultimately I don't have an exact reason why I am here other than I feel like I should be for the moment. The other day someone asked my why I was here, I have no real answer for them. So, maybe I will search around for a few months and come up with a reason to stay or leave.

Until then I am apartment hunting! Frustrating in any country, it is even more so here. The first step is having friends who will help you, thanks be to the universe I have these. The second, third, fourth, and so on step involves wandering around neighborhoods you want to live in and asking doormen if there is anything open in the area. Then phone calls are made, hands are shaken, streets are walked, names are called across the streets, and maybe you find an apartment to look at. So far I have only looked at a few and did not like them, but I do have plenty of promises of showings tomorrow, inshallah. My budget is not very high and one bedrooms are really hard to find, people get lonely here quick or something. I may have a roommate, but who knows. Life is fickle, minds change, and you never know what an Egyptian day will bring you (thanks Rebecca W for that quote).

Honestly my head is full right now. Between leaving a job, traveling, being a semi-permanent house guest at a few houses, starting a new job, looking for an apartment, and being a little homesick I cannot evaluate my life right now. I realized that I have not unpacked all of my bags, has everything in one room or lived in the same bedroom for more than seven weeks since I packed my bags to travel in June 2009. I can handle change, I can adapt, I can fluctuate, but really this is getting old. I want all my shoes in the same house and pictures on the wall. The urge to nest is strong. Hopefully things will calm down and I will find a place. Then, life will be put on blast and I can figure it out, inshallah.

Inshallah. What a great word.