Ramadan Karim

This year, Ramadan began September 13. (That's about two weeks ago, for those of you who don't keep track of time.) Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic (lunar(moon)) calendar. Ramadan begins when the new cresent moon is spotted. (See previous parentheses.) I'm assuming that the vast majority of people who have any reason to be reading this blog are pretty well-educated, and are somewhat familiar with Ramadan. But, again, here's the low-down: Ramadan is the holiest month of the year for Muslims. It is the month during which Mohammed first received revelations from Allah (that's God). During the month of Ramadan, Muslims partake in this thing called "fasting". Fasting entails not eating, not drinking (including water), not smoking, not sexing, and pretty much not doing anything mean or bad. To be clear about this, Muslims do not NOT eat for the ENTIRE month. That doesn't make sense. Fasting takes place from sunrise, roughly 4:30am, to sunset, sometime after 6pm. Between 6pm and 4:30am: game on - eat, drink, smoke, all you want. Fasting is broken once the sun has set, and a call is issued from the mosques. Then, it's iftar time. "Iftar" is the name of the evening meal, which comes from the word that means "to breakfast". The last meal, before the day starts, is called "sohour". Ramadan days are quite long, and everything readjusts around the eating schedule. My school even has a special Ramadan schedule. All my classes are earlier and shorter, so that everyone can make it home for iftar. Late afternoon classes get pushed back even later, so that they happen after iftar. And traffic is definately something special between three and five, as all the Cairenes rush home for iftar.

Over 80% of the population of Egypt is Muslim, about 10% Christian, and a very small percent is that "J" one. Can you imagine 80% of the most wacked-out city you know (most of that 80% being smokers) abstaining from eating, drinking, and all other pleasurable activities?! You notice the difference. Ramadan affects everything. Although, it seems to get better after about the first week, once the withdrawl symptoms have subsided. I don't know about that though. I tried fasting for the first week of Ramadan... it sucked. I can't imagine an entire month of fasting. Iftar is a pretty fun time, but the rest of the day is not. Mad props to all those Muslims, fasting is tough shit.

During Ramadan, Muslims also spend considerably more time praying, reading the Quran, and being charitable. It's not just about the fasting. But that is definately TOUGH SHIT.

Al Iskandreya

Last Thursday*, a group of nine AUC students set out on the Turbo Train bound from Cairo to Alexandria. Once again confused by Egypt, we landed in the wrong station in Alexandria. This lead to a fair amount of confusion, arguing with over-zealous taxi drivers, a man insisting that I spoke Arabic, and finally a crazy taxi cab ride/race to The New Hotel Welcome House.

The New Hotel Welcome House. That would be the name of our lovely hostel. Although, for 25 LE/night, lovely probably isn't the best adjective to describe The New Hotel Welcome House. Adequate might be better; however, none of us were able to shower for the length of the trip, so adequate may yet be insufficient. Anyway, it was a place to sleep, and had a great view. After taking care of all the arrival business - "checking in", paying, and causing a small rucous in moving beds to different rooms - we took on city of Alexandria.

Alexandria is located in north central Egypt, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded by Alexander the Great and served as Egypt's capital for almost 1000 years. As with pretty much everywhere in Egypt, Alexandria is full of history. Visited sites include: The catacombs of Kom al-Shoqafa, Pompey's Pillar, the Library of Alexandria, Fort Qaitbey (possible site of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria), Al-Anfushi, and Al Montaza.

The Library of Alexandria and Fort Qaitbey are two things of greatest historical note. Alexandria was once known to have the largest library in the world, known then as the Bibliotec Alexandria (or some more correct spelling of 'bibliotec'). The library was built probably during the 3rd century BC, and its date of demolition is debatable. Today, a different building sits along the coast of the Mediterranean and claims the name "The Library of Alexandria". This modern structure houses a library (duh), two museums, and a Death Star... I mean, planetarium. Unfortunately, we visited Alexandria on a Ramadan weekend, and, as our timing would just so have it, we never made it to the Library before the early Ramadan closing time.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was likewise build during the 3rd century BC. It was located in the eastern bay of Alexandria, on the island of Pharos, right off the coast. Listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the tallest man-made structures of its time, shadowed only by the two tallest pyramids. Today, Fort Qaitbey stands where the Lighthouse may have once stood. It may even be partially constructed with some of the remains of the Lighthouse. Again, we didn't time things so well, and arrived after closing, so we did not get to tour the Fort. Instead, we spent some time hanging out alongside the Mediterranean.

The other sites were great to see also. The catacombs are (hopefully) self-explanatory by name. Pompey's Pillar is a site of Roman ruins, which were SO COOL. I got some nice pictures, and am working on setting up a flickr site or something so that I can upload all of my pictures. Al-Anfushi is pretty much a little bay area that was just kind of fun to bum around. And Al Montaza is the site of a palace, which is inaccessable. But the are around the palace has been transformed into a gigantic garden/park area that is, of course, right along the sea. We spent a few hours wandering around there.

On the train ride back to Cairo (now in my mind "home), we had a first semi-scary tourist incident. Apparently we had chosen a busy weekend to travel to Alexandria, and there were a lot of other Americans on the train back to Cairo. The tourist police thought it would be a good idea to gather all of the Americans in one of the train cars. They really only meant to make us comfortable, by surrounding us with other Americans, but that's not what was going through our minds. This plan turned out to be much more confusing that it was intended to be, because we all had to move to our originally assigned seats at the next stop. Needless to say, I'm safe, and the happening on the train was inconsequential.


*This post was started a long time ago. So, "last Thursday" means like two weeks ago.

Just Like New York, With Sand

Cairo, the capitol of Egypt, is home to over 17.5 million people. It is huge - compared to anywhere I've ever lived. I think I joked once before I left that I thought it was going to be just like New York, only with lots of sand. Well, it kind of is. Only there are palm trees and the River Nile runs through the middle of the city, and, oh, I don't know, it was one of the starting points of civilization. But aside from its incredible history, Cairo is a lot like any other big city - there's a cell phone store outside my apartment, the supermarket is easily within walking distance, the taxi drivers are crazy, and there are lots of people.

I'm sure you all have heard of culture shock. Having been in Cairo for under 48 hours, I do not yet feel the waves of culture shock. Instead I find myself slipping into "big city shock". Between the two places I've lived - Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor - Ann Arbor has more of a "big city" downtown. Except no one rides the buses, and there aren't any taxis, or nearly as many people, and it's relatively clean. I pride myself on knowing my way around and being good with directions. That is definately not the case here. It's quite a different feeling. But I'm sure, with time, I'll get to feeling my normal navigationally-attuned-self.

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Well, obviously this post was started quite a while ago. I've now been in Cairo for almost three weeks. A lot has happened in that small amount of time. I still find myself experiencing "big city shock", but have also become more aware of everyday cultural differences. So far, none of these differences have been truly knock-me-on-my-ass shocking, but they are just enough to catch your attention and make you consider. For starters (perhaps most obvious to everyone else), the hijab. A large portion of the women in Egypt wear the hijab. Not every woman wears the hijab, and way fewer wear the burqa (burkha). For clarification, in case you don't know, the hijab is the head covering that leaves the face exposed, the burqa is the long, typically black, full face-covering, garment. I find that I'm getting quite used to seeing women in the hijab, but whenever a lady wearing a burqa passes, I have the incredible urge to gawk like a foreigner. I've been told that typically Egyptian women don't wear the burqa, and that the women you do see wearing the burqa around Cairo are often Saudis vacationing in the Amsterdam of the Middle East. I don't know the truth to that, or percentages of women who wear the hijab vs. burqa, but I can tell you the burqa is a lot less common.

There are lots of other things besides the hijab/burqa. Examples: vendors who wander the street with tea carts, women and children who shamelessly beg for money, "welcome to egypt" (more on that later), doing laundry (more on that too), and shisha (hookah). Shisha can be found pretty much everywhere - and for the record, it's flavored tabacco, not weed. Most of the time, you find combination coffee shop/shisha bar. I have yet to see a place for just shisha. Although, there are just plain coffee shops. Another difference, in line with the coffee/shisha places, is that there exist such coffee/shisha shops in which only men are allowed. It's not necessarily written anywhere that women aren't allowed, just generally accepted/expected things will work that way. These places are pretty easy to identify. Usually they are an opening in the side of a building (not really a door, it just looks like the outside wall is missing), out of which spill small tables and chairs, and shisha pipes. The tables and chairs are occupied by men, tended by men, and not approached by women. I think it might be "ok" for a woman to go to one of these coffee/shisha places with her husband, but it doesn't happen often, and I'm not really sure on that point. I have no idea what happens when a woman enters one alone. I'll let you know when I find out though.

As I started this post to say, I haven't experienced much culture shock yet. With the multitude of McDonald's and Pizza Huts in the commercial districts of Cairo, it looks like I won't be missing cheeseburgers as much as I had anticipated. I still get lost everytime I turn a corner though.

The Red Sea, Giza, and Saqqara

This weekend, as part of the international student orientation, nearly 400 AUC students spent Friday and Saturday at the Stella di Mare resort on the Red Sea. It was absolutely gorgeous. I have pictures, and will work on getting them up soon. As was expected from a five-star resort, everything was wonderful there. We had about an hour's worth of orientation stuff, and spent the rest of the two days eating and lounging on the beach. The sand on the beach was REALLY hot. The water was pretty warm as well. It was a lot of fun to watch the tide go in and out. The part of the Red Sea we were on was pretty shallow for a long way out. So when the tide went out, you could walk about 100 yards into the sea. It was fun to be out there at night, while the tide was out, until beach security started kicking people off the beach. It was quite a relaxing two days, and I would highly recommend going to the Red Sea if you're ever in the area.




As another part of orientation, Sunday was spent touring Giza and Saqqara. In case you don't know, Giza is the site of the great pyramids. Yes, THE pyramids. And the sphinx. After being in Egypt for almost two weeks, I finally found myself face-to-face with ancient history. Unfortunately, there were around 200 of us AUC students touring the pyramids, along with the typical number of other tourists, so we didn't get to go in the pyramids. We didn't even get that close to them. But I was there, and will go back in order to get closer/go inside. Again, I have pictures, and they will be up soon. Along with going to Giza, we also went to Saqqara. I expect that fewer people know the name 'Saqqara' than Giza. Saqqara is the location of the first pyramid prototype. The great pyramids of Giza were not the first pyramids ever built. The ancient Egyptians were astounding engineers/architects/builders/artists/mathmeticians/etc., but like everyone else, they had to develop their ideas and practice. Saqqara holds the first step-pyramid, which served as starting point for later, greater pyramids. The step-pyramid in Saqqara was designed by Imhotep. Imhotep was probably THE great architect of the ancient world (along with being a bunch of other things). The step-pyramid was designed for King Djoser in the Third Dynasty. Saqqara itself is not just the step-pyramid. Saqqara is, on a greater scale, a sort of necropolis, and in ancient times was used for ceremonies and such. Much of Saqqara has been destroyed over time; however, several burial structures and temples still stand. We went inside the burial place of Meneruka (perhaps spelled incorrectly), and the pyramid of Teti. We also walked through the temple outside of the step-pyramid, and all the way around the step-pyramid. Unfortunately, no tourists are allowed inside the step-pyramid, because it is too dangerous. Like I said, the Egyptians had to practice. Although Imhotep was a great architect, he miscalculated a few things on the first step of the pyramid, causing parts of it to... collapse. Until appropriate restoration can be completed, tourists are not allowed in. But don't worry, I'll get in there some day.






I was totally geeking out during all of this. It was SO cool. I promise pictures. Oh, but pictures of the insides of the tombs aren't allowed. Flash and such damage the precious heiroglyphics inside.