I had a much less productive trip to Coffee Bean today than I did a few weeks ago. To start, I wasn't even done with my reading, so I couldn't get to work on my essay right away.
Then, part way through my research, I realized that the essay topic I had chosen and gotten approved wasn't really what I wanted to write about at all. I figured out a new, much more interesting topic, and plotted an outline for it.
I tried to buy a few hours of internet from Coffee Bean, but apparently they were 'out' so I had to come home to do more research. So, basically, I'm no farther along on my paper than I was this morning, but writing it will definitely be much easier now that I'm actually interested in my topic.
NaNoWriMo went amazingly today, and I wrote way more than I needed to to meet my goal, but it didn't drag on at all. Unfortunately, I pretty much know for certain now that the novel itself won't be finished when it hits 50,000 words. That's better than the alternative, I guess, but rather dramatically increases the chances that I won't ever finish it. I'm kind of thinking about skipping ahead and writing some major plot points, just to have them done and the story all tied up, so it will be easier to go back and fill in the blanks, rather than have to finish the whole story cold. I'll let you know.
Essay research and planning took up most of the day, except for the fifteen minutes or so in which I made my video for the week, and the three hundred minutes or so that video took to upload to youtube. Really, Zamalek dorms? Really?
NaNo word count: 40876
Showing posts with label Zamalek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zamalek. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
successful felucca ride
Today was a fail, and then an epic success. The first part of the day totally sucked, so I don't want to talk about it.
When I got home from class, after a very good NaNo session on the bus ride, I talked to my dad and sister on Skype, then met with Stefana and friends for dinner and adventures.
We had real reservations at Abu el-Sid, and walked over there, buying dessert on the way. For dinner, we split three entrees, and they were all delicious, although we couldn't finish them all. Stefana was very brave and tried all the unfamiliar food willingly, even the slimy green molokheya, which is one of my favorite foods here.
Then we caught a cab to the river, and found a felucca captain who promised to take us out for an hour for 50 pounds for his boss and "baksheesh for the driver" (tips for him). He played us music and even sang a little, and we ate our dessert and had a good time taking silly pictures. Then it was time to dance, apparently. I'm sure there are some terrifyingly awful pictures of me (and all of us) dancing with the boat captain that will eventually appear on facebook or somewhere. I can't quite decide if I'm looking forward to that or not. It was a wonderful boat ride, and we tipped him very generously.
We caught a cab home to Zamalek, and I can honestly say that it was the worst cab ride I've ever taken. He took us a very roundabout way (around the island twice) to drive up the meter (which was going super fast anyway), and didn't listen when I tried to tell him the right way to go, then got mad when I didn't know where we were. It ended up costing over thirty pounds for what should have been at most a ten pound cab ride. At most. If he had known what the heck he was doing, and hadn't tried to cheat us. But I've put it behind me. Deep breaths.
When we got back, I walked my friends back to their hotel and we hugged goodbye. They were very good huggers. It was really nice to hear them say that this was one of the best trips they've taken while studying abroad. I hope that's true, but even if it isn't, I had a wonderful time showing them around, and just hanging out with friends, and it was sad to see them go.
Tomorrow I have a quiz in Art and Architecture that I haven't studied as much for as I need to, so that's what I'll be doing all tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't do as badly and I'm afraid I will. Wish me luck.
NaNo word count: 36753
When I got home from class, after a very good NaNo session on the bus ride, I talked to my dad and sister on Skype, then met with Stefana and friends for dinner and adventures.
We had real reservations at Abu el-Sid, and walked over there, buying dessert on the way. For dinner, we split three entrees, and they were all delicious, although we couldn't finish them all. Stefana was very brave and tried all the unfamiliar food willingly, even the slimy green molokheya, which is one of my favorite foods here.
Then we caught a cab to the river, and found a felucca captain who promised to take us out for an hour for 50 pounds for his boss and "baksheesh for the driver" (tips for him). He played us music and even sang a little, and we ate our dessert and had a good time taking silly pictures. Then it was time to dance, apparently. I'm sure there are some terrifyingly awful pictures of me (and all of us) dancing with the boat captain that will eventually appear on facebook or somewhere. I can't quite decide if I'm looking forward to that or not. It was a wonderful boat ride, and we tipped him very generously.
We caught a cab home to Zamalek, and I can honestly say that it was the worst cab ride I've ever taken. He took us a very roundabout way (around the island twice) to drive up the meter (which was going super fast anyway), and didn't listen when I tried to tell him the right way to go, then got mad when I didn't know where we were. It ended up costing over thirty pounds for what should have been at most a ten pound cab ride. At most. If he had known what the heck he was doing, and hadn't tried to cheat us. But I've put it behind me. Deep breaths.
When we got back, I walked my friends back to their hotel and we hugged goodbye. They were very good huggers. It was really nice to hear them say that this was one of the best trips they've taken while studying abroad. I hope that's true, but even if it isn't, I had a wonderful time showing them around, and just hanging out with friends, and it was sad to see them go.
Tomorrow I have a quiz in Art and Architecture that I haven't studied as much for as I need to, so that's what I'll be doing all tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't do as badly and I'm afraid I will. Wish me luck.
NaNo word count: 36753
Friday, November 19, 2010
friends from italy
Today I again had nothing much to do, and again, it was a really good day. I almost wish vacation could go on for longer, but I miss having stuff to do. I'm sure that feeling won't last long once I get back to AUC, but that's how I feel right now.
My friend Stefana arrived from Milan today, with two of her friends from the university where she's studying. I met them at their hotel for lunch, and then we explored Zamalek.
I actually had a really difficult time finding their hotel, because google maps told me it was in two different places. Just when I had given up, I found myself on the correct street, right under the hotel sign. We went to a restaurant called Cafe Noir for lunch, which was pretty good, and a relief for them, after getting used to paying European prices for food all the time.
Then we set off exploring, and walked all the way from my side of the island to the Opera House, way on the other end. We saw a poster for a performance of King Lear, which I was sad to learn I missed, because I love that play, and would definitely have paid to see it, even if it was in Arabic.
About halfway to the Opera House, we decided to make our way to Cairo Tower, and see the whole city below us. It was past sunset by the time we got there, which definitely spoiled that plan a little bit, but it turned out okay. After buying our tickets and waiting in a ridiculous line for about half an hour, we decided to chip in thirty more pounds each as credit for the restaurant in the tower, and skip the long line. This turned out to be a good idea, because when we got back down, we saw people still in line who had been ahead of us.
While we waited, we chatted, or were chatted at by a group of Egyptian girls, about age thirteen or fourteen. They were very nice, and told us we were beautiful, and we told them they were gameela too. We had a bit of a language barrier problem, but I enjoyed talking to them.
The top of the tower was very very windy, and it was completely dark by then, but we got to see all the lights of Cairo spread out beneath us. The lit up feluccas on the river were really pretty, and it was amazing to see how far the city stretched in all directions.
When we finished looking, we went down to the restaurant, and had coffee and dessert, completely not thinking about the fact that none of us had eaten dinner. The chocolate cake was good, but the vanilla ice cream was kind of funny. We decided it tasted like funfetti cake, but without the funfetti.
We took a taxi back to the dorms so we could look up the new Harry Potter movie, in the hopes that we could all see it together while they were in Cairo, but it didn't look like it would work out. On our way back to their hotel, we ran into a friend who told us that it will actually be released in Egypt on Wednesday, unfortunately after they've gone back to Italy. (But I'll still get to see it! Yay!)
Tomorrow I'm meeting them early, hopefully sneaking myself into their free continental breakfast at the hotel, then we're off to Giza to see the pyramids! I don't think I'll ever get tired of them.
NaNo word count: 33110
p.s. I had a ridiculous NaNo session today. I've almost got my whole buffer back from where I lost it two days ago!
My friend Stefana arrived from Milan today, with two of her friends from the university where she's studying. I met them at their hotel for lunch, and then we explored Zamalek.
I actually had a really difficult time finding their hotel, because google maps told me it was in two different places. Just when I had given up, I found myself on the correct street, right under the hotel sign. We went to a restaurant called Cafe Noir for lunch, which was pretty good, and a relief for them, after getting used to paying European prices for food all the time.
Then we set off exploring, and walked all the way from my side of the island to the Opera House, way on the other end. We saw a poster for a performance of King Lear, which I was sad to learn I missed, because I love that play, and would definitely have paid to see it, even if it was in Arabic.
About halfway to the Opera House, we decided to make our way to Cairo Tower, and see the whole city below us. It was past sunset by the time we got there, which definitely spoiled that plan a little bit, but it turned out okay. After buying our tickets and waiting in a ridiculous line for about half an hour, we decided to chip in thirty more pounds each as credit for the restaurant in the tower, and skip the long line. This turned out to be a good idea, because when we got back down, we saw people still in line who had been ahead of us.
While we waited, we chatted, or were chatted at by a group of Egyptian girls, about age thirteen or fourteen. They were very nice, and told us we were beautiful, and we told them they were gameela too. We had a bit of a language barrier problem, but I enjoyed talking to them.
The top of the tower was very very windy, and it was completely dark by then, but we got to see all the lights of Cairo spread out beneath us. The lit up feluccas on the river were really pretty, and it was amazing to see how far the city stretched in all directions.
When we finished looking, we went down to the restaurant, and had coffee and dessert, completely not thinking about the fact that none of us had eaten dinner. The chocolate cake was good, but the vanilla ice cream was kind of funny. We decided it tasted like funfetti cake, but without the funfetti.
We took a taxi back to the dorms so we could look up the new Harry Potter movie, in the hopes that we could all see it together while they were in Cairo, but it didn't look like it would work out. On our way back to their hotel, we ran into a friend who told us that it will actually be released in Egypt on Wednesday, unfortunately after they've gone back to Italy. (But I'll still get to see it! Yay!)
Tomorrow I'm meeting them early, hopefully sneaking myself into their free continental breakfast at the hotel, then we're off to Giza to see the pyramids! I don't think I'll ever get tired of them.
NaNo word count: 33110
p.s. I had a ridiculous NaNo session today. I've almost got my whole buffer back from where I lost it two days ago!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sinai 1 (10/14/10)
[Sorry for the late catch-up blog. Here's day one of my Sinai trip, finally.]
Blogging on the bus is not very fun. Oh well. That's what I get for deciding to go n awesome rips to Sinai. Before I get to that, though, here's what happened today.
Umm. Not really anything. School (stuff), lunch (falafel), bus ride home (agonizing). In Arabic today we presented out dialogues, and the teacher gave us a resounding 'mumtaaz' (excellent) after we were done, so that went alright. But I digress.
Like every school day, I got on the 5:15 bus home. One of the 5:15 buses, anyway, there are usually two or three. We left around 5:10, and drove for a while, then got stopped by traffic. It took until 7:00 for me to get back to the dorms. The bus ride home has never taken that long before, and I hope it never does again. I don't know why the traffic was so bad today, but I assume it was an accident of some sort. (Speaking of accidents, the bus drove by a burned out truck this morning, still kinda on fire. That was interesting.)
Anyway, I got back to the dorms at the precise time the bus was meant to depart Zamalek to go pick up the New Campus students, and I wasn't packed yet.
I went up to my room, and finished packing, and made it back downstairs in about ten minutes, just to wait until 7:40 when we were informed by an RA that the bus would be another twenty minutes.
I left my stuff downstairs and went back to my room to charge my iPod as much as I could and talk to my mom on Skype a little. I was about to head back down when I got a call from the RA that the bus was there waiting. As if I was holding it up.
But whatever. I went downstairs, all seven students leaving from Zamalek got on the bus, and we headed out. I took the opportunity that the long drive to New Cairo provided to do a little homework for my linguistics class, and recorded (with permission of course) a conversation between several of the other students on the bus, to transcribe and analyze later. [NB: I have still not analyzed this recording. Oops.] The conversation was actually more of a debate about marriage and the benefits and detriments thereof. I was kind of disappointed that I had to record, and therefore couldn't contribute to the conversation, but on the whole, I'm glad I got the recording done with. I got almost an hour of data before my flipcam threatened to die on me, so I stopped.
We picked up the New Campus people a few minutes after that, and now we're on our way to Sinai. The bus ride promises to be long and agonizingly boring and/or painful, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm going to try and get some sleep now, so I'll be all refreshed for a nice relaxing day at the beach tomorrow.
[And a special gift for you catch-up blog readers, I'll include the doodle I made in my notebook after I wrote this blog]:
Blogging on the bus is not very fun. Oh well. That's what I get for deciding to go n awesome rips to Sinai. Before I get to that, though, here's what happened today.
Umm. Not really anything. School (stuff), lunch (falafel), bus ride home (agonizing). In Arabic today we presented out dialogues, and the teacher gave us a resounding 'mumtaaz' (excellent) after we were done, so that went alright. But I digress.
Like every school day, I got on the 5:15 bus home. One of the 5:15 buses, anyway, there are usually two or three. We left around 5:10, and drove for a while, then got stopped by traffic. It took until 7:00 for me to get back to the dorms. The bus ride home has never taken that long before, and I hope it never does again. I don't know why the traffic was so bad today, but I assume it was an accident of some sort. (Speaking of accidents, the bus drove by a burned out truck this morning, still kinda on fire. That was interesting.)
Anyway, I got back to the dorms at the precise time the bus was meant to depart Zamalek to go pick up the New Campus students, and I wasn't packed yet.
I went up to my room, and finished packing, and made it back downstairs in about ten minutes, just to wait until 7:40 when we were informed by an RA that the bus would be another twenty minutes.
I left my stuff downstairs and went back to my room to charge my iPod as much as I could and talk to my mom on Skype a little. I was about to head back down when I got a call from the RA that the bus was there waiting. As if I was holding it up.
But whatever. I went downstairs, all seven students leaving from Zamalek got on the bus, and we headed out. I took the opportunity that the long drive to New Cairo provided to do a little homework for my linguistics class, and recorded (with permission of course) a conversation between several of the other students on the bus, to transcribe and analyze later. [NB: I have still not analyzed this recording. Oops.] The conversation was actually more of a debate about marriage and the benefits and detriments thereof. I was kind of disappointed that I had to record, and therefore couldn't contribute to the conversation, but on the whole, I'm glad I got the recording done with. I got almost an hour of data before my flipcam threatened to die on me, so I stopped.
We picked up the New Campus people a few minutes after that, and now we're on our way to Sinai. The bus ride promises to be long and agonizingly boring and/or painful, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm going to try and get some sleep now, so I'll be all refreshed for a nice relaxing day at the beach tomorrow.
[And a special gift for you catch-up blog readers, I'll include the doodle I made in my notebook after I wrote this blog]:
 |
| yeah, you know you're jealous |
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
fiftieth post! wow.
That's a lot of posts. Apparently, according to my blog clock, I have been in Egypt for 49 days, or 50 days by tomorrow. That seems like a lot when it's written down, but it really doesn't feel like I've been here that long. Well, that's not completely true. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever, and sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's a bad thing. I'm glad to be here, though.
Last night, I got back to late to tell you all about my adventures in my blog, but I can assure you, I had adventures. They involved hanging out with lots of new European friends on a 5th floor balcony until 2 am, talking about the metric system and scuba diving and Norway and other worldly and fascinating subjects. Then we walked home to the dorms and I got questioned by the guards for being out so late, which was really annoying. And then it was today, and so on to the real blog post.
Congratulations to me for not procrastinating today, and getting all of my homework (well, the homework due tomorrow) done before 3 pm. Round of applause. Of course, that only happened because the internet was being horribly slow and wouldn't let me watch television. Once I was done with my homework, though, I didn't have to feel bad about watching television, so I guess it worked out pretty well.
This morning, I went with my friends Emily and Michelle to get breakfast at the delicious waffle place we went to before. We had some issues, not the least of which was the fact that after 15 minutes of walking, we found out that the waffle shop was closed. We went somewhere else instead, and you can see where it was in my newest vlog, which I mostly filmed walking around Zamalek and suchlike:
I hope you like the video, it took a while to make.
And now I'm stuck with an interesting dilemma. What is the protocol for when one's Egyptian roommate comes in for the night and starts to pray? One has turned off one's music, and is about to cease typing. I hope that will do it.
Last night, I got back to late to tell you all about my adventures in my blog, but I can assure you, I had adventures. They involved hanging out with lots of new European friends on a 5th floor balcony until 2 am, talking about the metric system and scuba diving and Norway and other worldly and fascinating subjects. Then we walked home to the dorms and I got questioned by the guards for being out so late, which was really annoying. And then it was today, and so on to the real blog post.
Congratulations to me for not procrastinating today, and getting all of my homework (well, the homework due tomorrow) done before 3 pm. Round of applause. Of course, that only happened because the internet was being horribly slow and wouldn't let me watch television. Once I was done with my homework, though, I didn't have to feel bad about watching television, so I guess it worked out pretty well.
This morning, I went with my friends Emily and Michelle to get breakfast at the delicious waffle place we went to before. We had some issues, not the least of which was the fact that after 15 minutes of walking, we found out that the waffle shop was closed. We went somewhere else instead, and you can see where it was in my newest vlog, which I mostly filmed walking around Zamalek and suchlike:
I hope you like the video, it took a while to make.
And now I'm stuck with an interesting dilemma. What is the protocol for when one's Egyptian roommate comes in for the night and starts to pray? One has turned off one's music, and is about to cease typing. I hope that will do it.
Friday, October 8, 2010
progress is progress
Today started out well, despite my weird freak-out this morning when my clock said it was 10 am and my room was still really dark. Then I realized the curtains were closed and felt better. Well, actually, I felt stupid. Never mind.
I started work on my essay right away (I know, surprising, right?) and worked until about 2 o'clock reading through all my sources and taking notes, then making my rough outline.
It was a little hard, because the prompt I'm using is one I made up myself, not one that was given out by the professor. Since I already had that freedom, I'm having a little bit of trouble sticking to it, because I can see all sorts of interesting essays to write about the Oresteia now. Especially about Clytemnestra. She is one messed up lady.
Speaking of messed up ladies in Greek mythology, how about Medea? I love her even more than I love Clytemnestra. Sure, she killed her kids, but you gotta admit, she killed them with style. And flying off in that dragon chariot at the end of the play? Classy.
Can you tell I kind of want to reread Medea? I bet the school library has it. Hmm.
At 2 o'clock, I took a break and went to Alfa Mart with Maggie for some more shopping. The food I buy just keeps disappearing, imagine that. How strange... I also finally went to the ATM again, and am now fully stocked up on cash. As you may remember, for the first few weeks I was here, I was going to ATMs all the time, because of all the cash expenses like stupid bus passes and exciting trips that I needed to take care of. Since that's been over and done with, I haven't needed to go to an ATM since the second week of September. Thank goodness.
One good thing about using the different ATM this time was that I didn't get my cash in terrible 200 pound notes. Yes, they may just be worth about $40, but that doesn't mean that anywhere and everywhere I try to spend them in Cairo will let me. They are the hardest damn bills to break, and I hate them! Honestly, I don't care how inconvenient it would be, I would die of happiness if an ATM here miraculously gave me just 20s and 10s and 5s. Even cashing 20s can be a pain sometimes, and they're only worth $4! Can you imagine that? It's insane.
I'll do a blog about the money in Egypt sometime soon, it's actually pretty cool. With pictures of the bills and coins and everything.
Anyway, after we got back I ate lunch at the cafeteria, finished rereading and marking all three plays for relevant quotes and stuff, then came back upstairs to write. And I did write, I did. I just took a while to actually make any relevant progress. However, I met my goal for the day of about a third of my paper, so I'm on track to finish the whole thing tomorrow on the early side. I really want to go out to dinner tomorrow, because I'm bored with being stuck near the dorms all the time. Most of my friends are trying to save money and/or will be exhausted from returning from their crazy vacations though, so that might not work out as I'm planning.
One more day of this freaky four day vacation with a day of school stuck in the middle, then it's back to school/work stuff. And onto Al-Kitaab in Arabic class, the textbook commonly known by international students around AUC as "that stupid, stupid book, why did we need to learn how to say United Nations as our first vocab word?" I'm kinda looking forward to it. (No, that's a lie. Dread is a more appropriate word, I think.)
I started work on my essay right away (I know, surprising, right?) and worked until about 2 o'clock reading through all my sources and taking notes, then making my rough outline.
It was a little hard, because the prompt I'm using is one I made up myself, not one that was given out by the professor. Since I already had that freedom, I'm having a little bit of trouble sticking to it, because I can see all sorts of interesting essays to write about the Oresteia now. Especially about Clytemnestra. She is one messed up lady.
Speaking of messed up ladies in Greek mythology, how about Medea? I love her even more than I love Clytemnestra. Sure, she killed her kids, but you gotta admit, she killed them with style. And flying off in that dragon chariot at the end of the play? Classy.
Can you tell I kind of want to reread Medea? I bet the school library has it. Hmm.
At 2 o'clock, I took a break and went to Alfa Mart with Maggie for some more shopping. The food I buy just keeps disappearing, imagine that. How strange... I also finally went to the ATM again, and am now fully stocked up on cash. As you may remember, for the first few weeks I was here, I was going to ATMs all the time, because of all the cash expenses like stupid bus passes and exciting trips that I needed to take care of. Since that's been over and done with, I haven't needed to go to an ATM since the second week of September. Thank goodness.
One good thing about using the different ATM this time was that I didn't get my cash in terrible 200 pound notes. Yes, they may just be worth about $40, but that doesn't mean that anywhere and everywhere I try to spend them in Cairo will let me. They are the hardest damn bills to break, and I hate them! Honestly, I don't care how inconvenient it would be, I would die of happiness if an ATM here miraculously gave me just 20s and 10s and 5s. Even cashing 20s can be a pain sometimes, and they're only worth $4! Can you imagine that? It's insane.
I'll do a blog about the money in Egypt sometime soon, it's actually pretty cool. With pictures of the bills and coins and everything.
Anyway, after we got back I ate lunch at the cafeteria, finished rereading and marking all three plays for relevant quotes and stuff, then came back upstairs to write. And I did write, I did. I just took a while to actually make any relevant progress. However, I met my goal for the day of about a third of my paper, so I'm on track to finish the whole thing tomorrow on the early side. I really want to go out to dinner tomorrow, because I'm bored with being stuck near the dorms all the time. Most of my friends are trying to save money and/or will be exhausted from returning from their crazy vacations though, so that might not work out as I'm planning.
One more day of this freaky four day vacation with a day of school stuck in the middle, then it's back to school/work stuff. And onto Al-Kitaab in Arabic class, the textbook commonly known by international students around AUC as "that stupid, stupid book, why did we need to learn how to say United Nations as our first vocab word?" I'm kinda looking forward to it. (No, that's a lie. Dread is a more appropriate word, I think.)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
egyptian museum and suuuupeeeerrnooooteee
Woops, late blog tonight. I'm here now, it's okay. (I know you were worried.)
Today I had two goals, 1) make my way to Alfa Mart to finally buy some food, and 2) go to the Egyptian Museum with Professor Ikram for my Art and Architecture class. Both were eventually accomplished, although the second one involved much more drama than it should have.
Emily and I guessed our way to Alfa Mart, and braved its frightening escalators (they don't start moving until you step onto them) in search of snacks, flashlights, and goggles. Well, the goggles were just for me. I'll take a picture of them for you tomorrow and post it here. They're mildly hilarious, but the best they had.
I bought bananas, shredded wheat, and Jif peanut butter. I didn't know they even had Jif here, but the fact that they did kind of made my week. [Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by Jif. Duh.]
After our wildly successful grocery shopping trip, Emily and I split up, her to pack for her trip to Dubai this weekend, and me to film the video that's at the bottom of this blog. More on that later.
At 2 pm, I met up with Kim to catch a taxi to the Egyptian Museum. We waited for another girl for a while, but she didn't show, so we left the dorms and started walking, expecting a taxi to solicit us at any moment. This was not what happened. Traffic outside the dorm was completely stopped, and we walked almost 5 blocks before we saw any cabs at all. The streets were also filled with school children, which was strange because I hardly ever see any kids at all. At one point, we thought there might have been a car accident, putting together two and two from the stalled traffic, the crowds, and a persistent siren whose source we couldn't exactly determine. It turned out to be the sound of the horn of a nearby McDonald's delivery motorcycle. Apparently, in Cairo, McDonald's holds the same precedence in traffic that an ambulance does elsewhere.
Eventually, we did find a cab though, and he agreed to take us to the museum for 10 pounds, which is a little bit more than it should have cost, but not enough more that either Kim or I cared. On the way, he pulled over to get another fare, but that didn't take too long. Eventually traffic cleared up, and we made it to the museum in about 25 minutes, a drive which I've never seen take more than 15.
We figured out how to get past security, with lots of help (thanks Vince!), and Professor Ikram met us at the front steps, and got us into the museum without tickets thanks to her handy psychic paper. Or something.
The museum was ridiculously crowded and hot, and we had to run through it, from exhibit to exhibit, because that's the way our class travels when following Professor Ikram. Everything she showed us was interesting, and it was equally fun watching other tourists try to hear her lectures instead of what their own tour guides were saying. When our class trip was done, Kim and I stayed for a while to explore a bit more and check out the tiny gift shop. All in all, I don't think I saw even a fifth of what's on display in the museum, and I definitely plan to go back. One interesting thing I did see was a chunk of the sphinx's beard that had broken off and was then found and eventually ended up in the museum. In a corner. Behind a forklift. This might help you get some idea of the sheer number of important artefacts the museum holds and how well they are 'organized'.
When we left the museum, we tried to catch a taxi back to Zamalek. One man offered to get us a cab, whose fare, he said, would be 50 pounds. Way too much. We turned him down and tried on our own, only to find that taxis didn't want to go to Zamalek, at least not for 10 pounds, which was all we were willing to pay. We kept walking, and eventually ended up at a metro station, which we used to cross the busy street underneath, and found ourselves by the old American University campus. We finally caught a taxi, and miracle of miracles, the driver actually knew where our dorms were. I cannot tell you enough how impressive that was. I've never taken a taxi home before that didn't need to be given directions, so this was amazing.
After that highlight of my day was over, I lazed around for a while, then went down to the cafeteria for dinner, where I met Maggie and Geoff. We hung out for a while in the garden, and I read A Midsummer Night's Dream for my Lit class, which was just as good as I remember it, and a whole lot funnier.
Then I went back upstairs and edited my vlog. I said I would explain so I will. This week's vlog is mostly dedicated to SuperNote, a competition held by youtube superstars Rhett and Link. It's kind of hard to explain, so click here to watch their video about it if you're interested.
Suffice it to say, lots of this video is just me trying to sing one long note in one breath. Pretty boring. There's a surprise at the end for anyone who's curious what life in the Zamalek girl's dorms sounds like, though. Stay tuned.
And that's it for today. Except for the extremely silly skype conversation I had with my little sister a little while ago. It consisted mainly of us laughing hysterically and trying to hold silly faces to convince the other one that the video chat had frozen. It was one of the funniest things we've done in a while. Unfortunately, I was laughing too hard to get any screenshots of either of our faces. Sorry. I love you, Erin!
Today I had two goals, 1) make my way to Alfa Mart to finally buy some food, and 2) go to the Egyptian Museum with Professor Ikram for my Art and Architecture class. Both were eventually accomplished, although the second one involved much more drama than it should have.
Emily and I guessed our way to Alfa Mart, and braved its frightening escalators (they don't start moving until you step onto them) in search of snacks, flashlights, and goggles. Well, the goggles were just for me. I'll take a picture of them for you tomorrow and post it here. They're mildly hilarious, but the best they had.
I bought bananas, shredded wheat, and Jif peanut butter. I didn't know they even had Jif here, but the fact that they did kind of made my week. [Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by Jif. Duh.]
After our wildly successful grocery shopping trip, Emily and I split up, her to pack for her trip to Dubai this weekend, and me to film the video that's at the bottom of this blog. More on that later.
At 2 pm, I met up with Kim to catch a taxi to the Egyptian Museum. We waited for another girl for a while, but she didn't show, so we left the dorms and started walking, expecting a taxi to solicit us at any moment. This was not what happened. Traffic outside the dorm was completely stopped, and we walked almost 5 blocks before we saw any cabs at all. The streets were also filled with school children, which was strange because I hardly ever see any kids at all. At one point, we thought there might have been a car accident, putting together two and two from the stalled traffic, the crowds, and a persistent siren whose source we couldn't exactly determine. It turned out to be the sound of the horn of a nearby McDonald's delivery motorcycle. Apparently, in Cairo, McDonald's holds the same precedence in traffic that an ambulance does elsewhere.
Eventually, we did find a cab though, and he agreed to take us to the museum for 10 pounds, which is a little bit more than it should have cost, but not enough more that either Kim or I cared. On the way, he pulled over to get another fare, but that didn't take too long. Eventually traffic cleared up, and we made it to the museum in about 25 minutes, a drive which I've never seen take more than 15.
We figured out how to get past security, with lots of help (thanks Vince!), and Professor Ikram met us at the front steps, and got us into the museum without tickets thanks to her handy psychic paper. Or something.
The museum was ridiculously crowded and hot, and we had to run through it, from exhibit to exhibit, because that's the way our class travels when following Professor Ikram. Everything she showed us was interesting, and it was equally fun watching other tourists try to hear her lectures instead of what their own tour guides were saying. When our class trip was done, Kim and I stayed for a while to explore a bit more and check out the tiny gift shop. All in all, I don't think I saw even a fifth of what's on display in the museum, and I definitely plan to go back. One interesting thing I did see was a chunk of the sphinx's beard that had broken off and was then found and eventually ended up in the museum. In a corner. Behind a forklift. This might help you get some idea of the sheer number of important artefacts the museum holds and how well they are 'organized'.
When we left the museum, we tried to catch a taxi back to Zamalek. One man offered to get us a cab, whose fare, he said, would be 50 pounds. Way too much. We turned him down and tried on our own, only to find that taxis didn't want to go to Zamalek, at least not for 10 pounds, which was all we were willing to pay. We kept walking, and eventually ended up at a metro station, which we used to cross the busy street underneath, and found ourselves by the old American University campus. We finally caught a taxi, and miracle of miracles, the driver actually knew where our dorms were. I cannot tell you enough how impressive that was. I've never taken a taxi home before that didn't need to be given directions, so this was amazing.
After that highlight of my day was over, I lazed around for a while, then went down to the cafeteria for dinner, where I met Maggie and Geoff. We hung out for a while in the garden, and I read A Midsummer Night's Dream for my Lit class, which was just as good as I remember it, and a whole lot funnier.
Then I went back upstairs and edited my vlog. I said I would explain so I will. This week's vlog is mostly dedicated to SuperNote, a competition held by youtube superstars Rhett and Link. It's kind of hard to explain, so click here to watch their video about it if you're interested.
Suffice it to say, lots of this video is just me trying to sing one long note in one breath. Pretty boring. There's a surprise at the end for anyone who's curious what life in the Zamalek girl's dorms sounds like, though. Stay tuned.
And that's it for today. Except for the extremely silly skype conversation I had with my little sister a little while ago. It consisted mainly of us laughing hysterically and trying to hold silly faces to convince the other one that the video chat had frozen. It was one of the funniest things we've done in a while. Unfortunately, I was laughing too hard to get any screenshots of either of our faces. Sorry. I love you, Erin!
Monday, September 6, 2010
exploring zamalek (and beyond!)
I live on an island. I've never lived on an island before, and it's a little strange knowing that my dorm is no more than ten blocks from the Nile river in any direction. It does make it a nice place to explore, though. I haven't gotten lost yet, and I don't plan to, but I know that if I do, I'll definitely be able to find my way back home.
Tonight I ventured farther than I had gone before, in the company of three friends: Maggie, Jen, and Amy. We were looking for dinner, specifically a restaurant that Amy had heard about from one of her friends, the general location of which had been pointed out to her from the bus. How hard could it be to find, after all? One restaurant, sure to be packed with Egyptians breaking the fast seemed sure to stand out.
All Amy really knew to look for was a certain bookstore, located on 26 of July Street, which is also, somewhat confusingly, known as 15 of May Bridge. We found the bookstore with no problem, but the restaurant seemed to be invisible. We wandered for a bit, and found a really interesting scarf store, which was unfortunately closed.
After about ten minutes, we decided to look elsewhere, when a man across the street yelled to us, "Abu al-Sid?" I had heard of a restaurant named Abu al-Sid before, and knew that it was roughly in that area of Zamalek, so I shouted back, "Aiwa, fein?" (Yes, where is it?). Upon which, he came across the street and opened the door we had been standing in front of, pointing to a tiny plaque on the wall, which stated the name of the restaurant. D'oh.
(And that is as far as I got in my blog for tonight before being willingly dragged off to another adventure in downtown Cairo. Be patient, I'll get there.)
Anyway, dinner was completely delicious. I tried koshary for the first time, which is a traditional Egyptian food made up of noodles, lentils, beans, rice and other carbs, mixed with spicy tomato sauce. My friend Amy ordered some traditional Ramadan drinks, and was nice enough to share, so now I know that tamarind something-or-other is definitely my favorite Egyptian juice.
Our waiter and his boss at Abu al-Sid were big jokers, kidding us all the time about what we were eating and how much we paid. The boss took our money and check, counted it, and said very seriously, "No change," then walked away. We didn't quite know what to do, but then we saw him laughing in the corner as he counted out our change to bring back. Hilarious.
After dinner, we wandered a bit more, and explored the nearby scarf shop, where I made my first real concrete purchase in Egypt, of a turquoise scarf which I am currently wearing wrapped ridiculously around my head. I promise, there will be pictures soon. The bookstore nearby was also nice, and had a huge English and huge French section as well as Arabic. I didn't buy anything, but I'll definitely be going back.
Here's a map of Zamalek, just to show you where we were and how far we walked. It probably took ten minutes to walk from the restaurant back to the dormitory.
When we got home, I came upstairs to write my blog, expecting to do some homework and go to bed. Instead, I typed for a bit, then got a text message from my friend Geoff (who also goes to UCSB, you can find his blog here) inviting me out to downtown Cairo with a group of people for drinks at a hotel bar. (Since it's Ramadan, and since Muslims aren't technically supposed to consume alcohol at any time, most of the drinking in Cairo is done by foreigners in hotels. Way for us to live up to the stereotype.)
Somehow, after I had 'dressed fancyish' and met up with my friends in the lobby, we crammed 5 people into one black (read: unlicensed) taxicab whose driver promised to take us to the hotel for 10 pounds. This seemed reasonable, since downtown really isn't that far.
Unfortunately, traffic was horrible. It was as bad as I'd ever seen it in Cairo, and that's saying something. Apparently one of the bridges off Zamalek was shut down, so we had to take an alternate route. As if that weren't confusing enough, one of my friends struck up a conversation with the driver about Hitler, since we saw a picture of him on a billboard. A very interesting conversation ensued, as the driver spoke Egyptian Arabic, and my friend spoke only Modern Standard. Eventually, this disintegrated into an argument about traffic and cab prices, and the driver let (read: forced) us out a few blocks from the hotel. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I gave him an extra pound or two for putting up with us.
The hotel was very pretty and secluded, and we took a rickety elevator up to the 10th floor bar and balcony. Geoff ordered a Stella (Egyptian beer) and a shot, and then I tried to order a Stella. The bartender was having none of it, though. He insisted that Geoff had already bought my drink, there was no need for me to pay twice. My Arabic definitely isn't good enough to talk my way out of that one, so I just paid Geoff the money so he could get himself another. The beer wasn't very good, and the one bottle lasted me the two and a half hours we were there.
There were tons of other AUC students there, both Egyptian and study abroad, all ostensibly there for one girl's birthday, but since no one I talked to seemed to actually know her, I think everyone really just came to drink. We played some games, like Never Have I Ever and Animals, and thereby cemented the traditional loud and drunken (or at least very strange) reputation of American college students firmly in the bartender's and waiters' minds. We had fun, though, so I don't think it really mattered.
Eventually we moved outside to talk more, and smoke, for some. Eventually the smoke was getting to me, and when a few other students from Zamelek got up to leave, I went with them.
I thought the adventure was over then, but it definitely wasn't. Only about twenty feet out the door of the hotel, we spotted a cart that we thought was selling french fries. It turned out that they didn't actually have french fries, but said they could get some if we waited, which we did. While we waited, they offered us all sorts of drinks, and eventually free samples of the sugary fried dough dessert they were selling. Those vendors sure knew what they were doing, and they smirked when we bought a tray for 5 pounds immediately after trying them. We waited about ten minutes for the french fries, and when they didn't arrive, we left, trying to avoid eye contact with the vendors. It worked, and we escaped and caught a white (licensed) cab back to Zamalek, safe and sound.
Here is a map of Zamalek and downtown Cairo, showing where we were:
*(thanks to google maps for the maps, and queenpud for the picture of abu el-sid)
Tonight I ventured farther than I had gone before, in the company of three friends: Maggie, Jen, and Amy. We were looking for dinner, specifically a restaurant that Amy had heard about from one of her friends, the general location of which had been pointed out to her from the bus. How hard could it be to find, after all? One restaurant, sure to be packed with Egyptians breaking the fast seemed sure to stand out.
All Amy really knew to look for was a certain bookstore, located on 26 of July Street, which is also, somewhat confusingly, known as 15 of May Bridge. We found the bookstore with no problem, but the restaurant seemed to be invisible. We wandered for a bit, and found a really interesting scarf store, which was unfortunately closed.
After about ten minutes, we decided to look elsewhere, when a man across the street yelled to us, "Abu al-Sid?" I had heard of a restaurant named Abu al-Sid before, and knew that it was roughly in that area of Zamalek, so I shouted back, "Aiwa, fein?" (Yes, where is it?). Upon which, he came across the street and opened the door we had been standing in front of, pointing to a tiny plaque on the wall, which stated the name of the restaurant. D'oh.
 |
| the hidden door (not my photo*) |
Anyway, dinner was completely delicious. I tried koshary for the first time, which is a traditional Egyptian food made up of noodles, lentils, beans, rice and other carbs, mixed with spicy tomato sauce. My friend Amy ordered some traditional Ramadan drinks, and was nice enough to share, so now I know that tamarind something-or-other is definitely my favorite Egyptian juice.
Our waiter and his boss at Abu al-Sid were big jokers, kidding us all the time about what we were eating and how much we paid. The boss took our money and check, counted it, and said very seriously, "No change," then walked away. We didn't quite know what to do, but then we saw him laughing in the corner as he counted out our change to bring back. Hilarious.
 |
| this restaurant comes highly recommended! |
Here's a map of Zamalek, just to show you where we were and how far we walked. It probably took ten minutes to walk from the restaurant back to the dormitory.
 |
| dorm = O, restaurant = X * |
Somehow, after I had 'dressed fancyish' and met up with my friends in the lobby, we crammed 5 people into one black (read: unlicensed) taxicab whose driver promised to take us to the hotel for 10 pounds. This seemed reasonable, since downtown really isn't that far.
Unfortunately, traffic was horrible. It was as bad as I'd ever seen it in Cairo, and that's saying something. Apparently one of the bridges off Zamalek was shut down, so we had to take an alternate route. As if that weren't confusing enough, one of my friends struck up a conversation with the driver about Hitler, since we saw a picture of him on a billboard. A very interesting conversation ensued, as the driver spoke Egyptian Arabic, and my friend spoke only Modern Standard. Eventually, this disintegrated into an argument about traffic and cab prices, and the driver let (read: forced) us out a few blocks from the hotel. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I gave him an extra pound or two for putting up with us.
The hotel was very pretty and secluded, and we took a rickety elevator up to the 10th floor bar and balcony. Geoff ordered a Stella (Egyptian beer) and a shot, and then I tried to order a Stella. The bartender was having none of it, though. He insisted that Geoff had already bought my drink, there was no need for me to pay twice. My Arabic definitely isn't good enough to talk my way out of that one, so I just paid Geoff the money so he could get himself another. The beer wasn't very good, and the one bottle lasted me the two and a half hours we were there.
There were tons of other AUC students there, both Egyptian and study abroad, all ostensibly there for one girl's birthday, but since no one I talked to seemed to actually know her, I think everyone really just came to drink. We played some games, like Never Have I Ever and Animals, and thereby cemented the traditional loud and drunken (or at least very strange) reputation of American college students firmly in the bartender's and waiters' minds. We had fun, though, so I don't think it really mattered.
Eventually we moved outside to talk more, and smoke, for some. Eventually the smoke was getting to me, and when a few other students from Zamelek got up to leave, I went with them.
I thought the adventure was over then, but it definitely wasn't. Only about twenty feet out the door of the hotel, we spotted a cart that we thought was selling french fries. It turned out that they didn't actually have french fries, but said they could get some if we waited, which we did. While we waited, they offered us all sorts of drinks, and eventually free samples of the sugary fried dough dessert they were selling. Those vendors sure knew what they were doing, and they smirked when we bought a tray for 5 pounds immediately after trying them. We waited about ten minutes for the french fries, and when they didn't arrive, we left, trying to avoid eye contact with the vendors. It worked, and we escaped and caught a white (licensed) cab back to Zamalek, safe and sound.
Here is a map of Zamalek and downtown Cairo, showing where we were:
 |
| sorry for the blurry writing. hotel = A (i think that's where it was, at least)* |
Thursday, September 2, 2010
tomato, tomahto
In Egypt, you never want to mistake a tomato for a cat. According to my survival Arabic teacher, this is an easy mistake to make, so she took the time to make sure we were safe. Today we learned our fruits and vegetables, and the long lists of produce were so overwhelming that no one in the class, not even me, bothered to say anything when a tomato was listed as a vegetable. But I digress.
In Arabic, tomato is oo-tah. Cat, on the other hand, is o-tah. They're very close, only spelled one letter differently, and sound almost identical to a non-native speaker. This is, I guess, the reason why one of my teacher's former students once told her that in America, we eat cat all the time. She was surprised, and luckily asked for clarification before assuming that all Americans went around eating their pets. After hearing this story, no one asked whether cats were eaten in Egypt. No one wanted to know.
Also in Arabic class today, we learned of a small miracle of Egyptian cooking. In Egypt, there is no vegetable that cannot be stuffed. 'What about carrots?' I asked. 'Can you stuff those?' 'Yes,' she replied. 'In Egypt, we can stuff everything. Except okra. It is too small.' That answer was fine with me, though. Why would anyone want to stuff okra?
An hour later, we were discussing the abundance of juice stands in Egypt. They can be found on almost every street at night, once the fast has been broken, and the juice is made fresh, served in a glass cup, and is drunk while standing on the street. I have yet to try it, but my teacher gave it such a glowing review that I'm sure I will. 'What kinds of fruit juices are there?' 'All kinds,' she answered. 'Even batikh (watermelon) ? Even moz (banana)? Wouldn't it be lumpy?' 'Yes, all these. Any kind of fruit. Even sugar cane.' I was impressed. Maybe next time I'm out on the street I'll buy an asiir moz and find out for myself.
During my break from class today, I reserved my spot on the school-sponsored trip to Luxor and Aswan. At 2000 Egyptian pounds (about 300 dollars), I had originally thought it was too expensive and not worth my while. However, I talked to my teacher, and she was shocked at how low the cost was for the trip, especially during Eid al-Fitr, the coming holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. She encouraged me to reserve my space, and I did. Hopefully I won't be disappointed, although since I'll definitely get to see monuments in Karnak and Luxor that I've dreamed about seeing my entire life, how bad could it be?
Tonight, my friends and I ventured into the city by taxi for the first time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, although the traffic was horrible. We were heading to Khan el-Khalili, a famous bazaar that stood as the entrance to Cairo hundreds of years ago. Now it is in the middle of the city, surrounded on all sides by tall buildings and freeways, but it still seems magical. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post, since the entire experience was completely overwhelming, but I will take some next time I visit.
This trip, we mainly stuck to one row, and were constantly accosted on both sides by people selling their tourist trap wares. If we had ventured farther, I think we would have hit upon the main market where more quality wares are sold for realistic prices.
I didn't end up buying anything, but I have plenty of time. My friends, who are all here for only a semester, went ahead and haggled their way into some pretty nice souvenirs for fairly good prices. No one we dealt with was too insistent, and the only people making us feel uncomfortable were ourselves, and we got over that pretty quickly.
We were quick to find a place to eat, and bought our first street food - pita and falafel sandwiches, which were delicious. I surprised myself by stepping up and being the speaker for the group, although my Arabic was far from fluent. Literally, I think I asked for 'One that. One that please? How much?'
Our biggest problem was guaranteeing that the food didn't contain sesame seeds, since one of my friends is highly allergic. We crossed that hurdle though, and everything turned out fine. (And as a side note, our dinners cost four pounds each - less than one dollar for a filling meal.)
After our shopping was complete, our total haul consisting of an inlaid box, two sets of pyramids, an Anubis figurine, a cat figurine, and a set of four canopic jars, nothing of which was mine, we caught a cab back to Zamalek.
Our cabbie was very confident up until a certain point, when we reached the island, and he started asking us for directions, and then began pulling over periodically to shout the address at passers-by with very little luck. We found it eventually, though, once we recognized the Harley-Davidson shop, and he dropped us off right by the front steps of the beit-toliba (dorms).
All in all, it was a satisfactory, if very long, day. Hopefully, tomorrow will be even better. After all, how wrong can a trip to the pyramids go?
In Arabic, tomato is oo-tah. Cat, on the other hand, is o-tah. They're very close, only spelled one letter differently, and sound almost identical to a non-native speaker. This is, I guess, the reason why one of my teacher's former students once told her that in America, we eat cat all the time. She was surprised, and luckily asked for clarification before assuming that all Americans went around eating their pets. After hearing this story, no one asked whether cats were eaten in Egypt. No one wanted to know.
Also in Arabic class today, we learned of a small miracle of Egyptian cooking. In Egypt, there is no vegetable that cannot be stuffed. 'What about carrots?' I asked. 'Can you stuff those?' 'Yes,' she replied. 'In Egypt, we can stuff everything. Except okra. It is too small.' That answer was fine with me, though. Why would anyone want to stuff okra?
An hour later, we were discussing the abundance of juice stands in Egypt. They can be found on almost every street at night, once the fast has been broken, and the juice is made fresh, served in a glass cup, and is drunk while standing on the street. I have yet to try it, but my teacher gave it such a glowing review that I'm sure I will. 'What kinds of fruit juices are there?' 'All kinds,' she answered. 'Even batikh (watermelon) ? Even moz (banana)? Wouldn't it be lumpy?' 'Yes, all these. Any kind of fruit. Even sugar cane.' I was impressed. Maybe next time I'm out on the street I'll buy an asiir moz and find out for myself.
During my break from class today, I reserved my spot on the school-sponsored trip to Luxor and Aswan. At 2000 Egyptian pounds (about 300 dollars), I had originally thought it was too expensive and not worth my while. However, I talked to my teacher, and she was shocked at how low the cost was for the trip, especially during Eid al-Fitr, the coming holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. She encouraged me to reserve my space, and I did. Hopefully I won't be disappointed, although since I'll definitely get to see monuments in Karnak and Luxor that I've dreamed about seeing my entire life, how bad could it be?
Tonight, my friends and I ventured into the city by taxi for the first time. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, although the traffic was horrible. We were heading to Khan el-Khalili, a famous bazaar that stood as the entrance to Cairo hundreds of years ago. Now it is in the middle of the city, surrounded on all sides by tall buildings and freeways, but it still seems magical. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post, since the entire experience was completely overwhelming, but I will take some next time I visit.
This trip, we mainly stuck to one row, and were constantly accosted on both sides by people selling their tourist trap wares. If we had ventured farther, I think we would have hit upon the main market where more quality wares are sold for realistic prices.
I didn't end up buying anything, but I have plenty of time. My friends, who are all here for only a semester, went ahead and haggled their way into some pretty nice souvenirs for fairly good prices. No one we dealt with was too insistent, and the only people making us feel uncomfortable were ourselves, and we got over that pretty quickly.
We were quick to find a place to eat, and bought our first street food - pita and falafel sandwiches, which were delicious. I surprised myself by stepping up and being the speaker for the group, although my Arabic was far from fluent. Literally, I think I asked for 'One that. One that please? How much?'
Our biggest problem was guaranteeing that the food didn't contain sesame seeds, since one of my friends is highly allergic. We crossed that hurdle though, and everything turned out fine. (And as a side note, our dinners cost four pounds each - less than one dollar for a filling meal.)
After our shopping was complete, our total haul consisting of an inlaid box, two sets of pyramids, an Anubis figurine, a cat figurine, and a set of four canopic jars, nothing of which was mine, we caught a cab back to Zamalek.
Our cabbie was very confident up until a certain point, when we reached the island, and he started asking us for directions, and then began pulling over periodically to shout the address at passers-by with very little luck. We found it eventually, though, once we recognized the Harley-Davidson shop, and he dropped us off right by the front steps of the beit-toliba (dorms).
All in all, it was a satisfactory, if very long, day. Hopefully, tomorrow will be even better. After all, how wrong can a trip to the pyramids go?
Saturday, August 28, 2010
desert bureacracy
Today I took the bus ride to AUC's new campus for the first time. It took about an hour to reach New Cairo, and on the way, we saw some amazing things. We crossed the Nile again, this time covered in smog that stretched across the entire city.
The tall buildings and crowded streets slowly faded into empty apartment blocks and housing tracts still under construction. The sand encroached on the sides, until all we could see on either side of the bus was desert. Finally, we reached New Cairo, and the AUC campus greeted us like an oasis. The greenery seemed like a deception though, because as soon as we set foot off the bus, we were greeted by the heat. At a guess, I would put the temperature at 9:00am in the low 100s fahrenheit. As we toured the campus, we felt like we were melting. Not even the cohesiveness and beauty of the architecture could distract us, and the instant the tour was over, my friend Emily and I hurried (sluggishly) to the Quick-24hr-Mart to buy some ice water and snacks to replenish ourselves.
Then we entered the wonderland that is AUC's amazing bureaucratic machine. We were handed a checklist of essential tasks, then told to make our way around the tables in a room that didn't allow us to complete any of them. For me, the most essential item of the day was to ensure my enrollment in the survival Arabic course, but for Emily, it was to rearrange her class schedule. We split up, and I was shuffled from building to building all the way across the campus and back, meeting people, filling out forms and finally arriving in my survival Arabic class 5 minutes late and 10 minutes before the teacher arrived.
Class was actually interesting, despite the fact that most of it was a review of what I'd learned in my colloquial Egyptian class last year. Best of all, I got to make some more new friends.
After class ended, 3 and a half hours after it started, we all trudged back to the bus, barely making it in time to get seats and ride back to Zamalek.
A few hours later, after cooling off in the AC for a while, Emily and I along with other some other Zamalek residents headed off to get dinner. We were in the mood for traditional Egyptian food, so of course we went to Hardee's. What could be better? We also completed our grocery shopping, and had an adventure waiting outside a phone store for it to open, an experience which lead us all to more fully understand the difference between Egyptian time ('the store will be open in 5 minutes') and real time ('dude, we've been here and hour and a half. when is the store going to open??'). Eventually, those who needed to succeeded in buying their phones, and we walked back home, swimming through the humid Cairo air that had been suffocating us for the past 4 hours, back home.
The tall buildings and crowded streets slowly faded into empty apartment blocks and housing tracts still under construction. The sand encroached on the sides, until all we could see on either side of the bus was desert. Finally, we reached New Cairo, and the AUC campus greeted us like an oasis. The greenery seemed like a deception though, because as soon as we set foot off the bus, we were greeted by the heat. At a guess, I would put the temperature at 9:00am in the low 100s fahrenheit. As we toured the campus, we felt like we were melting. Not even the cohesiveness and beauty of the architecture could distract us, and the instant the tour was over, my friend Emily and I hurried (sluggishly) to the Quick-24hr-Mart to buy some ice water and snacks to replenish ourselves.
Then we entered the wonderland that is AUC's amazing bureaucratic machine. We were handed a checklist of essential tasks, then told to make our way around the tables in a room that didn't allow us to complete any of them. For me, the most essential item of the day was to ensure my enrollment in the survival Arabic course, but for Emily, it was to rearrange her class schedule. We split up, and I was shuffled from building to building all the way across the campus and back, meeting people, filling out forms and finally arriving in my survival Arabic class 5 minutes late and 10 minutes before the teacher arrived.
Class was actually interesting, despite the fact that most of it was a review of what I'd learned in my colloquial Egyptian class last year. Best of all, I got to make some more new friends.
After class ended, 3 and a half hours after it started, we all trudged back to the bus, barely making it in time to get seats and ride back to Zamalek.
A few hours later, after cooling off in the AC for a while, Emily and I along with other some other Zamalek residents headed off to get dinner. We were in the mood for traditional Egyptian food, so of course we went to Hardee's. What could be better? We also completed our grocery shopping, and had an adventure waiting outside a phone store for it to open, an experience which lead us all to more fully understand the difference between Egyptian time ('the store will be open in 5 minutes') and real time ('dude, we've been here and hour and a half. when is the store going to open??'). Eventually, those who needed to succeeded in buying their phones, and we walked back home, swimming through the humid Cairo air that had been suffocating us for the past 4 hours, back home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)