nick is tall. and sometimes, he does strange things with his legs...

i am one hundred feet tall.

view from my apartment

bedouin nick with me and charlie brown

4 more days...

wow, i have really neglected this blog in the past month. i apologize--quite a lot has happened so i'm going to try to catch up over a couple of posts.

nick came to visit a couple of weeks ago! it was pretty hysterical walking around with a 6'5 blond haired, blue eyed american man--as if i didn't draw enough attention to myself already. but at least the catcalls were directed at him this time: "lucky man."

almost immediately after he got off his flight, we hopped on a bus headed for sharm el sheikh: a beautiful resort town in the sinai. we spent the weekend on the beach relaxing, eating good food, and pretty much in the anti-egypt. it was bizarre, actually. the resort was so full of europeans comfortable in speedos and itsy bitsy bikinis that i couldn't have felt farther from egypt. AND, i had my first snorkeling experience--apparently the snorkeling and diving in sharm is some of the most beautiful in the world. we took a boat for a couple hours until we were in sight of saudi arabia, and then we spent all day in incredibly warm, blue waters. absolutely amazing. everything is so vivid underwater--i don't think the pictures can possibly do it justice.




we spent the rest of his time in cairo--i wanted him to be able to see as much of the city as possible, but there is just so much to see here. we walked around coptic cairo for a day, looking at churches from the FIRST century (incredible) and even got to see some of a coptic orthodox service. the emphasis on icons and incense is much more intense than in roman catholicism, and the singing of the priest has a distinct middle eastern chant feel--but the latin chants are the same. it was really, really cool.

we also went to the pyramids--while a lot of people expect the pyramids to be in the middle of the desert, they are actually just on the outskirts of the city. if photographed from the right angle, you can see them rising out of the city background. we walked around for a while, just admiring the sheer size of these ancient tombs, and then hopped on a camel named charlie brown to continue our journey. our camel driver was pretty hysterical, actually--he gave us advice about how to not get robbed, and showed us pictures of his friends, and (much to my delight) dressed nick up like a bedouin. it's a rough business these days at the pyramids. he mentioned to us how we were his first customers of the day, and that business has dropped severely since 9/11. what's ironic about cairo is that violent crime is incredibly low and that tourist police are on almost every street corner to insure foreigners' safety, but people are still afraid to come here. it's sad--it's a city with a lot to offer.

Sudanese Dinner

on sunday night, one of the refugees from our english class invited all the teachers over for dinner at his house on the outskirts of cairo. we got to meet his entire family--about 14 or 15 people lived there from what i could tell. and they couldn't have been more welcoming, it was sort of like christmas. they showed us home videos of birthday parties and celebrations, chatted about politics (they happen to really like the bush administration, which really surprised me in this part of the world. i guess they think he's a strong leader because of his aggressive foreign policy, and they're desperate for someone to take an active role in sudan), and we listened to their favorite music: tupac. we sat down to dinner with 'california knows how to party' blaring in the background and prayed over traditional sudanese food. from what i could understand, there was bread called 'kisr' or something like that--it's made of flour and vinegar and water--and a soupy, meat dish in a big bowl that you're supposed to eat with the bread. and, not to make light of their amazing hospitality, it sort of had the consistency of snot. blech. i really couldn't get over that. and mollie and i certainly spent a huge amount of time in the bathroom all night... sigh. what i couldn't get over though is how incredibly physically beautiful these people were--they were all well over six foot five, and had this gorgeous dark skin, and graceful lean bodies. i felt like a dumpy, pale midget.

we also had a conversation class for english where i brought in a couple people from my apartment to help break the class into small groups and just talk about whatever. it might sound stupid, but when people speak really broken english, a part of me thinks that they aren't going to say anything intelligent. man, was i wrong. they didn't want to talk about movies or anything light. they talked about freedom of assembly, torture, terrorism, poverty, family units in africa compared to those in the west... it was incredibly interesting. and they're all appalled that i live so far away from my parents. so i told them my brother lived in korea. and they said 'so you have a bad family? run away?' hahaha. it was really difficult to explain to people who marry their cousins and have lived in the same house for generations why i would want to leave home.

in other news, nick gets here tomorrow!! i'm really, really excited. we'll spend the weekend in sharm el-sheikh in the sinai. when i told nick that he should bring his passport to the sinai because there will be checkpoints along the way, he said 'god, it's the SINAI. the real thing. insane.' kind of how i feel everyday.

Elevator

i was on my way to do an arabic presentation for my professor during her office hours, and i took the elevator from the 1st to 6th floor. i got in, there was a disconcerting noise, a sharp jolt upward, and then nothing. the inner door opened to reveal concrete.

i was stuck in the elevator for forty minutes. i didn't panic, i was merely glad that i had gone to the library before getting in the elevator--at least i had my research with me. when i finally got out, thanks to the help of an extremely large maintenance man, i made a vow to take the stairs whenever humanly possible.

Now I remember why I'm an English major...

i've discovered that AUC's library has a fairly good collection of contemporary fiction! and i've checked out two books that i've meant to read for a while and simply can't put down:

'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel: i'm not too far into it yet, but so far it's great--his descriptions of faith are touching, and his interactions with animals and zoos are incredibly clever. PLUS, he says things like 'magoo-like blur,' which i find great.

'You Shall Know Our Velocity' by Dave Eggers: i really, really loved 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius' and i adore this book as well. it's about a guy who essentially comes into a lot of money, and decides that he doesn't want to be a person who has money. so he leaves on a plane to travel around the world with his friend 'Hand,' giving wads of money away in the process. the catch is that they don't plan the trip in advance--they land in a country and then sort of decide where to go from there. it is a GREAT book, and he just wrote another about a sudanese refugee named valentino which has gotten great acclaim in the states. it's called 'What is the What.' i ordered it off amazon and nick is bringing it when he comes! YAY!

Phone Conversation

i realize how severe my last post was, so here is one of my student's homework assignments to brighten the mood. he was supposed to write a telephone conversation--it's a little long, but it's worth the read. AND, his english has improved astronomically since the beginning of the year, so this is really fantastic.

Criss: Hello could I speak to Shine please?
Jeff: Just a moment. Shine---SHINE--- I'm sorry. He is not in. Can I take amessage?
Criss: yes--Could you aske him to phone me? Itis Chriss It is.
Jeff: Ok.
Criss: Thank very much - Bye
Jeff: You are well come. Bye.
Shine: Perr--Perr----
Criss: Hello. This is Chriss, is that Shine?
Shine: Yes. Hi Chriss.
Criss: Hi Shine. Listen, my wedding on november 23, 2006. I invite you.
Shine: Yes? You want to marry? You haven't a wife and two kids?
Criss: Yes. I have a wife and two kids, and my wife is pregnant now, and I want to marry.
Shine: How it can be? You want to make two wifes?
Criss: Never mind. Well, donot be afraid my wife was afree with me, and she gave me the idea of marry another woman.
Shine: You said your wifes gave you the idea of marry a new woman?
Criss: Yes - Woman of sixty seven years old. But she is smaller than her age with fourty years, very nice, beautiful, healthy, wealthy, and easy to love. (i LOVE that part)
Shine: Great, great, is she going to give you new children too?!
Criss: For me it is not important you know I have two kids, and for her, I save her from staying alone in wide house, depression, and hopelessness. Moreover, she love my kids as her kids.
Shine: Ok. Can I bring something for you?
Criss: That is very nice, you can bring many things.
Shine: Many thinkgs?! What are that?
Criss: A car for transportation, new shirt, your fine coat, and...
Shine: Wait, wait! What?
Criss: You did not hear me? I said: a car, some clothes, as you know, and it is very important to bring some underwear, and satible shoes for me and her, the new woman.
Shine: All these things?
Criss: Yes and please ask our friend Jeff to see the hotal.
Shine: Ok., its better to bring you a house too!
Criss: That will be very nice.
Shine: Ok!! It will be great.

Sometimes, this country saddens me.

i've been mulling over the incidents that happened in cairo over eid for weeks now--not knowing who to be angry at, and just incredibly sad that inequality and corruption like this can exist without even the slightest media attention. i realize that i'm being vague. over eid, the three day holiday that ends ramadan, there were a series of riots outside movie theaters and such that involved huge masses of men accosting, molesting, and tearing the clothes of any women they could find. women hid in taxis and nearby shops, hoping desperately for protection. the men did not discriminate between egyptians and foriegners, muslims and non-muslims. and the police did nothing. apparently, but this is only what i can gather from people at AUC and from other blogs, since the police refused to report the incidents of sexual assault, there is no record of it taking place. and the government has denied it even happened. no newspapers covered the story, and cameras were taken from the hands of people attempting to document the scene. today, guards are in full riot gear on the streets, expecting more rioting due to the protests scheduled to take place.

i am angry, and sad, and i feel powerless. i realized quite a while ago that the cat-calls and rude remarks on the street were anything but benign. the men who behave in this fashion are pigs. i realize now that even the calls of 'beautiful!' aren't good-natured--these calls imply 'thank you for pleasing me!'

i am tired of the staring and the whistles and the comments. i feel like walking up to some of the men and grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them, saying, 'YOU CAN NOT TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS! THIS IS WHY THE WHOLE WORLD THINKS YOU ARE BACKWARDS!' but i would expect nothing back except blank stares.

until recently in egypt, there was a law that allowed rapists to avoid punishment if they married their victims.

and WHY is it up to the women to 'avoid' harrassment through veils and diverted eyes? why aren't the men held accountable for the absolutely disgraceful way they treat people's sisters, daughters, and mothers?

there is a saying in arabic 'if you leave a piece of raw meat uncovered, expect the flies to attack it.'

it's sick.

i haven't wanted to go home until today.

Morocco Pictures

Rick's Cafe in Casablanca

The Hassan II Minaret

Hassan II Mosque

Leather Slippers in Marrakech

Morocco!

i spent the last week in morocco with a group of students from auc and had an incredible time-- we visited casablanca, rabat, and marrakech.

CASABLANCA
as soon as i got off the plane i started singing 'as time goes by' in honor of the movie--however, sad to say, casablanca doesn't have the cool hats, humphrey bogart, or piano bars, AND it's in color. what a disappointment. what casablanca DOES have is the third largest mosque in the world: the hassan II. with the tallest minaret in the world, the hassan II was absolutely stunning. it sits right on the atlantic ocean, and with the symmetrical columns and open courtyards you can feel that it is an incredibly spiritual place. we all spent ours just sitting on the ground looking at the colorful marble mosaics that line the ceilings and walls, and enjoying the fresh air from the sea.

the actual CITY of casablanca, however, could not be farther from the peacefulness of the mosque. in fact, it's sort of the detroit of morocco. gross. parts of the old city are pretty--but in general, the city is dangerous, industrial, and um, dangerous. one of the guys in our group got his pants sliced open in two places with a knife and then had to run through the market place screaming to keep the guy from stealing his camera. fun? not so much. but it was an experience, none the less. oh, and since we were in casablance for the last day of ramadan and the first day of eid, the city was essentially closed. sigh.

RABAT
rabat, however, is a gorgeous city. we visited the king's palace and an unfinished mosque--i'm starting to really love islamic art and architecture. the geometrical symmetry, the vibrant colors, and the amazing detail work make me want to spend hours just looking at the ceilings alone. we then went to the cazbah, which used to be where the pirates suppposedly lived but is now a place for artists. morocco is particularly famous for their ceramics, wood work, and the beautiful mosaics that line every building. the cazbah's tight winding alleyways were incredibly cool and well ventilated--and the blue and white of the buildings apparently kept mosquitos away. we had tea and pastries overlooking the city and the ocean.

MARRAKECH
this was by FAR the most incredible part of the trip. the city itself is beautiful--all the buildings are an earthy red, and most have mosaics inside. it was pouring our first day there which was very exciting for a bunch of students who haven't seen rain in months and months--so we decided to walk about forty minutes to the sooq or market. the markets in marrakech are REALLY fantastic. there are acrobats and monkey tamers and snake charmers and everyone looks like a jedi. i should explain that. the traditional dress is a long, hooded robe--almost identical to the ones used in star wars (which was filmed in neighboring tunisia). but the best part of the ensemble are the leather, pointed moroccan slippers that come in a variety of bright colors--you'll see an old man in a plain robe with hot pink slippers. it's pretty hysterical. and the markets themselves were just amazing--there were spices, and scarves, and jewelry, and lanterns, and shoes, and daggers, and plates... we spent days in the market alone.

AND, i got to speak french again since moroccan arabic is absolutely unintelligible. even the egyptians on the trip couldn't communicate in arabic. moroccan arabic is a weird mix of french, arabic, and berber. oh, and there are no vowels to speak of which makes the language pretty ugly in general. but french worked really well.

anyway, i have midterms this week, i'm going to mount sinai next weekend, and nick comes shortly after that! time here has just been flying by--i really can't believe i'm halfway done.