Just Come Over Here For a Second

When I was in Egypt I had to fly back to the States for about 3 days for my brother's wedding. It turned out to be a fun event. That was good, since my 10 hour layover in Amsterdam gave me a 25+ hour travel time to get back to Egypt.

Seeing this story though reminded me of when I was coming back after the program ended. Going through Customs back in Chicago my passport is apparently flagged so I then have to go to secondary security. (Now a lot of countries will swipe your passport, thus your traveling is all computerized- the new US passports actually have Smart Chips in them-this also sucks since I love the different stamps)

So I have to sit this is area with all these other people, mostly foreigners, I guess all having some random problem obviously. A guy comes & collects a new crop of problem passports & goes back somewhere. The only reason I care that this is happening is just last summer in Chicago (which seems to have it out for me) a lady at the last second told me my bags needed to be checked- thus making me miss my connecting flight (too short a connection time admittedly) & I got to spend the night in O'Hare. That memory is suddenly flooding back.

Fairly soon its my turn. I get asked questions at the desk in the room (& not the ones down the hallways). Its pretty much all about me being in Egypt, coming back quickly to America, & then going back again.

And it all happened in a short enough amount of time where I still had to wait on my bags. Of course Chicago then delayed my plane for 4 more hours after it was originally supposed to leave.

Iraqi Trivia

About 5 yrs ago Cairo was ~20 million people. Since that time, the Iraq war & the "situation" in Darfur have ballooned the cities already crowded population to 25 million. To add to the refugees already crappy situation, the different dialects of Arabic constantly remind native Cairenes that someone isn't from around those parts. In volunteering to teach English (which turns out to be pretty terrifying when you realize you have no idea how to teach), I got to run into a few of these wandering Iraqi's.

The first Iraqi I met was sent to help us get out to the teaching site. When he first got to Cairo* he said he kept getting overcharged by people b/c his accent made Egyptians assume he was an oil-rich Gulf Arab, not a refugee w/ a lot of dead family. I'm pretty sure that's ironic. Or just crappy.

Anyway, so if you're not up to snuff on Iraqi history the Brits have been running around there for a while. As a result, Iraqi Arabic is actually full of random English words; stop sign, etc. The guy (Fadi) told us when the Americans showed up in the 2 Gulf Wars the Iraqi's were actually surprised to learn all these words they always thought were Arabic were actually English words. I had one Iraqi student later prove this point when I was trying to explain "counter" (what you order at, not adding). Apparently that word is totally foreign to Egyptians since it took a minute of explaining even from him.

Another piece of trivia- Iraqi Christians speak not only Iraqi Arabic, but also Assyrian. Cheer for secret, dead languages still in use!

Number three, a friend in the group had worked in Iraq for a year for some agriculture thing. Of course I asked to see her Iraqi stamp in the passport. I don't remember that one, what I do remember is her "Kurdish Republic of Iraq" (or whatever) stamp. A slightly controversial stamp at least.

*It seems it still may be going on since he told us what we should expect to pay for a cab, & later my students told us a cheaper price.

Set Sailing

Yeah, its been a while. You could say its been so long I'm actually back in America. This may be true, but there are memories to unpack- otherwise I'm sure everything will be reduced to the singular of "the Nile Cruise was fun."

Soon, oh so soon, there will be the complete end chapters to the Cairo Adventures.

Masalama

The academic part of the program has ended, as of 12:09pm of today. Its not a fun realization that the reason you've been in Cairo is for actually taking classes, & not for fun. Trying to cram everything in over a few nights, especially when you're more used to doing little amounts of studying isn't the easiest change to make.

Tonight we saw the first big round of people leave to return from whence they came, that City on a Hill. The acts of saying "good-bye" in a study program are a bit weird. There's always promises to keep in touch w/ everyone. You probably also know these intentions will be rarely acted out. It puts people in the awkward situation which many don't really want to vocalize- you probably will never see most of them ever again. Ever. In the end though, often fences that were broken are mended, & everyone at least leaves w/ on a good note.

Not me though. I'm joining the rag-tag group of stragglers to go on a cruise down south to see Luxor, Abu Simbal, & Aswan. B/c of this my recent assault of posting regularly will cease, for about 5 days I think.

Keep out of the sun, I'll fill you in when I get back.

Cairo Pretty

Here's around the time towards the end of the trip I wax stupidly about how I just want to travel more. Fortunately, there's another topic (either more fun/mean) on tap....girls. Specifically American girls. Specifically dumb American girls.*

*I realize this is redundant, but there is levels to it.

Anyway, here in Egypt (white) American girls don't have any trouble attracting attention from their Egyptian male counterparts. All they pretty much have to do is walk out of their room. Its probably part the idea that American girls are perceived to extremely easy (I kinda touched on this way back when-2nd 1/2 of it), which Egyptian guys don't really get much chance for action outside of marriage in the first place. The other part (if there is anything beyond the first one) might be some outside chance of getting married & going to America (really), or that they just find American girls hotter than Egyptian (or other Arab) chicks. Whatever the reason, they really love blonds.

Here's the topic: b/c of all of these factors, our average American girl is going to get Egyptian attention. In America she might not be all that special (maybe a "great personality")- now she has guys giving all sorts of attention she's only seen her pretty friends get. Pretty soon shes swooning over her overseas love. Go ahead & fill out the rest of retarded things people tell themselves to believe that they aren't being completely stupid.

At the same time its slightly entertaining, yet sorta sad to watch. But at least they're having fun. & since they might just also be the annoying type, they aren't hanging around in your vicinity as much either. Double win!

An important topic

When you first arrive in Egypt you'll be assaulted on all 5 senses w/ everything that seems cool, backwards, or just doesn't make sense. You want to see the Pyramids, you want to go to the museum, you want to check out some place in the guidebook that doesn't exist anymore since Lonely Planet keeps reprinting the same book for 20 years but puts a new cover on it.

At the end of the day, or in the first hour, you will likely be uttering "I need a drink." Hold on there Westerner, you've just voluntarily traveled X amount of miles to a majority Muslim country. & guess what Islam says about alcohol? Islam says 'no.' Even though drinking is looked down on (in public *winks*), there's still places in Egypt that have alcohol, it just isn't printed in the menu.

Now that you've found a place to get a drink, you better get used to how Egyptians drink. The primary way is Stella. It doesn't taste all that bad, & you better not think it does since this is far & away the most available alcohol in Egypt. Other popular kinds are Sakarra, Miester, Luxor, & Heineken. Heineken is the single beer available in Egypt (that anyone has found) that isn't Egyptian. So if your a Keystone Light snob you're out of luck.

Buying hard liquor at a place can be done, but its going to have to be a high-end bar, mostly likely connected to an American/European restaurant chain/hotel. Liquor is also pretty steep, & the amount they'll put in a drink is rather tiny.

So you're sick of going to the same place every night next to the dorms? You can find an independent liquor store, or most likely the Egyptian chain of Drinkies. These are pretty common where ever tourists are running around or ex-pats might be living. Drinkies are pretty simple set-ups. They aren't ever that big, but they don't have to be. In every Drinkies one wall will be coolers for the 4-5 types of beer on sale. Beer prices are significantly cheaper here, as in America. A Stella may run you 15-20EP ($3-4) at a place, & 6EP(~$1) at Drinkies. The other wall is for crappy Egyptian wines & hard liquor. Not surprising for Egypt, you won't be seeing many brands you recognize. I haven't tried any of these, but I hear they aren't bad.*

*There are knock-offs like Johnny Talker & Goode Gin- I've read to stay away from these unless you want to risk alcohol poisoning.

If you have a place to drink, Drinkies is your best option. Drinking in say, a hotel room in Alexandria, is far more fun since you avoid the extra cost, insanely slow service, & 20% taxes on your bill. Here's a pic from the party we had in 'Alex'.

The only downturn is you will likely attract more people that annoy you when they hear of your treasure.

Being Green in Egypt

One thing as an American you'll notice in Egypt is everyone litters. & not even being discreet about it, you'll see someone finish a pop & just toss it behind their back w/o a second thought. You will no doubt feel the strain & guilt of trying to find a garbage receptacle, & just forget about recycling it. Or should you?

What is the collective chaos of Egypt actually breaks down, behind Western eyes, into (somewhat) organized pathways. The trash of the day is collected at some point-& there it begins its journey. On my way out to Faysal, the place I teach English I can see from the highway one of these places, there are mountains of aluminum cans, etc., all divided into its respective mountain. From here it goes to scrap. Or in the case of bottles (which all have rings on them from wear) they're washed, re-painted, & reused. In Faysal, piles of mostly organic trash are in certain spots in the streets, here they are eaten down by cats, goats, etc. So new trash can be put there, & then eaten.

I even noticed a street cleaner separating kushari cups as he was cleaning up trash. This is probably strong evidence the cup you're eating out of was used just a few days ago. Don't get grossed out-they probably wash everything.

Its a pretty common practice globally. Its done w/ ships (in a way). & also all of your old ipods.