My week in Palestine (:

I started my journey to Palestine at 6 AM, departing from a very small bus station in Heliopolis. After a confusing departure, 7 hours later I was at the Taba crossing explaining over multiple times why I was learning Arabic and not Hebrew and what I was doing in Israel. Luckily I wasn’t held for too long and I luckily escaped without an Israeli stamp on my passport. The questioning and various processes through Israeli security took forever and by the time we got out, it was already Shabbat – the Jewish holiday where EVERYTHING SHUTS DOWN. So all public transportation had already ended, forcing us to take an expensive cab ride into the city where we discovered there weren’t any more buses to Jerusalem that evening and we’d have to spend the night. We found a nice hostel in my guidebook that had ridiculously Southern American décor but very friendly receptionists and staff. The whole city was closed resulting in aimless wanderings searching for something to eat. My friend and I happened upon what looked like a sandwich place where we attempted to ask the man if he had any food. He gave us a helpless glance and what sounded like “I don’t speak English” in Hebrew. We then ask, in Arabic, if he has any food – another shrug and muttered Hebrew comes out. Then in both French and Spanish we ask for the third and fourth time – the same result. Then we try to pantomime the act of eating a sandwich… no luck and after a few awkward minutes of staring at each other in silence, realizing that we had literally no way to communicate with each other, we finally left. During our subsequent wanderings we discovered a place called Mom Africa where a bunch of African men were playing dominos with Beyonce’s live in concert DVD playing on the televisions. We were delighted to smell what seemed to be food and eagerly entered the restaurant. We found a beautiful and friendly Sudanese woman who spoke Arabic! It was so comforting to hear someone speak a language we understood that it was almost Carthartic. When we asked what they had on the menu she led us directly into the kitchen to show us the various options. We essentially asked for the platter, leading to a series of salads, meats, and breads being brought out to us. The food was rich and delicious, especially when paired with the cold mango juice and the woman’s conversation about her reason to move to Israel. After a delightful night enjoying the ambiance and the amazing food we finally retired in our dorm-style hostel. The next day, since the first bus didn’t run until 4:30 PM (Shabbat – why do you hate me so???), we went to the beach to recline in the sand. We made another friend and spent some time learning basic Hebrew words like “thank you” and “where is the…”  

In Jerusalem (finally) we were picked up at the bus station by a friendly couchsurfing host. We spent the evening enjoying a glass of whiskey while making up on-the-spot songs about any number of things. Apparently I seemed to enjoy Jean Claude Van Damme a little too much so a series of songs about our relationship immediately ensued. The next morning I took the bus to Bethlehem and was picked up by two friends in Beit Jala and explored the wall for a bit before returning to their house in Beit Sahour. Seeing the dividing wall and its graffiti was breath-taking in its monstrosity and saddening in the content of the words. One of my favorite quotations written on the wall said, “An eye for an eye and the whole world would be blind.” I think this sums up how I feel about the peace process. Yet it’s hard not to have an extreme stance while being stopped for numerous checkpoints and discovering how truly restricted the movements of typical Palestinians are in their daily lives. For instance, one friendly shopkeeper I had shay with explained how he could only go into Jerusalem during the Christmas season because there aren’t any major Muslim holidays or events for the people to “identify with.”

On day two in Bethlehem I spent the day exploring the entire city; the walk was long and uphill but it was truly breathtaking. Both Israel and Palestine have breathtaking views and Bethlehem, especially during night, was simply divine. I found this amazing local bakery that had tons of sweets which I, of course, indulged in. I learned quickly that most other countries don’t have the Egyptian penchant for all things diabetes-sweet yet I had the cravings nonetheless. Some of my favorite treats included a custard stuffed pastry with powdered sugar, a rich date and nut stuffed piece of phyllo dough, and a delicious chocolate cream stuffed cookie. Because I visited Palestine during the Eid al-Adha holiday (a Muslim week-long feast and family holiday), all the refugee camps were closed and  I wasn’t able to get a guided tour as I had initially wanted. Although I realized that many people on the street or at little shops could be just as elucidating as the directors of these camps; so many of them had amazing stories and experiences about their life under occupation and the ways they attempt to make it work. So many people felt invigorated and inspired by the recent UNESCO vote to include Palestine and were eagerly awaiting the chance to become part of the United Nations. One of my closer new friends, Hamza, and I discussed the UN bid in great depth. I was fortunate enough to meet a very friendly guy willing to muck through my imperfect Arabic without resorting to English out of exhaustion. From our conversations (over shay and Turkish coffee, of course) I was able to gather that he believed Palestine would gain legitimacy and increased international power from the inclusion into the UN. States would be able to communicate and negotiate with Palestine on an international level and allow for increased legitimacy and oversight into all the actions of the national leadership. I was really taken aback by the calm and serious manner with which the Palestinians talked about their situation; although it was clearly not a positive situation they seemed focused upon the ways to make it better and the small steps they had already accomplished. My time in Ramallah showed that Palestine, in spite of everything, still managed to maintain its sense of community in a vibrant and bustling city. 

After a slightly confusing drop-off from the servees (service taxi) my friend and I sought a big cup of coffee and a place to relax. We found the adorable Stars and Bucks to be exactly what we wanted. In an obvious take off of Starbucks, the local Palestinian chain had a very vibrant interior décor with an extensive menu of coffee, snacks, and sheesha (which they call arghila here in Palestine). I loved my coffee and bought four big bags of it, partially as a souvenir but also because I need it for my recently developed caffeine addiction – something I thought wasn’t genetic but seems to run in my family. We explored the neighboring shops, finding an amazing clothing store with truly unique designs and I convinced myself that bolstering the Palestinian economic system was worth spending a little more than I wanted.  We then took a side trip to the nearby village of Taybeh to see the locally famous Taybeh Brewery where the only microbrewery in Palestine is located. WOW was it amazing beer! They have a few different varieties including light, dark, amber, and gold. The owner’s wife gave us a tour and showed us a video of the little brewery’s fantastic growth into an internationally exported beer. The beers tasted really great, especially since I have had nothing but the three beers available in Egypt (Stella, Sakkara, and Heineken – all boring), and I loved seeing the photos of Yasser Arafat visiting the factory. I loved it so much and, again, I was just contributing to the Palestinian economy, so I bought 12… and a mug…and some coasters. But that’s all I swear! After leaving I realized that 12 beer bottles are extremely heavy to carry, especially since I was going to have to carry them around for the  next 2 days. We retired to a rooftop sheesha (arghila) bar and enjoyed with wonderful Palestinian trend of “fresh” sheesha where the core out a piece of fruit (usually an apply) and fill it with tobacco and cover it with foil. The coals sit on top of the fruit and it results in the most amazing, smooth flavor. My sheesha was watermelon and mint with a fresh apple – simply divine and perfect for a tired body. My friend was staying the night in Ramallah ( I had to catch a bus back to Bethlehem so I could then bus to Jerusalem in the morning) so we met up with the couchsufing friend at the sheesha bar and later went to a restaurant. Khaled was effervescent and friendly, readily talking about any issue and willing to lend food suggestions at the restaurant. His advice did not go unheeded and we had the hummos, bakdunsiyeh, goat cheese, onion, and olive pizza,  and the chicken and almond “pie” which had flavors similar to the Moroccan bastilla but with a more savory texture. The food was amazing! I wish I could have stayed there forever eating. While in Palestine I had tried another typical dish called Mousakhan which was a piece of bread covered in sautéed onions with a delicately spiced half chicken on top. The flavors were extremely aromatic and I loved the moist chicken! Food was just one of the many things I adored about the country.

After my last night in Bethlehem smoking sheesha and talking to my new friends I headed to Jerusalem the next day. Unfortunately the people I was staying with, more couchsurfing hosts, were going to be out of the apartment until 7 PM so I had to lug around my backpack, laptop, and 12-pack of beer until then while exploring the city. My heavily-weighted self lumbered around at a relatively slow pace until then, being able to explore various parts of the old city and eventually exploring the town of Talibeyah – where my family had once lived. The city was now 100% wealthy Jewish Israelis but I was still able to find what I think was my grandfather’s old home. The house looked beautiful with intricate architecture and was still in great condition. The house was surrounded by security cameras and various alarms, something I found very intriguing. The light on the second floor was on so I stayed around for about an hour knocking on various windows and doors hoping to awaken someone so we could talk; unfortunately no one stirred. After finally arriving at my “couch” for the night, my new friends told  me that it could be because the house is owned by a wealthy foreign Jew who just leaves the middle light on while he’s away, explaining the extensive security network. I was relatively disheartened I wasn’t able to see the house during daylight hours nor was I able to converse with the current owners. However, it was pretty amazing to see a place my family had lived in almost a century ago. Growing up in a transcient, military family there aren’t many places where I feel a deep connection to. Being in Palestine and the Jerusalem area really made me feel as if I was at home. I spent a wonderful evening with my Israeli hosts eating the traditional dish of Shaksouka (something very similar to the Mexican huevos rancheros) -  a dish with chili peppers, bell peppers, onions, cumin, and tomatoes with eggs poached inside. It was eaten with the deliciously fluffy bread and homemade labneh – I was lucky enough to couchsurf with a host who also loved cooking! We spent almost an hour looking at his herb garden and comparing the various Hebrew, Arabic, and English words for the herbs and spices. I finally tried the traditional licorice liquer of Arak and realized, as I had expected, that I don’t like it and it tastes like licorice. Surprise Surprise. Once again, I was handed a glass of whiskey on the rocks (this time it was Johnnie Walker Black Label) while we discussed various esoteric questions like anatomical developments over time in the human body, homosexuality, conflict, and Yiddish grandmothers. After a fun evening I finally took the bus from Jerusalem to Eilat (where I had spent that fateful first night) and then on to the Taba border crossing. Things went smoothly (but took forever) and I eventually was off to seek my bus. By the time I arrived all the buses were filled and I was forced to take a Taxi. There was only one taxi left and we were forced to agree to the outrageous price of 150 EGP per person to take the 7 hour journey back to Cairo. We luckily were in a very fast car and the journey only took about 5 even though we had a brief altercation with the driver who claimed we agreed to the price in US DOLLARS. Hah! We paid him the agreed price (not in dollars, of course) and eventually got back to Cairo where I tiredly collapsed in my bed. I had such an amazing time in Palestine and in Jerusalem that I cannot wait to return! 

I'm Sorry, But That Pumpkin is Too Big For You

So last night I was accosted by my bowab because a package notification (birthday present from my mother) showed up at my door. Because it's Egypt and naturally is shambles, this resulted in a series of chaotic events. I had ordered something a month ago on Etsy that had also sent a package notification that it had arrived. I had been getting late notices but since the post office doesn't open until 8:00 and it closes at 2 (mind you, I leave for class at 6:30 and return around 5) I had been putting it off. Last night proved I couldn't put it off any more. The postage delivery man must have put the fear of Allah into my bowab because when I finally came home he spent a good 20 minutes making sure I understood enough Arabic to know what was going on. The gist of what I surmised was that my package was at Ramses (three post offices away) but because of the fact that it's from America and it was insured there was an issue with getting it to me. Plus since a holiday is coming up my bowab said I either had to get it today or wait until the end of November. I woke up early today to venture out and track down my packages. I was there right when they opened: 8 am sharp Egypt time which ended up being 8:35 in real life. The woman found my package from Greece with zero problems. ID, sign here, date here, passport here, ID number here and 20 pounds later I got it! Please note that this is an extremely efficient process, especially for Egypt. Now the second package... at this point it's about 9 am and I've already missed my first class completely. It wasn't actually a package notification but the actual customs form she had filled out that was somehow removed from said package. Not sure I want to know the details about its removal. There was a series of half-Arabic half-Hindi numerals in no particular pattern strewn across the page. I tried calling what I thought was the number (and about 50 variations thereof) to no avail. Egypt recently added an additional digit (or two) to all cell phone numbers (why, I honestly have no idea). Thus, everyone's contact list has become incorrect and you're consistently called or texted by would-be strangers (that Egyptian society teaches you to ignore) when in fact you're ignoring your poor friend who was just looking for recipe advice. Thus I assumed the number dilemma was somehow related to this bizarre phenomena. The woman at the post office immediately noticed it was missing a few digits and clarified the ambiguous numbers (seriously, they wrote the zero as if it was a khamsa...). She called the number (on my cell phone, of course) and proceeded to talk to the man amiably. I was able to pick up enough to know she said I was a student who was unable to pick up the package from their post office and asked that they deliver it to her post office so I could come pick it up from her. Seriously, this is what happens in Egypt. She hands the phone over to me and the guy says something like delivery at 11...something something something... 150 pounds. So I'm thinking, wow this sucks I have to come back at 11 and miss all my classes today, oh well at least it'll all get figured out. So I stayed home from school today and caught up on my applications for summer fellowships (let's not even talk about that) and gave them the very large window of two hours to get their stuff together. I show up at around 1:30 looking for my package. The woman looks extremely surprised and says, "Didn't the man tell you? They're going to take the package from Ramses to Attaba and then from Attaba to Zamalek and then I'll call you. It'll be a week." ....say what? What happened to my 11 o'clock something? She takes down my number again and says she'll call when it has arrived. I call the number she clarified earlier only to have the man immediately start yelling. He figures out I'm the 'tauliba ela mohamed mazhar' and starts saying relatively incomprehensible things. Not sure exactly what we decided on but he concluded with "tauib, maa salaama." So he either got fed up with me and hung up (very likely) or we accidentally agreed on something without my knowledge. I hope it was the former because I would hate for us to have agreed on, "oh yeah just come pick it up and I won't tell you where it is or how to find me; I'm also not going to tell the other helpful lady so she could assist you in  your sad American search for packages." 

After the stressful conversation I decided to wander throughout Zamalek aimlessly searching for something to cheer me up. While waiting to go to the post office I was antsy and ate seven pieces of basboussa I had sitting in the fridge. This did not settle very well and I was craving salty and complex flavors. During my wanderings I happened upon a magazine stand that had a beautiful photograph of a piece of shrimp. Naturally I was extremely intrigued and stopped everything I was doing (albeit, I wasn't doing very much at all). I opened up the magazine to discover it was an Arabic food magazine that had side-by-side English translations!!!! Honestly there really isn't anything better than this. As a stress reliever at night after I get home from school I've become addicted to stumbling on food-blogs and developing an extremely complex series of folders and subfolders in my bookmarks for recipes. I was very pleased to find what looks to be an interesting combination of semi-Western foods with Egyptian flavors in addition to a few "modern" twists on Middle Eastern classics. It. Was. Awesome. I literally stood on the side of the street and skimmed through the entire magazine. I know myself and if I had waited until I arrived home I would have been forced to immediately leave once again to buy groceries to prepare the recipes. One man (clearly annoyed by me reading a magazine on the side of the road) walked by and said, "oh my gah." I'm not sure who taught Egyptians this phrase but every time I hear it I can hardly prevent myself from bursting out in laughter!

My dusty "squash"

Upon completing the magazine I went into my favorite vegetable stand to see what fresh items they had today. Since I came earlier in the day than I usually do I was greeted by a few beautiful items that are usually gone by the time I arrive. I saw two perfect eggplants, some wonderful green beans, a nice amount of smooth tomatoes and....wait....what is that? I saw some sort of large orange-y squash thing hidden in the corner. I ask the man what it is and discover it's called arae aesl (قرع عسل). I knew aesl meant honey so I assumed it was some sort of sweet squash and proceeded to tell the man I wanted it. He immediately switched to English to warn me that it's "mish sweet" or not sweet. He seemed extremely concerned with my purchase. He even stopped a nearby woman to ask her how she prepares it as a "warning" for me. I heard her say that she roasts it with sugar and something else in the oven. She, too, looked skeptical of my abilities to prepare this interesting "sugar squash." I buy it anyways and he tells me that it's for 5-6 people and I can't possibly eat it all. I'm not sure how to express the concept of freezing in Arabic so I just smiled and said mumkin. On the way home, carting my very large squash and various other vegetables I realize I'm out of milk and wanted to check out the spices at my local kushk. I wander in only to have everyone stop what they're doing and look at my squash. I pick out the spices I wanted (I found sesame seeds!), some milk, and some packs of yeast that I'm sure will come in handy (thus far I have only ever seen the weird blocks that frighten me). I go to pay and the man points at the squash and laughs. He and the other men all say something quickly in Arabic and laugh...I was able to get the gist and I heard the word kabeera and sagheera mentioned frequently. Since I know my adjectives I could only guess that they were laughing that such a small person had such a large squash. He, too, switched to English and informed me that it was too big for me. He asked me what the squash was called in English and I told him I had no idea "mAerafsh" something that was really funny to them as well. He then asked how I could possibly cook it if I didn't know what it was and I told him "I'll come back tomorrow and tell you" (by the way I did this part in Arabic and it was awesome). I have since returned to my apartment to google the phrase they taught me. It turns out I bought a pumpkin! I feel like I should have recognized it but it's so surprising to discover something so familiar in a country like Egypt that I didn't realize what it was! I am now looking up ways to make pumpkin puree and I think I'll be toasting the seeds to make a healthy snack! I never really grew up eating pumpkin so let's hope I like it. It looks like I'll have more than enough to experiment with! I was planning on going to the mall today to put together my costume for Halloween since the American embassy is hosting a huge party next Thursday. My costume is a secret, for now, but I'll post pictures if I ever get it together! This new food magazine and surprise pumpkin may make it hard for me to get out of the apartment!

Oh yeah and my birthday party is tonight! My friend, Erin, and I will be having a joint 21st birthday celebration tonight. Her birthday was yesterday and mine is Monday so we thought we could combine forces. Since Thursday is the first night of the weekend here it's the perfect night to celebrate. Though I'm not sure how pretty or thin I'll be in photos if I'm covered in pumpkin goop and full of half-cooked pumpkin concoctions. I think the cost-benefit analysis will prove that culinary concoctions far outweigh everything else, though. 

Scuba Diving!

So here is my promised post about all the exciting trips I've done the past few weekends. 3 weeks (or maybe 4) I went to Ain Sokhna, a beach on the Red Sea, with AUC. I remembered my trip to Luxor and the awful sunburn I received so I meticulously slathered myself in sunscreen, taking care to remember odd places like ears and behind the neck. Naturally this sort of attention necessitated that the sun remained impotent, shining only a few rays upon the otherwise chilly day. The extremely salty water combined with the slippery moss-covered rocks ended up being a bizarre sensory experience. Since the trip was paid for by the university, I assume that is why we ended up in the weird, cold, pebbley (read: no sand) beach. Instead what we received was a sea-urchin packed cold water experience. Luckily there were TONS of dolphins. I probably saw over 20! The first sighting resulted in an almost instantaneous group-think reaction in which everyone started free-styling over to the dolphins, myself included. By the time we got there we could no longer see them and were confusedly paddling around, searching for them. One of the other students had somehow managed to find a floatie and was in the back of the group.  He calls out, "Does anyone see them?" Only to have everyone start screaming because the dolphins had started jumping not 5 feet behind him. He quickly tries to turn around to see himself surrounded by dolphins! That experience was pretty much amazing and worth the hours I spent slurping down salt-water and stepping on sea urchins. We migrated to the pool the resort offered to play a variety of water-games including the typical water polo, volleyball, etc. but we also played an interesting Egyptian game. Everyone had to stand in the center of the pool (the fish) while the 4-5 fisherman swam around the outside of the group. They were holding a beach ball and had to peg whoever they wanted to "catch." Essentially it was dodgeball in the water but in a much more in-group/out-group sort of way. By my clever manuevering (also known as going under water frequently and hiding behind larger men) I made it to the last 3 people! At that point, however, the angry fish who had already lost were eagerly watching the game, pointing out my trick and informing the fisherman. I was quickly pegged by three balls at once. At least I beat the rest of them :P

The next weekend I went to Hurghada for my scuba diving certification! We spent two full days diving with two dives a day, steadily progressing to the final depth of 18 meters (something like 30 feet). It turns out scuba diving is incredibly exhausting. While fully equipped in my scuba gear I had to walk like an elderly grandfather with osteoporosis, hunched over and grabbing onto nearby objects or people for balance. Our oxygen tanks were so heavy that the slightest movement would send me toppling over. Luckily I was surrounded by quick-acting men who sort of followed me around waiting for me to fall over. I imagine this is what toddlers feel like. While under the water it was pretty much fantastic. I loved it. Unfortunately I had a lot of difficulty clearing the pressure from my ears and had to descend individually with the instructor every time. While under water at the depths we were diving our bodies experience two atmospheres of pressure! Needless to say my ears were in a lot of pain yet I was able to finally make it to the bottom. Something about congestion or allergies made it hard for my ears to equalize (like when your ears pop in planes). Regardless of my pain I was completely amazed by the marine life we saw! I have never been a huge fish person but I absolutely adored diving. We were able to see a 10 foot Moray Eel fully extended swimming through the reef! I was told this is an extremely uncommon sight because the Eels typically stay coiled within the reef, leaving only their head or part of their tail exposed. We also saw lion fish, tube fish, clown fish, these interesting purple crescent shaped fish I couldn't name, a huge napoleon fish that was battering a rock, and a blue spotted eel. I had such an amazing time and our stay on the boat was fantastic. They served us meals and after every dive we were greeted with smiles and pieces of fresh melon or guava. I really really enjoyed diving and I'm really happy I'm going to be fully certified FOR LIFE! PADI Certification is an international lifetime license that I can use anywhere! Next stop: Great Barrier Reef. For real.

Last weekend was the 6th of October 3-day weekend and I went on the Arabic Language Institute trip to El Sahel beach on the Mediterranean coastline. El Sahel, besides being one of the prettiest beaches in Egypt, is also extremely close to Alamein - the site of one of the major battles during WWII. The trip was extremely low-key and allowed us almost complete free time to experience the crystal clear water and soft white sand. I honestly have never seen a prettier beach in my life. While swimming I could look, from above the water, to see my whole body and any marine life swimming under me. I spent most of the trip lounging in the sand, swimming, or doing homework in the sun. I had left my non-face sunscreen at home so I purchased a new SPF 45 at the store during one of our rest stop breaks. I think this sunscreen lied about being waterproof and even though I reapplied about 6 or 7 times I ended up burning my whole back quite terribly. Since I was doing homework/working the whole time, it also took quite a while to realize I was so burned. On the trip back home, sitting in the chairs turned out to be less than enjoyable. I also really enjoyed our trip to the Commonwealth cemetery. It was really interesting to read the history about the great battle that was there in Egypt but also to see how the architect chose to arrange the variety of nationalities at the cemetery. The trip was exactly what I needed: a relaxing break from the stressful week prior.

I am sure you have noticed that I am only talking about my weekends. That is intentional. My weekly routine is extremely consistent: I wake up at 5 AM or earlier every day to get ready/make breakfast/pack my lunch/and do last minute studying before boarding the 7 AM bus for my 8:45 class. I have class until 3 PM at which point I either stay on campus to work out or study. I end up arriving at my home at around 8 or 9 PM most nights and then I make dinner and start my homework. My days/nights are extremely uneventful because I spend so much time either at school or do school-related work. Luckily exercising has been a really nice break and I have started running during my lunch breaks while studying Arabic as a nice stress-reliever. Cooking also always makes everything better. Class has been really hard but I just had a test this past Thursday in Printed Media (where we read Arabic newspapers) that went really well! I have seen a large improvement in my Arabic skills and just the other day I was able to have a conversation with my bowab (doorman) in Arabic! He doesn't speak any English so our conversations are normally limited to just greetings and pleasantries. This time, however, we were able to talk about our family and class and it was pretty exciting. I really love Egypt and having the ability to practice the words I learn in class every day is inexplicable. 

I'm Safe - I Promise

So it's been quite some time since my last post. During the school week there is little to report since I spend so little of my day doing "free time" things. But two weekends ago I went to Hurghada and completed four open water dives in the red sea. Last weekend I spent the 6th of October break on the Mediterranean beach called El Sahel. However I'll update you guys on that stuff tomorrow (I promise!).


I think a lot of people are really concerned about the situation in Cairo and I want to clear up a few things. On Sunday night, peaceful demonstrations began in Mespirro regarding the destruction of a Coptic church. These demonstrations were mostly Christian yet Muslims were still represented. At some point during the demonstration a group of what can be called "thugs" started attacking the demonstrators by throwing rocks and generally being aggressive. The sectarian violence is demonstrative of long-lasting hostility between religious groups in Cairo not to mention the conservative Salafi Muslim concentration in the areas of the protest. Soon the police joined in the fight and after the death of a few police officers the army (SCAF) showed up. In the media, the arrival of SCAF was portrayed as the protectors who were being attacked by the Copts and needed help. News stations broadcasted alerts for the people to help protect their army. People began to join in on the fight for various reasons. Eventually the military escalated to the point where massive violence broke out. In any mob-situation people get hurt and accidentally die. The military was using ammunition on unarmed protestors (or armed only with rocks or things on the ground). Many people I have talked to who live in the area saw that the armed vehicles were accelerating while chasing fleeing protestors. Many people were maimed or killed by being run over by a tank. Even after the violence dissipated looters were rampant in the neighborhood and many cars were vandalized or set on fire. Most of this occurred while the police watched from their garrison. As disturbing as this event was, especially since it's the worst thing to happen since the revolution, I was almost completely unaffected. I live far from the protests in an island connected only by bridges (ًnaturally) that can be shut off in case of emergencies. This didn't even occur on Sunday. As violent as it was these events are usually confined to very specific geographic areas. It is very very rare that one would "stumble" upon a protest and get caught in the mob. As soon as one is even being planned the entire city knows. Furthermore, since protests always happen on Fridays at Tahrir Square it is extremely easy to not go to these places. School has been conducted as usual with absolutely no difference. Even if the situation gets worse, I live in one of the safest places in the entire city.


Please understand that all of Cairo is not in flames, there aren't mobs on every corner, nor are there protests every day. Foreign media is sensationalist. Simply that. For anyone concerned for my safety be comforted in the fact that I /am/ cautious; I know what to do to keep myself protected, what to wear, what to say, and even want to listen for. I promise I'm safe. Unfortunately the only time something bad could happen is when you're in the mob demanding change.

My bad guys... at least I've been busy!

So it's been some time since my last post. I've been so preoccupied with school that I haven't been doing much of anything else! School is still, well, hard. I decided to audit a course (I can't register for it officially since I'm part of a special Arabic-only institute) and I'm taking International Nuclear Law. Insha'allah it's a good class; thus far I really like the professor as she seems well-versed in the subject material and a quick google search showed that she has been very active in the field. That's at least moderately reassuring. I ended up moving up a level in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. My prior class was simply moving at too slow of a pace and hearing them say, "wait what?" every five minutes was enough to give me a hernia. Luckily I switched up and the new class is really fast paced and I'm more challenged. But wait...what did I do? Did I just make it even harder for myself? Woops! Hahaha. I even signed up for Student Union (the student government at AUC) and the Al Quds club. I'm really excited to see how these two clubs flesh out because I haven't been able to meet many Egyptians in my courses so perhaps I can in a more extracurricular fashion.

Language wise I feel like I'm improving really quickly. The coursework is so fast-paced that they introduce new vocabulary and grammatical concepts almost every day. We've already covered idaffa, noun-adjective pairs, suffixes, and we're beginning stuff with root stems. The language seems very intuitive so that's exciting at least. I progress much faster in Egyptian because, since it's a spoken dialect only, I don't have to fuss with writing or reading as much. It's just BAM BAM BAM Arabic. I've been able to have a few substantial conversations with passerby and my ability to ask for directions when lost has significantly improved. I actually had a funny incident at the grocery store where I do all my shopping, I'm standing in the line about to check out, I finally look into my wallet... nothing. My debit card isn't there and I have about 20 pounds of cash. I remember that the grocery store does "home delivery" and I am able to coordinate a deal where the manager "delivers" my groceries to me and I pay him upon "delivery." In reality it turned out to be me walking the manager to my house while we converse in broken Arabic. I pay him once we get to my apartment and lo and behold: I have groceries! People are so accomodating here; Egyptian hospitality is quite astounding. Just last night I went with Erin to Islamic Cairo where we spent time looking at a few of the historical markers and checking out the more authentic markets in the region. At dinner I was admiring the food at a nearby table and asked the women what it was (Ae da?) at which point she cut me a huge piece of it and gave it to me! At the local juice store I was interested in trying 3asir ilassab or sugarcane juice. After consuming the delicious beverage (and, might I add, the man literally fed sugarcane into the machine and out came my freshly made juice) the friendly shopkeeper gave me various recommendations of his favorite flavor combinations. He mentioned half and half (nus-a-nus) with orange juice and sugarcane was the best. I can't wait to try it! At the end of a long day of shopping we saw the famous Sufi dance for free! I am always so pleased when things are free.

At AUC there have been strikes going on for the past week. The first day of the protest was fascinating: Egyptians were standing up and protesting for what they perceived to be injustices. There was a 9% tuition increase this past year and various staff members also had grievances related to pay, medical, vacation time, and temporary workers. Students by the hundreds gathered around to protest during classes, screaming various chants in Arabic while hoisting their student leaders on their shoulders. Since the chants were in Arabic I asked a nearby girl what they were talking about. She told me, "oh they're just protesting. That guy [the one heading the chant] is an activist and is always finding something to protest about." HA! So much for "political liberation." Since the staff was protesting that meant the school grounds went...uncleaned. By day 3 it was filthy. Trash was overflowing out of all receptacles and many had simply put their trash on the floor. I will not even speak of what greeted me when I entered the women's bathroom. By day 5 there were insulting signs degrading the university president and just last Thursday the students tore down the American flag at the American University of Cairo (my school) campus. At this point, it has been a little excessive. So many Egyptians are pleased to have the right to protest they're willing to do it over frivolous things and at the expense of society's well-being. Tearing down the American flag served to isolate a large number of the international students, and especially, as you can imagine, the American students. Hearing the protests screaming during class to the point at which you can no longer hear the professor is when you know it's gone too far.

On another note - FOOD! I have been cooking sooo much!  I am so thrilled about cooking and unfortunately I have forgotten a few of the things I made last week. I had made a list but I lost it and you're stuck with my paltry recollections. I went out to eat last weekend (so two weeks ago) to a Lebanese restaurant called Tabouleh. It was pretty fucking fantastic. I ordered grilled Halloumi cheese as an appetizer, hot black mint tea, grilled lamb cubes, and turkish coffee to finish. The food was pricey, about $30 USD but it was of such high quality it was worth it. I just about freaked out at the restaurant much to the chagrin of my companions. Feeling the "meat cravings" a few days later I went out on an epic journey to find steak. I went to the local Metro Market to find something ambiguously labeled "beef steak." My years of watching food network, specifically Alton Brown's Good Eats, made me very suspect towards what looked more like london broil than any sort of "steak." My beef desires won out, anyway, and I bought it. I had my meat-loving friend Nic over to try out the meal I prepared. I seasoned the "steak" with salt, pepper, and cumin and rubbed garlic on it to add a slight sweetness. To top it I made balsamic caramelized onions and a merlot dipping sauce. The onions were a tad too crispy and the dipping sauce could have been thicker (must...find....cornstarch) but the flavors were there! Unfortunately this meat was definitely not steak and even when cooked to medium rare perfection it was almost impossible to cut, let alone chew. After what seemed like an eternity we had finished our meal and he ordered dessert from Tabouleh, the restaurant we had loved so much before. I was assured on the phone it would take no more than 45 minutes. It was a school night and I had a ton of work to do so this was very comforting. Almost 2 hours later the dessert showed up: cold and oddly appearing. It was there so I ate it, of course. Tasty, but not the best. Clearly delivery does not do this food justice. Later in the week I made a mango chicken curry. The mango was pureed with coconut milk and added at the end to add a rich sweetness to cut through the spiciness of the curry. I loved it! It had such great flavor and I was really happy with how complex the flavors were (: I have also mastered the art of "breakfast couscous" or couscous I prepared with milk, honey, cinnamon, dried apricots, and almonds. The rich bite of the semolina pairs perfectly with the honey and it gives a relatively fast and very filling meal! Another great thing I discovered is a french toast peanut butter sandwich. You take your bread (whole grain with seeds, if possible) and make a sandwich using a mixture of peanut butter, softened butter, and honey. Take this sandwich and dunk it into your favorite french toast batter and voila! French toast peanut butter sandwich! It tasted extremely decadent and it was very easy to make! I really loved the warm peanut butter combined with the eggy coating. And finally I made granola bars. I have been talking this up for sometime. I needed a filling, fast breakfast for the mornings that was both healthy and tasty. Result? Toasted coconut, almond, date granola bars. I added toasted wheat germ for added flavor and fiber and they turned out so good! They are moist and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness. They are filling enough for me to not be hungry until 11 AM if I eat one at 6:30 when I wake up. This is pretty impressive for me. I can't wait to try out more variations! I have a bunch of dried figs, dried apricots, Kashi cluster cereal, and other healthy knick-knacks I think would add some great flavor as well! On the agenda for tonight is lemon-thyme-garlic-rosemary chicken breast I made yesterday (I have been buying chicken whenever it's on sale and separating it into two chicken pieces. I put the two in a ziplock bag and add one of my homemade marinades then freeze it. Whenever I'm ready to make it, i.e. the days when I'm tired, I put it in the fridge and it marinates while it thaws. I always eat one and save the other already cooked for dishes like the one for tonight) which I'm going to cut up into cubes and cook with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil and serve over pasta for a super simple meal. Since the chicken was already cooked and it had been marinating for so long this meal will come together super quickly! I love easy meals (:

On a bad note I have been suffering from a really bad sinus infection so far. Not sinus infection in the "sexy husky voice" kind of way but in the "ew what is coming out of her nose" kind of way. This has significantly detracted from my attention span and caused me to visit the AUC clinic today (SUCH a catastrophe, just by the way). About 4 prescriptions later and I'm drugged out sitting on my couch with a huge mug of golden monkey tea and blogging to you guys. On a happy note I'm getting scuba certified next week! It requires 4 hours of DVD watching, one 4 hour in-class module, and 4 hour at the pool before we get 4 dives in Hurghada next weekend. For those of you who don't know, Hurghada is a beautiful city on the Red Sea where I'll be staying for two nights/two days and performing 2 dives a day. After the end of my course I'll be officially padi open water certified for life. How awesome is that? 

First Day of School....and Second and Third!

So I'm back from Luxor/Aswan and it was pretty amazing! It was hard being away from family for various reasons but all the amazing things I saw made it enjoyable nonetheless. We started the trip off with a flight to Aswan and checking into our cruise ship. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty skeptical of the cruise ship. Imagining what kind of "discount" ship we would get (read: roach-on-a-boat) I was preparing myself for the worst. Luckily I was extremely surprised by the 5 star ship we landed on! It had about 5 floors and the roof had a beautiful pool and spa. Our ship, the beau soleil (fancy, eh?), had pretty nice rooms as well. The food was catered to foreign tastes and thus was a bizarre fusion of westernized Egyptian food and "cruise ship food." Unfortunately for my now swollen tummy there was a dessert buffet and they had new pastries at every meal. Naturally I had to try every single one 'for science.' Besides the ship itself we were escorted on a variety of trips to temples and sites along the Nile. We saw the Temple at Phillae, the Temple of Kom Ombo, the Temple of Edfu , a Nubian village, Karnak (which was amazing!), Hatshepsut's Temple, and the Valley of the Kings. It was pretty amazing seeing all the colossal statues and buildings that people thousands of years ago were able to build. The hieroglyphics were astounding. Our guide had a lot of information about what each symbol represented and I found myself getting accustomed to the style just within a few days - already being able to recognize gods and goddesses by sight. I was able to associate the symbols of each god/goddess, too! Facebook will soon have photos uploaded - I took about 150 if not more! All in all it was a really great trip and I loved how it was packed with a variety of locations. Unfortunately our flight from Luxor to Cairo was at 2 AM and I didn't arrive back at my apartment until 5 AM on Sunday morning...the first day of school.

So the first day of school was....hard. I was pretty much dead for the entirety of the day and for some reason ALI didn't get the "the first day of school is a blow-off full of get-to-know-you games and icebreakers" memo. Instead, they seemed to think it was 5 minutes of "Ismee Ashton, ana min Amrika fi medinat Dana Point wa adruss fi gam3at al Austin fi Texas." After that it was instruction from about 8:50 until 3 PM (with a 1 1/2 break for lunch...seriously). In total I'm taking 5 different classes: Modern Standard Arabic Grammar, Modern Standard Arabic Vocabulary, Printed Media (MSA), Survival Colloquial Egyptian Arabic, and Egyptian Conversation. I was debating signing up for an additional class entitled Reading and Vocabulary as an elective but I think I may audit a course outside of Arabic instead. Unfortunately my 5 classes translates to only 3 classes in Austin College terms - an inconvenience that I find extremely frustrating. It makes little sense that my hours and hours of Arabic only count as 3 courses to AC but I guess that's how they make their money.... :| The course I'm planning on auditing is by Ezzedine Fishere, a distinguished visiting professor at AUC who only teaches a few courses. He's pretty much awesome and I've stalked him for awhile now. I would kill to take a class with this guy. The one I want is called Global Conflict and Security and it's a graduate level political science course. He emailed me the syllabus (potentially as a deterrent from taking his course since he did hear that I'm a junior in undergrad...) and it has 11 books for required reading plus an additional 6 books as supplementary material. Oh and that includes about 20 articles that aren't in books. Wow. But they all look SO interesting. I really hope I get the chance to audit it. Since I am part of ALI I can't take the class for a grade but that may be for the best since I will have so little time to spare. My printed media course is...well...hard as hell. We walk into class and the professor is handing out copies of newspaper headlines asking us to read it silently and underline the words we recognize. Uhhh, really? I tested into these courses because I can read and write the alphabet - NOT because I have a working knowledge of Arabic vocabulary! I was able to recognize a few words (only the prepositions, to be honest) and was extremely intimidated right off the bat. Her fast-paced class bulldozed through about 50 different vocab words like NATO, the Arab League, transitional council, etc. I had no idea this vocabulary was classified under "middle Elementary." I shudder to think what the Intermediate kids are learning!  Needless to say I will have my work cut out for me this semester. Each professor seems adamant that we read and re-read all of the homework assigned and spend hours on each worksheet. This will be interesting indeed. Yet each successive day got a tiny bit easier as my confidence in Arabic grew. Unfortunately a lot of the other kids in my class have had a semester or more of Arabic - yet somehow they tested into my level? Read: lazy kids who wanted an easy A. Either way they screw up the curve of the class and make me feel like even more of a loser when I have to read aloud in my Hooked on Phonics Arabic. Egyptian colloquial is awesome though. Since it's almost completely oral I have little opportunity to read aloud and I can rely upon my ears and mouth to guide me. Much more preferable!

The biggest downside to AUC is definitely the food. The food is limited to these tiny kiosks and the random McDonalds, Cinnabon, or similar Egyptian chain like Cilantro (I know, this is Egyptian...I think they believe Spanish is 'trendy') or Cafe Tabasco (again with the trendy Spanish). Bottom line: it's gross. I had my first attempt at homemade breakfast bars last night. I found a copycat LaraBar recipe that has very few ingredients - all of which are easily available in Egypt like dates, coconut, cocoa powder, and peanut butter. I used generic Arabic peanut butter because the American kind was double the price it is back in the States. Bad move. The bars were tasty but definitely lacked the sweetness and consistency they needed. Since American peanut butter has an extremely dense consistency and high level of sugar I'm assuming this is what my mistake can be attributed to. However the bars aren't gross by any means and they are now in cute little foil-bars in the freezer ready to be thawed when needed.

 I also utilized Drinkies, the home delivery liquor/beer/wine shop in Egypt. I have been wanting to cook with wine for some time now and since it's no longer Ramadan the shops are back open! I called Drinkies to hear "thank you for calling Drinkies call center, a customer representative will be with you shortly." Uhh say what? I was expecting to use my broken Egyptian to stammer my way through this conversation and I find out there's a call center?! A friendly Egyptian quickly answers the phone and asks me what my order is. Uh-oh, I was definitely not prepared for this level of specificity. Expecting the normal level of Egyptian ambiguity I said,  "a bottle of red wine." He then asks, "what vintage and brand would you like?" ??!?!? Luckily my suitemate Ellen was nearby to supply me with a random name - Cape Bay wine. He then asks if the "summer vintage is okay"... uh hell yeah it's okay! The wine is then delivered to my door within 45 minutes at only a 4 le charge - the USD equivalent of was less than $1. It was awesome. I decide that this awesome wine (and it was awesome, by the way) merited a nice red sauce and pasta. I am usually highly critical of my food but this sauce was amazing! I caramelized some red onions and garlic in a pan which I then deglazed with the red wine and some beef stock. I added a bunch of fresh diced tomatoes and some tomato paste (plus salt and pepper, of course). I let it simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes when I added some fresh thyme and a pinch of cayenne pepper. The sauce was so good! I added a bit of the starchy pasta water to thicken up the sauce and allow it to bind to the noodles once mixed. It was so great that the next night I had leftover sauce so I had it again! I was so pleased!

I can't wait to start cooking more. I finally found whole wheat flour, rolled oats, and oat bran. I think this means I can start making breakfast bars in lots of varieties. I already have dried apricots, dates, and coconut so I think this should make for a little bit of variety. So excited! I know that if I pulverize the rolled oats in the blender it can make a hearty base for a breakfast smoothie...although this all depends upon my ability to wake up in time for breakfast! I have been "pushing it" lately with the whole "waking up on time" thing... turns out I don't like to wake up at 6 AM every day. It sucks. Ah well, at least I get to make more breakfast bars! Maa Salaama! 

Crepes

Maria Theresa Gelat
May She Rest in Peace

I had a rough night yesterday and stayed in today. I decided it would be very apropos to make crepes for dinner tonight since my grandmother and I used to make crepes all the time when I was a child and later on as an adult. My suite-mate, Ellen, and I decided to finally splurge on a non-stick pan yesterday at the store so I knew that I had the perfect pan to make crepes. Finding a mixing bowl large enough to make the HUGE crepe recipe I have loved for so many years turned out to be an issue. I ended up choosing a pot typically used for pasta instead. I went through about 2 liters of milk - I have no idea how much that is in "US" measurements (which I am starting to loathe, by the way). Much whisking and a ton of butter later and I ended up with a very large stack of pancakes. I knew my grandmother would have been proud of what I made tonight and I was able to hang up a crystal in my room in memory of her today. She always used to have these beautiful crystals hanging in the window of her bedroom; when I'd go wake her up in the mornings (to make crepes, of course) the crystals would cast brilliant spectrum of light all across the room. Ever since then I have always loved crystals, rocks, and all things magical since I used to believe that fairies were attracted to sparkly items (like our crystals). It's hard knowing she'll never know how my stay in Egypt ends or that we can never cook another meal together...but I know she's proud that I'm here and I was lucky to find such a kindred spirit in my own grandmother. Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan's wife, once said "Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous - not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other...that was wonderful."

I leave tonight at 1 AM for my flight to Aswan and then it's 4 days and 3 nights traveling back up the Nile by way of Luxor, ending in a flight back to Cairo at 3 AM (the same day as the first day of school). Everything is moving in a whirlwind at this point. I almost forgot to pack my camera before Ellen made an offhand remark about "taking lots of pictures" and I realized how spacey I've been lately. I know my grandmother would have LOVED to be on that cruise with me, tasting exotic foods and soaking up the sun wherever possible. I won't have wi-fi on the cruise (I'm assuming...) so this is my last blog until September 4th. At that point I'll have finished my entire cruise and my first day of classes.... we'll see how this goes!

Washing Machine Woes

Last night in Maadi was great! It was one of the many neighborhoods I visited while looking at apartments and I was reminded of how beautiful it was. However, it definitely had the overwhelming "American" vibe that many of my companions seemed to admire yet I found it slightly revolting. The idea of a Fuddruckers in the middle of Cairo (well, the Southeast of Cairo) was really frustrating. This is clearly the other half of the globalization coin that so many textbooks discuss: Westernized products and fads overwhelm local culture and create a bastardized version of both societies. Many Americans seem to consider Maadi their little "haven" but I found it fake. I'm sure if I get homesick it'll be nice to know there's a nearby location where burgers and fries are considered "authentic" but at the moment it makes my skin crawl. The taxi to Maadi was disturbingly long. The taxi driver didn't appear to speak any English and my companions and I were chatting away in the backseat while letting him do his taxi-thang. At one point it became clear we had passed the same building twice. No, no, no, you will not be charging to me to drive in a circle. I very loudly stated that we should call one of our Egyptian friends and have him re-explain our destination since the taxi driver could not seem to find the square we were headed to. Miraculously we ended up there within a few minutes. I have yet to decide if this is a coincidence or the taxi driver understood more than he let on and realized we weren't going to be complacent passengers while being ripped off. Though I should note that "ripped off" in Egypt means losing 5-10 EGP, approximately 2 USD. But that's not the point. I may be superfluously frugal but I hate the entire concept of being ripped off, even if the negative effects upon me are minimal.

The event in Maadi was surprisingly similar to those in the US. It was just a bunch of kids from the university hanging out, listening to music, and occasionally dancing. I was very taken aback by some of the behavior I saw from other foreigners, however. Foreign women definitely have a reputation for promiscuity and this is something that, or as I had previously thought, was a reputation many women wanted to discourage. Some women's actions at the apartment were contrary to this opinion. One woman allowed an Egyptian to place his hand down her shirt and didn't say or do anything. Women in Egypt get way more attention here than in any other country I've traveled. It would be extremely rare to walk down the street without a cat call, whistle, lewd stare, or bizarre comment in broken English (imagine: "howdy pretty girl"). Luckily, none of this escalates anything faster than words and simply ignoring it/making a determined face will suffice 99 % of the time in my experiences. Yet the moment you reciprocate the attention or, worse yet, allow them to touch you - it's all over. An Egyptian man would never act that way towards an Egyptian woman and he would especially never touch her. If a man touches you and you don't immediately recoil or react negatively you've essentially opened up the possibility of promiscuous actions. It's sort of a complex relationship but it isn't the "secret to Egypt" - it's commonly known to almost every foreigner traveling to the Egypt. So when I see a women acting in such ways that only perpetuate the negative stereotypes towards us it really makes me angry. Beyond that, it was a really enjoyable evening and it was fun meeting people who are also students at my school. Most of them were on the AUC rugby team and I plan to have some "school spirit" and go to some of the games this semester. After hanging out with some friends we went to a cafe and I was able to fulfill my longtime craving for serious chocolate decadence with a very fudgy chocolate cake and a latte. The latte was great; Egyptian coffee standards are relatively high and I enjoy how strongly they brew the espressos and coffee. The cake was disappointing by my standards but pretty good for cafe fair. I was just happy to have something that tasted of chocolate. The Egyptian guys my friends and I were hanging out with were appalled by the idea that I'd just walk home from wherever they dropped off the other girls (they lived at the AUC dorms in Zamalek and I live in an apartment about 10 minutes walking away). I tried to explain that my route was all along a major, well-lit road and that I carried pepper spray (which I showed them) and they laughed. I guess I should have expected it since my pepperspray is "breast cancer awareness"-themed so it's...pink. Not the most intimidating color but who needs intimidation when you have burning imitation capsicum in your eyes and sinuses? They told me that Egyptians use pepper spray "for breakfast" and they mimed spraying the little canister into their mouths. So much for intimidation factor. I don't feel any less safe, though. My little "breath spray" can spray up to 15 feed and fits on my keychain. I even had a thorough "now this is the switch you turn to activate the spray, point it away from you, then click this, make sure it's pointed away from you" mini-safety lesson from Graham so I'm feeling relatively confident in my ability to use it if I need to. We'll see who's laughing when your eyes are on fire.

By the time I returned to my apartment I was definitely not sleepy and I remembered the relatively large pile of laundry that's been accumulating in my room. One of my first "large" purchases was a big plastic hamper (an attractive neon green) for my laundry. For some reason, the idea of my dirty laundry sitting on the dirty floor seemed unclean. Now that it's safely enclosed in its neon home I feel secure. I have been avoiding laundry since my suitmate told my the washing machine "only worked on the hot setting." Uh... say what? I was all my clothing on cold - most of it even requires further instructions. The idea of washing it on hot was physically disturbing. She had never attempted to ask the previous flatmate why it only worked on hot or to ask the landlady so I was left to my own 4 AM devices to find a user manual. A quick search using the model number on the washing machine showed that not only was this an extremely antiquated model, it doesn't exist anywhere outside an Arabic speaking country. In fact, the only manual I could find showed only the cover page. A depressingly unspecific and poor quality pdf file. My annoying experience with women earlier tonight caused me to bristle when seeing the typical housewife (foreign looking, of course) doing the laundry on the cover. I hope Egypt isn't turning me into a feminist; I like shaving my legs. Nobody likes grasshopper legs scratching up against them. If I've even gone two or three days, the feeling of my own leg brushing up against the other is disturbing. There's no omnipresent "man" telling me to shave my legs or lose women's suffrage - it's just gross. Anyways.... I was relatively proud of my sleuthing skills and I stumbled across another user manual from the same company that was also about 30 years old. Some searching revealed that it also used the weird turn-dial that my washing machine used (all the modern washing machines on the company's website used words and symbols as opposed to the A-G classifications my sad machine uses). I read through it and I think it's going to work! I'm pretty sure I figured out which is the "cold water" button and even if that button doesn't work, I found the setting for 40 degrees C so that's at least not the 95 degrees that the supposed "only setting that works" uses. Only setting my ass. Tomorrow will show whether I was brilliant or utterly incompetent in finding a manual replacement. I may start with washing only the "less demanding" clothing at first. The worst thing that can happen is I have to buy all new clothing....oh darn. (:

Travel Blog Turning into...Food Blog?

I woke up today and had a great breakfast of seared halloumi cheese and a fried egg. I love the consistency of the halloumi when pan-fried with some butter and pepper. The squeakiness of the cheese was paired really well with the melting consistency of the egg. If you haven't tried halloumi before, you should! It's an amazing cheese from Cypus that is known for its literally "squeaky" consistency (you can hear it when you chew) and its saltiness since instead of being pasteurized, it's brined. This breakfast commenced what was an obsessive search into recipes I could make here in Egypt. So I spent the majority of today stalking other food blogs and compiling recipe backlogs. One of my biggest objects of fascination was Cafe Fernando, a blog that is based out of Istanbul and makes AMAZING food. 5 hours later I was about to implode out of hunger. He was discussing some of the shortcomings about cooking in the Middle East, namely the lack of certain ingredients. It's so odd but the things I can't find are items I never thought I'd "miss" like: sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, wheat flour, flax seed, or cream cheese. However, he prepared a cheesecake and gave directions on how to make it using Labneh, a Lebanese cheese made of yogurt forming a less fatty and more tart "cream cheese." If I strained the labneh for an hour it would increase in density and make it thick enough to substitute for cream cheese in a cheesecake recipe. I didn't have any of the ingredients so I thought about other things that require cream cheese. The mushrooms sitting in my fridge decided it all. Stuffed Mushrooms. I have a really great recipe that I love and I wanted to try it out with labneh. Unfortunately I was missing both crackers and Parmesan cheese - two of my favorite parts. A little improvisation and 20 minutes in what I hope was a 350 degreeF oven (there are literally zero identifying markers on my oven) and I had stuffed mushrooms! They had a really nice consistency but not quite the cheesy-goodness I was hoping for. 3/4 a box of almond-date cookies and some tea later and I wasn't complaining :P I saw a really great Jacque Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe that had me drooling for chocolate chunks and lots of unsalted butter (and I know that's a quick shopping trip away but...it seems impractical and I'm trying to put on my serious face).

In other news, I am still counting down until my cruise! Until then I have to study my Arabic alphabet like crazy because ALI decided that "yeah I pretty much know it" is "you don't need to review it at all so we'll put you in the class where you skip those chapters altogether." Hopefully I can avoid being re-assigned to a lower level class (which would be starting at Arabic 0 as opposed to my Arabic .5) so until the cruise I'll be reviewing! Wish me luck! I'm heading out to meet some other people from AUC in Maadi, an area of town nicknamed "little America." Funnily enough, I'm going there to meet some Egyptians so either A) they like America too or B) the rumor isn't entirely true.

I also noticed that I have a lot of blog views! I'm not sure if that's because some people are refreshing the page a bunch or there are actually people out there reading it. Either way, thanks! Feel free to subscribe to my blog and receive an email every time I have a new post. Much love!

Last Day of Orientation

To start off here's an update on Friday night. My friend and I decided to peruse the Cairo music scene and headed over to the Cairo Opera House where an amazing band named EFTEKASAT, an Egyptian Oriental jazz band, was playing. The tickets also cost only 20 LE! The concert went way longer than expected but the music was so enthralling: there was a combination of piano, synthesizers, bass, drums (my favorite!!! I think I have a thing for drummers :D), nay, guitar, and violin. Each musician was an artist in his own right and was completely entranced in his own work. It was so wonderful to be able to watch them work. At one point, the drummer and the electric violinist had a "play-off" and it was pretty amazing to watch. I was really really impressed with Ahmad Hesham (drummer) who was seamlessly transitioning from double bass to cymbals to some other wooden concoctions all while making the funniest facial expressions. I definitely want to see more live music and hopefully see these guys again!

Yesterday included some much need R&R. I haven't really been going to sleep before 4 AM and I just sat around my apartment all day and cleaned/did laundry. It was nice to do nothing. I used up leftovers and made some tasty mushroom and pea fried rice. I have really been enjoying cooking on my own and experimenting with food. I have been looking up recipes to start making my own protein/breakfast bars so I can freeze them and thaw them, one at a time, overnight to take to school. I have yet to find key "healthy" ingredients like whole wheat flour, wheat germ, flax seed, etc. However I did find an exciting recipe for LaraBar knockoffs which includes ingredients that are all readily accessible in the middle east. Yay! I can't find Starburst, though. I miss those a lot. I especially enjoy the two-starburst-packs that come in a big bag. That way I can take a pack with me as I start my day and open the pack (like a fortune cookie) to see what kind of day I'll have. Orange-Yellow = meh day, nothing too special will happen. Orange-Orange or Yellow-Yellow = at least you have a matching set! I do love symmetry. Orange/Yellow-Pink = This day has the chance to be pretty good if you just give it a chance. Orange/Yellow-Red = The day will start off bad but it will definitely make it up to you in the end!. Pink-Pink = Today is an all around good day: the sun is shining and you will eat well. Pink-Red = More than expected will go well today, you will probably end up smiling the majority of the time. Red-Red = Nothing can go wrong. This day is perfect and you are impervious to all forms of damage and you get an HP boost of +50.

Moving on....Today was my final day of orientation and essentially the only day specific to me, ALI. It was slightly more efficiently run but that may be because there were much less people. I received my class schedule and the course load is pretty heavy. I have class every day from 8:45-12 and then from 1-3. I'll have to take the bus at around 7 AM in order to get to school on time :| Furthermore, this schedule does not include the additional 3 credit class I'll have to take to fulfill my 15 credit requirement. Since Austin College operates on a 1 course/4 credit hour basis, my 3 credit hour courses will transfer in as .75 unless I take extra. So not only will I take the 9-12,1-3 classes but also one more class. Oh and I am trying to audit another class and petition for overload :D I know that seems a bit excessive but I want to get everything I can out of my time here. Thankfully classes don't start for another week so I have a bit of time to rest and dwell upon what curriculum decisions I make. Also....I'm going to Luxor and Aswan this week! The school is offering a great deal for a Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan so I fly to Aswan on September 1st, take a cruise to Luxor while stopping along the way to see all the sights, and then I fly back to Cairo on the first day of class! WOW! It's going to be awesome (: The school is really amazing in setting up a variety of free or cheap excursions for the students. ALI just briefed us on what they're offering and it's even more! A lot of the Arabic excursions will include trips to monasteries and mosques in order to understand more about Egyptian culture from ancient to modern times. I like the idea of cultural exploration because learning a language is more than just vocabulary and grammar; it's also about understanding the people. Plus, good news! I asked a man for directions today and he must have thought I said it in pretty decent Arabic because he didn't even attempt to say it in English! I didn't bother correcting him because I was so flattered! His hand signals were relatively descriptive so I didn't need clarification regardless. I even recognized a bunch of words! I find that my confidence in the streets and around Cairo improves so much every day. I am so happy I decided to live off campus. If I hadn't I would not have had near the same amount of exposure to Egyptian people. I am forced to communicate in order to survive and I love it! A lot of the other foreigners seem almost "slow" in the way they are approaching Cairo: they're making little attempt to speak Arabic even if they know it, thus rendering every conversation with an Egyptian useless since they can't understand plus they stop and smile at everyone without regard to local customs. I'm really grateful that I researched and have traveled before because so many of these other students seem like kids who have never been on their own without parents. It makes me very appreciative that my parents weren't the coddling type!

Also, today is my 2 year anniversary with Graham (: We have a skype date planned tonight. Pretty excited to see him (: 

Long Time No Post!

To any of you regular followers out there (I'm looking at you, Stephanie Almanza), I'm sorry for the lack of updates in the past few days. I've been crazy busy so here's my attempt at a recap over the past week.

Tuesday, August 23 I had yet another day of orientation. After a grueling day of information sessions and registration nonsense we had a school-sponsored "cruise" on the Nile. We boarded these tiny little feluccas and sailed around for some time before finally reaching our destination: the Valentine Yacht. No, really. I personally found the neon hearts to be an excellent touch. The school undercounted us so many people ended up sitting on the floor of the yacht, myself included. The low vantage point undermined the view and the bright flourescent lights impeded any tranquility the yacht could have offered but it was still nice. I ended up getting back late, once again, only to be confronted with an ATM fiasco. ATMs are very seldom out here and it took me about 2 hours to find one that both a) didn't reject my card instantly or b) not take any foreign cards or c) not take mastercard. Finally I found an ATM that should have worked... but it didn't. Egyptian banks seem to despise multiple withdrawals in one day and I was forced to wait until Wednesday for the ATM. So much for 2 hours :P

Wednesday, August 24. Today is 2 months from my birthday! I love celebrating every 24th day of the month. It's like a tiny party in my head. Today was even more orientation. We had briefings from the US Embassy essentially saying "if you fuck up, we can't help you" and "don't walk alone ever." Then she told numerous horror stories of people being arrested for silly things. I will never get that hour of my life back. Then a professor had a really fascinating discussion on the new Egyptian political scene, talking about the old Egyptian constitution and the provisional one that is currently in place. He had some really insightful comments about potential problems with the September elections in Egypt and how the system many of the "intelligentsia" Egyptians are proposing could fall into the same pitfalls as before. Many Egyptians think a strong executive/government is good when/if they can pick the right people. However, like the Federalist Papers say, a wise and prudent government should have safeguards in case it isn't lead by the "best of the best." I really wish I could take political science classes here at AUC but I'm sure focusing exclusively on Arabic will have a much greater benefit in the long term. Later that night I went to get dinner in Zamalek at a little Indian restaurant. It wasn't quite as good as I was expecting but I think I still had the best dish on the table. And for 75 le I had a lamb entree, naan, rice, chai tea, and water. I feel like that's a pretty good deal :D After that I went out to the Khan al Khalili bazaar in downtown/Islamic Cairo. Wow it's a densely populated market - there was stuff everywhere! Out of every corner of your eye you see a determined shopkeeper walking towards you holding some cheaply made Egyptian trinket and calling out, "I don't know what you want but I have it" or "What can I do to get your money?". The frequent question of where do you come from resulted in my friend, Erin (my partner in haggling), and I deciding to be Canadian for the fun of it. We ended up buying these ridiculously outrageous sequin dresses (matching, of course), a very pretty scarf, and.... wait for it... belly dancing costumes. The latter part of our purchases required the most extensive searching. Many of the little stands sold them but they were of varying quality and prices. We actually gave up after over an hour of Extreme Haggling: Cairo Edition and decided to relax/de-stress with some hookah and tea at the famous El Fishawy Cafe. This cafe boasts never having closed in over 200 years. Relaxing in the alleyway with the hookah and tea into the wee hours of the morning (about 4 am) proved they meant business: they really never close. Prices were fantastic and the peach flavored hookah was smooth. Surprisingly, the shopkeeper from one of our favorite belly dancing stores walked by while we were outside. He told us that he wanted to sell and he dropped his price to what we had asked for hours earlier. We handed over the money when he returned with the same costumes we had tried on. I ended up with a light blue costume with gold coins (ΩZ!) That I'll be excited to show off back at school. Unfortunately I didn't arrive home until about 5 AM at which point I was exhausted. I had to wake up in 3 hours for day 4 of orientation. Boo!

Thursday, August 25.
Today was pretty awful. Waking up was dreadful, I felt like there was a brick sitting on top of my head. I took the late bus out to school and made it just in time for a boring lecture on Egyptian social values (the majority of which was common sense information). The activities fair was disappointing; there were much less organizations that I was expecting but I still reserve hope that some other groups are just less proactive when it comes to hosting booths. I barely made it through orientation without passing out on the ground. By the time I made it home I fell asleep fully clothed on my bed, waking up 5 hours later to multiple missed calls and texts. I had sort of shaken off the heat/dehydration/exhaustion-induced delirium I had experienced earlier so I decided to go out to a restaurant called Buddha Bar. It was about a 30 minute walk but it ended up being a beautiful location outside on the Nile. The atmosphere was wonderful and we were consistently taken care of by the maitre d'. Erin and I decided to be choosy with our options and only order drinks, labneh, and hummus. We ended up with a mountain of food (way more than we were expecting). The hummus had an odd taste that we had never experienced before. We were able to isolate it, determining that it was the taste of green olives. A lightbulb in my head went off when I realized that this was extremely fresh olive oil. Americans cook and use olive oil heavily in the US but I've never had such a pungently flavored oil in my food before. It was definitely a new experience. By the time we got our check (unfortunately, many hours later...I really never learn) it cost an astounding 300 le! Our "cheap" food added up to a grand total of 150 le and there was an odd fee of "minimum charge" on our check that was 150 le as well. We ask the maitre d' and he says it's a flat rate fee given to people who aren't guests of the hotel. We quickly clarify and tell the man that we are, of course, guests the hotel. He asks us to write down the room number and he'll waive the fee - effectively cutting our check in half. Erin quickly makes up a random number and hands it over. 150 le is immediately saved. My sleep, however, was once again sacrificed for a fun night.

Friday, August 26.
I woke up today at 9:53 AM to a phone call from a friend seeing where I was. I was supposed to be at the dorms at 9:30 to wait for the bus to pick us up since it was leaving at 10 AM. I honestly don't think I have ever gotten ready faster. Not only did I pick out an outfit quickly but I also had the foresight to fill my waterbottle before leaving (if I had forgotten my day would have probably been awful). I then borderline ran to the bus area only to find out we were 45 past the schedule. My sweaty physique and un-breakfasted tummy were annoyed to discover I didn't have to rush after all but I'm glad I didn't miss the bus. A 45 minute bus ride later and I ended up in GIZA to see the pyramids. It was such an amazing experience to see the objects I have read and fixated on for years in real life, in person. Our tour guide was very friendly and we spent a whopping 3 hours walking around, taking photos, and looking inside the pyramids and viewing the Sphinx. Photos will be to come, I plan to steal them from some of my more photography-savvy friends. A nice lunch and a bus ride later and I was back at my place. Later tonight I plan to go to the Cairo Opera House to hear a famous Egyptian band play and perhaps explore the "Cairo nightlife scene" and go to one of the numerous houseboats on the Nile where there is music, dancing, and food. I'm pretty excited (: I promise to keep you posted tomorrow. What a crazy week!

First Day of Orientation at AUC

My first day of orientation was today! I was pretty excited! The bus stop is only a 10-15 minute walk away (and the walk is right along the Nile so it is definitely a scenic route :P ). The bus is only for AUC students and it has not only air conditioning but also wi-fi! That was pretty great (: Apparently in traffic in the afternoons/evening the bus can take up to 2 hours to return but, to me, that isn't even an issue if there's internet! I could skype or even do homework all on the way home! Haha. Luckily this morning the bus only took 45 minutes to get to campus (which is in New Cairo, a suburb outside of Cairo). Unfortunately I had to board the bus at 7:30...meaning I woke up at 6:30 :| My parents would be very surprised/pleased to know I not only woke up on time but was also able to get myself to the bus stop and not be late! For those of you who don't know... I definitely have a flexible understanding of the word "punctual." Though, I have been told this is a very Egyptian thing of me to do so at least I'm assimilating :P

Orientation was a typical school orientation. The registration process was long, tedious, disorganized, and required relocating to multiple buildings repeatedly in a nonsensical pattern. I was told by the returning international students and other Egyptian students that this is very typical of AUC and Egyptian culture. I guess I'm used to a lot more structure because every 15 minutes I could feel myself clucking (a weird habit I've picked up where I use my tongue to make a "cluck" - apparently a lot of Egyptians use it in colloquial to signify "no" or some other sign of displeasure) and then proceeding to think to myself, "This could be so much more efficient" (a habit I definitely picked up from Graham). Inefficiency aside, the long lines and ceaseless walking facilitated meetings lots of people! It was really exciting meeting so many people again and realizing I didn't know a single person! It reminded me of my first day at Austin College....almost two years ago! The same exhilarating desire to meet everyone and ask for the standard: name, country of origin, length of stay, major, and where they're living. Although everyone made fast friends and I was really impressed with the diverse backgrounds and nationalities of the people I met. Plus, many of the students I met were evacuated during January due to restrictions imposed upon them by their home university or embassy. Yet these students all returned as soon as they could because learning and studying in Egypt mean that much to them! It was truly inspiring. I also met a really nice Swedish man who just finished doing research in Zimbabwe and was planning on writing his thesis while here in cairo; a Norwegian woman who was studying environmental biology; a Peruvian studying Islamic architecture, and so many more! There were definitely a lot of Americans but all of them (well, most of them.... okay, 40%) seemed like serious and really impressive students. I have already exchanged my information with a number of them who live nearby me in Zamalek who I hope to hang out with. It was pretty exciting also meeting fellow Arabic Language Institute (ALI) students because those are usually the most driven students since ALI is an intensive 40+ hour courseload. ALI-specific orientation isn't until Sunday so I have to satiate myself until then by meeting all the international students I can! I don't get to meet the Egyptian students until classes start on September 4th. I'm getting so excited!

OH and after registration ended for the day around 3PM they had a scheduled (and free!) excursion to celebrate iftar. We went to Islamic Cairo and visited some of the shops in a part of al muizz street near bab el fotouh where there were waterpipes, trinkets, blankets, and metalware everywhere! Beyond that we took a bus to the Citadel which was lit up at night. It was quite beautiful inside and it's one of the most famous mosques in Cairo.

As the sun went down we celebrated iftar with all the other international students. The food was amazing! I really loved it and the sweets were to die for :D I went back twice for extra sweets - it was that good. After the sweets there was a performance by the Whirling Dervishes, an order of Sufis based out of Turkey who "whirl" in remembrance of God, and it was amazing as well! They were able to light up their costumes and do some amazing things. I wish you could have seen it! Afterwards they brought out sheesha for everyone to smoke and had hot tea as well. I love how much hot tea is celebrated in Egyptian culture. Unfortunately it's not really high-quality tea (mostly Lipton, surprisingly) but I still love tea and it's very refreshing on after a stuffing dinner while smoking sheesha and overlooking all of Cairo while the sunsets. Tonight was such a fun and great night! I really enjoyed it (even though I had to suffer through orientation stressy-ness haha).

Looking forward to tomorrow (although not to the early morning!) :D

Spongebob Hits Egypt

When I think of Egypt, images of the Sphinx, the pyramids, the Nile, or even Mubarak come to mind. But never, not once, does Spongebob appear. Yet I discovered today that it's the latest craze in Egypt. Almost every other store front had TONS of Spongebob memorabilia to a degree of fanaticism I never even saw in the US. I'm not sure if it's trendy or the equivalent of the US obsession with Hello Kitty but it's bizarre.

But on a positive note - I had my first full conversation in Arabic where I understood EVERYTHING! It was pretty exciting (: However, it seems important to point out that my conversation wasn't an esoteric discussion of Egyptian perspectives on secularism. It was a much more banal. I went to the local market, grabbed a bottle of water, asked how much it was, heard how much it cost, then said no I want two. End of conversation. I'm still pretty happy, though. My recent acquisition of numbers has been particularly helpful. Although Arabic numerals are still widely used, the numbers posted as prices on 90% of things are these: ٠‎ - ١‎ - ٢‎ - ٣‎ - ٤‎ - ٥‎ - ٦‎ - ٧‎ - ٨‎ - ٩‎ (0-9). Once I learned those and how to say them it became kind of surprising how much more I could understand in conversations. I was also successfully able to instruct a taxi driver on how to find my apartment without him having to stop for directions. Another friendly taxi driver spent the ride teaching me the words for straight, left, right, behind, in front, etc and they helped immensely!

Cooking for One

So I'm going to warn you upfront: today's post isn't some incredibly insightful discovery about Egyptian culture or anything like that. I had a remarkably uneventful day that consisted primarily of finishing the last bit of unpacking, organizing my room, and going grocery shopping in a more thorough manner. So if you're expecting something more than that, stop reading now.

If you're still here, you get to hear even more about groceries. This time I had a plan and was able to make a more efficient round throughout the grocery store. By the time I left the store I was probably carrying 10+ bags and my arms were sagging. An observant Egyptian man called out after me in English saying, "Those bags are too heavy for you, your arms aren't strong." At which point I thought to myself, "Thanks a bunch, I hadn't noticed." Luckily, taxis are EVERYWHERE in Egypt and it took about 45 seconds and one look at my bulging arms for a taxi to pull over. A 5 LE ride later (about the equivalent of 1 USD) I was at my apartment and ready to cook. I was actually quite proud of myself for my foresight: I got a big bag of chicken breasts that were on sale and divided them up into portions. I mixed up a few different marinades - one a garlicky lemon-rosemary marinade and the other a tangy red wine vinegar-mustard-worcestershire marinade and put them in ziplock bags with 2 chicken breasts each. I then popped them in the freezer. Now, whenever I want chicken for dinner I just pull them out of the freezer and into the fridge; the chicken will marinate while it thaws :D With the remaining chicken I decided to do a Moroccan inspired dish (I know, I know, I'm in Egypt). BUT I really wanted to use my fig spread and I have so many spices that it just seemed perfect. The oven didn't have numbers or any discerning labels for temperature, just a dial with a little slash on it. I made do and roasted my chicken for about 2 hours resulting in a thick and spicy chicken dish (: I know this is turning into a food blog but I just can't help myself. Food is life.