And now for the rest of the story...

So if anyone hasn’t noticed, I work too much on Arabic and should definitely spend more time watching dubbed Harry Potter movies and Futurama clips of Zoidberg and writing for my blag… This is our last full weeks of classes and it is absolutely crazy to think that soon I will be leaving the Hashemite Kingdom for the kingdom of Starbucks and McDonalds. I am beginning to fear some reverse culture shock, but luckily I have another trip planed to Alaska right when I get back- so no real world for me!!

Tutting it up!

So I left off with the first day of my Cairo adventure, and after that we had two more full days of deliciousness to explore- and delicious it was!. We got some much-needed sleep and explored around the city going over to American University of Cairo’s campus and going to bookstores. WE also hit a bunch of shopping in the real Kahn al-Kalili souk- a bustling street full of vendors and the bright colors of scarves and prayer rugs and the smell of spices and tea. We also spend some time in Zemmalek- the Western, modern part of Cairo situated on an island in the middle of the Nile. We had some lovely Italian food there and also bought some Egyptian beer at one of the few liquor stores. We stopped off one evening at the citadel- an ancient fortification on one of Cairo’s highest places. It is also where the Muhammad Ali Mosque is located- one of the largest in Cairo. It was a gorgeous building filled with all kinds of ornate artwork and glass light-fixtures. It was really a peaceful place. You could also go out on the walkway and see all of Cairo before you- a mass of buildings and lights.

We attempted to master the metro- a feat! So we went looking again for the Kahn al-Kalili souk which was by al-Azhar Mosque and University- the oldest degree granting university in the world. So the al-Azhar stop is on the metro map, except in one station the line is yellow, in another the line is green, and in another the line is red. There are two other lines on the metro, making the one we want the third line of ambiguous color. Guess what? The “third line” isn’t going to be built until 2014 or something like that, so all of our questions about the “third line” only garnered blank looks or strangely enough, directions to a place that doesn’t exist (man motioning to the right, “so you take a left and then another left”). So after figuring out the places that we could get to, the next obstacle was that in times of heavy traffic the cars are divided into women-only and men-only. We were a group of three gents and two ladies and dividing groups has proven to be the worst travel decision of all time, so in order to make it though the metro the gents would put us ladies in the center of a circle and try to act normal in a packed in subway car that felt to be about 150 degrees. Magic! At least it was a bit better than overpaying to cram 4 people into the back of a taxi, and much better than cramming 4 people into the back of taxi that is still moving… oh Cairo transportation!

We did manage to make it out to Coptic Cairo- the Christian corner of town. Everything looked about the same, but instead of minarets there are church bells, and instead of moons there are crosses, and instead of hijabs there are rosaries. There is also one synagogue still left in the city and we visited that too. It was surprising how similar all the buildings were on the inside- they all had the same basic features and were all built from the same materials by the same culture. I’m really interested in learning more about “Arab Christians,” but the Copts are the best examples that I am aware of. They are basically the same as Greek Orthodox but they operate in a different language (although it looks like Greek). The Coptic museum was filled with beautiful art and relics from really early on, but the downside was that this museum was also without air conditioning. Did I mention that Cairo is hot?

I did mention that it was delicious- rightfully so. We managed to find an Arab bakery that some of the most delicious chocolate croissants that I’ve ever had, and it was packed every time we went there- whether it was in the hot afternoon or at midnight. We used the metro to find a little hole in the wall restaurant, there must have been holes because the floor of the whole place was covered in sawdust. We went there to get Kushari and this sweet rice desert- both were delicious! Kushari is a dish that looks like vomit, but is mighty tasty. It has rice and noodles topped with lentils, chickpeas, fried onions and a tomato based sauce. The rice desert was very similar to other rice deserts I’ve had- rice, yogurt, sugar, the tears of unicorns. I also enjoyed the cheap little street sandwiches and of course my lemon and mint drink (soooo planning a ton of mint when I get back to Boston)!

I loved my time in Cairo- it was really crazy, but I would love to go back, at least when it is cooler! I still feel romanced by Egyptian culture and history and I would love to make it back to Alexandria and Luxor.