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Siwa Oasis

Refreshed

Well we just arrived back from our holiday in Siwa Oasis and I cannot begin to explain how nice it was to get away from the city to spend a few days relaxing and seeing a totally different part of Egypt. We were all excited to get away, but once we found out we would be spending 10 hours on a bus I began to get a little nervous about whether or not we would be for better or worse after the road trip. Reading my Fodor’s on the way to Siwa, it described the oasis as a “pleasant little town centered around a market square, where roads lead off into the palm groves in nearly every direction.” After hour five of nothing seeing nothing but the desert I wondered how anything in the middle of this hot wasteland could be described as “pleasant.”

But sure enough 10 hours later, out of nowhere appeared a pleasant little town centered on a market square with roads and palm groves leading off into every direction. Dodging donkey carts and motorcycles, we made our way down one of the roads to our resort-like hotel which I can only describe as what you would imagine celebrity rehab to be like. The cabins were scattered around a massive cold-water spring and fire-pit that we used each day and night. I can honestly say I had the best nights sleep that I’ve had in years—It was nice to go to sleep each night and not hear dogs barking, cars honking and motorbikes zooming by our apartment.

I wish there were words to describe the people I met and the places I saw in Siwa, but I literally do not think they exist. Words cannot do justice when describing the feeling of standing in the middle of the Sahara and only staring at sand and blue sky as far as the eye can see, taking a dip in freshwater lake in the middle of the desert, eating freshly cooked Siwiian food, riding a bike down dirt paths, swimming in cold springs and staring at the Milky Way counting shooting stars during a nighttime Bedouin party.

The weekend was just what we had wanted and needed, and our return to the city, newly refreshed, was just what we had expected—hot and crowded. But this hot and crowded city has now become our home and the little things that once seemed so foreign are now strangely normal. We now know the neighborhood and its regulars, how much to pay in cab fares and can speak broken Arabic when hand-gestures fail. After the trip, and with the end of Ramadan, I think Cairo and I are both giving each other a second chance—Insha’Allah!

Enjoy the pictures from Siwa and I promise now that I’ve settled in I will get better about updating with pictures and stories. Miss you all and as always, thanks for checking in and checking up!

Holiday Weekend

Today marks the beginning of the holiday weekend here in the Middle East with the Jews celebrating Roshashana, Muslims marking the end of Ramadan with Eid Al-Fitr, and me praying that I havn’t forgotten about an important Christian holiday. So since I am pretty positive I’m the clear from celebrating anything, I have to admit I’m probably as excited, if not more, than most practicing Muslims about Ramadan coming to a close.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ramadan, it’s the holy month where Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown and learn to appreciate not only all the things they have been given, but also what life is like for those less fortunate. This is a time where Muslims practice self-restraint by refraining from drinking alcohol or buying nice things and increasing donations to the poor. It’s basically is a cleansing month that gives Muslims time to focus on their relationship with God.

For our group, and the many other ex-patriots living in Cairo, Ramadan means something very different: no alcohol served anywhere, no restaurants or stores open until after the last call to prayer (around 9:30 pm) and no drinking, eating or smoking anywhere in public. Arriving in the middle of Ramadan was both a blessing and a curse; to understand Cairo, you have to appreciate the role of religion in Cairene’s daily lives, but understanding and appreciating it can also get exhausting.

Not only is it exhausting for us to have to find restaurants open for lunch, even stores open at all, it has been a very hot summer here in Cairo with the average temperature around 108 degrees. This, coupled with the fact that no one can eat or drink for 12 hours of the day, has raised tensions and it is not unusual to see people arguing in the streets—especially before iftar when people are racing home to break fast with their family.

While it has been frustrating living here during Ramadan, it was nice to be introduced to the city when it is decorated with its infamous Ramadan lanterns and banners hanging on each street—I even bought a few to take home to the States! So cheers to the end of Ramadan (and to alcohol!) and celebrating our holiday 10 hours to the North of Cairo in Siwa Oasis—I’ll be sure to post pictures after we get back! Enjoy all your weekends!

When it Rains it Pours

Today has just been one of those days. My first inclination would be to say: “when it rains it pours,” but for obvious reasons (…being in a city where it rains no more than 5 days a year…) it seems inappropriate here. It just so happens that on the day where I’d had more than enough with Cairo, somewhere in between getting splashed by a man washing the dirt off his car and honked at by cars for crossing the street (god forbid…), I received a “friendly reminder” from my mom to update my blog since I seem to have gathered a solid following and it has been a few days since my first/last post. I’m sure you can only imagine what my response text reflecting my views of the city to her sounded like (my apologies mom!), but after some cold, yet delicious, chicken and rest I finally got it together to write this.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to me that living in a city with over 80 million people things aren’t going to be as easy or come as fast, but most days I laugh it off and accept that everything in Cairo is approached with the attitude Insha’Allah, “god-willing”. At first I thought the phrase was a nice little cultural twist to add on to the end of conversations, but have since realized that Cairenes really do use the phrase seriously because everything in Cairo is often the opposite of simple. I can’t begin to count the number of times I add it onto thoughts throughout the day, but I think my Arabic teacher would be proud that I’m constantly practicing and getting to use of this newly learned Arabic phrase. “I’ll channel the game Frogger and make it across through the traffic and across the street safely, Insha’Allah.” “Even though the menu says Garden Salad, it will actually contain something green this time, Insha’Allah.” “If we order our dinner by 6 pm, it will get here by 8…at the latest 9, Insha’Allah.” “The electricity will turn back on by nightfall, Insha’Allah.”

Now as I said before, most days all of us here laugh things off and accept that we’re certainly “not in Kansas anymore,” but today was just different. The electricity was out in our school all day, the 5 minute ride home took 25 since traffic was at a standstill thanks to a donkey cart blocking traffic (did I seriously just type that?), our dinner actually took over 2 hours to be delivered and the sewage is backed up in our apartment building. To remind us a little of home and take a well needed break from the heat and city, we turned up the AC, wore sweatpants around the apartment and watched the Jersey Shore while waiting for our chicken to be delivered. I think everyone just needed a full day to rest and remove themselves from the city.

My mom’s response to my earlier text was “perhaps you could find a more appropriate way of saying Cairo has its challenges,” and I think by me removing the profanity she would agree that I just did find a better way to voice my opinions. On that note, I hope that you take all these stories with a grain of salt and realize that I really am loving my time here in Cairo; I was looking for an adventure and certainly got what I bargained for—maybe even more. Even though Cairo “has its challenges,” its also one of the safest and friendliest places I’ve ever been to. I cannot count the number of number of times I’ve been welcomed to Egypt on the streets, or the amount of Egyptian students who offer to take us around their city that they are so proud to show off. Many a time I have asked myself if my friends and I would be so welcoming to a group of Egyptian students studying in the States, and my honest answer is: probably not. The blessing in this curse of dealing with Cairo’s daily challenges, is that is does make me appreciate the things I have, and have been given, and the people I have surrounding me who not only teach me, but listen.

So thank you to everyone who is following and taking the time to check up on me—it always is nice to come home to a message from friends at home and know that you all are going about your daily lives at home thinking of me. I think about all of you more than you know—each time I leave the house without straightening my hair or makeup, walk by the butcher skinning animals, try foods other than pizza/salad/chicken, wash clothes by hand, and try to speak Arabic, I laugh about how much I wish you all could see me doing these things, living this new life and changing for the better as a person.

I’m off to bed now so that tomorrow will bring a fresh start and the group will be back to its funny, upbeat mood ready to face another hot day in the city of 1000 minarets…*insert Insha’Allah here*

Finding a Balance

As many of you have seen, due to my lack of entries, I have struggled immensely with writing my first entry from Cairo. At first I was too excited and busy to take the time to sit down and write, then I too frustrated, and from there, just confused.

My intention for this blog was never to be too preachy or for lack of a better word, “serious”—I once wrote to my sister, “I’m not trying to go all Maya Angelou on you.” And since many of you know me, you know that I’m a self-proclaimed goof and openly admit that most of my daily conversations revolve around sarcasm or some sort of humor. I’ve never tried to take life too seriously, and have found that by sometimes being able to laugh at things, or yourself, you’re able see things differently.

Although it’s only been two weeks here in Cairo, I have been forced to look at myself, and my life, very differently. I am now a “double minority”—fair skinned and American, in a developing country where I do not speak the language. Things could not be more different than being in Hamilton, New York at Colgate or at home in Alexandria, Virginia where the majority of everyone I interact with everyday looks and talks just like me.

At first it was exciting to be different—I laughed at everyone staring at me, smiled and waved when people welcomed me to Egypt and joked about how different this part of the world was. It was in this phase that I didn’t want to blog for fear that sitting in my room on my laptop would remove from the city that never stopped. Soon, I found it hard to joke about the differences—so many people were poor, the electricity was too inconsistent, and nothing seemed to ever get done around here. While I wanted to write about all of this, I feared that without my sense of humor, my writing would be too serious and my site would just become a classic college-student-abroad blog on par with all the others. (And I obviously did not want to upset my huge following of readers who were looking forward to all my adventures and misadventures here).

It wasn’t until my walk to school today that I realized that what had brought me here—my ability to not take life too seriously—was exactly would get me through this experience and allow me to share it with others in a unique way. I consider this trip to the Middle East, coupled with my personality, a way to connect readers to what is happening here in hopes of creating a better understanding between the East and West—and if I have learned one this thus far (besides not to eat chicken schawerma) it is that we all need to work towards this.

So to everyone who reads this (mom, sister) I hope you can find a balance between laughing at my stories and taking something away from them, just as I have found a balance so that I can live and learn here happily by laughing. Before I go to wash off the layers of dust I leave you with a quote I often say to myself here when I think that there are too many problems to fix or that not enough people care, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead

Enjoy your days, eat Chipotle for me, and request “Midd Kidd” at the Jug tonight!