Mt. Sinai

Ok, so I realize it's been a while since my last post but this deserves to be documented immediately. 

St. Patrick's Day- Worst day ever. I spent it in class all day, then in the library all evening and in a study group all night. It was awful. I didn't even get to drink my Guiness but maybe this weekend. I heard the parade had beautiful weather which makes me even more sad, but it's ok, I'll just have to make up for it next year.

All right now the best weekend EVER: 

Wednesday:  We were set to leave campus at 9 o'clock at night in order to climb Sinai before sunrise. The bus company had told us that the van we rented seated 16, what they neglected to tell us was that in the 16 people, they included 2 drivers. So... it was a tight squeeze for 6 hours while Senna sat on the floor and Marshall got stuck on half a seat. Finally, we arrive at the base of Mt. Sinai at around 3:45 am. But, because we started late due to the bus confusion this gives us a little more than two hours to get up the mountain before sunrise at 6. That gave us very little time to climb 2285 m. But WE DID! Climbing to the top of Mt. Sinai in a little over two hours, I was impressed. The guide said it usually takes most people about 4 hours. But, we had slave driver Carrie in the lead who would have left us behind had we not caught up, which actually, she did. 

But, it was well worth it to climb the mountain and watch the sunrise over the horizon, it was amazing and I still can't believe I did it. On the climb down, I wondered how Moses did that twice, honestly. if it had been me, I would have said "Forget you, you fickle Hebrews! Go worship your golden calf, I am taking a nap." But I suppose thats why God didn't choose me to lead his Chosen People.  At the base of the mountain is St. Catherine's monastery, which has a beautiful Byzantine style Chapel and home to THE burning bush. I got to touch the bush through which God talked to Moses and told him to begin the Exodus. Now, I have no way of proving the validity of this claim, but it seems cool none the less. I mean seriously, did anyone keep track of which bush it was? 

So this puts us at about 9 am Thursday morning, so at this point I have been up for 25 hours straight. Now, we pile back onto that awful bus and drive another 2 hours to Dahab on the Red Sea. This is where the real fun begins. We checked into a great hostel for $5 a night, gotta love the exchange rate, and went in search of some breakfast. We ate at a great place right on the sea and lay out on the beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Later that night, we went to a restaurant that boasted the best seafood in town, and man, they weren't kidding. You got to pick out your fish from the case of ice below, I picked out my crab and my squid for calamari, yum! This was served with rice, soup, babaganoush, bread, tamayya, and hummus. Delicious! As Joey said "We ate like kings and drank like fish." And all of this cost around $15 including beers. Needless to say, after that we were all ready to go out. So we hit one of the local bars and just sat on the beach, watching the waves come in. It was a perfect end to a great day. 

On Friday, went to a place farther down the coast to go snorkeling as you cannot climb and dive in the dame 24 hours. We tried to explain that it had been more than 24 hours since we climbed the mountain but decided it was best just to go cheap and safe. But, snorkeling along the reef was AMAZING!!! So many different kinds of fish were there and would swim right up to you. I was probably the most adventurous one of our group, I removed my breathing tube from my goggles and dove down to see the drop off, and all of the things below the surface. Then Senna and I joined a bunch of the local kids in jumping off the dock, they were amused by our swimmer's start dives. I then put my tube back in the goggles and continued to follow the reef, just to see how far it went. When I came up  to see how far I was, I realized I was halfway to Saudi Arabia and everyone was calling me back. Oops. 

After snorkeling, we went out to dinner at a great Indian place were we once again gorged ourselves for about three hours. Best spring rolls of my life. (People have been asking why I write so much about food, and thats because on campus the food is so bad and overpriced that I live on peanut butter sandwiches so any meal out is a real treat) After that, we had a few hours to kill before the bus left to take us home, so we wandered the boardwalk and I bought a gret dress for $12, now I have something to wear in Italy on spring break. After that we just hung out at the hostel with the guy who works there named Eminem, (seriously, thats what he goes by) and then piled into the bus for another LONG trip and arrived on campus about 8 am today. So now I am off to do homework and SLEEP! Warch out for the next installment, who knows what might happen? I love and miss you all, B

Khan al Khalilli attack

Ok, so I am fine and just wanted everyone to know that I am fine. I don't know if the news has hit the States yet but this is all we know as of right now and I will keep you updated as I learn more: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7904731.stm 

Please do not worry, I love you all. 

Latest Update

So, I'm sorry this has not been updated as frequently as everyone seems to expect but please try to keep in mind that I am in school and trying to experience as much as possible so I actually have something to write about.

Ok, so lets skip straight to the weekend as nothing of great importance happened during the week. ( I went to class, did homework, etc. etc.) 

Thursday: Being in egypt has put a whole new perspective on Thirsty Thursday. We all headed downtown for dinner and drinks, not really having a game plan in mind beyond that. We ended up at a great little local place, where we were soon to learn they did not take kindly to foreigners. First of all, we sat at the bar for about 30 minutes while plenty of tables remained open. Then, once we were finally seated, the maitre' dee informed us that we had one hour to eat. We thought he was kidding. To our surprise about ten minutes after receiving our food, we were presented with the check. I should note here that by we, I mean Ben, the only male in our party, and the only one with whom the staff would communicate. This is not uncommon, but still rather annoying. After Ben was presented with the check, we were all hurried out of the restaurant as quickly as possible as a new group had just entered. Outraged, we left and swore never to return. In order to lick the wounds of our damaged pride, the group wandered over to Deals, our friendly, local neighborhood bar. Sadly, the barkeep knows us by name. As we sat in the back booth and made plans for how to continue our night, someone suggested Mojitos, the bar at the top of the Nile Hilton, very swank. As we all agreed this would be our best bet for late night dancing someone mentioned that there was a 200 LE cover charge, or about $40 American. Not wanting to drop $40 just to get in the door, our group split between those willing to pay and those not. I was among the later group. So we spent the next three to four hours sitting in the back of Deals enjoying our Stella (truly awful Egyptian beer, but its cheap). Next, we made our way to Mikey T's apartment for after hours drinks, Mikey is currently in the Naval Academy working towards an intel. position. After a 4 a.m. cab ride back home, it was time for bed.

Friday: Not so much to report, mostly we just wandered the city looking for my friend Gordon's apartment as he was supposedly having a party. Well, after him not answering his phone for three hours, we decided to give up and go get a shisha. (Gordon texted the next day that he had started too early and passed out before the party began, way to go Gordon) This was a nice relaxing evening especially since I had to catch the bus at 9 a.m. for a field trip the next day.

Saturday: By far my best day in Egypt yet! We started off the day with a field trip to the Nileometer, which is how ancient Egyptians would measure the changing tides of the Nile and plan their crops accordingly. Descending down into this huge cylinder with only small steep stairs devoid of a railing standing between you and your plunge towards death is an experience I hope everyone gets to have at least once in their lifetime. Next, we ventured forth to the Mosque of Ibn Tullun, the first mosque ever built in Cairo. It was built around 834 A.d. and most of the original structure remains. I climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the minuret from which I could see all of Cairo. It was amazing to see structures that had been standing for over a thousand years contrasted against the urban development of the past decade. Once inside the mosque, we were requested to wear little booties over our shoes and also that the women covered their hair. As it was already noon, we were able to see prayer services first hand. 

After that, we were dropped off downtown and a group of us decided to stay and spend the day in Zamalek. We had lunch at Khan al Khalilli market, the same one where I had my marriage proposal, and luckily we had Andrew with us who is an Egyptian American. His arabic saved us from getting ripped off at lunch as the guy told him point blank that he usually makes ridiculous charges on foreigners checks. After lunch, we decided to get lost in the city and did just that. We made decisions on which road to take based on the noise level and the flow of traffic, we tried looking for street signs but Egyptians don't believe in such frivolous things. It was a great time to see "real" Cairo away from the touristy places. However, due to the fact that we were in "real" Cairo, extra security measures were put in place. There were five members of our group, Andrew I already mentioned, is a very funny American Egyptian, Max, a total sweetheart from North Dakota, Kristina, from small-town Connecticut, and Jeremy, from Kentucky and myself. First security measure was the make up of our group, two guys for every girl in the group is a must, also when walking, we went single file boy, girl, boy, girl, boy the whole way. This is not to say that we were still not harassed, oh no, but it did cut down on the physical harassment quite a bit. 

    You see because Saturday was Valentines day, we had many requests made of Kristina and I. Actually, at one point one guy pointed to Max and called out "Oh, two Valentines!  You very strong man!" I think this made Max's day.  Once we returned to Zamalek, we decided to take a falooka cruise of the Nile. It was sunset and absolutely breathtaking to be on the water, we travelled up and down the banks for about an hour. All the while, the passing boats which were all decked out for Valentine's day and full of couples, so we decided to have a "romantic" photo shoot on the boat at sunset. After walking for about six hours straight we decided to head to the Pottery Cafe for dinner. Along the way however, I made the most amazing discovery, I found the Irish embassy and a pub next door (of course). So I have already started planning my St. Patrick's Day extravaganza and I fully intend to show these Egyptians what a great time March 17th can be! 

Well, that was this weekend, the only other noteworthy thing I did this week was venture back to CityStars, the world's second largest mall, after the one in Dubai. We watched "Yes Man" with arabic subtitles and for some reason they put an intermission in all movies, and they also have assigned seating. It was weird but fun. So thats the latest update for now, if anything exciting happens you will be the first to know! Ma salama, Bridget

So much to say

Ok, So this has not been updated as it maybe should have been but when I tell you about the past week perhaps you will understand. 

  First of all a breakdown of classes:

      Colloquial arabic: This is a 100 level course designed to teach me Egyptian Arabic, which is the most widely understood dialect. So that I might actually talk to people, what a novel idea. 

    Modern Standard Arabic: This class teaches fous-ha or the language of the elite and the media. All news networks use this form of arabic as do two Arabs who want to communicate with each other but speak different dialects, mind you this is only for the extremely educated and most people on the street do not understand it. I signed up for the 102 course as the 101 covered everything I learned last semester, but what I did not know was that this 102 course starts at chapter 6. My last semester ended with chapter 2, so now not only am I trying to learn chapter 6, but 3,4, and 5 as well. It is very frustrating, but I explained my situation to my professor as I can no longer drop the class without receiving and "F" for the course. He has been very helpful and agreed to meet with me during his office hours to go over the missing chapters. He is my favorite prof. thus far here, he is very good at simplifying and explaining things. He is also an Albino, which apparently is very common in certain parts of Africa but they are often discriminated against and treated as second class citizens. That is why many of them come to Egypt as they are much more accepted here. 

   Anthropology: The People and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa: VERY interesting course, really eye-opening about the imperialistic views of the West towards Black Africa. I actually already have a presentation in class on Monday about "Blacks in Film" so wish me luck!

Political Economy: Yuck.

  Art and Architecture of Cairo: As previously mentioned, this course meets twice a week to learn about different key features in Cairo art. Then on Saturdays, we take trips to visit what we discussed in class. Expect tons of pictures!

So combine this insane work load (I wanted to prove to the Egyptian kids that you CAN work hard and play hard; what was I thinking?) with the fact that the inauguration of the new campus has been going on all week and you understand my lack of time to blog. 

  As I mentioned earlier, Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt, is an AUC alumna and came to see the new campus on Saturday. Those of us who did not make the guest list were forced to stay in our dorms all day for security reasons, but during my renegade trip to the food court I discovered that we had snipers on our building. Legit snipers in the dorms. The thing that really gets me though is not the snipers, but the fact that campus was beautified with fountains and lush plants for her arrival but half the classrooms haven't been painted yet. Also, the new recreation facility was supposed to be finished in time for the inauguration, but in typical Egyptian fashion, it wasn't. So they  FILLED AN OLYMPIC SIZE SWIMMING POOL, ONLY TO DRAIN IT SEVERAL HOURS LATER. Seriously? We are in the middle of the desert, there is a water shortage, they want us to take shorter showers and do laundry less frequently but they will fill an incomplete pool with water for several hours and run thirty fountains, just to show off to the board of trustees? 

  The rest of the inaugural activities, however, have been wonderful. Tonight I attended both a lecture by the infamous Jeffery Sachs ( I love his work, I was like one of those stupid screaming girls during Beatlemania, minus the screaming) on the elimination of poverty in Africa and around the globe. I love that he is so rational and reasonable, but still has an evident passion for his cause that is so inspiring. I also enjoyed his caution for the new U.S. administration, don't get me wrong, I think it is a definite step in the right direction and we have elected a great leader, but I am really sick of people worshipping the ground President Obama walks on before he has even done anything yet. It is just setting him up for disappointment, as things will not just magically change as people seem to expect them to do immediately. Anyway, I digress. 

  After the lecture, I went to the Faculty showcase concert which featured most of the Music Department staff performing what they love. It was a vast array of styles which included Opera, Spanish guitar, traditional Oriental music, American folk songs,  and ended with a Byzantine chant. It was a spectacular performance by all the staff and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

   Now this last section is the most important and the most sensitive information I give but I feel I should do my part to "spread some ink" on this issue. Friday night, Philip Rizk, a graduate student at AUC, was detained for a peaceful protest in the support of Gaza, there is no freedom of assembly in Egypt. He, along with several other students had been peacefully marching to the Gaza borders in hopes that Egypt will open the border to humanitarian aide for Gaza. For more detailed information on this event, see his facebook group. I do not think it wise to write any more information here but this is a serious issue on campus and has everyone worried. Philip is half Egyptian and half German, so there is hope that the German Embassy will intervene as Amnesty International already has. Please keep him and his family in your prayers. Please do not worry about me though, this is because he is a journalist and documentarist of political movements. All I write is this blog. 

  Well, on that lovely note I will leave you as I have a mountain of reading to do. I love you all and would really like to have some comments to read! 

   

Classes

So now that I am in my second week of being here I have finally started classes and let me tell you about the odyssey of registration. Thus far, I have spent 10 hours in the registration office, they know me by name and ID number. Hopefully though, my classes are finally set and I am ready to start this semester. A few notes about AUC first:

 To begin, I am told that this school is really just a playground for the rich elite kids to hang out until they take over the family business. Sadly, I have found this to be true in most of my encounters with the Egyptian students, some of them did not know what plagiarism was in my 300 level Anthropology class. (yikes) I was also told that I could miss up to 9 classes a semester. NINE! At Bradley, you could maybe miss one or two but you had better be on your death bed. Most of the Egyptian students have made it abundantly clear that they hate all the international students, especially the Americans. I think it is because we ruin their MTV perception of America and force them to realize that their own lives are petty and shallow. (No bitterness here mind you) This kind of discrimination even extends to the administration at times, I have had several friends be jumped in line waiting for bus passes or ID cards by Egyptians and this is found acceptable by the administrator. Everything here is so bogged down by the bureaucracy and everything is a constant battle. 

    This weekend we will official inaugurate the new campus so everything is going double time on the construction. Not the classrooms mind you, but the fountains and benches. The First Lady of Egypt, Susan, will be here to celebrate as she is an AUC alumna herself. The Egyptians all hate her and many are not attending the ceremony because of it. I think it should be interesting to see.

    Aside from all the negatives though, campus is beautiful, and we hope to leave the compound much more often. See, new campus is in "New Cairo" which is yet to be built. We are the only structure for at least 15 minutes, completely surrounded by desert. Because of this there are guards everywhere, many of them armed. I do wish I had applied to live off campus as maybe then I could interact with the real Cairo. But soon the shuttle buses will work and we will go downtown on a regular basis.

I realize that this has been a mostly negative account of AUC but rest assured that I am enjoying myself in spite of these nuisances and will post a more upbeat message later. Please leave a comment or write back as it makes my day 100% better!

Back by popular demand

So, everyone keeps bugging me to update this even though I have so much to do.

Ok, so I have finally registered for all of my classes and have my ID. The past two nights I have been wandering the streets downtown, eating babaganoush, smoking shisha (hooka to Americans), drinking tea and feeling sophisticated with my roommate, Sam. Between the crazy cab rides, and running to catch the last Metro home, she has been an amazing guide. I can already tell that we are going to have a great semester. 

Tuesday night, we went to Hanna Khalilli, the oldest bazzar in Egypt. It was amazing, just like in the movies, all the vendors out selling fruit, and spices in the big cloth sacs, jewelry and everything you can imagine. It was here where I heard some of the best lines of my life thus far. For example, I was walking past this guy and he was obviously checking me out ( they all stare, I can't imagine why, it's not like red hair and blue eyes make me stick out or anything) and then he said "You looking for Egyptian husband? I worth 2,000 chickens" It was great. And later my friend Julia, from Austria was passing a shop that sold local garments and a man said to her "You should buy bellydancing outfit. Not for wear in public, just for your husband." Needless to say, she declined. 

It was amazing to see something that had been around since the time of Christ, an open market on the same street for thousands of years. And just to sit in the cafe and watch people was such an experience, you could feel the communal, neighborhood vibe between the people that was so welcoming and refreshing. 

Tonight, Monday, we had a welcome party on campus for all of the international students. It had such great food, and I got a Shakira belt! (For the older readers, or pop culture challenged, its a scarf that wraps around your waist with beads dangling off so when you shake your hips and booty, they jingle. I plan on wearing it to formal next year) There were performances by whirling dervishes, and a Nubian step group (for lack of better term) Then they played pop music, and listening to Egyptian covers of "I Will Survive" and "The Love is Gone" is truly an experience. The Egyptian and other non-American students all stood back amazed when we could all join in with the Nubian version of the electric slide. They also do not see the appeal of the "YMCA", which is a classic. To date, the list of things to cover to get Sam ready for American grad school include: The Wizard of Oz, American Pie ( the song), and the electric slide. Sam was kind enough to tell me that I should forget dancing like an Arab, but for an American I was ok. 

Oh my Goodness

Well, Thus far things have been going swimmingly. I met my roommate, her name is Sam and she is Palestinian and raised in Jordan. She is very nice and used to having American roommates so that helps. Here is a run down of what has happened thus far:

Friday: we went to this place called City Stars which is a Western mall on steroids, there were 7 floors and 5 phases and it took up 10 city blocks. Inside was all sorts of American and European stores like, Target, Radio Shack, and restaurants ranging everywhere from McDonalds to Rainforest Cafe and TGI Fridays. It was crazy, and EVERYONE smokes, even inside the mall. There where two movie theaters too, this place was enormous, the other girls and I had a great time walking around and getting lost. 

Saturday: AMAZING!! We went to see the pyramids at Giza! First, we went to the Great Pyramid and I actually got to climb inside it. There was a platform with crossbars on the floor and railings on the side but the tunnel was only 3 ft. tall so you were almost parallel to the shaft. I hit my head alot and my back is still recovering because we limbed that way practically on our knees for 5 stories. The Eiffel Tower was easier. But it was totally worth it when we reached the actual burial chamber. It was seriously something out of The Mummy, minus Brendan Frasier and the zombies. But the sacophagus was still there, without the body but still totally creepy, and there were hierogliphics on the walls. It was dark and kind of creepy, but truly awe inspiring at the same time. Next we went to the lesser pyramids, where the queens were kept, we actually climbed down into her burial chamber but that was just a room with rocks, that was too small and had too many people so it lost its charm. Next I rode a camel, no joke, a camel. My guide was about eight years old which was kind of depressing, and his name was Harrir and the camel's name was Mike. All of the camel's in the caravan are named after Michael Jackson and each carry some variation of his name. I can't explain why. After that we went to a cliff where we could take a panoramic view of the three pyramids together. Then we saw the Sphinx, and this thing was gargantuan. It's paw was at least 20 stories high. One thing to keep in mind about the pyramids is that they are surrounded by the city on three side, so when you turn around from gazing at the last surviving structure of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you turn around and see a Pizza Hut. On the other side however, it does just lead to the desert abiss. After that long, and hot day, this took from about 12 to 5, we went to a local restaurant that was incredibly delicious,we had: fresh fruit and vegetables, rice, pasta, babaganoush, and flat bread. Then, once we were seated the brought out shoe box-sized charcoal pits with pieces of chicken on them. Here we met a young man who had a pet lion cub and although the poor thing was obviously sedated, I got to pet it but couldn't take a picture of it as we were called away by the group leaders.  

Sunday: I tried to register for classes and spent two hours in the office receiving absolutely no guidance and only have two classes right now. I understand that this is a more laid back culture with a lax sense of time but I was extremely frustrated. I finally got dragged out of the office by my new friend Samalia (she is from Philly and goes to NYU) to eat something as I had not done so for fear of losing my place in line and thus my classes. But we went out to eat, and I started my Egyptian Arabic survival course. It was very fun, I love my professor she is very kind and patient, especially since I was frustrated once again that all of my Modern Standard Arabic would be useless here as they only speak Egyptian Arabic so I'm starting from scratch. But since I can read the script, picking up vocab is very easy. And later that night I had the most wonderful time. We visited a Bedouin tribe, they told us about their history and let us ride their horses into the dessert. To get the general idea, watch the opening sequence in Aladdin during "Arabian Nights" and you get the idea. It was so beautiful, just the sand and the sky, and you could see a million stars, I even found Ursa Major. Not to brag or anything but I am an excellent rider, I was the only one in my group to get my horse to behave and go where I wanted it. Then we went back for another scrumptious meal, similar to the one we had the day before. And then, the dancing started, wearing ornate belly dancing costumes with bells and charms, the Bedouin showed us their native folk dances, and then began pulling members of the audience into join. There were six sets of dances and for some reason the dancers in each routine picked me to join them. At first it was entertaining but then it just got to be annoying as I was ALWAYS picked. But it was a fantastic time and we met wonderful new people who have a long and decadent history, who let us share in it for a night. 

Well, thats enough for now it's time for bed. I'll try to post again soon but orientation keeps us on a pretty tight schedule. Ma salama!