al-Qahria (Cairo)

New Years day I woke up singing "Africa" by Toto and it has been stuck in my head since. Perhaps this due to the wonderful rendition by my favorite UD a capella group or perhaps due to the song's epic nature, but most likely I've been singing it to myself for the past week because I'm IN Africa. Well, at least North Africa. Many people have been giving me crap as to the fact that Egypt isn't really "Africa". So it doesn't have Peace Corps volunteers in every village and tribal factions as well as malaria are virtually non-existant... As far as I'm concerned it's on the continent of Africa and as far as a deep history of rich culture, this is it. So in my true long-winded fashion this means yes, mom and dad, I have safely arrived in Egypt. And I'm still singing, to myself at least.



My flight was far from great (my movies wouldn't play, my seat wouldn't recline, the girl sitting next to me wouldn't stop staring at me as if I had seven heads, the baby in front of me had glass breaking capabilities with his screams, AND they ran out of ginger ale) but I landed on time to Cairo so I really have no reason to complain. After total mayhem in customs due to the fact the airport staff redirected us to stand in about eight different lines, I made it out to find where Sawsan (the women who found me my the apartment) was waiting for me. I was greeted with true Arab hospitality and her entire family took me to my apartment, with nothing short of a two hour scenic tour along the way. My apartment is lovely. It's located on the first floor of a little old neighborhood where I'm pretty sure I'm the only non-Egyptian. I have a living room (complete with a TV that has one channel in arabic), kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. What a steal. Once we arrived, Sawsan and her two daughters insisted on making a huge dinner for us. I have no idea what I ate (partially because I was so out of it from two days of travel and partially because we don't have much Egyptian food in the US) but it was delicious. Her family is the sweetest thing and they are exactly the Egyptian version of Yus' family who I met in Indonesia. Sawasan is adorable- so motherly and refuses to leave my side or let me be in any state other than completely stuffed with her amazing cooking. Her husband is hilarious and her two daughters (14 and 11) are beautiful intelligent girls that are so loving and helpful. Even after just an evening with them, I can tell they are going to make this month everything I want and need it to be. Alhumdulillah!


Organized chaos covered in dust.


Walking all over downtown today with Sawsan, this is finally what I came up with do describe Cairo. The city is huge and everything sort of looks the same after a while (huge old buildings cluttered with laundry and small shops), it seems like you'd get lost but everything just flows together. Traffic is crazy; the rules are that there are no rules, yet everyone is calm. To cross a street you just walk out into the road and hope that cars stop. At least this is how it seems to me. I thought we were going to get hit about 50 times today but Sawsan never even flinched. And everyone is so friendly- they all smile and laugh at everything!


One important lesson learned today: Time means nothing in Cairo. When someone says they're going to meet you at 10am, they really mean noon. A fifteen minute walk really means 45. Definitely taking a mental note of that.


From a research standpoint I think there will be a large contrast to Indonesia. Most women seem to be much more conservative and traditional than the women I saw in Jakarta. I've already seen many women in their long black abayas as well as wearing the niqab (face veil) but I don't want to jump to conclusions yet since I haven't even conducted any interviews, so look out for a later blog on that. Or just read my thesis...


On that note, I'm off to do some more background research. Since I'm somehow picking up a wireless signal in my apartment (we'll see how long that lasts) I should be updating fairly frequently, Insha'Allah (a phrase meaning God willing, that is inserted at least 50 times into every conversation).

Stay warm in the US!  More to come soon.  I am supposedly going to the Pyramids on Friday so be sure to check back for that. 

Liza