A very short trip down a very long river...

A couple nights ago, Milli and I became tourists and went on a Nile cruise. Not on one of those five-star Titanics with belly dancing and lobster. This was on a 15-foot sail boat (fellucca), captained by a barefoot, 65-year-old man.



It was amazing. Except for the part when a police boat roared past and splashed the camera, it was peaceful and calm. Very luxurious. A call to prayer rang out midway through the voyage, with mosques all around us combining to form an interesting cacophony. All those voices bouncing off the water made it surprisingly loud.

This was a birthday present from my parents, who had also financed a "picnic" -- which we took to mean all the junk food we normally can't afford to buy! They even threw in the sunset top it off.



Ahh...

Mt. Sinai/Dahab, Part 3

A few more pictures from Mt. Sinai:

Mt. Sinai/Dahab, Part 2

So... at long last, here is another post about our trip to Sinai. Seems like a while ago now...

Climbing Mt. Sinai is something of a pilgrimage for many people. A weird tradition has developed over the years: people hit the trail in the middle of the night so they can be at the top of the mountain in time to watch the sunrise. If that's what everyone else did, we weren't going to be left out. Milli and I were excited about the chance to follow in Moses' footsteps; maybe doing it at night would make it easier to imagine what it was like for him. It would be peaceful, quiet, and probably a little dangerous. We asked at St. Catherine's Monastery guesthouse how to find the trail in the dark. "If you get up at 2am, it shouldn't be a problem. Just follow the 700 other people."

So much for peace and quiet.

After trying to sleep for four hours, we got up, had some coffee, and hit the trail. It wasn't hard to find. The trail at the beginning was peppered with boulders, which as Milli said, turned out to be dozens of camels awaiting riders. "Camella?" each Bedouin would ask as we passed, the red dot of their lit cigarette dancing in the blackness. We frequently had to get out of the way as camels trudged by. Luckily, they were quiet docile and never stopped on or spit at anyone that we saw. It was hard not to laugh at the uniqueness of what we were doing: following a biblical trail in the middle of the night, surrounded by hordes of people and more than a few camels.

The mini mag-lite we had brought was dying prematurely, so we relied mostly on the lightbeams cast by nearby hikers. And our youthful good balance. A surprising number of middle-aged, or simply old, people were making the hike with us; the couples clung to each others' arms in the hope that one of them wouldn't trip.

Every half hour or so we would come upon a bright light shining the darkness: a refreshment house, offering tea, Coke and Snickers.

We passed by most of them without stopping, pausing only at one of the final houses for a brief respite before the final assault on the summit. The last bit of elevation climb is only accessible via hundreds of uneven stone “stairs,” which are about as much actual stairs as those at Cirith Ungol, the secret way into Mordor.

We reached the summit at around 5am, as the pitch dark was beginning to wane. We grabbed a spot with visibility to the east and slowly watched the dawn...

... along with a few friends...

... one of whom actually videotaped the whole thing!

It was much easier on the way down. A bit hard on the knees at times though. Some guys thought it was a great idea to race down, practically knocking over the people scrambling from rock to rock. Toward the end, the monastery appeared beneath us, beckoning us home.

Very cool.

In the random browsing that I do, I came upon a website called Free Rice.

It's wonderful, especially for those studying for the GRE or people who like words. It's a vocabulary quiz, of sorts, but for each word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. So, basically, have fun, get smarter, and do some good!

The stars align

We had dinner tonight with Samuel and Elsa, the French couple just down the hall. It was kind of a joint birthday party: Samuel birthday is tomorrow, and he's also 25!

Funny coincidence, huh? It gets better. Elsa turns 25 next June -- two days before Milli.

Flowers

There's a small flower shop near the gate to our compound. About a week ago, the owner stopped us as we were walking by and emerged with two roses for Milli! He smiled profusely as she thanked him.

This wasn't the first time, not was it the last. I think he likes her :)

On a side note, a man with him started talking to us in English. Turns out he used to live in Astoria, only a few subway stops away from our old apartment in Queens.

More celebrating

Milli and I went to a fancy French restaurant on Saturday night. Goat cheese, salmon, chocolate souffle. Prawns, beef, creme brulee. It was amazing.

Then last night we went out for Mexican food, which we may miss more than anything else. And instead of birthday cake, which I dislike, Milli made me an apple pie!

It was a very nice birthday weekend.

Mt.Sinai/Dahab, Part 1 of 10

So finally a little bit about our most recent foray into the wide world of Egypt.

Quick itinerary:

Sunday: Bus from Cairo to St. Catherine's Monastery, 7 hours.
Monday: Begin hiking Mt. Sinai early, see sunrise from atop the mountain. Take van to Dahab on the Red Sea coast, 1.5 hours.
Tuesday: A wonderful and lazy day snorkeling and lying around in Dahab.
Wednesday: Took a bus a little after noon back to Cairo, 9 hours.

We've decided to talk about our trip in a series of posts to break things up a little bit. This first one will be about our methods of travel (and observed methods of travel) through the trip. (Don't worry, there won't actually be 10 posts filled with trip description, I was exaggerating a little bit.)

We left Cairo on Sunday morning by bus. A colleague of ours at CEOSS had offered to buy the tickets ahead of time for us, for which we were grateful. So, tickets in hand, we arrived at the bus station by taxi. As we were there about an hour early (certainly Nate's influence, as I'm notoriously bad about arriving early anywhere), we waited. (Left: Waiting at the bus station.)

Buses were arriving every 5 minutes or so, accompanied by shouts that indicated the destination of the bus. Luckily, "St. Catherine" is called that in both English and Arabic, so we didn't have too much trouble finding the right one. And luckily we had tickets, as the bus was very, very full. In addition to all the seats being filled (sometimes with more than one person), there were about 10 people who stood/sat in the aisle, and a little boy who slept on the dashboard. Almost half of the passengers were military men, dressed in their worn fatigues. (On a side note, it seems like most methods of transportation -- buses, taxis, the metro -- are filled with men. Do the women just stay home all the time?)

During our 7 hour trip, the bus stopped a number of times. A couple times it stopped at rest areas owned by the bus company, where vendors were selling chips and little girls were collected 1 LE notes for providing a scrap of toilet paper for the restroom. (I had my own tissue paper and yet, the little charge was levied.) Once we stopped because a number of passengers in nearby cars were waving and pointing frantically at us ... apparently some sort of problem that the mechanic, who rode with us, was able to fix by crawling under the bus with a piece of twine. (Picture: The engine of the bus. I think we drove with it open like that for some of the way.) And four times we stopped so that our passports could be checked. Now mind you, we never left Egypt ... so, perhaps a bit excessive? On the way back to Cairo from Dahab, a 9 hour trip, we were probably stopped 6 times. I'm not really sure what they were checking for. And once, when Nate and I were sitting in separate sections of the bus, the guard didn't check my passport, only his, apparently because I look Egyptian. So secure.

As we hiked Mt. Sinai, many people were taking camels up the mountain. Near the base, there were hundreds of camels sitting around, their owners peddling rides to the top. It was startling to come upon them, as we were hiking in the dark and their backs blended in with the rocky terrain. Anyway, to the left is a picture of one in the daylight.

After finishing St. Catherine's, our plan was to take a bus to Dahab. We were trying to negotiate a taxi from the monastery to the little village where buses departed from (the first man we asked suggested we pay 20 LE for the 5 minute trip -- we refused, but he found other tourists who agreed, so there was no negotiating to be done). While doing this, we happened upon a man already heading to Dahab with a van full of German and English tourists. He agreed to let us ride up in front. 1.5 hours and 55 LE later, we were at the beach.

The last form of transportation came in the form of a pick-up. Apparently, in Dahab, most of the taxis are not cars, but trucks. Here's a picture of Nate, as we're on the way to the bus station from our hotel.

Alright, more to come on the actual trip itself. Stay tuned.

We're back

As we stepped off the bus into Cairo's East Delta Bus station, we were accosted by taxi drivers eager to take advantage of weary passengers. We ignored them at first, stepped around them to get our luggage... and then negotiated. One man claimed that we were 12km from home and quoted an exorbitant price. We walked away and climbed into a different cab, which got us home in 5 minutes.

Back to the swindlers. Back to the smog and the traffic and the crowds. Back to the work, with no water in sight...

Ah, home sweet home.

Celebrate!

We're excited for two reasons:

1. Milli has submitted over half of her law school applications!

2. We're leaving this smog-choked, noise-polluted city for four days and going to Sinai! There we'll sit on the Rea Sea coast, visit an ancient monastery, and climb Mount Sinai =)

Good times.

Fishawy's

This weekend Muslims celebrate Eid, the feast at the end of Ramadan. We joined the festivities by going to Islamic Cairo and lounging in the city's oldest and most famous ahwa (coffeehouse), Fishawy's. In addition to the inside, which looked fake it was so authentically old, they had taken over the entire alley in which the ahwa was located. That's where we sat. This shot is above the heads of people sitting at dozens of tables, to give a picture of the alley itself:

AID from the US government

This was on a USAID grant application we were helping with:

"... (d) Source, Origin, and Componentry of Goods. If the recipient plans to purchase any goods/commodities which are not of U.S. source and/or U.S. origin, please indicate below (using a continuation page, as necessary) the types and quantities of each, estimated unit costs of each, and probable source and/or origin... The "origin" of a commodity is the country or area in which a commodity is mined, grown, or produced. A commodity is produced when, through manufacturing, processing, or substantial and major assembling of components, a commercially recognized new commodity results, which is substantially different in basic characteristics or in purpose or utility from its components. Merely packaging various items together for a particular procurement or relabeling items does not constitute production of a commodity. Any commodity whose origin is a non-Free World country is ineligible for USAID financing..."

We thought this guessing the origin of fax machine components was an exercise in ridiculousness. Plus they never explained what a "non-Free World country" was. I'm guessing Burma. And I doubt they make many fax machines.

Clash of civilizations?

Could Samuel Huntington explain this? A not insignificant group of Muslims praying in the courtyard of a TGI Fridays -- which is a symbol of America if I ever saw one. The strip mall clique restaurant is enormously popular. Maybe it's just the great location.

Only 35 countries are less stable than Egypt ...

... according to a complicated ranking system. More good news for our parents ;)

The Fund for Peace, who created this index, is known to me only because I interned there a few years ago and worked on this project!

Riding the bus

To hop on a bus here means propelling yourself into crazy, crowded, chaotic existence. (I mean "hop" literally: they don't stop, really...ever.) The ability to navigate the convoluted intestines of this sprawling city via bus will mean that we have made it.

We took our first bus yesterday. But yesterday doesn't count. A work colleague drove us to the bus stop, found the right bus, and told the driver our destination. Once we reached Ghamra metro station, the driver (and other helpful fellow passengers) made it abundantly clear that we had arrived. There was no exhilarating self reliance, with its accompanying confusion. Someday.

We also hope at some point to get a good picture of a bus lurching through heavy traffic, with three people hanging out the door and another guy standing on the rear bumper.

Ramadan Kareem!

We wrote a couple weeks ago about being offered dinner on the street on the first night of Ramadan. Since then, when we're out around 6 pm, the time when the evening call to prayer goes out and the fast is officially broken, we've been offered other little things. On Monday, we were offered packaged dates as we left the metro station. Today, while we were still on the subway, we were given date cookies and fruit juice. From what we've gathered, Muslims believe that the more generous they are during Ramadan, the wider heavens doors will open for them when the times comes.

The title of this post, by the way, roughly translates to "Ramadan is generous."

I wish we had a holiday (or rather, religious celebration) that was so intentionally focused on generosity as a way of celebrating the gifts God gives. Christmas comes closest, but it seems like every year that passes brings more commercialness and less recognition of the wonderful reason we celebrate. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there is no commercialism or purely cultural emphasis associated with Ramadan, there certainly is, but something about the dificultness of fasting (no food, no water) for the day makes it feel different.