Where we work

A glimpse of our office.

I was trying to upload images from our trip to Upper Egypt, but it wasn't working. But for some reason, this picture did.

An apple a day

Our first three months in Egypt were completely illness-free, which actually surprised me a little. However, since then, one or the other of us has been sick almost constantly. Our symptoms in and of themselves are not all that worrying, but, sick of being sick, we finally went to the doctor last night.

The $15 fee is paid up front. (That's the whole charge, not the copay.) Then we waited 45 minutes for our doctor to arrive, and 30 minutes for him to see the two people in front of us. The doctor spoke English and seemed to know what he was doing. We were sent home with prescriptions for an assortment of pills.

A sidenote on pharmacies is warranted at this point. Pharmacists certainly take doctor-written prescriptions, but they're not required. If you know what medicine you want, you can simply walk into a pharmacy and they'll give it to you. Or, if that's too sketchy for you, the pharmacist can diagnosis you and suggest the appropriate medicine himself.

Border patrol

Palestinians are streaming across the border into Egypt to buy milk. Nice.

UPDATE:
350,000 Gazans have now crossed the border. The official Egyptian line: "Let them come to eat and buy food and go back, as long as they are not carrying weapons."

America and Egypt

A few days ago we came out of the metro station in the main square downtown to discover cops everywhere. They were directing pedestrians. We were herded across a street we didn’t want to cross and prevented from walking down one we wanted. This had never happened before. Police are everywhere in this country, but they never do anything. They’re asleep at their posts almost as often as not. So this was surprising.

Apparently there had been a protest earlier in the day. People were not happy that President Bush was visiting. Our friend Annie had been there earlier that day, discovered what was going on, and immediately left. Probably not the safest place for Americans just then. Protests are not common events here; allowing freedom of speech is not a priority for Mubarak’s government. When they do happen, we hear there are usually more police than protestors.

As is probably the case in many countries across the world, views toward our country are complicated. Though sometimes I’m a little hesitant to introduce myself as an American, the admission never inspires an antagonist response among Egyptians I’ve met -- especially once they learn we’re not fans of our president. Some people don’t like how beholden the Egyptian government is to the States and want to become more independent. And they obviously don’t like the Iraq war and its repercussions across the region. At the same time, almost every educated person we’ve met wants to immigrate to the United States (except for one woman who favors the UK). Many of them have family there already.

By the way, Bush's tour of the Middle East which aimed to inspire a tougher line against Iran and encourage the new Israel/Palestine talks, did not go so well. The New York Times reports on Bush's soft words toward Egypt, which largely avoided looming human rights and rule of law issues. Also see the Economist and the Middle East Times.

Tombs and temples

It's been a busy two weeks. We toured the bottom half of this country, then jumped on an airplane and saw another one.

It was really nice to spend time with family: Milli's grandparents, brother, and (surprise!!) her mom. She had been feeling left out and decided to join the trip at the last minute ;) It was impressive that the details worked out so that she could come, especially considering the general incompetence of travel agents in Egypt.

Upper Egypt is, next to the pyramids, the reason why this country is not broke. The two towns of Luxor and Aswan and the strip of land between them lay claim to some of the world's best ancient historical sites. We opted for the luxurious route and took a 4-day cruise from Luxor to Aswan, by far the easiest way to travel. The slow, relaxing pace allowed us significant card-playing time as we floated down the river.

Unfortunately, even though we were assured otherwise, practically nothing was handicap accessible, making it very difficult for Milli's grandmother to get around. Her knees are really bad, making it difficult for her to walk. It's so frustrating that nothing in this country is handicap accessible.

The sights (almost all of which Nani missed) were great: the resilient and brilliant colors on the walls of royal tombs; the sheer size of Karnak Temple's great hall; the splendor of Petra; the awesome age of everything. Quite incredible. We were actually a little bit tired of temples and tombs by the time it was all over.

Out of town again

We're going to be incommunicado for over a week because our family is here are we're all going touristing! We leave tomorrow for a four-day cruise down the Nile, stopping often to admire tombs and temples. Then we fly to Jordan to see, among other things, the final resting place of holy grail (at least according to Spielburg). Should be fun.

Into the desert.

Indeed.