Cairo

Two weeks after our trip to Cairo, I finally find time to sit down and write about it, even though the hectic and cram-packed weekend that was Cairo would never allow for a fully detailed account of everything that happened. I left my bed at 5:00 on Friday morning the 4th of July to meet everyone at the TAFL center and catch the mini-bus to Cairo, which we did rather promptly at 5:30. We got to Cairo around 9:30ish and went straight to Saqqara where we visited the tomb of Mereruka, high priest to the Pharaoh Teti, who has a pyramid close by. In some of the chambers, the color was still visible on the murals, of which their were many, portraying the high priest and his family and their life and them in the afterlife. From the tomb we went to the step pyramid, which, as it’s name would indicate does not resemble the smooth-sided triangular image we tend to associate with pyramids, like the Great Pyramids, but rather has steps. This was my favorite part of the trip, because this pyramid, built for King Zoser in 2650 BC is regarded as the oldest pyramid in the world. From Saqqara we went to Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, which were awe-inspiring. Amazingly or unfortunately, you can drive right up to the pyramids, and there are a lot of Egyptians harraassing you to buy their souvenirs and take a ride on their camel or donkey or horse or whatever kind of beast of burden they happen to have with them. After the pyramids we went to see the Sphinx close by and I finally learned how the Sphinx actually lost his nose. It was not used for target practice by Napoleon’s army, nor did the sculptor make it crack and fall when he saw Aladdin and Jasmine fly by on their magic carpet. No, the Sphinx was purposely defaced in the Middle Ages under the order of one of the rulers of Egypt, to keep the Egyptians from considering it a deity and worshipping it in lieu of Islam. After Giza, we went to a Papyrus museum/store, where we were showed how paper is made from papyrus and we shopped for souvenirs. After our jam-packed day, we finally went to our hotel for the night. The next day we spent at the Cairo museum which housed many of the awesome artifacts from Egypt’s ancient history, such as animal mummies and the infamous King Tut, in addition to other mummies and sarcophagi. There were also myriad statues, doors, chariots, jewelry, canopic jars (the containers used to place the brain, lungs, liver, and kidneys of the mummies) amid countless other treasures. After that I went with Adrienne, Jennifer, and Cara (some of the girls in the program) to the famous Khan al-Khalil souq, which has countless souvenirs and where some of the most intense haggling is to be found in Egypt. We had dinner on board a boat on the Nile, but I wasn’t nearly as excited by that as the wedding going on above us (the boat had two floors), to which I would sneak peeks at as I went up onto the deck. The cruise didn’t last long enough, and the Nile was beautiful, especially at night, when all is distant and quite, except for the inside of our huge tourist boat, of course, which featured dancing and singing. All in all, it was a great end to a great day. The next day we went to see some of the religious sites around Cairo- we visited the Coptic Section, where we visited the “Hanging Church” so called because it is built on top of the Water Gate of Roman Babylon and thus doesn’t really have a foundation. We also visited the church of St. Sergius, which dates back to the 3rd century. Under the church is a cave where it is said the Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in during their stay in Egypt when the fled to escape Herod. In addition to Christian sites, we also visited Al-Azhar Mosque, part of the university, and by far one of the most spiritual places I’ve ever been in. Founded in 970 A.D., Al-Azhar is one of Egypt’s oldest mosque and is considered the oldest university in the world and it has really lived up to its heritage by remaining a bastion of Islamic thought in the Middle East. In addition to the religious sites we visited the citadel, which contained a beautiful mosque and offered stunning views of the city, with the pyramids in the distance. Looking out over the city, I thought to myself “man, maybe I could live here for awhile”; but hanshoof inshallah (we’ll see, Lord willing).

A Blast from the Past...

This past weekend we finally had the opportunity to explore some of the sights around Alexandria. The city, which has been ruled by the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, and Arab empires to name just a few and has been home to Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Ptolemy, and Napoleon, has existed since its founding by Alexander in the early hundreds B.C. and has been home to one of the Wonders of the World and the ancient library which was considered the largest in its day.
We started out the day visiting one of the Coptic churches, Saint Mark's. Tradition has it that Mark, who was one of the 12 disciples of Christ and the writer of the Gospel of Mark, came to Alexandria in 61 A.D. and founded what eventually became the Coptic Church, thus fulfilling the second part of the prophecy in Isaiah 19:19 ("In that day there will be an alter to the Lord in the heart of Egypt and a monument to the Lord at its border"-the first part of the prophecy is considered to be when Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus fled to Egypt (see Isaiah 19:1)). After visiting the church, we headed to the Pompey's Pillar, which ironically has nothing to do with the ancient Roman city (Pompeii, actually) that was buried under the Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D. The Pompey for whom this pillar is named is a reference to the famous General who was killed by Cleopatra's brother and the monument stands in the debris of the ancient settlement of Rhakotis, the precursor to the city of Alexandria. In the remains lie the "sister library" to the great Library of Alexandria, which used to be a great center of enlightenment and learning in the early ages until it was destroyed by Christians in 391 A.D. in an attempt to wipe out all forms of pagan intellectualism. The pillar is actually supposedly the only ancient monument still standing in Alexandria today.
From Pompey's pillar we moved on to the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa, which were, in a word, awesome. This burial site was discovered in 1900 when a donkey disappeared through the ground (yikes!) and is the largest known Roman burial site in Egypt. Although originally intended to be a private burial chamber, there are three tiers of tombs, with chambers cut out the rock, and on the first level are small chambers of a man and a woman, probably portraying the original owners. Cut out sections in the wall reveal where bodies would have been laid, and on some of the coffins and walls you can see the fusion of Greek and Ancient Egyptian burial decoration. Additionally, there was a section which had much larger nooks in the wall, and we were told that this section of the catacombs was intended for larger animals, such as horses. After visiting the Catacombs, we briefly checked out the Roman Amphitheatre and then headed toward the Alexandria National Museum, where we gazed and gawked at Pharaonic, Greek, and Roman objects of antiquity and artifacts.
After the museum, we went to Fort Qaitbey, which was built in AD 1480 by a Mamluk sultan on the place where the legendary Pharos lighthouse used to be. The tower of Pharos was constructed under the order of Ptolemy the First and was erected, after 12 years of construction in 283 B.C. to aid ships coming into the harbor. Although it probably had been topped by a statue as was common in that time, it became a lighthouse around the first century A.D. and was such a phenomenon that it was heralded as One of the Wonders of the World (now the Ancient World). Although the Lighthouse stood for many years and endured many natural disasters, it was finally brought down by an earthquake in 1303. Decades later, a sultan ordered a fort to be built on the remains and the fortress still stands today, offering fantastic views of the Corniche (the coastal region of the city) and out to the beautiful big blue sea.
After the ancient sites, we wrapped up the day with a tour of Mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi, and finished the day off with dinner at the University Club/Gymnasium which, in comparison to the rest of the day, was rather anticlimactic. Although we had spent the whole day visiting places in Alexandria, we still have yet to explore more. Alexandria is a goldmine of history, and although is the scene of fantastic historical events, the rapid development of the city often impedes archeological progress and archeologists find themselves in short time frames and limited budgets for the work that needs to be done. However, nautical archeology in the bay has been relatively successful, and it's amazing to see what kind of treasures the ocean yields and how well preserved some artifacts have remained. Inshallah, Alexandria will progress in the uncovering of its valuable history and I look forward to its development.

Dancing and the Mediterranean

The city of Alexandria is definitely not what I expected. Although it's on the coast of the Mediterranean and harbors (no pun intended) some amazing relics and ruins from the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian eras among others, we have yet to really explore and visit most of these sites. There is, of course, the Lighthouse of Alexandria which is now mostly in the sea, as well as the ancient Library of Alexandria. Although the ancient library does not exist here anymore, Alexandria has recently built a new library that is quite a tourist attraction in and of itself. Additionally, the city was the focal point of the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, for whom the city is named after. There are palaces of old rulers, a Roman amphitheater, and catacombs, necropolises amid a host of other ancient monuments spanning many periods in history. And of course, there is the lovely coast, which we see every day on our way to class. Despite its antiquity and historical significance, however, the city is extremely conservative, at least the sector that the university lies in. Almost all women are covered and dress extremely conservatively. A mosque is right down the street, and there are a few native Egyptian girls who have come up to our floor with the explicit purpose of proselytizing us. It is said that Alexandria was not always like this. In the 1940s the population numbered around 300,000 with 40% of that being foreigners, however, today there are almost 4 million residents in the city, most of them Egyptians, and many of them having emigrated from the country. Walking in the streets is difficult- since women do not "hang out" in the streets like men do, the Egyptian males stare at you as you walk by, and you are usually verbally harassed and called to as you walk to your destination. I have seriously considered wearing Hijaab or Niqaab just so that I could stroll more peacefully down the street. But it is a learning experience as well as a great excuse to go shopping for more "stylistic" or shall we say "modest" clothing.
In spite of these difficulties, we have had the opportunities to experience some Egyptian culture outside of the conservative areas. Last week we attended an event for National Environment Day. We went to a public garden in the middle of the city and attended a big festival/concert, in which groups from all over performed skits and dances that dealt with the theme of the environment. There were groups of little children performing cute little dances, and some young men (shebaab) danced some songs as well. There was also live music and some skits. It was great to see the city come together and put on something themed around such an important global issue. Some of the dances were very interesting, and made me wonder about the relationship between religion and culture as expressed through dancing. Some of the dances were quite sexually-charged, even to us Americans, and involved belly dancing and rather revealing outfits. However, when the dancers came out after the show, many of them had their heads covered. It made us wonder how such externally religious girls could be willing to dance so suggestively, especially in front of a public audience. I suppose this dynamic is just another facet of Egyptian culture that I need to ponder and explore more during my time here.
A few days later, the girls in the program were invited by one of the Arabic teachers to come to her "beach house" in Montazah, a private beach which lies next to the palace and luxury gardens of Khedive Abbas Hilmy who defined this region as his summer palace. The evening was great- we dipped our feet and bodies in the waters of the Mediterranean and then experienced one of the best meals we've had in Egypt yet. Of course there were tons of people around. The professor is married and has two children, and other relatives and friends of the family were around, as well as tons of kids. After eating, we sat around telling jokes in Arabic and talking. Later the adults called for a game, and so, at the suggestion of the Egyptians, we played a table game, in which everyone puts their hands face-down on the table and tap the table successively with the hands, until people get disqualifies by not going in the right order (I know i've played this back home....). After we played and sat around a bit, the masters of the house ordered FaTeer, which is by far the tastiest thing I've eaten in Egypt to date. They kind of remind me of crepes and can come in sweet as well as normal variety. "Savory" faTeer have cheese and vegetables and sometimes meat as well, but the sweet FaTeer is amazing- it's covered in butter and oil and sugar and is ridiculously bad for you. After eating we sat around and chatted a bit more until it was time to go, where we were driven by the men to the gates of the palace gardens. On the way, we stopped to see the beautiful palace, which by now has been converted into a hotel. Hopefully we can make it back there at some point. We experienced such warmth, generosity, and hospitality at Montazah and the family that hosted us, and we finally had the opportunity to just be ourselves among a typical Egyptian family- in short it was a true breath of fresh air and an experience I will cherish always.

الاسكندرية

After an 11 hour layover in Frankfurt, Germany, we finally arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, and we made our way to our dormitories on the coast of the Mediterranean. Although arriving at about 3:00 am, we were greeted at the door by the girls and directors of the girls dormitory for the University of Alexandria. Most of the Egyptian girls who stay here are from Alexandria, but there are some international students (mostly from Malaysia) as well as a few girls from the country. At first we were quite surprised that so many people were waiting to greet us, but by now we've learned that staying up late is not only a vocabulary word in Al-Kitaab (the main text used for studying Arabic) but it is a vital part of the culture here. People wake up early and in the middle of the day eat a huge lunch (the main meal of the day) after which they take a long nap (conveniently avoiding the hottest part of the day). Needless to say, we are still adjusting to this schedule....Anyway, after being greeted by the women in the dormitory we were given a quick tour and then shown our rooms, where we gratefully succumbed to a very deep sleep.
After a few hours of sleep, we got up and made our way to our school, the TAFL (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) Center at the University of Alexandria, where we began the very hectic process of trying to figure out class placement in Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Dialect, and Media Arabic. At this point classes are running fairly smoothly, and we're beginning to get out and explore the city (more on that later). One of the hardest things for us to adjust to was the daily schedule and the other girls in the dorms. Egyptian, indeed, Middle Eastern culture, is extremely social- people are always talking together and eating and hanging out. For many of us, it is nice to meet people and talk with them and get to know them, but at some point we feel the need for privacy, whether to read or do homework or sleep or even just think. We have not quite mastered the balance and etiquette required to really gauge these social interactions, but I feel we're getting better. To further confuse these societal differences, there are some very strict rules and expectations here: almost everyone is muhajiba (covered) and some women go all out and wear the niqaab (no skin showing at all, and even gloves!), making us "westerners" feel incredibly foreign and self-conscious in our T-shirts and jeans, and many of us at this point have tried adopting some of the Egyptian style. However none of us have really felt judged by the other girls, and everyone seems genuinely interested in getting to know us and spending time talking to us. Another issue we had to deal with was the 9:00pm curfew that was upheld by the dormitory, which was eventually changed to 12:00am. However, despite the differences, people here are very warm, encouraging and even tolerate our Egyptian Arabic, or lack thereof. Most of the Arabic education in the United States is focused on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) which is used in radio shows and journalism and other official and professional purposes. However, all Arabs use a dialect specific to their region. Egyptian dialect is well-known throughout the Middle East for many reasons, chief among them being the extensive entertainment industry. This linguistic phenomenon is known as diglossia and it is one of the most difficult features of learning Arabic (at least in my opinion). Dialects can differ greatly- for example, if a Moroccan spoke in his dialect, and an Iraqi spoke in his, it would be very difficult if not impossible for the two to understand each other even though they are both technically speaking Arabic. This is one of the main reasons why studying abroad is so crucial- even if one has many Arabic materials at his/her disposal, they may not really have an opportunity to practice the dialect that they're wishing to learn because the focus is largely on MSA. We are indeed having a lot of dialect practice here and hopefully we will continue to progress. We are also beginning to get out more and more, and the routine of school is beginning to be felt.

The beginning is the end is the beginning...

Hello everyone,

     Truth be told, this is actually my first blog, and although I realize the number of them out there at this point is getting ridiculous, I've been asked to keep some sort of formal account of my upcoming adventures in Egypt to share with friends and family back home. Additionally, I would also like to use this space as a soundboard and exchange of sorts for future travels/work/research on and in the Middle East. That being said, I hope to update this post regardless of where I am. The Arab World is too fascinating for how little we as Americans know about it. This past year, I learned for the first time that the Middle East's literary tradition dates back to before 500 A.D., an age which far swamps the great ancient canonical works in our own language, such as Beowulf or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I was blown away that, although I've been to school for 17 years now, I had never learned anything about Arabic Literature. Back at Bucknell University, I looked up Naguib Mahfouz, the great Egyptian writer of the 20th century who had won the Novel Prize for Literature, and, as chance would have it, he passed away just the day before (August 30, 2006). However, although Bucknell at that time was just beginning an Arabic program, no one seemed to even acknowledge the passing of one of the Arab world's most influential and prestigious authors. It was at this point that I realized the travesty of ignorance the world in general holds for Arabic Literature, and was resolved to study this little-known area of the world and its literature. The title of this blog, ChitChat on the Nile, is actually a title of one of Naguib Mahfouz's books, which portrays high-class society in modern Egypt. Thus due to my passion for Arabic Literature and my upcoming journey to Egypt, I only thought it proper to use this literary reference as the title for this memoir/reflection/study of a webspace. Please let me know your thoughts and curious musings, as indeed I will attempt to share my own as well.