Istanbul, Turkey

I've been in Istanbul for a couple days now, but haven't written because I've been off exploring the city. The city itself is very Westernized and parts of it feel very much like the US (except that here, they speak Turkish). On Wednesday when we got to Istanbul, we took a tour on the Bosphorus and saw quite a bit of the city from the water. It's a very beautiful city -- the colors of fall are in their glory here, and it's rained quite a bit. It's not more beautiful than Cairo, just beautiful in a different way...

There are also about 3 Starbucks coffee shops within the general vicinity of our hotel, so everyone is very much taking advantage of that while they can. I had two hot chocolates yesterday, and I have to say that Starbucks hazelnut hot chocolate is amazing. We've also found a little clothing shop a few blocks away from our hotel that has very funky and brightly colored clothing. I found a shirt there that I liked, but didn't buy it, so I'm hoping that if I go back today, it will be open again.

Hagia Sophia, need I say more? We toured it yesterday, and I expected it to be beautiful and amazing, but what I saw was better than that (despite the scaffolding that reached from the floor to the top of the dome. It was beyond words and definitely a must-see if you're ever in Istanbul. I attempted to take pictures, but the lighting was awful and it was pretty dark inside, so they didn't really turn out. I did, however, take video that looks a little better, but still not very good...

Turkish Delight is ok, but definitely not my favorite by any means. Turkish coffee and apple tea, though, are pretty amazing. Drinking apple tea is like drinking a baked apple -- and it definitely is even better after a day of wandering around cold Istanbul.

Today is another free day, and although it's cold and rainy, I'm looking forward to having some more adventures.

Egyptian Culture (and other ramblings)

I thought it was about time for a comparison of the similarities/differences between Egyptian and American culture (and just in time for me to leave for Turkey!).

-“Egyptian time” – In Egypt (like many other countries of the world), you can say a specific time, but don’t expect people to begin showing up until at least a half hour later…if not longer. (Egyptian time comes in handy when you try to explain why the bus is a good two hours late. Yes this has happened.)
-Women – Egyptian women tend to spend most of their time in the home and don’t venture outside as often as the men. In addition, it is improper for me (and other women) to make eye contact with strange men on the street. This took a lot of getting used to at first.
-Traffic in Cairo is insane. There are no good ways to describe it, other than chaos. (By the way, I’m much more likely to get hit by a car here in Cairo than anything else that might happen to me.)
-The weekend is Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday. People here go to church or to the mosque on Fridays and I have classes on Sundays.
-Egyptians are very generous and hospitable. On more than one occasion, I have been invited in off the street for tea or a meal and invited to engagement parties or weddings…
-Egyptian food is amazing! I love all of it and am excited to try to recreate some of what I’ve learned in cooking class for everyone when I return.
-Arabic is hard. But, learning Arabic has given me greater appreciation for what my refugee students are going through as they are trying to learn English.
-Plumbing and Electricity are definitely blessings. My flat has had plenty of problems with these two things, including losing electricity for almost 24 hours. I don’t know how my host family lives in the summer without air conditioning.
-Belly dancing is looked down upon in some forms; however, most Egyptians (men and women) know how and are quite good. I, on the other hand, need lots more practice.
-Ethnicities and backgrounds are quite varied in Cairo. For example, there is a significant refugee population (Sudanese, Eritrean, Somalian…), some of which I teach (soon to be taught) every Tuesday. They are beautiful people – all of which hope to be able to return to their homeland someday.
-I’ve never appreciated the various forms of precipitation so much. Every once it a while, it will feel like it’s going to rain, but it never does. I’m looking forward to lots of rain (inshahallah) in the spring.
-I’ve also missed the fall colors…trees in Cairo don’t change colors quite the same way that they do in Iowa.
-The pollution in Cairo is incredible – there are days that a thick smog descends over the whole city (like a fog). Statistics say that living in Cairo is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day…


It’s hard to believe that I have very little time left in Cairo before Travel Component begins. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very excited about traveling through the Middle East and meeting even more new people, but I will definitely miss Agouza and the Egyptians that I’ve met here. I know I’ll have a few days left when we return from travel to be able to say goodbye to everyone I’ve met, but I don’t think it’s long enough – especially when we’ll have to be writing papers during that time, too…

I’ve had even more deep conversations with a broad variety of the MESPers, and I’ve realized that I’m not as alone in many of my struggles than I had thought that I was. Many of us are thinking about the bigger questions – What do I do after I graduate? What are my greatest fears? How do I follow a Middle Eastern Jesus (as opposed to a Western one)? What are the causes of Middle Eastern developmental issues? Is religion the biggest obstacle to minority and women’s rights? (The last two questions are essays for the Peoples and Cultures class.)

Most of the time I can’t believe that I’ve only known these people for less than two months…. We’ve done a wonderful job of living together as a community (in my opinion) and the question now becomes – How will I adjust back to life in the States without all of them?

On another note, people should read the book Taxi by Khaled Khamissi (I believe that’s how his last name is spelled). It’s a fictional collection of stories that have been told by taxi drivers throughout the city. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, just bits and pieces, but in my opinion, it gives a better insight into the lives of the Cairo population.

This weekend won’t be too exciting for me. I have 3 papers due on Monday and an oral/written Arabic final on Sunday. Needless to say, most of the weekend will be spent in my flat working out my opinions on development, human rights, and Muslim/Christian relations. Hopefully I’ll be more coherent and write better than I think I will. I can already tell that I’m out of practice with writing papers…

Tonight I’m watching an episode of Supernatural (Abby says so). The two of us are using it as motivation to get farther on our papers.

What I’m Currently Reading: The Body and the Blood: The Middle East’s Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace by Charles M. Sennott

An Update!

It’s been awhile since I posted, but the last couple weeks have been packed full of adventures of one sort or another. I joke around with several of the MESPers about every day being an adventure, which is quite true. So anyway, here’s a glimpse of what’s been going on in Cairo over the past weeks…

My homestay was wonderful. My family lives in El Marg, which is a much poorer area on the outskirts of Cairo. My journey to and from the Villa each day involved a taxi, the Metro, and a microbus. The taxis and Metro were generally good, except for a few days where the traffic got really bad, but the microbuses were definitely a pain most days. Usually on the way to the Villa, I would have to wait about 30-40 minutes for a microbus that was a) headed the right way and b) not already crammed full of people.

I didn’t get much time to study each day, which made the ITP quiz and the Arabic midterm much more difficult for me than they would have been otherwise, but I think that the experience that I had staying with a Muslim family was worth it. I had three host sisters and a host brother, plus a plethora of host cousins, aunts, and uncles that I never really caught the name of. I was able to eat like an Egyptian – which meant a lot of fuul and tamayya (a bean mixture and fried bean patty things). I like fuul and tamayya a lot, but now, I think I can wait another week or so until I start to eat those foods again.

I also was able to have quite a few deep discussions with my host brother about Islam and Egyptian culture. He also helped me by translating some of the conversations that my family had in Arabic that I couldn’t understand, and by helping me improve my Arabic reading skills. My host cousins and sisters were also great fun to be with. Ahmed, my host cousin who couldn’t have been more than 6 or so months old, was a lot of fun to hold, but often he got taken away from me when I was supposed to eat or the other kids wanted me to play with them.

At the end of the week, my family spent the night at one of my host aunts’ flats. It was a very beautiful flat, and I soon found out just how rich my host uncle was. My host cousins were very intrigued by me and I did my best to answer all of their questions. They were also very set on getting me to belly dance. I tried out what little I know, but I know that they were much better dancers than I was. I also got to wear a gallebeya (a long, dress-like garment that both men and women wear) while I was there. It was very comfortable, and I plan to buy one for myself before I leave Egypt.

My host uncle showed up to the flat the next morning, at which time I realized that my host uncle had two wives in two different flats! I honestly don’t know how my host aunt puts up with this (apparently he was poor before and only married his second wife after he got rich). I know that I wouldn’t be able to.


The next week was more of a normal week, since everyone returned to Agouza from their homestays. The most interesting part of the class week was our trip to the Arab League where we got to meet with the Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the Arab League, and he answered our questions about what has been happening in the Middle East. Following this, we also got to attend a panel discussion on the life of Gandhi and the opening of an exhibit on his life. In the process, we got to talk to some of the important people that attended the meeting and also eat some Indian food (which was really good).

This weekend we went to the Siwa Oasis, which is located in the Sahara Desert. We spent most of Wednesday afternoon traveling, but Thursday we rented bikes for the day and visited one of our friends houses in Siwa in the morning/afternoon. At first, we talked about Siwan culture as a large group, then the guys left and we stayed and talked to some of our friends female family members about what it is like to be a woman in Siwa (which is very different from Cairo – different language, culture…everything). Women in Siwa wear a full burka after they are married and must ask permission from their husband before they are allowed to leave the house. It’s very much a culture of protection and honor, which is very strange for people coming from a Western culture. The girls also got a chance to get henna tattoos. The process of allowing the henna to dry and absorb into the skin is very long, but I really enjoyed the result. I think I’m definitely going to have to take some henna back to the States when I return.

That evening we biked out to a lake where I didn’t go swimming, but from talking to others about their experience, it was very salty. And – minus the palm trees and water, it reminded me very much of the North Dakota badlands.

Friday we went sandboarding in the Great Sand Sea and swimming in several hot/cold springs. The trek out into the desert in Jeeps was thrilling – at least for our Jeep because the driver kept going to the edge of dunes that were close to a sheer drop down. It was a great time, although I now have sand in most of my clothing and in my backpack. That night we stayed at a Bedouin camp near Siwa. We paid for a Siwan band that came out and played Siwan music, which we danced to – it was great to have another chance to practice some of what we’re learning in belly dancing class. Afterwards, we spent the night in our sleep sheets laying out under the stars…which were breathtaking and beyond words…

Now that we’re back in Cairo, we’re doing a lot of classes and the usual. We went to Al Azhar yesterday, which wasn’t quite as exciting as I had expected, but I did meet a lot of really great Muslims that were a lot of fun to talk to over lunch. Also, last night we had a dance party with both of the girls’ flats and many of our Egyptian friends. There was a lot of Arabic and English music, and a lot of belly dancing – also a great time to practice.

Tonight is Canadian Thanksgiving…for which I am bringing kosherii with the rest of my cooking class. Not really a North American food, but good all the same.

Now…for writing my papers… :-S

The Best Place in the World...

...BUT, before I get there, let's talk about a few other things, shall we? :)

I'm doing laundry this morning in preparation for homestays that start tomorrow. Doing said laundry here in Egypt makes me so much more appreciative for the washing machine and dryer that I have at home. Whereas at home all I would have to do is turn the machine on to start the water, throw my clothes in, and add some soap; here I have to use a hose to run water from the bathroom sink into the washing machine for the wash cycle, throw my clothes and soap in, wait 10 minutes or so, drain the machine manually (another hose that hooks up to the drain on the floor--I'll take a picture sometime), refill the machine with aforementioned hose for the rinse cycle, wait another 10 minutes or so, drain the machine manuallly again, then switch the clothes in the washing machine half to the spinner half. Now, the spinner is significantly smaller than the washer, so basically, one load of clothes turns into about 3-ish loads in the spinner. Then after that, I hang all the clothes on a drying rack. Thankfully, here in Cairo, clothes dry much, much faster than in the states.

Anyway, homestays are next week, so I really won't be on the internet at all. Everyday after classes finish, I will leave almost immediately from the Villa to take a taxi/the Metro/a microbus to my homestay family. This family will be Muslim, and likely as not will speak very little English (the perfect opportunity to practice my minimal Arabic). I'm looking forward to the experience of feeling like a part of an Egyptian family, but I'm pretty nervous, too.

The results of the Zamalek football match: Zamalek lost 0-1 (which apparently isn't much of a surprise here). However, I had a great time with all of the other students and one of our Egyptian friends at the match. Many of us bought Zamalek flags (pretty cheap looking and 10 LE -- the tickets themselves were 15 LE) and waved them around during the game. To get to the game, though, we took a bus, and a bus full of white North Americans and one Egyptian looks a little suspicious to the police, so we ended up being quite protected. We even left the match a good 30 seconds or so before the end... Hopefully later on in the semester, though, we'll get a chance to go to an Ahly or an Egypt match...that would be sweet! :)

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Ok. The best place on earth...(drumroll, please!)...Anafora. We went there yesterday for our meeting with Coptic youth (my Egyptian friend was unable to come--it was sad), and it's really hard to describe. The place serves as a retreat center for Christians (run by the Coptic church, but available to someone of any background) and is also a sustainable farm. They make their own soaps, olive oil, pesto/misto, dried herbs for teas and things, knitted items, the rugs and blankets of the kind that we have in the Villa on the roof and that are found all over...they're pretty sweet. I plan to lay out my living room like that when I have one. :)

Being a farm, the scenery is much more green than most of the rest of Egypt. We saw many fields and orchards--even orange trees! There is also a small canal system that runs around the building were we were for most of the day. I can't really compare it to anything I've seen before...we saw the stars, and the silence was heavenly.

We also met with Bishop Thomas (one of the Coptic bishops who founded Anafora) who is one of the most amazing Christian people I've ever met. We also spend most of the day in conversation with Coptic youth about their church and traditions, and the differences between their church and our church. Before we left, though, we had a praise and worship service and a Coptic prayer service in the Anafora chapel (which is one of the most beautiful chapels I have ever seen). The floor is made up of the rugs that I mentioned earlier, as are the pillows that we sat on, and the whole chapel was filled with candles... Again, it's hard to describe if you haven't been there, but the beauty of the place and the beauty of worshiping beyond doctrinal issues was wonderful and amazing. I hope you all can see this place someday... :)

Today, though, we're meeting with people from Islam Online and going bowling with some of our Egyptian friends. No real weekend for us this week...or next week either...

Thoughts and Impressions

It's been an eventful, but great week in Cairo. It's hard to believe that I've only known these people for a month -- it feels like we've been a group for a lot longer than that.

Sunday and Monday were class days, so I had a lot of reading due for my Islam and Peoples and Cultures classes, and plenty of work for my Arabic class, too. I knew going in that living cross culturally would be a good experience for me for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I'm not the "over-achiever" anymore. Meaning -- at home, people will come to me for study help and proofreading papers and such, but here, I'm the one asking for help and advice. The other MESPers are incredibly smart and talented people and it's been good for me to be able to get another perspective.

My service project has also been a wonderful experience for me. I teach ESL conversation classes on Tuesday nights to the people at Refuge Egypt. The classes are mostly comprised of Sudanese refugees, but there are also people from Eritrea, Somalia, and other countries in Africa that are experiencing conflict. I team teach the classes with three other MESPers, and the service project has also been a time to get to know them better, too.

Ramadan is over now. Yesterday was a holiday (Eid-al-Fitr) to celebrate the end of Ramadan. I had to go out to buy water, and I was a little shocked when none of the vendors that are usually around were there (I wanted to buy some aish (bread), but the lady I usually buy from wasn't out.). There were, however, small children riding horses in the streets and a man with an air horn carrying (what appeared to be) cotton candy on a pole... When I got to the store, I was able to have my first fully Arabic conversation. :) It was short, but I felt very empowered.

When I got back to the flat, my flatmates and I decided to order pizza. I ended up making the phone call and spent 20 minutes on the phone trying to communicate (in English -- my Arabic isn't that good) with the lady on the other end of the line... All became well, though, and we got our Papa John's pizza within a half hour. :)

Mount Sinai and Dahab

Last weekend the program went to Mount Sinai and Dahab. It was a long bus ride to Sinai (7 hours through the night), but climbing Sinai to see the sunrise was an amazing experience. We saw the burning bush at St. Katherine's Monastery...complete with fire extinguisher! It was an incredibly long day, but Dahab was beautiful. It's a resort town that caters to backpackers and is on the Gulf of Aquaba (the Red Sea). From the beach, we could see the shoreline of Saudi Arabia, and at night, we could see lights from one of the towns.

While we were at Dahab, we also went snorkeling at a place called The Blue Hole, which is supposedly only second to the snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. The reef was pretty sweet and I saw some cool fist -- it was also weird to see scuba divers beneath me... Dahab itself is a pretty relaxed place. We got to swim and eat, swim and eat, and swim and eat some more. People were saying that it would be a good place for a honeymoon, and I think I would have to agree.

Today we had Arabic again (Yes, class on a Sunday. Church is on Fridays.) and we also heard from Hossam Bagehat who works for a human rights group based in Cairo. What he had to say was really interesting and I'm looking forward to being able to hear more on the subject. It's been nice to have a free night, though. So far we've only had one or two...so five of us girls got a taxi and went to McDonald's for internet.

This weekend is the Luxor trip. Hopefully all will go well!

Classes Have Begun

Cairo is a bit different when you can't spend all of your time wandering through the streets and learning your way around. I now have homework... :(

Arabic class started last week and I have to say that I am feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I've really enjoyed getting a chance to learn, but it is going to take some time and effort to be able to communicate and read effectively in the language...probably more time than I'll have this semester...

My first service project was also this week. I taught English at a place called Refuge Egypt which is a place for refugees to go. The classes that I'm teaching are conversation classes on Tuesday nights from 4:30-8. The students are very nice and I'm looking forward to being able to communicate with them more as the weeks progress. They also have a very nice gift shop, so I'll be checking that out, too.

This weekend we'll be heading to Mt. Sinai and Dahab (where I might be snokeling in the Red Sea--how cool is that?). Having a free weekend in Cairo has been nice, but it'll be good to get out of polluted Cairo for awhile and see different parts of Egypt, too.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict has already "poisoned" our semester... We've already discussed it several times, and I can foresee some of us getting into heated debates over it. So far, the MESPers have been an amazing community, and hopefully that can continue despite our differences of opinion.