so this school week was only two days long. that's amazing-- quite honestly, the thing that i'm most excited about might be simply not having to take the bus at least an hour each way to campus for the next few days. we have holiday for eid-- which i believe is the celebration at the end of ramadan. kind of the opposite of marti gras.
this last weekend was great. friday i just did some homework and chilled. thursday night i stayed up with kevin and jason and watched four or so episodes of the office, and we just finished season three tonight. i can't get enough of that show-- it seems to get better each time. it sort of contradicts (elementary) economics, with the whole idea of decreasing marginal utility-- i swear that every episode i watch brings me more joy than the one before that, and each time the amount i enjoy the show more increases. hopefully that made sense. it did to me.
anyways, on saturday my friend ozzi took me, jason, kevin, and sigmund out to the zachara pyramids. i don't know how to spell that. i forgot to read up on them at all before hand, so i don't know anything about them, but i'll tell what i saw. ozzi said that one of them, which now resembles a sandy pile of uncarved stones, was used as something of a practice try. the other two or three (i believe i counted three or four) were much more eroded than the ones at giza, but that's ok. we just walked around the grounds for a while, and this guy led us into a couple of the chambers of one of the buildings. apparently this was sort of under-the-table, since you have to pay more for this, but he just wanted some bakshiish, so that was cool. the hyroglyphics were still somewhat colored (i don't think this was the result of restoration-- if it was then whoever did it did a crappy job). after that we made our way over to the largest pyramid there. we got to climb up a path above one of the structures and the view was incredible-- right beside this massive structure, we could see cairo and the lush nile valley on one side, another set of pyramids on the other (i think south), and the giza pyramids in another direction (north?). on the other side was an expanse of sand, punctuated by absolutely charming (not really) radio towers. we were planning on checking out the ones to the south as well, but apparently they would have been closed by the time we got there-- stuff tends to shut down for a few hours after 3 pm, and open later. so we made our way back to the city.
when we got back our taxi driver tried giving us a hard time about the fare. we had agreed in the beginning to take all five of us to the pyramids, and be at our service for four hours for 150 pounds, which was probably an amazing deal for him. because we didn't make the last pyramids, we used him for only three hours-- all the same, when we handed him the 150 he got defensive. we argued for a couple minutes, to ozzi's disappointment (he said we should just give him the money and walk away, which was absolutely right), and finally just repeated le, or no, a couple of times, and left.
i would be thinking right now that this might have been a misunderstanding-- he didn't understand the original terms because of the language barrier or something. doubtful. he knew english very competently, and we took pains at the onset to verify the deal in arabic. he was just trying to squeeze the juice out of some tourists-- good for him i suppose, but we didn't feel like doing that.
tonight i hung out with kevin and jason for a virtually the whole night-- dinner, the office, then hanging out at a shisha place. it was very enjoyable. one of those stress- and worry-free moments at the start of a break.
tomorrow i'm leaving with nine or so other people to aswan and the luxor. we're taking a train south to aswan over night, and then taking a boat between the two. we'll take a train back this coming sunday. we'll be staying on the boat at night-- the 'nile cruise' thing. i wish i had taken initiative and organized something a little less generic, but it's very appealing-- the travel agency basically took care (hopefully it'll work out this way) of all the details, and we paid more than we would otherwise.
i'm pumped. it'll be nice to get away from the city for a while. i love love love this city so far, but it's congested, polluted, and it will be cool to clear my mind for a while elsewhere. yes.
that's about all i've got right now.
love
chris
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Weekend (these seem to happen just about every week)
this was a pretty uneventful week. basically, i had class, and then i didn't, each day. sort of like a lot of other people that i know. this wednesday i got kind of sick. basically, this on wed mornings i have a class at 8 in the morning, which i wouldn't mind, except that factoring in the bus ride out to the new campus means waking up at six o'clock. my next class after math is at 1:00. a bit of a gap. it's only two days a week though. that won't stop me from complaining about it though.
anyways, tuesday night i was going to try to get to bed early, around midnight. so i sent one of my best friends, debra, an email, and it turned out she was on gmail at the same time. so then we called each other over skype (which is awesome-- free international calls over the computer. anyone who reads this, probably two or three people, should download it off google for free, and look me up and call me. or i'll call you). man, whenever i write anything i'm amazed by how easily distracted i am. anyways, we spoke for a while, and i ended up not getting a lot of sleep. i think i was kind of dehydrated the next day as well, so wednesday night i totally crashed, and went to bed around 7:30, plus an hour nap before dinner, and got up at about 10am the next day. i was pretty much in bed the whole time besides for quite frequent bathroom breaks. awesome.
but, hey. that's part of the experience, you know?
this weekend has been pretty enjoyable so far. yesterday i read seven pages of homework throughout the day, and then went over to a corina's friend's apartment. we had dinner there, and just hung out for a few hours. that was a lot of fun. i got to meet a few new people. plus a couple of them were musicians, and were pumped to hear that i play the saxophone-- hopefully we're gonna jam pretty soon. i would absolutely love that. after that i just came back to the room and read for a while and listened to music. i just started listening to some louis armstrong-- i can't believe i've barely ever listened to him before, i love his stuff.
tonight kevin, jason and i are going to finally extend some hospitality to mohammed, for a change. we invited him up here for dinner, so he's going to get here around 5:30, and we'll head over to some restaurant, and probably just hang for a while. he's up two-zero on us, given that he's had us over for dinner twice already. so we owe him.
oh. and i remember writing a while ago that i asked i taxi driver to go to midan (square) salah al-din, and saying i would try to learn what those words meant. well, it turns out they're not words, per se. salah al-din was a person, a powerful agent in the spread of islam to egypt. i mentioned this to a kid i met last night, and he added that al-din fought of the armies of one of the crusades. let's see what wikipedia has to say:
Salah al-Dīn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب; Kurdish: سهلاحهدین ئهیوبی Selah'edînê Eyubî ) (born, Tikrit, Iraq c. 1138, died March 4, 1193), better known as Saladin in medieval Europe, was a Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He was a Kurdish Muslim and led the Islamic opposition to the Third Crusade.
At the height of his power, the Ayyubid dynasty he founded, ruled over Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz, and Yemen. He led Muslim resistance to the European Crusaders and eventually recaptured Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. As such, he is a notable figure in Arab, Kurdish, and Muslim culture.
Saladin was a strict practitioner of Sunni Islam. He did not maim, kill or retaliate against those whom he defeated,[1][2] with the notable exception of certain events following the Battle of Hattin. His generally chivalrous behaviour was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the siege of Krak in Moab.
there you have it. now we're all a little bit smarter, or at least a little less dumb.
maa salaamah
anyways, tuesday night i was going to try to get to bed early, around midnight. so i sent one of my best friends, debra, an email, and it turned out she was on gmail at the same time. so then we called each other over skype (which is awesome-- free international calls over the computer. anyone who reads this, probably two or three people, should download it off google for free, and look me up and call me. or i'll call you). man, whenever i write anything i'm amazed by how easily distracted i am. anyways, we spoke for a while, and i ended up not getting a lot of sleep. i think i was kind of dehydrated the next day as well, so wednesday night i totally crashed, and went to bed around 7:30, plus an hour nap before dinner, and got up at about 10am the next day. i was pretty much in bed the whole time besides for quite frequent bathroom breaks. awesome.
but, hey. that's part of the experience, you know?
this weekend has been pretty enjoyable so far. yesterday i read seven pages of homework throughout the day, and then went over to a corina's friend's apartment. we had dinner there, and just hung out for a few hours. that was a lot of fun. i got to meet a few new people. plus a couple of them were musicians, and were pumped to hear that i play the saxophone-- hopefully we're gonna jam pretty soon. i would absolutely love that. after that i just came back to the room and read for a while and listened to music. i just started listening to some louis armstrong-- i can't believe i've barely ever listened to him before, i love his stuff.
tonight kevin, jason and i are going to finally extend some hospitality to mohammed, for a change. we invited him up here for dinner, so he's going to get here around 5:30, and we'll head over to some restaurant, and probably just hang for a while. he's up two-zero on us, given that he's had us over for dinner twice already. so we owe him.
oh. and i remember writing a while ago that i asked i taxi driver to go to midan (square) salah al-din, and saying i would try to learn what those words meant. well, it turns out they're not words, per se. salah al-din was a person, a powerful agent in the spread of islam to egypt. i mentioned this to a kid i met last night, and he added that al-din fought of the armies of one of the crusades. let's see what wikipedia has to say:
Salah al-Dīn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب; Kurdish: سهلاحهدین ئهیوبی Selah'edînê Eyubî ) (born, Tikrit, Iraq c. 1138, died March 4, 1193), better known as Saladin in medieval Europe, was a Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He was a Kurdish Muslim and led the Islamic opposition to the Third Crusade.
At the height of his power, the Ayyubid dynasty he founded, ruled over Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Hejaz, and Yemen. He led Muslim resistance to the European Crusaders and eventually recaptured Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. As such, he is a notable figure in Arab, Kurdish, and Muslim culture.
Saladin was a strict practitioner of Sunni Islam. He did not maim, kill or retaliate against those whom he defeated,[1][2] with the notable exception of certain events following the Battle of Hattin. His generally chivalrous behaviour was noted by Christian chroniclers, especially in the accounts of the siege of Krak in Moab.
there you have it. now we're all a little bit smarter, or at least a little less dumb.
maa salaamah
Friday, September 12, 2008
When I Met Shem
Mosque's Inner Courtyard
Courtyard from Minaret
My Man Shem
Walking Along
Le Citadel (a bit blurry, my bad)Weekend (it's friday and saturday here)
today has been a pretty exceptional day.
i got up around 12, and i knew i wanted to get out and explore the city a bit. i went down to biko's room, and hung out for a while, but he had school work. kevin and jason were busy too. so i decided to go by myself.
i wanted to go to the islamic cairo part of town, which is a couple miles east of the neighborhood where i live. i caught a cab, and told the driver the name of the square i wanted to land at -- midan ('square') salah al-din. i don't know what that means. salah might mean prayer-- at least it is simlar to a word for prayer.
when i got there, a man called out to me and asked what i was up to. i told him i was just wandering, and that i'd like to visit a couple mosques. but then he reminded me that mosques aren't generally open to visitors on fridays. so, while i was within walking distance of a couple of gorgeous mosques, particularly the citadel, of which i'll put up a picture.
we introduced-- his name was shem-- and he offered to show me through the neighborhood a bit. i basically had no plan, and was down for anything, so i wandered around with him. we got off the busy road we were walking up a hill on, and started down the hill through some narrow side streets and alleys. i only saw egyptians around-- no tourists here, which i was pumped about. after weaving our way through the streets bit by bit, we ended up at a mosque. this was my favorite one yet. it lacked the marble and the luxurious splendor of some others that i've seen, but it had gorgeous wooden carvings, and it was just simpler than the other ones. sort of a hidden treasure. it's central courtyard also boasted some trees and plants, which i have not seen in a mosque before. for 50 LE, or $10, which probably wasn't a very good deal, but whatever, i got to climb to the top of the towering minaret. the view from the peak was incredible, and i probably took ten or fifteen pictures at the top alone. first of all, i noted the cairo tower, which is nearish to my dorm, which helped me to orient myself. what i really loved was seeing the other minarets of mosque after mosque after mosque.
i made my way down slowly (to savor the moment, but also to avoid breaking my neck), and walked around the roof of the main floor, immediately above the courtyard. shem had had to leave before i ascended the minaret, so when i got down i followed the direction that he had recommended, and wandered off into the streets and markets.
i spent the next hour making my way through these alleyways, finally reaching the famous (and famously touristy) khan al-khalili area of islamic cairo, where i had been before, and where i had seen the whirling dervish show.
after a few more minutes being shown around by some random guy, i caught a cab. he insisted on 25 pounds, which i refused. so, i got out and grabbed a different cab, this time for 20. i may have been scammed, but at least not outrageously.
this way a great way to spend the afternoon though. shem was awesome, and at least three other guys introduced themselves to me and showed me around for brief periods of time. love it.
salaam
i got up around 12, and i knew i wanted to get out and explore the city a bit. i went down to biko's room, and hung out for a while, but he had school work. kevin and jason were busy too. so i decided to go by myself.
i wanted to go to the islamic cairo part of town, which is a couple miles east of the neighborhood where i live. i caught a cab, and told the driver the name of the square i wanted to land at -- midan ('square') salah al-din. i don't know what that means. salah might mean prayer-- at least it is simlar to a word for prayer.
when i got there, a man called out to me and asked what i was up to. i told him i was just wandering, and that i'd like to visit a couple mosques. but then he reminded me that mosques aren't generally open to visitors on fridays. so, while i was within walking distance of a couple of gorgeous mosques, particularly the citadel, of which i'll put up a picture.
we introduced-- his name was shem-- and he offered to show me through the neighborhood a bit. i basically had no plan, and was down for anything, so i wandered around with him. we got off the busy road we were walking up a hill on, and started down the hill through some narrow side streets and alleys. i only saw egyptians around-- no tourists here, which i was pumped about. after weaving our way through the streets bit by bit, we ended up at a mosque. this was my favorite one yet. it lacked the marble and the luxurious splendor of some others that i've seen, but it had gorgeous wooden carvings, and it was just simpler than the other ones. sort of a hidden treasure. it's central courtyard also boasted some trees and plants, which i have not seen in a mosque before. for 50 LE, or $10, which probably wasn't a very good deal, but whatever, i got to climb to the top of the towering minaret. the view from the peak was incredible, and i probably took ten or fifteen pictures at the top alone. first of all, i noted the cairo tower, which is nearish to my dorm, which helped me to orient myself. what i really loved was seeing the other minarets of mosque after mosque after mosque.
i made my way down slowly (to savor the moment, but also to avoid breaking my neck), and walked around the roof of the main floor, immediately above the courtyard. shem had had to leave before i ascended the minaret, so when i got down i followed the direction that he had recommended, and wandered off into the streets and markets.
i spent the next hour making my way through these alleyways, finally reaching the famous (and famously touristy) khan al-khalili area of islamic cairo, where i had been before, and where i had seen the whirling dervish show.
after a few more minutes being shown around by some random guy, i caught a cab. he insisted on 25 pounds, which i refused. so, i got out and grabbed a different cab, this time for 20. i may have been scammed, but at least not outrageously.
this way a great way to spend the afternoon though. shem was awesome, and at least three other guys introduced themselves to me and showed me around for brief periods of time. love it.
salaam
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
today was a pretty decent day as well. actually, really similar to last night.
i had a couple courses today, and got back to the campus around 5:30. my friend corina had notified me about this refugee school program she heard about, so we caught a taxi to talk with the people about it. when we finally found the st andrews church where it was located, we sat down with one of the woman in charge for a while. apparently, in the mornings, from about 9-12 they have school from children, and adults in the later afternoon. corina is probably going to be leading a course for preparing for the toefl (some acronym like that) english exam. i'm not sure... i spoke with the woman in charge of the children's program, and if all goes well, i might be doing some smaller ration (1:2, 1:3, etc) tutoring with some teens in the program, working on their english skills.
that would be incredible. while i'm having a great time, it has occurred to me often that this is all for me, and i would love to be doing something that wasn't just about me. also, i'm going to miss the kids at the afterschool program that i go to in chicago. i'm really, really excited about the chance to do this. i have to remember to call the woman back in a couple of days.
after that, we went out to dinner, after which i did some homework (i still am in those blissful days at the start of a term when homework is at a minimum).
a couple days ago, this kid i met, ahmed, invited me to a recital he was giving-- arabic poetry, in honor of some great arab poet, accompanied by lute and some other instruments. that sounded awesome! funnily, it was at the same place i was at last night, so finding it was not the issue.
the show was scheduled for 9:30, at we got there at 10, but it didn't start until half past. the performance consisted of a piano-singer duet playing every other piece, and different readers reciting poetry in between. however, ahmed never appeared. i still really loved it (though i only caught a few words).
as corina and i were walking out, joking about how ahmed wasn't even there, he came walking up. apparently, we and a bunch of other people who came to see him had gone to the wrong performance room. it sounded like the one we went to was being televised, and the people running the venue wanted the audience as packed as possible, for good pr. that is really a shame. i felt bad for him-- he wasn't too down about it in front of us, but i know i would have been really disappointed.
next time, definitely.
after that, i bumped into kevin, and we sat around for a while, then wandered around to get some icecream. that's my third night in a row at that icecream place. they had better appreciate that.
and now i'm here, typing, listening to john coltrane and eating peanut butter.
and now i'm leaving.
love
i had a couple courses today, and got back to the campus around 5:30. my friend corina had notified me about this refugee school program she heard about, so we caught a taxi to talk with the people about it. when we finally found the st andrews church where it was located, we sat down with one of the woman in charge for a while. apparently, in the mornings, from about 9-12 they have school from children, and adults in the later afternoon. corina is probably going to be leading a course for preparing for the toefl (some acronym like that) english exam. i'm not sure... i spoke with the woman in charge of the children's program, and if all goes well, i might be doing some smaller ration (1:2, 1:3, etc) tutoring with some teens in the program, working on their english skills.
that would be incredible. while i'm having a great time, it has occurred to me often that this is all for me, and i would love to be doing something that wasn't just about me. also, i'm going to miss the kids at the afterschool program that i go to in chicago. i'm really, really excited about the chance to do this. i have to remember to call the woman back in a couple of days.
after that, we went out to dinner, after which i did some homework (i still am in those blissful days at the start of a term when homework is at a minimum).
a couple days ago, this kid i met, ahmed, invited me to a recital he was giving-- arabic poetry, in honor of some great arab poet, accompanied by lute and some other instruments. that sounded awesome! funnily, it was at the same place i was at last night, so finding it was not the issue.
the show was scheduled for 9:30, at we got there at 10, but it didn't start until half past. the performance consisted of a piano-singer duet playing every other piece, and different readers reciting poetry in between. however, ahmed never appeared. i still really loved it (though i only caught a few words).
as corina and i were walking out, joking about how ahmed wasn't even there, he came walking up. apparently, we and a bunch of other people who came to see him had gone to the wrong performance room. it sounded like the one we went to was being televised, and the people running the venue wanted the audience as packed as possible, for good pr. that is really a shame. i felt bad for him-- he wasn't too down about it in front of us, but i know i would have been really disappointed.
next time, definitely.
after that, i bumped into kevin, and we sat around for a while, then wandered around to get some icecream. that's my third night in a row at that icecream place. they had better appreciate that.
and now i'm here, typing, listening to john coltrane and eating peanut butter.
and now i'm leaving.
love
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Iskandria People
Are those fairies?
Biko-- I love this guy
Getting ready to leave
Taking out frustration?
That's right, i put in a picture of me only, because i'm that beautiful
Iskandria II
Sally Sells Seashells
View From Hotel
Cinderella's Castle
Are you telling me that's not crazy?
Random street, done up for RamadanI really need to find a more efficient way to do this-- five at a time is not optimal. bear with me.
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