Kevin in Egypt

Syria

2008-08-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

I knew I was in Syria because my cell phone told me so. It's one of those tips that I, as a seasoned traveler now, have picked up. As soon as I cross the border my cell phone company is anxious to send me texts about how I can still make phone calls in these far away lands, for merely outrageous prices.

I also learned that moving around the Middle East isn't too bad. An afternoon border crossing may stretch into a late night border crossing, but you get into the country. What to take with you when you leave is another story. I've been having a bit of trouble getting that perfect souvenir from every country I visit. What should I take from Beirut, that sells itself as the Paris of the Middle East? The county is famous throughout history for its trees, which is a bit of a paradox, considering that the Lebanese Cedar tree population is nothing more then a few patches today. They are also famous for their soup, but that's not exactly something I can display on the mantel, at least not on my mantel. The same problem happened in Syria, famous for... inventing civilization? Perhaps the problem stems from the fact the countries themselves were defined pretty much randomly by England after WWII, and it's hard to find a defining national identity. And although the areas have vast histories, spanning millennia, I need something that sums that all up in a portable "chachka" form for a reasonable price. Perhaps they have models of the Eiffel Tower?

Syria was fun, I've already left, by the way. I'm sad at the things I didn't get to see, like the a giant water mill you can dive off, or ancient Roman ruins in a city called Palmyra, but such are the casualties of a whirlwind tour of the Middle East. I did explore the museums and the "Old City" with a windy maze of shops built into the ancient structures. In a place like Syria, in which my youth hostel casually boasts that it was built 600 years ago, it's kind of hard to not run into history. I topped it all off with a trip to the, likely, best kept crusader castle in the world called Crack de Chevalier. It's pretty much exactly what we all hope a castle would be, and it's fun to finally find one that is still standing as if, in a pinch, I could use it today to fend off invading Turks.

I've found that Syria is alive. It really seems that the economy is doing well, and that it has a future. Unlike Cairo, which more or less feels like everything is about twenty years out of warranty and all visitors can think of is how one might fix it.

Now I'm in Jordan and I will probably get side-tracked in Israel, before moving down south to Petra, the city in the mountain. If I go to the holy city today, I'm a little concerned about Shabbat, the Jewish period of rest from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and I've heard the Israelis take their rest very seriously, so maybe I'll hit up this side of the Dead Sea, before heading over there tomorrow.

Lebanon

2008-07-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Lebanon now, and I'm having fun times. There are a lot of differences between Cairo and Lebanon, if you ever get a chance to compare the two. The first is, they have hills here, right next to the coast with houses built on them, which reminds me of California. The second is, of course, girls with mini-skirts. Which I really missed. It's nice to see that girls have legs again, and that's just something you don't get in Cairo.

I was a little concerned when I first got here because I kept hearing gunshots going off throughout the day. It wasn't that big of a deal until, after leaving a museum, I was wandering in one direction, and then shots were coming from in front of me a few kilometers off. I decided to maybe go a different direction, but before that long I heard gunshots in that direction too, so I decided to take a cab. Perhaps walking isn't the best option. It was all okay, though, for the cab driver informed me that it was just that they were announcing the scores of some yearly test and these were gunshots of celebration. Great.

Mentioning cabs, though. That's a little different over here. At one point, I asked a cab to take me to the bus stop, he drove me to a street and told me to go down some stairs and to the highway and buses pass there. I told him I wasn't sure, and I wanted to get out and look at this supposed "bus stop". I got out of the cab to look down the stairs, but he go out too and grabbed my backpack, and started yelling for his money. I tried to explain to him that I just wanted to look down the stairs. Then he went to his trunk, opened it, and pulled out a stick, all the time yelling about his money. I was not too worried, this old guy could barely lift the stick, but I was shocked it had gotten to this point. Anyway, in traditional Arab style, people started to gather around to see what all the commotion was. I asked them if there was really a bus stop and they confirmed that there was, so I paid the money, but I don't think it would have ever come to violence so quickly in Egypt. Maybe people here in Lebanon are really on edge from fighting and civil war, or maybe that old guy was just crazy.

I've done lots of fun things since I've been here, I went to Tripoli, and I've discovered that Tripoli is really boring. But I visited a place called the Jeita Grotto's near Beirut, those were amazing. You go into this gigantic cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites. It is probably the best interesting cave formation in the world. You walk through one cavern and then you take a small boat through another that is filled with water. It's a whole upside world where mountains come from the ceilings. It's also kind of interesting to realize, "Hum, I'm in a room with thousands of giants daggers hanging from above." But the formations are so complex and intricate that it really feels like the whole thing is alive. It's like you're walking through a snapshot of something that is growing and moving with arms that stretch out and skin that flaps in wind that takes an eon to go from one side of the cave to the other. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures, so I'll just have to snag some on the internet to show people at home.

Well, that's it for Lebanon, I'm off to Syria tomorrow, I just need to find a bus schedule.

Apples and Cigarettes

2008-06-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

Ah, Egypt. The land where you can buy a single cigarette at a time, but you have to buy fruit by the kilo. It's not good for those that 'quit' but just want 'one more cigarette' every thirty minutes or so. But at least people are eating apples five at a time.

I saw something the other day which I think in ancient times people would have said was a bad omen. I was in my apartment when I heard a cat meowing outside. I looked out the window onto the service stairs which connected to the back entrance of my apartment. Only the garbage man uses these stairs to pick up people's trash but, apparently, it was also home to a family of cats. One little cat in particular was on the same level as me, all the way on the seventh floor, and she was looking down on the ground below. I couldn't tell what she was doing but, suddenly, she leaped from the stairs and landed on an air conditioning unit about five feet away that that hung outside a window. I was scared when I first saw her jump at that death defying height, with nothing between her and the ground but air. When she landed safely, I felt reassured that it's normal behavior for a cat. I could see though that the cat slipped slightly, because of dust on the air conditioner that had collect over the years. She looked down at the ground far below from her new vantage point, but soon it became apparent that she wanted to get back to the stairs. She paced around a bit, unsure what to do, creeping up to the edge and then backing away. She walked over to the wall and there was a window open next to her, but she seemed not to know where it led. I knew where that window was. It led to the main stairs just one floor below me, and I was thinking about walking down to help her. I never got the chance, though. After waiting for a few minutes she leaped into the air. The dust must have been slippery because she obviously thought she would make it. I watched in horror as the cat's paws stretched out only touched the stairs. She tumbled through the air, down seven stories, and hit the ground. I put my shoes on and walked down the service stairs that I've never been on before. It was littered with bits of trash and chicken bones. I got to the ground and saw that the cat was dead. I've heard a story that a cat jumped from four stories and landed on its belly. In that story a lady came outside and poured water on it, and the cat got up and walked away. I didn't have any water but I rolled its body over with a stick. It wasn't breathing, it was dead. I walked back up the stairs to my apartment. There was nothing I could really do.

I've been thinking about the moral of what I saw. Why did that happen? Maybe the moral is look before you leap, or don't take risks. The cat jumped and got itself stuck, and couldn't get back. But that's not true. The cat could have gone through the open window next to her. She was scared, scared of the unknown. She was more scared of that window than she was of jumping, even though she was seven stories up. I think that's true for people too. Often times we'll do something that's dangerous or bad for us before we do something that's unfamiliar. Sometimes I feel that my time here in Egypt was more about stepping into the unknown, than anything else. It's not dangerous, it's not unsafe, it's just that I didn't even know what to expect. By coming here I hope that maybe for me, I've conquered just a little bit more of the unknown. I still feel bad for the cat though.

The Food Strikes and Dust Storms

2008-04-20T03:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, I have lots of stuff to talk about from this month. Let's see where to start. First off the strikes never happened. Let me explain. Here in Egypt the government subsidizes a lot of things. It's a throwback to the fifties when Egypt declared its independence and formed its modern government. At the time they were backed by the Soviet Union, and lots of stuff about communism appealed to the people who had been oppressed by rich capitalists since the country was ruled by British colonials. Anyway, the point is, to this day, people feel the government has a responsibility to take care of them and is obliged to make basic food, transportation, and even entertainment available to all. It's that food part that's the reason that we have what is called "Government Bread." They're cheap little tortilla like things that are sold on the street for about 5 cents. Recently, the prices for food are going up, here as well as the rest of the world, but if the government tried to raise the price of this bread people would riot. So the price stays low, but there is something else going on.

You see, people are saying that there is not enough bread and that there are huge lines to get the government-made bread if at all. This news is in all the papers here, but I have seen an abundance of sellers, selling the bread in the street, so I don't understand what the problem is. There must be more going on, possibly some corruption, like people selling the flour to make more money and not producing bread. In my view, I don't see what they're talking about, but the end result is that the government is not doing anything about it. It's this government apathy that made people decide they wanted to strike. Not in any particular job, but all of the people from all of Cairo want to rise up. They want to take a day and refuse to work. They want to meet in front of the main government building and demand the government do something! Well that was the plan anyway. The AUC said that we weren't allowed to take the day off for the strikes which I think would be fun. It seems kind of against the whole spirit of a strike if the management can just say it's not allowed. Of course it's not allowed! Of course they don't want it! That's why we have strikes, in order to send a message. But it was not just the AUC that canceled the strikes. The government canceled it totally, and like I said, the strikes never happened. All and all, they may have been more like riots had they actually taken place. I remember when Egypt won the African Cup and people took to the streets shouting, and blasting spray can powered fireballs. It may have been the same thing this time, except there were massive arrests the night before. On top of that the military presence in front of the government building was on the scale of a military occupation.

I did get a chance to watch from a roof top, and when kicked off, I wandered around a bit. If I stopped to stand, I was told to move along. No one was allowed to take pictures, although I snuck off with a few anyway. The mood was tense, and everyone was looking at each other, waiting for someone to start something but no one ever did. Or if they did, it was quickly squashed by police. I did see an armored prisoner truck driving by. I could hear the people inside banging against the walls in unison. Well, that's a totalitarian government for you. At least they let the Americans do pretty much what they want.

Ironically, the day of the planned strikes was also the first day of the "Khumseen." The word means "fifty" and it stands for 50 days of dust storms that come the same time every year. I didn't think the dust could penetrate the thick cityscape of Cairo, but this was the only day you really felt the dust storms of legend. It still wasn't that bad, but at some points you couldn't see more than a couple dozen meters in front of you. I bet if I manage to get out to the desert though, I could really feel it. Now wouldn't that be sweet.

Guests and the Future

2008-03-29T02:10:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend, Kristen, came to visit, that was a lot of fun, although it wreaked havoc on my grades. I should be able to still do well, it just was a strenuous week is all. I tried to do extra work before she got here, in the hope that I could get ahead. That was a pipe dream. With everything I have to do just to get by, there really is not too much getting ahead unless I squeeze time away from the less important things like sleeping and eating. Really, maybe I can try to combine the two. Some sort of device that can inject the food into me while I sleep. I know it will be all the rage with the med students if I could bring it back to UCSD. But now, after that week, it's easier to catch up than it was to get ahead. Maybe because when I was trying to get ahead I didn't really have to do it, but now that I have to catch up, I really have to do it!

Having a guest is fun though. I get to show someone around and experience all the wonder of the city like when I first got here. It's also nice to be running around with someone that is not broke. My last friend here was hoping to get by on some ridiculously small amount of money everyday. Cairo is cheap, but the tourist events add up! We did all the fun stuff like ride camels around the pyramids, hold baby lions at the zoo, and see the awesome view of Cairo from the Citadel. She also mercilessly made fun of me for my videos I had been doing for ERC-tv. She loves them more then life itself, and she watches then every night before she goes to bed. But when she recites to me some of the things I say, I don't know what I was thinking. It's so corny, but that's just what comes to me at the time. I do love making those videos though, and I have a ton of footage. I just need to edit it all together when I get back to the states.

And I didn't even get hassled for having a girl in my apartment from the locals.
The last time I had a girl there, it was my tutor and I was studying Arabic. The apartment across from me is a lawyer's office, and the waiting room is directly facing my door. When I entered my apartment with an Egyptian girl, it really got people's blood pumping! And then I closed the door, which if you have a woman in the apartment, you're supposed to keep the door open, lest everyone thinks you are tainting this woman's honor. Within two minutes, there was a knock on my door and the whole waiting room is outside yelling at me, with the lawyer himself trying to rationally persuade me that what I was doing was wrong, and some old man in the back chanting slurs, and claiming that he's seen me with a different girl every night! We yelled back, showed the Arabic homework and slammed the door. The issue was never really settled, but I'm just not used to this whole idea of society trying to uphold the morals of everyone else. I like good old America, where if I want to slide down the slippery slope of sin and vice, well, Thomas Jefferson tells me that's my right! Of course the real issue wasn't that she was a woman, it's that she was an Egyptian woman. It's been several months since then, and now when I had my American girlfriend stay with me the whole week, there was not a peep of dissent. She's a foreigner anyway, and everyone knows their morals are beyond help.

In other news, the more Arabic I study, the more I realize what a hard language this is. It's not something you can study for a year or even two and then have it. You really need three years or more of intensive study to be able to speak this language. And I have some friends here who have studied it for seven or even ten years, and they still can't read a book, or have a full conversation. Not that I'm discouraged, it's just there are a lot of words out there. I can't quite put my finger on why exactly Arabic is so difficult for English speakers. Maybe it's the totally different vocabulary, or the sounds, or the grammar, but I miss those sweet and simple Romance languages! I never really applied myself to learn one before, but after Arabic, I feel like I could learn Italian in about a week! The point, anyway, is I need more Arabic before I go back to UCSD and this summer is a perfect opportunity. The program I really want is in Beirut, Lebanon. It was a toss up between Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria. Beirut is having a political crisis, for those who don't know, and is having trouble getting their elections going for a new president. I really think the country is going to be fine, so long as there are no more major political assassinations. Of course the kicker is the last major assassination of a top Lebanese official was actually in Damascus, so I'm kind of screwed either place I go. On the upside, the situation may have scared away all the other Americans, so I will really get a chance to speak only Arabic, and if civil war does break out maybe I'll get to ride in a helicopter as they're evacuating the American students. I have my fingers crossed!

Culture

2008-02-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

I just saw a particular aspect of Egyptian culture that can be both inspiring and frustrating. It was expressed in a small fender bender that happened next to me as I was walking down the street. With the erratic nature of traffic and a seeming absence of any traffic laws other than what “feels right”, this is not a completely uncommon experience. This particular collision was perpetrated when an Egyptian taxi slammed on his brakes for no apparent reason and a car of four Japanese tourists slammed him in the back. When everyone got out, the Japanese didn’t seem to know how to play the game. You need to get angry. You need to yell and scream and swear to Allah. Whoever is more upset is seen as the victim, here in Egypt.

The taxi driver knew how it worked, of course. He did his best to be enraged and attracted the attention of all the curious passers-by on the street. This is the second part of Egyptian culture, when a crime has been perpetrated your jury is anybody that is curious enough to gather around you. You have to prove to them that you are on the side of right.

So the taxi driver is explaining to all these people how he was unjustly rear-ended without so much as a warning honk from the horn of the Japanese driver. The horn is a big thing over here. Egyptians love to use it in every possible situation even when there is only the slightest hint that it might be appropriate, such as a pedestrian three blocks away, or if you’re about to barrel through a blind intersection. More than once I’ve been punished with a horn honk for crossing a street too slowly and, heaven forbid, forcing a driver to tap the brakes. These are not normal horns either. I am convinced there is a special tune-up shop to make it more blood curdling and eardrum popping than anyone thought possible.

So back to my story, eventually someone decided that the only one who could correctly arbitrate such a situation would be one of the multitudes of police that idly lounge on the streets of Cairo. I saw several walk by, hurriedly, as if to show that they really didn’t need to deal with this today. After nearly an hour, one large officer with several stars on his shoulder showed up on the scene. All the time, I was talking with the parking attendant next to me, who claimed that since no one was killed, everyone should praise God and drive off happy. I think such a fatalistic attitude is harder to muster when you’re the one who has to pay the repair bill.

I was surprised at the overall outcome. The taxi driver wanted 500 pounds, the Japanese men felt that it wasn’t their fault, and that the taxi driver should bear some of the responsibility for their own damaged hood. Unfortunately, the Japanese were on the stunted end of popular opinion, seeing as how, not only was there a language barrier, and a cultural gap, but also the idea that all foreigners could stand to shed some bills for a deserving Egyptian. Eventually they offered to pay 50 pounds (about $10) in reparations. The taxi driver seemed upset, but the policeman jumped on the chance to end the issue. The crowd seemed ready to be done with it all, and compelled the taxi driver to take it and drive away. Everyone looked very pleased for managing to “solve” the problem.

It’s a whole different culture over here. People just seem much more prone to avoid conflict over achieving justice, and everyone who passes by wants to be the peacemaker. It sounds like a great idea on paper, but when I’m the one getting screwed, I don’t want to just walk away, and the last thing I want to do is have to explain my side of the story to some random guy that doesn’t have anything better to do with his time than watch people get frustrated. The moral of the story is there is a lot of peace and love going on here, and sometimes it's just a little hard to get used to.

The Break is Ending

2008-01-31T02:38:00.000-08:00

I just made an amazing discovery, it turns out I actually get the Daily Show here in Egypt! It comes on some nights at 12:30 AM, and it’s on the same channel that CNN comes on. So finally CNN has realized what we’ve known for years, everyone gets their news from Jon Stewart. I’m just glad that the Egyptians get to experience the joy of indecision 2008.

So the break is coming to an end, and it was a long one. I ran around Egypt with friends, visiting all the places I missed during the semester. Down in Upper Egypt (down because it’s south, upper because it’s up the Nile), I got to visit Aswan and Luxor. Aswan is the most southern tourist city in Egypt, it’s around there that all the Nubians are. Nubia used to be a separate empire, to the south of Egypt, but now a days Egypt and Sudan have swallowed up what was Nubia. The ethnic Nubians have a harder time too, since in the 1950’s Egypt built a dam, which created Lake Naser, where it used to be just the Nile. Since for 5,000 years everyone lived right next to the Nile, this new lake flooded over all the villages and ancient monuments that were once there. So, no more Nubia. But there are still Nubians, and what was considered the best of the ancient monuments were moved, beyond the flood zone. Moving a 70 thousand ton rock isn’t exactly easy, but they managed.

The best thing I saw was Abu Simble, which is a temple with four giant statues sitting at the entrance. They are massive, especially when you see them in person. I continued north to Luxor, which has the temple of Karnak, next to the ocean, which the modern city is literally built around. It’s odd seeing on one side of the street an ancient temple to the god Isis, then on the other, a strip of fast food restaurants and Internet cafes. There were more hieroglyphics and pillar and statues and rocks. In all actuality, by the end of it, hieroglyphics were kind of like stars, each one is magical, mystical, inspiring and all that, but unless you know what you're looking at, they are all kind of the same.

I ended my break trying to get to the border between Gaza and Egypt, after Al-Jazeera was reporting that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were flooding into the country. I went with friends, not really knowing what we were looking for, we just wanted to be where the action was. Well, it turns out the trains were on strike over a price increase. The train company wanted to fine the driver an extra 10 pounds ($2) every time the train was late. The drivers thought that sometimes the trains were late and it wasn’t their fault. Then hundreds of Egyptians came out because they just love to support the little guy, without really understanding the issue, or even bothering to find out if this might actually make the trains run on time.

Anyway, they were probably right, but we didn’t find out. We wound up taking a bus, and after a few unnecessary transfers to squeeze all the money out of us possible, we were finally being taking across the bridge over the Suez Canal. All the Egyptians wanted to get across, so that they could sell their goods to the incoming Palestinians and make some money, but the Egyptians government didn’t want that. They wanted the Palestinians to go home. As we proceeded we saw the police dumping out loads of items like chips and tires and other goodies that were being seized by police. I saw a huge pile of Marlboro Cigarettes and I though it would be nifty to take a picture. Bad Idea. Not in Egypt, not at a military check point. Long story short, we were detained for hours because taking pictures is forbidden, my pictures got deleted, which bothers me because I had this great video of a guy during the train protest ripping his shirt off (Censorship!), and they let us go, each with a pack of contraband cigarettes, and I don’t even smoke. We made it back 24 hours after we left without being shot or kidnapped or sent to jail or anything. We didn’t make it to the border, but we had an adventure and it was a great start to the semester.

Christmas!!

2007-12-25T04:07:00.001-08:00

Christmas

Secrets

2007-12-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I see things in Cairo, and I just wish I could really make other people feel the same sort of wonder that I feel. I try to take pictures or videos, but it is just not the same. I feel like I can capture the moment, but it's like the video just isn't big enough. I look at the tape and I can’t see the surroundings and the atmosphere. I try to stand back and take another video but it doesn't capture the detail, or the significance. It feels like I should be able to take videos of everything, as there was some way I could do it in and you could see what I see, but I'm starting to think it's not the angle of the camera or the size of the screen, it's that you just can't capture the experience of actually being here.

The city is full of secrets. Hidden areas, out of view, at least to me. I don't think they’re meant to be like that, it's just I’m used to a Western city layout and Western style signs, and I don’t know what to look for. I can walk down the street and it's just a row of stores and buildings. I walk past, the first is a Radio Shack, then a clothing store, then a narrow gap between buildings, then a café serving shesha (tobacco in a hookah) coffee filled with Egyptians watching the soccer match, then a little market packaged food, and a man selling vegetables on the street. Then I take a second, and go back to the gap. It's a 4-foot wide space in-between two of the stores that are usually built with their walls connecting. You go into the gap and walk down a short alleyway paved with dust, and the world opens up in front of me with a thriving market filled with shoppers hustling about, fresh fruits lay in boxes and windows filled with the meat for the butcher shop. It's really a maze with several entrances and exits, hidden between the walls of the shops that lay on the street. It’s not a secret, but so easy to miss if you don't know what to look for. It’s filled with locals, and me the only foreigner, even though it's less than 2 blocks away from the American University. I've walked that street almost every day, going to and from school for about three months now. This is the first time I thought to explore what was inside the gap. It's hard to describe, you just have to be here.

Warning Arabic studying, English might not be so Well

2007-11-30T13:42:00.001-08:00

Arabic classes are killing me. Who invented this damn language!! I know it's all just a big joke the whole Middle East plays, every time there are foreigners around they just start making weird sounds and then they go back behind a curt and start snickering amongst themselves "He-He, look at the white guy, he's actually trying to translate me clearing my throat, what a fool!" as they say it in crisp clear English.

HOLY CRAP!! I am dying, I am really dying, I study my ass off every day, I have two tutors just to keep up with the reading, I will probably fail everything, but hopefully in the end I will have learned me some Arabic! Right know I can read the newspaper, and get the general idea from most articles and I can watch AL-Jazeera, and get some of it, but if they talk fast, I don't have a clue what's going on. Really, reading is what has improved the most for me, but hopefully next semester, my listening skills will be getting up there too. Someday, someday maybe speaking. I can actually speak with lots of people, but I'm always using the wrong conjugations for the wrong something, but people understand me, they just don't like me.

All in all, language is going good, Arabic is just hard. I really think I'll be pretty good by the end of next semester, but the trouble is I'm barely getting a chance to see Egypt. I visited the pyramids, the Egyptian museum (which is amazing) and that's about it. I really don't have any time to go to Luxor or explore the Nile or anything. Fortunately, the semester ends in two weeks, this is the home stretch, I just have to keep going until I get through finals, then I get a nice, sweet break.

I'm not going anywhere, I'll be staying in Egypt for Christamas/New Year's, but I'll get a chance to actually explore Egypt, see the Aswan dam and all the Pheronic temples, and there are tons of old Islamic and Christian sites here too. I've seen none of them.

The plan right now is survive the next two weeks (I give it 50-50), explore Cairo, for the next month. My friend is actually coming here for two weeks in the end of December (the only way he could go is through the philanthropy of his sister, since he continues to have no money, but I think the experience will be good for him), And I am going to Rome to meet up with the Girl in January, which shall be awesome!

I was going to stay in Cairo the whole time, but I caved, I need to see a GIRL damnit!! Cairo is not the place to go to meet women, in case you heard otherwise. I really am not trying to meet any American girls here, because I want new experiences and all that nonsense, but guess what, this just isn't the place to meet Egyptian women either! Oh, well.

So this new semester starts up again February 2nd. I don't know if I'm going to do advanced again, really wherever they place me is fine, it a toss up between possibly being pushed to learn more, but at the same time also wanting to kick puppies every day and the end result is that the stress might make the advanced level less effective than something more reasonable. But we will see.

I was making videos, but I have been too busy with school as of late. If you want to check them out there are six I believe up on youtube at www.youtube.com/kstaight . Tell me what people think. I think some parts are good, but I want to know how I can make them better for next semester. I will probably make more during the break when I have time. That's it for now.

Nothing

2007-10-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

Nothing happened, nothing, I spent two weeks, studying. Something happened, I'm sure, I just forgot. I gave a presentation; I always give presentations in Arabic Class. I was supposed to give a presentation on my friends from back home. I didn't have any pictures of friends with me, so someone joking suggested I take pictures of cats around campus and say they were my only friends. Well, so that's what I did. I think half the class thought it was funny, and the other half was just concerned that I might be serious. Good times.

I have more presentation next week. I'm going to talk about the future of cinema in the Middle East. I've been reading articles about American movies and the reaction by Arabs. Specifically, I was reading about the movie called "The Kingdom" in an Arab magazine. I haven’t seen it, but from the previews it looks like a crack commando team from America goes into Saudi Arabia to straighten out some terrorist or something. I read the review of the movie in Arabic in an Arabic magazine. I was surprised, I was expecting some sort of backlash or resentment from the idea of Americans fighting in Saudi Arabia, but no, the review is exactly what I would expect from an American review of the movie. The article talked about the action, the actors, the special effects, and good and bad parts about the movie. The point of view of a Middle Eastern movie critic is strikingly similar to the point of view of an American movie critic. It makes sense when I think about it, I just guess I assumed that a Middle Easterner would have some mysterious insight into a movie that takes place in the Middle East. Not so far as that article was considered, at least not anymore than an American has mysterious insight into a movie that takes place in America.

Anyway, I'll try to have more interesting, camel riding, belly dancing adventures in the future!

Constantinople

2007-10-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

I know I'm supposed to be in Egypt, but right now I’m in Istanbul, Turkey. This city is phenomenal. It has so many amazing buildings and they are all huge. I’m here with friends because of the Eid. That is Arabic for Holiday and this particular holiday is celebrating the end of Ramadan. For the past lunar month, Muslims round the world have been fasting from sun rise to sun set. At the end of this month, there is a holiday which for me means a four day weekend. Some friends of mine decided it would be worthwhile to stretch it to a five day weekend (missing one day of school) and go to visit the seat of the Byzantine Empire.

It is really great here. The best things I’ve done are seeing the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, and two jumbo sized Turkish Palaces. The Hagia Sophia is filled with too much. Its vaulted ceiling is inspiring and it is incredible to see the mix of Christian and Muslim influences in one place. It was originally built by Justinian as a church, then converted into a mosque when the Turks conquered Constantinople and now it is a museum or tourist destination really, since there is nothing in the museum except itself. Still, every wall has Arabesque art or ancient Christian’s paintings that were painted over but are now being uncovered. And there is a mystery there that I don’t understand. Throughout the structure, there will be just a few fake paintings in an arrangement of real things. For example, there will be two real windows and one painted window all next to each other. Or there will be pillars behind pillars, but one spot is actually a wall with an optical illusion painted on it to seem like an open arch way with pillars behind it. It’s all very mysterious. Someday I will understand.

The Basilica is amazing; with just the right amount of modern-day presentation to accentuate it’s old world awe. Its entrance just looks like a box on the side of the street smaller then a Taco-bell but it leads to this vast underground chamber of pillars and flowing water. The low light and slightly strange music they play in the background really does accentuate the whole effect.

I was also massaged by a large Turkish man in one of the bathhouses. It’s really more fun than it sound, and if you ever get a chance, the Turkish bath house is on a list of 1000 things you should do before you die. I only have two more days left here, but there is plenty more to see. It’s a great vacation, but also I can’t wait to get back to Cairo!

Zoos, Pyramids, and Tutors

2007-10-03T02:57:00.000-07:00

Has it really been this long since I posted? I have got to tell you, time is flying by here, probably because I stay so busy. I’ve done a lot of fun things over the past week.

I visited the Zoo in Egypt, which was awesome! They don’t have the same “rules” as the zoos in America. Things here are a little more relaxed which means that by paying the zoo keeper two dollars, I got to hold the baby lions. It was so cool! It’s like I get to live out my childhood fantasy. You know that this year there was a new world record for the longest jump made by a man riding a lion. I’m not sure if that is relevant, but have you held the baby lion? It makes you think about these things. And I got to play with the monkeys too. I didn’t quite have enough time to teach it to be my monkey butler but I may be making a return visit, so who knows.

I also visited more pyramids. It was fun, some friend and I got a guide and we went horseback riding through the desert to the ancient pyramids of Sakhara. We climbed down into one of the ancient pits that, according to what the guide said was used by priests to punish people. So it was an ancient Egyptian torture chamber. Awesome! There’s not much left except one support pillar and a broken table, but my mind can fill in the blanks.

In other news, I have been finding tutors to teach me Arabic. I need it, because I spend all my time just doing homework. My classes are a killer, and I need help. I talked to the director to try to get out of the advanced level. I said it was too hard and I need to leave. She said "no!". I like the classes; I think they're great, I'm really just worried about the grades. I need A's! I talked to my teachers and they all say that it will be ok. They say that they don't judge you based on your level, but on your dedication and how much you improve. This is good in theory, but if one guy is always making eloquent statements in class and another guy doesn’t know what’s going on, who are you going to give the ‘A’ to? So, I got me some tutors. One tutor is the official tutor for free through the ALI, I meet with him twice a week for an hour. Then there is a guy I pay 40LE ($1 = ~5.6 LE) an hour to meet with every day. I go over homework, he’s good, but like any native speaker, he doesn't understand all the grammar, though he uses it, and he doesn't know what every word means in English, but that’s because the class uses pretty specific words sometimes. Then I have one more tutor that I've started to meet with every day. It's this attractive, 23 year old Egyptian girl that I also pay 40 Egyptian pounds an hour to. I tried to do homework one time with her, and I wind up just flirting with her in Arabic. She's the worst tutor I have, but who cares? She makes me want to speak Arabic, and that's priceless. I recommend it to anyone; the best way to learn a language is to put yourself in a situation where you desperately want to speak! Anyway it's a good set up, although I am paying slightly more for tutors every month than rent, but maybe I can come out of all this, ok gradewise. We’ll see.

Pyramids

2007-09-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

So I finally visited the pyramids. They were big. It was cool. I liked how the entrance to go into the Pyramids is a hole carved straight into the rock. When you get inside, it’s clear that people were not meant to be down there because you can hardly breathe, and I don’t know why, but it’s incredibly humble. Everyone comes out sweating. There is not much set up to explain what is going on. I was kind of expecting some sort of sign to tell me how many bricks there are and how old people think it is, but there is nothing except the waves of salesman trying to force you to take a camel ride so you can pay them those sweet tourist prices. It’s worth seeing, the site itself is good, but there should be more presentation. I think the Egyptians are probably worried about other things than the preservation of the pyramids, like their own rough economic situation.

Classes are going, Ramadan is going, the monuments are going. I don’t have much time to explore. I think I may be studying a little too much. Next semester, I definitely need to take more of a break.

Classes have begun

2007-09-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s been a while since I posted. Not that I posted much before, but still, I’m trying to be consistent. The main thing that has happened is classes have started, and boy do they keep me busy! I’m here in Cairo, and most people are doing the AUC regular, but I opted for the Intensive Arabic section, which means I will be doing all Arabic, all the time! I think it’s a good deal, there is no better place to learn Arabic than in Egypt.

I took the placement test to find out what level I should be in. Unfortunately, it was ridiculously difficult, not just for me, but for everybody. I’m pretty sure that most people just guessed, but somehow, the ALI used their placement magic to determine everyone’s level. There was a lot of switching the first week of class, which is all we get to try to move. I wound up in intermediate, which was good, but a little too easy. I came here to really learn to speak Arabic and I want to get the most out of my year here. I went into the director’s office, intent on switching my level to high intermediate. When I got in there, it turned out that there were no spaces left. “But,” she said, “We have a space open in advanced.” Oh really? The highest level you offer in the entire Arabic Language Institute, why not? So, here I am in the advanced class, alongside the people who I think of as Arabic speaking gods. I feel like I snuck into their class when noone was looking, and I’m just waiting for someone to realize I’m a fraud and kick me out. But, the week of shifting is up and, for better or worse, I’m in this class for the whole semester. Remember that comic strip “For better of Worse” That thing was terrible, never once made me laugh. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. So the real concern now is how will I do? I’ve been doing well in school over all, but this could kill my academic standings. I looked into it, and study abroad students can take no more than 1/3 of the classes as pass/no pass, which equals one out of the four classes I’m taking. The good news is the classes do exactly what I’ve always wanted to do with Arabic. They just turn on the news and listen or they open the newspaper and read. That is the level I want to be at. The only bad news is that I’m not at that level yet, but I’m in the class where that’s what we do. Thus, I am spending all my time playing catch-up, madly trying to become fluent in the accursed language before I fail out of college. But the good news is if I actually pull this off, I know that I have really done something with my year here.

And in other news, Ramadan is starting tomorrow, so hopefully I will have much to report, except I'll probably be studying.

The Wedding

2007-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was a little disappointed because all the other American students here went on a trip to the Red Sea. I hear the ocean is gorgeous and it's only an hour away. I was only officially enrolled at the school here the day before everyone else left on the two-day excursion, so sadly my name didn't get on the list. They took off on busses that morning, and I had a fairly decent day on my own, until something made it extraordinary. I was invited to a Bedouin wedding celebration.

Now before I continue, I have to warn everyone that if some kid on the street in Cairo tells you he wants to take you to a wedding celebration in his village, you probably shouldn't go with him. They tell me it's dangerous. Anyway, so there I was hopping in the car of some strange kid, as we drove off to some unknown destination, with no idea how or when I would be back. But hey, I was told to "go outside my comfort zone" while I am here. It was a decent size village called Abu Sir and it was only about half an hour away. We pulled up to this outdoor arena at about eleven at night (not too late here for people who stay up late to avoid the heat). There was an awning set up covered in gaudy blinking lights like a flattened Christmas tree and the music was playing so loud it seemed like the speakers would burst at any moment.

The next point about a Bedouin wedding celebration, they are expensive to attend. The way it works is there is a live band playing on the stage. There are mostly percussion instruments with some accompaniment. The main attraction is the lead singer who is free styling it up on stage on behalf of the groom. He is singing in Arabic with no lines or set lyrics, but with sort of a repetitive, upbeat, sequence. The reason it is expensive is because people from the whole village keep going up to the stage and showering the singer with money. The money is for the soon to be husband and his bride, but the upside of this present is that the singer will sing your name repeatedly in front of everyone else. It's kind of a way to be a big man in the village, everyone sees your generosity, and the more you give the more he praises you. So a good singer is not just a party necessity, he is an investment. I was amazed to see these people with hardly anything giving what is considered huge amounts of money in Egypt, hundreds of Egyptian pounds as presents. Of course the way it works was explained to me later. They give the money now, and someday when they have a wedding they get it all back, and they can think of it more like a loan than anything else. Of course, if you are a tourist, and you will never be expected to collect anything back, they love you.

I went up an gave my ten pounds, and the singer praised me as "hello America" since Kevin actually has sounds not found in Arabic (I always thought my name was rather normal, but now it is mysterious and hard to pronounce). Unfortunately, ten was not enough and with others giving much more and me being what everyone else though of as a "Rich American" I wound up shelling out around 200 Egyptian pounds or the equivalent of $40 dollars. All in all, even at the wedding party the Americans get ripped off, but it was definitely worth the unique experience.

And as for getting back, I didn't and I starved to death in the desert (Or not, but it could have happened).

My First Post

2007-08-31T03:40:00.000-07:00

Hi, how’s it going?

Welcome to my blog. This is my first time creating one of these, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon. My name is Kevin and I’m an undergraduate at UCSD. After talking with other students I realized that it seems one of the most memorable experiences that sticks in people's minds is studying abroad. Everyone who has participated in the study abroad program said it is the best thing they’ve done. So I figured, why not? The only thing left was to decide where to go.

Cairo, Egypt. That’s where I am right now and that is where I’ve been for the past two weeks. I’m doing the EAP study abroad program here at the American University in Cairo. They teach a lot of the same classes they do in San Diego, and they even do it in English, but just about everything else from the culture to the food to the way the school is run is completely different. They do have some pretty unique classes, like Egyptology done at the Pyramids in Giza, or you can rummage through their ancient book collection with papyrus scrolls, or you can take a class in translating hieroglyphics, which will be a very useful skill in the future as long as “Star Gate” isn’t lying to me.

As for me, I opted to take the intensive Arabic class. That means that all I’ll do is learn Arabic all the time. They have a good program, one of if not the best in the world for learning Arabic. From what I understand, they have ambassadors and diplomats training here. I still am going to visit all the amazing historical sites and experience the people of the city. I’ll tell you all about it soon, but this is enough for now.

-Kevin