| Your Hidden Talent |
 Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements. |
Monday, October 17, 2005
too many internet quizzes
mmm, food....
| You Are Japanese Food |
 Strange yet delicious. Contrary to popular belief, you're not always eaten raw. |
Sunday, October 16, 2005
birthday
my birthday is this Friday, the 21st (which you probably already know).
Some people have asked what they can do.
*You can send me a card. I won't get it for a while at this point, but I love mail and there is absolutely no shame in me spreading my birthday out for as long as the mail takes! Email me for the address if you don't already have it.
*You cannot send me a present or package. The customs people will open it and possibly steal it. If they don't steal it, they'll probably ask me to pay for it. This means you should not use my Amazon wishlist this year. sorry, folks.
*You can send me magazines in flat brown envelopes. I like Cosmo. (yes, I'm a dork, but I have to get some fluff somewhere!) We get Oprah, Time, and Newsweek (eventually). Again, email me for the address.
*If you are one of those bizarre people who insist that presents are required, you can send one for my parents. They need it more than I do, and frankly they probably deserve a present more because they've put up with me (and made me into the fabulous person I am) for 25 years. Email me for the address.
*If you are desperate to give me something, you can email me to ask for details about how to contribute to our Christmas trip to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Thank you for thinking of me as I have a birthday far away from home!
Thank you also for thinking of my mom as she is very sick on my birthday for the first time.
Some people have asked what they can do.
*You can send me a card. I won't get it for a while at this point, but I love mail and there is absolutely no shame in me spreading my birthday out for as long as the mail takes! Email me for the address if you don't already have it.
*You cannot send me a present or package. The customs people will open it and possibly steal it. If they don't steal it, they'll probably ask me to pay for it. This means you should not use my Amazon wishlist this year. sorry, folks.
*You can send me magazines in flat brown envelopes. I like Cosmo. (yes, I'm a dork, but I have to get some fluff somewhere!) We get Oprah, Time, and Newsweek (eventually). Again, email me for the address.
*If you are one of those bizarre people who insist that presents are required, you can send one for my parents. They need it more than I do, and frankly they probably deserve a present more because they've put up with me (and made me into the fabulous person I am) for 25 years. Email me for the address.
*If you are desperate to give me something, you can email me to ask for details about how to contribute to our Christmas trip to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Thank you for thinking of me as I have a birthday far away from home!
Thank you also for thinking of my mom as she is very sick on my birthday for the first time.
adventures in...church shopping?
Here in Cairo there is a limited supply of English speaking churches, and while Arabic churches probably provide a great "in" to the culture and the community, I can't understand what's going on and I really need to worship in a place where I know what people are saying. So far we have been worshipping at St. Andrews, which is a Reformed church (started by the Church of Scotland, currently with a Lutheran and an RCA pastor) that is "international and interdenominational." It seems to be pretty expected that volunteers worship there, but the average Friday worship attendance is maybe 30-40, and Sunday morning is less than 10. Tonight Sarah and I visited the Heliopolis Community Church which is also an English-speaking international/interdenominational church. There are, supposedly, 22 nationalities represented in the people that worship there, and also a significantly larger worshipping community. Tonight there were about 20 people, and Friday they usually have over 100, apparently. There were some noticeable differences tonight compared to St. Andrews--first being that the people at HCC sing! At St. Andrews the worship is highly liturgical--in that everything-including-the-readings-and-prayers-is-printed-in-the-bulletin kind of way--and the average service includes two or three hymns that most people don't sing. At HCC tonight we sang about 8 songs--some traditional hymns (The Church's One Foundation was one), some more chorus-like (but none of the choruses that I normally rebel against)--and everyone was singing like they meant it. It was wonderful. The message was one I didn't completely agree with (big surprise there) but I was able to take something away that could be adapted to my understanding of God. The community seemed to actually care--there were concerns and celebrations, Sarah and I introduced ourselves, we were prayed for during the prayers of the people, we were welcomed profusely afterward. Though the pastor is more conservative than I am, and I think I like the pastor and pastor's family at St. Andrews more (as people and possibly as a preacher), I think I prefer the sense of community and the enthusiastic singing of HCC. I suspect I will split my time between those churches, because I just can't handle a year of a non-singing church. Singing is too important to me and my journey. Just saying.
How did we get to HCC? We took the tram. It's a part of the Metro system, I guess, but it's all above ground and it runs to places the Metro doesn't. For example, to Heliopolis. We got on around 5pm, which is really close to iftar (breaking the fast--when the sun goes down, Muslims eat at last). No one was on the train, and it started going at breakneck speed--literally! It went so fast that we were bumping and jostling around, as in boing! boing! boing! aaah! I was afraid one of us might just bounce out of the seat or even out of the window! It was crazy!! There was no traffic (everyone's inside getting ready to eat) so we didn't have to stop at street crossings...there was no one waiting to get on so we only slowed down and stops...it was quite the adventure. We couldn't talk to each other because it was loud (track noise and the wind literally RUSHING in the windows), but we laughed like crazy the whole way. We finally got to what we thought was the stop, but we couldn't find the church. We used our cell phone (thank goodness for the Cairo travelling mobile!) to call Nancy, who lives in Heliopolis and worships at HCC on Fridays, to ask for directions. When she heard where we were, she said "I'll come pick you up." She drives, so she came and got us and drove us to the church. She was right--we never would have found it. It is a nondescript building behind a big wall with no sign! We were very lucky to have her. After she took us to the church, she showed us how to get back to the tram stop we SHOULD have gotten off at--thank goodness because guess what? It's really close and convenient. And the tram only costs 25 piastres one way. Anyway, it was a big adventure, and one well worth it. The singing alone made it worth it. I'm excited to visit on a Friday when there are more people and even more singing, and real musical instruments (not just an electric piano). I think I can probably live with guitars and words on a screen (they're from the book, I think, but the books are expensive and there are apparently a lot of people on Fridays...on Sundays they use the book) and even with the conservative sermons to have people actually sing in church. I am that desperate.
A note about holy days: You notice that Friday is the bigger day...the weekend here is Friday-Saturday for most people and for the government. Most schools (except Christian-run schools like RCG), offices, businesses, etc, operate Sunday-Thursday. Friday is the Muslim holy day and is also the main church day, especially for protestants. Orthodox people worship primarily on Sunday and Wednesday. Friday is the first day of the weekend, and it takes some getting used to to go to church on the first day of the weekend, but it's worth it because there are more people. My weekend is Friday and Sunday, and I definitely prefer going on Friday because then I have Sunday (the first day of the Egyptian workweek) to do things, hang out, etc. It's much easier to go to the souk, visit the shops, and do fun things because they run weekday hours on one of my days off! I love it. Also, I can sleep in. yay. Anyway....that's the scoop on churches so far.
How did we get to HCC? We took the tram. It's a part of the Metro system, I guess, but it's all above ground and it runs to places the Metro doesn't. For example, to Heliopolis. We got on around 5pm, which is really close to iftar (breaking the fast--when the sun goes down, Muslims eat at last). No one was on the train, and it started going at breakneck speed--literally! It went so fast that we were bumping and jostling around, as in boing! boing! boing! aaah! I was afraid one of us might just bounce out of the seat or even out of the window! It was crazy!! There was no traffic (everyone's inside getting ready to eat) so we didn't have to stop at street crossings...there was no one waiting to get on so we only slowed down and stops...it was quite the adventure. We couldn't talk to each other because it was loud (track noise and the wind literally RUSHING in the windows), but we laughed like crazy the whole way. We finally got to what we thought was the stop, but we couldn't find the church. We used our cell phone (thank goodness for the Cairo travelling mobile!) to call Nancy, who lives in Heliopolis and worships at HCC on Fridays, to ask for directions. When she heard where we were, she said "I'll come pick you up." She drives, so she came and got us and drove us to the church. She was right--we never would have found it. It is a nondescript building behind a big wall with no sign! We were very lucky to have her. After she took us to the church, she showed us how to get back to the tram stop we SHOULD have gotten off at--thank goodness because guess what? It's really close and convenient. And the tram only costs 25 piastres one way. Anyway, it was a big adventure, and one well worth it. The singing alone made it worth it. I'm excited to visit on a Friday when there are more people and even more singing, and real musical instruments (not just an electric piano). I think I can probably live with guitars and words on a screen (they're from the book, I think, but the books are expensive and there are apparently a lot of people on Fridays...on Sundays they use the book) and even with the conservative sermons to have people actually sing in church. I am that desperate.
A note about holy days: You notice that Friday is the bigger day...the weekend here is Friday-Saturday for most people and for the government. Most schools (except Christian-run schools like RCG), offices, businesses, etc, operate Sunday-Thursday. Friday is the Muslim holy day and is also the main church day, especially for protestants. Orthodox people worship primarily on Sunday and Wednesday. Friday is the first day of the weekend, and it takes some getting used to to go to church on the first day of the weekend, but it's worth it because there are more people. My weekend is Friday and Sunday, and I definitely prefer going on Friday because then I have Sunday (the first day of the Egyptian workweek) to do things, hang out, etc. It's much easier to go to the souk, visit the shops, and do fun things because they run weekday hours on one of my days off! I love it. Also, I can sleep in. yay. Anyway....that's the scoop on churches so far.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Monday, October 10, 2005
adventures with children
There is something amazing about children. They seem not to see the same divisions adults see, they seem to understand that we are all made in the image of God, they love everything and everyone. Every day I have at least a dozen 6-8 year old girls tell me they love me. Every day I get at least a dozen affirmations that I am loved and wonderful and needed, and that these girls are affected by the stories I tell them, by the things I teach them, by the way I treat them. They don't care that I'm American and they're Egyptian, they don't care that some of their classmates have travelled and others haven't, they don't care that 4 of the 240 of them look like foreigners, they just care that someone has come to take them to the library every week and read them a storybook. Someone who cares enough to ask "what does your favorite toy look like?" or "can you make the face your mom makes when she's mad?" or "do you know the sound a horse makes?" or to say "thank you! I love you too!" And they show their love--with hugs, with hundreds of "Miss, I love you!"'s, with shouts from their classrooms every time I walk by in the hall. It's fantastic. If only we could keep these wonderful 6 year olds away from their adult family members who often will teach them to hate Sudanese refugees, to laugh at western women, to dislike people of other religions...why can't they stay as they are now, loving each other without realizing that half are Muslim and half are Christian, without caring what they look like, without a sense that some people are worth less than others. I hope that in this year of reading stories to them and teaching in their religion classes, I can help them maintain some of this innocence that looks so much like God's wisdom, maybe somehow I can water the seed of respect and love so it won't die from the non-love that people can often display. Hopefully. These children are wonderful, and they show so much promise for the future and for now. I love them!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
for Buffy-philes
I / _ O N'T / E _ E N / _ N O _ / _ _ _ T / _ / T E _ / _ O _ _ / I S , / _ _ T / I / _ _ N T / O N E /.
Alexandria
This past week included a holiday--the 6th of October--so I had two days off together (a rare and happy occurrence in the life of an RCG teacher!). I took the opportunity to go visit Jen and Jennifer in Alexandria...as did Jay and Sarah! Jason was already there for work, so all four of us Cairo-ites were up in Alex for the weekend. It was beautiful--blue sky, blue Mediterranean Sea, clean air, nice people, and our friends to hang out with! We walked around the town, exploring Jen/Jen's neighborhood. They just arrived there on monday and we arrived Wednesday evening, so we had a lot of exploring to do! We walked on the corniche (the waterfront), we ate, we chatted, we hung out, we watched Buffy, we cooked together (pasta and garlic bread Thursday night, and Jason and I made an excellent pancakes-hashbrowns-eggs breakfast Friday morning), we slept, we had an all-around great time! We rode the tram places, we met people, we even entertained for some prayer-conference-goers (the conference Jason was there for...people unexpectedly showed up and we had to serve tea and whatnot..luckily Jay had brought a torta so we served that!). It was an all around good time. I hope to visit Alexandria several more times this year--anytime I can! It's only 44 pounds round trip to go on the train (with my new International Student ID card!), which is about 7.65 US. A good deal! We had a lot of fun. Alex is a place where people are used to tourists, so there's a lot less staring-at-the-white-people. There's less traffic, which unfortunately means that cars move faster. (no, we didn't get hit...we just feared getting hit more there than here.) Anyway, I don't have a ton to say because we were there only two days and didn't get to any of the major attractions (the library, the museums, the amphitheatre, etc.), partially due to lack of time, partially for local-neighborhood-exploration, and partly for sheer relaxation. Next time...
Coptic Cairo
Nearly two weeks ago now, our group took a visit to Coptic Cairo with one of the long-term missionaries (and scholars) leading our tour. We visited really old things--like the original Roman turrets that marked the entrance to the city--and lots of churches. It was all fantastic!
"Copt" is a derivation of a misprounciation of Egypt, and "Coptic" is the word used for people who would trace their lineage back to pharaonic times (the original egyptians, if you will), not to Arabs. Coptic is also a language similar to Greek, and the word used to describe things that are really old. Most people who identify themselves as Copts now are Christians of the Coptic Orthodox persuasion, and there's actually a small push underway to bring the coptic language back to the church (as a way to separate from Arabic-speaking Muslim culture or something). Anyway, Coptic Cairo is located in the heart of Old Cairo, the site of the original city--which is now south of downtown and a tiny bit north of the neighborhood where most westerners live (Maadi). We rode the Metro down there and, upon exiting the station we were immediately face-to-brick-wall with the old Roman turrets. It turns out that in Roman times Cairo was known as Babylon, (I can't remember why at the moment) and these turrets were the gates of Babylon--strategically located very near the Nile (where it used to be). Anyway, they're neat. We went down the steps into Old Cairo and found ourselves in narrow streets paved with stones--very Roman, perfectly cut rectangular stones--and we walked along to Ben Ezra synagogue. There used to be a substantial Jewish community in Egypt, until Nasser, I think. Anyway, ben Ezra was at one point a church but was given to the Jewish community because of Moses and Jeremiah being there, or near there. Supposedly Moses was found in the river near this place, and also Jeremiah (much later) was taken to exile in Egypt. Very cool. Ben Ezra has the Geniza (big room where papers were stored when they shouldn't be destroyed), and also has a substantial library of Jewish literature in Arabic and Hebrew, much of it dating back a couple of hundred years.
We also visited St. Barbara's church, at one time the largest Coptic Orthodox church in the area. There was a service going on (lots of incense and chanting, women separated from men, women with their heads covered, the whole thing) so I couldn't take pictures. Check the link for a few pics. After St. Barbara's we visited the church of the Holy Family, also called Abu Serga church (named for a saint). Unfortunately, the crypt where it is believed the Holy Family stayed when they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt is closed. Often it is under water due to the rising groundwater--a rise caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. It seems no one did the research on what would happen environmentally if there was a dam there. Not only does the Nile no longer flood (which means farmers now must use fertilizer, which is expensive, bad for the ground and the food, and is also depleting the soil) but also the groundwater downriver from the dam has been rising, threatening building foundations and putting some of the oldest parts of the city underwater occasionally. Ancient buildings that have stood for thousands of years are beginning to crumble because the water table is rising. Hmm...environmental impact study, anyone?
Anyways...we also visited the Hanging Church, which is very famous I guess. It's beautiful and, I think, is the oldest church here? Lots of amazing architectural detail, and great icons showing the move into the common language (Arabic). Also lots of saints relics--fingers, etc. Our last visit was to St. George's Greek Orthodox church, which was large and full of metal-plated icons. There's also a chapel where the very chains said to have imprisoned George are kept, and faithful people will often come to have the chains put on them as a blessing. It's a little strange, but cool. The chains are really heavy and make horrendous noise in the small stone space, but people come nonetheless. Amazing.
You'll see in my photo albums a picture I've titled "ecumenical crosses." You can see in it the large Coptic-style cross, some smaller Orthodox-style crosses (with equal arms), and two protestant-style crosses. Very neat.
Speaking of photos, make sure to check some of the alread-posted albums because I occasionally add new photos to an existing album. Cairo 3 is most of my September photos. Cairo 4 will be most of my October photos. etc etc etc. enjoy!
"Copt" is a derivation of a misprounciation of Egypt, and "Coptic" is the word used for people who would trace their lineage back to pharaonic times (the original egyptians, if you will), not to Arabs. Coptic is also a language similar to Greek, and the word used to describe things that are really old. Most people who identify themselves as Copts now are Christians of the Coptic Orthodox persuasion, and there's actually a small push underway to bring the coptic language back to the church (as a way to separate from Arabic-speaking Muslim culture or something). Anyway, Coptic Cairo is located in the heart of Old Cairo, the site of the original city--which is now south of downtown and a tiny bit north of the neighborhood where most westerners live (Maadi). We rode the Metro down there and, upon exiting the station we were immediately face-to-brick-wall with the old Roman turrets. It turns out that in Roman times Cairo was known as Babylon, (I can't remember why at the moment) and these turrets were the gates of Babylon--strategically located very near the Nile (where it used to be). Anyway, they're neat. We went down the steps into Old Cairo and found ourselves in narrow streets paved with stones--very Roman, perfectly cut rectangular stones--and we walked along to Ben Ezra synagogue. There used to be a substantial Jewish community in Egypt, until Nasser, I think. Anyway, ben Ezra was at one point a church but was given to the Jewish community because of Moses and Jeremiah being there, or near there. Supposedly Moses was found in the river near this place, and also Jeremiah (much later) was taken to exile in Egypt. Very cool. Ben Ezra has the Geniza (big room where papers were stored when they shouldn't be destroyed), and also has a substantial library of Jewish literature in Arabic and Hebrew, much of it dating back a couple of hundred years.
We also visited St. Barbara's church, at one time the largest Coptic Orthodox church in the area. There was a service going on (lots of incense and chanting, women separated from men, women with their heads covered, the whole thing) so I couldn't take pictures. Check the link for a few pics. After St. Barbara's we visited the church of the Holy Family, also called Abu Serga church (named for a saint). Unfortunately, the crypt where it is believed the Holy Family stayed when they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt is closed. Often it is under water due to the rising groundwater--a rise caused by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. It seems no one did the research on what would happen environmentally if there was a dam there. Not only does the Nile no longer flood (which means farmers now must use fertilizer, which is expensive, bad for the ground and the food, and is also depleting the soil) but also the groundwater downriver from the dam has been rising, threatening building foundations and putting some of the oldest parts of the city underwater occasionally. Ancient buildings that have stood for thousands of years are beginning to crumble because the water table is rising. Hmm...environmental impact study, anyone?
Anyways...we also visited the Hanging Church, which is very famous I guess. It's beautiful and, I think, is the oldest church here? Lots of amazing architectural detail, and great icons showing the move into the common language (Arabic). Also lots of saints relics--fingers, etc. Our last visit was to St. George's Greek Orthodox church, which was large and full of metal-plated icons. There's also a chapel where the very chains said to have imprisoned George are kept, and faithful people will often come to have the chains put on them as a blessing. It's a little strange, but cool. The chains are really heavy and make horrendous noise in the small stone space, but people come nonetheless. Amazing.
You'll see in my photo albums a picture I've titled "ecumenical crosses." You can see in it the large Coptic-style cross, some smaller Orthodox-style crosses (with equal arms), and two protestant-style crosses. Very neat.
Speaking of photos, make sure to check some of the alread-posted albums because I occasionally add new photos to an existing album. Cairo 3 is most of my September photos. Cairo 4 will be most of my October photos. etc etc etc. enjoy!
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
adventures....a post from yesterday
(we didn't have internet yesterday, so I'm posting this on Wednesday...so when it says "yesterday" that means Monday, and "tomorrow" means Wednesday...yeah...)
Last night I had a very exciting experience: I made my cinematic debut! Well, I recorded the narration in English for a video for a non-governmental organization. That counts. The video is kind of like a fundraising/prayer request/recruiting video for the Arabic Christian Centre in London. The Better Life Association in Minya is closely related to the Centre and is the organization that got me involved. (Well, actually, they called Carole looking for someone with an American accent and I happened to be standing nearby at the time.)
I was picked up from RCG and taken up on a hill to the Sat7 studio. Sat7 is the local satellite TV station run by and for Christians in Egypt. When the station was first started several years ago, some of the non-Christians were really upset and there was a fire at the studio, causing the entire thing to be condemned and requiring a complete rebuilding. They needed to raise money all over again, and many people donated things like their personal jewelry in order to have the station. Now it is stable, well funded, and even mildly popular, at least among the Christians who have satellite TV. Their studio was very modern and technologically up to date—it was quite exciting to be in a TV studio and to be the one working, not just touring! I went into the studio, received a script and a set of headphones and off we went! It took about an hour to record the narration for the video three times in different moods and with no rustling sound as I turned pages on my script. The recording technician/editor (Andrew) then put it all together nicely and the NGO people will add it to the video clips they have. Andrew said I had a lovely voice and that I don’t have much accent—I explained that west-coasters don’t really have an accent, unlike many other parts of the country (think South, Midwest, Boston, New York, Texas, etc). In fact, studies show that west-coast-americans have the clearest and most understandable English, so apparently I was a good choice/excellent coincidence! The whole narration is probably 10 minutes long, and the video maybe 20 or so minutes. It was a great time and I also got to meet people in the process! Good times. SO…..since this video is being made to show to Americans (in hopes of getting funding and missionaries) maybe one day you’ll see it, and you’ll say “hey, that’s Teri! I knew her when…” yay. ?
In other news, I went to the suuk today and picked up a pound of green beans, two pounds of zucchini, a pound of tomatoes, and half a pound of green bell peppers for approximately 75 cents US. So excellent! Then I spent 1.25 on two pounds of pears, but they were worth it I think. Very good pears. Anyway…tonight Sarah and Jason and I made a great dinner: white sticky rice with a tomato sauce chock-full of veggies, and a side of green beans sautéed with balsamic vinegar. YUM!
Still more news: tomorrow Jason is headed to Alexandria for work, and Sarah and Jay and I all have a few days off so we’re going too! October 6th (Thursday) is a national holiday here—to celebrate the liberation of the Sinai from Israeli occupation. As far as I can remember, during the six day war Israel attacked and took the Sinai (as well as the Golan Heights). Then, later Egypt took it back. Anyway, now it’s sometimes referred to as Armed Services Day. Basically, it’s a Memorial Day/Veterans Day kind of thing. No school, no government offices are open, nothing’s really open. Sarah and I will ride the 7pm train to Alex, arriving at 9pm. Jay will come on Thursday morning. I’ll be back in Cairo Friday night (gotta work Saturday), and Sarah will be back Saturday. It will be so fun to get out of the pollution for a little while, to go to the Mediterranean, and to see Jen and Jennifer in their new home. They left on Monday to move to Alex for the rest of the year. Stephen and Eric left this morning for Minya, and we probably won’t see them for at least a month. It’s strange to be around here with half our group gone…so it will be nice to see a couple of them for a few days in their new surroundings!
Probably no internet while I’m gone, so…enjoy the Egyptian holiday in the middle of your work week!
ttfn!
Last night I had a very exciting experience: I made my cinematic debut! Well, I recorded the narration in English for a video for a non-governmental organization. That counts. The video is kind of like a fundraising/prayer request/recruiting video for the Arabic Christian Centre in London. The Better Life Association in Minya is closely related to the Centre and is the organization that got me involved. (Well, actually, they called Carole looking for someone with an American accent and I happened to be standing nearby at the time.)
I was picked up from RCG and taken up on a hill to the Sat7 studio. Sat7 is the local satellite TV station run by and for Christians in Egypt. When the station was first started several years ago, some of the non-Christians were really upset and there was a fire at the studio, causing the entire thing to be condemned and requiring a complete rebuilding. They needed to raise money all over again, and many people donated things like their personal jewelry in order to have the station. Now it is stable, well funded, and even mildly popular, at least among the Christians who have satellite TV. Their studio was very modern and technologically up to date—it was quite exciting to be in a TV studio and to be the one working, not just touring! I went into the studio, received a script and a set of headphones and off we went! It took about an hour to record the narration for the video three times in different moods and with no rustling sound as I turned pages on my script. The recording technician/editor (Andrew) then put it all together nicely and the NGO people will add it to the video clips they have. Andrew said I had a lovely voice and that I don’t have much accent—I explained that west-coasters don’t really have an accent, unlike many other parts of the country (think South, Midwest, Boston, New York, Texas, etc). In fact, studies show that west-coast-americans have the clearest and most understandable English, so apparently I was a good choice/excellent coincidence! The whole narration is probably 10 minutes long, and the video maybe 20 or so minutes. It was a great time and I also got to meet people in the process! Good times. SO…..since this video is being made to show to Americans (in hopes of getting funding and missionaries) maybe one day you’ll see it, and you’ll say “hey, that’s Teri! I knew her when…” yay. ?
In other news, I went to the suuk today and picked up a pound of green beans, two pounds of zucchini, a pound of tomatoes, and half a pound of green bell peppers for approximately 75 cents US. So excellent! Then I spent 1.25 on two pounds of pears, but they were worth it I think. Very good pears. Anyway…tonight Sarah and Jason and I made a great dinner: white sticky rice with a tomato sauce chock-full of veggies, and a side of green beans sautéed with balsamic vinegar. YUM!
Still more news: tomorrow Jason is headed to Alexandria for work, and Sarah and Jay and I all have a few days off so we’re going too! October 6th (Thursday) is a national holiday here—to celebrate the liberation of the Sinai from Israeli occupation. As far as I can remember, during the six day war Israel attacked and took the Sinai (as well as the Golan Heights). Then, later Egypt took it back. Anyway, now it’s sometimes referred to as Armed Services Day. Basically, it’s a Memorial Day/Veterans Day kind of thing. No school, no government offices are open, nothing’s really open. Sarah and I will ride the 7pm train to Alex, arriving at 9pm. Jay will come on Thursday morning. I’ll be back in Cairo Friday night (gotta work Saturday), and Sarah will be back Saturday. It will be so fun to get out of the pollution for a little while, to go to the Mediterranean, and to see Jen and Jennifer in their new home. They left on Monday to move to Alex for the rest of the year. Stephen and Eric left this morning for Minya, and we probably won’t see them for at least a month. It’s strange to be around here with half our group gone…so it will be nice to see a couple of them for a few days in their new surroundings!
Probably no internet while I’m gone, so…enjoy the Egyptian holiday in the middle of your work week!
ttfn!
Monday, October 03, 2005
"If" of the week...
If you could permanently eliminate any one type of insect from the earth, what would you get rid of?
eew
I have debated a long time (well, three weeks) about whether to write about this topic or not. I know many of you who read this are church people or people who are really concerned about my safety and welfare and whatnot, and also that you want to know what it really is like to live here. SO: with all those things in mind, I'm going to go ahead because this is a part of life as a Western woman here. PLEASE keep in mind that I live in a culture where violence is rare and violence against women (other than domestic violence inside the house) is non-existent.
Men here have seen too many of Hollywood's worst movies. They've seen Baywatch. They've seen all those sketchy media things we like to export around the world regardless of their cultural appropriateness. And they haven't seen many women who aren't covered, and even fewer white women, and even fewer blonde-and-curly haired white women. Culturally, women are to cover their shoulders, not show midriff, not wear skirts that fall at the knee or above. Many tourists, however, can be seen in short shorts and tank tops, or in sheer shirts with no bra, or other horrendously inappropriate clothing. When men here see them (who are awfully dressed and are here for a few days), and then see us (who are appropriately dressed and who live here), they think we must all be just like the women in the movies and tv shows they've seen, or else we must be part of the sexual tourism industry. What that means to them is a) we're all "loose" and b)we like to be treated the way they've seen western women treated onscreen. They are, of course, wrong on both counts, but no one seems to have bothered to set all several million of them straight. So there are many men (not all, and this certainly doesn't happen ever day) who think that it is okay to say inappropriate things to women, to shout obsenities, or even to grab their bodies. In addition to the constant staring, I have had men on the street tell me they love me, tell me that they want to love me, tell me I've broken their hearts, tell me that want to f*** me, tell me they want to lick me, grab my behind, rub their forearms on my chest while talking to me (that happened in the Egyptian museum, actually), or rub themselves (you know what I mean) on my leg on a crowded metro train. It is not a pleasant experience. Sometimes I think it is simply funny and pathetic--that the best they can do for themselves is get half a second of gratification from touching a white woman on the street. Sometimes I think it's disgusting and all I want to do is take a shower. Naturally, the word "no" comes out quickly, as do the dirty looks and the moving away. Sometimes that is not enough. I have learned the Arabic word for "shame" as well as the phrase "would you do that to your sister?" Luckily, this is a culture so based on honor and shame that any man who gets called out on doing something like that is likely to run off, humiliated. If their sister were to get treated that way (and they were to find out about it), they would be likely to go out and beat up the guy...and then keep an even closer watch and tighter control over their sister's movements outside the house.
So anyway, this is a real problem here. Remember: it will never go beyond this. I am not afraid to walk in the streets (though I don't go places by myself, really, or at least not very much) because they may yell or grab, but they won't assault me. There's no possibility of rape or injury, other than to my psyche--which is pretty strong. Normally I laugh it off, because it's so pathetic. As if any of those men would even have the remotest chance with someone cute (and taken) like me! Anyway...yeah. Should you come to visit, be aware of this and PLEASE dress appropriately--for the sake of those of us that live here. That's all I have to say about that for today.
Men here have seen too many of Hollywood's worst movies. They've seen Baywatch. They've seen all those sketchy media things we like to export around the world regardless of their cultural appropriateness. And they haven't seen many women who aren't covered, and even fewer white women, and even fewer blonde-and-curly haired white women. Culturally, women are to cover their shoulders, not show midriff, not wear skirts that fall at the knee or above. Many tourists, however, can be seen in short shorts and tank tops, or in sheer shirts with no bra, or other horrendously inappropriate clothing. When men here see them (who are awfully dressed and are here for a few days), and then see us (who are appropriately dressed and who live here), they think we must all be just like the women in the movies and tv shows they've seen, or else we must be part of the sexual tourism industry. What that means to them is a) we're all "loose" and b)we like to be treated the way they've seen western women treated onscreen. They are, of course, wrong on both counts, but no one seems to have bothered to set all several million of them straight. So there are many men (not all, and this certainly doesn't happen ever day) who think that it is okay to say inappropriate things to women, to shout obsenities, or even to grab their bodies. In addition to the constant staring, I have had men on the street tell me they love me, tell me that they want to love me, tell me I've broken their hearts, tell me that want to f*** me, tell me they want to lick me, grab my behind, rub their forearms on my chest while talking to me (that happened in the Egyptian museum, actually), or rub themselves (you know what I mean) on my leg on a crowded metro train. It is not a pleasant experience. Sometimes I think it is simply funny and pathetic--that the best they can do for themselves is get half a second of gratification from touching a white woman on the street. Sometimes I think it's disgusting and all I want to do is take a shower. Naturally, the word "no" comes out quickly, as do the dirty looks and the moving away. Sometimes that is not enough. I have learned the Arabic word for "shame" as well as the phrase "would you do that to your sister?" Luckily, this is a culture so based on honor and shame that any man who gets called out on doing something like that is likely to run off, humiliated. If their sister were to get treated that way (and they were to find out about it), they would be likely to go out and beat up the guy...and then keep an even closer watch and tighter control over their sister's movements outside the house.
So anyway, this is a real problem here. Remember: it will never go beyond this. I am not afraid to walk in the streets (though I don't go places by myself, really, or at least not very much) because they may yell or grab, but they won't assault me. There's no possibility of rape or injury, other than to my psyche--which is pretty strong. Normally I laugh it off, because it's so pathetic. As if any of those men would even have the remotest chance with someone cute (and taken) like me! Anyway...yeah. Should you come to visit, be aware of this and PLEASE dress appropriately--for the sake of those of us that live here. That's all I have to say about that for today.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
done
arabic is finished, finally. the "exam" today was bearable. tomorrow il-hafla! (party) Tonight several of us celebrated the end of Arabic class by going out to Chilis for dinner. Yes, you read right: Chilis, on the Nile (literally--on an anchored cruise ship on the Nile, Zamalek side). Mmm...green lettuce, mozzarella sticks, milkshake, and amazing dessert. Most of our group got a hamburger-and-fries fix. Good times.
Coming soon: a post about our trip to Coptic Cairo and a sidebar called 'adventures in arabic' which will showcase some of our arabic-language missteps.
FYI: Tonight (Sept. 29) the time here in Egypt changes away from Daylight Savings. So in half an hour we are all going to set our clocks back an hour. Which means:
mom--you are now nine hours behind here;
atlanta mom--you are now 6 hours behind here...
until y'all do your time change dance over there.
so if anyone wants to call, please take that into account. thanks.
I start reading stories on Monday morning! I got my school schedule today, and it looks pretty good. no early mornings for me! My first class is at 10 on Monday and Tuesday, and at 10:40 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I do four storytimes on Monday and two all the other days for a total of 12 40-minute periods, with 20 6-year-old-girls in each period. AAA!! In the afternoons on T/Th I'll be helping with the English-Enrichment-Activity period in three classes each day (30 minutes each class of 40 girls). Apparently part of my job is to come up with some of these activities, too. hmmm....
anyway, i need to go to bed. all that food made me tired. goodnight...
Coming soon: a post about our trip to Coptic Cairo and a sidebar called 'adventures in arabic' which will showcase some of our arabic-language missteps.
FYI: Tonight (Sept. 29) the time here in Egypt changes away from Daylight Savings. So in half an hour we are all going to set our clocks back an hour. Which means:
mom--you are now nine hours behind here;
atlanta mom--you are now 6 hours behind here...
until y'all do your time change dance over there.
so if anyone wants to call, please take that into account. thanks.
I start reading stories on Monday morning! I got my school schedule today, and it looks pretty good. no early mornings for me! My first class is at 10 on Monday and Tuesday, and at 10:40 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I do four storytimes on Monday and two all the other days for a total of 12 40-minute periods, with 20 6-year-old-girls in each period. AAA!! In the afternoons on T/Th I'll be helping with the English-Enrichment-Activity period in three classes each day (30 minutes each class of 40 girls). Apparently part of my job is to come up with some of these activities, too. hmmm....
anyway, i need to go to bed. all that food made me tired. goodnight...
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Adventures in the Wilderness
This weekend we took quite the trip: to the Sinai, with our Arabic school (Dar Camboni). Dar Camboni is a Roman Catholic school that teaches Arabic--both classical and Egyptian Colloquial--as well as a variety of other courses in things like "Interreligious Dialogue" and "Islamic Studies". In addition to our colloquial class and the very large classical class, there was a group from the local Catholic parish (to which the school is attached) called St. Joseph's. So we were two large tour buses, headed out of Cairo. Each bus was completely full--47 seats, 47 people. We drove about two hours before reaching the Suez canal, which we went under. I didn't even know there was a tunnel there, but there is. About an hour later we stopped at a hotel/beach for the afternoon. We swam in the Red Sea (the Gulf of Suezpart), hung out on the beach, people-watched, and some of us (girls) got ogled and asked for photos and conversations. It was clearly an Egyptian vacation spot, because we were the only westerners there. It is also quite possibly the place (or very like the place) where Moses and the Hebrews crossed into the wilderness. It's a pretty long way across there--we could only barely make out the cliffs on the other side of hte gulf. It's amazing to think that even happened (or sort of happened) and that we have been to the place! it was a pretty fun afternoon, but long. We were at the beach for nearly 7 hours! "Hot" and "exhausting" are the two words besides "fun" and "gorgeous" that I would use. I like the beach, but not for seven hours at a time. Anyway, at 7pm we got back on the bus and headed for St. Catherine's. We stopped for dinner and everyone at our table got spaghetti (the cheapest thing on the menu) which did NOT make our server happy! It was good, but several of us had some issues with it later (stomach cramps and such). At that moment, though, it was very tasty!!
We arrived at St. Catherine's at 11pm, after two checkpoints--one that included passport checks--and we hung out in the little cafe area for a while. Jen and I had a definite restroom experience there at the monastery! We paid one pound each (about 20 cents US) to go in the restroom. Inside we found three stalls, each equipped with a lovely tiled hole in the ground. As we were both wearing pants (not skirts--who hikes up Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night in a skirt?) we had some difficulty with this. Luckily, I've experienced this before (anyone ever been to the bathroom at the Damascus airport? gross.) so when Jen called to me "uh, Teri, how do I do this?" I was able to call back "brace yourself using your arms and the walls. and pray." It was...ummm...gross. Luckily, neither of us peed on ourselves, so we survived. The scary part is that we paid to use this bathroom. anyway...
we began the hike around 1am. Several of our group members took off at high speed, while Jen, Jason, and I (accompanied by one of our Arabic instructors, Ashraf) took a more leisurely pace. Last year our group took camels up the first 2/3 of the mountain, when it's a sandy trail, so I had no idea what a hard hike it would be in the first part. We definitely had to rest several times. While it might be trail, it's sand and rock and goes at a pretty steep incline some of the time. The trail is about 6 kilometers long. It's a good workout, I can tell you that! Part way up I REALLY needed to use the restroom again (dang extra water bottle at the bottom! I was so dehydrated after the busride and beachy afternoon that I succumbed and bought a water bottle and drank it all before we climbed). I was contemplating going behind a rock somehow (I know I complained about the hole, but whatever) since we were pretty alone on the trail, when magically one of the bedouin cafe's had a toilet sign. I was so excited to see an outhouse about 100 feet down a little path behind the cafe, and simultaneously scared out of my mind that there might be a hole out there that I'd have to squat on. Luckily, Jen went with me and held a flashlight and sang a little song while I was inside. Also luckily, there was a compost toilet so I could cover it with tissue and sit down. Whew! It was dark out there, though! wow. after that I felt much better and hiked in the dark more cheerfully. I know a lot of this has been about bathrooms, so I'm done with that now (FYI). Anyway, we were hiking in the middle of the night and Jason (our resident astronomy expert) kept telling us what was in the sky. It was a convenient excuse to stop and rest frequently, because the sky is so clear and so dark and so beautiful that not to stop and enjoy it seemed like a crime. Absolutely gorgeous--we could see the seven sisters, every star in Orion, several of the astrological constellations, and thousands of other stars. We saw Jupiter too, very near the horizon when we began climbing. The higher we got, the more constellations we could see, too. The moon was pretty bright, though, so there were some that weren't very visible. Anyway, we kept on trucking (well, walking), occasionally being accosted by camels and their bedouins asking "camel, camel? very good camel. 4 more kilometers..." etc etc etc. Many times we were tempted but we resisted. However, we often turned around to look at something and found a camel literally inches away from our faces! The camels are sturdy pack animals, very sure footed and whatnot, but they do NOT avoid people. They walk wherever they're used to walking, and if you're in that spot than you're going to find a camel in your face, or a camel rider's foot brushing you, or something. So funny. Camels are simultaneously beautiful and awkward looking. They have cute faces with big eyes and long eyelashes, but they have spindly legs and a gait that looks like they're going to break something with every step.
After the camel trail ends there are 750 steps to the top of the mountain. Ashraf (who rode a camel halfway up the trail because of "leg cramps") kept saying that we should just go now, no more resting, etc etc etc. We just laughed at him. Jason still has a cough from his cold of two weeks ago, and I was fast nearing the end of my second bottle of water (I only took two up with me). We rested several times. As we got to the top, I waited for Jason to recover from a coughing fit and we took hands and took the last step together. It was about 4 am when we reached the summit. We took the "best spot" at the edge of the top, near the chapel, rented a blanket, snuggled up (Jen, me, and Jason, anyway), and attempted to sleep against a rock. It was so cold, and so uncomfortable, that not much sleeping happened. At 6 we were awakened by Ashraf's phone alarm and we sat up and watched the first light creep over the horizon. It was beautiful. So orange and blue. Jason was the first to see the sliver of sun come up, and after that everyone was taking pictures like crazy. I looked around and discovered that there were hundreds of people standing behind and around us, watching the sunrise. I could hear people singing on another part of the mountain top. We had no idea where the rest of our group was, but they were obviously (according to Ashraf) in an inferior location despite their early arrival. I took quite a few pictures, as you can see in my photo album, but I opted to watch the sunrise this time because last year I'd taken so many photos that I missed the watching. It was gorgeous and SO FAST! It takes only a few minutes for the whole sun to appear over the horizon. As light crept into the southeastern sinai, we could see in vivid relief all the mountains around us, and it was completely gorgeous. Incredible, really. It was worth the hard work to get up there, the scary bathrooms, the stairs in the dark, the sleeping on a rock in the cold, to see that.
Once the sun is up, people immediately head down the mountain. We stayed a few extra minutes, taking pictures, looking around, seeing how Mt. Sinai casts a pyramid-shaped shadow on the neighboring mountain, getting some pictures of ourselves up there, etc. Then we started the trek down, with the 900 other people who'd come up. It was crazy and slow going, with so many people on the stairs. When we finally came to the bottom of the 750 stairs, there were lots of bedouins around trying to get people to ride camels down, or offering their guide services for those who wanted to take the Stairs of Repentance, or selling things. One bedouin offered to take Jen down on a camel for 60 pounds, which she refused and asked for 40. He stood around and finally offered 50, and she asked me if I wanted to go too. My response was, of course, "not for fifty!" I had been thinking of riding a camel down because last year's camel experience was so much fun. There was no way I was taking those stairs again, so the options were walking or riding down the camel trail. The guy continued to stand around even after we'd refused, and finally he came down to 40, at which point Jen and I took him up on his offer. Jason, Jennifer, and Ashraf walked down and Jen and I got hoisted onto camels. My bedouin put me on a camel, gave him a pat on the rear, and left. My camel and I were, once again, leaderless, and he went peacefully on down the trail without any help. So now both my camel riding experiences were sans guide, and I've survived. I threw my leg over the front and hooked my foot on his neck, I made all the right noises (clicking and slurping) whenever he stopped, and down we went! I was even able to take some photos from the camel because I didn't need to hold on. The only thing about coming down that was different from going up (aside from it being light and all that) was that down is much rougher. You bounce more in the saddle coming down, because they have to take steps down rather than up so it's just not as smooth. I definitely have some bruised thighs and lower back from the saddle. Having said that, riding a camel is SO FUN that it was completely worth the 40 pounds and the minor bruising. As I had no guide to ask, I named my camel myself--his name was Hawaby. He was a very good camel--"camela kwayes awy". Near the end of our trip--maybe 300 or so meters from the camel corral--the guide for the two british women behind me (on two camels linked together) came up to me and handed me the lead for their camels and walked off! So here I was, guideless, and now in charge of two more camels besides my own! I may be a minorly experienced camel rider, but not this experienced! The front camel of those two stopped and my left arm went behind me as my camel went on and I clung to the lead for their camels. I clicked and slurped and finally her reticent camel came on--partially, I think, because my camel wasn't about to stop! He could see the food and water ahead and was going straight there, not stopping GO or collecting 200 dollars! Anyway, we got to the camel corral safely and some other bedouin came up to help us down. My camel went straight for the trough, only to be rebuked by a slap on the neck and told to sit down first. He sat down and I got off, at which point the front british woman (who'd been commenting for quite some time that I seemed to know what I was doing..."she's even taking photos" etc) said "she can even get down by herself!" It was so funny, as I watched her try to finangle herself out of the camel saddle. Anyway, the bedouin who'd handed me the ropes was saying that my camel just wanted baksheesh (water, I thought, but whatever). I asked him if the camel did or he did, and he just smiled. I gave him a pound. I hope he gets some good bread or something. Anyway, it was a good time.
By the time we got down, Jen and I needed another trip to the hole-in-the-ground bathroom. On our way there, we passed Sister Enrica (the nun who runs our school and who organized this trip) as she was about to enter the monastery. When we came out of the restroom we passed her again on her way back to her room! Granted, there was a line in the bathroom, but still! She was quick. We went into the monastery and found HUGE crowds there, which explains her quick exit. we glimpsed moses' well, did a walk through of the church (avoiding the glare of one of the brothers whose job was obviously to keep people from touching or photographing any of the hundreds of really old icons in the sanctuary), visited the burning bush, took some photos, and got out. We were exhausted, and tired of people, and hungry and thirsty and ready to go. The monastery was packed with people, which made me sad. Also, the icon gallery costs 25 pounds, so we decided not to go in because we were too tired to enjoy it for 25 pounds. So out we went...we waited a little while, had some snacks...my trail mix (pretzel sticks, dried apricots, golden raisins, almonds, and chocolate chips) was really good both on the mountain and at the bottom...then walked back out to the bus and were on our way. I was so exhausted that when I tried to look at my pictures on my camera I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was so glad I'd brought my travel pillow (mm...Fom...)! I slept almost the whole way back. Uncomfortable though I was, crammed in my little bus seat, I leaned against the window and barely even woke up when we had to show our passports at a checkpoint. We stopped for a long while somewhere, and I woke up then because it was hot with the sun coming in my window. There are conflicting reports about that stop--whether it was a flat tire on the other bus or a checkpoint inspection. In any case, it was half an hour with the a/c off. Later we made another stop for food, and boy was I glad that I brought so much food with me! The menu at this little cafeteria showed a price of 9.95 for some of the sandwiches, but when you asked for one at that price they refused and charged 20 pounds! A can of Sprite, a bottle of water, a small ice cream bar...these things all cost 10 pounds! It was ridiculous. I refused to buy anything when they were so obviously overcharging. In Cairo you can get a 1-liter bottle of water for a pound. You can get a liter of seven-up for 2.50. you can get a cup of the best ice cream you've ever eaten for 1.50. tameyya sandwiches are 60 piasters at the place down the street from us. It was insane, the prices these people were asking from the people on the tour bus. What made it worse was that a large percentage of the people on the buses paid it and ate there! I got back on the bus and ate my pb&j, my pear, my remaining cereal, some trail mix, a box of mango juice, and some water--all in air conditioned comfort (unlike the cafeteria) and all for less than a coke would have cost me inside. Crazy.
I tried to stay awake for the last part of the journey, but I just couldn't. I missed the tunnel under the Suez canal on the way back, and I woke up somewhere around Heliopolis. I watched our bus pass by Ramses College (where we live) and head back to Dar Camboni (on Zamalek, an island in the Nile). When we finally got there, we got in taxis and headed home. Once home--at about 8pm--a few of us ran out for food (mmmm...tameyya and fuul sandwiches!) and ice cream (two sandwiches and a scoop of ice cream for 3.70 LE), ate, showered for a long time (to get off the beach/ocean/sweat/dirt/mountain/bus/sleeping ickiness), and went to bed. I went to bed at 10, the earliest I've gone to sleep since arriving here, and I got up this morning at 10 when the sun coming in my window was finally unbearable. I studied not even a little bit this whole three-day-weekend, so tomorrow morning after our breakfast meeting I'll be studying like crazy! I know I'm either the best or second-best student in my class and our main teacher assigned me some homework: to write (in arabic, obviously) a narrative about our journey to Mt. Sinai. I need to do that tomorrow morning. I only hope I know enough words to do it without having to constantly look things up. :-0 send me happy thoughts and good brainwaves...I need them!
This post is so incredibly long that I'm stopping now. I hope you got a glimpse of our trip into the Sinai wilderness....goodnight!
We arrived at St. Catherine's at 11pm, after two checkpoints--one that included passport checks--and we hung out in the little cafe area for a while. Jen and I had a definite restroom experience there at the monastery! We paid one pound each (about 20 cents US) to go in the restroom. Inside we found three stalls, each equipped with a lovely tiled hole in the ground. As we were both wearing pants (not skirts--who hikes up Mt. Sinai in the middle of the night in a skirt?) we had some difficulty with this. Luckily, I've experienced this before (anyone ever been to the bathroom at the Damascus airport? gross.) so when Jen called to me "uh, Teri, how do I do this?" I was able to call back "brace yourself using your arms and the walls. and pray." It was...ummm...gross. Luckily, neither of us peed on ourselves, so we survived. The scary part is that we paid to use this bathroom. anyway...
we began the hike around 1am. Several of our group members took off at high speed, while Jen, Jason, and I (accompanied by one of our Arabic instructors, Ashraf) took a more leisurely pace. Last year our group took camels up the first 2/3 of the mountain, when it's a sandy trail, so I had no idea what a hard hike it would be in the first part. We definitely had to rest several times. While it might be trail, it's sand and rock and goes at a pretty steep incline some of the time. The trail is about 6 kilometers long. It's a good workout, I can tell you that! Part way up I REALLY needed to use the restroom again (dang extra water bottle at the bottom! I was so dehydrated after the busride and beachy afternoon that I succumbed and bought a water bottle and drank it all before we climbed). I was contemplating going behind a rock somehow (I know I complained about the hole, but whatever) since we were pretty alone on the trail, when magically one of the bedouin cafe's had a toilet sign. I was so excited to see an outhouse about 100 feet down a little path behind the cafe, and simultaneously scared out of my mind that there might be a hole out there that I'd have to squat on. Luckily, Jen went with me and held a flashlight and sang a little song while I was inside. Also luckily, there was a compost toilet so I could cover it with tissue and sit down. Whew! It was dark out there, though! wow. after that I felt much better and hiked in the dark more cheerfully. I know a lot of this has been about bathrooms, so I'm done with that now (FYI). Anyway, we were hiking in the middle of the night and Jason (our resident astronomy expert) kept telling us what was in the sky. It was a convenient excuse to stop and rest frequently, because the sky is so clear and so dark and so beautiful that not to stop and enjoy it seemed like a crime. Absolutely gorgeous--we could see the seven sisters, every star in Orion, several of the astrological constellations, and thousands of other stars. We saw Jupiter too, very near the horizon when we began climbing. The higher we got, the more constellations we could see, too. The moon was pretty bright, though, so there were some that weren't very visible. Anyway, we kept on trucking (well, walking), occasionally being accosted by camels and their bedouins asking "camel, camel? very good camel. 4 more kilometers..." etc etc etc. Many times we were tempted but we resisted. However, we often turned around to look at something and found a camel literally inches away from our faces! The camels are sturdy pack animals, very sure footed and whatnot, but they do NOT avoid people. They walk wherever they're used to walking, and if you're in that spot than you're going to find a camel in your face, or a camel rider's foot brushing you, or something. So funny. Camels are simultaneously beautiful and awkward looking. They have cute faces with big eyes and long eyelashes, but they have spindly legs and a gait that looks like they're going to break something with every step.
After the camel trail ends there are 750 steps to the top of the mountain. Ashraf (who rode a camel halfway up the trail because of "leg cramps") kept saying that we should just go now, no more resting, etc etc etc. We just laughed at him. Jason still has a cough from his cold of two weeks ago, and I was fast nearing the end of my second bottle of water (I only took two up with me). We rested several times. As we got to the top, I waited for Jason to recover from a coughing fit and we took hands and took the last step together. It was about 4 am when we reached the summit. We took the "best spot" at the edge of the top, near the chapel, rented a blanket, snuggled up (Jen, me, and Jason, anyway), and attempted to sleep against a rock. It was so cold, and so uncomfortable, that not much sleeping happened. At 6 we were awakened by Ashraf's phone alarm and we sat up and watched the first light creep over the horizon. It was beautiful. So orange and blue. Jason was the first to see the sliver of sun come up, and after that everyone was taking pictures like crazy. I looked around and discovered that there were hundreds of people standing behind and around us, watching the sunrise. I could hear people singing on another part of the mountain top. We had no idea where the rest of our group was, but they were obviously (according to Ashraf) in an inferior location despite their early arrival. I took quite a few pictures, as you can see in my photo album, but I opted to watch the sunrise this time because last year I'd taken so many photos that I missed the watching. It was gorgeous and SO FAST! It takes only a few minutes for the whole sun to appear over the horizon. As light crept into the southeastern sinai, we could see in vivid relief all the mountains around us, and it was completely gorgeous. Incredible, really. It was worth the hard work to get up there, the scary bathrooms, the stairs in the dark, the sleeping on a rock in the cold, to see that.
Once the sun is up, people immediately head down the mountain. We stayed a few extra minutes, taking pictures, looking around, seeing how Mt. Sinai casts a pyramid-shaped shadow on the neighboring mountain, getting some pictures of ourselves up there, etc. Then we started the trek down, with the 900 other people who'd come up. It was crazy and slow going, with so many people on the stairs. When we finally came to the bottom of the 750 stairs, there were lots of bedouins around trying to get people to ride camels down, or offering their guide services for those who wanted to take the Stairs of Repentance, or selling things. One bedouin offered to take Jen down on a camel for 60 pounds, which she refused and asked for 40. He stood around and finally offered 50, and she asked me if I wanted to go too. My response was, of course, "not for fifty!" I had been thinking of riding a camel down because last year's camel experience was so much fun. There was no way I was taking those stairs again, so the options were walking or riding down the camel trail. The guy continued to stand around even after we'd refused, and finally he came down to 40, at which point Jen and I took him up on his offer. Jason, Jennifer, and Ashraf walked down and Jen and I got hoisted onto camels. My bedouin put me on a camel, gave him a pat on the rear, and left. My camel and I were, once again, leaderless, and he went peacefully on down the trail without any help. So now both my camel riding experiences were sans guide, and I've survived. I threw my leg over the front and hooked my foot on his neck, I made all the right noises (clicking and slurping) whenever he stopped, and down we went! I was even able to take some photos from the camel because I didn't need to hold on. The only thing about coming down that was different from going up (aside from it being light and all that) was that down is much rougher. You bounce more in the saddle coming down, because they have to take steps down rather than up so it's just not as smooth. I definitely have some bruised thighs and lower back from the saddle. Having said that, riding a camel is SO FUN that it was completely worth the 40 pounds and the minor bruising. As I had no guide to ask, I named my camel myself--his name was Hawaby. He was a very good camel--"camela kwayes awy". Near the end of our trip--maybe 300 or so meters from the camel corral--the guide for the two british women behind me (on two camels linked together) came up to me and handed me the lead for their camels and walked off! So here I was, guideless, and now in charge of two more camels besides my own! I may be a minorly experienced camel rider, but not this experienced! The front camel of those two stopped and my left arm went behind me as my camel went on and I clung to the lead for their camels. I clicked and slurped and finally her reticent camel came on--partially, I think, because my camel wasn't about to stop! He could see the food and water ahead and was going straight there, not stopping GO or collecting 200 dollars! Anyway, we got to the camel corral safely and some other bedouin came up to help us down. My camel went straight for the trough, only to be rebuked by a slap on the neck and told to sit down first. He sat down and I got off, at which point the front british woman (who'd been commenting for quite some time that I seemed to know what I was doing..."she's even taking photos" etc) said "she can even get down by herself!" It was so funny, as I watched her try to finangle herself out of the camel saddle. Anyway, the bedouin who'd handed me the ropes was saying that my camel just wanted baksheesh (water, I thought, but whatever). I asked him if the camel did or he did, and he just smiled. I gave him a pound. I hope he gets some good bread or something. Anyway, it was a good time.
By the time we got down, Jen and I needed another trip to the hole-in-the-ground bathroom. On our way there, we passed Sister Enrica (the nun who runs our school and who organized this trip) as she was about to enter the monastery. When we came out of the restroom we passed her again on her way back to her room! Granted, there was a line in the bathroom, but still! She was quick. We went into the monastery and found HUGE crowds there, which explains her quick exit. we glimpsed moses' well, did a walk through of the church (avoiding the glare of one of the brothers whose job was obviously to keep people from touching or photographing any of the hundreds of really old icons in the sanctuary), visited the burning bush, took some photos, and got out. We were exhausted, and tired of people, and hungry and thirsty and ready to go. The monastery was packed with people, which made me sad. Also, the icon gallery costs 25 pounds, so we decided not to go in because we were too tired to enjoy it for 25 pounds. So out we went...we waited a little while, had some snacks...my trail mix (pretzel sticks, dried apricots, golden raisins, almonds, and chocolate chips) was really good both on the mountain and at the bottom...then walked back out to the bus and were on our way. I was so exhausted that when I tried to look at my pictures on my camera I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was so glad I'd brought my travel pillow (mm...Fom...)! I slept almost the whole way back. Uncomfortable though I was, crammed in my little bus seat, I leaned against the window and barely even woke up when we had to show our passports at a checkpoint. We stopped for a long while somewhere, and I woke up then because it was hot with the sun coming in my window. There are conflicting reports about that stop--whether it was a flat tire on the other bus or a checkpoint inspection. In any case, it was half an hour with the a/c off. Later we made another stop for food, and boy was I glad that I brought so much food with me! The menu at this little cafeteria showed a price of 9.95 for some of the sandwiches, but when you asked for one at that price they refused and charged 20 pounds! A can of Sprite, a bottle of water, a small ice cream bar...these things all cost 10 pounds! It was ridiculous. I refused to buy anything when they were so obviously overcharging. In Cairo you can get a 1-liter bottle of water for a pound. You can get a liter of seven-up for 2.50. you can get a cup of the best ice cream you've ever eaten for 1.50. tameyya sandwiches are 60 piasters at the place down the street from us. It was insane, the prices these people were asking from the people on the tour bus. What made it worse was that a large percentage of the people on the buses paid it and ate there! I got back on the bus and ate my pb&j, my pear, my remaining cereal, some trail mix, a box of mango juice, and some water--all in air conditioned comfort (unlike the cafeteria) and all for less than a coke would have cost me inside. Crazy.
I tried to stay awake for the last part of the journey, but I just couldn't. I missed the tunnel under the Suez canal on the way back, and I woke up somewhere around Heliopolis. I watched our bus pass by Ramses College (where we live) and head back to Dar Camboni (on Zamalek, an island in the Nile). When we finally got there, we got in taxis and headed home. Once home--at about 8pm--a few of us ran out for food (mmmm...tameyya and fuul sandwiches!) and ice cream (two sandwiches and a scoop of ice cream for 3.70 LE), ate, showered for a long time (to get off the beach/ocean/sweat/dirt/mountain/bus/sleeping ickiness), and went to bed. I went to bed at 10, the earliest I've gone to sleep since arriving here, and I got up this morning at 10 when the sun coming in my window was finally unbearable. I studied not even a little bit this whole three-day-weekend, so tomorrow morning after our breakfast meeting I'll be studying like crazy! I know I'm either the best or second-best student in my class and our main teacher assigned me some homework: to write (in arabic, obviously) a narrative about our journey to Mt. Sinai. I need to do that tomorrow morning. I only hope I know enough words to do it without having to constantly look things up. :-0 send me happy thoughts and good brainwaves...I need them!
This post is so incredibly long that I'm stopping now. I hope you got a glimpse of our trip into the Sinai wilderness....goodnight!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
buffy character personality quiz
interesting....
| Dawn Summers 54% amorality, 63% passion, 63% spirituality, 72% selflessness |
| Dawn is a person driven by her love for her friends and her desire to make a difference. Perhaps you are, too. You're willing to do whatever is necessary to do what is right for those you care about, and sometimes this can get you in a little bit of trouble. Most of all, however, you have a heart of gold. Congratulations! THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST |
 |
busy week
it has been an insanely busy week. It was our first week with five days in a row of Arabic class. That was not very fun. It got progressively hotter all week long, until friday was easily 100 degrees with humidity--ugh. It was literally oppressively hot. All we wanted to do was sleep. The power has been going out a lot lately too--today it was out for two hours. Overnight it often goes out and I wake up in the morning to an un-air-conditioned room.
This week I have:
had a birthday party for one of our fellow YAVs;
Had dinner with a PCUSA mission coworker;
had a group dinner with some ELCA and RCA missionaries, the St. Andrews pastor, and some other people;
met with the head-honcho principal and the primary school principal at Ramses College for Girls;
attended the RCG graduation ceremony;
had 5 days of Arabic class;
studied Arabic approximately 10 hours outside of class;
eaten pizza hut twice and kraft mac-n-cheese once;
been to the suuk twice;
walked to the protestant seminary;
found our local "department store";
went to church on friday;
visited a western-style grocery store (not the two chains we've been to before) and bought balsamic vinegar to make salad dressing;
watched 9 episodes of buffy the vampire slayer, and converted at least two people to buffy;
watched a movie (how to lose a guy in 10 days);
slept a little;
checked my email more than I ever did at home.
It's been a busy week.
This coming week we have a busy week as well: I'll be at a workshop for RCG english teachers monday morning, CEOSS (Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services) on Tuesday morning, Egyptian museum one morning, plus Arabic class four afternoons for four hours each day. Friday we take our trip to Sinai! We leave Friday morning (with our Arabic school), go to a Red Sea beach for the middle of the day (like 7 hours or something), then continue on to St. Catherine's, arriving about two hours before we begin the climb at 1am. We'll reach the top for sunrise, have mass (our arabic school is a roman catholic, vatican-sponsored, run-by-a-nun place), come down, visit the monastery and the burning bush, then get back on our bus and come home on Saturday by dinner. fun! We aren't sure yet whether there will be some arabic-only rule for speaking on the trip--we hope not!
We visited Maadi this week--our Friday dinner with a group of people was down there. Maadi is the suburb (to the south) that is almost entirely populated by westerners, especially american expats. Maadi is like a different world--it was quiet, had little traffic, lots of trees and other foliage, people had domestic animals and SUVs, there were grocery stores that sell mostly imported food...there were no people out in the streets, no horns honking, less pollution...it was crazy. I think I prefer living where we do--in the heart of things, where Arabic is necessary and the people live like Egyptians because they are Egyptians. Maadi was like being in Oak Park, IL or Decatur, GA. Not like we were in another country at all. very strange.
I think that's all for now because I have much studying to do. happy sunday, all!
This week I have:
had a birthday party for one of our fellow YAVs;
Had dinner with a PCUSA mission coworker;
had a group dinner with some ELCA and RCA missionaries, the St. Andrews pastor, and some other people;
met with the head-honcho principal and the primary school principal at Ramses College for Girls;
attended the RCG graduation ceremony;
had 5 days of Arabic class;
studied Arabic approximately 10 hours outside of class;
eaten pizza hut twice and kraft mac-n-cheese once;
been to the suuk twice;
walked to the protestant seminary;
found our local "department store";
went to church on friday;
visited a western-style grocery store (not the two chains we've been to before) and bought balsamic vinegar to make salad dressing;
watched 9 episodes of buffy the vampire slayer, and converted at least two people to buffy;
watched a movie (how to lose a guy in 10 days);
slept a little;
checked my email more than I ever did at home.
It's been a busy week.
This coming week we have a busy week as well: I'll be at a workshop for RCG english teachers monday morning, CEOSS (Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services) on Tuesday morning, Egyptian museum one morning, plus Arabic class four afternoons for four hours each day. Friday we take our trip to Sinai! We leave Friday morning (with our Arabic school), go to a Red Sea beach for the middle of the day (like 7 hours or something), then continue on to St. Catherine's, arriving about two hours before we begin the climb at 1am. We'll reach the top for sunrise, have mass (our arabic school is a roman catholic, vatican-sponsored, run-by-a-nun place), come down, visit the monastery and the burning bush, then get back on our bus and come home on Saturday by dinner. fun! We aren't sure yet whether there will be some arabic-only rule for speaking on the trip--we hope not!
We visited Maadi this week--our Friday dinner with a group of people was down there. Maadi is the suburb (to the south) that is almost entirely populated by westerners, especially american expats. Maadi is like a different world--it was quiet, had little traffic, lots of trees and other foliage, people had domestic animals and SUVs, there were grocery stores that sell mostly imported food...there were no people out in the streets, no horns honking, less pollution...it was crazy. I think I prefer living where we do--in the heart of things, where Arabic is necessary and the people live like Egyptians because they are Egyptians. Maadi was like being in Oak Park, IL or Decatur, GA. Not like we were in another country at all. very strange.
I think that's all for now because I have much studying to do. happy sunday, all!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
adventures in uploading
It took several tries on our severely-slower-than-usual internet connection, but I have posted new photos, including the attempts to take pics of the pyramids from a moving bus, pics of last night's visit to al-azhar park, photos of some of the other YAVs, and a few pictures of the neighborhood. Enjoy!
In other news: 5 of our group have just left for the opera Aida, which should be good. I've elected to stay in tonight because I'm tired and I've seen the opera before. It's great and I love it, but I need a night off!! The past two days we've been in all-day training for teaching English as a foreign language. That means that our weekend has been reduced to Sunday only--which is a work day here in Egypt! We'll go to church in the morning (which is strange, actually--most people go to church on Friday, the first day of the weekend, and what we did last week), and in the late afternoon is our group reflection/etc time. So I'll have to try to get some Arabic studying in between all that!
You can tell that Cairo is used to foreigners: when we have been out to nicer restaurants (like last night at the Lakeside Cafe in al-Azhar park, and last week at ferfelas) they have menu items marked "vegetarian" and the waiters will often make last-minute changes for you. Last night we used a set menu--people in our group of 20-ish chose from mixed grill (various meats) or veal. When I said I was vegetarian, not only did they come up with a pasta dish that was great, but they asked me precisely how spicy I wanted it. When they brought appetizers, I asked if what they put in front of me was vegetarian, and the waiter immediately looked horrified, said no, and took it away. A minute or so later they brought me one that was all cheese, no meat. (Vegan would probably be harder!) Anyway, it was so nice. Being vegetarian here is not hard at all--especially if you mostly cook for yourself. Fruits and vegetables are abundant, they are local, fresh and beautiful in season, and you can easily wash and cook them. Also, bread is very cheap, the local pita-type bread, called aysh baladi, is government subsidized and costs between 5 and 25 piastres per "loaf" (pita), which is less than 5 cents even at its most expensive. The meat you can buy from a western-style supermarket is "probably" safe, but the meat at the suuk or from street shops and vendors sits out, there are flies everywhere, it's hot and sunny and polluted, and there's no way you could pay me enough to eat meat from one of those places. I would rather die, since eating it would probably give me some horrendous disease that would cause immense pain and a prolonged dying process. ugh.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I need to study a little, and relax more.
In other news: 5 of our group have just left for the opera Aida, which should be good. I've elected to stay in tonight because I'm tired and I've seen the opera before. It's great and I love it, but I need a night off!! The past two days we've been in all-day training for teaching English as a foreign language. That means that our weekend has been reduced to Sunday only--which is a work day here in Egypt! We'll go to church in the morning (which is strange, actually--most people go to church on Friday, the first day of the weekend, and what we did last week), and in the late afternoon is our group reflection/etc time. So I'll have to try to get some Arabic studying in between all that!
You can tell that Cairo is used to foreigners: when we have been out to nicer restaurants (like last night at the Lakeside Cafe in al-Azhar park, and last week at ferfelas) they have menu items marked "vegetarian" and the waiters will often make last-minute changes for you. Last night we used a set menu--people in our group of 20-ish chose from mixed grill (various meats) or veal. When I said I was vegetarian, not only did they come up with a pasta dish that was great, but they asked me precisely how spicy I wanted it. When they brought appetizers, I asked if what they put in front of me was vegetarian, and the waiter immediately looked horrified, said no, and took it away. A minute or so later they brought me one that was all cheese, no meat. (Vegan would probably be harder!) Anyway, it was so nice. Being vegetarian here is not hard at all--especially if you mostly cook for yourself. Fruits and vegetables are abundant, they are local, fresh and beautiful in season, and you can easily wash and cook them. Also, bread is very cheap, the local pita-type bread, called aysh baladi, is government subsidized and costs between 5 and 25 piastres per "loaf" (pita), which is less than 5 cents even at its most expensive. The meat you can buy from a western-style supermarket is "probably" safe, but the meat at the suuk or from street shops and vendors sits out, there are flies everywhere, it's hot and sunny and polluted, and there's no way you could pay me enough to eat meat from one of those places. I would rather die, since eating it would probably give me some horrendous disease that would cause immense pain and a prolonged dying process. ugh.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I need to study a little, and relax more.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
adventures in suuk shopping
This morning we went to the big suuk in Abbaseya, a fruit/vegetable/everything open-air market that runs several blocks long, about a 10 minute walk away from where we live. On the way we passed either a polling place or some kind of political gathering--a bunch of people talking excitedly, and with Mubarak posters and postcards everywhere. We got stared at and talked to a lot, but I don't know enough Arabic yet to know if it was good or bad.
At the suuk we saw all kinds of things and all kinds of people--tomatoes, potatoes, greens, grains, pasta, zucchini, cucumber, mango, pears, apples, grapes, onions, eggplant, etc etc etc, plus kitchen utensils, pans, colanders, bowls, etc, plus hair bands backpacks and housewares--it was crazy and fun and wonderful. Prices are quite low--I got a kilo of potatoes (three very large potatoes, with which I'm making potato salad this weekend), a kilo of onions, a quarter kilo of grapes and a kilo of apples (split with Sarah), all for about...mmm...less than 10 pounds (3 of which sarah paid me for apples). That's less than 2 USdollars. Amazing! Other group members got green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. We made a stir fry and served it over rice with fresh tomatoes on top. It was SO GOOD. Garlic powder, salt and pepper, basil, emeril essence and soy sauce can do amazing things. Tomorrow night we girls (all four of us, assuming Jen feels better) are going straight from Arabic class to a new huge western-style supermarket while the boys take the van home and maybe, god willing, make dinner! Excellent.
I spent most of the afternoon studying, so no pictures loaded today. Maybe tomorrow. Also tomorrow, hopefully: Adventures in Arabic...once I've studied enough to be able to tell you something intelligently!
This is random, but fab: tonight I watched Buffy (1.1 and 1.2) with Sarah, a Buffy virgin. I'm evangelizing for Buffy, since evanglizing for JC is illegal. :-) She's converted, I think!! yay!
At the suuk we saw all kinds of things and all kinds of people--tomatoes, potatoes, greens, grains, pasta, zucchini, cucumber, mango, pears, apples, grapes, onions, eggplant, etc etc etc, plus kitchen utensils, pans, colanders, bowls, etc, plus hair bands backpacks and housewares--it was crazy and fun and wonderful. Prices are quite low--I got a kilo of potatoes (three very large potatoes, with which I'm making potato salad this weekend), a kilo of onions, a quarter kilo of grapes and a kilo of apples (split with Sarah), all for about...mmm...less than 10 pounds (3 of which sarah paid me for apples). That's less than 2 USdollars. Amazing! Other group members got green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. We made a stir fry and served it over rice with fresh tomatoes on top. It was SO GOOD. Garlic powder, salt and pepper, basil, emeril essence and soy sauce can do amazing things. Tomorrow night we girls (all four of us, assuming Jen feels better) are going straight from Arabic class to a new huge western-style supermarket while the boys take the van home and maybe, god willing, make dinner! Excellent.
I spent most of the afternoon studying, so no pictures loaded today. Maybe tomorrow. Also tomorrow, hopefully: Adventures in Arabic...once I've studied enough to be able to tell you something intelligently!
This is random, but fab: tonight I watched Buffy (1.1 and 1.2) with Sarah, a Buffy virgin. I'm evangelizing for Buffy, since evanglizing for JC is illegal. :-) She's converted, I think!! yay!
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