I am currently sitting at a cafe near my new residence in a neighborhood called Maaid in Cairo. It is a very nice area with a wide array of Egyptians, expat workers, teachers, and students. You may ask why are you living there!?
Basically as the year wound down, I realized that I did not have a place to live because the hostel/dorms here at AUC decide to kick all the students out at the end of the year, or charge per night if one decides to stay on. This fact, combined with Blake and Caitlin coming from the States to visit, and with the fact that a couple of other friends needed an apartment upon their return to Cairo made me decide to rent a place. It has definitely been an experience renting from a landlady who speaks ZERO English, and I have to admit I have had to administer the help of a couple of friends for translation!
So we must begin with the end of the semester:
I made it!!! I have never really felt like I might not make it through a semester, but this one was definitely pushing it. It's not that my classes were too hard, but it really is a different system over here and it took me awhile to get used to the changes. I did okay academically, and am happy with B's and A's considering I took 18 credits...
The last week of finals was pretty intense, and I managed to get the flu the last night before my International Law final. It was pretty bad because I had decided not to sleep the night before the exam, and had drank one-too-many red bulls. I ended up taking the exam in a feverish state with shivers and lack of feeling from the 4 Ibuprofens I took. Not good!
I thankfully managed to get better right as Blake and Caitlin arrived, having moved into the new apartment literally minutes before leaving for the airport. My friend Rana went with me to the airport to pick Blake and Caitlin up, and we spent the next few days touring around Cairo visiting different sites. I had been looking forward to their trip for quite some time, and I can't say how amazing it was to have a piece of home come all the way over here. What good friends! My goal was to show them a comprehensive view of Egypt, and I have to admit that I definitely failed sometimes in understanding the culture shock that comes from being thrown into a place like Cairo. It really is WAY different from America, and I have definitely become very comfortable here; Blake and Caitlin might argue too comfortable. We had a tentative schedule that consisted of staying in Cairo for a few days, then going to the beach-side town of Dahab, then coming back to Cairo for a day and also squeezing Alexandria in a day as well. Around Cairo one of the highlights was definitely The Citadel, which I had never visited before. Here is a picture of the beautiful mosque, modeled after the Blue Mosque in Istanbul:
It was really fun seeing this mosque in particular because it is constructed very differently from the other mosques I had seen throughout the year on various field trips (al-Haakim, al-Azhar, etc). The inside has fantastically colored and decorated domes, a huge chandelier, and is covered with Qur'anic verses and inscriptions. Awe-inspiring to say the least!I also took them to the my favorite part of Cairo, Islamic Cairo, which is home to al-Azhar Mosque, along with the great Khan al-Khalili. Blake and Caitlin were definitely in shock when I took them the the world-famous Fashawi's, a cafe in the heart of the market where Egyptians and foreigners alike sit back and enjoy the chaos, while being nagged by various sellers of course. It was so great being reunited with my best friend of 17 years, and of course his wonderful girlfriend Caitlin!
Blake and I at the Khan
A lone tree at the Red Canyon
A Bedouin woman sewing at the oasisThe first day of 2010 was definitely the highlight of the trip to Dahab. I decided that I wanted to rent a motorcycle and go on a 4-Wheeler tour around the town, so I arranged it with the hotel. I got a sweet dirt-bike, and spent 3 hours cruising with a group of people on 4-wheelers around the town, along the beach, and into the mountains where we visited an oasis. It was EPIC to say the least, and also a bit scary because I had never ridden on dirt or sand before! I eventually got the hang of it, and was soon loving driving off-road. The same day Blake also went diving (he has his PADI certification, lucky bastard) and said it was pretty nice.
After taking a overly crowded mini-bus back to Cairo, we decided to spend one more day in Cairo, then head to Alexandria for a short day trip. In Cairo, we finally made it to the Pyramids (the smog had been unbearable before), and returned to Islamic Cairo again for a day tour, and did some gift shopping at the Khan. My buddy Fouad helped us out incredibly with the touring and haggling, and it was fun to see just how low he could get prices for us. The next day we headed to Alexandria on the train, and arrived in the evening to see the gorgeous corneche (road along the sea) at sunset. We visited the newly-constructed Bibliotheca Alexandria, which is simply the most amazing library I have ever seen. As Fouad told us, it is constructed in the shape of the sun rising over the horizon, and has an incredible amount of volumes present. The architecture was absolutely stunning, and I have a new-founded belief that one can be absolutely inspired in their education by their surroundings. To me this is the essence of what a library should be!
The inspiring Bibliotheca AlexandriaBlake and Caitlin left last night, and I will be enjoying the rest of my break with friends, and tentatively will be going to a couple neighboring countries. Surprisingly I am ready for the break to be over and to start up school again. Either I am already bored, or I have an insatiable hunger for learning... I like to think its the latter :)
With Love,
Eric
