Okay, so after being done with my vacation for almost a week, I have to admit that I'm still not quite back in the swing of things. The prospect of homework is almost too dreadful to contemplate... (unfortunately I'm contemplating it anyway. This blog entry is just a break from researching my paper on the Iran-Iraq War) That's probably one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this entry; I've been too busy lazing around my apartment doing very little. And perhaps you'll see why after you're updated on how busy I was during the break! This first entry will be about my friend Kel's visit to Cairo. Kel is a high school friend of mine who is currently studying in France, and took her break to come hang out with me here! You can read her insights on the experience at these pages, which are entries in her blog (all of which is worth reading, I think ^^):
A Day in Geneva and a Day in Cairo!!
A-Z of Egyptian Stuff, Plus Food and Shopping!
Ancient Egypt, Modern Cairo, and Alexandria
Egyptian Culture and Stuff
For my part, I had a great time with Kel. We visited mostly places I've been before - Coptic Cairo, the Pyramids, and Alexandria. We did have a great trip to the Khan al-Khalili, which is this fabulously sprawling marketplace which I adore, partially because I actually like bargaining, which I know a lot of Westerners don't. And I bought pretty things! I have to go again before I leave, because I had an idea for something I want to buy for my mom.
Anyway, I don't really know what to say about it that Kel hasn't already said (and would put better anyhow ^^), but pictures, as always, can be found on Flickr. My next entry will be a much more involved description of my Spring break, and a visit from my Aunt Liz, but I'm not sure how long it will be before that because I'm still sorting through the zillions of pictures I took. Until then, maasalemah.
Showing posts with label cairo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cairo. Show all posts
Friday, May 2, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Jewelry and Juice
So, a couple things to report:
1) There was a craft bazaar on campus yesterday and today organized by STAR (Student Action for Refugees) with some beautiful art, scarves, jewelry and other stuff being sold by Sudanese refugees (a lot of the stuff was made in Sudan, too). I bought a few gorgeous things yesterday - a wooden beaded bracelet and a gold scarf. I went back today for a painting (by a Sudanese refugee artist, and it's a gorgeous painting of two women and a man dressed in traditional clothing, but you can't see their faces), and ended up buying that as well as a woven/wooden tray that was made in Darfur. Theoretically I'm going to use the tray here for tea, and then give it to my mom as a present when I get home (don't worry, Mom, I'll get you something I don't use first, too) unless I like it too much to give up. It is really pretty. Apparently they're holding this bazaar every month, so there goes all the money I'm saving on cheap food and cabs... ^^
2) I finally made it to one of the fresh juice stands that are scattered around the city - there's one on my way home from campus. I got blood orange juice (2 LE, ~40 cents), and the guy just cut two blood oranges in half and squeezed them in an old-fashioned press... the juice was so amazing. I'm going back there all the time. Next time, maybe orange/carrot?
1) There was a craft bazaar on campus yesterday and today organized by STAR (Student Action for Refugees) with some beautiful art, scarves, jewelry and other stuff being sold by Sudanese refugees (a lot of the stuff was made in Sudan, too). I bought a few gorgeous things yesterday - a wooden beaded bracelet and a gold scarf. I went back today for a painting (by a Sudanese refugee artist, and it's a gorgeous painting of two women and a man dressed in traditional clothing, but you can't see their faces), and ended up buying that as well as a woven/wooden tray that was made in Darfur. Theoretically I'm going to use the tray here for tea, and then give it to my mom as a present when I get home (don't worry, Mom, I'll get you something I don't use first, too) unless I like it too much to give up. It is really pretty. Apparently they're holding this bazaar every month, so there goes all the money I'm saving on cheap food and cabs... ^^
2) I finally made it to one of the fresh juice stands that are scattered around the city - there's one on my way home from campus. I got blood orange juice (2 LE, ~40 cents), and the guy just cut two blood oranges in half and squeezed them in an old-fashioned press... the juice was so amazing. I'm going back there all the time. Next time, maybe orange/carrot?
Monday, February 25, 2008
My Birthday and Other Fun Stuff...
So, this past Saturday was my birthday; 20 years old, no longer a teenager. Or, to quote my boyfriend, "Congratulations on two decades of epic win!!" On Saturday I had a few people over to my apartment, and we had food and played Uno. It was good fun but I forgot to take pictures. Sorry!
On Friday (reverse chronological order... I'm quite tricky), I went to the big fancy mall (City Stars) with a bunch of the girls from my apartment building. (I actually do have a few pictures from this excursion, just one or two, but I haven't uploaded them yet). It was pretty cool; we had Lebanese food, and smoked shisha (flavored tobacco smoked in a water pipe), and went to several stores, including Spinney's which I'm told is a lot like Wal-Mart (I'm not a Wal-Mart person myself... it was like Target except larger and not as well-organized). I also went to Starbucks there; even though there are several Western-style and international coffee chains around the city, I haven't seen many Starbucks, so I was jazzed to have a vanilla crème frappucino. I got carsick on the way back, though. The highway was almost a parking lot, but not quite, so we had a great deal of stop-and-go and an obscenely long drive. Still altogether worth it, though.
Also, I wanted to tell you guys about how I've found a favorite grocery store. It's pretty near my apartment where there happen to be, for some reason I can't quite fathom, about 5 markets of the same type right next to each other. My favorite is the one on the end, farthest away from where I cross the street, which I discovered by accident about a week and a half ago when I happened to be coming from a different direction than I normally do. I like it because the proprietor is really friendly and helpful, speaks a bit of English and laughs good-naturedly at my Arabic, and always seems so happy to see me when I come in. Also, today, I proved trusted enough (or something) to receive the number one can call to have the store deliver to one's apartment. Yay! Did I mention that they deliver everything here? Seriously... prescriptions, bottled water, groceries. I even got a McFlurry delivered right after I got here, when I was like... man, I could go for a McFlurry.
Also, I've already tried once to make pilaf from scratch and was not wholly successful (although I still ate it). I had some ideas for adjustments to make, and if it turns out well I'll post a recipe.
On Friday (reverse chronological order... I'm quite tricky), I went to the big fancy mall (City Stars) with a bunch of the girls from my apartment building. (I actually do have a few pictures from this excursion, just one or two, but I haven't uploaded them yet). It was pretty cool; we had Lebanese food, and smoked shisha (flavored tobacco smoked in a water pipe), and went to several stores, including Spinney's which I'm told is a lot like Wal-Mart (I'm not a Wal-Mart person myself... it was like Target except larger and not as well-organized). I also went to Starbucks there; even though there are several Western-style and international coffee chains around the city, I haven't seen many Starbucks, so I was jazzed to have a vanilla crème frappucino. I got carsick on the way back, though. The highway was almost a parking lot, but not quite, so we had a great deal of stop-and-go and an obscenely long drive. Still altogether worth it, though.
Also, I wanted to tell you guys about how I've found a favorite grocery store. It's pretty near my apartment where there happen to be, for some reason I can't quite fathom, about 5 markets of the same type right next to each other. My favorite is the one on the end, farthest away from where I cross the street, which I discovered by accident about a week and a half ago when I happened to be coming from a different direction than I normally do. I like it because the proprietor is really friendly and helpful, speaks a bit of English and laughs good-naturedly at my Arabic, and always seems so happy to see me when I come in. Also, today, I proved trusted enough (or something) to receive the number one can call to have the store deliver to one's apartment. Yay! Did I mention that they deliver everything here? Seriously... prescriptions, bottled water, groceries. I even got a McFlurry delivered right after I got here, when I was like... man, I could go for a McFlurry.
Also, I've already tried once to make pilaf from scratch and was not wholly successful (although I still ate it). I had some ideas for adjustments to make, and if it turns out well I'll post a recipe.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Back From Outer Space...
So, the internet is now in a state of mostly working most of the time, so I'm back posting. I've done a lot of cool stuff in the past week and a half, which, unfortunately, I don't quite have the energy to describe in detail this far after the fact. Here's the highlights:
I went on an "Old Cairo" tour with the other international students. We saw some cool churches and stuff like that (including the area where, supposedly, the holy family stayed for a month after their flight to Egypt). We also saw the oldest mosque in Egypt. It was all really cool and at some point in the near future I'll post pictures in my Flickr account.
I also started classes. In addition to the classes listed in a previous post, I'm auditing choir. It's a tiny choir, which I'm pretty used to because by the time I graduated IMSA our choir was tiny, and the director's clearly very very competent, and the other singers are nice. As for my other classes, they're good, except that Arabic is really really tough. My favorite class right now is Intro to Sufism.
Last night, Egypt won the Africa Cup, and that was quite an experience just because of the amazing outpouring of joy from the fans. People were yelling in Tahrir Square so that I could hear them in my apartment, and everyone was dancing and singing. It was cool.
To wind up the entry, I want to tell you about something I saw walking back from class today that made me happy. So you know how in the US people wear t-shirts that say things like "naughty slut" on them? Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you get my point. So I was walking down Qasr al-Einy today and I saw a hijabi wearing a top that said "Nice, Sweet Girl" on it. I think that's a cultural difference I can pretty much get behind (please disregard the fact that for like 2 years, one of my favorite shirts said "I don't care if I'm late for class, he's wearing Abercrombie." I bought it 'cause the picture on it had this cool Roy Lichtenstein thing going on. Anyway, I still thought the thing with the girl was sweet).
I went on an "Old Cairo" tour with the other international students. We saw some cool churches and stuff like that (including the area where, supposedly, the holy family stayed for a month after their flight to Egypt). We also saw the oldest mosque in Egypt. It was all really cool and at some point in the near future I'll post pictures in my Flickr account.
I also started classes. In addition to the classes listed in a previous post, I'm auditing choir. It's a tiny choir, which I'm pretty used to because by the time I graduated IMSA our choir was tiny, and the director's clearly very very competent, and the other singers are nice. As for my other classes, they're good, except that Arabic is really really tough. My favorite class right now is Intro to Sufism.
Last night, Egypt won the Africa Cup, and that was quite an experience just because of the amazing outpouring of joy from the fans. People were yelling in Tahrir Square so that I could hear them in my apartment, and everyone was dancing and singing. It was cool.
To wind up the entry, I want to tell you about something I saw walking back from class today that made me happy. So you know how in the US people wear t-shirts that say things like "naughty slut" on them? Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but you get my point. So I was walking down Qasr al-Einy today and I saw a hijabi wearing a top that said "Nice, Sweet Girl" on it. I think that's a cultural difference I can pretty much get behind (please disregard the fact that for like 2 years, one of my favorite shirts said "I don't care if I'm late for class, he's wearing Abercrombie." I bought it 'cause the picture on it had this cool Roy Lichtenstein thing going on. Anyway, I still thought the thing with the girl was sweet).
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Exploring Cairo
I was going to post last night but the internet was wicked slow (this happens when a lot of people are on), so I figured I'd wait. Yesterday I didn't do very much anyhow. Sarah got her housing situation straightened out and headed to the Zamalek dorm. She'd rather be in my apartment building, though, so we're going to see if we can find anyone who wants to switch. The crazy thing about yesterday is that it rained! It hardly ever rains, so no one went anywhere and the cars were all behaving even more crazily than usual. When my roommates and I ventured out after the rain stopped to get dinner, the streets were totally flooded - I guess they don't usually need to worry much about drainage. We had dinner at this place downtown (not far from our apartment, we walked) that one of my roommates (Kearney, who studied here last semester as well) really likes. They had these kind of stuffed pastries... they had a bottom and a top crust of flaky dough, but they were round, flat, and fairly thin like pizza. Mine was stuffed with cheese and veggies. We split one dusted with sugar for dessert. (I feel like this is turning into a "what I ate in Cairo" blog ^^)
Today I woke up very early (6am). Still adjusting to the time difference, I suppose. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I gave in and read for awhile. Last night when we were out Maddie (my other roommate) bought a lighter for our stove, because we have to light it and I'm kind of a spaz with matches, so since I could light the stove this morning I made fried eggs and had an apple (it was a really good apple, not like many that you get this time of year at home, which are kind of mealy. It was cool and crisp and really big. Yum). I've been drinking a great deal of tea since I got here, as well. We got a darjeeling and green tea with mint - we've been going through the green like crazy, it's quite good. I read some more after breakfast until Maddie woke up, and then we decided to explore our neighborhood so we'd be able to find our way around. We knew the area to the east and north, since that's the way to school, so we walked west and south through Garden City (where our apartment is) and along the Nile. I took some pictures, which are posted on Flickr, but here's some of my favorites:
A building near my apartment in Garden City.
A gate with a person in front of it (hi!) also near my apartment.
A bridge over the Nile.
We wandered a bit more after, and I got some Travelers' Checks turned into pounds at the American Express office in the Nile Hilton (also walkable. There's so much stuff nearby!). Then we found a food place and ordered fuul. It's this Egyptian dish made of mashed-up beans, flavored and served inside pita, and it was very yummy. At 4 I met Sarah, who had some errands to run because she hadn't been able to come with us the other day. When we finished them, we had dinner at a coffee shop near AUC called Cilantro. The food was only okay, but the waiter was very nice. Walking to meet Sarah was the first time I'd walked around Cairo by myself, and by the time I got home I was starting to get used to it. I'm sure I'm quite safe but the honking and whistling which occurs pretty much whenever a Western woman walks down the street is more overwhelming when one is by oneself. Still, there are police everywhere, which I find comforting, and the walk between my apartment and AUC and downtown is very busy, with lots of people around. Also, my apartment building is near several embassies (I pass the Canadian embassy whenever I walk to Qasr al-Ainy, which is the street I take to get to AUC).
I'm talking on Skype with Danny now, so I have to go. Massalemah!
Today I woke up very early (6am). Still adjusting to the time difference, I suppose. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I gave in and read for awhile. Last night when we were out Maddie (my other roommate) bought a lighter for our stove, because we have to light it and I'm kind of a spaz with matches, so since I could light the stove this morning I made fried eggs and had an apple (it was a really good apple, not like many that you get this time of year at home, which are kind of mealy. It was cool and crisp and really big. Yum). I've been drinking a great deal of tea since I got here, as well. We got a darjeeling and green tea with mint - we've been going through the green like crazy, it's quite good. I read some more after breakfast until Maddie woke up, and then we decided to explore our neighborhood so we'd be able to find our way around. We knew the area to the east and north, since that's the way to school, so we walked west and south through Garden City (where our apartment is) and along the Nile. I took some pictures, which are posted on Flickr, but here's some of my favorites:
A building near my apartment in Garden City.
A gate with a person in front of it (hi!) also near my apartment.
A bridge over the Nile.
We wandered a bit more after, and I got some Travelers' Checks turned into pounds at the American Express office in the Nile Hilton (also walkable. There's so much stuff nearby!). Then we found a food place and ordered fuul. It's this Egyptian dish made of mashed-up beans, flavored and served inside pita, and it was very yummy. At 4 I met Sarah, who had some errands to run because she hadn't been able to come with us the other day. When we finished them, we had dinner at a coffee shop near AUC called Cilantro. The food was only okay, but the waiter was very nice. Walking to meet Sarah was the first time I'd walked around Cairo by myself, and by the time I got home I was starting to get used to it. I'm sure I'm quite safe but the honking and whistling which occurs pretty much whenever a Western woman walks down the street is more overwhelming when one is by oneself. Still, there are police everywhere, which I find comforting, and the walk between my apartment and AUC and downtown is very busy, with lots of people around. Also, my apartment building is near several embassies (I pass the Canadian embassy whenever I walk to Qasr al-Ainy, which is the street I take to get to AUC).
I'm talking on Skype with Danny now, so I have to go. Massalemah!
Friday, January 25, 2008
My First Day in Cairo
So, that previously mentioned Friday thing didn't prove to be a major impediment. We definitely saw shops that were closed, but we got our shopping done fine. I went out with 8 other girls from my floor of the apartment building, and we had lunch at a restaurant near AUC (and, subsequently, near our apartments) called, I believe, Pottery Café. It was mostly Western-style food, and mine wasn't very good (I had a baked potato with sour cream, only... not really), but a lot of the other girls liked theirs. It was, as promised, very cheap (about 42 LE for all 9 of us, which is like a $7 for 9 people.
After that, we went to Radio Shack and I got a SIM card for my cell phone, so now I have an Egyptian phone number. Then we went to the Alpha Market on Zamalek, a swanky island in the Nile. It was a supermarket-style grocery store, which was nice since we were all tired and had a lot of shopping to do, although in the future we'll probably shop at the neighborhood markets. Some of the products were imports, and those were all quite expensive, but it meant that we could have gotten Honey Bunches of Oats (although we didn't). They even have my exact shampoo and conditioner, although very expensively. Anyhow, one of my roommates was with me, and we bought stuff to cook. Then for dinner tonight we had lentil soup and pita, which is a nice, properly Egyptian offset to the fact that we went to a few very Western-style places today. I also managed to straighten out my internet issues, and work Skype properly (I talked to Danny).
My friend Sarah is still staying with me because of housing issues, but she apparently has a spot in Zamalek dorm and will be gone tomorrow - kind of a drag, because we had applied to be roommates, but good because she'll have a real bed instead of having to sleep on my sofa.
I'm also uploading some photos to my Flickr album, in case you want to see. I have some pictures from Heathrow and Cairo International, around Cairo, and my apartment.
After that, we went to Radio Shack and I got a SIM card for my cell phone, so now I have an Egyptian phone number. Then we went to the Alpha Market on Zamalek, a swanky island in the Nile. It was a supermarket-style grocery store, which was nice since we were all tired and had a lot of shopping to do, although in the future we'll probably shop at the neighborhood markets. Some of the products were imports, and those were all quite expensive, but it meant that we could have gotten Honey Bunches of Oats (although we didn't). They even have my exact shampoo and conditioner, although very expensively. Anyhow, one of my roommates was with me, and we bought stuff to cook. Then for dinner tonight we had lentil soup and pita, which is a nice, properly Egyptian offset to the fact that we went to a few very Western-style places today. I also managed to straighten out my internet issues, and work Skype properly (I talked to Danny).
My friend Sarah is still staying with me because of housing issues, but she apparently has a spot in Zamalek dorm and will be gone tomorrow - kind of a drag, because we had applied to be roommates, but good because she'll have a real bed instead of having to sleep on my sofa.
I'm also uploading some photos to my Flickr album, in case you want to see. I have some pictures from Heathrow and Cairo International, around Cairo, and my apartment.
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