Sick of this Stupid Blog

I'm posting my pictures here......
Check them out! (you have to click on the picture to see the pictures).

1.25.07 - Mosque Visits

Alexandria!!

So after my last post in Alexandria I thought I should make some nice statements about it :) I had a lovely time there, a nice day with the group and then a whole day of exploring by myself.

Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, although it’s much much smaller than Cairo. I think there’s about 5 million people in comparison to Cairo’s 15.2 million (according to Wikipedia, but rumors have it that it’s much larger, ~20 mil). It still feels like a big city, and I still got hassled a lot (per my last post), but it had a much more relaxed feeling. I did almost get hit by a car, though. That was pretty scary.

The pictures will probably explain more by themselves:

The first day we were there it was calm and beautiful. The second day it was very windy and it rained for a while (I caught a taxi during that!) but this was the waves on the normally very still Sea. I got soaked with the crazy waves hitting the shore. Course everyone else got out of the way when it splashed.... I'm just weird I guess.









This was a Brazilian coffee shop I spent some time doing homework at. YES, I know, crazy that I have homework to do over here. Seems like I should just be able to run around and explore, but I guess I don't really consider reading about Islam that difficult of homework. ;) Oh you can see me just to the right of the tip of the pyramid, between that and the guy standing up in yellow.

Alexandria is trying really hard to place itself back on the world map, and the recently built $220 million dollar library is an example of it. It’s really neat and this is a kinda random glowing blue sphere by it. It also has a huge wall with a letter from every known alphabet. That was fun to see.

Alexandria has been referred to as the city with the most history but the least to show. There’s almost nothing left to see of the ancient glory Roman and Greek days the harbor once had, but they are starting to recover things from under the water. It’s called nautical archaeology. I saw some of it at the Alexandria National Museum, which was really neat. I saw a mummy too. Haha, I guess I don’t feel so much like a tourist anymore, because the museum was packed with Chinese and Australian tourists, and I think I looked at them a little strange. At least I didn’t identify with them. :) These are pictures of the statues underwater where they found them.




This is me next to a mummy. Sweet.













These girls really wanted to talk to me and then have their picture taken. They were sweet. It's easy to put a label on all the women wearing the hegab and forget that they're just people like we are, just young girls in middle school laughing at the stupid foreign looking people.









This is the view from the hostel we stayed at, you can see the Mediterranean Sea from our porch. It was only $3.25 for the night, but it was pretty icky! It was called "Acropole Hotel", but we called it "A crap hole"......

Here we’re hiding where the books in the library I mention in a few pictures used to be kept. (Todd, me, and Justin)

This is the harbor with all the boats in it. We're in a fort that was built... a long time ago.













A sweet massive granite column, Pompey’s Pillar, from an original temple dated a long, long time ago. We also went underground where one of the first known libraries was. It was also sweet.















Well that's it for now I guess... I'm a few days behind and don't have time to show you the awesome mosques we went to and the ridiculously sweet horseback riding I did today in the desert. More to come soon, I promise... Love you all!

Naked

So imagine walking around in a crowded shopping center with 75 percent of the people being male. Try really hard.

Now imagine that you're naked. Try and think about how many looks, stares, whispers, and even approaches from people (men) that you would get.

That's pretty much how I feel every day, all the time I'm out in public. I would guess that one out of every two Egyptian men that pass me (and even those across streets!) try to talk to me or make some sort of comment. I'm in Alexandria, on the coast, and it's FREEZING today, so I'm wearing pants, a sweatshirt with the hood up and tied tight, and gloves, and I still get incessant comments. I don't think I've ever been told I'm beautiful this many times in my life. Men try to walk alongside me and ask where I'm from, what my name is, and how I'm doing. Women stare at me (not just me, every female foreigner, I'm not that special) just as much, whispering and pointing while we're on the subway, trams, walking, etc.

My friend Laura, who is blonde hair blue eyed, unfortunately, stated it pretty well. She said, "Sarah, I'm tired of being a spectacle and freak show every where I go." It's tiring. I tried to stand on the boardwalk by the harbor today and get some alone time with the windy waves and sea spray, and was approached by two separate men wanting to talk to me, in addition to being watched the whole time by various groups of men. I find myself laughing at times and other times retreating to internet cafes to get prying eyes and voices away from me.

I wouldn't mind doning the whole cover-up (neqab), with just slits for my eyes, to approach the same type of privacy walking down the street that women in America take for granted every day. At some point I assume I'll get used to it. To everyone's benefit, no one has said anything negative when I respond to "what country" with "amreeka." They smile and one guy even said "very nice country."

In spite of this rant, most of my time has been very enjoyable. It's hard getting used to "class" again, but it'll work out. I LOVE the food, and most people are very friendly and go out of their way to help. Everything is ridiculously cheap, and the language is beautiful (even though I only understand like three phrases). I find myself wishing once in a while that I had gone to Costa Rica where my language skills would be about 2,384 times better than it is here. Although it's impossible to have multiples of zero. And yet I forget how long it took me to learn the Spanish I do know, and I also forget that I chose to come here in order to purposely work on my patience and pride. It's pretty humbling being reduced to only hand motions to communicate anything.

Well, I have a train to catch. Please be in prayer for me, that I would continue to have patience learning the language, patience with the men, and patience with living in a group of 30 as a highly individualistic person. Please also pray that missing Will won't become too overwhelming (it isn't at this point, but it's only been less than two weeks!). Lastly, pray that I would be diligent in my studies for the MCATs, but that the hour or so that I spend daily studying would not way overshadow or take the place of the cultural experiences I want to have.

Much love!

Hamdillah 'ala salaama!
(thanks be to God for preservation!)

More Pictures!

Hello everyone! SabaaH ixleer!
Here are some pictures of my last couple days. Tomorrow I'm leaving early for Alexandria for the weekend (Fri + Sat).




Looking straight down from my bedroom window.










Looking to the left, toward the street. Very crowded.























Looking straight. Notice the nice busted pipe.













This is me in our window. I put my camera out to take this picture and my heart almost dropped out of my feet when I realized I didn't have the strap on... :) I'm three stories up (the "second" flat)









This is a cave church on the fringes of east Cairo.. a million and a half tons of rock were removed to build it. I forget how many it seats. It's crazy huge. It's a part of the Coptic minority in Cairo. There are several others (much smaller) in the area.







This is an example of the carvings that a Canadian (or British?) guy does in the area, this one is small (only about 10 feet high), you'll see others in a few pictures. The Coptic Christians believe a miracle was done in the area a long time ago, when the Christians believed enough for the mountain they're on to move 3 km. This is the guy on the left that helped do it, he was blind in one eye because he gouged it out (see the metal in his right hand) because he saw this woman's thigh while cleaning her shoes. There were several other carvings like this in this cave, being a fascinating commentary on social constructions, as the woman is always the one who initiates the stumbling of the men (there was also Delilah and Potifer's wife). So obviously the women are responsible and are the one's who need to cover themselves and be circumsized, stifling their sexual drive. Very interesting.



This is Garbage City, where all trash is collected from the city by the people that live here and is then sorted. So instead of burying the trash or building recycling plants, there are people to do it. It's actually somewhat of a Christian place and many women there don't wear the hegab (head covering). The citadel is out in the far left.









It's hard to see, but this is a guy sitting just on the inside left of the frame, with a massive mound of trash sitting inside, and he is sorting it into the different bins. Some of it is recycled through contracts with companies, other things are melted and remade there to be resold.

ICS Warning: I took this picture very furtively, and it's one of the only pictures I took there, as I didn't want to come in as a rich American with my flashy camera and take pictures. Just so you know. I wasn't stupid about it.








This is one of the big carvings, you should be able to get some sort of scale with the white car down there at the bottom. They're huge! I think there are about 26. (This one is of Jesus, in case you couldn't tell)

















This is one of them on the roof of the large cave church, taken by one of the men who was originally exiled from the city when Garbage City was originally created in the 50s. He gave us a tour and was sweet. It's Mary and Jesus. It was kinda surreal to be in such a heavily Muslim area (95% of women I've seen wear the head covering, and that is indicative of being Muslim)










I took a day trip with two other students, Esther and Tim from Bethel, to Coptic Cairo, an old compound built by the Romans way long time ago. This is the remnants of two circular towers.










This was my dinner a few nights ago.

Stuffed pigeon.

I named him Timmy.













Me, Tim, Esther.

This is pretty much scandalous having Tim put his arm around us like this. We thought about that afterwards, as people around us probably thought he was married to both of us.

The guy that took this picture offered us a smoke. That was a first.
























I couldn't get these pictures to separate. One is the view to the right out my bedroom window. The other is in Coptic Cairo, on some sweet steps I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be on. (Tim wasn't supposed to walk there either)





A mosque.















A view of the Nile at night. We took a little ride on of the boats and were amused by our driver, who danced very wildly to Jay-Z.

The intern Dena and me on the boat. (note the scarf!!! IT'S COLD!)













These are the men. Seven in all (+1 intern).
Left to Right: Bryce, Owen, Steve, Justin, Todd, Stephen, Tim, Steve (intern)














This is the women. We only did this once, to go to a prayer service at the mosque. It was fun but my veil was super slick, so the thing kept sliding around, and I was really conscientous about not showing my hair (inappropriate) and it was a mess. The service was fascinating. We were asked if we wanted to convert to Islam. We didn't participate in the prayers, but I really wanted to. The women were very nice.











My roommates! Esther, me, and Ruthie. Esther is from Bethel College, and Ruthie grew up in Serbia. They are great girls.








Whew! Hope that's enough to hold you guys for a little while! I'm off to a coffee shop.

Oh and Will I think we should live in Cairo as dinner on the streets ranges from 2-6 pounds and is EXCELLENT (that converts to about 40 cents to a dollar). I'd never have to cook!! ;)

Love you all! Let me know how you're doing....

Oh yeah and please pray for my sister Kim cause her cat, Tucker, is missing. Come home Tuck!
**

Contacting Me

Hey just a thought if you all wanted to get in contact with me (LIKE SENDING ME MAIL - not packages - BUT LETTERS!!!!) you might need the information. So email me if you want it :)

Anyhow, I made a friend today, Suzie, I'll tell you more about that later. AND I BOUGHT A POMEGRANATE! IN THE MIDDLE EAST!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm stoked.

Love you all. More pictures later.

Sarah

The Latest

Just a quick note to let you all know I'm alive. In case any of you are worried about my safety, you should rest easier at night knowing whenever our group goes out in public as a group, we have a military escort with us at all times. They follow our bus in a truck filled with several guys in green uniforms carrying guns. Cairo/Egypt's main industry is the tourist industry, so it's bad for them and for us if something were to happen. It's kinda humourous if you ask me. This doesn't, of course, coevr when three of us girls decide to go downtown and hop into a taxi. So don't rest too assured ;)

I'm starting my service project today, something I will be doing every Tuesday. I'll be working at a Geriatrics Center with three other girls, either being with the patients or doing simple maitenance, cooking, cleaning, etc. Hurray I don't have to be there until 10:30 am!! I'm excited to be able to put it on my med school application as well.

Speaking of med school, I started my first day of MCAT review yesterday! It looks like I'll be needing to do about an hour of study a day (5 days a week) to get through my massive MCAT book from Kaplan, so hopefully I can stay on top of that.

I also learned about the trips we'll be taking on the weekends that they plan for us.
1. Alexandria - this Friday and Saturday
2. a cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor (4 star!) for "spring break"
3. a trip out to the Siwa desert
4. a hike up Mt. Sinai at dawn (or I'll take a camel) and snorkeling in the Red Sea at Dubau.

So I'm really excited about those. Alright I've gotta go, hope all is well in the US of A.

Sarah

Cairo: What a great place!

Hey All! Well I made it to Cairo, Egypt safe, with all my baggage and all my money ;) Carrying $1000 in cash makes one a little nervous (thank you Gilman Scholarship!)

I’m living in a second floor flat with seven other girls. There are three total in my room, Esther and Ruthie, who seem really great. The beds are as hard as rocks, but I assure you after not sleeping for 24 hours they felt fantastic. It’s interesting how big a deal who you are going to live with at home is such a big deal. Here, we were assigned to a flat and then we were just kinda like… uhh I’ll be in here. My room is the “non-morning room” ;) Our flat has the most outrageous furniture in our “living room,” reminiscent of Louis XVI style. It’s nice though.

The weather is actually chilly, and I’ve found I wish I had packed my gloves. We had our devotionals this morning on an open roof, and I was shivering! Being in the bus around the city is fine though, and I’m enjoying knowing the numbers in Arabic and reading the license plates. The numbers read left to right like English, but the words read right to left. I’ll never figure it out! ;) You can pray for that.

The group, 24 in all, seems really great, and we are all having a good time together so far. Today we had breakfast, walked around our neighborhood “Agouza.” I really dislike being in large groups and don’t like being stared at because we’re wearing pants with our hair free flowing. It goes against everything I’ve learned as an Intercultural Studies major. I asked the director, Dave, why we weren’t required to wear the full covering outfit, because I feel like we could “fit in” with the culture so much better. I was disappointed to learn that the outfit isn’t a cultural thing. It’s really a Muslim thing, and one of things we are being instructed to do is not to over-identify with the culture. So if we were to wear the head covering and such, we would be thought of to be Muslim. I guess I will just have to learn to stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe I’ll at least dye my hair black. There are some Egyptian women that don’t wear the hajeb, but from what I’ve seen it’s about two percent.

We did buy some head coverings today (the girls), as we are visiting a mosque tomorrow, the holy day being Friday. We will continue to be doing orientation stuff this week, and start classes next Wednesday. I can’t believe I’ve only been here 24 hours!

We saw the pyramids today from a little way away, as we drove around to see the city. Some of the other pictures:

This is where we bought veils. They are everywhere and beautiful as every woman wears them (practically). The women are so sharp looking, matching their head coverings with their dresses, sporting layered colors, and such. It’s very fashionably nice.

The Nile! It’s not very glorious, but there it is. We’re about a 10 minute drive from it. I think. You know how I am about distance and time orientation….

City of the dead – where people have started living in cemeteries, along with Garbage City, where trash is recycled (I believe). We’ll go there later, so I’ll give you the full update then.

My room – notice I haven’t unpacked. My bed is the non-bunk bed one.

My living room, like the atmosphere?? ;) We’re going to rearrange.

Cinnabon in Cairo! Crazy globalization.

An example of the move from the rural area to the city – crops being grown close to the center of the city

A pick up soccer game right next to the major freeway (for a lack of a better term – you can never go that fast because what is supposed to be 3 lanes becomes about 5 and there are so many cars). This is for Will :)

Pyramids - in case you weren't sure...

Women in the traditional black outfit. Not very many have the full outfit covering the whole face (except eyes sometimes), but there are some.

This is a typical looking Cairo street. Croweded and not very full of color.

Well that’s all for now, I took a nap this afternoon because I was so stinken tired, but now it’s 10:55 pm and I’m not tired yet. Bummer. I’m going to unpack a little more and try to get some sleep.

Ma’ a salaama! (Peace be with you!)

Sarah