my first BUDGET in cairo

My first tutoring session with E went very well, and I already feel like I am hearing the new words I learned all over the place. I basically have two lists: one for new words to learn, the other for words that I know incorrectly (in fus'ha) and need to re-learn the right way (in ameyya). E says I have a lot of potential if I work at it, so I am trying to practice with new words and phrases as much as possible. I should be speaking like a Misriyah (Egyptian) in no time, insha'allah.

Things are going well at work. Right now, the magazine where I work is a portable entertainment guide, about 96 pages, and includes sections for cultural events, interviews, short features, cooking, cocktails, movie previews, book reviews, horoscopes, and several other sections. We are hoping to transfer some of this to the Web site (that is in the process of being built) and the blog, and then update the magazine to include more features and interviews and a greater emphasis on the magazine part. This is where I come in, and I am very excited about it. I will be putting my Medill education to good use here, though it is too bad I never took Magazine Editing.

Thanks to The Daily, my budget-writing skills are top-notch, and I am glad to be doing that once again. But here I don't think I can write e-mail subjects with creative budget titles, like "i would do anything for love but i won't do BUDGET," "should i stay or should i BUDGET," "smells like teen BUDGET," "you give BUDGET a bad name," and etc. I could go on forever... and actually I kind of did, all Fall Quarter. Wow, missing writing budget headlines: the first sign you worked at The Daily for too long. (For all non-Medill tools out there: the budget is the list of available stories. Editors put it together, writers claim stories, and it's basically a way to keep track of what's going into the paper/magazine/etc.).

Nothing too exciting this week. Last night I had another AIESEC event, an Egyptian cultural night to hang out with the other AIESECers and talk about interesting aspects of Egyptian culture. Our selections? Body odor (aka hygiene problems), harassment of women, dating/relationships, bureaucracy/corruption (tellingly, these two kind of go together...), and several others. The evening also included those two stalwarts of any Egyptian cultural event, tea and shisha (hookah). The whole thing took place in this place called the Basata Club (I think?) which was out in the desert with a cool view of the pyramids at night. It was also nice because a bit farther out of the city, the air was much cleaner (which I always appreciate).

This weekend I will be hanging out in Cairo, which I think will be nice after traveling the last two weekends. I am looking forward to catching up on some sleep and finishing up a freelance article I have been working on.

Have a good weekend!

some brief updates

I am now back at work after an excellent weekend in Israel, which I spent in Tel Aviv with Sara (my cousin) and Jess, who was on her free weekend from USY Pilgrimage. We went shopping in Nachalat Benyamin and Shenkin St., had Aroma twice (seriously addictive), spent some time on the beach, saw The Dark Knight (really good!), and just overall had fun being back in Israel after two years. I am really enjoying Cairo, but after struggling with Arabic for a month it was nice to go speak Hebrew. Plus: renewed Labello supply and a new Michal Negrin necklace :) I flew back via Amman, arrived in Cairo Sunday afternoon, and now am back to reality. I like that Israel is close enough that I can just pop over for a weekend, and I am sure I will be doing it again.

Today I will be starting tutoring in Ameya (Egyptian colloquial), which I am really excited about. My tutor, E, lives nearby in Zamalek and came highly recommended. My flatmate M suggested him, and my friends N and H also use him. I will update on that later this week.

A few things other little things... Many people have been asking about photos. Don't worry, I hear you. I will try to load some more this week, hopefully of my neighborhood in Zamalek so you can all see where I live and all that good stuff.

Also, contacting me. Sadly I still have no internet at home, so Skype is not really an option right now. But at work I am usually logged into my Gmail and available for Gchat. So if you have Gmail, add me and we can talk! I am usually at work until around 6:30ish, which is 11:30 a.m. New York time, 10:30 a.m. Chicago time. So this works best if you are an early riser or can also log in from work. Just remember, I work Sun-Thurs, so don't try and find me on a Friday. That's the weekend, and hopefully I am asleep, tanning, traveling, or all three.

Last thing: comment on the blog! It makes me feel loved :)

the joys of egyptian bureaucracy

If you had asked me one month ago what my favorite thing was about bureaucracy (someone could ask this, you never know), I would have said small town America politics. One of my favorite stories to write for The Miami Herald was when the city commissioners in tiny Hallandale Beach quadrupled their own salaries in a vaguely illegal meeting, then tried to claim they had done nothing wrong.

But that experience has been bested by the multiple-window system employed by Egypt's visa and immigration department, which I experienced first-hand this morning. When you arrive in Egypt, you are granted a 30-day visa, no questions asked. My 30 days are almost up, so that meant a trip to the Mugamma for a renewal. The office opens at 8 a.m., which is when I planned to arrive, but in a nod to how well I have embraced Egyptian Standard Time, I actually left my apartment like 1/2 hour late. See? I'm adjusting.

The Mugamma is a large, communist/Soviet-looking building towering over Tahrir Square, one of the major squares in downtown Cairo and also the home of the campus of AUC (American University of Cairo), where several of my friends have studied abroad. Many people going to the Mugamma for the first time opt to bring along an Egyptian friend to translate and/or navigate. I did not do this. For the last week-ish I have been feeling pretty good about my Arabic, and I decided (very, very foolishly) that it would be a fun experience trying to figure it out on my own, and that I would feel very accomplished when I was done. (Which I actually do, but more on that later.)

Anyway, the visa "office" of the Mugamma is one long room with 50+ windows that are sort of in numerical order (but surprisingly, not entirely). You need to bring photocopies of your passport and all Egyptian visas, and extra photos of yourself. If you have forgotten any of these, you can get them downstairs where some people are making quite a bit of money operating a copy machine. Armed with all the proper documents, I proceeded upstairs through the metal detector (it beeps for almost everyone, no one cares whatsoever) and to window 12, my first of many visits there.

I'll spare you the details (mostly because re-living it is a particularly unpleasant thought), but suffice it to say that I spent about two hours filling out forms and rotating repeatedly through several windows, including a momentary heart attack when I saw a space on one of the forms asking for my religion. I eventually just marked it with an X, no one cared, and that was that - I worried for nothing. I was considering writing in "Blaine-ologist," like from that episode of South Park (It's the one with the Super Best Friends where David Blaine commands a giant stone Abraham Lincoln to attack Washington D.C., but Jesus, Moses, et. al. save the day by summoning a giant stone John Wilkes Booth. Anyone? Bueller?) In retrospect, it is good that I did not do this, as I don't think I could explain South Park in Arabic.

But here is my journey in brief: retrieve forms, turn them in with passport and all papers, go pay for stamps, deliver them to woman holding passport hostage, come back in two hours to collect passport, figure out I need an additional "re-entry visa" in order to leave the country (like I plan to this weekend), repeat entire above process.

On the plus side: while standing in line (one of the many times) with my American passport, I managed to make friends with two other equally confused Americans with equally mediocre Arabic skills. Then on the way back to the office I got in what is possibly the only air-conditioned cab in all of Cairo, which was amazing. It is 102 degrees today, and I love A/C (still no working meter of course). And of course, the ultimate positive thing to come out of this is that I now have an extended visa through the end of December with multiple entries and exits allowed, I don't need to go back to the Mugamma for like 5 months, and I did it all on my own. Yay me!

This is all just in time for me to go on a little trip this weekend. Jess has a free weekend from USY Pilgrimage, so we are meeting in Tel Aviv and spending the weekend with Sara, who I last saw in summer 2006 when Sarina and I stayed with her for an excellent weekend. Looking forward to seeing both of them, and also to doing some shopping, going to the beach, listening to Galgalatz and wearing tank tops. Probably in that order. This has been a short week for me since yesterday was a national holiday (Revolution Day, but no one really does anything to celebrate except take off from work), and in general I can't believe I have already been here a whole month. Time flies.

USY redux

Yesterday I came back from my first AIESEC conference, and all I can say is... it reminded me a lot of USY conventions. Ironic, no? Despite my (admittedly) limited experience in USY, between those weekends, Wheels, and eight years at Eisner, I think I know a good cult when I see one -- and I mean that in the best way possible.

When we first arrived at Arabian Nights, we were divided up into two groups: the Egyptian AIESECers, and the international trainees (our internships are called traineeships, thus we are all trainees). They have "Roll Call," where they call out your country and you do a cheer/dance (as one of many Americans there, we chose to represent our country by calling out the catchphrase from Team America: World Police. And if you've seen that movie you know I can't type it here because my grandparents read this blog. Hi Gubba!) Another version of a Roll Call is just a song that everyone knows the same dance to (some popular examples are that Indian "Tunak Tunak" song, "Freed From Desire" by Gala, and several others.) Some people make up a dance, everyone learns the dance and teaches it to other chapters, and then before you know it you end up at one of these conferences doing the same choreographed dances with people from the around the world. Cheesy and fun -- and cultish, kind of like song sessions at camp. If you'd like a visual, just go to YouTube and search for AIESEC roll calls.

We spent the weekend switching between downtime by the pool and sessions with our facilitators (my friend H was one of the facilitators), where we talked about our experiences abroad. We had sessions on bridging the cultural gaps in a foreign country, what we hoped to accomplish at our traineeships, how to use AIESEC as a career stepping stone, and how to spread the message and goals of AIESEC's global community. We also had a bonfire (camp again! Though sadly, this one did not include a guitar sing-along next to the dock), and an Egyptian-style party that included club/trance/house music (I still don't really understand the difference), shisha (hookah, though apparently only Americans call it that) and backgammon, a game that I always feel I kind of know how to play, but really don't. Some Israelis tried to teach me when I was in Jerusalem (where everyone calls it shesh-besh), but apparently it didn't stick. Maybe now I'll learn?

My enthusiasm for the conference was dampened somewhat when I found out we would all be sleeping in tents, but I shared a tent with my friend N and we survived our night in the great outdoors. It was nice to leave the city for the weekend -- just an hour outside Cairo, but it got refreshingly cool at night in the desert and the air was much more breathe-able.

I'll admit that I was skeptical at first. I didn't really know anything about AIESEC; I definitely didn't know any of the dances, many of the acronyms went over my head (should I be impressed that someone is CCVP of the MC or NPM of the LC? It turns out I should), and the whole thing was just different than I expected. But I am a pretty idealistic person, and I found that I really identified with the "Can't we all just get along?" mentality that AIESEC embraces. I thought AIESEC would just be a good way for me to find a job in Cairo, but it's actually a very welcoming community of students and alumni that I am glad to be a part of.

And now for something completely different: one thing that is a major problem in Egypt is harassment of women. Most of the time it's harmless (if a bit disturbing), like blatant staring regardless of what you're wearing. Women wearing long skirts and a hijab (traditional Muslim headscarf) get stared at just as much as Western tourists wearing shorts and tank tops (yes, I've seen people completely ignoring local standards and wearing vastly inappropriate clothing). Other times they just whisper something when you walk by, but it's easy enough to ignore. Mostly this comes from lower class Egyptian men, who I don't spend any time with, but I've definitely still experienced it. (It doesn't really bother me too much - having spent time in a variety of large cities with varied populations, I have pretty thick skin now.) People have numerous "support groups" and discussions sections aimed at dealing with and talking about the harassment. Someone sent this article over the Cairo Scholars listserv today, and I thought it was interesting and pretty relevant. Take a look, and you'll understand what all the fuss is about.

cocktails and couch potato enablement

I found out this week that my company is moving to a new building soon, like in 1-2 months, which I have mixed feelings about. First off, the timing is going to be weird because that means that just as I am getting adjusted, it will be time to move again (sorry I'm grouchy about that). Besides, everything around here runs on what I (affectionately) refer to as Egyptian time; they might tell me two months, but I would not be at all surprised to find out that it will actually be closer to four. When asked how long something will take, most people respond with how long they want it to take, which is not realistic at all. Basically, I have some reservations because I don't know where the new one will be and I like this location (it's close to where I live and near a well-known mosque, which makes it difficult to get lost), but will welcome newer office supplies and furniture, as well as the possibility of some office space to call my own.

But on a more exciting note, the August issue will be going to print at the end of next week, which I'm excited about. I wrote several pieces for this issue, including restaurant and bar reviews, my attempts at drink mixing, and then I will be doing lots of editing next week. I have a gotten a good sense of the magazine by now I think, and it will be cool to see the first issue I worked on all over Cairo. In other news: come visit! I will know all the good places to go!

Anyway, I know I have praised the order-out nature of Cairo dining, but I thought I would show just how easy (and fun!) it is. There's this Web site called Otlob that lists all the restaurants (with menus!) that deliver to any given neighborhood. You can have the site remember your address and phone number, order your food online (bonus because then I don't have to worry about ordering the wrong thing in Arabic), and then just sit back and wait for delivery. Perfect. It's like a much cooler version of the ASG Restaurant Guide, on a bigger scale.

This weekend I will be attending an AIESEC conference, which I am excited about. Some of the people there will Egyptian AIESECers to ensure we're getting something out of our traineeships and teach us a bit about Egyptian culture; the rest will be the international trainees like me (I have met some from Canada, the U.S., China, Poland, etc.), so that will be a good opportunity to make friends and enjoy a weekend out of the city. We will be staying at Arabian Nights, a classy resort about an hour outside Cairo with a pool and horseback riding. I am supposed to bring some examples of American culture -- suggestions welcome. I want to represent NJ and Chicago, so I think I'm going to go with Bruce Springsteen and a Cubs t-shirt. Thoughts?

drink from the nile

There's a saying in Arabic that "one who drinks from the Nile comes back to the Nile." It takes only one look at the murky waves of the Nile to hope this is mere metaphor, but that doesn't make it any less true. Two Americans I know here (both in Cairo through AIESEC) were supposed to leave shortly, one this week to get a job, the other in August to go back to college. Instead, both decided to stay; the college grad will find a job here instead while contemplating grad school, and the other will take classes at the American University in Cairo (AUC) for the semester. In general, many of the people I know in Cairo have stayed much longer than they intended to -- the city has that effect on people, that they want to keep coming back.

So far I like the city a lot, though I don't think I have quite yet attained that level of love. But it's reassuring to know that soon, I might.

a gentleman and a scholar

Getting adjusted to life in Cairo has become a lot easier surrounded by so many people eager to help out and show me around, and for that I am extremely grateful to the friends I have been making here. But for the perspective of other newcomers, I have benefited from the advice on Cairo Scholars.

Cairo Scholars is a listserv that was set up as a way to unite ex-pats in Cairo a few years ago, and has since grown from like 200 to 1500 people, which is pretty crazy. It's got students (undergrad and grad), people coming to Cairo to learn Arabic, people working for NGOs and non-profits, teachers, journalists, photographers, etc. A lot of it is people looking for a place to stay, or advertising an extra room. But other emails have included requests for everything from acupuncture to Ethiopian food, and also questions that I will eventually need to ask anyway, like how to renew one's visa or where to find a good English language bookstore.

So in addition to becoming addicted to Cairo Scholars, this weekend I spent some time catching up on some much-needed sleep. Thursday night I went to bar that has karaoke nights (possibly the only karaoke place?) and sang (badly). It was not quite the glory of Sundo (they didn't have Journey!!), but we did enjoy "Wonderwall," "It's My Life" -- Bon Jovi version, NJ pride represent, and several others. We requested Backstreet Boys, but time was out before we could sing "I Want it That Way." I know, I'm disappointed too.

On Friday I went with some friends to the pool to do some swimming and tanning at the Mohamed Ali Club, which is a little out of the way but pretty nice. You pay for a day pass and then can buy food and drinks pool-side. The beautiful home in the background used to be the Egyptian home of Turkish ruler Mohamed Ali Pasha, but now it's a nice pool club.

Another exciting discovery of the weekend: the British Club. The British Community Association (BCA) has two things that everyone covets in Cairo:
1. cheap imported alcohol
2. bacon
Now obviously I don't care about the bacon, but other people get so excited about it. Ironic that in Spain, ham was everywhere, and we complained about how it was so prevalent, and now I'm in Egypt (since this is a Muslim country, most restaurants don't serve pork) where it's nowhere and people complain about missing it. But the BCA has it, and some of my friends got really excited about that. They also have a fully-stocked bar of imported liquor, and for people who have been reliant on Drinkies (the local liquor store...they deliver, of course), it was a welcome sight. You can become members, and then come back as much as you want for food, drink, or just to sit and study or have a smoke. They also have a events, like movie nights, happy hours, and pool game. The only requirement to join is a foreign passport.

And finally: I have figured out Celsius! Great success! According to flatmate H, you take temp in C, multiply by 2 and add 30. Good thing I have finally mastered simple arithmetic. So today's temp of 34 C is actually.... 98 F! Take that, metric system.

what, no wal-mart?

So far, I have managed not to get lost too badly, which is a huge success for me. My apartment is just a few blocks off 26th of July St., which is the main street in Zamalek. So if I ever don't know where I am, I just ask for 26th of July and then I can find my way home. And on that street is the most delicious discovery ever. My friend and I were walking around last night, and he showed me this fruit stand that makes this AMAZING sugar cane juice. It's called as'hab and you can get a glass for like 1 LE (1 Egyptian pound = about 20 cents). So good, and very refreshing when you are dressed modestly in the 85-90 degree heat. And that's at night -- it's more like 100 during the day. Speaking of which, I have so much respect for everyone who dresses really modestly with long sleeves and long skirts. They must be dying. I wear jeans and t-shirts and that even feels like too much.

Nothing too exciting so far this week, except that my apartment is finally starting to look home-y. In the absence of a Target or Wal-Mart, we have been picking things up slowly -- a trashcan here, a pillow there, etc. Yesterday I started hanging up posters, including this really awesome black and white poster of Chicago. It's a shot looking down on the Wrigley Building/Tribune Tower/Chicago River/Michigan Ave. and is dated 1930, it's really gorgeous. Anyway, my room is coming along nicely, though we have not really tackled the rest of the apartment yet. The living room/common area in the apartment is huge, so each of us contributed some posters for that, though we still have a lot to hang.

Otherwise, I am at work a lot of the time. Since I start late, I am usually at work until like 6 or 6:30, which is fine. We are trying to get a Web site started for the magazine I work for, and the first step to that was a blog. I have fully embraced the blog, and am now in charge of posting fun events taking place in Cairo. It's weird because I have never really done this kind of reporting before -- normally, I am all about the cops stories and the wrongful convictions and whatnot. Interesting to go from Innocence Project to Egyptian hip-hop.

One last thing: download the new Girl Talk CD! It's called Feed the Animals, and it is one of those pay-what-you-want deals, like with Radiohead. Just google "Feed the Animals." It's so good!

pyramid schemes

I'm at work on Sunday for my first full week (the work week is Sunday-Thursday), which I am actually pretty excited about. Everyone at the office is very nice, and it's a pretty fun environment. And as an added bonus, I don't have to be at work until 11 am, which is pretty much the best thing ever for a non-morning person like me. As many of you know, waking up before 3 pm can be challenging for me, so having a later start works out well.

For my first weekend in Cairo, I enjoyed a fun mix of tourist attractions and some time exploring the city. On Thursday night, I went to a concert with friends at Al-Azhar Park, a beautiful green space in a crowded city. The concert was a hip-hop showcase put on in connection with the Spanish Embassy. It featured several different MCs and rappers, including a really excellent Egyptian hip-hop group called Arabian Knights, and an excellent Spanish rapper named Frankt. I love Madrid, and it's always nice to be reminded of Spain. They were accompanied by a crew of hip-hop dancers, who were really talented, and the whole thing was in this cool outdoor amphitheater in the park. Apparently, they do cheap outdoor concerts all summer, and I would definitely come back to another.

On Friday, I went to the pyramids with three other girls from AIESEC. They all live together in Mohandessin, a neighborhood not too far from where I live, so I met up with them in the middle and we all took a cab together. Overall, I thought the pyramids were cool -- obviously extremely impressive up close, and being able to going inside was also really awesome. It's a bit of climb inside, and it's also a definite plus that I am not claustrophobic. I have seen other photos before, but seeing the pyramids up close was just so cool. The sphinx is also there (though a bit smaller than I expected... kind of like Mt. Rushmore). There are cool photo ops if you can position yourself correctly, and you can make it look like you've got your finger on the tip of the pyramid, or like you are kissing the sphinx. Judge the results below! The student ID card I got in Chicago before graduating already paid for itself with the student discount here, and I highly recommend it for anyone traveling.

And yesterday, I went to see Hancock at CityStars, the massive 6-floor mega-mall in Heliopolis. There are tons of chain restaurants (Romano's Macaroni Grill! Friday's! Chili's! Fuddruckers?) We had dinner at Wagamama, an Asian-style noodle house, and wandered around the mall a bit before the movie. It doesn't really feel like Cairo; everything is all clean and shiny, and there are tons of familiar stores that just seem out of place in Egypt. Like Billabong -- really? Cairo just doesn't scream "California surfer types." The movie was good, and I had fun trying to pick out the words I knew in the Arabic subtitles. I especially enjoyed the 5-minute cigarette break/intermission in the middle. Hafsaka, anyone?

I finally moved into my apartment in Zamalek with my flatmates H and M (using initials since I am not sure if they want their names used). My room is nice and big, and luckily the apartment came furnished (most seem to). There are still some things we will have to fix -- there is no shower curtain, and our fridge is in the hallway while the washing machine is in the kitchen. I kind of think it should be the other way around, but the landlady did not seem to think there was anything wrong with this arrangement. For now it's okay, but I think we will be doing some re-arranging this week. Mostly I am glad that I will finally be able to unpack and won't have to live out of my suitcases anymore.

Here are some pyramid photos:

An American in Cairo

It's a little weird to be an American abroad on the 4th of July. It's not like I was ever hugely patriotic, or that my family ever made a big deal. Maybe some fireworks at the Jersey shore, or a BBQ with family friends, or the carnival we used to have at camp. The last time I was abroad for the 4th of July was in 2006, when I was in Israel interning at the Jerusalem Post. But even then, the JPost had many Americans who all at least mentioned what day it was, and Sarina and I went out that evening to Zolli's (oh, Zolli's) and drank beer with dozens of other Americans singing along to "American Pie" and "Sweet Home Alabama." I don't think I have seen so many people that excited about Lenny Kravitz since like the 7th grade.

But in Cairo it's just such a non-issue that I almost forgot what day it was altogether. I thought about attending an Independence Day party sponsored by the U.S. Embassy (and held, ironically enough, at the British school), but ended up going to the pyramids at Giza instead with a group of girls from AIESEC, the international exchange program I came to Cairo with. (Photos forthcoming.) Between AIESEC and an international group of people at dinner, I spent my day with more foreigners than Americans. I guess that's an appropriate start for a year abroad. Welcome to Cairo!