i wasn't supposed to put beef in the trifle

I wish I had some wacky Thanksgiving-abroad stories to share, but my Turkey Day was pretty low-key (and lack of Black Friday made me sad, though I am sure my wallet and bank account rejoiced). On Thursday I went into work and finished up the editing for our December issue (should be out any day now), ending a rather long work week (thus the reason for my lack of posting last week... sorry about that).

So, Thanksgiving! I know I have mentioned here on the blog before that my group of friends here is really great, but it bears repeating because in a way, they are my Cairo family. We had a nice (though rather informal) dinner at the British Club, with other friends arriving a bit later for the drinks portion of the evening. Thoughtfully, the British Club paired Thanksgiving with Disco Night, which resulted in some truly excellent background music. Otherwise a fun weekend that also included a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe Cairo and plenty of Thanksgiving leftovers.

On Saturday, I went with N and A1 to the AUC bookstore, which was having a 20 percent off holiday sale. Most English-language bookstores are pretty expensive, so this was a good opportunity to stock up (especially given that I have some upcoming vacation time when I will have a lot of time to read). In college I always felt guilty for reading for fun when I had school books piling up, so it's been nice to find the time to read for fun again.

sorry it's been a while

Sorry I have not posted in a while -- this week is the monthly deadline at the magazine I work for, so I have been pretty busy. Everything should be all wrapped up by the end of tomorrow, but until then I am a bit swamped.

Otherwise, I had a fun weekend. Saw a bunch of movies (Cairo International Film Festival) and went out with friends, the usual. Apparently there were famous people here for the festival but I did not see any. (Maybe I went to the wrong movies?) Anyway, promise a longer posting later when I have some time.

Until then: Happy Thanksgiving!

elsewhere in the middle east...

Egypt feels like the Middle East. Sometimes it's easy to forget when I live in Zamalek, across the street from Cinnabon and Pizza Hut, but most of the time it's pretty noticeable. Still, I thought this article, about expats in Dubai, was pretty interesting.

For good measure, here's one specifically about Egypt and how the country's ancient history coincides with the modern realities of being part of the developing world. Interesting!

By the way -- I throw around the term "expat" often but realized that I never really explained. The word "expat" is short for expatriate, the name for anyone living outside their native country for extended periods of time.

ahli vs. zamalek

I work in the content room (like a newsroom) in my office, where there is a large TV. It is usually on to something quiet, like the news or a popular TV program.

But right now we are watching a football match, Ahli vs. Zamalek. Yes, I live in Zamalek. But no one really roots for them (they are the White Sox of Cairo football). Everyone is Cairo is an Ahli fan. EVERYONE. I was interested in going to a game, but apparently it is very...unpleasant for women and I have since reconsidered. So Ahli just scored a goal, 20 people are screaming right next to me, and I am probably not going to get any more work done today.

Considering going home early to read all the excellent Entertainment Weekly magazines I have just receieved in a package from my parents today. By the way: the package delivery man thinks it is hilarious that I get a package a month from America. We are on a first name basis now and he is totally my BFF. So send me mail! He will make sure it gets to me!

happy birthday to me

This past weekend I celebrated my 23rd birthday, which was a lot of fun. Some friends and I took some wine and cheese on a felluca on the Nile, and then went over to El Mojito, a bar/lounge we frequent. I got to see many friends, so it was a nice celebration. Weird to have another birthday abroad (I turned 21 in Madrid), but overall a good one.

On Friday night I had Shabbat dinner with some AUC students I met at the last Jewish event, and that was nice. They had brought kosher chicken from Israel (I thought bringing back a challah was an accomplishment, but this is true dedication), and also some Israeli wine. I contributed dessert. A very nice gathering and fun to have a legitimate Shabbat dinner in Cairo. Saturday evening we had another event for the Cairo Jewish Club, as we are now apparently calling ourselves. This one was a get-together at the British Club, and it featured schmoozing, drinking, trivia, and some Israeli dancing. Overall a success, and I had a good time. I think this whole Jewish cultural group is off to a great start so far, and am really glad that I get to be a part of it here.

I also finished and turned in another freelance article this weekend, this one a book review for a design magazine. This is the first piece I wrote for them, but hopefully they will ask me to contribute again. Saturday during the day, A2 and I decided to try and get out and see some more of Cairo. We spend a lot of weekends being low-key and relaxing, but there's a lot in Cairo that I still have not done.

We ended up choosing the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, close by in Zamalek by the Opera House and only 5 LE (about $1) to get in. It was very non-pretentious; they had lots of interesting work by Egyptian artists in nice building with a big foyer. There were maybe 10 other people in the museum, so we kind of had it to ourselves, which was cool. The types of art varied -- they had some surrealist, some impressionist, some very modern, sculpture, oil paintings, abstract, portaits, etc. A little of everything. None of the artists are particularly famous outside of Egypt, I think, but it was a very nice collection. The Egypt Museum is so famous for all the mummies and antiquities and whatnot, that I think people sometimes overlook the other museums in Cairo. But it's nice to see Egyptians proud of their more modern culture as well.

a little belated, but...

One of my freelance articles is available online now, so I thought I would pass on the link to anyone who'd like to read. The article is about an exclusive food deal for AUC, the American University in Cairo, and was published by ICT Business magazine, a business and IT magazine here in Cairo. You can read it here. Enjoy!

bribery will get you everywhere

I spent this last weekend in Jerusalem, which was amazing as always, but was book-ended by some of my more interesting travel experiences. Rather than flying, A1 and I opted to go to Israel the cheap way, namely overnight bus(es). Our journey was supposed to go like this: bus 1 from Cairo to Taba, cross border on foot into Eilat, taxi to bus station, bus 2 from Eilat to Jerusalem.

Despite an unfortunate (but predictable) lack of timetables or bus schedules online, I heard from several people that there was a 10:15 pm bus leaving Cairo for Taba. We were early enough (a rarity), but when we got to the bus station we found that it was sold out. Now growing up, many of us were taught that "no means no." But that's not really true in Egypt, where no means something like "bribe me." We asked the ticket seller how much tickets cost and he said 80 LE, so we said we would give him 100 to squeeze us onto the bus. Miraculously, he suddenly "found" two more seats. Leg 1: success.

We arrived in Taba at around 5:30 am (like a 7 hour bus ride, including an extended tea/shisha break somewhere around 2:30), where A1 and I promptly made friends with an elderly Italian nun also going across the border. She spoke only a little Arabic and a little Spanish, but when I spoke Spanish and she spoke Italian slowly -- with a few Spanish-isms thrown in -- we could mostly understand each other. She was awesome. Anyway, we got across the border without getting our passports stamped, which was a huuuge success -- basically, we were trying to avoid stamps from both Israel and Taba in our passports, so that was excellent. There are some countries that give you problems with Israeli stamps in your passport (or stamps from Taba, where the only place you would have gone would be Israel). Egypt and Jordan, which I would also like to visit, are fine, but I'd like to keep mine stamp-free for now just in case. So leg 2: success.

A1 and I split a cab with our new nun friend to the Eilat bus station, where we purchased tickets to Jerusalem about twenty minutes before the bus left (is that good timing or what?). I also helped the nun buy a ticket to Haifa by translating her Italian into Hebrew, and the clerk's Hebrew back into Spanish for her. Needless to say, I have not had such a language identity crisis since the days of back-to-back Spanish and Arabic during my sophomore year. But I feel like in this case I should get bonus points for getting to legitimately use my Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic all in the same day. And then we went to a convenience store, where they were playing this Idan Yaniv song that I love and I bought Bissli for breakfast. Welcome to Israel!

After an excellent weekend in Jerusalem (more on that later), the Most Bizarre Travel Day Ever commenced. We start by finding out that there is no return bus from Jerusalem to Eilat on Saturday evening (no buses during Shabbat in Israel, but we still needed to make it to work on Sunday morning), but we found out that were running from Tel Aviv. We decided to take a sherut, or shared taxi, from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, hoping to arrive in time for a 5 pm bus that would arrive in Eilat at 9 pm, re-cross the border and make a 10:30ish bus from Taba back to Cairo.

Instead, the sherut ran late, so we ended up on a 6:30 pm bus. That would have made us miss our bus back to Cairo, but that bus, it turns out, did not exist (the last one had left at 4 pm), so it did not matter. Instead, after we crossed the border (still no stamps, yay!), we started haggling with drivers of various microbuses to take us back to Cairo.

A1 and I had decided ahead of time what we were willing to pay, which was extremely reasonable based on other microbuses we have taken. But when the drivers heard us speak in Arabic, they would ask where we're from, and then the price would jump when they hear we're American. We did our best to explain that we are working here for Egyptian companies and get paid in Egyptian pounds, but they still thought we were rich students (as they assume all Americans must be). It can be incredibly frustrating when you know everyone is just so willing to screw you based on an incorrect assumption about people who share your nationality.

Anyway, one eventually agreed to take us, but then became rather shifty. First he said he wanted to wait for more people, then he tried to get us to pay him more to leave immediately (we said no), finally kept driving in circles from the border to the bus station to get more cigarettes/a phone card/ chat with his friends. Eventually, around 1 am, he said he was going to sleep until the morning when more people arrived and we could feel free to sleep in the car. At that point we left the cab and made friends with Ibrahim the policeman, who told off the sketchy microbus driver and helped us make a deal with a much more awesome one. He was a bit more money, but he was willing to leave right away with just the two of us, and also spoke Hebrew (I may be progressing in Arabic, but I am still far more comfortable expressing myself in Hebrew).

After some unforeseen cab-switching in Suez (as in the canal) around 5:30 am, we arrived in Cairo at 7 am, which was plenty of time to sit in traffic. So, three taxis, a car, a bus and a microbus later, we finally found ourselves back in Zamalek at 8 am on Sunday. Slept for two hours and went to work like that champ that I am, where I have been steadily drinking coffee ever since.

Oh! And as for Israel -- the weather was beautiful, I had three iced Aromas (that's right, one a day), came back to Cairo with challah and ruggelach from Marzipan (though we did stress-eat a number of the ruggelach between midnight and 6 am on the ride through Sinai), and went to Friday services at Shira Hadasha (they re-did the building, by the way, and it looks lovely). We also did Western Wall and tunnel tour, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Israel museum and Dead Sea scrolls, market in the Muslim quarter, Ben Yehudah Street, Emek Refaim, Mahane Yehudah, Tmol Shilshom (one of my favorite cafes in Jerusalem), visited the Jerusalem Central Bus Station (love that place!), stayed at Heritage House (free hostel!), and lots and lots of walking all around the city. Things I did not revisit: Beit Canada. I was glad to see Jess and Sara in Tel Aviv at the end of July, but I think Jerusalem will always be my favorite city in Israel.

Still, I think next time I might just fly.

YES WE DID

Received today on Cairo Scholars: an e-mail entitled "Congratulations, America."

I watched CNN International from like 12:30-3:30 am, and then woke up at around 5 am to check in again when my dad called me and told me to turn on the TV (I told him to call). I have to admit, I was jealous of those people hanging out in Grant Park with Oprah. That would have been awesome. Anyway, I was trying to avoid writing that post where I talk about how the locals are so informed and everyone here cares about the outcome of the elections more than many Americans I know. (For the record: they are, and they do.)

So instead, I will just say that I am extremely pleased with and proud of America today. Yes we did, indeed.

hollywood's arab terrorists

Last night I went to see Body of Lies with some friends, and it was kind of funny because although we did not know it when we chose the movie, the whole thing takes place in the Middle East. Jordan, Syria, Iraq, UAE -- pretty much everywhere but Egypt.

Anyway, it was hilarious to be seeing it here in the Middle East for a few reasons. First, it was cool that I could understand some of the Arabic, especially the parts that were in fus'ha (classical Arabic, which is what I studied at Northwestern). In the beginning they had this extremist Muslim decked out in typical Hollywood Arab gear making a threatening video that happened to be in Arabic -- but they had him speaking in fus'ha, which people don't really speak. People were laughing in the theater -- probably not the intended effect. I will say that it was weird to see a movie in which all the villains are Arabs here in Egypt. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone feels marginalized by that kind of movie, but the theater was pretty full and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, so maybe not.

But yes, there were many other typical Middle Eastern moments in the movie. At one point, one character is trying to cross the street and almost gets hit by a car, so he angrily slams his fist on the hood of the car. We were all cracking up because that has happened to all of us in Cairo (seriously, crossing the street could be a national sport), so it seemed so appropriate to see it on screen. Another character is referred to as Ya Pasha, which is very Egyptian (though here it's pronounced more like Yeh Besha); it's an honorific title left over from the days of the Ottomans and is kind of like the equivalent of "Sir." Plus they drank lots and lots of tea in lots and lots of 'ahwas. When we foreigners laughed along with the Egyptians, it kind of felt like being in on a giant inside joke that would not have been the case if I had seen the movie back in America.

cannibal kittens

Happy November to all! Hope everyone had a fun Halloween weekend -- mine was pretty tame, comparatively speaking. We were supposed to be going to a Halloween party at the American Embassy being hosted by the Marines (we have gone to a few other Marine parties and are friends with a few of them, so it's usually a good bet). Unfortunately, every other expat in Cairo under the age of 35 had the same idea as us, and there were MASSIVE lines to get in. So we took our costumed selves (there were like 15 of us) to El Mojito, a bar/lounge we go to pretty regularly. It was not an official Halloween party per se, but there were plenty of people in costume, so we had fun.

This is not the first time I have spent Halloween abroad, and it was just as underwhelming this time around. I don't know, I think that even though people try elsewhere, America is the only place where enough people have embraced Halloween (and its inherent tackiness) with enough enthusiasm to make it truly awesome. I have always loved Halloween; I love special showings of Nightmare Before Christmas and cheesy decorations and haunted warehouses next to Lake Michigan (which is what I did last year!). I mean, I had fun in Spain/London and in Egypt, but it's just not the same. OK, gripe over.

But something truly terrifying (not really, I just needed a segue) did happen this weeked. Cairo has a big cat problem -- they are just everywhere, dirty, starving, meowing, etc. One managed to find its way up to my floor (it climbed 14 flights of stairs, so that's true dedication), where it proceeded to sit in front of every door on my floor (there are four, and all face each other in a square) and just meow pathetically for extended periods of time. We felt bad, but giving it food is like giving it an invitation to stay, which none of us want. A few days ago we realized that part of the source of the meowing was that our dirty stray cat had 4 dirty stray kittens. Seriously, they can fit in the palm of my hand (if I tried to pick one up, which I absolutely have not done) and are tiny and so adorable. And they sat in the hall (vestibule?) and just meowed like crazy.

But yesterday we opened the door and found that the tiny adorable kittens had killed one of their brothers and sisters and were in the middle of EATING it. So disgusting. There were...parts...scattered around (paws, a head, other grossness). I slept through the initial sightings, but luckily A1 and A2 pointed it out to me later, lest I be spared the image of a dead cat's head becoming dinner in our hallway. Thanks, guys! Anyway, the bowab came and cleaned it up and shooed the remaining cats away, so that's good at least. But I think that might have taken care of any remaining desire I had to have pets.