in which jess guestblogs

This is Jessica (Aliza's youngest sister), guestblogging as we await our flight to Italy.

We just came back from the Nile Cruise. There were many hyroglyphic-filled temples in Upper Egypt, as well as many donkeys and camels, which made me very happy. The Nile Cruise was nice, although our room was in the third class- had it been the Titanic, we would have died. We toured with another American family from Boston. They were very nice, even if they did have a very small, squeaky child who seemed to know a lot about Egyptian mythology.

Cairo was a lot of fun. Cairo traffic, however, was not. The pyramids were very cool and large. Oddly, even though they are pretty gigantic, when the Cairo Smog was particularly prominent, you couldn't see them. I enjoy Egyptian food quite a bit- koshari, faoul, felafil, yum! And now we will go to Italy, where there will also be delicious food.

In other news. I rode a camel. It was wonderful.

-- Jessica (p.s. I also chose the tags for this post.)

the joys of egyptian bureaucracy, part 2

About five months ago, I braved the bureaucratic mess that is the Mugamma to secure myself a new visa to stay in Egypt. Well that visa expires this week, so I had to go back and renew it before leaving for Rome with my family. The first time I went, I had only been in Egypt a month. The visa excursion was a little intimidating and really overwhelming, with lots of shuffling between many windows and lots of forms. But this time I came armed with all the things I was supposed to (photos of myself, copies of passport, etc.), I knew which windows to go to and what to ask for, and the whole thing was pretty...painless. I brought my laptop and did some work from an internet cafe while I waited for my paperwork to be processed, and it was all very uneventful. Part of it is that I knew what to expect this time, so I wasn't really worried. Or maybe I am just that much more jaded now.

The only irony is that the first time I went, I requested a one-year visa, but they gave me one for six months and told me I would have to come back. This time I requested another six month one (since I am here until the end of June), but they gave me a one year one. Thanks, guys.

more freelance

Another freelance article I wrote is online. This one is for the same magazine, ICT Business, and it's about microfinance NGOs in Egypt. You can read it here.

By the way, the family has arrived. They have met some of my friends around Zamalek, and we lit Hanukkah candles last night with some other Jewish friends. All in all, a good Hanukkah so far.

family vacation

Until this weekend, I never knew that an entire country could lose internet connection. But that's what happened on Friday, when some undersea cable near Italy came loose or had some kind of problem, and all of Egypt found itself without any internet. People were still able to connect via iPhone or similar satellite-type thing, but all landlines weren't functioning. Seeing hordes of people panic as they run (in vain!) from one internet cafe to the next could have been funny, but when we heard that it might take five days to be repaired (actual time: about 24 hours), that panic hit me too. Anyway, it all seems to be fixed now, so no worries. I mean, it's still a bit slower than I would like but at least it's working.

In other news, my family (Dad, Mom, Michelle, Jessica) are coming to visit me/see Egypt. They were supposed to arrive in time for dinner this evening, but thanks to bad weather somewhere along the way they were rerouted through London and Amsterdam and will eventually arrive closer to 3 a.m. I am looking forward to showing them around Cairo, so it should be a fun week. Next week we will be going to Upper Egypt (Luxor, Aswan, etc.) to see all the Pharonic ruins and sites, and then to Rome for New Year's. I will try to post again this week, but if not, hope you all have a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

it's beginning to look a lot like fake christmas

Holiday season is here, and we have already started celebrating here in Cairo. Last week before I left for Jordan, we celebrated Fake Christmas. A friend, M2 (M1 is my former flatmate), used to live in Cairo but now works in Abu Dhabi, and came back to Cairo to see people. To mark the occasion, she and another friend, I, decided to co-host an early Christmas party with holiday poppers, Secret Santa gifts, Christmas songs, champagne purchased at Duty Free, and a nice little tree. All hosted on a I's houseboat on the Nile, which was a great view. Hanukkah party will be this weekend, and I'm also excited for that.

View of the Nile on a cloudy day at twilight. Well, let's be realistic -- it's part dusk, part smog I would guess.

For those interested in what it's like to live as an expat abroad, here's an article written in a magazine for TCKs. A TCK, or third culture kid, is one who grows up in a culture outside their own or that of their parents, sometimes meaning in multiple countries. This article talks a bit about expat communities and culture, and Egypt is mentioned at the end. My life here is a bit different because I hang out with a younger crowd, not families, but it's still pretty interesting I think.

My other exciting news is that my roommate A2 was in an Egyptian commercial! Some of you may remember that back in August I accidentally auditioned for a commercial. Well, A2 went on another audition and booked the part. The commercial is for Etisalat, an Egyptian phone company. The ad, which is in Arabic, is below. You can catch A2 at the 15 second mark.

roman ruins and the river jordan

This past week I spent traveling in Jordan with N for our Eid vacation. Jordan is a beautiful country; we covered most of the country, from Jerash and Ajloun in the north to Wadi Rum in the south, and we saw some amazing things. I won't bore you with all the details, but here are some highlights and impressions.

My first impression of Jordanians was that they are extremely classy. In Egypt people will often get dressed up to go out; many of the more exclusive bars and clubs require reservations, and I have certainly had nights when I would need to look “shiny,” to borrow a term from my friend H. But in Jordan, everyone we saw was very trendy and dressy all the time, even in the airport and walking around in the cheaper downtown area. I felt underdressed in my dirty desert jeans. Also, Jordan seemed more conservative. In Egypt my friends and I regularly walk around in T-shirts, or skirts that come to the knee. In Jordan all the women appeared much more covered up, usually to the wrists, and many more women seemed to be wearing hijabs (were veiled).

As far as I am concerned, besides the beautiful scenery, the best part about Jordan was the famous Middle Eastern hospitality. I have experienced it to some extent in Egypt, especially during Ramadan I think. I have been welcomed into people's homes, and invited for meals and iftars. But Jordanians take it to a whole new level, in an awesome way. Everyone was so willing to share what they had, no matter what it was. Our driver from Amman to Petra stopped on the way to pick up food for his dinner and after he picked up each component he offered us some -- bread, juice, radishes. It didn't matter that he couldn't afford much, he wanted us to have some. In Petra, we met this Bedouin girl who gave us directions on our hike, then when she saw us on the way out she invited us for tea and some fruit. On the bus from Wadi Rum to Amman, there weren't a ton of free seats so we all had to split up. I ended up in the back row with a family that had four small children. Every time one of them went to eat something (a bag of chips, some orange slices, etc.), they always offered me some also... and wouldn't stop offering until I had taken just a little. Each time, it was just really nice. What a friendly country.

N and I landed in Amman last Saturday, a city that reminded me a lot of Jerusalem. Actually, a lot of Jordan's scenery reminded me of Israel, which is not really surprising given the amount of time I have spent in Israel and the fact that two countries share a border and thus fairly similar geography. Anyway, I think the biggest shock about Amman was that it was so quiet. It's a lovely city, spread across multiple hilltops and without any huge skyscrapers (that's what I meant about it being like Jerusalem). But everything closes so early. I don't think I have ever spent a significant amount of time in a city where everything just shut down so completely at such a ridiculous hour. All the tourist sites closed by 4 p.m., then the restaurants at around 7 p.m. One day we left our hostel at 8:30 to get dinner and everything was already closed, except for a few street falafel stands. Another night we went for dinner at 6:30 and when we left, they were putting away all the food and getting ready to close the place down. Also, all the public transportation, namely buses and minibuses, completely stopped running by 5 p.m. at the latest (though often much earlier). This meant getting up really early many mornings in order to still be able to enjoy a full day at any one site.

Petra was absolutely amazing. Our hostel screened Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the one where the end was filmed in Petra), which was fun. We made friends with some of the other people in the hostel and then walked around with them for a bit. If you only have one day it's possible to hit the highlights and see a lot of Petra, but it's better if you have two days. On our second day, N and I chose to go see a slightly out of the way site called the "High Place of Sacrifice," which on the map looked like a short hike up but ended up being a serious trek. By the time we got to the top we were a little exhausted, but we had an amazing view of all of Petra, so it was completely worth it.

More friends were made on the way to Wadi Rum. The way to get from Petra to Wadi Rum is a 6:30 a.m. bus, and N and I hoped that we would be able to meet other people on the bus to share a tour guide with us in Wadi Rum. First on the bus we met a Korean girl traveling alone, and then as we got off we met two more Australians (N is also Australian). All wanted to share a half-day tour in Wadi Rum, and all wanted to go back to Amman that night (including us). We ended up with a tour lasting 3 1/2 hours through the desert, which was awesome, and then we began the process of getting back to Amman.

Since no buses run in the evenings (or even after noon in some cases), we figured our best shot was to try and flag down a bus or minibus on its way to Amman from Aqaba and get on from the main highway. Our Lonely Planet guide advised hitchhiking, which we considered, but there were five of us with large backpacks or duffel bags, so we eventually decided against it. The first few minibuses were a bit expensive, and several cars kept pulling over to ask us where we were going and why (this was a time when we obviously stood out as tourists, just standing on the side of Jordan's main highway looking like dirty backpackers).

Eventually a minibus came along and said they were going to Ma'an, a town in the center of Jordan on the way north where we would be able to catch a connecting bus to Amman. There weren't necessarily enough seats on the minibus, but some people shifted around and squished in so we could all have seats. In Ma'an we transferred to another bus to Amman, where we once again had to split up and squeeze in where we could (this is where I sat with the travelling family), and then finally arrived in Amman in time to go back to the hostel we had stayed in the first night. We brought the Australians with us, and all went together to have a nice dinner in the classy part of town, as opposed to the cheap local fare we had been enjoying (though the Bedouin food was really fantastic). Anyway, we really enjoyed this hostel, and met lots of cool people there over the time we were there -- some Polish art students, an Australian grandmother traveling around the world, two Spanish brothers on vacation in Jordan and Israel, and some others. It was a lot of fun to feel a part of the Jordan backpacking culture.

We also hit all the major tourist sites; we were able to cover almost the entire country in one week. We went to Petra for two days (one of the most amazing things I have seen), Wadi Rum (this desert protected area with lots of cool formations and great scenery, and you need a Bedouin tour guide to go around), Madaba (centuries-old mosaic map of the holy sites of the ancient world), Mt. Nebo (mountain from which Moses viewed Israel before dying), the castles of Karak and Shobak, Dead Sea (have now been from both Israel and Jordan), Bethany Beyond the Jordan (the site on the River Jordan where they think Jesus was baptized), Jerash (a city in the north with fantastic Roman ruins), Aljoun (another ancient castle), and Amman. We didn't make it to Aqaba or the Eastern Desert, but I guess that's just another reason to go back.

So overall it was a pretty excellent trip, as I hope you can tell by my stories. Check out the post below for some photos, and more will soon be up on Facebook.

photos from jordan

Here are some selected photos from my trip to Jordan. Check back for more details and fun travel stories in a later post. More photos will eventually be on facebook (seriously, I have like more than 300 from just this one week).

The view from Mt. Nebo, where Moses supposedly looked across as Israel (but was not allowed in) before dying. Those hazy mountains in the distance are Israel.

Al-Khazneh, or the Treasury, at Petra. You might recognize this building from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (and if not, you should go watch it!). But seriously, Petra is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

Nabatean tombs caves in Petra.

More tombs and ruins in Petra.

On our second day in Petra, N and I opted for what we thought we would be a short hike to a place called the "High Place of Sacrifice." Well, it was indeed high, but after the trek we got amazing views and this stone altar. Here I contemplate stepping out into the mountains.

Our Bedouin tour guide with his 4x4 in the Wadi Rum protected area.

Wadi Rum desert. A wadi is a kind of valley, and is sometimes translated as like a dry riverbed.

Sitting on a rock bridge in Wadi Rum. They don't have these in the desert in Egypt!

Roman ruins in Jerash, in northern Jordan. This city supposedly has the best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy, and they were indeed pretty amazing.

Temple of Zeus in Jerash.

Here I am attempting to step on and/or kick over the ruins below, which are part of the oval forum in Jerash.

And here is N and I at the Dead Sea, which I have now visited and swum in from both sides.

office nostalgia

Though I didn't get time off for Thanksgiving, the whole country is going on vacation next week. We have off a full week for Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah. It coincides with Hajj, the annual pilgrimmage to Mecca that Muslims are obigated to make at least once in their lives, if they are able. To celebrate my time off, I will be going to Jordan for seven days with N, where we will see Petra, Amman, and many other things. Check back next week for photos (though we are flying there, so hopefully few travel horror stories).

As some of you may remember, a few months ago I mentioned that my company might be moving to a new building. Well, they've been getting it ready for a while and it looks like it will finally be ready after Eid. Which means today might be my last day in this office (though some departments will still be here, so I am sure I will visit). But still: here is a photo of the view of Mohandiseen as seen from the balcony in our office. The new office is on the block to the right of the building with the blue windows.

take that, winter

December 1st. I am wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops.

That is all.