just like raiders of the lost ark

In part of my quest to go explore something new in Cairo each weekend, I have recently become very closely acquainted with my Lonely Planet Egypt. In perusing, N and I discovered that in addition to Cairo, there are things we both want to see in Alexandria as well. We have both been to Alex before (N multiple time, me just in September ), but had not seen the catacombs of Kom al-Shuqqafa, which we both wanted to see. So on Saturday, the two of us caught the 9 am train from Cairo to Alex, and our Egyptian friend S3 (who is also N's roommate) picked us up at the train station. She is from Alex and goes home some weekends, so it's always nice to have a knowledgable friend on hand to show you around. After a quick lunch, we went to the catacombs (no cameras inside so I only have pictures of the outside, check below!), which were really cool. Apparently they were discovered by accident in 1900 when a donkey feel through the ceiling, and our tour guide then proceeded to give us a full history of "things discovered in Egypt when a horse or donkey fell through a ceiling." FYI, this happens more than you think. I guess if you really want to find some ancient Pharonic treasures, bring along a horse and hope they take care of the hard part for you.

Inside the catacombs, there was this huge hole through the center of the ceiling that they used to lower the bodies through, plus all these side passageways with tons of tombs. There was also this area that apparently used to be the tomb for a private (and wealthy) Roman family, and it included this stone archway and entrance. The whole thing looked like a booby-trapped scene from Indiana Jones, so you kind of got the impression that when you tried to enter you might be bowled over by a large stone ball, or that some wooden spears would suddenly come flying out of the sides. We decided to brave it anyway, and it was fine. Which was both a relief and slightly disappointing at the same time.

Also, the last time we went we saw the outside of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, but it was already closed (because it was Ramadan), so this time we were able to go inside. They had a really cool exhibit called "Impressions of Alexandria" that featured maps, drawings and photos of Alexandria going back hundreds of years, and N and I also took the time to select a book and sit down and read for 15 minutes, so we could say we read books at the library of Alexandria (OK, it's not the fabled great library anymore, but it's still pretty cool). I read from Macbeth (I've always loved that play, at least partially due to the witches), and the complete works of T.S. Eliot (not for Cats! It's because his poem "The Hollow Men" is one my favorites), and N read from a collection of English literature from Ceylon (this is the old name for Sri Lanka, where N's family is from).

After all that, we went back to S3's house for lunch/dinner, which included some deliciously prepared seafood, which we don't get all that often in Cairo. In Alexandrian fashion, the fish were served whole on the bone, and N and I didn't really have any idea how to go about eating it. But S3 and her mom helped us, and I think we were at least pretty entertaining trying to figure it out -- so at least the ridiculous foreigners can be the dinner theater. Her family is great, and I enjoy spending time there when in Alex. We also went for a sunset stroll by the sea -- S3's family lives about a block away from the beach, and I think if I lived that close I would never get any work done at all.

N, me and S3 outside the tombs of Kom al-Shuqqafa

My arm being devoured by the stone lion, S3 freaking out in the background

Not inside one of the catacombs, but a separate tomb. Still, a cool drawing I think.

Inside the library...look at all those books! It goes so far down. A reader's paradise...

Me, jumping for joy to be near a beach

adventures in baking

This weekend is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and one of the traditions of this particular holiday is the eating of dairy foods, especially cheese blintzes and cheesecake. Another Jewish friend of mine, SK (I can't even remember how many S friends I have written about on the blog or which numbers are which ones, so I am just going with initials at this point), is a good baker and asked if I wanted to help make a cheesecake for Shavuot, which I absolutely did.

Now, I will just say that with proper planning and foresight, we probably could have obtained most of the items we needed to make a proper cheesecake. But we did not do this. Instead, we decided at 3 pm yesterday (Wednesday) to make a cheesecake, both worked late, and finally met up around 10 pm in Maadi to start cooking. A supermarket chain called Alfa Market usually has imported foods, like cream cheese (the main ingredient in most cheesecakes, by the way), but there are none by SK's house and I didn't think to check the one by me on my way to Maadi. So instead we went to a local market by her house, where they had several varieties of Egyptian "cream" cheeses, none of which were actual cream cheese. Let's just say we improvised on many ingredients.

Soon enough we were in the kitchen of SK's neighbor -- which was, by the way, the nicest kitchen I have seen yet in Egypt. He had a microwave! It was so nice and shiny... But I digress. Anyway, we opted for an Oreo cheesecake, though we had to go with Egyptian generic brand Borio (once we mashed them up you couldn't even tell the difference), which we put in the crust and also crumbled into the filling. No graham crackers, so we made a crust out of crumbled Borios and McVities Hob-Nob biscuits, plus flour/eggs/sugar/butter/baking powder, etc. While that was baking, we improvised a filling out of...many things. Our independent taste-tests confirmed that it tastes mostly like cheesecake (and vaguely looks like it too) and smells really good, but the consistency is not quite right. It is sitting in my fridge right now, doing some thinking (and some hardening, inshallah), and we will eat it tonight.

To my friends in Egypt: come have some! To friends and family reading at home: chag sameach!

life on hold

Last week, Mohamed Alaa, the 12-year-old grandson of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, passed away. While the death of a child is undoubtedly tragic, I have to see that I have never seen anything like the mandatory nation-wide mourning that ensued. Popular radio station Nile FM banished its stacks of pop tracks and played only Islamic tracts or somber music for about 24 hours. On Thursday night I showed up at Harry's Pub with a group of friends, only to be told that all karaoke had been suspended "out of respect" for the Mubarak family. It seemed excessive to me, but apparently it's a national tradition here for life to literally be put on hold.

This month I've been enjoying the EU Film Club, which has been screening movies from different countries at European cultural centers around the city since the beginning of May. They screen a different movie from a different country each night, with that host country providing some (free, occasionally alcoholic) refreshments before the (free) film, which is why I believe they are so popular. So far I have seen movies from Ireland (Once -- I love that movie!) and Austria, with plans to see Italy's entry today and Greece's later this week.

Anyway, as I guess you can tell, there aren't a lot of particularly exciting things happening around here. I mean, life continues as usual: work is going well, I feel like I am making good progress with my Arabic classes (my tutor says my reading is improving, which I believe is thanks to those children's books I bought), and friends are also good. As for the apartment, well...the Internet we finally arranged for never quite worked the way it was supposed to, and after three months of fighting with Mobinil, our provider, we are finally calling it a day and returning the modem. I am able to access other apartments' networks just fine, and though the connection isn't stellar it's better than no Internet at all. I can't believe what a struggle it has been to find reliable and consistent Internet in such a major city -- seriously, this is Cairo, not the middle of nowhere. Actually...

obama is coming to egypt!

Obama has said he would deliver a speech from a Muslim capital in his first 100 days in office. It's a little after that by now, but I am extremely excited about his planned June 4 speech in Egypt. No confirmation on whether it will be in Cairo, but really -- where else would it be?

Anyway, I'm excited because I think having such a major speech in Egypt sends a positive message. Egypt is a moderate country in the Middle East (for whatever that's worth) and plays an important role in the region as a moderator (i.e. between Israel and the Palestinians). So I say well chosen, and not just because I live here. Now, how to get tickets?

UPDATE May 12: More thoughts on what Obama should speak on when he comes to Cairo.

the problems with pigs

This weekend I went to an Egyptian hospital for the first time. Don't worry, nothing happened to me, but my friend H got sick so I went to visit him with some friends. As someone who has been fortunate enough to grow up with first-rate doctors and medical care, getting sick while abroad was definitely something I worried about. I got traveler's health insurance from STA travel before I left, but my line of thinking went something along the lines of...I hope I never EVER have to use this, because health care in the developing world is scary.

Turns out, not so much. Al-Salam Hospital in Mohandiseen is a very nice facility; obviously it's no Columbia-Presbyterian (where I spent some time both pre- and post-back surgery back in 2005) or anything, but it's clean and the rooms are pretty spacious. I have legitimate health care courtesy of my job (EgyCare, and it comes with a photo ID card and everything!), and although I still hope to never need to use it, the idea of being sick in Egypt is no longer as horrifying as it once was. I think a lot of people used to doctors and medicine in the US (or the West in general) worry about the standard of care in other countries, but I think that in such a major city like Cairo, there isn't really anything to worry about.

And on the topic of falling ill, swine flu panic has come to Egypt. The government is responding by deciding to slaughter all the pigs in Egypt -- about 350,000 of them. This is problematic for several reasons. The first is that it is now pretty well acknowledged that swine flu is spread by people, not actual swine, so killing them won't really accomplish anything. Of course, it's not like anyone here has actually caught swine flu (nor will they, because the percentage of the population who have enough money to travel somewhere they might catch it, like Mexico, is so miniscule), so it's not like there's even anything to spread. But no, the real problem is that the group most likely to be raising pigs is Egypt's Coptic Christian minority (about 8-10 percent of Egypt's total population of 80 million, depending on which statistics you're using), an already marginalized group who are the targets of a lot of hatred and discrimination.

A lot of people are saying that the decision to kill the pigs is not because the government is worried about the spread of swine flu, but because they want to make things even more difficult for the Copts. It's almost like the government is saying, this flu is a sign from god that eating pigs is wrong, and having them in our country is wrong, so we will get rid of them all. Farmers rely on the sale of those pigs for a big portion of their income, which now they won't get. Obviously there was already only a small market for pork products here (Muslims don't eat pork, same as Jews), and with the swine flu panic no one is really eating it at all now. There is already something of a Christian-Muslim divide in this country, and I would hate to see this make the whole situation worse.