all things go, all things go

Well everyone, this is it: the farewell post. I wanted to take this time to write some things that I love -- and am going to miss -- about Egypt, and the Middle East in general. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Street food. Many people complain about the food in Egypt, but I don't agree. True, it's far from gourmet; if that's what you wanted, you'd be better off in Morocco or Lebanon. But for cheap, delicious, and occasionally greasy local street food on the go, you can't beat Egypt. My favorites: tall glass of mango or guava juice, or banana with milk (sounds weird, but it is so good!), or as'hab, a juice made of sugar cane; fuul, aka stewed fava beans with tahina and salad and sometimes hot peppers, especially from Mah'roos, aka Biblical fuul, aka the fuul place in Garden City; koshari, the classic Egyptian vegetarian peasant dish made from rice, noodles, chick peas, fried onions, lentils, spicy red sauce and some of that garlicky/vinegary stuff on top; fiteer, a kind of fried dough eaten with honey as a dessert or with veggies and cheese or meat as a meal; and of course fatta, which is rice, fried pieces of bread, chicken schwarma, and taamayya (garlic sauce) on top. So good. All of it. Now I just have to find a decent Egyptian restaurant in New York.

2. The call to prayer. When it comes to speaking Arabic in Cairo, Egyptian Ameyya has been much more useful to me than the classic fus'ha I learned at Northwestern. But there is something so beautiful about classical Arabic: when it's written, I love the calligraphy, the flowing script, whether its the inticate designs on Islamic buildings or sprawled across a store front or on the cover of a book. And I love the sound of it, the allahu akbar echoing around me five times a day, marking time and filling the streets and alleys. Hear it at 4 am? Stayed out too late. Hear it at 9 am? Woke up too early. Hear it at 6 pm? Time to start wrapping up work and head home. Though I am not going to be joining anyone at a mosque to pray, I really like hearing the call to prayer sound around me; it reminds me that this city, my home, is filled with people coming together to share something special every day.

3. Chilling. I don't think I can emphasize the relaxed, chilled out nature of this country. Egyptians have a flexible concept of time, and are often late; I respond well to this. Everything is late: buses, scheduled performances, parties, people. I don't think I could live in a country where everyone places such a high premium on time. Everyone is very relaxed about everything; one of my favorite Egyptian words is malesh, meaning: it's OK, no worries. Bus is late? Malesh. Air conditioner broken? Malesh. I seem to be locked out of my house? Malesh! And one of the things I have learned to do here is stop worrying about time so much. I am not usually in a rush, and it's been pretty great. It makes some people anxious, and I will admit that I have moments of wishing things could run more efficiently. But it's worth it for the laid-back atmosphere all around the country. I have chilled all over Egypt: by the Red Sea, by the Mediterrean Sea, in Upper Egypt, on the Nile, in several types of desert, in Siwa, in tents, in Mosques, with Bedouins, and more. In Basata, I took off my watch for four days, and it was heaven. The most popular set-up I see in Egypt is incredibly conducive to chilling: mats and rugs and oversized pillows on the floor, a long, low table, some shishas and trays of tea, all shoes left by the entrance. You can lay out, you can lay back, you can nap or read a book or play a game of tawla/shataranj, you can forget that you were ever supposed to be doing anything else. And if you're late to whatever you were supposed to be doing next? Malesh.

4. Cairo, in all its faded glory. (Get ready, this is a long one!) In the days before Nasser took over, Cairo was a international city. There were gilded buildings and chic pastry shops, and a dignified sort of feeling to the city. Now, many of the streets have been renamed and the facades are cracked and all that grandeur has begun to crumble. Going to have a beer on the rooftop of the Odean, or passing by Groppi's in downtown, or sitting in of the Farouk-era, Victorian-style chairs in my apartment: these are reminders and relics of a more glamorous time. It's true that Cairo is not a beautiful city. But it's intriguing and interesting, and never boring.

I love the Nile, especially at night. During the day you can see the garbage washing up along the shore if you look too closely, but at night it whispers past, just a few buildings away from my Zamalek apartment. In Upper Egypt, down in Aswan, you can take a small boat back and forth across the Nile, where it's wide and quiet and sparkling blue. For three days on the Nile cruise, you can gaze off the side and see quiet fishing villages on either side, and animals, and it's beautiful. But my favorite thing of all is to get on a felluca with a group of friends, whether it's three people or twenty, and just sail and talk and chill. Some of the best conversations I've had in Egypt have been contemplative ones on the Nile. I love, whether sailing or walking along the corniche or on someone's balcony, to watch the Nile at night, gently reflecting the neon lights of the billboards and hotels, silently and eternally flowing north to the Mediterranean.

I love the minarets of mosques piercing the skyline, I love walking in the streets because there are no sidewalks (or because the sidewalks are not passable), I love the way things are built on other things so that in the same city there can be a building from medieval times across the square from an Ottoman one, I love the noise and chaos and energy of the city. They say New York is the city that never sleeps; in Madrid, they said "Ellos que dicen que Nueva York es la ciudad que nunque duerma no conocen los madrilenos" (those who say New York is the city that never sleeps don't know people from Madrid), and now I can safely say that Cairo is truly a city that functions on its own inner clock and rhythm. Everything is open past midnight, everything delivers, it is not unusual to find traffic even when it's 3 am, and the streets are crowded no matter the hour. When I first got here I considered it is the most overwhelming place I have ever lived, and now that assault on the senses is both familiar and welcome; I would not have it any other way.

5. The people. I don't even know how to put into words exactly how awesomely amazing the people I have met here are. They are from all over the world, they speak a dozen different languages, they are fun and silly and fascinating. They shared their cultures and opened their homes; they have opened my mind, as I can only hope I have opened theirs. Some I saw every day, some only once a month, but I always felt welcomed and supported. They are my Cairo family, they are such a big part of what made my year so great, and I will miss them more than I can say.

Cairo is not a perfect place, and neither is Egypt. But I'd rather think about the things I love instead of dwelling on the negative. So with that, I will say goodbye to you. I hope you enjoyed reading about my life in Egypt this year as much as I enjoyed writing. Thanks!

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

sandboarding is my new favorite sport

Well this is definitely a week late, but last weekend I was in Siwa, an oasis in the Western Desert. Siwa is almost completely isolated, and is the farthest away from everything of all the oases -- it is almost at the border with Libya -- and is about a 10-hour drive from Cairo. Because of its isolation, Siwa is known for having a culture different from the rest of Egypt. The people speak Siwi (a Berber language) in addition to Arabic, the women wear these really ornate outfits (though they are also exceptionally covered up), and Siwan crafts (like woven baskets) are very well-known. So yes, I was very excited to be going after hearing about it for so long.

We left Thursday night late and arrived on Friday morning, ready to explore the town. On Friday we did the tourist-y things in Siwa town, including some springs (Cleopatra's Baths, where apparently Cleopatra used to go bathe), the Temple of the Oracle of Amun, which used to be very sought after, and the fortress of Shali in the old part of Siwa, which has a great view of the whole oasis. (It's a huge oasis, with something like 30,000 people.) Friday night we slept in a hotel in Siwa, and then on Saturday we woke up and headed into the desert after lunch.

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday we were out in the desert. We went to more springs (hot, cold, salty), went dune riding in jeep 4X4s, which was awesome: the drivers speed around the desert up and down the dunes so it feels kind of like a roller coaster. So much fun! We also went sandboarding, which is like on a modified snowboard but used on a sand dune. Photos below! The camping was nice: two big tents, one for food and one for sleeping, and then a fire with a table for chilling at night. The food was really good -- Siwan food is more North African than Middle Eastern I think, i.e. cous cous and tagines instead of shwarma and falafel -- although one night definitely included a whole baby goat that had been cooked in this pit under the sand, and which I definitely did not eat. Seemed to be a popular local delicacy though.

I think my favorite part is that the desert around Siwa is very much like the kind of desert you expect to see in movies: just dune after dune stretching out as far as the eye can see. It's really beautiful, and really desolate. In the Black and White Deserts, there were rocks and formations and all kinds of things that sort of broke up the monotony, but out there was just...nothing. And it was amazing. We also took lots of evening walks and did some stargazing -- one of the best skies I've ever seen.

Temple of the Oracle in Siwa town. This oracle is the reason people in the ancient world used to seek out this oasis.

A view of the oasis from the Temple -- look at all the palm trees!

A2 and I on a donkey cart in Siwa

Siwan handicrafts

Fortress of Shali at sunset

Cold springs in the desert by the oasis

Ah, the peacefulness of the desert...

Part of the desert used to be an ocean, and those rocks are actually pieces of coral

Look at me sandboarding!

A1 and I attempting to roll down one of dunes

there is so much matzah in my kitchen

I realized I had never posted about being in Israel for Passover, so I thought I would write a quick update. I took the buses there on Tuesday (crossed the border without getting my passport stamped on either side again, which means I am 3-for-3 on passport stamp-age, knock on wood), and arrived in Tel Aviv in time for a late dinner with Sara. On Wednesday I relaxed on the beach for a bit, then got driven to Elkana to see the rest of the family (Dov, Bruria and extended counsins) for the seder. Seder was very enjoyable -- good food, not too long, plus I was able to follow along fine in Hebrew. Sara then picked me up late Thursday night, and I spent Friday shopping in Tel Aviv -- Nachalat Binyamin and Shenkin St. mostly. Though I have spent far more time in Jerusalem, I do have a few favorite stores in Tel Aviv, including HaOzen HaShlishi (The Third Ear), an excellent record shop where I picked up a ton of music, including the new Idan Raichel (woo!). I returned to Cairo by plane on Saturday night, in time to go to work on Sunday.

But I think the best part about going to Israel for Passover was just the holiday atmosphere. All the restaurants that remained open and kosher for Passover -- I still got to have an iced Aroma, and there were pizza places doing that kosher for Passover pizza which was not so bad -- plus everyone wishing you a Chag Sameach. I mean, it's like that a lot in Florida too -- there's never a problem finding good food and everyone else at the hotel we go to is Jewish also. Still, there's something uniquely awesome about being in Israel for Passover, and I was happy to experience it this year. How was I to know that last year when I said "next year in Jerusalem" it would end up being true?

Anyway, since then I have had a good week back in Egypt. Many friends have sampled the matzah I brought back from Israel, though I am definitely looking forward to the holiday ending tomorrow night (I celebrated in Israel this year, so seven days it is!). This upcoming weekend is also a long one, in honor of Coptic Easter, so I pretty much got two vacations in a row. I will be traveling to Siwa, an oasis in the Western Desert. Check back next week for some awesome photos and more updates!

me: 1, airlines: 0

After lengthy fights with half a dozen airlines this week, I have emerged victorious. Things I had to do included:

1. re-booking my return flight to America while attempting to avoid re-paying for the flight (I win);
2.fighting with Orbitz for a refund on my trip to Israel after they rebooked me on a flight that would have caused to miss half the Seder (I win); and
3. re-booking myself on the return flights from Israel back to Cairo (win again).

I will now be going to Israel via seven-hour bus ride to Taba, but on the bright side at least it's all over and I am done fighting with various airlines and travel sites.

the chicken and the mushroom

I think we all know that I am not really the outdoorsy type, years spent at Eisner notwithstanding, but I did, in fact, willingly go camping this weekend. And it was fun! This weekend is potentially a long weekend: Monday is Mohammad's birthday and an official day off, so many people also took off Sunday and made it a four-day weekend. Since I just took off to go to Amsterdam with Michelle, I chose to work today (Sunday), though I was still up for a little desert excursion.

Since Cairo is so crowded, it can be a bit of a shock sometimes to remember how startlingly empty the rest of the country can be. Our base was the Bahariyya Oasis in the Western Desert (of which the Black and White Deserts are just a small part), and on the 4-hour drive from Cairo to Bahariyya we passed...nothing. Just vast open expanses of desert as far as the eye could see, punctuated by brief spottings of camels or a few reststops. I suppose beach is still my favorite, but there is something I really love about the innate peacefulness of the desert, and this trip didn't disappoint.

We departed Cairo at 4 a.m. Friday morning packed into a minibus, drove to the Bahariyya Oasis, where we ate breakfast and repacked our bags into two 4x4 vehicles for the desert trip. There were nine of us, plus three guides. They drove the cars, made the food, tea and fire, set up the camp, and even played some awesome drum music around the campfire. We first drove through the Black Desert, which is black because of a former volcano in the area. We continued on through some really beautiful scenery, and eventually ended up in the White Desert, where we camped for the night.

The Black Desert was not necessarily my favorite, though the volcano was cool. On the other hand, the White Desert was really freaking awesome. Everything is very lunar looking, and you really feel like you are walking around on the surface of the moon. There are these strange white shapes kind of rising out of nothing, all in this white, chalky rock. It looked to me like it had been snowing on a Dr. Seuss book or something like that. And at night, the moon was so bright and reflecting off the rocks, you could see perfectly even without a flashlight.

In the morning, we stopped at a few noteworthy formations on our way back to Bahariyya. This included The Mushroom (not pictured), and The Chicken, which is the photo on the top of this post. It looks like the chicken is facing a tree. Pretty awesome.

And a sidenote: I didn't even realize it, but this weekend at Northwestern was Dance Marathon, a popular NU fundraiser that I have participated in for the last three years. Hundreds of student dancers dance for 30 hours to raise money for a chosen charity, with even more students volunteering their time to take care of the dancers, raise money with alumni, organize within the university, count all the money, set the dancing area, be in charge of music, lighting and more. It's an incredible undertaking that, I think, really brings together the student body. I missed it this year.

Former volcano in the black desert

Pretty desert photo

This is the awesome place we stopped for lunch. Note the very zen-like stream flowing through the middle.

Our campsite in the White Desert, set up by our awesome Bedouin guides. This was the chill-out area, though we also had a campfire and tents for sleeping off to the side.

Ooooh, wide-lens! Fancy! White desert at sunset. You can see another jeep out there as well.

Another view of the desert in the morning.

leaving on a jet plane...or am i?

On this blog, I have previously complained about forms of transportation, like the microbus from Taba or the taxis in Cairo. But I still felt pretty good about planes, until this week. Last night (well, I suppose it was early morning, actually) I was attempting to book airfare to Israel for Passover. What a struggle.

I should note that figuring all of this out (below) took a few days, as I waited to hear back from various people and rearranged the days I was going to travel. I originally wanted to go on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but that didn't work out at all so I settled on Tuesday during the day (which means I need to take an extra day off work). Better to be there early than to miss the seder. Throughout this whole thing, I was speaking with my family in Israel to make sure someone was available to pick me up at the airport and that I will have a place to stay if I arrive a night early. I was also coordinating with two different travel agents, since some Web sites don't list flights to Israel, and others don't exist at all (Air Sinai, I'm looking at you). I was also e-mailing with my dad to keep my parents updated on the situation. So I was juggling many options at the same time. But of course, there were several problems.

First, no one flies from Cairo to Israel in the middle of the week, apparently. There is Air Sinai, Egypt Air's "secret" offshoot which has no Web site; there are flights to Israel but you need to book them through a travel agent or in person, and they only operates a few flights a week and none of them are when I wanted to go. There's El Al, which, in addition to only having a few flights each week, mostly on weekends, is also much more expensive than you'd think (though I suppose Passover is one of their busiest times, so maybe that's fair). I finally resorted to Royal Jordanian, where I could connect via Amman. It just seems to silly to need a connection for a flight that is under two hours. Comparison-wise, this is like having a flight from New York to Boston with a layover in Westchester. But RJ does fly to Israel every day, so that's fine, and I have flown the airline before and it's all good.

But of course, it can't be that easy. The RJ Web site makes it possible for a customer to book a flight from Tel Aviv to Cairo, but not from Cairo to Tel Aviv. Why? You've obviously got flights to Israel. Why not make it possible to book these flights? So I turned to Orbitz, where they are currently acknowledging the Cairo-Tel Aviv flights, but not at the proper times. It looked like my options were: pay about $1300 for a flight that connects through Germany or France (completely ridiculous), or have an overnight layover that would give me a sleepover in the Amman airport. I eventually chose the second option, but will try and go standby on an earlier flight. If that doesn't work, I will stay overnight in an airport hotel and be in Israel really freaking early on Wednesday morning.

Anyway, it's all settled now and I have airfare, and I am really looking forward to going to Israel for Passover. I am not sure if it's for the joke potential (it's Exodus, people! Leaving Egypt for Israel on Passover? Too perfect!), or because it's just been a while since I was last there (Jerusalem in November). In any event, Passover is pretty much my favorite Jewish holiday (yes, more than Hanukkah), and I am excited. To be on the lookout for plagues and attempt to part the Red Sea. Just kidding. I really am excited!

Still, Egypt and Israel are neighbors. I've crossed the land border and it's open and fine. There is peace now. So why is still so freaking hard to get from one country to the other?! I know, I know, you all want to give me world's littlest violin right now. If finding airfare is my biggest worry, I should count myself lucky. But you know what, it's still insanely frustrating. OK, I feel better now. Rant over.

dam

Last night I got back from Amsterdam, which was excellent. I met Michelle there for four days -- she first went to Prague to see a friend studying abroad, and then we chose Amsterdam as something of a midpoint for us to meet up. We met in the airport Wednesday midday and took the train to our hotel. We had a great few days to explore the city, and only got lost a little (this was probably my fault... it usually is).

Some highlights included: a canal cruise to see the city (I really enjoyed the adorable canal houses), walking on many bridges (Michelle, the future civil engineer, has a thing for bridges), the Rijksmuseum (which had lots of artifacts and art, with many by Renoir, Vermeer and Rembrandt, including his famous The Night Watch), the Van Gogh Museum (including dozens of famous ones, like self-portraits, sunflowers and Starry Night), the Heineken Factory (no explanation necessary here!), the Anne Frank House, and plenty of walking and exploring. The above "iamsterdam" sign is outside the Museumplein, which is where the museums live. We thought it was cool and played in it for a while, in one of the sunnier parts of our long weekend (as you will see below, it was pretty cloudy most of the time and rained a bit on Friday).

There were some things we wanted to do but were not in season, like a nearby windmill village which is supposed to have like seven or eights windmills and other cute village-y things, but only one is open during the winter so it didn't really seem worth it to go out there. It's OK, I'll see the windmills next time -- it just gives me a good excuse to go back. We also saw tulips, but not to the extent I imagine we would have seen them during the spring.

Michelle turning the gears at the Heineken factory. This was before the beer taste-testing.

Outside of the Anne Frank House (the building on the left with the windows). They are pretty strict about no photos inside, but this is the street she looked out on every day for two years.

Canals and bridges all lit up at night. Pretty!

Michelle and I outside the Royal Palace in Dam Square.

Royal Palace (not open when the family is in residence, and it was closed to tourists when we were there)

More canal and houses, as seen from our canal cruise.

This is the Old Church as seen from our canal cruise. As you can see, it was a rather overcast day, which I think makes it look rather gothic.

I know it's a bit blurry, but here we are sitting in a giant wooden clog. It was about as awesome as you'd expect.

back in cairo

I've had a busy last two weeks with the family visiting. We spent some time in Upper Egypt and on a Nile cruise (see Jessica's guest blog below), and then five days in Rome. I loved Rome, of course. Italian was not too difficult to understand since it's similar to Spanish, and the food was amazing. It was nice to be back in Europe -- and out of the Middle East -- no matter how briefly. And now I am back in Cairo, ready for the second half of my time here. It's really weird to me that I have already been here for six months.

In Rome, I half expected to have some kind of culture shock about leaving the Middle East, but I didn't really. Maybe it didn't happen because I went from one culture that is not my own to another. But I did have a few moments. Best: It was nice to walk down the street and not be hassled. I really enjoyed that more than I thought possible. Worst: Cost of living. At one point we paid 10 euros (about 14 dollars) for a cab ride, which is nothing out of the ordinary, really -- I have certainly paid that amount in Madrid and Chicago. But at the same time, I realized that 10 euros is about 75 LE, which is an absurd sum of money for a single taxi ride. To put things in perspective, for me to get to and from work for an entire week costs only 50 LE. It's moments like those that make me really love the developing world.

I guess what I am trying to say there is that living in a place like Italy would certainly be a lot different from spending the year in Egypt, but I imagine it would also be a lot easier. And where's the fun in that?

Anyway, December was full of traveling and vacations (Jordan, Upper Egypt, Rome, etc.), so I think I will be staying local in January. I have a lot of things I wanted to do in Cairo, so hopefully I will start doing some of those things now instead of waiting until just before I leave to get around to everything else.

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!

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.

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.