SO.... I know its been a while. A week actually since my last post. It has been soo soo very busy here in Cairo. So much has gone on that I don't know where to start. I will write a couple of blogs tonight so I can catch up without overwhelming those of you reading my blog.
First things first.... thanks to my friend Amy's message, I realized that the auto settings for my blog required you to register an account to leave a simple comment. I thought that was silly and would LOVE to hear your comments on my blog - so that has been updated to allow for comments. However, if it doesn't give you a spot to put a name, please do in the comment or I wouldn't know who you are! I'm still figuring out how blogger works....
I LOVE it here in Egypt. Since we last left off, I have been on many adventures. The cool thing is that the Housing and Res Life here on campus makes every effort to plan a lot of trips. This really gives us the chance to get out and see Egypt. This is a popular university for semester and year-long study abroad. They have one of the best Arabic Language Institutes around so many people come here to enroll in their intensive and beginner Arabic programs. So they know each semester new people come and go and they repeat trips each semester accordingly.
Last Tuesday before classes started, there was a trip to the pyramids with lunch after planned. Many of us went, although the only Arabs, or Muslims for that matter, that went were the tour guides and the RAs. This is because it was during Ramadan, the holy month of the Islamic calendar. As such, during Ramadan, Muslims fast each day from sunrise to sunset. Egypt actually backs it time up an hour during Ramadan to make this easier on its residents. So from about 4:30AM to about 6:30PM (though it moves up a minute each day so it changes) they cannot eat or drink ANYTHING - not even water. So a trip to the pyramids at 11AM during the hottest part of the day in one of the hottest months of the year in August - isn't really wise if you can't drink or eat.
It was a blast. It was a funny feeling. It was a lot like seeing Stonehenge last year for me. There they are - standing right in front of you - 5000+ years of history and architecture, I climbed on them, touched them - smelled the inside of the millenia old tombs - and then we left.
Its such a wierd feeling that I find hard to put on paper. It is so AMAZING to see and touch them, but then its over. They don't do tricks - they don't speak to you of their mysterious architecture and hallowed history - and you realize that they will be here for still more milennia to come and that's it. The mystery fades as quickly as it captured me when I was 8 or 10 or whatever age I was that I became fascinated with the Egyptian pyramids. I think, at least for me, I hype these things up in my mind, I build them up expecting some great euphoric moment when I see and touch this amazingly historical item and it doesn't come.
And my friend Ahmed, an Egyptian from Giza pictured with me above, has lived for 19 years in the shadows of the pyramids and this was his first visit. To him, and his family its nothing special. They've been there for generations, and will be for more and it was nothing special. It was really interesting to find the ambivalence of the pyramids that many Egyptians have b/c it is something they see everyday of their lives.
But I must profess - as cynical as the above sounded - it was INCREDIBLE and I'm SOOO glad I did it. But it was the tourist trap of all tourist traps. You are basically hounded from all sides, angles and locations by people wanting you to buy anything - even your own camera back from them....
The general rule for materials sold at these areas seems to be "if its already in your hand..... you've already bought it". They place an item in your hand, you take it, look at it and say no thanks, but they won't take it back and they expect payment. EVERYONE is out to make a buck. Literally - they didn't want to be paid in Egyptian pounds - they all but demanded payment in US Dollars. Even the security guards were out to make $$. Don't climb on the pyramids, the signs read - but for a tip you could climb as high as you'd like. Don't take pictures in the tombs and in the pyramds, but for a tip, take as many as you'd like.
Justin, and I (pictured with me on the camel) met a "nice" Egyptian man who wanted to dress us in turbans and pose for pictures with us. We knew this would require a tip, or "baksheesh" after, but we didn't care - we thought it would be fun. That is until he all but ran away with my camera - sort of. There are Egyptian Tourist Police everywhere, so he wouldn't have gotten far with it - and didn't intend on it anyways. He led us over to his camel. Before I could get my camera back (because he selectively spoke English only to his benefit), Justin and I had to sit on the camel to pose for a picture. No sooner had the flash gone off, he signaled the camel to stand. We immediately started protesting this, to which he answered, "you'll have fun!" We protested no - its' not fun - stop~! and let us down.... to which he suddenly spoke no English again. We steadily protested for what seemed like ages, while we watched our friends Tiffany, Lizzy, Mike, etc all parade by on camels screaming "Stop! Let me down!"
It seems we had all been had almost simultaneously at different points around the Great Pyramid. We finally found our way down, and got my camera back after negotiating a tip with our camel-kidnapper. We survived and had a great story to tell and pictures to prove it.
I survived my first ever Cairo Tourist Trap....
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