Hit and Run

The problem (or perhaps the advantage) to living in a place like Egypt and constantly being bombarded with new experiences and lessons is that I always have something that I want to blog about, but rarely have the time to do so. Let me try to remember what I wanted to say...

As far as continuation of the last blog entry, Habiba and I talked the next day, and I explained that I had just been extremely frightened for her, and that all of us responded to her in different ways but for the same reason- because we cared. She wasn't mad at me at all. In fact, she kept apologizing. Which also slightly unnerved me because I don't think that a panic attack is something that needs to be apologized for. To me, mental and physical illnesses are pretty much one in the same, and no one should ever feel guilty for suffering from either one. Anyway, at our bi-weekly meeting, the girls met separately and we spent roughly 3 hours discussing the topic. We talked about cultural relativism, and what role the program directors had in intervening in the life of their Egyptian participants (after all, our Egyptian dormmates are inextricably connected to us Americans. If something had happened to Habiba due to my inaction, I would never be able to forgive myself). We talked about emergency action plans, and our different standards of needing medical attention. And we agreed to talk to the Egyptian girls about it separately, although that hasn't happened yet.

Right after the meeting, I headed off to Cairo for my first time this semester. I had already visited the pyramids, the sphinx, etc when I was here over the summer, so the first day that we were there we explored Islamic Cairo: the Citadel, al-Azhar, Ibn Tulun Mosque (we saw a gorgeous view of Cairo from the top of the minaret that we climbed), and Khan al Khalili (huge open air market). I also met up with a friend of a fellow synagogue member who took us on a personal tour of Shar Hashamaim Synagogue and talked to us about what it is like being Jewish in Egypt. She showed us her identification card, and it was the first time that I saw "Jewish" written under the space indicated for religion (every Egyptian must have an identification card, and MUST specify their religion. And by the word "religion" I mean one of the 3 monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Nothing else is accepted, although there are currently political movements working to accept other religions or the word "Other."), which was really interesting.

The next day, in the morning two friends and I decided that we wanted to visit the camel market about half an hour outside of Cairo. We flagged down a cab driver to take us there, and first there was some sort of misunderstanding because we told him we wanted "souq al jamal" which means "camel market" but supposedly he heard "jebel" which means "mountain," so he tried to drop us off on a random mountain (I'm pretty sure that he tried to do this to make the trip longer so that we would pay more).

Anyway, we finally made it to the camel market, and the driver waited for us while we spent about an hour there. First of all, let me say that the camel market is not a place to go for the faint-of-heart or animal lovers. Most of the camels were emaciated, they had one foot tied up like a flamingo so they couldn't run away (which managed to happen anyway), and were continuously beaten by their owners. We also saw several dead camel corpses lying out in the sun on our drive to the market itself. Luckily for me, I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before, so my emotions were somewhat numb. Watching the people's interactions was very interesting, though. We watched huge crowds of dusty old men gather around and bid over camels (one camel will set you back between $1200 and $2000), spray paint the name of the highest bidder on the side of the camel, and then record the transaction (I didn't see any actual money exchanged. I guess they do that later, or on credit...). While all of this was going on, we saw rogue camels running away from their owners, 4 or 5 camels packed into the back of jeeps to be driven home, boys from practically the age of 4 to grown men beating camels to force them into pens or the back of trucks, etc. We also spent some time talking to some of the camel vendors. Most of them were from Sudan or Cairo, and the camels were sold either to butchers or to work in the tourist industry. They were all extremely friendly (probably surprised that we spoke Arabic), and I didn't feel extremely uncomfortable for being a woman like I had expected I would. Mike befriended several of them, and had one seller convinced that he was going to buy a camel because he was "gawaan owee" (very hungry...).

The most interesting part of the trip, however, and a cultural experience in itself was the journey back to Cairo. It was relatively uneventful until.....we got hit by a horse. Yes, that is correct. First let me explain that in Egypt, while there are lanes painted on the ground, no one uses them. This means that there is also usually nothing separating incoming from ongoing traffic. Cars also sometimes share the road with horse and buggies. And finally, Egyptians are the most impatient people I have ever seen when it comes to driving. They weave in and out (remember, no one abides by the lanes rule) of traffic, cut each other off, stop short, and always get into accidents. I really cannot describe Egyptian "zahama" (traffic) to do it justice...you just have to see it to believe it. Anyway, what happened was we were going in one direction and a jeep going in another direction cut us off. Our taxi driver swerved a little bit to the side of the road where there was a horse and buggy, the horse's rider let go of the reins, and the horse rammed into the side of our car. I was actually asleep at this point, and I just remember waking up to a huge crash, seeing the front window totally black, and thinking that there was some kind of protest going on and that people were hitting the car.

Well, the horse did some major damage to the car, including knocking off the right side mirror, which of course made our driver extremely angry. So he got out of the car to go talk to the horse's rider and demand some sort of payment (I'm absolutely positive that neither of them had insurance, and besides, no one really resorts to legal action here- they just kind of settle things themselves). And at this point, the horse and buggy takes off! Yes, I was part of a horse and buggy "hit and run." So our driver got back in the car, and two random Egyptians who claimed to know the buggy driver got in as well to try to help us. Thus ensued a car chase in which our driver must have destroyed his car's alignment because of the high speed that we were driving on bumpy unpaved roads, through the small town, down back roads and tight alleys, stopping every so often to ask a townsperson if they had seen a horse and buggy race by.

Anyway, it turned out that in a car chase between a taxi and a horse and buggy, the horse and buggy won. Funny for us, but obviously not so funny for our driver. So next, the two random Egyptians in the car with us told us they knew the father of the buggy driver. So they took us to him, and my friends and I sat in the car while our driver spent 45 minutes arguing with the father about payment. In the process, the two random Egyptians brought us tea, and I locked my car door after the way that one of them was looking at me and creepily mouthing words to me through the window. At one point, "buggy driver's father" tried to just give our driver a new mirror instead of payment. When our driver didn't accept (who would? It wasn't just the mirror...there were wires sticking out of the side of the car), buggy driver's father just tried to kiss our driver on the cheek and hug him, like that would make him accept, yet our driver was clearly still furious. Anyway, our driver finally took some money and then gave up; he obviously knew that horse and buggy driver and his father didn't have enough money to pay for the damage anyway.

So approximately 4 hours after we set out (mind you, we only spent about an hour at the camel market), we finally got back to Cairo. And our taxi driver was infuriated when we only offered to pay double what we had originally offered (no meters in Egyptian taxis means you have to bargain for how much you're going to pay). So we just handed him the money and walked away. All I can say is that I never know what to expect here...

We spent the rest of the day exploring Coptic Cairo. We first went to Egypt's oldest synagogue, Ben Ezra synagogue, as well as the first mosque built in Egypt, the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al As. Clara, Gigi, and I also had rocks thrown at us by "shabaab" (teenage boys) outside the mosque. Talk about contradictions....Next we toured various Coptic Churches. I really enjoyed exploring Coptic Cairo, first of all just because of the history. I felt like I was back in Jerusalem again. Also, it was symbolically important for me to see the juxtaposition of churches, mosques, and synagogues. If only we could go back to that co-existence...

After exploring Coptic Cairo, we crashed a Four Seasons Hotel (well not really...we just pretended to be guests so that we could use the free bathroom, and of course the employees didn't doubt us because we looked like foreigners. At least sometimes that pays off, because the stalls actually had toilet paper! And not one, but TWO rolls. Bliss.). And then we took a half hour felucca (small boat) ride on the Nile to see the sunset. We had fun talking to our felucca owner, Abdullah, who was 62 years old and had been manning feluccas as his primary occupation for the past 50 years.

After the felucca ride, we made our way to Lucille's Restaurant to have...American food!!! I had grilled cheese and a baked potato, and let me tell you it was heavenly.

All right, that's enough for now. Of course I have more to write, but I have to head off because I bought tickets to see a show in the Library of Alexandria's Planetarium.