Here are more of my pictures from Luxor and Aswan.
As usual, I have tons more, but they're from my new camera and the files are too large to upload.
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060266&l=461e7&id=1707686
Enjoy!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Luxor and Aswan pictures!
here's the link to my photos on facebook...this is just the beginning, many more to come!
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060048&l=664c8&id=1707686
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060048&l=664c8&id=1707686
Monday, October 8, 2007
Starbucks
So I'm sitting in a Starbucks on the Corniche because there's wireless here, and visiting a Starbucks in Egypt has made me reflect on some of the differences in everyday life here. I thought I'd share some of them.
Bathrooms. This is the major thing...you use them everyday, and a small difference in bathroom culture can cause a big disruption. So Egyptians don't really use toilet paper, which was a bit of a shock the first day when I arrived. Instead of toilet paper, there is a bidet-like attachment on most toilets. I was forced to try that out for the first couple of days, since there was no TP in my apartment. I ended up purchasing some toilet paper, however...I guess some aspects of your home culture are harder to let go of than others.
and tomatoes and pickled vegetables. One of my favorite places to eat is called Ahmed, where you can get (the breaking of the fast), my family usually serves me a soup with beef, vegetables, potatoes, and sometimes macaroni, and then another beef or chicken dish, with rice or potatoes, or sometimes kebab and Food. This one's hard to classify. I've had some amazing meals here, I've had some not-so-great meals here. I've (very luckily) not been seriously ill from something I ate so far, which is more than everyone else on my program can say. Let's hope I'm not next.... A staple of the Egyptian diet is fuul and felafel. Fuul are beans, mashed up, and often served with tahinaMohammedfuul and felafel served up with hummus and tahina and warm pita bread...delicious. Egyptians are also really big on meat and chicken. During Ramadan, for iftaarkoofta. Basically they feed me entirely too much, and then insist that I've barely eaten. I've discovered that food equals love here; one of the best ways to show you care about someone is to force them to gorge themselves on food you've prepared. And of course, you can find some tastes of the US - MacDonald's and Dominoes deliver amazing likenesses of their food in the US.
Family. Family is of the utmost importance to Egyptians. Children don't move out of their houses until they marry, and if they don't marry, they continue to live at home with their parents. My host sister just didn't really get why I wasn't planning on moving back in with my parents after I finished college. The idea of gaining independence from your family is not really present here. My host sister speaks to her sister who's married and lives across town every single night, and she speaks to her cousin every day. I haven't talked to my cousins in months! It's kind of nice that you're so close to your family here, it gives you an automatic support system. On the other hand, I don't think I could live with my parents until I married (no offense guys), so it's probably good I'm an American.
Dating. This is where some huge differences lie. Women and men date, but it's usually pretty secretive (their mothers may know about it, but definitely not their fathers). And dating here is not as we think of it in the U.S. - there's no kissing until marriage (maybe engagement, if you're more liberal), and pre-marital sex is definitely a no-no. It seems like most people get engaged and married fairly young (mid 20s or so), although there are a lot of people in the US married by mid-20s, so not so different. There does seem to be an expiration date on marriage here, as women over 30 are seen as too old for marriage (according to my host sister Sara).
Divorce. This is an interesting one: surprisingly similar to the US. I expected the divorce rate to be low here, but the director of the program here (who's divorced herself), told me that it was about 40%. I don't know what it is in the US, but I don't think it's too much higher than that. The down side to that number, as my host sister informed me, is that women are usually blamed for divorce.
But despite all of these differences, Starbucks remains almost exactly the same as it is in the US. Amazing what globalization has managed in a culture so different. Although I have to say, I prefer the grungier cafe's where you can get a cup of turkish coffee or tea and smoke shisha for a dollar to Starbucks where you pay at least $5.
Bathrooms. This is the major thing...you use them everyday, and a small difference in bathroom culture can cause a big disruption. So Egyptians don't really use toilet paper, which was a bit of a shock the first day when I arrived. Instead of toilet paper, there is a bidet-like attachment on most toilets. I was forced to try that out for the first couple of days, since there was no TP in my apartment. I ended up purchasing some toilet paper, however...I guess some aspects of your home culture are harder to let go of than others.
and tomatoes and pickled vegetables. One of my favorite places to eat is called Ahmed, where you can get (the breaking of the fast), my family usually serves me a soup with beef, vegetables, potatoes, and sometimes macaroni, and then another beef or chicken dish, with rice or potatoes, or sometimes kebab and Food. This one's hard to classify. I've had some amazing meals here, I've had some not-so-great meals here. I've (very luckily) not been seriously ill from something I ate so far, which is more than everyone else on my program can say. Let's hope I'm not next.... A staple of the Egyptian diet is fuul and felafel. Fuul are beans, mashed up, and often served with tahinaMohammedfuul and felafel served up with hummus and tahina and warm pita bread...delicious. Egyptians are also really big on meat and chicken. During Ramadan, for iftaarkoofta. Basically they feed me entirely too much, and then insist that I've barely eaten. I've discovered that food equals love here; one of the best ways to show you care about someone is to force them to gorge themselves on food you've prepared. And of course, you can find some tastes of the US - MacDonald's and Dominoes deliver amazing likenesses of their food in the US.
Family. Family is of the utmost importance to Egyptians. Children don't move out of their houses until they marry, and if they don't marry, they continue to live at home with their parents. My host sister just didn't really get why I wasn't planning on moving back in with my parents after I finished college. The idea of gaining independence from your family is not really present here. My host sister speaks to her sister who's married and lives across town every single night, and she speaks to her cousin every day. I haven't talked to my cousins in months! It's kind of nice that you're so close to your family here, it gives you an automatic support system. On the other hand, I don't think I could live with my parents until I married (no offense guys), so it's probably good I'm an American.
Dating. This is where some huge differences lie. Women and men date, but it's usually pretty secretive (their mothers may know about it, but definitely not their fathers). And dating here is not as we think of it in the U.S. - there's no kissing until marriage (maybe engagement, if you're more liberal), and pre-marital sex is definitely a no-no. It seems like most people get engaged and married fairly young (mid 20s or so), although there are a lot of people in the US married by mid-20s, so not so different. There does seem to be an expiration date on marriage here, as women over 30 are seen as too old for marriage (according to my host sister Sara).
Divorce. This is an interesting one: surprisingly similar to the US. I expected the divorce rate to be low here, but the director of the program here (who's divorced herself), told me that it was about 40%. I don't know what it is in the US, but I don't think it's too much higher than that. The down side to that number, as my host sister informed me, is that women are usually blamed for divorce.
But despite all of these differences, Starbucks remains almost exactly the same as it is in the US. Amazing what globalization has managed in a culture so different. Although I have to say, I prefer the grungier cafe's where you can get a cup of turkish coffee or tea and smoke shisha for a dollar to Starbucks where you pay at least $5.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Photos from al-Alamein
here's the link to photos from a trip i took yesterday to ruins of a Coptic monastery at Meri Menos and the WWII battlefield and cemeteries at al-Alamein:
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058413&l=e6048&id=1707686
The trip was really nice, especially our stop at the ruins. The ruins are situated near a present-day Coptic monastery, so we started our trip there, where we ran into hundreds of Coptic pilgrims who were there attending mass. We then hiked out about 20 minuted from there across desert-ish terrain, where we ran across a herd of sheep and then a herd of camels, very exciting. We finally reached the ruins, which were a lot more extensive than I was expecting based upon the description I had been given by one of the guys with us who had been there before. The ruins were actually of an entire pilgrim town where this monastery had been in the 3rd century (if I'm remembering my history correctly), including the town's hostel that had hot and cold baths. The town had a bit of the feel of Pompeii, although on a much smaller scale. And sadly, the ruins are not all that well preserved (you're allowed to climb all over the ruins if you want). There is, however, a guide who showed us around a bit. He was very nice, and I was excited because I was able to understand a lot of his explanations about the history of the monastery in Arabic. Unfortunately, he seemed to take a liking to me, and after he told me my Arabic was good and that I was beautiful, we felt like it might be time to go before he got the chance to ask me if I was engaged. (Which, for the record has happened on a few occasions now...and more than once I've pretended to be engaged so as to not be hassled any further.)
After that, we continued on to al-Alamein, the site of the famous WWII battle, which was considered a turning point for the Allies. As I was with 3 guys who are really into history, I think they might have been a little more excited about this than I was. But I definitely enjoyed it - we visited the museum, where we were allowed to actually climb onto the tanks used in the battle (the guys I were with suddenly turned into 5 year old boys playing tanks), and then visited both the English and German cemeteries. All in all, a very enjoyable, if exhausting day.
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058413&l=e6048&id=1707686
The trip was really nice, especially our stop at the ruins. The ruins are situated near a present-day Coptic monastery, so we started our trip there, where we ran into hundreds of Coptic pilgrims who were there attending mass. We then hiked out about 20 minuted from there across desert-ish terrain, where we ran across a herd of sheep and then a herd of camels, very exciting. We finally reached the ruins, which were a lot more extensive than I was expecting based upon the description I had been given by one of the guys with us who had been there before. The ruins were actually of an entire pilgrim town where this monastery had been in the 3rd century (if I'm remembering my history correctly), including the town's hostel that had hot and cold baths. The town had a bit of the feel of Pompeii, although on a much smaller scale. And sadly, the ruins are not all that well preserved (you're allowed to climb all over the ruins if you want). There is, however, a guide who showed us around a bit. He was very nice, and I was excited because I was able to understand a lot of his explanations about the history of the monastery in Arabic. Unfortunately, he seemed to take a liking to me, and after he told me my Arabic was good and that I was beautiful, we felt like it might be time to go before he got the chance to ask me if I was engaged. (Which, for the record has happened on a few occasions now...and more than once I've pretended to be engaged so as to not be hassled any further.)
After that, we continued on to al-Alamein, the site of the famous WWII battle, which was considered a turning point for the Allies. As I was with 3 guys who are really into history, I think they might have been a little more excited about this than I was. But I definitely enjoyed it - we visited the museum, where we were allowed to actually climb onto the tanks used in the battle (the guys I were with suddenly turned into 5 year old boys playing tanks), and then visited both the English and German cemeteries. All in all, a very enjoyable, if exhausting day.
Monday, October 1, 2007
"If the police ask, just say you're from Holland."
First of all, here's the link to my pictures of Marsa Matrouh on facebook:
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057340&l=daf50&id=1707686 (remember mom, copy and paste!)
Second of all, sorry I haven't updated in a while...I've been busy, and I'll try to relate some of what I've been doing in this post and others to come.
I'm going to start by talking about what I did two weekends ago, because the story's pretty good. Two weekends ago, I went to a beach about an hour west of Alex with a few of the kids from my program and a group of British students who are also studying at the TAFL Center (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) at Alexandria University. We rented a minibus for the day that sat 15, and headed to a private beach resort called Marina. Along the way to the beach, we came to a police checkpoint (they occur periodically along the major highways here in Egypt). As we approached the checkpoint, our driver, Mohammed, told us "if the police ask, say you are from Holland." We all kind of looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and as we started to protest, he just said, "just say you are holandeen, from Amsterdam." At that moment, we reached the checkpoint, our driver rolled down the window, and I heard the police ask him how many we were and where we were from - to which he replied, 13 from Holland. Great. We were waved through without further question, and as we sped away, Mohammed explained that had we said we were British and American we would have had to fill out all kinds of unpleasant paperwork and would have been delayed a half an hour. OK, fine, thanks Mohammed for sparing us. When we arrived at the beach, however, it was the same thing - he told us to say we were from Holland. So when two very enthusiastic beach attendants came up to Lauren and I and asked us where we were from, we dutifully answered, Holland! Then came the awkward moment: one of the girls replied to us in Dutch. Lauren and I were extremely confused for a minute, and then just went for the smile and nod. The rest of the day passed without much excitement - the beach was beautiful, and the water warm, and it was a private beach so we could wear our bathing suits without being harassed. I'm still not sure why it would have been such a hassle for us to be American and British versus Dutch...I may never know, Egypt's full of mysteries.
I have more to come from this past weekend's trip to Marsa Matrouh, so check back soon!
http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057340&l=daf50&id=1707686 (remember mom, copy and paste!)
Second of all, sorry I haven't updated in a while...I've been busy, and I'll try to relate some of what I've been doing in this post and others to come.
I'm going to start by talking about what I did two weekends ago, because the story's pretty good. Two weekends ago, I went to a beach about an hour west of Alex with a few of the kids from my program and a group of British students who are also studying at the TAFL Center (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) at Alexandria University. We rented a minibus for the day that sat 15, and headed to a private beach resort called Marina. Along the way to the beach, we came to a police checkpoint (they occur periodically along the major highways here in Egypt). As we approached the checkpoint, our driver, Mohammed, told us "if the police ask, say you are from Holland." We all kind of looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and as we started to protest, he just said, "just say you are holandeen, from Amsterdam." At that moment, we reached the checkpoint, our driver rolled down the window, and I heard the police ask him how many we were and where we were from - to which he replied, 13 from Holland. Great. We were waved through without further question, and as we sped away, Mohammed explained that had we said we were British and American we would have had to fill out all kinds of unpleasant paperwork and would have been delayed a half an hour. OK, fine, thanks Mohammed for sparing us. When we arrived at the beach, however, it was the same thing - he told us to say we were from Holland. So when two very enthusiastic beach attendants came up to Lauren and I and asked us where we were from, we dutifully answered, Holland! Then came the awkward moment: one of the girls replied to us in Dutch. Lauren and I were extremely confused for a minute, and then just went for the smile and nod. The rest of the day passed without much excitement - the beach was beautiful, and the water warm, and it was a private beach so we could wear our bathing suits without being harassed. I'm still not sure why it would have been such a hassle for us to be American and British versus Dutch...I may never know, Egypt's full of mysteries.
I have more to come from this past weekend's trip to Marsa Matrouh, so check back soon!
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