Almost the end…

Well, everyone, I’m back – to Cairo that is. It was a long time of travel, but we made it safely without ny problems. It isn’t often that I look back and realize that, to relate everything in an experience would be impossible, but this is definitely one of those situations. After seeing so many different places, meeting different people, discussing politics, history, culture, religion, seeing historical sites and national monuments, hanging out with everyday people, participating in what came to be known as “hacky-sack diplomacy”, engaging in current issues and listening to stories and viewpoints of a wide variety of people from state department officials, government leaders, college professors, tour guides, priests, muslims, students, and shop-keepers, I am realizing how invaluable and life changing this experience really was.

Among the most recent events are the two weeks we spent in Jerusalem through both easter and passover. This time of year is one of the craziest with so many different people vying for space to follow their religious traditions. Observing the diversity as we roamed around the city and visited the sites I could begin to see why there is so much conflict over this area. We stayed outside the old city for a few days before moving to a hostel in the heart of the old city in the Muslim quarter. I could begin to sense the constant tension surrounding the place as I watched petty fights break out among teenagers and safely observed from a distant the protests of the people who lived in such close proximity to each other.

Our time here was spent trying to understand the nature of the conflict, reading about and listening to individuals as they shared both sides of the story. After hearing so many stories and personal testimonies, the convoluted history the director was trying to get across to us started making sense. We learned of the faults on both sides and external factors that have hindered peace in the past, and how difficult it really is to find any footing from which to begin a discussion of peace. Mainly, however, we discussed what it means to truly live as an outsider observing such a conflict, and what our role is in supporting and seeking peace.

After such an intense time of travel, though, we really hit it off with a soccer game last night, and oh, what a night. It was between two Egyptian teams, Ahly and Zamalek, two rivals of Cairo. It was one of the best sporting events I have ever been to. We left four hours early, arriving and finding seats at around 5:30 – the game didn’t start till 8:00. That didn’t stop the crowds though, for the cheering and jeering went on for the full 2 1/2 hours until the game started, and continued until the game ended at around 10:00. It was a tie. There is nothing like seeing an international soccer game to make you realize how tame American sports really are.

Now, however, it back to work. We have several papers to write, and when someone commented on the fact that we only have four papers left till the end of the year, I realized that I only have four papers until I graduate. No finals. What a semester to end on. So, in another week, I will officially be done with my undergraduate, provided I don’t fail any of these classes. Thank goodness I have enough to keep me busy that I don’t have to think about it too much. But what also excites me is that in another week and a half I will be home – I will get to see my family and friends in the states. With how active things have been here, it seems like I have been gone a long time. It will be bitter-sweet, leaving here and arriving home. It is almost the end to this semester and to my college days.

Travels

Life has been interesting so far here on the travel component. It’s a very fast paced introduction to culture and politics within the countries we are visiting, which means it’s barely enough time to really understand the dynamics at work. Right now I am in Damascus, in Syria, which has proven to be quite a bit more interesting of a place than I expected it. Damascus is officially considered the World’s Oldest capital, a city that has been inhabited for a few thousand years and still has much of it’s original arcitecture intact. The original wall surrounding the city is in amazing condition still. I spent the last several days traversing a piece of history, walking up and down the street called straight. (yah, if you are familiar with it, it is still very much intact). I also visited the best surviving castle in the whole of the Middle East, and the drive through the country in the rain and fog brought seens of Braveheart to mind.

Turkey was an amazing experience. Istanbul is considered one of the European Culture Capitals for 2010, so with that in mind you can understand how dynamic this city is in its location.  It is also an enormous city set around the Bosphorus Straits and Marmara Sea. It has an interesting mix of European influence, with a flare of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture. If I ever had a picure of what eastern europe would look like, this would have been it. (Oh, and they’ve even built workout equipment in their parks) Turkey has a hero, a man very similar to our Founding Fathers, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The Turkey he established is very different from the typical Middle Eastern countries, and this man is revered very much in Turkey.

So far it has been an amazing experience to hop from one country to the other, experience the culture, the dynamic political system at work, meet the people living there (have a 2 hour conversation with a man on a bench in Damascus about stock cars and muscle cars and drumming for hard rock and jazz music) all of which are guaranteed to change your perspective of those living outside of Western culture.

Coming up next, Balaclava in Istanbul

I am almost done with the first of two segments in my semester. To recapitulate, I arrived on January 13, with a whole host of expectations and ideas about what this semester was going to be like. I was excited about what I was going to experience and the things I was going to be doing. I have so far had the opportunity of traveling to the 4 corners (technically I didn’t go all the way south) of Egypt. First, I took the trip to the Pyramids here in Cairo. I took the camel ride around the pyramids and get the first taste of an actual taxi ride and bartering for what I wanted. Next, I saw Luxor and all of it’s ancient Pharaonic glory, all of the temples, the statues, the carvings, and the tombs. I also got to experience the extent of a city sustained by tourism, albeit rather poorly sustained. After that, I traveled to Siwa Oasis. Now Siwa was absolutely amazing. We took the jeeps through the desert, sand-boarding, oasis hopping, sunset watching, and camping around a fire in the middle of the Sahara desert. Then we followed that up with the trip to Dahab. Dahab was a sun-bathing, snorkeling adventure at the red sea. Of course, it didn’t end there, for we left our last night at 11:30 and traveled to Mount Sinai, where we climbed the mountain and watched an incredibly cold and windy sunrise over the terrible terrain of the Sinai wilderness area. This coming weekend, I will make the last trip inside of Egypt – to Alexandria, the Mediterranean city. All of these trips were interspersed with talks with Muslims, Christians, a movie director, an Episcopalian Reverend, an American Foreign Policy adviser, an Egyptian Civil Rights Activist, and an Oxford graduate lawyer. All of these experiences have provided such a wide perspective on the Egyptian people, the culture, and the issues. Ironically, though, I feel like I’m just breaking the surface; that I am just barely beginning to understand a part of the complexity of the situation surrounding Egypt and the Middle East. Isn’t that the point though. We take these opportunities not to walk away with all the answers, but rather begin to recognize the questions and the issues.

Today we took a trip to Al-Azhar, the premier Islamic school for Sunni Islam located in Cairo. We heard from the director, attempted to ask questions addressing some of the issues we have been exposed to, and were given an opportunity to eat lunch with many of the students. I was given the chance to explain the concept of the Trinity, of Jesus being God and Man, and other issues in Christianity that they guy had questions about. I realized directly how difficult it is to explain the concept of the Trinity/Unity to a Muslim who has as one of their foundational beliefs the singular unity and oneness of God. Tomorrow, I will begin writing a paper on this idea of salvation, and what/who is included in salvation, how does one become saved, and what cultural influences, if any, are involved in our concept of salvation and damnation. This paper will be followed-up by a paper about the Islamic view of judgment day, and what happens to people on that day. All this to say, looking back over this first segment, it has been packed with challenges and experiences that are re-shaping my views about myself, God, Christ, Islam, Muslims, Egypt, and the Middle East as a whole. All of the preconceived notions I had upon arriving have, as usual, proven to not be true, but I can say that this has, in many other ways, been an amazing adventure.

This next and last segment will begin in about a week and a half, and that is our travel segment. We will be flying to Istanbul, staying there awhile, then flying to Syria. From there we will be taking a bus from Syria to Jordon, to Israel, then back to Egypt. I have no idea what this segment will entail, but if it’s anything like the first it will be intended to stretch and challenge us as much as possible. But, there are currently three papers and two finals standing in the way of us leaving, this next week and a half is going to be challenging because we are trying to be students despite everything else happening around us, and all the opportunities to distract ourselves from it. I just have to remind myself that in two weeks I will be eating balaclava in Istanbul.

Home Sweet Home

This past week was quite an interesting week for many of us here in Cairo. We were paired up with an Egyptian family to spend the week with simply to experience and understand what family life is like here in Cairo. Some of us were paired with Coptic families, other Muslim, some were with middle class families, others with lower income families, and some families had members who spoke some English, others no English at all. I was set up with a middle class Coptic Christian family. I was a little nervous going into it, not knowing anything about the family, and was expecting, rather, dreading the many awkward situations that were bound to come. Well, I did have a few awkward situations at the beginning of the week as I was getting accustomed to what their family life was like and what their expectations of me might be. It turned out to be a really amazing week. Andrew was my contact person, and he was not much older than I am, still in college, and studying Engineering, like 4-5 different types of Engineering. Well, they were a rather laid-back family, lounging around in the evening watching tv and drinking tea. I think they actually watched more American tv than I did in the states. I got to see some popular Egyptian films that had come out recently; I didn’t hardly understand a thing that was going on. They one thing many of us found out in our time at the families was that most Egyptian families have a much later bedtime that we were even used to being in college. Many were up well past two in the morning. I thought I was pretty good in my college days, but they bested me on every level.

The day before I left, Friday, I got to join them for church at a Coptic church out in a more rural area of Cairo. It was a wonderful experience to watch their service that morning, eat with them and their priest afterwards, and then just hang around meeting with Andrew’s friends and listening as they talked and joked — all in arabic — and otherwise napping in the hot sun. It was this day that I felt I really was able to see their family in an environment that is very comfortable and relaxing for them. It was a place I was able to observe them around their friends and the people the know and notice so many similarities between us, more than any difference there might be. Well, as you can expect this made leaving all that much harder, and being a guy who is not great at saying goodbye, I did the best that I could, past on a few gifts, and left. I left knowing I would see them before I left, but not really knowing if I would ever see them when I left Cairo. I owe them a great thanks for their willingness to take me in, and their graciousness and hospitality towards me while I was there.

Other than that, life is still life. I am well on into the semester, contemplating upcoming papers, behind on my Arabic homework (it’s going to be a late night tonight), and getting ready for Dahab and Mount Sinai this weekend. We get to climb Mount Sinia for a sunrise, and then travel to the arguably the most laid-back beach town of Egypt. Dahad is probably every Californian guy’s dream place in Egypt. There we will be lounging on the beach, snorkeling, hopefully I will be able to SCUBA dive, and just enjoying a great weekend around the Red Sea. Despite all the fun and adventure, I am beginning to feel the strain of being in Egypt. I am finding myself day-dreaming about my own house in Ohio, the days with my family and friends, and realizing the things that I miss about my own home. I think living with another family will do that. You notice in their home all the great things you like about your own.

It’s beginning to feel alot like…school

School is in full swing here. It is becoming easy to get immersed in the usual school schedule: get ready in the morning, breakfast, classes, lunch, homework, some free time in the evening, and bed. While there is so much that is different here, I am reminded of the fact that I am still in school by the amount of reading we have been assigned. The typical week though, is a little different. We start classes each week on Sunday and end on Thursday, we have two classes a day but they are 2+ hour classes, however, the nice thing is we are given so many activities to aid us in getting away from all the work. Take last week for example: Luxor, or Ancient Thebes.

Luxor is one of the main sites for ancient Egypt. Some of the most amazing structures are found there such as carvings, statues, temples, tombs, and it is all so massive. To give you a quick example there are two main structures in Luxor: Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. There is an alley of sorts between the two that is a mile long and it is lined on both sides by these Sphinx statues – the entire mile. Some of the structures are simply beyond belief. The other thing about Luxor, it is very touristy. I have been pampered by the friendliness of the people in Cairo, and so the first day in Luxor I was shocked by the actions and remarks of the people there. The tourist bazaar there is ridiculous. Many of the people there were obnoxious and rude, but I also realized that this is not entirely their fault. The people have been greatly affected by the tourism there. They thrive on all of the tourist coming, the money they get, and some of the things they have to do to get that money. One promblem though, there is a lot of money coming in through tourism, but very little of it has actually gone to help the city. Now, I don’t want you to get the impression that everyone there is like that, because we all met someone who was a reminder of the Egyptian hospitality. While some of us were walking along the Nile we were all randomly given gifts by this one shop owner who was proud that Egypt has just won a major soccer match for the African Cup. Sadly enough though, I think most of us, if we went back to Luxor, would only spend a day there, just enough to see the sites and then would be off somewhere else. It was interesting to realize that after being there for a day I really wanted to go back home…to Cairo.

Now, the highlight of the week, Anafora. We went to Anafora, a Coptic retreat center for the day a couple days ago. It was an absolutely amazing place. We spent the day with a large group from the Coptic Orthodox church to discuss a variety of things such as Coptic beliefs, Coptic views on Egypt, Muslim-Christian relations, and in general trying to build relationships with a group of Christians that have been living in Egypt since the first century. They trace their history back to St. Mark who came to Egypt and helped initially organize the church. When the Muslims came in the 7th Century, they met a large group of Christians, Copts, living in the area. This is a church that has a rich history in its contributions to Christianity too. And, we met Father Tomas, a Bishop, and an amazing man who talked with us a little while, but who I’m still wishing I was back listening to. It was one of the best days in Egypt so far.

A lot has been happening, and there is no end to the activities. Despite all of it, every once in a while I find myself forgetting where I am, and I have to remind myself that I am in Egypt. It is all becoming too familiar. Each day there is so much going on that I forget to just enjoy the place, to spend some time once again seeing the sites and smelling the mixture of smells of this beautiful place. I don’t want to get too used to being here that I leave regretting things I didn’t do. This is my very last semester in college, and while I am excited for the new road ahead, I want to be enjoying every moment and every aspect of the place that I am at now. I cannot get too caught up in the reading and homework, there is so much more out there…like Siwa.

First week of class

As my headline states, it was the first week of classes for me, and it seems like they are going to be interesting classes. I am finally able to read Arabic, at least make out what the letters and words may be. The Islamic Thought & Practice class also started, and is being taught by a Muslim lady who is from the reformed side. She offers quite an interesting perspective to her faith, especially a historical perspective that we would never really get back in the states. We have also had the opportunity to hear from people, who have talked with us outside of class, and covered topics such as the Muslim – Christian relations, which carried over to the Coptic and Evangelical relationship in Egypt, as well as Faith Boundaries, and living with your faith in a pre-modern society. Many of the basic issues were broadly discussed in a way that gave us context and a historical understanding. These individuals are PhDs in history, architecture, international relations, a law graduate from Cambridge, and they were all individuals that have been living here for at least 10 years, with our Islam teacher who was obviously born and raised here.

A few nights ago, the had an evening where they paired everyone up with one another Egyptian, either Coptic or Muslim, and we had the opportunity to serve them and talk with them throughout the evening. This was done in an attempt to provide us with native born, English-speaking person with whom we can befriend. I spent the evening hanging out with Mina Guirguis, a Coptic Christian here. He is a Computer Science major and works for a company that does website development. It’s a great opportunity to learn about Egyptian life from a native. I have also become a regular at a few ‘ahwas, or local cafes. I get the opportunity to practice Arabic with Ahmed and Mahmoud, who are both most likely Muslim. I also visit a local fruit stand to buy my fruit from Mina, who is also a Christian. I met Mina through his cousin, Abraham, who speaks great English. Mina and I are working with each other, him on English and me on Arabic. The nice thing about being here for a few months is I get the opportunity to befriend and really spend time with people here. I just hope that in a several more weeks my Arabic will be at least at a very basic conversational level so I can communicate. The first time I met Mahmoud, who is about my age, was when I stopped by his ‘ahwa and he brought me tea. We just sat there the whole time because we couldn’t really communicate, but he was content to do so, and we became friends.

All in all I am getting adjusted to life here in Egypt. I am trying to develop some basic friendships with people in the area – trying to become a regular. I have been experiencing a lot, and it’s only been about three weeks. Speaking of experiences though, we are leaving tonight at 11:00 our time for Luxor on a ten hour train ride. We will spend the next three days there, and I am excited to spend some time outside of Cairo. As much as I am enjoying it here, seeing a new place and being out of all of the pollution for a few days will be a nice break. It’s about that time for me to take off. The soccer game is starting soon, Egypt and Algeria, and the whole city is getting ready. The cafe that I am sitting in just brought out their huge drum in preparation. I am heading back to this other ‘ahwa to watch the game because it is right next to villa from which we will leave. Good Night all, and I’ll let you know about Luxor in a few days.

Hitting the streets…haggling over camels

I made it through my first week of classes, which has been an interesting ordeal. I forgot what language study involved, and I have had a rude awakening. This teacher jumps in at every class with a list of vocab words and phrases that she likes to pile on us during each hour and a half class. It’s been tough trying to memorize all of this stuff but we get the opportunity to use it everywhere we go. The problem now is that as we are out and about ‘practicing’, we can use a phrase or two, but the Cairenes assume then that we speak Arabic and rattle off this string of sentences that we cannot follow. Needless to say, they quickly realize that we don’t know all that much, and then they begin joking with us. Each day brings a few more experiences and therefore new words that I am able to learn.

Other than that, I have done so much this last week that it already feels like I have been here for a month or two. I visited Garbage City. I saw the beauty, heard the amazing stories, and walked through the parts that revealed the reality of life in that place. I have started my service learning project that occurs every Tuesday, which is helping teach English to Sudanese Refugee children. These classrooms are so different from any classroom I’ve ever been to. The kids are rowdy but so much fun. And today I visited the main tourist trap here in Cairo, the Pyramids. Talk about an interesting experience. You cannot imagine how massive these things are until you stand beside them, and then when you found out that they were originally covered with this type of rock so they shined in the sunlight, well it’s just amazing. Oh, and of course I rode a camel. I couldn’t go to the pyramids and not ride a camel. It was 6 dollars for a 45 minute ride around the area to the Sphinx. Pretty sweet trip. (I’ll get pictures up soon)

Well, I wanted to let you know what was happening between haggling for camel rides, taxi rides, food prices (by the way, I just bought two falafel sandwiches today for 1.25 L.E = approx .25 cents), studying for classes, and running around town. I made a friend with one of the Egyptians here too. He is a Christian and speaks pretty good English. He leaves soon, but a few of us are hoping to hang out with him before he goes. It’s hard to relay all that is happening so I figured that I would share some pictures of the people and the areas.

City view from the Nile.

One of the many car shops all over this area.

A lucky snapshot of a girl in Garbage City.

Some guys who asked us to take their picture. Unemployment is pretty bad here, which leaves many hanging out in the streets during the day.

Hope all is well. Blessings.

Getting Accustomed to Life

Here’s Life: Getting a 5:20 wake-up call from the five local mosques in our area as they sound the call to prayer. As I sit out on the balcony drinking an early morning cup of coffee I can hear the chorus of sounds from the 6^th of October bridge, one of the longest bridges in the world, as drivers, mainly taxis, offer up what sounds like their version of a sonar location system. They can go no-where without sending a few honks on their horns to either decipher the absolutely ridiculous traffic or else to let the other billion taxis know where they are, and the more rapid the honking the more aggressive the taxi is driving.

As I sit on the balcony, I realized that the Orientation week we are on is just about over. It has been quite an adventure involving several mosque visits, scavenger hunts around our neighborhood area, a felucca ride down the Nile, a visit to the famous tourist bazaar in Khan al-Khalili, as well as unnoticed areas in Khan al-Khalili – the Egyptian area with the most beautiful structures of the Old City.  All of these activities and other short assignments were to familiarize us with the local area and get us accustomed to dealing with the Egyptians despite the language barrier.

I have realized already how friendly and overly helpful the Egyptian people are. It takes a simple grin to light up a face, and a question the willingness to assist. They often drop what they are doing to guide us where we need to go, hail down taxis and haggle for us, or find an English speaker to bridge the language barrier, and trust me, there have been no shortage of random questions to strangers on these ‘assignments’. There is one note of caution: In order to be hospitable hosts, they will often provide you with directions even if they have no idea where a place is, so it is always a good idea to ask several people.

At no time, in any part of the city, have I ever felt unsafe, and I have been in several taxis and have ridden on the metro. The city itself is safe; it is the area outside of Cairo, the small villages, that often breeds the civil unrest or fighting between Christians and Muslims. It has been an interesting week so far, full of a variety of sights, sounds, and smells, locating local markets and street stands, haggling prices, trying different foods, and learning the most basic of Arabic bringing many laughs and awkward moments.

Ahead are a few more activities for this week, including a visit to Garbage City, but mostly to prepare for the start of classes. We will get our syllabi, meet the teachers, start our service projects, begin the process of purchasing food for dinners, in short, the regular rhythm of the study abroad. In a few more days our tourist visit ends and our regular lives begins.

Ahh, finally here

Musa’ ilxneer. Good Evening. Well, everyone, I made it fine. The flight was rough, as expected, but safe. I have been here for three days, and I got to tell you it wasn’t quite like I expected – I guess that’s to be expected though. First of all, the people here are really friendly, quite accommodating really. Many go through great pains to make sure that we feel welcome. Sure some probably aren’t really interested in us being here, but I cannot tell you how many people I have seen light up the moment we have said hi. And the children are hilarious. I was worried about my stuff getting stolen since I was staying in a flat near the college site. Interestingly enough, theft is really low around here, even for foreigners. I have no fear about leaving anything lying around in my room.

I’m still in the orientation week, so classes haven’t officially started yet, but there is no wasting time with learning Arabic. That’s the nice part about living here, I get the first-hand experience. Although, the one thing that is not safe is the driving…or walking for that matter. Here in Egypt, the driver has the ride away. That means that we pedestrians watch every angle and side street because there is no telling where the cars will come from. The bicyclists are the real daredevils. The kids around here do what every mother in the states would absolutely forbid. The people on bikes ride recklessly in and around the crazy traffic with what seems like little though to safety. We almost saw a kid on a bike hit today. Luckily enough the driver saw him as they turned the corner. The kid merely continued out onto the local main street, again, in and out of traffic. Wow, is all I could say. I will get into that later.

Now, I got to go back to eat dinner. We get fed a lot here. There is breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then there are all the snacks in between. Talk to you soon.

3 days left

Well, I figured I ought to make my first post before I head out for Egypt. I leave in 3 days from now, and of course am still not even close to packed or ready. I’ve still got time. Anyways, I recently arrived back from St. Louis and Kansas City, from several conferences, namely the Urbana Missions conference. Wow. That’s all I can really say; over 20,000 people, both young and old, extremely passionate about missions throughout the world. It was definitely an experience. I had many conversations with people who had worked with Muslims in one way or another, and several of them had lived specifically in Cairo for an extended period of time. I received many good pointers and suggestions which will be quite useful while I’m there. I also made several connections with some organizations that might possibly become my future employer.

Oh, yesterday I was going over the flight information and was quickly reminded of how much I dislike international flights. Flight departure: 6:00 am, 12th of January- Columbus, OH. Final Arrival:  6:40 pm, 13 of January – Cairo, Egypt. Yah, 36 hours later, and I finally arrive at my destination. I’m so glad they give us a week intensive before classes start so I can get acclimated before actual grades become an issue.

I’ve still got so much to do so it still hasn’t really set in that I am leaving for three and a half months. Well, God has been some  pretty sweet things in my life and I am excited to see what comes of this. In any case, it’s late so ‘Tosbeho ‘ala khair’ – Good night.