eudaimonia & anagnorisis

First stand up to live, then sit down to write. -emerson.

In&Out Burger has been replaced. I had heard a rumor that McDonald's here boasted a BigMac Chicken and its very own Kofta. My distain for McDonald's disipated instantly upon tasting the latter. Far from the best meal I've had here, my trip to McDonalds was still nothing short of amazing. I am kind of ashamed I already went into McDonald's, but since I've gotten to Egypt I've aquired this creepy pride in saying, "ana min Amerika"... what's more appropro than MickyD's?

Where can I possibly begin? I wrote tons while in Amsterdam, but it seems slighly blaisse' to post that stuff now when I could instead post the lastest from Cairo.

I believe I, by sheer happenstance, found the best way to arrive in Cairo: At 3am, when the city is quiet and cool. Driving past the beautiful al-Nour Mosque I was reassured that I am supposed to be here and that I will indeed be very, very happy.

The only way to describe my experience is as a sensational bombardment. Women's scarves create a wave of color along the streets, with endless shades of modesty and a variety of styles. The honking is the most intense, tho, a characteristic of Cairene streets every moment of the day. At 2.30a the jingle of honking seems to crescendo. The melody of car horns is different than I expected… there is a variety of reasons one may honk their horn, and each reason has an accompanying technique: There's the "I’m cutting you off honk", that is almost polite, similar to hand wave while merging in line at the grocery store. There’s the "better walk faster because I am not slowing down" honk that warns pedestrians 4 or 5 feet away.

The most popular honks of all are those directed at women. There’s the double-beep honk that simply complements you on your overall appearance, sometimes this honk comes with a complimentary yet derogatory “asl”, "helwa" or cat hish. There’s also the “woman get out of the street” honk that is longer and indicative of the Japanese landlord in BreakfastAtTiffany's.

Stoplights are irrelevent. People rarely walk on the sidewalks, instead they wade among cars in the street. Crossing the street is basically taking your life into your own hands, but always with nonchalance. Overall, the city is very easy to traverse with dirt cheap metro, affordable taksi, and streets that are safe nearly anytime. It is by the grace of God that I get anywere I need to go tho...I never genuinely know exactly where I am.

The only downer is how beautiful the city is and yet how awkward it is to take photographs. It's not a matter of looking like a tourist, whiping out a camera seems to put everyone off. But I'm not sure if photographs could accurately capture Cairo's beauty anway.

The Arabic placement exam was the least pleasurable moment of the trip thus far. I walked into a hallway where an assortment of other international students scanned thru pages of metriculously written notes, one boy casually browsed al-Haram, Egypt’s daily paper. Neat. *grumble* As if the road signs and mangled conversation en route to this exam was not Arabic placement enough for me...nearly 20 pages without one word of English reassured me I would be returning to Arabic One. It's accelerated tho with a sadistic 10-hours of lecture a week and I am excited to start fresh .

My other classes are promising, but I have heard mixed reviews. AUC has a richy-rich reputation that even out-does AU in DC, but laughable academic expectations. We'll see... I'm taking Introduction to Economic Development, Muslim Political Thought, and Third World Anthrpological Development. But on to more interesting things...

To the left is the Nile at night. Locals and tourists alike flood onto the Corniche and other streets at night to enjoy the cool weather and cheap entertainment. A boat ride on the Nile is 2 pounds - like 50 cents - and it comes with blarring Arabic music, tacky colored lights, and all the children on board dancing. Priceless.

I am also already a regular at a shisha place in Tahrir, where they call me "Aminah min Amirka" and bring out tea and bahrainy shisha before I can even sit down. Beautiful.

Honestly, I can't express how gratful I am, alHamdulila. It might just be the rosy-colored-post-arrival goggles blinding me, but I can't envision myself leaving in only 5 short months....

To the right is a photo of rashaSasha and I with another AUC student from Chicago. The entire point of the photograph was to capture the disrepair of the building they live in. I chuckle knowing that the building I will soon call my cozy Cairene home would be considered condemed by American standards. pish posh.

Girl-y sidenote: In my dreams I imagined that one day I would be able to buy sleeves to make those borderline shirts as halal as can be, and apparently the hijab souks are where my dreams come true! Note the red sleeves in the photo are sleeves and not long sleeve shirt.

rashaSasha also took to wearing a scarf after realizing it made the frequency and potency of the catcalls and vulgar comments decrease exponentially. I haven't had anything but respect from Egytpians, mashaAllah, and count my blessings.

More to come, including highlights from Amsterdam and - inshaAllah - my new apartment. I get free in-coming calls on my Egyptian cell phone, so pick up a phone card and feel free to wake me up whenever you'd like instead of calculating the time change: (002)0101488401.

cheers!