eudaimonia & anagnorisis

Well, where to begin?? I think this post will be far too long for one sitting, so I’ve provided handy subtitles to facilitate re-visits in case you become bored, distracted, or short on time.

diving & theFeast. Dahab is a former Beduoin fishing village situated on the south-eastern coast of the Sinai across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia. The town is still obviously Bedouin and seems exude the word CHILL. Even the architecture seems to whisper 'ease'. It felt sinful to be anything less than carefree and content. As one of Sinai’s most treasured diving destinations, it is no surprise that diving atDahab was excellent. The Canyon was probably the highlight, although a few moments near the surface of the Blue Hole also stand out in my mind. The Canyon is mind-blowingly beautiful! The dive begins with a 25m decent down a pseudo-tunnel (imagine: one of those glass elevators in hotels, except sides made of rock and under the sea), then you tour a gorgeous wall reef, and pop into this opening between rocks and find yourself in a HUGE open area, hence the “canyon” the site is named for, evantually popping you out at 14 meters. Amaaazzzzing. I should never have started diving, hah! This trip prompted the long-term viability of my scuba obsession of late. I am thinking about getting my own equiptment and have already researched the diving near DC. FYI: kickin’ wreck dives near Anapolis...

In Sharm I stayed with a friend-of-a-friend, Eloise. She’s Welsh and has been living in Egypt as a scuba instructor for nearly two years. She is absolutely crazy, and therefore inherently interesting and enlightening. I can’t express just how much of a pleasure it was to sit and speak sophisticated English, too!!! Using four-syllable words and idiom nearly induced linguistic orgasm.

AUCness. A series of events - utter saddness that there is no VaginaMonologues at AUC, a fabulous group project for my political economy class, overflowing class discussions -have led me to venture into AUC as if I am actually a student here and not just a girl who wanders into and out of buildings with textbooks. I have my interview for the Model United Nations council next week and have buddied up with the ladies of the Bussy Project - a feminist group on campus - with hopes of planning a pseudo-VaginaMonologues shindig later in the spring. Suprising and appreciated.

Also, I was talking with an Austian girl in my anthro class and she had the most refreshingly-jaded way of talking about travel and study. She has short spikey hair and seems always to look like she has just rolled out of bed or is coming straight from a night-long rock concert. Once in response Dr.Zaki’s inquiry about her abscent she replied in her thick Austia accent, “asifa I was in court for the day”. Nevertheless, during break from the epic 3-hour class today she was talking about how people tend to get stuck in Egypt. I laughed and said I think I currently am! After further chitchat I learned that she had previously “gotten stuck” in Columbia, Costa Rica and the greater part of the Carribbean. I love how the combination of travel and study creates such ambiguity about where you’re from or where you live or even where you are going. I was impressed by her, like Greg’s, indifference towards orthodox living and the arbitrary framework of 4-year stints in schooling, physical mailing addresses, and societal expectations (I am brave and seize any opportunity to deviate from the boring 4-year plan norm , but not this brave). Travel and study lately has brewed several mini-diatribes about politics and democracy and America and Islam and a whole slew of pseudo-intellectual thoughts. An update on those when they are more ripe.

the Talat Harb hassasment incidents.

"Hey Sash ," I called from the light-less bathroom, "what do you miss most about the States?"
"Hmmm..." she said from her bedroom, which has a floor in revolt of the glue that holds it down by the way, "being able to be secular..."
"aOaw" (<-- this is a disconcernable sound made in Egyptian Arabic that is kind of an AW and kind of an OW and entirely unpleasant sounding so matter how agreeable it is intended to sound) "...and walking down the streets without men talking to me" she continued "hah. yea" "You think i am kidding but really, I miss being able to walk around unbothered... what about you?" "privacy" "hah. yea"

And now for an unavoidable that seems to have been pretty well avoided. There was… for lack of a better phrase… a rape riot downtown the first day of Eid when I was out of town. If you want to know what "rape riot" or "harrassment incidents" means it’s a tricky situation. Arab (not just Egyptian) news media refuses to cover the ordeal from last week, and the Egyptian police have crafted a story of indifference, leaving first-hand accounts from bloggers and questionable hearsay as the only sources of information…. Neither of which cant be trusted entirely. Basically, a large group of men became angry at a movie theater downtown and proceeded to take their anger out on the cinema and then every female within a 2-block radius. The riot lasted, unabated by the police - who are always present and plenty in number - for nearly 5 hours. I don't want to write about this - perhaps I am in shock or just hopeless disgust - but please read about it for yourself if you are interested. The point is, Cairo, and perhaps Egypt or the Arab world as a whole, is a sexually frustrated society with patriarchal norms. Some event occurred within this catalyst that led to an infringement on people's safety and women’s privacy. Regardless of the extent to which it was “serious” or “normal” no one – save the Cairene elites, concerned foreigners, and independent journalists – is talking about it! Ay da?! This blogger puts my thoughts better than I can, so I'll leave it to him.

On a slightly happier note: Sasha and I move into our new apartment on Saturday morning and many exciting travels dance along the horizon.