Constructing Kasun, Educator

Get lost.  In a souk (market).  That’s about what three of us did just yesterday.  We found ourselves in a former Greek enclave, watched a man sew together traditional Egyptian vests for tourists to buy, bartered for antique postcards, and drank tea with a man who suddenly became our “tour guide” in Alexandria without our asking for it.  Nice man, so we tipped him after all.  Then we returned for a concert of Latin music—as in Latino salsa, merengue, etc. 

The concert was at the Biblioteca (library) of Alexandria.  What an amazing facility.  It’s seven storeys of books, museums, and amazing architecture.  It integrates the feel of a pyramid, full sunlight, crazy angles and curves and makes you feel like all is well with civilization as you wander through the stacks and then among the manuscripts from 1500 years ago in the basement collection. 

We also heard a lecture with Egypt’s leading economist about prospects for the future.  We found out that Egypt’s level of foreign direct investment is increasing,though its expenditures on social spending are increasing—a not so encouraging sign.  There were other economists on the panel discussion, and it’s clear that the economists are doing the best they can to help ameliorate the staggering poverty that many Egyptians live daily.

We’ve been given a book by Galal Amin, one of Egypt’s best writers on Egyptian culture, and I’m learning so much about what is going on around me—just scratching the surface, really.  He laments that before the arrival of Westernization, most Egyptians, materially poor as they may have been, were content with life and the very strong family and friendly relationships they had.  I don’t think he’s arguing that Egypt should stop its process of modernization (for lack of a better word); rather, he’s describing a phenomenon.  The book is titled, “Whatever Happened to the Egyptians?”

Alexandria is on the Mediterranean… Amazing views and a clean city.  I miss it already.

Must run.  We’re being chased out of the closing Internet café.

We were supposed to go to the Suez Canal for the day, but the boat we were going to take was malfunctioning.  Instead, we went to the Egyptian Museum, a collection of the antiquities of the pharaonic eras.  I was most impressed by the remains of King Tut’s tomb.  It is the only tomb of all the tombs which wasn’t looted through the thousands of years that the tombs have existed.  The Egyptians, even contemporary ones, are very concerned with the afterlife.  The pharaohs were supplied with the things they would need in the next life by including those things in their tombs.  Even pets were mummified to accompany them.  King Tut’s tomb included four chambers built around each other, gold-gilded and elaborate.  He had three coffins.  The second one was wooden and completely coated in gold and stones.  The inner one is solid gold, weighing in at 110 kgs.  A headdress was also included, the famous one with the blue strips of lapizlazuli, again, solid gold.  I also enjoyed attempting to interpret symbols and understand the kind of life the ancient Egyptians lived. 

Back to modern times.  Cairo is immense.  It reminds me of Mexico City in its scale, pollution, and activity.  There are ruins throughout the city.  Many buildings have a French feel with ornate details along corners and rooftops, while others look like Russian communist era block structures.  Our tour guide said the way you can tell how wealthy a neighborhood is is to check if the buildings are painted or not and how many satellite dishes there are.  The city is alive all day and night, even moreso than New York City, it seems.  Streets are crowded with women and men along market stalls.  Some streets were just packed with people as we drove by.  I don’t think I’d ever seen anything like it. 

The group I’m with is sensitive to not projecting the image of the “ugly American” abroad.  People are careful not to be offensive when we’re traveling.  They have important and interesting questions to ask.  My roommate has been great so far.  She is from Arizona and teaches history in high school.  I’ve also befriended an English teacher with similar literature interests to my own from New York State.  Today at lunch I sat with a new father whose dad is Scottish Egyptian and whose mother is Cuban American.  He’s working on his PhD online in education.  These people all have unique stories.  I swam today with a woman who teaches in a small town in Ohio.  She has spent almost all her summers abroad.  For eight summers she was helping restore a Greek mosaic.  She has also worked on the ruins of Pompeii. 

Despite my group’s sensitivity, I feel awkward about being carted around in a big, air-conditioned bus while the majority of the people sweat it out in the cars on the street.  Yes, there are plenty of Mercedes.  However, there are Russian era, box-like taxis and all sorts of dying and resuscitated vehicles going around.  I also lament that I won’t have the opportunity to spend any time with Egyptian families or even just time to casually strike up conversations.  We are bound by a strict schedule which has us going almost all day long from 7:30 am until 9 pm at the earliest.

Nonetheless, I am thrilled at the quality of speakers we are exposed to.  Yesterday’s we listened to a scholar and writer about Christian Coptic Egypt.  We’re learning that Egyptians have a history of religious tolerance, and it seems that many academics and policy makers are working to maintain that tolerance.  Threats to it include the radical Islamic movements.  Part of the rise of the movements is from laborers who have gone to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and returned with a more fundamentalist version of Islam.  Many Copts hold positions of importance in business and government, and hopefully the trend of religious integration will be able to hold.

Tonight, we have two speakers about modern Egyptian history and also a discussion from an Iraqi photographer.

I had lunch today at Al Azhar Park, a former garbage dump-turned-palatial estate.  The entire complex is made from marble and limestone, complete with Islamic style geometric designs to accentuate the arches and high ceilings.  I ate several kinds of grilled meat and a rice and lentil dish after several appetizers including mint yogurt, a tomato tahini paste, hummous, baba ganoush, and several others.

Speaking of garbage, afterwards we headed toward a Christian Coptic monastery where St. Simon performed a miracle in the 10^th Century, changing a mountainside to prove his faith and avoid Islamic persecution, according to the story.  On the way, we passed through the garbage collectors’ neighborhood.  Probably around 25,000 people live there, sorting through Cairo’s garbage daily.  Alleys and streets are lined with enormous plastic bags filled with the stuff.  It gets turned into piles of plastics and cardboard, rubber and metal heaps.  The tour guide, an Egyptoligist who is very knowledgable, said that what doesn’t get recycled gets burned.  Add that to the sand of the city and industrial pollution, and your eyes start to water.

But Cairo isn’t trash, pyramids and palaces alone.  It’s a city comprised of incredibly warm people.  At the monastery, I met a woman named Mariam as the group checked out a massive 20,000 seat ampitheatre carved into the concave mountainside where the miracle occurred 1,000 years ago.   She brought her family for a special religious session being held there tonight; she was also surronded by about 30 kids who were either local or also waiting for the ceremony.

 She spoke about 30 words of English, far better than my seven words of Arabic.  She has three kids, and I met them all.  She had a robust figure covered in a black gown (though not a Muslim hijab, as she is among the ten percent of Christians in Egypt).  Her orange hued skin was accented by thickly lined eyes.  She was beautiful.  Her eleven year old daughter was very tall and thin, with gorgeous curly hair and clear green eyes.  She could be a model.  A tall and thin son stood nearby,shyly, and a small boy on her arm chewed up food and had bits of it hanging from his moutn.  She wanted to know, as most Cairenes do, if I was married, how many kids I had.  I was sorry to disappoint her by not having any, but I didn’t figure it was good to lie.  And where was my husband, anyway?  I said he was working, which is true, but only teachers qualified for this trip—too much to explain. 

We also went to a synagogue inside part of a now-historic section of town which used to be Coptic Cairo (now neighborhoods are more mixed religiously).  At one time, up to 20 percent of Egypt was Jewish, according to our tour guide.  Now there are only a few thousand Jews left in Egypt.  We then saw other Coptic sanctuaries and the Coptic Museum, a world-class museum housing various kinds of Coptic art, including reliefs and textiles depicting Christ, the ancient Eyptian cross turned Christian cross, grapes and wine-making depictions, stained-glass and Islamic-styled screens covering windows. 

You might be wondering about the pyramids.  Immense.  Larger than the pictures you’ve seen.  Two million stones in the largest pyramid, each stone weighing two tons.  It felt strange to be looking at such monuments to the dead; I admit that I enjoy walking among the ruins of formerly living cities in Central America far more than braving the fierce summer sun of the Egyptian desert. 

My favorite part of the Giza pyramids was making my new friend Ali.  I walked toward the city of Cairo from the pyramids, easily visible in the distance, just about five hundred feet from the pyramids.  I had been warned that men on camels in traditional clothing would tell me I could take a picture with their camels for free and that I’d later be harrassed for a tip.  So I stayed away and politely indicated I wasn’t interested to the numerous parties.  Sometime I would answer the common question of where was I from.  Ali talked more to me and eventually steered me toward a great view of a park beneath the pyramids.  Then he insisted I pet the camel.  I hesitated.  He swore it was for free.  I pet the camel.  Then we talked briefly,  and he insisted I take his picture with his camel.  “You have a good heart; I can see that.  It’s ok,” he encouraged me.  Then wetraded a gain, and I was shot with his camel.  He told me about his four children and his wife and showed me the inscription of her name and the date of their wedding on his ring.  “She is a great wife,” he told me.  I wished him many blessings and went back to my group.  And his camel had a name.  Moses.

I know these details seem so crazily strung together, but bear with me for just a couple more.  Last night I was the whirling dervishes.  I didn’t know what they were until I got here, so stick with me.  It’s worth it.  They are a troupe of men who are inspired by Sufism to perform in front of audiences three times a week [Sufism is a mystical offshoot of Islam}.  They play ancient instruments, a combination of several woodwinds and various percussion instruments.  They wear long robes that they whirl as they perform.  At first I was impressed by the music—these were skillful players.  But then I saw them twirling in their long gowns, some men wearing three enormous skirts that they twirled with a diameter of at least six feet.  They twirled the skirts while they spun and spun for up to 20 minutes at a time.  The performance was intoxicating, and I’m sorry I can’t explain it better.

We’re also listening to great discussions from a sample of some of Egypt’s great minds.  More details on that later.  For now, Salaam.

Cairo, Egypt, July 3, 2007

I’m looking out the window of my hotel room, with a distant view of the top of one of the ancient Egyptian pyramids.  I’m at the Cairo Marriott, a hotel that includes what used to be a palace as well as a casino.  Supposedly this hotel will be full of people from the Gulf who need a vacation.  Since Lebanon is less stable these days, they’re less likely to go to Beirut and come here instead.  Should be interesting.

This is the first day of my Fulbright experience in Egypt for three weeks.  From here I’ll go to Israel for another three.  We just flew in together from Dulles Airport after a two and a half day seminar and orientation at Geogetown University.  Experts who are regularly interviewed on CNN, NPR, and PBS and who write columns about the Middle East spoke to us.  I learned more about the history, politics, economics and culture of these two countries than I knew from all prior reading.  I have more questions about how these two countries can survive in light of the tense political situations in both places and also wonder where the Palestinians intersect in both lands and their policies.

I’ve also gotten to scratch the surface of the personalities of the fifteen colleagues from throughout the US.  So far, they have diverse backgrounds and experiences.  From religion teachers and professors to ESOL teachers (like myself), we have many interests.  There are folks from California, Arizona, New York, among other places.   So far I like the people I’m with.  Nine women and seven men of many age ranges.

It took us about an hour to drive from the Cairo Airport to the hotel.  We drove through Heliopolis, which is supposed to be a fancier neighborhood.  Our tour guide pointed out that Cairo suffers from Russian communist style construction in many locations.  True also in Heliopolis.  On the flipside, there are numerous mosques and Coptic churches I spied that do not lack in architectural flair.  I also noticed a subway system, buses packed with people who were very curious as to the contents of our air-conditioned bus, and street vendors selling all colors of fruits and other goods. 

Things are dusty here.  The well-manicured gardens of our hotel provide the mirage of green and calm; but the city is anything but.  I can’t wait to get out more and experience it.  Tomorrow we’ll go to the pyramids and other sights.  I’m sure I’ll have more impressions to share later on.