My mom saw our wonderful family friend, Bob Weddington, at a wedding last weekend. She told me he was disappointed that I stopped writing. I realized that I had because sometimes Cairo does that to you. I didn't want to scare anyone at home, I didn't want to offend anyone here and I had no energy left at the end of the day to make sense of the events that people would be interested in reading. That's not to say it's all been "scary" or that all I have to say would be "offensive," but those are the things that come to mind when I think about writing. Of course there's fantastic things to write about, too, but I'm too busy doing them to write about them.
Sometimes living in Egypt is ridiculous. Who am I kidding? Living in Egypt is always ridiculous. There's so many absurd things that happen on a daily basis that you can't help but laugh. These are the things that when you really think about it, you can say "Oh...! This is the problem. This is why this place is the way it is...I finally get it!" but you don't ever think about it because it's more fun not to. Life is much more pleasant when you shrug your shoulders, laugh and go about your day because trying to explain or understand is just not worth your time. Because when you finally think you get it, you realize you don't. These are the things that when I cross paths with my friends here in the future, after I've left, no one else will get our quirky conversations and will be annoyed because they just won't get it either.
This past weekend, my good friend Jen and I went to Alexandria. Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great, is one that is known to be difficult for 2 American girls traveling alone, so Jen and I took our favorite driver, Ayman, with us. Although Ayman hates going to Alex, we convinced him to and we're so glad he was there with us, otherwise the absurdities that follow would be less funny and more stressful.
Presidential elections are next week (even though we already know Sisi will be the next president) which has renewed the common Egyptian pastime of protesting. On our way to check into our hotel, we drove right past one. Jen and I looked at each other with a mutual "What have we gotten ourselves into" look. After quickly checking in and dropping our stuff off, we got right back in the car to head to the famous Fort Qaitbay that guards Alexandria's Mediterranean coast from threats like Julius Caesar (hmmmm...not sure how well that worked). On the way, we drove through another protest, which are now illegal but since they were Sisi-supporters, nbd. Jen and I both rolled up our windows, wishing we could take pictures instead. One of the many funny things about driving in Egypt is there are not any left-turn lanes. So of course we had to make a U-turn, only to drive through it again.
While being followed by a large group of teenage boys at Fort Qaitbay, one of the younger ones asked, "Are you American?" I replied with a snotty-sounding "No." In which he said, "Oh you're French." That's one way to not be pegged by the negative label. Thanks 'Merica.
The main reason people go to Alex is to visit the Library of Alexandria--the one that my Astronomy professor in college talked about when we needed a break from stars and midterms. He told us the story of Alexander the Great and the library and one of it's greatest philosophers, Hypatia, in such an enchanting way that I highly considered a history degree. If someone had told me ten years ago, that I would be standing inside that very library, I wouldn't have believed them. And I shouldn't have. Because the Library of Alexandria is temporarily closed on the weekends. Of course it is. Needless to say, Jen and I tried to go anyway. When we arrived, even the outside courtyards were barricaded. We asked a police officer (out of uniform but guarded by a military post, so we took him seriously) if we could walk through just the outside to take pictures. He said no, but since this is Egypt, we went to get a coffee overlooking the library and walked to the other side to ask someone else. We walked up to the next set of police officers (also out of uniform) and they immediately said the library was closed. The funny thing though is we can see other people walking around and taking pictures. So when Jen asked if we could just walk through the outside to take pictures, one of them asked our nationality. Naturally, we both replied Canadian. And then I met Alexander the Great.
So Alex was great. We didn't get followed or harassed, minus at the Fort. We saw everything we wanted to see and ate delicious food and we checked one off the "What to do before we leave Egypt" List. We decided to leave Alex after lunch on Saturday in order to make it back to Cairo at a decent time. It had only taken us 3 hours to get there just the morning before, but 5 hours on the way home. Naturally, we sat in Alex traffic for 2 hours before we could really be on our way. The wait was long and dusty due to road construction, but as soon as we got through the gate to exit Alex, we were flying (remember Ayman hates Alex). Only to have to come to a sudden stop a couple minutes later. What was causing this traffic, you ask? A man in a galabeya selling loofahs in the middle of the Cairo-Alex Desert Road, ya' know because you're super dusty from the traffic you just got out of.
***I wasn't going to write this post but changed my mind after a protest went by my apartment last night (simultaneously as a wedding was being celebrated). I ran to the window while FaceTiming with Dana (because who doesn't want to watch a protest?!) and one of the last guys chanting away about Sisi or Morsi, was selling cotton candy. And all you can do is laugh. You really can't make this shit up. 34 days people.
Sometimes living in Egypt is ridiculous. Who am I kidding? Living in Egypt is always ridiculous. There's so many absurd things that happen on a daily basis that you can't help but laugh. These are the things that when you really think about it, you can say "Oh...! This is the problem. This is why this place is the way it is...I finally get it!" but you don't ever think about it because it's more fun not to. Life is much more pleasant when you shrug your shoulders, laugh and go about your day because trying to explain or understand is just not worth your time. Because when you finally think you get it, you realize you don't. These are the things that when I cross paths with my friends here in the future, after I've left, no one else will get our quirky conversations and will be annoyed because they just won't get it either.
This past weekend, my good friend Jen and I went to Alexandria. Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great, is one that is known to be difficult for 2 American girls traveling alone, so Jen and I took our favorite driver, Ayman, with us. Although Ayman hates going to Alex, we convinced him to and we're so glad he was there with us, otherwise the absurdities that follow would be less funny and more stressful.
Presidential elections are next week (even though we already know Sisi will be the next president) which has renewed the common Egyptian pastime of protesting. On our way to check into our hotel, we drove right past one. Jen and I looked at each other with a mutual "What have we gotten ourselves into" look. After quickly checking in and dropping our stuff off, we got right back in the car to head to the famous Fort Qaitbay that guards Alexandria's Mediterranean coast from threats like Julius Caesar (hmmmm...not sure how well that worked). On the way, we drove through another protest, which are now illegal but since they were Sisi-supporters, nbd. Jen and I both rolled up our windows, wishing we could take pictures instead. One of the many funny things about driving in Egypt is there are not any left-turn lanes. So of course we had to make a U-turn, only to drive through it again.
While being followed by a large group of teenage boys at Fort Qaitbay, one of the younger ones asked, "Are you American?" I replied with a snotty-sounding "No." In which he said, "Oh you're French." That's one way to not be pegged by the negative label. Thanks 'Merica.
The main reason people go to Alex is to visit the Library of Alexandria--the one that my Astronomy professor in college talked about when we needed a break from stars and midterms. He told us the story of Alexander the Great and the library and one of it's greatest philosophers, Hypatia, in such an enchanting way that I highly considered a history degree. If someone had told me ten years ago, that I would be standing inside that very library, I wouldn't have believed them. And I shouldn't have. Because the Library of Alexandria is temporarily closed on the weekends. Of course it is. Needless to say, Jen and I tried to go anyway. When we arrived, even the outside courtyards were barricaded. We asked a police officer (out of uniform but guarded by a military post, so we took him seriously) if we could walk through just the outside to take pictures. He said no, but since this is Egypt, we went to get a coffee overlooking the library and walked to the other side to ask someone else. We walked up to the next set of police officers (also out of uniform) and they immediately said the library was closed. The funny thing though is we can see other people walking around and taking pictures. So when Jen asked if we could just walk through the outside to take pictures, one of them asked our nationality. Naturally, we both replied Canadian. And then I met Alexander the Great.
So Alex was great. We didn't get followed or harassed, minus at the Fort. We saw everything we wanted to see and ate delicious food and we checked one off the "What to do before we leave Egypt" List. We decided to leave Alex after lunch on Saturday in order to make it back to Cairo at a decent time. It had only taken us 3 hours to get there just the morning before, but 5 hours on the way home. Naturally, we sat in Alex traffic for 2 hours before we could really be on our way. The wait was long and dusty due to road construction, but as soon as we got through the gate to exit Alex, we were flying (remember Ayman hates Alex). Only to have to come to a sudden stop a couple minutes later. What was causing this traffic, you ask? A man in a galabeya selling loofahs in the middle of the Cairo-Alex Desert Road, ya' know because you're super dusty from the traffic you just got out of.
