Chronicling Cairo

Merry Christmas from Snowy Ankara!

2008-12-25T12:58:00.002+02:00

We're celebrating with a visit to Ataturk's tomb and a marathon of Christmas movies...and last night we went to a Christmas Mass officiated by a Papal Nuncio--the Archbishop who is the Vatican's ambassador to Turkey. Kelly tells me that having an Archbishop officiate over any service is very rare---so that's pretty cool. She had to tell me when to kneel because the last mass I attended was my

yaa al-qahira, ma'a sala'ama!

2008-12-22T07:50:00.003+02:00

On the way back from campus, my last night in Cairo and after taking my last final, the bus driver decided to go through Tahrir and the heart of downtown Cairo before swinging off to cross the bridge over the Nile into Zamalek.I was grateful. It gave me a chance to say goodbye.The next morning, after packing all night, we made our way to Cairo International. The air was clogged with a mixture of

It's (not) beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-12-13T15:42:00.002+02:00

...but it is starting to feel a lot like fall.Scene in my apartment this morning: Miranda wore a turtle neck sweater and long sleeved shirt, Hannah a sweater, and me: a sweatshirt and scarf. It was 65 degrees.In other news:My sleeping train chugged into Cairo at 9 AM yesterday in classic style after a wonderful week long sojourn along the Nile.Now its time to buckle down and get to work, but

Eid Al Adha

2008-12-04T00:40:00.002+02:00

...means a whole week of no classes and a whole lot of traveling for me.We're going in the opposite direction of the hajj to visit Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel.My flight to Aswan leaves at 10:20 tomorrow night (bus/train tickets all sold out really early, unfortunately). Monday night I embark on a Nile Cruise (Kelly and Tommy are taking a felucca, my friend Savannah is joining me on a boat that

Thanksgiving Expat Style

2008-12-02T10:54:00.001+02:00

(written on actual thanksgiving...not posted because my lovely internet connection is completely gone. we're in deep mourning.)My usual Thanksgiving plans involve watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and (semi) helping in the kitchen before gorging myself on turkey, pineapple stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn pudding, apple bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and broccoli bake. Today,

Looking Ahead...

2008-11-26T13:36:00.001+02:00

Today is November 26. I am now exactly thirty days away from landing back in the good old US of A. I am eight days away from my trip to Luxor and Aswan and twenty four days away from Istanbul. Can you tell we’re all excited to leave? These are the things I am most looking forward to once I return: 1) My Dad’s family’s Christmas in Pittsburgh (I

II & III: A Guest Post from Kelly

2008-11-24T11:40:00.002+02:00

Remember months ago when I promised to finish describing our first Eid vacation? Yeah, that totally didn't happen. But as it turns out, Kelly volunteered to share the write-up she sent her parents--so enjoy. She picks up at the Monastery of St. Katherine's at the base of Mt. Sinai. Enter the Burning Bush. The monastery is home to what is believed to be a descendant of the original burning bush

Two weekends

2008-11-22T17:08:00.000+02:00

Surprisingly, Egypt has been treating me pretty well these days. Despite the fact that I’m on week number two (and entering week three) of a terrible cold, I decided to ignore it completely and go about my business as usual. Last weekend, my Societies and Cultures of the Ancient Near East Class went to Tell al-Farama (the site of Ancient Poliseum) and the Suez Canal. I was bound and

2008-11-13T00:24:00.003+02:00

It was seventy five degrees in Cairo the other day, and I was freezing cold. It’s sixty six degrees now, and I’m sitting in my lovely living room using a (borrowed) internet connection, wearing long sleeves and a light jacket zipped up to my chin. This is perhaps going to be a huge problem in January when I return to 30 degree weather and the possibility of snow. Which, I guess, brings

November 4

2008-11-08T23:25:00.000+02:00

After we visited the Pyramids in August we had difficulty finding a taxi cab to take us back to the metro station for less than an exorbitant sum. We’d resolved to walk further down the street in hopes of catching a taxi further away, when a man driving a private car offered to take us instead. He offered half what the other drivers had requested, so we jumped at the offer. Kelly and Savannah

Astonishingly I Actually Have Schoolwork...

2008-11-02T10:19:00.002+02:00

Today (Sunday): Submit 10 page paper about the history of Lebanon from a Shi'a perspective (written this weekend, fueled by Turkish coffee and Shirley Temples made with Lebanese grenadine. I know that I am kind of ten years old, but they're tasty.)Monday: Colloquial Arabic Midterm (an oral examination, unfortunately)Tuesday: Submit an as yet un-started 3,000 word paper on the 2003 Iraq War. No

Success

2008-10-28T15:05:00.003+02:00

Signed, sealed, delivered, received...and in one week, counted.(in other news, it rained today in the desert for the second time in a week. this is certainly very, very weird.)

2008-10-18T11:56:00.003+02:00

Since coming back from Eid I have:Had three midterms (one of which was a surprise)Gone on a field trip into the Nile DeltaEndured a housing crisisFound an apartmentMoved into said apartmentAnd not slept.When I finish my group presentation on the Gulf Wars and manage to subscribe to an internet service for our beautiful and somewhat gaudy apartment that has a view of a sliver of the Nile from one

Ballot oh Ballot where are you?

2008-10-11T15:11:00.002+02:00

I applied for my absentee ballot in person at the York County Elections offices in the basement of the old courthouse the week before I left for Egypt.The office was deserted except for me, and when I got there I was prepared to do battle to get exactly what I wanted from them: an absentee ballot sent in the very first batch of ballots prepared to ensure it got to me on time.During the run-up to

I.

2008-10-07T23:37:00.001+02:00

We left on the first day of the Eid holiday on the eleven o’clock bus from Turgoman Station in downtown Cairo. Somewhat surprisingly, the eight hour bus ride to the town of Saint Catherine at the foot of Mt. Sinai wasn’t bad (Greyhound could learn something from East Delta, seriously). We only passed through two checkpoints . For some strange reason the policemen who board the buses to check

And...

2008-10-06T13:44:00.002+02:00

We're back!Detailed summary of the trip to follow, but in the meantime see:http://www.flickr.com/photos/katieline/

Getting the heck out of Dodge

2008-09-30T01:19:00.002+02:00

The break celebrating the end of Ramadan and the October 1973 War officially starts tomorrow.We're on the 10:45 bus out of Cairo, heading to the Sinai.The Official Plan: Climb Mt. SinaiSee St. Catherine's MonasteryTake a bus to Jordan via Israel (the border crossing is going to be oh so fun, but we've heard absolute nightmares about the ferry)PetraWadi RumAmmanOur target date of return to Cairo

2008-09-26T16:02:00.001+02:00

I greatly appreciate the outpouring of concern that hit both my comment box and my inbox after I posted my last entry. Unfortunately, besides being made aware of the situation, there isn’t much that I believe that American University can do to solve our problems. We are directly enrolled in the American University in Cairo as non-degree seeking students. In study abroad lingo that’s called a

2008-09-24T23:54:00.005+02:00

I learned tonight (at a long overdue floor meeting) that there's a sign in front of our hotel that explicitly states: No Foreigners in addition to the ever present No Photo.Perhaps this should have been an indication that housing two hundred American, Canadian, and extremely wealthy, mostly westernized Egyptian, Jordanian, and Palestinian girls there would lead to huge problems.Since we moved to

Small Items of Note

2008-09-21T20:13:00.002+02:00

School, thankfully, is the same everywhere. I have three good professors, a great professor, and only one truly terrible professor who manages to go through exactly two powerpoint slides per hour of class.My favorite class is Societies and Cultures of the Ancient Near East, which surprises me greatly because generally I much prefer studying post Renaissance history and my appetite for Ancient

And, finally, an internet connection that works...but who knows for how long.

2008-09-15T09:54:00.005+02:00

Oops.

2008-09-13T18:32:00.002+02:00

Indications that perhaps the cheap hot-water kettle and power strip purchased at the Egyptian equivalent of Wal-Mart are not working: the smell of burning rubber, smoke, and a completely melted power cord casing that now exposes the wiring.Discoveries made as a result: Dar al Handasseyah does not have reliable smoke detectors or a sprinkler system, we probably should not have attempted to heat up

New Campus Novelties

2008-09-12T14:55:00.000+02:00

Yesterday morning while we were waiting for the shuttles to take us to class we heard firing coming from somewhere around the hotel—target practice, we assumed. On the way to the new campus, the shuttles take the Ring Road around Cairo. We pass by a sprawling necropolis (Coptic, Greek Orthodox, and Muslim, all buried in their separate sections) and a barren military base, before driving past the

Terrifying Taxis

2008-09-04T20:37:00.000+02:00

I'm used to taking public transportation because of going to school in DC. Metro, Metrobus, I've got that down. No problem. On a few occasions I have had to call for taxis, which was never a huge problem. Here in Cairo my only transportation option is taking a taxi to wherever I need to go. Taxis in Egypt come in two types: City Cabs, which are expensive, air-conditioned, and need to be

Isolated in Heliopolis

2008-08-31T19:09:00.002+02:00

We moved to the hotels in Heliopolis two days ago. This was not, as far as I can tell, a good thing.We live in an area of Heliopolis that is completely surrounded by military installations. The hotel is in a gated compound. Its actually a very pretty building with a sparkling pool surrounded by palm trees. I'm not allowed to take a picture of it though, because its military.Its sweltering here

Ramadan Savings Time?

2008-08-29T11:39:00.004+02:00

This morning I got up early to pack my bags because of the big move to the Heliopolis Hotels (which is unfolding in what I'm coming to understand is a completely typical, totally disorganized fashion). I managed successfully to put everything (kind of) back where it came from and the good news is all the suitcases still zipped. I had my usual breakfast of toast and omelette and was sitting in

First Impressions

2008-08-26T19:39:00.007+03:00

International Student Orientation is on the Tahrir Campus in downtown Cairo--the "old" campus--since the new campus isn't officially opening to students until this weekend.We take shuttle buses every morning to campus through heavy traffic. Here, traffic lanes are no more than mere suggestions and pedestrian crosswalks are almost completely disregarded. You can see the car on top of the lane

Fellucas on the Nile

2008-08-23T21:27:00.002+03:00

Sleep-Deprived but Alive

2008-08-22T19:53:00.002+03:00

Egyptair Flight 986 wasn't crowded. I had an assigned window seat behind the wing, so I had a great view and the seat next to me wasn't occupied for very long.A devout Muslim man sat down next to me in New York and said his evening prayers. After he was done (and after I called my parents and might have cried just a little bit) I introduced myself. He stared at me, said "I no speak English" and

Small Victory

2008-08-19T05:54:00.002+03:00

I weighed my biggest and fullest suitcase today (we weighed my dad first, had him hold my suitcase and subtracted) and I am a whopping 20 pounds under Egyptair's 70 pound weight limit. Delta has a reciprocal agreement with Egyptair, and since both flights are on the same ticket I get to take two bags instead of one on my Delta connecting flight (Dulles International to JFK) and I'm not bound by

My worst nightmare

2008-08-14T05:45:00.007+03:00

I've spent most of the summer stressing about how I could possibly manage to pack two suitcases and a carry-on with all of things I want to take with me to Egypt.This is because it takes (every time) two trips to move me in and out of the dorms at AU. Now, we only have sedans and I take a mini-fridge and bulky television set, but still. I have ALOT of stuff.Not to mention my shoe collection.

Its better than a tent located behind the third dune to the left, that's for sure.

2008-08-06T04:34:00.004+03:00

In the middle of July all of the people who signed up for AUC's student housing received an email notifying them that the dormitories were not going to be completed in time for the fall semester (AUC is relocating to a brand-new campus in New Cairo). In the email they offered three options:1) Defer admission to the Study Abroad Program until the Spring. Um, completely not happening. I'd been

Testing...

2008-08-05T05:46:00.002+03:00

Setting up this blog is one check off the list of things I made for myself to complete before I leave on August 21.Blog-check.Ticket-check.Vaccinations-check.Everything else...not so much.