Sunday, June 06, 2004
Hello all. Just an account of recent doings:
Yesterday I had a fantastic day. In the evening Raghu and I
ordered a seafood pizza and watched at movie called "The River Wild" with
Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. Kind of a corny suspense movie, but sincere
and with good casting. No pretensions. The real kick, though, was seeing the
midnight showing of "The Day After Tomorrow."
This is a fabulous movie. Go see it. It's not the greatest movie per se, but
it is a movie that has a MESSAGE and actually devotes time to bringing it
home. As Raghu said afterwards, "The silly action and romance was just an
afterthought; the science and the politics came first." Acting is good, the
effects are amazing. Look for DEAD-ON parodies of the biggies in the Bush
administration.
Raghu and I were both crying by the end and spent about two hours after the
movie talking about it, and the things it suggested to us. I have a lot of
respect for Roland Emmerich, the director. There are some especially nice
bits in the script, though I won't give the movie away by talking about them.
All this is to say that, though this is a Hollywood disaster movie, there's
a lot more there and it's nice to see that films like it are still being
made.
This morning, I had a nice talk with Haitham, the morning trainer in the gym.
He and I have gotten pretty close over the semester, since I (and a guy named Frank)
are often the first two people into the gym. I spent about 45 minutes
talking with him, and one of the Egyptian men who comes to BS with him,
about politics. Like most Arabs, they see Kerry as being a carbon copy of
Bush and have quite a bit of anxiety about the coming years. They said, and
I agreed wholeheartedly with them, that there will be no peace or stability
in the ME until there is peace in Palestine. And of course, they supported
democracy in Iraq, but not on the end of a sword and not given like a
Christmas present. (N.B. Egyptians celebrate Christmas, and do exchange
gifts) Interestingly, Haitham said he saw more logic in the Israeli
occupation than in the Iraq war, since Israel at least has a legitimate
threat to its security. Pretty damning criticism of the US. Pretty sad. A
last, interesting note: he said that one of the problems with politicians
today is that none of them have a "vision." Who did he name as the last
American president with a vision? Ronald Reagan.
What heartened them most was my assurance that, upon my return to the
States, I would be one of the voices acting to dispel stereotypes about this
region and its people. These are a people who feel that they have been
maligned for the actions of a few and have not (and may never) been given
the chance to explain themselves.
Comments-[ comments.]
Yesterday I had a fantastic day. In the evening Raghu and I
ordered a seafood pizza and watched at movie called "The River Wild" with
Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. Kind of a corny suspense movie, but sincere
and with good casting. No pretensions. The real kick, though, was seeing the
midnight showing of "The Day After Tomorrow."
This is a fabulous movie. Go see it. It's not the greatest movie per se, but
it is a movie that has a MESSAGE and actually devotes time to bringing it
home. As Raghu said afterwards, "The silly action and romance was just an
afterthought; the science and the politics came first." Acting is good, the
effects are amazing. Look for DEAD-ON parodies of the biggies in the Bush
administration.
Raghu and I were both crying by the end and spent about two hours after the
movie talking about it, and the things it suggested to us. I have a lot of
respect for Roland Emmerich, the director. There are some especially nice
bits in the script, though I won't give the movie away by talking about them.
All this is to say that, though this is a Hollywood disaster movie, there's
a lot more there and it's nice to see that films like it are still being
made.
This morning, I had a nice talk with Haitham, the morning trainer in the gym.
He and I have gotten pretty close over the semester, since I (and a guy named Frank)
are often the first two people into the gym. I spent about 45 minutes
talking with him, and one of the Egyptian men who comes to BS with him,
about politics. Like most Arabs, they see Kerry as being a carbon copy of
Bush and have quite a bit of anxiety about the coming years. They said, and
I agreed wholeheartedly with them, that there will be no peace or stability
in the ME until there is peace in Palestine. And of course, they supported
democracy in Iraq, but not on the end of a sword and not given like a
Christmas present. (N.B. Egyptians celebrate Christmas, and do exchange
gifts) Interestingly, Haitham said he saw more logic in the Israeli
occupation than in the Iraq war, since Israel at least has a legitimate
threat to its security. Pretty damning criticism of the US. Pretty sad. A
last, interesting note: he said that one of the problems with politicians
today is that none of them have a "vision." Who did he name as the last
American president with a vision? Ronald Reagan.
What heartened them most was my assurance that, upon my return to the
States, I would be one of the voices acting to dispel stereotypes about this
region and its people. These are a people who feel that they have been
maligned for the actions of a few and have not (and may never) been given
the chance to explain themselves.
Friday, June 04, 2004
Last night was my last in the AUC dorms. I had planned to go straight to Endessuq, my roommate's small hometown outside Alex. Unfortunately, his little brother has tests right now and Ossama's home is what Egyptians call an "electric house" because of the tension. At any rate, Ossama is going to give his brother English lessons. Meanwhile, I'm here, hanging out in Will and Emily's apartment for a few days. They're in Greece and Raghu and I are house-sitting.
So back to last night...I was caught up in a group of friends going to a place called Ritmo's, the club attached to the Semiramis Hotel. All of the big international 5-stars have clubs attached to them, each trying to define a slightly different character for itself. I wasn't much in the mood for dancing, so I focused mostly on the atmosphere. (Though I did dance, partially to shield the girls from the stares of this fat slobby Egyptian dude who was gaping at them.)
Ritmo's is a combination bar/cocktail lounge, but with a DJ and dance music. Usually there are groups dancing, though there isn't an actual dance floor. It's a nice place. The mixed drinks are expensive, but they're big and mostly good. The decor is the interesting part, though: lots of lamps with tasteful lampshades, pastels on the walls, nice bar food (little pastries and apple slices). A conterted attempt to be casual.
The totality of the atmosphere is about as far from reality as it could be. Ritmo's, as a bar in a Cairo 5-star, one of the places where the movers and shakers of Egypt go to chill out. (Last time I was here my friends Kristen and Nancy danced with a pop star named Hakeem.) Presentation here is everything. The Egyptian girls in the party had told the American girls that they'd be ready at 10:30 or 11:00. They didn't come out until 12:30. They spent over 2 hours trying out different outfits, accessories, makeup, hair arrangements. (BTW, some AUC girls spend 3 hours every day getting ready for school, according to an article in the school paper.)
Like many other things in Egypt, reality and appearance diverge sharply at Ritmo's. There is nothing casual about Ritmo's, as the comfy leather booths would suggest. Lots of entrances are being made, lots of people are being seen, and lots of money is changing hands (Raghu and I spotted a couple of "female escorts" with their 50 and 60 year-old employers). Watching the eyes of other people in the place, you notice that many people are constantly looking around, watching those around them. Going out is quite an involved thing in Egypt, and a place like Ritmo's is not a cozy place to go hang out with friends, though that doesn't preclude it from being fun. While some things might truly be casual, some things are as managed as the goings-on at one of those parties you hear about on "Entertainment Tonight".
Of course, all of this is my perception of the situation as an utter outsider, like an anthropolgist trying to unravel the ritual meaning of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This ties in to a theme that has been with me since I've been in Egypt: the fact that I (and my friends) have had a great time second-guessing this country, though we realize that we might be totally misconstruing what we see. That doesn't mean it's not fun, or that there isn't a grain of truth.
Personally, I enjoy Ritmo's, though it's kind of out of my price range. The very ability for me to go there is one of the most fun things about it. In America I would never be able to go anywhere where one can really see the rich and famous. Yet here I can. It's fascinating. Just another of the opportunities I've had in coming to Egypt. Waiting for girls to "accessorize" is a drag, but if you ever go to Ritmo's, do try the "South American Sunrise." It's quite good.
Comments-[ comments.]
So back to last night...I was caught up in a group of friends going to a place called Ritmo's, the club attached to the Semiramis Hotel. All of the big international 5-stars have clubs attached to them, each trying to define a slightly different character for itself. I wasn't much in the mood for dancing, so I focused mostly on the atmosphere. (Though I did dance, partially to shield the girls from the stares of this fat slobby Egyptian dude who was gaping at them.)
Ritmo's is a combination bar/cocktail lounge, but with a DJ and dance music. Usually there are groups dancing, though there isn't an actual dance floor. It's a nice place. The mixed drinks are expensive, but they're big and mostly good. The decor is the interesting part, though: lots of lamps with tasteful lampshades, pastels on the walls, nice bar food (little pastries and apple slices). A conterted attempt to be casual.
The totality of the atmosphere is about as far from reality as it could be. Ritmo's, as a bar in a Cairo 5-star, one of the places where the movers and shakers of Egypt go to chill out. (Last time I was here my friends Kristen and Nancy danced with a pop star named Hakeem.) Presentation here is everything. The Egyptian girls in the party had told the American girls that they'd be ready at 10:30 or 11:00. They didn't come out until 12:30. They spent over 2 hours trying out different outfits, accessories, makeup, hair arrangements. (BTW, some AUC girls spend 3 hours every day getting ready for school, according to an article in the school paper.)
Like many other things in Egypt, reality and appearance diverge sharply at Ritmo's. There is nothing casual about Ritmo's, as the comfy leather booths would suggest. Lots of entrances are being made, lots of people are being seen, and lots of money is changing hands (Raghu and I spotted a couple of "female escorts" with their 50 and 60 year-old employers). Watching the eyes of other people in the place, you notice that many people are constantly looking around, watching those around them. Going out is quite an involved thing in Egypt, and a place like Ritmo's is not a cozy place to go hang out with friends, though that doesn't preclude it from being fun. While some things might truly be casual, some things are as managed as the goings-on at one of those parties you hear about on "Entertainment Tonight".
Of course, all of this is my perception of the situation as an utter outsider, like an anthropolgist trying to unravel the ritual meaning of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This ties in to a theme that has been with me since I've been in Egypt: the fact that I (and my friends) have had a great time second-guessing this country, though we realize that we might be totally misconstruing what we see. That doesn't mean it's not fun, or that there isn't a grain of truth.
Personally, I enjoy Ritmo's, though it's kind of out of my price range. The very ability for me to go there is one of the most fun things about it. In America I would never be able to go anywhere where one can really see the rich and famous. Yet here I can. It's fascinating. Just another of the opportunities I've had in coming to Egypt. Waiting for girls to "accessorize" is a drag, but if you ever go to Ritmo's, do try the "South American Sunrise." It's quite good.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Hi all. I'm actually in that finals haze into which I usually get once or twice a semester at Swarthmore. I've actually been operating at Swat-level effectiveness and business for the last 24 hours (and have about 12 hours to go). I turned in a 20 page paper and had my first final today, both of which went alright. I've got three more finals to go, but life goes on.
In my wanderings of the internet today, I ran across this site called adequacy.org. Seemingly some site for the heavy-duty "family values" crowd. Very interesting. If you want to find out how daycare teaches communism by distributing building blocks equally, this is the place to go. :) Also: how Thomas Kincade is a savior by only paining "impractical," utopian visions.
On the darker side of things, this is the site for something called "Chick tracts." These are booklets for use in witnessing for way-out evangelicals. The site is here. To see how far out their stance on social issues is, check out their tract on gays. (Warning: it's pretty upsetting, though they wouldn't think so.) American Christianity today is as polarized as the American polity as a whole, which is something that's easy to forget being away from it all.
I'm going to a party for a bit, then back to study a bit before bed. At least I have some good peaches that I got on the street today to comfort me.
Comments-[ comments.]
In my wanderings of the internet today, I ran across this site called adequacy.org. Seemingly some site for the heavy-duty "family values" crowd. Very interesting. If you want to find out how daycare teaches communism by distributing building blocks equally, this is the place to go. :) Also: how Thomas Kincade is a savior by only paining "impractical," utopian visions.
On the darker side of things, this is the site for something called "Chick tracts." These are booklets for use in witnessing for way-out evangelicals. The site is here. To see how far out their stance on social issues is, check out their tract on gays. (Warning: it's pretty upsetting, though they wouldn't think so.) American Christianity today is as polarized as the American polity as a whole, which is something that's easy to forget being away from it all.
I'm going to a party for a bit, then back to study a bit before bed. At least I have some good peaches that I got on the street today to comfort me.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
SPRING BREAK PART FIVE: STATIONS OF THE CROSS
I am doing a little studying for the upcoming final in my Muslim Political Thought class by straightening out the different branches of Shi'ism in my head (12ers, 7ers, and Zaydis). This has me thinking about the funny doctrinal quirks that religions seem accrue; and people follow them nonetheless. Says something about how much people need faith.
I was in the midst of some of the quirks of my religion during my time in Jerusalem over spring break. We arrived on Maundy Thursday, and had a delightful evening (including matza burgers for Passover) with Will's friend Ari, who's studying abroad at Hebrew University. The next day we made a brief visit to the Western Wall in the morning, plus a trip to the Holocaust Museum (very ideological, though still in a very peaceful and meditative setting), then headed to the Old City.
We arrived right at 3:00, just in time to join the other pilgrims. For those who don't know, Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) is the day of Jesus' crucifixion by the Romans. The Stations of the Cross is a 12-point path through what is now the bustling Old City of Jerusalem commemorating various legendary events along Jesus' path as he carried his cross to the Place of Skulls, site of his execution. Three o'clock was the time of Jesus' execution (I believe that Roman executions really did take place at 3:00 during the time period).
I played tour guide for Lisa, Will, Emily, and Raghu, which mostly consisted of me throwing in non sequitors about the probable life of the historical Jesus. Personally, I was struck, firstly, by how little I really did know of this ritual. Protestants aren't real big into the Stations, and I'm not real big into doctrinal niceties, so I was pretty lost. We ended up asking where the first station was.
What is amazing about this is the contrast. The stations really do wind through the heart of the Old City, the falafel stands and jewelry shops, the trinket stores and pastisseries. There is so much life there, so many kinds of people. But inside the little chapels and shrines at each station it is so silent and intimate. Some only have room for five or six people. In each, there were one or two people crouched in prayer before candles or crucifixes. These were some of the holiest places I have ever entered. I said prayers in a few of them and it was more than the personal meditation that prayer usually is for me: I could feel the words flying out of my mouth, it was as though the very air was listening. And then it was back into the joyous mayhem of Jerusalem.
So we saw the places where Jesus was tried and sentenced, fell (all three of them), and where he saw his mother. I was struck by how easily it is for me to be proufoundly moved by sacred spaces like the chapels along the route of the stations, but not taken by the stations themselves. At the risk of seeming blasphemous, they seem like liturgical trivia. Yet they still have some hold on me, or at least on my emotions. It helps me understand how people can reconcile their belief in the Occultation and the Hidden Imam, or in the Aga Khan, with their workaday lives. It is the wonder of faith that it can bridge the gulf between the sacred and the profane (i.e. non-sacred). On a little more profane note, there were several parties following men bearing crosses of various descriptions, all with different manners about them, which was really cool. For a description of the most profane of these, check out the April 10th entry on Raghu's blog.
We ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, home of the last few Stations. This was the most amazing religious space I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. There were people worshipping in every conceivable way. Kneeling, praying, prostrating, kissing, singing, chanting, swaying, reciting. It was all there. Just one big glorious conflagration of religiosity. Something about it made me very glad to be a believer. Not just in Christianity, but in any religion. There was something very sincere there. The church itself is enormous, sort of like a storehouse of religious artifacts. I saw the spot where Jesus was crucified, adorned by a rather gaudy multi-colored crucifix and all the other points of interest in the building. An orthodox service was going on at the time. It looked like some Catholics might have been getting ready to go after that.
The Church didn't fit my spiritual sensibilities so well as the Stations, but it was an amazing edifice. All in all, I was pretty bowled over just to be there, in the Old City, on Good Friday. That this small bit of land, and this particular path, is the focal point for 1.5 billion believers is astounding to me. I still can't quite believe that I was there. It's just as well that my camera wasn't working: I don't think I'd want to demean the timelessness of that place with something so quotidian as a photograph.
Comments-[ comments.]
I am doing a little studying for the upcoming final in my Muslim Political Thought class by straightening out the different branches of Shi'ism in my head (12ers, 7ers, and Zaydis). This has me thinking about the funny doctrinal quirks that religions seem accrue; and people follow them nonetheless. Says something about how much people need faith.
I was in the midst of some of the quirks of my religion during my time in Jerusalem over spring break. We arrived on Maundy Thursday, and had a delightful evening (including matza burgers for Passover) with Will's friend Ari, who's studying abroad at Hebrew University. The next day we made a brief visit to the Western Wall in the morning, plus a trip to the Holocaust Museum (very ideological, though still in a very peaceful and meditative setting), then headed to the Old City.
We arrived right at 3:00, just in time to join the other pilgrims. For those who don't know, Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) is the day of Jesus' crucifixion by the Romans. The Stations of the Cross is a 12-point path through what is now the bustling Old City of Jerusalem commemorating various legendary events along Jesus' path as he carried his cross to the Place of Skulls, site of his execution. Three o'clock was the time of Jesus' execution (I believe that Roman executions really did take place at 3:00 during the time period).
I played tour guide for Lisa, Will, Emily, and Raghu, which mostly consisted of me throwing in non sequitors about the probable life of the historical Jesus. Personally, I was struck, firstly, by how little I really did know of this ritual. Protestants aren't real big into the Stations, and I'm not real big into doctrinal niceties, so I was pretty lost. We ended up asking where the first station was.
What is amazing about this is the contrast. The stations really do wind through the heart of the Old City, the falafel stands and jewelry shops, the trinket stores and pastisseries. There is so much life there, so many kinds of people. But inside the little chapels and shrines at each station it is so silent and intimate. Some only have room for five or six people. In each, there were one or two people crouched in prayer before candles or crucifixes. These were some of the holiest places I have ever entered. I said prayers in a few of them and it was more than the personal meditation that prayer usually is for me: I could feel the words flying out of my mouth, it was as though the very air was listening. And then it was back into the joyous mayhem of Jerusalem.
So we saw the places where Jesus was tried and sentenced, fell (all three of them), and where he saw his mother. I was struck by how easily it is for me to be proufoundly moved by sacred spaces like the chapels along the route of the stations, but not taken by the stations themselves. At the risk of seeming blasphemous, they seem like liturgical trivia. Yet they still have some hold on me, or at least on my emotions. It helps me understand how people can reconcile their belief in the Occultation and the Hidden Imam, or in the Aga Khan, with their workaday lives. It is the wonder of faith that it can bridge the gulf between the sacred and the profane (i.e. non-sacred). On a little more profane note, there were several parties following men bearing crosses of various descriptions, all with different manners about them, which was really cool. For a description of the most profane of these, check out the April 10th entry on Raghu's blog.
We ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, home of the last few Stations. This was the most amazing religious space I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. There were people worshipping in every conceivable way. Kneeling, praying, prostrating, kissing, singing, chanting, swaying, reciting. It was all there. Just one big glorious conflagration of religiosity. Something about it made me very glad to be a believer. Not just in Christianity, but in any religion. There was something very sincere there. The church itself is enormous, sort of like a storehouse of religious artifacts. I saw the spot where Jesus was crucified, adorned by a rather gaudy multi-colored crucifix and all the other points of interest in the building. An orthodox service was going on at the time. It looked like some Catholics might have been getting ready to go after that.
The Church didn't fit my spiritual sensibilities so well as the Stations, but it was an amazing edifice. All in all, I was pretty bowled over just to be there, in the Old City, on Good Friday. That this small bit of land, and this particular path, is the focal point for 1.5 billion believers is astounding to me. I still can't quite believe that I was there. It's just as well that my camera wasn't working: I don't think I'd want to demean the timelessness of that place with something so quotidian as a photograph.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Hi all. Today has been a strange day emotionally. First off, it was the day I was planning to confront my econ prof, after she gave an anti-semitic lecture. I won't go into the hairy details, but basically she deviated from the textbook for the only time this semester to give a "political history of Palestine," which turned out to be a very selective history, plus some egregious exaggerations, plus some white lies.
At any rate, today was more of the same. Jews "stole" Palestine from the Arabs, who always get in trouble because they are a "believing" people and trust Westerners, who have mercilessly persecuted them. The Holocaust was glossed over as "persecution by the Germans." Only America "saved" the "weak" Israelis in '67. And anyway, the root of the problem is that "everywhere the Jews go they think it's holy." There's a lot more if you're interested, but I'm not anymore. I went to talk to her after class about two points that I felt had to be corrected.
She had said that "we don't know" whether the "Protocols of Zion" are authentic or not. This is a lie. Since 1921, these documents have been known to be cheap forgeries, based on a French satire and disseminated by the Russian secret police to fuel anti-Semitism in the early 20th century. They are purely anti-Semitic. There is no truth in them. I brought in a copy of the Britannica article on the Protocols, the first word of which is "fraudulent." She glanced at it, then mouthed a conspiracy theory about those who tried to translate the Protocols into English being assassainated. Why the language mattered so much was, of course, unclear. She insisted that we didn't know the authorship.
The other thing I wanted to talk to her about was the statement she had made about the Jews having partial control of the American media. This, she said, meant that all coverage was one-sided. I brought in printouts of the headlines for AP, Reuters, and AFP (wire services of the USA, Britain, and France, respectively) to show her that the Security Council vote and the Palestinian protest deaths were top news on all three.
I was not being confrontational in this and told her that I wanted to give her a little more optimistic look at what Americans think. I told her that Bush does not represent American public opinion. She looked up and very sincerely said, "Thomas, you know, I hope so."
After that we had a very nice talk about the state of the Middle East, an interesting component of which was me explaining to her the state of the Evangelical movement in America today and its relation to the mainstream Protestant denominations. She had assumed that the Methodists (Pres. Bush is a United Methodist)somehow were behind Bush's actions. During the discussion, she conceded that Palestine is an "emotional and sensitive" issue for her. (Of course, she shouldn't be teaching about it if that is true, and she certainly shouldn't go out of her way in a 19th century economic history course to cover modern events in Palestine.) We parted on quite good terms. She also said my term paper was one of the best in the class.
I felt good after that. I don't think I changed her mind, but I think I shed some light on some corners of the problem she had not considered or studied. It seemed like one of those perfect liberal arts moments where tolerance, understanding, and moderation tempered extremism. I still think she's anti-semitic; actually, she probably just holds some anti-semitic beliefs.
On a much more positive note, I got a quote on some prospective flights back to the states from the AUC Travel Office. They can often get good prices not available elsewhere. They gave me two really good quotes, so it looks like I'll be coming home on June 23rd. (Take note, all ye who are wondering!)
I've gone from exhaustion (I didn't get much sleep last night and went on a long run this morning) to anxiety to adrenaline-rush to satisfaction to happiness. Quite a day already. And I haven't even given my roommate his birthday surprise yet! It's his birthday today, and I'm hoping I can get him to have a good day too.
Comments-[ comments.]
At any rate, today was more of the same. Jews "stole" Palestine from the Arabs, who always get in trouble because they are a "believing" people and trust Westerners, who have mercilessly persecuted them. The Holocaust was glossed over as "persecution by the Germans." Only America "saved" the "weak" Israelis in '67. And anyway, the root of the problem is that "everywhere the Jews go they think it's holy." There's a lot more if you're interested, but I'm not anymore. I went to talk to her after class about two points that I felt had to be corrected.
She had said that "we don't know" whether the "Protocols of Zion" are authentic or not. This is a lie. Since 1921, these documents have been known to be cheap forgeries, based on a French satire and disseminated by the Russian secret police to fuel anti-Semitism in the early 20th century. They are purely anti-Semitic. There is no truth in them. I brought in a copy of the Britannica article on the Protocols, the first word of which is "fraudulent." She glanced at it, then mouthed a conspiracy theory about those who tried to translate the Protocols into English being assassainated. Why the language mattered so much was, of course, unclear. She insisted that we didn't know the authorship.
The other thing I wanted to talk to her about was the statement she had made about the Jews having partial control of the American media. This, she said, meant that all coverage was one-sided. I brought in printouts of the headlines for AP, Reuters, and AFP (wire services of the USA, Britain, and France, respectively) to show her that the Security Council vote and the Palestinian protest deaths were top news on all three.
I was not being confrontational in this and told her that I wanted to give her a little more optimistic look at what Americans think. I told her that Bush does not represent American public opinion. She looked up and very sincerely said, "Thomas, you know, I hope so."
After that we had a very nice talk about the state of the Middle East, an interesting component of which was me explaining to her the state of the Evangelical movement in America today and its relation to the mainstream Protestant denominations. She had assumed that the Methodists (Pres. Bush is a United Methodist)somehow were behind Bush's actions. During the discussion, she conceded that Palestine is an "emotional and sensitive" issue for her. (Of course, she shouldn't be teaching about it if that is true, and she certainly shouldn't go out of her way in a 19th century economic history course to cover modern events in Palestine.) We parted on quite good terms. She also said my term paper was one of the best in the class.
I felt good after that. I don't think I changed her mind, but I think I shed some light on some corners of the problem she had not considered or studied. It seemed like one of those perfect liberal arts moments where tolerance, understanding, and moderation tempered extremism. I still think she's anti-semitic; actually, she probably just holds some anti-semitic beliefs.
On a much more positive note, I got a quote on some prospective flights back to the states from the AUC Travel Office. They can often get good prices not available elsewhere. They gave me two really good quotes, so it looks like I'll be coming home on June 23rd. (Take note, all ye who are wondering!)
I've gone from exhaustion (I didn't get much sleep last night and went on a long run this morning) to anxiety to adrenaline-rush to satisfaction to happiness. Quite a day already. And I haven't even given my roommate his birthday surprise yet! It's his birthday today, and I'm hoping I can get him to have a good day too.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Hey everybody. The past couple days have been bad for my roommate. Yesterday, Ahlee (transliteration as best I can tell) played Zamalek. These are the two best and most popular premier league soccer teams in Egypt. Everyone has a preference. My roommate is a big Ahlee fan. His team was the favorite going into the game. He was listening on the radio as he did his homework, giving me periodic updates. Sadly, Zamalek scored a couple goals in the first half and pulled out a 2-1 victory. That made him sad.
But the big disappointment for him was the announcement yesterday by FIFA that South Africa would, as expected, host the 2010 World Cup. There have been signs up ALL OVER Egypt since we got here. This bid was a HUGE deal in Egypt and became a very political thing. Furthermore, Egypt failed to garner a single vote, though it had been considered the second pick before the vote. This was, according to my roommate, and apparently popular perception, just another sign of the miasma (my word) that has fallen over Egypt. There is an almost palpable sense of malaise in this country.
On a related note, I touched a raw nerve tonight when I asked about the voting age in Egpyt. He laughed. 'Voting?' He said. 'I don't know anything about voting. Voting is a dream in Egypt.' I had no idea politics was that nepotistic in Egypt, though I knew it was bad. That's very sad. It obviously upset him to talk about it. He told me today that he feels that he can never be a good man in Egypt. That is quite a statement. He really thinks that the culture of Egypt will affect his ethics. That's stunning. I told him, trying to be on the bright side, that my barber was nice.
So I got a haircut today, Arab style. Hygeine is very important in Islam. Washing before the prayers can become quite an involved thing. I can't tell you how many times I have seen men doff their shoes in public bathrooms to wash their feet in the sink. (The mouth, hands several times, feet, and arms are all part of the ritual washing for each prayer.) At any rate, you can imagine what happens when this is extended to haircuts.
I went to a place recommended to me by Raghu. It's a sort of garage near the AUC campus. Unpainted cement walls and an old man with generous eyes. I talked with him and the guy before me, a taxi driver it turned out. It was good: they didn't speak any English at all so I really got to push my Arabic. Of course, we had tea; they immediately asked me how rich my family was in America (literally, they asked how much money we had). My reply that both of my parents were teachers didn't dissuade them. At any rate, they were interested in my being an AUC student. I had a fun time conveying how short I wanted my hair, and where the damage was to be done. By the way, turns out they were both Ahlee fans, like my roommate. They were pretty upset about the game too.
At any rate, Mahmoud fussed over me for over an hour. I got a shave, plus the most meticulous haircut I've ever had. The shave was with a straight razor and not much cream, which was a really interesting feeling. He shortened my sideburns a bit and then gave me a round of pink lotion/aftershave on my face to ease the irritation. I didn't get my ears plucked with thread, which all the Arab men do. Apparently its really painful. They take ALL the hair out of your ears and off your forehead. Ouch.
Results-wise, the haircut was probably as good as I'll get in Egypt. The guy obviously didn't have much experience with white guys' hair. (For instance, he didn't have an electric clippers, since such things aren't really needed with Arab hair.) The cuts not great, and the style is nonexistant, but I'm not demanding. It was worth it for the experience alone. And the guy was very sweet. It's nice to meet simple, kind people in a country where most people you meet are trying to sell you something.
Comments-[ comments.]
But the big disappointment for him was the announcement yesterday by FIFA that South Africa would, as expected, host the 2010 World Cup. There have been signs up ALL OVER Egypt since we got here. This bid was a HUGE deal in Egypt and became a very political thing. Furthermore, Egypt failed to garner a single vote, though it had been considered the second pick before the vote. This was, according to my roommate, and apparently popular perception, just another sign of the miasma (my word) that has fallen over Egypt. There is an almost palpable sense of malaise in this country.
On a related note, I touched a raw nerve tonight when I asked about the voting age in Egpyt. He laughed. 'Voting?' He said. 'I don't know anything about voting. Voting is a dream in Egypt.' I had no idea politics was that nepotistic in Egypt, though I knew it was bad. That's very sad. It obviously upset him to talk about it. He told me today that he feels that he can never be a good man in Egypt. That is quite a statement. He really thinks that the culture of Egypt will affect his ethics. That's stunning. I told him, trying to be on the bright side, that my barber was nice.
So I got a haircut today, Arab style. Hygeine is very important in Islam. Washing before the prayers can become quite an involved thing. I can't tell you how many times I have seen men doff their shoes in public bathrooms to wash their feet in the sink. (The mouth, hands several times, feet, and arms are all part of the ritual washing for each prayer.) At any rate, you can imagine what happens when this is extended to haircuts.
I went to a place recommended to me by Raghu. It's a sort of garage near the AUC campus. Unpainted cement walls and an old man with generous eyes. I talked with him and the guy before me, a taxi driver it turned out. It was good: they didn't speak any English at all so I really got to push my Arabic. Of course, we had tea; they immediately asked me how rich my family was in America (literally, they asked how much money we had). My reply that both of my parents were teachers didn't dissuade them. At any rate, they were interested in my being an AUC student. I had a fun time conveying how short I wanted my hair, and where the damage was to be done. By the way, turns out they were both Ahlee fans, like my roommate. They were pretty upset about the game too.
At any rate, Mahmoud fussed over me for over an hour. I got a shave, plus the most meticulous haircut I've ever had. The shave was with a straight razor and not much cream, which was a really interesting feeling. He shortened my sideburns a bit and then gave me a round of pink lotion/aftershave on my face to ease the irritation. I didn't get my ears plucked with thread, which all the Arab men do. Apparently its really painful. They take ALL the hair out of your ears and off your forehead. Ouch.
Results-wise, the haircut was probably as good as I'll get in Egypt. The guy obviously didn't have much experience with white guys' hair. (For instance, he didn't have an electric clippers, since such things aren't really needed with Arab hair.) The cuts not great, and the style is nonexistant, but I'm not demanding. It was worth it for the experience alone. And the guy was very sweet. It's nice to meet simple, kind people in a country where most people you meet are trying to sell you something.
Monday, May 10, 2004
The khamsin is in fully swing these days in Cairo. These are the spring sandstorms. The sky, when I awoke this morning, was yellow with the dust. The trees have taken on a blurry green, heavy with the musk of the dust. After a day outside, one comes home dirty and choking on the air. A funny sort of weather.
Cairo, in a way, transcends time, at least in the way it has stuck stubbornly to its dirtiness and crowdedness, in the face of whatever slickness modernity would try to impose upon it. These days, though, I begin to think that the city has skipped ahead of time, into some post-apocalyptic netherworld.
At any rate, I had some good mango juice today and a nice conversation with the guys at the chicken-and-rice place near the dorm where I go sometimes to pick up dinner. Also, I tried out my first conditional sentence in Arabic today. Wasn't very successful. The greengrocer thought I was saying that I would buy two more kilos of oranges.
I like this analysis of the upcoming election, and not just because it argues for a result that I, and probably most of you, would find favorable.
By the way, I'd welcome any comments on my recent post about Abu Ghraib. Also, this weekend, I shall hopefully sit down and give a good conclusion to the story of my spring break, which involves Jerusalem and Easter (as a preview). I just haven't had time to do it justice.
Comments-[ comments.]
Cairo, in a way, transcends time, at least in the way it has stuck stubbornly to its dirtiness and crowdedness, in the face of whatever slickness modernity would try to impose upon it. These days, though, I begin to think that the city has skipped ahead of time, into some post-apocalyptic netherworld.
At any rate, I had some good mango juice today and a nice conversation with the guys at the chicken-and-rice place near the dorm where I go sometimes to pick up dinner. Also, I tried out my first conditional sentence in Arabic today. Wasn't very successful. The greengrocer thought I was saying that I would buy two more kilos of oranges.
I like this analysis of the upcoming election, and not just because it argues for a result that I, and probably most of you, would find favorable.
By the way, I'd welcome any comments on my recent post about Abu Ghraib. Also, this weekend, I shall hopefully sit down and give a good conclusion to the story of my spring break, which involves Jerusalem and Easter (as a preview). I just haven't had time to do it justice.
