Celebrating Epiphany at a Coptic Christian home

Tonight one professor invited us to a dinner in the home of a Coptic Christian woman. The woman was celebrating Epiphany, a Coptic holiday that marks the end of Christmas and the commemoration of Jesus' baptism. We were looking forward to our first homemade dinner in Egypt, so 9 of us went. The woman turned out to be a really sweet, tiny old lady who lives in a very upper class home.

She was very welcoming and immediately served us tangerines, which is the traditional way to start the dinner on Epiphany. Then she treated us to asab, which is basically sugar cane juice and is the most popular drink in Egypt. Then it was time for the main course. She had laid out all the dishes and they looked so yummy (we would be shocked later on). There were potatoes, rice, veggie rolls, sauces, meat, and other little appetizers. This was my plate:

When we sat down to eat, we were in for an unpleasant surprise. While the rice and potatoes were good, one bite of the meat and I had to hold back my impulse to hurl. It was the most disgusting meat I've ever tasted- I don't even know what it was but it tasted the way I would expect meat to taste before it's been cooked. I think it was liver. It touched the rest of my food and left its taste on everything so I stopped eating after that.

Then came dessert, which was even worse than the meat. I feel bad saying it because she had prepared so much food. But she left a bowl of powdered cookies out, and when one of the students went to take a bite of hers, she realized there were tiny little black bugs crawling all over it. Thank goodness I hadn't touched them! After that, we all pretty much lost our appetites for anything. Overall, it was a pretty gross experience for dinner, and I think I'll be retreating to takeout for the next few weeks.

My first Egyptian baklava

I've always loved baklava, and here in Cairo, it tastes like absolute perfection. They pronounce it 'ba'lawa' and ten pieces cost me only 3EGP which is less than a dollar! For those who don't know what baklava is, it's made with layers of phyllo dough with honey syrup, chopped nuts and pistachio. Sticky sweet goodness. LOVE.

All the extra little steps

Being in Egypt makes me think about all the things we have in the U.S. that we don't even realize make our lives so much easier. Tap water for example. Faucet water in Egypt is over chlorinated and not drinkable, which means I have to use boiled or bottled water for everything, including brushing my teeth. Heated apartments, high speed internet. Crosswalks, sidewalks, traffic signs, dialing 911. Shower heads. Punctuality, formal business hours. All normal things that we don't even think about in the U.S. but the lack of it here makes it glaringly evident how easy we have it.

Another thing I truly miss- dryers. We have a washing machines but no dryers, so all clothes have to be hung up on the balconies to dry, which is a major headache because it takes forever and I'm scared my underwear is gonna fall off onto the sidewalk. 9-5 office hours. Businesses here are quite informal and can shut down for no reason during the day and most close during prayers. Egyptians don't have the same sense of time as Americans, and don't schedule their days by planning to be places at exact times, which leads to less punctuality. I even miss being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, whereas if I did that here, it would overflow. Now I have to take all these extra steps for every little thing which is making me really frustrated.

And don't even get me started on the air pollution. If I don't get hit by a car while I'm here, I'm probably gonna suffocate from all the smog. I don't mean to sound spoiled, but it's hard to adjust to this lifestyle when coming from the most powerful and industrialized country in the world. Now excuse me while I go hang up my wet clothes. Ugh.

Pyramids of Giza

I've officially seen the best of the seven ancient world wonders. You know how people rave about the Mona Lisa but when you see it in person, you're disappointed by how tiny and unimpressive it is? Well the pyramids are every bit as incredible in person as they look in the pictures. We actually went into the King's chamber inside the largest pyramid, which has both ascending and descending stairs that are very long and steep. I banged my head on the ceiling because they're so low and damn, ancient rocks hurt.

We also took a look at some of the tombs near the pyramids, where a lot of the kings and queens were buried. For Egyptians, death was seen as only the beginning of resurrection. The walls in all the tombs are filled with detailed hieroglyphics and these statues represent the ideal form they should be in when they come back to life.

We went inside the tomb that Obama visited when he came to Egypt. Obama actually pointed this hieroglyphic out and said it looks like him. He was right.

After viewing the rest of the pyramids, we headed over to the Sphinx- on camels! We each got our own camel, and it rode them for about a half hour. Few things about camels:

1) They pee a LOT. And everywhere.

2) They snort often and have quite large teeth.

3) They have no sense of personal space. I'm not comfortable having camel breath in my face.

4) They are VERY tall! Like a mix between a horse and a giraffe.

5) They make for a fun but very bumpy ride.

This was my camel (I named it Pooka), and it definitely was a character out of the bunch. It started doing some weird jiggly dance while I was on its back. At one point, it started running really fast and bumping so high up and down that I was scared for my life, but I managed to not fall off. Overall it was a lot of fun, except for the smell of camel manure everywhere. Gross.

The Sphinx was pretty cool too, though not as impressive as the pyramids in size. We learned that the Sphinx is meant to be a manifestation of the Egyptian sun god in human/animal form. The Greeks believe its because he has the strength of a lion and the intellect of man.

After taking a bunch of goofy pics kissing the Sphinx, we headed out. Did I mention we were haggled by people selling souvenirs every bit of the way? Didn't buy anything though, since it's the ultimate tourist area. I'm saving my shopping for Khan-el-khalili. But overall it was a great day.

Today was a good day because...

I found halal gummibears!!! Which makes the whole day a success.

Race around Cairo

Today AMIDEAST organized a race for the students and set us all out in groups on different missions. My group's first mission was to go to the Giza Zoo. However, our Arabic was a major fail because our taxi driver drove us all the way out to the Pyramids of Giza instead, and suddenly we were standing right next to one of the world's most amazing wonders. Best mistake ever. This was me trying to translate 'zoo' into Arabic for the driver.

After we made it to the zoo and took a look around (the most exciting animal there was a camel, so not too exciting), we headed to the Ramses train station (our second mission) but failed miserably at that too. Our taxi driver dropped us off a mile out from the station and we got so tired of looking that we just headed to Tahrir Square, our third mission. It's in the center of Cairo and is full of small shops and restaurants. There we went to Koshary-al-Tahrir, which apparently serves some of the best koshary in the area. After having it once the other day, I keep craving it now. We did some more walking, hopped on the Metro, were showed how papyrus is made, and by the time the missions were over, we were all exhausted. And no, we didn't win, but everyone got a t-shirt for a prize anyway.

Tomorrow we finally have a day off with no orientations or classes, so I can't wait to sleep in. I love the city of Cairo and am really adjusting to the lifestyle here, but most of the students in the program are younger than me and some of the girls seem pretty cliquey. But my roommates are cool and I usually prefer to do things on my own anyway. I hope I meet some locals too, because I've learned that no experience is enjoyable unless you like the people you spend it with. I wish I knew at least one person here; it would be really nice to have a familiar face here right now. But I guess I knew that coming in. This is just me being homesick, or as AMIDEAST calls it, my "hostile phase."

Anyway, Saturday AMIDEAST is taking us to the pyramids (for real this time) so that should be pretty awesome. And then on Sunday, the semester finally begins.

Egypt's version of 'The Onion'

It's called 'The Koshary.' (Koshary is a popular dish in Egypt, made of beans, noodles, chickpeas, onions, and is absolutely DELICIOUS).

Check out today's front page news:

WikiLeaks: Top Egyptian official farted out loud during Clinton meeting.

This is now my official news source.