Gallibayas!

Tuesday- May 29, 2012

Ahoy from the MS Alyssa! I am currently cruising down the Nile enjoying a lemon smoothie and catching some rays. I love it here!

Morning

This morning I decided to skip our first visit in order to receive some much needed shuteye. I have a very bad back that tends to ache like crazy whenever I over exert myself and receive little sleep. That, unfortunately, is exactly what I have been doing this entire trip. After conquering the pyramids, surviving the desert, and sleeping in the bus- my back needed a break. Thankfully, after spending the morning sleeping I felt much better.

Relaxing

After waking up, I enjoyed the fantastic lunch buffet then joined my classmates in catching some rays on the sundeck. That afternoon, Professor Hamad led a lecture about the Arab-Israeli conflict. When that was done, it was right back to the sundeck.

Dinner

Dinner that evening was an interesting event. We had a gallibaya party! We were invited to wear the traditional Egyptian dress (gallibayas for women) while enjoying traditional Egyptian food. Although I did not have a gallibaya to wear, I still enjoyed myself. How could I not when I got to see this:

After dinner we played games and had a dance. SO MUCH FUN!

The MS Alyssa

Monday- May 28, 2012

Tackling the sketchy hotel is a very important step in becoming a world traveler.

We arrived in Aswan the night before our cruise so we had one night in a hotel. That hotel just happened to be very sketchy. As a member of Drake Mock Trial, I am no stranger to the sketchy hotel. However, this one may very well take the prize. It took Hannah and me about 5 minutes just to open the door and even then we had to ask another person for help. The bathroom was terrifying. Neither of us showered due to the moth eaten shower curtain and the lack of towels. Still, it was extremely fun! It is all just a part of the experience. We have been beyond fortunate to stay in such nice hotels that one night in a sketchy hotel is the least we can do. After thoroughly checking the bed for bedbugs, we both slept just fine. Sketchy hotel conquered.

The Aswan High Dam

Before heading to our boat, we checked out a few historical sites in Aswan. First, we saw the Aswan High Dam and Low Dam. It is crazy to think that these dams were created by men.

Aswan High Dam

After that, we saw the memorial for the dams. The memorial was cool but I was more interested in the beautiful flowers that surrounded it. Typical me.

The Philae Temple

The second place we visited in Aswan was the Philae Temple. To access this site we had to ride across the river in a boat to an island. It was our first time on the Nile so it was very cool. The views from the boat were gorgeous.

The Philae Temple is gorgeous. It is absolutely huge and all of its walls are covered with depictions of the gods and kings. The temple differed from other temples we have seen in one distinct way. This temple shows clear signs of being occupied and destroyed by Christians. Many of the images are disfigured and chipped. One portion of the temple was used for Christian worship. Makeshift crosses (like the one below) cover the walls throughout.

A cross on the wall

MS Alyssa

With hardly any sleep under our belts and the hot sun on our backs, we were all worn out after visiting the Philae Temple. Because of this, our next visit of the day was cancelled in order to maintain our sanity. So after the first visit we went straight to the boat that would be our home for the next three days, the MS Alyssa.

I love cruises! I have been excited for the Nile Cruise since I first saw our trip’s itinerary. I was like a kid in a candy shop during the drive to the boat. The MS Alyssa is great. It is a high quality, five star cruise. It is just the right size so that it is pretty much our group and a few other people. We have a pool, a spa, a gym, and a sauna. Our rooms are doubles and very well sized for being on a ship. We both get our own bed and quite a bit of room to move around in. The best part, however, is the food.

MS Alyssa

As soon as we arrived to the boat we had lunch. We were all ecstatic for our first buffet style meal in Egypt. The buffet did not disappoint. We all were in heaven as we ate steak, mashed potatoes, and salad. The selection was fantastic and the familiarity of the food was a much needed relief to our struggling stomachs.

The Sunset(?)

At 5pm we set sail on a smaller boat to watch the sunset over the Nile. Although we left a little early and didn’t really see the actual sunset, it was a lot of fun. We danced on the boat to the music provided by the local Nubians sailing the boat. 

Nubian traditional song and dance

The Market!!!

YAY!! We finally got to go to an open air market and it was everything I expected it to be and more. The smells of the spices as we walked down the streets of the market were fantastic. Honestly, I was not expecting the market to be as big as it was- it was freakin’ huge!! They had everything anyone could ever want. I was able to buy a few things and look at everything these locals had to offer.

Unfortunately, it is very hard to just “look” at something being sold by a vendor in Egypt. As soon as they catch you looking at something they have to sell they grasp on to you and do not let go. You will have to travel at least 3 stands down just to get away from their constant cry of “10 pounds. 5 pounds for your beautiful smile.” It is crazy. I saw one shisha that I thought looked cool so I asked how much it was. The man said 270 pounds and I looked closer. It turned out that the quality wasn’t great so I decided I didn’t want it. The man, however, did not leave alone. He chased me out of the store lowering his price with every step. He ended up lowering his price all the way to 50 pounds but I still didn’t want it. That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t harass me some more as we were leaving. Crazy.

The Library of Alexandria

Palace #1

Today has been one of the longest days of the trip so far. We saw a lot of things and traveled to three different cities. I am exhausted but ready for whatever tomorrow holds. AKA- the cruise! Anyway, about today…

Palaces

In the morning, we visited two old palaces in the Royal Gardens of Alexandria. One, like the Cairo Marriott, had been converted into a hotel. They were very pretty. I especially liked the second one because of its proximity to the sea. As recent as two years ago, this palace was being used as a summer home for President Mubarak. We tried to forget about that unfortunate bit of news while we took pictures by the Mediterranean Sea.

Palace #2

By the sea!

The Library of Alexandria

Words can’t describe the beauty of the Library of Alexandria. Holy cow. If we had that at Drake I would definitely spend more time in the library. It’s huge! There isn’t much to say about it other than that. Also, it has the world’s most advanced printer. It can print a 500 page book in under four minutes. When it is done printing, it comes out ready to be sold with binding and a cover. Crazy.

The technology is so advanced. The architecture is breathtaking. The size is unbelievable. It can hold up to 2000 readers at a time in the reading room area. Get your butt to Alexandria to see the library- no joke!

Lunch

Back by popular demand, SEAFOOD. We went to the exact same place as yesterday for lunch. We had pretty much the same thing but we added grilled calamari and a shrimp pasta dish. It was just as good as the day before. I made the mistake of sitting at a table with three determined men. We decided to eat everything that was put on our table. We did it but it took some serious work! I was in charge of eating all of the shrimp. I ate two large plates pretty much by myself. This was in addition to eating quite a bit of bread and fish. Although it probably wasn’t the greatest idea, I loved every second of it. DELICIOUS!

Travel

After dinner, we began our three hour drive back to Cairo. I slept for some of it but mostly talked with friends. Towards the end, the back of the bus began singing a bunch of random songs. That was fun but I think we might have irritated the front of the bus- oops!!

The Cairo Airport is so simple. We were all able to go through security and check into our flight in what seemed like 20 minutes. Unfortunately, our plane was delayed about 45 minutes because of a sandstorm in Aswan. Luckily the airport has free WiFi so many of us wisely decided to use the time to creep on Facebook. That was a good life decision.

A final note about Alexandria…

I have reached a conclusion about Cairo and Alexandria. First, Alexandria is far more beautiful than Cairo. Second, I would much rather be in Cairo than in Alexandria. The people in Alexandria are not nearly as nice as in Cairo. I can’t count the number of times we have been stared at, videotaped, and hollered at. I do not understand why this is happening. What does someone get out of videotaping a bunch of American students? Honestly, I don’t think I want to know the answer but it is really awkward. Professor Hamad says that people in Alexandria aren’t as use to tourists but it still is odd. I can understand the staring but not the picture taking. Even at the restaurant, men would give certain girls winks, a thumbs up, and a “nice.” I thought that dying my hair would help eliminate that from occurring but it hasn’t. In fact, I have gotten it worse than my tall, thin, blond roommate. Not fair.

Also... 

For those of you curious about my thoughts and experiences with the election, I promise I will blog about it soon! I am very busy in Egypt!!

Alexandria

Saturday- May 26, 2012

Today we traveled to Alexandria.

Catacombs

The first place we visited was a catacomb. The catacomb we saw is the largest found in Egypt. Seriously, it was huge. It is big enough for 650 people When the tomb was first built by the Egyptians it was made for 3 people. It was expanded by the Romans to this large size. I can’t even explain how big it is. It has three floors. We weren’t able to enter the 3^rd floor because it is still covered in water due to how far underground it is. The amount of Harry Potter references while underground was awesome. No joke, it looked like the Chamber of Secrets. It even had snakes around the entrance to the burial chamber of the royal family that owned the tomb.  I tried speaking Parseltongue but nothing happened. Darn it.

The Fort

Next, we got out first view of the Mediterranean Sea. We visited a fort that overlooks the sea and is built on the exact spot where the old Lighthouse of Alexandria use to be. The lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 7^th century. The fort was built in the 14^th century.

Citadel of Qaitbay

I made the mistake of wearing a skirt. The back of the fort has an amazing view of the Mediteranean but it is also very windy. I was definitely struggling with staying covered. I think I succeeded, though!

Skirts are a bad idea!

Lunch

After seeing the fort it was time for lunch. We went to the best seafood place in Alexandria. It was amazing! Without a doubt, it is the best seafood I have ever had in my life. We had shrimp, calamari, and the catch of the day. I have no idea what type of fish it was but it was fantastic. My favorite part was the shrimp. They were huge! I didn’t know shrimp could even be that big! I was in love. I ate so much.

When we were done eating we sat outside and chilled outside the restaurant. A lot of students had Turkish Coffee (definitely not my favorite- there are so many coffee grains!). I stuck to tea. Many of us enjoyed shisha while having our drinks. It was so relaxing. The restaurant was off the beaten path for most tourists. For the first time, I felt as if we were all experiencing the true Egyptian culture.

Shisha!

Hotel

We stopped for ice cream for desert during our long drive home through the heavy traffic. Eventually, we got checked into our beautiful rooms that overlook the Mediterranean. I discovered there was free WiFi in the lobby so I spent the rest of the evening online. I was able to finally update my blog and skype my parents.

Just another great day in Egypt!

Eat more pigeons!

Friday- 5/25

There is nothing better than waking up in the Cairo Marriott. Downtown Cairo in the morning The view from the balcony is incredible. Even better, however, is the anticipation for their amazing breakfast buffet.

Mosques, Churches, and Synagogues

Once again, today we went to Old Cairo to look at the beautiful mosques, churches, and synagogues. As usual, I was immediately troubled by the double standard between men and women at the mosque but I tried not to let it bother me. I went along with it. I wore a scarf on my head and everything. In mosques, women cover up and pray in a different location because they are put on a pedestal in the religion. They are regarded as beautiful and for that reason they must be separated and covered during prayer so that they do not distract the men. 

At the mosque

I felt much more comfortable when we visited the churches. We visited the church that is built over the location where it is believed the holy family stayed for three and a half years. This happened when Mary fled to Egypt with baby Jesus to escape Herod. Although we were not able to enter the area where they actually stayed (it is used only by high ranking religious officials), we were able to see the steps that lead down to it. The steps were covered with pieces of paper containing prayers. It was very cool.

Pigeons!

After visiting Old Cairo, we went to Haytham’s house for a traditional Egyptian meal, pigeons. Haytham is a graduate student at Drake. He is from Cairo and is one of our supervisors. He also is Professor Hamad’s brother-in-law. It was very generous of his family to allow us to see an Egyptian home. It was beautiful. Also, his parents were awesome. I especially enjoyed listening to his hilarious dad.

Haytham's house!

The food was incredible. There was so much of it! Guess what? I really did eat a pigeon. In fact, I ate all of it and I enjoyed every bite! It was stuffed with amazing rice! It was all so good. I was beyond impressed.

A Female Activist

Haytham invited one of his friends, a female activist, to come speak with the group. She was in Tahrir Square during the 18 days and is still there today. The past few days she has worked tirelessly on the election campaign of one of the revolutionist candidates. She informed us before starting that she hadn’t slept for 48 hours. She wore a shirt with three pictures of young men that died during the revolution. She wears the shirt to protest the potential election of Mubarak-era prime minister Shafiq. Shafiq was Prime Minister during the Battle of the Camel when many young Egyptians were killed. She stated that a vote for Shafiq is a vote for a killer. At the time she spoke, her candidate was in 3^rd place (he ended up keeping this position, too). She feared that the men and women of the revolution will have died in vain if an individual from the old regime were to win.

She definitely shed some light on why Shafiq is doing so well with his campaign. She discussed how during the revolution, the Egyptian people were a united group. Everyone helped everyone. However, as soon as Mubarak stepped down, the group split. There were Islamists, revolutionaries, Nasser revolutionaries, Sadat revolutionaries, the Muslim brotherhood, and many others. Even the pure revolutionaries had two separate candidates.

Her talk was extremely emotional. She watched many men and women die beside her during the 18 days. She was shot at with tear gas and rubber bullets in Tahrir Square. The most incredible part of her talk, however, was when she described what it felt like when she voted for the first time. She took many pictures of the ballot. She described how her hand was shaking and how she was crying as she marked the box. When she was done, she took a picture holding her ballot in her shirt with a victory symbol. The entire drive home, she couldn’t stop crying. It was powerful to hear such an emotional and honest account of the revolution and the election process.

The Opera

That evening we had tickets for the Cairo Opera House. We saw Egypt’s number one pianist, Omar Khairat. He was accompanied by the Cairo Orchestra. Before the show, a few of us were selected to go backstage to meet him. I was one of those people. He was very nice and spoke English. He shook all of our hands, took a picture with us, and signed a few CDs. I was able to get my CD signed!

The show was great. We had perfect seats on the second floor in the center. This orchestra was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was full of clapping, dancing, screaming, and fun. The audience clapped along with almost every song that was played. They also danced and whistled during a few. As soon as a song started and the people recognized it, they began cheering. A few songs which were about Egypt received even more cheering and dancing. It was a very fun experience. The music was incredible and I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire show.

Before the orchestra

We got to sleep in!

We got to sleep in for the first time this morning! It was awesome. I went to breakfast at 10am and ate everything in sight. Perhaps I’m biased but Marriott really knows how to do breakfast. This buffet in particular was incredibly. It put my hotel’s buffet to shame! (I work at a Marriott in Cedar Rapids)

The view from our room's balcony

We were suppose to go to Cairo University today but Professor Hamad found out that all government institutions are closed today so that employees and students can vote. So instead, we visited the mosques in Old Cairo.

Mosques

We saw a few mosques today and they were beautiful. Islam seems as if it is an entirely different world than Christianity when visiting them but I know that is not true. It is strange to think that although the practices and forms of worship are so different, there are many similarities between the religions. 

Sadat’s Burial Place

After we saw the mosques, we visiting the site where former President Sadat is buried. Sadat became president in 1971 after President Nasser. Sadat is technically the 3^rd president of Egypt. The first president, however, lasted only a few months. The first republic of Egypt only had four presidents and only three are important- Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak. Nasser, for the most part, was very well liked by the Egyptian people. Sadat, however, was not as well liked (think of him as President Bush in the United States). Early in his presidency, Sadat visited the United States and became obsessed with the American way of life. He tried to create this same culture in Egypt. This created a few very rich people and many poor people. He imprisoned a large number of Islamists under the use of emergency law because they were contrary to the culture he was trying to create.

Sadat was assassinated on October 6^th by a group of young army officers. Many people had begun to see his as an unjust ruler and a sell out to the United States. After this, Mubarak became president. 

Sadat's burial place

Back to Cairo

On Wednesday, morning came far too soon. We woke up with the sun. As soon as the sun came out, Professor Hamad woke us all up and we began the process of packing up our campsite and getting breakfast ready. After a quick breakfast of hard boiled eggs, pita, chocolate croissants, and fruit, we got back in our jeeps for the ride home. The drive back to town in the jeeps was two hours long and consisted of sleeping and enjoying Egyptian dubstep. When we got back to town, we switched back to the bus for the drive back to Cairo. Smelly, sweaty, and covered in sand, we got in the bus for the five hour drive back to Cairo. That drive was ridiculous. Thankfully, most of us slept.

The Beautiful Cairo Marriott

In our smelly and dirty state, we arrived at our next hotel, the Cairo Marriott. Ironically, this hotel is the nicest in Cairo. When we arrived, we all just wanted to shower the dirt and sand away. This hotel, however, required an introduction so our showers had to wait. A hotel employee took us on a tour of the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. I felt so out of place walking around this amazing hotel. We all looked like tired, dirt covered Americans. Not a pretty site. The hotel is an old palace that was converted to a Marriott. I cannot put into words the quality of this hotel. We stay at this hotel for three days before heading to Alexandria. It is definitely not a coincidence that we just happened to switch to such a nice hotel during the two days of presidential elections. The security at this place is insane.

My room is gorgeous. We have a balcony with an amazing view of the Nile and downtown Cairo- phenomenal. When I was finally able to shower, it felt AMAZING. I just stood under the water in this fancy hotel, thinking about what an incredible experience I am having. Unfortunately, I was covered in more sand than I thought. What I thought was a tan was just a layer of sand and dirt. Oh well- albinos don’t tan easily.

The beautiful hotel!

Internet

I just need to write a quick note about the internet. The reason this blog has not updated regularly is because there is no internet in the desert and there is no (free) internet at the Marriott. Professor Hamad also does not think there will be internet at our next hotels. I purchased an internet usb drive but I haven’t been able to get it to work on my computer yet. Therefore, in order to blog I have to borrow a friends computer. I will try to blog as much as I can but just realize that I am still writing up a blog on my computer daily and I will post them when I can.

Egyptian Pizza

After we were all cleaned up, we went to downtown Cairo for some Egyptian pizza. It was delicious and very different than American pizza. It has bread on the bottom and the top. Also, they do not use sauce. Instead, they use tomatoes. It was very good.

My Professor is Famous

While we ate, we watched our professor, Professor Hamad, being interviewed on television. He discussed the upcoming election and what it means for Egypt. He even gave a shout out to Drake University and our group! When he arrived at the restaurant after the interview, he brought along a friend who was also interviewed on the show. This man is highly involved with the revolution. He was a high ranking individual in the organization of the protest at Tahrir Square for 18 days. His story was powerful and inspirational. I closely listened to every word this man said- truly incredible.

The speaker told us about what happened in Tahrir Square during that time. He gave a firsthand account of the protest, discussing the inspiration he felt from the young people. He watched men and women covered in blood leave the frontlines simply to wash their faces and then head back to their places. They were shot at with rubber bullets, real bullets, tear gas and more. One thing he said struck me, this is not a youth revolution. Instead, it is the people of Egypt’s revolution. It is simply a youth led revolution. Young people, he explained are extraordinary. This is also what we thinks is the most important outcome of the revolution, the political awareness of young people. They will not be able to be lied to or manipulated anymore. He spoke of his kids. One night after reading a bedtime story, his son started chanting “The people demand another story.” Just to make sure his father got the joke, he whispered “this is a protest by the way.” If you look on YouTube, you can find videos of schoolchildren playing “protest”. Young people now question everything. 

Tahrir Square

Since it was the first day of the election, we all wanted to see Tahrir Square. When we drove through it, however, it seemed very dead. There were very few people and there weren’t many demonstrations going on. One man, however, was burning the poster of presidential candidate Shafiq. Shafiq is Mubarak’s old prime minister.

A couch in Tahrir Square