back to "normalcy"

Since Italy, life has gotten back to “normal.” I am definitely earning my keep doing this teaching business though. I leave at 6:30, get back at 4, and am usually putting in a good three hours of prep a night. It is exhausting; as a teacher you get no second chances, lots of the time I have no idea whether what I am going to do is going to work, and my class’ behavior depends on the day, not on how many grueling hours I put in the night before lesson planning. I still enjoy coming to work though.

The school gives a lot of emphasis to teachers being doing things outside of the class room, which demands more, but at least gives good variety. This week I was running a football match during the second break between primary six houses (there are four), but I made the mistake today of forgetting about the final today between the Green Pharaohs, and the Blue Vikings. I was ten minutes late, and even though I let them play extra and be late to class, everything is always unfair for this age, there was one boy in tears, and they wanted my head. There are a number of field trips that classes take (all the other classes have taken one, so I think I will get one soon), and there are a bunch of optional socially conscious trips in the near future which I will definitely go on –the politically tame ones of course, like fighting against poverty, or a food drive for charity. It should be another good way to see Egypt. We also have clubs once every other week, and I am in charge of “drumming club.” Today was our first day (because we didn’t start clubs until after Ramadan), and after talking about rhythm with the 8 kids who signed up and teaching them a couple of rhythms on the tambourines the school has, I got to rock the school’s drum set much to the kids’ (and even more so my) enjoyment. I can’t explain how good it felt, it spoke to a part of my soul that will always be soothed by playing music. Gravitating towards the things you love also just sort of makes things work out, because after speaking with the school music teacher, I found out that there is a demand at her music school for an English speaking drum teacher. So I found myself a new job for the weekends, and a new exposure to Egyptian life.



I still get time to go horseback riding, at least once every full moon. The flame from the bedouin pitstop where you can get pepsi, cigarettes and tea, the glow from Cairo, and the full moon add to the surrealness of it all. To the left imagine three pyramids lit up in green and purple by the nightly "sound and light show"

La vita e bella

So my first vacation (and round trip ticket in a while, up to now there has been Rochester -> Boston, New York -> London, London -> Geneva, Geneva -> Cairo) took from Cairo on the red eye land landed me bright and early in Roma Fumacino for an unforgettable week with my family. It was four days in the Italian countryside in Umbria in a house which my dad had rented, and two days in Rome. Michaela, who I hadn’t seen since June and is now working in Dublin, was able to find cheap flights to Perugia. I also found out a week before that I got an extra day of vacation, because eid el-fetr, which was the holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan depended on the lunar schedule on when to start, and the flight was easily changeable. It was one of those vacations that was almost too good to be true, and I had to keep pinching myself to know that I really had escaped the smog and squalor of Cairo. It really took a parents meeting, and a sleepless night of preparation for talking about children and lesson planning to bring me back to earth.

In Umbria, as a family plus two “appendages” we spent lots of time walking through old medieval Italian towns and villages, exploring large churches, making amazing dinners with the fresh food from the market and pluckable herbs from the garden, biking, walking, sampling cheese, salami and wine, and having many gelatos. It was a breath of fresh air, and walking through the charming towns of antiquity.
On a walk up from the house to the town of Aqualoreto, Michaela and I bumped into the same lady that I had seen with my family on our bike ride when we got off to explore the town on foot the day before. She greeted us in Italian with the same question as yesterday. “Are you Christian?” Yes. “Catholic?” Well, she is. She then went on to talk about a bunch of things that I couldn’t really understand, although very enthusiastic about talking. At least I found out that her name is Ada and she is 90 years old, and it’s Ok if you are protestant because you still believe in God and you will still go to heaven. Like the day before, she gave us a benediction, but this day she wished us “Siempre amore como oggi.”
Rome was equally amazing, but in a different way. It was so cool to see all of these old ruins, and try to imagine what they looked like 2000 years ago. It was also nice that our hotel was located with a view of the Colosseum about 300 yards away. It isn’t every day that you get a text from your dad saying “meet for lunch at the Pantheon.” It was also nice because my grandfather, uncle and aunt, all came from London to come celebrate my Uncle’s birthday with us in Rome. They were all doing really well, and I am all about family reunions.
Some more highlights include:
Dancing in the square of Saint Peter to Mambo Italiano on the iPod, and then watching Roger do the same dance.
Lying down like Romans on the Colosseum and feeding grapes to ourselves that we had bought on the way there to the laughter and jealousy of tourists who wished they had come up with such a brilliant idea.
Walking through Rome at 2 in the morning and enjoyably getting lost in the heart of it, and then finding our way to some outlook where you could see the Colosseum, the forum, and many old churches, all illuminated.

All told, I am incredible appreciative when the order of the universe works out like that.

Things to know about Cairo

Egypt is a paradox. In the words of a colleague, it is "hypothetically Islamic," meaning that it is important to appear Islamic, and go through the motions of being Islamic, but that is because everyone else is Islamic, and you do not want to lose face. In other words, one does not do something because it is Haram (which means absolutely forbidden by the Koran), but because one does not want to be seen doing it. Behind closed doors, it is fine for all Egyptians to drink and have sex with unmarried people, but this is not talked about.

On to more superficially obvious things...

-In the sha'(g)bee (popular/middle class/egyptian) parts of town, everything you could ever want is in a specific shop on the street. If you live above one of these shops or markets, a the best way of getting things you want is by letting down a bucket attached to a string, with some money in it and a list, and then pulling it right back up.
-For the upper class, there are malls. I went to one mall, called city stars, seven stories, more western and opulent than the west actually is, had absolutely everything that you could imagine, I wish I had taken my camera.
-There are a few traffic lights, but they are meaningless and should be disregarded. Intersections can have four scenarios.
  1) they are directed by a traffic cop
  2) there is no traffic cop and it is honking-match grid-lock
  3) the big vehicles and the cars moving in the flow win and you wait your turn
  4) you honk your horn and go (most common in the back streets)
-There is an abundance of police officers doing nothing.
-Smoking Hashish is more morally and socially acceptable than drinking beer. This is because the Prophet Mohammed explicitly condemned beer more times in the Koran than he did hash.
-It’s not gay to walk elbow to elbow. Lots of men do this, it’s how Cairene men walk.
-It’s been cool to litter for 5000 years. Poor people will go through the trash on the street. There are some trash disposals, but waste just sits on the street everywhere.
-When there isn’t a price on something that means that you are supposed to bargain for it. In certain scenarios an accepted Egyptian/Non-Egyptian price for things. This can also be true in certain restaurants where the non-Egyptian menu prices are standard, and you have to fight to pay what the guy next to you is paying.
-There is a beer delivery service. This is because there is no way to buy beer otherwise during Ramadan. After Ramadan these places open up, as do the bars.
-Egyptian kids love saying “What’s your name?” “Welcome to Egypt” and “How are you” to you if you are white.
-The society is class based and will stay that way. In different parts of the city, there can many self-contained areas of the wealthy or the poor.
-Lots of men have a “raison” on their head, or a mark. This means that they pray a lot.
-Most women are veiled. This means that you do not touch.
-There is no drainage system for water because it never rains. Even so, when there is water on the street it just festers for days.

Breaking fast with the orphans

Yesterday we had iftar after school. The way Islam works is that by doing good deeds, you can get points that basically you can cash in when you die that help your case in going to heaven (thawab). So, we invited a number of orphans to the school to break fast with us, and all of the children stayed after school. It was nice to see the school in a different light, playing, gossiping, getting to know me outside of the classroom. It felt much more like camp in a way, because they are all free to do what they want. Basically all I had to do was throw a soccer ball on the main lawn, and they were content to play for a while – which is good because everyone gets really irritable since they have not been allowed to eat since 4 AM. Of course I had my PE whistle with me, which came to good use when needed.

Once the orphans came it was a bit strange, and the kids didn’t really want to mix with them, but it was also difficult because they were all six year olds. Soccer didn’t really work, and they all got distracted. We played duck-duck-goose instead. It's also funny to think of how activities are completely dependent on when the call to prayer is, which is when we were allowed to eat.

On a side note, I have weekly homework to use the spelling words assigned for week in a sentence. Some funny ones. “Lots of people think that Arabs are terrorists, while actually they are not.” “2008 is Juhayna’s (a milk juice company) 25th anniversary.” “I am completely scornful at Michael Jackson after his last operation.”

After the orphans got bored, and my Arabic wasn't good enough to keep them all engaged. Mr. Nasser, the other gym teacher. 

Cairo Sights

Ok so I took these pictures when I was here in January, but having lost my battery charger in Switzerland and with a cracked camera screen, I think it's fair to put them up to give a sense of the city. Going back through these pictures brings to mind an Egyptian Proverb in a book I just finished .. "He who tastes the sweetness the Nile is destined to drink it again."

The citadel. One of the highest points in Cairo. You can see the Pyramids from here on a clear day.

Another view of it. 

Downtown Cairo, from the citadel.

Busy street corner

"The Cairo Push"

Metro stop near the coptic part of town. 

This is in the other part of town for me, but still in Cairo.

Cheops, the biggest one. 

Camels, cars, pyramids... all standard sights in Giza.

One of the Nile tributaries. 

Horses in the night

Last night I definitely had one of those moments that makes you appreciate life.

Me, David, and some others caught a cab during Iftar to some stable by the Pyramids (so the normally 2 hour ride took 30 minutes), and rented some horses. The sun had just set, and with the pyramids to the right, we trotted off through a small part of Giza, into the desert. Shortly after passing a cemetery, and a stinky area of makeshift garbage dump, we hit the sand dunes. Basically, it was just open track, and the horses were able to take off, going upwards. Clicking the horse along at walks, trots and canters up passed the Pyramids (about a mile away, but seeming so close) - which were being lit yellow, red and green by the nightly light show that tells a story of the pyramids (I saw this in January), we made it up to a beduin hut, beckoned by his fire. This dude basically hangs out at this spot in the desert and provides warm tea and cigarettes to those coming up on the horses. But it is a welcoming feeling to be standing in the desert at this man's hut.

The moment of clarity came while we were returning, when me and David stopped, gazed at the pyramids, and then took off in a gallop back towards Cairo. Both of us shrieking Yella Yella! to which the horses respond well. The sand was lit by the full moon and the glow of Cairo, and with the pyramids now on the left and the expansive city of Cairo right in front, I felt like Laurence of Arabia, swooping down on some Arab village. All you could hear was the thump of the hooves on the sand, the bounce in the saddle, and the dissonance of prayer and traffic which became much louder as we got closer to Giza. All said and done, the cab ride there was 5$, and the horse rental for an hour and a half was 7$.

Yella!!

David

Ramadan from a infidel perspective

Ramadan, which is the holy month in the Muslim world based on the ninth lunar cycle, is meant to mark the time when the Qu’ran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed. It is a transforming time in Cairo, and seems to captivate this city of 18 million in ways that nothing else in the world can. I am in no way qualified to explain it, but here are some of my understandings and observations.

If you are Muslim, you aren’t allowed to eat, drink, smoke, or have sex until after the evening prayer which happens around 6:20 (each day it becomes a minute less) unless you are elderly, sick, or pregnant. This breaking of the fast is called Iftar, and it must be done communally, usually with families, but many charitable groups and restaurants put out large tables with free food for the poor or for those who aren’t able to get to their families in time. Ironically, this is called “breakfast.” During this time the main streets of Cairo which usually are a jungle, are about a tenth as crowded, and side streets are completely dead. So for the non-Muslims, this is the ideal time to get somewhere in the city. If you want to be like the prophet Mohammed, you eat dates and drink milk, which some taxi driver shared with me and David when we caught a taxi at Iftar, but the typical meal is soup and rice with some ful (beans) and maybe some lahma (meat). Once the sun comes up, you aren’t allowed to eat again, so the last time people eat is call the suhur, at around 4 in the morning to be finished by the time of the morning prayer at 5 AM.

The whole idea is to think pure thoughts, be extra charitable, and to work on being a good person. Although that is the purpose, it is evidently taxing on some of the other teachers. One of the new foreign teachers of grade 4, Javier – from the States and Puerto Rico, is constantly grumpy and stressed because he sleeps only 3 hours a night (because he has to hang out with his Fiancée’s family until midnight), not to mention he has never taught before… Pretty much all of my students (10 and 11 years old) are fasting for the first time, and at school that means shorter classes – we end at 1:30 so the bus drivers can get home, and more breaks during PE class. I don’t eat at school anyways, (or I will discreetly snake at my desk in my staff room) mostly out of respect – except for this one time when I was on break duty (which is when the younger students can buy food from the canteen), and this one third grade bought a frosted carrot cake, which he couldn’t finish in time and of course couldn’t bring into the class room. I was starving so I did him a favor and ate it. The whole no alcohol rule is big too. Although it is hardly followed by all Muslims, during Ramadan, it is extra bad if you drink, so for the most part, all of the bars and nightclubs are closed.


I saw this on a walk I took today. Gotta love Chilis..