Category Archives: Anecdotes

Jul 01 2011
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Anecdotes, The Cairo Metro

Two of us get lucky

First off, let me clarify what happened yesterday to the best of my knowledge. After a play commemorating the martyrs of the Revolution, armed thugs arrived and started making mischief. No one knows why the thugs came, who they were, or what they wanted. The police remained involved in the struggle, but the army completely withdrew, allowing it to continue for hours into the  morning. No one really understands what happened or why. My teacher today said that it may have just been a play by the army to make people fear chaos and not advocate too strongly for a faster transition. The thugs could have also been ex-policeman or something like that….but it’s not clear. So the moral of the story is: people are confused.

At any rate, we had classes today (unfortunately/fortunately) but we were urged to leave quickly afterwards in stuff started up again. Tomorrow I think there are supposed to be more protests but I’m not sure who/why…a simple google search didn’t yield answers as fast as I wanted them so I’ll just wait till someone more knowledgeable tells me after the fact.

We were riding in lady’s section of the metro today (I, roomie, and friend) and as usual, the air was hot and stuffy and we were doing our best to speak in Arabic with one another. Just before the train stopped at the Tahrir square metro station, two ladies started talking to us since they were surprised and thrilled we were speaking Arabic. “You have lit up Egypt,” one of the women said, using a common expression in Egypt that I could never remember the response to.  I always think it’s “and light to you” or “God give you light,” but those are both wrong. As I searched for the correct answer, she added, laughing, that she had two sons, meaning she was on the hunt for wives for them. Unfortunately, she got off the train and I didn’t get her info or anything so I’m not sure how the engagement process is going to work. I’ll just be sure to ride that line at that specific time in hopes of finding her again. Lord knows all I’m trying to do is get settled down with a husband and kids here in Egypt ASAP, and she seemed like an honorable woman. It would be nice to go ahead and cross that goal off my list right after “try a different kind of hazelnut spread every week.”

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Jun 30 2011
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Anecdotes, Two minute read

It’s like a snow day

Tahrir without protestors

Late-ish last night bloody clashes between protesters and policemen began once again in Tahrir square, the focal point of the Revolution of Jan. 25 and also a place I pass through daily on my way to class. From what little I understand (and it is very little), some families were protesting and/or sitting outside some government building in rememberance of sons or daughters that had perished in the revolution. I think the police tried to dispel them by force and then the situation escalated from there.

All through the night the clashes continued, and over 1000 people were injured according to the most recent numbers I’ve seen, most of them from tear gas. Here’s an article about what happened. And here are pictures (not mine). Much of the action took place on the street that directly borders AUC and in some of the pictures you can see the building I usually attend classes in. Those classes were cancelled today of course due to the unrest and we’re still waiting to hear whether or not we have class tomorrow. Part of me hopes that we don’t since I’m not as prepared as I could be even though we had a snow day: there was a lot of facebooking, Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement watching, Moroccan food cooking, and Mohandiseen exploring to do today in addition to the homework I didn’t quite finish yesterday.

But the other part of me realizes I’m not fully comprehending the political situation here in Egypt. What else is new? It’s hard to appreciate the impact of the Egyptian Revolution on people who had been living under the Mubarak regime for 30 years and to feel the pain of people who suffered at the hand of the previous regime when I grew up in a society where most people have never been tortured, beaten, kidnapped, or killed for their political beliefs. And now, the slow pace of transition, the lack of clear change between the way the old regime dealt with people and the way the Supreme Council of Armed Forces is dealing with people, and the continuing economic crisis are all causing increasing levels of frustration especially among the original perpetrators of the revolution. Essentially the main causes of the revolution itself have not yet been addressed, and the clashes between the riot police and the demonstrators were just another example of the lack of change.

I’m no political scientist….just a mere college graduate with a penchant for 30 rock, but to me it seems that oftentimes a post-revolutionary community desires an unreasonable pace of change, leading to hastiness and unstable foundations for the future. Where is the balance between transition and meticulousness? How do you rebuild a society that has the same problems as it did 6 months ago or even worse because of the economic situation and security vacuum? Anyone with answers can  sent them to coolchieftantawi@hotmail.com.

How hard could it be to build a just society in Egypt?

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Jun 28 2011
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Anecdotes, Two minute read

There is a good man who keeps the pergola

this is the only picture I have of the pergola: it’s the thing above us. 

I do not know his name. He is the pergola keeper.

Right as one enters the metal detectors of the American University in Cairo: Tahrir Campus, there is a lush garden bisected by a 25 yard long pergola lined with wicker chairs and tables. A flower producing plant grows up and over the wooden structure, so the area is shaded and quite lovely to sit in and drink coffee and eat cookie during a break between classes.

All happenings in the pergola occur under the keeper’s careful eye. Every minute or so, a small red or purple flower falls from above only to be picked up seconds later as the keeper whisks by, having espied its descent immediately as it began. He walks with a slight limp and a gentle but determined manner. Should a student appear to need a table, he is at the ready carrying one over before being asked. As soon as the students leave, he rearranges the chairs and tables back to their original shape and waits for the next leaf or flower to fall.

I have never seen anyone so dedicated to the regulation of an outdoor area. I’m sure though he may have been interested in what was going on outside the university walls during the revolution, he wouldn’t dare leave his post for fear of a thick carpet of flowers or other plant debris covering the beloved walkway.

Not much is certain in life; at least we have the pergola keeper. Hell might be raised and the sky might fall, but he will guard his domain forever.

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Jun 26 2011
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Anecdotes, Two minute read

What are songs we all know?

Al-Azhar park: I took this photo myself.

Today was full of music, more specifically, songs I myself was singing. It all began in the “Singing Club,” my attendance in which is regulated by the stipulations of the fellowship. In the club we listen to Arabic songs and look at the lyrics and try to understand them.

I think most of the people in the “club” didn’t know what they were getting themselves into and thus failed to realize that we ourselves are required to sing most of the songs after we listen to them. Since some of the students are shy/self-censored/or have quiet voices, our half-hearted attempts to sing along with the Arabic songs looks comedic/pathetic. There is some real talent, however, and one of the students brought his guitar along today and could play the songs after just listening to them once or twice. It only took me months of practicing a single piano piece before I could play it with ease….we’re equally gifted, right?

This same student brought his guitar to Al-Azhar Park today, a park on the outskirts of Cairo (I think) near Moqqattam where the trash collectors live and there are cave churches and exorcisms on Thursday nights. The park was beautiful….marble pathways, palm and other kinds of trees, fountains, grass, all of Cairo at our feet in a dusty, sweltering maze and us above breathing “fresh” air and being rejuvenated by green things.

We had quite the sing along in the park. The idea was to switch back and forth from English songs by the Americans to Arabic songs by the Egyptians….I’m not sure what happened but the vast majority of the songs ended up being American pop music. Among the songs we played: Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson. I have a tendency to be overcome by the music sometimes when a song has particularly poingant lyrics, so I may or may not have raised my voice to a shouting/screeching level at the line “You had your chance you blew it; out of sight out of mind. Shut your mouth I just can’t take it…again and again and again and again” while pointing directly at the nice student playing guitar. There always has to be a target or it doesn’t seem believable. I’m just glad we didn’t play Total Eclipse of the Heart or that would have been a real disaster. And by that I mean it’s going to happen probably soon and I’m not going to be sorry for the spectacle I make of myself.

One interesting thing about Al-Azhar park: it used to be a trash heap and some guy saw it and said “I will make this a park one day where it will cost each patron 5 pounds to enter” and so it was. I think there’s more to the story but I can’t remember all of it.

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Jun 25 2011
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Anecdotes, One minute read

Don’t say no to Panda

I ate Sudanese food for the first time tonight and it was amazing.

We exited the metro station, walked about a block, went behind the crumbling wall of a half-built building, wound around an alley filled with sand, and entered a restaurant, the very definition of a hole in the wall. We ate chicken with sauce, meat with sauce, beans with sauce, lentils with sauce, chewy bread with sauce, and roasted whole Nile fish. Unfortunately, the word sauce doesn’t quite convey how delicious it tasted but just take my word for it: the spices were mixed up just right. The fish was also incredible…I plucked hot meat right off the ribs of a fish that someone had just strangled in the Nile itself. What a beautiful thing.

Next week roomies and I are starting a schedule where one of us takes one night a week to cook so hopefully I’ll start getting nourishment soon in the home. I don’t know the nutritional information of Hobnobs but I’m sure a diet solely relying on them is a quick route to scurvy.

This commercial for Panda Cheese, an Egyptian brand of cheese, is really funny. Enjoy.

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