Esna & Edfu

After Luxor, we stopped at two smaller towns called Esna and Edfu.  The temple at Esna is historically significant for containing details of ancient Egyptian worship.  Currently it is significant as an example of how difficult it is to both excavate and preserve some of Egypt's ancient treasures. 

As  you can see in this picture, the Exna temple is located significantly below the current town's street level.  In order to complete the excavation of this temple, an entire neighborhood will have to be moved.  What you see is only the outer temple courtyard.  Additionally, the temple is now located below the water table.  Since the Nile dams have been built the water levels have changed significantly from what they were in ancient times.  The ground around the temple is quite muddy, and the limestone rocks the temple is built from are soaking up the water at a rapid rate.

Some attempts are being made to clean the inside of this temple.  In the picture below you can see a contrast between the cleaned paintings on the right and the ones yet to be cleaned on the left.  No restoration is being made, only cleaning of what remains.

The pillars in the temple detail the rituals to be followed when worshiping, including personal cleanliness and appropriate clothing.

The temple at Edfu is the best preserved temple from ancient Egypt.  The walls are almost completely intact, and there is very little damage anywhere in the temple.  As with most other temples, there are signs that it had been used for Christian worship at some point, but there was less 'editing' of the original artwork than in some other temples.  This temple was built in the time of the Ptolemies and dedicated to the god Horus, whose symbol you can see over the main doorway.

The above picture shows the outer walls of the temple.  The bird statues (representing the god Horus) around the doorway were slightly taller than my 6'1" husband, to give you an idea of the scale.

This is the outer courtyard, on the other side of the main wall.

Each successive room lines up perfectly with the last, all the way into the holiest chamber where only the high priest could go.  The dark shiny piece at the back is the alter in the final chamber.

The carvings on the walls in this temple were extensive and impressive.  They tell the stories of the god Horus, his blessing of the Ptolemies who built the temple, and details about sacrifices and the every-day business of the temple.

All throughout the temple are store rooms, underground secret passageways, and hiding places inside the walls.

In our group of eight people there was a middle aged couple who were Egyptian-American, Dr. Moody and his wife Susan.  As they had immigrated to the United States when they were rather young, they had never seen any of the sights that were part of this trip.  They quickly formed a special bond with our Egyptologist guide, Muhammad, who was clearly passionate about his own Egyptian heritage.  All three were overwhelmed by the rich history and beauty of this temple in particular.  As we finished the tour, I turned away from them to begin to walk out.  Just as I left them behind in the last room I heard Muhammad sigh, turn to Dr. Moody and say, "We have fallen so far."

Bunnies

My Arabic lesson today included words for food.  Some of the ladies began asking where they could by this and that, and the discussion moved on to the best baker, grocer, butcher, and so on in our part of town.  And while we were on the topic, our teacher told us that since she started teaching westerners, she can no longer go to the butcher, select a live chicken, and watch it be slaughtered and plucked.  Even though the chicken is much tastier that way, our squeamishness about this process has rubbed off on her.  There was one situation, however, in which she reverted back to the the old way.

Because her children had been begging for a pet, she bought them two rabbits.  One was brown and one was white and their names were Chocolate and Candy, respectively.  For a couple of days everyone was happy.  The children loved their cute bunnies and they were no longer begging for a pet.  Unfortunately, the bunnies began to stink up the house.  And while Egyptians don't seem to be too picky about dirt, dust, and trash outside, they apparently cannot abide any of that inside their homes.  So one morning after the children left for school Chocolate and Candy were gathered up and taken away.

There is a traditional Egyptian dish called Molokhiyah, made from a type of okra and often served with meat.  In Cairo, most people prefer to serve it with rabbit.  When my teacher's children returned from school that day, their mother offered them this delicious soup for lunch.  But before they began to eat, the daughter asked where her beloved bunnies were.  Her mother pointed to the soup.  And for some reason (my teacher cannot imagine why!) since that day, none of her children will eat this tasty Egyptian treat. 

Another Revolution?

Egypt's President, Muhammad Morsi, essentially declared himself a dictator last week.  He says this is a necessary step to bring stability to Egypt, but most Egyptians view this as a return to the politics of the past.  This time they are not willing to go along with it.  There have been protests ever since the declaration, and they are turning more violent as the days go by.  The biggest protest is expected this Tuesday.  Many opposition groups have banded together to protest Morsi and his decree.  Even some Islamist groups have joined the opposition.  On the same day, Morsi's party, the Muslim Brotherhood, is also planning a demonstration in support of Morsi.  No one expects these gatherings to be carried out peacefully.

I have talked with a couple Egyptians about this situation.  I am sure the Egyptians I know are not necessarily a representative sample of all Egyptians, but Morsi seems to be less and less supported the longer he is in office.  One lady I spoke with is frustrated that she can't just 'live her life and feed her family'.  She also is disappointed in what she calls people's selfishness.  One person supports Morsi and does something good, like cleaning up the street.  Another person comes along who doesn't support Morsi and spreads garbage along the street again.  In times past, Egyptians used to help each other and their country.  Now they have lost their sense of camaraderie and patriotism.

Another, younger woman, is proud of Egyptians.  "You have to understand, she said, "for so long Egyptians suffered under dictators and did whatever they asked.  Now, since the Revolution, the Egyptian people have decided that they will not accept another dictator.  These protests are a good thing because they show that the Egyptian people really do want democracy and justice."

On the whole, I am supportive of the protesters.  It is good that the Egyptians will no longer submit to tyrants.  However, the ousting of a tyrant is a messy process.  And in addition, the place the protesters have chosen to make a stand is again Tahrir Square— two blocks from the U.S. Embassy.  There is no sign that the protesters are targeting Americans, but there is spillover.  Molotov cocktails are being thrown near the Embassy walls, and rocks have flown over the walls.  Embassy employees were sent home early today because of the fighting, and they had to drive through areas where tear gas was being used.  My poor husband came home coughing and with eye irritation from the gas. 

We will be perfectly safe, and it will be interesting to see how this all turns out.  Most people seem to expect that Morsi will be ousted fairly soon.  For everyone's sake I certainly hope so!

UPDATE 11/30/2012:  After a week of continuing protests, this weekend is set to be the biggest yet for protesting.  Morsi has shown no serious signs of backing down, and in fact, the Constituent Assembly rushed through a vote on the constitution early Friday morning.  The only members who voted on the constitution were the extreme Islamists, as everyone else abstained in protest.  This does not mean Egypt has a new constitution yet– it will have to be ratified by popular vote to take effect.  The constitution that was passed is severely lacking in many human rights issues and also appears to establish Sharia law.  There is little doubt that this version of the constitution will fail in a popular vote, but what this vote has done is create a unified opposition party out of the multitude of smaller political parties, and intensified the feeling against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Here's a picture of the road in front of the U.S. Embassy:

You can see that a new wall is being built, but that might not make us any friends.  The wall will push people more towards the British and Canadian Embassies.  None of these countries are targets of the protests, they just happen to be in an unfortunate location.

Luxor

Luxor is located in Upper Egypt, and was the capital of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.  The ancient name of Luxor is Thebes.  The city and the surrounding area has a huge number of tombs and temples, many of which are very well preserved.  The two major temples are Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.  Luxor is also the sight of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Nobles and the Colossi of Memnon.  We saw all of these sights and there are actually many more, including several good museums.

By the time of the New Kingdom, Egyptians had figured out that building a pyramid for a nobleman made a great advertisement for where a lot of gold, jewels, and other treasures were located.  Most of the pyramids were completely emptied within a couple hundred years of being built.  So during the New Kingdom time period, Egyptians began burying their pharaohs in tombs dug into mountainsides.  Most of these were also robbed of the treasures, but the paintings and other decorations are largely intact.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the tombs.  You will just have to come see them for yourselves—they are remarkable! 

Before we joined the cruise, we went by ourselves to the Valley of the Nobles and Medinet Habu, the memorial temple of Ramses III. 

The Valley of the Nobles is being somewhat reconstructed for safety reasons, but the tombs are still largely intact. 

We couldn't take our own pictures of the paintings inside, but here are a few of what we saw from the internet.  They really did look this clear, this isn't fancy photography or re-touching!

Next we went to the memorial temple of Ramses III.  This wasn't a temple for making sacrifices to gods, it was built so that people would remember the king when he was gone.  The paintings in this temple were nearly as spectacular as in the tombs, even though this temple is open-air:

The hieroglyphics in this temple were carved remarkably deep, and this allowed them to be more clearly preserved up until the present time.

Once we joined the cruise, the Egyptologist on our boat took us to the rest of the sights.  First was Karnak Temple, which is known for its large number of enormous pillars:

The most remarkable thing about this temple, apart from its architecture, was that it was built, re-built, and added on to by up to 30 different pharaohs.  As a result, it has a variety of buildings and architectural styles.  As was the case with many ancient Egyptian temples, parts of Karnak Temple were also used in Christian times as a church.  There is evidence that the ancient Egyptian creation stories inscribed on the pillars were 'edited' for decency by the Christians.  (If you're curious as to why, look up the god Min.)

Next, we visited Luxor Temple, which has been impressively lit.  Because of the lights, we visited this temple just as the sun was setting so we could see the full effect. 

There is a mosque on top of Luxor Temple, that was built before the ruins were excavated.  A set of  conflicting historical preservation laws prevents the removal of the mosque, so it sits in one corner atop the temple.

All of the temples to the gods were built on the East side of the Nile, and the tombs and memorial temples were built on the West side of the Nile.  Since the sun rises in the East, and the sun brings life, the ancient Egyptians felt it was the appropriate side to worship their gods who also bring life.  The sun setting in the West signified death, thus the location of the tombs and mortuary temples.   As most of these sites did not allow photography, there isn't much I can show you.  Below is the reconstructed mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut— a powerful female Pharaoh. 

We sailed from Luxor down the Nile to a couple of smaller towns.  I will post pictures of them on the next blog entry.

A Cruise on the Nile

Last week we flew to Upper Egypt, which, confusingly, is located in Southern Egypt.  It is called 'upper' because the southern part of Egypt is at a higher elevation than the northern part.  There are two major cities in Upper Egypt, Luxor and Aswan.  The land between the two cities is mostly farmland, with a few small towns interspersed along the way.  People in Upper Egypt tend to be more conservative, more traditional, and much darker skinned.  They are admired by the people in Lower Egypt for maintaining a high moral standard and a simple way of life.

Our cruise took us from Luxor to Aswan over a period of five days.  We saw many sights from the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom time periods of ancient Egypt and we could not recommend them more!  The sights in Cairo date mostly from the Old Kingdom, and as such they are not nearly as well preserved.  In Luxor, Aswan, and several towns in between there are extremely well preserved tombs and temples. This post consists of pictures related to the cruise itself, and the next few posts will be about the historical sights we saw.

As soon as we arrived in Luxor we could tell that we were in a significantly different part of Egypt from Cairo.  The contrast may not be as clear to you all at home, but the picture below is still startling to us- the clear sky, the blue water, the greenery, and the calm atmosphere are all things that are sorely lacking in the big city. 

On the other hand, the salesmen are much more aggressive and rarely take a simple 'no' for an answer.  One night we tried walking around the town outside our hotel but only lasted about five minutes.  Everyone up and down the street started calling to us to take a taxi, take a carriage ride, or buy their stuff.  We nearly ran back to the hotel to escape!

We spent two nights in Luxor before we got on our boat.  We were in a five star hotel (by Egyptian standards) which was quite nice, but nothing compared to the Pottery-Barn-Catalog of a boat that we sailed on.  The boat had 30 cabins, but only eight passengers.  We're still not sure why the company chose to run the boat with fifty crew members having so few passengers, but we are grateful they did.  The other six people were great- a middle aged doctor and his wife who were U.S. citizens of Egyptian heritage, and a family of four with 11 year old twins.  The kids were a year and a half into a two year tour of the world that their parents were taking them on. 

After touring Luxor we set sail down the Nile.  For the most part all we saw were small mud houses,

farms,

fishing villages (you can see the small fishing boats in the river below),

and pastures.

Every once in a while we were shocked back into realizing we were actually in the middle of the Sahara Desert:

But for the most part we spend four days seeing (apart from the stops at historical sights) not much more than this:

Life in Cairo can get rather stressful at times- the constant noise, pollution, protests, and dirt are all wearing on the nerves.  We were grateful to see another part of Egypt that was so peaceful. 

Halloween in Maadi

Our building is hosting a Trick-or-Treating event for the Embassy community on Wednesday.  Last night we decorated the lobby area with decorations our building has collected over the years.  I found the tombstones most entertaining.  Some of them would be hard to 'translate' as the inscriptions apply to being an American government worker in Cairo, so I've only posted the ones that speak to the more general dangers of living in Egypt.  Enjoy and Happy Halloween!  :-) 

(Note- the Corniche is a highway that runs along the Nile river in Cairo)

A Birthday Surprise in Egypt

In my family birthdays were always a Big Deal.  My mother tried hard to make each of our birthdays special and we always looked forward to our special day with excitement.  As this has been ingrained in me, I try to make my husband's birthday as special as I can too.  Being in Egypt has made this a challenge!

There is a brand of ice cream my husband loves that is sold almost exclusively in Texas— Blue Bell ice cream.  Last year I tried to find Blue Bell to have for my husband as a birthday surprise.  I gave up after I found out that I could, indeed, get Blue Bell in Maryland if I paid more that $100 to have it shipped from Texas, or if I bought three gallons of it at once from Outback Steakhouse.

On our first visit to the commissary here in Cairo our sponsor told us about the special ordering program.  If any U.S. commissary sells a product anywhere in the world, the commissary in Cairo can get it too.  It took a while for me to connect the dots, but I realized about a month ago that I could maybe get Blue Bell ice cream here.  I waited until my husband was away to ask about special ordering the ice cream.  It turns out that I could, indeed, get it.

What I didn't remember was that this is Egypt and nothing goes according to plan.  The day arrived for the scheduled special order to come in— happily this was the Wednesday of both my husband's birthday and a commissary shuttle.  I walked into the commissary office to pick up my order and found out that yes, my special order was supposed to be there, but unfortunately that day's plane had been canceled.  I could come tomorrow to get it, and they were very sorry for the delay.  Unfortunately, there is no shuttle on the following day so I had to wait until the Friday shuttle to get the surprise ice cream.

And then Mummy Tummy struck.  Although I was the only one suffering with it, I didn't feel well enough to be left alone for my husband to go to the commissary. This meant waiting until the following Wednesday to get the birthday ice cream.  On Sunday (the first workday of the week) I sent an email to sign up for Wednesday's commissary shuttle.  Wouldn't you know- for some unexplainable reason there was no commissary shuttle scheduled this Wednesday.  Asking why the shuttle was not running this Wednesday when it runs every other Wednesday got me nowhere.

The following Friday I went on the regularly scheduled shuttle to finally pick up the ice cream.  After a lot of sorting through papers and asking around on the part of the office staff, I was finally told that the order had been delayed and would be in the following Wednesday evening.  It would arrive too late for the Wednesday shuttle so we had one more week to wait.

Finally, two and a half weeks after the expected date, the ice cream arrived.  Having received a confirmation phone call the night before, I arrived at the commissary this Friday afternoon to pick it up.  The man went into the back of the store to get it and came back with four half gallon containers of Blue Bell ice cream.  After waiting so long and going through so many obstacles to get it I didn't want to cause any fuss about the quantity that was sent.  So we are now the proud owners of a whole lot of ice cream!  My husband was very happy to have it, but we are thinking we need to have every person we've met so far here to come over for ice cream in order to make even a dent in it. 

Learning Arabic

The Embassy and the greater American expat community all seem to know at least some Egyptian Arabic.  Since it is not at all a necessity here, it is a bit surprising that a group of Americans is at least somewhat multilingual.  Certainly, the sort of person willing to move overseas is also likely to be interested in learning another language.  But the strongest reason for this group of Americans' language facility, I believe, is that the Egyptians themselves are so eager to teach us.

I had only been here a few days when the security guards and janitors in our compound decided that I needed to start learning Arabic.  They began by greeting me in English, but then would immediately tell me how to say the same thing in Arabic.  Every time I walked past two guards in particular, and one janitor, they would quiz me on the proper greetings.  After I had mastered 'Good Day', 'Good Afternoon/Evening', and 'How are you?', the guards began to teach me numbers.  I was expected to know numbers 1-10 after only a couple of days.  Then they started in on weather expressions. All of this was taught with careful attention to pronunciation and gender agreement.  If I got anything wrong I was strongly encouraged to repeat it until I got it right.  Their delighted smiles at my attempts were all the motivation I needed to keep working.

My good friends the shuttle drivers also take every opportunity to teach and to expound upon language learning.  Ahmed laid down the law as to the best way to learn a language without taking a class: "Listen carefully, and watch the eyes and the mouth.  You will be able to figure out what people are saying as long as you keep a close eye and ear on them."  Ayman was of the opinion that radio listening and TV watching were sufficient to learn a foreign language.  I find it hard to imagine that this was all he ever used to learn English, but I didn't feel that it was polite to question his system.

Now I have been in an Arabic classes for three weeks.  When the teacher found out that I already knew the little I had been taught she was pretty excited.  So in addition to learning the set curriculum, which is only listening and speaking, I am also learning to read and write Egyptian Arabic.  She even volunteered to meet for an additional lesson to practice writing with me. (This is extremely difficult by the way- 28 letters, each of which can take up to eight different shapes, and five vowel markers for letters that aren't included in the written words.)

It is only right that we expats try to learn what we can as we are surrounded by Egyptians that have worked hard to learn English.  Even the least motivated, however, can't help but pick up on the Egyptians' great enthusiasm to teach us their language!

How to Have a Good Life

Yesterday I needed to get out of the house for a while so I went down to the CSA club to have lunch at the coffee shop.  I ran into a nice older gentleman there I had met once before.  He is half Egyptian, half Greek, and (as he says) half Christian, half Muslim.  He greeted me enthusiastically and invited me to sit down with him.  One of his good friends had recently died and he seemed to be in a mood to analyze life.  In the course of our two-hour conversation I received a good deal of advice on how to live the best life possible.  Some of it was thought-provoking and some was merely entertaining.  I've recorded the most memorable advice here for your enjoyment.

If you want to have a happy day do the following:

• When you wake up, look at yourself in the mirror and focus on what is beautiful about you.
• Wear your favorite clothes.
• Do two things that you have been putting off.  You will be satisfied and proud of yourself.

Dealing with people who are troubled:

• If someone is bothering you, for instance driving too fast or not listening to your advice, try to understand that they may have trouble in their lives causing them to not pay attention.
• If ladies drive too fast it is probably because they have some trouble they have not gotten out. (I'm not sure why this one only applies to ladies!)
• If you have trouble in your life, the thing to do is to talk it out.  Then you can move on and be happy.  You should never tell someone, 'Don't talk about that'.  Just let them say it so they can be peaceful in their minds.
• Never argue about things.  Either you know more than the other person or you don't.  If they feel they must argue about something that you know more about, you won't be able to convince them through argument anyway.

Waking Up and Going to Sleep

• Meditate in the morning and ask God to be with you and give you strength.
• As you go to sleep at night, think of a happy memory.  You will relax and go to sleep without any pills.

Memories

• Create as many happy memories as you can.  When you are old you will appreciate having them to think over.
• It is always best to have someone to share your happy memories with- then they can have those memories too.  Talk about your memories with someone else so that you both can share them.

Three rules for living a long time:

• Avoid stress.  Don't discuss politics too often, try to forgive yourself for the bad things you may have done.  Remember that you have also done good things.
• Don't own a car.  You are much healthier if you walk everywhere and always take the stairs.
• Drink a little something in the evenings.  Not too much- just a little.

Shuttle Driver Theology

I took the shuttle up to the Embassy last week and was again the only one riding that day.  As usual, the shuttle driver took the opportunity of a captive audience to expound upon life in Egypt.  This driver, Ahmed, felt compelled to give me a lesson in theology.

Ahmed began by saying that he knows my husband and thinks that he is a very kind man.  'He always smiles and seems very happy.  People should be happy- it makes God happy to see that people are happy.  So people should try to be happy all of the time.'  Feeling mischievous, I asked why God sent bad things to people if He would prefer that we all be happy.  After a few minutes trying to answer, Ahmed gave up.  I am not sure whether it was his English or his theology that was the problem, but I didn't push it.

The next topic that Ahmed brought up was children.  He asked if I had any children and I said I wasn't sure if I wanted children because they are a lot of work.  Although he agreed that they are, he disagreed with my reasoning.  'You should have children.  Why?  If you decide not to have children and the next lady decides not to have children very soon there will be no children in the world.  You should pray to God whether you should have a child or not.  If he blesses you, you will have one boy and one girl.'   

After bringing God into two conversations, Ahmed felt the need to explain why.  'I don't need to ask whether you are Jewish, Muslim, or Christian.  All people worship the same God, and God answers everyone's prayers.'  To a middle-aged Middle Eastern man, the thought that some people might not believe in God was probably outside his ability to comprehend.  As I do believe in God, I didn't see the need to argue this point.  I was impressed with Ahmed's all-inclusive theology, however.  I don't know whether the official Muslim doctrines support the idea that God is the same God for all people and He listens to everyone's prayers.  Whether it is accurate or not, I suspect that were this belief more widely shared there would be much less conflict around. 

Ahmed's final contribution to my Egyptian Theology instruction was God's Antibiotic.  I was going to the Embassy to see the doctor about a rash on my arms.  Ahmed looked it over and suggested I do the following: 'Put your finger under your tongue (to moisten it). Then, run your finger along the outside edge of your earlobe.  In a few days your problem will be gone.  This is God's Antibiotic.'  So far the suggestions of the embassy doctor are working well, but if I suffer a setback I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try the Egyptian way!

Compound Cats

Cats are quite ubiquitous in Egypt, partly due to Egyptians' long history of revering cats and partly due to most Egyptians' lack of interest in spaying and neutering their animals.  A few years ago several Americans living in our building took pity on a few cats that hung around our compound and started feeding them.  This led to spaying and neutering those few cats and making sure they had their shots.  

Our compound is now the proud owner of four cats.  It seems likely that the people who took care of the cats' medical needs also gave them names, but those people have now moved on.  Another new family took over feeding duty, and their seven year old daughter Amelia has given them new names. 

The oldest cat is called Princess.  I reluctantly adopted this name after calling her 'Loud Mouth' for a few weeks.  Amelia insists that the reason she is so loud and demanding is because she is acting like a princess.  

Princess' mortal enemy among the compound cats is Tigress.  Tigress is unimpressed with anyone's efforts to befriend her— cat or human.  She hangs around merely for the food.

The nicest cat of the four is called Mamma Cat.  If you sit down next to her she will climb into your lap and settle down.  She has a soothing purr and loves to be pet.

Mamma Cat got her name because she arrived with a daughter.  Amelia calls the daughter cat Gemila, which is Arabic for beautiful.  As Gemila is still quite young she loves to play but does not usually sit still long enough to be pet.   We all hope she will grow up to be as nice as her Mamma.

  

All of this is technically against US Government housing rules, but we have a very nice building manager who looks the other way.  Four cats is manageable, but we are nervous about what might happen if any more very nice cats start showing up for free food and petting...

Clubs

Cairo is the largest city in the Middle East, and as such, there has been a consistent presence of a large number of foreigners in Egypt for well over a 1000 years.  One of our sponsors explained to me on our first day in Cairo that expatriate life in this city is organized around a series of clubs, due no doubt to the lingering British colonial influence.  There is a British club, an American club, a Swiss club, a club for wives of oil executives, etc.  The kind of social life you lead and how much interaction you have with the local population are governed in large part by which club you belong to.

The Egyptians themselves have adopted this way of life, and many of them also belong to clubs.  The membership fees for both the expat and local clubs can be quite high.  It is a sign of wealth and standing for Egyptians to belong to the 'right' clubs.  One person we met said that her Arabic teacher was so proud of finally being able to pay for a membership in a highly desirable club that he arranged a party for the whole class there in order to show it off.  

Within a week of arriving here we belonged to two clubs— the American club and an international club called the Community Services Association (CSA).  The American club has a great pool, a playground, a restaurant, a bar, and a lot of activities for the Embassy families.  We enjoy going there to just 'be American'.  My favorite club, however is the CSA.  It is free to join and has a large number of activities available.  It also has the best coffee I've tasted so far in Egypt. 

The variety of nationalities at the CSA is overwhelming.  Last week I stopped by for coffee and spent an hour talking to a man with Greek residency but of German and Egyptian heritage.  After a while an elderly Frenchman came in for his daily espresso and joined our conversation.  Once he left, an Egyptian girl and Thai girl from the next table started talking with us.  This morning I took a Lebanese cooking class, taught by an Egyptian, also attended by women from Romania, Tajikistan, and the Philippines.  My Pilates classes are taught by three British women, and the chiropractor in the office next to the gym is Canadian.

Clubs can, of course, by their nature be exclusive and isolating.  And sometimes it might be necessary to limit a club membership, as in the case of the American club, due to security reasons.  It is very refreshing, however, to visit a club such as the CSA and see so many people from so many countries peacefully enjoying classes, activities, and coffee together.  It is fitting that such a club exists in Egypt, as most Egyptians themselves are so welcoming and open to whoever wants to visit the country they are so proud of.

Storming the Embassy

As some of you may have heard, last night there were protests in Cairo.  Although some of the protestors were angry at the United States specifically, the majority of the protesters were not gathering, as far as we can tell, due to it being September 11th.  Instead, the protestors were upset about a film that was made either by an American Jewish man or Danish Christian— the news sources are conflicted about exactly which film was being protested. 

Most major protests in Cairo gather in Tahrir Square which is only two blocks from the United States Embassy.  The embassy security services were aware of the planned protest and sent most employees home early.  This was fortunate because the protests were larger than normal and quickly became angry.  Several hundred protesters left Tahrir Square in the early evening and stormed the embassy.  Our Marines guard the inside of the embassy, and Egyptian security forces guard the outside.  Even with that, about twenty young men were able to scale the walls and get inside the embassy courtyard.

The protestors took down the American flag hanging in the courtyard and attempted to replace it with a flag representing their own group, the Ultras.  And here is where, to our amusement, Egyptian inefficiency and lack of foresight became evident:  The initial idea seems to have been to burn the American flag.  Unfortunately, no one was able to set it alight.  So instead, they tore the flag into pieces.  This was also insulting, but not quite the insult burning might have been.  Secondly, the young men were unable to raise their own flag inside the embassy.  They had to settle for draping it across a ladder which was leaning against the outside embassy walls.  Rather less of a statement than it might have been.

Fortunately, no one was harmed yesterday— American or Egyptian.  As almost all of the embassy employees had been sent home by the time the protests gathered, there weren't many people around anyway.  And even though it seemed fairly easy for the protestors to climb the embassy compound walls, they never would have gotten any further than the courtyard.  All of the buildings have bullet-proof glass, and every entrance was guarded by several armed Marines.  One news source says that warning shots were fired, but no one seems to know who fired them.

In case anyone was worried, I want to assure you all that we are perfectly fine.  We had ample warning that something might happen so we were able to be out of the way many hours before the protests started.  We were notified by email, text messages, and phone calls as soon as the protests took a turn for the worse.  We even had additional phone calls asking whether I was still OK with my husband going out of town on his business trip the next day.  Frankly, I was more worried when all the phone calls started than when we first heard the news.  Everyone seemed to think I would be perfectly justified if I insisted that the trip be canceled.  We are, of course, hoping that things don't get any worse, but for the moment we are as safe as can be.

Update:  We have just found out that the Libyan ambassador was killed in a rocket attack on their consulate this morning.  Things are a bit tense at our embassy since Libya is right next to Egypt.

I was a bit apprehensive about going out this morning even though our apartment is quite far from the protests in Cairo.  I went out anyway, and it was a good thing I did.  As I was waiting to cross a busy street a young man saw a scratch on my hand (I had just been petting a kitten), handed me a tissue, and offered to show me to a pharmacy.  Not one minute later a lady walked past me, saw that I was having trouble getting across the traffic, grabbed my hand like I was two years old, and pulled me across to safety.  Just after that I got the call about Libya.

If I had been tempted to fear all Egyptians due to the unrest in the region I had just been given two excellent reasons not to.  There are uncontrolled, angry people around that can be dangerous, but there are also many people who can look past politics and religion to help a fellow human being— a good lesson for everyone and perhaps especially for Americans.

Wearing the Hijab

This morning I took the shuttle to the Embassy again.  As I was the only one riding the shuttle I had a nice conversation with the driver, Khaled.  We talked about a lot of things, but I thought his story of why women wear the hijab was the most interesting.

For those of you that don't know, 'hijab' is the Arabic word for 'veil'.  A veil in Egypt can take many forms.  Some women wear a simple headscarf with their very western clothes, while other women cover every body part- head, feet, hands, face, even eyes.  This tradition dates back to the time of the prophet Mohammed, who did not allow anyone to speak to any of his wives without the wife covering her face with a veil.  Other women adopted this custom in emulation of the prophet's holy wives.

I began by asking Khaled why some women in Egypt wear the hijab and some do not.  This is his explanation:

"A long time ago when Islam began there was a problem.  If a beautiful woman walked in the streets a man would see her and make love to her right there in the streets.  This was only beautiful women, the ugly women did not have this problem.  In order to make things better, all women began wearing the hijab.  That way, no one could see if she was beautiful or not.  Very soon wearing a hijab became a tradition.  Of course there were some problems, such as when a father insisted that his daughter was very beautiful, but when she married her husband found out she was not.  In these cases, a man would try to at least see part of the legs of his future bride.  You can always tell whether a woman has a nice body by looking at her legs.

"Now, a woman wears a veil if her husband says that she must.  The husband will say that he insists because he is a pious Muslim.  But many of these husbands tell their wives to wear a veil and then go take drugs.  This man is not pious!  Why should he insist on one part of Islam and violate another?   On the other hand, some women choose to wear a veil because it is more convenient.  They do not always want to be going to the beauty parlor so they wear a veil and no one knows if her hair looks nice or not."

I enjoyed this very practical explanation of the hijab.  I suppose for Khaled, and I suspect for most everyone else, the religious significance has given way to mere habit.  And although Khaled did not once mention the prophet Mohammed, at least the women who are forced to wear the veil may be able to comfort themselves that the Prophet's wives did the same!

Siwa Part II

Although Siwa was mostly isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years, there was some contact from time to time.  Siwa became known to the Greeks as the site for the Oracle of the god Amun (Zeus Amun in Greek).  One of the most interesting historical sites to us was the Mountain of the Dead.

Although more like a hill than a mountain, the entire site was covered in old tombs.  Most of them looked like the indentations in the picture above, but there were several that were better preserved.

We were allowed to go into two tombs that had original paintings from Roman times.  Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed.

This is the oracle temple where Alexander the Great visited when he came to Siwa and where he was 'confirmed' as a god and pharaoh.  It was remarkable to see that the temple was in nearly as good repair as the surrounding walls and other buildings built just over 100 years ago.

Nearby are the remains of the Temple of Amun.  

There is only one wall remaining, but you can see some interesting paintings and hieroglyphics on it.  We heard that Muhammed Ali was the one that ordered the temple pulled down in the mid-1800s as it affronted his sensibilities as a Muslim.

The last 'historical' site we went to was Cleopatra's Bath.  This is a cold water spring located near the temples.  Even the Siwans don't believe that Cleopatra was ever here, but they have built a pool around it and a couple of shops.  

The highlight of this trip for all of us was going out into the desert.  Salama, our hotel manager and activities director, arranged for a man to pick us up in a Jeep and give us a tour of the Sahara near Siwa.  We drove up and down the sand dunes for a while

and then stopped at a place that looked like a salt flat.

As we walked closer, however, we realized that what we were walking on was 

fossilized sea creatures!

After spending two days at that point in the very hot, very dry desert, it was nearly unbelievable that at one time in the distant past everything we could see had been covered in sea water.   The best shells were firmly cemented into the ground, but we were able to find some specimens to take with us.  I am now the proud owner of a baby horseshoe crab and baby clam fossil from the middle of the Sahara Desert.

Our trip ended by visiting a mini oasis which was a fresh water lake.

We were told it was safe to swim in the lake, but we contented ourselves with wading and speculating on how the large number of fish in the water might have gotten there.  No one who might have known spoke any English and this little lake is not remarkable enough to have its own encyclopedia entry.  It will just have to remain one of the many mysteries about Egypt for now.

Siwa Part I

Last weekend was the end of Ramadan so the embassy employees got a long weekend holiday.  We went with a friend to a town called Siwa which is located in the Sahara desert about 100km from the Libyan border.  

Siwa was built around a large oasis and is famous in history for being the site where the priests of the god Amon acknowledged Alexander the Great as both a god himself and a legitimate pharaoh of Egypt.  Other than that, Siwa has been mostly isolated for thousands of years and only just got a paved road into the town in the 1980s.

The people who live in Siwa are Berbers and they speak a dialect of the Berber language.  Arabic is as much a foreign language to them as English.  Nevertheless, the education system is good and many people speak both languages well.  Siwans harvest dates and olives to sell in Egypt and Europe, and they farm some of their land for their own needs as well.  A major source of income is bottled water from the many fresh-water springs throughout the oasis.  The culture is more conservative than the rest of Egypt-  we never once saw any part of a Siwan woman's face, not even the eyes- but the people are noticeably friendlier than the average Egyptian.

Once we left the northern coast of Egypt to drive down to Siwa, we saw miles and miles of this:

Every once in a while we would pass a small police station or herd of camels, but there was no doubt we were far from civilization.

The Siwa oasis comes up all of the sudden out of the desert

and extends far enough out on the other side that you almost can't see the desert beyond, even from a hill above the town.

The trees are mostly date palm trees and they were nearing harvest time when we were there.  The dates start out green, change to yellowish-orange, and then turn dark brown before they are picked.  

On our first evening in Siwa the hotel manager, Salama, arranged for us to be driven out to the lake to watch the sun set.  There was a little cafe with tables and chairs set up to watch the sun go down.  We sat by the lake, and since it was still Ramadan that night the Siwans with us gathered separately to break their fast together.  In Cairo the fast is broken with dates, hibiscus tea or fruit juice, and then the meal.  In Siwa the fast is broken by drinking a milkshake made with fresh dates before the main meal.

We occupied ourselves taking pictures while the Siwans broke their fast.

Siwans are proud of their history, culture, and way of life and want to preserve it as much as possible.  Even though they welcome the tourists who began coming when their road was built in the 80s, they work to keep all new development consistent with they way they have always done things.  Our hotel was built at the base of the medieval fortress, Shali, and blended in completely with it.

(The hotel is just behind the shack, not the shack itself.)  Most of the buildings in Siwa are built with bricks and mud.  This convenient building material is both inexpensive and as cool as possible in the middle of the desert.  The only drawback is when the infrequent rains come.  Once in the 1920s there was rain three days in a row.  Most of the houses in the town were destroyed, but could at least be quickly rebuilt! 

Salama was the manager of the hotel, so of course they named the coffee shop on the first floor after him.  :-)  The first night we were the only guests and we were treated as much like family as hotel guests could be.  They told us, 'This is your home' over, and over, and over. 

The hotel rooms all opened up onto this central courtyard.  It was cleverly built so that the sun was never directly shining into the courtyard.  The high temperature every day averaged around 110F so we were grateful to have this cool place to relax.

This is the breakfast room we ate in every day.  Everything in the hotel except the ceiling fans, electrical wires, and light bulbs are made from natural materials.  Even the lamps were carved out of blocks of salt. 

This is the hotel's main restaurant, located on the roof.  Behind the restaurant you can see the tower of a local mosque.  This mosque is a Sufi mosque which Salama belongs to.  Salama told us that the imam of this mosque is the kindest man you will ever meet.  He welcomes all people to his mosque- Muslim, Christian, even Jews.  Sufis are a minority sect of Islam, but in my opinion the most interesting.  They emphasize a personal relationship with God over following strict rules and they have a strong musical worship tradition.  They appear to be the Muslim equivalent of Pentecostal Christians.

Siwa is a fairly small town of only about 20,000 people and is not highly developed.  The fence you see on the right is made of palm leaves- another very effective and economical building material.

There are cars and trucks, but not many.  Most people get around by walking or donkey cart.  I don't know if this is true of all donkeys, but Siwan donkeys are very vocal- especially in the morning.  One morning we heard a donkey throwing a fit.  When we looked closer it seemed the donkey did not approve of the flock of chickens walking past him.   :-)

They few buildings that aren't mud brick still try to incorporate natural materials as much as possible.  The porch surrounding this building is made of palm trunks and dried palm branches.

There are irrigation ditches all throughout the town.  While they do quite well for maintaining vegetation, we suspected that the tap water also came from here.  We brushed our teeth with bottled water in Siwa.