Sharm El Sheikh

Last weekend we took a trip to the Sinai Peninsula.  Unfortunately, most of the peninsula is off limits due to the lack of security.  The one town open to us (as we can fly directly to it from Cairo) is Sharm El Sheikh, a very popular Red Sea resort location.  It was too cold to see some of the amazing coral reefs all around the peninsula, but we hope to return in a couple of months to go snorkeling. 

We stayed at the Four Seasons resort, which is very elegant.

My favorite part was all of the green spaces.  I can't imagine how much water it takes to keep it green, but I thoroughly enjoyed it for the few days we were there!

The water was very clear, we could see some of the coral reef and the fish just by sitting on the jetty and looking down.

About a mile off of the beach was Tiran Island.  This is considered by some to be the place where the Red Sea parted, allowing the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, to escape Egypt.  Mt. Sinai is also close to Sharm El Sheikh, as well as St. Catherine's Monastary, where it is claimed the Burning Bush was located. 

Being far from any city, the air was super clean and clear.  We were lucky enough to be there during a full moon, something that is impossible to see in Cairo in any of its phases!

Kids' Questions About Egypt

In January one of my former coworkers asked me if I could help out with a project for her students.  They had been learning about Ancient Egypt in History class and she thought it would be fun if they could ask me questions about modern-day Egypt.  A blog was set up to allow the kids to post questions and to allow me to post answers.  There were many very good and thoughtful questions, but some were also highly entertaining.  Spelling, punctuation, and formatting have been preserved as much as possible.  :-)

• When I think of Egypt I think of ancient or rural Egypt. But I also think of the beutiful city. Not including the desert, what do you think the country has the most; rural or urban? If you can’t answer this you may just take a guess or answer a somewhat similar question. What did you enjoy the most about Egypt?  Thank you for reading this -if you did- and stay tuned for more of my questions, Noah 

• My name is, Liz. I am in sixth grade, I love baby bears, and the show Here Comes Honey BooBoo. I also like to play poker and I was wondering if there is gambling in Egypt.  Thanks a billion, Liz

• I’m Carson  history is not at the top of my list for classes but it’s no where near the bottom. As you already know we are studying Egypt and a question I have is does Egypt have community’s or is it just one big city with lot’s of houses.

• does Egypt have fast food restuarants or stores like we do in Maryland?  If they don’t, I would feel bad for them. 

• Wat is Egypt’s life style? Do they worship The One True God Jesus Christ, or do they worship idles and other false gods? Wat kinds of food do they eat? Thanks for helping me out!! May God Bless You, Taylor

• Do people have pets in Egypt or is it to hot for them to survive?

• Its Matt. I was wondering about the ways of the Egyptian school. How do they get paper when they live nowhere close to the forest? Do they still write on stone tablets? What do Egyptian schools look like?

• When we were learning about Egypt and their cultures we found out they wrote on clay tablets. I know we right on paper and use pens and pencils . I was wondering  if in Egypt you guys still use clay tablets ?

• this will be my last question and my most important. What is Egypt like? is it fun or is it hard with all the government problems. Finley thank you for answering all of my questions. 

• I was wondering if the woman in Egypt whore alot of make-up/Sparkles? Like if they do is it BOLD or fant to see? Thx! =D

• I was just wondering, are there candy shops in Egypt?

• Is it different from the USA? do you live in one of those mud house or a regular house that we live in or You use to live in?

• What kind of jobs do they have there? Do they have the same jobs they had in acient Egypt or is there modern jobs there?

• What are the people like there? Are they happy and nice? Or are they sad and not socailable?

• i was wondering what languages they speak in Egypt? like  in america we speak english and in mexico they speak spanish is there a specific language for egypt?

• I was wondering. What is the most popular candy? Is it sour, sweet, hard, or chewy? Thanks a billion, Liz

• What’s your favorite activity to do in Egypt? Is there bowling? 

• deer Mrs P.  Do people speak inglish in Egypt please reply

• What is the transportation situation there. Thanks

• are there any candles in Egypt?

• What happened to the city of Memphis. What is Egypt best known for. What is Egypt’s best trade. I couldn’t think so that’s why its  so short oh yeh hi Mrs P.

• Do people still believe in the after life? I do not know how the Egyptians came up with such a crazy and nonsense idea. But it is a kinda funny idea!

• I have been puzzled about something. Do Egyptians still believe in the false gods that they believed in in the ancient times?! By the way I think you and your husband are really brave to go to Egypt during all the fighting going on!!

• When people die, do they still mummify the dead body? My class is about to learn about mummies like how to mummify a body and all that disgusting stuff. Well at least I think its disgusting but I also find it very interesting!

And Finally:

Thank you for replying to all my posts. I hope to meet you (and like you) one day. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a teacher as a friend like I have to you. Except Mrs. P. at the lower school (edit: the Principal); we had frequent visits with each other.  Thanks again, Noah

Shopping in Cairo

Around Christmas time I went on a three memorable shopping trips.  My husband and I visited the City Stars mall, the biggest and fanciest mall in Cairo, some fellow American wives and I went to the Khan al Khalili market, which has been in continuous existence since 1382, and my Arabic teacher took me to a street where 'real' Egyptians do their shopping to buy me an herbal remedy. 

Neither my husband and I are big shoppers, but we had heard a lot about City Stars and were interested to see it.  We planned to see the Hobbit and then maybe do some shopping for new clothes.  The movie theater was great!  Very comfortable seats, large screens, and it even offered 3-D movies.  I'm not sure 3-D was a necessary enhancement for the Hobbit, but we enjoyed it all the same.  Since we hadn't yet tried it here, after the movie we had McDonalds for lunch at the food court.  What can I say?  McDonalds is McDonalds no matter where you go.  There were a few interesting Egyptian variations to the menu, however.  We could have gotten a Big Mac in either the original beef, or with chicken patties instead.  Additionally, you could get a quarter pounder hamburger meal OR a kofta burger meal.  Kofta is a spicy sausage-like meat usually served grilled.

The clothes shopping was a big disappointment.  Although the mall advertised that they had stores like Gap and Tommy Hilfiger, the Gap store was still under construction and the Tommy Hilfiger store, although stocked with Western clothes, had such high prices we couldn't even consider buying anything.  The other stores in the mall were more typical Egyptian stores: lots of galabaya shops, headscarf shops, and fancy party dress shops.  On the ground floor of the mall was a grocery store, which is an intriguing addition to a shopping mall!  So after a drink at Starbucks we made our way home. 

I went to Khan al Khalili with three other American diplomat wives.  One of the ladies wanted to find a Christmas gift for her husband at an antique store she had seen once before.  The rest of us were just along for the adventure.  Since the market is so old, the shops are very small and very close together.  Nowadays the stores cater more to the tourist shopper rather than the Egyptians themselves, however.

One of the ladies in our group was from Kazakhstan.  She was married to an American diplomat that had been posted there, but before that she spent two years learning Chinese in China.  Apparently learning to bargain in the market is a skill she acquired there in addition to Mandarin.  And she was truly a tenacious bargainer!  We spent over half an hour waiting for her to talk down a shop keeper on the price of a leather purse.  She had decided that she was only going to pay 100 LE (Egyptian pounds) for the purse, about $17.  The shop keeper wanted 200 LE.  Since we clearly looked like tourists he expected an easy sell.  Our friend drove such a hard bargain that he shopkeeper yelled at us as we left, 'Never come back!'  I found all this highly uncomfortable, but I have since discovered that she did exactly what any Egyptian would have done.  I'm still not sure I will ever have the gumption to do the same!

My last shopping adventure was right here in our neighborhood of Maadi.  Although Maadi is considered a high class suburb, there are parts of it that are more truly middle class.  My Arabic teacher, Gigi, is from one of those areas and she kindly offered to take me to an herbal shop near her house to find something for a persistent skin rash I've had.  When we arrived the shop wasn't yet open.  While we were waiting Gigi showed me around and had me try some Egyptian treats.  I had fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice from one shop (not as sweet as you might think) and fresh roasted Aswan peanuts (exactly the same as American peanuts as far as I could tell.)  We took a tok-tok back to the herb shop.  Tok-toks are an Indian import and are as dangerous as they look!

Gigi wanted to get me pumpkin seed oil (the best for rashes, as confirmed by the Koran) but the guy in the shop didn't have it.  After inspecting my arms he determined that I was allergic to bananas and strawberries, neither of which I had eaten in several months.  He gave me two different kinds of oil and told me to to mix them together at home before applying.  As it turns out, I am allergic to one or both of the oils themselves and my rash doubled in size overnight!  No one can tell me what the oils are from so Egyptian herbology is now off my list of skin remedies.

Egyptian Superstitions

If you spend any time at all with Egyptians you will soon notice that they are a remarkably superstitious people.  These superstitions have little to no basis in religion, and (being superstitions) they certainly don't have any scientific underpinnings.   I have been surprised at how many superstitions even well-educated Egyptians hold, but then I realized my european neighbor with a philosophy degree 'knocks on wood' on a regular basis.  I suppose no one is completely immune!  Here are the most entertaining and puzzling superstitions I have come across.

Do not eat catfish.  This superstition dates from Ancient Egyptian times.  Egyptologists speculate that one of the ancient gods might have taken a catfish form at one point, resulting in this prohibition.  What is puzzling is how persistent this superstition has been.  The Nile has an abundant supply of catfish and (apart from general concerns of pollution) there is no reason whatsoever to avoid these fish.  There is nothing in either Islam or Christianity to prohibit eating catfish, but you will never catch a modern Egyptian even considering it.

Don't clean your house after dark.  This also seems to be a holdover from ancient times.  And like the former superstition, it has absolutely no basis in fact.  One of my Arabic teachers told me about this belief and said that her mother would throw a fit if anyone did any cleaning after dark.  My teacher kind of laughed about it, but said she won't clean her own house after dark either!

Lettuce increases fertility in men.   When our tour guide in Luxor found out we had been married for a year and a half and still didn't have children, he very seriously advised my husband to eat more lettuce (apparently not being ready for children isn't a plausible explanation!)  We laughed at first, but then the tour guide turned to another person in our group who was a medical doctor and asked for his verification.  This doctor was Egyptian but had immigrated to the U.S. after medical school.  And although he looked a bit shamefaced about it, he speculated that there were perhaps useful minerals in lettuce and, 'it couldn't hurt'!

Don't tempt the Evil Eye.  The Evil Eye will strike you down at a moment's notice for any number of violations.  The most common, however, is what we might call hubris.  If you are especially proud of your house, your car, your clothes, your wife's beauty, or your baby or if someone else notices what nice things you have, you are sure to lose them in a dramatic way.  People who believe in this go to great lengths to draw attention away from their new or valuable things.  And it is considered very bad manners to compliment someone on their possessions.  In Upper Egypt where this belief is strongest parents of a new baby will give their child an odd name (Muhammad for a Christian child, for example, or a random word like 'Mop') or dress their child in odd clothes in order to draw attention away from the baby's beauty.  One father was so afraid that people would notice his remarkably pretty new son that he took ashes and made a large mark on the baby's forehead.  Then, when people came to visit they spent all their time wondering why the baby had such a strange mark on its head rather than noticing that he was a beautiful child. 

There is a steady demand for symbols to ward off the evil eye here.  One of the most common looks like this:

You can see this symbol embroidered into clothes or made into earrings or necklaces.  This symbol is also found in carpets and in wall hangings.

These superstitions appear to be fairly mundane, but they do seem at times to limit the holder's ability to think clearly about a situation.  As my neighbor demonstrates, however, holding superstitions does seem to more a characteristic of being human rather than a lack of education.