Loans

Qur'anic law does not allow followers of Islam to either earn interest or pay interest.  This presents some real challenges to people in the Middle East as they continue to participate more and more with the rest of the world economically.  Stock exchanges and people who invest in stock have to be very careful that they are neither earning interest nor gambling (another forbidden activity).  On a personal level, individuals cannot earn interest on their bank accounts and they cannot take out interest-earning loans.  They also cannot carry a balance on a credit card which would require them to pay interest.

My Arabic teacher described for us an ingenious system that has developed to work around these requirements and still obtain large lump sums for various necessities.  In her case, she needed money to pay her children's tuition.  At many places of work, and in nearly every neighborhood, people band together to form 'associations'.  They agree on a person to act as mediator and make monthly payments for a specified term.  Each month, every member of the association pays their agreed upon sum to the mediator.  The mediator then selects one member to receive all of the money for that month.  Members can request their payment for specific months, or they can just wait their turn for their payment.  In my teacher's case, she joined an association a month before school started and requested her payment for the first month of school.  The tuition being paid, she then continues to make her monthly payment for the term of the association so that all the other members can receive their lump sum in turn.  This device accomplishes the two goals of receiving a lump sum of money when needed and not having to pay interest to obtain it.

The other students and I admired the cleverness of this system, but we also wondered what the problem was with interest.  Apparently the prophet Muhammad has stated that paying interest is a worse sin than murder, stealing, and adultery.  Our teacher explained that while these other sins harm the doer of the act and the one it is being done to, paying interest is a sin that affects the whole community.  While I personally think that all of these things harm the whole community in some way, there is no doubt that many of our current world-wide economic woes can be attributed at least in part to the pervasive harm of usury.

I find myself often frustrated with the way of thinking here in Egypt that finds the reasons for doing everything from the Qur'an and the life of the prophet Muhammad.  There is very little evidence of critical thinking skills in most people's lives- they do the things they do because that is what their religion teaches, from how to conduct a government down to what oil is the best remedy for skin afflictions.  But in this instance of dealing with usury, I admire the way people have adapted.  It would be unreasonable for us in the West to forgo all interest payments completely, but it probably would not hurt for us to reflect on the harm that has come from our current system!

Spring in Cairo

I have no idea what most of these flowers are, but I have been enjoying them blooming the past few weeks.  They make grey and dusty Cairo seem much more friendly.  These flowers are inside and just outside of our building:

These are trees blooming around Maadi.  The first tree smells really nice— a good antidote to traffic exhaust fumes!

A close-up of the tree above.  The flowers are bigger than my hands!

These last two are poinsettia bushes(!) and bougainvillea growing up into a tree.

Learning Arabic II

My Arabic lessons have continued steadily since they began in September.  I am making some progress, but it is slow.  I was proudest of one of my recent homework assignments, which was to write out the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  This was excellent writing, vocabulary, and grammar practice, and a whole lot of fun.

The assignment I had to turn in today was a set of sentences using the complicated numbering system in Arabic: number one has a masculine and a feminine form, number two gets shortened, changed to masculine or feminine, and attached to the end of the noun it modifies, numbers three through ten have shortened forms that follow a plural noun, and numbers 11-100 use their long forms after a singular noun. 

As I exited the staircase on my way to class I encountered my good friends and informal Arabic teachers— Ibrahim the janitor, Hashem the security guard, and Ahmad the maintenance worker.  Ibrahim and Hashem are my most persistent instructors, and it was Ibrahim that came up with a creative way to help me remember the days of the week.  He assigned a day to the men that regularly work here.  He himself is Goma (Friday) and Hashem is Khamis (Thursday).  Ahmad has become Ilsubt (Saturday).  The rest of the days are randomly assigned to whoever is standing around at the time.  Even though I have moved beyond these vocabulary words, Ibrahim finds this a hilarious joke that he repeats nearly every time he sees me. 

So this morning when I ran into these men and they saw me with a notebook they got all excited.  When they found out I was going to an Arabic class, I offered to show them my homework and they seemed thrilled.  Hashem is the most literate of the three and he took charge.  After reading the first sentence he asked me for a pencil.  He and Ahmad carefully went through each sentence, correcting the spelling (the grammar, surprisingly, didn't need correction).  When they reached sentence number six and found no errors I was congratulated enthusiastically.  By the time they finished all the sentences I was late for class, but I had (almost) perfect homework.  It didn't occur to me until later that Ibrahim had quietly disappeared when the homework came out.  In spite of his enthusiastic teaching, I have been suspecting that he is functionally illiterate.  A large portion of Egyptians are, and that contributes to many of their economic and social problems.

Needless to say, I had some explaining to do when I handed in my homework.  Fortunately, my teacher is very laid back and was entertained by the story.  It turns out that Ahmad and Hashem were assuming that I was writing in Modern Standard Arabic so several of their corrections weren't quite right for my assignment in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic.  Nevertheless, I sincerely appreciated the time these men take to encourage me and help me out.  Language lessons are not at all part of their jobs, but they, like many Egyptians I have met, seem to make it their personal mission to help all foreigners learn their language.  As Arabic is as hard for English speakers as Mandarin Chinese, we can certainly use all the help we can get!

Not for the Faint of Heart

Between food poisoning and traveling it had been a couple of weeks since I had done a really thorough house cleaning.  This afternoon I started to rectify the situation.  When we dust, not only do we have to dust the normal things, we also have to dust several of the doorways.  In three of our rooms the air is being continuously sucked out of the house— the two rooms that house our HVAC units, and one of the bathrooms.  The doors to those rooms stay closed most of the time, so dust and dirt collect in the doorway.  This is what it looks like after a couple of weeks:

Fortunately, it wipes away fairly easily:

But I'm left with super gross dust bunnies:

Since the doorways were particularly bad, I decided to check our air filters.   The washable filter came out first and it was almost completely black:

A good vacuuming mostly took care of the problem:

The HEPA filter, however, was in much worse shape.  We are waiting for a new one to come in the mail, so I tried to vacuum out this one to nurse it along.  Here it is with one corner vacuumed:

Even though the cleaning was only somewhat successful, the air in the room is noticeably better now.

Cairo consistently lands on Top 10 lists for air pollution, but it has never been at the top of the list.  I cannot even imagine what this chore would be like in Beijing!

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.