and I don't want to talk about politics.
!خالص (At ALL).
But I have been suspiciously silent for a while.
Maybe because it seemed to me that if I wrote a post...it would necessarily have to be about politics.
And to be honest, I am tired of the subject, as most everyone around me seems to be. Egyptians have a way of laughing things off that is normally refreshing but lately seems only to cover thinly veiled frustration. The news here is censored and biased (undeniable, sorry) and at home, everyone is just tired of the endless barrage of alarming images about Egypt on the news.
Coming out of a period of being, well, drained, and tired of the curfew and other aspects of Egyptian life of late, I have decided to consciously focus on the positive.
And because daily life has resumed some state of normality, I am able to quietly take in the sights of Cairo life again. For those of you only getting the negative side of things at home, I would like to paint a different portrait of Cairo to balance all that negativity a bit.
First of all, let's not forget that when you can't take the noise and crowdedness of Cairo but can't escape to the sea, you can always take a boat (felucca) ride in the middle of the Nile for cheap. No longer at any time of night, but you can sail in the pleasant "fall weather" (ok, it's 88F at 8pm, but there's a breeze), enjoying a view of downtown from the peace and quiet of the middle of one of the world's most famed rivers.
Second, the people. More than once, I have seen a woman offer water to comfort another's crying baby, suffering in the suffocating heat of a crowded women's train in the metro. I see small kind moments like this every day in the metro, regardless of how oppressive the heat or how crowded the train. Women making space for an older woman to squeeze in, women telling me kindly that I should "close my bag" or "put my cell phone in another pocket" to avoid robbers (number of times anyone has tried to steal anything from me on the metro or in the street in Cairo? 0. Number of times women have given me these types of kind warnings? I've lost count). People pull me in when I am about to be caught in the quickly closing doors of the train. And then we laugh about it together in relief. I have even started to recognize faces on my morning commute to Arabic class.
Not to mention that I recently ran around with these kind people one day in a Japanese Garden:
How did I meet them? Well, first, I noticed a group of teenage girls trying to snap secret pictures of me on their cell phones. I laughed and borrowed my friend Tom's phone to "sneakily" take a picture of them in return. Soon, they sent a few delegates to ask me and Tom about ourselves. Next, we sat on a bench and they brought us fruit (guava). Finally, they brought us glasses of sprite and asked us to join them on their picnic blanket under a japanese-style gazebo. We exchanged glances and a few words and said "maashi, shukran" (ok, thank you).
I learned how to play Egyptian games that are more or less like freeze-tag and jump-rope and all the things we do in the U.S. as children. Kids are kids, everywhere. And I was happy that my Arabic was understood and I understood the rules, for the most part.
I took a boat on the little fake-river and sat in the middle as Tom and my new friend Hanan paddled (I was wearing a skirt, and women in skirts should not paddle, I was told).
The neighborhood of Helwan is rather conservative and although I blend in more in other parts of the city, I stuck out like a sore thumb walking around here with Tom (he's German), speaking English and wearing my sweater buttoned awkwardly in an attempt to cover more of my collarbone. But on the way to Helwan, the last stop on the metro in the Northeast section of Cairo, we sat and stared out at the brown desert hills and felt like we were on our way to somewhere new. There is always something else to see in Cairo; every neighborhood is a bit different. And yes, you should always bring a sweater and expect that the paler and more fashion-forward you are, the more children will try to snap secret pictures of you in the farther corners of sprawling Cairo.
Ok, and seriously, let's not forget that Egypt has some of the most gorgeous and least crowded beaches in the world (I kid you not).
Those are just a few pictures from my trip to Ain Sukhna earlier this summer. Yes, I happened to notice dolphins and run out into the water, taking pictures first and then abandoning my camera to swim near them. I will never forget the first time I went to the Red Sea for a scuba-diving trip with Caleb, and as we approached our hostel on the water I started to cry. I felt so lucky. We got fins and masks for snorkeling and waded out into the water and at the point where we could no longer touch the sand with our feet, a cliff of coral and an underwater world of tropical fish loomed ahead, completely visible through our masks and the transparent turquoise water.
These little escapes seem more important these days in Cairo. It's important for one's sanity to find places that feel peaceful. So, on a slightly serious note: I do have to admit that at moments, my faith in humanity has been shaken this summer in Cairo. I hate to see Egyptians engaging in and supporting violence against other Egyptians. I have learned many things over the course of my time here, and one of those things is that human nature has an ugly side; that what I think is "fair" is not always a reality. But at the end of the day, who am I to judge what is "fair"?
There are many things that I do not understand in this life. Some days I wake up and cannot understand why I have been blessed with so many good things. Then, there are days when I wake up and feel resentful of everything. Such is life, but when I accept that I don't and probably never will understand the reasons for hatred and suffering, my attitude improves my life and the lives of those around me in unknowable ways. I believe that when I focus on the positive, my interactions with others around me improve and I am adding to the good in the world. My actions are the only thing that I have control over, and my thoughts lead to my actions.
!خالص (At ALL).
But I have been suspiciously silent for a while.
Maybe because it seemed to me that if I wrote a post...it would necessarily have to be about politics.
And to be honest, I am tired of the subject, as most everyone around me seems to be. Egyptians have a way of laughing things off that is normally refreshing but lately seems only to cover thinly veiled frustration. The news here is censored and biased (undeniable, sorry) and at home, everyone is just tired of the endless barrage of alarming images about Egypt on the news.
Coming out of a period of being, well, drained, and tired of the curfew and other aspects of Egyptian life of late, I have decided to consciously focus on the positive.
And because daily life has resumed some state of normality, I am able to quietly take in the sights of Cairo life again. For those of you only getting the negative side of things at home, I would like to paint a different portrait of Cairo to balance all that negativity a bit.
First of all, let's not forget that when you can't take the noise and crowdedness of Cairo but can't escape to the sea, you can always take a boat (felucca) ride in the middle of the Nile for cheap. No longer at any time of night, but you can sail in the pleasant "fall weather" (ok, it's 88F at 8pm, but there's a breeze), enjoying a view of downtown from the peace and quiet of the middle of one of the world's most famed rivers.
Second, the people. More than once, I have seen a woman offer water to comfort another's crying baby, suffering in the suffocating heat of a crowded women's train in the metro. I see small kind moments like this every day in the metro, regardless of how oppressive the heat or how crowded the train. Women making space for an older woman to squeeze in, women telling me kindly that I should "close my bag" or "put my cell phone in another pocket" to avoid robbers (number of times anyone has tried to steal anything from me on the metro or in the street in Cairo? 0. Number of times women have given me these types of kind warnings? I've lost count). People pull me in when I am about to be caught in the quickly closing doors of the train. And then we laugh about it together in relief. I have even started to recognize faces on my morning commute to Arabic class.
Not to mention that I recently ran around with these kind people one day in a Japanese Garden:
I learned how to play Egyptian games that are more or less like freeze-tag and jump-rope and all the things we do in the U.S. as children. Kids are kids, everywhere. And I was happy that my Arabic was understood and I understood the rules, for the most part.
I took a boat on the little fake-river and sat in the middle as Tom and my new friend Hanan paddled (I was wearing a skirt, and women in skirts should not paddle, I was told).
The neighborhood of Helwan is rather conservative and although I blend in more in other parts of the city, I stuck out like a sore thumb walking around here with Tom (he's German), speaking English and wearing my sweater buttoned awkwardly in an attempt to cover more of my collarbone. But on the way to Helwan, the last stop on the metro in the Northeast section of Cairo, we sat and stared out at the brown desert hills and felt like we were on our way to somewhere new. There is always something else to see in Cairo; every neighborhood is a bit different. And yes, you should always bring a sweater and expect that the paler and more fashion-forward you are, the more children will try to snap secret pictures of you in the farther corners of sprawling Cairo.
Ok, and seriously, let's not forget that Egypt has some of the most gorgeous and least crowded beaches in the world (I kid you not).
Those are just a few pictures from my trip to Ain Sukhna earlier this summer. Yes, I happened to notice dolphins and run out into the water, taking pictures first and then abandoning my camera to swim near them. I will never forget the first time I went to the Red Sea for a scuba-diving trip with Caleb, and as we approached our hostel on the water I started to cry. I felt so lucky. We got fins and masks for snorkeling and waded out into the water and at the point where we could no longer touch the sand with our feet, a cliff of coral and an underwater world of tropical fish loomed ahead, completely visible through our masks and the transparent turquoise water.
These little escapes seem more important these days in Cairo. It's important for one's sanity to find places that feel peaceful. So, on a slightly serious note: I do have to admit that at moments, my faith in humanity has been shaken this summer in Cairo. I hate to see Egyptians engaging in and supporting violence against other Egyptians. I have learned many things over the course of my time here, and one of those things is that human nature has an ugly side; that what I think is "fair" is not always a reality. But at the end of the day, who am I to judge what is "fair"?
There are many things that I do not understand in this life. Some days I wake up and cannot understand why I have been blessed with so many good things. Then, there are days when I wake up and feel resentful of everything. Such is life, but when I accept that I don't and probably never will understand the reasons for hatred and suffering, my attitude improves my life and the lives of those around me in unknowable ways. I believe that when I focus on the positive, my interactions with others around me improve and I am adding to the good in the world. My actions are the only thing that I have control over, and my thoughts lead to my actions.
