Thursday night, as you all know by now, is the beginning of the Egyptian weekend! We waited until everyone got back to Zamalek from classes, and the Gettysburgians + Miriam (she's an honorary Bullet now, we decided!) went out, caught two cabs and headed towards Khan el Khalili. Khan el Khalili is a giant market and bazaar. There are two sides to this market/bazaar. The side which we got dropped off on was the "real" Khan, or the Egyptian Khan, where things are different prices because not many tourists wander over there, and it's horribly dirty and smelled like horse crap. Tommy, Ross and I got out of our cab and as Tommy went over to get a soda, a man came up to Ross and I and started talking. Ross and Nick had been to Khan el Khalili the previous week, so we at least had two people in our group knowing where they were going (relatively speaking). The man, in sandles, windbreaker pants, and a sports t-shirt came up to us and started rattling off.
The first thing out of his mouth had me looking down at the road and waiting for our other cab full of friends to show up (our driver decided he was in Grand Theft Auto. Not the stealing cars part, but the driving around like a super-maniac part).
(In the following transcription from my memory, the italics will be my thoughts.)
"Brother! Sister! I am not creepy dude!" Oh, really? That's comforting. I don't want to talk to you. "You are from America?" "Aiwa. (Yes)" "Do not be afraid, I love America, we love tourists, I love Obama," -snort- You'd love any current president, I betchya. Also, I live here. "I want to be your B-F-F. I am not creepy dude." Because you spelled out BFF, I still don't want to talk to you! Please leave!
Have no fear, readers (particularly Mom), as it turns out, he was a quasi-decent guy (if not really assertive and persistent) who owned two or three shops in the Egyptian side of Khan-el-Khalili. Ross and Nick, as it had turned out, got caught by someone else in their shops the previous week and had already been taken to where they were. We tried to tell him that, we really really did. Ross said, "I went to your shop last week, I know where it is. We're just going to wander first after our friends come."
Even after our friends arrived, to no avail, we had to give in. He took us back into his papyrus shop, he asked for tea, made fun of Ashley for being short, and then after a good half an hour of only one person buying one thing or so, we left. As it turned out, Cat, Ashley, Miriam and Nick when they got out of their cab had a guy who talked to them as well. He said he graduated from AUC and "not to run off and follow people like that they will try to sell you things!" Yeah, yeah. So will you!
Anyway, I have discovered through massive wandering around Khan-el-Khalili that I am still pretty bargaining-shy. With help and some confidence, I got a lot of stuff to take back home. Two t-shirts (Revolution t-shirts YAY!), a couple of scarves, some wooden camels, and other various presents for people. We eventually wandered, once all the shops started to close (we were there between 9:30 and 12:00) to Old Cairo where the giant Mosque is!
At last, we caught a cab ride back to Zamalek (much more at ease this time) and walked around the island to get back to the dorm. I was pooped, so I headed to back to my room while everyone else went to Goal (one day I'll join them going back!). Friday came around and Nick and I, around mid-afternoon, went to go see a Miss Rose Kane! Rose came to Cairo for a week excursion with her Amman, Jordan program. Nick and I caught a cab, hesitantly, not sure how far away her hotel was. Prepared with a print out map with Arabic street names from GoogleMaps, we caught the cab at Zamalek, went over the bridge and voila we were there 3.75 £.E. later! I stood outside and called her, went inside, and then all of the sudden, Rose comes bounding down the stairs (eight flights) and wraps both of us in a hug.
It was so great to see someone from Gettysburg again that I love and miss so much (shout out to Rose!) and isn't here in Cairo every day. We showed her around Zamalek, talked about the differences between Egypt and Jordan, and all around had a good time catching up with one another. It was great to spend time with her and show her all the amazing things in Zamalek that actually make me proud to be here (is it strange that the majority of that is Nola's Bakery and Mongini's desserts?... Nah.). We took her for koshery (a very popular, inexpensive Egyptian food [the smell personally makes my stomach go 'noooooo don't do that!' but it is really popular] - link HERE.) at Alex Top (3 £.E. for a Koshery!), Mongini's for traditional Egyptian desserts, and then back to the hotel. Nick and I got back to Zamalek at around 12:30 and then once again I hit the sack, thankful that I got to see Rose! Who would've thought this time last year that we'd be hanging out not only at Gettysburg, but in CAIRO. Ugh. So cool. Anyway.
Saturday was filled with homework, blah blah blah. Boring stuff. Mom gave me the idea to put candy corn into one of the glass Coca Cola bottles I kept from the Luxor/Aswan cruise (teehee...) with the exact number of how many days are left, and every time a day passes, I get to eat one until the bottle is empty! Clever! Skyped home... talked to friends.
Sunday was another boring day of classes. Art & Architecture of Ancient Egypt and Zionism and Modern Judaism. Monday also with Hieroglyphs and Anthropology. Hieroglyphics is not as fun anymore as I thought it'd be. The way she teaches really bothers a lot of us in the class (which is primarily study abroad students!). Anthropology, the professor bothers me for some unknown reason. I'm trying to give him a chance, but some of the things he says really throws me off from an anthropological point of view.
Tuesday. Crank-down time. I had a midterm today, so all day Tuesday I studied my little butt off. Anyone who knows me (which I assume you do if you're reading this, if not cool - hi...) knows I get super anxious whenever a test, particularly a midterm or a final, comes around. I stayed up until 12:30 studying, then went to bed and woke up super dooper anxious. On the plus side, I fell asleep listening to rain for the first time in weeks! Rainymood.com is my saviour. It just plays constant sounds of thunderstorms and rain... ahhhh, rain....
I blame Alex McComas.
But so yeah. Today. I sat up here in the library, not too far from where I sit now, studying some more and finally left for my second class of the day to take my midterm in Zionism and Modern Judaism. And as I walked to class, as well as took the midterm, I noticed things. I've already mentioned how big AUC is in comparison to Gettysburg College. GC is 2600-2700 on a good day, and AUC... 6000+. Everyone is outside hanging out all the time. Sometimes I doubt whether or not most of the population here even has classes at all or if they just choose to sit out side in masses of hundreds and play music. Seriously. Here. It's like. Sober Springfest at Gettysburg. It looks like EVERYONE is out all the time. And that brought me to thinking about how some of the students seem so... lax... about their education. Like it's not a priority for them. I don't know that may be just me and I'm not trying to generalize, as I do like it here, and I have met some really wonderful people. But at Gettysburg? You'd never see this many people out on campus unless it was a weekend. Even so, it's a stretch.
Also the test taking is different. This was my first test in three years that I haven't needed to write the Honor Code on. Also the professor stayed in the room. What?! What is this? And then she got up to write the time remaining on the board. I felt like I was in high school again. The whole thing about the Honor Code is trust. And obviously that might be an issue in the AUC community - there are no cheating posters up everywhere... I wonder if they've ever thought about implementing an Honor Code like Gettysburg does. It just felt... I dunno.. wrong... not to write the Honor Code on my test before handing it in.
Maybe that's strange, but certainly not to me.
Coming up: A trip on Saturday to Dashur and Saqqara pyramids (and back to Giza if there's time!) for an Egyptology department field trip! Yay!
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