tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55715552011-07-08T11:00:15.033+02:00MuleIn Egypt from June 11, 2003 to June 12, 2005, in Syria for two months, then in DC for grad school.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1118657803074186112005-06-13T13:14:00.000+03:002005-06-13T13:16:43.080+03:00I'm now safely settled in Damascus, and will take an Arabic course in July. As promised, I won't be blogging, but here's a quote from a US Army spokesman which I thought merited posting, for its razor-sharp insightfulness:"Increasingly, it is the Iraqis who are bearing the burden of this war, even more than Americans."اللهKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1118230957701149232005-06-08T14:32:00.000+03:002005-06-08T14:42:37.706+03:00Mom, Dad, and Amelia are now on their way back to the US, and I'm getting ready to leave for Syria, providing with me a convenient excuse to stop blogging (since I'll be in a repressive Axis of Evil wannabee country, not enjoying the freedom of Mubarak's Egypt).Yet another article on the CIA's inability to find enough Arabic translators:http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/politics/08intel.html?hp&Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1116776637618539732005-05-22T18:37:00.000+03:002005-05-22T19:39:46.620+03:00Amelia, Mom, and Dad are getting into Egypt on Wednesday; the itinerary on which I wasted much time that would have been better spent on the final paper for Literature class I just turned in calls for Wednesday and Thursday in Cairo, Friday and Saturday in the White Desert, Sunday and Monday in Cairo, an overnight sleeper train to Aswan, a four-night cruise from Aswan to Luxor, then a train back Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1116397592960782232005-05-18T09:10:00.000+03:002005-05-18T09:26:32.966+03:00Finally, a post not about Vinny. I realized I never put anything up about Turkey, which my parents leave for today. On the 25th, they'll leave Istanbul for two weeks in Egypt. Coming from Cairo, Istanbul seemed very European, and not even remotely related to the stinky, overcrowded metropolis on the Nile. Traffic gridlock was as bad, though, or even worse at times since there's not a modern Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1115743879267621102005-05-10T19:45:00.000+03:002005-05-10T19:51:19.276+03:00Here's Vinny's post, replete with unedited grammaticular mistakes (a strong first sentence though). I would however, like to note a few things first: the five-alarm fire in the Khan (half a block from where the bombing was) ended up destroying 120 shops, thanksfully with no lives lost. The response was slow, though--the fire started, with unknown causes, at 7:00am Saturday morning, Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1115286005406069302005-05-05T12:35:00.000+03:002005-05-05T12:40:05.413+03:00Vinny's now in Cairo. I'll hold off writing about his experience, since he'll be posting himself on my blog in a couple days.Today I went by the Syrian Embassy to apply for a visa--I had heard rumors that the visa request only cost LE 250 ($45) for Americans, whereas it's $100 in the States, but discovered to my dismay that it's actually LE 660 ($115) here in Cairo. The worst thing is there's Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1114512409922604342005-04-26T12:28:00.000+02:002005-04-26T12:46:49.923+02:00Vinny's going to be coming to Cairo from May 3rd to May 8th, right after our spring break ends (which is really late, because there's an Islamic holiday on April 21st this year, Sinai Liberation Day on April 25th, some other holiday on April 28th, and then Shem El-Nessim on May 2nd, in a weird convergence of the Islamic, Coptic, and Western calendars combining to push spring break back a month).Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1113897595136842302005-04-19T09:58:00.000+02:002005-04-19T09:59:55.136+02:00From the original NYTimes story on the Oklahoma City bombing ten years ago today:------------------------------------------------------------Some experts focused on the possibility that the attack had been the work of Islamic militants, like those who bombed the World Trade Center in February 1993.But if so, it was unclear why they would have struck in Oklahoma City. Some Middle Eastern groups Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1113384148457616832005-04-13T11:11:00.000+02:002005-04-13T11:22:28.460+02:00Yesterday witnessed the surprise return of Muhammad from Shubra, an old "friend" who still thinks I'm Norwegian (I generally say American these days, except in Gamaliya), and was actually one of the main factors encouraging the whole Norwegian identity, thanks to all the English he tried to use when we first met. He's mostly dropped that now, speaking entirely in Arabic but throwing in the Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1112951470232060092005-04-08T10:58:00.000+02:002005-04-08T11:11:10.233+02:00It's still unclear what happened exactly. Al-Jazeera is saying that there are three dead, one French tourist, one American, and one Egyptian suicide bomber, while people yesterday were saying that the bomb was thrown by a man on a fizba (the little mopeds not too common in Cairo at large but all over the place in Hussein and Gamaliya since regular cars have trouble navigating the narrow streets)Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1112899212061320462005-04-07T20:38:00.000+02:002005-04-07T20:40:12.060+02:00Just to let you know, we're all fine. The explosion was in the Khan, in a street that I go through every few days on my way home, though usually I take the other route through the square.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1112866079800393012005-04-07T11:19:00.000+02:002005-04-07T11:27:59.800+02:00Opposition leader Ayman Nour's headquarters in Baab ash-Shariya, about a fifteen-minute walk from my house, are now surrounded by pro-Mubarak signs, no doubt spontaneously put up by the masses. They say slogans like "Yes to the leader Mubarak", "Yes to the commander of the first strike [Mubarak was the air force commander in the 1973 war against Israel]", and "Yes to Mubarak, No to every Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1112790366696017072005-04-06T14:25:00.000+02:002005-04-06T14:26:06.696+02:00Murfreesboro makes the front page of the Onion.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1111997873723889972005-03-28T10:08:00.000+02:002005-03-28T10:17:53.723+02:00Just got back from Siwa last night, a trip that Walid and I had organized for 21 people, including 12 CASAns. We had more security problems on the way back, as the one microbus we had (a few of us went public transportation) was hounded by a police escort the whole way which slowed them down and forced them to stop only at completely empty resthouses without any other customers. When we got Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1111574738877579072005-03-23T12:41:00.000+02:002005-03-23T12:45:38.876+02:00I came down with some kind of throat cold yesterday and today, bad timing since we leave for Siwa in an hour. Organizing the trip was kind of a pain too, because of problems with the drivers and state security. The brother of a friend of Walid's from Fayoum was going to come with another driver to take us directly to Siwa, but then the day before yesterday the police in Fayoum confiscated the Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1111396510991781642005-03-21T11:07:00.000+02:002005-03-21T20:21:39.366+02:00Demonstrations in Tahrir Square yesterday and today, with very heavy security around the square and surrounding AUC. The notice we got from the embassy says it's about the latest fighting in Iraq, though there are unsubstantiated rumors going around that the Man bumped off opposition leader Ayman Nour, who was hospitalized in late February while in prison. Unless I missed something, Iraq hasn'tKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1110908228342563812005-03-15T19:04:00.000+02:002005-03-15T19:37:08.346+02:00Yesterday, on my way home from university I gave Walid and Yassir a call at about 9:00pm to see if they wanted me to pick up any food for dinner. There were two guests staying with us for the night (I still got a mattress to myself, partly since I have to sleep diagonally to fit on it, and the four of them shared a bed and blanket), and they requested frozen chicken, vegetables, and bread to Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1110788987054944182005-03-14T10:24:00.000+02:002005-03-14T10:29:47.063+02:00My blogs may be boring, but at least they're short.And here's an article about the richest family in Egypt (90th richest person/family in the world). They're Coptic Christians originally from Sohag, the poorest province in Egypt, which is about half Christian. The EconomistTechnology and development Mar 10th 2005FROM the pyramids to the Citadel, Cairo's skyline features some of the most famous Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1110620964383031262005-03-12T11:32:00.000+02:002005-03-12T11:49:24.386+02:00I just got back from a two-day trip to Ismailia, the middle of the three cities along the Suez Canal, which is not by either the Med (Port Said) or the Red (Suez), but by Crocodile Lake. It was the most picturesque of the three, with a lot of open green spaces and older European villas. In grad school news, I'll most likely be going to Georgetown next year to do a Master's in Arab Studies. I Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1110021014768254762005-03-05T12:57:00.000+02:002005-03-05T13:10:14.770+02:00Once again, apologies for not blogging much. There just hasn't been much going on in this part of the world.I'm putting together a trip to Siwa--several CASA students and a few random foreigners and Egyptians are going, as well as Walid and his sister Wala'. The latter's still up in the air because Walid's older brother Tamer, an engineer in Ma'adi who's about to have to leave his good job for Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1109087572096835962005-02-22T17:48:00.000+02:002005-02-22T17:52:52.096+02:00Free Mojtaba and Arash DayKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1108636848537514922005-02-17T12:22:00.000+02:002005-02-17T12:40:48.540+02:00I've started working at Al-Ahram Weekly once again, now only eight to ten hours a week. I need the money to save up for this summer and do some more travelling in Egypt: I've pretty much got a homestay arranged in Damascus from June 15 to August 15, for $120 a month rent and food. After this Hariri affair I'm worried that it'll be harder for Americans to travel to Syria, plus after the US Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1108294555936123942005-02-13T13:26:00.000+02:002005-02-13T13:35:55.936+02:00Just got back from a trip to Bahriyya, Farafra, Dakhla, and Kharga, the oases of the Western Desert. Too much to bite off for a three day weekend, for one thing. We spent 22 hours in the bus going from place to place, making for little time outside of the bus and various (really nice) hotels. And then the selection of sites was questionable. In Bahriyya (near the White Desert) we spent four Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1107080445243877602005-01-30T11:44:00.000+02:002005-01-30T12:20:45.243+02:00 Mount Sinai was a different experience this time around. When I went with John and Ryan in August, we started up at 1:00 AM to watch the sunrise. By the time we were down, there were about 20 tour buses in the parking lot, mostly bringing tourists from Sharm El-Sheikh. But on Wednesday we went up during the day to watch the sunset. It wasn't as impressive as the sunrise, but it had been so Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1106931437782221322005-01-28T18:54:00.000+02:002005-01-28T18:57:17.783+02:00Joanna's now safely in Turkey, trying to get her credit card and ATM card to start working, so check out her posts (link on the left).
I'll be posting about Dahab and Mount Sinai in a day or two, I just got back yesterday.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1106306091923529312005-01-21T13:00:00.000+02:002005-01-21T13:14:51.923+02:00An article about a recent murder in the Egyptian-American community in Jersey City. Walid's dad works in New Jersey, though I'm not sure where exactly.
I spent Eid with the family in Abu Sir, and a classmate of mine came along. The 'downtown' of Abu Sir around the souq was swarming with teenagers showing off their new Eid clothes and younger kids heavily armed with toy guns bought that morningKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1106134909180295382005-01-19T13:33:00.000+02:002005-01-19T13:41:49.180+02:00Tomorrow's the first day of Eid Al-Adha, commemmorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for God. Since families that can afford it traditionally sacrifice some large domestic beast (eating a third, giving the rest to the poor), Gamaliya is full of sheep and cows blissfully unaware of their impending doom. I'll be spending the day in Abu Sir with a couple students from CASA. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1105265637255221682005-01-09T11:45:00.000+02:002005-01-09T12:13:57.263+02:00Coptic Christmas was an interesting experience, even if it didn't work out as planned at all. My friend Sherif, who was gonna introduce us to friends in Sohag (both Charles and I were interested in seeing Sohag in part because it's the poorest, most backwards part of the country), got sick a couple days before the trip and couldn't come, so it was gonna be just Charles and me. He showed up withKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1105009190511567622005-01-06T13:42:00.000+02:002005-01-06T12:59:50.510+02:00I've been spending a lot of my free time watching Egyptian soap operas from the Arabic Studies office at AUC. There are two recurring religious Islamic stock characters in most of the soap operas, that of the benevolent wise old shaykh and the group of bearded Islamic extremists. The wise old shaykh makes only occasional appearances, but at key moments, when a main character is having a Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1104696830305619202005-01-02T22:12:00.000+02:002005-01-02T22:13:50.306+02:00Good article on the recent trouble with the Copts. I'll be going with Big Charles to Sohag from January 6-10 to check out Coptic Christmas in Upper Egypt. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1104491343524146922004-12-31T13:59:00.000+02:002004-12-31T13:09:03.526+02:00I went by the neighborhood by John, Ryan, Amin, and I lived this summer. It's one of the nicest areas downtown, with pedestrian-only cobblestone streets and plenty of foliage. The occasion was to order some books for my spring Modern Arab Literature course from the small, independent bookstore right by our building. It has a liberal slant, with the door covered in stickers proclaiming: End Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1104244729766924322004-12-28T16:08:00.000+02:002004-12-28T16:39:59.520+02:00Christmas Day itself was pretty depressing. I found myself wishing I had gone back to the States like almost everyone else in CASA. Cairo had a rare rainy day, and downtown was almost empty when I got there around 5:00, after spending the day at home cooking vegetable soup and reading. The only highlight was that I talked to my folks on the phone at about midnight (4:00pm on Christmas Eve CST)Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1103368105436532222004-12-18T13:54:00.000+02:002004-12-20T09:39:55.430+02:00I went to a party for Dan Murphy, the Christian Science Monitor reporter, on Thursday--he's going to Iraq for the next three months. Walid and several of the Afghans ('Abd al-Baseer, Yahya, Amin, and Shams) came with, since they all knew Dan either from ultimate frisbee or since Dan went to the Afghan house in Giza for the article he wrote about CASA. Seeing Dan sipping a beer upon our arrival,Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1103099678855633432004-12-15T10:32:00.000+02:002004-12-15T10:34:38.856+02:00There was an anti-Mubarak demonstration near the Al-Ahram building Sunday, at the Judiciary on 26th of July Street.
I've been staying busy with getting ready for finals, from the 20th to the 23rd.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1102326688305665872004-12-06T11:42:00.000+02:002004-12-06T11:51:28.306+02:00"The Mosul attacks appeared to have been planned well in advance, according to American commanders. 'The terrorists told the civilians they were going to attack the Americans and to stay indoors,' said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of the First Battalion of the 24th Infantry, which controls much of western Mosul. Shops near the biggest ambush closed just before the attack, the commanders Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1102159807353005362004-12-04T13:10:00.000+02:002004-12-04T13:30:07.353+02:00Mubarak boldly speaks up to praise Sharon and discourage the development of a multi-party political system in Palestine, which would be a dangerous precedent no doubt.
"We urge the Palestinians to have one voice and there is no need for differences at a time when we want to avoid differences," he said after criticizing Mr. Barghouti's decision to run.
I hadn't seen Amin for about ten days untilKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1100696489450857922004-11-18T09:17:00.000+02:002004-11-18T09:28:19.496+02:00Some pictures from Rana and Anjali's party for mostly CASA students the day before Ramadan.
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN2rNo1bsWjDHg
And violence crossed the border into Egypt again: three Egyptian soldiers were shot dead this morning by Israeli soldiers who apparently mistook them for Palestinians.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1100602724798830762004-11-16T13:22:00.000+02:002004-11-16T13:00:18.336+02:00Spent Thursday through Sunday celebrating the end of Ramadan in Dusouq, a small city about two and a half hours north of Cairo. Walid's family lives there, as does Yassir, who is going to move in with us in Hussein. We're going to chip in 50 pounds each to get another bed, which will be my domain, while Yassir and Walid will share the current bed. I didn't get a chance to meet Yassir's dad, Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1100266809741069352004-11-12T15:33:00.000+02:002004-11-12T15:40:09.740+02:00Well, Arafat finally died. His funeral was in Cairo today, but I've been out of town since last night, up in the Delta with Walid and his family and Amin. Walid, Ahmad, Amin, and others, have at times been laughing about it, saying "Arafat can burn in hell", but at other times getting more sentimental about him as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
The government kept the public far away fromKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1100072185548266112004-11-10T09:33:00.000+02:002004-11-10T09:36:25.546+02:00An article on CASA in the Christian Science Monitor, written by Dan Murphy, a friend of mine who organizes the ultimate frisbee games in Ma'adi on Fridays.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1099133269840276772004-10-30T13:36:00.000+02:002004-11-06T13:39:57.576+02:00Well, Tuesday was not such a great day. As you may have noticed. (1) Bush is re-elected, easily sweeping Arkansas despite the death of one potential voter . Well, that's no doubt an urban legend, but it was recounted to our modern standard Arabic class by Nur ad-Din. When I told Amin the story, he burst out in his hyena-like laugh for a good minute, then went straight into a lecture about howKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1098798981557928052004-10-26T15:47:00.000+02:002004-10-26T15:56:21.556+02:00My Norwegian identity was ripped apart twice at a party at Rana and Anjali's house the night before Ramadan started. The first time, Rana deviously introduced me to a Swedish man in attendance as being from Oslo. His face lit up and he said something to the effect of "Først i kveld kan politiet få avhørt åringen som ved midnatt fikk knekket armer og ben?". To which I replied, trying my utmost Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1098538934378458462004-10-23T15:26:00.000+02:002004-10-24T13:28:47.583+02:00I spent about 30 pounds in bathroom fixtures--the sink now drains properly and there is a hose to accompany the Egyptian-style toilet. The locals in my part of Hussein seem to have mostly gotten used to seeing me, though the first few times the guys in the coffee shops beside my apartment would invariably helpfully try to steer me to Khan al-Khalili, believing that I was about to blunder into an Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1098004955640914402004-10-17T10:58:00.000+02:002004-10-17T11:37:29.720+02:00Sorry I've been a lax poster yet again. For those of you I haven't been in touch with, I'm now living in Gamaliya, Naguib Mahfouz's birthplace at the heart of Islamic Cairo. My new roommate is Walid, an Egyptian senior at Al-Azhar and friend of Amin's (and unlike Amin, actually due to finish his studies on time). We're sharing a rather modest dwelling, which is furnished, technically speaking,Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1097249744783203832004-10-08T17:30:00.000+02:002004-10-08T17:35:44.783+02:00I can't get to my hotmail account, but I didn't go to Sinai for the 6th of October vacation, and so was far from the scene of the bombings. They all took place fairly close to where Julia had been working, and in towns I had passed through before. Right now I'm in Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean with a big group of CASA and AUC people. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1096717538686771892004-10-02T13:39:00.000+02:002004-10-02T13:45:38.686+02:00John, Ryan, Amin and I left our apartment Friday morning for good. The landlady came by to go through the Egyptian ritual of making up phony damages to keep as much of our deposit money as possible. It wasn't too bad, though, and we kept LE 1075 of the original LE 1300. John and Ryan are staying with friends in Doqqi until they leave town, Amin is back in the dorms at Al-Azhar, and I'm crashingKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1096109811766721482004-09-25T13:48:00.000+03:002004-09-25T13:56:51.766+03:00Saed and Amin had an interesting story to relate to me. They've been meeting up every Friday to go to prayer together at a different mosque around town. Last week they were at Al-Azhar, the biggest and best-known one in town. The imam gave a typically apolitical sermon (the imams are mostly or all government appointed in Egypt and steer clear of any interesting topics) on the importance of Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1094897217666866502004-09-11T13:30:00.000+03:002004-09-11T13:06:57.666+03:00We went to see some belly dancing last week, our first such experience. We had been warned that belly dancers in Egypt were usually oversized Ukrainian or Russian women, but had to at least try it out. The better known places along Sharia Al-Haram near the Pyramids are pretty expensive, the cheaper ones having a LE 50 ($8) cover charge, but we found a joint a couple blocks away from our Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1094387259770633812004-09-05T15:07:00.000+03:002004-09-11T12:27:41.636+03:00We had a great, if extremely long, trip to Siwa, an oasis in the middle of nowhere on the Libyan border. The only real town between Cairo and Siwa is Marsa Matrouh on the Med, about six hours from Cairo, so we stopped there Wednesday a little past midnight to break up the trip and do the remaining four hours in the morning. Unfortunately, Matrouh has beautiful beaches and is very popular for Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1093433560311033792004-08-25T14:22:00.000+03:002004-08-25T14:32:40.313+03:00As of last night, the Central Desk at Al-Ahram Weekly, a long-standing source of employment for English-speaking foreigners living in Cairo for a few months or years, is no more. So John among others is out of work, which he doesn't seem to mind too much. He'll just take an intensive Arabic course instead of a regular course next month, and is okay financially now that he's scrapped his plans Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1092643101060839452004-08-16T10:35:00.000+03:002004-08-16T10:58:21.060+03:00Ryan, John, and I got back last night from an awesome five-day weekend in Luxor and Aswan checking out Egypt's non-Pyramidal Pharaonic ruins. It wasn't as unbearably hot as we thought it was going to be, with a high of 45 most days, which sounds colder than it is. In Luxor, we rented bikes to avoid joining a tour group, and covered the 14 km between the Colossi of Memnon, some house in the Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1091528192927887272004-08-03T13:04:00.000+03:002004-08-03T13:16:32.926+03:00I've been done with classes for almost two weeks now, and haven't had much to do (but still haven't made the time to blog). That changes tomorrow morning, not the blogging part I mean, when John, Ryan, Melanie (a Utahan friend from the Amman program), Hani (a cousin from Abu Sir), and I go off to Dahab on the Red Sea coast for four days of snorkeling, swimming, hiking, and great, cheap food. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1090396991666962392004-07-21T10:53:00.000+03:002004-07-21T11:03:11.666+03:00I'm finishing up the exams for the summer Arabic program at AUC today and tomorrow, and going to pick up Melanie Dixon (friend who studied Arabic with me in Amman and is coming to study at the ILI here in Cairo) at the airport this afternoon.
A couple notable birthdays this week: David celebrated his 21st birthday with an out-of-control, liquor-laced party attended by a number of belly dancers Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1090225515250455852004-07-19T11:21:00.000+03:002004-07-19T11:25:15.250+03:00Good article on the recent cabinet change in Egypt.
I only have three days left in the Arabic summer program, then I'm off until September. John and Ryan will still be working part-time at the Weekly, but we'll take a lot of 4-5 day trips in August, to Dahab (Red Sea hippie backpacker town), Luxor/Aswan (the best Pharaonic ruins, in Upper Egypt), St. Catherine's (monastery atop Mt. Sinai)/Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1088686566614301612004-07-01T15:34:00.000+03:002004-07-01T15:56:06.613+03:00This is the third time tday I've tried t pst this. I'm nw n a cmpter which seems t be wrking fine except fr the stupid " " key, and "h" isn't responsive at all.
Happy birthday to Grandma, Katie, and Beth. Als, a frmal aplgy ges ut t Cllin P-Sng for frgetting his June 25 birthday while remebering everyne else's.
Yesterday I had tw dd variatins n the usual reactins to my freigness (Bitte Manni, Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1087978807540844902004-06-23T11:11:00.000+03:002004-06-23T11:20:07.540+03:00So I haven't really posted anything in the past three weeks, but in case I haven't been in touch with you, the basics are: I am now living in downtown Cairo with Muhammad Amin (a close friend, an Afghan studying Islamic Law here at Al-Azhar) as well as John and Ryan (two of my best friends from Murfreesboro). With much help from Ian, I finagled both of them part-time jobs at the Weekly. SpeakingKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1085978404501723122004-05-31T07:32:00.000+03:002004-05-31T07:41:30.800+03:00For people that know Jimmy, he safely returned from his first stint in Iraq, al-hamdu lillah alaa salaama. He didn't sound like he enjoyed it too much, to put it mildly. He was working as a guard at a prison between Falluja and Abu Gharib (the "Ghraib" transliteration and pronunciation is just completely nonsensical). Jimmy said that military intelligence wasn't too friendly to him, since he'sKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1085524424868126372004-05-26T01:31:00.000+03:002004-05-31T07:40:52.583+03:00I've been chilling in Murfreesboro for the past two weeks, since a wild Sittende Mai celebration in Philadelphia (Megan said that her grandparents were voted King and Queen of the Sittende Mai parade in Stoughton, Wisconsin this year, which is also my grandparents' town and possibly the most Norwegian town in the country). Since I'll be in Egypt for the next year, probably not going to the US Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1085026303927766372004-05-20T07:08:00.000+03:002004-05-31T07:31:57.910+03:00For those of you out there studying Egyptian Arabic, here's the Bible, as told in Cairene dialect:
I'm back home in Tennessee for a little, and get back to Cairo with John and Ryan on June 3rd. I'll have an apartment downtown near AUC, and will be studying Arabic in the CASA program for the next year.
I'm gonna go eat some pork. Mmmm. Sacridelicious. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1084193814730997052004-05-10T15:43:00.000+03:002004-05-10T16:28:00.736+03:00I'm spending a bittersweet last week at Al-Ahram Weekly and in Abu Sir. After flying home to the States on Saturday and returning June 3rd, I'll have a new occupation (studying Arabic) and new apartment (still looking on that one). It's been hard knowing that I'm not going to get to see the kids, Um Ahmad, the cousins, etc much, even though I'll try to go down for visits every 2-3 weeks.
In Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1083160753071713182004-04-28T15:58:00.000+02:002004-04-28T16:02:18.356+02:00And there's Claire!Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1082999352354994802004-04-26T19:09:00.000+02:002004-04-26T19:12:15.686+02:00The Interim Governing Council has unveiled what is supposed to be the new Iraqi flag. My initial reaction:
1. It's ugly.
2. Are they somehow unaware of the significance that the two horizontal blue bands has in the Arab world for alleged Zionist designs for an Israeli state stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates? They're just feeding conspiracy theorists easy material.
3. Really ugly. And Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1082017080950946742004-04-15T10:18:00.000+02:002004-04-15T10:26:55.920+02:00I thought Joanna was going to post something more about how cute my family is and all, but it seems her reign of terror is over. She left Egypt two Saturdays ago, and I'm heading back to the States for two weeks a month from today. The CASA Arabic program I'll be doing next year starts June 1st, meaning I'm not going to be able to make the BenBen-Alicia wedding, sadly. Ryan and John are also Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1080416634485980012004-03-27T21:17:00.000+02:002004-03-27T21:48:49.746+02:00Right now I'm in Luxor with Paul's friend Julia, who's an English teacher in Sinai. We spent the day looking around Luxor and Karnak temples, which are both really huge and well-preserved. It's hard to believe that five-thousand-year-old buildings could still be in such great shape that everything but the roof is still solid.
After the full day of touristy things, I guess we both felt that Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1079881161283476052004-03-21T16:59:00.000+02:002004-03-21T17:01:48.513+02:00As Paul could tell you, I've gone through a lot of culture shock in the last week. One thing he hasn't mentioned (possibly for fear of offending the parental portion of the viewing audience) is how terrible the traffic situation is here. The worst part is trying to cross the street (and yes, I'll admit I'm a bit oversensitive). There are occasionally painted crosswalks (I've seen two), but no Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1079799821577196762004-03-20T18:23:00.000+02:002004-03-20T18:29:40.700+02:00Paul and I just got back from watching an anti-war protest that was going on in Midan Tahrir (Cairo's main square, where the American University and Egyptian Museum are). One year ago, I was at a huge, chaotic protest in Spain (near the station that was just bombed), but the Egyptian version could not have been more different. At first, I couldn't even tell if there were any protesters -- they Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1079434020148247672004-03-16T12:47:00.000+02:002004-03-16T12:49:21.560+02:00Due to popular demand, my sister will be taking over the blog for the next three weeks, while she's in Egypt. This is surely a disastrous step. It'll be like those Family Circus cartoons, where you're getting used to your daily dose of witty insights, cutting social commentary, and touching greetings from the family, including Grandma's angel, on all national holidays, and then Bill Keane handsKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1079169763672786112004-03-13T10:57:00.000+02:002004-03-13T11:25:02.373+02:00I just found out about the bombings in Spain this morning, since I was in Abu Sir all yesterday. I did read the news briefs at the bottom of the screen during a soap opera, but 8 of the 12 items were about Mubarak's speech in Alexandria, where he called for reform from inside Egypt, not externally imposed. Clearly newsworthy. On Wednesday, there was a rumor at work that Mubarak was going to Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1078130231953537312004-03-01T10:37:00.000+02:002004-03-01T10:39:18.420+02:00A couple of you have asked about girls' education in the village, so I'll tell you what I learned from Um Ahmad (the mother of the family in Abu Sir) several weeks ago. Um Ahmad (her original name, which I almost never hear, is Rouhiya) never went to school, and married Adil, later to be known as Abu Ahmad, when she was 15 and he was about 22. She's illiterate, though she has been trying, Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1077718907412307962004-02-25T16:20:00.000+02:002004-03-01T10:24:11.966+02:00Never mind. I'm not connected with the article at all. It was of questionable quality, a complete re-write, but word from higher up came through saying let it be, so I just removed such factual errors as "Bush's invasion of Somalia" and praise of Kerry for winning the southern states, usually Republican strongholds. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1077612836865348352004-02-24T10:44:00.000+02:002004-02-24T10:55:57.890+02:00You heard it here first. This Thursday, Al-Ahram Weekly will hartify John Kerry's presidential hopes with an incriminating photograph of an Egyptian bellydancer, who may or may not be Jane Fonda, on his senatorial lap in January 2002. Or she's in the same picture at least. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1077186702656612632004-02-19T12:07:00.000+02:002004-02-19T12:33:38.280+02:00I've been keeping busy lately with studying for the CASA entrance exams (a year of Arabic in Cairo for free if I get in) and reading entertainingly bad Egyptian Gazette articles. One, which I will have to hunt down to quote in full, was a dramatic front page article, with big, bold headlines next to the Iraq, Palestine, and Egyptian corruption stories. Not at all done for the sake of humor, theKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1076338362527847952004-02-09T16:52:00.000+02:002004-02-11T11:27:29.873+02:00I guess not even Norwegians are safe.
Police said Hussein Ahmed Hassan attacked a group of tourists in the city's historical centre because he mistook them for Americans. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1075304676466714502004-01-28T17:44:00.000+02:002004-01-29T17:55:59.153+02:00The only major drawback to life in Abu Sir continues to be the long commute. The microbuses tend to be pretty crowded, as they are 15-passenger vans that sometimes carry as few as 14 people if the driver is merciful and allows only three people in the back seat, or somebody pays extra for space to put produce or bags of bread in. They hold on average 17 people or so, and a couple times I've Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1074766041405713512004-01-22T12:07:00.000+02:002004-01-22T12:08:49.263+02:00I had the usual short day of work on Wednesday, plus my weekend's Thursday and Friday, so I've been spending more time in Abu Sir. The usual evening around the house consists of Egyptian soap operas with the occasional news or religion show. A couple times a week the whole family will go hang out with some cousins or friends, drinking tea and chatting for a couple hours. Visiting the sick and Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1074419390372636652004-01-18T11:44:00.000+02:002004-01-18T11:51:13.686+02:00Sorry no posting lately. I tried to post on Saturday, but halfway through my story the computer froze. I'll try again tomorrow or so, but for now, rest safe knowing that I'm back in Egypt with all my luggage. For those of you that know Jimmy Abdullah Fry, he is still alive and unhurt in Iraq, although his unit is stationed in Fallujah until the end of February. He passes on the message of "Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1073426600462187152004-01-07T00:01:00.000+02:002004-01-14T11:09:15.920+02:00Here's a good guide to Egyptian censorship, put up by Al-Ahram Weekly's rival, the Middle East Times.
http://metimes.com/2K4/issue2004-1/methaus.htmKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1072208132826442122003-12-23T21:35:00.000+02:002003-12-27T06:51:38.436+02:00On vacation in Murfreesboro until January 5th. I'll resume posting from shortly after January 9th. I know it looks bad having month-long postless stretches, but this is a travel blog, and there's nothing interesting to report from the Boro, except to mention that it was cited in a recent Strongbad e-mail. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1070842621741017932003-12-08T02:14:00.000+02:002007-02-25T04:39:03.676+02:00Just a short note on my whereabouts. I'm in the Philadelphia area, sponging off of friends at Swat and in Philly for the next week, then going up to New York on the 14th and flying back to Nashville the next morning. After a few weeks at home for the holidays, I arrive in Egypt early on January 9th.The frisbee banquet last night was a blast, with Roban, Ben Ben, Collin, and I (half the Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1070445085448542782003-12-03T11:51:00.000+02:002003-12-03T11:52:03.293+02:00Russia ditched the Kyoto Protocol Negotiations, explaining that complying was too costly, and Putin argued that Russia might actually benefit from global warming, saying:
"We shall save on fur coats and other warm things."
Fantastic.
As an excuse for my non-posting, I've been sick (now better), then getting ready to go back to the States, which is only a few days from now.
And I still don't Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1069675974880841452003-11-24T14:04:00.000+02:002003-11-27T11:48:10.936+02:00Gulf humor , which sounds even better than the Kuwaiti South Park rip-off and the (also Kuwaiti, I think) stand-up comedy by the Ariel Sharon impersonator (I saw part of it once, and it was more making fun of the obese than anything).
Mubarak fell sick with "severe flu and pneumonia ... but is in good health", according to government statements, while delivering a speech the other day. The Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1069330153088151682003-11-20T14:09:00.000+02:002003-11-20T14:09:38.686+02:00At least Arabic is turning out to be a valuable skill (Wayne, you can only hope that Clash of Civilizations is right and China will soon join forces with The Islamic Civilizations versus The West, as seen in the popular computer game Civilization, not created by Samuel Huntingdon).
At least the Army and State Department (which has a grand total of almost 60 people who can speak Arabic fluentlyKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1069060956257064032003-11-17T11:07:00.000+02:002003-11-17T11:22:58.623+02:00I had an interesting iftar (Ramadan dinner/breakfast) yesterday, with mostly people from work. A photographer who's the husband of an Egyptian writer on our staff had just gotten back from Iraq, doing work documenting USAID projects there. He's been in Egypt since the late 70s, planning to stay here a year but settling for good--there seem to be a lot of Westerners like that in Cairo. Anyway, heKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1068972424243829882003-11-16T10:40:00.000+02:002003-11-16T10:47:25.310+02:00Sorry about no posts for a while. I tried on Thursday, but blogger was down. I'm at work now, so I can't put up much, but you really have to see this video of Bush and Blair singing "Endless Love"
Otherwise, I haven't been up to much. Fasted the first week of Ramadan, then gave up, my lamest attempt in four years. I'm in pretty bad shape right now, having jogged twice for a grand total of 7 Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1068121650468481242003-11-06T14:27:00.000+02:002003-11-06T14:27:28.670+02:00We found a new source of amusement the other day at work. The notoriously bad Egyptian Gazette , founded in 1880 as the Arab world's first newspaper, has a daily crossword puzzle. In keeping with the semi-literate nature of the paper, the crossword clues seem like incredibly hard The Nation-style puzzles with clever answers with double meanings, until you look at the solution the next day. ManyKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1066828657867694112003-10-22T15:17:00.000+02:002003-11-06T13:58:40.863+02:00Life in Abu Seer is very different from anything else I've experienced. It's the first time I've lived in a village anywhere, and the sounds of city or suburban life are utterly lacking. It can still get pretty noisy in its own way though. While it's quieter than living in Worth or Willets dorm at Swarthmore, I still am usually awoken early in the morning. In the place of loud, angry fraternityKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1066127138892620092003-10-14T12:24:00.000+02:002003-10-14T12:26:03.546+02:00Interesting article on Christian (and Muslim) Pentecostalism.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1065524150277487542003-10-07T12:28:00.000+02:002003-10-07T12:55:49.630+02:00I'll finally be getting out of town. Ahmad (my little brother), Amin (an Afghan at Al-Azhar), Sean (an American co-worker) and I are all taking a bus to Basata, on the Red Sea near the border with Israel.
It's good to know that foreigners aren't the only ones with communication problems in Egypt, Arabs have trouble too - One of the other copyeditors, Muna Hamzeh is a Palestinian, so her dialectKhalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1064417868805980122003-09-24T18:00:00.000+03:002003-09-24T18:37:48.423+03:00Sorry I haven't posted in a while. So I ended up moving out to Abu Seer, an hour and a half out of downtown Cairo. None of the noise and pollution of Cairo, but with noise and pollution of its own, both primarily emanating from the omnipresent grumpy water buffaloes. My new family's great though--there's Abu Ahmad (the dad, whom I met not long after I got into Cairo, and works at a papyrus and Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1062758754758721942003-09-05T13:45:00.000+03:002003-09-05T13:54:35.913+03:00Uh-oh. Ukraine's got troops in Iraq. , as do the Mongolians, which I had also contemplated as a possible identity, except that there might be some lingering anger at the sacking of Baghdad in 1258.
I discovered in my Lonely Planet that there are some Pyramids sitting across the road from my new home in Abu Seer.
Also, I was talking to Muhammad yesterday:
Muhammad: Hani [the groom from last Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1062688823092910352003-09-04T18:20:00.000+03:002003-09-04T18:20:23.110+03:00I went to my second Arab wedding Saturday night, between two people that I really don't know at all. Muhammad (the one who keeps trying to pressure me into granting him a visa to Norway or letting him marry any female from the 1st World) invited me. Apparently he didn't know the bride or the groom either, but a friend of his, Ayman, is one of the groom's best friends, so the more the merrier. Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1061971567091738342003-08-27T11:06:00.000+03:002003-08-27T11:06:07.126+03:00I went to my first Arab wedding Sunday night, between the best friends of a good friend of mine. I'd met the groom once in a coffeehouse somewhere. The festivities took place in a dusty alley in the working-class district of Shubra (pop. 5 million, twice the size of Kiev). There were strings of colored lights strewn from window to window across the alley, and a lot of the residents who lived Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1061572650766219692003-08-22T20:17:00.000+03:002003-08-22T20:18:55.240+03:00I have only two weeks left in my current apartment before I have to start paying rent somewhere. Ideally, I would love to live with an Egyptian family, but that's kind of hard since it's not really kosher for strange foreign guys to live with a family that has girls. One chance has come up, and I'm torn as to whether I should take it. It's with a really nice family that I know from the first Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1061364754616878092003-08-20T10:32:00.000+03:002003-08-20T10:36:20.100+03:00It's hard to believe that today it's been a year since Eric died. I still remember perfectly vividly standing by the computer talking on the phone to Schwartz when he broke the news. When he first called I was just surprised, not having been expecting a phone call from Schwartz or any Swatties. Pretty quickly though, just as he got around to the reason he was calling, I got a terrible feeling Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1060852654669858622003-08-14T12:17:00.000+03:002003-08-14T12:22:11.830+03:00On the Metro on the way downtown, I was standing not too far away from a guy who turned out to be from Swaziland, and was clearly not at all Egyptian. Further down the car, two young Egyptian women kept staring at him, making racist remarks, and laughing. Finally, after about ten minutes of this, clearly angry, he said something like "Stop already. I understand everything you're saying. How Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1060762504856248802003-08-13T11:15:00.000+03:002003-08-13T11:19:55.676+03:00A day or two after I got to Egypt, the state censors decided to ban Matrix Reloaded, as they had done with the first Matrix. The reason? Not the violence, apparently, as the censors praised the graphics. But the depiction of the Architect of the world as an Colonel Sanders-type figure was deemed potentially offensive to good Muslims and Copts (as well as the couple dozen Jews still in Egypt) Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1060592832103551322003-08-11T12:07:00.000+03:002003-08-11T13:13:18.120+03:00No work today. Hosni Guindi, our editor-in-chief, and the founder of Al-Ahram Weekly fourteen years ago, passed away last night. He was 63, but had always been really frail and sickly, and for the last two weeks had been in intensive care. Much of the paper is being reworked as an obituary in his memory. Right now, everyone's going off to his church.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1060075585463490802003-08-05T12:26:00.000+03:002003-08-05T12:39:44.756+03:00Woke up yesterday morning with a sizeable chip from a front tooth missing. Put me in a philosophical mood, pondering my own mortality as the 15 passenger microbus (unlike Swarthmore, Egypt has unsurprisingly ignored recent studies about their greater risk of rollover. just not really a priority, understandably) zoomed down the Nile Corniche at breakneck speed. Usually I take the much safer Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1059814375192944832003-08-02T11:52:00.000+03:002003-08-03T10:46:11.753+03:00The paychecks for the Al-Ahram Weekly staff due Wednesday didn't come then, or Thursday, or Friday, or today. That combined with my general lethargy on Thursday made for an unexciting 22nd birthday (yeah, you forgot didn't you. tsk tsk). Spent it studying Arabic, eating the last of my tomatoes, onions, green beans, and potatoes, then going out for ice cream along the Nile Corniche with Ashraf.Khalidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5571555.post-1059551091947157102003-07-30T10:44:00.000+03:002003-07-30T10:45:56.096+03:00Today's my first payday, at long last. As of three days ago, I was down to ten pounds ($1.70) and struggling to make it through today. I would have, but then I remembered I had to pay the maid this morning (one of the conditions of my basically free apartment is that I keep and pay a maid once a week, who cleans the house for LE25). Luckily, in searching through my important documents under Khalidnoreply@blogger.com