Just in TIME: Abby's adventures in the Middle East

cairo is insane

Again I have to apologize for neglecting to update my blog for so long...almost a month now, I think....that's so bad! Well, it's hard to believe that yesterday marked the halfway point of this trip. Perhaps it was fitting to mark such a momentous point by having a major group breakdown, which is what happened last night. I won't get into details, because there's really no point, but I do want to highlight something that is very positive, which is the fact that all 12 of us were able to sit down together and really share our feelings about a number of issues that have been simmering below the surface for a long time and just now reached the boiling point. It is inevitable that group dynamics are not smooth all the time, so it's normal that there are difficulties that we have to deal with. Plus, on top of everything, there is the general stress of having been away from familiar territory for over 2 months now and the lack of freedom that comes along with traveling and, especially for women, traveling in third world and Muslim countries. I'm really looking forward to our fall break on the Red Sea, which is coming up on Tuesday!
Anyway, now we are in Egypt. Cairo is a crazy place, it turns out, especially during the week-long holiday marking the end of Ramadan, which just concluded yesterday. But in general, the city is crowded, dirty, noisy and overwhelmingly busy. We are staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel downtown, which is an experience in and of itself. The hotel was a chic hangout place for journalists during WWII, and one gets the feeling that not much about the hotel has really changed since then, except (thankfully) the carpets. It has the atmosphere of a place that once was probably pretty awesome. There are huge lobbies on each floor and the ceilings are 12 feet high; it would be the perfect setting for a horror movie! Or a really good game of hide and go seek....
Our classes at American University are amazing. John Swanson, our main professor, is basically an expert on most subjects, from anthropology to zoology and everything in between. No joke, he's amazing. On Friday we had a whirlwind bus tour of the city, the highlight of which was catching a glimpse of the Giza Pyramids beyond the eastern bank of the Nile as we circumnavigated the city. I can't wait to get out there to see them soon.
Yesterday morning we visited the famous and incredible Egyptian Museum,which is downtown and only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. I will be going back there multiple times, because there is just too much to see! I still can't believe I actually saw the coffin and sarcophagus of KingTut and the treasures of his tomb. That, along with the city of Ephesus, has been one of the few things I've been looking forward to during this trip that have not been even the least bit disappointing. Last night, to cap things off, we went to dinner at an amazing Lebanese restaurant across town. It was a minor victory because it was our first time getting in cabs here in Cairo. It helped that we had directions in Arabic from our hotel receptionist!
This morning Jenna, Denise and I went with Mac and Jackie to church at St. Andrew's, a small ecumentical church whose congregation is largely made up of ex-pats and African refugees. We met a couple of American guys who are volunteering through a program with the ELCA (Lutheran church) and are here in Cairo working with Sudanese refugees involved in programs set up by St. Andrew's. It was interesting to talk to them, and hopefully in the next few weeks we will have to opportunity to volunteer with the refugees as well. It would be incredible to get involved somehow with that program.
Now, we have one more day of class before our fall break at Hurghada, on the Red Sea, and our excursion down to Luxor after that. Hopefully I will have tons of amazing pictures from the Valley of the Kings, the Karnak temple, and other awesome sites. And while I'm on that subject, drumroll please....I think I may have figured out a much more efficient way of uploading pictures! I am trying Yahoo!Photo which is working well so far. So for now, I am going to just post a link to my pictures from this blog so it they are easy to find from here. so, here it is:

http://photos.yahoo.com/abbymatthews_23

Let me know what you think! I was able to get more pictures up, in a better format, although I didn't comment about any of them. Anyway, hopefully I will have a chance to update again soon. Until then, love and greetings from Egypt to you all!

posted by Abby @ 7:04 AM