Right on cue, after I just posted about how much I love the alleys here, I went out for a little walk with two of my friends from the dorm through the alleys / market close to the dorm. Amazingly fun and interesting, of course, and full of chatter, food, and hawkers. We walked past a myriad of vegetable sellers, fruit stands, small electronics shops, people selling Egyptian flags (probably in anticipation of the big match with Algeria tonight in the African Cup of Nations), and people cooking various things.
As we rounded yet another tight corner I saw, lo and behold, a baker rolling out dough, putting some meat and vegetables in the middle, and covering them with another layer of dough. When he had made four of those doughy creations, he stuck them all in oven and let them bake for a few minutes, at which point he pulled out four golden brown circles of meat-filled dough. Sound familiar? Instantly, I realized that I had just made a huge discovery, possibly akin to that of King Tut's tomb or the Titanic deep underneath the Atlantic...I had found the Egyptian version of a calzone! Anyone who knows me knows the special, special place that calzones have in my heart. Of course I had to buy one - 60 cents, what a deal! - and it took all of my willpower to restrain myself from buying two! After watching the baker roll out fresh dough, put the meat, tomatoes, and onions in the middle, and throw it all in the oven, I sunk my teeth into a fresh, hot, and incredibly delicious ha-wow-she (spelling approximate/phonetic). I think I'm going to break the language pledge on this one and just call it a calzone from now on. So good!
I am now happily relaxing back in the dorms, content with the knowledge that even if this semester turns out terribly for some reason (highly unlikely) I will at least have the calzone to fall back on for comfort and solace. And, in the more likely scenario that Egypt continues to be awesome, it will be even better because I will be feasting on calzones quite regularly!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Magic of the Alleys
I mentioned briefly in a previous post the odd feeling that I get when I walk down the small side streets in Alexandria because of the towering apartment buildings that inevitably rise on both sides. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am not used to being shorter than everything around me. But although (or maybe because) I feel like I am in the middle of a deep canyon I find myself constantly drawn to these alleys whenever I walk through the city. For one thing, there is so much more life in them than on the big boulevards that run through the city. Whereas a walk on the boulevard will yield nothing but car fumes and constant honking, a walk in the alleys always leads to new discoveries or sights that I would never see in the US.
Sidewalks technically exist here, but in the alleys they are generally dirt or jagged concrete, and you are apt to receive a free (and unexpected) shower if you walk on them from someone's dripping air conditioner, drying clothes on their balconies, and God knows what else. Thus, everyone walks in the streets. In addition to the constant foot traffic, there is also the constant hum of conversation. From within shops, between people on the street, the calls of the milk or fruit seller hawking his wares, or jabber back and forth between people on different balconies of the apartment buildings on both sides of the street. I periodically stop and just lean on the wall of a building or stand in front of a shop to drink it all in.
The whole life of the alleys is particularly interesting to me because I am currently reading Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" in which she pinpoints sidewalk conversation, spontaneous interaction between customers and shopkeepers or passers-by on the street, and constant involvement by residents and visitors alike in the life of the street as critical for a neighborhood's vibrancy, safety, and overall quality of life for its residents. Jacobs assails housing projects and wide, sweeping streets through the city for their complete disregard for the importance of this street life and the negative consequences that result. I can say with absolute certainty that were Jane Jacobs still around today and were she to visit Alexandria she would be absolutely charmed by all of these alleys.
I might have felt some hesitance at first to get off the main streets and explore the alleys, but after a few weeks here and many amazing sights in the alleys that I now avidly seek them out whenever I walk anywhere. As a matter of fact, I think I feel even more safe in them than I do on the big streets (namely because of Egyptian drivers' general lack of sanity and propensity not acknowledging the existence of pedestrians). This sidewalk life in the alleys and total mixing of residents, businesses, and passers-through is largely missing in the United States (places like Chestnut Street, Fillmore Street, or Clement Street and Chinatown in San Francisco come close to approximating it but lack the residential aspect). So with that in mind I am going to relish every opportunity I have here to get off the beaten, smoggy paths on the main streets and work my way through the thousands of alleys that are hidden - but by no means undiscoverable - in this city.
Sidewalks technically exist here, but in the alleys they are generally dirt or jagged concrete, and you are apt to receive a free (and unexpected) shower if you walk on them from someone's dripping air conditioner, drying clothes on their balconies, and God knows what else. Thus, everyone walks in the streets. In addition to the constant foot traffic, there is also the constant hum of conversation. From within shops, between people on the street, the calls of the milk or fruit seller hawking his wares, or jabber back and forth between people on different balconies of the apartment buildings on both sides of the street. I periodically stop and just lean on the wall of a building or stand in front of a shop to drink it all in.
The whole life of the alleys is particularly interesting to me because I am currently reading Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" in which she pinpoints sidewalk conversation, spontaneous interaction between customers and shopkeepers or passers-by on the street, and constant involvement by residents and visitors alike in the life of the street as critical for a neighborhood's vibrancy, safety, and overall quality of life for its residents. Jacobs assails housing projects and wide, sweeping streets through the city for their complete disregard for the importance of this street life and the negative consequences that result. I can say with absolute certainty that were Jane Jacobs still around today and were she to visit Alexandria she would be absolutely charmed by all of these alleys.
I might have felt some hesitance at first to get off the main streets and explore the alleys, but after a few weeks here and many amazing sights in the alleys that I now avidly seek them out whenever I walk anywhere. As a matter of fact, I think I feel even more safe in them than I do on the big streets (namely because of Egyptian drivers' general lack of sanity and propensity not acknowledging the existence of pedestrians). This sidewalk life in the alleys and total mixing of residents, businesses, and passers-through is largely missing in the United States (places like Chestnut Street, Fillmore Street, or Clement Street and Chinatown in San Francisco come close to approximating it but lack the residential aspect). So with that in mind I am going to relish every opportunity I have here to get off the beaten, smoggy paths on the main streets and work my way through the thousands of alleys that are hidden - but by no means undiscoverable - in this city.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Rugby in Alexandria
For the first time in my life I decided to strap on some rugby boots (well, running shoes actually) and head out to play the hard-hitting, unpadded, and gentlemanly sport of rugby. All in Arabic, of course.
Two of the other students on the program play rugby in college, and one of them had gotten in contact with the coach of the club rugby team at the university. I decided to tag along with them to the first practice more out of a desire to find a fun team sport to play here than because of my love for rugby - in reality I didn't even know that forward passes were illegal until practice started.
Despite my lack of knowledge about the rules and the difficulty of trying to learn a new sport exclusively in Arabic, practices have been quite fun so far. We practice three times a week and have games on Fridays (the first one is later this week, إن شاء الله God willing). The sport itself and practices in general are quite intense. Lots of conditioning and lots of hitting, but also a great deal of strategy, which I am slowly picking up more by watching than by listening. Also, the coach is quite a character. In what I think is a perfect example of the Napoleon complex, our 5'4" coach packs a lot of punch and is not afraid to use it (sometimes literally with the Egyptian players) if he is not happy. But he is also a very nice guy who is bending over backwards to teach us, a group of rookies, about the game and be patient when we don't understand basic aspects of it.
And we also have some opportunities to practice our Arabic. For example, we can all now count very quickly in Arabic because we have to shout out the count for each stretch during our warmups. My sports vocabulary is expanding, too (run, catch, jump, etc.) as a result of trying to understand where to go and what to do on the field. None of us are sure if we are going to actually play in the games, but at the very least I love the opportunity to get out and run around during practice. We've also had a chance to get to know some of the guys on the team, but I will save insights from that for another post.
Two of the other students on the program play rugby in college, and one of them had gotten in contact with the coach of the club rugby team at the university. I decided to tag along with them to the first practice more out of a desire to find a fun team sport to play here than because of my love for rugby - in reality I didn't even know that forward passes were illegal until practice started.
Despite my lack of knowledge about the rules and the difficulty of trying to learn a new sport exclusively in Arabic, practices have been quite fun so far. We practice three times a week and have games on Fridays (the first one is later this week, إن شاء الله God willing). The sport itself and practices in general are quite intense. Lots of conditioning and lots of hitting, but also a great deal of strategy, which I am slowly picking up more by watching than by listening. Also, the coach is quite a character. In what I think is a perfect example of the Napoleon complex, our 5'4" coach packs a lot of punch and is not afraid to use it (sometimes literally with the Egyptian players) if he is not happy. But he is also a very nice guy who is bending over backwards to teach us, a group of rookies, about the game and be patient when we don't understand basic aspects of it.
And we also have some opportunities to practice our Arabic. For example, we can all now count very quickly in Arabic because we have to shout out the count for each stretch during our warmups. My sports vocabulary is expanding, too (run, catch, jump, etc.) as a result of trying to understand where to go and what to do on the field. None of us are sure if we are going to actually play in the games, but at the very least I love the opportunity to get out and run around during practice. We've also had a chance to get to know some of the guys on the team, but I will save insights from that for another post.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Images from Alexandria
As I said in my last post, there have been some images of Alexandria that I have seen in the past few days that I hope will give you an idea of life in this city. I don't usually take my camera out with me, so I will have to rely on my descriptions to illustrate the scenes.
Lunch at the "Mohamed Ahmed" restaurant
We went to eat at a restaurant called Mohamed Ahmed which specializes in Ful (a dish made from fava beans) and falafel. It was absolutely delicious. My lasting image of the restaurant is a large pile of falafel and pita in the middle of the table that all of us proceeded to dig into with pleasure. I'm not sure what kind of reputation Egyptian cuisine has internationally, but I have found it so far to be quite good. I generally like bread in all shapes and sizes, and so I have been voraciously devouring pita from day one here. Falafel is quite good too, and I had a delicious grilled and stuffed cauliflower last night (karnabeet in Arabic) that I will definitely be on the lookout for again.
The bouncing train
During our orientation we visited a place called Muntaza. It was located right next to the Mediterranean, and we spent a very nice afternoon in a park about a quarter mile from the shore. To get there we took the local train (probably the equivalent of commuter rail as opposed to the tram in Alexandria). The train was very emblematic of Alexandria's feel on the whole: it left on time and got us from point A to point B, but it wasn't necessarily in the greatest condition and the doors didn't close. But, as I thought to myself on the train, the fact that the doors didn't close didn't really mean anything as far as our being able to get where we needed to go. The funniest part of the ride was when we hit a bouncy stretch of track (I don't know how a train track can be bouncy, but this one certainly was) and some young boys in the car ahead of us started jumping up and down as if they were on a trampoleen. Quite a funny sight.
Walking down the alley
As I mentioned yesterday, I went on a meandering walk through Alexandria as I was walking from the girls' dorms back to the boys' dorms (they are about 15 minutes from each other by car, 40 minutes walking). I happened to walk down a narrow alley just to see what was there. There were tall apartment buildings on both sides (there are almost no one or two story buildings in the part of Alexandria that we're in), and the narrowness of the alley made the buildings seem even taller. It gives you the feeling of walking through a narrow, deep canyon. At any given moment, dozens of people are looking out their windows or sitting on their porches looking down at the street. The streets never feel deserted. I happened to look up at one point and I saw a woman in a full hijab (nothing showing but her eyes) peering over her balcony and slowly lowering a basket to ground level from her tenth floor perch. I'm not sure what she wanted put in that bucket, but it remained about 10 feet above street level while she rested her arm on the balcony ledge and looked down at the street. From my perspective, with my head tilted all the way back to see high enough and with the tall buildings on both sides of the streets framing her, the woman cut a striking yet absolutely mysterious figure. My trip down the alley ended with my realizing that I had gone the wrong way, but after I asked a man working on his car in the alley for directions back to my dorm, he asked me to sit down for tea before I headed on my way. We had a nice chat (albeit in my somewhat basic Arabic) and, after meeting and talking with a few kids who had been milling around us, I walked back to the dorm just as the evening call to prayer sounded.
I'm sure that there will be many more stories and images like these, and I will try to write about them throughout the semester. For tonight, I have to finish a little homework for my "Media Arabic" class and then some of the Egyptians and some of my friends on the program are going to head to a coffee shop to chat and play backgammon (my new favorite game). إلى لقاء
Lunch at the "Mohamed Ahmed" restaurant
We went to eat at a restaurant called Mohamed Ahmed which specializes in Ful (a dish made from fava beans) and falafel. It was absolutely delicious. My lasting image of the restaurant is a large pile of falafel and pita in the middle of the table that all of us proceeded to dig into with pleasure. I'm not sure what kind of reputation Egyptian cuisine has internationally, but I have found it so far to be quite good. I generally like bread in all shapes and sizes, and so I have been voraciously devouring pita from day one here. Falafel is quite good too, and I had a delicious grilled and stuffed cauliflower last night (karnabeet in Arabic) that I will definitely be on the lookout for again.
The bouncing train
During our orientation we visited a place called Muntaza. It was located right next to the Mediterranean, and we spent a very nice afternoon in a park about a quarter mile from the shore. To get there we took the local train (probably the equivalent of commuter rail as opposed to the tram in Alexandria). The train was very emblematic of Alexandria's feel on the whole: it left on time and got us from point A to point B, but it wasn't necessarily in the greatest condition and the doors didn't close. But, as I thought to myself on the train, the fact that the doors didn't close didn't really mean anything as far as our being able to get where we needed to go. The funniest part of the ride was when we hit a bouncy stretch of track (I don't know how a train track can be bouncy, but this one certainly was) and some young boys in the car ahead of us started jumping up and down as if they were on a trampoleen. Quite a funny sight.
Walking down the alley
As I mentioned yesterday, I went on a meandering walk through Alexandria as I was walking from the girls' dorms back to the boys' dorms (they are about 15 minutes from each other by car, 40 minutes walking). I happened to walk down a narrow alley just to see what was there. There were tall apartment buildings on both sides (there are almost no one or two story buildings in the part of Alexandria that we're in), and the narrowness of the alley made the buildings seem even taller. It gives you the feeling of walking through a narrow, deep canyon. At any given moment, dozens of people are looking out their windows or sitting on their porches looking down at the street. The streets never feel deserted. I happened to look up at one point and I saw a woman in a full hijab (nothing showing but her eyes) peering over her balcony and slowly lowering a basket to ground level from her tenth floor perch. I'm not sure what she wanted put in that bucket, but it remained about 10 feet above street level while she rested her arm on the balcony ledge and looked down at the street. From my perspective, with my head tilted all the way back to see high enough and with the tall buildings on both sides of the streets framing her, the woman cut a striking yet absolutely mysterious figure. My trip down the alley ended with my realizing that I had gone the wrong way, but after I asked a man working on his car in the alley for directions back to my dorm, he asked me to sit down for tea before I headed on my way. We had a nice chat (albeit in my somewhat basic Arabic) and, after meeting and talking with a few kids who had been milling around us, I walked back to the dorm just as the evening call to prayer sounded.
I'm sure that there will be many more stories and images like these, and I will try to write about them throughout the semester. For tonight, I have to finish a little homework for my "Media Arabic" class and then some of the Egyptians and some of my friends on the program are going to head to a coffee shop to chat and play backgammon (my new favorite game). إلى لقاء
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Settling into Alexandria
It has now been five days since I arrived in Alexandria, but it feels like it's been five months! The past few days have been filled with orientation activities, crash courses in Egyptian Amiyya (colloquial Arabic), hanging out in the dorm with our Egyptian dormmates, and exploring the city. The program "officially" started today when we all took the language pledge - thus, I am now speaking exclusively in Arabic.
Many of the sights and sounds in these first few days in Alexandria have on the whole been quite unlike anything I've seen or heard before, although there are many things that seem normal to me, too. After my experience in Kenya last summer and after hearing about the city from friends who did this program in the fall, I had prepared myself for an experience similar to the one I had in Nairobi: a third world city, crowded, polluted, and chaotic. I might use some of those adjectives to describe life here in Alexandria, but for the most part I have felt quite often during the first few days that life in Alexandria is not too far from what I'm used to at home. For example, the roads are nicely paved, there is a tram that runs throughout the city, some beautiful architecture, and great views of the Mediterranean along the coast. There is a lot of traffic, crossing the street is an exhilarating experience in and of itself, the trams aren't necessarily state-of-the art, and people tend to walk on the street instead of the sidewalk, but as a whole my impression so far is that there is certainly a logical way that this city works. The divide between private and public space (houses / shops and the street) just isn't as "clean-cut" as it would be in the US.
On the other hand, this is the most foreign place I have ever been to. I had no idea how present Islam is in everyone's daily lives. I wake up every morning to the call to prayer outside my window, religious sayings are commonly seen on car bumpers, storefronts, and even graffiti on the street. On top of that, the clothing that people wear makes you feel that you are in another world. Of course many people wear Western attire, but I would say that 99% of the women here wear hijabs (head scarves) and about 10% have the hijab covering their whole face with only their eyes showing. Many men also wear Islamic garb, though none cover their heads. Despite the ostensible differences in clothing, however, there is no awkwardness once you strike up a conversation with someone. I have found everyone that I have talked to extremely kind and welcoming (it is not uncommon, as happened to me today, to be asked to sit down for tea or coffee and a conversation by a stranger on the street). As my Arabic improves, which it is already starting to, I really am looking forward to wading deeper into the culture.
Finally, and this subject certainly deserves its own post, Alexandria's history is very visible throughout the city. The new library is beautiful, Roman and Greek ruins are all over the place (including shipwrecks and pottery that are still being explored in the Mediterranean), and British and French style architecture, roundabouts, trams, and grand boulevards run throughout the city.
I have seen so many images in my first few days here that will hopefully help bring the city to life for any readers of the blog, and I will write about some of them later this week. I am exhausted from a long day today which included watching Egypt's national soccer team win their match versus Mozambique in the African Cup of Nations in Angola - You can imagine the celebration on the streets after both of Egypt's goals...
Many of the sights and sounds in these first few days in Alexandria have on the whole been quite unlike anything I've seen or heard before, although there are many things that seem normal to me, too. After my experience in Kenya last summer and after hearing about the city from friends who did this program in the fall, I had prepared myself for an experience similar to the one I had in Nairobi: a third world city, crowded, polluted, and chaotic. I might use some of those adjectives to describe life here in Alexandria, but for the most part I have felt quite often during the first few days that life in Alexandria is not too far from what I'm used to at home. For example, the roads are nicely paved, there is a tram that runs throughout the city, some beautiful architecture, and great views of the Mediterranean along the coast. There is a lot of traffic, crossing the street is an exhilarating experience in and of itself, the trams aren't necessarily state-of-the art, and people tend to walk on the street instead of the sidewalk, but as a whole my impression so far is that there is certainly a logical way that this city works. The divide between private and public space (houses / shops and the street) just isn't as "clean-cut" as it would be in the US.
On the other hand, this is the most foreign place I have ever been to. I had no idea how present Islam is in everyone's daily lives. I wake up every morning to the call to prayer outside my window, religious sayings are commonly seen on car bumpers, storefronts, and even graffiti on the street. On top of that, the clothing that people wear makes you feel that you are in another world. Of course many people wear Western attire, but I would say that 99% of the women here wear hijabs (head scarves) and about 10% have the hijab covering their whole face with only their eyes showing. Many men also wear Islamic garb, though none cover their heads. Despite the ostensible differences in clothing, however, there is no awkwardness once you strike up a conversation with someone. I have found everyone that I have talked to extremely kind and welcoming (it is not uncommon, as happened to me today, to be asked to sit down for tea or coffee and a conversation by a stranger on the street). As my Arabic improves, which it is already starting to, I really am looking forward to wading deeper into the culture.
Finally, and this subject certainly deserves its own post, Alexandria's history is very visible throughout the city. The new library is beautiful, Roman and Greek ruins are all over the place (including shipwrecks and pottery that are still being explored in the Mediterranean), and British and French style architecture, roundabouts, trams, and grand boulevards run throughout the city.
I have seen so many images in my first few days here that will hopefully help bring the city to life for any readers of the blog, and I will write about some of them later this week. I am exhausted from a long day today which included watching Egypt's national soccer team win their match versus Mozambique in the African Cup of Nations in Angola - You can imagine the celebration on the streets after both of Egypt's goals...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Leaving for Egypt in One Week
The countdown to Egypt is on. Next Sunday, I will be heading out to NYC, and after spending a day there I will be in Egypt on Tuesday, January 12. I will be spending the semester studying Arabic at Alexandria University (in Alexandria, Egypt) through Middlebury College's study abroad program. Here is a description of the program. I will be posting on this blog throughout the semester with stories about life and school, observations about the overall experience of being in Egypt, and anything else that seems worthy of being put down in writing on here. This is my second travel blog - you can find the blog that I kept in Kenya last summer here.
Don't be alarmed by all of the Arabic writing on the previous posts on this blog - for my Arabic class last semester we all kept blogs that we updated semi-regularly throughout the semester. I figured that it would just as easy to simply convert that blog into my Egypt blog instead of starting a whole new one. Despite the fact that the Middlebury program is focused on the language and all the participants signed the "Language Pledge" saying that they agreed to speak Arabic 24/7, I will be writing in English on this blog.
Feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested. For now, إلى لقاء (until next time).
Don't be alarmed by all of the Arabic writing on the previous posts on this blog - for my Arabic class last semester we all kept blogs that we updated semi-regularly throughout the semester. I figured that it would just as easy to simply convert that blog into my Egypt blog instead of starting a whole new one. Despite the fact that the Middlebury program is focused on the language and all the participants signed the "Language Pledge" saying that they agreed to speak Arabic 24/7, I will be writing in English on this blog.
Feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested. For now, إلى لقاء (until next time).
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