It's been quite a week since I last posted. Egypt won two soccer games (both of which set off crazy celebrations in the streets), I attended the first rugby game of my life, and of course I had a chance to explore the city some more.
First, soccer - or, as they say in Egypt, kura. Egypt played Algeria in the African Cup of Nations semifinal last Thursday and the anticipation was palpable throughout the city leading up to the game. Whenever you see people selling Egyptian flags in the middle of the streets and face painters with only black, white, and red paint it can only mean one thing: there's a big soccer game coming up. This game was particularly important because of the painful memory of Egypt's loss to Algeria last fall that prevented Egypt from qualifying for the World Cup. According to every Egyptian I talked to, the Algerian team plays extremely dirty, and that style of play represents the qualities of Algerians in general. So with that in mind, I was prepared for raucous celebrations if Egypt won (revenge!) or possibly riots if Egypt lost a close, contested match. Luckily, Egypt dominated the game - they won 4-0 and three Algerians received red cards and were ejected from the game. The ensuing celebration was unlike any I have ever seen, except maybe the somewhat contained celebration around Fenway Park after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007. All throughout the Alexandria people were dancing the streets, shooting off fireworks, and using lighters and aerosol cans to create fire blasts at random intervals. Pandemonium. We watched from the sidewalk, and decided after a few minutes that it would probably be a good idea to walk away from the main street near the dorms and onto some calmer (relatively) side streets. Nevertheless, the party continued until the wee hours of the morning. When I went to bed at around 1 AM I could still here music and car horns from the street. Talk about a national catharsis...I think every Egyptian - literally everyone - watched the match and partied afterwards!
Egypt won the African Cup of Nations three days later, and that set off another round of celebrations in the streets. Unfortunately in our excitement to join in with the frenzy on the street we had a small run-in with a group of unruly young Egyptians who harassed our group (about 6 or 7 of us, mix of boys and girls) as we were watching the partiers on the street. Nothing came of it in the end - we went into a shoe store off to the side of the street and the we were able to push the harassers away - but I think the girls in particular were not very happy with what happened. They face a lot of adversity on a daily basis (for various reasons and from various people on the street), and in retrospect it was a poor choice on our part (the guys) to go nearer to the celebration and make ourselves more visible to people who, although they probably weren't drunk, were certainly in a charged-up mood. Lesson learned, we'll do better next time.
We had our first rugby match on Friday. A club team from Cairo came to town, and we faced off under the lights of the university's stadium in front of a small crowd (well, in reality, it was just a bunch of the students in the program and our rugby club's junior team). Of the five of us from the program who joined the team, three - myself included - had never played rugby before in our lives. The other two had, so they actually started the game, but we three were content to simply watch from the sidelines. Rugby, as you might know, is quite a physical game. Unlike football which has a set beginning and end to each play, there are no set stoppages in rugby. The teams go back and forth unless there is a penalty, the ball goes out of bounds, or someone scores a "try" (touchdown). So in addition to requiring speed and size, a good rugby player has to be in really good shape, too. I think conditioning was our main problem, and we went on to lose the game 23-12. Our coach gave quite the speech afterward in the locker room. We are learning all sorts of interesting Arabic words from him that are not suitable for this blog. I now understand the basic form of the game much better after watching on Friday, but I'm still not sure I'll ever get to the point this semester of understanding it well enough or playing well enough to actually get into a game. As far as I'm concerned, however, playing in a game would just be an added bonus. It's been really fun to get to know the guys on the team and learn sports vocabulary, and I've particularly enjoyed getting to experience the camaraderie of team sports once again.
Finally, an Egyptian friend of mine and I went for a run Monday along the Corniche - Alexandria's main road that runs right next to the Mediterranean. My ambitious plans to run about 4 miles soon fell by the wayside when he told me that he hadn't run in over a year. We ended up going at a "comfortable" pace, which included a stop for ice cream in the middle, a walk through an old fortress at the end of the road, and a stroll through a shabi (working class) market right next to Alexandria's oldest and most beautiful mosque. Our short run seems to have inspired my friend, though, who has now vowed to run every day of the week so that when we go out again next week he'll be able to make it the whole way In'sha'allah (god willing).
We're off to Siwa today, a desert oasis in the southern part of Egypt. This is our first group trip of the semester, and everyone is really excited. We have a 9 hour bus ride, but there has been talk of a prolonged Arabic singing session and who knows what else on the bus. We'll be spending 2 days in the desert and then coming back to the city on Saturday. More updates to come!
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