Extrapyramidal Symptoms

Here are some pics from the Pyramids of Giza:

With the Great Sphinx of Giza:

Here you can get an idea of the immense size of the Great Pyramid, especially in perspective with the camel at the bottom of the pic:

Note the city of Cairo in the right background of this photo:

Thanks for checking out my pics! If you haven't done so already, check out the pics that I retroactively included in the appropriate posts below (there should be four additional photos in the various posts below). Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Go Temple in the A-10!

Alright homies! How you doin'? For all y'all that ain't keepin' up, Temple is in the A-10 final in a rematch tonight against who else but our cross-town rivals, St. Joe's. And if you've really been out of the loop click here for my run-down of the last game between the two, when Temple edged out St. Joe's in a one-point thriller at the Palestra. Temple's got strong support over here across the big pond, and we'll all be happy when they claim the A-10 title and thus secure a bid to the big dance. Go Temple!

In other news, there are riots in Tibet. And in other news, I am in Essen, Germany now, after a four and a half hour flight from Cairo to Cologne, then a two hour plus train ride on the slow, local "S" train from Cologne to Essen. But here I am, stinking it up after playing basketball and then soccer (do I have to say football?) here in the neighborhood. The shower is calling me, but I figured I'd stop in for a quick cameo.

The only final update to my time in Egypt was my visit yesterday evening at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. As soon as I got out of the cab I was approached by a guy who told me to call him "Bob", I laughed at that one, but told him that I would play along.

Anyway the rest of that story is pretty good, but I'll have to fill it out later, since I have to hurry now if I want to go to a European football match. I hope the weather is getting nicer now in Philly. And without further ado, I'm off for a much-needed shower.

I'll leave you simply with a photo of me in Cairo's nicest and by far largest shopping mall, City Stars, in front of one of its most recognizable tenants; as one of the last photos taken before we went to the airport just a couple hours later, you would say it's a bit paradoxical, wouldn't you?

Walking (a lot) like an Egyptian

Good afternoon! It's Friday, 3:30pm, here in Cairo. Because I'm waiting to hear from my friend, and he could call at any minute, I have to keep this short and clinical, as much as anything to refresh my memory at a later time, and at that point to then fill in the details. So let's go chronological.

Yesterday, instead of going to the Pyramids as I had planned (and as I told you in the last post), I slept in, and then spent the entire day walking, walking, walking, in circles and down the same streets here in DownTown over and over again. The initial objective was simply to find an HSBC automatic teller machine that I had spotted the other night; as it turned out, it may have been easier to find a needle in a haystack. After walking for two hours straight, a new objective materialized: to keep walking as a way to get to know the city, its character, its people, its pulse, and in doing so, to become comfortable with my place, ever so brief yet ever so important, in the city. I stopped at fruit juice stands to drink orange juice or a cocktail mix (basically a fruit punch). I went into local dive restaurants to eat ful, or falafel tamia, or koshary. Towards evening I spent an hour at a local tea bar (although that sounds way too fancy for what it really is: a place for men to hang out and observe the streetscape and its goings-on); there I casually drank four chai (hot tea, of course), while playing my role in observing the city life and then taking some time to read the first part of the first chapter of The Trial by Franz Kafka (hilarious in its absurdity, I couldn't help laughing out loud several times). At some point in the day -- how can I remember when? -- I found the ATM, which at that point had become a mere pitstop in my minor hajj.

During my meanderings a mid-20-something guy came up to me and began speaking to me in English. I told him that I was hungry and if he could suggest a good place for koshary; he escorted me and we began talking of course. He then invited me to his business, a perfume shop, so that I could sit down and enjoy my food. Then he brought me up to the second floor of the shop to talk to me confidentially about my energy, which he said was essentially positive, but showed a little bit of stress, which conveniently enough (as I came to realize) he would be able to help me relieve, for a price not named or mentioned until I was totally roped in. Looking back I now know that the Cairo salesman is very subtle in his techniques, befriending you at first, then appearing to do you a favor in your own self-interest, then only at the very end bringing up the issue of price; which, to a freshman like me, was totally unexpected. Having to suddenly bargain for a product which I didn't know that I was going to buy is a bit disconcerting, but then you've gotta do what you've gotta do to protect yourself from being suckered. In the end I bought a bottle of perfume, supposedly tailored for my specific needs, at a third of the price that he wanted me to pay; and even still, from what others have told me, I probably paid a bit too much. Oh well, so it goes.

In the late evening, I came back to my hostel to hang out in the lobby with an Australian girl, a U.S. guy from Seattle, and a U.S. guy from Baltimore. It was a good conversation; all I'll say now is that the girl was talking mostly about relationships between Egyptians and foreigners, and their gender-specific permutations. This was going on when all of a sudden Roland steps off the lift, sees me, and says let's go. Totally reflexively I grabbed my bag, shook hands and left.

The night was really good. Roland, an Egyptian girl named Ruby and her brother Karim, and I went to a very fancy bar/lounge called Cairo Jazz Club. A live band, named Screwdriver, played really great music, from The Beatles to Bon Jovi. This was also one of the rare places that serves alcohol in Egypt, so I had my chance to try a Stella and a Sakkara, two of Egypt's three domestic beers. Apparently the crowd represented the young high society of Cairo, as well as some foreigners too.

This morning, knowing that it is my last day in Cairo, I got myself going early to the Pyramids. I took the microbus from Tahrir to Haram, not too far from the Pyramids, and walked the rest of the way there. Once there, I rode a camel, went through a very narrow and claustrophobic passageway underneath the big Second Pyramid, then rode a horse with a nice Egyptian named Sayid in order to take some nice photos of all the Pyramids at once.

Sayid explained to me the four types of Egyptians: Bedouin, Arab, Western-style city-dwellers, and Nubians. He also told me that very few Americans go to the Pyramids; nearly all the tourists there are Europeans. He didn't like the fact that the Americans that do go there are all there in packaged tours, and that this means that these tourists only contact with Egyptians is with their tour guide and bus driver. Sayid said that he really appreciated that I, as an American, took the time to talk with him and he was happy to hear that I was riding public transportation on my own in his country. I told him that I definitely agreed with him, and that tourists who only want to see the Pyramids without experiencing authentic Egyptian culture should just look them up in an encyclopedia.

As an aside here, though, I realize that many of the American tourists are seniors, so for them it might be advisable if not necessary to travel in an organized tour. Otherwise, I really feel like it is a form of (unintentionally? ego- & ethno-centric) cultural arrogance to visit foreign tourist sites without any other intercultural exchange.

Back to the story, though, Sayid's horse that I rode was named Aziza; it was awesome. I also took some photos of the Sphinx (I solved the riddle) before leaving. From there I walked for a couple of kilometers, then caught a public bus from there to Giza Square, where I got out and caught the Metro back to Tahrir. All along the way, I asked people where to go, and everyone was friendly and helpful, even if they spoke little or no English. I'm telling you, it IS possible to travel in countries where you don't speak the language, as long as you're willing to put yourself out there and dive in headfirst. The bus and the metro cost a total of 1.5 Egyptian pounds, or about a quarter in the U.S.; not bad, and to travel and be with the people on top of it, excellent!

So this is longer than I thought, and I'm sure I can fill in more details later. For now I have to go to see if I can contact Roland. Although he has to go to an Egyptian wedding tonight, and I can attend, I think I'll respectfully decline due to the fact that I have no professional -- or even clean -- clothing with me, and I would really like to go to the bazaar to get a few things before our 2:25am (yes: am) flight later tonight. Thus, my next post will probably be from somewhere in Germany.

I hope all is well with you back home, and I pray that everyone is happy and healthy. With that, I'll sign off from Cairo, Egypt. Check it, check it out!

Hi-Yo from Cairo

Tomorrow morning I'll get up first thing in the morning to visit the Pyramids. It's now 9:45pm here, and the city of Cairo is as awake as ever, but this is my last task before returning to my hostel (Sara Inn) to shower up and hit the sack.

We arrived in Cairo around 8:30am, after we caught a 10pm bus out of Siwa to Alexandria, then made the quick decision in Alexandria to just continue on immediately to Cairo. Although I slept on both buses, even to the point of drooling on the Arab scarf that I was wearing around my neck, my weariness is now catching up to me.

Cairo is one of the largest cities in the world. Due to a population explosion in recent decades, the city's infrastructure has not kept up with the number of inhabitants. And so the streets here are jam-packed with cars and with people. In addition there are very, very few traffic lights; I've been told that there are only two in the whole city, and that may be the truth.

As long as we're on this topic, let me relate an interesting adventure I had earlier this evening. I had to catch a microbus from the wealthy neighborhood of Nasr City (near the airport, and where Roland is staying with friends for the night) to the downtown area, in order to return to the hostel where I am staying for the next two nights. While I was catching the microbus, Karim (Roland's friend) was yelling at me to push my way into the microbus; I ended up squeezing my body facing backward while the sliding side-door to the van (i.e., the microbus) was still open while we were moving. At the next stop someone got off and I was able to replace their spot. The ride lasted for nearly 45 minutes through typical Cairo traffic; it's like the Daytona 500, there are no lanes, and every vehicle is constantly jockeying for position and weaving in and out of the other cars. Looking out the window of the van, I observed how much the city reminds me of the boroughs in New York, as there were lots of well-lit commercial establishments all over the place, with tons of people walking around. When I finally reached the last stop I got out and had to find my way on my own back to the hostel, with only a small map on the hostel's business card to guide me. Of course this meant crossing several major roads and intersections, which as I said earlier none of which have stop lights. This part of my trip reminded of the game Frogger, because I literally had to time my jumps from lane to so-called lane to avoid being hit by a car (earlier today while walking with Roland a car tried to turn where I was walking, and it's right front tire literally rolled over my foot before I hit the car with my hand and the driver stopped). As is common among pedestrians here, there were times while crossing the road that I had to wait, between lanes as cars passed by me, until I could proceed across another lane on the road. It was an exhilirating experience, although one that requires total attention.

Earlier today I visited the Egyptian Museum. Although I really like museums, they invariably make me tired and sleepy. But since I was alone I simply took my time and took plenty of rests. The best part of the Egyptian Museum was the exhibit of the Royal Mummies, for which I had to pay an additional entrance fee. This exhibit featured the mummies of such pharoahs as Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis. It was really cool and really surreal.

After my visit to the museum, I had to get lunch. I walked into a local restaurant, ordered two "ful" (bean-filled pita) and sat down to eat. Two men at the next table started talking to me. They asked me where I was from; of course I told them the USA. They asked me my opinion of Bush and I indicated with a hand-motion so-so; they immediately put their thumbs down. They asked me if Barack Obama was Muslim; I told them that he isn't but his father was a Muslim from Kenya; they hadn't known that. They asked me if I was Christian and I said yes; so I asked them if they were Muslim and they said yes; I told them that I love everybody as long as they're nice to me, they gave me a thumbs up. As it turned out, one was a legal advisor and the other was a lawyer. I asked them what they were eating, they told me it was "kofta" and asked if I would like to have one, I said sure; at the end, despite my attempt to pay for it, they insisted that they treat me to the kofta. It was really nice of them, and it was the type of direct personal interaction between people of different countries and cultures that I so enjoy.

Well, that's about all for now. I will fill in more details and clean up my writing on these posts once I get home. So please bear with me for now. Just know that I am thinking about all of you, yes you! And so you can be sure that a part of you is with me here in northeastern Africa.

Finally I'll say that contrary to what you may think the weather here has been relatively cool. This morning when we came into Cairo on the bus I was wearing a t-shirt, a long-sleeve button-down shirt, and a sweater, and I still felt a bit cool. Throughout the rest of the day, although I rolled up the sleeves, I continued to wear the long-sleeve shirt.

Anyway, a part of me is beginning to miss home now. But I know that I have two more days here in Egypt, then three more days in Europe to let it all out before returning to the grind. Feel free to leave a comment or to send me an email, as I am checking every day and would very much love to get a little transatlantic love from my homies. Peace out, y'all! Keep feeling alive in the 2-1-5!

A Salaam Aleikum

I have made it to Egypt. We arrived on time at 1:25 in the morning yesterday. Flying into Cairo was interesting. The city lights were so expansive, the closest thing it reminded me of was Los Angeles. But of course a big difference was observing the bright green lights: these marked wherever there was a mosque, and there were hundreds.

Karim, Roland's friend, met us at the airport. We drove directly to an outdoor restaurant or food shop to drink assab, which is pressed sugar cane juice, it was very refreshing. We also drank a glass of mango juice. Then we went somewhere else to eat some fitir, roughly described as a pizza-like food filled with the ingredients of your choice; I ate mine with sausage.

Because our bus to the east did not leave until 6am, we spent the rest of the night driving around Cairo. We drove by President Mubarak's residence, a section of the city called Heliopolis, which was very beautiful, Nasr City, where we ate our food, and other areas too.

Later after we caught our bus and were leaving the city, and the sun had risen, I saw other areas of the city. The buildings in these other areas appeared as if they had been bombed. There were donkeys on the streets. There were already lots of cars on the streets at 7am. And although there are 20 million people in Cairo, it doesn't necessarily seem that much because everything is spread out. Nevertheless, I only saw this at 7am.

As the bus left the edge of the city, we passed right by the pyramids. It was amazing to see of course. But it was also amazing to realize that they are located right on the edge of the city.

Then came miles and miles and miles of nothing but desert on either side of the highway. The driver was going very fast and weaving from side to side, so it made it nearly impossible to sleep, as much as I desperately needed to sleep.

We arrived in Marsa Matruh at 1:30pm. We checked into a hotel for about $4 per night for both, so about $2 per night per person, and that was about right. Here I finally had a chance to use a toilet (since there are almost never any restrooms in public). I decided not to use the bidet, which nearly touched me when I sat down.

After checking in, we went out for a walk through town and to the Mediterranean coast, only about 6 or 7 blocks from our hotel. The water was a very light blue, reminiscent of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the air temperature was cool, due to the wind coming off the sea, and the water was too cool as well. So we just walked on to a pier, laid down and slept for a little while. I was awakened later by the calls to prayer from the mosque right on the sea, and by a group of young boys who approached us to say "welcome" and "hello."

We are trying to decide what to do tomorrow. We may take the 5 hour bus ride to Siwa, in the south, to go sandboarding and camping in the desert. But it all depends on it not being too cold at nighttime. If not, then we may head back east to either Alexandria or back to Cairo. We shall see....