Gandalf my friend, this will be a Friday to remember
October 15, 2009
To the courageous international (but largely American) student body toiling away in the heat of Cairo, Friday has ceased to be a concrete day. It can no longer be found wedged between Thursday and Saturday or as a distinct set of 24 splendid hours. No, Friday exists in the minds of hard working students here as an idea, a set of guidelines or a certain frame of mind one embraces whenever they finish that last test. Thursday is our last day of the week, but Monday is too for some of us, and a lot of us have classes on Sunday and Saturday. So really, there is no concept of a ‘weekend’ or a ’school week’. Thus, when a girl burst onto the terrace this morning, where I was devouring a particularly delicious Egg McMuffin (they use real eggs here) before heading off to Arabic, and exclaimed “It’s FRIDAY!” (technically, it was Thursday), everyone let loose a wild hurrah!!! instead of laughing behind their instant coffees at some buffoon getting the days mixed up. Of course, for the international students lucky enough to only be attending AUC for pass/fail, the doctrine of Friday is more of a lifestyle, only suspended when one must show up to enough Arabic classes to avoid getting a Fail.
“But Narrator,” some of my observant readers may point out, “if it is a Friday, why are you writing this blog post and not participating in the shenanigans that are no doubt reducing Zamalek to shambles around your room at this very moment?”. This is an astute observation. However, since I missed a couple days of class this week while suffering from some food poisoning (which I have a sneaking suspicion was at the hands of the double layered veggie pizza pie I had earlier that afternoon), I have quite a backlog of papers/internship stuff/Arabic/etc that I really must get done over the next couple days. In the interests of procrastination and my mental health, I am writing this here blog post to avoid the mind-numbing effects of rentier economies on political development.
If I had made the bold decision to abandon my academic career’s ship this evening, you could really simplify all my options down to two simple choices:
1. Participate in the Egyptian version of a good evening: Drink tea (or Turkish coffee is you’re feeling especially daring), smoke shisha, play backgammon and watch football in a cafe along the Nile with some hilarious natives and students who are genuinely trying to learn the language.
2. Participate in the International (read: American student) version of a good evening: Rent a 100 person felucca, buy a ship-ton (harharhar…) of alcohol and collectively thumb your noses at the Egyptian cultural stance against public intoxication. Also risk almost certain death in case the boat runs into a glacier or rogue Somali pirate ship and begins to sink. Even if you are somehow in any condition to swim to shore, you will surely contract several different strains of Schistosomiasis.
But I chose neither of these options. Instead, I recognized an unavoidable need for coffee and pudding in order to make any progress this evening, and so I went off to the grocery. Along the way I made an observation:
I previously thought that Egyptians were simply truly horrendous parallel parkers. Once, while waiting for my favorite falafel joint to finish moping the floor, or whatever the Egyptian version of moping should be called, I witnessed a car take a good ten minutes to navigate its way into a generously large spot, slamming into another car and backing up traffic for miles. But tonight I realized I am only half right. They also just don’t care about the condition of their cars as long as it leads to a good parking spot. I saw three parked cars in a row with more than a love tap going on between them. For the rest of the trek, every bumper I looked at was in less-than-pristine condition. Given my rather unfortunately poor record of keeping my car’s bumper at home in presentable condition, my father will surely be thrilled to just let me keep a damaged bumper in case any additional mailboxes or parked cars violently run into my car again.
Eventually, I made it to the grocery. I just now realized I forgot to buy a bunch of fieldwork notebooks, which is unfortunate, but at least I remembered to get my daily rations of bread, pudding, instant coffee and apples (still have a sizable stockpile of yogurt). A word on instant coffee:
There is really no “American” style coffee here. It is either Turkish or instant. And since Turkish is probably dangerous to drink in high quantities, I turn to instant for my caffeine needs. And believe me, I don’t think anyone turns to this stuff for their taste needs. The brand I get is Nescafe, and it must have an absurdly high caffeine content. The first night I drank it, I was still awake at 7 (and productive) in the morning. Normally, coffee will keep me somewhat awake but also in a zombie-like state. This does not. So I suppose this too might be dangerous in high quantities. But the Egyptians drink it a lot so what’s the worst that could happen? (Egyptians also drink the tap water a lot and this leads to the Ramses Runs, followed shortly by the spontaneous creation by mutant limbs and the generation of a radioactive field around one’s body.) But some chap really had their thinking cap on one day and came up with the brilliant idea of 3 in 1 instant coffee. This is a coffee, sugar and cream (or some chemical fraud prancing about pretending to be cream.. either way, fooled me) powder mixture in a little plastic packet. This actually tastes good. However, the list of ingredients is rather long and unappealing and carries the dubious distinction of being the first item I have seen here with corn syrup as an ingredient.
This is a picture of 3 in 1 coffee. Also featured is one of my new ultimate shoes (they're sweeet!), the strange deodorant dispensers here, apple juice and a sideways papyrus map of Egypt.
Does this post seem random and unorganized? That’s probably because A. It is, and B. I practically wrote it in my head on my way back to the dorms. But is there a topic or aspect of life in Cairo/Egypt that you want me to cover? Sound off in the comments!
Into the Red Sea
September 27, 2009
The Wonders of the Red Sea
Right now I’m in the middle of Swine Flu Break 2009. At the insistence of the Egyptian government, AUC cancelled all classes through October 3rd. There has been no occurrences of H1N1 at the university, but the government is apparently afraid it will spread through the schools, especially as people return from the trip to Mecca. Of course, we were off for a couple days anyway because of Eid, and I had plans to go visit Sharm el-Sheikh, the popular resort town along the Red Sea.
The ride to Sharm is about six hours from Cairo. We rented a bus that picked us up (there was nine of us) from campus at 3 am. You really notice when you leave ‘mainland’ Egypt and enter the Sinai peninsula. I never realized how mountainous the Sinai was. We followed the Red Sea all of the way down (Sharm is at the southern tip of the peninsula) and drove on sections of road weaving between the mountains for parts of the journey. Arrival was around 8 or 9 in the morning. We snagged ourselves an apartment with a private pool that was only a few minutes away from the beach.
The water along the Red Sea is amazing. We spent the first two days just lounging around the pool and beach, but on the third day we joined an all day snorkeling expedition. I have never snorkeled or scuba dived before this, and the only time I was in similar water was a brief trip to a Caribbean beach when I was younger. Needless to say, this was one of the most exciting/amazing things I have ever done. You can go to the aquarium and see all of these beautiful fish swimming around, but when they are swimming around you while you’re looking at some amazing coral the experience becomes surreal. I really hope I can go snorkeling again before I go, or even better, get an open water scuba liscense. Maybe I can travel to Dahab before I leave.
We sailed out and went to three different sites during the day. We actually caught a glimpse of Saudi Arabia from the boat. I was tired but exhilarated at the end of the day. We got off and went to find food. The restaurant scene in Sharm is pretty much your standard touristy fair. There was actually a ‘Mexican’ bar we stopped at on our first day that I am confident is the only Mexican establishment in the Middle East (unless you count Chili’s, which is all over Cairo). Well, Dubai probably has something. But anyway, we ended up eating at TGI Fridays where I ate an absolutely delicious cheeseburger. But TGI Fridays is one of the few signs of America you’ll see in Sharm. The place is hugely popular with Europeans and Arabs from the Gulf, but Americans are no where to be seen. Our guide on the boat told me he hasn’t seen American tourists in a few years.
Besides hanging out at the beach and splashing around in the water, there really is only one more thing to do in Sharm. And that is to visit a club or two. On our last night in town, we went to Pacha, which is supposedly the 54th or so best club in the world. It is a like a miniature city on the inside. It has a multi level, outdoor dance floor in the center and even has a Starbucks on the inside, along with more restaurants, bars and shops. It was packed the night we went and after dancing through the morning (the sun rises here at 5am and so many people were still dancing when suddenly this strange, bright light appeared on the ‘ceiling’), we all got some sleep before packing up and heading back to Cairo.
I have a week left of my little vacation. I still have some papers to write and Arabic to learn though so I’ve just been exploring and chilling around Cairo. I might ride the train to Alexandria for a day or two later this week and eat some seafood, but I haven’t decided yet. I just got a new charger for my camera so expect some pictures in the future.
The USSR Embassy in Sharm
We saw this club the first night in Sharm. My friend and I went up to see if it was still open, but it looks like it closed its doors just around the same time the USSR did. That’s too bad, since I was really excited to check out a club for ze peoples.
Image of Red Sea by Zé Eduardo…
Sojourn in Egypt
September 12, 2009
Cairo on the Nile
One of my dreams has always been to go abroad for an extended period of time. I’d like to escape “the everyday”, the routine. In the US, I sometimes feel disconnected from the world around me. As Michael Crighton said, in this modern and digital age, we no longer have “direct experiences” in our lives. I want to go abroad to challenge myself in a new environment, to gain a new perspective and perhaps discover something about myself.
And so when the opportunity to go abroad presented itself, I jumped on it. It has been a couple weeks since I arrived in Cairo. I’m in Egypt for a semester long study abroad program at the American University in Cairo (AUC). I’m staying in the slightly upscale Zamalek district where all the embassies are located. The AUC’s brand new campus is located way out in New Cairo, which is practically in the desert. It’s just under an hour long bus ride from my dorms to New Cairo.
To me, daily life in Egypt seems both different and similar to the US. I have never really felt ‘culture shock’ since I have arrived. I looked up ‘culture shock’ on wikipedia and apparently I’m supposed to be in the ‘honeymoon’ phase right now. I haven’t really seen the “differences … in a romantic light” though, nor really as “wonderful”. I certainly haven’t seen them as terrible either, but I just see them as differences. I find myself comparing some differences between here and US, but I haven’t made many Judgments on various aspects of the culture or life here.
I must say though that I do prefer the pace of life here. It is slower and more laid back which suits me just fine. Egyptians seem to have effectively made a national sport out of just chilling on the sidewalks and bantering with neighbors. Actually, in Egypt, no one walks on the sidewalks. You will be obstructed by either parked cars, piles of trash, small canyons or groups of people. Instead, everyone walks in the street. Of course, traffic in Cairo could be a blog post in itself. It’s wild to say the least. And something must be said about the denizens of Cairo. They are incredibly hospitable. While there are some people who are kind and helpful only in the hopes of extracting your money, most people are quick to greet you and make you feel at home.
My schedule of eating and sleeping has changed since I arrived. I will normally eat lunch in the late afternoon then eat dinner any time between 8 and 11. In fact, my favorite location for falafel (an absolute staple of my diet) opens around 1030 pm. It’s under a dollar for two very delicious falafel sandwiches. Following dinner is the customary flocking of Egyptians to the coffeehouses by Egyptians for some tea and sheesha (hookah) until 1 or 2 am. In fact, nothing is more wonderful than relaxing at the coffeehouses along the Nile with a cool breeze after a day of sweating in the desert. The heat of Cairo makes the city slow down (afternoon napping seems to be standard practice) and so the streets are still packed until the wee hours of the morning.
Going on right now is the holy month of Ramadan, which calls Muslims to abstain from foods, liquids and smoking until sunset. Except for Western fast food joints, you cannot find any restaurants or venders open until sunset. Luckily there is a cafeteria in our dorm which serves decent, cheap food all day. The end of Ramadan culminates in the Eid El Fitr, which is a major four day celebration.
It took me awhile to notice that I have accidently become almost entirely vegetarian since I arrived. This last year prior to Egypt, I made it my goal to eat only one meal with meat per day for various health, environmental and moral reasons. A lot of the main staples of Egyptian cuisine, including kushari, fuul and falafel (also known as ta’miya), contain no meat and they are all cheap and delicious. I have had chicken or beef a few times, but as I started to discover in the US, I don’t ever miss it or seek it out. And I’m not denying myself any important nutritional groups. It’s not my goal to become completely vegetarian as there are still meat based dishes that I adore (shout out to my mom’s cooking!) but I would eventually like to whittle down my meat intake to once or twice a week when I return.
As with most things in life, my experience in Cairo hasn’t been 100% marzipan and kittens. I am having a darn good time, but one cannot help but noticing some things. The brand new AUC campus is simply beautiful (architecturally and with its desert vistas), and the quality of the education seems like it will be top notch, but the bureaucracy can be both shocking and incredible. The process to get my ID and class schedule took several days, no one has followed up on a tuition issue, SIX people apparently died in the construction of the new campus and AUC never properly compensated their families, and the AUC hired a former Mubarak crony as head of security which has effectively ended activism and protests on campus. The fact that I am living in an overcrowded, very poor and authoritarian state is never far from one’s mind when walking through the streets here. But this cannot deny the friendliness and warmth of the city, and I do not feel I’m in danger here. In fact, I have felt in much more danger in Louisville, and crime rates here are pretty low.
And finally, I know I promised a lot of people pictures. I do have my camera but the batteries all died en route after turning on in my backpack, and I still have to go buy the necessary electrical equipment that can charge them with the voltage here (I bought the plug adapter, but I still need the power adapter). I will purchase this soon, insha’allah.
Image from M. Heykal
Muslim Demographics Myth
August 20, 2009
Some of you may have seen the Muslim Demographics video that has been circulating on Youtube and through email. The message of the video is basically that the birth rates of the Western European nations are in decline and are no longer high enough to sustain their culture. At the same time Muslim birthrates in Europe, who are entering due to immigration, are skyrocketing. The video then boldly states that during this century, Western Europe will transition to Muslim nations, including Islamic republics.
The information that the video uses to support its claims are birthrates and immigration numbers of Europe, Canada and the United States. The figures quoted are shocking and, as it turns out, often either made up or grossly exaggerated. The BBC put together a video which examines the numbers of the Muslim Demographics video and displays the inaccuracies and fabrications of the video. You can watch it on the BBC website.
It is true that Muslim population numbers are increasing throughout Western Europe. However, the results won’t be as dramatic as the Muslim Demographics video suggests. Since Western European nations are giving citizenship to many Muslims who immigrated into Europe, the most tangible impact may be that Europe may begin to reevaluate and shift its position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict due to the influence of the Muslim voters.
But back to birth rates. This video, and some other articles, imply that Muslims in particular have high birth rates compared to other groups. Afghanistan, Niger and Yemen are often listed as examples of Muslim majority countries that have extremely high birth rates. According to 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, these three countries have total fertility rates (per woman) of 7.2, 7.3 and 5.6 respectively. However, this argument denies the variance and downward trend found throughout “Muslim majority” nations. Here are some total fertility rates for some other nations: Egypt (3.0), Iran (2.0), Syria (3.2), Morocco (2.4) and Libya (2.8). The birth rates throughout Muslim majority countries have also been in decline for some time. According to WHO, in 1990 the total fertility rate for Iran was 5.0, Egypt 4.4, Yemen 8.1, Morocco 4.0, Afghanistan 8.0 and Libya 4.8.
Birth rates are tricky to project into the future. Traditionally, birth rates have been very high in developing and the poorest nations. At the same time, once a nation is ‘developed’, the birth rate falls. I think this is the idea behind the Muslim Demographics video. However, when people immigrate from a poor country to a richer country, they tend to trend towards the national birth rate of their new home. High birth rates are probably a strategy of survival in developing nations, where the life expectancy is low (42.0 in Afghanistan for example) and many children due not survive to adulthood because of war/disease/malnutrition. WHO statistics show that the under 5 mortality rate (probability of dying by age 5 per 1000 live births) is very high for developing nations (example: Niger 253, compared to USA at 8.0).
The newest data shows that birth rates for developed nations is rising while developing nations is actually shrinking, with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, the population of both Christians and Muslims in sub-Saharan will increase sharply. As this article points out, the stress of huge population increases on local environmental systems will possibly lead to future Rwanda and Darfur-like conflicts since these nations do not have the infrastructure and institutions in place to handle their current population numbers, so how will they support such an increase?
Contrary to some views, there is no cultural or religious significance for Muslims to have high fertility rates. Birth rates are a result of historical, social and economic patterns and are in a constant state of flux. There is a great deal of variance in projections of population growth and birth rates (as the BBC video states, it is an “inexact science”), and anyone can take demographic numbers, twist them and come out with a conclusion for the future that supports their narrative.
A Literary Adventure
August 14, 2009
Charging into battle with Patrick Rothfuss (L to R, Myself, Patrick and List)
I was sitting in Altiora, a Spring Cricket in hand, diligently unraveling the mysteries of the universe. Then my pocket began vibrating. List came a-callin’.
Backstory: Last week List realized that Patrick Rothfuss, author of “The Name of the Wind”, would be book signing at the Indianapolis Public Library. This was one day before the legendary Gen-Con would begin. The plan would be to head up that afternoon, stop at some fair for special fortune cookies, go to the book signing, spend the night somewhere and then head back to NKY the next day. Unfortunately, due to money and work related issues, most of us could not attend (including myself) and so the plan was cancelled.
Back to Altiora: It was 4 pm. T-minus 3 hours till book signing. List realized that if we cut out the fortune cookies (or so we thought…) and bust-a-move to Indianapolis, we could make it in time to be in the presence of one Mr. Rothfuss.
I teleported home and grabbed my copy of “The Name of the Wind” and met List for the dash to Indy, within legal limits of course. List drove. We made it to Indy in around two hours, just under the Mapquest time.
When I stepped into the Indianapolis Public Library, my breath was stricken from my body. It was a library, especially the fiction wing, that perfected the art of badass-ery. It mixed new and old styles of architecture rather swimmingly. And it had four floors. The fantasy/science fiction section alone was the size of my hometown library.
Entrance to the fiction section
After walking through part of the library, we headed to the auditorium where everything was going down. I was happy to learn that there would be a costume contest, and following that, Patrick Rothfuss himself would speak to us mere mortals. There was not many people in the costume contest, but three of the contestants in the fantasy category were the Bennets from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This itself was thrilling.
Then Patrick began speaking. He first showcased a chunk of a “Not-for-Childrens” childrens book that will hopefully be released sometime soon. This was fantastic. The current title is “The Princess and the Thing”, but Rothfuss assured us that that would change. At first blush, after looking at the sweet art and the innocent beginning of the story, one might assume that it was just another picture book for the kiddies. But horrifying things would begin happening at the marzipan castle. We’ll leave it at that. Also read was an excerpt to “The Wise Man’s Fear”, the sequel to “The Name of the Wind”. Apparently, “The Wise Man’s Fear” is 75% awesome. We were assured it would have to be 96% awesome before being published. And I would remiss to not mention the story of the Ultimate Chalupa at Taco Bell, which turned out to only be merely the penultimate chalupa.
Once that ended, book signing began. We were given a sticky note on which to write our name and the message we wanted Patrick to write onto our book. This was a surprise. I had minutes to come up with some witty/clever/strange line for him to immortalize on the pages of my book. In the end, I had Mr. Rothfuss write probably the dumbest thing he has ever written on a piece of paper:
Todós los días los osos comen todás las populacíon.
He said it was a first. I would imagine.
Important: This phrase finds its origins from Spanish class my freshman year of college. I don’t really remember how it came about. But I feel smart and bilingual when I say it.
List and I also got our picture taken with Patrick, but it was not our camera so I am waiting for the kind sir who took the pic to email it to me. I will post it after that. Rothfuss was also giving out custom fortune cookies from the same place List wanted to visit. I got an orange flavored one. I am delighted to report that I recieved my first ever fortune from the cookie, as normally I receive advice and lucky numbers.
When the flowers bloom and birds sing you’ll find a dead body in the cellar.
It’s a New Year!
January 5, 2009
I realize that I never say anything here. You can blame that on Twitter. However, I figured the old look was getting stale, and it’s a new year, so hey, why not renovate? I cancelled my hosting account and consolidated Beyond Occident with my old wordpress.com account. So basically, I host it here on wordpress.com for about $40 dollars less. I wasn’t able to export my older posts, which is why the last post is about Science Debate 2008 (which failed by the way.. can’t win ‘em all). Such epics like the Death of Scorpion Spider are now lost for evertime.
I’m leaving for school here in a few minutes and I’m pretty excited about this coming semester. I’m done with all of my general education requirements, and I can finally focus on the awesome stuff, all the time. I also realized that I’d be done with all of my Anthropology requirements by the end of my Junior year, so I decided to double major in Pol Sci. and Anth. It ties in with my minor so all is glad and happy (redundant?), and I’ll be graduating in time.
Looking forward, I don’t expect to post here frequently. However, as Twitter doesn’t allow you to go into any real depth, I hope that I can write here, in detail, about things that are important to me.
Support Science Debate 2008!
January 14, 2008
Just thought I’d let everyone know about Science Debate 2008. They are trying to organize a debate for all the candidates based on science and technology, all rather important topics for our country’s future. They need your help: If you support the debate, sign the petition on their site! And tell your friends too.
Saved Hyrule
January 13, 2008
Good news everyone. I finished part 1 of 3 on my Legend of Zelda resolution. On Friday, I beat Ocarina of Time. I must say, the ending was such a buzzkill. And the final boss was so easy.
Ah well, it’s still one of the greatest games ever in my opinion.
Update to my Resolutions
January 7, 2008
I previously had this posted to my ‘2008′ goals
3. Became a master Photoshop ninja (and by Photoshop, I mean Gimp, because ya know, I can’t afford Photoshop).
I changed my mind. I decided I am happy enough being a Photoshop peon. Maybe I’ll change it to be a intermediate Arabic speaking ninja. Speaking of Arabic, I got the text book today and it is awesome. It goes back cover to front cover like a real book of the Arabic origin. How neat-o.
And now that I’ve gone wildly off topic, I realized that every school year (or now school semester, since classes change every .5 year in college) I have one class that I really dread going to. Last semester it was Spanish. My senior year of high school it was every class except Visual Arts. This semester I have a feeling it’s going to be communications.
I’ll keep you posted.
Carcassonne
January 4, 2008
Funny thing happaned today. I got on my Xbox and realized that a few months ago, I had downloaded Carcassonne for free from the Xbox Live Arcade. At the time, I really knew nothing about it. I never actually played it. Fast forward a few months and my brother recieved it for Christmas. I played it and thought “Wow, what a neat game!”. Well, it was quite the surprise when I realized I owned it already. It translates quite nicely into Xbox-land too.
