June 30

So... you might have heard, but today is kind of a big day in Egypt. The Tamarod (Rebellion) Campaign was initiated at the end of April as a campaign to collect 15 million signatures by June 30 calling for Morsi to step down and for Egypt to hold early elections (probably October or so). They have collected over 22 million. Today is June 30. I would take a look at some footage from today's protests in Tahrir Square. Reminiscent of reunions. They even have tents.

Tahrir Square from about 4PM (I wasn't there... not my pic)

I don't really have much analysis of the ongoing events, but I figured I would give you a sense of some of the different perspectives I have heard from Egyptians and the general buzz around Cairo.

But first, I should mention that I am safe and sound tucked away in the Zamalek AUC campus. In anticipation of today's protests throughout Egypt, CASA requested that both Adam and I relocate to another part of the city for the weekend. On Friday afternoon when we could hear now infamous chorus of "الشعب يريد اسقاط النظام" (The people want to bring down the regime) from our bathroom, we decided it was the right call. It has been a quiet, indoor weekend.

Basically I feel like I can break down the Egyptians I have spoken to into three camps: Pro-Brotherhood, Anti-Brotherhood and those who are torn between disliking the brotherhood and fear of another revolution.

Pro-Brotherhood: Truthfully, it doesn't seem like there are that many these days. Granted I am in Cairo, which is kind of like saying there aren't many Republicans when all you've seen is NY. Though mind you I am well-versed in Texan culture as well after my extensive road trip (#Texas4eva) But even so, I am hearing more and more from people that the number of protestors outside of Cairo and other major cities is way up from the protests that brought down Mubarak two and a half years ago. Even the pro-Morsi protests seem empty.

The one Brotherhood guy who I know (met him on a microbus and then proceeded to have an hour and a half conversation with him about Egypt, June 30, American intervention. He also was convinced Romney was Jewish... Let's just say he wasn't a fan.) points to the democratic process and argues that Morsi was elected democratically, "isn't that what they want??" It seems like a fair point. What would we say to protests calling for President Obama to resign immediately? Wait a couple years and cast your vote. That is the democratic process. You can't have a revolution every time a president's approval rating drops.

Anti-Brotherhood: These guys are pissed. Morsi and the Brotherhood have wronged Egypt and its citizens. They argue that the country has never been worse. Promises of reform and a democratic process have been replaced with the Brotherhood-ization of Egypt and excluding any non-Bros from the political process.

But that is from the AUC graduates and other similarly high-cultured people. They represent the minority of the opposition. It's the people who work in coffe shops, security guards, and cabdrivers who represent the bulk of those out on the streets. They can't make a living. Electricity cuts out almost every day. And recently, there is no gas. People wait in line for up to four hours just waiting to refuel. Taxi drivers tell me they want Mubarak back. I nod along in agreement, thinking to myself - yeah, ok buddy. Sure ya do. But people are truly angry.

 I met these guys today who are convinced that this is the end of the Muslim Brotherhood not only in Egypt, but in the entire Arab world. They have been outed, they say, as backwards and perverse, twisting and manipulating Islam. One guy likened them to the Italian mob.

Gas lines

The final group I find most interesting and, truthfully, compelling. They do not like the Broskis. In many ways they believe that they have not stood by their promises to the Egyptian people. But they fear a second revolution. They fear that the economy will spiral even further downwards. They fear further bloodshed. How much more can they take? Istiqrar, stability, is a common trope. No one wants to invest in building the country because no one knows what the next day holds. My roommate, Shadeed, is fed up. Khalas, he says, zihi't (I'm fed up). He is planning on moving to Qatar after Ramadan. Who can blame him? 

The weeks leading up to these protests have been really exciting for me. The pulse of the city has been defined by the preparations for the protests and the constant campaigning of "Inzil" - Go down (to the protests). I get to sit in on conversation about people's hopes and visions for the future of Egypt and sometimes share my own thoughts, trying sometimes to push and pry. But this is not my country. I am a visitor. I can enjoy all the excitement and fervor, but at the end of the day, I do not have the existential fear that simply being Egyptian entails these days. Watching the protests is exhilarating, sure, but what's next?

Allahu 'Alam. God knows best. 

Some footage of the protests from the weekend. Not mine.

This picture is just for funzies. A gem from a street just off of Tahrir.

I do not support this

3 Weeks Down...

I have taken a short hiatus from blogging since when I think about the fact that I am blogging, I second guess myself. Me? I don't blog. But that is silly, right? Just gotta do it. Or maybe I can just use the Yavneh-ite Byte forum? Ay, Julie?

So now that I am 3 weeks into CASA I can fill y'all in a little bit more about what my life has looked like over the past weeks.

I wake up everyday around 7:45-8ish. Class begins at 9 and it is about a twenty minute commute to my classes in Zamalek so I have some time in the morning to check my email and catch some headlines. With the buildup to the June 30th protests here in Egypt I have been trying to stay relatively informed in order to both to help fuel conversations with Egyptian friends and also to help me figure out how to spin the stories when talking to my parents. Jokes, jokes. More on June 30th to come.

AUC Zamalek Dorms

My typical school day is 9-1:20. Really not bad. Kind of reminds me of my schedule in first and second grade when living in Jerusalem. I have two hours of MSA (Fusḥa) in the morning and then two hours of Egyptian Colloquial in the afternoon. Which is really still morning since my days are so short. Classes on a whole are very solid. I am definitely learning and I still love learning the language, but I am somewhat underwhelmed by the program itself. At the end of the day, it is just another Arabic program. I am not quite sure what I expected, but even in terms of its intensity, it doesn't feel all that different than previous Arabic classes I've been in, with the exception of Arabic 402 this last semester. That was just absurd. I hear things pick up in the Fall Semester so I guess I am looking forward to that, mish kidda? (lit: is it not so? but used all the freakin time somewhat rhetorically for emphasis. It is also used when arguing with someone and you want them to acknowledge your point and concede that you are right.)

Since classes end early and the workload has not been terrible, I have been exploring different ways of getting back home in the afternoon. The two best options have been microbuses and walking. I am not sure if microbuses are a real thing, but here they are basically shitty vans that shuttle people around the city for half an Egyptian pound. That is 7 pennies. Absurd. Once in a while it gets pretty crowded so you end up hanging off the side a bit and holding on real tight. Good thing my elbow is rock solid. The warm, fresh Cairo breeze is always welcome though. Nope, it's disgusting. 

A fleet of Egyptian microbuses

My alternative to busing has been walking which I have really enjoyed. It is about a 45-50 minute walk and is basically a straight shot down the Corniche, which is the road that runs along the Nile. Depending on what time I walk back, I also walk through an area where the call to prayer is blasted. I love it. I really wish we had something like that. (That is basically what I hear. I took my own recording, but I have no idea how to upload it. So I figured I'd mooch)

Most of the walk is pretty straightforward, but as we (Adam and I) worked to perfect our walking path we discovered a wonderful little shortcut that really makes me feel like I am in Egypt every time I use it. Since the revolution two years ago a lot of the streets downtown (especially near Tahrir Square) are blocked off with huge cement walls that are strategically located to deflect traffic near government buildings. I, too, suffer from these impasses since I am smack in the middle of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the People's Assembly - all beloved arms of the Egyptian government. I would add a picture, but I am not allowed to casually take pictures of government buildings. 

But back to the shortcut. I am also a five minute walk from the American Embassy! . FYI, it is closed Sunday and Monday. The embassy is probably the most well protected establishment in Egypt. No joke, there are typically 50 or so police officers around the embassy. To be fair, they are mostly sitting around, napping, smoking hitting their fellow comrades or napping (yes, I know I wrote that twice. Emphasis). The embassy is also about a five minute walk from Tahrir Square so there is a big wall blocking cars from passing through. But... There is a hole in the side of the wall that opens up to Corniche and significantly reduces my travel time. Not to mention that I introduced my Egyptian roommate to the shortcut. Whatever, not like I'm a pro or anything, no biggie.

My Hole

Outside of classes, my life consists of a lot of coffee and tea. I have been trying to go to ahwas fairly regularly as that is the heart of Egyptian culture. On the weekends I end up going out every night with some friends and just kinda hanging out, talking, playing backgammon, and listening to people's thoughts about the upcoming protests. It has been great having Shadeed (my Egyptian roommate) around since he is always super welcoming and invites us wherever he goes.  Mind you I end up staying out until 3 or 4 in the morning. Once even 6. Isn't that what college is supposed to be like? #PASYisrael #Golfcourse

At this point I am racking up the phone numbers and creating a solid little crew for myself. And it's almost exclusively in Arabic! Kinda cool having Egyptians calling me to hang out and even baking me a cake for my birthday! Legit have not really had extensive conversations with many of the CASA people so far. Though I am planning on remedying that.

I also had the chance to go to al-Azhar (a big mosque) and Khan Khalili (a huge open-air shuq, suq in Arabic) with Sammy Schatz who is here for a month or so studying Arabic. The suq is not really my scene -  noisy, dirty and a lot of crap to buy. But al-Azhar is great. You walk into the mosque and people are just sitting around in the shade reading the Quran, maybe some hadith and fiqh. Basically  throwback to my senior thesis. What could be better. We also paid one of the workers to let us up in the minaret which has a beautiful view of the city and really lets the different shades of brown to come through strongly. I am hoping to set up some sort of chevrutah with an imam or sheikh at al-Azhar in the fall to go through some fiqh manuals and just learn some of the basics.

I am hoping to write another post pretty soon about June 30 and throw out some thoughts and observations about the weeks leading up to this weekend and how it has affected me. Stay tuned.

The Weekend

I want to start out by thanking Sarah Meyer. This should have been in the first post, but Sarah is the originator of the blog's title. Her wit should not go unnoticed. Sarah, wallahi thank you. YOU DA BEST!

I feel like I really settled in this weekend. The Egyptian weekend is Friday and Saturday, so after our four hour orientation on Thursday (I had to leave for Cairo eight hours after graduation in order to arrive on time for this important orientation...) I was free to roam around, get acquainted with my neighborhood shwaya (means "a little" or "slowly." It is a must-know word) and hang out with my roommates.

On Friday I formally met my Egyptian roommate, Ahmed Shadid. He had been living with the CASA people who lived in my apartment before me and was highly recommended as he only speaks Arabic with us and can help out with random Egypt-specific things that might occasionally arise. He is living in the makeshift room I mentioned for free and I'm pretty sure he isn't working these days but he is hoping to move to Qatar for a while, find a job and make some money. I told him I know a guy there who is (was?) pretty well connected there and that I could put them in touch. Too far?

Ahmed Shadid

He took us around on Friday to a couple of the local cafes, or ahwas, and he introduced us to some of his friends who live in the area. You have to understand that ahwas are a huge part of Egyptian social life and one can easily spend 2-3 hours chillin with a small cup of turkish coffee. We probably spent a total of five hours split between two ahwas! (I exclaim for you, Jeremy)  I'm not sure if it was just because we were two (two being myself and Adam, one of my roommates) random Americans with these groups of Egyptians, but there was a lot of silence. At first I felt a little uncomfortable with the flow of our conversations, thinking maybe we were unwanted, but looking at the other groups around us it seemed like the long silent pauses were common, almost embraced. On a Friday afternoon in 106 degree heat in downtown Cairo, the pace of life simply slows down. Kinda nice actually.

The Nile!

Later that evening we went to a birthday party for Shadid's friend. Even though the party itself was not really my style (think Tower, but smaller. Haha?), it was pretty cool. There were probably about 40 or so people in this guy's apartment dancing, talking, and eating (not the cool part yet) and I think 12 different nationalities were represented. Americans (whaddup), Egyptians, French, German, Sudanese (yes, both North and South), Central African Republic and more. Though English was dominant, I heard a number of others being used throughout the room. Out of all places in the world, I figured Cairo would be relatively homogeneous. I asked Shadid about the diversity of the crowd and he said it was very typical of the crowd in which he hung out. Though not your average Egyptian, still pretty cool to know that a party like that is happening in Cairo.

Sunday we had another day of orientation at the new AUC campus which is way out in the middle of nowhere. It is about an hour+ drive way out in the middle of New Cairo (see map) The old campus which is still somewhat functional is located downtown about 5 minutes from Tahrir Square so though a cool area to be in, not so much these days.

I start class tomorrow morning which I am genuinely excited about. Even over the past few days I have felt that my Egyptian dialect has kicked up so I'm hoping to get some new words and phrases to play around with. It's like a big puzzle and I keep getting new pieces to mess around with. Love it.

Arrival

The past few days, wallahi (I'll include one new Arabic phrase/word in every post), have been a bit crazy. After a weekend of reunions, the equivalent of a long weekend of graduations, I have finally arrived in Cairo - my home for the next 12 months. I am living in Mounira, a quiet area safely tucked away among scattered decrepit government building. Apparently that is a good thing since it means fewer blackouts, especially during the summer months. I also happen to be living about a 12 minute walk from Tahrir Square, but I will let those proficient in white text to figure that out. Hey friends!!
A brief synopsis of my living arrangements: 3/4 bedrooms (we have a makeshift room in the living room where a pretty cool Egyptian guy is living at the moment), 2 baths, a kitchen, a nice large living room with like 10 very regal-looking chairs. I have my own room with a queen size bed, a couple of chairs and a massive closet that will house my extensive wardrobe. If anyone is looking for some extra storage... The view from my room is kinda blah, but then again, the color scheme in Cairo ranges from fawn to sepia according to this brown/orange hue chart.

Living Room

Makeshift Room

A View from My Room

Truthfully on a whole it was a pretty slow first day. Started early with the CASA orientation in Zamalek, the small island in the middle of Cairo smack in the middle of the Nile. Due to certain security concerns as of two and a half years ago, the American University in Cairo campus that previously housed CASA is closed. So our classes are being held in the AUC dormitory in Zamalek where I lived exactly three years ago. Such fond memories. Out of the 29 students participating in the program this year, I knew five and had one degree of separation from about eight or nine more. I realized I am much better at Arabic geography than that other type. (Jewish)

After a delicious ful (fava beans) sandwich for lunch and a few mishaps in figuring out my phone situation (apparently Verizon will unlock your iPhone for free, who knew?) we headed out to Dokki (another neighborhood in Cairo where many CASA people live) where we dined at a Yemen(ite?) restaurant, apparently a must for all Americans coming to Cairo for the year. While the vegetarian cuisine was lacking, I had my first experience of the ongoing blackouts in Egypt when we first walked into the restaurant. Ahh, I was also mistaken for a Syrian today in the taxi ride over to the CASA facilities. Not sure how much that means to other people, but for me, it's why I'm here. It's gonna be a good year.