CASA's spring break this year happens to fall out the week of Passover so, planning on jumping the border to Israel, I had been telling people that I was going to be doing a true Yetziat Mitzrayim, Exodus from Egypt in the spring. Turns out my opportunity arrived slightly earlier than anticipated.
There is a concept in Islam called the Hajj, which, as many might know, is the pilgrimage to Mecca and considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam. Though the Hajj has a prescribed time, 8th - 12th Dhu al-Hijrah (whaddup lunar calendar), one can still travel to Mecca and complete many of the Hajj traditions at any point during the year. This is called Umrah. So basically, I'm calling my early departure from Egypt to Jerusalem, my umrah. I had a lot of fun thinking of these past few days in those terms. I hope you did too. But I doubt it.
I was notified that I would be evacuated to Tel Aviv on Thursday Night. Friday morning, I was on a plane via Amman. When we first got on the bus to the airport, I was a little disappointed. I was being evacuated! I wanted something to happen that would require a lot of exclamation marks when retelling the story. Weaving in and out of protests hoping we wouldn't miss the last plane. Or helicopter... that would have worked nicely. Even as the situation in Egypt was deteriorating, living in Zamalek for the week left me feeling oddly removed from the political upheaval. So I was hoping that in leaving my bubble, I would get a glimpse of "real life." And I did, ish.
Only a few minutes into the drive we saw a fleet of tanks (never thought I would be able to say "fleet of tanks" in context) stationed on the side of the road blocking traffic to a bridge nearby. Twenty minutes later we saw a stream of people making there way to/from Friday prayers on their way to a pro-Morsi rally that was taking place at Cairo University. It was predominantly middle-aged bearded men. Not a single woman. I took some video of the march, but I decided it probably wasn't the best idea. So I stopped and rolled up the window. I took some more video, but I am trying to keep my parent's blood pressure down these days.
There is a concept in Islam called the Hajj, which, as many might know, is the pilgrimage to Mecca and considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam. Though the Hajj has a prescribed time, 8th - 12th Dhu al-Hijrah (whaddup lunar calendar), one can still travel to Mecca and complete many of the Hajj traditions at any point during the year. This is called Umrah. So basically, I'm calling my early departure from Egypt to Jerusalem, my umrah. I had a lot of fun thinking of these past few days in those terms. I hope you did too. But I doubt it.
I was notified that I would be evacuated to Tel Aviv on Thursday Night. Friday morning, I was on a plane via Amman. When we first got on the bus to the airport, I was a little disappointed. I was being evacuated! I wanted something to happen that would require a lot of exclamation marks when retelling the story. Weaving in and out of protests hoping we wouldn't miss the last plane. Or helicopter... that would have worked nicely. Even as the situation in Egypt was deteriorating, living in Zamalek for the week left me feeling oddly removed from the political upheaval. So I was hoping that in leaving my bubble, I would get a glimpse of "real life." And I did, ish.
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| Definitely wasn't there last week |
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| I promise there were at least 20 more |
We reached the airport safely and quickly said our goodbyes, not knowing when CASA would be reunited. Five days? Two months? Ever??? I was (am?) optimistic. I boarded a flight to Amman and from there to Tel Aviv. I did meet an interesting Israeli woman at the airport in Amman who I ended up talking to for a while. She was a vegan anarchist from Tel Aviv preaching the merits of veganism and anarchism. Shocker. She was very nice, but I couldn't stop thinking about how many different worlds I had traveled through recently. My dad captured it well in a recent email: "Princeton graduation in the afternoon. Flight to Cairo through Germany several hours later. A month settling in to your life in Cairo. Disrupted by massive protests, regime change. Evacuation. Jordan. Israel." And a vegan anarchist.
I was just informed that CASA has been cancelled through the summer. Though disappointing, let's be real, not surprising. They hope to restart September 1st. Though optimistic, that is a long ways away. Time will tell.
In the meanwhile, I am in Jerusalem with friends and family. Shabbat in Jerusalem, Dead Sea on Sunday, Yam L'Yam next week and basketball with friends every evening. Back to speaking Hebrew which has come flowing back to me after only a few awkward encounters in which I slip into Arabic. I am actually meeting up with a friend from Seeds of Peace later this week who will take me around the Muslim Quarter and give me a sense of Ramadan in Jerusalem. Should be cool.
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| Dead Sea is awesome |
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| Fish and Chips at the Shuk |
The insurance company should contact me in the next day or two about the next step. I am pretty sure I get either a flight home or to another country. The plan is to go travel a bit in Europe until I meet up with my parents and brother August 1 in Spain. Solomon Braun and I are in negotiations about traveling together. Amsterdam? Berlin? I am taking suggestions. SERIOUSLY. All things considered, things could be worse.
In truth, life is good.
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