A couple Days

Sooo yesterday, we got up pretty late because it turns out I've been going to bed at 4:30am everyday. We went to MC's favorite coffee place from when she studied abroad. It was called Pottery Cafe and waited forever for food that was out at first, but it was worth the wait! We had this AWESOME coffee . . . well I had it, it was mint cafe, which just meant regular coffee with milk and mint flavoring. so good.
Then we went to the Egyptian Museum. There I saw real mummies for the first time. Nothing like a rotting corpse to start the day right! It raised a lot of ethical questions . . . but it was interesting to see. Other than that, there was so much authentic egyptian burial related stuff that you can see in other places, but was so much cooler to see in the heat of the heart of Egypt. The museum was somewhat poorly laid out, although apparently it's getting better. It reminded me of an old treasure filled basement that you sort of roam around in. I enjoyed it!
Next we took some crazy pictures out in the sculpture garden outside, followed by a grocery shopping trip. Other than MC knocking over a glass jar of expensive coffee, that we had to pay for, it was uneventful. We bought ingredients to make a delicious vegetable sauce to put over pasta, as well as a summer salad with corn, coriander and tomatoes, french bread . . . it was a great meal. Later we went out on a falucca ride on the Nile, which is a big wooden boat with a sail that a man in a galebaya sails for you. It was wonderful and i got to meet a lot of other Americans living in Cairo.
Yesterday (Friday, our Sunday), we went to Korba with Mostafa. This is a really European area of Cairo where there are beautiful facades and really nice shops. After that we headed to Mostafa's house where we had a really traditional Egyptian dinner. Then we visited Mostafa's aunt and had dessert with her. It was such a cool day because I got to really experience family life and see two different real Egyptian apartments. Afterwards we went to the Khan market, which is like the Kho San Road of Cairo. I got souveniers for all my family members there thanks to Mostafa and MC who bargained for me the whole time. On the way home we picked up delicious fruit juice. Mango!! It was so delicious.
Today we went to see the pyramids!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. First, we went to Saqqara (zakara), which is where the oldest pyramid and only step-pyramid is. We hired a guide, who gave us some interesting information, got to see some cool tombs, sat on a camel, roamed about . . . i was thrilled. Even better was going to the Giza pyramids where I climbed up to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza (from the inside) -- probably the coolest thing ever. It was exactly like the computer game we used to play. Then we took pictures in front of it and saw the other smaller pyramids around it. After that we went to the Sphinx, which was amazing!!! i just can't believe i was so close to where Aladdin flew on the Magic Carpet with Jasmine. Thanks, Disney.
Anyways. Now we're sitting around skyping with MC's whole family and later we'll watch Harry Potter 5. Woohoo!

Things of Note

-Citadel was amazing! It has the Mohammed Ali Mosque and the military museum. So the day involved my first time in a mosque, which was really pretty exciting and interesting and my first view of pyramids!! I can't wait to see them up close.
-Driving in Cairo is probably the most terrifying experience one can have. It's like definite death, except you end up wherever you needed to go. Thank goodness Mostafa is a good driver!
-Only thing scarier than driving is crossing the street . . . with no traffic lights and certainly no cross walks, you literally just walk out into traffic and hope they stop.
-Lunch in an amazing park near the Citadel. It was incredibly beautiful and the salad/sandwich/ice tea were delicious. Fantastic talk with MC :-)
-Watched "The Onion" movie at Mostafa's apartment, which was funny. We had tea, macaroons and this other dessert that was like a light wheat meal cake soaked in honey and possibly rose water. It was absolutely incredible, I can't wait to make this at home.
-We went out to the 2nd biggest mall in the Middle East called Star City. It was HUGE and magnificent. There are starbucks, costa coffee, Johnny Rockets a Rainforest Cafe and so much more.
Very excited for tomorrow and downtown Cairo, the Egyptian Museum and a falouka party!

Cairo Arrival!

So after having left at 6:45am on Sunday, July 12th, I finally arrived in Cairo at 8:45pm on Monday, July 13th. It was a longggg day. But all of my flights were on time, I met interesting people and everything, so that was as good as it could have been. It was fantastic to get to see Maryclaire again and to meet her boyfriend, Mostafa, about whom I have heard a lot in the last 2 years. Even at 9:30pm, Cairo was really really warm, probably like 80 degrees or something. There were tons of cars driving (relatively) wildly and honking quite a lot.
My body had no idea what date or time it was, so I actually wasn't tired on arrival. We stopped at a kiosk called "on the run" to get me some water (yay!) then at a sandwich shop called "prego" to get Maryclaire a sandwich and then went over to Mostafa's house where I met his parents. Mostafa's mom was really worried that I had the swine flu, and it was sort of the first sign of what a different world I was in. We got there and went into his beautiful, spacious apartment full of these beautiful couches, pillows and light fixtures that you picture in middle eastern homes. His parents were incredibly nice and so welcoming to me. His father and I talked as best we could about Germany and America. We had some brownie sundaes, and then as we left, he told me that he and his wife would invite me back at least 2-3 times for dinner before I left. This was an amazing gesture of hospitality and I really thank them for being so open to me.
After a trip back to Maryclaire's apartment, we set up curtains in my room and I went to sleep. The next morning (Tuesday) I woke up to tea! wonderful. MC and I talked a lot over breakfast about the different cultures we'd been living in and then we headed out to Coptic Cairo. The Copts are the Egyptians who practice Christianity and make up about 10% of the overall population. The Copt line technically is descendant from the ancient Pharaohs. The Coptic Museum was incredibly beautiful and it was so interesting to see the many influences on the artwork of the religion, especially given the different phases of Egyptian occupation. Then we got to go to some Coptic churches that were near the museum, including the Hanging Church, which is built over a church that tradition has Mary & Joseph staying at when the passed through Egypt. They were beautifully decorated and it was interesting to see how another sect of Christianity deals with their religion.
Later we also found a Jewish section of Cairo, inside the Coptic section. The Jewish population here numbers about 200 . . . so to have stumbled upon a little area of it was a great opportunity to ecounter it. After that we went to a jewelry store to buy crosses in the coptic style, which means they are symmetrical on all four sides. We both found one that looks sort of like a snow flake in silver and bought them! I'm very excited for my new purchase. Then we headed back to Giza, where MC lives and went to a salon where we had our eyebrows done and got a little face mask, it was great. haha. We came home for little naps, then headed to the Duty Free store (becuase only there can Egyptians legally buy hard alcohol and I had just arrived).
At 7pm MC and I headed to a panel dinner on Great Women Leaders for the USAID Peace Scholarships to the US. It was at the Pyramisa hotel. The panel was three egyptian women and one American woman who have all had really successful careers. It was fascinating because they ranged from a 70+yearold egyptian with gender roles completely engrained in her mentality, to a much younger egyptian running HR at GM whose kids are being watched by a nanny. Then participants who ranged from wanting to know more about how people made their choices, to one boy who asked the younger woman if she wasn't selfish for sacrificing her duties as a mother and announced our society would crumble if all women acted like her. Fascinating! And a little scary.
Dinner was delicious, though, and I found this new amazing desert (the name of which I can never remember) that was sort of like ambrosia or baklava except in a finger. OH! that was the name, the arabic word for finger. It was delicious. I also tried 10 other things, all good. After dinner we went to a party at MC's friend's apartment for her boyfriend's birthday. I met some interesting people, but we were really tired so we headed home. I had an interesting discussion with Mostafa about education in Egypt and then went to bed! I didn't fall asleep until 3:30am or so (booo) but i got to sleep until now, so that's good. :-D