Final day in Cairo

After wrapping up my final day in Cairo with a visit to my favorite part of the city, I made spent my last evening at one of my favorite parts of Egyptian culture: the ahwa (cafe). I went to a few ahwas in the Downtown area and ordered my favorite drinks - ahwa mazboot (Turkish coffee with sugar) and sahlab. The latter is my favorite drink that Egypt has to offer. It is a warm dessert drink consisting of nuts, bananas, milk, sugar, and some sort of seeds. Both beverages originated in Turkey but have made their way into Egyptian culture as coffeehouse staples.

An ahwa by Midan Falaki, Downtown.


I stayed out late at the ahwa and then returned to my apartment to pack up all my belongings. By 5am I was ready to leave, and said goodbye to my apartment.

Around my neighborhood of al-Mesaha, in Doqqi.





From my street and apartment - Amer Street in Doqqi.







I hauled all my stuff and conveniently hailed a cab at the end of my street. I figured my last encounter in Cairo would not be without some unique surprise, and I was correct. My taxi driver had some very severe attention-deficit and twitching issues. Literally every few seconds he would flip on the lights, change the radio, open or close the windows, change lanes, and move about the cab as if he had bugs all over him. Meanwhile, we travelled at high speed down the 6th October Bridge, because 5am on the day of prayer is one of the few times you won't encounter traffic in Cairo.

My flight to London was at 8:30am. Everything went smoothly at the airport, and by the end of the day I touched down in Boston and was on my way home.

Meeting with my landlord, thoughts on Doqqi

Today my roommate Nate went to renew our lease for the apartment with the landlord, so I figured I'd meet my landlord since I hadn't yet. This was significant because it was the first time I'd been invited into the home of an Egyptian.

My landlord is named Nabil, and he lives on the other side of Midan al-Mesaha in Doqqi, about five minutes from our apartment. Nabil is elderly man, not even five feet tall, but speaks English fluently. His apartment is in a high rise, and is quite luxurious. He's a retired civil engineer, so he is fairly wealthy for an Egyptian.

When we arrived, we got the legal business out of the way. Nate signed the contract (all in Arabic) and agreed that he would be responsible for me as a "guest" only, so I'm not actually a party on the contract. Nabil also inspected my passport and visa.

After that we were offered tea, as is standard in Egypt, and he made us stay awhile to talk. His wife didn't know English, so we talked mainly in Arabic. I didn't say much, but I was contented by the fact that I could understand at least the main ideas of everything that was said. Nate is quite strong in Arabic, but even he feels fluency is very far away. Nabil talked to us about his career, politics, history, and some other topics. Before we left we were given the standard "you are like sons, visit me anytime" speech.

I've slowly come to the conclusion that Doqqi is simply the best place in Cairo to live, at least according to my tastes. If I were to ever return to Cairo and needed an apartment, I would most likely choose Doqqi again. The northeastern part of Giza and the southern part of Agouza are close enough to Doqqi that they would also be great places to live. I've been to basically every neighborhood in Cairo at least once, so I think I have a good idea of how Doqqi compares.

Among the many reasons I think Doqqi is an ideal neighborhood for living:

• Tahrir Street and Doqqi Street have all the shops and services you'd ever need.
• The Doqqi metro stop is only two stops from Downtown.
• Walking to Midan al-Tahrir in Downtown takes only fiveteen minutes from Midan al-Galaa' in Doqqi.
• There are trees which provide some shade and aesthetic appeal, unlike most Cairo neighborhoods.
  
• Expat population is very low. It actually feels like living in Cairo, rather than an expat enclave. This is good for seeing how the "common" Cairene lives and speaks on a daily basis.
  
• Apartments are mostly cheap, although there are a few luxury ones available.
• It does not have the level of pollution that is present in Downtown or Garden City; in fact the pollution in Doqqi isn't noticeable except on Tahrir Street.
  

The only thing that has irritated me about living in Doqqi is the noise pollution, which of course is a problem everywhere in Cairo. I'm not sure how it is in the other neighborhoods of Cairo, but the yelling on the street is what gets to me the most.

There is one poor lady in particular who comes around all the streets in my neighborhood every day around 9AM, and yells something which I can't quite understand. All she ever carries is a box of lettuce or some other vegetable. On the weekends, the propane collectors come by in their carts and bang on the containers with wrenches repeatedly. The guy who collects large trash items comes by and yells as he slowly pushes his cart. Occasionally there are a few guys who come along with the donkey carts full of fruits and vegetables and yell out their entire stock of goods for anyone who may be interested. When these people yell, they really yell, and they take their time walking up and down the streets and stopping in front of every apartment building, so hearing the piercing sound of "patatas" one hundred times is now commonplace.

My street isn't too busy, but even still I hear a great deal of horn-honking on a regular basis. I live right next door to a very popular upscale cafe, and when people come to pick up their friends at the coffee house, they'll often just lean on the horn to let them know they've arrived, rather than getting out of the car. The cafe is more frequented by young people, so at night the cafe itself gets very loud.

In addition to the noise, some streets in Doqqi tend to have a lot of trash. I've noticed many Egyptians have no qualms about littering, so the streets often reflect this attitude.

On the whole though, I'm really glad I chose to live in Doqqi. If anyone reading this is looking for ideas on where to live in Cairo, that's what I'd suggest.

Egyptian Museum and the weekend

I went to the Egyptian Museum on Saturday, which contains the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world. It's located right in Tahrir Square, Downtown. Admission was only 30 L.E. for students.

The exterior of the museum, which was built in the late 19th century


The museum itself appears small on the outside, but the amount of material that it contains is pretty astounding. There are about 160,000 items included in the register. Most museums that I have been to display their artifacts in glass cases in white studio-type rooms, with painstaking attention to layout and labeling. This was not the case at the Egyptian Museum.

The museum itself consists of two floors with massive hallways and alcoves. Most of the artifacts are simply strewn about the hallways with sparse labeling. The few artifacts that are labeled usually retain the tags from the 19th century, typed in French (and sometimes English) via typewriter. Most of the Arabic labels were handwritten. The signs around the museum look like they have been there since the early 20th century. Only some of the artifacts are behind glass cases.

The number of artifacts in the museum was overwhelming in fact. I spent three hours there and I feel I could have spent another three just to get an idea of what was on display. The bottom floor mostly contained statues, sarcophagi, mini-pyramids, busts, friezes, reliefs, and columns. The upper floor was the more interesting one, with jewelry, small statues, coffins, thrones, chariots, parchment, mummified animals, the Tutankhamen display, and of course the royal mummy room.

The mummy room cost an additional 60 L.E. for students, but it was worth it. This and the Tutankhamen display were the only part of the museum where it seemed as if they were more serious about preservation and display. The Ramses II mummy was not in the museum when I went, but his successors were on display, along with a bunch of other kings, queens, and priests. It's pretty amazing to see these in person.

There were a lot of tour groups within the museum, including a huge number of French groups. I also saw a significant number of Germans and British.

Pictures aren't permitted in the museum, but one of the police officers let me snap a few photos, for a small bribe of course. He was delighted that I knew a little bit of Arabic, so we talked for a few minutes. I could barely understand what he was saying, so I think he was Sa'idi. Sa'idi Arabic is spoken south of Cairo, like in Luxor and Aswan, and sounds nothing like Egyptian Arabic. The Sa'idis also tend to have a darker skin color than other Egyptians. I believe a lot of the police officers and soldiers in Cairo are Sa'idi because they are conscripted to serve to Cairo. My bowab, Omar, is also Sa'idi.

The balcony of the second floor of the museum.



One of the thousands of displays. Notice the old labels.


The museum is definitely worth a second visit, to be able to inspect some of the exhibits more closely.

Statues outside the museum


The Cairo Opera House. I haven't been there yet, but it's along my walk home from the museum.


That night when I returned to Doqqi, I decided to go get a coffee a few blocks from my apartment. Before I got there, a man stopped me and started a conversation with me. I had been in this situation before. I figured he wanted me to visit his shop and make me buy something. I wanted to practice my Arabic so I played along.

Surprisingly he didn't ask me to buy anything. He said that if I ever wanted to go to Luxor, Aswan, Hurghada, or Sharm el Sheikh that he could arrange for me a place to stay at a good rate. He gave me his number and told me about a few good sights to see. We talked for about thirty minutes, half in English, half in Arabic. I probably won't actually go to him if I decide to visit those cities, but he seemed genuine enough.

I went to St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Downtown for the second time this past Sunday. It's right off the Muhammed Naguib subway stop, so it's much easier than going to Zamalek or Maadi. The church was built for the French community in the 19th century, and is quite impressive inside. It is run by Franciscan monks.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Bank Misr Street, Downtown




There was a bombing last night in Cairo, in the Islamic section of Cairo at Khan al-Khalili market. That's on the other side of the Nile from Doqqi and Giza, where I was at the time. I have only been to the edge of the Islamic section once before, and I felt extremely out of place as a Westerner there, as nearly everyone there was dressed in tunics and other traditional garments. However, as I understand the bazaar and the mosques are frequently packed with tourists. I was thinking about going to Islamic Cairo next weekend, but I'm reconsidering as of now.

The atmosphere in the city seems the same as the day before. It didn't seem as if the incident caused a big stir, but I don't understand every conversation that I hear.

Restaurant, cafe, and other things

Last night Nate and I went to a Sudanese restaurant Downtown, somewhere near Midan Talat Harb. It wasn't exactly a restaurant, more like a little stand in an alley that makes food. Nate met a bunch of his Sudanese friends there, so they obviously knew Sudanese food well. We had something called boosh, a sort of mixture of beans, pita, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and some sort of sauce and spices. It tasted much as one would expect it would, almost like a Mexican dish. The unusual part was that it was served in a single bowl, and everyone eats with their hands from that bowl. I couldn't exactly figure out the best way to eat the boosh without use of utensils, but it was good nonetheless.

We ran into some guys in Downtown who were studying abroad in Israel and were visiting Cairo for the weekend. Normally it's unusual to just strike up a conversation with total strangers on the street, but when you see Americans your age in Cairo, chances are you have something in common with them. We talked for awhile and invited them to hang out with us but they had other plans for the evening.

Afterwards we went to an ahwa (cafe) not far from the restaraunt in Downtown. This was one of the bigger ahwas I've seen, as it encompassed two complete streets in parallel. The setup, of course, simply consists of chairs and a little table in the middle of each group on which you rest your drink. I got ahwa 'ar reeha, meaning coffee with a hint of sugar. The coffee here is so strong that adding a little bit of sugar tastes as if they added none, but it's still quite good.

I spent the rest of the night hanging out with these Sudanese guys. They were really interesting to talk to. The conversations eventually turned into language lessons, as I knew English quite well but only moderate Arabic, and they knew Arabic well but only moderate English. I found out the Arabic they speak in Sudan is very different from what they speak in Egypt, but they knew Egyptian pretty well also. One of them was an aviation engineer in the Sudanese Air Force and eventually left because he disagreed with his orders in Darfur. It's amazing how much can still be communicated when no one has mastered the other person's native language.

Perhaps the funniest thing I saw last night occurred while we were waiting in stopped traffic in a taxi cab at Midan al-Galaa' in Doqqi. The minibus driver that was probably two or three car lengths behind us beeped his horn and asked for change for a five pound bill. Our cab driver said yes, so the bus driver got out of his car, leisurely walked across traffic, got his change, and went back into his bus.

Similarly, when I went to Alexandria over the weekend, the minibus driver asked for directions to the minibus driver in the lane next to him on the highway, while we were driving around 150 km/hr.

In my time here so far I've found that a lot of the Egyptians are quite friendly, at least most of the ones I've dealt with on the street, in the cafes, on the train, and so forth. Cab drivers are particularly friendly and always want to converse. For some reason, I don't get that feeling from the Egyptian kids at AUC. It's not that they aren't friendly, it's just that they only seem interested in talking with their own friends. It's very clique-like, and lots of other study abroad students have also noticed the same thing.

Pictures of New Cairo and other things

I took a few more pictures along my bus route today.

Western chain restaurants near Midan Tahrir in Downtown Cairo


Near a mosque somewhere south of Garden City


Minibuses are a common mode of transportation in Cairo, and operate similar to taxis and with similar rates. I have seen on several occasions minibuses packed beyond capacity - nearly 20 people in one of these! Also notice the Fiats - probably the most common cars in Cairo, as all the taxis and many private cars are of this model. I rarely see Fiats when I'm in the United States.

These are all photos from New Cairo and Kattameya. Hopefully it gives you a sense of the incredible amount of construction that is going on. There are literally thousands of structures that I can see from the highway that are being built just like the ones in the photos. Most of them are not finished, but there is a sizable population of New Cairo already. I speculate that in five to ten years this will be a bustling suburb.

New Cairo and Kattameya









I just noticed yesterday that I can see the Pyramids from the bus on the way back to Doqqi. Since they sit at the very edge of Giza they are in a bit of a haze from a distance, but can still be seen prominently from the highway. I was not able to get a picture, it's actually a really great shot, as you can see the length of the highway with skyscrapers and Pyramids in the background. I haven't been to see the Pyramids yet, but I will soon. They haven't moved for the past few milennia, so I don't think they'll move before I leave Cairo.

Below are some pictures from outside the AUC campus. They don't really show the extent of the campus, but I will take pictures within the campus at a later time.


Outside the American University in Cairo




Since I like to prepare my own food rather than eat out, I've done a lot of looking around my neighborhood to find the best foods to get. I'm pretty satisfied with all the foods that are available. The fruits around here are very abundant, and they are some of the best I've had.

Dates are very popular in Egypt, and they are part of Ramadan tradition. These are Iraqi dates, which are smaller than regular ones.

A bag of nuts from a shop on Tahrir Street. Nuts can be ordered by the kilo for very reasonable prices, which is great because they are among my favorite foods.

I am heading to Alexandria tomorrow morning.

Pictures from around the city

I brought my camera along with me for a walk today.

The ground level exit from my apartment building


Cairo Tower from east side of the Nile


The old campus of American University in Cairo



Some pictures of the Nile from various points on the east and west bank