Aswan

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

12:48pm in the minibus on the way from Aswan to Luxor

I want to straighten my legs. That would be nice. I’m listening to David Crowder Band’s “Wholly Yours.” We left on Thursday after classes for Alexandria. It was my parents, Rafaela (our exchange student from Brazil), me, and Abanoub D and Mina F, who both live in Alex. We took minibuses, which ended up taking about five hours. I am overwhelmed by details that I could include, so I will just avoid all of them because my mind is crazy and can’t fathom not writing every detail. The dominant part of the ISFJ personality type is Introverted Sensing, which is a euphemism for “detail orientation to a creepy degree.” Citdadel at Qaitbay, Bibilotheca Alexandrina, amphitheater

We planned to leave Alexandria at 5:00pm on Saturday evening, but… you know how things go in Egypt, so we ended up leaving for the bus at 6:10, and the bus left when it was full at 7:30. I had found out on the way to Alex that we had to leave at 1:00am on Sunday morning for the airport to fly to Aswan, and I started to freak out because I had so much left to do for the people who were taking over my classes for the next four days. I wrote some worksheets most of the way back to the school. We got back to the school at 12:00, and I ran around like a crazy woman making copies and typing and doing last minute things. Our ride to the airport was already waiting before I had even gotten to pack, so I ran back to the room, grabbed underwear and t-shirts and stuck them in my unpacked bag. In the airport, I took advantage of being an American and laid down on the seats at our gate. It’s inappropriate for girls to lay down in front of men, but I figured that it was 2:00am in the airport, and I was travelling with the most American-looking parents in Egypt. (Well, I guess Dr. Weaver in a khaki bucket hat and a khaki vest with 700 pockets would have won had there been a contest.) I’ve also taken advantage of being American by wearing short sleeves. I won’t go around in sleeveless shirts like some of the tourists I see. Some are somehow oblivious to the fact that they are the only women with their hair and wrists showing in sight, and some are just indifferent about how they could be offending others. My dad said that he noticed at the botanical garden in Aswan that Rafa and I passed a group of guys who kept their mouths shut when we passed, and then a group of older women in tank tops passed and the guys started saying making comments at them. I guess that the men here feel that if women act a certain way, then they are asking for trouble because no “respectable” woman would put herself in the front of a cab or in a sleeveless shirt. Being here, I could understand why that would seem like common sense to them, but I can also understand how it wouldn’t be common sense to us. I don’t agree with that logic because I feel like you should have the same morals and integrity regardless of the decisions of the people around you, or even if no one else is around.

I came here to Aswan with the attitude that all of the men in the shops are just trying to rip the people off (which they are), but I hadn’t considered how little they probably make. Yeah, they overcharge people who can afford to be overcharged because some of them make next to nothing and have families to provide for. There were some young boys in gallabeas selling bracelets that followed us back to our bus. My mom kept calling them honey and talking about how cute they were. They were super cute, and one was even negotiating with my dad in English. We were suckers, and we bought from them. Some people are cons, but judging by the amount of brown, fuzzy plaque on their teeth that could have provided for some quality compost piles, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to buy some bracelets for $0.40. I think that I will have Krista write some complicated math equation showing that the amount of education a person here has is inversely related to the amount of plaque on someone’s teeth. Truly. Jessica’s dad is an oral surgeon, and he’s bringing a toothbrush and toothpaste for all of the students and looking at their teeth. I am really looking forward to that. I am worried about their teeth and dental problems, and hopefully preventative measures will help them.

Our driver has a crucifix on his keychain and one hanging from his rearview mirror, and I have realized that I feel a special connection to every Christian I see here. I automatically feel a closeness… ***

I don’t know how much to tip people here. Back in Gabal, people would be satisfied with two pounds, but here, it’s just a guess. They could be really excited and think that we’re incredibly generous, or they could feel like they spent all day babysitting only to have the parents come home and disappoint them with a five dollar bill. A security guard at the Karnak Temple pointed at the obelisks and then offered to take a picture of the four of us. Five pounds… and the lighting of my picture barely shows the obelisks. Haha. Oh well.

Hearing about all of these ancient religions reminds me so much of Rob Bell’s NOOMA video where he talks about how the story of Jesus was nothing original when it came about. There were already tons of stories of people being the sons and daughters of gods. There were rumors of their gods being their saviors. All of this stuff was not new when Jesus came about, and that is what makes His story so interesting. It wasn’t new, but Christianity exploded after His death. It is fascinating how similar these pagan temples are to the Jewish sanctuary. There’s the outer court, the inner court, the holy place, and the most holy place (where only the king or high priest can go into). Inside the most holy place is the statue of their god because it’s where they believe that the god himself dwells. There is a boat that holds this god, and there are rods that the priests held over their shoulders as they carried this god. I was just awestruck by the similarities to the Jewish sanctuary. I felt somewhat disgusted too. But I was thinking that if I was a nonbeliever, I would consider that Judaism or Christianity was just another one of these world religions or false beliefs that was popular for a certain time and then pretty much retired. However, the Jewish sanctuary was historically in existence before any of these pagan temples were built. And the fact that there are so many similarities between these different religions suggests that there was a common origin. Ever since the fall, Adam’s descendants had been awaiting their Messiah who would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3). The old prophecies pointed to this descendant who would be the Son of God, born of a virgin. I’m no historian, so don’t take my word for it, but it’s my speculation that their idea of the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place with the Ark of the Covenant where the Shekina glory would dwell, whose Son would be born of a virgin, etc. originated from the Jews and diffused from there.

I’m at our hotel in Luxor now, and it’s very nice. It’s definitely not as beautiful as the one in Aswan, but it’s quaint. Outside our window, I can hear loud drums and Egyptian music. I can hear someone making that loud tongue-wagging noise that Ms. Janet makes at weddings. If you have never heard it or have no idea what I’m talking about, that last sentence probably sounds weird.

So my dad brought me a leopard-print snuggie… we had always laughed at those commercials. For those of you who don’t know, a snuggie is blanket with arms… or a bathrobe that you put on backwards. The commercials are just ridiculous. They have a lady reading on the couch, but oh no! Her arms are cold! What should she do? She needs a snuggie. Anyways, they’re just a terrible joke of an idea. When Krista got back from home after Christmas break, she opened her suitcase and showed me what her boyfriend gave her. A zebra-print snuggie! We were laughing so hard, and we decided to make a photo album of everything that we can do in our snuggies. I have taken a couple pictures so far. Sitting on my bed, reading about Kom Ombo temple on the balcony of our hotel room… I might bring it to the pyramids in Giza just for the sake of the picture.

The temples were so interesting. They are absolutely gigantic and elaborate. It gives me a greater understanding and a different perspective when I think about the temples in the Bible. Jesus said He would rebuild it in three days, and they laughed. He was talking about Himself, but they considered this enormous and incredibly intricate building with elaborate colors and details. Every detail had significance. I am just astounded by the amount of work that went into these temples.

There are certain things in America that are just gross… but apparently those things aren’t universal. Long pinky fingernails.

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I finished right there. I don't know where I was going with that.

Disorganized thoughts and part of Alexandria

January 6, 2010 8:59pm

My name is Sara, and I ate Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for dinner. Oh yeah.

My right eye is magnun (or “matartash” as they would say in Alexandria)… this means crazy. I don’t know how to say “sick” or “red, watery, and gross” in Arabic, so magnun is my choice. I think that my lacrimal duct is blocked. I’m takin’ care of business. Why am I writing about this? Because my desire to scratch my inner canthus like there is no tomorrow is consuming my mind more than anything else at the current moment.

Apparently fish aren’t animals because they don’t have sex to reproduce. The fact that they have two eyes, a mouth, blood, and bones… is irrelevant. They’re not animals, so vegetarians really should eat them.

By the way, please go to niccageaseveryone.com My favorite is probably the Mona Lisa. Thank you, Alec and Michael.

I’ve been very tempted to play “luggage” on the minibus rides. The thought of it cracks me up… but it probably wouldn’t be as funny to any of you.

On Saturday night, Olivia (a tenth grade student), Neven (Arabic teacher and Pastor Tom’s secretary), and her sister Nermin (business office worker), and I took the train from Ramses in Cairo to Alexandria. I have been reading the book A Celebration of Discipline for a religion class that I am taking through correspondence, and I really like it. It is incredibly practical in its disciplines to have a closer relationship with God. I would like to expand more later... but just not now.

Olivia’s uncles picked us up at the train station, and took us to her aunt Sahar and uncle Ramy’s house. (I feel held to a higher standard in my capitalization because I teach English, so I feel the need to defend not capitalizing aunt and uncle. I am describing them—not using aunt and uncle as part of their names.) This family has the sweetest four and a half year old girl named Lydia, and she looked like a little model with her long eyelashes and curly hair. They gave us amazing koshary at about 12:30am, and we were in bed by 3:30. I thought that this was unusual, but apparently staying up until obscene hours is normal—even for the kids. At both houses that I stayed where there were young kids, they went to bed at 3:30-4:00am whenever we did. Whatever happened to an 8:30 bedtime? (Alec and I were discussing why parents choose 8:30, and we reached the conclusion that it’s not as rebellious as staying up until 9:00, and it’s not as prude as 8:00. It’s a little on the wild side. Thanks parents for the leeway.) They stay up obscenely late and get an obscenely late start. I wonder if they know that that’s weird. I don’t think that I feel that way only because it different from my culture… but that’s just weird. Lydia couldn’t grasp the concept that I didn’t speak Arabic, though I said it in many ways. J “Ana mish fehma Araby.” “Ana mabafhamsh Araby.” “Ana mabitkalimsh Araby.” She would just speak louder and slower. It was really cute. I played it off that I understood what she was saying by nodding, smiling, and saying yes, no and maybe. She saw gum in my purse at 3:00am and asked for a piece, so I, thinking that I am her parent, told her that I would give her some tomorrow. She went and pouted to her parents and came back and tried to ask in English. I told her that I would give it to her tomorrow. Eventually she started sobbing. Oops. Oh well. I told her no, and it would be bad to change my mind just because she begged.

We met up with Mina, Abanoub, and Wael, who were a lot of fun. Mina told me that his younger brother might leave school to meet us at a café in the San Stefano mall. I was shocked about him leaving school, but he told me a little more about the government school system. There were about 80 kids in his class, and people drank and smoked cigarettes and hashish during class. The teacher would come and join them sometimes. They may have taken English classes for 12 years, but some of them still didn’t know the alphabet. If the teachers only made 300 LE a month, they would intentionally not teach very well so that parents would hire the teachers as private tutors before the tests (where they would teach them to memorize the answers). This way, they would make so much more money than their normal salary. I have heard these kinds of stories from all of the students who have gone to the government schools all over Egypt. It’s so sad, and it makes me grateful that I took field trips to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and that I learned the bones of the body in fourth grade and learned how to summarize a story in second grade. These students have to learn what I learned the first 16 years of my life in five years, when their minds are not as absorptive as the minds of little kids.

Alexandria is gorgeous. The architecture is so pretty, and I love just sitting by the beach and watching the waves crash over the rocks. Olivia, Nermin, and Neven left on Tuesday morning, but later Tuesday night Wael, Abanoub, Mina, and I walked along by the water, and the white foam looked so cool in the moonlight.

I love walking up and down the streets in Alexandria and just watching the people. On the less busy streets, the people stand out on the balcony and yell down to the people on the balconies below them. I saw people pulling on ropes to bring whatever was in their basket up from the ground to their balcony. I was reminded of the beginning of Beauty and the Beast.