So long, Ramadan

Now, it's time to party. Ramadan is over. That means Egyptian life goes back to normal. I have no idea what normal means, but I have a feeling life gets a little easier. I'm looking forward to restaurants being open during the day and the ability to buy the random necessary things for life at 4:00 p.m. instead of 1 a.m. The library will be open pass 2 p.m., so hopefully, I'll find a nice place to study than my room. But, one plus about Ramadan was the gym was never crowded. Just me and the personal trainer almost every time. 

Let me rewind and give you some background information. Egypt goes nocturnal during Ramadan (many of my Egyptian hall mates would sleep from sunrise to sunset everyday). Everybody fasts throughout the day and the day doesn't really start until iftaar at sunset. Stores are open until 2 a.m. everyday, but you won't find any store open between 4 and 6. 

This means dinner almost ready!

Sunset in Cairo (that's the Nile)

This is not the Great Lighthouse, but it's a cool picture.

 

The American Web

They might have Web 3.0 here, but it ain't like America.

Sure, there are plenty of internet cafes. And it's possible to get your e-mail on your phone. If I really wanted to I could've written this blog post with my cell phone (maybe without the nice picture).

Here's the difference: Hulu.com is out of commission and NBC.com leaves you in the desert out to dry. In America, both of these sites host TV shows on the internet for free (the catch: there's about 5-10 minutes of commercials per hour long show). But, neither of these sites works in Egypt. If anyone knows why, I'd be interested to find out. My theory is the additional ad revenue that these companies would get is not worth their time paying lawyers to examine non-western countries laws in order to create a legal service. 

Hulu and NBC are shrimp compared to iTunes. But, iTunes has the same problem. According to the terms of use, it's illegal to download from the U.S. iTunes store from outside the U.S. Now, people in France might be mad because that means they have to pay a Euro per song instead of a dollar. It's different for people in Egypt (or most countries for that matter); they can't download anything.

Luckily, there's a beautiful loophole. iTunes relies on consumer's credit card address not IP address. This loophole is pretty common knowledge and Apple could fix this problem in a second. So, why doesn't it. I think they're just turning a blind eye. Apple is happier with $42.99 in its pocket and I am happier a season pass to the third season of Heroes.

Of course, there's the black market of downloads. I've heard that limewire works perfectly fine (I've never used it, so I wouldn't know). My Egyptian friends have showed me sites where you can download newly released videos. The videos are a little shaky as they come from people who video tape movies in the theater, but they have Arabic subtitles, so watching a movie is like studying.

So that's the internet. Same old thing just with a little less services.

Gift from God

During Ramadan, everyone in Egypt (except for me) fasts during the day. That means no food and no water from sunrise to sundown. The moment the sun sets everyone and I mean 98% of the population eats the Iftar -- the meal breaking the fast. The beautiful thing about Ramadan is it brings everyone together since everyone bonds over their fast and their Iftar.

Where is the other 2%? They're late! So, we went out in the street and handed dates to cars passing by. My Muslim friend explained to me that breaking the fast with a date at the moment Iftar begins is like receiving a gift from God. And furthermore, giving a random person a date to break the fast is like receiving two gifts from God. 

Dr. Mom

The day before I left for Egypt I had everything packed, but I didn't pack any Sudafed, Advil, or Tylenol. I don't really get sick, so I thought I'd be fine. A couple hours before we left for the airport, Dr. Mom forced me to put these in my suitcase. Well, I was sick all of last weekend and it was nice to be able to take medicine that I could trust! 

Word to the wise: Consult Dr. Mom before going abroad.

The Microbus

I'm sitting in the back seat of this Microbus (اسمها مشروة بالعربية)

It's an alternative to taking the taxi. The Microbuses only have five rows of seats, but before they take off, they always find a way to squeeze in 19 people including the driver. Two people can sit beside the driver in the front, four people can sit in the very last row, three people can sit in the three middle rows, and the remaining three people sit in the folding chairs along side the three middle rows. 

The ride is only 3/4 pound (about 12 cents). In order to pay, you just pass your money to the person sitting in front of you. 

The upsides: 1. fixed, lower prices 2. carpool with everyone and their mothers and save the environment

The downsides: 1. you have to know their routes 2. you get dropped off 10 minutes away from where you actually want to be.

Beware of the Camel's Nose

It's a slippery slope when it comes to street vendors. Once you open the door, they are going to everything humanly possible to make you purchase their product.

At night (edit -- day or night), street vendors walk up and down the street trying to sell whatever they can. One guy sells cashews, another sells watches, and another sunglasses, while children try to sell squeaky toys and old women hold out their trembling hands with tissues for sale. To get a mental image, picture the guys selling Hagen Das at Major League baseball games, but instead of ice cream these guys have reading lights, keychains, or blow-up animals.  

When I walk around a big city, I enjoy checking out the street vendors' selections of products. However, when I go to a cafe to relax and enjoy a view of the Mediterranean, the last thing that I'm thinking about is purchasing a fake gold watch. I can't imagine purchasing a watch on a whim. If I wanted a cheap watch, I would go to a souk (market).

Why do street vendors stroll about (or better yet, troll) the cafes? How can it be in their economic best interest?

I figured the best way to find out was to pretend like I was interested in purchasing a watch. So, I made eye contact with one of the guys selling gold watches and knock off sunglasses. He came over immediately and asked me what I wanted. I pointed to a watch and asked how much. He told me 80 pounds (15 dollars), and I figured, I got my information and I was done. So, I told the street vendor "Thank you for your time, but that's too expensive. Good night." And here's where the story begins...

First, he offered a lower price. Then, he showed me his entire box full of watches and offered me a special deal for his "Rolex." The words, no thank you, seemed to mean nothing to him. Next, he placed the watch on the table and even dropped it in my lap. His theory was, once the watch was out of his hands, I owed him payment. After playing hot potato for ten minutes, the street vendor finally walked away.

But, that wasn't the last of him! Five minutes later, he came back and offered the watch for 20 pounds. And best of all, he tried to guilt trip me claiming that I wasted his time. 

What did I learn here?

1. Avoid trolling street vendors at all costs.

2. These guys are persistent. Once they sense a potential buyer, they attack with full force. 

3. Flexible pricing allows them to maximize profit. If I was actually interested in a watch, I would have probably made his quota for the night by paying 80 pounds. If I was only interested in a very low price, he would have still made a profit by selling the watch for 20 pounds.

4. It's not like the street vendors are very successful in the first place. Most of these people are in pretty poor health and their work opportunities are limited. Their job requires minimal capital investment and if successful in bargaining, the returns can be (relatively) enormous.

Exception: The guy who sells cashews. He is a genuinely nice guy who counts out the cashews to make sure that you get exactly what you paid for.

A Fruit Stand

Just as the title says. Nothing more and nothing less.

Watch Out!

According to an article on BBC News a year ago, they're not too big on critical blogs here. Did I say I LOVE Egypt? Because I do.

Anyways, here's another great taxi story:

I had a good conversation about life with a taxi driver who didn't speak a word of english. When he pulled up to my stop, I decided I'd just give him 5 pounds (instead of the normal 3). I only had a 5 pound note and I didn't feel like getting into another argument over the price -- usually it's fun, but I was pretty tired. When I gave him 5, for the first time in Alexandria, the taxi driver told me that I gave him too much. He actually offered the 5 pounds back to me... a ride on the house. I told him that I knew five was more than normal and that it was o.k. for him to keep it. 

Externalities in Cairo

I took a train from Alexandria to Cairo last weekend with 3 friends (1 guy, two girls). For only 40 pounds (less than 8 dollars!), I chilled -- literally with the air conditioning -- in the second class cabin for 3 hours.  Immediately after exiting the train station, a 50 year old man who was walking towards us unzipped his pants and exposed himself. He did it so quickly that it seemed like he had a lot of experience. Anyways, that was my first impression.

Cairo has a problem with pollution (see skyline in picture below). It dried up my eyes so much that I couldn't wear my contacts for more than a couple hours. The air was so polluted that I felt like I couldn't breath and I was coughing until a day after I returned to Alexandria. 

Taxi drivers go crazy because they can usually rip off tourists. I tried to get two taxi drivers to bid down the price from the Pyramids to a place for lunch and one ended up taking a swing at another. A couple hours later, a taxi driver got out of his car and tried to push me after he thought I didn't pay enough (his tire popped before we got to our destination, so I assumed I'd get a discounted price). After the whole street descended on us (10 people circling us), we all discussed the price. The people on the street were more interested in conflict prevention than a fair deal, so I decided to just pay a dollar more and walk. 

Kids can go from playing soccer with their friends to crying on command and trying to get money from foreigners.

Whenever I asked for directions to the American University Bookstore, everyone told me "ala toole" (straight ahead). It turned out that I circled the bookstore for 15 minutes before someone gave me good directions.

Museums and many shops close at 4:30 in preparation for Ramadan dinner. So, we weren't able to check out any of the museums. However, I convinced a guy to open up his bookstore at 5:45, so I could get an English to Arabic dictionary.  

The pyramids were super sweet. They are huge. The Sphinx is awesome and camels make pretty funny noises. 

If You Really Want to Learn the Language

Then, get Rosetta Stone. But, purchasing stuff on the internet has been slightly problematic here, so instead, I took a little adventure to the town of Rashid where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. 

Below are some pictures of people I just met walking around. They saw me taking a picture of their animals, and they all wanted to be included in the picture.

 

Rasheed is located along the Nile. In the photograph below, you can see where the Mediterranean meets the Nile.

We ran into a "friend." He wore a uniform with a Tourism Police patch on the left shoulder and carried a gun, so he was definitely a government employee. He seemed pretty nice and he told us he loved showing his town to Americans and especially students; he said, all students are his friends. I told him that I just wanted to tour the town by myself, but he insisted that he the police needed to protect the tourists against scammers (James, here comes the irony). I was with two other people and they enjoyed this guy, so we let this guy show us around. He actually had a pretty fun plan: nile cruise in a motorboat (traveling 5 mph), tour of an ancient mosque, and a tour of a relatively modern fortress where the Rosetta Stone was found over 200 years ago.

This guy drove the boat. 

There's the ancient Mosque alongside the water.

And, here's a picture of our "friend"

The Rosetta Stone was discovered right around here.

Why is this guy a "friend" and not just a random funny or nice guy? A "friend" is a red flag for you're being scammed. A "friend" seems to be acting out of the kindness of his heart and desire to share his culture with foreigners, but he simply wants money... or as it is known in Egypt: baksheesh. "Friends" can be found on many street corners and sometimes in taxis; every time a cab driver tells me that he is my friend, he usually expects a price of 3x the Egyptian price. 

It's unfortunate, but scamming is pretty widespread here. For instance, the tourism policeman gave us a tour of the Mosque and just made up information: he told us the Mosque was 1002 years old (he spoke in English). Well, I can read a little bit of Arabic and I saw on a wall that the Mosque was actually erected in 990, so the Mosque is actually 1018 years old. 

Then he took us to the bathing room. There was a man there who threw a bucket down a well and brought up water. Our "friend" told us that the water was not only holy, but historic since the founder of the Mosque drank the same water. He couldn't drink the water because of Ramadan, so he washed his face with the water and then motioned us to drink it. I refused because I didn't want to get sick from the water. He seemed offended, so I copied him and put a little bit of water on my face. While my two friends are putting water on their faces, he tells m, "You know, that man worked hard. If you could just give him a little something, anything." I gave the well-man 1 and 1/2 pounds (around 25 cents), but I couldn't believe (and still cannot believe) that anyone would offer a good/service in the form of a gift and then boldly ask for payment. It's only 25 cents, but I would not have put the water on my face for any other reason then trying to show my appreciation for another culture.

Before I end this post, I have to say that not everyone scams you. Many people are completely genuine with strong values and big hearts, but shotgun friendships sometimes revolve more around money than an interest to understand one another's cultures.

A Salient Issue

This one time in a taxi... 

Conversation from yesterday's taxi ride (my side of the conversation translated from Arabic to English)

T: Do you mind if I ask you a question?

M: No, you're welcome to go ahead.

T: Where are you from?

M: America.

T: Oh, I love America. It is the best place in the world. I love Americans.

... conversation about his family in Cairo and his degree in commerce from a university in Cairo...

M: Why do you like America so much?

T: It's because of the economics.

M: What exactly do you mean by that? (I had just read about the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the day before!)

T: If you work hard in America, you get rewarded with a lot of money. If you work hard here, you get nothing. We work too hard here.

... finally, he starts speaking in Arabic ...

T: But, Americans hate Arabs.

M: Do you really believe that? Do you think I'd be here if that were true?

T: America will never give me a chance. 

M: Then, how can you like America?

T: Because of the system whatever you put in you get out.

... we talk about his desire to start a family and how he needs a dowry before he can marry... but given the choice between a marriage today or a free 1 way ticket to America, there's no question, he's off to America

I wasn't going to post this conversation, but I saw this article in the New York Times about the "widespread mistrust of the United States and the belief among Arabs and Muslims that the United States has a prejudice against them." My conversation in the taxi seemed timely.

Back to Saint Mark's

Before I tell the story I must explain how the taxi system works in Alexandria. You tell the taxi driver where you want to go and if he says yes, you hop in the front seat (unless you’re a girl then you’d sit in the backseat… taxi drivers sometimes put their hand on your thigh). Now, all taxis are required to have a meter, but no taxis’ meter works. This can be problematic for visitors who don’t know exactly how much to pay (especially since the taxi drivers always want more). When you arrive at your destination, you get out of the taxi as if you're not even going to pay, close the door, get out your wallet, give the taxi driver your money and walk away. Often times they yell and you just keep on walking. If they are really unhappy, they might even get out of the car; that hasn't happened, but I'm sure it will soon.

Today, immediately after I got in the taxi, the driver told me the ride would cost eight pounds. I usually pay five pounds, but one of the Egyptian guys on my hall told me he never pays more than three, so I told the taxi driver, I wasn’t going to pay more than three. After a little back and forth, he offered six pounds, so I told him that I have never paid more than three. Then, he asked me where I am from. He told me that three pounds in the Egyptian price and not the American price.  So, I told him he could just let me out in the middle of the road. He didn't let me out, but he was pretty ticked the entire ride. Here's a little economics lesson: a little knowledge can spoil price discrimination.

The taxi dropped me off a couple blocks away from where I wanted, but that's where serendipity comes in. I had planned to go to the gym, but I saw a guy with a basketball walking down the street, so I asked him if I could join him. This guy was 5’ 9” and looked like he was in his late teens, but it turned out he was 13. So, I played 5v5 basketball with a bunch of thirteen-year-olds: eighth graders from Saint Mark’s. 

What a Blur

I just watched a Sufi dance. The video below is just a minute long, but these guys go on forever.




In the show that I watched, four guys spun around for half an hour, then suddenly stopped and walked perfectly straight off stage. Shortly thereafter, two of the dancers came back and did another half an hour spin show. I felt dizzy for these guys. 

In addition to the spinning dancers, another man sang his heart out non-stop for basically an hour.

A New Form of Studying

Going out and drinking every night!

Coffee, juice, and Shisha. (Sorry college kids, alcohol is pretty hard to find). 

Well, Turkish coffee is quite strong. The most popular juice here is Mango juice and that's interesting... full of flavor at least. And then, we have Shisha. It is huge in Alexandria. In Egyptian colloquial, we say "drinking" not "smoking" Shisha (hence, why I included it with the drinks).

And of course, we're speaking Arabic the whole time, so I can say I threw two stones at one bird (or however that goes). 

Edit: This doesn't mean I don't study because I do that a lot. It just means that studying is a 24/7 activity here.

Don't Sit on this Table

The ancient Egyptians used it for sacrificing animals to the gods.