Some Siwa Pics

The desert near Siwa

The old and the new

Just a kid riding his bike

Ping pong at two in the morning

Drive Through Juice

أحسن عسير ماكة

This is the one and only drive-in juice joint in Alexandria. You really just drive up and park your car in front and the waiter will come out and serve you. These guys dress like they work at In-N-Out, but there are no burgers or fries. It's just juice. You can find any kind of juice you can imagine. Strawberry, guava, grape, pineapple, kiwi, banana, apple, mango, and orange juice. The specialty at this place is the cocktail (كوكتيل) made up of pineapple, mango, and orange juice, but I'd suggest the bananas with milk -- milk combined blended with bananas with a couple banana slices added in the drink.

Franki Valli and the...

The picture above is a professional orchestra in Alexandria playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons. This wasn't a Jersey Boys show, but it was still pretty good.

Last week, we went to a وسط البلد concert in the "Great" Library of Alexandria. I only wish that it had been Alanis Morissette to seal the deal on the irony.

Today, we tried to go to a "battle of the bands" concert, but we found out that it was cancelled when we arrived.

And, this is how we pre-game our weekend.

!

Buy your /!\ sign here

On My Way To Lunch

As I'm walking through a crowd of Egyptian college students in the middle of street while trying to avoid the oncoming traffic, someone tapped me on my left arm. I swung around ready to confront whoever was asking me for money for what felt like the millionth time. But, it was just my friend Ahmed from the gym. He had seen me from a distance, and he just wanted to say hi. 

After catching up with Ahmed, I made a point to myself not to flip out the next time that I'm tapped on the arm in a large crowd. But, the camel's back was weak.

The next day, near the same place where I saw Ahmed, a hand tapped me on my arm. I looked left and right, but I didn't see anyone. I figured that maybe someone accidentally brushed their hand against me, so I tried to take another step, but the hand tapped my arm again. I looked down this time to see an old five-foot-tall women who was missing teeth holding her hand out and asking me for money. She was the straw. I was in the middle of a conversation with my friends, and I overreacted. Instead of the typical response "God help you," I gave her a hard look and told rather harshly "No, no, no, stop asking me." She got the picture, but it didn't change anything. She kept holding out her hand for money. 

The beggars don't just sit on the side walk and hold out cups for coins. These people (almost all older woman) are proactive. They get right up in your face and sometimes start crying. They are never a problem when I'm walking at a regular pace, but when I'm stuck in the mobs of people outside the college as I'm trying to buy my lunch, I'm not moving at a fast enough pace to escape the beggars. And, this happens every day.

After I ordered my lunch, another old women began begging one of my friends for money. Once we got away from her, a college-aged girl came up to us and profusely apologized to us for the beggars. What struck me was the fact that this girl was apologizing for some other random person. No matter how annoying the beggars are, I would never expect an apology from anyone, but this girl really, really wanted to let us know that most Egyptians are nothing like these beggars.

But, begging is a fact of life in Egypt. Suppose you're running late to class, so you're trying to maneuver in between the crowds and remember whether you packed your translation homework in your backpack. You might get poked. You might get a hand shoved in your face. That's the reality here, and sometimes, it seems like these beggars cause your train of thought to screech to a halt, but maybe they're just opening up your mind to a greater picture. 

Just Another Friday Night

Taxis aren't the only form of transportation that make for exciting experiences.

Tonight's microbus was a sight to see. As I entered, I was greeted with a phrase that somewhat resembled "you're going to enjoy the ride." Once the 18 person minivan filled up, we screeched out into the street. The driver really epitomized the idea of a lead foot, and he used that lead foot for the brakes as well as the gas. As we whipped around turns, I felt like I was with a bunch of my friends playing jello, only these people were just random people trying to get to wherever they needed to be at midnight on a Friday.

I'm pretty sure everyone in the microbus enjoyed the ride. The microbus consisted of a family in the first two rows, the couple in the row in front of me, the other Matt, and the two guys next to me. On my right was a well-dressed guy in his thirties and on my left, a sixty-year-old man missing his bottom teeth. The older man started talking to me about cooking chicken. He kept repeating, عيز فراخ المطبخ, directly translated: "Do you want the kitchen's chicken." After a couple repetitions, I finally realized he was asking me if I wanted to play chicken. (He's 60, I'm 20...)

I told him that I had to pass, but I tried to make conversation by remarking on the craziness of the driver. In complete seriousness, the old man explained that the driver wasn't crazy at all; he just wanted to get to our destination faster.

No Mastercard Here

After the weekly soccer match, I went to one of the many hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Alexandria with a couple friends. The restaurant didn't have any bottled water, so I went out to the street to buy bottled water for all of us. None of us can stomach the water here...

Everything seemed pretty normal; the tram rattled by along the track situated on the median of the street, people prayed in the two nearby Mosques on the opposite side of the street, and taxi drivers honked at me. But, I couldn't find any bottled water. There just wasn't any store open. Alexandria is filled with little stores that sell water, snacks, and random goods, but all the stores seemed to have disappeared. This isn't a case of spontaneous combustion, it was just Friday. The store fronts were all closed and locked because just like Sunday in America (especially in Vermont) stores take a break. 

But, I was thirsty.  I figured I'd just ask somebody (what a novel idea!). It turned out that I asked the right guy. After I spoke with him for 5 minutes, he revealed that he actually owns a store one block down the street. He called somebody and told them to open the store. Five minutes later, after listening to a story of the five years he spent in New York City, one of his employees opened the store. I wanted to buy four 1.5 liter bottles (8 pounds total), but he wouldn't let me pay. He refused any money and insisted that the water was a gift. He told me verbatim, "I am a Muslim and this is how we do business. Today, the water is free. You can pay tomorrow."

A buck fifty isn't a big deal, but the gesture was worth more than anything money can buy to both him and me.

 

Mahmoud the Taxi Driver

The equivalent of Joe the Plumber?

Every now and then, I bring up the American election with a taxi driver. Today, I got a catch.

I asked Mahmoud who he supports in the upcoming election. His response: Abu Treka, the all-star Egyptian soccer player. I had never heard of him before I came to Egypt, but here, he's king. Mahmoud explained that a president must be popular, well known and most importantly, anti-war.  

As I tried to press Mahmoud for a serious answer, I found that nothing would come of it. He thought Hilary was still in the race and Obama is a jew. Furthermore, he had never heard of McCain.

Obama and McCain are frequently pictured in the front pages or at least international sections of newspapers in Egpyt, but only very educated people are informed about the candidates. The few Egyptians whom I've talked with on the election state just the same thing that come from the headlines in newspapers: McCain still thinks he's in the twentieth century and Obama understands the ins and outs of the twenty first century.

On another note, there haven't been any problems with any taxi drivers. 

Even in Egypt

About an hour away from any paved roads in the middle of the desert lies an oasis with a nice bilingual sign.

There were plenty of springs in Siwa and below is a picture of the normal spring activities... they don't have lifeguards yelling at you to walk.

Sand Boarding

Where in the world do you find a town that rents snowboards and bikes at the same time? A small oasis called Siwa in the middle of the desert. Snowboard and bike rentals aren't a seasonal business like they are in Tahoe. You can come to Siwa all year long and rent a snowboard, but looks can be deceiving. What you thought was used for snowboarding is actually used for another sport: sand boarding. 

Here's the deal: You drive around in the desert in a jeep until you find a nice steep slope. Then, you take the sand boards off the roof rack and proceed to the top of the slope. Sand boarding is simple; you slip your feet into the two straps just like  snowboard, make a couple hops to get going, and then use your edges to control yourself. 

Here's a pros and cons list for anyone debating between going on a skiing vacation or sand boarding vacation.

Pros: Wear just your swim suit as you board down a mountain of sand.

Cons: The first law of conservation of energy... once you go down, you have to come back up... a steep hill made up of only sand means a short joy ride down and a long journey back to the top.

And one more piece of advice, I wouldn't suggest the typical snowboard stop on your heels... the sand isn't as soft as snow.

The Real Teddy Roosevelt

This kid from Siwa carries a big stick too. And, you really should see the way these guys whip their donkeys with sticks. They just wail on them.

It might not be "Morning in America" as McCain would like, but it's 3 AM when the debates start here. Last night's debate was boring to say the least, but it's nice to stay connected to what's going on. The election is not really a hot topic among Egyptians. Many people whom I've talked to haven't even heard of McCain and a lot of people think that Obama is Muslim. I am rarely asked questions about the election, but in the few (less than 10) discussions I've had with taxi drivers, students, and dorm supervisors I've found everyone supports Obama. Unlike Americans, I don't think the Egyptian support comes from Obama's tax cut to 95% of working families or his pledge to implement a policy to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. I have to talk to more people about the election to get a greater sense of the root of his support, but I'm pretty sure Obama's support in Egypt comes from the reasons outlined in Friedman's New York Times article from the past summer.

And now for some fun, here's a snippet from the latest taxi ride. I'm in the taxi with two other Americans and the taxi driver and we're talking for 15 minutes about traveling to Sharm Al Sheikh. At a pause in the conversation, the taxi driver asked us if he could ask us just one question about America. I love this part because these questions usually get at the basic cultural differences between our cultures, but his question was a little different. He asked, Is the WWF real? And more specifically, is the Undertaker real? 

Guns... wtf

I’m not talking about biceps. I’m talking about rifles and pistols. It’s illegal to pack heat in Egypt without a license. But, you can skill scare someone without a license. None of the toy guns look like the picture above; they all look absolutely real. There is no orange tip or any indication that these guns are fake.

It's a normal site to see kids play with guns in the middle of the street. Today, I walked passed a thirteen-year-old boy loading a cartridge into his gun. I have no clue if it was a bb gun or airsoft gun or whatnot, but it looked real enough to keep my attention half focused on this kid until he was fully out of view.

Here's where the wtf comes in: As I was biking back to my hotel in Siwa, I felt a sharp pinch on the back of my head. I turned around to see an eight-year-old boy pointing a gun at me. He had just shot me with an airsoft gun. I was startled and yelled at him to stop immediately. He didn’t shoot me again, but he didn’t smile or laugh or anything. This was not a game to this little kid. He had never seen me before in his life, but he was willing to shoot me because I must’ve represented something that he really disliked. And, now that I’m thinking more about this, he has probably shot many foreigners because he was dead accurate: right in the back of the head.

After my anger settled down a little bit, I was left in a curious state. Why does this kid shoot foreigners? Why do his parents let him carry a gun and shoot foreigners? Why doesn’t this kid laugh?

If he laughed, I would have been pissed off, but I would understood what just happened: some Big Daddy roller blading humor. But, this was nothing like Adam Sandler. This little boy was serious. I know most of Egyptian society would condemn this kid’s actions, but what is it exactly that triggered that gun.

 

A Day Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

These houses are all from the time of "Alexander," the fourth century BCE. The town is definitely a sight to see. It's out of this world, and I have no idea how to explain something like the whole planet of Tatooween in one blog post, but here are some snippets.

It's not a big town by any means, but it has its own language. The language has Arabic roots, yet no one in the world except a Siwan can understand it. Almost everybody in Siwa speaks Arabic fluently except for some of the older men (I don't know about the women because they are kept inside all day, but that is for another blog post). English is pretty pervasive too. The kids seemed to only know the "Welcome in Egypt" or "Hello" phrases, but many of the shop keepers and waiters spoke English very well. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed that many of them had three languages down cold.

This is definitely a tourist town. We didn't go at a crowded time, but everything seemed to revolve around a couple tourist activities. The Siwan tribal dance during the sunset, biking around town, taxi rides by mules, climbing the mountains overlooking the town, swimming in hot springs, and a safari in the desert that consists of driving up and down vast mountains of sand, swimming in a movie-like oasis, and sandboarding. 

In addition to their tourism industry, they export great bottled water and possibly the best dates in the world (the price: 4 Egyptian pounds for 1 kilogram). With such great economic resources, I was awestruck to find that Siwa was so different than anything I've ever seen. 

Siwa has definitely started to modernize (and it's only at the beginning), but that doesn't mean it has westernized. There's a difference that I'll explain further in the future, but here are some examples for now. They have the first world necessities such as a hospital, police station, gas station, hotels, pharmacies, restaurants, and even a sports club, but they don't have a supermarket and internet access is limited mostly to tourism. There was one shop where you could play playstation, but I didn't see any kids playing Alexandria's favorite game: FIFA '08. The kids were all outside swimming in pools or dancing at night. Some ten-year-olds even drove around tourists on their mule wagons. All the Siwans whom I met had cell phones (nice ones with video cameras and mp3 players), yet they all wear very traditional robes. Most people had motorcycles, yet most of the college aged Siwans whom I talked with had only left Siwa two or three times in their entire lives. Before I visited Siwa, the Siwans had never seen a Westerner beat a Siwan in ping pong... well, let's say I was more than happy to show them something new.

More to come on Siwa in upcoming posts.  Five days without the internet means a lot of catching up to do with the world.