Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Egypt, but the Americans brought it anyways. We had a Thanksgiving dinner last night with all the people in the Middlebury study abroad program and we're having another one tonight with the director of the American cultural center. 

Forty people squeezed into one apartment to eat plenty of mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, some cranberry sauce, and a 16 kilogram turkey -- with head, heart, liver, and all. For half of the people, it was their very first Thanksgiving. 

We got creative at times substituting bell peppers for celery in the stuffing or romaine juice instead of sparkling apple cider. They say where there's a will, there's a way. Thanksgiving turned out successful last night.

الحمد الله

Here's an important word for anyone interested in learning some Arabic: Alhamdulillah -- thank God or praise be to God. You're supposed to say it when something good happens.

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. 

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? 

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.

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.