Egypt

I have concluded that I have a love/hate relationship with Egypt. When I was younger I went through an Egypt phase which included lots of books on mummies and secretly wanting to be Cleopatra. So going into my week long trip to Egypt, my expectations were high.
Our group arrives outside our hotel in a big tour bus and I take my first steps into Cairo!! Venturing out of the hotel later that night, a man offers to sell me hash (drugs), asks if he can pay me for sex and a few other vulgar comments. Now my initial reaction is to retaliate, stand up for myself and put this guy in his place. Unfortunately that doesn't fly in Cairo and actually can make the situation worse. The best way to handle things is to not make eye and ignore them. But this leaves me feeling even more powerless and taken advantage of because I can't stand up for myself. Similar situations like this happened throughout most of the trip and I'm still thinking about how to best handle them. The consistent stream of harassment got very wearing and frustrating for me. It's frustrating that women are treated like objects for men's entertainment and that some of the men in Cairo are so blatant about this objectification. Now I don't mean to say all the men were like this. I had some nice conversations with cab drivers and made friends with some shop owners in the market. But with such a bad initial impression of men in Cairo it was difficult for me to stay open minded and not generalize.
Most of the week consisted of seeming tourist sites and having a few free evenings. We visited the pyramids and the Sphinx which did fulfill all my childhood dreams. It was really amazing to touch something that is so old and has survived so much time- I felt like I was touching history. The best part was riding a camel! My camel was named Mickey Mouse and a little boy led me around the desert. You get on the camel while its sitting and when it stands up to walk it can get pretty wobbly. I managed to climb onto the camel and make it into a walking position all while wearing a long skirt! Yes, I am very proud of this accomplishment.
Two days were spent exploring Coptic and Islamic Cairo. These two days were filled with lots of old mosques and Orthodox churches. Again, it was just amazing to see something that is so old and well constructed without the advanced technology we have today. One day we took the train to Alexandria which I like much better than Cairo. It’s right along the Mediterranean and has a lot of activity without being overwhelming. I got to see the catacombs, Bibliotheca Alexandria and the Citadel.
With all the chaos of Cairo there was a redeeming experience- Hana Hulili. This is a really old market which offers touristy thinks but also beautiful scarves, jewelry, clothes…basically everything a shopper could want. What makes it great is that you haggle for everything! There is a certain skill to pushing for the cheapest price, not giving in and being able to walk away if you don’t get what you want. It’s a good sound to hear shop owners yelling for you to come back as you’re walking away.
Now I’m back in Amman and classes start up again tomorrow. Cairo has made Amman look like a calm city and I appreciate this much more now.

Back to basics...the Badia

Ohh the Badia. This is not a lamenting "ohh" this is an oh there are too many stories to write type of "ohh". For 4 days I lived in a small village about 15 mintues south of the Syrian border. I stayed with a host family who had four amazing children- Aya (2), Ayat (4), Raheem (9) and Muhammad (12). During my time there I had to keep my head covered, wear a thobe (long dress), stand up when men entered the room and help with cleaning and cooking. I slept in a house but many families in the winter live in a tent because it's warmer than the house. Also there is a lot of tradition behind tents and being close to the desert.
I'm am not usually very good with children and am not very patient when it comes to little ones but I was blessed with great host brothers and sisters. The food was amazing and meals are eaten differently than in the US. Usually there is only one big meal a day. I had Mal Grouba, Rashoof and Mansif (I have no idea what ingredients are in these dishes) and they were all amazing. The meal is served on a big, round platter and everyone sits around the platter on the floor and digs in. There is a lot of sitting and lounging on the floor. Instead of chairs, there are mats and pillows on the floor.
My host father's great grandmother is still alive and I got to meet her. She is 100 years old and I was amazed that she is still able to get up and down from the coushins on the floor. There was a little bit of an awkward situation because she doesn't speak English and is very hard of hearing and my Arabic is limited. She ALWAYS wanted me to come and sit next to her and kept asking questions that I never understood. I still wanted to make a connections so I thought about what my grandma might do in that situation. So even though I didn't understand her I just did a lot of hand holding and smiling and tryed to send good love vibes. At the end of the 4 hour visit my host dad said that the great grandmother thinks I am a very special person and that she is glad she met me.
Now for horrific story #2...worse than the shower experience. One day I went to visit the girl's school in the village. The father just dropped me off at the school and I was shown around by teachers and swarmed by girls. I went to a few English classes and somehow got roped into teaching 3 English classes. In one class of 6th graders I was attempting to teach the five senses when I got flooded with a sea of questions. "What is your name?" So I write my name in Arabic on the blackboard and they all cheer and clap like. "How old are you?" "What does Katie mean?" "What are your parent's names?" "Do you like Jordan?" "Jordan or America better?" "What is America like?" "Do you love Islam?" "Am I pretty?" "Do you pray?" I was getting flustered with all the questions and had way too many young girls crowding me and suddenly they decide that they want me to sing. They are all yelling for me to sing and waiting and I completely freeze. It gets to the point of an awkward silence and I cannot for the life of me think of any songs what so ever! I realize that I am not going to be able to get out of this situation so I start racking my brain for songs. This whole time I'm thinking "Katie!! You are a musician, you remember the lyrics to tons of songs, you have 15 days worth of music on your iTunes! Why can't you think of anything!?!" Then I have a breakthrough but unfortunatly the breakthrough consists of "Jesus Loves You" and the Theme from the Brady Bunch. Now Jordan in 80% Muslim so Jesus Loves You is ruled out and I am left with the Brady Bunch. In a cracked, nervous voice I started singing the story of a lovely lady who was bring up three very lovely girls...and then I can't even remember the rest of the words so I start making things up and just singing along to the tune and it was horrible!! I was hoping that the girls would be excited with any performance but this was not the case. They clapped after I wrote my name but there was no clapping after my singing. This is still a little painful to think about. And now it's time for a shower.