My job at Notre Dame is to coordinate study abroad programs for students. Sometimes, we refer to ourselves as "student exporters." At the beginning of the fall semester, I have the responsibility of marketing the programs for which I am responsible; namely, the London and Cairo study abroad programs. I then use my god-like power and select those lucky few to participate and spend the rest of my time "preparing" them to go abroad.
When I was hired in, it was the London job for which I had applied. Having lived there with students for two years and having spent seven or so summers there, for five weeks at a time there, I had quite a bit of local knowledge. However, in my interview, I was told I would probably be coordinating another program and I was asked what area of the world I was interested in. I waxed eloquently about my love of European countries, and my knowledge of the history of Spain and Italy. And so, you can imagine my surprise when I was told that, along with London, I would be coordinating the Cairo program. Well, that certainly made sense.
My experience and knowledge of Cairo, Egypt, or North Africa was next to nothing. I knew Cairo was in Egypt. I knew the Nile was in Egypt and that the pyramids were in Egypt. I don't speak Arabic and knew very little about any Middle Eastern cultures. And, most importantly, I had never visited Cairo, and so I found it difficult to prepare students for their semester or year abroad in a place which I had never seen. I'm sure you notice the foreshadowing. Eventually, I was required to visit Cairo. And, it was after my travel there that I coined the phrase about myself: "I'm a first world kind of girl." Yet, that is not to say that Cairo is not interesting or worthy of a visit. But, it is certainly not an easy, nor relaxing place to be. And so, part one of this blog will be to detail my first visit to Egypt. I should note that I have since been back a second time, and, having been once, I found the second trip much easier, and therefore, a bit more enjoyable. But this blog will detail my first adventure there.
Since I had never been, I thought it made sense to plan a good, long visit. I not only needed to see the University, but I needed to see the city and get a sense of the areas around the student residences in Zamalek, and, of course, do some site seeing. And so I booked my ticket for eight days.
I asked AUC to plan an agenda for me, so I would have the opportunity to meet with officials and colleagues there. A week before departure, I received my itinerary of meetings They took up exactly one half a day. I had planned on taking our students to Alexandria on another day. That left me a total of six other days to occupy my time. I started feeling something very uncomfortable deep in the pit of my stomach.
Estimates put the population of Cairo at around 18 million. To give you some comparisons, London is about 8 million. LA is about 3.8 million, New York about 8 million. Suffice to say, Cairo is very populated. It is, in fact, unbelievably crowded--milling masses of humanity. And, after spending a week there, I came to the conclusion that each of those 18 million people owns a vehicle.
There is a tremendous amount of vehicle traffic in Cairo and yet, during my trip there, I saw not one single working traffic light. I saw a total of two intersections that were manned by traffic police. I don't remember seeing one car that wasn't damaged, dinged, or dented. The wide streets are four, five or six lanes across; however, using the word "lanes" is a misnomer, because it's not as if anyone actually stays in a lane. There aren't really any traffic laws or rules or, if there are, it appears that most drivers tend to ignore them. The biggest danger one will face in Cairo is, actually, crossing the street. If you've ever played the video game Frogger, this will give you an idea of what it's like to traverse through traffic as a pedestrian. There is no such thing as a pedestrian right of way, nor are there crosswalks. Our students, after living in Cairo for a month or so, actually begin to enjoy the thrill of the risk that goes with crossing a street. I, being much older and wiser, never felt good about it. One literally has to find an open spot, walk out into the street and, while waiting for the next open spot to venture further, trust that the cars heading straight at you are going to actually stop or veer around you. Guide books actually recommend crossing with locals the first few times, using them as shields against oncoming traffic. I found that made perfect sense.
Another thing you will notice immediately upon arriving into Cairo is that you can see the air. Cairo, at this point, has the worst air pollution in the world. It's not a great place for folks who suffer asthma or other respiratory problems. When you descend into the airport and look out, everything is brown. My hotel was on the Nile. Some nights you could see the hazy lights on the other side, but that was about it. By the end of my week there (gross alert), black stuff was coming out of my nose.
So, a little bit about my trip. I arrived late at night on a British Air flight from London. I wasn't keen about getting in at 11:35 in the evening, as I was travelling alone into a foreign city with which I was unfamiliar. In the Office of International Studies, we are very concerned about security--but only for our students. When I expressed concerns about traveling there alone, my concerns were brushed off as insignificant (I took that to mean that nobody wanted to go with me). Suffice to say, I have counseled my students against doing this very thing, at least initially, but I guess it was ok for me. I had arranged for a driver from my hotel to meet me at the airport, so I didn't have to learn to navigate the local customs of bargaining with a taxi driver. So I felt relatively ok about my late arrival. Needless to say, there was no driver there to meet me. There were; however, hoardes of taxi drives following me about at about the airport, wanting to take me to my hotel. In Cairo, most taxis lack meters, or, if they have them, they don't work. And so, as a foreigner, you have to negotiate a fare. It helps, at this point, to speak the language. (See above where I stated I don't speak Arabic). Additionally, asking to be taken to a Western hotel is basically ruining any chance of negotiating a fair rate. Westerners are thought to be wealthy (and compared to most Cairenes, we are) and therefore, it only makes sense that they will try to squeeze as much money out of a Westerner as they can. There is the additional slight fear of safety. A woman alone in Cairo, even one as fat, grey and old as I, is subject to harassment. I quickly learned that they were not going to make any exceptions for me.
Needless to say, when I saw no driver to meet me, I started to freak out, but only internally. The taxi folks were starting to smell blood when I walked up and down the concourse for the fifteenth time. I had called the hotel twice, only to be cut off both times in mid sentence. I finally found a counter with my hotel's name on it, and the gentlemen there called the hotel for a driver. Murphy's Law--they had no record of my request for a car.
My first ride through Cairo was akin to my first ride on that massive roller coaster at Cedar Point, in that, somewhere along the route, my stomach departed from my body. As it was late, the roads were freer, leaving my very nice driver freer to speed along at about 90 mph. Needless to say, I didn't get much sightseeing in on that initial trip in from the airport.
When I arrived at my hotel, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a big, familiar, Western hotel with all of the amenities needed after a somewhat harrowing arrival. By the time I checked in and my suitcases were brought up, it was well past 1:30am. I went out on my balcony, looking over the haze atop of the Nile and drinking a vile Heineken from the mini-bar. It was then I noticed the non-stop noise of honking horns. Cairenes honk continuously as they're driving. I have asked about this practice and have received a variety of answers, such as: they want to let you know they're there, they want you to get out of their way, they want you to cut in front of them, they're about to run you over, they're angry, they're happy or...they feel like honking their horns. Or maybe they're honking because they love Jesus, although I think those honkers are in the minority in Cairo. Whatever it means, the sound of honking horns is a constant in Cairo. Therefore, I needed to shut the door to the balcony in order to shut out the noise so that I could go to bed.My first full day in Cairo was a free day. I thought I would need time to adjust to the time difference and the surroundings, and so I planned nothing but to sleep in and then later, walk to the Egyptian Museum, which was quite close to my hotel. I timidly ventured downstairs and had some breakfast, being careful to follow my own rules to the students: don't eat fruits unless they're peeled and drink only bottled water. I then walked out the door of the hotel and was immediately swarmed by gentlemen offering me a ride. I found it interesting, most of them had large, nice cars, none of which had a taxi sign on the roof. I politely uttered the one Arabic phrase I knew: "La, shukran", which I think means "No thank you." That didn't deter them, since a few followed me down the street and halfway to the the Museum. Along with offering me a ride, they offered other things as well. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling flattered, but rather, intimidated.
And so now I came to my first real challenge: crossing the street. It was terrifying. I saw a spot, stepped out, but then saw a speeding car. I jumped back to the relative safety of the curb. I was honked at. I don't know what it meant. Should I go? Should I stay? I stayed. I tried it again. This time though, I was out farther and I was committed. Cars were whizzing around me, leaving me plenty of room to not get hit, as long as I held in my stomach. At one point, I heard a loud scream. I didn't realize it was me until I finally made it across the street. No sigh of relief here. I had two more such streets to cross, and THEN, I had to come back!
At this point, I find that I am as exhausted reliving this experience as I was when it first happened. Apparently, it has had more of a pyschological effect on me then I realized.
The Egyptian Museum was an amazing experience. As actual museum buildings go, it's not that great, in that it's packed to the gills with items, some of which are labeled (I am NOT exaggerating) with lined paper and Arabic words scribbled in pencil). It is dusty and, despite looking impressive from the outside, not maintained too well. But the objects and artifacts contained inside are, quite frankly, impressive and mind boggling.
Also of note is the mummy room. OK, honestly, who, in their right mind, doesn't like mummies? You have to pay extra, but what is the point of crossing half the world to get to Egypt and then not seeing the mummies? You would be wasting your money, in my opinion. They are very cool, and they are very creepy. If you go to Cairo, see the mummies, OK? There is also a section in the museum of animal mummies. You don't have to pay extra to see those. Not as creepy, but pretty cool nevertheless.
I spent almost 5 hours in the museum. I may have seen it all. Because some of the labels were on notebook paper and not translated, I didn't always know what I was looking at. Nevertheless, I decided that civilization began in Egypt a very long, long time ago. OK, I knew it before then, but it's nice to have your knowledge validated. You could spend days in that place. Actually, I had days to spend there, but I was getting tired.
I would be remiss, especially for anyone reading this who is a female, to not insert here my first attempt at using a public restroom in Egypt. The best advice I can give you is to carry toilet paper and hand sanitizer. I don't care where you are, there will be a woman standing at the entrance to the restroom selling you toilet paper, and when you pay her, she will hand you, quite literally, one little square. Usually single ply too. I have done my daily good deed...
I left the museum reluctantly. Yes, I was tired from all the walking and I was ready to call it a day. But my reluctance stemmed from the knowledge that I had to go "out there". I had to face the traffic, the masses of humanity and the guys who were constantly saying things to me. One doesn't need to know the language in order to translate. Suffice to say, this was the first time I felt as if I could have gotten lucky on a whim.
Fortunately, I found a back way to the hotel. I would still have to cross streets, but there was much less human traffic. It also allowed me to walk through the Nile Hilton (the large hotel next to mine, which was the Semiramis Intercontinental). And so I broke up my walk back by having a cup of tea and a croissant in the lobby cafe. What I really wanted to do was go into their hookah bar and have a smoke, but I was too timid to try it alone.
I made it back to my hotel in one piece and then started to worry about dinner...
Why would dinner be a worry, you wonder? Well, an uncertain Western female alone in Cairo is undertaking quite an adventure by walking the streets in search of a restaurant, and then, by sitting alone at a table eating. The better guidebooks, however, told me that two of the most recommended restaurants were actually right in my hotel. One was Thai and one was Lebanese. I could go for a good mezze, so I decided that I needed to eat in, at least for my first night there. I just didn't have the stamina to brave the outside world of Cairo any more that day. I had a fabulous meal with hummus and pita, stuffed grape leaves, my favorite: saganaki (which is a fantastic fried cheese...Oopa!) and other delicacies. And then it was off to bed and watching the BBC.
Wow, I'm tired having relived this day. I'll end it here, saving the real Cairo excitement for another blog.
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