Getting to know You...

Al-Azhar Mosque
Here I've been 3 weeks in fabulous (?!?) Cairo and as per my previous lamenting posts I've barely gotten a chance to explore the city. So I decided to rectify the situation and grab some girls hire a guide and check out some of the sites.

On the appointed day I awoke to a hazy view of the building across the street and a chemical burning smell which made me wonder if there had been a bombing in a shoe glue factory or something but after asking some of the locals I was told it was just a mildly bad air quality day. In the same vein, funny floating things kept whizzing past my eyes which I presumed to be ash from said disaster which were actually little flys that come out from the Nile when it is humid out (which is rare gratefully). When I got home the table next to the terrace door I left open was covered in the dead little beasts.
But I digress...

First stop was Coptic Cairo which is one of the oldest sections of the city. After Jesus came along, Egypt was actually a christian nation for many moons starting in 64 AD when early Christians were driven out by the Roman Empire up until the Islamic invasions began in 639 AD. In fact, the Coptic Church claims to hold an unbroken line of patriarchal succession to the See of Alexandria founded by Saint Mark, a disciple of Christ making them one of worlds original sects of Christianity. The history is fascinating and the language, art and dogma are truly unique so it was a pleasure to be able to go through and see some of the churches and monuments. We also passed by the synagogue in Coptic Cairo which is the oldest in Egypt. Although now the Jewish population in Egypt has dwindled so significantly they often don't have enough attendees to even hold services these days.

Then after much debate and cajoling with the nervous tour guide he finally agreed to take us through the Northern Cemetery which is the larger section of Cairo's infamous city of the dead, a group of vast cemeteries that stretches out along the base of the Moqattam Hills.
This area is home to around 5 million of Egypt’s urban poor who live among the spacious tombs, grave markers and mausoleums and have come to represent the desperate housing crisis in the city. By now water, sewage, and electricity are provided in the "neighborhoods" and many families who own the graves look at their (often) uninvited tenants as caretakers of the area. Being that it was a relatively seedy neighborhood and we were in a not so subtle mini-bus with a tour company logo (we thought we were hiring a taxi!) we didn't stay long but I managed to further ensure my spot in hell by taking a few apparently unwelcome pictures before being shooed off by a lady I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

We next made our way to Islamic Cairo, which is the ancient walled quarter and is home to some of the most impressive mosques and landmarks in the city. This area is amazing and I didn't give the group a choice before I beelined straight for the Bayt el Suhaymi, a gorgeous restored 17th century mansion along a perfectly hidden little side street in Fatimid. I fell madly in love with this house and the surrounding area and could have spent hours wandering around the labyrinth passages, peeking through the mashrabiyya screens, and and marveling at all the treasures of the old Islamic architecture I am so keen on. But eventually I started overhearing the girls asking the guide how to say "slow" and "hurry-up" in Arabic so I took the hint and scurried off after the group.

Reluctant as I was, I'm glad we moved on because the next stop was the incredibly lovely and blessedly peaceful Al-Azhar Mosque, which claims to be the oldest surviving university in the world (although Morocco makes a similar claim, so take that with a pinch of salt). I surrendered my shoes at the door and dawned a head scarf for the first time and walked peacefully around the huge inner courtyard that leads into the main area of worship full of rich sounds and men at prayer on the thick green carpets hidden among the many columns and curtains.

The last stop was the legendary Khan al-Khalili market. Here you can find anything from bread, American jeans, to fine gold Bedouin jewelry. Just wandering around is an experience in itself but I rallied up the nerve to try a little bargaining and left feeling a little ripped off but with an awfully purdy necklace! I felt redeemed by bargaining down to a very locals price on some beautiful mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes. All in all, it was a very successful day that was rounded out with fresh mango juice and meza (ie. yummy middle eastern appetizers) at the posh landmark Mahfouz Coffee Shop inside the Khan...we made a graceful exit as what appeared to be every man in the market waved and called out "goodbye Spice Girls"...I think I'm going to enjoy getting to know Cairo better.

Egypt Update

Ahhh...my rank list is finally turned in (see prev post for explanation) and now I can relax relatively stress free until March 15th when Match Day comes along!

In the meantime Cairo has been going well. I am living in an area of the city called Ma'adi, which is about 70+% expats...mainly embassy, oil, and military people from US and UK. I was expecting at least a small amount of adventure in my day to day life which I am sorry to report does not really exist. To put it into perspective I am closer to a McDonalds, Quizonos, Pizza Hut and KFC than I am to a single Egyptian or Lebanese food restaraunt! Oh and here all the fast foods joints deliver to your door...come to think of it I think you can get pretty much anything delivered here including beer and groceries!

As for my daily routine I get picked up everyday by one of the Navy people, go to work in my nice cozy climate controled lab. I work with three lovely Egyptian girls, one of whom I have become pretty good friends with named Myriam. Then I work out at the NAMRU gym and then am driven back home in my bullet proof glass vehicle. When I go out on the week nights it is either with one of the Navy people of one of my Egyptian co-workers and usualy consists of shopping or going out to eat. Otherwise I stay home and watch Sex and the City on DVD...my preferred activity of course = ) On weekends there is usually an embassy or house party to go to with the young and beautiful Egyptian scensters and expats from all over the world. Don't get me wrong...it is a nice comfy life, but certainly not full of daredevil adventure. However I did have to cross the corniche (aka, the deathtrap anarchic highway that runs along the nile) a few times on foot the other day which was actually the closest I've come to death in a loooong time! Take the thrills where you can get them I say!

As a nice change I finally got out of the city last weekend. My friend Myriam and I went to Ain Soukhna on the Red Sea close to the Suez Canal. It is basically just a resort are with no real town to speak of. We stayed in a big resort complex with multiple hotels and a private beach with half board (b-fast and dinner) included. Not my normal thing but it was definitly cushy and relaxing.
Here I will swallow the urge to get preachy about responsible tourism and my belief in supporting the local economy instead of pouring money into the fat pockets of an Italian Mega Hotel corporation because in this case, that would make me a hippocrate with a mild sunburn...
Unfortunatly it was still a wee bit chilly for the beach so most of the time we were fully clothed on the beach chairs with towels wrapped around us to stay warm and would then quickly shed down to our swim-suits when the wind would die and the sun would fully present itself for a few precious minutes at a time.

Then on Monday I was able to go with someone from the lab on a site visit to Alexandria and to another rural hospital in the Nile delta region. The project we were going for is an acute febrile illness surveillence project which tests blood samples for Rickettsia, Lepto, Brucella, and the nl blood pathogens. The site visits themselves are not that exciting, mainly you go in greet the hospital admin people, talk about bird flu and drink tea (of course), then I try to stay awake as everyone chats in Arabic and then finally we pick up our samples and replace their supplies. On both visits, some friendly person would offer to show me around and then some not nice person would inevitably get mad that some foreigner was walking around without them being informed of it...there is a lot of petty self important power tripping in medicine all over the world I suppose...oops, am I getting jaded already???

But in the end I made it through unscathed and full of tea and was able to collect on my reward which was a night in Alexandria at a VERY lovely hotel perched above the Mediterranean in the gardens of the last kings summer palace. The key to Alexandria is to not go in with and grand expectations and just enjoy it for it's simple charms...like eating incredable fresh caught seafood next to the main city mosque...walking along the waterfront to watch seemingly half the population out fishing out on the rocks...or sitting for hours in one of the period cafes smoking a sheesha pipe and drinking mint tea...

Or as in my case, you can spend most of the time sitting on your balcony eating apples, enjoying the fresh sea air and admiring the ocean view to my right and a palace view to my left!

Arrival to Cairo

Arrival to Cairo...

After finally making my way from Tucson to London to Amsterdam, I finally landed into the Cairo airport where I will be doing a couple months of biomedical research with the US Navy Medical Research Unit. From the second I landed, I knew that experience would be like none other that I have had while traveling to the developing world...easy!

Immediately after stepping off the plane I was greeted by my "expediter", which is essentially a professional 'get people through the airport' person. Within minutes he had my passport with visa stamps inside and whisked me through the diplomatic entry point to my luggage which was already waiting with the driver by the car...whoa! Granted, it does take away that nervous excitement of landing in an unknown city with nothing but your wits and a lonely planet... but of course I am willing to make some sacrifices in the name of new experiences = )

I was dropped off at the home of my boss where a party was going on. I was handed a mixed drink and a plate of Thai food as soon as I dropped my luggage and met about 20 people in the span of few minutes. Aye yi yi yi!! Oh and I was introduced to everyone by my Puerto Rican boss as Mary Footeeeee. Ahhh, it's good to be me! At the end of the evening, to finish off a lovely first few hours in Cairo, I was driven to my new home for the next month...which happens to be a posh 3 bedroom apt with wrap-around terraces in expat city (Ma'adi) which I am "housesitting" for an officer who is disease hunting in Afghanistan. I went to bed cozy and warm under a hand embroidered Afghan blanket listening to the calls to prayer wafting in through my open window...

At Saqqara Pyramid, the oldest in the world!