Two Thursdays ago, my friends and I went on a boat ride for my friend Steve’s 21st birthday. Hiring a small boat to take you around one of the Nile islands for an hour or two is not difficult, as people will consistently offer rides as you walk along the Nile at certain points. The boats resemble brightly lit water taxis and are powered by a small motor that is manned by a single crewman (who also acts as the DJ blaring random dance music). We had a good hour and a half on the boat that we rented for two hours, until the Egyptian boat police stopped us at 1:30 AM and informed us (well, the Egyptian friends we had on the boat who could translate) that we could not be out that late. After the police left and we learned that the Nile River indeed has a curfew, we pulled back to the shore.
These are the boats that I described that people rent. My friend Rachel took this picture.
Nothing much else happened during this weekend, and the highlight of the first part of my week was visiting a Chili’s nearby in Cairo and indulging in American-style sandwiches and chips and salsa. I was surprised to see that the Chili’s in Cairo looks almost identical to any Chili’s in the U.S., complete with random junk and pictures of random Americans at Chili festivals from the 80’s on the wall.
Last Wednesday my Government and Politics of Egypt class went on a very interesting and enlightening field trip to an Egyptian think tank and then to an NGO’s office (Non-Governmental Organization). The think tank we visited, IDSC (Information and Decision Support Center), is responsible for advising members of the Egyptian Cabinet on a range of political, economic, and social issues, and is therefore very close to the Government. Its office is located in a section of Cairo called Garden City (not to be confused with the Long Island town), and close to a number of important and tightly-guarded government buildings. The room where we received a presentation about the IDSC from one of its senior members was nice enough to hold a UN meeting, and nice-looking snacks and tea were provided. The IDSC member that did the presenting was also very good sidestepping uncomfortable questions during the brief Q&A part.
To contrast this presentation, the next part of the trip took place at an office for an Egyptian NGO called the Arab Center for Independence of Judiciary and Legal Profession, a group that consistently challenges the Egyptian Government. The office was located in what appeared to be a standard apartment building from the outside, and housed a number of small offices on the inside. The meeting room for our second presentation was much smaller and less modern than the first, but it got the job done. The man that explained the NGO to us and what his concerns were did not speak perfect English, but we understood his points very clearly. It was very interesting, and I might say more on this part of the trip once I return to the U.S.
This past weekend also did not contain any thrilling excursions to tourist sites, and no new exotic food was eaten. We did find a good, albeit expensive Chinese place nearby though that serves real Chinese food (sadly no General Tso’s Chicken). Friday during the day two of my friends and I wandered the open air markets located along a major highway close by. While we were searching for any form of military surplus store or market (they always have cool stuff, especially clothing), we failed to find any after a couple hours of wandering. Instead, we found countless clothes markets that I believe contain mostly second-hand clothing and are more or less racks and boxes in the street. We also found the car parts market, which sells various engine parts, hubcaps, lights, wheels, and spare doors, but also strangely enough sells what appears to be the entire front part of old cars from the bumper to the front wheel. Other markets sold fabric, vinyl, and sheet metal. It’s a pretty random assortment of things, but I guess if you need anything cheap or second hand, you at least have a very good selection.
Friday night my friends and I revisited our friend Abdul who we met on our Pyramid excursion (see previous blog post about Pyramids for how we met him). He took us back to his Bedouin village, which was in the midst of a wedding celebration, and he and his wife provided us with a delicious meal at his wife’s mother’s house. It was very nice to see him again, and for whatever reason, anything home cooked in Egypt tastes delicious, even- yes, this is Darren- the vegetables. I can’t remember exactly the names of anything we ate, but it was three different mixtures that were eaten by dipping pita bread in them.
Once again sorry for the lack of updates, interesting excursions, and for the few pictures in this post, but probably my best blog post will come in 2 weeks after I return from Spring Break! This Friday, I’ll be leaving for a 10 day trip to Jordan and Lebanon, which should be really really cool. I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures too!
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