The New York Times Magazine ran this article this week profiling Alaa Al Aswany, the author of Egypt's most popular novel, "The Yacoubian Building." The article's got some really interesting observations on modern Egyptian society and is worth a read.
I haven't read any of Al Aswany's books, although his most recent one, "Chicago," was greeted here with quite a bit of anticipation. My Egypt-centered reading has been focused on Naguib Mahfouz, the grand writer of post-colonial Egypt. Incidentally, anyone planning to visit should give "The Cairo Trilogy" a read either just before or just after coming to visit. I read the first book in the US and the other two after arriving here. I have to say, things in the books made a whole lot more sense after I got here.
I was staggered by the 50% illiteracy rate cited in the NYT article, although that would certainly explain the chaos that ensues whenever I try to show a cab driver a map. Well, some of the chaos, anyway.
I've got to give a lot more thought to some of Al Aswany's commentary. I'm constantly intrigued by the notion that critically thinking about one's government and society is considered treason by "patriots." If you surf around a bit, you'll certainly find plenty of examples of this - not just in Egypt or other places you'd "expect" it, but in the US as well.
Will this change with the changing of the guard in January - no matter who wins? Guess we'll just have to wait and see ....
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Istanbul in brief
The first weekend of this month, I flew to Istanbul to meet KC for a long weekend. Admittedly, I had the easier end of the bargain - a two-hour flight followed by a one-hour time difference. But I swear, Istanbul was his idea! We'd always wanted to go (I've been wanting to see the Hagia Sophia since I learned how to pronounce it), and, well, we thought it'd be cheaper than Europe.
Boy, were we wrong about THAT. And a couple of other things too.
Istanbul in early April is cold, windy, and rainy. Apparently everyone but us knew that. Now we (and you) know it too. Plan accordingly. I was honestly shocked at how cold it was - apparently I'd conflated Istanbul and Cairo. It's about 85 degrees here right now at noon. We did have one nice sunny day, but otherwise, it was icky.
The exchange rate when we got to Istanbul was 1.3 YTL to the USD. I think YTL is "yomething Turkish lira" but we just called them Yertles (yes, it's turtles all the way down). The rate sounds reasonable, but one morning we bought a coffee for 7 YTL. It was stunning. We were in Beyoglu, which is admittedly very chic, but not divorced from economic reality the way Sultanahmet is. KC almost had an aneurysm, and I had to force myself to enjoy the coffee. To price compare, we walked into a Starbucks, where a large cup of coffee cost 6.50 YTL. You know something's seriously wrong when Starbucks is the economical choice.
Enough complaining about money and weather! Once we actually got our feet under us and figured out what the hell was going on, we had a great time. Istanbul has an astounding amount to see, and it's all accessible by their fantastic public transport system. We didn't take a single taxi all weekend, not even between the airport and our flat in Beyoglu. Every day we crossed the bridge at least once, either on foot or by the tram, to get from Beyoglu to Sultanahmet.
We figured out that we could afford to eat lunch if on our way into Sultanahmet, we stopped by the docks and bought fish sandwiches off the fishermen. Deeeeelicious - just dead fish grilled with lemon and salt, then topped with raw onions, parsley, and the occasional tomato. Pretty messy to eat while walking across the bridge, but at 2.50 YTL, the best thing we could've imagined.
I think we hit most of the major tourist sites: the Hagia Sophia (scaffolded floor to dome, but still stunning), the Blue Mosque (first picture above), the covered bazaar (lame after you've been to Cairo - our bazaaris here would eat those guys for breakfast), the spice bazaar (called the Egyptian bazaar, for some reason - surely not for the haggling), the Topkapi palace (fabulous and filled with some perplexing exhibits), the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Ancient Orient (which had absolutely astounding pieces, like the Code of Hammurabi and the Treaty of Kadesh, in cuineform, shoved into tiny displays). We went to the Sulimaniye Mosque, which had been billed to us as the greatest work of Ottoman architecture in the world - and it was closed for restoration!
I think I was most surprised by our day at the Kariye Muzesi, a Byzantine church way out near the outer city walls that's been converted into a stunning museum. We managed to get on the right bus out there, but we missed our stop, got dropped outside the city walls, then navigated our way back in and to the church. This museum (formerly the Chora church) is adorned with simply stunning mosaics, some of which are in fantastic condition, all things (like the Iconoclasts and various invaders) considered. My boss had given us a guidebook (from 1996, funnily) that had descriptions of every single one of the about 200 mosaics in the church, including translations of the inscriptions. And yes, we looked at every single one. They're arranged in a order that tells several stories, but their physical location doesn't necessarily reflect the intellectual order of the thing, so we spent the day traipsing in and out of the inner narthex, the outer narthex, and the chapel.
As if the mosaics weren't enough, the end of the outer narthex is decorated with a series of luminous frescoes that have been compared in quality with the Giottos in Florence. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for our necks), the trusty guidebook also had descriptions and translations of every single fresco in the church! So it was back to the inner narthex, the outer narthex, and the chapel for our brave adventurers. It was an exhausting day physically and intellectually, but I've never seen anything quite like that museum.
At the recommendation of some friends here, we stayed in Beyoglu, which is the neighborhood across the Golden Horn from Sultanahmet. I'm very glad we did that. Beyoglu is being rapidly gentrified, which means at night it's chock full of young people hitting the many restaurants, cafes, stores, and bars all up and down the main drag. It's also stacked on the steep hill that rises from the Golden Horn, and it felt like we spent most of our day schlepping up and down that hill. When it was running we took the Tunnel, supposedly the second-oldest public underground system in the world after London. The Tunnel has precisely two stops: the bottom of the hill, and the top of the hill. Good enough for me.
That's all for me for now, I think. I'm waiting for the doorbell to ring - one of my dearest friends and her fiance are here to visit for a week. I'm sure I'll have lots more pictures to share in the upcoming days. As Homer would say, "SPRING BREAK!!! WOO-HOO!!"
Boy, were we wrong about THAT. And a couple of other things too.
Istanbul in early April is cold, windy, and rainy. Apparently everyone but us knew that. Now we (and you) know it too. Plan accordingly. I was honestly shocked at how cold it was - apparently I'd conflated Istanbul and Cairo. It's about 85 degrees here right now at noon. We did have one nice sunny day, but otherwise, it was icky.
The exchange rate when we got to Istanbul was 1.3 YTL to the USD. I think YTL is "yomething Turkish lira" but we just called them Yertles (yes, it's turtles all the way down). The rate sounds reasonable, but one morning we bought a coffee for 7 YTL. It was stunning. We were in Beyoglu, which is admittedly very chic, but not divorced from economic reality the way Sultanahmet is. KC almost had an aneurysm, and I had to force myself to enjoy the coffee. To price compare, we walked into a Starbucks, where a large cup of coffee cost 6.50 YTL. You know something's seriously wrong when Starbucks is the economical choice.Enough complaining about money and weather! Once we actually got our feet under us and figured out what the hell was going on, we had a great time. Istanbul has an astounding amount to see, and it's all accessible by their fantastic public transport system. We didn't take a single taxi all weekend, not even between the airport and our flat in Beyoglu. Every day we crossed the bridge at least once, either on foot or by the tram, to get from Beyoglu to Sultanahmet.
We figured out that we could afford to eat lunch if on our way into Sultanahmet, we stopped by the docks and bought fish sandwiches off the fishermen. Deeeeelicious - just dead fish grilled with lemon and salt, then topped with raw onions, parsley, and the occasional tomato. Pretty messy to eat while walking across the bridge, but at 2.50 YTL, the best thing we could've imagined.
I think we hit most of the major tourist sites: the Hagia Sophia (scaffolded floor to dome, but still stunning), the Blue Mosque (first picture above), the covered bazaar (lame after you've been to Cairo - our bazaaris here would eat those guys for breakfast), the spice bazaar (called the Egyptian bazaar, for some reason - surely not for the haggling), the Topkapi palace (fabulous and filled with some perplexing exhibits), the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Ancient Orient (which had absolutely astounding pieces, like the Code of Hammurabi and the Treaty of Kadesh, in cuineform, shoved into tiny displays). We went to the Sulimaniye Mosque, which had been billed to us as the greatest work of Ottoman architecture in the world - and it was closed for restoration!
I think I was most surprised by our day at the Kariye Muzesi, a Byzantine church way out near the outer city walls that's been converted into a stunning museum. We managed to get on the right bus out there, but we missed our stop, got dropped outside the city walls, then navigated our way back in and to the church. This museum (formerly the Chora church) is adorned with simply stunning mosaics, some of which are in fantastic condition, all things (like the Iconoclasts and various invaders) considered. My boss had given us a guidebook (from 1996, funnily) that had descriptions of every single one of the about 200 mosaics in the church, including translations of the inscriptions. And yes, we looked at every single one. They're arranged in a order that tells several stories, but their physical location doesn't necessarily reflect the intellectual order of the thing, so we spent the day traipsing in and out of the inner narthex, the outer narthex, and the chapel.
As if the mosaics weren't enough, the end of the outer narthex is decorated with a series of luminous frescoes that have been compared in quality with the Giottos in Florence. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for our necks), the trusty guidebook also had descriptions and translations of every single fresco in the church! So it was back to the inner narthex, the outer narthex, and the chapel for our brave adventurers. It was an exhausting day physically and intellectually, but I've never seen anything quite like that museum.
At the recommendation of some friends here, we stayed in Beyoglu, which is the neighborhood across the Golden Horn from Sultanahmet. I'm very glad we did that. Beyoglu is being rapidly gentrified, which means at night it's chock full of young people hitting the many restaurants, cafes, stores, and bars all up and down the main drag. It's also stacked on the steep hill that rises from the Golden Horn, and it felt like we spent most of our day schlepping up and down that hill. When it was running we took the Tunnel, supposedly the second-oldest public underground system in the world after London. The Tunnel has precisely two stops: the bottom of the hill, and the top of the hill. Good enough for me.
That's all for me for now, I think. I'm waiting for the doorbell to ring - one of my dearest friends and her fiance are here to visit for a week. I'm sure I'll have lots more pictures to share in the upcoming days. As Homer would say, "SPRING BREAK!!! WOO-HOO!!"
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Egypt forever
A friend just sent me this quote from Wikipedia (Attention students! Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source!):
"Ahmed Mohammed Hassanein was born in Cairo in 1889, where his father, Sheikh Mohammed Hassanein el Boulaki, was a distinguished scholar at the thousand year old mosque of al-Azhar, which was also a university, the oldest in the world. His grandfather was Ahmed Mazhar Hassanein Pasha, the last admiral of the Egyptian navy before the British occupation in 1882. When ordered to hand over his fleet to the British at their naval base in Malta, admiral Hassanein instead sailed about the Mediterranean for a while before giving his famous reply, Malta mafish, ‘Malta is not there’."
Excellent. And par for the course.
"Ahmed Mohammed Hassanein was born in Cairo in 1889, where his father, Sheikh Mohammed Hassanein el Boulaki, was a distinguished scholar at the thousand year old mosque of al-Azhar, which was also a university, the oldest in the world. His grandfather was Ahmed Mazhar Hassanein Pasha, the last admiral of the Egyptian navy before the British occupation in 1882. When ordered to hand over his fleet to the British at their naval base in Malta, admiral Hassanein instead sailed about the Mediterranean for a while before giving his famous reply, Malta mafish, ‘Malta is not there’."
Excellent. And par for the course.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Due diligence
Yes, I know this blog suffers from infrequent updates. The promised Nile cruise entries from January? Mafish. The recent Istanbul tales? Mafish.
I swear, it's because I'm trying to be diligent. ;)
Here's a fun rant about blogging - which, appropriately enough, I got from the not-blog of a favorite author of mine.
Ah, the irony ....
I swear, it's because I'm trying to be diligent. ;)
Here's a fun rant about blogging - which, appropriately enough, I got from the not-blog of a favorite author of mine.
Ah, the irony ....
Monday, April 7, 2008
All quiet
I just got an email from my dad asking if everything's ok here. He's seen reports on the news of riots in Cairo.
Apparently all the action happened yesterday while I was out of town. Protestors across the nation gathered to show their discontent over skyrocketing food and fuel prices. Since the word went out ahead of time, the police were ready. And waiting.
On Wednesday I grabbed a newspaper in the airport and read for the first time about the issue. Today I heard from colleagues that classes were disrupted here at AUC yesterday due to the protest in the main square just outside the university.
Today I noticed that there wasn't much traffic on my way to work, but I didn't think much of it. As of right now, everything - at least in my part of town - is quiet.
I confess that I'm quite ignorant of the political situation here, since I don't own a television and I don't buy newspapers that often. I get most of my news from you guys - so keep me posted, won't you?
Apparently all the action happened yesterday while I was out of town. Protestors across the nation gathered to show their discontent over skyrocketing food and fuel prices. Since the word went out ahead of time, the police were ready. And waiting.
On Wednesday I grabbed a newspaper in the airport and read for the first time about the issue. Today I heard from colleagues that classes were disrupted here at AUC yesterday due to the protest in the main square just outside the university.
Today I noticed that there wasn't much traffic on my way to work, but I didn't think much of it. As of right now, everything - at least in my part of town - is quiet.
I confess that I'm quite ignorant of the political situation here, since I don't own a television and I don't buy newspapers that often. I get most of my news from you guys - so keep me posted, won't you?
Travel challenge
Just back from Istanbul! I met KC in Istanbul last Wednesday to Sunday. We had a great time, and hopefully I'll get around to blogging a bit more about the trip.
For this trip, our travel challenge was to maximize our continental coverage in a single day.
The result:
Of course, the video doesn't say it all. That scarf KC's wearing is one we bought in Peru, so that adds South America to the count. And KC was supposed to bring something from Australia too, but, well, the best laid plans and all that. So the final continent count was 5, not 6.
Global pandemic potential, anyone? Anyone? Maybe Darth Cheney and the fearmongers in the government have a point ....
For this trip, our travel challenge was to maximize our continental coverage in a single day.
The result:
Of course, the video doesn't say it all. That scarf KC's wearing is one we bought in Peru, so that adds South America to the count. And KC was supposed to bring something from Australia too, but, well, the best laid plans and all that. So the final continent count was 5, not 6.
Global pandemic potential, anyone? Anyone? Maybe Darth Cheney and the fearmongers in the government have a point ....
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Polar bears hate America
For those of you who have heard my mortal-terror-induced rant about polar bears, check out this video on YouTube.
Parody, schmarody.
I know the truth!!!
Parody, schmarody.
I know the truth!!!
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