Lonely Planet will inform you in the online version of its guide to Egypt that

The incidence of crime, violent or otherwise, in Egypt is negligible compared with most Western countries. Most visitors and residents would agree that Egyptian towns and cities are safe to walk around in during the day or night. Unfortunately, the hassle factor often means that this isn’t quite the case for an unaccompanied foreign woman.

Indeed, it is common for many of us in the foreign student community here to marvel that we can walk around at 3 AM without fear either of theft or violent crime. We all too often paint Egypt as a place where sleazy but ultimately harmless men are but an inconvenience to foreign and Egyptian women alike. The stark and disgusting reality is that marginalized women don't experience this reality. Domestic workers and refugees are On top of this, gender-based violence victims have little access to services here.
Two friends of mine and I were discussing, yesterday, the stories of women they knew in Cairo. One, a veiled Muslim mother of six children whose husband had disappeared following poplution displacements in Eritrea had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by an Egyptian employer. Another, a 17-year-old girl without legal status had been raped several times, the last time brutally with a glass bottle that broke off inside of her body. She was left by the man to bleed out and her family, afraid of being deported because of their status, refused to take her to a hospital. My friend and his flatmate had to go and find and pay a doctor to come to the girl's home. Domestic workers from the Horn of Africa who have to take cabs home from their place of employment are sometimes not dropped off at their destination, but told by the driver's that they'll pay them for the services because "they know it's what they do".
While abuse of domestic workers and irregular migrants happens all over the world, I think the intersection of the general disregard for women in Egypt with the mistreatment of marginalized people is an especially insidious combination.
Not only are migrant women at risk, but Egyptian women as well. Marital rape, as in many other Middle Eastern countries, is not a crime in Egypt. Moreover, for more than 90 years (until 1999), there was a law on the books here that absolved rapists if they later married their victims. A similar law still existed as of last year in Lebanon.
And yet, this flagrant disregard for the dignity of women regardless of their background is minimized, even ignored and denied. The entire spectrum from verbal sexual harassment to rape is often dismissed. A male Egyptian friend couldn't understand why I didn't want to go for a walk downtown with a female friend of mine. I told him the kinds of disgusting things I'd heard with my own ears said to her in the past and he laughed it off and repeatedly told me that sort of thing didn't happen. In the wake of attacks on women by some 150 in downtown Cairo in 2006, the president's wife maintained, in an interview on Al-Arabiya, that "Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women".
Faced with these facts and figures and with the personal anecdotes that I hear all too often, I'm frustrated with my own helplessness to make a difference. While I'm in class reading theory or at some restaurant half the population can't afford, all of this is going on. I really wish I knew what I could do. I can say, though, I won't be complicit anymore in blithely describing Egypt as "safe" while wives and domestic workers are raped with relative impunity. In the end, this is an Egyptian problem that must be solved by Egyptians. Many of them are in the habit of minimizing the problems of their country to outsiders as a matter of pride, but recognize among themselves what's really going on. Perhaps change can come from this kind "internal dialogue". For a society so concerned with honor, one would think that this stain in Egypt's image would be of urgent importance.

Related

For more on the vulnerability of Eritreans and Ethiopians in Cairo see: "The Insecurity of Eritreans and Ethiopians in Cairo" in the International Journal of Refugee Law. A preview is available here.

Other News & Issues

• BBC: "Why Egypt's young dream of life abroad"
• Not a single Egyptian film to be shown at the Cairo International Film Festival next week
• Female presenters on Egyptian state TV to appeared unveiled from now on

At some point while I was gone, the rooster that lived in the trash heap behind our building disappeared. I'd like to think his was a slow and painful end in retribution for all the nights he kept me up or woke me early, but I'm sure whatever fate befell him was swift and routine. I was acquainted with him for a year. He was frequently a topic of conversation, an icebreaker in conversations with other downtowners who had their own poultry problems, and even provided recreation (Ross's bottle throwing, murderous plans to find a BB gun at the nearest sporting goods store, photography, etc.) I'm not so sentimental that I miss the noisy feathered monstrosity, but in some strange way, reflecting on the life and times of the trash heap rooster puts in perspective how long I've lived here and how things have evolved. Ross, with whom I switched from one rooster-terrorized apartment to the other, is now back in Texas and Phil and Cynthia have been living here for months. When I was first kept awake by cockcrows and car horns, I didn't eat street food, scampered through traffic like a frightened rabbit, and stressed over cab rides and landlord visits. I don't suppose getting over these issues implies any sort of grand personal transformation, but in so many ways, I really have grown from this experience. Lest I wax sappy, I won't share paragraphs of verbose self-analysis. I will say that, as a I grow preemptively nostalgic (I can't convince myself that having two months left with my friends and routines and favorite haunts isn't the same as leaving tomorrow), I am increasingly aware of how meaningful living in Egypt has become to me. My tumultuous feelings and ambivalence about returning have relented and I am, more often than not, convinced of the rightness of choosing to come here. Realizing that it's all coming to an end soon has me wondering what I'll miss and what's to come.

News & Issues

Egypt

• Nour el-Sherif's libel case against Al-Balagh Al-Gedid has been adjourned until 26 October, meanwhile he's appearing at the inauguration of AUC's Theater Club on the new campus.

LGBT Rights

• Rights groups outraged by proposed Ugandan anti-gay legislation mandating life sentences and the death penalty

Migration & Refugees

• UN says Congo group massacred refugees
• Sri Lankan refugees aboard ship bound for Australia go on hunger strike as they're held in limbo

I'm not a big fan of Horaya, I must say. I don't have the qualms more seasoned and culturally-attuned expats have about study-abroaders and tourists invading the old bar-cum-ahwa and diminishing the atmosphere created by the ghosts of subversive political discussions and wizened old men playing chess. Or do they play towla, or is it dominoes? I never see them anymore to notice, always peeking in to see who of my Cairo acquaintances are there. My beef is primarily with the curtain of cigarette smoke that hangs heavy over the place, the terrible Egyptian beer, and handsy Milad, the waiter.
And yet, last night I found myself braving the carcinogens and Milad's ridicule for abstaining from Stella to "bro down" with a new CMRS friend (whom I thank for letting me borrow her "bro" phrase), her flatmate, a journalist friend of theirs, and half of everyone else I know in Egypt who also happened to be there. Because this city of 18+ million people is really quite small, the Egyptian blogger whom my new CMRS friend was meeting turned out to be a friend of my high school friend Sheila's. I met him last year when he, Sheila, and I did dinner. And then, who should come walking in but my Egyptian pal Sayed. I won't bore you with the additional connections and coincidences, but there were plenty. It was a Thursday night of the sort I'd forgotten about since I've been spending days on end in the apartment working on my thesis. It hearkened back to the days when Cairo was new and there were all sorts of people to meet and stories to be amazed by. Perhaps Cairo's still much newer than I give it credit for.
I recently discovered that I am not the first Carl in Cairo.
And yet, nothing's ever new, is it? I recently discovered that another, better-traveled and more adventurous Carl regaled the blogosphere with his tales of life in Egypt from 2007-2008. Before I begin quoting Ecclesiastes, I shall move to the news:

Egypt

• Daily News Egypt: An infant died in prison two weeks ago after being denied medical attention. If the allegations are true, this is another violation not only of the rights of refugees (the child and her mother were Ethiopian refugees), but of basic human rights under international law. This with the specter of the murders of East African migrants looming in Egypt.
• As tensions mount in Jerusalem, Egyptians are called upon to participated in a "Friday of Anger" today to protest Israeli actions.
  
• Pro-reform activists say US support is waning four months on from Obama's speech in Cairo.
  
• Two cases of swine flu have popped up in high schools, but there's no sign of mass school cancellations yet.
• A crime ring operating in the US and Egypt was busted for identity theft.
• An Egyptian newspaper was banned after alleging three well-known actors were caught in a gay prostitution sting. One of the actors, Nour el-Sherif commented, "Naming me among [...] homosexuals defamed me and all Egyptian artists. The Journalists' Syndicate has to be firm with anyone trying to insult the dignity of Egyptian artists" Apparently he's fine with the idea of being linked to a prostitution ring, just not a gay one.

I'm back with my nose to the thesis grindstone after a splendid impromptu jaunt to Turkey. While my trip was mostly for pleasure, I also managed to meet with Rachel Levitan of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - Turkey for a thesis interview. Ms Levitan with two others recently published an article called "Unsafe Haven: Security Challenges Facing LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Turkey" in PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Human Security. The report that led to the article can be found here.
Istanbul reminded me more of Seattle than of anything in the Middle East. The clean air, the calm, the uncongested streets, and the courtesy of vendors, restaurateurs, hostel proprietors and the general public were a welcome departure from the noise, chaos, and stress of Cairo. (Just as I typed this, the lovely trash collector who rang our bell yesterday over forty times while my flatmate Cynthia was sick in bed returned. He's been ripping Cynthia off all summer. When he returned today to ask for the money, I told him in my awful pidgin Arabic that I'd already paid him for the month (and then some) last time he came and that I wouldn't pay him again now. He seems to have relented, thankfully.)
Anyway, classes are supposed to resume soon across Egypt, but I've heard rumblings of further delays and class suspensions, so we'll see. I don't have any great plans for the rest of my time off beyond buckling down and working on the ol' thesis.

News & Issues

• Swedish journalist, blogger set to be deported: Per Bjorklund's blog frequently covered labor issues which may've made him a target for deportation, but he also participated in the To Gaza March that led to the February detention of Philip Rizk and the recent deportation of Travis Randall. Per's friend and fellow blogger writes about it here.
  
• Farouk Hosni fails in bid to become UNESCO president: While many in the Arab world (and Hosni himself) allege a Jewish conspiracy, Egyptian daily Al-Masry al-Youm attempts to sort through the claims more evenhandedly.
• Equal access for women to divorce increasingly a possibility; also, Egyptian divorcées have recently an online radio station to support each other
  
• Slate.com explores the effects of Egypt's pig slaughter
• AUC's move to the desert a blow to downtown economy; Greek Campus sale expected to be final within a month

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As you might have noticed, my links section has changed a bit. If you haven't checked out the right side of my blog, on the other hand, you really should. There's some cool stuff in there about Egypt, about how to apply to be an Ambassadorial Scholar, about the clubs and districts who sponsored and hosted me last year, info on migration and refugees, news links, and more.
Anyway, my scholarship period came to an end in June. I have reworded my Rotary links to reflect that change, but have kept them up because of the importance of the organization both in my life and to the community at large. Because of scheduling conflicts, I have not yet given speeches back in the US about my experience in Egypt, but will arrange to do so sometime in early 2010. In the meantime, my belated congrats to Three-Month Cultural Scholar, Elizabeth Killingbeck from the Land of Goshen Rotary Club who is serving in Sénégal and to Dr Fetene Gebrewold, sponsored by the Bushnell Rotary Club, who spent the summer as a Three-Month University Professor Ambassadorial Scholar in Ethiopia.

News and Issues:

Egypt
· Doctors suspended after country's second A/H1N1 death
· FM Aboul Gheit says stopping illegal settlements in Palestine is necessary precursor to normalization of relations between Arab states and Israel
· Jewish Nazi-hunter supports embattled Egyptian Minister of Culture in UNESCO bid
· Norwegian national prevented from leaving Egypt, told she is a "national security case"
· Slate examines Egyptian 9-11 hijacker, his urban planning studies and frustrations with Cairo

Middle East
FP article on "Iraq's New Surge: Gay Killings" Even as the US is hailing progress in Iraq, the wartorn country's LGBT population remains incredibly vulernable as their government, and apparently occupying forces, turn a blind eye.

Migration & Refugees
· UNHCR has created an educational online game to allow people to understand the dehumanizing challenges refugees have to face to escape persecution and begin new lives.
· Amnesty International calls on Egypt to halt border killings of African migrants

December? When did you get here?

Shopping at Alfa Market the other day, I ran into this lonely-looking Santa Claus in the back of the store, but even the gaudy Christmas decorations in stores that cater to foreigners didn't prepare me for today. What is today you ask? The 1st of December! I cannot believe that it's the month of Christmas and New Year's Eve and that I've been here in Egypt for over a quarter of a year now. Holiday planning and my trip to France and Belgium are underway. My month away from Egypt promises to be quite busy.
My stomach is being a bit more agreeable today and I've managed to make some headway on my paper (over 3,000 words at this point). I went back to Ain Shams tonight to teach English as usual and I sincerely regret not having brought my camera. In the run up to Eid al-Adha, the bloody holiday that will take place a week from today, more and more goats and cows have been appearing in the streets. In one particularly disconcerting display, a butcher-shop was brightly lit with the equivalent of Christmas lights that descended from the roof a multi-story building across the street. Flashing pinwheel lights and a host of different colored bulbs illuminated dozens of carcasses hanging on meathooks. And right next door were penned in cattle and goats, lowing and bleating in blissful ignorance, though I could have sworn that one exceptional cowlooked on with something like suspicion at the grotesque sight.
Class today involved prepositions and how they changed the meanings of various verbs like "put" and "take" and "turn". My student who'd been arrested came tonight and was actually one of the most eager to participate. After watching a video in law class yesterday on the rather bleak state of affairs regarding the rights of Sudanese refugees, I wished there was something more substantial I could do to improve their prospects of a better life. Tito, my best student, the one who'd ask me to help him learn French but hadn't come to class the last couple of weeks, showed up with his little brother who couldn't have been too much different in age from my won little brother. It's always sobering to think about just how different our lives are. The time I spend with refugees and studying their situations and experiences as well as living here in Egypt has transformed my vague theoretical awareness that the majority of the world lives in poverty and dysfunction into something much more viscerally real. And, as some of my classmates would point out, we don't even live in the "real" Africa. Spending time with family over the holidays, I'll be all the more appreciative of my life at home, but certainly painfully reminded that I can't blissfully assume everyone everywhere is just as happy, well-fed, and secure.
After teaching, I came back to my apartment with the noble intent of pounding out some more of my essay but since then have only managed to watch Al-Jazeera International and order and eat some pizza from Maison Thomas in addition to answering important emails. The hawkers on the metro have arrived at a new level obnoxious. One was trying to sell flashlights which he shined in people's eyes. Now, in my opinion, blinding people and trying to send epileptics into seizures just isn't a good salse tactic, but the deep sense of guilt Egyptians have toward the poor brought about a few transactions.

News:
An article about the Cairo Metro
Increasing ire at alleged police misconduct
High prices, low demand complicate cattle sales as Eid al-Adha approaches

Seeking Solace in Goat Cheese

Last night, I managed to get to sleep at a reasonable hour with the generous assistance of a couple of pills. I woke up far later than I'd have liked, but not too exhausted. I made a bit of headway on my outline, but generally didn't have it in me to get much done. I threw on a scarf, more for effect than to combat the weather which is quiet mild and pleasant, hovering in the upper 60s. I looked like a European, perhaps a grumpy European. Listening to a lecture on my iPod about existentialism, I waltzed through AUC's laughable security and headed to a lecture on the unlawful killing of Africa migrants attempting to cross the border from Egypt into Israel. I've included links in my news section before. It truly is shocking. Men, women (some pregnant), and children have all been murdered by border guards, over 30 this past year. For it's part, Israel returns asylum-seekers who reach its borders, equivalent to refoulement because Egypt is not, in fact, a safe country to be returned to. Many have disappeared and any Sudanese who travel to Israel are considered by their home government to be traitors which could lead to persecution should they end up back in the country. My law professor was one of the two presenters of the seminar, the other being from Human Rights Watch.
After the seminar, despite being invited to a shisha bar (I still don't smoke shisha and don't plan to, but it's a huge social event here), I came home where I sought solace in cooking. I stir-fried some broccoli and garlic and boiled some rotini to which I added my store-bought Barilla arrabbiatta sauce. I topped it all off with some pepper-encrusted goat cheese and was actually quite pleased with the result.
Things are busy in the academic realm and I have a Rotary meeting I'm apparently meant to go to on Sunday. It's quite late notice, of course, but I'm going to try and get out of my law class early to go. Before that, I have to prepare my final outlines for the papers in both Intro to Mig. and Ref. Studies and International Refugee Law and prepare a presentation on the experiences of second generation migrants from the Middle East and North Africa in the West for 9 AM on Saturday since the professor decided we would not only reschedule a class slated for the 25th, but that we'd change the order of the class topics at the last minute, therefore leaving me four days to do a book-sized packet of readings, synthesize the main points, and develop an outline for leading an hour and a half discussion on the top. Nice.

News:
HRW demands Egypt stop slaying migrants (related to seminar I attended tonight)
Clashes with Bedouin lead Egypt to beef up military presence in Sinai
Egypt donates medicine to Tanzanian government hospital
Saudi lawyer banned from receiving human rights award

A Sudanese Soirée in Ain Shams

After making significant headway on my book review (of Barbara Harrell-Bond's Imposing Aid), I ran a couple of errands. The first took me to the market down the street to get a box of water. The guys that work there know my face by now and we all try to make friendly conversation in our Arabic-English pidgin. One guy inquired if I was from Germany. I get that a lot, so I must be phenotypically faithful to my German genes. I'm sure me lurching about trying to carry this box containing eighteen liters of H20 was a sight to behold. Undaunted, I heaved and swayed the three or four blocks back to my building and then climbed the steps to the fourth floor. I was so motivated, that after a brief moment of respite, I struck back out again, this time in the opposite direction and in search of bread. It's not at all like hopping in my old '96 Mercury Mystique and buzzing over to Kroger to buy multi-grain organic goodness. I feel like I earn every carbohydrate in the bread I purchase here just walking to get it.
After finishing off some baba ghanoush and indulging in bread and halawa, I settled in to trying and firm up the topic for one of my papers. In the middle of researching the treatment of Somalis in Minneapolis and Cairo, however, I was invited to joined Natalie and Cynthia in Ain Shams. These two girls are insanely dedicated to the St. Andrew's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, investing most of their time here in trying to provide opportunities to Sudanese refugees to help themselves escape violence and hardship. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity and thus found myself in a dingy flat scrubbing walls and washing floors along with fifteen or so southern Sudanese guys for whom this place will be a school. I've been switched to that location to teach English as the times of classes at the Ma'adi school conflicted with my classes. The whole ordeal was a lot of fun, but it was sobering to think what kind of struggles these young men have had to face. They are here in Cairo without their families and have turned to forming gangs to cope. The school in Ain Shams is just starting up and there's a lot to do to ensure it's success, but the fact that so many of the future students came today and have taken such pride in the place is a hugely positive indicator.

News of Egypt and the region:
Somali pirates threaten Egyptian economy
Democracy in Egypt
UN withdrawing non-essential employees from Yemen in wake of terror threat

Metro to Ma'adi

The Indian last night turned out to be relatively spectacular. Though it might not have met the standards of those who regularly feast on the finest Subcontinental cuisine, it suited me, a humble Midwesterner with but one Indian restaurant in his whole hometown (Sizzling India on Main St. in Peoria). We had veggie samosas, pakoras to start, paneer makhani and the house daal for our main courses, and delicious pistachio kulfi for dessert. All of this was followed by some sugar-coated fennel seeds which are said to aid in digestion (I like them because they taste like black liquorice).
Today, I had a meeting in Ma'adi whither I took the metro, making friends along the way (as I tend to do when in train cars with curious Egyptians who merrily initiation conversations, asking the most personal questions about my religion, where I live in Cairo, and the like without giving it a second thought). My destination was the Gugu Center where I'll be teaching English to advanced students at least once a week. We toured around and I met some of the Sudanese refugees that Natalie works with through her Youth Violence Prevention Initiative which is affiliated with St Andrew's. Curiously enough, the pastor at that same church is friends with my grandmother's cousin who is originally from Emden, Illinois.
Natalie, as I've mentioned before, is a former ambassadorial scholar herself and has begun to receive positive feedback from Rotarians about really making the project effective. The YVPI has also recently received some funding from the UNHCR. The Initiative's main areas of focus are as follows:

(1) skills training and secondary school level educational opportunities;
(2) promotion of creative expression as a coping mechanism building on the community’s appreciation for hip-hop culture; and
(3) structured, reliable access to sports and venues for physical activities.

I'm obviously involved in the first bit, but anyone can contribute to the overall mission by donated funds or, if you're in Cairo, by volunteering to teach. Please contact me if you're interested in either and I'll refer you to the proper people.
On my way back from Ma'adi, I had a substantial wait for the train, so I took out the Qur'an I purchased in Morocco last year and began reading it. I see Muslims doing this all the time on public transport and I've often wondered how it would be received if I did it. Well, it made me friends, haha. "Are you Islamic? I saw you reading a Qur'an," said a curious bystander. I explained that I'm a Christian but was hoping to understand more about Islam. He smiled appreciatively and we chatted about life in Cairo until he reached his stop.
Well, it's back to reading I go. The topic is again a variation on the theme of defining a refugee.

News of Egypt:
Egyptian journalists fined for doctoring photo of religious leader
France invites Egypt to proposed G14
A story on the hijab in Cairo
Egyptian Center for Women's Rights calls for law against sexual harassment

From Korea to Kandahar in Cairo

Yesterday was quite a full day. Our classes, now that Ramadan has ended, last three hours and the difference is quite palpable. I got koshary to go and left for my Intro course where I turned in my reflection paper on the refugee régime and its relationship with states' security interests and the language of humanitarianism. A couple of my classmates and I, after escaping from the fluorescent torture chamber, decided to get dinner. A nearby Lebanese place didn't have any room for the likes of us non-reservation holders, so we wandered to the Cleopatra Palace Hotel where one of us had heard there was a good Korean restaurant. I was skeptical as we rounded the corner and came upon the dodgy façade, but was pleasantly surprised inside. The kimchi was delicious as was our main course, bibimbap. Jamie, one of our group of three, had lived in South Korea for a year. She opined that the food in this Egypto-Korean joint was quite good, but that perhaps the rice was a little on the Egyptian side. The presence of dozens of Korean tourists ostensibly confirmed the authenticity or at least acceptability of the cuisine.
It was after ten by the time I returned home, but my evening was just beginning. My next stop was a house party in Mounira at an apartment near the French Cultural Center. Appropriately, there were a lot of francophones, affording me yet another opportunity to socialize in my second language. The rest of the number of guests were Canadian, British, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Italian, American, etc. I had a humorous conversation with my Ethiopian chum, Ammanuel in which he was earnestly trying to discover what American women really mean when they say "I don't know."
Finding myself still there, lost in conversation at 3 AM, I decided I probably ought to go home and sleep. A small herd of new acquaintances and one of my classmates had other plans and convinced me to join them at Odeon where we remained until sunrise. Honestly though, with the way my sleeping pattern is, it was worth it. The conversations I get to have and the experiences people share are truly unique.
Currently, after having slept in quite late, I've been buckling down and doing reading on whether people who are military deserters or trying to dodge military service obligations can qualify as refugees. In less than a couple of hours, I'll be heading to dinner at Kandahar which, though named after a city in Afghanistan, serves Indian and Lebanese food. Don't ask, I have no idea.

News of Egypt:
Education in Egypt
Rice not content with condition of human rights in Egypt
Egypt, Syria, and North Korea only three countries that ban commercial GPS
8 Egyptians charged in 'Eid sexual assault

...aaaand we're back!

I'm a bit jittery from taking some Excedrin Migraine to fend off a headache that set in while I was laden with my belongings and crowded into a hot subway car after riding back in a shabby charter bus from the Sinai, so if I sound a little crazy, do forgive me.
My stay in Ras Sudr was quite the cultural event, let me tell you! I began but didn't finish an entry on the 30th of September and couldn't publish it until now due to the lack of internet. It'll have to be good enough for now and perhaps I'll write more tomorrow if I get time. It reads as follows:

30 September 2008

Though quite tired, I’m up for the day and making the best of some down time before breakfast here at the “chalet” of my Egyptian friend Maged and his family. Located in a compound of sorts on the Red Sea, their condo is bustling with the family’s friends, relatives, and relatives of friends. With most of them, I can communicate only in smiles, a smattering of quite basic Arabic phrases, and blank looks. As I type, another ten are joining these ranks.
Our journey here began yesterday after I met up with Maged in Zaytoon, an area of Cairo about a half an hour north via the metro. [Breakfast and the Red Sea took me away from my entry, so it’s now about 3:45 in the afternoon but I’ll pick up from where I left off:] I was exhausted by the time I arrived because Maged asked me to be there by 3:30. As you may recall, I’ve developed the nasty habit of sleeping in until between 1:30 and 2, so I got up a bit “early” after a terrible morning’s sleep. My insomnia is fueled these days largely by worries about what do with my life, increasingly excited and happy reflections on how things are progressing here in Egypt and speculation on where they may lead, or, most often, a combination of all these things. It’s all worse when I know I have to get up at a specific time, because I wake up every couple of hours or so in anticipation. To exacerbate the situation throw in a rooster, a cheap mattress (shokran ya Ahmed), and an absolutely fantastic previous day that lasted past sunrise as follows:
-I was actually able to pick up my passport containing my visa extension with no complications (though suspiciously, the extension runs for about three months from when I arrived, not from the application for the extension itself). Given the bureaucratic nightmare yielded by the equation of AUC + government, this truly is noteworthy.
-I grabbed a granola, fruit, and yogurt parfait from Beano’s and headed to the law library, where I got the Internet key from some very suspicious staff before proceeding to International Refugee Law which was fantastic as usual.
-I walked home with Melissa, the French girl who’s temporarily living across the hall in our old apartment with Catherine and Camilla (the Dane) and discovered something truly miraculous along the way: the koshary restaurant two doors down had reopened, emerging like a (terribly delicious) Phoenix from the ashes of Ramadan.
-Sharing the above good news with Ross, we were soon consuming the sublime lentily, pasta-y, tomato-y goodness of koshary for dinner for the first time in literally weeks. The cost? A mere 5 LE (less than a dollar) for mine.
-The next stop, Mohandaseen to Amanda’s apartment. She works for the International Organization for Migration—I mentioned her before when recounting my most recent Thai dinner, I believe. We formed a fierce, two-person team of Minnesota natives and vanquished British and Egyptian competitors in a game of Trivial Pursuit. Though an unexpected 40 LE minimum charge at a mediocre faux-Italian café briefly put a damper on things, my love of board games and the excellent company kept me happy.
-Natalie, whom I often mention, was leaving for the States yesterday for a little while. This, of course was the perfect occasion to go to Odeon. So, after staying out in Mohandaseen ‘til after midnight, I cabbed over to our favorite haunt and stayed until sunrise chatting at length with an Ethiopian refugee about his experiences in Egypt. Although in my head it doesn’t seem so strange, I found it very interesting to learn that his family back in Ethiopia are relatively well-to-do. He was a journalist and had to seek refuge in Egypt because of his writing. Here for the past three years, he decided after the first that he would try and understand the experiences and hardships of fellow Ethiopians who were leagues apart from him socioeconomically. He rented an apartment in a poorer part of town and has, for two years, dealt with challenges that have been the hallmark of what he surprisingly calls the best time of his life. Having only a handful of years on me, he’s already extremely wise and seen quite a lot. After Emmanuel left, I spoke to a friend of Crysta (the Canadian teacher I’ve previously talked about) called Rania who’s British, but the daughter of Egyptian parents. She came back nearly a decade ago to begin teaching here and had lots to say about how difficult it was for her to adapt to the culture, even with fluent Arabic and insights into Egypt born of her parents’ origins. Two other Brits joined our table later on, sharing their experiences teaching English here. One is also apparently quite the chef—a good person to know when I tire of tameyya, fuul, and koshary (never!) Cynthia, a classmate and friend that I’ve hung out with in Zamalek and elsewhere before also joined us; she’s putting to use a background in violence prevention by helping Natalie in her work with the Sudanese. As the deceptively clean-looking morning light began to wash over Cairo, I made my way home for the fitful morning of non-sleep described above.
As I said, Maged wanted me to meet him at 3:30. He also told me, a bit frantically, that coming earlier would be even better. When I told him before 2 PM that I hadn’t packed, he insisted that I needed to get a move on, because it takes an hour to get up to Zaytoon en métro. “I just don’t want you to be late,” said the person who has not once been on time to hang out. My reply: “I’m not Egyptian.” Though this probably sounds awful, my snarky retort underlies a very real aspect of Egyptian culture—their concept of time. It’s vastly different than ours (in the States) and it’s not necessarily good or bad objectively (though I’ll make no bones about telling you it drives me nuts), but it’s undeniable. Second-guessing myself—something I generally shouldn’t do, especially vis-à-vis Maged, I’ve learned—I began frantically packing and rushing around. I dragged Ross to an ATM to be able to pull out money to pass on to him for rent and then headed straight to the metro. I was waiting for the train by 2:30 on the dot so that I could make it “in an hour.” Of course, I knew better and arrived in 28 minutes only to find no trace of Maged who showed up late. He then preceded to tell me that we’d not be leaving until after four, but he just wanted to make sure we were ready to go well in advance. I refrained from throwing the son of a family who are showing me such hospitality out of the nearest window as thoughts of things I’d left undone in my haste began to collect in my mind. Another observation about Egyptians that was highlighted by this was the stating of guesses or even wishes as absolute certainty (which is germane to never admitting when one doesn’t know something or when one is wrong—the classic giving wrong directions example comes to mind, etc.)
We left after 4:30, all said and done, and reached Amigo (near Ras Sidr) after dark. My time since then has been fantastic for experiencing more directly Egyptian culture and family life (if not at all conducive to sleep with what seems like a small army of relatives, friends, and whoever else turning on fluorescent lights, slamming doors, carrying on loudly literally all night long). My hosts are Copts, whereas many of the other Egyptians I know are Muslims. It's fascinating to try and understand the differences in values and identity whose origins stretch back several centuries.
Maged, his friend Ereny, and I have had rather humorous discussions about the differences between the American conception of masculinity and the Egyptian one. Maged even went so far as to suggest that English was a girly-sounding language and I tried not to rub in his face that his rugged, manly Egyptian men hold hands in the street and walk arm in arm, sometimes draped over one another, calling each other habibi (roughly "dear" or "honey"), and kissing each other’s cheeks while sharing what seems like a universal obsession with Céline Dion. I explained to him that rooted in this expansive physical comfort level somewhere were my continual requests not to be touched (I’m not a touchy-feely person in general, but this is all the more apparent in this personal space-less region). I'm not at all alleging that the average man in Egypt is objectively effeminate or, Heaven forfend, gay, I'm just illustrating how different customs and habits in one culture and be perceived extremely differently in another.
Interestingly, the conversation continued down the path of how, in the States, some people would label the above-described behavior as gay. A general discussion of how gays and lesbians in the States are treated and perceived led me to explain that GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered) people don’t all behave, dress, and talk the same way (something which I take for granted that people know, but something which hadn't fully occurred to Maged). This made me realize just how different the situation is in a country where being gay or a lesbian relegates you to life in the shadows, as part of an underground scene. Homosexuals are far more marginalized and maltreated than in the States. Just as I began to revel in my country and people being so "progressive" despite the lingering homophobia there, I was taken aback at hearing Maged (who hails from a conservative Christian background and has a lot of misperceptions about the existence and character of homosexuality in his country) suggest that perhaps homosexuality isn’t so awful and that it is best to be honest (a Christian virtue) with oneself and others though that, obviously, is not at all easy in Egypt. I thought it was a strikingly pure-hearted and non-judgmental response.

So anyway, there is where I left off–right in the middle of a rather controversial topic, no less. More observations to come. In the meanwhile, here're some links to the news of Egypt:

Egyptian governments officials and others in apparent attempt to "break siege on Gaza" on Monday
More oil, gas deposits found in Egypt
An Egyptian Christian killed in flare-up of religious conflict