Update on Philip Rizk

I just came back from AUC where I spoke with a friend who was at the High Court yesterday where the director of our program and, later, another faculty member were trying to assist in Philip's release. While there, they were made to stand inside a pen surrounded by riot police.
While one report said that he was being held at police headquarters downtown, another said Philip was at Lazoghli Prison. Apparently, the German Embassy had initially been notified that he was out of police custody (he had been "officially" released and then subsequently was adbucted), but is now up to speed and acting on his behalf. Complicating matters was AUC's grand (late) inauguration attended by the First Lady, Suzane Mubarak and many other high profile dignitaries. Because of this, cell phones were prohibited leaving the German ambassador out of contact.
Following are more articles and updates including the description of Philip's abduction by a blogger who was present:

"The Kidnapping of Philip Rizk"
"Christian blogger held in Egypt" from Christianity Today
"Rizk’s family file case against Banha police, faculty to demand AUC intervention" from the AUC student publication, The Caravan

I cannot begin to understand the logic behind jailing a non-violent activist. If anything, the government is going to motivate other pro-Palestinian supporters to more vigorous activism. I wish there were something I could do, but I'm not sure another naïve Westerner in a keffiyah would be of much use at this point. Phil, a legitimate activist acquainted with the complexities of the Palestinian situation has a network of family members, journalists, bloggers, and other activists and friends going to bat for him. Insha'Allah, all will pan out in the end.
Though it seems selfish to catalog the rest of my day when this poor kid's in prison, I need to keep up the blog. The weather is gorgeous, in the 70s. I went out to mail a thank you letter to my friend in Paris, to get correspondence that had been waiting for me in the Migration & Refugee Studies office for weeks, and to get koshary. I also ended up being useful to at least two people today: On my way back from koshary, passing a shop in which Valentine's Day anticipation had exploded all over everything in the form of fuzzy red hearts, fake flowers, and the cheesiest tokens and signs of "love", I saw a Western woman peering puzzledly at a guidebook. Initially I walked passed without a second thought; this is, at least for this year, my neighborhood and running up to chat with other non-Egyptians here simply because they're non-Egyptians has absolutely no appeal. This poor woman looked quite lost, though, so I went and asked where she'd hoped to go. She turned out to be Brazilian but lives in Houston, Texas and was visiting while her husband, an oil company employee, was in meetings. She'd gotten far off course, so I walked her to a road that went straight north to the square she was looking for. I figured with no turns, it was more than likely she'd arrive eventually. I felt good being able to help someone and having a sense enough of Cairo to be able to accurately direct her.
I came back to my apartment in hopes of cleaning up my living room in preparation for having people over to watch Walz with Bashir, but got a call from Erin who was at her AUC office and need computer help. Luckily, I was able to figure out how to be of assistance. It was there that she filled me in on the goings-on with Philip Rizk. It's really disconcerting that the Egyptian government is holding an AUC graduate student, activist, blogger without charge. Egyptian prisons are notorious for mistreatment and I hope and pray Philip isn't subjected to that. He was supposed to be our CMRS lecturer during the Wednesday night lecture series; despite not knowing him firsthand, it hits close to home.

Egyptian Police Holding AUC Graduate Student, Blogger

An Egyptian/German dual national who is a graduate student at the American University in Cairo has been arrested, apparently without charge, and is being held at police headquarters here in downtown Cairo. An advocate of non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Philip keeps a blog called Tabula Gaza.
The following are articles covering both his arrest and his previous activism:

"Egypt police detain Egyptian-German activist"
"Activists Begin 'March to Gaza'"
"'We Will Stay on Our Land'"

Ma'adi, Mohandaseen and Methods Reading

Late yesterday afternoon, Phil and I met at Tahrir Sq. where Marise and her friend Michelle picked us up. Marise, who deftly dodges microbuses and taxis while simultaneously holding conversations in Arabic and English, conveyed us safely and soundly down the Corniche and on to Ma'adi. Along the way, we passed Ahly (soccer team) fans and trucks atop which there were people perched precariously.

Our destination was Lucille's. We were going for a 4:30 brunch, which I'm not convinced even qualifies as brunch at all, but we had a great time. We went to a coffee shop afterward and chatted until we realized it was after 8 PM. Among our various interesting conversations, we talked about the expectation Marise's parents, who grew up in Egypt but have since lived in Canada and the States for many years, had of anyone who would want to date or marry her. Interestingly, aside from religious qualifications (the family is Catholic), the most important thing to Marise's mom is that this potential suitor be at ease in the social setting of Egyptian family life where, like when I went to the Red Sea with my Coptic friend, literally dozens of relatives and friends and relatives of friends sit around for hours shooting the breeze and eating and reveling in the opportunity to be in one another's company. No stiff, watch-watching Americans allowed. Marise and Michelle dropped Phil and me back off downtown and I showered and got ready to meet up with Phil again to go to our friend Amanda's in Mohandaseen for a party. There were people from the International Organization for Migration, from Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance, and from AUC in addition to expats and Egyptians in other jobs and from other occupations. I chatted with a couple of French Canadians and realized just how different the Québecois accent is from standard French. Conversations centered on travel experiences or planned travels and, for my friend Cara who's birthday is a week before mine, our plans for a joint birthday party next Friday.
Today I plan to get some reading done for my Research Methods class lest the world think I've forgotten I'm here attending graduate school and volunteering (my English class, as I may have mentioned, starts up again on the 17th).

News:
Men arrested for distributing Bibles at Cairo book fair
Hamas says no to weekend truce talks in Cairo
Calls for Egypt to account for harboring former Nazis

A bite of crow

Ok, ok, so I'm all about admitting when I'm wrong. I decided that my apprehension about my psychosocial class and about trekking out to the new campus once a week was more or less unwarranted after all. The class, though it seems a little too undergraddy, promises to be pretty interesting. The TA who's an American who studied in Canada, Sweden, and now Egypt is married to an Egyptian, and I ended up spending the busride back chatting with her about, among other things, her experiences with her Egyptian in-laws and how alternately frustrating and rewarding that situation can be. We talked about racism in Egypt in the wake of my cab experience and a heated conversation she had with her husband's aunt.
I do have to say that the new campus has something of a surreal atmosphere. Everywhere are Egyptian undergraduates dressed to the nines having little (aesthetically) in common with the kind of over-the-top, bi2a, faux designer, blindingly-shiny or awkwardly tight garb so common downtown. As they lounge around on the steps, ledges, and other seating areas of the multi-million dollar dessert campus, they look more like an Abercrombie advertisement than a scene from the eastern reaches of the Sahara Desert. Adding to the effect are large speakers at every turn piping in almost-tasteful Egyptian pop-esque music, though I don't recall there being any lyrics. The sunshine was warm and inviting, but I imagine that the closer we get to summer, the less I'll be of that opinion.
The busride itself wasn't so bad either. On surprisingly well-kept buses, we leave downtown along a route that hugs the Nile for several kilometers before cutting through the suburbs, then the desert. Along the way, shoddily-built "luxury villas" and institutions seem to have sprung out of the sand each with their own unique style. Some like the Future University of Egypt are an exercise in high kitsch. It's main building is a miniature colosseum (like something you'd see in Vegas) with one side cut away revealing an all-glass entrance seeming to suggest a marriage of classical learning with cutting edge technology. I don't know about the credentials of said university, but somehow I don't think they'll be giving AUC a run for its money anytime soon.
Back at home, feeling lighter at the prospect of really enjoying this semester--no classes to sincerely dread as I did my intro class last semester--I made dinner, or rather boiled pasta and frozen vegetables, and then got juice with Ross and Phil. The pomegranate juice, which costs the equivalent of 36 US cents, was spectacular. Later on, I caught a ride with some friends to a party in Zamalek where I met an Egyptian who tried to make it as a used car-salesman in Lawrence, Kansas but after getting into an auto-accident himself and being wronged, so he told me, by an insurance company, he ended up out of money and having to return to Egypt. Mentioning Caterpillar as I do when I mention being from Peoria, I learned that I can apparently make tens of thousands of dollars selling used loaders in Egypt. I'll keep that in mind. I bonded with another acquaintance over our sobriety. Neither of us is particularly fond of excess when it comes to alcohol--she doesn't drink at all and I'm a wine with dinner kind of guy or a sucker for good Belgian beer, but not more than a couple. We decided that it my be fun to try finding more culturally significant or even offbeat adventures outside of the parties and bars that preoccupy many in the expat community, so hopefully fun will materialize out of that. The circus, maybe? I met a Russo-Egyptian journalist and one who is Franco-British who told me of a Rotarian he met in Canada who was a warden at an upscale prison. Rotarians are everywhere and do everything, it seems.
Soon, for the reading pleasure of those that follow this blog, I will be including an interview or maybe several interviews with Egyptian friends and their impressions on things like the recently-inaugurated American president, relations between the West and the Islam world, American values, terrorism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and more. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask, please send them along.

News:
How the US is trying to spread tolerance and a respect for diversity in Egypt
Ransom paid to Somali pirates to free Egyptian ship and its crew
Dreams fueled by hyperconsumptive tastes and poor planning to yield more suburban sprawl outside Cairo

Bibimbap and Comparative Migration Law

Last night after sending out a slew of postcards and working on my résumé, I joined a bunch of friends for Korean. The vegetarian crew (of which I'm a sometimes member) got orders of bibimbap--delicious! It's always so surreal to have the Korean owner, Egyptian waiters, and a small herd of Americans interacting as if it were the most normal Tuesday night activity ever. We spent the evening catching up, asking about each other's winter breaks--some were snowier than others. On the way in, we passed a praying policeman or military guy praying with his gun completely apart from him, laying on the floor. I didn't bother snatching it or anything; it probably wasn't loaded anyway.
Today I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that I made an excellent choice in selecting Comparative Migration Law as my elective for the semester. Mike Kagan (who's teaching the course) is fantastic. Maybe I should be looking for an international law program somewhere. I'm so fickle. Today we talked about jus sanguinis and jus soli as bases for citizenship and discussed the differences between the laws governing nationality in Egypt, Chile, Argentina, China, the UK, and the US. Eventually we'll be developing our own migration codes in small groups. I'm really stoked by the prospect. Tomorrow is my dreaded first trek out to the desert campus for my psychosocial class. I'll try and be optimistic tomorrow when I get on the bus for the hour-long bus ride, but no promises.
I've also been in contact with an author who was a former Rotary ambassadorial scholar to London in the late 1980s. He's coming out with a memoir that promises to be excellent and will discuss in part his Rotary experience. Check out his bio at the Huffington Post website.

News:
Nazi war criminal eluded capture, allegedly died in Cairo in 1992
Paper suggests lack of professionalism as much as problem as suppression in Egyptian media
Short films capture cultural currents in Cairo

Banking and Bus Tickets

This morning (yes, I woke up before noon) I got up, ready, and dressed, had my regular muesli with coconut yogurt and headed out into the sunshine. Though it's a bit chilly in my apartment at night, that sunshine gave me flashbacks of August and September and I decided to be thankful for the chill. Anyway, I went to the bank to deposit my rent which was really an amusing process. In theory, one takes a number and one waits his or her turn for that number to flash up on a screen at which point one proceeds to the next available teller. In practice, one out of every two people who comes in brush off the man who prints out the numbers, dash up to the counter, and make some excuse as to why what they need to get accomplished is vastly more important than what the other fifteen people waiting to be served need to get done. I had my iPod in and a grinning security guard who was tickled that I was American to keep me occupied and so I made it through the somewhat lengthy wait with a minimum of impatience.
More patience was required for my bus ticket-acquiring excursion to the main downtown campus. I had first to go to the bank there and wait in line (no numbers this time, but still people trying to jump the queue) to pay for a couple of bus tickets. Then, I took my receipt to the top floor of the administrative building which is reachable most conveniently by fire escape. Despite arriving well within the office hours, I found the door to the transport office locked and thus wandered down another corridor until I found someone who took me back to the office as though I were lost. I told her it was locked and so she asked an attendant who'd appeared out of thin air where the man responsible for bus tickets was. Praying, of course. Now, having lived here for some months, I know about how long the prayer should take and, forgive me for speculating, but I think he must've taken a prayer-cum-coffee break. My iPod and this past week's This American Life kept me entertained as I sat in the sunshine again, contemplating the impending insufferable heat. Finally the gentleman arrived, I handed him my receipt and he handed me a couple of bus tickets. Simple enough, I guess. Next, I picked up fourteen postcards after having told as many (or more) people I'd send them one and then continued on to the copy shop to get yet more cumbersome class readings that I plan to tackle soon.
I forgot to mention that the floor cleaning man came a-ringing the other day. I've chronicled his obnoxious doorbell habits before, but since I'm still in my zen-I-was-just-in-Europe-and-loved-it mode, I showered ignoring a good five to ten minutes of sporadic ringing, got dressed, and gingerly made my way to the door where I met the man who wipes down the stairs with dirty rags and demands money for it. We'd been gone (he wanted to know where) and he was thus asking for more money than usual. Fine, fine. I gave it to him, but, you give an inch, he takes a mile. He then asked me something in Arabic and I got two words out of it–maya (water) and hammam (bathroom). Thinking he wanted to fill up his bucket with water from the bathroom, I let him in. I was only partially right. First, he dumped the entire bucket of oily black water (I think it was water) into our toilet, splashing the grit and grime all over everything. Thanks! Then he put the self-same bucket into our bathroom sink (the one I just raved about making sparkle and shine) and fill it up with the faucet whose water I brush my teeth with. Thanks, buddy. Ma3lesh.
I find myself feeling more confident in my (still quite limited Arabic). I regularly tell people "ma3salaama" (goodbye) instead of waving awkwardly and sometimes make the effort to say "assalamo alaykum", the formal greeting meaning "peace be upon you", when I enter a shop, but I don't feel like very many Egyptians actually say it very often. Speaking of Arabic, I'll know next month whether I've been accepted to the State Department's critical languages program for Arabic. Keep your fingers crossed!

News:
Israel warns of retaliatory action against Hamas in wake of missile strike
Egypt to close the Rafah crossing on 5 February
Arab youths seeking employment hit hard by financial crisis

Throwing kittens

To my devoted readership (assuming that you do exist), sorry not to have written last night. While I ran a number of very productive little errands, I didn't have any moving cultural notes or insights to include. I did, however, see a young Egyptian boy wielding a stick and simultaneously grabbing a cat by the nape of its neck and then throwing it several times. Where's PETA now, I wonder?
February, which began almost unnoticed yesterday, is a month of new things--getting used to life in Cairo all over again, new classes, bracing for new manmade challenges concocted by AUC, etc. I'm also teaching in a new school that was opened by the same program through whom I taught before. I would've preferred to stay with my former class, but my courses at the university conflict. I start back to teaching on the 17th, so stay tuned for those updates. There are also new opportunities--new people to meet and new possibilities for volunteering.
Overall the pollution, increased challenges in eating and sleeping healthily, and my displeasure with AUC have sapped a lot of my energy, but I'm still doing well. I've got the rest of my course readings for Comparative Migration Law and will pick up those for Methods tomorrow. Like the class in general, picking up my readings for Psychosocial Issues in Refugee Studies promises to be a pain. I may even be expected to take an hour-long busride to the desert campus place an order and turn right back around spend another hour to return downtown. Realistic, I'm sure. The university hasn't even explained how to obtain bus passes this semester. Ma3lesh, just have to keep on keeping on!
Koshary at Koshary Tahrir with friend and classmate Erin was good--man, that stuff is just so addictive! I wonder what they put in it. On second thought, judging from the methods they employed for cleaning their dishes, I don't want to know what they do with anything there. Ignorance is bliss...and maybe a parasite.

News:
Egyptian gas to flow to Israel
Egypt overturns journalists' prison sentences
Food prices down slightly in Egypt