an honest go at getting this blog together

OCT 3
Alright, over a month into my work term here, and I am finally ready to blog. This entry includes September, so scroll on down and read as though I had actually been posting for the last month.
Yesterday morning was spent in an interview at the American Embassy. The meeting was rather depressing as all of the reasons why Egypt ranks 160 of 165 countries for foriegn investment was clearly spelled out. Number One reason no one wants to invest: bureaucracy. The next part of my day took me to the Mogamma, a lumbering building that holds several government ministries. This place invented bureaucracy. I didn't heed anyone's advice of going accompanied by a fluent Arabic speaker. It's as bad as they say, and I only made it to the first floor (apparently it gets worse the higher up you go). People in this building look like ants. We look desperate and disorganized. Imagine row upon row of windows with tiny circular holes for communication. The winows are 'numbered' although there is more than one number 1 in the same hall (who thought that was a good idea?). I did a lot of window-to-window walking and waiting. I paid 61 pounds for a one year work permit before being told by another window that I don't need any work permits because "this is your country. Welcome." After haggling with a number of people, I should have left the building running, but instead decided to take on an experiement: an effort to recover my 61 pounds (approx 11 dollars). I headed back the window where I paid my money to recieve six stamps and smiled demurely at a woman who must have been the oldest scab in the joint. I asked for my money. She refused. I asked again. She again refused. It went on this way in broken arabic for some time. Sometimes I put a trill in my voice. At moments I was genuinely trying to get the money back, but at others, I could recognize the ridiculousness of the woman on the other side of the glass soaking off the stamps to return them to her pile for resale. In the end, I was flush. And then I left. Now I have the joys of straightening out a national id card and passport to look forward to.
To chill out a group of Canadian interns went out for a decadent traditional dinner at a beautiul din I'll be sure to bring Cairo guests to. Plush sofas and brass and heavy wood tables- it's the quintessential Egyptian space to curl into a bowl of molokheya (and rabbit).
Today I had meetings in different parts of town and can now officially say that I know how to get around this city, even when looking for streets so small they're not on the map (and the taxi driver and dozens of other pedestrians don't know of its existence, and so try to convince me that it doesn't exist). Something I've noticed is that people's knowledge of the city isn't great. They know how to get from work to home and perhaps a few other spots. Many people don't know the name of the street they are on. I actually discussed this with the Wizard of Oz and she explained that maps are a foreign idea in Egyptian culture and that when she went to England for her education, she found it difficult to think in terms of maps. I'm wondering if the map is a colonial idea. Anyways, the point is that I now know how to itch my way in the right direction and get enough help from people on the street.
And today was my first amaya class. Amaya is the Arabic spoken language. I'm taking spoken language for the first few months at least. I will continue until I'm fluent and then will consider fawsha, the formal written language, later. I have a private teacher in Garden City who is a jolly albino and seems pleased with my handling of vowels so far (vowels will perhaps be the end of me by the time I combine the a -y- h sound).
We're at a cafe on our street now for free net access since our connection at home was timing out. AUC students are everywhere. It's true, they're a breed of their own. Very sheeshee, rather big hair (touche), and tight clothes that's more American than American. With people becoming more conservative here, they stick out even more. Zamalek is a different world.



SEPT 25
So yesterday was my first day of Ramadan in Egypt and it proved to be the most challenging yet. It was probably because I was hungry and a little on the cranky side, but I was finding questions about my fasting and prayers to be irritating. The worst part came at the end of the day when Hadeel came home and said she was on the road just before iftar and roads were empty, so people were speeding, doing 140 easily. She narrowly missed a dead body on the highway. It was a girl who had been hit while trying to cross the busy street. There was one police officer and no car, so we think it was probably a hit and run. Her brother in law who she was in the car with said this happens in ramadan, but when I mentioned this at work today they told me it isn't common. I don't know if they were acting as Egyptian PR, but either way, I am seriously disturbed and upset by this.
But it's not all sadness in this message. I went to a nice taraweh prayer. Hadeel and I have plans to mosque hop throughout Ramadan and discover new spaces. As women, some of our options are beyond weak. We entered a beautiful mosque in Zamalek at the end of our street. I thought the man was kidding when he took us to the area for women. He pulled back a curtain revealing a space that could have easily been set aside for storage. Again, when I commented on this at work, they told me it is because they know people in Zamalek don't pray!
Last thing for today: I've had more electrical current run through my body in the past week than I have in my entire life. Our fridge occassionally sends out shocks, and last week the water in the shower was charged. While the water system has been fixed, the fridge is still dicey. (We've tied a towel to it and always wear shibshib so that we are grounded. I can't believe this is what we are resorting to). We have told our landlord, and he has made promises, with such a smile, it's difficult to accept that he will of course not get to it for anoher few weeks. Let's see what Ramadan brings.



SEPT18
We're starting to go out and find some spots. We've found a couple of nice places to eat in Zamalek. Last night we had appetizers on the Nile at a posh place called Seqioa, and after a few hours of eating, paid our $10 bill. We also discovered Fishawi's in Khan el-Khalil, where Mahfouz used to go to write. It was over the top in its oriental decadence with finely carved woods and chandeliers. There were lots of tourists, but it still had a feel. A colleague from work took us with a few of his friends, so we were a big crew taking in Islamic Cairo. We prayed at the Hussein, which still, after eleven years from my first visit, I have to say is an odd place. I'm looking forward to visiting Al-Azhar on my next visit to that end of town.

Justin, the specialist from Geneva, is in town for a one week Cairo mission. That means that this week is full of meetings wit different stakeholders on the plan. I have been at the ILO a lot this week and met with the director there, who is a warm and bubbly Italian lady with a go gettem personality. Today I met the contact at UNICEF who was incredible in he unerstanding of how young people think here in Egypt. I'm learning so much, but in these early stages find it difficult to offer truly insightful observations because I'm just trying to understand the situation, especially that of the disfunctional youth consultative group. Tomorrow is a big meeting with many people at the table in a status report.
I'm lucky for Justin's mission so early in my stay here. He has shared a lot of knowedge with me, about Egypt, and pretty much the world. He is able to wax eloquent on any country and he does it with such excitement and interest. It's a great intro to the UN system and international ngo life in general.




SEPT 13
Within my first two weeks in Egypt, I attended a wedding and a funeral. Well, an azza to be precise, which is actually different from a funeral, since there is no body present at the mosque. It was the azza of a very distant cousin who I never met, but since I had just dined with a close relative of the the deceased a few days earlier I decided to attend the service. In terms of a "cultural experience," it was surpringly informal. While there was the black clothing, people were chatting through the Quran recitation, catching up on old news.
I am now in my new apartment in Zamalek. I take a new bus to work now which takes less time than my bus from Ma'adi. In the morning it picks me up on a very busy street where my lungs take a beating from all of the exhaust. It's incredible for people watching because it is a major throroughfare in Agouza (just across Nile from Zamalek to the east) and hundreds of people use the same stop as me to hop on their microbus/city bus/ moving vehicle. Most of the buses only slow down to allow the jump ons and offs. My driver was kind to agree to do the pick up for me here, since I'm the only one who gets on at that stop from my work. And he nearly came to a complete stop this morning. I'm the last one on and the first one off, which rounds to about a 20-30 min bus ride. The best part is the route. We take a bridge that spans the width of Cairo. People had told me about it and boasted of it as the longest bridge in the Middle East. Honestly, internally I scoffed at this and preferred another adjective, such as 'the most rigorously inspected' bridge. I also thought the qualifier of 'Middle East' would humble the bridge, but I was very very wrong. It is a civil engineer's dream. The bridge literally winds about the city for kilometers. Think QEWx100. It takes us all the way from the Giza side of Cairo straight into Medinat Nasre! As for the view, you can see how the city has been cobbled together between apartment buildings, mosques, the rare piece of garden, and advertisements.
Work continues to be the place where I learn the most Arabic. Again, the ministry people are incomprehensibly kind. Chocolates and candies are stuffed in my hand, Arabic lessons tossed out at leisure. The work itself is getting meatier, as I have figured out a subproject where I can really contribute and this is where I will be focusing my energy.
(DELIGHT: the office boy- how terrible, I should learn his name- accidentally put sugar in my tea and I just tasted it and now understand why people think this is a good idea. I'm slightly suspicious of the cleanliness of this cup, but am otherwise enjoying it).



SEPT 1
In short, everything is going well. I have shed my moody and timid Egypt personality for my much more attractive exchange student attitude of being open, eager and ready to make a fool of myself with my Arabic. Words are coming out of my mouth that I never even knew were there. Surely the verbs are for the wrong time AND gender, but by golly, THEY'RE THERE (a few, at least). The family is so happy to see me throwing caution (and my ego) to the wind to hazard this Arabic tongue.
The ministry is not as 'primitive' as Geneva warned. Sure, there's no internet, and sure it's because the ministry forgot to pay the bill, but there are offices, desks and even (in select offices) computers. People are unimaginably warm and welcoming, even though I am not the expert they thought they were getting and even though my Arabic is as it is (they thought they were getting someone fluent!). Despite these, shall we say "differences," they are still eager to take me on and are actually looking to me for leadership on the project. I continue to get updates from Geneva and am slowly feeling out what's going on here.
The ministry building is big and Mubarak's big shiney face greets me in the morning as I enter. This civil servant thing is pretty great. Fabulous hours and a lot of time spent drinking tea and catching up on each others' news.
I have already started to talk with an accent and skewed grammar in English. It's so embarassing- I'll have to be careful.
My vocabulary includes chit chat about health, weather, food and travel and a few technical words for work regarding employment, project planning and government structures. I can now say 'her excellency' in Arabic! (but haven't yet met the big cheese herself (speaking of which, I saw a lady sellig cheese in the market today and may be too afraid to hazard the dairy world here after this experience. I also encountered a man slaughtering chickens and decided to stop my stroll through the market. Visions of Avian Flu headlines scrolled through my head).
Tomorrow I have a meeting with a think tank that is synthesizing the research the ministry is supposedly coming up with. I already met the senior researcher on my first day and she seems sharp (almost too sharp that I didn't feel the group received her well). The think tank and ngos are a very different set of people from the ministry. It looks like I will get the chance to meet with lots of different stakeholders which ought to introduce me to lots of different types.