My First Week

It’s amazing to think I have already been here for more than a week.  Sadly, I haven’t done much, but I’d like to share what I have done in the time I have been here.  I’ve been sick for a while now so I haven’t felt compelled to explore much.  The first night I was here I almost immediately went to bed.  The second day I went to Rehab City (pronounced reh-hab), a part of downtown.  I quickly learned it was an expensive area after quickly spending 100 LE on relatively few items.  I was with four other girls, two of which had spent the previous year studying at AUC.  Our first mode of business was finding something to eat.  The two girls took the newbies to a place that had “the best pancakes in the world.”  It was a cute international restaurant down a dirty, smelly street.  The restaurant and street did not seem to belong together.  An “international” restaurant in Egypt is almost synonymous with “American food.”  I cringed a little thinking my first meal in Egypt was going to be the same thing I’ve eaten all my life.  However, I found “Egyptian Breakfast” was on the menu, so I ordered that.  Falafel, tahini, hummus, salad, a hard boiled egg, and a bowl of cooked beans.  The food was sooo delicious!

After we finished eating we walked to a mall nearby.  Almost everything was closed since everyone was preparing for Iftar—the time Muslims break fast during Ramadan.  We wandered the mall for what seemed like forever before we finally left to find cell phones.  The cell phone store was also closed because it was now Iftar.  The newbies were planning to go on the “Nile Cruise” the Residential Life Office had advertised.  So we caught a taxi and returned to the campus just in time.  We had some time to get ready before it was time to meet with RL.  The RL did not anticipate such a large crowd so they had to order another bus.  We waited for an extra half hour or so before we were all ready to go.  I was in the first van to leave and consequently on the first cruise.  I had bought a large 1.5 liter bottle of water before we left and downed half of it before I realized it was gone.  We took about an hour to travel to the Nile, traffic of course is insane.

A side note about traffic:  Before coming to Egypt a number of people warned me about the traffic.  Never cross the street alone, they warned.  They’re so right!  There are traffic laws, the locals say, but no one pays attention to them.  People will even go the wrong way on a road!  Two lane highways will turn into five or six lane highways.  Horns here are not used to yell “up yours!” like they do in America.  Instead they are used to say, “Hey, I’m here, look out, etc”  as well as “up yours.”  in Egypt, there seems to be more politeness with the horn use than in America even though the horn is used much more.  One can see such sights as three or four people piled on a motorcycle, one of which would be a pregnant woman holding her toddler.  I saw a small girl darting in and out of the lanes of traffic at night trying to sell flowers to tourists.  Children hang out of car windows and pickup trucks are full of people.  The scariest thing I saw was the backend of a car had been completely smashed almost to the front seat of the car.  If anyone had been sitting in the back, they surely would have been seriously injured or killed.  The driver was still sitting in the car when we passed, but the person who rear-ended him seemed to have disappeared.

We arrived at the Nile and began our lovely cruise.  We were served sticky Baklava—a Middle Eastern sweet (pastry) as the breeze cooled us after a long, hot day.  I was content to sit silently and look at all the beautiful lights of the city lining the river.  I looked up at the moon and the bright planet next to it.  It took a few moments before I realized the stars were missing in the sky.  There is so much pollution and dust from Cairo that it blocks out the night sky!  This is the first time I will look into the night sky and not see a star. 

When we returned to campus I took off for the bathroom.  Remember I have about a liter of water in my system!  I was exhausted and practically fell in bed.

Orientation began and I ran around checking things off the to do list.  The most important part was getting my AUC ID.  The line was horribly long.  We were given numbers and waited about an hour or two until ours was called.  It seems it is impossible for me to have a decent picture on an identification.  The man told me to smile, but I found it was physically impossible for me to do so.  I was feeling so miserable by the time I got my ID.

I went to a few worthless, time-wasting orientation events.  I thought the information would be useful, but they only told me things I already knew or it was a bunch of baloney buttered up to look like something wonderful.  One event was “MANDATORY” on the schedule, so I went thinking they might scan our IDs.  Of course they didn’t and I wasted an hour of my time listening to people give a lengthy welcome.  It’s amazing how you can turn “welcome to AUC” into an hour-long speech!

The rest of the week was spent going to my Survival Arabic class.  We learned a lot of vocabulary and a bit of cultural awareness.  We learned words for food, money, time, direction, etc.  Basically, the words one would need to get around Egypt with minimum vocabulary.  I will be taking Modern Standard Arabic during the semester and will learn different words for the words I have just learned.  I’m excited to take my new vocabulary to the market and try to barter!  Wish me luck!