Mittwoch, 28. September 2011

National Pride and Identity I: Being German Outside of Europe

Though I never had major problems with my German identity – and my sense of patriotism is frowned upon by many Germans – I am somewhat astounded at the unanimous and outstandingly positive feedback (and I don’t think it is based mainly on people’s politeness) I get about my country. Come to think of it, that is probably due to the fact that I’ve mostly travelled to Eastern European countries and visited our direct neighbors – geographical closeness and the not only positive history of intra-European relations, especially concerning Germany, make for a perhaps more differentiated and definitely less enthusiastic view of Germany. But facts pointed out to me in combination with my own physical distance do show me some things I have taken for granted, and maybe many Germans do. Being a free time historian born in the Federal Republic of Germany with relatives in the GDR and studying in the former GDR, I’ve never taken freedom for granted. But while probably most people around the world complain about some aspects of their home economy, government, ineffective infrastructure, bureaucracy and the like, some remarks make me think again. I am told that UK media hails the German system and economic policy as a prime example of a balanced economy including a considerable production sector and of good governance during the current crisis. Egyptians and Americans point out how beautifully clean Germany is. And while I don’t remember any whole hearted and generally shared expression of pride of German achievements in Germany (apart from soccer maybe, single strong-hold of post-war positive self image) I constantly get complimented on my country and its contributions to progress, especially when mentioning my brother’s or my subject of studies: Of course, German engineering is top of the world, you guys are really unbeaten in medical appliances, of course, you know. Medicine wouldn’t be the same without Germany! And you really got the best orthopedic surgeons in the world and generally surgery is top in Germany. Especially for Egyptians it seems very strange that awareness of the country’s strengths and contributions is not generally facilitated in Germany.

A new Egyptian friend puts it this way: ‘I’ve always been somehow proud to be Egyptian, I mean, we got a great cultural heritage and so on, but still I found it hard until the revolution. But anyway, everyone should be proud of their country, no matter how small and meaningless it is, you will at once be more respected by others, even if they don’t think much of your country. And as a German, honestly, there is so much to be proud of, so much you contributed to the world, you got to be proud, you must not let anyone take that away from you!’

Really uncommon way of thinking for Germans, as strange as it may seem. And an unusual experience to be addressed as ‘you Germans’, and 100% positively at that.
Another example of this, though only ironically enjoyable, is the reasoning of a taxi driver – I do understand that much Arabic by now: ‘Germany, good, we love Germany! We don’t love America, because America likes Israel!’ Ah, well… Back to familiar territory, I guess, only from a very different angle…

WEEK V: Barriers

My last short stay is a return to Zamalek. Some friends have gone to the Northern Coast and are so generous to let me stay at their apartment! On the one hand, of course, I’d like to go to the seaside, too, but on the other hand, I don’t feel like doing anything much, organizing anything more, as some computers like to put it, the system is used to capacity (or so the annoying phrase on my laptop would translate). While I never understand, why this means that nothing works anymore, that is more or less the way I feel. But as I have the time to do nothing except for some chemistry, it does not feel as bad as it sounds. In the course of shopping for food or going to some café to use the internet, I take some more walks around Zamalek. I still get lost at times, but I usually stay oriented by now. And this is also true in other contexts.
After these many changes the second half and more constant part of my stay begins as I move back to Heliopolis to stay with my host family with whom I also spent my first two weeks in Egypt in 2009 and start my internship at Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital.
Specialized indicates here that patients pay, so the standard is quite high and it is not overcrowded.

No, it's not a space shuttle, it's the logo of Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital in the yard

I get a culture shock nevertheless and am surprised by that, though none of the factors were unexpected. It’s a combination of ICU patients, language barrier and, to German standards, a lack of security, the latter mainly characterized by different disinfection routines. Having to get used again to the sight of patients in critical conditions and with multiple tubes leading in and out was to be expected in any hospital, I never worked on ICU before. The language barrier is not so much of a surprise either, but I underestimated the paralyzing effect it has on me during the first days. I work mainly with the nurses and even though I mainly assist some who speak more than five sentences of English, the very limited communication feels suffocating until I get used to it and they to me – and I also learn at least some more Arabic.
Otherwise I get the impression that there are relatively more people working here than in a German hospital, and that there is constant communication going on between them. But that, of course, may also just be the impression of the literal outsider. I don’t have a language barrier with the doctors as medicine is taught in English here. Egyptians start college at 16 or 17, so I meet many doctors of my age who started working two years ago. Like everyone else they are extremely helpful and always ready to explain things to me and I am happy to meet some new friends!

Europeans on the Block

The week is not over before I move again, this time to Mohandeseen, there is a free room in the flat two of my class mates spent August in and it’s cheaper than the guest house. Apart from the close to non equipped kitchen (there is a stove and a sink, but no real pan and hardly any knives, just to mention some points) the apartment is perfectly fine and very Egyptian. One point about Egyptian apartments a European needs some explanation for is the presence of what looks like two living rooms, often within the same large room. If you take a closer look (and sometimes you see it dazzling from far away) you will find one of the sets to be much more luxurious with golden decorations or embroidery or larger armchairs, this is the reception used to formally welcome guests.


The other set with the more modest chairs and sofa is the one used in everyday life by the family. In this apartment regularly rented out to Western language students the both sets don’t differ much in standard, but while one is centered on the TV, the other is mainly surrounded by an array of quite large pieces of purely decorative purpose, most prominently an angel in a golden dress with silver wings. Including the base she is about 1.4 meters high and carries a lantern on her shoulders… I have the TV running quite a lot following the events in Libya on BBC. And here I also sometimes use the air-conditioning, in spite of the debilitating noise. It is very hot these days, so we keep the doors to the balcony shut while outside the blazing air and the prayer calls are wavering in seemingly the same rhythm, completely covering the neighborhood in a thick, yet transparent blanket.

Noon - not the time to be outside

It is a nice change to live in an ordinary flat in an ordinary house in a small side street, with a large tree in front of it, its whole top full of birds I never see, incessantly singing in a light tone. As far as I can see we are the only foreigners in the neighborhood, and I find it makes shopping in the small supermarkets next door more relaxed than in Zamalek, where a large percentage of customers are international. Our Arabic and the shop owners’ English are on about the same low level, but shopping for food was one of the first topics covered in the language course, so we’re doing fine. The course, unfortunately, is already over. This however gives us some completely free days. I use them for a mix of studying chemistry (no comment, but I have a retake exam five days after returning to Germany) and digesting this first month. Some evenings we just spent on our own balcony, while those of our neighbors are always empty, and I enjoy living close to the city center and thus being able to meet people for a quick coffee or to spontaneously go out in the evening without having to worry about how and when to get home. One night I accompany Jonny to meet some of his British friends in a roof top café in Doqqi, the busy quarter south of Mohandeseen. The Syrian embassy is right next to it, guarded by several soldiers and armed vehicles, keeping off some fifty protesters shouting against Asad’s regime. In the backyard of the embassy a concert is taking place, strange contrast. After a while we only hear the singer, the protesters left. Six stories above a large group of English as a foreign language teachers smoke shisha and drink beer. I can’t really tell which of the elements in this picture is the oddest to me…


Cairo at night and from a roof is great to look at, as it is similar and different in all directions, I really feel in the middle of this warm, sparkling organism, but the noise of the busy streets is pleasantly kept at a distance. I stand in a quiet corner of the roof top, some clean and tidy space all to myself and yet I can feel the buzzing life of the metropolis at a comfortable intensity.

Donnerstag, 22. September 2011

WEEK IV: Inside Guest House, Too Hot Outside

The fourth week marks the beginning of my time between host families, the first stop being the guest house of All Saints’ Cathedral in Zamalek. Although it is a bit beyond students’ budget, I enjoy this unplanned stay very much, where else would I meet Americans helping to build a new community in South Sudan, a Californian professor emeritus of anthropology who originally is a refugee from Eritrea, by coincidence an anthropologist from Kenya whose father used to work with that very professor and many more people of very different courses of life all brought together in Cairo as the crossroads between Africa, the Middle East, the rest of the world. Sharing stories about our recent experiences, our different or similar views of Egypt and getting first hand information about things we always wanted to know (or did not know we might want to know) about each other’s native countries makes for animated conversations over meals or in the sitting room. One of the highlights for me was learning something about Eastern African thinking about psychiatry, medicine, how good and bad witchcraft runs in families and how these different systems are integrated today – or not.

This week is also the beginning of a heat spell, one just has to accept to come home soaked. Or look for an air conditioned taxi, but I prefer walking, now living 40 minutes by foot from the language school. By trying different ways every day I get to know more of Mohandeseen. This part of town at the western bank of the Nile is really much more diverse than I thought from the quite limited insight gained from walking the streets between the language school and Doqi, the next quarter, where my bus stops. Trying what looks like the shortest way to Zamalek on the map, I discover some beautiful little shops not at all far from the language school – but on the other side of one of the major streets in some small streets all protected from the blazing sun by trees I still do not know the names of. Some of them top their flat dark green crowns with thick tussocks apartment houses with the occasional modern café or some embassy in between to simpler houses and all of a sudden I feel like I entered a village. In the sandy streets I can hardly differentiate between workshops, extended kitchens and public space – if there is any, that is. People don’t exactly look very welcoming and I have the unpleasant feeling of uninvited and unintended having entered someone’s living room. So I take the fastest way possible between cars, chicken and bales of straw to get back to the roaring main street with its office buildings, large shops and hotels which is just around the corner. No shade here, however, but having chosen to walk instead of taking a taxi which would at least get me to my air-conditioned room much faster, I get used to ignore it. After crossing another huge street I reach the bridge across the western arm of the Nile and stop for a while to watch the rowers in their sleek racing boats, accompanied by a coach in a plump little motor boat. The backdrop, of course, is magnificent and maybe it is a bit cooler on the water, but I do not feel much like exercise right now. Turning my back to eight lanes of cars and motorcycles honking and speeding towards or our of Zamalek or the flyover, I enjoy the peace the glittering water and the trees along the corniche still have to offer, with another bridge, the broader river and more skyscrapers and streets in the distance being far enough not to add any noise from this side.

View south from the bridge, Zamalek to the left

On some days I still have some energy left to explore the part of Zamalek west of 26th of July. There are not many shops here, mainly apartment houses, banks, and large embassies. Most of them occupy villas as in the other half of Zamalek, here they tend to be a bit bigger. Two more facts are remarkable about the Dutch embassy: One part of the massive, yet transparent steel fence is decorated with delftware and they have a plastic cow standing in the front garden… The guards don’t really look encouraging, so I don’t take a photo. Not far from there I also find the German embassy, not in a villa, very large (one of the largest German embassies in the world as I am told by someone in church who just started working there), but not exactly nice to look at although it does seem to have a nice garden behind the high fence. Across the street there is some kind of park, the skewed letters on the gate mention fish and a grotto, unfortunately it is closed. Some of the bollards at the street side of the German compound are decorated with revolution paintings – but here it’s the peaceful revolution that eventually caused the end of the GDR. They were obviously painted to mark the 20th anniversary of the reunification only a few months before Egypt experienced its own people’s revolution – sadly not always peaceful.
On other days I just head home straight down 26th of July, catching a glimpse on a small gathering of people waving flags of the free Libya outside the Libyan embassy down one of the side streets. World politics in the streets everywhere. The flags just appeared as a bestseller in the product range of the men selling flags on the green patches in the middle of main streets and roundabouts. Obviously made in a hurry, sometimes the white print of star and crescent is a bit smudged, but they outnumber Egypt, other Arab countries, Al Ahly (one of the most popular Cairo soccer clubs) and Bayern Munich all taken together.
After having passed soldiers on tanks in Tahrir square on my ride to school on a daily basis for nearly three weeks (and a machine gun some three meters away from my head did not exactly give me a nice feeling), it seems just natural in a way to stumble across some minor unrest every now and then.

Ramadan

Eating and not eating are, of course, the aspects of Ramadan most obvious to the non-Muslim. Apart from changed service hours in many (but not all) cafés and restaurants, decorations of streets, shops and houses mark the holy month. In this sense it’s quite similar to Christmas time in Germany, complete with special TV shows that return every year in the same or similar manner, and it’s high season for everyone involved in charity and raising money to help the poor or other worthwhile causes. More than once I meet a group of students not far from our house trying to get people to donate by holding up posters at the road side or even on the road. The bus drivers, however, are not very happy about this.

Mosque in Zamalek

Decorations are both colorful and glittery with the fanouz, a traditional lantern, being a good mix of both, they are made from golden metal frames holding colorful glass plates with pictures of the Ka’aba in Mecca, calligraphies of the creed, crescents and the like. As darkness falls early, they shine brightly at the time when people are allowed to eat. Especially impressive are the shops selling them with their whole front yard shining in the glow of lanterns ranging from hand size to shoulder height. Other shops use both fanouzs and draperies of colorful traditional patterns on their front walls, in the windows, wrapped around trees in front of the shops, in every possible corner. On top of all this glittering garlands and strings of flags and tiny lights are put up on some mosques and in many narrow streets. As the feast at the end of the holy month approaches mosques also start to further extend the temporary terraces with more fences hung with the same traditional draperies.



Urging people to buy sweets and gifts, many shops also extend their capacities to the sidewalk or open spaces between houses and large companies, of course, issue everyday food in seasonal packaging. I keep some of them as gratis souvenirs and I very much enjoy kahk, the rich seasonal biscuits, some with almonds or nuts, some filled with dates.


Living in a Christian family and in the last days of Ramadan with some class mates from my language school I am somewhat distant from the central meaning of this month, but it still influences my daily rhythm to some extent. In general I feel traffic is a bit lower than usual, probably a combination of summer holidays, heat and Ramadan. Shortly before Iftar, however, streets get really crowded as everyone is doing some last minute shopping and hurrying home or to wherever the day’s fast will be broken. Then all of a sudden streets get deserted as darkness falls.
Once I am in a taxi at that very time and see how the community cares for those who have to work during this hour: A young man is handing out dates, the traditional first bite, to drivers passing by. All the good host, the taxi driver repeatedly insists on passing his date on to me, I don’t feel it would be appropriate to decline it in the end…
The time of the feast is very quiet indeed, as many people choose to spend the holidays outside of town, if they can afford it. The club in the neighborhood I live in these days, however is overcrowded with children playing, eating sweets and riding ponies. In Zamalek, to where I return on the second day of the feast, I don’t feel much difference in the evenings, but it is very quiet during the day. Maybe I now have some idea how Muslims feel in Germany in December…

Samstag, 17. September 2011

FOOD

I’ve been asked about Egyptian food a lot, so let me try to give you some taste of it:
Tasty food, eating, sharing meals and giving food to others all are of major importance in Egypt. The average (Western) European has to get used to quite large parts of oil and meat in the diet and to large amounts of generally everything. And it is very hard to refuse, so be prepared to eat a lot especially when visiting someone!
Continental Europeans will also notice a big difference in breakfast as ful, one of the most typical Egyptian dishes is often served in the mornings. It is best described as a stew of brown beans that re soaked for some hours and then kept simmering overnight with tomatoes, garlic and spices. It is usually served with or inside bread which is round, quite flat, about 20 cm in diameter and comes in a double layer so it can be filled. Most popular fillings apart from ful are Tameya, chicken, salad made from tomatoes, cucumber, green onions and cilantro or a mix of cottage cheese and tomatoes.

Staying with a Christian family during one of their vegan fasting periods I learn not only how to make ful, but also gain some experience in making pickels, mainly of eggplants and peppers that are fried and then stuffed with a very spicy mix of tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, salt and cumin. Eggplants, bell peppers and vine leaves are also often stuffed with rice cooked with tomatoes, herbs and spices.
Another national Egyptian dish is also said to originate from Coptic fasting criteria. Koshari is a mix of noodles, rice, lentils, fried onions and hot red sauce. While vegetarianism is not at all common in Egypt vegetarians can definitely survive, especially among Orthodox Christians who eat vegan for one third of the year anyway.

 
Ful pot, fried potatoes, baked vegetables, rice

Some other specials not to be missed when visiting Egypt, in my opinion is Feteer, a kind of flaky pastry containing a lot of butter and served with various salty or sweet fillings. Water melons, several kinds of mango and dates, grapes, bananas, guavas, figs and teen shoki (‘figs with horns’, a fruit from the desert) are sold on every other street corner and after washing or peeling them I never had any bad experience with these very sweet fruits. You also get most of them as juices in the supermarkets or at juice bars along with sugar cane and pomegranate juice, definitely a worth a try!

Egyptians also have a weakness for sweets and sweet drinks, most prominently black tea with fresh mint and quite a lot of sugar. Apart from dates in different shapes and preparations and Arabic and Turkish pastries that are very delicious and really very sweet, cupcakes (I like these) have found their way to Egypt, especially for Ramadan being customized with traditional local toppings and an American company specializing in cinnamon buns meets the local taste. Yesterday Ahmed invited me to a place that as its specialty serves fresh waffles with the chocolate bar of your choice spread on it! Ingenious! Sugar shock and tryptophane boost guaranteed =), decide for yourself if this is Egyptian or I just didn’t run across it anywhere else.

WEEK II and III: Being There


 – I’ve been kept from writing for a while, but I hope to complete an overview of my stay so far this week. –

I got used to the heat (and to wearing long sleeves or at least nothing sleeveless) and the traffic and the new surroundings quite fast, even to not eating or drinking in public, as Ramadan started shortly after my arrival and breaking the fast before sunset is not appreciated.
The structure given to my days and weeks by six hours/day, four days/week of Arabic lessons surely helped that a lot. In my beginners’ courses in Kalimat (Arabic for ‘words’) we are only three to four students, so the lessons are quite intense. Having studied some Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in Germany a few years ago, however, gave me a little head start and less exhaustion.
One thing I obviously cannot get used to is the southern phenomenon of sudden fall of darkness, a daily source of amazement to me. I make a note to check if the slow dusk will nevertheless surprise me when I am back in Germany.
And in the middle of settled in everyday business and an accepted level of feeling foreign it sometimes hits me quite unexpectedly on my way home from school as the bus crosses the Nile and the Gezira (Arabic for island, in this case THE island in the center of Cairo on which you find Zamalek, a major sporting club, Cairo Tower, the Opera, a metro station, some hotels and banks etc.) on one of the city highways: ‘You’re crossing the longest river in the world just like going to school! You’re actually staying in the freaking biggest city of the whole of Africa!!’

View north from the Marriot hotel in Zamalek: Cairo Tower, Opera House, Gezira Club

My evenings in this first period of my stay I either spend with my host mother and her friends in the club (though not in the corner with a public viewing of the day’s progress of the Mubarak trials), in my host father’s flower shop close to the church they attend or on the balcony, enjoying temperatures below 35 degrees and the possibility to wear sleeveless tops.  Quite often I also help my host mother in the kitchen thus learning how to prepare some Egyptian dishes.

A disruption in my daily routine is caused by another laryngitis (I blame the air conditioning in combination with demanding pronunciation exercises). Having experienced this before I more or less manage to keep my mouth shut for some days, not ideal during a language course, but it even starts to get better before I go to see a doctor who prescribes the expected antibiotics. Not being privately insured in Germany I find myself to expect a conditional connection between receiving medical aid and proving my identity – it does not, of course, work this way in the private practice not far from the language school. As long as I pay the fee I may be anyone, quite a new experience.

Languages
Some quick information about the languages, as there is not just one form of Arabic to study. I take Fus’ha or MSA for three hours in the morning, this is the language used in writing and official contexts. In the afternoon we study Ameya, the Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) which is used in everyday life and acquired a written form mainly in times of facebook, instant messengers and the like. The good thing is, ECA is much less complicated than MSA and it is understood all over the Arab world due to movies and TV shows produced in Egypt (Egyptians, on the other hand, can hardly understand e.g. Moroccans). The bad thing, at least for me, you cannot practice the spoken language by reading, something that greatly helped me both in learning English and Latvian. Apart from that the learner’s life is complicated by the fact that only text books for young children print the little signs indicating short – in regular print you have to more or less know the words you are reading before you can read them, quite a different story from learning European languages written in Latin or Cyrillic script. I measure my reading abilities by the number of words running across the news bar on TV I can read (without understanding) before they vanish from the screen. After seven weeks in Egypt I now reached a number of two to three, more if I recognize ubiquitous expressions like ‘Israeli embassy’ or ‘Israeli ambassador’. My understanding of spoken language miraculously grows little by little, I can more or less grasp the key points in simple everyday conversations I overhear in the hospital, on the bus or at home, speaking remains the hardest part.

School
All levels of Arabic as a foreign language are taught at Kalimat by an experienced team of teachers. I like the combination of my Fus’ha teacher who is enthusiastic about her language and its grammar, something I have no difficulties relating to, and a more practical approach in Ameya. The students are a mix of diplomats, students of political science, Islamic or religious studies, people taking a gap year at various stages of their education and the occasional crazy scientist. Apart from a high percentage of Germans there are Americans, various Europeans and a girl from China all meeting on the balcony during most breaks. Due to the Ramadan restrictions of eating in public we usually order in traditional Egyptian fast food, mainly ful and tameya (the latter known as Falafel in Europe) – definitely better and also healthier than McDonald’s. The teachers are fasting and prefer to watch the Mubarak trial on TV in the office. Opinions among Egyptians on this matter are much more varied than the outsider might expect. In short they range from ‘they should kill him’ to ‘he is a sick man who deserves respect because of his old age and also the fact that he used to do good things for the country’ – trust in the actual success of the trials, whatever that might be, is limited.

Dienstag, 6. September 2011

Church In Egypt. Egypt In Church. In Church In Egypt.

I discover a new meaning of the phrase “Thank God, it’s Friday” when I set off to attend the Anglican service of the regular community for the first time. In the first week a class mate and I went to the Sunday service and were told that it is mainly frequented by tourists and some refugees who do not work. The service for the people with a regular working week is held on Fridays because nearly everyone is free then. The Friday community is not mainly British either. Many Americans, some Egyptians and various international expatriates complete the picture. I find the service very similar to the German Lutheran liturgy I am familiar with. The community is very open and I am happy to be welcomed in a group if younger people who for example regularly have lunch together after the service.
The current series of sermons centers on Exodus. Of course it is not possible to talk about the symbolic meaning with a side glance on history alone when the service actually takes place IN EGYPT, the same name, the same place, though none of us is imprisoned here and Egyptian authorities do not keep us from going home. I remember my visit to Amsterdam and the very informative and engaging permanent exhibition of the Jewish Museum. The room on Jewish thinking and religion invited the visitor to reflect upon some questions themselves and one of them was, “What is your Egypt?”, meaning, of course, what confines you? In my opinion the sermons I hear at All Saints’ find a good balance discussing the meaning Egypt has in the texts without ignoring that this happened to be the country we happen to live in now, but also reflecting upon the positive role Egypt plays in the New Testament, the situation of Christians in Egypt today and the crucial choices to be made right now by the whole people of Egypt.
During the three weeks with my first host family I also attended some Coptic services in the new and magnificent church of Archangel Michael.


I’ve never been to orthodox services before. Even without my host mother’s translations I’d get a vivid impression of yet another part of Christianity with many experiences very different from my background. Men and women sit in different parts of the church, most women wear head scarves, often white lace containing pictures of crosses or Jesus or the Archangel. Different clergymen (in black robes and turbans or caps and with the obligatory waving beard) and some ten to twenty men and boys from the community (dressed in white with red and gold stoles) perform different rituals. Burning incense is swirled, crosses and icons are carried around in a certain manner, hand bells accompany ling chants sung by the assembled community.
Apart from that I learn that Pope Shenouda III. of Alexandria is awarded this year’s Augsburg's Peace Prize!
Being the oldest, but in some ways marginalized religious group in Egypt I find many Christians to hold somewhat ambivalent opinions about the revolution and the period of uncertainty it caused.
The role religion plays in many Egyptians’ lives, it seems to me, does not differ very widely between Muslims and Christians. In conversations I find it deep rooted in people’s thinking and acting and it is also otherwise visible and else. Apart from the ever more prevalent veil and the huge number of both mosques and churches I see spots on men’s foreheads from praying, taxi drivers often put Quran copies in their window and some like to listen to Quran recitations while driving, people decorate their homes and shops with pictures of Jesus, saints, important clergymen and Bible verses or pictures of Mecca and Medina and Quran verses respectively.  Two years ago I found the Muslim creed sprayed onto concrete blocks at the Alexandria shore, now I see it printed on some bus doors. Less obvious are the stamp sized crosses many Christians have tattooed on their hand or forearm.

Coming from a continent that fiercely discusses how banned (which!) religion should be from the public sphere, Egypt certainly appears to be tattooed with religiosity, though what exactly is behind it remains hard to tell. Coming to terms with the diversity (may it be centuries old or a more recent development) instead of members of the powerful majority just ignoring it, on the other hand, will probably be crucial for a peaceful future both in Egypt and Europe.
The Cross-and-Crescent graffiti I see in many places in Cairo could be something I’d like to take home with me as a positive example.

New Everyday Life

Cairo Traffic
Although such a huge city is hardly captured in one word, loud is certainly one that applies at more or less all times of the day to most parts of Cairo. In the yards of many appartment houses it’s the buzzing of air-conditioners, in many other places it’s mainly the traffic. The occasional signs with a crossed out horn seem like an ironic illustration. Although on the whole, the traffic is not quite as loud and chaotic as I remember it from my last visit (maybe I just got used to it), the Northern European visitor will encounter many strange and demanding situations, such as crossing a street. I am surprised to see traffic lights that actually include pedestrians and (probably due to the additional presence of police men) have an effect. Usually one crosses the always busy streets more or less lane by lane (many streets have about three lanes for each direction), holding up one hand to slow an approaching car is also an option, but the main task is to spot a gap in the stream of cars and then walk fast, ready to stop after each lane if necessary. I learned some of this two years ago, but the main street near my language school is a bit too much, four to five lanes of fast cars, I wonder how I will ever make it and if I do, how will I get back? I stand there for several minutes, then an Egyptian woman takes me by the hand and we cross together. (A useful trick in any case, if the street is difficult, watch the locals and free-ride with them.)
Even without having to cross streets can be a challenge. Even Many Egyptians hardly ever use the sidewalk (if there is one), especially in residential areas. And I wonder if there is some unwritten rule against walking on the sidewalk or if they are just not used to it, as quite often there really is none. Thus I usually walk next to the parked cars, which at least saves me from being dripped upon by the air-conditioners hanging somewhere high above. The traffic moves at an arm’s (or finger’s) distance from me, and I soon learn how to actively ignore the taxis on the hunt for the next customer.

Taking a taxi is another thing one should learn soon after arriving in Cairo as it is a very convenient way to reach your destination quite fast and it is not very expensive. The white cabs have a taximeter (check if it works!), so the foreigner doesn’t even need to discuss unreasonable prices in Arabic. However, when taking a taxi one should not only know the address, but also some landmark near one’s destination as taxi drivers in this huge city do not know each and every street. As taxis make up a large proportion of the traffic, drivers can also ask colleagues driving in the neighboring lane for directions if both they and their passenger are lost.

New in my picture of Cairo are the many motorcycles. Usually they hold one or two (mostly young) men, but their capacities are much bigger. Occasionally I see three guys on one bike, the most exotic sight so far were two middle aged men and a goat. And I got quite used to the motorcycle functioning as the family car: A woman – often fully veiled – sitting side-saddle behind the man, a child between them, a baby on her lap. Needless to say no one ever wears helmets – except for the McDonald’s delivery drivers.

Although I do hear of many road accidents I admire the drivers here and would certainly not consider driving myself. At most times and places the somewhat chaotic traffic actually moves, often enough at considerable speed. Probably an example of swarm intelligence… Complaints on the traffic are also collectively shared and it is one of the many things blamed on the former regime that nothing was done to adjust Cairo’s traffic systems to the exploding population figures. A third Metro line is under construction, the two existing lines cover only a fraction of the city, but the modern trains go very frequently and at one Egyptian Pound you can hardly go any cheaper, especially for longer distances. Checking the Metro map one also finds another trace of the revolution. Some downtown stops are named after presidents, Sadat being the crossing point of the two lines. The one that used to be called Mubarak was renamed Ash-Shohaada – The Martyrs – in memory of those who were killed in the revolution that led to Mubarak’s resignation. In some places the maps bearing the old name were replaced, in others the former dictator’s name is blackened or scratched out.

Buses are the means of public transportation that cover most of the city. They also offer an especially good view on the traffic and many more things to be discovered along the streets and a ride costs only 1 to 2 pounds (13 to 25 Euro cents – the latter for example for my one hour 15km ride to school).

Morning rush hour

As there are no schedules or (complete) lists of lines or their destinations at the bus stops, one has to be prepared. Knowing which buses go from where to the chosen destination one patiently waits at the stop for a bus with the right number to show up. Unless people want to get off it only stops when flagged down, so it is important to know the Arabic numbers to recognize the right bus. Once on the bus one has to know when to go up to the front to tell the driver that one wants to get off at the next stop. On the first ride I usually ask someone and then memorize the landmarks right before the stop. A bit more hectic and even cheaper are the microbuses that don’t even have numbers but young conductors shouting out the destination, especially as a woman on my own, but also because of the intensified difficulties of bus riding I usually avoid them.

I don’t know how I would get along on the bus or anywhere if it wasn’t for many extremely helpful Egyptians. If need be people literally go out of their way, for example on some occasions when I was lost although I did know the most important facts to find my way, but the bus wouldn’t turn up or I hadn’t realized that there are several stops at a square. More than once someone I asked for directions or alternative bus numbers would accompany me for a good part of my way that was not necessarily theirs.


Clubs
Cairo also is very full. Not necessarily crowded, but there are not many “gaps” between streets, houses, squares etc. Some people use the green patches in the middle of the main streets and the roundabouts as their park substitute. Everyone who can afford it, however, belongs to a club. These well-tended and guarded compounds often hold sports courts, some lawns and palm trees, areas to sit and order drinks and snacks from the cafeteria, and sometimes even swimming pools or indoor sport facilities. The one my host family belongs to is just around the corner and I spend many evenings there with my host mother and her friends. Children run around playing, teenagers meet their friends or attend sports practice, planes descending to Cairo Airport glide through the hazy dusk.

Before the evening begins...