Yo.
Casey (ahem: Canada) stuck out. But no one here cares, because they don't even know that the winter olympics are on. Oh well. I saw the last 13min of the 3rd period. Sadness. But oh well. It's hard to be broken up about it when no one else is. And we're doing well elsewhere, so good for us and good for the atheletes that get greater spoltlight now that the people who usually get the spotlight 8 months of the year (NHLers) no longer have it for a couple days.
Actually watching the olympics is fun. You guys take it for granted. I only get it in German from the satelite. But I enjoy it. Especially speed skating, 'cause they talk about the Cindy Klassen.
What else? You know why they don't have winter olympics here? Here's why: Today was a high of 25C. Yes, that's right. Tomorrow about 31C. I'm going to Alexandria again, this time on the train. Should be fun. But back to today. 25, sunny, not much breeze in the afternoon. I'm walking in a golf shirt, khaki's, and a full backpack. I've been walking for about half an hour. So I'm sweating lightly. Lo and behold, here passes this guy wearing...long pants, turtleneck, medium wool coat, and toque. I'm not kidding you. It was wild.
What else? Bird flew. Birds fly all the time, what's the big deal. No, bird flu. Oh, I see. It's big news here. But I haven't died yet. I don't think it's a huge concern. But stuff like the aquarium was closed today (I wanted to go) and indeed closed for the next ten days. I don't know why, but I think it's related.
I had lots of random thoughts but I forgot them, it seems. Oh here's another one. This country runs on carbohydrates. Atkins would have had a heart attack if he saw how much carbs they eat (oh wait, didn't he have a heart attack?) Anyways, it's a bit sick, to be honest, you can have like 3 starches in a meal. And you don't find a lot of fresh crisp vegetables. Though I was all like, 'Okay, I'll be fine eating whatever and I can throw my died out the window when I get here,' I'm hurting a bit. Seriously craving crispy vegetables. Not like they don't exist, it's just not regular. And most people I talk to say you can't eat salad from anywhere in the street, (i.e. anywhere not at home) except very few restaurants that you know and can trust. So for a salad guy like me, I'm hurting b/c of it. And it's not a taste thing, I'm doing fine with the tastes too. (For those of you who don't know my diet, I'm not a vegetarian or anything - I love meat and I'm not an Atkins either).
Okay. Enough complaining. I have registration and placement testing on Sunday for Arabic class, and classes start Monday. We'll see how it goes. Bye Bye.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
A couple of pics
I know you're just dying to see what I look like in the Middle East...you can imagine it's really different.
Okay, to appease you, here are two pictures...
I don't know how they'll come out, so this is a trial for size and embedding and such. Plus I'm tired and want to go home.
The pics are:
Me, with a background of Jordan, and Israel beyond. This is Mount Nebo where God showed Moses the promised land before he died (see Deut 34. We couldn't see quite as far as Moses did 'cause it wasn't super clear, it was a bit hazy.
Me with friends at the football match. BTW Egypt won the championship yesterday and it was total mayhem, and very exciting.
Random (?) Song Lyrics
Here are the Lyrics of a fun song by Hawk Nelson:
Title: California
Album: Letters to the President
I’m not falling for anymore of these tricks
I’m so tired of everything here
This sun is calling me to the west
Everyone’s having fun out there
My bags are packed as I’m looking out the window
Everything is so outdated here
I wanna move west to where the sun is shinning
I want my friends to all be there
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
I’m tired of taking it slow
So tired but I’m not sleeping
I’m wired about to pick up my board
Cause we’re all heading out for the weekend
Let’s pack up and move to California
Hop on board before we get older
Raise your hands and shout for California
Come on, come on, come in, come on
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Let’s pack up and move to California
Hop on board before we get older
Raise your hands we’re heading for the border
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Title: California
Album: Letters to the President
I’m not falling for anymore of these tricks
I’m so tired of everything here
This sun is calling me to the west
Everyone’s having fun out there
My bags are packed as I’m looking out the window
Everything is so outdated here
I wanna move west to where the sun is shinning
I want my friends to all be there
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
I’m tired of taking it slow
So tired but I’m not sleeping
I’m wired about to pick up my board
Cause we’re all heading out for the weekend
Let’s pack up and move to California
Hop on board before we get older
Raise your hands and shout for California
Come on, come on, come in, come on
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Let’s pack up and move to California
She’s got lots of friends out there
We’ll never get bored cause we can go boardin’
Let’s let the sunshine take us there
Let’s pack up and move to California
Hop on board before we get older
Raise your hands we’re heading for the border
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go
The Metro, as promised. And other modes of transportation. I’ll do this by describing my trip to work/volunteering. So I leave my building and walk about 5 minutes to a major street that intersects perpendicular to my street so I can take the bus (whatever your picture is, my guess is that it’s wrong) to the underground train. I stand on the corner and wait until a bus looks to be turning right. I then wave to the guy who’s standing out the bottom step, leaning out the door and calling out the bus’s direction (Giza). If he waves me, I get on the bus, which may or may not come to a complete stop. I may or (much, much more likely) may not have a seat, and I may stand in the entranceway and hang on to whatever I can. (Don’t tell my aunt that I climb into moving buses and stand on the entrance. To my grandparents, don’t worry, I’m never hanging outside the bus, the guy who calls the direction is always outside of me.) I ride the bus 10 minutes to the end of the bridge over the street where you can find the Metro Station. The bus ride cost’s me 50 ersh (there are 100 ersh in a gineh). Since you can buy about 4.8 gineh for 1CAD, I’m looking at about 12 cents for my bus ride.
After getting off the bus, I walk 5 minutes to the Metro Station, and a buy a ticket for the Metro. Any ride on the Metro is worth 75ersh. I ride that line for just two stations to a major station, then switch trains at Tahreer. I then ride this line to either of the two places I volunteer. The psychiatric hospital is at the very end of the line, so it’s about 45 min on the train from Tahreer. The school for kids with learning disabilities is closer, about 25 min from Tahreer. From either station I walk to my place of work (10 min to the hospital, 15 minutes from the school. On the way home, I do it in reverse. So the total cost of my trip is 2.50 gineh (or just over 50cents Canadian). And it takes me 1.5 hours to the hospital, 1hr 10 min to the school. So as you can see, I have lots of time to think. I also now carry a book, so that I can read it while I’m on the train, if I’m fortunate enough to get a seat (not super likely until the end of the line, and only in the morning), or if I’m fortunate enough to be in an empty enough car that standing with a bit of room to lean on something and read is possible.
So that’s my commute. Let me just conclude it by saying this…How many of you see goats on your way to work/school?
After getting off the bus, I walk 5 minutes to the Metro Station, and a buy a ticket for the Metro. Any ride on the Metro is worth 75ersh. I ride that line for just two stations to a major station, then switch trains at Tahreer. I then ride this line to either of the two places I volunteer. The psychiatric hospital is at the very end of the line, so it’s about 45 min on the train from Tahreer. The school for kids with learning disabilities is closer, about 25 min from Tahreer. From either station I walk to my place of work (10 min to the hospital, 15 minutes from the school. On the way home, I do it in reverse. So the total cost of my trip is 2.50 gineh (or just over 50cents Canadian). And it takes me 1.5 hours to the hospital, 1hr 10 min to the school. So as you can see, I have lots of time to think. I also now carry a book, so that I can read it while I’m on the train, if I’m fortunate enough to get a seat (not super likely until the end of the line, and only in the morning), or if I’m fortunate enough to be in an empty enough car that standing with a bit of room to lean on something and read is possible.
So that’s my commute. Let me just conclude it by saying this…How many of you see goats on your way to work/school?
I spy, with my little eye...
I realized something yesterday, while thinking about what I might write about. I have a lot of time to think during the day, as you will soon learn. One thing I realized is that I have neglected one of the most important discussions, that of the everyday visual. That may be in part because it’s so obvious to you that you see with your physical eyes what you see, so why would you need to tell anyone about the ordinary view. Your thoughts are obviously something that others aren’t privy to, and from a visual sense, only when something spectacular enters your field of view do you consider it noteworthy to share. But you don’t see what I see.
What do I see? If you could describe Cairo in two words, they would be “big” and “brown.” Big. Of course the city is big, in a square area. It has to be, to hold the some 20 million it does (don’t quote me on that number, I hear lots of different numbers from different people). But what else is big? The buildings are. In this I mean that the majority of buildings are apartments, ranging from 5-12 stories high. And brown. All the buildings are brown, if they were originally made of stone, or reddish-gray if originally brick. This is because of the dust. This is a very dusty city. (A brief gross interlude: I learned that mucus and nose hair both have very useful filtering purposes. Now, when I blow my nose, I find that there is lots of grey in the Kleenex, because it is a collection of filtered dust and pollution.) As I was saying, all the buildings are the same color, a dirty, dusty light-ish brown.
There is a conspicuous absence of space and color. There are a few trees, but they do not dominate the landscape to say the least. Those trees that do persist are often quite dusty, and they don’t have a strong and healthy appearance. But of course, I’m painting a broad picture with a broad brush. It is more correct to distinguish between regions. The richer the area, the more trees, the lower the buildings, the more color, the greater the space. The poorer areas are more grey and brown and devoid of trees and color. I work in both types of places, and you can really feel the difference.
Then…the people. How to describe? Moustaches aren’t quite as out of fashion here as they are there, so you find lots of men with them. Most people look Middle Eastern, but there is a range of light/dark. Still, you don’t see many foreigners at all, except in certain places. Men dress conservatively, either button shirts and slacks, or galabayya’s (I don’t know the proper spelling). A galabayya is basically like a nightgown. It’s more common for older men and people from Upper Egypt. The galabayya is often accessorized by a scarf wrapped around the head. And it’s still winter, so for everyone sweaters and (regular) scarves are common. (This is a guess, but) about 70% of the women (i.e. females above say 15) wear veils of some type. These come in a variety of shapes and styles. This percentage also varies by region, with some regions having a higher percentage of Christians/Muslims, or varying by conservatism. When you consider that this 70% of women includes 20% Christian, the figure comes closer to 85% of Muslim women are veiled (again, this just by my estimation).
I can’t put a percentage on it, but a very small but present population is fully veiled, exposing only eyes or not at all. And almost always she is wearing all black. This was one of the biggest culture shocks for me when I first came, but I’m fairly used to it now. It’s still weird to see a fully veiled woman when she’s walking with her regularly dressed husband, and they are talking or shopping or doing anything normal that couples do. It’s weird because 2/3 of equation (the activity and the husband) looks totally normal to me, and the other 1/3 seems out of place. But, like most things, I’m getting used to it. I expect some visual reverse culture shock upon coming home.
Okay so that’s just a bit on what you see here.
What do I see? If you could describe Cairo in two words, they would be “big” and “brown.” Big. Of course the city is big, in a square area. It has to be, to hold the some 20 million it does (don’t quote me on that number, I hear lots of different numbers from different people). But what else is big? The buildings are. In this I mean that the majority of buildings are apartments, ranging from 5-12 stories high. And brown. All the buildings are brown, if they were originally made of stone, or reddish-gray if originally brick. This is because of the dust. This is a very dusty city. (A brief gross interlude: I learned that mucus and nose hair both have very useful filtering purposes. Now, when I blow my nose, I find that there is lots of grey in the Kleenex, because it is a collection of filtered dust and pollution.) As I was saying, all the buildings are the same color, a dirty, dusty light-ish brown.
There is a conspicuous absence of space and color. There are a few trees, but they do not dominate the landscape to say the least. Those trees that do persist are often quite dusty, and they don’t have a strong and healthy appearance. But of course, I’m painting a broad picture with a broad brush. It is more correct to distinguish between regions. The richer the area, the more trees, the lower the buildings, the more color, the greater the space. The poorer areas are more grey and brown and devoid of trees and color. I work in both types of places, and you can really feel the difference.
Then…the people. How to describe? Moustaches aren’t quite as out of fashion here as they are there, so you find lots of men with them. Most people look Middle Eastern, but there is a range of light/dark. Still, you don’t see many foreigners at all, except in certain places. Men dress conservatively, either button shirts and slacks, or galabayya’s (I don’t know the proper spelling). A galabayya is basically like a nightgown. It’s more common for older men and people from Upper Egypt. The galabayya is often accessorized by a scarf wrapped around the head. And it’s still winter, so for everyone sweaters and (regular) scarves are common. (This is a guess, but) about 70% of the women (i.e. females above say 15) wear veils of some type. These come in a variety of shapes and styles. This percentage also varies by region, with some regions having a higher percentage of Christians/Muslims, or varying by conservatism. When you consider that this 70% of women includes 20% Christian, the figure comes closer to 85% of Muslim women are veiled (again, this just by my estimation).
I can’t put a percentage on it, but a very small but present population is fully veiled, exposing only eyes or not at all. And almost always she is wearing all black. This was one of the biggest culture shocks for me when I first came, but I’m fairly used to it now. It’s still weird to see a fully veiled woman when she’s walking with her regularly dressed husband, and they are talking or shopping or doing anything normal that couples do. It’s weird because 2/3 of equation (the activity and the husband) looks totally normal to me, and the other 1/3 seems out of place. But, like most things, I’m getting used to it. I expect some visual reverse culture shock upon coming home.
Okay so that’s just a bit on what you see here.
Monday, February 06, 2006
On Media, Matches (and Metro next time)
So…sorry it’s been too long. What do you want to know? I guess until I guess a response for that question, you’ll learn whatever I talk about. I’m always hurting for time to type, ‘cause I have lots to say. But I’ve only got so much time and computer access. So here’s what I got for now.
Media. So I know it’s somewhat inappropriate in certain circles to discuss the musical, moral and lyrical prowess of America’s own Marshall Mathers from a positive point of view, but, given my safe distance from the majority of my readers, I’ll dive in.
I saw the video for “When I’m Gone” a couple nights ago. Since I don’t know how modern the Arabic music station is, pardon me if I’m out of touch and this song is old. Nevertheless, though I only saw maybe 2/3 of it, missing the beginning, I have to say it’s an all around grand production. First of all, the song is great…nice music, classic talented beats and beautiful rhyme scheme as per the known talent of Eminem. Furthermore, the lyrics are great, exploring the relationship of father and daughter, father and wife, and musical demands. The video itself is good, putting forth the group setting and integrating his daughter and her lip-syncing for the parts designed to be her speaking. You gotta think it did something to me to write about it given what I just said about time, and given it’s not all that different from what I get at home, as opposed to riding the bus here (consider that a teaser till next time).
What else? I saw about 20 minutes of the beginning-middle of a movie called Julian Po. Did anyone see (even hear of) this movie? It looked good, it looked intriguing in its story and the commentary it made on people. Now you know what kinds of movies I like. I think I’ll try to see it sometime.
Matches. Just another example of the difficulty of language. Did you think I was talking about the little wooden things you strike to make fire, or about the noun to describe a sporting contest? FYI I was referring to the latter.
Since the middle of January, the African Football (read: Soccer) Championship has been going on, and Egypt is the host country. The city has been fairly nuts about the whole thing, whenever Egypt plays it is a big event. It’s been magnified by the fact that Egypt has been doing well. I finally made it out to a game last Friday, after trying (through friends) to get tickets. I owe Friday’s game to Kareem and his friend Dalia, and her brother Shady. Tix were not easy to come by, we paid twice their face value on the black market, though it’s not quite the same as scalping at the door.
It was quite an event. The tix are not assigned seating, only assigned by section according to the class of the ticket. Level 1 had the best seats (and is therefore the most expensive). There is level 2 and 3. We sat in level 3. Since there is no assigned seating, we had to get there early to hold good seats. We tried to get there early, but Kareem forgetting the tix on the way to picking us up, and one girl from our group hitting a child while driving (before meeting us) and giving him a broken leg (so we all went to meet her at the hospital) meant we didn’t get there that early. In fact, our friends (the larger group) were having a hard time saving us our good seats. So we only made it by like 2:30. For the 7:00pm match. Imagine! The plan was more like 12:00. It was nuts. They showed the other quarterfinal that day, which was playing in Alexandria, on the big screen. It was from 3:00-5:00pm. Which still leaves a lot of time for free time. This time was spent singing songs and yelling and clapping. It was an experience. I was tired before the match started.
Actually, Egyptians are a loud, fun, sing-y, type of people, in the right situations. I am reminded also about the retreat I went on. During the sports, everyone (and mostly, especially the girls) shouted/sang about the group, and whenever one of the players did something well, they would sing about them. Actually, it’s fun to be sung about. They’re not like complicated songs or anything, and definitely more of a shout/cheer than anything, but enjoyable nonetheless.
For the match, the whole stadium was clothed in Red, White and Black (the colors of the flag if you didn’t guess). It was pretty spectacular. And you’ve never seen so many flags. We had at least 4 good productions of the wave. And Egypt won handily, 4-1, which made it all the better. But for me, it was too long a day (i.e. I’m not going to any other matches – the semi-final is tomorrow, and the final on Friday). Still, I’m glad for the event.
Media. So I know it’s somewhat inappropriate in certain circles to discuss the musical, moral and lyrical prowess of America’s own Marshall Mathers from a positive point of view, but, given my safe distance from the majority of my readers, I’ll dive in.
I saw the video for “When I’m Gone” a couple nights ago. Since I don’t know how modern the Arabic music station is, pardon me if I’m out of touch and this song is old. Nevertheless, though I only saw maybe 2/3 of it, missing the beginning, I have to say it’s an all around grand production. First of all, the song is great…nice music, classic talented beats and beautiful rhyme scheme as per the known talent of Eminem. Furthermore, the lyrics are great, exploring the relationship of father and daughter, father and wife, and musical demands. The video itself is good, putting forth the group setting and integrating his daughter and her lip-syncing for the parts designed to be her speaking. You gotta think it did something to me to write about it given what I just said about time, and given it’s not all that different from what I get at home, as opposed to riding the bus here (consider that a teaser till next time).
What else? I saw about 20 minutes of the beginning-middle of a movie called Julian Po. Did anyone see (even hear of) this movie? It looked good, it looked intriguing in its story and the commentary it made on people. Now you know what kinds of movies I like. I think I’ll try to see it sometime.
Matches. Just another example of the difficulty of language. Did you think I was talking about the little wooden things you strike to make fire, or about the noun to describe a sporting contest? FYI I was referring to the latter.
Since the middle of January, the African Football (read: Soccer) Championship has been going on, and Egypt is the host country. The city has been fairly nuts about the whole thing, whenever Egypt plays it is a big event. It’s been magnified by the fact that Egypt has been doing well. I finally made it out to a game last Friday, after trying (through friends) to get tickets. I owe Friday’s game to Kareem and his friend Dalia, and her brother Shady. Tix were not easy to come by, we paid twice their face value on the black market, though it’s not quite the same as scalping at the door.
It was quite an event. The tix are not assigned seating, only assigned by section according to the class of the ticket. Level 1 had the best seats (and is therefore the most expensive). There is level 2 and 3. We sat in level 3. Since there is no assigned seating, we had to get there early to hold good seats. We tried to get there early, but Kareem forgetting the tix on the way to picking us up, and one girl from our group hitting a child while driving (before meeting us) and giving him a broken leg (so we all went to meet her at the hospital) meant we didn’t get there that early. In fact, our friends (the larger group) were having a hard time saving us our good seats. So we only made it by like 2:30. For the 7:00pm match. Imagine! The plan was more like 12:00. It was nuts. They showed the other quarterfinal that day, which was playing in Alexandria, on the big screen. It was from 3:00-5:00pm. Which still leaves a lot of time for free time. This time was spent singing songs and yelling and clapping. It was an experience. I was tired before the match started.
Actually, Egyptians are a loud, fun, sing-y, type of people, in the right situations. I am reminded also about the retreat I went on. During the sports, everyone (and mostly, especially the girls) shouted/sang about the group, and whenever one of the players did something well, they would sing about them. Actually, it’s fun to be sung about. They’re not like complicated songs or anything, and definitely more of a shout/cheer than anything, but enjoyable nonetheless.
For the match, the whole stadium was clothed in Red, White and Black (the colors of the flag if you didn’t guess). It was pretty spectacular. And you’ve never seen so many flags. We had at least 4 good productions of the wave. And Egypt won handily, 4-1, which made it all the better. But for me, it was too long a day (i.e. I’m not going to any other matches – the semi-final is tomorrow, and the final on Friday). Still, I’m glad for the event.
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