The Halfway Point

Dear friends,

The end of my semester in Cairo is within reach and my final exams are almost complete. Winter came. Most of us are donning jackets, and the minute Cairo cloud cover managed to squeeze out a few drops the other day. While classes kept me fairly busy during these last five weeks, I did manage to get out and have some fun.

In this issue:

1. Delta Hues
2. Thanksgiving and the Feeling of Success
3. Mount Sinai
4. Finishing Touches
5. Saying Goodbye

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1. Delta Hues

Just after I sent my last letter, I went with a group of friends to a small village in the Nile delta just northwest of Cairo. The village was the home to one of the security guards who works in the dormitory here, and he arranged a tour for us. During the course of the day we visited farms, watched women bake traditional bread and cookies, met the head of the agriculture bureaucracy of the village, and ate a wonderful meal at the house of our host’s cousin. We would be offered tea at every stop, and every child that crossed our path wanted us to take multiple pictures of them.

The people of this village, like most Egyptian farmers, are very poor. The government buys their crops at a low price and sells them for a much higher price, with the profits going to the national treasury. They do not have televisions, few have phones, and for many, their primary mode of transportation is by donkey. Despite this, they are extremely happy. As we ended our day eating sugarcane and drinking tea watching a beautiful sunset over their deep green farms, I thought about the way in which they embodied a happiness and satisfaction more real than I had ever seen. They seemed happy with their life, and satisfied with who they were. This was the simple life. It was genuine, and something I had never seen so up close before.

2. Thanksgiving and the Feeling of Success

Though AUC gave us a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday, I opted to stay in Cairo to work on a term paper that demanded some serious attention. Thursday night I traveled south on the subway with three friends to the very American suburb of Maadi (same town as softball games and Yom Kippur services) to eat at a restaurant called Lucille’s. From the beginning, it was like a dream: we were greeted in American English, seated in a booth, and given free refills on soft drinks. Just as we were told, the small restaurant offered a Thanksgiving special for LE 82 ($15) that included a heaping portion of turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry jelly, stuffing, and a choice of sweet corn or green beans. It also came with a dessert of pumpkin pie.

Of course, the meal was pale in comparison to the excellent food I am used to at home, but it was the absolute best I could have ever asked for in Egypt. I ate almost every bite. For the first time in months, I felt full—genuinely full. I felt, as my friend Dan Goldstein once said, “the feeling of success.” Most importantly, however, I felt like a real American.

3. Mount Sinai

My journey from Egypt to Israel would not have been biblically complete without a trip to the most important rest stop the Israelites made while wandering in the desert. The weekend of December 1, eight of us took a long bus ride to Dahab on the eastern Sinai coast, and hired a taxi to take us to Mount Sinai and then back to Cairo the next day. Total cost of round trip transportation per person: $30. I love Egypt.

On a similar note, if you ever wondered why it took the Jews 40 years to get from Egypt to the land of Israel, it was not because they got lost, it was because they were stopped at an Egyptian checkpoint in the Sinai every 30 minutes and 600,000 people had to show their passport over and over again. This time it was us, but at least the security was reassuring.

The highest mountain in the Sinai is Mount Saint Catherine, which is about 8,860 feet (2,700 meters) above sea level. The adjacent Mount Sinai comes in a close second at 7,500 feet (2,290 meters). Saint Catherine’s Monastery, located at the foot of the mountains, is the keeper of both, having served as a site of religious pilgrimage for centuries.

We began our long and arduous hike at about 2 a.m. After about two hours on the camel trail, which snakes back and forth up the mountain, we had climbed about 90 percent of the way. The only other way to get to the top is to climb the 3,700 Steps of Repentance, built by a monk centuries ago, that lead from the monastery to the summit. The remaining 10 percent of the climb was only on these stairs, as the camel trail ends when the two intersect.

The hike was grueling, but it was worth it. On the way up, I saw the most star-filled sky of my life. When I arrived at the summit at 4:30 a.m., I only had 20 minutes to rest before I set up my tripod and camera in anticipation of capturing what my father called “one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen in my life.” He was right, and you can see for yourself on my photoblog.

For many, Mount Sinai holds great religious significance. It is where the Jews assembled and received the Ten Commandments and our holy book, the Torah. As the sun rose, Christian pilgrims on the summit with us sang, danced and some even spoke in tongues. Unfortunately, there is no archaeological evidence to support the claim that the mountain I climbed was, in fact, where this great revelation took place. The Sinai desert is full of mountains. For me, this was less of a religious journey and more of a unique thing I can merely say that I did. In any case, if that truly was the mountain, Moses saw some spectacular skies.

4. Finishing Touches

Last weekend my Israeli friend Oded, with whom Mike and I stayed for one night in Be’er Sheva when we visited Israel last month, came to Cairo for a quick vacation. The visit gave me an excuse to do a few things around the city which I had not yet done, and to return to some other sites for the last time. First, I was able to visit the Citadel, a grand fortress overlooking Cairo from the east that was the seat of power for hundreds of years, until the 1800s. I also revisited the pyramids and for the first time, drove out to another area of smaller pyramids at Saqara (formerly Memphis). Most importantly, I returned to the Khan al-Khalili outdoor market to finish up my gift shopping.

5. Saying Goodbye

A co-worker from the summer who spent her junior year abroad here and has since returned for other visits told me that people say that if one drinks from the Nile, they will someday return to Egypt. Of course, the truth is that if you drink from the Nile, the only returning you do will be in a body bag back to your home country. So Egypt has its problems, but the symbolism is significant. This semester has opened my eyes to places and ideas that I never anticipated. I will not forget the colossus monuments and temples of the ancients, the intricate Islamic art and architecture, and the distinct character of one of the world’s busiest and still highly unemployed cities. It is cliché, but it is true. I would love to return when I get the chance.

Perhaps more than anything else this semester, I have learned a great deal about myself and the way I perceive people. So many times I found myself assuming the worst about what was being yelled to me in Arabic by the stranger on the street only to find that they were only trying to help, or only that they misunderstood something I did or said. There are lessons to be learned from this. As I wrote in my last e-mail, my perception of conflict in this region was also affected by living among Arab people and understanding who they are at their roots. This is a culture, contrary to the way they are portrayed in our popular media, which is extremely friendly and uninterested in violence. As my well-traveled friend Mike said, people are people, and most of us just want to help one another.

I will be sad to leave this city, and I will miss the great friends I made, but I am ready to go. Egypt is struggling to modernize, and its shortfalls definitely wore me out for the time being. My adventure is only half-way over, however. On Wednesday I fly to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet one of my best friends who studied in London this semester. It is appropriate then, that we are meeting in the city where East meets West. I will be home from December 26 until January 6; in New York City from January 7 to 9; in Washington D.C. from January 9 to 12; then home until I leave for my next semester in Israel on January 15. East coasters, let me know if I will be near any of you, as I would love to see you.

Take a look at my pictures if you get a chance, and have a safe and happy holidays.

Stay tuned,
Josh

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How to contact me:
e-mail: jeadland@brandeis.edu
AIM: joshlands
Skype: joshlands
SkypeIn (will ring on my computer): 317-489-3634 (local/long-distance call)
Cell Phone: 011-20-10-531-5261
Web site (with pictures): http://joshadland.blogspot.com

Day to Day

This section will attempt to show you the places I see everyday. I have neglected to take any pictures of them thus far.

The AUC library, the concrete building in the distance, is the main building on one of three downtown campuses all within a five minute walk of one another. The library is on Greek campus. 

Inside Greek Campus: Many people sit on the library steps during the day, and as pictured, the library windows face into the quad. 

Inside Greek Campus. This courtyard area is the home to the "cool kids" of AUC. 

A panorama of the inside of Greek Campus. The library is on the left, social science building is in the back right, and the Jameel Center is just to the right of this vantage point. 

The AUC dorm lounge and big-screen TV.

The cafeteria and eating area of the dorms.

The courtyard at the AUC dorms, as seen from a stairwell window.

Dan and my room from the doorway. My half is the closer half. 

Dan and my room from the doorway. My half is the closer half. 

My hall.

Citadel, Pyramids (again), and felucca ride on the Nile

My friend Oded was also visiting from Israel.

The Mohammed Ali mosque, which sits at the heart of the Citadel. The Citadel, which overlooks Cairo from the East, was the seat of power here for several hundred years. 

Another view of the Mohammed Ali mosque. 

National Police Museum on the Citadel grounds. 

National Military Museum on the Citadel grounds. 

Oded, who was visiting me from Israel for the weekend. He was my counselor when I spent a semester in Israel in high school with NFTY. 

A mosque closer to Cairo, viewed from the Citadel. 

Me 

Fortress walls. 

Another view of the Mohammed Ali mosque. 

A memorialized gun used to fire on Israel. 

The ceiling of a mosque on the Citadel grounds. 

Mike pulled an all-nighter. Caught red handed. 

Plaza outside Mohammed Ali mosque. 

Cairo panorama from the Citadel. 

Oded rides a camel.