Istanbul My Heart

Besides conquering 3 continents in 1 day (Africa, Europe, Asia)…I would say these past two days have been the best of my life.
We arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday morning, drove straight to the Bosporus Straits and took a boat cruise, with Europe on the left and Asia on the right. Taking in the sights of Istanbul is really exhilarating. It is so different from Cairo, a completely different culture…it feels extremely European. So far, we have taken a cruise, frolicked around downtown, consumed authentic Turkish food, apple tea, Turkish delights, the heartiest sweet potato stuffed full of stuff ever in the world, played backgammon at a street café, went to an Ottoman palace next to the Haggia Sofia (which we will go to on Saturday), and walked over the Bosporus Bridge. Not to mention, this morning we met with a Turkish international journalist who is a self proclaimed “elite.” Didn’t learn much we already didn’t know…Turkey’s politics are fascinating, confusing, etc. etc. [on this note: I feel like I haven’t been clear about this ‘travel component’. we aren’t sightseeing the whole time, the purpose is to meet with important figures in each country to understand internal and regional politics better] Tomorrow, we meet with the AK Party, the political party of the President and Prime Minister, and then we go to the US Embassy to meet with a diplomat.
My first two days here have enlightened me to my NEED (and new number one priority) to marry a Turk! Here’s why:
1. They are really really good looking. (had to get that out of the way first)
2. Turkey is the most B.A. country…half European, half Middle Eastern. It is “pivot”-al. bahaha
3. The waterfront of the Sea of Marmara is something worth investing in.
4. The future of world domination is in the hands of Turkey (if only they can figure out the human rights thing, as well as a couple other topics….there is a lot that could go here).
5. Turkey is close to Greece. honeymoon?
6. Istanbul has more history than anywhere I have been….Byzantine Empire, then Ottomans. I have decided that I, on the behalf of America, would accept a couple centuries of Byzantium rule in the US for all of the awesome buildings it will leave behind.
7. Turkish delights are the best nightcap anyone could hope for.
8. Additionally, I spent $1.25 on a fantastic meal today…cheap food is a big incentive.
9. Istanbul is a “walkable” city….everything is close and there is always a waterfront close by. You can never walk to long without passing a mosque that will take your breath away, cobble stone streets, anyone? It took us an hour to walk from the Palace that both the Byzantines and the Ottomans used back to our hotel. On the way we passed the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, a bridge, and a university.
10. Turkey might be joining the E.U. and that would make European travel really cheap and convenient.
11. Plus, who wouldn’t want to reproduce with what could be the relative on Geghis Khan?

So, tomorrow I will not only meet with some politicians but I also hope to score a date or two (gotta keep my options open)

All this to say the I LOVE TURKEY. more to come.

I've Gone Rogue in the Nile Delta....

So, I promise I haven’t died….just been really busy writing essays!! Anyways, there have been a few things of note other than boring essays.

I went the ALEXANDRIA last weekend! It was pretty OK is how I would rate it. Alexandria is a worn down European port city that is rich in history and not much else. I got to see the Library, but wait, the library that was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world burnt down quite a while ago. The library I went to opened in 2002…it is really impressive (something like 8million books in it) but other than that it was truly just another library. It is on par with the Seattle Library, but nothing to write home about (I way that aware of the irony).

I also went to the Cairo Museum and saw more “things” than I care to ever ever again. The museum is really madness…very hasty curator skills on the part of the Egyptian government. I swear it was an effort to stuff as much crap in one building as possible. BUT, the KING TUT stuff was amazing…really beyond words. The guy was buried in 3 sarcophaguses and had a face mask of pure gold. It was incredible. The whole thing was laid out separately but there are pictures of what it looked like when the tomb was first discovered. The King Tut portion of the museum is everything that you dream of….I spent most of my time being hypnotized by the headdress….pure gold, shiny, and beautiful.

Today, three friends and I went to the Citadel (and if any of you play video games, this is the Citadel from Call of Duty, I think)…So the Citadel is really sweet. Beyond the fact that our taxi driver to the place was the best EVER because he insisted that we only speak Arabic…the Citadel has two amazing mosques, one of which has a bunch of aluminum covered domes. The palace sits on a high hill overlooking Cairo (which was so evidently polluted this morning that it was nearly invisible), but the views are incredible. The mosques inside were cool for all the obvious reasons: carvings, paintings, chandeliers, inscriptions, domed roofs, etc. At this point, however, I am SO over being around tourists, I am practically local ;). kidding, I am not yet that full of myself.

Back to essays, in case you are interested. Half of the semesters work is due before we leave for Turkey (which is TUESDAY!!!!). These are all debate topics where I have to take one side or the other. So, I am arguing 1. Imperialism is not the biggest obstacle for social, political, and economic development in the Middle East. Instead I am showing how totalitarianism, religion, and demographics are the most challenging problems in the Middle East. 2. I am arguing the religion is NOT the cause of unequal rights in the Middle East, but it what is the cause is political corruption, nationalism, and indigenous culture. 3. (This one is actually an engagement essay, so I don’t take a clear side of any argument, more express the competing arguments in my brain) I am arguing that there are two reasons why Christians and Muslims conflict in the Middle East. First, historical causation is to blame: history made it this way. Second, I explore briefly the possibility that religions really aren’t meant to coexist. These are all due Monday morning, and I am trying to get the Imperialism paper finished still….

I LEAVE FOR TURKEY ON TUESDAY. for real. hooray :)

Siwa Pictures

Siwa: Desert Oasis

Once again, the crew headed out for a weekend in a new Egyptian city. But that is actually incorrect; we went to Siwa this past weekend, a little village very close to the Libyan border, but the people who live there are not Egyptian at all. They are Siwi, they speak Siwi and they have very Siwan traditions. The story goes that the Siwans were returning to Morocco after completing the Hajj to Mecca, but when they happened upon Siwa they decided to forgo the brutality of the desert for the sanctuary of the Siwa oasis. My thoughts: good call. Siwa Is spectacular.
The thing about Siwa that might trip the typical tourist up is that it truly is not this posh oasis resort (although Prince Charles took his new wife Camilla to Siwa)…it is an impoverished little town with not much economy besides dates, minimal tourism, natural springs, a salt lake, and the supposed cure for rheumatoid arthritis. For those who are curious, really rich and sick people come out to Siwa to be buried in the Saharan desert for 10 minutes every day for two weeks, it supposedly cures arthritis. Sounds painful to me because it is HOT…we are talking about the Sahara here.
But our group fell in love with Siwa for a few very charming reasons. First, Cairo is a polluted, large, busy, loud, and rather obnoxious city. Siwa is its antithesis. We rented bikes for $2 and rode around town the whole day. First we visited a traditional Siwan family’s home. We talked to a young Siwan man about the history of the oasis and cultural quirks. In Siwa the woman wear the burka, aren’t let out of the house without permission, engaged at a young age (7 for example) and married at 16. It is really strange, I must admit, but the girls got to hang out at the house after all the men left and chat with unveiled Siwan women about life. Every question we could through at them in the most “not wanting to be the pretentious westerners” that we are way, was answered with a very simple “that is normal for us.” The woman are not angry about being married so young, not leaving the house, having to wear the Burka, etc. They actually want all their children to carry on the same exact culture, because the Siwan culture is dying.
After Henna with the ladies, we set out on our bikes for a natural cold spring (Cleopatra). It was about a half hour bike ride through small neighborhoods and such, but the spring is literally a very large pool. It was amazing, to say the least. But it was topped by our next adventure. After the cold springs we biked out to the great Siwan salt lake. The lake is so salty you float; but danger (!) for any of you who are thinking, jeez I am going to go to Siwa next time I drop by Egypt. There were a great many of us (myself included) that took home some unwanted souveniers from the salt lake in the form of deep cuts, salt splinters, and rashes. The whole lake is very shallow (4 ft?) and therefore gave me a brutal cut on my hand and foot. Ouch! After watching a gorgeous sunset at the salty lake we naturally had to go to a natural spring to get all the salt off.
The next day we stuffed ourselves full of the most delicious dates on the planet and then set out in jeeps for a desert SAFARI. Sooooooo cool. Best part: the jeeps let some air out of their tires to conquer the desert, so we basically were driving like wild banchees through the Sahara. We went sand boarding, skinny dippying in the most stereotypical desert oasis that you can fathom, bathing in a hot spring, and then climbed a sand dune to watch not just another gorgeous sunset but THE MOST gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. The sun setting on the desrt horizon is not something that can be put into words. I am not even going to try.
After sunset we wound up in a Bedouin camp for the night. We ravenously ate dinner and then spent a long ole time lying underneath the millions of stars that are clearly visible from the desert. A Siwan band came to play for us, so we got to listen to traditional music in a new unfarmiliar language, and dance with strange, and incredibly drunk, Siwan men. Apparently if you let dates ferment you have yourself some date-wine. Sounds good, but we aren’t allowed to try it…but alas, I settled for sleeping outside underneath the stars. We left for Cairo the next morning, but I will never ever forget this one.
Life is good, and I continue to thank God for this incredible life I am living. I am a lucky girl.

Pictures!

These are first pictures from my homestay (the apartment, crazy kids, makeup, and threading) and also from the Arab League (I am so cool) .... Enjoy!

Mail Me Something!

I would love to get a letter or something...

Kristin McCarthy
Middle East Studies Program
P.O. Box 213
Zamalek
Cairo, EGYPT

My Mom Wears the Nikab: Chronicles of an Egyptian Homestay

This past week I lived with an Egyptian family in a part of town called Boulak al-Dokror. I would liken this part of town to the state of New Jersey: nobody really wants to go there. For instance, I could hardly find a taxi driver to take me there from school. It is pretty poor, way overcrowded and it’s economy survives off of Tuc-Tucs (known in other countries as Rickshaws, basically a sketchy, very small three wheeled car). I personally never felt all that unsafe….but the extent of my time in Boulak al-Doukror was spent in a Taxi, walking 200 yrds from the street to the apartment, and in the apartment all night and morning.
My family consisted of Mama, Shaimay-23 (Shy-may), Sara-22 and engaged, Eyya-20, and Ahmed-17…. My “host dad” was absentee, he has been in Saudi Arabia for three years on a work contract. All of my sisters were incredibly gracious and quickly adopted me into the family, forcing me to eat my weight in food every meal and really never giving me a second alone. One night I woke up to my sister Eyya (whom I shared a bed with) sitting crossed legged, watching me sleep, but also tugging my shirt down to cover the ½ inch of stomach that was showing. On that note, we were told to be fully covered the whole time, so I was wearing sweatpants and a long sleeved tshirt in a room with no air conditioner or ventilation….not good. Ahmed was a doll, he wanted to talk about Eminem, the rapper, all the time.
The house was an interesting matter….The apartment was itty, bitty, and filthy. The kitchen was the size of maybe a handicapped bathroom stall, and there was no table, but we ate on the floor of a bedroom in between two beds with the tv always on. Most of my time in the house was spent in this room eating, or watching tv, or talking to my sisters and mama about all sorts of things. One of the strangest parts of this whole experience for me was the schedule of Egyptian families. We would eat dinner around 10, 11,12 (and my first night 1am) and then I would convince them I needed to sleep. I would try to fall asleep in my sauna, and everyone else literally stayed awake until I got up at 7am to leave for school….They would sleep all day, wake up when I got back (5pm) and start making dinner….and this was repeated every day. Very strange….
In the house, Muslim girls are not required to wear the veil (hijab) so they pranced around in track suits (which they wore every day, all day I was there). Mama wore a simple nightgown all the time, so I was really surprised to see her in a full out Nikab (the all black, completely covering ensemble that looks like Ninja suit in my mind, with only slits for eyes)… I had no idea she wore the Nikab until about my 3rd day with the family. I didn’t really get to the bottom of why she wore the Nikab (more on language barriers later) but here daughters only wore the hijab. But, mama going out meant the Nikab made an appearance, and an opportunity for me to wear the Nikab, which I did (although not in its full glory)…I got to put the face piece on, and felt so hidden and anonymous, although my sisters said that I was obviously not Muslim because of my bright green eyes). My sisters also had me put the veil on on three separate occasions, one for a photo shoot, and two for going outside. My feelings on the veil are so hard to pin down: It is clear to me that in most cases the veil is not something at all detested by Muslim girls. A lot of Muslims think that to be a real Muslim you have to wear the veil. Liberal Islamic girls and guys do not think that the veil is required, and some choose not to wear it. For example, My Islam teacher does not sport the veil, but she has been severely persecuted because of it. I told my host family that my Islam teacher does not wear the veil and they were very concerned, told me she wasn’t a good Muslim, and made me promise to tell her that she needs to be veiled. There is definitely social pressure to wear the veil, I would say about 90% of Muslim girls in Egypt do, but it is not this horrible, backwards practice like Western media shows. The veil doesn’t take anything away from girls, it is meant to protect them, and temper gender issues that are prevalent in every cultural. But when I wore the veil I couldn’t help but feel that it is wrong. I didn’t like it, but did appreciate the experience. There is much to be said on this matter (email for more).
So, most of you know that I studied some Arabic in the States…well that was formal Arabic, now I am trying to adapt to a colloquial, slang Arabic called Ammeyya. The transition has been very frustrating, but the homestay was so incredibly helpful for my Arabic. I regained some confidence that I had lost. Only one sister was able to speak English, and it was pretty broken English. We primarily communicated in Arabic, and I LOVED IT!! I love love love Arabic. It was so reqrding when they told me that I speak beautiful Arabic, and they laugh at the funny accent I have, and of course the formal Arabic that creeps in every so often (pretty much like what Old English is to us….imagine a foreigner coming up to you and saying “how dost thou do on this day?”). I have been laughed at a lot, but I am trying to have a good attitude about it!
Anyways, I got to have some really great conversations with my sisters about engagement, which looks different in Egypt than in the states. Being engaged basically means that you are dating. Two fo my three sisters had been previously engaged but broken it off, which isn’t odd or taboo. One sister is currently engaged and hoping to get married in a year. My mom talked to me about Islam (she studied the Quran), and helped me memorize a Sura from the Quran. She was telling me all of Islam is about how God is one…when I told here that is the same as Christianity she said absolutely not, Christians believe in three gods, and that is haram (shameful, sinful) and Christians are takfir (apostates), she knew full well I was Christians. Mama tried to get me to be Muslim when I told her that I like Egyptian boys  I met a relative of my family whose husband has two wives. I discovered this in the middle of a conversation with some women about how in Islam men can have up to four wives. We had all agreed that it is not preferable that men marry more than once, but then this woman piped up to say her husband had recently married again. Typically men marry more than once if there is something wrong with the firs wife (namely that she can’t bear him children). But this case was different. From what I gathered (remember, this is in a combination of Arabic and a little broken English) her husband’s friend, or Sheikh advised him to marry this woman, against his will, because she had three little kids and their father had either died or ran off…so she was left with no money and no job. So he did it as an act of charity. If that doesn’t stop and make you think, then you are not reading closely enough this far in…I personally had to do a little re-evaluation after this one.
On a lighter note, I would say that I got a lot closer to Egyptian-girl culture. First step: remove hair from face. Literally. My host sisters “threaded” my whole face, save the eyebrows. My upper lip was the first victim, them my forehead, cheeks, chin, and unibrow-area. It was terribly painful on the cheeks and upper lip, other than that it was awesome. Step two: Makeup in large quantities. I am not really a make-up type of girl, but I thought I would give it a try. My sisters proceeded to cake on foundation, blue eyeliner, and hot pink + bright green eye shadow. Mascara and pink lip gloss finished me off. I couldn’t look in the mirror all night. Step three: Belly dancing. I am terrible at belly dancing but nonetheless Eyya tried to show me some great moves for the lucky guy I marry… it was a blast although unsuccessful. Step four: Cooking. For a big meal I stuffed cow intestine with a mixture of rice, tomatoes, basil, onions, and other spices. This was then fried in oil and consumed. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as disgusting as I thought I was going to be…il humdulilah. Step 5: Motherhood. While lounging and talking to the women, I got full view of overweight Egyptian boobs and nipples in abundance. The youngest child was 2 yrs and nursing. Enough said. Step 6: Live in pajamas. My sisters picked me up on a Saturday night, and didn’t leave the house until the following Friday. They wore the same pajamas the whole entire time, never once changed. Kinda of strange to me…I hate being dirty. Step 7: TV. Very important to Egyptian life…the girls always watched TV, even when they were asleep the tv remained on. Best show: Deal or No Deal, Egyptian style. It is a very dramatic show, actually, everything in Egyptian culture is dramatic. The show has music from Schidler’s List playing when the guy picked a bad box. People were openly teary eyed when he lost. I mean, really people. Also, we watched Biggest Loser Middle-Eastern style which is basically lots of overweight people, speaking in Arabic which left a lot to the imagination. One more: National Geographic Abu Dhabi. There was a show about Dingos in Australia, and when the dingo attacked a human my sisters screamed bloody murder, had to turn away from the tc and be consoled by mama. I was laughing and they hated me for it  Step 8: be obsessed with computer games. I played about 4 games with my sisters and then tapped out…they played for hours and hours and hours. We listened to a lot of music on the computer and watched the worst movie ever made (it was their fav), Krishna. Yikes, scary bad acting in that…
When it is all said and done, living with an Egyptian family was an amazing experience. I would be lying to say that I am not relieved for it to be over, but I gained priceless insights, stories, and of course pictures from my time with the Abdul- Aziz family. Pictures, and perhaps videos, to come.
Peace and Love.