egypt v. algeria

egyptians are mad for soccer. a friend of mine claims the egyptian passion for the sport is rivaled only in england and brazil. i remember coming up out of the metro station near my house one night to be greeted by the sight of a crowd of men gathered outside the cell phone store, standing stock still, staring at the shop window. there are always a few stragglers there ogling the newest nokia or samsung model, but that night the crowd was particularly thick and intensely focused. it wasn't until i looked up that i realized their gazes were focused not on phones, but on two tv sets broadcasting the game of the day. you can tell it's a game day when the droves of men gathered at the sidewalk cafes are especially dense and the energy in the air particularly intense. a couple times last month i found my study sessions punctuated by random, spontaneous cheers rising from the streets outside my balcony window. it seems egyptian soccer fandom is a community thing.

this proved to be particularly the case last month, when egypt and algeria went head to head in the african world cup qualifying rounds. i, of course, had no idea what was going on until egyptian flags started springing up everywhere - flying from balconies, shop windows and car antennae. it seems there is a longstanding rivalry between the two countries that has at times turned a bit ugly. they played one match here, (which thankfully, egypt won), and the city went mad. spontaneous street parades erupted all over town and the honking and flag waving went on into the wee hours. it was a loud night even by cairo standards. one of my professors lives across the street from the algerian embassy in zamalek, and he reported the next day in class that he had to close his balcony doors to keep the fireworks out of his living room.

it's difficult not to get caught up in that kind of enthusiasm, especially in an newly adopted home (which also explains how this new yorker became a red sox fan...). so, meghan and i and our friend shams headed to a bar downtown to watch the next game. on my walk to meet them i passed impromptu theaters set up in a couple of electronics stores, their windows filled with rows of tv's tuned to the game. crowds of men decked out in red, white and black had arrived early with chairs and were filling the sidewalks as the game was set to begin. the bar had its own theater seating arrangement - all prime spots claimed by egyptian men who probably arrived hours early, with the periphery filled in by a mixed crowd of tourists and expats (the only place i saw any women). i'd come straight from class, which ended early, and with a warning to students to stay off the streets. i thought that was a tad alarmist, and indeed found the crowd in the streets and in the bar to be, on the whole, cheerfully enthusiastic.

alas, the egyptian world cup dream wasn't to be, as we lost that night, 1-0. as the crowd filed out of the bar the mood was more despondent than enraged, though in the days to come things did get a bit out of hand. riots broke out outside the algerian embassy, and reports of stones thrown at the algerian team bus and the mistreatment of egyptian fans in khartoum (where the final match was played) led to somewhat of a breakdown of diplomatic relations between egypt and algeria. i got a facebook invitation a few days later calling for algeria's suspension from fifa, and accusations were hurled back and forth regarding each country's inability to control its fans. seems this is a rivalry bound to continue. personally, i'm all for friendly rivalry - i love to hate the yankees as much as the next red sox fan. but when matters escalate to the point where diplomats and presidents start getting involved, it seems to me things might be getting a bit out of hand...

the khan

one of the hot spot tourist destinations for anyone traveling here for the first time is khan al-khalili, located in islamic cairo just to the west of al-hussein mosque. this is fishawi cafe, a bustling and beautiful cafe squeezed into a narrow alley and festooned with enormous mirrors in elaborately carved frames. shisha smoke fills the air, the waiters fly past yelling orders at the top of their lungs, and women stop by every few minutes to ask if you want your hands painted with intricate, flowery designs in black henna. some claim fishawi's has been in continuous operation every day (save for ramadan) for over 200 years. i think it was mohamed who told me that naguib mafouz wrote his cairo trilogy here. he apparently lived nearby, and all his novels are set in surrounding islamic cairo.

the cafe is set smack inside the khan, which is a market sprawled across an entire neighborhood of narrow alleys and small courtyards. part tourist trap, part legitimate copper, gold, spice and random household goods market, khan al-khalili has been in operation since the 14th century. it's jammed with tourists, locals, and men trying really hard to sell you perfumes, scarves, fezzes, gallabiyas, spices and loose teas, sequined bellydance costumes, inlaid backgammon boards, papyrus paintings and beautifully intricate copper trays. the men standing outside their shop doors try to get you to stop by guessing where you're from. for some reason, people keep trying to speak to me in spanish, which i'm sure my belizean friends would find hilarious.

not surprisingly, its bustling day and night. meghan and i recently spent an evening hanging out there with shams. he got us fantastic treatment at a favorite cafe where this adorable girl selling beaded headdresses spent a good ten minutes making hysterical faces at him. oh, and i recommend the egyptian pancake restaurant just one street west of midan hussein for fitiir, delectable and horribly unhealthy concoctions - party pastry part pizza, stuffed with your choice of cheeses and meats or honey and nuts. come with your appetite intact.

still here...

so, some people have been complaining that i've been a blogging slacker. i hope this picture will explain my delinquency. this scene pretty much sums up my life as of late. between readings, research papers, and fellowship responsibilities there hasn't been much room left for a life. these law classes remind me of my first semester of intensive italian (only less fun and with fewer delicious dinners) - it really is like learning a whole new language. it all makes me question why i came halfway around the world only to spend all my time in my apartment. don't get me wrong, it's a lovely apartment, but it's not exactly what i was picturing when i decided to move to cairo.

that being said, i am steeped in interesting new information. a rundown of my classes...

*Introduction to Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: doing a research paper on development-induced displacement for this one. basically, how people get shoved out of the way for large scale infrastructure programs like dams - the people who lose out in the name of development.
*Public International Law: up to my neck in the sources of international law, the law of treaties, state sovereignty, jurisdiction and immunity, international dispute settlement and such.
*International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law: the former is applied in times of war, the latter the rest of the time. we've been talking most recently about the universal (meaning, basically, UN) and regional human rights systems. this class is the reason for the mess of papers in my room. doing a research paper on how the US treats the asylum claims of former child soldiers - basically assessing how the US balances its right to exclude perpetrators of human rights violations against its obligation to protect both children and refugees.

i do take breaks to eat, and here's where the cooking magic happens. but once that's done, it's on to the fellowship... i'm helping the chair of the migration and refugee studies department research somali mixed migration, largely through the middle east. mixed migration refers to the mixture of refugees and other types of migrants traveling the same routes from one country to the next. we're looking at where they go and why and how, why they choose the destinations and routes they do, what challenges they meet along the way, and what sorts of treatment and conditions they encounter in the various states en route.

i'm making a feeble attempt at studying arabic. every time i come out with a new word my bowwab (doorman) grins from ear to ear. i feel horribly like the ugly american with my complete lack of language ability. it's not for lack of enthusiasm, just time... other than that, it's all about avoiding football-related madness (egypt and algeria have landed themselves in a diplomatic scuffle over misbehaving fans. the algerian embassy in zamalek was overrun with rioting protesters over the weekend.) and planning for a winter break trip to syria, jordan and perhaps lebanon. good times all around!

you knew it was coming...

when my mom was growing up in Cairo in the 50's, the pyramids were still in the desert. the city has grown exponentially since then, and it has crept up to their very doorstep. urban neighborhoods stretch along two sides of the site, and you'll find a fleet of tour buses parked at the foot of Cheops' pyramid. and you can't climb them like you could in my mom's day. development definitely comes with a price. that being said, they still have the power to capture your imagination if you let them.

3 Egyptian obsessions

tea. typically with lots of sugar. served anytime, day or night, and with incredible hospitality. last time i was in Egypt, i remember our taxi driver serving me and Alex a cup of tea brewed in the parking lot outside the Mohammed Ali mosque. he seemed in no rush to get anywhere, and shared the moment with us. and told me that my sweet tooth meant i drank tea like a true Egyptian.

shisha. flavored tobacco smoked with religious frequency from water pipes in street side cafes throughout the country. you've got your apple, your watermelon, your peach, your honey, you name it. once the purview of men (at least in public), you find more and more women smoking shisha in cafes. we even recently saw a shisha girl (the person who prepares and brings you your pipe) at a cafe near Al Azhar Mosque in Islamic Cairo.

backgammon. also a staple of cafe life. Shams taught me his version, and never once managed to beat me.

Dahab

i have to admit that i've been a bit spoiled since arriving in Egypt. first, Mohammed loaned me his apartment and ushered me around town for two weeks. most recently i was treated to a wonderfully relaxing vacation in the Red Sea coastal town of Dahab. the month of Ramadan ends with the three-day Eid Al Fitr festival, and many Cairenes take this opportunity to head out of town for a quick escape from the slightly maddening bustle of the city.

my friend Meghan has a standing invitation from a friend who owns a hotel in Dahab (here's the restaurant, located just a couple feet above the Gulf of Aqaba and looking across at the mountains of Saudi Arabia). his name is Shams and he is a living breathing example of the famed Egyptian hospitality. i don't think i've ever encountered such generosity. we stayed in his hotel with a friend of Meghan's from India for four nights and he refused to allow us to pay a piaster. we had to resort to trickery and friendly bullying to be allowed to pay even for our meals.

in addition to putting us up for free, he drove us around this beautiful area of the Sinai Peninsula, where rocky mountains and sandy desert meet the sea. the diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea is supposed to be amongst the best in the world, and the surrounding desert scenery is stunning.

here's Meghan and Shams and Meghan and Adi, doing what we did best in Dahab. Sharm El Sheikh to the south has a reputation of being the vacation destination for those who prefer the resort life. but Dahab, with its more laid back atmosphere and seaside boardwalk is perfect for those of us who like to relax without being walled in. we spent our hours indulging in the quintessentially Egyptian pastimes of backgammon, tea and shisha, and debating the relative strengths, weaknesses and quirks of our respective countries of egypt, india, canada and the u.s.



and then... the time came to head back to home and reality. across the stunning Sinai, past the turnoff to St. Catherine's monastery and Mt. Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the 10 Commandments. through a tunnel under the Suez Canal and back to the hectic city...

a strange sort of reality hit home, though, before we even left Dahab. i realize that traveling with an American passport has always given me an ease of movement that many in the world don't enjoy. the guards at the checkpoints that are littered throughout Sinai never gave my passport a second look. but it also got us a personal "security" escort all the way back to Cairo. apparently the Egyptian government isn't taking any chances with American tourists, and so we were issued with a guard who accompanied us on the 8 hour journey home. i'd honestly have been much more comfortable without, but i'm not sure my opinion mattered much.

Cairo by day

living in Belize, i often had a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that the population of the entire country didn't even reach 300,000 people. now i find myself in a city at least 50 times that size. estimates put the population of Cairo between 15 and 25 million, depending partially on the time of day (many commute here for work). some views from the 40th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Garden City...

i'm taking this picture from Garden City, on the east bank of the Nile, where you also find downtown, and the Islamic and Coptic "quarters". directly ahead is Zamalek, the island in the middle of the river (and the city) that has long been home to much of Cairo's international expat community, as well as the green garden oasis of the Gezira sporting club, playground of the well-heeled. to the left of the picture are the west bank communities of Giza, Dokki, Agouza and Mohandiseen.

the river Nile, it goes without saying, has always been the heart of the city. as the majority of Egypt's landscape is pretty much inhospitable, somewhere around 98% of the country's population lives along the banks of the river or in the delta region. my Survival Arabic teacher told us that there's even a color in Egyptian colloquial Arabic called Neeli - for the Nile-colored mixture of blue, green and brown.