Feorag Book Awards

As expected, entries on the blog decreased quite drastically this semester, a natural consequence of not traveling to strange places every other week. However, since I still have this forum for talking, and I feel a twinge of guilt whenever I remember I've added a little bit to the electronic wasteland of abandoned blogs, I have resolved to write something. Hopefully, for the next few months at least, I can manage one post a month. This time I'm going to go over the best books I've read in 2010, divided into ten categories. So, without further ado, here are the 2010 Feorag Book Awards.

Best Fiction Recently Written: Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

I stumbled across this book at the beginning of the year, and despite a setting (1970's New York) that wouldn't normally capture my attention, I gave it a try. McCann uses Phillipe Petit's tightrope walk across the Twin Towers to connect a variety of stories based in New York City. He sympathetically casts a wide variety of characters, and even though I read the book a year ago most of them are still fresh in my mind. It is a powerful work, and probably more accessible to the average reader than many of the books I'll list.

Best Classic: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Like nearly every high schooler in America I got my first taste of Steinbeck in high school by reading the Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. While both are excellent books, I never felt much desire to read East of Eden, probably because the Cain and Abel theme seemed too sober. I finally gave it a try while my family visited Egypt, and while it is large and often dark, I found it to be well worth the effort. Especially enjoyable is Steinbeck's thorough knowledge and love of his California homeland that shine in his descriptions of the Salinas Valley.

Best Western: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurty may be the only Western authors to have gained widespread respect from the larger literary world, and for good reason. McCarthy's writing isn't always easy to understand, but it works beautifully. All The Pretty Horses takes place in Texas and Mexico, and tracks the difficult journey of a young man whose character is better fit for an earlier time.

Best Science Fiction: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

On a completely different note, this book by Mary Doria Russel explores the possibility of a delegation from Earth visiting an alien race. What is unusual is the nature of the delegation: it is sent by the Vatican and includes several Jesuits. The story is worth reading on its own merits, but it also seeks to explain how religious missions to the American Indians could go so wrong, despite good intentions. The use of two separate timelines isparticularly well-done.

Best Short Story: Shadows by George McDonald

It was a year of short stories for me, especially in the spring when I would listen to one every day on the bus rise between Zamalek and the AUC campus. But my favorite was among the first, one from a collection of fairy tales by McDonald. All of them are good, but two features made Shadows particularly good: the rich imagery and one substory, which poignantly depicts the dangers of solitary brooding.

Best History: The Thirty Years War by CV Wedgewood

The Thirty Years War is one of Europe's most nasty and complex, which makes it a difficult challenge for any historian. Wedgewood rises to the task, and does an excellent job explaining the complexities of 16th century European politics. She also does well in her character portrayals of the war's leading figures, which are generally sympathetic but fair.

Best Biography: St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

I could hardly get through the list without including one work from the prolific Chesterton. Although this book, in typical Chestertonian fashion, can often seem unstructured and unfocused, I believe it manages to really capture the character of St. Francis, as a man who saw the world as it was when it was newly created, and loved it as if it were still that fresh. He also explains how it is natural for such an aescetic man to have great passion for created things.

Best Religious Work: The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This book has taken me all year to read in small spurts, largely because it is often difficult work. Bonhoeffer is a thorough theologian with plenty of scriptural and linguistic references, but he is no dusty academic. His life matched the call for action found in this book, which begins with a rallying cry for a true understanding of grace.

Best Re-Read Book: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

What is one to do with many long hours on a cruiser in July with no job or responsibilities? Read 19th century Russian literature, of course! Brothers Karamazov is probably one of the greatest books every written, and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. All three Karamazov brothers are delightful and endearing in their own ways, and through them the story of a family feud and a trial takes on much greater meaning. Of course, it helps that I read the book for a class the first time, and consequently enjoyed the insights of my professor and fellow students.

Best Poem: Unharvested by Robert Frost

A difficult choice, which could very well change if I made this list on a different day. No commentary, just the poem.

A scent of ripeness from over a wall.

And come to leave the routine road

And look for what had made me stall,

There sure enough was an apple tree

That had eased itself of its summer load,

And of all but its trivial foliage free,

Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.

For there had been an apple fall

As complete as the apple had given man.

The ground was one circle of solid red.

May something go always unharvested!

May much stay out of our stated plan,

Apples or something forgotten and left,

So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.

Thanks for reading the inaugural Feorag Book Awards, and quite possible the only in the series. Hope you all have a wonderful 2011, with at least a few good reads!

Cairo in Revue

The arrival of August means that I have been blogging for just over a year, although my input has been predictably petering out as my life takes more familiar paths. However, familiar paths are often the most welcome, and I am eagerly anticipating returning to Notre Dame, which, as advertised in their promotional material, has become a second home over the past three years. I feel, as every senior does, like I only began the adventure of college yesterday, and suddenly graduation seems entirely too soon. Luckily I still have a full year of football games, Glee Club tours, Saturday lunches at Five Guys, doing ridiculous dances, hanging out with roommates, and alternating between loving and hating classes before I start the next step of my life.

But enough of looking ahead, I still have some writing to do about the past. Egypt already seems like a distant past (how does coming to Notre Dame seem like yesterday, considering that), and recently I've even begun to miss the craziness, and not just the cheapness, of Cairo. A friend of mine was said that international travel can be a double-edged sword, because one will always miss the places you've been after you have left, even if you weren't always happy while there. When I think of the shortcomings of one particular time and place it certainly is tempting to remember a place with other faults, and wish you were there instead. The best course of action, as the ever-inspirational Lt. Karnowski said, is to "live the dream." And a large part of that is realizing the dream can apply to the present, no matter how unlikely that may seem.

That advice is easier given than taken, and for the last month in Egypt I was often very anxious to return to the United States. Most of all my attitude depended on my company; when I was with Jonathon Neme, who has a year and a half left at AUC, we would talk about his future plans in Cairo and I might even wish I could be there to see them. But on the 7:00 bus to campus with fellow ND students a much different attitude would prevail, and the remaining time would seem to stretch to eternity.

With the benefit of hindsight I can say that Cairo was an amazing experience, certainly one that is much different than the usual time studying abroad. It was different world, enough so that answering questions like "how was Egypt" usually seems impossible to answer (not that you shouldn't ask! The interest is appreciated, just don't be surprised if I don't know what to say). But it is not just the "third worldliness" of Cairo that made it so different. Many students visit and work in more impoverished areas than Cairo, and their experiences are probably as foreign to me as mine are to someone who has never left middle-class America. Part of what makes Cairo unique is the juxtaposition of world-class hotels boasting fabulous luxury with miles of brick and concrete jungle filled with grit and garbage, with a liberal sprinkling of mosques both ancient and new throughout. Yet, despite its often squalid condition Cairo is a very safe city, one in which I never felt endangered, even when it seemed like we were the only white people who had ever visited a particular neighborhood. Indeed, those were the city trips that were most worth taking, because you might escape the hordes of salesmen who love nothing more than the sight of a possibly gullible khawaga (tourist).

I sometimes wondered if this friendly, albeit opportunistic, attitude towards Westerners is a product of the Mubarak regime, under which Americans seem to granted privileges in exchange for our government's generous support. There are certainly hostile Egyptians, as the terrorist attacks of the 90's and early 00's showed. But, judging by the stories of friends who traveled to Lebanon and Syria, Arabs truly are by and large a welcoming people, eager to dispel the negative notions that they typically assume Westerners hold about them. And I hope that in Egypt this continues to be true, beyond the time when the government makes it true.

Perhaps Cairo can be seen as a tapestry, which often seems to be uniformly brown, crowded and noisy. Only a closer inspection reveals some of the color and life beneath the exterior. Apartments that appear drab are often surprisingly luxurious. A plain door at the top of a broken staircase leads to a workshop filled with beautiful tapestries that might fetch hundreds of dollars in the States. And it seems like every block has a store that sells fresh juice which simply cannot be matched by American grocery store juice, or even expensive juice stands.

But there are real problems in Egypt, which must be addressed at some time. The growth of the city is unmanageable, particularly given Egypt's limited supply of arable land. There is a sharp divide between wealthy and poor, despite the efforts of socialist governments. Corruption is so common that it hardly has any negative connotation, and is often simply seen as baksheesh, a sort of tip. For every Egyptian who extends a warm, genuine welcome it seems like there are two who will lie and wheedle you in any possible way for a buck, even though they are usually among those who don't need it. Mubarak seems like Castro, a leftover from another era whose impossibly long decline keeps an entire country from moving on; whether it will move on to new prosperity or further problems seems impossible to tell.

Of course all of these thoughts come from a very limited perspective, that of an American who spent most of his short time in Egypt with the stratospherically wealthy portions of Egyptians who can attend AUC, and throughout his stay enjoyed the benefits of being able get away with much that a real Egyptian could never do, purely because he is a Westerner. In the end I was also a khawaga, one was a little more knowledgeable about the local language and culture, and who spent a little more time than usual in country, but in reality can scarcely know what it actually is to grow up and live as an Egyptian.

The Last Month

As my family has repeatedly pointed out, a trip to Jerusalem is a poor way to finish my record of a semester in Egypt. Of course the problem is that the longer I wait, the more behind I get, and the more daunting the eventual task becomes. With that in mind, please forgive me if I am sparse in my description of my last month in Egypt.

The last significant trip that I took before finals was to the Sinai Peninsula. It was a short trip, taken over the course of a normal two-day weekend, which gave it a rather hurried feel. That combined with the lingering effects of food poisoning from the previous week made portions of the trip less than completely enjoyable. However, there were two highlights that definitely justified squeezing the journey in the limited time. One was snorkeling in Dahab; the second a nighttime hike up Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise from its peak.

Dahab, the base of our brief adventures, is a world-famous place for diving and snorkeling. Among the many locations with spectacular coral life is a spot known as the Blue Hole, which is infamous for an underwater arch that several divers have died attempting to reach. Luckily my two friends and I had no such aspirations, and we generally stuck to the surface. The place is rather disappointing from the shore, and seems like any other bit of ocean, although the depth of the hole is apparent by its much darker blue. But after sticking your head underwater a colorful world of life emerges, one that presents a stark contrast to the bleak desert above water. We swam and stared for about an hour and a half, until my swimming abilities were more or less exhausted and we returned to the beach and then to our hotel.

The second adventure began that night when we drove to Mt. Sinai at 10:00 PM after attempting to sleep for five hours in a room that cost under two dollars and was worth about that. We reached the reputed site of Moses ascent at about 1:00 AM, and became part of one of the oddest movements of people I have seen. In an odd combination of pilgrimage, tourism, and mountain climbing, hundreds if not thousands of people ascended the mountain in the dark, sleepily stumbling up a winding trail and wondering how all these people could possibly fit on the top. Finally, after two hours walking, we reached the final resting stop where climbers could buy overpriced food or drink or rent camelhair blankets to fend off the suddenly chilly weather. For those who climbed especially early there were even beds that could used for a predawn nap.

We rested at this stop for a while and then made the final ascent, where an old chapel marks the legendary peak. We were still early enough to get good seats, if having a view of the

sunrise is the operative standard. Unfortunately they were also seats perched on the edge of thirty foot drop. Whenever an ambitious tourist attempted to climb the rock to my right they would seem to be on the verge of pushing me down this drop, and consequently I was quite ready for the sun to hurry up and rise. Finally it did, illuminating a landscape of rocky, jagged peaks, which reminded me of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, and his description of a place where "the sun beats, and the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, and the dry stone no sound of water." Beautiful, but not particularly inviting.

Not much needs to be said about the remainder of the semester, other than that finals went well and by the end most of the study abroad students were plenty ready to return home, to a more familiar and seemingly sane land. But as they gradually began their flights to America I began the longest and most thorough trip through Egypt of the semester, with my newly arrived family. Their visit lasted 18 days, and included far more than I can include here, so I will briefly summarize. The first portion of the trip focused on Ancient Egypt and southern

portion of the Nile Valley, which I had yet to visit. We saw a large number of temples, monuments and tombs, some of them famous and others relatively ignored. We also enjoyed a three day river cruise, during which we didn't have to worry about food, tourist hacks, or the other myriad problems of independent travel. Some of the sites, such as Abu Simbel and Karnak Temple, astound with sheer size. Others, like the Tombs of the Nobles at Luxor, were less breathtaking but more accessible with their simple paintings reflecting everyday life.

After our time in Luxor we stopped for a day in Cairo before heading west to Siwa, an oasis on the edge of the Sahara that was famous in ancient times for its Oracle, whose most famous guest was Alexander the Great. The oasis is a welcome sight after miles upon miles of featureless desert, and is large enough to support over 30,000 inhabitants, although its main town feels much smaller than that. Our main purpose in coming to Siwa was a three day camel safari through the surrounding desert. This safari was, by consensus, the best part of my family's visit. Siwa felt like another culture, more African and joyful than the rest of Egypt, but also more conservative, especially in the dress of their women. The desert was amazing, with classic views of dunes, countless shells from its days as an ocean bed, and unbelievably starry skies at night.

Finally we left Siwa for a day in Alexandria, followed by two days in Cairo, during which my family saw the Pyramids, Coptic Cairo, and the Islamic quarter. Then it was time for the flight home. Of course Egypt couldn't say goodbye without one final inconvenience, in the form of a two-hour delay in our departing flight. Luckily we had left a long layover in Germany open, and so we managed to catch all of our planes and even enjoy a delicious German lunch in downtown Frankfurt. Twelve hours later we were in Denver, and my semester abroad was finished in the same place it begun. However, my reflections on the time were only beginning, and will no doubt continue for a long time. I hope to share some of those thoughts, but I should warn my readers to not hold their breath.

Jerusalem

A couple of weeks ago Egypt celebrated "Sinai Liberation Day," and in honor of the occasion 4 friends and I traveled to the very country the Sinai was liberated from: Israel. The trip came right after a busy week for me, as my Glee Club friend Trigg Ferrano visited, along with fellow Domer Ellie. Their visit went excellently, and it was quite refreshing to get a new perspective on Cairo from Trigg. However, on Friday night I bid them farewell and headed to the bus station for the overnight bus to Taba, on the Israeli border. Soon I would learn one important lesson in two countries: try not to travel on people's holy days.

For the first hour or so the Egyptian bus played the Quran at excessive levels, completely ruining any chance of going to sleep. I'm not sure if this was company policy or the driver's choice, but it insured that I arrived at the border in a sleepy state. After crossing over without much hassle I discovered a second problem. While buses normally depart from Eilat to Jerusalem throughout the day, on Saturday the first one leaves at 4:30. Eilat is a lovely resort town, but resort towns are really only nice if you happen to have a room to resort to. Otherwise, you're just wandering mostly empty streets, and counting the number of open restaurants on one hand. So after a bit of this I decided to take the 11:30 bus to Tel Aviv, and hope that there were more frequent connections from there to Jerusalem.

Of course, that didn't quite work out either, as the next bus after I arrived left at 8:00. However, I did get to spend a few hours wandering around Israel's largest city, and hoping to surprise my traveling companions, who had come to Tel Aviv a day earlier. Alas, I searched the beaches in vain. Finally at 9:00 I arrived in Jerusalem, to find the city practically dead. After Cairo the place seemed sleepier than a Nebraska I-80 town. I had arrived in one of the world's most famous and controversial cities, but it was a quiet reception.

The next day revealed a little more life. My friends were joining me that afternoon, so I spent the morning going to a few sites that were a little less famous. My first stop was the Garden of Gethsemane, which was just opening. I had the place to myself, which was a pretty amazing experience. There is also a rather new basilica built nearby, on the ruins of two earlier churches. After leaving I climbed up the Mount of Olives, and sure enough I was semi-lost in East Jerusalem. This was actually quite exciting, because I got a chance to use my Arabic to get directions out, and of course enjoy a cup of over-sweetened coffee from some Arab construction workers who were happy with, and a bit amused by, my attempts at speaking their language.

The next day and a half were occupied with seeing the major sites of the city with my friends who had come from Tel Aviv. Jerusalem truly has a ridiculous number of holy sites, to the point that we unknowingly stumbled upon the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is supposed to happen. Of course their were three sites that overshadowed everything else, one from each major monotheistic religion: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where we got a free guided tour from a very enthuastic Canadian priest in training, the Western Wall, and the Dome of the Rock. All three were amazing experiences, but in different ways. The Western Wall is quite unremarkable in appearance, yet might present the purest spiritual experience, free from the distractions of ornate decoration. The Dome of the Rock is probably one of the most beautiful buildings in existence, at least from the exterior (only Muslims are allowed to enter). And the Church of the Holy Sepulcher packs the most history and holy sites in a relatively tiny, cluttered site. It was much different than any other church I've been in, perhaps because its ownership is divided between five different sects, who do not always get along.

As always in the Middle East, the journey back presented plenty of adventures, or misadventures. We literally caught the bus back to the border seconds before it departed, but the trouble really started when we tried to enter Egypt. First of all Israel has a rather evil exit tax of 98 shekels, which of course is impossible not to pay. Then several people had trouble with visas at the border. Normally they could buy a new one without trouble, but because it was Israel it was more complicated, which really means more expensive. But in the end we all got through and caught a minibus to Cairo, ready to enter the homestretch of the semester abroad.

Ahly vs. Zamalek

Last Friday I accomplished one of my goals for this semester by seeing Egypt's biggest domestic football game: Ahly vs. Zamalek. FIFA said that the two clubs share "one of the world's fiercest footballing rivalries," and while the match does not have talent of El Clasico or the Milan derby it certainly shares the passion. This year Al-Ahly had already more or less wrapped up the league title, but a win over their archrivals would be a particularly sweet way to clinch the title. Meanwhile, Zamalek could insure a second place finish, and thus a place in next year's African Champions League, by a victory. Of course bragging rights until the next game next year were also on the line. The price for a second class seat to the game? 30 pounds, or between 5 and 6 dollars. Not too shabby.

We showed up to Cairo International Stadium about an hour and a half before kickoff, to find the stadium already almost completely filled up. Our first error was to enter the Ahly gates, even though we intended to support Zamalek. After we saw that the Zamalek section was still open we asked the guards if we could cross the "no man's land" between the two areas, guarded by two rows of riot police. After some deliberation we were allowed to go over, and found seats with high but good view of the entire field.

The game surpassed all my expectations. Zamalek got off to a stunning start by scoring in the first minute, and the Ahly section went dead quiet. For the rest of the first half there was non-stop action, as the two teams traded goals before going to the locker room tied at 2 all. The second half was a little calmer, so when Zamalek scored with under 15 minutes remaining it seemed that they might have wrapped the game up. The Zamalek section got rowdier and rowdier as the clock wound down, until the game reached injury time, the extra time added by the referee to make up for time lost on injuries and other distraction during the half. Then disaster struck as Ahly scored an equalizer in the final minutes, and it the Zamalek section's turn to fall silent, except for the sound of curses and a few chairs broken in anger. The remaining time expired without incident, and although the game ended in a draw the Ahly crowd definitely came away with a better feeling, having taken a point away from what looked like certain defeat. Despite my disappointment at the result I mostly felt lucky to have witnessed such an incredible game, which provided great entertainment both on and off the field. Here's a video of the game's six goals.

Spring Break: Part Two

Things are getting surprisingly busy here in Egypt, especially since we're entering the time of year when school is actually challenging, or at least time consuming. Final papers are popular in Egyptian classes, so in the next few weeks I'll be writing three 10-12 page papers and several smaller ones, while fitting in a trip to Jerusalem(!) in between. So if I'm a little tardy in posting, please forgive me.

With that note, I'll try to give a few more happenings from Spring Break:

Least Time At A Major Monument: The first day we were in Athens we the Acropolis perched on its hill, so naturally enough we decided to check it out. By that time it was past 6:00, which in Athens is apparently way too late to be open. No big deal, we would come the next day. So the next morning we followed a Lonely Planet walking guide that was supposed to take 2 hours, 4 if you walked slowly, and included the Acropolis. Apparently we are exceptionally slow walkers, and that combined with a lovely hour and a half long lunch put us at the gate of the Acropolis at approximately 2:35, where we told that Athen's most famous destination was closing in 10 minutes. There are two major problems with this: nothing closes on the quarter-hour, and unless its a tea time break why would anyone close before 3:00? But there was no time to argue, so we spent the next ten minutes sprinting frantically around the top of the hill, barely stopping to snap the occassional picture or glimpse at the wonderful scenery below us. Despite the rush, I could appreciate some of the wonder of the place, which I think is much more impressive in person than pictures, like many ancient monuments. The size of the building, like the pillars of the Temple of Zeus we had visited earleir, was truly impressive.

Least Touristy Destination: Skopje, Macedonia

This is definitely not a tourist-oriented city, and it would be difficult to spend more than one or two days of sight-seeing here. Almost none of the major sites had any sort of booth, and the fortress doubles as a sort of park for locals. The only time we bought a ticket it turned out rather poorly; it turns out that the Art Gallery in the old Turkish baths is 60-70% blank walls, with a few pictures in one wing of the building. There is a nice "bazaar" in the town (anyone who has been to Cairo or even Istanbul would probably laugh at the idea of the orderly town market being compared to those cities), and there I bought my only souvenier of the trip, a nice beret. All around, the best thing about Macedonia was the mountains; on the train ride into Skopje we were able to see a gorgeous moonrise over the hills behind us.

The Goofiest Outfit Award:

Easily goes to the Athenian soldiers at their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is a case where a picture is worth a thousand words, apologies for the pigeon wing in the foreground.

Spring Break: The Good, Bad, and Ugly- Part One

This is easily the most challenging post I've attempted yet; trying to describe a 12 day trip through 4 countries with any justice takes far more writing than I can do at the moment, and would require more reading than most of you would probably care for. That fact, combined with the rather annoying reality of schoolwork, means that instead of a thorough summary of my break I'm only going to cover some of the highlights, and maybe a few of the low. But first, let me say that there were far more of the former than the latter, and in general it was the best break I could have asked for, both because of the excellent sites we visited and the great company we enjoyed. And now let me present the 2010 Eastern Europe Trip Awards:

Best Country: Bulgaria

Bulgaria was the suprise of the trip, with just the right combination of great sights, cheap prices, and the feel of being undiscovered. But what might have really made the Bulgaria experience complete was the highly-reputed Hostel Mostel, who turned out to be just as good as advertised. When we arrived in Sofia off the overnight bus from Skopje we were three tired travellers in a random, wet Eastern European city, without much of an idea what, if anything, there was to be seen in town. But as soon as we arrived at Hostel Mostel we were greeted by a cup of coffee and a free map, made by our hostel, with a recommended walking tour that stopped by just about every site in the city, large or small. This gave us a much-needed sense of direction and purpose, and we spent what turned out to be a beautiful day seeing a suprising number of beautiful buildings. The Soviets aren't known for architectural brilliance, but they actually managed to make some impressive, albeit somewhat imposing, buildings in Sofia. And of course there was the beautiful Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is dedicated to the 200,000 mostly Russian soldiers who fought to free Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.

Best City: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The other half of the Bulgarian experience was even better than the first, although this may just show my preference for smaller, historical towns. Veliko Tarnovo has a setting that is hard to beat for good scenery and good defensive capabilities. The oldest part of the town is set on a ridge between two rivers, which is narrowly connected to the old fortress, pictured here. Most of it is ruins nowadays, but it doesn't take much imagination to realize that this was once an excellent place for a defensible capital. Walking anywhere in town was a challenge, as no road could manage to go more than 10 yards without turning, rising, or falling. Veliko was also the setting for one of our best meals, with some excellent Bulgarian beer, some sort of strange Spanish pizza, and some Bulgarian pot dishes.

Worst Moment: Train Ride from Athens to Thessaloniki, Greece

When we decided to save money by taking a midnight train from Athens to Thessaloniki, we assumed that the Greeks would prefer to sleep between midnight and 6 in the morning. Or at least accomadate those who might wish to by turning off/dimming the lights. Unfortunately, the reverse seems to be true, which resulted in a very long and frustrating train ride between the two cities, spent listening to a group of chatty women in the rows before us. Nevertheless, we managed to put in a solid day sightseeing in Thessaloniki, although the coffee market received a considerable boost.

City That Most Deserves More Time: Istanbul

This is a hard one to choose, especially since we only spent a day and a half in Athens, one of the most important cities in history. Nevertheless, Istanbul seems like it would be a wonderful place to spend time a couple of months in. Of course there are all the major sites in Sultanhamet (the oldest district), but our brief forays into other parts of town revealed a town with a much more distinctly Turkish feel, and a huge number of secondary sites that would be worth a visit. Unfortunately student discounts seem to be unknown in Istanbul, so we had to limit ourselves to the must-sees. With a little more time and money Istanbul would be the perfect introduction to the Middle East; with its clean streets, easy public transportation, and somewhat exotic feel it makes for a less shocking transition than other cities. Cairo, for instance.

Alexandria

After a couple of weekends bumming around in Cairo this weekend a group of friends and I decided that it was finally time to visit Egypt's second city: Alexandria. With that in mind we made plans to catch an 8 o'clock train out of Cairo station Friday morning, so we could spend a full day touring the city. Unfortunately, this plan didn't account for Thursday night, which just happened to be the first weekend night after St. Patrick's Day. Of course Americans cannot allow Ireland's holiday to go by unnoticed, and the requisite plans for a felucca ride were made. A felucca, or at least a party felucca, is a long, low boat with excessive lighting and bad speaker systems that can be rented out for under 10 dollars an hour. When this is combined with forty to fifty foreign students and whatever alcohol they bring you get a classic Nile party. This one was particularly anticipated, perhaps because some entrepreneuring soul had promised to acquire Guinness and Jameson, two items which are sorely missed in Cairo. Suffice it to say that it was a successful party, but that meant we didn't get back to the dorms until two or three in the morning, four hours before our planned rendezvous.

Somehow my mind managed to wake up just before seven. I briefly contemplated checking to see if anyone else was actually going to go through with the plan, but I decided that the thought was absurd. Twenty minutes later I was proven wrong when I woke up to a phone call informing me that I had five minutes to get up, pack, and make my way downstairs to leave. I made it in under 10 minutes, and by a minor miracle 4 out of the original 6 travelers caught the 9 o'clock train, an hour late but far ahead of my expectations.

We got into Alexandria about 11, and quickly made our way to the Corniche for a view of the Mediterranean, which really is a beautiful sea. Alexandria is a cleaner, smaller and cooler version of Cairo, which makes a trip there a very pleasant respite from the former. Unfortunately Alexandria resembles Cairo in that it often can only echo a more glorious past which is either destroyed or surrounded by endless concrete high-rises. In Alexandria's case there are two epochs in particular that would be wonderful to see first hand: the ancient city with its lighthouse and library, and the early 20-century city which had close cultural ties to the European Mediterranean, before the Suez Canal crisis forced many foreigners to leave the city.

Secure in the knowledge that most of us would revisit the city, our group took our time to visit major sites. In fact the only "must see" we saw was the Fort of Qaitbay, a smallish but impressive fortress that guards the entrance to Alexandria's bay. Afterwards we found a seafood restaurant with a great view and enjoyed fresh fish and mezze for a surprisingly low price. Then it was time to meet the final two travelers, who took a later train after sleeping in a little later. One of these was Ahmed, an Egyptian friend whose parents own an apartment in Alexandria, which was generously offered to us for the night. After lunch we headed there to drop off our stuff and plan our next move. That turned out to be nap time, which will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with college students' sleeping habits. Then, to complete the stereotype of living lazily, we didn't move much at all until dinner, which was another beautiful affair at a local restaurant. We finished the day by taking a long walk on the corniche to soothe our over-full bellies and enjoy a sheesha and tea session on the coast. So, while many sites went unvisited, there were two good walks and two better meals, which makes the day a successful one by my standards.

The only real drawback to the weekend was the performance of Catholic Big East schools in the NCAA Tournament. In a spirit of optimism I had predicted that Notre Dame would make the Sweet 16, instead they couldn't make it past Old Dominion. My bracket was even more devastated when Georgetown, who I put in the Final Four, somehow fell to Ohio. To complete the trio Marquette lost to Washington, but I could deal with that, I had them losing to New Mexico in the next game anyway.

Spring Break Itinerary

Today John, Matt and I booked most of our hostels for spring break, so our plans are now more or less set. They are ambitious, bordering on crazy, but since most of us didn't foresee returning to the southern Balkans in the neat future we wanted to fit in as much as possible. Anyway, here's the itenerary, with a picture of each destination, so you can see how many of the locations you can guess.

March 26-27: Athens, Greece- Since we fly in on the 26th, this is actually a day and a half. Trying to see the birthplace of democracy over a day and a half may be our most criminal act, but unfortunately its not our only one. We finish up by taking the overnight train to...

March 28: Thessaloniki, Greece- Greece's second largest city has some good Byzantine sites, and is situated in is supposed to be good, mountainious country. In addition to the 28th, we might also spend the next morning here, depending on whether we take the morning or afternoon train to...

March 29-March 30: Skopje, Macedonia- Probably our most random destination, which may or may not have been added purely for the opportunity to get another passport stamp. But actually there are some good things to see here, and it will be nice to escape the bigger cities for a while. Next, on the night of the 30th we will take a night bus to...

March 31: Sofia, Bulgaria- Like most of the cities in the region, Sofia is supposed to have some wonderful scenery. But the real reason to come is to enjoy the highly reputed Hostel Mostel, where $15 dollars a night will buy you a triple room, free breakfast, and a beer in the evening. After spending a day here we will spend the morning of April Fool's Day en route to...

April 1-2: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria- OK, so this is actually the most random of our destinations. But this little place actually has quite a bit going for it, in addition to having another Hostel Mostel it used to be the capital of the famous Second Bulgarian Empire. (Is that an "ah!" of recognition that I hear?) And according to Wikipedia it is often referred to, rather grandly, as "city of the tsars." I'm not sure what the Russians would say about that. Then, we will take a night train to...

April 3-6: Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey- Our little jaunt will end with a bang as we spend 3 1/2 days in this ancient city bridging two continents. There's too much to write about, just know that its supposed to be an amazing place. And finally we'll spend a decent (though still probably insufficient) amount of time somewhere.

By the way, alf mabrouk (a thousand congratulations) to anyone who managed to guess even half the cities. You did better than I could have.

How much would you pay for one of these handsome fellows?

Last weekend some friends and I made it out to the Birqash Market, to briefly exhange the bustle of car traffic with the far more exciting bustle of camel traffic. There wasn't a lot of active bartering, and most of the noble creatures were standing or lying around, with one leg tied to prevent escape. Not that this actually prevented them from trying, and we saw a couple make breaks for freedom before being thoroughly whacked back into obedience by stick-wielding Bedouin. Incidentally, the adjective "noble" doesn't really fit the camel, who seem to have a natural, goofy grin that inspires approximately the same feelings as the blue-footed booby, rather than, say, a bald eagle. So of course we couldn't leave the place without making a good friend, and Matt found just the camel to be our buddy. Jim, our possibly now deceased friend, was probably the scrawniest, ugliest camel of the entire lot. Not only that, he was left all alone, just standing in the middle of a dusty yard without a single companion, camel or man. So when five guys went over and started to devote all their attentions to him, it made his day, or maybe even his life. It also attracted quite a few stares from the locals, who probably found the sight of all the tourists in the market oggling one camel quite funny. Meanwhile we petted Jim until he purred, or rather made a unique sound that fell somewhere between an unmuffled engine starting and Johnny Cash singing Desperado. I just hope that it was actually a sign that he was enjoying the attention, because he might have been groaning in despair.

We were disappointed in one respect: our plans to purchase a camel fell through when found out that camels actually go for quite a bit. The cheapest probably go for about $250, and those probably couldn't make the trip to Zamalek. Now, the more practically-minded readers might be wondering what we could possibly do with a camel. I had similar feelings at first, but further thought convinced me otherwise. For one thing, one camel would feed all of us for the rest of the semester, although we might have to rent about twenty refigerators to hold the meat. But before we sent our purchase to the butcher we could have some rollicking good times making a hit film "Dude, where's my camel," or earn our money back by offering tourists a ride around Zamalek on our camel chariot. Think of a horse-drawn carriage, only better.

Getting back from the camel market turned out to be an adventure in itself. The easiest and most common method for tourists to get to Birqash is to hire a taxi for a few hours, to take you there and back. However, this might cost a person a hundred pounds or more, so obviously we had to find a cheaper alternative. Reaching the market wasn't too difficult, even though we couldn't find the 1 pound microbus we found a van that took us for 5 pounds a piece. However, leaving was a different matter. The guidebook said that a minibus should be waiting at the market, and as soon as enough passengers came on board it could take us to Cairo for one pound. But wherever we looked we couldn't find a bus, or at least one with a driver. The only possibility was a bus in the parking lot that looked fairly abandoned, but when we asked the locals about a Cairo bus they only pointed back towards the entrance. Finally we gave up on the bus and hitchhiked in the back of a pickup. Of course, as soon as we pulled out the seemingly abandoned bus magically appeared behind us, with a full load of passengers. But now it was too late for that, so we had to trust that our driver would fulfill his promise to drop us off at a town where we could catch a different bus. Luckily that did work out, and one (very) full minibus ride we were back in Cairo, safely on familiar ground. But there was one more surprise: when the minibus driver saw a police checkpoint he promptly turned around and took an alternative route around, which looked like it was built for four-wheelers and not old buses.

And now, for a question: How many gods and goddesses are portayed in the Judgement Scene of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead?

Spring Break and Spectacular Pants

Although there aren't any great adventures to speak of, there are a few things that I thought worth writing about.

- First, the outline for my spring break travels are now set. On March 26th Matt (ND), John, and I will be heading to Athens for a few days, perhaps with a fellow Notre Dame student as a guide. Then we're going to make our way across Greece, in a mostly northeastern direction. Finally, after a possible excursion into Bulgaria, we are going to be spending 3-4 days in Istanbul, before flying back to Cairo on April 6th. Of course Athens and Istanbul are both fascinating cities, with plenty of history to occupy an enthusiast. The fact that there are some nice mountains between the two sweetens the deal.

-On the subject of trips, my family is now booked to visit me in Egypt this summer! The vacation should have all the hallmarks of Calton travel, most importantly a certain emphasis on food. Since they will be here for over two weeks we should be able to travel to most of Egypt, including some places I wouldn't be able to see otherwise, like Abu Simbel.

-Today I went through a hour and a half of training, and am now apparently qualified to teach English. One of the activities that past Cairo study abroad students strongly encouraged me to do is STAR, a program that allows students to teach English to refugees living in Egypt. I heard all sorts of good stories about the program, so its one of the things I'm most looking forward to over the semester. Anyway, today we received our textbooks and a few hints, and by this Thursday I'll be instructing about 15 refugees from a variety of nationalities third year English. After looking into the textbook I realized that I might have some homework to do myself; the first lesson was on appositives, which is a grammar term that I probably forgot about two days after I learned it. Turns out its pretty easy, but it served as a reminder that most of us only really learn grammar when we learn a second language, or attempt to teach one to another person.

- 'Ahwas, or coffeehouses, are one of the things I might miss most in Egypt. Nothing makes you feel like you're in a Naguib Mahfouz novel like spending a couple hours drinking tea, smoking sheesha, and having some casual conversation, sometimes even with locals. Last week I met a man from Eritrea at a local 'ahwa, and our conversation ranged from Seattle's miserable weather (his sister lives there) to education in Cairo. All of this for under a dollar.

-Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see much of the Winter Olympics. For some reason, the Egyptians just don't seem interested in sports involving snow and ice. However, my attention has been brought to Norway's mens curling team, and perhaps more importantly to their pants. One picture of those things is enough color for this whole post. Usually I'm all about the host country, but it will be hard to root against these guys tonight in the gold-medal round against Canada.

- In honor of the Olympics, I am going to be adding a new feature to this post, in which I propose a new, hopefully bizarre, question to Life, the Universe, and Everything. To those poor souls who are confused, it has been established that the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42. See The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide for more information. Unfortunately, we're not quite sure what the question is. I'm not claiming to know the question, but hopefully some of my suggestions provide food for thought. And now, without further ado:

How many pounds does a Olympic regulation curling stone weigh? (In case my explanation above was confusing, the answer is 42)

And as a special treat, we're going to make it a double feature, since it's the inaugural run.

How many lines of text are found on a page of one of the famous Gutenberg Bibles? (One of my all time favorites)

That's all for tonight, thanks for reading and have a great week!

"There's nothing over there you want to see"

This weekend I was able to visit a site that I've wanted to see since I arrived in Cairo, the Mosque of Qaitbey, a 14th century Mamluk ruler and prolific builder. The Lonely Planet guidebook said that "its intricacy and delicacy were never surpassed in Cairo or anywhere else in the Islamic world," and it is featured on the Egyptian 1 pound bill. So while I knew that it wasn't a major tourist destination, I thought that most of the locals would be familiar with its location, or at least its existence. My bad. After we finally managed to escape a taxi who informed us (at the end of a 40 minute ride) that Qaitbey Mosque was in fact in Alexandria, we set out to find someone slightly more knowledgable about the area. We soon met a fairly friendly woman, whose statement is echoed in this post's title. We insisted that we did in fact want to go to the City of the Dead, where the mosque is located, despite its somewhat bleak appearance. It's known as the City of the Dead because it used to be, and still is, a large cemetery. However, for years the deceased interred there have shared space with their living counterparts, which gives the area an entirely unique look and feel. Anyway, a policeman finally pointed us in the direction of the mosque, but warned us that it was far away. Egyptians must have a low estimation of tourist's walking abilities, because it actually took about 4 minutes to reach our destination.

The mosque, which is primarily a tomb for Qaitbey, was much smaller than most which I have visited. Yet its decoration, both inside and outside, matched or exceeded anything I've

seen so far in Islamic Cairo. The dome, which is the most famous part of the complex, does a nice job of combining two distinct geometric patterns, one composed of stars and the other floral. The minaret was also ornately carved, and featured everything from columns that seemed Greek to distinctly Islamic muqarnas (a sort of honeycomb carving). The inside was nicely decorated, with some lovely stained glass windows and a very pretty roof. Although it didn't take long to see the whole building, it was definitely worth the trip out.

Afterwards we decided to wander around the neighborhood for a while, and before long we found an opportunity for some mild mischievousness. In the middle of a quiet alley we came across another old mosque, but this time it was one which had been completely neglected. There was a lot of graffiti and trash lying around, but we still could see some of its former grandeur. The real highlight came when we went in the chamber below the main dome, where we found a mysterious hole in the floor about 8-9 feel deep, with a further dropoff of unknown depth on one side. Images of tomb raiders came to mind, but we resisted the tempation to explore further, since going underneath an abandoned mosque in the City of the Dead just sounds like trouble. Maybe we'll bring some rope on the next visit. After that little adventure we walked around for a little longer, and soon after returned to the dorms for a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

On an unrelated note, I recently finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which I had picked up in Denver as a traveling book. Despite its considerable length it's an easy read, and the last couple hundred pages are quite suspenseful. While reading I thought about how you might put protagonists in two categories: those who impress with their perfection and control, and those whose imperfections further the story and its message. John Galt from Atlas Shrugged would be an extreme example of the first, and James Bond might also fit there. The second type seems to be more common in modern media; to choose a random example the cast of Juno are entertaining because they so often can't control the situation, but they nevertheless survive and even thrive. Edmond Dantes, on the other hand, usually fits squarely in the first category, as the reader only rarely catches glimpses of surprise or uncertainty in his action. I suppose this might just be a distinction between heros and anti-heroes, but I did enjoy thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of each type. If I had to summarize these strengths in one word, I would say that the first are sublime while the second are accesible.

Baab Zuweilla

Despite my initial skepticism I quickly learned to appreciate the beauty of having every Tuesday off. While its not very conducive to travel, it does mean that I am never more than a day removed from a break. It also provides a great opportunity to sleep in, avoid doing homework, and maybe explore some of the lesser-known attractions of Cairo.

This past Tuesday a small group decided to take a taxi to Islamic Cairo and walk around without much of a set itinerary. We were rewarded when we came across Baab Zuweila (baab means door, or in this case gate), which is the last remaining southern gate from an 11th century wall surrounding Cairo. The gate was much bigger than I had expected, and made me reconsider my image of Fatimid Cairo, which at the time was mostly a dwelling for the ruling dynasty slightly removed from the main metropolis of Fustat further to the south. It was certainly well-defended. In the 15th century the two minarets in this picture were added, and today they give visitors an excellent view of medieval Cairo. Not without a cost, though! The minarets are accessed by small, tight stairways with only occasional lighting. And that's just to reach the first level. Right before the second podium the stairway, for unknown reasons, suddenly becomes a series of iron bars arranged in a spiral around a central pole.

This might be hard to imagine, so hopefully this picture will help. If you look behind friend/former roommate Matt Boutilier, you can see what I'm talking about. It also gives a good idea of how good the view of Cairo is from up there. Once again I learned that Cairo's size defies the imagination, and that it is aptly named the City of a Thousand Minarets. A few of my friends were brave/crazy enough to make the ascent to the highest podium via that staircase, but I chickened out. Maybe next time.

After descending from the dizzying heights of Baab Zuweila we headed north into the heart of Islamic Cairo. On the way we enjoyed tea at a surprisingly non-pushy tapestry making shop. The work there was amazing, but also a little too expensive to buy off-handedly.

We finished the trip by visiting Al-Azhar mosque, one of Cairo's most famous sights and another Fatimid era building. Al-Azhar, which is both a mosque and a university, was built in the early 970's, and is considered as one of the oldest centers for higher education in the world. For most of its history it has also been considered the center of Sunni Islamic law and theology. Although the main courtyard is actually quite small, it was also very peaceful, which is always a relief after traveling through the small, crowded streets of Cairo.

P.S. I did get a haircut this week, but due to a slight miscommunication, it was cut a bit

shorter than I expected. So, because I haven't included any pictures of myself in Egypt yet, and because this is a look I don't intend to replicate for some time, I've included a picture of the resulting almost-biker look.

A Small Thought

You know it's time to get a haircut when barbers are telling you "good price" when you walk by. On the other hand, something similar happened the other day when I walked by a muffler shop, even though I thought it was fairly clear I had no pressing need for a muffler.

Amr Diab Concert

Last weekend included a couple of memorable events, most prominently one last glance at Egyptian enthusiasm for their African Cup triumph. But first, a little background. One night about a week ago my roommate (Matt) and I, along with a few other friends, were looking for a certain bar in Cairo. Of course, finding any bar in Cairo is a challenge, but this one was particularly tough as it was located on the 10th floor of an unassuming hotel. During this quest we decided to enlist the help of a few local guys, which isn't as good of an idea as it sounds. While Egyptian women tend to be unapproachable, many men are more than eager to help out tourists, even if they don't really know where a place is. This is especially true of younger men, who love to make American friends, perhaps as a sort of status symbol. Anyway, Matt had soon found four young men who assured as that they could lead us where we wanted to go. This initiated about an hour of wandering around downtown Cairo, before we finally stumbled across the right place, more by luck than anything else. However, the time had not been entirely wasted as Matt had become fast friends with one of the Egyptians, a relationship which would later bear good fruit.

As an aside, Egyptian young men are much more European, or at least what I think of as European, than American in their friendships with each other. This becomes apparent whenever you have talked to an Egyptian man for about a minute before he promptly grabs your arm and tucks in inside his, so that suddenly you are walking down the street arm in arm. They are also much more willing to use dramatic language towards male friends; phrases that many guys in the U.S. would be hesitant to tell a new girlfriend for fear of being seen as too needy.

Well, last weekend Ahmed (the Egyptian friend) has expressed a desire to see Matt, and suggested that they go to an official celebration of Egypt's victory in Cairo International Stadium, complete with a concert by the Arab superstar Amr Diab. Tickets were only 10 pounds (about $1.80), and the proceeds went to help flooding victims in Egypt. Matt and Ahmed were kind enough to invite others, and that's how six Americans found themselves in Cairo Stadium with about 50,000 Egyptians. They went absolutely bonkers when the stars of the football team made an appearance, and again when Amr Diab came out. I can't say I enjoyed the performance too much, since I don't particularly like Amr Diab in the best of circumstances, but being immersed in such a completely Egyptian environment was really cool, and couldn't have happened unless Ahmed told us what was going on. Many of the Egyptians who attended came from the suburbs of Cairo, and don't see Americans very often, so we were sort of celebrities. Unfortunately the two girls in our group received a little too much attention, and once again Ahmed provided great assistance in warding off crowds of camera waving boys. The moral of the story: its worth getting to know some local fellows, even if their degree of friendliness is a little strange at first.

Classes Begin and Pyramids

Hello everyone! Quite a bit has happened since my last post, but I'll just try to go over some of the highlights. First, last Sunday Egypt beat Ghana 1-0 to win their third straight African Cup of Nations. Unfortunately I missed most of the match because of crowded traffic on the commute from school, but I was able to catch the last ten minutes and the only goal of the game. Of course the streets were crazy afterwards, especially if you left the island of Zamalek and went into Downtown or Mohandissen on the west side of the Nile. The Egyptians would have preferred to carry this momentum into the World Cup this summer, but it does make a nice consolation prize for missing out on world's biggest sporting event.

Sunday was also the first day of classes, which I'm mostly happy about. I think my Arabic will improve a lot, since I have a very good (and patient) teacher, class four days a week, and plenty of opportunities to practice. My Islamic Art and Architecture professor is great, he's an Irishman who backpacked around the Middle East in his twenties and fell in love with its art, and never looked back. I also have interesting courses on Sufism, Islamic Law, and Middle Eastern history between 1500 and 1800 or so. My history teacher actually went to school in Lebanon with one of my Notre Dame professors, so I guess it's a small world, at least for American academic expats. My only real complaint is that I have to get up at around 6:00 AM every school day, in order to catch the 7:00 AM bus to campus. It gets there around 7:40, which is still 50 minutes before my first class, but the next bus doesn't leave until 8:30.

We don't have any classes on Tuesday, so that is the designated day for exploring Cairo and its immediate surroundings. This week I finally visited what is probably the biggest must-see in Egypt, the Pyramids. Like the Mayan ruins, seeing them in person had an impact that no picture could convey. The two biggest ones, of Khufu and Khafre, are mind-bogglingly huge, especially when you consider that they were completed around 2500 B.C. We were able to go inside the Great Pyramid (Khufu) and the interior chamber still had completely smooth walls. After seeing those two we wandered around the area for a bit, and scrambled up one of the smaller pyramids nearby before the police caught us. It was unfortunate, but there were no real repercussions. Finally we took a loop through the desert and ended at the Sphinx. Unlike the Pyramids, which are bigger than I imagined, the Sphinx is smaller. It was, nonetheless, impressive, but by then we were ready to find some food and rest our feet for a bit.