Ramadan started here on the 12th of September and it goes for a month. For more in-depth information on Ramadan click here.

I finally found a nice Western style cafe where I can study, use the internet, and gather with friends. Cafe Greco is about a 20 minute subway ride from my house and the ride is totally worth it. Finding this place has augmented my comfort level in Cairo substantially.

Prior to coming to Egypt I decided that if I found a good job in the Middle East I would take it. I knew before I left that my chances were slim but I wanted to take the risk anyways. I've started my research this week so I'll post an update and if anyone has any suggestions or advice please comment.

I ran into two Eritrean girls last night. I hear most Eritreans here are poor refugees trying to go to either Europe or the US but these girls were definitely well educated. They both attended American schools and are fluent in English. They promised to introduce me to the Eritrean community. Maybe I'll get some good Eritrean food soon.

Profile #2
Aisha is a graduate student from Uganda. Before coming to the American University she was a government employee. Leaving her post was a risk because in Uganda getting more education does not necessarily translate into a better job. Additionally, common among developing countries, a government job is a really good job to have. She came to the American University because she was desperately looking for change, self-improvement, and a new opportunity. According to Aisha, in Uganda it is possible to get an education, work really hard, and still get stuck doing nothing. A reality that leads to a sense of hopelessness for many.

Last week Aisha invited me to her apartment where she rents a room from a Ghanaian women. This women has been living in Cairo for ten years. She has a young son, Paul, who lives with her and her husband resides in Israel where he works to support the family. Aisha told me that it is now common for Africans to come to Cairo and try to get into Israel in order to find work. For black African men it is even more difficult because it is really hard to nearly impossible for them to find work in Egypt while they try to get into Israel.

Aisha is leaving the American University and heading back to Uganda on Saturday because she is convinced that a masters degree will never improve her financially. She decided that when she gets back to Uganda she will try to start her own business and see where it leads to.

I hope nothing but the best for her.

Week two in Cairo

My Arabic classes started last week and it seems like its going to be intense. The classes are broken up into grammar, speaking, and colloquial. The main area I hope to improve is hearing and speaking. The colloquial is extremely important because in the other classes they teach an extremely formal why of speaking which gets you no where on the street.

Over the past week I’ve been to old Coptic Cairo, the pyramids in Giza, and took a bus tour of Cairo.

Old Coptic Cairo, as the name implies, is the old center of the Coptic Church. I visited Churches that were hundreds of years old. The only problem is that tourist guides are not available. This may have something to do with the fact that there is no cover charge for entering these ancient buildings.

I went to the pyramids that are located in Giza which is about thirty minutes from downtown. This was kind of disappointing because I assumed that we had to go deep into the dessert to see the pyramids.

The most amazing part is when you first sent your eyes on the pyramids. For years we’ve seen them on television, like National Geographic, and read about them in school, but to see them in real life is a bit overwhelming.

The pyramids at Giza are not considered the best ones so I may venture out to the other ones. One problem with Giza is the amount of hustlers and lack of proper policing. In fact one of the security guards tried to hustle me and my group. I won’t bored you with all the ways people tried to hustle us but this one was funny. Four of us walk up to a pyramid and a man in uniform propositioned us for a tour and introduced himself as the tour expert of that specific pyramid. Maybe he thought we were illiterate because he was wearing a badge that said security guard, in English. We decided to follow him. This is how it went for the entire time:
Man: “see this”
Us : “yes”
Man: “this is a cat”
Man: “see this”
Us : “yes”
Man: “this is a…”
You get the picture. What he didn’t know was we had a fact book. When we approached him about the discrepancies between his information and the book he merely shrugged it off and continued.

We actually had fun with him because he tried really hard to entertain us.

On of the most enjoyable things of being here is the people I get to meet. So I decided that I would try to profile a new person as much as possible.

I’ve spoken about Bakry in my last post. He is now finishing his Masters thesis and has applied to some universities in the US in pursuit of a PhD in public policy. Interestingly, his first choice is the University of Washington, Seattle. Maybe my family will have him over for some good Eritrean food.

In my next post I’ll profile Aisha. Aisha is a graduate student from Uganda.