Culture Shock

Every time I travel, I cant get over "how different everything is" and then I rebound ten minutes later and go for something like "wow but even after that, we're all the saaame" (And you're all nodding your heads right now, yes Kjrstin, you do that...)

Well here I am in Egypt, and everything is SO different, but we're all the same.... (YUP!)

We've experienced a lot of culture shock this past week, even on campus. (Maybe mostly on campus)

I love it, you know this about me. I love being outside of my comfort zone, I LIKE culture shock. I love walking down the street and seeing people in western cloths, girls in hijabs and women in burkas. I love how the whole neighborhood crowds around the smallest TV out on the street with an extension cord coming down from the roof to scream obscenities at the algerian football team. And I love the kids, cuuuuuuuute kids man. A few nights ago as a group of us was trekking through the desert we noticed a group of 8-10 year old boys waving at us. Now normally, you do not waaave at an egyptian male. No no nooo. But they're kids, we thought we'd make their day, and we did =)

Which brings me to my hardest task while in Egypt. Ok. Eye contact is BAD. (Whaaaatttt??) Women who make eye contact are being forward and muuust be interested in the Egyptian man that has caught their attention. Ugh. So growing up in North Dakota where its normal to wave out the window of your car to strangers, being taught that its is rude to avoid eye contact... well it's hard for me. I have a staring problem too, I literally will STARE at people just out of curiosity, Im a big people watcher. So this has been very difficult for me. A few nights ago I accidentally even smiiiiled out the window of our taxi and the car began to follow us!! They eventually left us alone and we didnt feel unsafe or anything, but it was crazy.

Another thing we have to get used to are the very strict rules of the muslim community. On campus, violations warrant a certain number of points, we start with seven, and when you run out you're kicked out. I dont think any of the rules really bother me, but it is hard to get used to. We have a dress code, shoulders and knees covered at all times, no cleavage, and then obviously no midriffs and stuff. That rule would be fine if it wasnt literally 3000 degrees out everyday. But that's fine, there are muslim girls in our suites and classes and Im happy to respect their standard of decency. Another weird weird thing is the checkpoints and the guards! I feel like we live on some kind of military base... we go through a big guarded gate to get onto campus. We swipe our card and our picture comes up and they search our bags and smell our water bottles and we walk through a metal detector. Just to get onto campus (which actually makes me feel super safe obviously, so its all good). And we have checkpoints in front of each sex's dorms to make sure no one smuggles a boyfriend in or anything, which is 7 points and would result in immediate action, off campus, bags packed in 30 minutes. Soo weird. Also no alcohol or drugs on campus, no big deal.

The weirdest thing that none of us can wrap our heads around is a rule against PDA. There is absolutely no hand holding, cuddling or kissing on campus. Espeeecially if one of you is egyptian, the guards will fliiiiip!! Its absolutely no problem for me personally but I just feel so bad for anyone who might meet someone here, especially those students who will be here for ayear or longer. Sheesh.

Anyway. I better see the pyramids soon, hahahaha. I think we're going this weekend.

Heres a cool panaramic picture off of the balcony next to my room, this is the outside of the dorms =)

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Shisha and daNile

Friday night, a huuuge group from campus went down to the Nile for a Felucca ride! A felucca is like a giant gondola who mated with a sail boat, and theyve been in use sense the pharaohs, theyre awesome. It was a really nice ride too, very peaceful, and Cairo is gorgeous at night!! It has the third most lights in the world according to my RA, and it can be seen from space (after NY and Moscow)

After that, 15 of us stayed behind and wandered the streets with 3 egyptian guys who live on campus too. We stopped for some shisha and hibiscus tea (Nam nam naaam!!.. which actually means yes yes yes, but works good for YUM too!) We ended up being out intil about 4am and taking taxis home (about 2 dollars each, which is wiiiild!!) The taxi ride was crazy. As we had been warned. We all had one arabic speaker with us, so we were fine, but the taxis drive really crazy... it was fun, I could drive like an Egyptian, Id like that.

Last night we went out for shisha too, but this time we decided to walk "down the street" to this beautiful westernized mall called the Meeting Point. It was about 20 minutes through the empty sandy highway, it was really nice though. There were a ton of us, and a good girl/guy ratio so we didnt get harassed or anything. We first ate at a fancy restaurant where the waiters wore tuxidoes and gave us finger bowls to wash our hands. I tried my fiiiirst pigeon!! I guess people eat pigeon everywhere except the US, which seems crazy... its like a rat.. ew.. pigeon, right? But it was good!! Mine may have been an anarexic pigeon, but it was good none the less. After that we went to the Aroma Lounge and got our shisha on. It was such a nice night, just hanging out and getting to know people and stuff.

Nowwww, for orientation and technical stuff. Adding/dropping classes and going on tours! I hope everything goes smoothly!

Old Cairo

So. It's been crazy =)

We have amaazing RAs here on campus who have organized a lot of trips and activities for everyone, and it's been really easy making friends. Ive been hanging out with a really awesome group of people from South Carolina, Oregon, Georgia, New York, Santa Barbara, Colorado and a few Egyptians. Its been a rioooot, seriously.

The first day here we just went to a little town 10 minutes away called Rihab. Its nice, it just has stores and stuff, and we bough some essentials and egyptian phones. With arabic on the keys. Soo cool! Haha!

The second day we went into Old Cairo all day. Its about a 45 minute bus ride from school, so not bad. The bus dumped us right in Coptic Cairo, or some people call it the religious center, because there are churches, synagogues and mosques all within a few blocks of each other. We visited the two oldest churches in Egypt. One is built over an old roman fort, the other has a crypt below it where Mary and Jesus supposedly lived while hiding from Herod. Ah. So cool. (No pictures allowed tho =/)

Our second stop was a gorgeous little synagogue built over Moses' mother's house! (Even though he went to the pharaoh's castle on the river and the river runs south to north and the palace was south of the synagogue, but that's cool) haha

Then we went to the largest mosque in Cairo, it was beautiful. My first mosque experience! We split, girls in one enterence and boys in the other. The boys strolled in in their t-shirts and shorts... we took off our shoes and had to borrow hijabs to cover our heads. It was soo interesting though to see people praying and reading and just hanging out. (There were men sleeping on the floor all decked out in their male burkas (I forget what their called, sorry)!

It was an amazing, eye-opening experience. The other day I got to here prayer call too, soo cool!

I reeeally admire muslim people, they are soo devout. And it's Ramadan right now too so they are all fasting all day until sunset, no water even!! And its HOT.

Anyway after that we went back to the other AUC dorms which are in the city and had dinner and then walked around along the Nile.

Cairo is interesting. Its beautiful to me, but I dont think it would qualify as beautiful by any standard deffinition. Its filthy. You can see that the buildings have changed color over the years, and there is a lot of trash and pot holes on the street. And mangy cats literally everywhere.

But its soo incredibly interesting, everything is so different from what Im used to. So yes, it's beautiful. Colorful laundry hanging from everyone's window, interesting trinkets on the street, and the architecture, ah! Its beautiful. The Nile is beautiful too if you dont look closely enough to notice the trash floating. My friend Margaux saw a dead donkey last time she was here.... hah.

But its beautiful.

I really love it here, Im looking forward to a really awesome semester!! We'll just see how classes go! And I dont have a roommate yet, eeek!

Well here's a good dose of pictures =)

Looking like green cult members if you had to cover your shoulders too

Gwen, Sophie, Margaux and I lookin super fly in our hijabs!

The Suspending Church

Downtown =)

Ma salama <3

Day 1 !

HI MOM AND DAD!!!

Well Im here!! Finnnnally! After years of dreaming, months of planning and days of traveling. I am actually here.

It's currently 2am here at the beautiful campus if the American University in Cairo =)

I arrived yesterday morning at 4am.

I like to sneak up on my adventures, fly in at night. (Its actually not my preference but it does seem to be the trend.)

Anyway, so suffice to say, in all that darkness I havent seen anything of Egypt and Cairo except its people and its road ways... which are terrifying. Everyone drives like a maniac. True story: WORSE than Mexico, worse than Tanzania, evennnn worse than Rome!! (If you can imagine. Probably not) But it's fun. And no one really yells or honks, everyone seems very patient here, and slow. As the RA Rashid told me, 5 minutes in Egyptian is at least an hour. (I know this bc my key just willllll not work when I want to open my door. Ever.)

But campus is gorgeous. Really beautiful, and gigantic too. Not to mention how beautiful Arabic is in general.

Everything is gorgeous. But only on campus, because we are our own oasis, with air, water, trees, a pool, internet.. all in the middle of developing New Cairo. Which translated means pure blank empty desert.

Ill show you =)

I better go to sleep! But here are some pictures so far =)

(Its been dark so I only have a few)

((Click on them to make them bigger!!)

This is just a hall way on the way to food!

The view from the dorms. Desert desert desert!!

Home sweet home =)

("Home" number 2... or 3...)

AUC =)

Goodnight !!!

Dedications:

This blog is for the purpose of relaying small excerpts and what is likely to be millions of pictures of my adventures on to my family and friends =)

Id like to dedicate this blog to my parents, who have been nothing short of amazing my entire life, and who have no intention of facebook stalking me (I really appreciate that)
Thank you Mom and Dad for all your support and hugs and encouragement, no one could ask for better parents!!

SO. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, friends, family, lovers, enemies and snoops, for your support and encouragement as I embark on this journey =)