Learning the walk

Hey everyone!

By now, I've gotten a pretty good handle on things, from work to the language.

Work at Population Council
The Population Council occupies a 4-story building in Maadi. I have a feeling that Maadi is an upscale part of town that’s catered to foreigners. For example, there are many fancy hotels and restaurants that are obviously not Egyptian.

Every day at work, I’m greeted by a doorman who already knew my name by the 2nd day of work. There is also a “butler” (I actually don’t know what to call him...maybe office boy is better?) at my workplace, whose job ranges from making and delivering Egyptian tea for all the employees to greeting visitors to our office. Though he asked me if I wanted tea, I didn’t have the heart to ask him make me some, because I have two legs and I can walk to the kitchen to make some myself…

The “weekday” here is from Sunday to Thursday, which is awesome because I’ve always wanted Fridays off! :D

Arabic lessons
Ahmed has been kind enough to offer me Arabic lessons. We had our first lesson at Hardee’s, learning how to say things like “fork” and “napkin”. I actually put my Arab words into use quite fast!

Take for instance my trip to work. I have to take the taxi from the Metro station to my workplace. As I got into the taxi, I blurted out the location of my workplace in Arabic, instead of shoving my planner with the written address in Arabic in the driver’s face. I told the driver to stop in front of the Population Council (“oh-af haina”) and asked the driver for the fare (“biqam”). Then, he showed me a bill for 10 Egyptian pounds. I retorted by saying, “Quetil!” which means, “Too much!”

In the end, the taxi driver and I compromised at 6 Egyptian pounds. Even though I’m learning Arabic, I’m still very Chinese at heart.

Touristy Things
Ahmed and I went to the Egyptian Museum the other day. I saw King Tut’s sarcophagus and lots and lots of gold-plated jewelries! Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take any pictures (not even without flash!) of the artifacts. Pooper. So I ended up buying books with lots of pictures at the museum shop. Postcards are coming, people!

I also went to the Nile River at night. It was quite a scene. There were lots of boats that had obnoxious music blasting non-stop. I don’t understand why they had to ruin such a perfectly serene environment with so much noise. It doesn’t make for a very romantic boat trip for the couples on board.

The night before yesterday, Iwent over to the Giza pyramids again, but this time I went to ride on those sand 4-wheel motorbikes in the desert (minus the helmet and all). The craziest things happened, but to keep the story short, I'm still alive and my limbs are still intact.

Old Cairo was my next stop. Old Cairo happens to be the location of the biggest Islamic educational institution in the Arab world. The architecture is astounding at night. I will have Facebook pictures uploaded soon.

Old Cairo’s atmosphere really reminded me of Hong Kong’s night markets. There were things being sold everywhere, from Egyptian rugs to papyrus paintings of Queen Nefertiti. There were also a lot of restaurants that extended onto the streets. I had a bowl of ice-cream, along with an insightful conversation with Ahmed about Islam (how suitable, given we were directly across a mosque).

Side note on security: Ever since coming to Cairo, I have noticed that they give foreigners a lot of slack. For example, when I visited Egyptian Museum, the guards did not question me at all, while Ahmed was questioned about why he was going there, blah blah blah. This basically happened whenever we are stopped by security. Also, there are metal detectors everywhere but they never check my bag whenever I beep (which always happens). So much for installing all those metal detectors.

Another side note on getting past security: Whenever Ahmed gets questioned by authorities, he responds by stating that he’s an employee of this huge GSM company in Egypt. Immediately, the guards let him pass (and ask him to do them a favor related to cell phones). It’s so neat to see what you learn inside the classroom (for example, “wasta”) in action.