A Winter Wonderland

Hi all,

I am sorry that I have been missing in action. Surprisingly, I have been crazy busy, here in the USA :) I have been working on accepting new co-op members and getting together all of my classes and all of that. I know that everyone knows what I am talking about . . . But, if it makes anyone feel better, I have been reading all of the posts. Everyone's experiences sound awesome!

So, I woke up to a text message this morning that read: This is not a test. Princeton is closed to all non-essential employees. Classes canceled the entire day. Check email or 609-258-SNOW. I then got another email, soon after, explaining that it, for sure, was a snow day!!! And everything on campus was cancelled for the day.

So, giddy like a 12 year old school girl, I ran to a girl's room 2 floors above--Kaitlyn Hamilton--and to Cuyler--to Katie Boyce's room--to wake them both up at 7:00 in the morning and alert them of the weather conditions. I am sure that they appreciated being woken up at 7:00. . .Well, what can you do? When I don't have any roomies, I have to make do.

We got about 8 inches last night. And we got another 6 inches this past weekend. And the weather says that we are supposed to get another 6 inches by the end of the day. Yeah, it is pretty white outside.

I sent an email to Julia this morning telling her about an igloo built outside of Patton/Dillon. 6 feet by 6 feet, it is a legit igloo, intact with foot snow blocks and an intricate entrance. I peered inside and saw 4 people decked in OA gear asleep inside. It was a pretty great surprise.

There is a snowman competition on campus today. The winners get a gift certificate to Twist. I have convinced the co-op to take part. So, you guys are going to have to wait on the results . . .

Luv,
Sara

Umm al-Dunya (Mother of the World)

Hi friends! Sorry not to update sooner; internet on campus and at home has been temperamental.

Sorry that you two aren’t feeling well! It sounds like you’re all having excellent adventures.

Cairo is overwhelming but awesome! I just arrived last Sunday evening, but it’s been an eventful week and a half! On Monday, my wonderful roommate (Anna, Princeton ’09) moved in properly to our lovely apartment and explored. The apartment is spacious and has a lot of natural light, which is nice. The other Princeton kids’ apartments have been a bit of nightmare (flooding, non-flushing toilets, malfunctioning ovens), so we really lucked out. There has also been quite a Princeton contingent here! Along with the nine study abroad-ers, there’s my roommate Anna, Will Wagner who was here for thesis research, and Karen Campion, visiting from Alexandria.

Clare, Will, Lea and I went to the top of the Burj al-Qahira (Cairo Tower) that night, which was so cool. The lights of Cairo extend literally as far as the eye can see; the city is beyond huge.

Tuesday and Wednesday we had orientation at the campus in New Cairo, which is about an hour away from Cairo proper. I walk about 15 minutes to the bus stop – and cross the Nile in the process! The various shopkeepers along my street now recognize and greet me, which is so nice. The sweet old flower-seller called me over this morning and gave me flowers. New Cairo is an unnecessarily cramped settlement of villas literally out in the desert, but the campus is so clean and bright, and it’s nice to get away from the noise, dirt, and crowds of the city. Apparently USAID paid a lot of money to build the new campus, so there are stickers on random things here (walls, printers) that say “From the American People.”

On Thursday, I went to Al-Azhar, which is kind of like the Vatican of Sunni Islam. It was so so exciting! The mosque was beautiful. That night, Anna and I had a very convivial dinner with our landlady and her family. They’re a lively bunch! The littlest granddaughter is three and so adorable. She kept everyone in stitches with animal impressions. Everyone in the family (along with Cairo’s cab drivers) thinks my Princeton-proper, standard, formal Arabic is hilarious. Grandpa laughed in my face when I introduced myself, and then pretended to put on an imam’s cap.

That night, Egypt played Algeria in the African Cup of Nations. We watched the game at the Hard Rock Café with some new Egyptian friends and a ton of other study-abroad kids. It was quite rowdy. Egypt demolished Algeria 4-0, which was sweet revenge because Algeria had kicked Egypt out of the World Cup running. Cairo erupted in joy. We couldn’t catch a cab home until four cops pretty much pulled over a cabbie who was speeding along the Corniche in the city-wide impromptu parade/joy ride. He didn’t allow the presence of passengers to moderate his driving, and sped and swerved around Garden City with joyful, reckless abandon. By the time we were crossing the bridge into Mohandiseen, where I live, everyone had made it out into the streets and traffic stopped altogether, such that we got out and walked. Will bought Egyptian flags and waved them, which made us so many friends. Hundreds of people were setting off fireworks, honking, dancing in the streets, climbing all over cars, setting aerosol spray on fire, singing – all at 1 in the morning! It’s a good thing Cairo is more or less dry! We watched the mayhem from the roof of our apartment building. The celebratory traffic and mayhem continued unabated until about 2:30 am, when I went to sleep. I had literally never seen anything like that night.

The next day, I tagged along on a dorm trip to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Seeing the Pyramids was great! The Sphinx was suitably inscrutable, and we tried to imitate it without much success (see facebook).

On Saturday we wandered around Islamic Cairo, which was so cool. It’s very different from the rest of the city: narrow, sloping streets, occasional livestock, calm, amazing old Mamluk mosques and Ottoman fountains everywhere you look. Ever since I got to Cairo, I’ve been looking forward to seeing the Sultan Qalawun funeral complex, which was one of my favorite buildings in an art history class. We couldn’t find it anywhere on my tourist map, but then I saw a shop called “Kalwoon” – we looked around the corner and there it was! That was so exciting.

There was a still-more exuberant reprise of the soccer festivities on Sunday night, when Egypt won the African Cup of Nations by beating Ghana 1-0. We watched the game downtown near Tahrir Square with some Egyptian college students Ari has befriended. They were very useful protection from the ubiquitous creepers, and so we got to join the celebrations in Tahrir Square. There were blowtorches, people dancing on moving cars, Egyptian flags everywhere, throngs and throngs of joyful Cairenes, etc. It took me an hour and a half and both a subway and a taxi ride to get home through the traffic, but it was absolutely worth it.

The past few days we’ve all been attending classes and wrestling with the AUC registrar to get into the classes we want. My classes seem good! I’m taking standard Arabic, Architecture of Cairo, Development Agencies, Muslim Political Thought, Government and Politics of Egypt, and task force.

Yesterday, I had to buy a plunger, because Cairene plumbing is tenuous at best. Pardon the overshare. I Google-translated, and when I typed the Arabic words back in and translated them, I got “diving compressor,” which I suppose is a decent description of a plunger. Of course, I couldn’t find the plunger in Alfa Market, a sort of dingy megastore, and so had to ask the guy in the store where the diving compressors were. He, understandably, looked at me like I was nuts and then showed me to the wetsuit (seriously!) and flipper section. I then explained that I needed a diving compressor for the bathroom, which perplexed him further. He called over his buddy, and I repeated my request, which was still ineffective until I supplemented it with a self-conscious demonstration of plunging a toilet. They understood, showed me the plunger section, and then burst out laughing as I walked away, blushing and stumbling over a wicker end-table.

So all is well here! The other Americans here are great. I want to meet some more Egyptians, so I think I’m going to try out for crew, but may have to reconsider if they row in the Nile, which is pretty foul now. Miss you all!

Hey, hey! Life here is still great and since we don't start classes until next week, I'm basically continuing vacationing activities. Saturday night a bunch of us hiked up to the top of Lion's head mountain (think Pride Rock) and then had a picnic dinner there as we watched the sun set over the city below. Because it was a full moon, we were able to climb back down in the dark since the moon shown just enough light on the path. It was gorgeous! I was however, slightly deceived about how difficult it was going to be... I started of thinking I was going on a stroll only to find out that the path included two ladders and two chains for true mountain climbing. Still, very fun!

I've also now signed up for classes, all of which I am very excited about. I'm currently enrolled in "Liberation in Southern Africa," "Genocide: African Experiences," and "Medical Anthropology" (+ task force, of course). Just wait: when I come back I may be a mountain climbing, good-doing, Namibian sailor! By that I mean I've signed up for the mountain club, the community service group, and the Namibian society, and the yachting club.

Well, I'll keep you updated! It sounds like all of you (minus MIA Sara and Laura) are having fun. Miss you much!

Love, love, love,

Brooke