Khan el-Khalili

The Khan el-Khalili (known henceforth as The Khan) is the most famous marketplace in Cairo. It is located in the Islamic quarter (just a few blocks from our first walk in the Islamic district which I blogged about in July) , dates back to the Middle Ages, and its thousands of shops feature everything from tacky brass pyramids to beautiful handmade furniture and jewelry. This is where your blue Muski glass came from, Andrew and Jen and Suzy! Muski glass is recycled glass, usually brown or blue, which is named after the famous Muski street from the Khan.

It is overwhelming to say the least but thankfully I know some women who've taken me past the touristy souvenir shops on the outskirts into the deep nooks and crannies of the market, introducing me to their favorite shops and shopowners. This was my second trip to the Khan and, unlike the first, this time I brought my camera!































































Muski Street:


If you look closely, you can see a horse and carriage just barely squeezing through this narrow lane:

Karanis

Well, I'm back after a very nice month of visiting family and friends. Highlights included a baby shower/afternoon tea for Heidi, a very special visit from my friends Dee and Wendy from Fairbanks, a visit with the Lyons clan in Ellensburg, going to the MLS cup with Krista, Karina, and Kasey, and welcoming baby Maude who made her grand appearance into the world on November 23rd. Thanks for the special memories!!

But now I'm happy to be back reporting on more Egyptian adventures. A few days ago, we visited a Greco-Roman site right next to the base David works at every day (about a 45 minute drive from our compound) called Karanis. Founded by the Ptolomaic Greek settlers in the 3rd c. BC, it continued as a prosperous town once the Romans took over until the 4th c. AD.


Karanis was a site of major archaeological excavations in the 19th and early 20th centuries; all the buildings and streets had painstakingly been cleared of debris. But now, except for the temples and some wall remnants, virtually everything has been buried by sand.


















Oh and the uniformed guards are the ever-present Tourism police who take it upon themselves to give you a guided tour for baksheesh (tips). I assume that their mission is to protect the sites, hence the handguns (are they loaded???), but at each site, one guard assumes the role of tour guide, followed by an entourage of at least 4 other guards plus one man in a galabeya (a rural gown worn by the farmer men) and turbin. Why the farmer guy?? Who knows?? But it's extremely annoying because you're not allowed to just wander through the ruins on your own...if you want to veer from the path the tour guide wants to take you, then the whole entourage stops and follows you. I would understand if their main purpose is to protect the site from modern-day looters, but at each site we've been to, it is the tour guide himself who plucks arrowheads, roman pottery, and alabaster from the ruins and gives it to David with the warning to put it in his pocket and not to tell anyone. We have no doubt that if we gave them some serious money, they would let us take about anything home. So we're not impressed with the Tourism police....whether it be their English or their ethics.

Anyway, back to the site. These excavations turned up a considerable number of artifacts and documents which helped archaeologists piece together what life here might have looked like. Roman tax documents indicates different professions such as dyer, barber, registered translator, caravan driver, embalmer, sheepshearer, and flautist. There are also documents hinting at the hostility and mistrust encountered by the Roman newcomers from the Greco-Egyptian inhabitants. It was interesting for me to read that while the Greeks and Egyptians merged well together, particularly through mixed marriages, the Romans saw themselves as a superior and separate culture.
















This was a temple which dated to the 1st c. AD. They know this because of the Greek inscription still visible on the lintel above David's head (unfortunately, the camera didn't pick it up). The inscription says that it was dedicated to the emperor Nero, whose name was covered over and replaced by his successor, Vespasian. The temple was used for offerings to the Crocodile god, Sobek. Remember him from other sites?? Apparently, they found a considerable amount of crocodile mummies.

This was the second temple on the site.


And here's the remnant of a bathtub from the public baths which you can find at just about any sizable Roman site. The Romans liked to bathe. :)


When we had started our tour, the head guy asked what our nationality was, where we were from, and what road we were going to take to return....the questions seemed normal (except for the route bit) but he kept talking to someone on the radio, seemingly telling them what our information was, which seemed strange. After the tour, as we were returning to our car, there was a truck full of policeman parked by the car, and one of them hopped out and very nicely asked where we were living. When David answered "Beni Suef", the policeman seemed to not understand him. We always get this response because there are very few foreigners living in the town of Beni Suef and most don't know that there is an American compound on the Egyptian air force base there. So the policeman asked his question again, "Where do you live?", to which David replied "Beni Suef". The policeman asked helpfully "In Maadi, in Cairo??" (Maadi is the expat district in Cairo), "Nope, in Beni Suef". "Sir, where is your second house??" "Beni Suef" to which he finally shrugged his shoulders and asked David for his cell phone number, then returned to the truck.

David turned to me and said "I do believe we are going to get our first police escort". This was exciting. We had heard of this before. Every once in a while, a decision gets made that foreigners, for their own protection, should be escorted back and forth to Cairo when they visit a rural site. These guys had apparently been tasked to do this for us and the fact that we were purportedly living in the neighbouring farm town didn't seem to be of any consequence to them. So they took off and we followed. I think there were two policemen in the front and three in the back:
















We couldn't communicate that we lived on the air force base, nor would they be able to get on the base anyhow, so they wouldn't be able to escort us home, but we thought we'd drive with them awhile and then pass them by with a friendly wave. They drove pretty slowly and what was really amusing was that we kept hearing a siren aways off and kept looking for an ambulance but finally realized that the siren was coming from our escort!! So, even if it was for our protection, we felt more like sitting ducks as the escort managed to get everyone's attention as we slowly passed by!

We passed them by at our turn off, they followed us and caught up with us at the next town, asked us to stop and tried to clarify directions. Finally, we were able to convey that we really didn't need an escort and they let us go. I told David that I felt like Obama!! All in all, a very interesting afternoon. :)

October dive trip

Greetings all, I have been horribly remiss in keeping up with our blog in Wendi's absence. It wasn't even until today that I read her last post and realized she had created expectations for my performance. Just so you know - I experienced strong pangs of guilt for the first couple of weeks but they faded and for the last few weeks I have only occasionally even thought about writing. But then last night Wendi mentioned it during our phone conversation and since I have the next couple of days off (the Egyptians are celebrating the end of Hajj feast Eid al-Adha) I decided my excuses are running a little thin. So here it is - I can think of this as a kind of celebration for Wendi's return (she will be back here Dec 3).


We (our team over here) did our second dive trip the week Wendi left so she wasn't able to join us. Aside from her not being there the whole experience was much more enjoyable than the first one (we didn't have to do all the training dives for one thing). Having already experienced it once, the process of driving there, unloading the cars, loading the boat and getting out of port was a lot more relaxing. What really helped was the temperature - in June it was well over 100 and we had to wait for over an hour on the boat while the Tourism office did an inspection. This time it was only in the 80s, we arrived earlier, and less than an hour after driving in we were pulling out of port.




















A couple of views leaving the harbor. As you can see the Sinai peninsula is a pretty desolate place. It was mostly empty except for some nomadic Bedouin tribes until the Israelis captured it during the 1967 war. Over the years they built up resort areas that the Egyptians took over after the Sinai was given back under the Camp David Accords. Even now the area mostly caters to foreigners with areas that are off limits to Egyptians unless they work there. The main resort town of Sharm el-Sheik is a couple of miles to the right of the harbor.





















The guys are getting ready for our first dive. It was several hours out of port and on the wreck of the S.S. Dunraven, a British cargo ship that sank in 1867. It was my first wreck dive and it was very interesting being able to swim through hull and see the old boilers. There wasn't really anything left to see cargo wise but it had some beautiful corals.





This is the second wreck we dove - the famous S.S. Thistlegorm. It was built in 1940 in England and used to haul supplies in support of the African campaign. It was sank in 1941 by a lone German bomber that was returning home after an unsuccessful hunt for the Queen Mary (the plane was caught in the blast when its bombs hit the ammunition magazines and crashed a few miles away). What makes it so special is that it sank quickly with a full load of cargo. Some of the items you can still see: two steam locomotives, tenders and rolling stock, rifles, munitions, aircraft parts, Wellington boots, trucks, motor bikes and tunics for the Eighth Army in North Africa. This picture is of Vinny, me, and Rich (L-R) getting ready to head back up. It can getting pretty crowed there but the first day we dove right before sunset, moved a little ways off to spend the night and then again first thing in the morning before the crowds showed up.


This picture is a little dark but if you enlarge you should be able to see the motorcycles and the cases of rifles off to the right. I was amazed at how well preserved some of the stuff was but you can see the effects of so many people being down there. There are big air pockets in all the rooms from SCUBA breathing and it is causes rapid rusting but as with so many things here when it comes to tourist dollars, regulations are almost nonexistent or ignored for a small price.
















This is pretty much what we did when we weren't diving. The weather was beautiful for the whole trip and the food was excellent (something about being outside always make food taste better). It was three days of eating, diving and sleeping. If it wasn't such a long drive I can see us doing this more often.

This was my bedroom - we all brought our blankets up from the rooms downstairs and slept on the deck.

These trips have been fun but a little surreal. A weekend diving at Sharm is about like someone coming to America and heli-skiing in Alaska - it's a lot of fun but you certainly can't say you have experienced the culture. It's more of an escape which at times is exactly what is needed. I hope you enjoyed my post and thank goodness for all involved Wendi is back in a couple of days :)

And the winner is................

Suzy!! I'll bring the box back with me to Seattle and, if we don't see each other, I'll either mail it to you or send it back with Andrew and Jen. Congratulations!!

Thanks to all the guessers....it was fun to read your comments. And, yes, Wendy, that was Chad the Sultan. :)

I'm turning the keyboard over to David for the next month as I'm heading back to Seattle until December 1st. Stay tuned....he may even post some pics from his dive trip! Until then, here are some more pics from our weekend in Istanbul! We were extremely impressed with Istanbul....same size as Cairo but with no piles of trash (even in the poorer areas, we still saw garbage trucks), the cars stopped at traffic lights, there were beautiful public spaces. Apart from the mosques and the calls to prayer, it felt like we were in Germany. By the way, the obelisk shown below was brought up by the Romans to display in the Hippodrome in Constantinople.

Traffic and the concept of Insha 'allah

You probably knew this post was coming at some point during our year here. :) Egyptian traffic is crazy... not so much due to aggressiveness, though that is a factor, as much as the variety of transport you encounter. On one street, you can simultaneously encounter not only a swarm of cars, microbuses, taxis, and large trucks weaving in and out trying to pass each other, but you'll pass a donkey pulling a cart on your right, and a motorbike on your left running against the traffic, plus there are always people trying to cross the street...and they aren't shy, even when they have their small children with them!

This is normal. The following photos show some of the sights which have made us point and say "Take a look at that!" :)


Sheep:
Water buffalo:


A propane tank...certainly not the largest load we've seen on a motorbike. My favorite was a large pane of glass.


These microbuses serve as taxis, either in a city or between cities. They are virtually always packed full of passengers so all the luggage goes on top.


Camel stop:


I wasn't here for very long before I became aware of the word "Insha 'allah" which means "God willing". Egyptians' everyday speech is peppered with it. I'll tell Samia "Ok, then I'll see you tomorrow"; she always answers "Insha' allah".

To Hamdi, the Gardener: "OK, so you'll come two times a month??"
Hamdi: Insha' allah

To Samia: "I hope your son's school year will be better this year"
Samia: Insha' allah

You get the idea. It's a passive attitude towards life which, as a Christian, I actually agree with to a certain extent....a constant reminder that our lives belong in God's hands, not our own. But it's interesting to me how this concept has created a culture of passivity. David was briefed about this before he came over; it is very difficult to do long-term planning with the Egyptians he works with.....even short-term planning for that matter. He will ask another pilot "So are you going to do a maintenance flight on 179 today?" Answer: "Insha 'allah" It is difficult to work with that bc it's not really an answer. David is left wondering, "Well, is he planning to do it or not?? Because if he's not going to get to it, I need to do it since it's scheduled for tonight's flight." David's also found that, at work, saying "Insha 'allah" is a way around saying no to a question and disappointing the other person.

This mentality of our fate not being in our own hands permeates everything here. How to enforce a mandatory seatbelt law, for example, when the general populous feels that if it's their time to go, then wearing a seatbelt's not going to matter?

Actually in one of our first taxi rides (taxis here deserve their own blog entry! :) we had a driver who wasn't aggressive as much as just clueless. The way he leaned forward, it looked like he couldn't really see and as he drifted aimlessly from lane to lane or simply straddled them, he left a wake of angry honking drivers behind him of whom he seemed completely unaware. I truly thought we were going to have an accident. I leaned over to David, which was easy to do since the seatbelts didn't work, and whispered "Insha 'allah". :)

Where in the World are we???

Can you tell from the photos where we went last weekend??? Here's the deal: For everyone who posts a guess in the comments, correct or incorrect, I'll put their names in a hat. The winner's name I pull out will win this mother-of-pearl inlaid box!!



Interesting story on how we received the box. During the first couple of months we were here one of the Egyptian officers David works with had been talking at with David about Islam. When these conversations started to get more prolonged and David had to be a bit more abrupt with him ("Hey, I'm sorry, but I really need to get to work!"), the officer was very apologetic, which made David feel bad. Then the next day, he brought David this box with more apologies, which made him feel even worse. However, we already have an inlaid box we like, so we're going to send it to one of you!! So guess away, readers!! In a few days I will declare a winner and post an entry on our trip.

Enti Toluk!!

So a few days ago, I was watching an Egyptian movie and, although I understood virtually nothing that the characters said, the plot was pretty apparent. A woman was going to dance lessons behind her husband's back because she didn't think he'd approve. Sure enough, when he found out, he surely didn't approve. There were several scenes of arguing and yelling, until at one point, he pointed at her and yelled "Enti toluk!!", the woman's eyes grew wide as saucers, the music took a dramatic turn, and the next scene showed her sobbing on the subway. I knew Enti meant "You" so I thought maybe toluk was some sort of slur. He must have called her a floozy or worse. I made a mental note to ask someone what in the world he said!!

When I asked my friend Dina she told me that Enti Toluk means "You are divorced". When a man wishes to divorce his wife, he does not need to go through a court of law, but only says "Enti toluk" three times to formally end his marriage according to the guidelines set out in the Quran. And, according to Dina, he can rescind his decision until he says "Enti toluk" for the third time. At that point, it is final. Women were not allowed to divorce their husbands until a new ruling in 2000. Today, they are allowed to file a divorce without their husband's permission but they give up all financial rights.

Last year, a woman was seeking clarification from the court on her husband's declaration of divorce. He had texted her on her cellphone twice declaring "Enti Toluk" and then later that year, after an argument, he had said it again face to face. The court was trying to decide whether text messages count. I wasn't able to find out how the court ruled, but apparently text-message divorces have been upheld in other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The movie ended on a happier note. The husband started taking dancing lessons with his wife and they lived happily ever after....provided he doesn't say "Enti toluk" two more times, of course.