"Squeeze the World"
Friday, February 02, 2007
Cave churches and a marketplace
So yesterday we went to visit the cave churches of Moquattam, also known as Garbage City. The people of that area are the garbage sorters for Cairo who organize the waste into recyclable products. Not a job that I would want, but it's pretty amazing. The churches were rather impressive, the walls have various carvings, and more are being made constantly. The most amazing part, however, was driving through the neighborhoods on the way. Unlike other garbage settlements, Moquattam has real neighborhoods with sturdy buildings. On first entry, the smell is somewhat overpowering and all you can really see is donkey carts full of trash, or people with big piles of cans on their backs, but as we went further in we started seeing shops and stores, men smoking their sheesha and women in nice clothes. This isn't a last resort to them: they've probably been there for several generations. And the whole area is Christian- our Muslim driver pointed out the pork as we drove by a butcher's shop.
Afterwards, we visited Al-Azhar park, a little oasis in the middle of Cairo. It's above most of the city, and there are lovely green fields and no noise of cars or traffic. EB hadn't been there yet, and we had a lovely lunch in the clean air. Just down the road some was a market area. We were specifically looking for the Tentmaker's Market, and a man offered to show us the way. He did, but the tour involved conversations with his cousins and a tour of his own little shop. It was like the Turkey incident, but this man seemed much more straight-forward in his affairs.
That night, EB had a Jr. High youth group, so we tagged along. I have a new respect for people who work with Junior High, and I really hope that I wasn't like that at that age. We ended up talking with some of the parents inside, which was a good time. It's pretty amazing what sort of people you'll meet overseas. A lot of the ex-pats in Cairo work for oil companies, but there are also those who work for embassies and such. We might go back to the same house tonight, but no plans are set yet.
Afterwards, we visited Al-Azhar park, a little oasis in the middle of Cairo. It's above most of the city, and there are lovely green fields and no noise of cars or traffic. EB hadn't been there yet, and we had a lovely lunch in the clean air. Just down the road some was a market area. We were specifically looking for the Tentmaker's Market, and a man offered to show us the way. He did, but the tour involved conversations with his cousins and a tour of his own little shop. It was like the Turkey incident, but this man seemed much more straight-forward in his affairs.
That night, EB had a Jr. High youth group, so we tagged along. I have a new respect for people who work with Junior High, and I really hope that I wasn't like that at that age. We ended up talking with some of the parents inside, which was a good time. It's pretty amazing what sort of people you'll meet overseas. A lot of the ex-pats in Cairo work for oil companies, but there are also those who work for embassies and such. We might go back to the same house tonight, but no plans are set yet.
A, 1:50 AM
