"Squeeze the World"
Monday, February 05, 2007
Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am back in AQVNT along with my luggage and most of my sanity. At the time of my last posting, I was very anxious about the trip back, but it all went amazingly. Our largest difficulty in returning was an hour long questioning in the Cairo airport. After we passed through El Al security, it seemed that all other security officials were taking pity on us.
I'm not going to go into great detail of the interviews, but at one time when I was looking for my insurance card, a ticket stub from my Antalya trip fell out and a security official snatched it up and asked why I still had it. I was a little confused, but also intimidated by the whole process and felt a little sheepish when I replied “scrapbooking?” The female official next to him found it entertaining. She actually was very nice and I felt fairly comfortable most of the time.
So, now I should probably bring the rest of the travels up to date. I realized that I wasn't very clear about the cave churches- they are the churches just past the garbage city we visited. It's hard to describe exactly, but I will put pictures up soon. On Saturday, we went to a softball tournament in Maadi (a section of Cairo populated mostly by ex-pats) which was pretty amazing. I've felt very American in other settings, but this was different because everything else was American, too. I usually scoff at the title of “America's Pastime,” but it's true. As I sat in the bleachers with my cheeseburger, in front of an exceptionally opinionated observer, I felt like I was back in the States. It was pretty amazing.
EB's church held service Friday afternoon, so in the morning we dropped toys off at a Sudanese Preschool. The kids there were too adorable, I just couldn't get over it. Then, after my first Anglican church service was a speaker talking about Islam and Terrorism. One thing that was really strange about being in Egypt was realizing how much I've learned by being in Israel and how I've taken it for granted. I would be listening to someone's opinion about Palestinians and not realize until halfway through that they meant my friends in Nazareth or other Arabs of “Israel Proper.” Most Israeli Arabs would not appreciate the association, and their situation really is completely different. So when I heard the term “Palestine,” which was actually quite often, I had difficulty understanding exactly where the speaker was referring to.
Yesterday, we took the Metro to the Egyptian Museum. One ingenious bit about the Metro is that the front two cars are designated “Women Cars.” This is entirely optional, and it is so freeing. At first I found it slightly awkward as we were the only two with uncovered heads for a good part of the time, but I was able to relax and enjoy the ride without any hassling or comments. Also, it was refreshing to see the women interacting more freely, especially those under full veils. I think my main aversion to the burqa is that it cloaks the personality underneath, and all I can conceive from the person is from stereotypes.
The Museum itself was amazing. It was only two floors, but every corner had a nook with several more artifacts to see. The guide book recorded a rumor that the extra storage rooms are so packed and old that when they stock the new museum, archaeologists will have to make excavations on the rooms themselves. AND I got to see the famous King Tut mask, as well as the rest of his burial furnishings. It was all so amazing.
For further clarification, sometimes I use the term “we” to refer to my roommate and I, but in other areas it can also mean the two of us, EB, and EBs friend who would often take part in our adventures and Phase 10 games. As amazing as Cairo is, without those two, the trip would have been less than half as fun. Hopefully Sunday was not our last meeting.
I'm not going to go into great detail of the interviews, but at one time when I was looking for my insurance card, a ticket stub from my Antalya trip fell out and a security official snatched it up and asked why I still had it. I was a little confused, but also intimidated by the whole process and felt a little sheepish when I replied “scrapbooking?” The female official next to him found it entertaining. She actually was very nice and I felt fairly comfortable most of the time.
So, now I should probably bring the rest of the travels up to date. I realized that I wasn't very clear about the cave churches- they are the churches just past the garbage city we visited. It's hard to describe exactly, but I will put pictures up soon. On Saturday, we went to a softball tournament in Maadi (a section of Cairo populated mostly by ex-pats) which was pretty amazing. I've felt very American in other settings, but this was different because everything else was American, too. I usually scoff at the title of “America's Pastime,” but it's true. As I sat in the bleachers with my cheeseburger, in front of an exceptionally opinionated observer, I felt like I was back in the States. It was pretty amazing.
EB's church held service Friday afternoon, so in the morning we dropped toys off at a Sudanese Preschool. The kids there were too adorable, I just couldn't get over it. Then, after my first Anglican church service was a speaker talking about Islam and Terrorism. One thing that was really strange about being in Egypt was realizing how much I've learned by being in Israel and how I've taken it for granted. I would be listening to someone's opinion about Palestinians and not realize until halfway through that they meant my friends in Nazareth or other Arabs of “Israel Proper.” Most Israeli Arabs would not appreciate the association, and their situation really is completely different. So when I heard the term “Palestine,” which was actually quite often, I had difficulty understanding exactly where the speaker was referring to.
Yesterday, we took the Metro to the Egyptian Museum. One ingenious bit about the Metro is that the front two cars are designated “Women Cars.” This is entirely optional, and it is so freeing. At first I found it slightly awkward as we were the only two with uncovered heads for a good part of the time, but I was able to relax and enjoy the ride without any hassling or comments. Also, it was refreshing to see the women interacting more freely, especially those under full veils. I think my main aversion to the burqa is that it cloaks the personality underneath, and all I can conceive from the person is from stereotypes.
The Museum itself was amazing. It was only two floors, but every corner had a nook with several more artifacts to see. The guide book recorded a rumor that the extra storage rooms are so packed and old that when they stock the new museum, archaeologists will have to make excavations on the rooms themselves. AND I got to see the famous King Tut mask, as well as the rest of his burial furnishings. It was all so amazing.
For further clarification, sometimes I use the term “we” to refer to my roommate and I, but in other areas it can also mean the two of us, EB, and EBs friend who would often take part in our adventures and Phase 10 games. As amazing as Cairo is, without those two, the trip would have been less than half as fun. Hopefully Sunday was not our last meeting.
A, 10:10 AM
1 Comments:
Anna -
So happy that you made it "home" without too much difficulty.
Looking forward to more of your wonderful pictures.
I so thank you for taking the time to keep us all informed as to your thoughts. It was been a great education for me to "see" things through your eyes.
Love always
So happy that you made it "home" without too much difficulty.
Looking forward to more of your wonderful pictures.
I so thank you for taking the time to keep us all informed as to your thoughts. It was been a great education for me to "see" things through your eyes.
Love always
