fi kahera

Cairo to visit Sarah!
Had a brief stop in Jordan with Kate, got to see Dani and Andrew (always so much fun!)... then after frantically deciding that buying plane tickets was easier than a 30 hour bus/ boat ride, we went to misssssr! The night we got there, it was the last Egypt-Algeria soccer game, and Egypt had to win by two goals to even re-play Algeria and have a chance in moving on towards the World Cup. We watched it in an outside sheesha cafe with Sarah and a bunch of her friends. Everyone was showing more Egyptian pride than any sort of nationalism I've ever seen, with face paint, chants and screams, capes made out of flags... everything around us was red and black and yellow and white. Even the cars were painted, or had kids hanging out of them holding flags; all of them were honking one distinct cheer. Sarah and I joined in with the face paint and cheers, and I completely caught the nerves of everyone around us when it seemed like Egypt would only win with one point. Then in the last few overtime minutes, Misr scored a second goal, and the whole city erupted. My only comparison to the hours that followed is D.C. after Obama was elected last year, with chaos in the streets and complete joy spilling over in front of the White House. Thousands and thousands of people filled the streets of Mohandiseen, with torches and fireworks, more flags, cheers of “Misr!!” echoing everywhere. I can't imagine how crazy downtown must have been. People covered the street, and spilled out of the cars that managed to drive by, or just sat on top of them. We saw one car slam into another, causing maybe ten kids sitting on top of it to jolt into the street. The fireworks swirled everywhere, low to the ground, showering everyone in sparks... but it was a beautiful night to be a part of, and no one around us was hurt at all. The chaotic street celebrations lasted hours longer than I thought they would.

Over the next few days, Myles, Adam and I visited the Citadel and pyramids and Coptic Cairo, all of which I have been to before, but they never lose their power. You never feel any less small when you stand looking over the edge of the Citadel, seeing the Giza pyramids miles away, and the mosques of Cairo intermixed with the buildings and streets. It was nice to be with Myles and Adam for their first time in Cairo, seeing all of this. It's also bizarre how well some people remembered me from my last two trips to Egypt. One of the store owners in the Coptic area said that we were “old friends from the last few years.” Even weirder, some guy who worked at the Citadel not only remembered me, but knew it was my third time visiting the Citadel, because of my blue eyes.

Possibly the most epic moment of the trip was riding horses in front of the pyramids at night... I didn't know until that night that horses scare the shit out of me. It was dark when we got to the pyramids. The four of us, as well as several of Sarah's friends and a few guides, piled onto these Arab horse and were simply told to start riding. So we went off into the Sahara desert, with no instructions, and I had never even sat on a horse before... yea. My horse was partially blind, and kept on trotting away from the rest of my group. I learned, after several border-line panick attacks, that every time it lowered its head, it would begin to go faster. Definitely had a moment when I realized that if it wanted to, the horse could just start running into the dark Sahara, and I really had no way of stopping it. Most of the way to the campsite, Sarah and I were just frantically saying “Shway shway, habibi!” and “Mish bisora!” because at the time it seemed to make sense that speaking Egyptian Arabic to the horses would get them to do what we wanted? Then on the way back, one of the horses started bolting forward, and got the others to gallop unexpectedly as well. Next thing I know, I see one of the horses running figure eights up and down the sandy hills with Sarah's friend on it screaming “It won't stopppp!”... and I see Adam walking towards us, after being thrown off of his own horse, with wild dogs approaching... Myles' horse was also crazy, trying to kick all of the others. I managed to not freak out at the end when my horse broke into a gallop across a field and had to stop short to prevent us from crashing into a wall. Altogether, it was an, ahem, interesting introduction to horse riding.

We had some really fun nights out, at the Cairo Jazz Club, a second Egypt-Algeria soccer game (Egypt lost... sad), and of course I got to see my girl Sarah and my friend Steph, and meet some really cool people. And we finally ate American-style food, which we have been intensely missing... bagel sandwich. Omlette. Pancakes. Oh man.

Sarah came back to Damascus with us, after a brief but eventful stop in Jordan again. Adam lost his passport, and there was a definite hour of panic when we tried to figure out what to do. Our airport cab driver ended up calling Kate's hostel and bringing it back to him for some money, والحمد لله. We spent a longgg time on the Syria-Jordan border in the middle of the night while Kate, Adam, and Sarah tried to get new visas. Finally, after a solid four hours and a few drinks from the duty free store, when went back to Damascus. Went to the Omayyad mosque, and to the top of the Jebel at sunset, two things that I am SO happy to have finally done, and shocked that its taken me this long to get to. I wish Zahara could have stayed here with us :( She is greatly missed.

Also... we moved. Long, complicated process that may or may not be over yet... we have a really... eclectic?... new apartment in the basement of a building on Sharia Baghdad. It has a little courtyard where three massive cats hang out, and is covered with blue paint, about 12 couches, and fake flowers. We live about 20 minutes outside of the old city, so it's still easy to go back and visit our old stompin' grounds.

what? it's cold in syria?

So. Context of my life right now: it's pouring out and freezing; I of course didn't anticipate either so have no warm or waterproof clothes or shoes. Soaking wet from walking home from the bus stop. When I get home our gas tank is empty, so we can't cook or heat water. My room, which is realistically a closet-sized shack with a broken window on our building's roof, is not only heatless but it is now leaking. We have no entertainment: no dvd-player, no new books, and no games. We now basically have no way to dry ourselves, warm ourselves, or cook. So I am sitting curled up on a bed in Syria, basically unable to leave my room, a cup balanced next to me to catch to rain drops that would be on my pillow, finishing the seventh Harry Potter, which i've already read this month, and eating blue cheese dressing with a fork (though to be honest I couldn't be more thrilled to have finally found this). Good times, good times...

Going back and forth between feeling like I could live here forever and really missing home. I had a moment in a cab yesterday, when I was coming back from shopping at Sham City Center, the western supermarket (finallllly have some peanut-butter and soup!), and I was looking out of the window at all of the specks of light that cover the mountain next to the city. And I realized that I could really live here. For more than just 8 months; I could see myself getting a job here in the future. It's such a simple thing, but I know that when I get back to the U.S., I am going to miss the mosques. They bring such intricate beauty and tradition to the city. Whenever you drive around in a bus or cab, you drive by tens of sparkling teal and ivory mosques, though they may neighbor a market or hotel or even Costa Coffee. And when you walk on the streets, you see girls wearing 4-inch red heals with a matching Chanel hijab next to women in covered completely in black clothe. There is just such a richness to the culture of Damascus that I love, and such diversity. Even the terrain of the city itself: the Jebel, with scattered buildings covering it, towering next to the city; the viney allies of the Old City; the desert-rimmed highways of Mezzah. The only constant pitfalls to my life here are the slightly lessened living standards, the language barrier, and the harassment that comes from being a woman. The living standards and language barrier just cause me to push myself, and in my opinion, everyone can use more of that... The harassment comes and goes, at varying levels, and never gets any easier to accept. But it has given me a sort of anger that has if anything has led to empowerment, and the hard-set idea that every woman is entitled to complete respect. This empowerment is only enhanced by the strength and sassiness and opinionated demeanor of every woman I've met here.

The tough part is really missing my friends and family. In the last week, three of my very best friends had their birthdays, two of them having their 21st birthdays. It sucks not to be back with them. That, compiled with being sick and therefore emotional for the last few days, has really made me long for everything I'm missing. Sitting in my best friend's basement for hours, walks around the National Mall, random texts about music lyrics, laughing at our own awkwardness, eating Chinese food or soy buffalo wings and making lists :) Haha, no better moments in the world than these. I just miss beeeeing with all of my best friends, and talking to them. Could not love them more <3