Hi Guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks but it's been pretty busy. Here are the highlights before my auspicious return next Wednesday (August 1st) to tell you more.
CAIRO. IT'S LITERALLY A HELL OF A TOWN.
So I went to Cairo the weekend before last and it was really, really interesting. Everybody's still buzzing about the revolution (which isn't really done by any stretch) and there are fun souvenirs and stuff celebrating it. Several people talked with me about the recent presidential vote so that was cool. Most people seemed to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood but by no means was that because they're super conservative or anything - mostly it's because the other candidate meant returning to the former regime. Way more complicated than it seems, I suppose.
The city itself is really cool. In a word, I'd say it's monumental. Beirut is mostly narrow streets but Cairo is all huge avenues and tall Beaux-Arts buildings (at least downtown - the outskirts are different of course), so it's actually much more attractive than you would think. Walking around was neat and most of the people while I just wandered around were really friendly.
HOWEVER, I went to the pyramids one morning (by myself - I met up with a couple friends-of-friends the rest of the time) and everyone associated with tourism there is a complete and utter asshole whose only focus is ripping you off or selling you something you don't want. It makes you feel like a bad person because you begin to trust nobody, with good reason, and drove me to dislike a lot of that experience. The pyramids themselves are exactly what you think they are, which is pretty cool, but the hassling of the camel guys and the piles of camel shit everywhere made me think that it's not so great. After getting ripped off again on my return trip to Cairo, I resolved to not do more tourist things, which was a good call.
It was the beginning of Ramadan, as well, so while many things were closed during the day, the city completely came alive around 9pm at night until dawn. Everyone became happy and generous and this was a cool thing.
Those are my thoughts on Cairo.
BEIRUT BUS LOGIC
Me and a buddy took a local bus we'd discovered would take us to a favorite local, thinking it would be cheaper and just as fast as a taxi.
It was certainly cheaper but not faster. Why? Probably because the bus was a stick shift and the driver ONLY HAD ONE ARM. 1st gear was the order of the day. Of course he had to take a smoke break at one point, which meant stopping the entire bus so he could use his one hand to smoke.
I actually really enjoyed this voyage because that is utterly ridiculous.
FRIENDLY ENCOUNTER
Today me and some friends went to a mountain town called Broummana since a fellow intern lives there. It was much cooler, weather-wise, pretty quiet, and a nice change of pace.
Crazily, though, there's an excellent private school that was founded a long time ago by, of all people, the Quakers. It was so awesome to walk around the place (there was even a poster for an "Arab Friendship Tennis Tournament", confirming the locale) and have our friend, a graduate, tell us all about it. Everyone in the community has a high respect for the Quakers and the school didn't really get any guff during the war because, come on, they're Quakers.
I got my picture by the school Meeting House, which was one of the coolest things I discovered here. Its appearance on facebook is forthcoming.
COMMON SENSE MAKES AN APPEARANCE
Since it's about the end of the summer some interns are beginning to leave. We went out to a bar the other night and, as in much of Beirut, there was a lot of graffiti around. Most of the graffiti's pretty neat but I liked the message of one of the sprayings:
"IF DRUNK CALL CAB"
Fair enough.
Well I return soon so I can't wait to talk to you guys in the flesh! I got that internship in DC (with the Atlantic Council, at a thing called the Young Atlanticist Program) so I'll be doing that through October while working on applications and stuff. Until then, I'll get nervous about my flight and look forward to getting back. Woo hoo!!
CAIRO. IT'S LITERALLY A HELL OF A TOWN.
So I went to Cairo the weekend before last and it was really, really interesting. Everybody's still buzzing about the revolution (which isn't really done by any stretch) and there are fun souvenirs and stuff celebrating it. Several people talked with me about the recent presidential vote so that was cool. Most people seemed to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood but by no means was that because they're super conservative or anything - mostly it's because the other candidate meant returning to the former regime. Way more complicated than it seems, I suppose.
The city itself is really cool. In a word, I'd say it's monumental. Beirut is mostly narrow streets but Cairo is all huge avenues and tall Beaux-Arts buildings (at least downtown - the outskirts are different of course), so it's actually much more attractive than you would think. Walking around was neat and most of the people while I just wandered around were really friendly.
HOWEVER, I went to the pyramids one morning (by myself - I met up with a couple friends-of-friends the rest of the time) and everyone associated with tourism there is a complete and utter asshole whose only focus is ripping you off or selling you something you don't want. It makes you feel like a bad person because you begin to trust nobody, with good reason, and drove me to dislike a lot of that experience. The pyramids themselves are exactly what you think they are, which is pretty cool, but the hassling of the camel guys and the piles of camel shit everywhere made me think that it's not so great. After getting ripped off again on my return trip to Cairo, I resolved to not do more tourist things, which was a good call.
It was the beginning of Ramadan, as well, so while many things were closed during the day, the city completely came alive around 9pm at night until dawn. Everyone became happy and generous and this was a cool thing.
Those are my thoughts on Cairo.
BEIRUT BUS LOGIC
Me and a buddy took a local bus we'd discovered would take us to a favorite local, thinking it would be cheaper and just as fast as a taxi.
It was certainly cheaper but not faster. Why? Probably because the bus was a stick shift and the driver ONLY HAD ONE ARM. 1st gear was the order of the day. Of course he had to take a smoke break at one point, which meant stopping the entire bus so he could use his one hand to smoke.
I actually really enjoyed this voyage because that is utterly ridiculous.
FRIENDLY ENCOUNTER
Today me and some friends went to a mountain town called Broummana since a fellow intern lives there. It was much cooler, weather-wise, pretty quiet, and a nice change of pace.
Crazily, though, there's an excellent private school that was founded a long time ago by, of all people, the Quakers. It was so awesome to walk around the place (there was even a poster for an "Arab Friendship Tennis Tournament", confirming the locale) and have our friend, a graduate, tell us all about it. Everyone in the community has a high respect for the Quakers and the school didn't really get any guff during the war because, come on, they're Quakers.
I got my picture by the school Meeting House, which was one of the coolest things I discovered here. Its appearance on facebook is forthcoming.
COMMON SENSE MAKES AN APPEARANCE
Since it's about the end of the summer some interns are beginning to leave. We went out to a bar the other night and, as in much of Beirut, there was a lot of graffiti around. Most of the graffiti's pretty neat but I liked the message of one of the sprayings:
"IF DRUNK CALL CAB"
Fair enough.
Well I return soon so I can't wait to talk to you guys in the flesh! I got that internship in DC (with the Atlantic Council, at a thing called the Young Atlanticist Program) so I'll be doing that through October while working on applications and stuff. Until then, I'll get nervous about my flight and look forward to getting back. Woo hoo!!
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