So here I am, back downtown, back in the New Palace Hotel. My stay in Egypt seems to have come full circle. As I checked into my shitty hotel room (LE30 or $6 per night), I thought of the night I arrived here, flu-stricken, tired, happy just to be in Egypt, excited by the morning call to prayer when it woke me up. Now I'm used to Egypt; I don't ( Read more... )

I just went with my friend Chris downtown to see Hasan wa Marqus, this summer's Egyptian blockbuster. It stars Adel Imam, a great Egyptian comedy actor, and Omar Sharif, who even Americans know as a film legend (Lawrence of Arabia). At the shisha place where my friends and I hang out, the televisions often come on with ads for Hasan wa Marqus, and ( Read more... )

Dervish is the name of someone who's been inducted into a Sufi order. The Sufis are various Islamic mystical orders who use various forms of meditation (called dhikr, "remembrance" of God) to achieve a closeness to God that most of us mere mortals only get when we bite the big one (if we're good) - intense prayer, chanting, poetry, yoga, asceticism ( Read more... )

The other day Kelly and I tried to go see the Twirling Dervishes. But none of the cab drivers knew where we were trying to get to. We they kept pulling over to ask people if they knew where these crazy Americans were trying to go. Eventually we got to the right neighborhood, in the heart of Islamic Cairo and way off the tourist beaten path, and ( Read more... )

I was excited to see what the Fourth of July would be like in Egypt. The American embassy throws a shin-dig that's supposed to be amazing. But, not realizing it was on the 3rd of July (since the 4th is on Friday, the Muslim Holy Day, and heavy drinking and celebration would probably be frowned upon) I missed it because I went to Coptic Cairo with ( Read more... )

We left at dusk. The bus rumbled out of Cairo with a movie playing, a comedy about a silly older guy who goes back to college and runs amok with his shenanigans. Then he has to get serious and study for the big test (spoiler alert: he passes, graduates, and marries his teacher at the end). The bus stopped at a military checkpoint before plunging ( Read more... )

لا يمكنني أن أنام. من جديد.
أشتاق لي حبيبي. هي بعيد.
هي مع رجال الأخرين, تتسلى, تخرج رحلات, تشاهد فيلم مع رجل لا أعرف.
هو لا يعرف لي. بالنسب هو, سوزي أعزب. يعرف فقط ابتسامها  جميل و الضحكها.
هي صعب لا الحب. ماذا يوقفه أن يأخذ هي من لي? إذا أنا جايسون, أنا سوف.
هي وحيد. السريرها فارغ. ماذا سيحدث إذا هو يجرب أن يملاه?
أعرف هي لا سلخداع. لذلك لماذا أنا دون ( Read more... )

Khan al-Khalili is a huge bazaar in Old Cairo, on the east side of the city. It's been there since 1382, when it was founded as a rest stop for travelers. Since then it has swelled to engulf blocks and blocks around Al-Azhar mosque and university, and the Al-Hussein Mosque. You can get anything there, lots of tourists trinkets of course, lots of ( Read more... )

Egypt is rapidly changing. In the West, scenes of Middle Eastern cities often look the same (except Dubai), because they're so different they're outside our frame of comparison. But Arab society is in a transition that produces some really awkward situations - like the sudden explosion of huge slum areas on the outskirts of many cities.

Since I've ( Read more... )

Alexandria was once the capital of Egypt, the Pearl of the Mediterranean, and the center of learning in the Ancient world. The Pharos Lighthouse was built to help sailors approach the flat Egyptian harbor, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Library was the biggest in the world, and people came from all over Europe, Africa, and Asia ( Read more... )