Houston, We Have a Light

From left to right: Peter, Sharif, and Phil in the living room.

In short, the apartment ex- ceeded all of our wildest dreams, which isn't actually all that impress- ive, since I didn't really have any preconceptions and Peter was intentionally imagining it as a dingy and undersized piece of shit. But yeah, it's pretty incredible. We don't even have to lug shit up the stairs! There's this sweet old-timey elevator that we can take to our floor. On the ride over, we met two other students who were to be living in the same apartment, which meant we didn't in fact have a double. No big deal though. One of our fears was having everything at our fingertips and therein becoming homebodies, so we were excited about living with others. We arrived and found that there were to be eight guys in all, which sounds like a lot, but, as you can see from the pictures, it doesn't matter, 'cause the place is effin' huge! Eight roommates and five bedrooms: that's three doubles and two singles. As you enter the apartment, you come to a large dining/living room with a couch, some chairs, a big dining table, some bookcases and closets. Off to the left is Peter's and my double, which is also pretty big. It has a nice window overlooking a busy street. The next room belongs to Stoo and Matt. It's probably a little bigger than ours, and it has a balcony, which is excusable since it's a double. The following room belongs to just Ross. He definitely got the best deal, since he's got a balcony, a couch, and his own room. Sheesha! After that is Phil's and Sharif's double, and finally comes Jay, with another single. Everyone is American, though Stoo's parents are both Iranian and Sharif's father is from Alexandria. They all seem cool and nice and pretty agreeable. Matt is from Long Island and is reserved but very friendly. Stoo hails from Needham

Our third toilet.

, Mass., and he's incredibly outgoing and funny. Ross comes from Woodstock, NY (right near Bard!), and he's quite down-to- earth and easy- going. Jay, we've decided, is John Carr meets Jon Hyman, which, in case you don't know those two, means he's approachable and happy-go- lucky. Both he and Phil are from the Detroit area. Phil is a nice presence, as his appearance is a real throwback to Oberlin. He has long hair and a big beard and always wears a bandana (I guess it might be a little early to say "always"), and he's incredibly laid back. Last but not least, Sharif is from Chicago and he's the eldest. He's wicked helpful and expressive. Maybe it's because I know he's older, and also since he's already spent a semester here, but he seems like the most mature of the group. Anyway, there's the apartment in a nutshell. Oh yeah, and there's a kitchen, two bathrooms, two showers, three toilets, a washer, a drier, and we can climb some stairs to hang out on the roof, which is also amazing.

Peter's nut card. It translates literally to something like "An allergy is belonging to me regarding almonds and hazelnuts and pinenuts and pistachios and walnuts."

When we showed up there were already five of us here. Two more showed up within an hour or so (everyone but Sharif), and after a little unpacking and unrestrained disbelief at the awesomeness of the apart- ment, we headed down- town to get some dinner. We passed AUC, and it is indeed quite close to where we live. There are tons of shops and restaurants around. It really is a great location. After getting lost a little, we found a little place recommended by one of my travel guides. We walked in and were immediately welcomed and ushered to seats. The place only serves one meal: kushari, which is pretty much Egypt's national dish. It's macaroni, rice, chick peas,

Meaty Petey in our room. Of course, it's already a mess.

lentils, fried onions, and hot sauce. That might sound weird and maybe even gross, but it's pretty damned good actually, not to mention filling. I imagine it's fairly nutri- tious as well. Unfortunately, we didn't know how to say that Peter had a nut allergy, so he was pretty nervous about eating it. He went over and asked a man, and despite some communication difficulties, the fellow managed to understand him enough to let him know there were no nuts involved. Plus, he was superbly friendly, which is really the way to be here, apparently. Everyone we meet or ask for help or encounter in anyway is just so happy to be of help. It's pretty awesome. So anyway, the dinner was great, and for the seven of us with food and drink, the bill ran to LE60, or a little over ten dollars. Pretty freaking incredible, eh? After that, we walked around some more, getting lost again and being dragged around by helpful Cairenes, though a few of them were surely just trying to get some money out of us tourist types. It was only 10 when we got back to the apartment (which was just as amazing as we had left it), but after being awake for about thirty-five hours, we were very ready for bed.

Cairo skyline across the Nile.

After ten hours of weird-dream- filled sleep, we got up around 8:30, and thanks to jetlag, I still felt very tired. It's affected Peter a lot less so, but I felt tired pretty much all day. After laying around until noon, we walked downtown, to get some food ostensibly, but we were sidetracked by a friendly man who somehow got us to buy perfume from him, despite our best efforts. We have of course sworn to avoid that at all costs for the rest of our time here. But he had a picture of himself with Mohammed Ali! How could we not give him our money?.

Feluccas on the Nile.

We had a traditional Egyptian meal of Sbarro since Peter was still a little hesi- tant about his allergy. But fear not: using a phrasebook we prepared him a card stating in no uncertain terms that he cannot eat them. After lunch, we trekked down to the Nile for a cool dip... er, walk, I mean. It was pretty whacky to see that water which had flowed thousands of miles from the lakes of Rwanda and the mountains of Tanzania and the deserts of the Sudan, only to empty out a hundred or so miles north in the Mediterranean. That's right, I waxed poetic. Deal with it.

The Cairo Tower.

Then we came back to the dorm to finish unpack- ing and setting every- thing up. It was quite a shitshow. Within an hour, we had broken three fuses, two transformers, a circuit breaker, a power adapt- er, and a chair (Peter's fault). Needless to say, we sat down and worked out exactly what would be required to get our electronics up and running properly. After a surprisingly successful jaunt around Cairo's electronics district (which is, like everything else in this town, conveniently located!), we came back and got everything working fine and dandy... except for the speakers. That's where the power adapter blew, and the universal adapter we bought to replace it turned out to be the wrong kind of current. But nevertheless, a pretty good save.

The rest of the night we spent hanging out with the roommates, playing a little poker, talking politics, and then wasting time on the computer. The other guys went out on the town, but we were exhausted and, personally, if I'm starting over, I don't want to develop a terrible sleep schedule too early.

Our humble little kitchen.

Of course we wound up staying up until 3 AM anyway and not getting up until 3 PM. As a result, today got cut a little short. We basically got up, farted around for a bit, went to Pizza Hut (I don't know why... please don't think we're already missing shitty American food, but I guess we figured that with four months, we'll wind up getting plenty of local stuff), and bought cell phones ($40 each! see sidebar for numbers).

Anyway, everything has been incredible so far. Sorry I'm so long-winded, but you'll all just have to wait.

Cairo from our roof.

Once You've Had a Drink...

The makings of jet lag.

The day's travel began at about 8:00am. John and his family left from Augusta while my mother and I scrambled frantically around town to finish up everything that I forgot to do in the three months prior: passport and credit card photocopies, traveler's checks, new socks... oh and my typhoid vaccination. Despite my best efforts, the group rendezvoused in Yarmouth on time. Around 10, we drove off to Boston, John, Pat, Becky, and Eric in one car, and my mom, dad, and I in another.

After much debate and even more confusion over where to have lunch, we decided to eat at the Prince Pizzeria on Route One in Saugus. Jonny Hyman was kind enough to come out and meet us. The food was pretty good and it was nice to have a last hurrah with friends and family. Everyone was excited for the big departure. It soon became apparent, however, that our parents had a few pieces of advice left to impart on us. As our departure grew closer and their words of wisdom became ever more urgent, John and I tried to keep the situation light-hearted, some might say to a fault.

The gang at Prince Pizzeria. Notice none of our parents are smiling.

Next we said our goodbyes to Becky, Eric, and Jon, and then continued on to Logan Airport. We got there with plenty of time and the lines were surpris- ingly short, so we spent another hour or so in a small cafe just out- side security. Each of us had an Egyptian guide book in hand and we shared little tidbits of useful. The mood would occasionally tense up as our understandably worried parents desperately tried to make us understand the gravity of what we were about to do. While we fully understood where they were coming from, our natural reactions were to continue our joking and goofing.

After tearful goodbyes (editor's note: I don't recall any tears) and long hugs, we left our parents and went through security. Everything went smoothly, save for one little issue. In December, when John and I booked our flights, we had requested window seats. Nevertheless, our seats were as far from the windows as possible. Regardless, the five-and-a-half hour flight in the 747 was fine. About half way through the trip I started feeling cramped and ready to get off the plane. Luckily, though, dinner was served which preoccupied us for a while, particularly when we discovered that alcoholic beverages were complimentary. Each pass that the flight attendants made, John and I became noticeably more giggly.

We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany around 11:00pm back home, or 5:00am in Germany, just in time to see all the airport shops opening for the day. It felt great to stretch our legs for a while. We found computer stations where you can swipe your credit card and buy a couple minutes of internet use and frantically sent out our emails in the five minutes that two Euros had bought. Then it was time for a midnight snack... or breakfast rather. This was the first of many eery realizations we've had, and continue to have, about the time zone change. We decided to get a taste of German sausage tea at a little cafe in the center of the terminal. The bill came to 22 Euros, or about 2.4 billion US Dollars. When our waitress came to get our order, she said "Hello" right off, as though there were absolutely no question as to our nationality. This was a bit of a shock to me and I realized then just how much more I would stick out in Cairo. I couldn't figure out, though, how we could be so easily pegged as American in Germany. Was it my bright white sneakers? John's guitar Case? My oblivious behavior? My new, touristy LL Bean jacket? Or was it the rather significant chocolate stain I sported on the front of my shirt thanks to the in flight dinner?

At this point we decided that it would be best to find our gate and attempt to socialize with any AUC students who might be on our flight. So we confidently walked over and sat down in a circle of Egyptians, each of whom we suddenly realized was about 30-60 years too old to be a student. As we sat there silently, unsure that we had come to the right place, my nose started bleeding excessively. But no worries: it was fine after some quality time in the bathroom.

Just arrived in Cairo.

When we made it to our actual gate, AUC students start- ed springing up left and right. We sat together and introduced ourselves as we waited to board the plane. It was really encouraging to meet people in the program and talk about the semester to come. Then, on the plane John and I sat next to an Egyptian man who currently resides in Toronto. He was incredibly friendly and talked a lot about Egypt. We asked him for advice and suggestions on places to visit. He had such enthusiasm as he talked and it was clear he loved his nation, its culture and people. He had so much to offer and we couldn't have asked for a better introduction to our new home.

Upon arriving at the Cairo airport, an amusingly smug little man was standing on the other side of the divider holding up a sign bearing the letters of our new school and calling them out, "AUC! AUC!" as we walked toward customs. By the time we had all found our bags, there were twenty of us gathered around the man. The group was nearly silent as we were all exhausted. The bus ride from the airport, however, woke everyone up. Eight of us were crammed in a small, old van and driven through Cairo in the middle of rush hour. Mainers, as a rule, view Boston traffic as the worst in the world. Whelp, I've got news for you: Boston drivers are like little old women compared to Cairenes. There's no clear traffic rules, just lots and lots of car horns. Lines painted on the road are meaningless. Cars go as fast as they can. Tiny mopeds seat as many as three or four people and weave in and out of traffic. Pedestrians don't wait for the cars to stop or slow down; they just step out and literally play Frogger with their lives. And despite all of this, accidents are rare. Everything somehow flows naturally. It was simultaneously the most entertaining and terrifying car ride I've ever had.

As I stepped out of the bus and looked at our apartment building, my excitement grew. This place is so entirely different from anywhere I've ever been. Despite our exhaustion, we were anxious to get out and explore the city. Everyone we had talked to on our flight over made Egypt sound better and better. It can all be pretty well summed up with the last words spoken to us by our Egyptian friend from the airplane: "Once you've had a drink from the Nile, you must come back."

We got an apartment!

(Click on the picture to see it bigger)

After waiting an absurd amount of time to hear back from AUC housing, Peter and I finally received emails today informing us of our living situation. We had assumed we'd be living in the AUC dormitories on Zamalek Island. There were, of course, pros and cons to that situation. Some pros were that we'd be living with a lot of other international students which might make it easier to make friends. Also, we'd be getting the "AUC experience." Furthermore, there is a gym locateed within the building, as well as a dining hall; there's wireless internet, and you get your room tidied and your bed made twice a week. There are really only three cons, but they're kinda big ones. First of all, women and men are pretty severely segregated. They can never enter one another's rooms, or even the side of the dormitory belonging to the opposite sex. They can see each other in lobbies only and even then only at predesignated hours. While this would kinda throw a wrench in the romantic gears of Peter's and my Egyptian lives, it bothered me more because it meant if any women (including my sister) came to visit, you'd have to get a hostel or something! Second, security is extreme, and they check your bag every time you enter the building. That means there is no chance that Peter and I could smuggle back an Egyptian beer or two. Shucks! Plus, it just sucks to get searched like that every time you enter the place you live. Third, cooking facilities are shabby at best, so we'd basically have to eat out for every meal, and there's no real meal plans, so that might get pricey. Also, it's kinda far from campus. You have to take a twenty minute bus ride.

Nevertheless, Peter and I determined the pros outweighed the cons, and that it was better than being put in some random oncampus apartment, about which we knew nothing, so we requested dormitory housing. Needless to say, when we got emails today informing us that we had been placed in oncampus apartments anyway, we were a little hesitant. However, the descriptions of said apartments more than quelled any fears we had:

As you are aware of, you have been selected to stay in one of the Residential Life apartments for the Spring 2008 semester at AUC. The address of the apartment is 24 Hussein Hegazy St., Garden City, Flr No.4. Your apartment no. is 18 in a double room.

As a reminder, the apartment is equipped with a fully furnished kitchenette (including a refrigerator, a stove, sink, etc…), a living room with couches, a dining table with chairs as well as necessary silverware and plates. Housekeeping will also be provided twice a month to make sure that everything is in order. Laundry machines will also be available for use in the apartment. In addition, this apartment is equipped with wireless internet connection.

This apartment is located close to the university, and as a result, you will be able to use the facilities (gym, computer lab, sports courts and library) during opening hours. There are also several cafés, shops and restaurants in the vicinity of the apartment.

Sounds pretty good to us! Especially the kitchen part. As you can see by clicking on the satellite picture above, we are a mere 4/10 of a mile from campus, and about the same to the Nile! Maybe the Nile part isn't that important, but something about living off the banks of such an historic river seems really awesome! I realize you all probably understand how much 4/10 of a mile is, but just for comparison's sake, for the Obies, it's the distance from North to King. For Y-towners, it's the distance from Handy Andy's to the library. In the end, I think we are both much happier with the apartment than we would've been with dormitory housing. Maybe this means we can have beer or even ladies over! Woot!

Hello!

Hey everyone! Welcome to our travel blog. In nine days, we'll fly from Boston to Cairo via Frankfurt and begin a four-and-a-half month sojourn during which we'll study at the American University in Cairo and get to know the Middle East and North Africa a little better. A lot of people have expressed concern over our safety while abroad, but rest assured that, despite our goofy hijinx, we are mature, responsible guys when we need to be. I'd worry more about the two of us killing each other, but hopefully that won't happen either.

Anyway, we'll keep this site updated as to our studies and adventures and the like. Please feel free to contact us. We'd love to hear from you all.

And above is a picture of the two of us on a previous trip together, just to get this blog a-rollin' (and to remind you all of how cool we are).