Mr. Walker's Neighborhood

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Riding The Subway

The main station of the Cairo subway system runs below Midan Tehrir, the huge square adjacent to where I live. Living in such proximity means many destinations in town are a quick train ride away. Maadi? 20 minutes. Dokki? Two stops under the Nile. It’s convenient, cheap (17 cents), fast (especially during traffic) and used by hundreds of thousands of Cierenes every day. During the busiest times the cars are literally packed with people and personal space becomes a luxury to be cherished upon disembarkment. Thankfully for women riders traveling alone, the first two cars of every train are reserved exclusively for them and even during the busiest times there is at least space to stand. A few weeks ago, Nicole and I took the train to the Khan. We boarded a full train at Sadat. The next platform was FULL of people and of course they all wedged themselves in. It’s actually rather comical. Before the doors open the people are clamoring to board. Problem is, while the masses are getting ON the train, another group of people are trying hard to get OFF. Naturally, a polite but firm shoving match ensues and everyone who is trying to get off manages to do so, and those who want to get on somehow do. So the doors opened at the second platform and as the mass of people pushed themselves as a group on it separated Nicole and I and pushed us deeper into the train. Unfortunately ours was the next stop. As the train came to it, the doors opened and MORE people tried to push into the train, but it was useless—there wasn’t another inch to be found. I couldn’t see Nicole as I swam towards the door, but as I was spit to the platform I saw her arm sticking out. I grabbed on and pulled, and, PLOP. She popped out of the train just as the doors closed behind her. Ahh, air!

Today I was on my way to Maadi for church and in my confidence boarded the train headed in the OPPOSITE direction. Once on board I delved into my book and didn’t realize my mistake until 20 minutes later when the station names were all wrong. I was already so late that that blunder meant missing the service. I got off muttering admonishments to myself and trying to figure out how the entire system turned itself backward since the last time I rode to Maadi. At least I had my History of the Modern Middle East book on me, so the retrace wouldn’t be a total waste. The trains come every two or three minutes so I was soon headed back downtown. A normal part of riding the subway is turning down all kinds of trinkets and do-dads that poor but enterprising people try to sell to their captive customers. Last week it was cheaply made sowing kits and light bulbs. The seller would walk through the car and simply hand one to EVERY person there. Once distributed he/she would come back to collect either the item or payment. Today it was an old woman and she was handing out pieces of torn out notebook paper with Arabic script scrawled across each one. I tried to ignore her with my nose in my book, but somehow she got me to take one, once I saw what it was I tried to give it back but she wouldn’t accept. I didn’t want to be stuck holding it while I waited for her to come back so I put it on the floor by my feet until she returned. Immediately, the man next to me picked it up, held on to it, and said something I didn’t understand. As soon as he took it, I realized my mistake. The pages didn’t contain recipes for ful or bad poetry, but verses from the Koran. I had just offended everybody there by putting the sacred words on the floor practically under my feet! Woops! The woman came back. People gave her donations along with the papers, and the man returned to her my slip that I obviously held in such distain. Heathen!

An Afternoon in Maadi

Maadi is a laid back suburb of western expats and well to do Egyptians south of Cairo along the Nile--a twenty minute subway ride from downtown Cairo. Yesterday found me there attending an African church service. I brought my camera.

By the Train Station


Vegetable Market


Neighborhood Street


Expat Girl Texting

Crossing the Street in Cairo

I recorded a short demonstration of the standard street crossing procedure in Cairo. Bear in mind, this is a mild example.

Turkish Coffee

A few days ago, I found all the paraphernalia for making and consuming Turkish Coffee hidden in our kitchen cupboards. Discovered: two specially designed pots (single serving and eight serving), miniature coffee cups, and fitted saucers. How Arabian. And delicious. Here's how we make it:

1. Grind five tablespoons of whole beans (thanks Cathy!) to a very fine powder.
2. Fill pot with four cups of water.
3. Bring to boil.
4. Remove from heat and stir in coffee grounds, 1/2 teaspoon cardimon, and five teaspoons sugar.
5. Return to heat and stir, remove from heat occasionally to prevent overflow.
6. Let stand for 4 minutes to allow grounds to settle.
7. Pour into turkish coffee cups
8. Drink over conversation or chess.

Afternoon With Back Alley Grocers

Classes have begun and I am finally starting to get into a routine. Wake up, go to my eight o clock finance class, then economic development, then I walk back home for some studying and an early lunch. Back to campus by two for marketing followed by Arabic. Ahh, it's nice to have a stationary place to come back to. It's feeling more like home every day.

So, today I didn't go home right away, but walked around to find a few small things I needed (can of paint, some hooks) and buy some food for dinner. Nicole requested chicken, so I searched for the almost secretive covered food market that I had stumbled upon earlier this week. On a street south of school there is a little alley way that one would suspect as a dead end, but fortunately I had to have a look and discovered that after a little while it opens up into a large open building with a bunch of stalls built close to each other. The group of merchants mostly sell food and kitchen products. I found about five general grocers, a fish stand selling whole fish in buckets, and a bunch of meat sellers with sections of cows hung in the open and various meats under (unrefridgerated) displays: steaks roasts, whole legs, blood sausage, and more. I picked one that didn't look/smell too bad and asked for "dejaj, nuss kilo" (one half kilo of chicken) he had some in a box and put enough into a plastic bag and I paid. Then some potatoes and conversation with a one thoothed lazy eyed talkative merchant. After the food, I bought the paint and headed home stopping to rest as it was quite heavy. The whole time back I couldn't help imagining the lift being broken again and I'd have to lug the paint up ten flights of stairs. (Actually, I'd probably have the bowab do it. That's what he's there for.) Thankfully for me (and the bowab), the lift was in working order and I made it up without problem. I immediately began taping and painting my room, and now wait for a second coat. So here I am. It's evening and the night call just ended. Dinner will be on soon. --Don't worry, we'll cook the chicken quite well.

Khan Al Khalili

So Nicole and I went to the Khan. We went partly as tourists, and partly because we needed some things around the house. Nicole was looking for a decent (but cheap) chess set and some new spoons, and I needed a mattress pad, a small rug for my room, and a lamp. Thankfully, there is a subway station a (long) block from our apartment and it dropped us about a half a kilometer from our destination. Khan Al Kalili is the largest market in Cairo. "Market" isn't really the best word for it as the Khan is an amalgamation of many different marketplaces smashed up against each other with no set boundaries. It's the kind of place that is impossible NOT to get lost in. It's streets collide at odd angles and each new corner beckons one deeper to new discoveries. The Khan has evolved over hundreds of years into a complete tangle of busy streets, raised highways, narrow alleys, and miscellaneous buildings all packed with thousands of shops selling anything you can imagine.

The afternoon was delightful. Haggling is truly an art form--something the shop owners and patrons both can enjoy if it is undergone with a mixture of humor and walking out of the shop a few times. I haggled a rug salesman down to about quarter of his asking price (He wanted $35. I got it for $10). Nicole bought a wonderful chess set (after about a half hour of working on the guy) for about half. About the only bathrooms available are in the Mosques and these with a small bagsheesh to the hamam keeper. I was glad to pay! By the end of the day, we really didn't walk away with a bunch of stuff, but as the Khan's sellers were shuttering their shops and the tour buses were lumbering away through it's impossibly narrow streets, we left with the certainty that we would be back. We had spent the afternoon in but one corner of the vast maze of wares, and there remains much to explore. The market is truly a Cairo experience. The best time I've had here so far.

Relaxing at the ar'wa shop at the end of the day


Left: Chai Bi Na'Nha Right: Ar'wa
(Tea w/mint & Turkish coffee)

At Night In Alexandria

Lighthouse Overlooking Marina


Palestine Hotel


Grocery Store

From the Bibloteca Alexandria

Hello, I am currently sitting at a terminal in the famous Bibloteca Alexandria, the modern day revival of Alexandria's ancient library that was lost in 391AD. The new version was opened in 2002 as a way to put this little town of 6 million people back on the map.

So all 227 of us american students have been caravaning around Alex for the last three days. We stayed in a great hotel and have mostly been chilling in the beautiful sea air and relaxing with coffee and dinner at various restaurants in town. This place is truly beautiful, but I am ready to get back home to Cairo. Traveling with such a large group is exausting!

Caio.