Snapshot of a couple on top of El Alaa Citadel in Cairo, Egypt

A Day in Old Islamic Cairo: El Alaa (Citadel)
and Khan akhalili

Snapshot of Man and Woman in Nicab- Madan Tahrir

My favorite- Snapshot of the Saaid Family's veranda Embebba

El Massarah Street- Snapshots on my way home

this week...

It's been a busy weekend here in Cairo. On Friday, Kirsten and I went to Embebba to visit our old host families. She'dbeen in contact with her family for the past few years, but I'd lost Rasha, my host sister's email address. So, here I am in the middle of Embebba with crazy run down cars, taxis, old run-down micro-buses, and tuk-tuks meandering to and fro traffic, dodging crazy drivers, and donkey carts. Thank goodness for a good memory- I found my old host family's house by instinct and chance. . The only difference was my grown hair. My host mother, Mama Abd Wahlid hugged me close and tight and rattled of "ana biheb, ya eunice.....yah shahr kiteer kiteer, ya eunice ana wahashini...." over and over again...(i love you, eunice, your hair has grown long...eunice, i've missed you....). All to say the least, it was a great homecoming. I saw the grandkids as well. Mustafa, Yasmiin, Noora, and Axhmed. They were just the same...only a little bit bigger and taller than before. The last time I was in embebba, I went to baby Axhmed's one week old party, and now he was almost 2 years old....strange to see how everything was the same....Sometimes I forget that time exists in Egypt as well. Readers, you may think to yourself, "duh, Eunice...what do you think?" But really, think about it, we're all so wrapped up in our lives in the States, and it's difficult to recall all the things that go on outside of our bubbles.

Let's see what else...
-went apartment hunting around Cairo on Saturday...found a nice flat in Garden City, 8 minute walk to metro station and 10 minute walk to the AUC and downtown Cairo..perfect!
-finished my first summury report for the Palestinian refugee department and UNRWA: unfortunately met with chaos in the office...3rd meeting with Ms. Ailliyah scheduled for this Thursday
-picked up a 2nd job in the evenings since Arab league work days last from 9-3pm...started working for the New York Academy every Monday to Thursday evening from 5-8:30pm teaching English conversation to Egyptian adults
-2 nights ago: had 2 friends of a friends, Susan and Christen come and stay in our flat from Ethiopia- they met the family and we had a dance party in host family's flat...i mean egyptian dance party, with the belly dancing: women only of course, the Um Hani, the mother of the house, kicked her husband into a room and locked him in until the dance party was finished...
-yesterday: strange day- went all around cairo- walked around Tahrir looking for postcards and stampts, ate ice cream at El Abd, a famous sweet, pastry shop, went to pottery cafe near AUC, cabbed it Agouza to see Dr. Diaa, then took metro to Hadeyak el Maadi with Alissa, Kirsten, and Christen to go teach, went to Dokki with Dr. Oussama Mustafa, the director, to visit his other branch office...ate at the Dokki branch in their strangely fairlytale-like backyard...nothing like the rest of Cairo, and finally returned home to el Massarah on metro....talked with Gigi about her life story....

Photos are forbidden by the Abu Hani, but here are a few of my family and of our flat. Oh I forgot to mention; the Hani famiy had huge mural like pictures of Jesus and the Saints around the flats, not to mention a random backdrop of the Swiss Alps....As for the lime green bucket in the bathroom- yes, we sit under the running water. This is my shower experience, and yes, it seems primitive, but usually I'm so happy to be sitting uder the running cold water after the hot sweaty day that I could careless about the awkward experience.

The past few days have been a hot, bleary, hazy mess. You may wonder why? First the heat, the no showering, the food poisoning, and the dehydration (i think),which all contributed to my 36 hour sickness... as they say in arabic, it was definitely a "mish kwais" experience. Well, here I am sitting in the middle of an urbanized/suburbanized dessert, McDonalds in Madam Tahrir to be exact, feeling much better than I did during my 36 hour ordeal. I'm not quite sure where to begin. Couple of things come to mind when I think about the past week, and yes, it's been 8 days since my arrival to Egypt. In the pas several days, Kirsten, Alissa, and I have been into our new home in el Massarah, and let me just say, it is quite the place. We are living without airconditions, no bathtub, no washing machines, and what else, oh, we have chickens cockadoodling in the mornings as our alarm clocks and goats 'goating' around in the mornings. Indeed, el Massarah is a lower middle class society- crowded, loud, hot, and poor. Yet, in one sense it really defines the meaning of true community, so I like el Massarah. It's full of life here, similar to Embebba. When I told Mr. Samah Alfonse and Ms. Sohair, Ms. Aiyliah, and Ms. Gihan that my current home in Egypt is el Massarah, they all looked at me incredulously, with wonderment and almost a worried fear. They all asked, "why, el massarah?" and "how did you get introduced to el Massarah?" The quote, "ignorance is bliss" is probably true in this instance. Had I known all the dangers or considered all the external measures, I for sure may have reconsidered living in el Massarah. Still, I stick with my original effection for el Massarah. It's a rare and raw form of local Egyptian life. Our host family is a the fantastic Hani family. The Hani house is a building home consisted of 3 or 4 flats that each family member and their family inhabit. A, K, and I live on the first wing of the house, the Abu Hani, Um Hani, and Zarah, their youngest daughter, live in the 2nd flat of the. Abu and Um Hani's oldest son, also an Abu Hani, and his wife, Dawlit, and their 4 year old daughter, Lydia, live upstairs in the 3rd flat, and the the youngest son (who works in Kuwait) and wife, Hanil, and daughter, Marsil lives in the 4th flat. Their oldest daughter, Gigi, is currently living at home with her parents due to her first pregnancy. Gigi's baby is due in 1 month, but she has extemely high blood pressure for a pregnant women...so this is the Hani family of el Massarah. The most important thing about this family is that they are a Christians. In Egypt, it is the Christian tradition to have a tatooed cross on your wrist. Ironically, this simple form of art separates them from Muslims. I will upload some pictures of my home in el Massarrah. Unfortuantely, it's taboo to take pictures, I've already been caught twice, so these will be the only pictures of the Hani family.

You may now be wondering who Ms. Sohair, Ms. Aiyliah, Ms. Gihan are??? They are my supervisors. Ms. Sohair and Ms. Aiyliah are both part of the Palestinian Department. Sohair is the director of Settlements, and Ms. Aiyliah is director of Refugess and UNARWA. Both Sohair and Aiyliah are huge chain smokers in their late 50's going on late 80s, but I really like them . My first several days were quite difficult; who would have ever guessed that there would be a bureaucratic ladder that I had to climb? In addition, there was a bit of misunderstanding on and there was a bit of mistrust. But alas, I've finally found my nitch of things and am curently working in Ms. Aiyliah's Refugees/UNARWA department. I have till Monday to read reports in Eglish and Arabic and to write a brief summary based on my observatiosn and my readings.... Oh, and to clarify, the Arab League is simlar to NATO not the UN, so for those who I've misled, I apologize.

peace-

Typical Street view of Tahrir- blend of young and old

collection of photoes from Ain Sukhan- Red Sea "Misreen Women and Children"
peace-

Madan Tahrir- shot from my balcony at the Desert Safari Hotel (Shara Shampilion)

Jet Lagged

Today, I started my first day at the Arab League. I finally met the infamous Mr. Sameh Alfonse, and he does exist. (I wondered if he existed because of the 4 emails I sent him, I received no response). Mr. Sameh is actually quite the charming, endearing, charistmatic fellow in his late 30's or earl 40's. I also met an Ambassador along with a dozen or more people whose names I can't seem recollect. As usual, they ask me for my name, and in response, they say "oh eunice, yani, eunice is boy's name, you know....." and my response, "yes, i know (i've only been told this a 50 billion times at every introduction). Next they ask, "where are you from?" My response, "oh, ana min amreeka" (i'm from america). They say, "no, your face (which I'm assuming has multiple meanings...haha...face!)" And I reply, "oh, I received my face from my parents who are Korean-Americans." They say, "oh....yani...ok..." Mr. Sameh witnessed this introduction and later apologized for the questions. It was nice to hear some kind of reponse regarding race from an Egyptian.

I write the scenerio above to pen some thoughts... I believe I can know answer the question, "why middle east?" I've been asked countless times from my friends and family back home, "why egypt" or "why the middle east?" Eunice, why the "f****-ing desert?" I think I can answer the question now with clarity. First of all, I say yes to the middle east, b/c of the uncomfortable race and gender questions. Yes, I absolutely appreciate diversity, multiculturalism, and the differences in the United States, but sometimes even the freedom, democracy, and diversity can imprison the fundamental meaning and importance of diversity. In the States, we live in an egaliarian society that overall appreciates diversity of all forms- culture, language, race, politics, and religion. However, our ideals fail to truly appreciate or engage in diversity. In Egypt, I'm constantly sharpened by the so called "insensitive introductions." From an American, egalitarian viewpoint, the above introductory questions are ignorant and ridiculous, most definitely something I won't experience in the US except possibly in the middle of Mississippi (i, too, will fall into stereotyping and use Mississippi for this example, but please not that i recognize that diversity exists in Mississippi as well. so for all you Mississipians, please excuse). In Egypt, I am challenged, challenged and curiously provoked to remember me as for me, an individual whose race and gender co-exists for the ultimate purpose of creating advocacy. There's a saying, "iron sharpens iron." I think the Middle East is that other other iron for me. Without it, I could be the dull blade that fails to make an impact. That's why the Middle East, parents and friends. Most importantly, as a follower of Isa, my prayer is to continue to represent the nonconforming nature of the word.

peace-

whoops...i forgot to upload this one...here it is...Day 1 in pictures-Tahrir)
(alissa's the sheesha smoker and kirsten's the tea drinker)
(oh the little kids-dont't really know who they are, but they were obsessed with the camera, so in their honor, here they are-unknown bint and unknown ragil)
peace-

Oh my goodness, I'm here. I'm in Cairo, at last! I slept with ear plugs and still could here the cacophony of traffic honks and horns from the street below... oh a little bit of silent grace would be greatly appreciated...but to Caior's merit, I didn't sleep in, AT ALL!

peace-

Kosheri Reflections of the 3 in Cairo- Day1
peace-

Day 1

A one way trip, totaling 16 hours of travel time- and where did I come to, but a dusty desert land also known as Cairo, Egypt. Dazed and confused from lack of sleep, I stepped out of the plane only to be greeted with HEAT. I had forgotten how humid, sticky, dusty, and hot it was in Cairo. Thankfully Alissa and Kirsten, my roommates, literally found me at the arrival gate. Il-hamdulleleh, "thanks be to God," because I don't know what I would have done should they not have "found" me. Alissa and Kirsten escorted me to our taxi and the driver, Farik had heard tales about me. First, he was confused by my gender. You see, the name "Eunice" is a name for males only. I suppose to his chagrin, meeting a female Eunice was quite the anomaly not mention that I was Korean-American. And now to my chagrin, Mr. Farik saw me and said, "Eunice, you look Japon-eese..." Needlesstosay, we hopped in the taxi and began our death ride into the city. Here's a list of how to get yourself killed in Egypt:
1. Ride a taxi
2. Walk in the streets (if you don't ride a taxi, you're bound to get hit by one...)
3. If you haven't died from the 2 above, the polution will limit your years...
so my conclusion, just stick with death in the taxi ride...I reckon this sounds a bit morbid, but I have to jest and poke fun because in reality, taxi rides are usually quite frightful...(mommy and daddy if you're reading this, please ignore and continue on...I'm safe as one can be... here's a smiley face for proof :)

Cairo's changed in the past 2 years, or perhaps the shock factor has lessoned significantly. The traffic didn't bother me as much. I had forgotten about the heat, but even that was subtle greeting from the old city. What else, even the Cairo smell was nostagic and almost welcoming. The men are the same, and the women are still beautiful. Yet, there was an endeniable growth in the city for sure. Perhaps the growth in its population has lessoned the local indivuduals' obsession and intrigue with foreigners... Il hamdullelah....

Oh, and back to the main topic- gender and race. On our taxi ride to the hotel, Mr. Farik spent at least half of the time convincing me that a name change was neede. He came up with several "girl's name" -Yasmine, Rashah, and Noor- " I dont' mind "Noor, " I told him, but then we came up with "euni..." So, I've thus become Euni for now.

Alissa, Kirsten, and I went to a famous local Kosheri place for dinner. Xamsa ginea, a USA dollar equivalent, was the total meal cost. Cheap living cost- a consolation for the heat and traffic. After dinner, we walked around the streets in Tahrir and of course, the nocturnals were out shopping, drinking chai, smoking sheesha. How could we resist? So, we, too, joined the tea drinking and sheesha smoking. Here the enjoy pictures...

peace-