Welcome From Cairo

Ahlann (Welcome)! Well here it is, the blog that I promised. I've been here a month so I figured it was time to launch it! My ambition with this is to convey how ordinary everyday life works here as opposed to what I'm used to. I'm trying to view the culture through an unbias lenses which, at times can be quite difficult. I hope to give this wonderful city and it's people an accurate representation here.

Although not claiming to live the archetypal "Egyptian" life I feel that James (my close friend and roommate) and I find ourselves in a much different day to day situation then most of our American Peers. For instance, rather than deciding to live with the rest of the foreign students in the Dorms we opted to find our own apartment far away from them. We took a more anthropological approach to our time here. We moved into a building where we are the only foreigners, all-be-it in one of the largest ex-patriot sections of town but nonetheless we are surrounded by Egyptians most of our days. Outside of the University most of our time is spent with Egyptian friends. Because of this we still have yet to visit most tourist sites and avoid the posh ex-pat hangouts. Unlike most of our peers we utilize public transportation especially Cairo's Metro system. For the equivalent of $0.18 we can ride to most places in the city or at the very least cut a cab fair by four or five dollars. More on the Metro System later.

We don't simply spend time with Egyptians but try to live like them. We buy our food from local markets and bakeries. We have become regulars at El Tabei El Domyati, an Egyptian fast food type restaurant where we can get a meal for about $1. We cook lots of Egyptian cuisine with our friends which will most likely be talked about in a later post. We've even learned to dress based on where we are going. In certain parts of town it pays to not look like an American tourist. In other words we've learned to blend. We've picked up on cultural cues and are continuously learning the language and the culture. That last sentence has become our goal.

Anyways we are excited for the rest of our time here. I hope I can make these posts informative, enlightening, and maybe even thought provoking as well as to keep everyone up-to-date on the happenings of James and I in Cairo.

DJM