Greetings to everyone from Cairo.
Well, just where does one start? At 20 thousand feet I looked down on the Upper Nile Valley. The bright greens of the fields watered by irrigation canals looked so pleasingly cool, so fertile. Then, the shock of seeing further off, as if a knife had sliced the green away, the sand stretching as far as the horizon. As we came to 8,000 feet the outer environs of greater Cairo became evident. It was an extraordinary sight to see, in that sea of sand, numerous groups of what appeared to be sand colored bricks, packed tightly together,with no spaces between. Small villages, many, many of them. As our plane came in right over DownTown Cairo those bricklike structures multiplied beyond imagination, one could not see any streets, lanes, alleys or greenery, so tightly packed were the houses, all of a tone. Sandy.
Our hotel is from another more opulent era. The Cosmopolitan. With grand staircases, high ceilings and a splendid lift (elevator) that announces its arrival with a sweet bell sound, and upon opening its double doors you feel like a prince entering your palace. It has seen better days, but all our students are very appreciative of its atmosphere, as well as its hot water and air conditioning.
We are here during Ramadan. This means that much of the city is closed during the day, making for relatively safe crossing of roads, and hassle free walking of streets. We have found our 'little man' who sells water, and who is obviously delighted to welcome us, as we have bought him out of water several times, and he gives all of us a packet of chiclets whenever we purchase anything from his tiny kiosk, which has juices, biscuits, yogurt, and other essentials. He treats us with grace, kindness and a special price!
After the sedateness of Geneva and the Ottoman delights of Turkey, Cairo is quite a shock to the system. There are approximately 83 million people in Egypt and 20-22million of them are crammed into this city. On our guided tour by bus, given by our lead professor, Dr. Swanson, we were constantly surprised by the vast tracts of illegal building lived in by the poorest of the poor, and on the other hand, by the immense lands stretching literally into the desert of the several new cities that are springing up, with gated communities, and thousands of enormous, very ostentatious single 10,000 sq.ft. mansions. Whereas the former are squashed into a circle around the center of the downtown, the latter spread off in the distance, with miles of sand all around, with new boulevards being constructed, as if to nowhere.
The American U. Campus, which has been right in the middle of the city for over 100 years, and where we have almost all our lectures, has built a fantastic and beautiful new campus, some 20 miles outside the eastern edges of the city. It takes an hour to get there. We visited it for a day, and it is, indeed, a spacious and fully modern and splendid campus, bustling with students, but we will enjoy all our lectures in the lovely old campus, with its small, intimate palm fringed courtyards and archictecturally fine 19th buildings.
The students have been intrepid in their forays around our downtown area, and we rely on them to tell us which way to go, and where the best food is to be found. They have almost limitless energy, burning the candle at both ends, whereas we crash around 10:30 pm. The streets are dirty, gritty and there is little or no give to pedestrians, which makes for frequent adrenalin rushes on my part. Our lectures come fast and furious. for instance, we had 6 hours of lectures today, after which all of us staggered out into the dust just in time to return to the hotel before iftar, sunset, and the end of the fast for the day, when Muslims feast and make merry till the small hours of the night. Several of our party have fallen prey to what I call Pharoah's Revenge, and I have spent some time ministering to them in their misery, with water, eletrolytes and cipro. Now, it seems everyone is well again, thank goodness. Let's hope that's the end of it!
Later this week we start to visit some of the great sites. Our lectures have been preparing us, but so much information tends to wash over one after hours of non-stop lectures, and I will send out a missive when I can sort out my reactions and feelings when I encounter them physically, and, of course, our ongoing experiences.
Barbara.
Well, just where does one start? At 20 thousand feet I looked down on the Upper Nile Valley. The bright greens of the fields watered by irrigation canals looked so pleasingly cool, so fertile. Then, the shock of seeing further off, as if a knife had sliced the green away, the sand stretching as far as the horizon. As we came to 8,000 feet the outer environs of greater Cairo became evident. It was an extraordinary sight to see, in that sea of sand, numerous groups of what appeared to be sand colored bricks, packed tightly together,with no spaces between. Small villages, many, many of them. As our plane came in right over DownTown Cairo those bricklike structures multiplied beyond imagination, one could not see any streets, lanes, alleys or greenery, so tightly packed were the houses, all of a tone. Sandy.
Our hotel is from another more opulent era. The Cosmopolitan. With grand staircases, high ceilings and a splendid lift (elevator) that announces its arrival with a sweet bell sound, and upon opening its double doors you feel like a prince entering your palace. It has seen better days, but all our students are very appreciative of its atmosphere, as well as its hot water and air conditioning.
We are here during Ramadan. This means that much of the city is closed during the day, making for relatively safe crossing of roads, and hassle free walking of streets. We have found our 'little man' who sells water, and who is obviously delighted to welcome us, as we have bought him out of water several times, and he gives all of us a packet of chiclets whenever we purchase anything from his tiny kiosk, which has juices, biscuits, yogurt, and other essentials. He treats us with grace, kindness and a special price!
After the sedateness of Geneva and the Ottoman delights of Turkey, Cairo is quite a shock to the system. There are approximately 83 million people in Egypt and 20-22million of them are crammed into this city. On our guided tour by bus, given by our lead professor, Dr. Swanson, we were constantly surprised by the vast tracts of illegal building lived in by the poorest of the poor, and on the other hand, by the immense lands stretching literally into the desert of the several new cities that are springing up, with gated communities, and thousands of enormous, very ostentatious single 10,000 sq.ft. mansions. Whereas the former are squashed into a circle around the center of the downtown, the latter spread off in the distance, with miles of sand all around, with new boulevards being constructed, as if to nowhere.
The American U. Campus, which has been right in the middle of the city for over 100 years, and where we have almost all our lectures, has built a fantastic and beautiful new campus, some 20 miles outside the eastern edges of the city. It takes an hour to get there. We visited it for a day, and it is, indeed, a spacious and fully modern and splendid campus, bustling with students, but we will enjoy all our lectures in the lovely old campus, with its small, intimate palm fringed courtyards and archictecturally fine 19th buildings.
The students have been intrepid in their forays around our downtown area, and we rely on them to tell us which way to go, and where the best food is to be found. They have almost limitless energy, burning the candle at both ends, whereas we crash around 10:30 pm. The streets are dirty, gritty and there is little or no give to pedestrians, which makes for frequent adrenalin rushes on my part. Our lectures come fast and furious. for instance, we had 6 hours of lectures today, after which all of us staggered out into the dust just in time to return to the hotel before iftar, sunset, and the end of the fast for the day, when Muslims feast and make merry till the small hours of the night. Several of our party have fallen prey to what I call Pharoah's Revenge, and I have spent some time ministering to them in their misery, with water, eletrolytes and cipro. Now, it seems everyone is well again, thank goodness. Let's hope that's the end of it!
Later this week we start to visit some of the great sites. Our lectures have been preparing us, but so much information tends to wash over one after hours of non-stop lectures, and I will send out a missive when I can sort out my reactions and feelings when I encounter them physically, and, of course, our ongoing experiences.
Barbara.