Flute man, America in Cairo

I haven’t had a lot of time to blog lately, and I haven’t done much that is new. I’m spending a lot of time trying to stay ahead of my students in my classes, working on Arabic, and enjoying evenings in downtown Cairo when I can.

I have today off (Friday) so I spent the morning doing the crossword over coffee at Café Graco. I walked home and stopped to talk to the “flute man” who I have passed by a lot of times but never talked to. He hangs out on Road 9 and sells flutes made from bamboo (or something like it). I think, but I’m not sure, that he carves the flutes himself. As he demonstrated to me he plays pretty well too. He only speaks Arabic, so I was delighted to be able to understand him. Mostly. He really won me over with a gregarious personality. I just said hello (Sabbah Alkheer, which is “good morning” in Arabic) and before I knew it I was spending 70 pounds, about $13, on 5 flutes. But I have some nice souvenirs that will always remind me of Maadi, and a new friend in Maadi. I couldn’t understand his name, but I know it starts with “r” and ends with “b.” Rahib or Ragib. He told me he has lived in Maadi for 30 years.

I’ve spent a lot of time downtown lately. I’ve moved my Arabic lessons from the new campus, which is out in the desert, to the old campus which is “west el balad” in Arabic, meaning center of the city. It’s nice because I enjoy getting around the old campus a bit, working on Arabic and then hanging out downtown for dinner.

Right in the heart of the city are two huge billboards up on tall buildings right in from of the Egyptian Museum. I notice them often because until lately they have been adorned with beautiful Arabic pop stars. This week I was both comforted and horrified to see the new Coca Cola sign go up here, right next to the long standing McDonalds sign:

Comforted because the sign does make me feel right at home in a way, but horrified because it also seems so out of place in Cairo that it feels to me as yet another bit of crass consumerism pushed out of the US. Thinking about that, I took pictures of all these places, which are right beside the American University campus downtown, right in the heart of Cairo:

I don't understand the first Arabic word on this sign, but the second is Kintiky.

The Arabic sign here says "Makdoonaldz."

At the bus stop Thursday morning, I took a picture of two of my colleagues at the university, Rose and Mohammed.

Mohammed is a professor in the engineering department. His family is from the Sudan, but he has spent most of his life in England. You don’t expect it when you first meet him, but he has that charming, sort of royal British accent. He is also a fan of soccer, rugby and cricket, and while I understand the passion for sports I can’t really talk to him about those particular sports.

Rose works in the library. She is from Syracuse, NY, and worked at Syracuse University before coming back to Cairo. She spent a number of years here in the late 1990’s, went back to NY for a few years, and then decided to come back to Cairo. She loves to ride horses, and I think there are few better places in the world to do that than Cairo. Out by the pyramids they have a lot of riding options available, and it is very affordable to go out and get a horse and ride out into the desert. Evidently it is quite appealing because a lot of people do it, so I hope to try it sometime. En shallah.

Rose was actually on the plane with me when I first arrived in Cairo, so we shared a car from the airport to Maadi. I will always remember riding into Maadi that night. The university gives you a “moving in” allowance when you first arrive, so you get in the car and the driver hands you a bag stuffed with Egyptian money. Of course, this was the first time I had ever seen Egyptian money. You have to sign a receipt for it, so he asks you to count it on the way. So right after arriving in Egypt I’m riding in a car counting all this strange money, driving down strange streets, and then delivered to my apartment. It is sort of a surreal experience, but a lot of fun too.

In about an hour I’m going to join the Cairo Hash House Harriers. Which sounds like a place to go smoke hash, (something that is actually surprisingly easy to do in Cairo), but that isn’t it. This is a group that goes out into the desert at a place called Wadi Degla for a hike/run every weekend. I’ll see how it goes, but I’m itching to get my physical fitness routine going again. I’ve gotten lazy and soft, but not fat yet, in Cairo.

Then I have a two softball games with the "Wildmen" this afternoon, and then I’m meeting my friend Nate downtown tonight. Looks like a nice weekend full of activity. I'll get a picture of Nate for the next blog, he is a quite interesting character.

I leave for Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday. Look for exciting pictures in my next blog!