Maybe I've said this before, but it feels like I've been in Alex for ever! One full week of Uni has flown by, and I've been hugely impressed with the teaching here, if less than enamored with 09.00 starts every day. The schedule also feels fairly intensive at times, but I've already noticed an improvement in my rusty Arabic which has been almost untouched since I finished in Manchester in May. Whilst I'm fairly sure I could/should have done better on the placement exam, the class I'm in is great and I've even been able to bust out some of my creaking German chatting to my colleagues from Bremen.
Aside from my Arabic fun, I was also invited to - wait for it, laugh at your own peril - the University rugby training, along with Big Tom, my housemate in Egypt. Whilst my rugby experience is limited, as are my fitness and physique, I put in an enthusiastic performance in what was a fairly chaotic game of touch rugby. Only in Egypt can you play touch rugby with 25 a-side. There are two more training sessions this week for me to prove myself as the devastating outside centre I could so easily be, before the big game vs. Cairo on Friday. I do feel that I have a slight advantage in that most of the team is fasting for Ramadan, making them somewhat more sluggish than usual, thus allowing me to fully exploit my lightning turn of speed. I'll let you know if I make the team/squad, there will be pictures if I play my first game a game in the oldest stadium in Africa! Prestigious eh?!
Much of the rest of my time has been spent at the illustrious Portuguese Club, which is a somewhat seedy ex-pat bar near in a villa near the British Consulate. Good fun though, they have cheap beer, pool and it seems to be the only place in Egypt showing any of the Rugby World Cup, which means for the next few weeks it's going to be a winner!
After starting Uni on Monday, we were hit with a fantastically difficult "placement" exam on Wednesday, which left us with a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday, and an ideal opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and head somewhere more exotic: Siwa Oasis.
Siwa Old Town
The Desert Rose by day
Sunset in the Western Desert
Due to it's fairly remote location in Egypt's Western Desert (the first tarmacked road to Siwa was built in the 80's) the views of the stars after sunset are simply stunning. From both the hotel roof terrace and the desert, we sat for hours gazing at the myriad of stars that I've never seen shining so clear and bright. So many stars, in fact, that finding constellations proved difficult. Spotting shooting stars became popular, if a little competitive from some members of the group (no names mentioned :P ) and the Milky Way stretched right across the sky.
Perhaps equally due to the remoteness of the town, the Siwan people are amongst the most hospitable I've met here in Egypt. From Muhammad, the man who helped us find our hotel, to Ali, the hotel manager who saw to our every need re: accommodation and food, to Mahmood, Hassan and Nasser, our guides in the desert, without exception we were welcomed sincerely to Siwa. Shop owners, who in Cairo or Alex or anywhere else in Egypt would fast lose interest if you didn't buy their wares, were more than happy just to sit and chat and make you a traditional Siwan tea.
All in all, an awesome weekend and I can't wait to get back to Siwa, although I don't think it will ever be quite the same somehow. There are many more stories to be told, most poignant of which regarding "Timmy", but alas these will have to wait. Many thanks to all who came, it wouldn't have been the same without you.
Keep me informed of what's going on back home and wherever you are in the world!
Tx
PS. Answers on a postcard regarding the title ;)
Wow, I can't believe that it's only been a week since I arrived in Alex, many apologies for a lack of communication - I really didn't want to post without being able to put up a few pics of here and Cairo and the internet has been fairly scarce thus far (at the moment I'm stealing some bandwidth from some unsuspecting neighbour). There are really too many stories to tell, so I'll just give a brief idea of things here and then hopefully in future posts I can embellish more on various experiences.
Alexandria Library
Me and the legendary Roushdy girls in Cairo
My room in the Gabarti Street Penthouse, overlooking the Saudi Consulate
Following are a few initial impressions and difficulties I have found in Egypt:
1) Taxi drivers. Where to start? Driving here is absolute madness, when we arrived in Cairo our driver somehow managed to stack all our bags onto the roof and then "secured" them with a something he insisted was rope, but believe me there was nothing secure about the whole affair. Up here in Alex another common problem is that no taxi driver seems to have the faintest idea where he's going, but they won't let you know that until you're in the car and halfway to your intended destination. This is immensely frustrating and takes a lot of time trying to direct people who've lived in a city for 20 or more years round somewhere you've been for about 20 minutes. The other night I also had a somewhat bizarre experience (attention John P) when, after a night at a bar called the Portuguese Club, I jumped in a taxi on my own and subsequently had my leg stroked by the taxi driver whilst he said "Anta hilw awee" - literally translated as "You're very sweet". I made me digust clear. Finally, they all seem out to rip you off (a general problem over here) with people thinking you'll be happy to pay three or four times the going rate just because you're white and you're Arabic is shaky, which brings me onto point no2:
2) Egyptian Arabic. Having studied Arabic at uni for two years now, I would hope that I could have a fair conversation with your standard Egyptian, and make myself fairly well understood. Not so. For those of you not au fait with the nuances of the Arabic language, what is generally taught in UK universities is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which genuinely bears almost no resemblance to what is spoken by everyone here in Egypt. The last week has been a steep learning curve in this new colloquial language, and I feel I still have a long way to go, although listening to someone speak in MSA today and understanding nearly everything gave me some encouragement. All in all, an amazing first week and I feel very at home here already.
That's all for now, hopefully I'll post soon if I can get back on this person's wireless. Let me know how everyone is and what's going on, my email is thomas.trewinnard@student.manchester.ac.uk, or you can use the ol' Comment function.
Tx
NB. Photos currently taking an age to upload, more to follow, these just prove I'm actually here and not hiding somewhere in the UK.
Hello all, we've just arrived in Alex after an excellent two days in Cairo, I have lots to tell and all will follow along with some photos of the journey and Cairo and perhaps some from Alex. Just to say I've arrived safely with everyone and the journey, whilst at times hectic and somewhat stressful, generally passed without incident. And I've spoken some Arabic. More soon, hopefully I'll find a apartment in the next few days and the there will be a flood of postings of a more interesting nature. Adios for now,
توماس
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