Tom in Egypt // توم في مصر

..is leaving, and the view of the beautifully lit Citadel by night on the way home. I’d naively forgotten the nature of the Carrefour beast and was actually looking forward to the trip in the taxi on the way there. Initial excitement fast evaporated as I saw the ant-like hordes entering the mall and flocking towards the hypermarché. After an exhausting hour or so hunting for things for the flat – pans, knives, bins and the like – I retired to the nearest restaurant and abused their bottomless drinks, tortilla chips and salsa offers and waited for Andrea to get back with the other food items we needed. It’s difficult to explain the Carrefour madness to people who’ve never been as it’s really unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else. There have been times, I admit, when I have rushed to Carrefour in Alex as a safe-haven to buy some reasonable cheese and half-decent bread, but every time I go on a more concerted shopping trip the experience is somewhat soul destroying. Picture trying to do food shopping on a match day at Old Trafford, or Boxing Day sales with trolleys. I can see its appeal to middle and upper class Egyptians who can justify the inflated price tags because they can buy everything they need there, like at Tesco Express. But one of the things that I enjoy most about wandering through places like the street market on Mohammed Farid, next to our apartment, is that you can find a shop for everything. One man sells plastics, the next sells eggs. One man sells bread, the next is more of a lime specialist. I also love the way that shops group together here: on our street there are maybe six shops selling glasses and sunglasses in a row of seven. In other neighbourhoods I’ve seen stationery, kitchen supplies and even prosthetic limbs sold this way. Happily, Carrefour won’t threaten these shops too much any time soon, I suspect – with only a handful of stores it doesn’t have the presence to enjoy the stranglehold Tesco has on the UK market – but one feels it may only be a matter of time. For now though, I’m happy to enjoy buying onions and carrots from different shops.

Nouredin = Hero. Two long afternoons trailing round in mid-afternoon heat finally paid off as we found an excellent little flat 10 minutes walk from Andrea’s bus stop that is excellently air conditioned and generally very homely. It’s in a really great part of town that is very Egyptian – we live in front of a subsidised bread stand and above a makeshift coffee shop – but that is also not too far away from the trendy cafés of Tahrir. Everyone we’ve met here has been extremely friendly and welcoming and people are trying to help us with everything from the internet to the washing machine and to the sofa I broke after being in the flat a mere 3 hours. Guinness World Record anyone? I think it may be the result of 2 days of kosharee and one cheesy bites pizza.
This morning we went shopping in the local street market for some groceries and cleaning products, which I then deployed in expert fashion in a revival of my pro-lifeguarding days, “squeejee-ing” the floors with meticulous accuracy and speed. It’s looking good – I’m reluctant to upload pictures just yet as we have some work to do putting up posters, buying throws etc. but I’ll sort it ASAP. We also have plenty of space for people to stay, so Ahlan wa Sahlan!
Right, off to Carrefour to buy towels, bedding and all things nice. More soon!

After taking a couple of days to enjoy Cairo and kosharee the exhausting search for an apartment is now well and truly on. As previously mentioned, the dirty Americans at the AUC have swine flu (although there are now some unconfirmed rumours on Twitter that there has been a first Egyptian infected) and her classes were cancelled until Monday, which means she can help look for a place. We visited Maadi (location of suspected Egyptian swine flu case), which is closest to the AUC after its move from the handily located Downtown campus, and decided that it was very beautiful and would probably be a nice place to live, but that we'd actually prefer to try the Downtown chaos for a while. In that vein we hiked round the areas surrounding Meedan Tahrir led by an energetic and resourceful simsar - the man who finds people a flat. The way the simsars work is amazing, they seem to be able to know someone in every building and a phone number to call to see whether a flat is available. Their local knowledge and networking ability is truly astounding - I have no idea how Nouredin (our simsar) manages this whilst studying for a law MA. Speak of the devil, we're off to meet him now (Nouredin not the devil) and I've killed two laptop batteries in the time it's taken me to check emails and write an update. More soon, love and peace.

This update is being written from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport – an oddly designed bike wheel shaped place with a landing runway so far from the terminal I could swear we were in France – which, yet again, has no free WiFi access. Astonishing. The journey thus far has been pleasant enough and I had enjoyed a long morning with my family before I set off buying last minute essentials such as swimming shorts and Earl Grey and eating croissants. They (my family not the croissants) came in particularly handyy when I belatedly discovered that my baggage allowance was not the meagre 20 kilos I’d previously bemoaned, but rather a generous 2 piece deal each of which could weigh up to a hefty 23 kilos. At this point I hoisted my darling brother into the loft to dig out a hard case for a guitar which (Inshallah) will still be in one piece on arrival in Cairo and will not cut the solitary, unplayed figure I described in my previous missal.

Worryingly, all the news this morning on the Twitosphere was of a swine flu outbreak at the AUC which had led to the short term cancellation of all classes but I couldn’t get hold of Andrea to find out more details. After a difficult first few days back with lost luggage and an excruciatingly long flight I think pig flu might be one straw too many on the back of a proverbial camel. It seems the tactic of burying pigs alive in their thousands hasn’t paid off then. Who knew? Interestingly, the guy sat opposite me is wearing one of those ominous looking face masks that became “de mode” at the height of the outbreak. I say he’s wearing it, he’s posing in it – round his neck as an attention seeking salute to swine flu. I’m just guessing, but I don’t think they are particularly effective unless they actually cover your mouth and nose. Maybe he got his info from the same source as the Egyptian government.

More later from Cairo when I arrive and secure some internet, for now here’s what I’m listening to and here’s what I’m reading.

With just three days until I leave, the time has come for me to pack up my belongings and my memories from my student life here in Manchester. Trying to fit a life into 20kg of suitcase is outrageously tricky and there's something very surreal about sorting things in order of importance, usefulness and weight. As you pack you have to remain almost as an outsider looking in on your life, objective, ruthlessly discarding the important and irreplaceable for the practical. Would that I could take my guitar or my wall hanging or my books! Leaving my books saddens me immensely, it seems such a waste that they sit lonely in a box until my return - but the odd sense of possession I feel towards they doesn't allow me to give them away. I've read them all, and may never read some of them again, but there are too many memories and thoughts and ideas tied up in the pages, too personal. Into the box it is then...

Whilst the tragedy of the boxed books and a guitar unplayed marks a definite closing of a chapter, I'm so pleased that my next journey will be in Cairo. Seeing Andrea there on Skype, hearing the Egyptian accents and the Cairo traffic makes me jealous I'm not there already. A few days will fly by, and I'll be a part of the chaos again - I can't wait. Welcome back to Tom in Egypt - I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Here are sites and blogs I read regularly and would recommend to anyone, particularly those interested in Egypt or the Middle East.


Bikya Masr - breaking through the clutter of Egyptian news
SON OF A DUCK - an orientalist's observations in Egypt
The Arabist - a website on Arab politics and culture
Syria News Wire - fresh, independent news from the streets of Damascus and beyond
Informed Comment - thoughts on the Middle East, history and religion
Dormir Debout - thoughts of a student of old Iranian languages at SOAS
THE BOURSA EXCHANGE - a comment on daily life in downtown Cairo
Saudi Jeans - news, commentary, and personal views on political and social issues in Saudi Arabia
Abu Aardvark - comment on Middle Eastern affairs
At War (NYT) - notes from the front line (formerly Baghdad Bureau)

Tom Trewinnard is a graduate of the University of Manchester (Middle Eastern and Modern European Languages) currently living in Cairo, working as English Language Editor of the Arab-West Report, Meedan.net content producer, contributor to Bikya Masr, freelance copy editor, and English teacher.

"El Rumi" refers not to the poet but to the pepper, my stature apparently suffering by comparison to that of another Tom "El Tawil" (Tall Tom).

Tom is contactable via: tom.trewinnard@gmail.com