Arabic language, Fluid Mechanics, and Service Learning - Day Two

Our classes began yesterday (Monday) - 3 classes of Arabic (2 introductory, 1 intermediate) and one Fluid Mechanics class.  Also yesterday, all 35 students met with Yasmina Abou Youssef, the entrepreneurial young woman who started the NGOs (Fathet Khayr and Suhbet Khayr) we are working with, and with Youssef el Shaarany, the Egyptian-Parisian young man who is our liaison between Gerhart Center/AUC and the NGOs.  

We are in Day 2 of classes and all seems well ... our Arabic teachers (Nermeen, Peter, and Syonara - yes, an Egyptian woman named Syonara!) and Dr. Mo are all very impressed with our students, their enthusiasm, their engagement in the classroom.  And our "service folks" (Yasmina and Youssef) are equally impressed with the level of student excitement for our projects with them.  After classes today and tomorrow, we will visit the NGOs and the sites where we will be working.

ON A SEPARATE NOTE:  "Food prices" ... all of us have been a bit "shocked" by the cost of food in Egypt.  Prices have gone up markedly in the past year; and - just as it has done in Europe - the dollar has taken a "dive" here as well.  Let's see, who do we "thank" for the US$ being in the dumpster globally?  Who do we "thank" for the high cost of food globally, and especially in Egypt, perhaps due in some measure to the astronomical rise in oil prices, which does affect the production and distribution of food?   Is this another "legacy" of our own President and his across-the-board failures - in Iraq, the Middle East generally, oil/energy policies, and everything else he's touched?   (thus endeth the editorial ...)

BUT - we have found some great deals in the last 24 hours which will help all of our students' pocketbooks.  AUC's cafeteria has the best food prices in town!   A couple of bucks a day (literally!) will buy us huge meals.  Plus, a local grocery store (which most students now frequent) has the best prices in town (Zamalek, where our hotels are).  So, we hope this will help everyone manage their budgets better.

"Home sweet Home ... Zamalek, Cairo"

"Haraam 'alayya"!  (Shame on me!) ... a few days ago, I posted an "update" that spoke of our very late arrival in Aswan and I said something about "Egyptian time."  Well, I eat my words.  This morning, we arrived 30 minutes EARLY in Cairo.  Would that today we were late rather than early!  We arrived at 6:15 am in Cairo's Giza train station; got to our respective hotels, and of course they had no rooms for our "NU-40" ... far too soon to check in.  So, our 40 folks spread out in hotel lobbies, local coffee shops, and wireless zones near our hotel.   But, no complaints at all from our 35 students - all of them, all of us, are just happy to be back in Cairo and ready to get to work/studies.  Luxor and Aswan were incredible all around ... but now we're ready to settle in for the month, unpack all our clothes and other "shizzle", and just build our temporary "nests" in Zamalek/Cairo.

Classes start tomorrow - Northeastern's first-ever Fluid Mechanics/Mechanical Engineering course to be taught in Cairo -- shukran/thank you Dr. Mo (Professor Mohamed Taslim).  Also, our Arabic language classes -- the biggest NU group of Arabic language students to study in Cairo:  24 students; 9 in intermediate Egyptian Arabic + 14 in introductory Egyptian + 1 Egyptian-American NU student who will serve as tutor, teacher's assistant, and "drill instructor" for the other 23 students.

I just left a group of our young women - my daughter and 8 others - at one of their favorite dinner hangouts, "No Big Deal."  All seemed happy, tired, and ready for tomorrow.  As am I. Tomorrow, I will get Dr. Mo to his classroom at AUC; meet the 2 introductory Arabic instructors and get them settled into their classrooms; then run back to Zamalek to meet Ms. Nermeen, our intermediate Arabic instructor (and our lead-teacher from last year and this year).  Cynthia and I then will meet to finalize (?!) the ever-shifting calendar ... then back to AUC's downtown campus (soon to be shut-down, and moved to the middle of Allah-knows-where!) for an orientation on Service Learning in Egypt and an introduction to our service site, "Stable Anter" (pronounced something like stah-bull on-ter).

Dr. Melinda Hartwig

Our "NU-40" - students, faculty, and staff - have benefitted from the deep knowledge, extensive experience, and strong contacts of Dr. Melinda Hartwig (PhD, New York University, 2000), associate professor of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Art & Archaeology at Georgia State University.  Melinda also serves as field director and principal investigator of a field project to conserve and document the world-famous tomb of Menna in Luxor (www.mennaproject.com).  

Melinda also is one of NU's coop employers!  Katy Kobzeff (B.S., International Affairs & Economics, 2008) worked for Melinda for 6 months in 2008 (after Katy participated in our Egypt Dialogue last summer).  See Katy's photos of Luxor at http://web.mac.com/kkobzeff/kk/photos/Pages/Luxor_-_Fall_2007.html 

Our 35 students in engineering, arts & sciences (majors in IAF, Middle East Studies, history, political science, psychology, biology, linguistics, etc.), plus business and criminal justice ALL have expressed their great admiration for Dr. Hartwig and her contributions to our knowledge of Ancient Egypt (culture, politics, history, art), archaeology, sub-surface imaging, engineering techniques, and more.  

Luxor - Karnak Temple

2 more pics from Aswan-Luxor

Updates, May 5-9

May 5: 

Overnight to Aswan

 Visit to Sakkara (“Step Pyramid”), the first pyramid (dating some 5,300 years ago … yes, 5 thousand years ago!).   Then to Dahshur and the “Bent” Pyramid.  Students got to go inside Dahshur … and yes, they were glad to do it and they were under-whelmed by the inside but awed from the size and overall magnitude/majesty of the place.  A few hours rest and we were off to Giza train station, to catch the overnight train to Aswan.  The train ride was great fun for the most part; the ride was smooth; the food was horrible (I warned them in advance and most seemed to pick up some good food at a local grocery store); and 1 or 2 (only) complained of “bed bugs” … the rest of us slept on top of the sheets in the drop-down beds and had no problems with bugs.

 May 6: 

 Arrived in Aswan – 3-4 hours late (Egyptian time, as we say).  Checked in to our hotel (Isis Corniche) and let students have the rest of the day to recoup from the train ride … most spent it at the pool.  We took a short felucca ride at dusk.  This is the best thing to do in Aswan – drift on the Nile at dusk … catch an evening breeze after a hot day; enjoy the beauty of the sand dunes on the west bank of the Nile; sail past the Botanical Gardens (established by Lord Kitchener, I believe); whiz past the famous Old Cataract Hotel (site of many a mystery novel and the occasional Agatha Christie book/movie); and return to shore for a walk along the corniche.  For dinner – “Chef Khalil” for most of us, a great fish restaurant in the suq (market).  The suq has been greatly renovated – clean, wide walkway; nice shops overall. 

 May 7:

Up early ... visits to Unfinished obelisk; Philae Temple; Aswan high dam … all of which are engineering marvels and the Dam having great political history; afternoon-to-dusk boat ride through the first cataract, plus a visit to a Nubian home, then back to hotel.  We spent an hour or so relaxing on top of the motorboat; then to a Nubian restaurant; dropped off at the corniche and walked back to the hotel.

 May 8:

 Aswan to Luxor – “caravan” of buses.  We had to get up at 6:15-6:30 to pack, get breakfast, and meet our guide in the hotel lobby by 7:15.  Then off to a “caravan” of tour buses which make their way to Luxor via Kom Ombo and Edfu.  Afternoon/evening free in Luxor (yes, the pool again).  We’re staying at a luxurious hotel, the Iberotel Luxor … a 5-star hotel with horribly slow food service.

 May 9 (Jo’s birthday!):

 Up at 5:30!   Wake-up calls for 22 rooms, 40 people … breakfast (of a sort); assemble in lobby 6:30 … board the bus for Valley of the Kings – arrived to the Valley just before 8.  The highlights were of course King Tut’s Tomb – and ‘the man himself’, all laid out in his regal mumminess (under a glass covering); Ramses VI Tomb (perhaps the best display of the Goddess Nuut); Tuthmoses III (the long hike!).  Finished by 9:30 and then off to Hatshepsut.  My first “act” was to assemble the group for a group shot with our NU flag/banner.  We did this already at the pyramids at Giza … so, when security came up and tried to seize my camera unless I deleted the pictures, I was ticked-off to say the least.  The security man said those were “propaganda pictures” and were not allowed, except of course if we got “permission” from (i.e., paid a fee to) Dr. Zahi Hawass himself!  I tried the “I know Dr. Zahi, and he escorted Mike and Kitty Dukakis and me around the Sphinx” bit, but this security guy was not buying it … he made me delete all 3 pictures we took with our “propaganda flag” – even when I tried to trick him, he was wise to the ways of my digital camera and its playback features.  So, up the ramp to Hatshepsut herself, and we did another group shot [see above picture] – which has nearly the same effect, since most of us are wearing our NU t-shirts … so, we still got our “propaganda” shot (but I was still ticked off). 

 Our time with the only female Pharaoh (Hatshepsut, the Queen who ruled as a King, i.e., ruled “as a man”) was well spent … then it was off to Medina Habu Temple, built by Ramses III on the sacred spot where the ancient Egyptians believed the earth was created.  It is a remarkably intact temple, with vibrant colors in the ceilings inside the 2^nd courtyard.  (Oh, and I did manage another “propaganda shot” with the group, only to discover later that my camera went on the fritz … it’s now fixed, but there is some “evil eye” force working against my efforts to “propagandize” our NU program here in Luxor J  ).

 Enroute back to the hotel, we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon, the twin seated statues that once guarded a massive complex.

 We gave everyone the afternoon off – for the pool, lunch, a rest, exploring Luxor … then off to Luxor Temple at 6-ish for a tour at sunset of the Temple that sits right along the Nile in the center of Luxor town.

 

"Happy Birthday, Mr. President ..."

I hope you have the image of Marilyn Monroe by now ... 

Today is President Hosni Mubarak's 80th birthday ... virtually all Egyptians were not celebrating.  Mubarak has been in power since 1981 (when Sadat was assassinated).  27 years ... and counting.  The economy is bad; food prices are rising; all prices are rising for Egyptians.  I'll not go on about the ____ "nature" of the government (I am a guest here after all ... but feel free to go to Amazon.com and google my name and Kimberly Jones - my co-author, and you'll see how I do indeed "go on" about the government).

Before today, there were widespread calls for protests against Mubarak and his regime.   They did not transpire ... nada ... nothing.  So, with no public protests at all, Mubarak probably did have a happy day.

I gave the students the day off today ... several of them have stomach ailments; and several others who have had such problems are now fully recovered.  It is inevitable for nearly all of us.  So, in the interest of not pushing them too hard, I suggested they rest/sleep in/walk around Zamalek some more and learn more about the neighborhood.

I also met with the hotel sales manager to solve the internet issues.  We will have a solution once we return from Luxor and Aswan (we leave Monday night, on the overnight train, and return to Cairo next Sunday).  So, by then, all who need it will have it.  (I don't know what we'll have in Aswan or Luxor, but most students will bring their laptops so we hope to have access [and I hope to keep posting]).

The highlight of today was our "banquet" at Abduh and Hayaam's ... Abduh is our "Mr. Fix-it" ... anything we need, any problems we face, Abduh is at-the-ready to help us solve it.  He also is considered our "director" of transportation (Abduh is not only my dear friend, he is also my driver whenever I'm in Cairo, and he manages our 3 other drivers of the minivans we rent while we're here).  Hayaam is his wife, and another of my dear friends.  She always makes amazing feasts for us ... tonight was no exception:  not 1 but TWO turkeys; grape leaves; eggplant with tehina; yogurt and cucumber; mashed potatoes (yes, my request); french fries (the first plate to get emptied); and more.

and then there was the "wawawa" song in one of the vans on our way home ... at one point, all 3 vans were stopped next to each other at a stop light and we all got to share the popular Egyptian song, with one professor singing (screaming?) it loudly ... 

Tomorrow - Sakkara (the oldest pyramid in Egypt, over 5,000 years old) and check out of hotel for our overnight train to Aswan ... so, if no postings happen for several days, you'll know we failed to find good internet access.

p.s.  I posted another picture below, at the top of yesterday's posting ... we were just about to enter the site of the oldest mosque in all of Africa.  When the Arab-Muslims came to Egypt in 638-640 C.E. (Christian or Current Era), they built a mosque ... nothing remains of that original mosque, but the site is the same, and the mosque has been rebuilt several times over the past 1370 years (!) and is a beautiful place, a sacred space, a wonderful place to visit and relax and reflect after a hot day.