It's official.
I bought my one-way ticket to Amman. I leave December 27th.
Let sanity reign over me.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Post-Graduation
Well, the time has come. Being broke and jobless at college has transitioned into being broke, jobless, and uninsured at home. Yes!!!!
So, it is with a heavy heart that I close out this travelog. I will carry the memories I made during my study abroad semester with me for the rest of my life, and hopefully the things I learned there will help others better understand the Middle East for what it is:
Just another place in a crazy world.
*cue inspirational 80's music*
St. Elmo's Fire!
So, it is with a heavy heart that I close out this travelog. I will carry the memories I made during my study abroad semester with me for the rest of my life, and hopefully the things I learned there will help others better understand the Middle East for what it is:
Just another place in a crazy world.
*cue inspirational 80's music*
St. Elmo's Fire!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Back Home
I don't want my account with Blogspot to lapse, so I'm posting this to remain on teh Internets [sic].
As for things I've learned:
-Everyone who is an armchair diplomat/economist/general/president doesn't know a goddamn thing. Including me. But especially other people. An aide for John McCain came and spoke in Jordan during the election, positing that "Why don't the Palestinians just turn Jordan into Palestine? There's already so many Palestinians in Jordan..." so I asked "Why don't the Mexicans just turn California into Mexico? There's already so many of them there..." Idiot.
-Palestine/Israel is not an impossible situation. Anyone who says it is never saw the impossible situations of horseless carriages, electricity, defeating the Nazis, coming out of the depression, sailing West to find India, or sinning against God and not being struck down by a bolt of lightning. There are elements on both sides that want peace, just as there are elements on both sides that benefit from conflict and war. The peacemakers just need to be louder. And richer.
-The differences between Arabs, Muslims, Shi'ite, Sunni, Christian, Israeli, Jewish, Orthodox, Bedouin, Kurdish, and every nationality of Middle Eastern are the MOST important thing to understanding the Middle East. After demographics.
-The only real anti-American sentiment I received while abroad was from drunk Jordanian college students (which is haram in the first place) and from Israelis. Everyone else was either ambivalent on the subject, passive aggressive (which I consider normal toward foreigners in any country), or completely hospitable. Many instances of the latter stick out as pleasantly surprising, such as being invited to tea in the middle of the desert about a half-dozen times and being taken to fantastic dinners by complete strangers.
-Anyone who was raised in an urban environment has enough spidey-sense to survive in strange new places. A dangerous neighborhood in Cairo looks pretty similar to a dangerous neighborhood in Chicago (murder capital of the US). The indicators of a dangerous situation in an urban enviroment are the same. So for those astounded that I didn't get beheaded on the Internet, it's probably more dangerous going to the Taste of Chicago then it was going to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Although I did miss the rocket attacks by mere hours...
-The toxic social bubble of Champaign is nowhere near a fair distribution of the types of people in the United States. I met more varied, amazing people on this trip from America in four months than I met in Champaign in 4 1/2 years. It just goes to show you that staying inside your safe little bubble and never venturing into the big, bright world can stunt your growth.
As for things I've learned:
-Everyone who is an armchair diplomat/economist/general/president doesn't know a goddamn thing. Including me. But especially other people. An aide for John McCain came and spoke in Jordan during the election, positing that "Why don't the Palestinians just turn Jordan into Palestine? There's already so many Palestinians in Jordan..." so I asked "Why don't the Mexicans just turn California into Mexico? There's already so many of them there..." Idiot.
-Palestine/Israel is not an impossible situation. Anyone who says it is never saw the impossible situations of horseless carriages, electricity, defeating the Nazis, coming out of the depression, sailing West to find India, or sinning against God and not being struck down by a bolt of lightning. There are elements on both sides that want peace, just as there are elements on both sides that benefit from conflict and war. The peacemakers just need to be louder. And richer.
-The differences between Arabs, Muslims, Shi'ite, Sunni, Christian, Israeli, Jewish, Orthodox, Bedouin, Kurdish, and every nationality of Middle Eastern are the MOST important thing to understanding the Middle East. After demographics.
-The only real anti-American sentiment I received while abroad was from drunk Jordanian college students (which is haram in the first place) and from Israelis. Everyone else was either ambivalent on the subject, passive aggressive (which I consider normal toward foreigners in any country), or completely hospitable. Many instances of the latter stick out as pleasantly surprising, such as being invited to tea in the middle of the desert about a half-dozen times and being taken to fantastic dinners by complete strangers.
-Anyone who was raised in an urban environment has enough spidey-sense to survive in strange new places. A dangerous neighborhood in Cairo looks pretty similar to a dangerous neighborhood in Chicago (murder capital of the US). The indicators of a dangerous situation in an urban enviroment are the same. So for those astounded that I didn't get beheaded on the Internet, it's probably more dangerous going to the Taste of Chicago then it was going to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Although I did miss the rocket attacks by mere hours...
-The toxic social bubble of Champaign is nowhere near a fair distribution of the types of people in the United States. I met more varied, amazing people on this trip from America in four months than I met in Champaign in 4 1/2 years. It just goes to show you that staying inside your safe little bubble and never venturing into the big, bright world can stunt your growth.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Cairo
Warning!! Long post ahead...but there are pretty pictures...Read at your own risk!!
I spent nearly a week in "the city of a thousand minarets," which a nickname I agree with, the calls to prayer sounding so close it is if they are being sung/screamed literally within your head most of the time. Although a more accurate nickname would be, "the city of a thousand crappy minaret speakers." You'd think with the billions of dollars America gives Egypt every year, they'd put a Radioshack in somewhere...
So, I arrived in Cairo by way of Royal Jordanian airlines (the only way to fly). I mean it, it is the only way to fly. Not only did I get to pick my exact seat, but I jokingly selected a gluten-free meal for the hour-long flight from Amman to Cairo...AND THEY ACTUALLY SERVED IT.
Delta airlines meal service seems a bit less hospitable...
So, after my $20 ride from the airport, which is apparently the standard rip-off rate in every country (except Israel, where it's $60 from the border to Jerusalem...no comment), I arrived at my friend's apartment on the island of Zamalek, on the Nile between Cairo proper and Giza.
I need to learn to use better editing software...
It was Eid, and Katie's apartment had the unique benefit of being located above a butcher shop. So I got to see this every morning...
Mmmm...fresh holiday entrails....
Zamalek is home to a lot of international students and ex-pats, and has most of the embassies there as well...
Oh Ethiopia...come on guys...
So it has a distinctly cosmopolitan flava. It also had some of the greatest views of the Nile I was never expecting to see.
Those are rentable apartments...ON THE NILE
It was very green. Here's a mosque. That's all I got.
Being a total Stargate nerd, I demanded that we had to see the pyramids (or alien landing pads, which is what the government doesn't want you to believe). I had been warned that the soliciting of tourists was going to be the worst there, but when an Egyptian man jumped onto the trunk of our taxi trying to get us to ride his camel, it took my friend Katie screaming Imshee!!! (basically telling him to f*ck off) to get him away. The taxi driver loved how badly the wee lass had emasculated him.
This kitten's got claws!
The pyramids do look pretty intense, and pictures don't do it justice. They rise out of the desert and look totally unlike anything I have ever seen...except for the other pyramids
Like this one...check out those fanny packs...
Ancient Egyptian God Ra decided to make an appearance
Always the rebellious rulebreaker...
I also got to run around other parts of Cairo...including:
Khan Al-Khalili
The biggest market/tourist rip off in Cairo. They had some nice hookahs though.
This is the entrance to Khan Al-Khalili. A bomb went off in this spot about a month later, killing one and injuring 17 tourists.
Downtown
Doesn't look like a third-world country...
Al-Azhar Park
Grant Park eat your heart out. This was all for ONE BAND. And they were BARELY DECENT.
This is probably the best picture I took on my entire trip.
I know it's all because of air pollution, but WE DID THAT. And its beautiful. And it will possibly kill our grandchildren.
To sum up Cairo would be best done in haiku form:
Cairo is way big
Twenty five million people
Too many children
These kids are Palestinian, but an Egyptian lad did lean out of a car with a toy AK-47 and "shot" me. It was pretty intense.
I spent nearly a week in "the city of a thousand minarets," which a nickname I agree with, the calls to prayer sounding so close it is if they are being sung/screamed literally within your head most of the time. Although a more accurate nickname would be, "the city of a thousand crappy minaret speakers." You'd think with the billions of dollars America gives Egypt every year, they'd put a Radioshack in somewhere...
So, I arrived in Cairo by way of Royal Jordanian airlines (the only way to fly). I mean it, it is the only way to fly. Not only did I get to pick my exact seat, but I jokingly selected a gluten-free meal for the hour-long flight from Amman to Cairo...AND THEY ACTUALLY SERVED IT.
Delta airlines meal service seems a bit less hospitable...
So, after my $20 ride from the airport, which is apparently the standard rip-off rate in every country (except Israel, where it's $60 from the border to Jerusalem...no comment), I arrived at my friend's apartment on the island of Zamalek, on the Nile between Cairo proper and Giza.
I need to learn to use better editing software...
Mmmm...fresh holiday entrails....
Zamalek is home to a lot of international students and ex-pats, and has most of the embassies there as well...
Oh Ethiopia...come on guys...
So it has a distinctly cosmopolitan flava. It also had some of the greatest views of the Nile I was never expecting to see.
Those are rentable apartments...ON THE NILE
It was very green. Here's a mosque. That's all I got.
Being a total Stargate nerd, I demanded that we had to see the pyramids (or alien landing pads, which is what the government doesn't want you to believe). I had been warned that the soliciting of tourists was going to be the worst there, but when an Egyptian man jumped onto the trunk of our taxi trying to get us to ride his camel, it took my friend Katie screaming Imshee!!! (basically telling him to f*ck off) to get him away. The taxi driver loved how badly the wee lass had emasculated him.
This kitten's got claws!The pyramids do look pretty intense, and pictures don't do it justice. They rise out of the desert and look totally unlike anything I have ever seen...except for the other pyramids
Like this one...check out those fanny packs...
Ancient Egyptian God Ra decided to make an appearance
Always the rebellious rulebreaker...
I also got to run around other parts of Cairo...including:
Khan Al-Khalili
The biggest market/tourist rip off in Cairo. They had some nice hookahs though.
This is the entrance to Khan Al-Khalili. A bomb went off in this spot about a month later, killing one and injuring 17 tourists.Downtown
Doesn't look like a third-world country...
Al-Azhar Park
Grant Park eat your heart out. This was all for ONE BAND. And they were BARELY DECENT.
This is probably the best picture I took on my entire trip.
I know it's all because of air pollution, but WE DID THAT. And its beautiful. And it will possibly kill our grandchildren.
To sum up Cairo would be best done in haiku form:
Cairo is way big
Twenty five million people
Too many children
These kids are Palestinian, but an Egyptian lad did lean out of a car with a toy AK-47 and "shot" me. It was pretty intense.
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