Fluids, Fluids, Fluids (& Cafe's)

This week has been a more relaxing week with not as many group activities happening. Professor Taslim more than made up for the time with a lot of work. We had homework due Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which all took at least 3 or 4 hours to do. We also had our second test today. I can’t believe that we’re ¾ of the way through Fluids and that we only have 4 classes left before our final a week from tomorrow. We have learned so much information in the past three weeks that it’s been a complete blur.

Last weekend we went on a tour of Islamic Cairo, and we saw three different mosques. They were much different than the first one we saw, but they each had their own features that made them special. The first mosque we went to was open, but we could walk around the top of it and look down into it. This was really cool, and even though it wasn’t meant for praying on top of the ceiling, it was a nice spot to look around the mosque. We could even look down into a much smaller neighboring mosque. It was one of the bigger mosques in Cairo, and there was extra space around the actual sanctuary area of the mosque, which allowed for a more secluded environment. The second mosque we went to wasn’t as open and had a lot of twists and turns to get to the main worshiping area. At one point in the mosque, one of the people who lead the prayer performed his ritual for us. He chanted and sang in Arabic and then read the inscription that went around the wall of the entire room. It was really cool, when performed this, it was almost like he was in a different world. The third and last mosque we went into, the citadel, was the most different out of any I have been in. It had a large open area in front of it, with a fountain in the middle. Then you could go inside and it was extremely decorated. Most mosques are open and plain, but this one was packed with drawings and artwork, and Sean even mentioned that the way it was structured made him think of Grand Central Station. The walls had balconies on them that made it look like the outsides of a building were just surrounding the area we were in. When we went outside of the citadel, we got an overview of the entire city of Cairo. It would have been even better than it was if it wasn't for the smog everywhere. Yes, the picture is not full of fog, it's full of pollution and just dirty air. It's really gross if you think about it, I'm already looking forward to coming back just to lie outside and breathe in fresh air.


We went out with the Egyptian students a few more times this week. On Sunday night we went to a café in the market that has been there for over 250 years. The king of Egypt and a lot of people high up in society would go there frequently back in the day. We were in a back room where there were pictures and antiques from back when the café opened. We hung out at the café for a while before going to get ice cream and eventually coming back to the hotel. When we were driving with Omar, one of the Egyptian students, I was asking him about whether there were police in cars anywhere or just on the corners and just about general stuff. He was saying that there were very few cop cars and those that were out were just sitting on a side road somewhere. He was also saying that he has 4 licenses, in case he loses one because they don’t keep any type of driving or license records here. He also has never taken a driving test (don’t worry he was a much better driver than anyone of us in this city would have been). He told us about all the beeping that goes on in Cairo and how there are patterns to the beeping that mean different things. There are friendly beeps, versus, angry get out of my way beeps, and then beeps just to let you know that they are behind you or on the side of you.

The city of Cairo is honestly “the city that never sleeps.” Sunday night we went out to the café, and as we were leaving around 1:30 a.m. there were hundreds of people still just sitting around hanging out near the market. I was amazed to see little kids running around and even parents out with there babies or entire families. As we left the streets were still crowded and when we got ice cream and were relaxing near the Nile, we saw motor boats leaving and cruising around the Nile playing music and stuff. Every night that I’ve been out in Cairo, there has never been a place that closed before I wanted to leave. Everywhere I’ve been even if I leave at like 2:30 in the morning is still packed with people. Granted, Cairo could also be called “the city where everyone sleeps in,” because nothing opens until around noon except in the highly populated areas.

Monday night we had our second and final dialogue with all the students, and afterwards we all got dinner and went on a felucca. It was a lot of fun hanging out with a bunch of the students from there, even though we had gone out with a few of them before. After the felucca, a small group of us that had been going out a lot went to another really cool café for a couple hours. Monday and Tuesday consisted of a mix between hanging out at the café’s and doing a lot of homework. Wednesday was all studying though, as I reviewed for the Fluids test for about 6 or 7 hours. Today I just got back from class and now we have the afternoon to relax before going to Alexandria for the weekend. We leave tomorrow morning and we are going to be staying over Friday night and coming back Saturday. It will be nice to see yet another different area of Egypt and I’m sure it will be exciting.