Cairo and Port Said, Egypt: Week 2 بداية الصفوف

This weekend I took a day trip to Port Said, a nice city on the Mediterranean and Suez Canal. The day was filled with boat watching, a horse carriage tour around the city, markets, cheap delicious food and some tea and sweets with a nice man with four wives. Some Egyptian twenty-something men came up to my friends and I and began to follow us, saying "we want only friendship." At first we just said nothing and kept walking, but they were persistent, so I spoke in French pretending not to understand their Arabic or English "Quoi? No english, desolée!" A proven effective strategy, highly recommended!

Saw boats of all shapes, sizes and colors hanging out around the Suez Canal.

Israeli tank from 56 Suez Crisis Hey Nasser!

My Neighborhood in Zamalek في الزمالك

I live on an island in the middle of the Nile. It is filled with beautiful big trees, embassies and American restaurants (but you can find Egyptian ones too). My sense of direction is horrible, to say the least, and the fact that everything goes in circles and street signs are hard to come by has led to my complete disorientation, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The neighborhood is very safe and pretty close to downtown and best of all, a very short walk to the Nile from my dormitory.

 

The trees are enormous, generally taking up the sidewalk, and grow at 45 degree angles.

The garden in the middle of the dorm.

American University in Cairo Campus الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة

    The library: 

Campus is in the desert. 


And in downtown....
(Um Kalthoum at the cafe dedicated to her image and music)