new views for me

i had a good weekend this weekend though it is over too fast. i get home from class and after writing that marvelous cat cow poem and my roommate says he is going down to Manasoura for the weekend to visit his friend and he invites Greg and me to come along. we say yes.

leaving we head to the metro whish is mobbed because it is a thursday, then head off to the bus station. apparently in ramses station area there are bus stops for everywhere in egypt. thankfully we had an egyptian around who spoke the language. we arrive at the proper stop and go to the back of the line. yes i said line. there were actually lines here but they were long. we waited in line for a half hour then ahmed went looking for a microbus station. a microbus is a probably somewhat unreliable bus filled with 8-13 people that drives around. often their will be a guy yelling out the cost of fares as they swing by weaving in and out of traffic. we had a unevenful ride, nothing crazy except lots of traffic. by the mansoura is about a two hour drive north west into the delta.

we reached the city and found his friends home. mansoura city is like cairo except smaller. that is the city proper. we get to his place and it is entered through a gated fence and up some crumbling stairs into a second floor apartment. it was cold. we watched the axis of evil comedy show and ate junk food. mostly american junk food. then went to bed.

after rising the next morning we ate breakfast. we ate on the floor of his living room which was great. we had eggs, cheeses, breads, yougurts, and meats. we ate then ahmad and ahmad, the roommate and the friend, went to prayer. upon return we left for the countryside. we walked down the city street, the reached the city-country mix (which i thought was odd-high rise poor housing right next to farms), then the country proper. the country was interesting, at the same time incredibly beautiful and filled with local people, but sometimes sad because of all the trash. we walked on a dirt road all the way down to a ferry crossing crossed the delta waters and then walked back along the opposite bank. on this 4 hour jaunt we saw much. i saw lots of trash in some of the canals and along a lot of the paths, a wonderful dirt road traveled by people walking, donkeys pulling carts, tractors, and bicycles. i saw a lot of farms that used irrigation and grew lots of different things from bananas, to rice, to other unnamed things. we passed by an abandoned military base which saw fighting in the 1973 war and was now a place for people to throw trash and play soccer. we crossed the river by a boat that was pulled back and forth by a rope tied to each side. it was peaceful. we also passed through a poor village. this was eye opening. i got to see the way poor people living as they do, which is much different from city life. the buildings were similar and some were made of mud bricks and stuff. there were also a lot of cows, goats, chickens, and dirt. we got stared at by a lot of people, the children and some of the younger guys were very interested in us. i had one guy yell agnabey at me which means foreigner. we were pretty much stared at or ignored. walking back on the other side the admad who lives in mansura said we should hurry to get home it getting dark and the dogs and wolves will be coming out soon.

we ate dinner at a pizza place called pizza party. it was good food because we were hungry but it was like frozen pizza. we then ate rozz bi-laban (rice with milk pudding) and um alee (bread milk, sugar, goodness) then we returned home and watched next with nicholas cage. interesting concept (by philip dick) okay acting. the trip home was uneventful except i am getting sick.

while walking around i was struck by how little people had and if they were happy. i thought why would they not want to move somewhere else and have more money. then i realized that people probably would want to live a little easier but that they were probably happy people. i am not sure. i am working hard to get out of my usa-raised mind set. i was also upset by the copious amounts of trash and spent a good amount of time pondering why this was. whether it was because they didn't care or they didn't know better (but that doesn't respect them and is condescending) i spent some time trying to think of ways to get information to these people about the environment.

i will walk away from this weekend seeing a new side of cairo and the world. i have seen poor people in baltimore but never a whole community of poor people working to get by. i saw how difficult it was for a people to live and how much of a good life i have lived and been fortunate to have. i won't take my life for granted as much as i have before. also, it has shown me how much i am able and in a position to work to help other people. i can't see wasting or squandering the environment or resources even less than i could before. i know i will screw up many times but i have seen that i need to be able to make more of myself to accomplish something good in this world. i don't know how i just know i need to try. i am having trouble articulating these thoughts but i just wanted to try and share what i have experienced and how i am trying to process it. what i am going to do with myself in this world?

Below are some links to some newstories and my rommates blog. The first story is about the trouble in cameroon and is followed by alex's blog. His adventures have put my troubles here in cairo in perspective and while not making them easier at the time can help make them more bearable. Please keep Alex and the people of Cameroon in your thoughts and prayers. The second article is about a kid who was studying abroad in Cairo and almost starved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7268861.stm

http://camerounpourmoi.blogspot.com/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23375427/