Pyramids

Today, Theo and I went out to The Great Pyramids of Giza. The Pyramids and the Sphinx are unbelievable monuments. To think that these massive structures were built with third millennium BC engineering and technology is mind-blowing, as is the fact that they have staunchly weathered the test of time. As the world's tallest manmade structures for 3800 years, they are as majestic as tombstones get. 

The coolness of the actual Pyramids aside, today's excursion was a telling display of how different American and Egyptian ways and cultures are. For comparison's sake, say the Pyramids were on top of a hill somewhere in the Mojave desert. You would have to pay fifty dollars to enter the grounds. When purchasing your admission, you would be given an option of several packages, like a guided tour, headset tour, horse-and-buggy ride, admission inside an actual pyramid, meal at the rotating restaurant, attendance to the "Pharaoh Light Show", etc. Among the Pyramids, which would be very clean and well-maintained, would be wide wooden boardwalks with informational boards lining the railings every several yards, and from which you would not be allowed to stray. To leave the grounds, there would be one exit, through which you would enter the "Pyramids Museum", the "Pyramids Cafe", and the "Pyramids Gift Shop". There might even be a theme ride. 

As it is, the Pyramids are on the outskirts of Cairo, which means that they make up a price for everyone based on how big of a sucker they think you are. I was charged 60 pounds (10 dollars), and Theo got in free because he speaks Arabic and has a journalist ID. Once inside, there is absolutely no regulation or signs or guided anything. There are the occasional uniformed "Tourism Police", tons of tourists, and hundreds of people trying to sell you things.  You pretty much just walk around some dusty desert. You can climb on the pyramids, but the "building blocks" are huge, and a pain to climb. It is absolutely shocking that one of the most marketable and iconic tourist destinations in the world is run like this. Any American who took an economics class could make an absolute killing by improving the way this place is run. 

Which brings me to the dominant experience of the visit. As you drive down the highway getting close to the pyramids, there are hoards of men standing in the middle of the road, and as you slow down not to hit them, they come up and shake the hand of the cabbie. Then they start aggressively trying to sell you a camel or horse-and-buggy ride up into the pyramids. And when I say aggressive, I mean they try and open the car door and get in. One man never stopped yelling at us as he hopped on the trunk. Theo slammed his hand against the window and yelled "GO AWAY", and he finally got the picture. Once inside the grounds, they are relentless. All you have to do is look at one camel, and they descend like vultures. They repeatedly ask "how much? how much? They do not take no for an answer. They work in increments, so first you are taking a picture of the camel, then you are holding the riding crop, then you are sitting on the camel just to see what it's like, then they don't let you down until you pay them (camels are waaay to tall to jump from). They also aggressively try to sell you little knick-knacks. One man was trying to sell me little stone pyramids, and he kept banging them together really hard, as if their structural integrity was a deal-breaker for me. It's insane. 

The most hilarious part of the whole thing is that Theo decided that he is going to do a video blog post about the venders at the Pyramids for Global Post. (Check here in about a week or so for it) So he had a video camera, which for some reason, drew these people in like sharks to blood. They would flock to him, aggressively trying to sell whatever they had. Theo would not respond, and just hold the camera up to their faces as they yelled at him to buy a camel ride. They didn't really know how to handle this response, so they pause briefly, but just keep asking and haggling with themselves, until Theo stops the recording and walks away. They would follow, and start asking me, and it was all I could do to keep from laughing. 

So, the Pyramids are amazing, but if anyone ever goes, don't let anyone tell you that a camel is required for entry, because it's not, and if you look like a dumb enough American, they will tell you this lie. And if anyone comes anywhere near you, avert your eyes.

Soccer (Football)

In Egypt, as is true in most of the rest of the world, there is only one sport that captures the attention of the people: football (I guess I have to start calling it that, now). When I came to Cairo, I thought that I might try to get into a strange sport like cricket or jai alai or handball. But, it turns out that people expend so much energy rooting for their favorite football club, that there isn't really enough time for any other interest. So, I'm just going to have to get myself into football. 

First, I need to pick a team to root for. It turns out that, basically, it is acceptable to be a fan of only two clubs in Cairo. There are other clubs, but the most heated and widely recognized (not to mention historical) rivalry is between the "Al Ahly" club and the "Zamalek" club. In fact, it turns out that neither club has ever been relegated in their respective histories, which means that they have always been in the top tier of football clubs in all of Africa. 

As a sidenote, why couldn't a relegation system work in American sports, especially baseball? Imagine Major League Baseball split into two tiers. The bottom tier would be the fifteen crappy teams playing their butts off for a chance to be in the big boys league. The top tier would not only be higher quality baseball every night, but every team would be playing for something, because you are either going to the playoffs, or you are getting relegated to the "B" league. So, at the end of the season, instead of having an endless summer of irrelevant Rangers-Royals games, you have only a handful of irrelevant games, since the only teams with nothing to play for are the crappyest of the crappy, the teams at the bottom of the "B" league with no chance of moving up. But even those teams will become a little more competitive. For example, the Pirates and Nats would still be at the bottom of the "B" league, but instead of losing dozens of games to the Mets and the Phils, they substitute those games for more winnable games against, say, the Mariners and  Orioles. Worse competition, but at least you aren't losing 120 games a year. A whole post on this is coming, I think. But for now, I digress.

Initially, I thought that choosing a football alliance was going to be simple. Since I live in a neighborhood in Cairo called Zamalek, I would simply root for the most local team. It's not that simple. It turns out that, not only is Zamalek (the football club) not in Zamalek (the neighborhood), but instead in Giza, a suburb of Cairo, but Al Ahly practices on a field on El Gezira, the island in the middle of the Nile where Zamalek (the neighborhood) is. No help there. 

The history of the clubs is pretty interesting. Al Ahly, which basically means National in Arabic, was founded in 1907 as an Egyptian Nationalistic club, in a time when Egypt was still existing under British colonial occupation. Naturally, in that time, huge social and political implications arose from the clubs successes and failures, and it has been intertwined with the political history of Egypt ever since. President Nasser was named its honorary president for a time in 1956, and in 1967 during Israeli occupation, all sporting members were required to endure military training, or else be banned. 

Zamalek was formed in 1911 by a Belgian to be a rival to Al Ahly. These clubs were just starting to hate each when, as the story goes, there was a young man named Hegazy. Hegazy formed a sort of rogue soccer team of his own around this time, and called it "Hegazy's Eleven." They played various teams made up of British soldiers, and were extremely successful, prompting the two clubs to get in a sort of bidding war for their football services. Hegazy ended up playing for Al Ahly, and the other ten for Zamalek. The rivalry was on. 

Historically (and today), Al Ahly is the better team, with Zamalek constantly playing the scrappy underdog role. Currently, they are ranked 4th and 8th in Africa (the Garoua club in Cameroon has a commanding hold on 1st place). The decision on whom to root for is tough, because while you want to be a fan of the better team, the underdog can be irresistible too, and it is close enough that Zamalek could pull off the upset at any time. You have to like the old team with Nationalist ties, but at the same, how can you not root for the squad full of mercenaries administered by foreign expats? These days, both teams are made up of virtually all Egyptians, but their reputations seem to last. 

In the end, I have to say that I am going to root for Zamalek, for two reasons. One, Zamalek's uniform is waaaay cooler. There is no debate there; their "visiting kit" is all black!!! Two, my friend Theo is a fan of Al Ahly. So there you go. Go Zamalek!!

The First Day

I landed around 9:45 am local time, and noticed a few strange things immediately:

1) It was very clear who had flown on an American Airline before and who had not. Those who had not disregarded all flight attendant instructions as we approached Cairo. One man stood up, opened an overhead bin, and started rummaging through his stuff just as we touched down. Then, during that awful time when the people in the back of the plane have to wait for the people in the front of the plane to get off, all these lost-looking Egyptians started saying very politely: "excuse me, excuse me" and made their way up to the front of the plane! It was as if all the rest of us had just stood up to stretch our legs, and we were in the way. Very strange. I wonder if they even have flight attendants on other country's airlines. 

1a) I don't really want to dwell on the plane, because it's just not that interesting, but I saw "The Secret Life of Bees" on it. Did anyone else think that Dakota Fanning's character was a little too young for her love interest? I didn't watch it with sound, so maybe that was acknowledged, but either way, I felt creepy watching her lick honey off of his fingers. 

2) The "Old" Terminal at the airport is the one that was most recently built, and "Upper Egypt" is in the south. I wonder what else they got backwards. 

3) I have always marveled at how traffic in New York City considers lane lines as mere suggestions. Well, let me tell you, they are strictly followed compared to how the lunatics follow them here. Our cab never went faster than 25 mph, so I never felt in imminent danger of death, but as far as I can tell, the next lane over begins exactly one half inch on either side of your car, and an appropriate stopping gap is 2-4 inches. Not to mention, people are constantly just standing in the middle of the road. 

4) Every few hours, the call for prayer can be heard throughout the city. I'm sure this is nothing new for anyone that has ever been to a city that is predominantly muslim, but the first time you hear it, it is haunting. But, as the day has worn on, the strange wail of prayer over crappy loudspeakers has become more and more comforting. It's kind of neat to think that there is something as intimate as mass prayer, however illogical and strange it may be to me, that everyone in this enormous city takes time out of their day to share with each other. 

5) In the future, I will put political stuff in their own posts, but for now, when the waiter at the shwarma joint/hookah bar/backgammon hall/harem (not really) found out I was American, the only thing he wanted to talk to me about was Obama. This may not be representative in any way, but this guy did not trust him at all. He is, though, willing to give Obama a chance. For now, he thinks he is okay, but he is not willing to give unconditional support. Can you imagine that? These are a people who are staunchly religious and politically open-minded.....