Monday, April 18, 2011

Ifrane

First of all, I am sorry for not writing for so long, since the revolution in Egypt the program relocated us to a tiny town in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Ifrane. There isn't much to say about Ifrane because there isn't much here. There is the university and the most expensive hotel in morocco and skiing. Our workload has increased in order to make up for the lack of cultural immersion here. The university is an English speaking university so it sometimes feels like just a very boring small town in the US. The scenery is probably the best aspect of Ifrane, we are in the mountains and there are lakes, egrets and wild boars apparently. Ifrane is about an hour away from Fez and Meknes which is nice because we aren't completely cut off from Moroccan Society, the only problem is getting finished with our homework in time to go on adventures...




Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Day of Anger


Since the president of Tunisia left Egyptians have been calling for their own revolution, or at least protests. Tunisia showed the Arab world that a government has only as much power as the people allow it to have, and Egyptians have allowed their government to oppress them for far too long.
The January 25th protests, organized on facebook with around 87,000 followers, landed on a national holiday, something like police appreciation day. During the ceremony to commemorate the Egyptian police force (despite the fact that the Egyptian police force is accused of murdering and torturing innocent civilians), a man stripped down and poured gasoline all over himself  attempting to set himself on fire in protest of the government and probably hoping to spark a Tunisian style revolution. There have been about 8 self immolation attempts in Egypt since the Tunisian Revolution. The fact that these attempts have occurred over and over again in the past week show the desperation of the situation in Egypt.
January 25th came and here were unprecedented protests all over Egypt. Egyptians swarmed liberation square in the middle of Cairo and stayed until the early hours of the morning only to return again the next day and everyday up to now. At the beginning of these protests people did not think they were going to start a revolution, I think for the most part they wanted to express their anger with the state of things in Egypt. However once the police allowed the protests to occur this broke a fear factor which had prevented many Egyptians from participating the the protests from start. However once Egyptians saw that people were actually able to go out and protest and not immediately be put in jail they decided to go out and join the crowds. Thus the protests grew and grew. Also due to the harsh response from the government - severing communication, cutting off the internet, imposing a curfew, shooting rubber bullets and beating people with batons, etc- people probably only got more enraged. That fact that the protests were able to continue showed Egyptians how much power they actually have. Yes the government is trying to stop the protests but at the same time the government is being pressured not only by its people but by the US government to make changes that suit the Egyptian people. Unfortunately for Mubarak the only change that seem suitable for the Egyptian people is for him to leave office so they can reorganize a government for themselves. So far the people were able to get Mubarak to fire his entire cabinet...hmm this sounds very similar to Tunisia.
Despite the instability, the looters, and the dangers of walking out in the streets Egyptians are happy that they have an opportunity to get rid of their dictator and take control of their lives once again. The day of anger has turned into a week of rage and will surely continue until Mubarak and his party are out of power.


Friday, January 14, 2011

Revolution

After weeks of protests the citizens of Tunisia forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country. Mubarak, your future isn't looking so good...


"Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, has problems that dwarf Tunisia's but are basically similar: the population is booming, 60% are under 30, youth unemployment is soaring, 40% of citizens live on under $2 a day, and one third is illiterate.
Add to this a growing rich-poor divide, a corrupt electoral system that bans the country's largest party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and President Hosni Mubarak's apparent determination to cling to power indefinitely, and the picture that emerges is both disturbing and largely typical of the illiberal, unreformed Arab sphere."

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

2011

By the way things have started out this year I am starting to wonder if the 2012 prediction is true... 2011 started out with a bombing during a New Year's Mass in Alexandria which killed 23 people and wounding 100. And then the Arizona shooting which I am sure most of you have heard about. I got an email yesterday that a full time student in College Park was shot and killed at 11:23 in the morning.This morning while reading about the shooting in College Park the headline of the newspaper was "11 homicides in 11 days" and that is just in PG County. And now back to Egypt, a Police Officer gets on a train and shoots 6 people after checking to see if they have the cross tattooed on their wrist. Oh and last week a politician in Pakistan was killed for wanting the blasphemy law repealed, and what is tragic about this is the man who gunned him down was praised because apparently people really really really like the blasphemy law.

Its only January 12th and it feels like the world has gone insane. Has it always been this violent?

I am particularly worried about Egypt. It is already a mess. Now lets add on top of a broken economy and a corrupt government sectarian violence. I don't want to see riots break out in Egypt like they have in Tunisia. People are blaming different parties for the violence that has occurred in Egypt- the government, foreigners trying to overthrow or destabilize Egypt, Muslims, Christians...etc. I think everyone was blamed at one point or another and honestly I don't know what or who is to blame except for the actual person who has committed these crimes. I can't even begin to comprehend the mind set of some of these people and I don't understand how human life has became so cheap to some.

I just hope the year doesn't continue this way :(

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Away for the Holidays!

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! I would like to apologize for being so bad at updating my blog. There is a lot to talk about but Ill try to keep the posts to a reasonable size. As you all know I just returned from my 13 day trip to Morocco and Spain. Despite being broke, I had an awesome time and can't wait to tell you all about my adventures. So I guess Ill start from the beginning...Casablanca.

We arrived in Casablanca the morning of the December 22, we were exhausted and didn't know what we were doing. We wondered around the airport searching for an atm and for someone to tell us how much we should pay to get from the airport to the city. After finding both we proceeded outside the airport, to the driver's car and what did I notice??? The grass! Yes it was like American grass, and it was wet. Not to say it doesn't rain in Alexandria but I haven't seen wet grass in a long time. It is funny how one notices little things like grass when they have been away from it for so long. And its not just because I am strange, all of us noticed the grass. It was surprising how green morocco was. Of course the level of greenery depends on where you are in the country but overall I would say surprisingly green. Okay on to more important things, the city!

Casablanca is very large, people told us there isn't much to do there but I found it to be very nice. The first day we spent the morning searching for a guide book, which turned out to be harder than expected because English isn't a popular language there. Most people speak french or Moroccan Arabic and I didn't understand either one of those and most of the guide books were in french but thankfully we found one older guide book in english which guided us the rest of the trip. After finding what we needed the adventures began. We decided to go to an old Cathedral which we thought was still intact but it was gutted and is now used by schools to store paintings. It seemed no one really cared about the Cathedral at all so we wondered around and eventually found ourselves on the roof of the building. It was kind of scary and extremely windy but awesome. I couldn't believe we were allowed up there. We could see a good chunk of the city from the roof and it was amazing.

The next day we went to the biggest mosque in morocco and I think the third largest in the world the Hassan II mosque. 2500 constuction workers and 10000 artisans and craftsman worked on this mosque. It truely was a work of art.




A few hours after visiting the mosque we packed our bags and headed to Tangier. This was also a surprisingly nice visit. We spent the night in a very cold hotel which had a surprisingly awesome bar attached and the next day we walked around the old city, sat on rocks overlooking the straits of gibralter, and found Hafa cafe which had awesome mint tea and very fluffy cats.




We only spent one night in Tangier and then made our way to Chefchaoun, a mountain town which is pretty isolated. Chefchaoen is known as the blue city. We were told that every friday during the prayer the women repaint their houses blue. So anyway we arrived in this town in the middle of the night not knowing anything about it, and of course there is a taxi driver trying to take us to our hotel but we refuse because obviously we are foriegners and don't know the price and think there is a good chance this guy is ripping us off. So we start walking up the mountain with our bags on our backs and we make it to the top of one hill and I was completely out of breath and freezing and shivering and pathetic. and of course the taxi driver comes and laughs at us because we don't know where we are and at this point we were stuck. So we got in the cab and he took us to our hostel and its a good thing he did because there was no way we would have found our way around that city. In fact the entire time we were there we would just get lost and didn't know where anything was. it was filled with tiny cobblestone pathes going up and down the side of this mountain. and everything was blue so it pretty much all looked the same. None the less it was a beautiful town. One of the only things we were able to do there was go on a short hike with our loyal dog, fashar, leading us the entire way.





We left chefchaoen early the next day because the weather really wasn't very nice, definitly a place more suitable for summer weather, and we made our way to Marrakesh. This was a day long journey, we had to take two hour long cab rides and then two trains. When we finally arrived in Marakesh, the souk, or market, was closing up. We didn't have a hotel so we called a bunch of places from the train station and could only find one very expensive but very awesome hotel. By expensive I mean 22 dollars a night, which is expensive relatively to other places we could have stayed. We ended up moving hotels first thing in the morning, we downgraded to a 7 dollar a night hostel which was tough but worth the savings.






We spent two days exploring the souk in Marrakesh, we didn't leave the souk at all. It was huge! I have never seen anything like it. There were snake charmers and monkey trainers during the day and then at night the center of the souk turned into a lot of food stalls. This happened every night, cooks from the city would set up their stall. So we went around trying lots of different foods for really cheap. Unfortunetly you always run a risk of food poisoning when you have cheap food in a third world country and I think that is what happened to me and everyone else with me. Its hard to tell because we all had different symptoms but I think either the food or the weather in Chefchaoen did us in. The next day I was unable to do much but look miserable and follow my friends. We went to the leather tanneries which smelled awful and was even worse when I was already nausious ugh! After a bit of exploring I spent the rest of the day and night in bed hoping to get better for the rest of the trip.

The rest paid off because the next day I felt pretty good although eating still wasn't an option. We headed to the airport pretty early that day only to end up waiting for our flight for 7 hours because we never checked the time of our flight and just assumed it was early (I know, I don't know how that happened either). As soon as we landed in Spain I felt rejuvenated from all the excitement. I loved Spain! The hostel we stayed had heating and warm showers all the time, there was internet, the bed was surprisingly comfortable but the biggest thing for me was the idea of clean food. I was so happy and relaxed. The first day I was there I bought two pairs of boots as we took a historic walking tour of the city. The buildings were so old and so pretty, I definitely felt as though I was in Europe. Morocco helped us save money on food because none of us had much of an appitite after being sick. But towards the end of the trip I was really enjoying everything I ate.

We had a lot of ham in Spain becasue it is really hard to find ham in Egypt and also hard not to find ham in Spain. Everywhere we went they had legs of ham hanging from the ceiling, their equivelant to McDonald's dollar menu was the 1 euro menu at the Museo del Jamon, or the Ham Musuem. The menu included ham sandwhiches, glasses of beer or wine or coffiee or soda. It was amazing for only one euro. Way to stay classy Spain! That euro menu is way better than the dollar menu at McDonalds.

One night we decided to bring in the new year with an awesome dinner at a restuarant suggested to us by Alberto's Aunt. This restuarant was amazing! Katelyn and I shared a lamb and it was the most tender lamb I have ever eaten in my life. It was hard to believe it was lamb. I did't need a knife at all and it was so juicy and delicious!  Other food favorites were the mushrooms stuffed with bacon from the Ham Museum, the churros that you dip in chocolate from I guess a chocolate factory (so good!), and of course Paellah. If all I did was eat in Spain I would say it was a successful trip.

New Year's Eve in Madrid was a lot of fun, we went down from the hostel around 7 and started walking around, the streets were full of people dressed in crazy outfits drinking in the streets and singing out loud. We went to a few different bars and along the way purchased accessories to blend in with everyone else. I got a butterfly tiara and wand which lit up, Katelyn purchased a bright blue wig which looked awesome, Alberto got a multi colored mohawk, and Jordan got green light up Kanye glasses.

When it got closer to midnight we headed back towards the main square. In Spain it is a tradition to eat 12 grapes 12 seconds before midnight to give you good luck for the next twelve months in the year. This was hard for me because I was holding my wand, my camera, my beer and a bag of grapes. I eventually ate the grapes but definitely had the timing all off. At midnight champaigne was flying in the air and everyone was cheering and hugging and kissing. We continued to walk around and drink in the streets with everyone in Madrid until 2 in the morning and then returned to the hostel where the bar had just opened, we sat there for a couple hours, danced a bit and met other travelers. Altogether it was an awesome New Year's and it would have been better if everyone from home could have been there with me too!






Sorry I know this is getting long but there is one more thing I must tell you guys about..Cafe Central! Now I don't know the degree of 'best' this jazz bar really is. The guide book said best in the world but I don't know about that, I do know it is the best in Spain though according to the drummer of the jazz band that was playing that night. Anyway we weren't expecting to be able to get into this jazz bar but we thought we would try anyway. It was fairly easy to get in actually and one of my favorite moments in Spain. The jazz band was really upbeat and had a very unique style which I liked a lot.





Towards the end of the trip I have to admit I was tired of traveling and living out of a backpack and being sick. So I was really happy to be back in Alexandria. It was nice to see Egypt and hear a language I actually understand :)

Friday, December 10, 2010

Winter in Alexandria

It’s the beginning of December and winter has come... kind of. It isn’t very cold, I still don’t need a jacket most of the time maybe just in the evening. Anyway there are way more exciting things happening other than the weather. Well actually not really, I haven't been up to much at all. I have been doing homework and trying to get better at Arabic. Before coming here I thought I didn't know much when it came to Arabic but now I have come to learn I really know nothing about Arabic. I mean I am just learning how to form sentences. It’s crazy how different this language is from English. For example, in English run on sentences are BAD. Here it’s the opposite. It is encouraged not to have periods and to be able to write sentences the length of a paragraph. Punctuation is completely different. From what I understand you can put punctuation anywhere in the sentence and it will have no meaning. You just keeping reading as if it’s not there I guess. I don’t know if that is true but that is what I was told. Other challenges I have include gender agreement, spelling, limited vocabulary, etc. It’s as if I am in 2nd grade again but I am happy with my progress. Maybe I’ll make it to fourth grade by the end of January.

So while everyone in America is out doing their Christmas shopping and preparing for the holidays I am preparing my trip to Morocco and Spain. I know what you all are thinking “Mae you are so awesome, I want to go with you!” Yeah and believe me I wish everyone could come because it is going to be an amazing trip. We will be visiting Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez and another city I can’t pronounce or spell but it is known as the blue city. After visiting those awesome sites, we will be flying to Spain for only 8 euro and we will be staying in Madrid for four days to bring in the New Year. Yeah I know you all are jealous because this is going to be AWESOME! Okay I am only trying to make you all jealous of my awesome trip because while you guys are bundled up in holiday sweaters and sipping hot chocolate while watching your favorite Christmas movies and perhaps even going ice skating, I am here pretending it is winter by wearing sweaters in 70 degree weather and smiling at any light that has the slightest resemblance to Christmas lights. That said I hope everyone is thoroughly enjoying the holiday season by going and seeing lights and being with your loved ones and watching holiday movies. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Election Time

Its election time in Egypt and you know what that means... well it seems to mean election rigging, low voter turnout and a landslide victory for the ruling party, the National Democratic Party.

For those of you who don't know the state of Egypt's government I will do my best to explain what I know. Egypt is a republic and it has a President, Hosni Mubarak who has been president since 1981, and a parliament. The parliment is made up of the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. Altogether there are 578 elected seats and the remaining 138 seats are reserved for Presidential appointment. Now this is obviously an oversimplification of the government system so if you want to know more you should google it. 

Here is a good summary of the current climate in Egypt post elections: http://frontpagemag.com/2010/12/02/egypts-electoral-unrest/

Okay so my experience through this whole thing:

The elections have been a popular discussion topic in class and among Egyptians for the past several months. I am always curious to know who is voting in the elections and who isn't. Let me tell you, hardly anyone is voting. I met one person who voted. Whenever people tell me that they aren't voting in the election I like to hear their reasoning. Sadly its always the same answer, they have lost hope or faith in the election process. Coming from America you always hear about how lucky we are to have the freedom to chose our government so for me it is still hard to figure out how people have lost hope. How did they get to this point? 

I asked one of my friends why she didn't vote and she gave me a list of reasons which basically summed up to why am I going to waste my time to go to a fake election. I still wasn't convinced that not voting is the answer. If the entire country voted, things may not change but I feel it would make it harder for the government to ignore them. However when no one is voting it only makes it easier to rig the elections. Egypt can't continue on this path, there are too many problems plaguing the country and the people need a change. So if there is no  real democratic process to create change and the current state is not sustainable, can we expect to see a revolution?? That would be insane!!!!

But really I don't expect to see any revolutions