Alex or Cairo.....

In this past fortnight I got to spend one weekend in lovely tranquil Alex, and one weekend in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Cairo.

I love Alex for the sea. The sea is my only obsession in life!!! It arouses a sense of ease and peace in me. The sound of the waves splashing against the rocks; the red, yellow, and orange colors of the sunset again the deep blue sea; all make me feel safe and at home. Especially during the homesickness, loneliness and attacks. So Alex is definitely a number one favorite. Especially during Ramadan when the streets have been evacuated between 5.00 and 5.30 which is the peak of serenity and meditation.

Even the name itself - ALEXANDRIA - gives it a feel of exoticness and elegance

Sunset View from my Window in Alex

Thus after a Thursday night, Haraming Ramadan (Haram in Egyptian means Forbidden) with a drinking night. The Friday and Saturday were spent lazing around, sleeping late, waking up to see the blue sea splashing outside the rocks from my bed room window. Hanging out in places like Jungle, which is this massive Cafe, with the decor of a Jungle, and big pond in the middle with about 10 or more real pink Flamingos!!! It was so cool to see them there! I was my first time I saw a flamingo, and actually sat next to them and fed them! though I must say I was pretty disappointed that they were not as pink as I expected them to be. Or pigging out in Mohammed Ahmed which is the Alexandrian Vegetarian Mc Donalds!!!!!

On the other hand there is Cairo, which is a massive city, which inspires a need to explore, to see and to rush around the streets. Thus my weekend in Cairo was spent exploring. I got my Bible - the Lonely Planet, opened a map and decided to walk around. Guess which was Thea's destination - none the less but the shopping malls, the markets and the shopping streets. So my Friday morning was spent exploring shops and malls. And discovering the Attaba Second Hand Book market, which will definitely be my destination next time I'm bored in Cairo!!!! Although my students have warned me not to go there on my own again - cause bad things may happen!! I guess that's the advantage of being a tourist - you are not aware of the surrounding dangers unless something really happens to you - which is what I usually do!

Another Characteristic of 3rd World big cities is the poverty. Having living in Malta for the majority of my life, I was not exposed to poverty and to people living in severe conditions. Thus seeing the conditions in Egypt has very much shocked me, and made me aware how lucky I am to have been brought up in a community where I had a roof on my head, good food to eat, education and clothing. On Saturday morning I joined the AIESECers on a trip to Garbage City, where all the garbage collectors, or what the Egyptians call the Zibelin live. It was shocking to see children, women and also men sitting amongst the debris of all the people in Cairo, amongst the flies carrying all the diseases you can think of!!! One really odd thing about this community is that its actually a Christian Community, most of the people had the cross tattooed on their hand (which is what most rural Christians do), and there were pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus all over the village. It made me think about God and Jesus and my own faith. And made me realize that Jesus was always amongst the humble people, and trying to help them, that Jesus was born in a manger amongst all the animals and diseases too!!!! So it would actually make sense that the Zibelin would hold on to Christianity! Which made me believe more and more that I am believing in the right things. We also visited a massive church on the mountain, and got a guy to tell us about the miracles that happened there - which also made me realized that the Christian stories tend to also be a bit more interesting than others, with all the miracles and apparitions it talks about!

Playing with the Zibelin's Children

I had a wonderful afternoon playing with the children of the Garbage Collectors at the little nursery in the community, where an NGO had been constructed to give little children the possibility of learning how to read and write. I played the Egyptian games with them and tried speaking to them in my broken Arabic!!! I don't think they get too many white funny looking foreigners speaking to them so I guess it was pretty amusing for them too.

The final touch to my Cairo experience was the 5.10 Ftar time!!! I decided to go and experience this in Khan el Khalili. Loads of tables laid out in the street. People sitting on the floors 'picnic style' in the streets. Water and their funny harrub drinks handed out to people rushing in the street!!! Quite an atmosphere!!!!

Khan El Khalili Ramadan Rush

Pity Cairo does not have nice big green gardens and the sea!!!!!