Egypt Smoking

Al-Masry Al-Youm carried a story today on the graphic warning images printed on Egypt's cigarette boxes. As a non-smoking expatriate, the pictures-which include such images as rotting teeth, dying people, and the infamous 'limp cigarette'- serve simply as an amusement. The limp cigarette is pictured next to text in Arabic saying "smoking for a long period negatively affects marital relations" ...so you can see what the ministry of health is implying!!! By some statistics at least 40% of Egyptian men smoke tobacco, which is a serious health concern although I'm not sure the graphic images are having the desired deterring effects. My impression is that many people are not ignorant of health risks, rather they are cynical and apathetic... what's another cigarette when the city is already so polluted, what's another cigarette when you can't afford to visit the doctor anyways or can't find a job and the government is corrupt and militant.. Seems to me government transparency and accountability could, in a roundabout way, go a bit further to reduce smoking than the melodramatic images which read as yet another heavy-handed government propaganda campaign. That said, of course smoking is bad! I bet that if more people felt they had the agency to make healthy and empowering life choices then more people would try to stop smoking! It kind of reminds me of hipsters.. the apathetic flip of a cigarette, taking a drag just to show you don't give a f***..... but perhaps egypt needs now a different and less self-destructive type of defiance. The next elections are approaching, but I'm not holding my breath. To see some interviews about the cigarette package images, check out the latest here from Jon Jensen for Global Post.

Phototime!

Had a lazy Saturday morning then my roommate Callie and I went out to Attaba to do some shopping. Attaba is a big market area with a lot of books and a lot of shoes. Today in the markets in Attaba was one of the first times that Egypt reminded me of Delhi- Attaba is pretty off the hook just with everything going on and how many piles and piles of stuff there is to buy, reminded me of some markets in India. Callie bought some cute sandals and I bought a big pink lighter (check out the picture below!). Now no one will be able to walk off so easily with the lighter we use for the stove!! After Attaba we went to pick up some groceries and I got all the ingredients for a super bomb and healthy sandwich- lettuce, chicken, mushrooms, cheese, tomato, brown bread, light mayonaise- yum yum yum! I want to try and make some bread at home. Does anyone have any recipes? I have been trying to find one that doesn't require bread flour, and doesn't require brown sugar, and possibly doesn't require loaf pan, although I could go buy a loaf pan if necessary. Have brown flour, sugar, honey, yeast, eggs and everything else at home now. We've been doing a lot of cooking at home, which is nice and healthier than all the oily street food. I have a new specialty which I've been making which includes steamed green beans and squash, then tossed in a pan a bit with carmelized cashews and garlic and peanut butter and it is pretty good! Always end up experimenting with whatever is available and been having some good luck with things turning out well! I included some other pictures here, the view from our living room (you can see the citadel to the left of the picture, and also the girl's school just below our window). The other picture is a mirror in the living room which has a dancer painted on, and then finally a picture of my friend Iman from a few weeks ago on our trip to the north coast. Check out the color of the water!! I didn't change the colors of the picture of anything, it just looks like that. Pristine!

Ali the juiceman and Ghafar the bowab

Glad it is Thursday!! The week was good though as I've been enjoying my new neighborhood. Everyday I've stopped by the juice man, named Ali, across the street for some drink and conversation. He's got everything fresh- guava, sugar cane, banana, orange, tamarind, pomegranate, mango. You can drink it there or he'll put it in a plastic bag tied up with a straw for you. Basically like every other juice stand in Egypt, but now I have a regular place. I have also been appreciating my the bowab at my new apartment who I have decided is basically crazy! Most every apartment building in Egypt will have a bowab, or doorman, who will mostly likely hang out in the entrance wearing a galabaya and be available to fix things and say hi everyday. The bowab at my new aparmtent is named Ghafar and he is old and as I said craaazyyy! He has a very scratchy voice which is hard for me to understand and he is usually trying to tell me something. Last night my roommate and I came down to get some fuul sandwiches and he was mopping the entryway, a normal scene except he had hiked up his galabaya and was wearing just his boxers!!! He enthusiastically said hi and we averted our eyes!!!! The floor was clean when we got back though and Ghafar was sleeping. There are also a lot of shoe stores near my house and the other day we went out and bought nail polish and new shoes so now my feet have been looking very nice. Of course dirty all the time though also, cus we're in Cairo after all. Tonight going out for some fuul in garden city and then maybe to a party at the US embassy. Not too many plans for the weekend, but glad it is here!

This Week in Cairo- the highlights!

Someone threw an entire dead dog on the top of the dumpster on my street.
Yesterday a teenage girl was screaming outside the public hospital in my neighborhood. Two men and two fat women dragged her inside.
Every time I go to the supermarket in my neighborhood at the checkout they tell me "shukran ya mouzza": Thank you hot girl!
I was part of what basically became a crazy scary mob- twenty women trying to get out one metro door at the same time thirty women trying to get on. It involved kids getting trampled and a lot of shrieking.
The Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram altered a photo of government leaders at the peace talks, to put Mubarak out in front. It was photoshopped really badly!!
I moved all my stuff from my old apartment to my new apartment on foot. My friend had borrowed my suitcases so I just threw everything on a sheet and picked it up and walked down the street. I think this made me fit in more than usual.
Eating food in the daytime- no more Ramadan!!!
Climbing up the minaret at the Ibn Talun mosque which is walking distance from my house- amazing old architecture, amazing views!

How I lost 5 kilos on the Snickers Diet during the Month of Ramadan.

So in all honesty this post could be about 'the exercise diet' but just to pack a punch let's call it the Snickers Diet. Maybe I can be their new spokesman. In Ramadan it is difficult to find food during the day since everyone else is fasting. So I got in the habit of eating a snickers bar everyday for lunch. Snickers bars are crunchy and smooth and delicious, about 250 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein. I ate a snickers everyday for lunch, ate breakfast in the morning, went to the gym after work, and then ate a huge dinner. By huge dinners I mean ramadan breaking fast style feasts, complete with desserts and juices and everything you could possibly stuff yourself with! And still with that and with eating snickers for lunch and exercising I lost 5 kilos. I get off work around 1 or 2 pm, and throughout Ramadan I would stop by the market on the walk to the gym and buy a snickers bar and some water. Then at the gym I usually stayed for two hours- an hour of cardio, 30 minutes of weights, and 30 minutes of lounging by the pool! So this is just to encourage all you chocolate lovers out there- you can eat chocolate and lose weight and get fit and healthy and the same time! Now Ramadan is finally over and I am back to eating healthy meals in the daytime, which is a nice change. Yesterday I moved to a new apartment, just a few blocks from my old apartment in order to live with my old roommate from Cairo who just got back into town. My new room here is the nicest room I've ever lived in and our apartment has just about everything you could ever walk within 3 minutes walking distance- metro stop, pizza place, supermarket, espresso place, juice place, koshary place, fuul place, liquor store, shoe store, nut shop, fruit and vegee stand, pharmacy, and multiple shops to buy snickers bars... everything! Livin it up!

Happy Eid!

Ramadan is over!!! I went with friends to the North Coast for the vacation. The Mediterranean is the most surprising color of turquoise and I have a nice tan. I brought a 1000+ page Stephen King book with me and it was a very chill vacation. Now I'm back in Cairo and millions of people are strolling around the city, strutting their new Eid clothes and relishing in daytime eating. Last night driving into Cairo it took us 45 minutes to drive just a few kilometers. The traffic was thick along the Nile, and the military out in full force controlling the throngs of people celebrating. This morning I walked to the store to buy some breakfast foods and some guys were giving horse and pony rides in the park by my house. Fire works are going off everywhere- the little boys living above me have a favorite past time of throwing them off their balcony- Safe!

Name That Tragedy

2010 Haiti Earthquake:
Magnitude: 7.0
Deaths: 200,000+

2010 New Zealand Earthquake:
Magnitude: 7.1
Deaths: 0

Recently we have witnessed yet another reminder that the effects of so-called natural disasters are anything but natural. To all my Facebook friends putting up statuses "Praying for Christchurch" and "God Bless Haiti", I would think seriously about where y'all are directing your energies since the effects of these disasters are entirely manmade. Vulnerability to disaster is produced overtime- the real tragedy occurs long before the earth begins to tremble or the hurricane touches shore or the flood waters rise. I'd argue that Haiti's disaster was in many ways imported from America- through the US governments historical support for regime in return for promised incentives to attract US private investors such as maintenance low minimum wage, through military interventions, or through structural adjustment policies shoved down Haitians throats by US-backed international financial institutions. So how ironic was it really, when the US government gave its condolences and promised aid, how ironic is it to paint ourselves as the savior now?

Check me out.

Azhar Park over the city, Zamalek by the Nile, :)

What We Build Could Be Anything

"And maybe knowing isn't the point. Where we're standing right now, in the ruins in the dark, what we build could be anything." -Chuck P, Choke.

I've been spending a lot of time at the gym lately, oftentimes more than an hour on the treadmill, running listening to some old rascal flats and montgomery gentry songs I used to love in high school. On the treadmill you're moving but not going anywhere, so I find myself spending a lot of time imagining the places I could be, out in a desert somewhere or back home on a back road. It's kind of how I feel about my life here now- it is productive, fun, and challenging but I don't feel like I'm going anywhere, as if I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I have a good job and I'm using Arabic everyday and I see my friends and of course as of late, go to the gym. Yet I'm still yearning to learn more and explore more and live more. I signed up for the GRE. I'm taking it November 2, and I'm not sure when or if I'll apply to graduate school but it will be good to have the exam finished in any case. I'm still applying for jobs, more jobs in Cairo, and in Boston, Sacramento, Toronto, and Baghdad. And lately I have a hankering to ride my bike across America. So I'm all over the place! And I want to be this way. It feels like the only way to live your twenties, or at least the only way for me. I received an amazing email today from a friend from Berkeley who is now in India, and it really made my day. She said, "Remember life's golden rule: ONLY ONCE. ... just saying!" For me it reiterates that it's okay to be a bit crazy and rash sometimes, to move across continents for a friend, to quit something, try new things wholeheartedly, to love. Community in Cairo is interesting because the expat community especially is very transient- you get close with people really fast, hang out a lot, then they leave or you leave, and very few people seem that tied down to anything. Yet I also have friends here who I've known longer and love dearly, and I want to know them forever and they too are leaving Cairo soon. It makes me feel even less tied to this city. It makes me question why I'd move so easily to almost anywhere to chase a job, romance, or a dream, all the while going so far from the people back in California, friends and family, who will love me forever. Anyways, it is a crazy time. Somedays the seeming infinity of possibilities, places, and lifestyles feels like a weight on my chest, and other days it feels like the greatest thing in the world. Lately on the treadmill I've been practicing running with my eyes closed. It's strange how not being able to see affects you're balance and you feel like you're going to fall over even though you know you won't because you know where you are and what you're doing. And I have that feeling now, at the same time feeling unsure, but also very solid in my capabilities. The world is my oyster as the saying goes, and I've just been thinking a lot about my values and what I want and what is important. Living up the twenties!

"I'm gonna live forever, I'm gonna cross that river, I'm gonna catch tomorrow now..." -Billy Joe Shaver, Live Forever.