Below is a link to an article from the Boston Globe and it contains pictures of people celebrating Ramadan around the world. Some of the pictures are absolutely amazing and it is worth a look because it helps to give an inside glimpse as to how they celebrate Ramadan....by praying on mosques, reading the Quran, breaking the fast with meals, and eating lots of sweets (like every holiday around the world:) ). The pictures are also from several different countries. However, I was disappointed in how they portrayed Egypt. There are several better situations than that one (pic #27)...even ones where there aren't standing next to Chinese made crafts. But I am also biased towards Egypt. I was also annoyed that they didn't included America,(I'm also biased towards America but not too much) because there are actually a lot of Muslims in America. I know it is harder to fast during Ramadan in American because all the restaurants are open and only a small minority of people fast versus a large majority in a Muslim country. It would have been interesting to compare the Ramadan pictures in America to other places in the world. They did include a picture from Germany, but it didn't really show people celebrating (in my option).

Nevertheless, the pictures are beautiful and worth seeing. And if you see a Muslims try to be respectful because this is a Holy month for them. There are a lot of different greetings...but an easy one to remember would be "Ramadan Kareem"

Ramadan 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Ramadan 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Article

Someone emailed me this article and thought it was interesting. But lately I feel like the same speeches are being spoken over and over again. Unfortunately there will always be religious fanaticism and terrorism in the world. But then again, you can't say they aren't trying to make things more peaceful. Check out the article at this link. This website is actually decent and many expats and study abroad students in Cairo contribute articles...

http://bikyamasr.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/bm-news-muslims-declare-jihad-on-terror/



Also, today is the first day of Ramadan. The first day is usually the big family time and then later on in the month people celebrate with friends....or that seems to be the trend at least. I've already gotten several invites ...so this year should be much better!

Ramadan 2009

Ramadan is starting soon (most likely Saturday August 22), it just depends on the moon. Ramadan is a holy month that all Muslims observe, and it is based on the 9th month of the lunar calendar. This way it isn't always during the same time period, unlike other holidays.

During Ramadan Muslims must fast during the day, meaning between sunrise and sunset they must abstain from drinking, eating, smoking, and sex. Once the sun sets, they break the fast with a date (because that's how their prophet broke his fast) and eat a large meal called iftar (breakfast). The night is then filled with more food and celebration, and the gathering of friends and family.

Ramadan is important because it was during this month that the words of the Quran were revealed to Islam's prophet Muhammad. The fasting and celebration will last for about a month.

I hope that I have a better experience this year with Ramadan. I know I wont get the spiritual experience because I'm not a Muslim, but last time I was here it was a frustrating time. I didnt really know anyone so I just associated it with things closing early and a different and annoying schedule. But this time I know a lot of Egyptians and I wont have school in the beginning. Hopefully I will be able to eat at someone's house and have a different experience:)

Dahab

Summer 2009

This web album is updated with some summer pictures and with the few pics of Dahab that I have. My friend took most of the pictures...so once she sends them to me, I will post them.


My trip to Dahab (resort on the Red Sea) was amazing even though it had a little rough start thanks to my lack of knowledge of the Sinai area. Originally we (Mae, Soo, and I) had planned to hike up the mountain where the “burning bush” was (although I have heard that the particular bush is actually the descendant of the original bush that Moses saw) and sleep near the St. Katherine Monastery…and then the next day hang out at the beach at Dahab. This is a very common trip and most of the study abroad students completed that trip…except me. That being said I thought that Dahab and St. Katherine were right next to each other and so I bought the bus tickets to Dahab. I didn’t know that there was a separate bus station and they are about 1 hour- 1.5 hours drive apart, until we were at the bus station and Mae said we shouldn’t be going to Dahab. Oops! Guess I shouldn’t be in charge of helping to plan trips anymore! But luckily everything worked out ok. Mae’s friend was able to get us a room for one night at a hostel in Dahab. We were then going to take a one day trip to St. Katherine (and just re-arrange the order of our trip) but then Mae and Soo got sick. I don’t know what they had but a lot of traveling, random sleep cycles, and not a regular diet doesn’t do anyone any good. Instead we slept a lot, read, went tanning, and snorkeling! (My idea of a good vacation). The snorkeling was amazing and the nice thing was that all you had to do was walk through the water and jump into the deep end. This was much easier than renting a boat to take you somewhere near a coral reef, although that is still a lot of fun.
Dahab is mainly known for its peacefulness. It is very calm and there is nothing to do at night unlike other resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh where there are a lot of clubs. Instead people shop for tourist gifts and lounge in the restaurants. The seats were large pillows on the ground…so it was very relaxing and comfortable! Oh and another cool thing is that you can see Saudi Arabia from across the water. I didn’t realize how close I was! And then Soo had to make the smart remark… “I have experience in foreign relations because I can see Saudi Arabia from my hotel!” haha oh dear.

Dahab is a beautiful place because of its surroundings. Dahab means “gold” in Arabic and its name is fitting because of its golden beaches. The mountains also have a sandy-golden color during the day. The main attraction for diving is the Blue Hole (I didn’t have a chance to go) because it is surrounded by coral reefs and drops to a depth of 260 ft just a few meters off shore. The Egyptians who live in Dahab are mostly nomads who have lived in the mountains for many decades. There are also a lot of people from Southern Egypt (we call it upper Egypt because of the direction of the Nile River) who travel all the way to Dahab for work. It is important to note who they are because they speak with a slightly different dialect and accent. Luckily my friends and I were able to understand most of them! A great self esteem booster 

Anyway, snorkeling was my favorite part about the trip, mostly because of all the beautiful fish. I also don’t have certification in diving…and to be honest I’m a little too scared to try lol. The first time we went snorkeling we met a random Egyptian guy who went swimming with us. At first I was a little hesitant (Its now a habit to not trust random people) but luckily he ended up being really nice. He even caught a blow fish!! I know this is probably inhumane and bad for the environment but it was really cool. I liked watching it slowly deflate and swim away when it was let go. Other than that, the Dahab trip was really relaxing because I mostly slept and worked on my tan. Some areas got burned pretty bad but thanks to Aloe I am ok and am now tanner

Egypt and America

Its now President Mubarak's turn to visit America. Below is a link that briefly describes the situation. I didnt know until I saw this article, so it is not as important for Egyptians I guess?? Who knows.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3104

Also, I just returned from Dahab (resort on the Red Sea) and the North Coast (Mediterranean Sea). Updates and pictures are to follow.... :)

Garbage people of Cairo

There is a new independent film being released about the Zabaleen or people who sort and organize the trash in Cairo. The people comprise a whole community, hence the name Garbage City. I highly recommend trying to see the film, and you can find more information at www.garbagedreams.com The movie will show you another side of Egypt and in my opinion it will be really interesting because the people are facing new problems. After the outbreak of the Swine Flu, the Egyptian government culled all the pigs in Egypt. Some people weren't upset because Egypt is predominately Muslim and pork is forbidden in Islam. However, the slaughter of all the pigs caused lots of problems for the Zabaleen because they use the pigs to eat up all the excess trash, and now without the pigs, trash is quickly accumulating. I dont know much about the Zabaleen community because they are on the outskirts of Cairo, but there is a man who worked at an NGO that installed solar water heaters for the residents in Garbage City. Apparently he is guiding tours to show the newly installed heaters and give people a chance to witness life inside Garbage City. I am hoping to be able to take that tour in a couple weeks. Then I will know more information and will be able to show you pictures.

In the mean time check out this link:
http://bikyamasr.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/bm-news-egypts-garbage-city-in-photos/

It contains some photos and a brief summary of the city.

My Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow another birthday in Egypt! I still can't believe I was in Egypt a year ago. It seems much longer than that. Anyway, I had another great birthday with great friends, and I celebrated my birthday in 3 different locations! The first place was at a restaurant called Crepaway. We stayed there for a couple hours and I was supposed to bring my own cake but my roommate and I had problems keeping the cake together. We made a 2 layer cake but when we were taking it out of the oven, part of the cake broke. We started gluing the cake together with frosting but the frosting kept melting because of the heat and there is no AC in the kitchen. After several failed attempts we decided to abandon the cake in the freezer, which was probably a good idea because it would have been tricky to cross a busy street with a cake and then find a taxi. Hahaha this year I'm trying to stay away from too many stupid adventures. Instead of the cake, the restaurant gave me a brownie and ice cream and then sang to me. 3 songs!!!!!! It was crazy but fun. After that I met some friends at the Cairo Jazz club...and they were playing classic rock songs. It was nice! I'm getting tired of Arabic and hip hop music :) Then...my roommate and I met another friend and we rode a faluka on the Nile River. I finally made it home around 4 am and then called people in America....and then passed out on my bed from exhaustion. It was a great birthday and I had loads of fun!!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm enjoying my lazy summer. I have been sleeping a lot, going to the gym, and meeting people in cafes....but I need the rest, because fall semester will be MUCH harder than summer semester. Oh dear. But I've been improving a lot so its totally worth it!!!

birthday