Strange Coincidence

Yesterday was sort of interesting.  I went to work in the morning but didn’t have a whole lot to do so I left early.  I decided though that I didn’t want to go straight home, since it was early and I had no real plans until the afternoon.  I felt like in the last couple weeks I’d been lazy about seeing new things in Cairo, and it’s dawned on me recently that I really don’t have that much time left here.  So, I decided to do some touristy things with my afternoon.

I decided to go to Islamic Cairo, where there are a lot of medieval buildings of various sorts as well as al-Azhar University.  I’d been before, but we walked through it fairly quickly because we were in the Khan al-Khalili and were trying to avoid the touts.  Yesterday, though, I avoided that area and stayed across al-Azhar Street.

I first tried to go to the al-Azhar Mosque, but it was noon prayer time and I couldn’t get in to see it, so I started to just walk around.  I walked around for a while in the narrow medieval streets behind al-Azhar.  This area is quieter than the main street and primarily filled with various sorts of small stalls and shops.  A lot of little bookstores and places where you can have your own books nicely bound.  I like the area because many of the buildings in the area are hundreds of years old but are in continuing use as if they were any other building – as shops, restaurants, markets.  All of Islamic Cairo is like this, really – a bustling scene among the remnants of Cairo’s old city walls.

I stopped in at the Wikala al-Ghouri.  A wikala is a medieval merchants hostel, and as I understand it, it was in these buildings where merchants passing through Cairo would stay while they bought and sold their goods.  They are built with big courtyards in the middle and several stories tall.  There are rooms all around the courtyard that were apparently stables, and in the upper floors were the rooms.  The Wikala al-Ghouri is one of several wikalas that remain in Cairo, but it is supposed to be the best preserved.  I believe it dates from the late 1400s or early 1500s.  Interestingly, the rooms of this particular wikala are now full of small crafts shops and artists studios.

The wikala is part of what is known as the al-Ghouri Complex, a large group of buildings built by the Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghouri, of which three remain – the wikala, his mosque, and his mausoleum.  I went next to the Mosque, which was small but very beautifully restored.  I read later that you can apparently climb its minaret, but I didn’t see the entrance while there and the mosque’s attendant did not point it out to me, so opportunity lost.

Across a covered street, on which there is a busy market, from the mosque is the Mausoleum of al-Ghouri.  It’s a large building with a nice courtyard, a sabil, a madrassa, and many other rooms.  It’s also several stories tall and I was able to go to the roof, where there was a nice view of the city.  An interesting note from this visit, there was a woman who worked at the mausoleum who was very friendly and showed me all around, pointing out what the various rooms were for and taking me up to the roof.  Often, here, baksheesh is expected for something like this, and so when leaving I offered her a few pounds.  She wouldn’t take it – a definite first.

Later in the afternoon, I met Reham for a late lunch.  She had told me we were going to go get crepes, and I was quite weary of the idea because she said we were goign to Mounira, a neighborhood near mine that is solidly Egyptian.  Not the type of place where I would expect to find any semblance of western food.  So I figured that when she said crepes she actually meant something else, like fitteer, the Egyptian dish that is sort of a cross between pizza and a stuffed pancake.  I met up with her in my neighborhood and we walked to Mounira.  After walking through some poorish areas, we were suddenly on a very nice street that seemed quite out of place.  As it turned out, it’s the French Cultural Center, run by the French Government, and the crepes, along with a selection of other simple food, were western-style – authentic for Cairo at least.  We had a nice time and ate some crepes, and it was, I think, the first time I’d had chocolate since I’ve been here, so that was nice.  Also, I’m fairly sure that Reham and I got some less friendly looks than we did last time we hung out.  When we were walking down one street in Mounira, a woman in niqab turned sort of violently towards us after seeing us in the corner of her eye and I think said something.  Reham didn’t react, though, so maybe I misinterpreted.

Later at home, Max and I were making dinner and he mentioned that some friends of a friend had just arrived in Cairo today and might need a place to stay.  He asked if I would mind if they stayed with us a couple days if they couldn’t find something else, and I said that was fine.  He mentioned that they were working on a documentary about Iraqi refugees, but, at the time, that meant nothing to me.  Later, though, he got a call from them and said they’d found a hotel but were going to come hang out for a while, since they didn’t know anyone here. They came by, and immediately when they walked in I recognized the woman as having spoken at Columbia earlier this year about her documentary, screening the trailer at an event organized by a group several of my friends are in.  So that was a pretty random and funny coincidence.

We hung out for a few hours and talked about human rights and refugee issues and it was quite interesting.  They’ve been in the mideast for the past four months shooting footage, and spent the last six weeks in Syria, where they were followed at all times by a representative of the government, who apparently was convinced they were Israeli spies (Syria thinks all westerners, it seems, are Israeli spies).  Lizz, who lived in Syria for a year previously, mentioned that when she was there she had her apartment broken into and her and her roommates all had their computers, but nothing else, stolen.  When she mentioned it to her Syrian friends, they all said that obviously it had been the mukhabarat.

So the filmmakers came by again this morning after checking out of their hotel because we had told them they could keep all their stuff here while they look for an apartment, and that if they couldn’t find one they were welcome to stay here until they did.  I just talked with them on the phone and they did find a place, so they’re coming by in a bit to pick up their things.

Finally a random observation apropos nothing.  I’ve noticed recently an interesting practice on the subways that I don’t really understand.  As background, restaurants and places here universally don’t provide napkins, except for the very nicest places.  Because of this, and because people are always sweating and need to wipe themselves, most people carry these little packs of tissue around that are like the travel kleenex you get in the US but are coarser, more like napkins.  Typically, you buy these packs from poor women and children on the streets for maybe a quarter pound.  One of the ways they are sold, other than on the streets, is that a woman or kid will come on a bus or subway and just throw a pack in everyone’s lap, whether they want it or not, and then come back and collect money for it or take back the packs.  It’s sort of strange to me, but whatever.  What I’ve seen the last couple days, though, that I find harder to understand is a similar practice where a person comes by and gives everyone some sort of flyer, walking from one end of the train car to the other and handing them out.  But then he goes back to where he started, less than a minute later, and takes them all back.  None of the times I’ve seen this happen have I been given a card, so I don’t know what they are about – though they looked religious.  I did see a couple people give the guys small amounts of money, but again I don’t know for what.  A bit curious about what is going on.

And for those interested in the state of Egypt’s health care system, I recommend you read this article from Reuters about the deaths of several babies that occurred recently due to a prolonged power outtage a state run hospital:

Gabali said state-run hospitals were in reality negligent and that connections and favoritism played a role in the appointment of employees. “And who pays the price? You and the citizen,” he said.

Al-Heseniya Fever Hospital east of Cairo showcases the problems Gabali mentioned.

Patients sleep on worn-out cots in dirty rooms, where walls are daubed with graffiti.

Director Moustafa Abdel-Aal said he cannot hire permanent workers like cleaners because of budget restraints. He said the hospital, with a capacity of 70 beds, has only five doctors.

“We should at least have 10 or 12 doctors,” he said.

Several doctors interviewed by Reuters said government wages were too low at state-run hospitals.

“The salary of a young doctor is 250 pounds ($47) a month,” said Amr Abu El-Ela, a doctor at Al-Sahil hospital in Cairo.

“I have a doctorate and my salary is 415 pounds … You cannot ask a human being to work hard (with these wages).” he said. “This is the crux of the issue.”