Hello Egypt!

Good early morning from Cairo, Egypt (Dec 2)! After approximately 11 ½ hours, 9230 km (5735 miles), and a 22 degree F change in temperature (55 F to 77 F), I, along with 41 other Union Dutch(wo)men as well as Union Engineering Professor Ashraf Ghaly, have made it to Egypt for the 2010 Union College Egypt Mini Term.

After arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport at 3pm EST (and stopping before hand to get one last NY delicacy—a pastrami and corned beef sandwich on Rye from Woodrow Kosher Deli), I boarded the EgyptAir Boeing 777 “A HUGE IRONBIRD” for the 6:30pm direct flight to Cairo (flight# 986 MS). My original seat was 26H, an aisle seat near the front of the plane, however, Melanie found me and told me there were unoccupied rows in the back of the aircraft. Melanie and I had the entire middle section of row 52. This allowed us space to relax during the flight, which was really great. I had the aisle seat, 52G. Of course, JFK airport didn’t disappoint; we waited on the tarmac (which is a misnomer, runways are made of concrete—not tar or macadam pavement, but that’s for another Professor Ghaly class) for a good hour before taking off at 7:34pm EST.

I have to say, I was more than a tad nervous about the takeoff from JFK. I had never been on an airplane so big before and it was pretty intimidating looking at it from the gate. And yes, Mom, that same plane flew over the Subway Sub Shop—it was the only EgyptAir aircraft I could see and it arrived soon after you observed it flying over Queens. I was somewhat relieved to find a personal screen on the back of each seat to watch movies and tv shows and play games while on the airplane. I distracted myself during the takeoff (which happened to be very smooth) by watching on of my favorite shows—“How I Met Your Mother.”

Cairo Airport and the construction
in the New Cairo area

I passed the time by reading Moneyball on my new Kindle I got for Chanukah from Melanie, watching Inception, playing Solitaire, and taking Dramamine to fall asleep (which really didn’t work-I probably only slept for an hour). We finally reached Cairo at 1:17pm local time (6:17am EST). The Cairo Airport Company was pretty quiet, but it took time to get a visa to put in our Passports. It is a sticker that costs ~$15 USD and is very cool looking. I ate two meals on the plane: chicken for dinner (decent) and apple pancakes for breakfast (pretty good). Better than I expected for airplane food.

My porch 

My hotel room in Cairo! 

“December?” I asked myself as I left the terminal. It was hot and hazy—typical for the desert. The airport apparently is located in the “New Cairo” section of they city. It was originally planned to serve a poor population, however, it has become more of a higher-class suburban area. There is construction in every direction you look—it is really amazing how many cranes, bulldozers, and lifts there are. Buildings in Egypt are mostly made out of concrete (no wonder Professor Ghaly loves concrete) because there isn’t any forests to harvest lumber from so they use the abundant stone. I was very impressed by the new hotel under construction next to the airport; it is going to be huge.

After resting for a little at the hotel in Cairo (my room has a porch that leads out to a grassy area and the shower pressure is great!), our group went on a Nile River Dinner Cruise. It had belly dancing (not impressed) and tantric? dancing. The buffet (I had decent chicken and bad mashed potatoes—no Yukon Golds at all) was nothing special and I was pretty tired (it felt like morning even though it was night time). The most exciting part of the night was probably the ride back to the hotel when there was newly-weds in the car ahead of our bus. Professor Ghaly said they were doing something called “Zaffa.” This is a traditional Egyptian wedding celebration where the couple blocks the road to get people to notice them. Cars honk, flash their lights, and block the road in celebration of the new marriage.

The what I think was tantric dancing
during the Nile River Cruise

Some interesting things I’ve heard/noticed about Egypt:

According to Professor Ghaly, 80 Million people live in Egypt. 95% of the population lives in the Nile River Valley. Additionally, he says that the population increases by a million every eight months.

Gasoline is ~$1.50/gallon in Egypt (1.7 Egyptian pounds/liter), however, as we drove from the airport to the hotel, I saw plenty of Shell and OiLibia Stations but none of the signs displayed the prices. It turns out that the government subsidizes the prices—so all stations have the same priced fuel. 

There are few traffic lights in the city of Cairo. No roundabouts either. Instead they converted the 2-way streets to 1-way streets. Drivers seem to disregard the marked lanes (if any) as I have seen up to 3 cars in the width of one lane. Basically, it is utter chaos.

Melanie and I lit Chanukah candles with prayers and everything (gelt!). Probably we are two of the few people in Egypt to do that tonight. I guess a “Miracle Happened Sort Close to Here”?

Tomorrow I head to the Giza Pyramids and hopefully will ride a camel! I’ll write it here for all ya to read! Any questions? Feel free to ask and I’ll get back to you! Enjoy!