Culture Week

Sabba7 El-Kheir! (Good morning!) This past week has been filled with site visits to some of the most prominent cultural places in Cairo.I have truly enjoyed being exposed to Cairo's rich cultural history and traditions, including its religion and art. I like these field trips because they get us out of our neighborhood bubble and into unexplored parts of the city. It also reminds me how OLD Egyptian civilization is. Egyptians were building mosques and creating art thousands of years before our country was even founded...pretty wild.

First stop was visiting the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, located in the heart of Islamic Cairo. It is the largest mosque in Cairo, and it is also the oldest mosque in terms of preserved, original architecture. My favorite part of this site visit was climbing to the top of the minaret, which is the tower where the Call to Prayer is made. The Call to Prayer occurs five times a day, and modern Cairo has a standardized sounding prayer and schedule. Its an awesome sound because you can hear multiple Calls to Prayer issued from different mosques at the same time. It sounds like an echo all over the city five times a day.

Next visit was to the Islamic Art Museum, which was also a neat place to visit. I spent most of my time learning art terminology in Arabic with my language partner. Her name is pronounced Hend, and she was really eager to teach me new Arabic phrases and words. I am looking forward to practicing my Egyptian Arabic with her. She is pretty tough on  me, but I need some constructive criticism in regards to my speaking skills :)

On Sunday night, we went to the famous Opera House complex (located just 10 minutes away from our apartment) and saw a show! It was a tragedy called Aida (first performed in 1871), and it told the story of a love triangle between Egyptian and Ethiopian royalty. It was kind of a mix between Helen of Troy and Romeo and Juliet. The opera was performed in Italian and the screens had Arabic subtitles, so it was definitely a challenge to understand exactly what was going on. I read the synopsis before though, so I just relied on the story line to understand the action. It was long....almost four hours. My first opera experience was in Egypt...who wuddu thunk it.

On a more social note, I have also been twice to Cairo's oldest bar called Horreya, which is the Arabic word for freedom. They only serve Stella beer and Cheepsy chips, both of which are only manufactured in Egypt. I love being a part of the local scene and spending my time looking for new places to check out in Cairo.

Nika, Hannah, and I at Horreya drinking some Stella