Wittenberg in Egypt

hello everyone!

We’re sorry it’s been awhile, but we’ve been very busy the last few days. We get one day a week off, and we took advantage of the break this weekend and headed into Cairo for a night. The first thing about Cairo that took us aback right away was the driving. We are pretty sure lanes exist on these roads, and we THINK there is a speed limit, but so far, we have not seen any proof of either. Basically, it seems that you can drive wherever you want and however fast you want, regardless if there are cars around you or innocent pedestrians trying to cross the 8 lane thick flow of traffic. We decided that if we don’t get into a car accident in Cairo, we probably will never get into one for the rest of our lives.

Erin’s guidebook says that if you can cross the street in Cairo, you can do anything in Cairo, and luckily we managed to make it through the weekend unscathed.

Cairo is a huge, sprawling metropolis sprouting straight out of the desert. It is crowded (about 8 million people), vibrant, and exciting. Everywhere you look, modern skyscrapers intersect with mudbrick and terra cotta buildings, giving a feel of the ancient and present worlds colliding. Our hotel was in a district of Cairo called Zamalek, which is basically an island in the middle of the Nile. After we checked in and dropped our things off, we did what any three American girls would do in a foreign city: shopping! Shopping in Cairo is really fun; not only are the shops colorful and inviting, but there is always the aspect of haggling and trying to get the best price possible. We had a good time experimenting with our feeble arabic until it was time for dinner.

On Sunday we went to the Egyptian Museum. We spent several hours wandering around ancient statues, paintings, and sarcophagi. We looked at ancient jewellry, the treasure of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, and even the actual mummified bodies of famous pharoahs like Seti I, Ramses II, and Amenhotep II. One really cool room we looked at was one of mummified animals. Some animals, like the hippo, crododile, cat, and baboon were sacred to the ancient Egyptians, or at least served as votive offerings to the dead or various dieties. It was really cool to see how the mummification process worked in a different way other than humans. After the museum, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the city and hanging out in a coffeehouse so we could work on our weekly reports for EDMAP, because, after all, we are here for work, not pleasure.

That being said, we really need to get back to our reports! We’ll update again soon! And pictures from the weekend/last week are also coming!

Erin and Nikki