Cairo Cave Church

Yesterday we went to one of the Christian parts of Cairo, called Garbage City, in order to see a church carved into a cliff. You may remember I wrote about the Egyptian trash collectors who live in Garbage City back in November (check the archives if you'd like), but I'd never actually been there. I've seen a lot of very poor areas, but this was unquestionably the most humbling area that I've ever been through. The insides of the buildings are filled to the ceilings with trash, the streets are incredibly narrow and lined with huge bags of trash. This is where the "zebaleen" people live, making a living out of sorting the trash.

As recorded on the cave church website:

Some 7,000 rubbish collectors get up at the crack of dawn every morning at Manshiyat Nasir. They go to blocks of flats, hotels and other parts of Cairo and collect Over 2,000 tons of rubbish. They take this home, emptying their carts in the backyard or in front of their shacks. The women and older girls sort the rubbish into organic and inorganic refuse, and the edible leftovers go to their pigs and cattle. They then sort the durable Waste materials according to type and color.

The rubbish collectors gather the secondary materials such as glass, paper, plastic, tin, rags and bones into big bundles in front of their dwellings. They then sell them to the middlemen from the oases, who come with their vehicles to collect them. In turn, the middlemen sell them to factories for recycling.

In the midst of all of this is a magnificent church, which seats 5000, carved into a "mountain" and serves as a testament to the Christians' faith and dedication despite their living conditions.

This next picture is just outside of the church. Do you see that platform-like thing at the top of the cliff? I'm not sure what it's used for, but my guess is bungee jumping. I'm guessing that once a person accepts Christ into their life they head up to the top of the mountain and are given their first "test" of relying on God...hahaha! How would you like to have one of those at your church?


I have just one other comment, regarding "appearing religious"...

Many of the Coptic Christians have a cross tattooed onto their wrists when they are very young. We actually saw this tattooing booth just outside the church where a dad and a young child were getting their tattoos in front of a group of other Christians. Many other people simply have a cross necklace to make their religious affiliations public. This is well and good, but should not be something exclusive.

There are Christians in Egypt, and those who no longer live in Egypt, who hold the same beliefs (essentially and fundamentally) as the Coptic Christians. Christians can still be "good Christians" even if they don't perform the sign of the cross before praying or have a cross tattoo on their wrist. To question someone's faith based on mere physical characteristics is, well, dumb, and should not take place within a community of believers.

The same holds true for Muslims. If you are walking the streets of Cairo there are certain things that you can look for to determine who the Muslims are. But there are plenty of other people who are Muslims that don't have these characteristics. Just because they don't have these characteristics doesn't mean that they should be called menial Muslims.

I suppose the same could be said for just about any religion...

Randomosity

3 topics for today's blog post:

1) I lost my eraser. Yes, this is a really big deal. I freaked out in the past because I lost it, but then I found it the next day, exactly where I had left it in class. I'm hoping the same thing will happen this time. But, I need to have a contingency plan, so, dear blog readers, if any of you would be so kind as to go to your local Walmart to pick up this eraser for me (in case they suddenly stop making them or something...), that would be awesome.



These things are awesome. The best eraser ever, especially if you have to erase very small things, like the dots on Arabic letters. I don't know how I'll manage for the last month of classes.

Note, I think I'll have to have a more utilitarian eraser when I get back to Purdue and have to erase more like 3/4th of a page instead of just single dots...

2) I've been trying to use up the nearly 3 pounds of ground beef that we have in our refrigerator. Last night I decided to make spaghetti with meat sauce. I was trying to brown some of the meat, but it seemed to be taking forever. Eventually it got to the point that the meat started sticking to the bottom of the pan...but the meat was still red. So I added some water and continued to cook. It hardly changed color at all. Eating red meat freaks me out, so after standing there for a really long time hoping the meat was done, I decided just to pour the tomato sauce over it and pretend like it really was browned.

But next day I still had nearly 2 pounds of meat to use, so I decided to make a meatloaf. After getting the recipe from my mom, I put the concoction in the oven (at the proper temperature), and cooked it for "just under an hour," like my mom told me. That way it wouldn't get too brown on top. Well, at 45 minutes, I decided to see the progress, but it was still bright red! The onions in it were black, but the meat was still red!

Eating red meat freaks me out. I don't want to get some weird Egyptian cow disease. Anyway, if I get sick tonight, then I will know the reason why...

Has anyone else ever had this problem with meat before?

3) Speaking of being sick, for some reason I've been in pain for the last 3 days right under the bottom of my rib cage (both sides). I don't know what the problem is, but it really hurts to laugh or sneeze or breathe deeply, to the point that when I feel a sneeze coming, as I'm breathing in right before, I wince in pain so that the sneeze never happens. Anyone had anything like this happen before? I haven't exercised in a really long time, so there's no way it's a pulled muscle...and I drink nearly 3 liters of water a day...I don't know.

WebMD has told me that it could be diverticulitis, an ulcer, various kinds of cancer, or gall stones...

I'm hoping that it's something that will go away with a little bit of Advil.

Oh, and just one more thing:

1 MORE MONTH FROM TODAY (MARCH 24) THAT I COME HOME!!!

Can't believe it!

Have a nice Saturday!

Profile: Lucy

To give you a better idea of who some of my friends are in Egypt, I thought I would create a short profile of one of my friends, Lucy. Johan, Rachel, and I love to make fun of Lucy, and I suppose this profile is just a slight continuation of that...

When you meet Lucy, you will probably first notice that she is rather short. But I guess calling someone short is demeaning, so she likes to refer to herself "fun-sized." This is Lucy...

Lucy wearing my gigantic shoes

Lucy laughs a lot. She also freaks out a lot, especially when there are bees or moths in the apartment (which, by the way, are HUGE...we've had 3 bees in the apartment that were about an inch long. They actually ARE terrifying)

Lucy reacting to the attack of the killer...moth...

Lucy loves rice. She also loves to make LOTS of rice. We never, never have to worry about not having enough rice to eat.

Who wants some?

Lucy is a musician and a dancer. Random playing of the "drums" and random dances are common.

Lucy dancing and playing the "drum"

Lucy says a few phrases at least once a day. These include but are not limited to:

1. I just want to dance
2. I just want to play the piano
3. I wish I had my harmonica
4. I want to go to ______ (a baseball game, Dahab, the beach...)
5. Let's do something
6. I'm bored
7. Talk to me
8. I'm so over this
9. نعم؟
10. So my friends Wes and Lauren...

Lucy also likes to make lists when she talks. For example, if I say, "I want to go to the movies," Lucy will say, "I don't want to go to the movies because 1) that sounds boring 2) it's too far away 3) ..."

Lucy in her blanket

I suppose I could write a bit more, but Lucy is currently telling me, "Ben, I'm bored. Let's do something," so I need to go!

Have a good Thursday!

Oh, Technology...

Last summer when I worked at Gulfstream I was in the loads & dynamics group. There were about 15 of us in that group, 5 of us under the age of 30 and the rest older than that. Those of us who were under the age of 30 did all of our computer programming using the “new” computing package MATLAB, while the older folks used the “ancient” FORTRAN. All the “young” guys used the sleek, black Dell computers, but some of the “old” guys used those big, clunky 1990 computers.

Where am I headed with this? Well, yesterday I read an interesting article about technology and how rapidly it is changing…and how it is changing our lives. Some people are apparently predicting that the use of a physical keyboard and mouse is going to become a thing of the past as the current youth of the nation use touchscreens instead on things like the iPad.

I like to think of myself as someone who embraces technology. I think the capabilities we have already are simply amazing, and I’m looking forward to see what is developed in the future. BUT what about the human factor? How much does technology affect your life? Well, if you’re reading this, then you can’t say that you’re totally technologically incompetent and unaffected by technology. And if you’re around my age, then you’re probably even more techo-savvy/literate/dependent (???) than most people.

What concerns me is how this infiltration of technology will affect the youth of tomorrow (and future parents who raise them). Pretend, for example, that I have a 5 year-old son who wants to play a game. I have just gotten home from work and am tired. Will I go out and play catch with him in the front yard or will I just tell him to play Wii baseball? Or pretend that your young daughter wants to paint a picture. You know that painting means paint is going to get all over the kitchen table. Wouldn’t you rather have her just paint on her iPad instead? It’s much easier and takes no supervision or clean-up. There’s also no need for bookshelves for bedtime stories when you can just pick from the many stories on your Kindle instead…

Are you starting to see the challenge that we face? Technology does make our lives easier (sometimes). And I really do love it! But I feel it is becoming increasingly more important to limit its reach in our lives.

I could tell my son to play the Wii instead. Which is showing love to my son: spending TIME with him or letting him entertain himself? Which is showing love to your daughter: spending TIME with her or letting her entertain herself? We must not allow technology to come in between us and what is most important in our lives—real, meaningful relationships. Relationships take time and effort. We CANNOT depend on technology to build and develop these relationships.

Maybe one day I will be the old engineer using a computer with a non-touchscreen keyboard…

I'm a Celebrity

There are certain things that I will not miss about Egypt when I leave next month (hard to believe it's coming so soon), but there are certain aspects that I will miss. One that comes to mind right away is how a lot of Egyptian teens treat me as some sort of celebrity.

Today Dad and I were visiting a fort of the Mediterranean and a Roman theater, and it didn't take long for the group of teen-aged girls to start speaking in their limited English to me...and me in my limited Arabic. A little later as we were looking at some other things, the girls got the courage to ask for a picture with me (usually when I take a picture with people I put my arm around them, but I am careful not to do this in Egypt). One picture turned into quite a few pictures since all the girls wanted one.

Later today two Egyptians guys asked to take a picture with me because they said I look like some famous DJ they know. No problem. I really should start riding around Egypt in a limo.

Sometimes there can be so many kids/teens that it becomes almost impossible to move in the direction you want because there's just so many of them asking "Where are you from" and "What's your name." And if you start talking in Arabic with them then they get even more excited. Oh, the pangs of being a tall, white American guy in Egypt...

I think I'll miss having girls randomly asking to take pictures with me when I get back to Purdue. For some reason I just don't think that is going to happen.

But I don't get the full extent of the stardom--Johan is tall, white, and BLONDE! People started clapping for him when he walked onto the metro train one day! I'm going to have to step up my game...

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Ben

Spring Break Pictures

Here's some pictures from my trip around Egypt with my dad. If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger.

2 Obelisks in Luxor; Karnak Temple

At a train station somewhere between Aswan and Luxor

Sun setting over a hazy Luxor

Oh, just the view from our hot air balloon in Luxor (you can see Hatshepsut's temple)

Balloon near the Nile, over the farm land

Pretty dead tree in Abu Simbel

Souq in Abu Simbel

You aren't seeing things. That really is a mirage!

Philae Temple, near Aswan

Peaceful twilight in Aswan. This is my favorite picture.

Visitors at the Great Temple at Abu Simbel

Once again, Abu Simbel

I hope you liked the pictures! Dad and I are having a fun time and seeing a lot of stuff. We'll be in Dahab for the next day or so and then we're headed to Alexandria for 2 days. I'll probably post again when we get to Alexandria! Since I'm not going to post tomorrow and I really want to type it, you're going to get it a day early:

Have a good Good Friday!!

That was so worth it...

Guest Blogger: Dad!

I decided that it would be fun to have my dad write a little something for my blog since he is with me for the next few days. This is what he has to say...

Greetings from Dahab (on the Red Sea) - Most of you thought the marathon was a Greek thing, well opa! the Greeks never travelled with Ben in Egypt...we’ve been on the go now for 7 days almost non-stop. An observation of one who is growing old - I see a right of passage. When Ben was young he would always follow behind me wherever we went. The tide has now turned! Ben has taken the reigns and I am following his lead. I am so proud of his ability to blend into this chaotic culture. He negotiates with a smile and knows when a deal cannot be made and walks away. There are always hungry taxi drivers and the negotiation restarts all over again. We have never been stranded! I will note, with careful instructions he let me travel to downtown Cairo to visit the Egyptian History Museum. I rode the metro train and made it back without a hitch.

Speaking of taxi drivers, Egyptian cabbies truly know the dimensions of the Fiats and Peugots. I've gotten over the madness of the driving here but I still have yet to break the code on how they use their horn. It’s an almost constant beep-beep communication for all maneuvers (Planned & unplanned). There are horns blaring from all directions all the time.

Ben also stops and strikes up conversations with locals to practice his Arabic. I was a little concerned when he struck up a conversation with a security guard - automatic rifle included. I joined the dialog more or less to listen in, sure enough the clip was filled with shells but they both had a smile and were carrying on enjoying each others company. Truth be known the guard was practicing English while Ben did the same with Arabic.

The sights are amazing – I’ve touched things 3000 years old. The food is good. The fruit juices are out of this world. There is a whole different world of smells from incense to spices to some obnoxious stuff. It’s not too hot but it is really dry. Ben keeps watch to make sure I am drinking lots of water. It’s almost never quiet in Egypt. The locals are night owls and as soon as everyone is asleep the morning call to prayer starts things rolling again.

It has been great to see Ben more than anything else. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, quoting Calvin & Hobbs – ‘the days have been packed’ (Trains, planes, boats, hot air balloons, cabs, buses and sights galore) but this guest blogger will be glad to see simple Wadsworth again in 4 more days.

I should have a link to some of our pictures sometime today or tomorrow, so be expecting it!

Have a good Thursday!!!