Woke up early again. This time at around 8:30. Called the agent that was going to show us some apartments. Apparently he meant 9pm tonight not 9am. So fell back asleep. Woke up at around 11 and went down to get breakfast. Two girls from Germany were eating at the same time and we conversed together briefly.
After breakfast Evan had to take the placement test online so I studied and did the writing section. After that I found myself with some free time. I called up Kevin who was planning on visiting the Citadel. I decided to go while Evan opted to stay and finish the test and study some more.
Met Kevin by the Karl’s Junior in Tahriir Square. From here we caught a taxi and headed into Old Cairo (Which is sometimes referred to as Islaamic Cairo). Got to the Citadel at 3:30. Unfortunately we found that the Citadel is only open till 4:30… so we decided we would save the 50 LE and come back later when we could have more time to enjoy it.
We knew that nearby was the El Hussein Mosque so we decided to walk. A few stops for directions and thirty minutes later we found ourselves in front of El Hussein Mosque. The Mosque was built by Sultan Hussein and is enormous. Unfortunately during Ramadan non-muslims are not allowed in the Mosque after three so we had to walk around the outside. However, the outside was still gorgeous. The Mosque sits adjacent to another massive mosque, which together tower over the surrounding courtyard and streets.
After fighting off a few hopeful tourist trappers Kevin and I continued on toward Khan El Khalili. Khan El Khalili is the section of Cairo known to have the most open air vendors. Street after street was filled with goods ranging from your daily produce, to carpet, to clothes, to souvenirs. If you could think it, then it could be found in Khan El Khalili.
Neither of us really wanted to purchase any goods but the atmosphere was delightful and we spent the next hour and a half walking through the main streets watching and absorbing our surroundings. Dividing the humungous bazaar is the Bab Zawayla gate. This gate was is a mosque and used to divide Cairo. Now it is known mostly for dividing Khan El Khalili into its more touristy side and its more Egyptian side. This split was apparent because one side focused more on food and clothes whereas the other focused on souvenirs and trinkets. At the gate we met with a local named Adam and talked about sports. Adam loved soccer and we talked about soccer in Europe and Egypt for a good while. He asked us to tea which we refused (fearing a trap). He did, however, give us his number with what seems like no strings attached so we may take him up on his offer later.
We did have one unfortunate encounter while in Khan El Khalili. We were followed down the street by a man who insisted that we should go into his shop for tea. I was feeling sick of being harassed so tried less subtle methods of getting rid of him. When he told us he was from American I just laughed and told him he wasn’t, and that we didn’t want to hear his story or buy anything. He continued to follow us and we continued to tell him we weren’t interested.. At one point he took the lead and we ducked into a stall to lose him. Unfortunately we ran into him a few minutes later (not surprisingly given the nature of the small streets..). At this point he asked us why we were afraid. I just laughed and couldn’t think of an appropriate response. Kevin piped up in Arabic saying that “We’re not afraid you’re just not nice.” Perfect.
The man stopped looking dumbfounded as we continued on our way. We emerged out of Khan El Khalili a while later and found ourselves in a part of Cairo neither of us had seen. We asked the local traffic cop who sent us down a busy main street. Twenty minutes later we were still hopelessly lost, however, we did meet a kind Egyptian who saw us and asked us where we were going. He then directed us and refused our tip (again renewing my faith in Egyptians). We followed his directions to another large main street but still lacked a sufficient knowledge of the city to find our way back. We decided that taking a taxi might just be easier.
A 7 LE cab ride later we were near my hotel and walking back to meet with Even. In an attempt to better understand the culture Kevin has been fasting for Ramadan. This includes not drinking or eating from sunset to sunrise. I felt a bit guilty drinking water around him so tried my hardest to abstain. Got me thinking about fasting and that I may want to do it for myself more when I get back to the states… We stopped at the juice place near the hostel and got Kevin’s first meal of the day (2 glasses of Mango Juice).
We then retrieved Evan and went to go grab dinner. We decided to try a new place called GAD. It was decent although allitle more commercialized than the others. I got the Shish Kabob Sandwich. It’s a grilled steak sandwich with cheese and peppers. I don’t know about you but I’m getting confused about the differences between these sandwiches… whatever. After our dinner we stopped by a local bakery to try some Arabic deserts. We all tried three pastries. One was like a deep fried doughnut hole, another was a flaky crust cream filled triangle, and the last was a molasses walnut pastry in the shape of an eggroll..
It was drawing near nine so we headed to Tahriir Square to meet with Nour, the apartment broker. We met in front of KFC at Tahriir Square. Apparently he meets his clients here because everybody knows where KFC is. He then took us to check out two places in Garden City (a mile or so south) and one located downtown (a few blocks east).
The first two were located in the same building and cost 2500 LE. They were nice but nothing super out of the ordinary. Most apartments in Egypt come furnished and I personally preferred the furnishings in the first while Evan liked the balcony on the second. The third that we visited in downtown was closer to the bus to AUC and in both our opinions far superior. It was a one bedroom that could possibly be converted into a two bedroom. Had a large balcony and was really nicely furnished. The room that could be converted was off the balcony but was currently being used by the owner for storage. The owner was asking 3000 LE for it as a double… a bit pricey but still within our asking range.
We really enjoyed spending the night with Nour and his partner Hassan. They were both really down to earth Egyptians. Hassan was 21 and Nour a bit older. Hassan played for the Zamelek football club which is one of the best in Egypt and competes internationally. Nour is a musician who has long hair and is about as close as you can come to an Egyptian hippy. We all enjoyed coffee together near the end of the night and hope to meet up again to hang out socially.
At the end of the night we decided we would meet up the next day to look at a few more places and discuss finalizing any offers. Evan and I walked back and prepared for our first day of orientation…
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