This morning I headed over to the Egyptian Museum, which was literally jam packed with artifacts and relics from thousands of years ago. There had to have been several millions of things packed in this room. I honestly think I only covered about 40% of it with the 4 hours I was there. It was an absolute information overload and I wish they allowed us to take pictures because everything in there was mind-blowing but I guess this means you'll just have to come see it for yourself ;) At one point I was walking past this slab of some ancient hieroglyphic etchings and I just touched them lightly and I got the chills all over thinking about how old something like this was and the fact that here it was in front of me when all else from the era has completely vanished. Not to over romanticize museums or anything, but you can truly feel the history and their age emitting from some of these pieces. It is really beautiful.
Funny story: This guy who worked at the Museum, who I thought was just being friendly, comes up to me and says like hi/hello/how are you etc, and then he asks me: "Why don't you have a wife"? hahaha. I figured he meant husband but it was just so funny because he asked me that several times, and then I told him I was Muslim he kissed my hand and asked me to recite verses from the Qur'an - it was the weirdest/funniest thing ever. He tried to teach me Arabic too but that didn't work well because of his accent and I didn't realize until much later that "moh-zzer" actually meant "mother" and same thing with "fah-zzer" lol! This dude Ahmed was too funny.
I also was fortunate enough to see the exhibit with the ancient mummies and in all honesty that was horrifying for me. Here you had these dead bodies with their faces revealed in all their terror and morbidness on display. I just felt squeamish and scared the whole time, especially because some of the faces looked like they were in pain or that something still sort of lingered on their lips, like their spirit left them in mid-sentence. It was really freaky. :/
The King Tutankhamen exhibit was beyond words beautiful. I know we've almost all heard of him and how he was King and what not but the detail and the intricacy that went into his tomb and burial are absolutely phenomenal. So much gold was layered onto the encasing of him tomb and then so much more detail and decoration went into the mask that was placed on his body and the actual coffin his body went into. Its just unbelievable when you see it up close and in person. Again, I really wish I could have taken pictures because it was breathtaking.
Interestingly enough, a guy that I walked past at the museum saw my shirt which said "Gaza 'Ala Bali"/"Gaza on my mind" and we started talking just about the Gaza Freedom March and everything going on in Palestine right now because he was from Gaza City and he still had family there. We talked for a while and then agreed to meet up once we both were done going through everything at the museum. So after we both got out, we then went out to eat koshary, which was absolutely delicious - just as everyone had predicted it would. I walked around with him for the next few hours and we went to Old Cairo and walked around and explored a lot. We saw tons of book stores, the Wall Street of Cairo, and stopped at a place for some mango juice which was sooo amazing. It was so rich and had thick pieces of mango in it and it was just divine. It was one of the best parts of the day :) After that, I left my friend Mohammed and then met up with Hana and Rana's friend, Sherif and went to eat at Abu Sid, which was yet another experience with delicious Egyptian food. We had tahini, grape leaves, Molakahely - which if I typed that correctly is the Egyptian National Dish. I've eaten so much today, I fear for how much weight I am going to gain by the time I leave to go to Gaza. :P
After that, we went to a small cafe by the AUC dorms and I got to meet all of Hana's friends who she talks about alllll the time and they were all so nice and funny. I think the one thing that is going to leave a seriously everlasting impression on me from Egypt is going to be the incredible warmth, kindness, and hospitality of the people here. Everyone goes out of their way to be nice to you and it is just the sweetest thing.
Okay - so I am beyond exhausted and my jet lag has caught up to me at last so it is time to crash.
Please if you haven't already send a message to the Egyptian government pressuring them to allow the Gaza Freedom March into Gaza so that we can demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Palestine. As much as I love Cairo, there is no way I came all this way just to sight see. We're too close now to back down, Egypt.
Here is the link in case you missed it earlier:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1946
Love and solidarity,
Sana J.
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