Ahmed's return, Saqqara and Dashur, and Shami Night

Friday night we got to go to our friend Ahmed’s house to have a home cooked Egyptian meal. Ahmed lives in 6 of October City, about half an hour from Zamalek. We went right away to the “Nadi” or Club that his little stepbrother Sam was participating in a kung fu competition at. Unfortunately, we got there too late and Sam had already competed. We walked around the club, which was huge. It seemed to me a bit like a country club with tennis courts, a swimming pool, lawns, restaurants, etc. It was very nice. After that, we went to Ahmed’s apartment that he has with his sister and we had a delicious meal. He made sure to include Clare’s favorite dip, Tomayya (glorified Ranch, I guess it’s mayonnaise and garlic mostly? I’m not a fan) and my favorite kind of Arabic sweet, Kunaffa (this is not the same as my favorite kind in Palestine, but it was still yummy) which was very thoughtful of him. We also tried Hibiscus juice, which is like grape juice but has a bit of a zing to it. After dessert Ahmed wanted to go to an Ahawa (coffeehouse) and smoke some shisha. We had a great time just talking about random things such as traveling, music, and scholarships. When it was time for us to go home, Ahmed got us a cab and negotiated with the cab driver to make sure we didn’t get ripped off. He was so sweet and fun, we had such a great time!

Ahmed, Ryne, Me, Carly, and Clare

Saturday was a fieldtrip. My friend Hannah and I left the dorm to meet up with everyone at the old campus at 7:30 and by 9 we were on our way to Dashur, the location of both the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid (also the Black Pyramid is nearby, but it looks like a rundown fortress now because it was built on uneven or swampy ground or something. Apparently there is a lake there and there is some famous papyrus that I should probably know the name of on which there is written a story recounting events with one of the pharaohs (I should probably know his name) who had a magician who on occasion would entertain him. One time, it is said, this magician turned his staff into a snake (before Moses!), and another time he parted the waters of the lake in Dashur (also before Moses!) which is very very interesting).

Bent Pyramid

Black Pyramid

Anyway, both the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid were very cool and we were able to go into the burial chamber of the Red Pyramid, which is apparently the first pyramid to have the burial chamber in the superstructure of the pyramid (instead of the substructure) (fun fact).  However, partially through the descent into the red pyramid (the shaft down was only the size of a big pyramid cube- probably half my size so about 2.7 feet tall (is that right?? You might want to look this up yourselves), the lights went out. There was absolutely no light at all and the tiny amount of light shining in through the entrance was mostly blocked by the bodies of a bunch of my classmates. I was so happy I am not Closter phobic. Fortunately, the light came back on just about the time I got to the bottom. It was very surreal to be inside a pyramid!

Red Pyramid

At one point our professor, Dr. Ikram, wanted to take us to go see the Eastern Temple of these Pyramids, which was frowned upon by the antiquities police. However, she took us anyway and at one point the whole class was running away from the police though the desert. It was quite a sight. It was also ironic that the antiquities police were trying to keep Dr. Ikram, one of the best Egyptologists in the world, away from these sites for fear of damage.

Running Away from the Antiquities Police

After we left Dashur, my class headed to Saqqara, another site very close by that holds the Step Pyramid complex. This pyramid and complex was designed for King Djoser, a very early king. His architect was Imhotep (yes, the bad guy from the Mummy movies) who was extremely famous and later there was even a cult devoted to him. There is a statue of him in a museum somewhere (I should probably know which one) and he looks kind of goofy but he was apparently the Frank Lloyd Wright of his time. This complex was very exciting to see after we had a whole class devoted to it last week.

Hannah and I at the Step Pyramid

One interesting thing there is the Hepsed Race arena. Kings used to run the Hepsed race which is a certain length and is supposed to symbolize the king running from one side of the country to the other, symbolizing his virility and overall competency and ability to run the country.  Afterwards, the king would shower, get perfumed and all that then there would be another coronation ceremony for him and he would get “re-crowned” King.

Graffiti from the Early Kingdom?

Here's to you, Edward Said

In Saqqara we also visited a tomb that was built for two guys who were hair dressers (probably to the king), and best friends. I thought it was cute that they got a tomb together! It was very well decorated and fairly intact.

Hieroglyphics

We got in trouble with more authorities (Dr. Ikram is on the right)

We also got the opportunity to go into the pyramid of King Tete. His pyramid was smaller than the Red Pyramid of Dashur and the burial chamber was in the sub-structure but the decorations inside his were much cooler. The walls were covered with hieroglyphics that were holy text- very clear and beautiful. I loved his tomb. Unfortuately at a lot of these setes were were not able to use cameras, though I really wish I was able to capture some of these carved words on film. Anyway, that was about the end of the field trip and we got back to downtown Cairo about 5 that evening.

Plastic Bags: Tumbleweeds of the Egyptian Desert

Sunday went well, I even raised my hand in my Anthropology class. However, after school is where the fun lies. Sunday night was Shami Night (The Sham is the Arabic equivalent of what we call “The Levant” in the States, it is composed of the countries Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and my favorite, Palestine) wherein students of AUC from these various countries told us a little bit about their respective countries and then played music on the Oud (the lute, very popular traditional instrument here), showed a short movie they put together with facts about their country, or did a dance (the Dabke and the Belly dance). 

Lebanese Students doing the Dabke

This was really fun to see as it is very similar to an event we put on at Notre Dame called Arabic Culture Night where we do a little skit in Arabic, maybe have someone sing in Arabic, and do the Dabke. After the program we got to have food! This was the best food I have had my whole time here- I just love food from that part of the world. There were stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, baba ganoug, makloubeh, and kunafe (among other lovely things that I don’t know the names of). Clare, David, and I had expected to just get some food at 7 then head back to our dorm on the 8:15 bus however, we didn’t make that or even the 9:15 bus, we had to take the 10:15. Needless to say, we were pretty tired that night too.