Let's learn Arabic!

I love to study languages, so one of the must-do's for me was to take an Arabic course. I now want to share the best bits I learned.

Greetings is not just 'Hi, how are ya' -business in Egypt. When you meet a friend, you generously shake or hold hands, stare gently in the eyes (also guys with guys, because eye contact and showing friendliness is crucial), and exchange the following:

-Sabah el heer. (Good morning)
-Sabah el nour. (Morning of light)

If you want to go the full round, the routine continues as follows:

-Sabah el full. (Morning scented with jasmine)
-Sabah el ishta. (Milky morning)
-Sabah el a-azel. (Morning scented with honey).
-Sabah el warda. (Morning scented with flowers).

By the way, Warda (flower) is also man's name, as well as Badri, which stands for 'early'. One of our bus drivers was called Badri (no pun intended, I guess). Well, let's move on.

- Amle ee? Means, 'How are you?'
- Meya, meya. = Good. (literally: 100, 100).
- Nouss, nouss. = Not so good. (Half, half)

The Egyptian Arabic differs a lot from Classic Arabic. For example, the everyday word for car in is 'arabeya', while in Classic Arabic it is 'sayyara'. Therefore, one needs to learn two sets of words, the vernacular, and Classic terms.

It's no coincidence that 'Sahraa' stands for desert, as of Sahara, which is the only environment type in this corner of earth, featuring rocky mountain ranges, sand, and sole acacia trees.

One of the very useful expressions I learned, was 'Not your business': 'Da mish shorlek.' Egyptians are extremely curious to the point of nosiness, and notorious gossips. The news seem to travel faster than in the internet! A person asking for something that do not belong to him, is called 'hesheriy'. Another funny one, reminding me of a certain Biblical analogy, meaning 'get lost', or, 'you can go now', is: 'Il beeb iifaod gemel', literally, 'The door is large enough for a camel to pass'.

The Arabic-speakers love idioms and proverbs. Here's one for you: 'After the incense is passed there is no sitting on.' (Don't overstay your welcome). The explanation: When the visit has lasted long enough, the host passes round the incense signifying that it's time for his guests to leave.

Moon, 'amar', has a lot of symbolism in Islam. Is also is an analogy for beauty. If you want to call someone beautiful, you can call her 'inti amar', 'you (are beautiful like) the moon'.

Travelling: Alexandria

A friend of mine, one of the 5 Muhammeds with whom I regularly work with, comes from Alexandria. He constantly tells me how wonderful the city is. When my colleague visited there and also highly recommended it, I decided to explore the city myself.

I arrived at Cairo railway station early Saturday morning. I bought a ticket to 'Al Iskandria', as the Arabic-speakers call it. All the first-class tickets had been sold out, so I booked a seat in the second class later that morning. Another colleague had advised me to admire the Nile delta scenery along the way. According to her, the train ride is the best part of the journey. I studied some history of the cities and the map along the way – Benha, Tanta, Damanhour. Vast corn, aubergine and sugar cane field extended on both sides. I saw cows, watering channels, electric water pumps and more green fields that I had seen during my whole stay in the massive sand box known as Egypt.

I had 24 hours to explore the highlights of Alexandria, so I wasted no time hiring a cab to the Kom al-Shuqafa Catacombs. These tombs named as 'hill of treasures' date back to 2^nd century AD and house underground library and tombs. The taxi drivers fight vigorously for clients. The first driver didn't agree on the price I offered, and when another taxi picked me up, he informed the second one how much I would pay. But this was not an issue for him, so off we went.

Qaitbey fortress used to face one of the ancient seven wonders of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but the latter collapsed in an earthquake in 1303 AD. However, the sturdy Fort still stands, posing against the brisk winds and mighty wawes of the Mediterranean. I climbed to the top of the fortress to capture a panorama view towards the city and the sea (picture). Then I sat down on the wave breaker near the sea, nibbling cotton candy and watching sea shell seller lure clients. The day before my journey a friend of mine told me how he had sat on the same spot as a kid, watching the waves pound the rocks.

What suddenly stroke me was the absence of tourists, or any kind of foregners even at the most popular places of interest. Flocks of locals; young families with children, and couples walking hand in hand milled around the fort and the promenade, but I spotted only five other foreigners. I was keenly aware of the Egyptians peeking at or directly staring at me, a white woman travelling alone. A group of young lads followed me while I captured snapshots, and made some comments about me. They were quite astonished and amused when I responded to them in Arabic. I was growing weary and annoyed to being noticed everywhere, even though the friendly and naive interest that the Egyptians show towards foreigners is common everywhere. Here they obviosly were not used to us. When I said Good aftenoon in Arabic upon entering a shop, the girl clerks gave a shy smile and giggled with each other.

I took a ride on the minivan-microbus to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The bus driver was confused because I didn't understand if I had given him too much or too little change, and he didn't charge me anything when I exited. The original library doesn't exist any more, of course, but the new one, inaugurated in 2000 and featuring 8 million books in 11 floors, could rightly be called one of the modern wonders of the world.

On the way to the hotel we passed Stanley bridge, another symbol of Alexandria. The taxi driver slowed his vehicle down so I could make some sunset snapshots. We drove along the coastline lined with sandy beach and parasols, and high-rise hotels on the other side. I felt like I was in Riviera. Finally we arrived at huge park, featuring Montaza Garden & Royal Palace. My hotel, Helnan Palestine, was inside the park, nestled in a sandy harbor. The Neo-Gothic summer palace is one of the presidential residences.

I had gotten sick during the overnight voyage because of freezing air conditioning. All I wanted was to get some rest and soothe my flu. There was a big surprise waiting for me in my hotel room... I was been given a special room from the top floor, with a fruit basket and all the trimmings. It was such a treat... The view from the balcony was gorgeous. On the left side I could see the president's palace, the Mediterranean sea stretched straight ahead, and a small islet and the lighthouse appeared on the right. There was so much beauty gathered in one place that I could only take a deep breath, watch in awe, and then bounce for joy like a child for discovering it. This became one of the top 10 the places in the world where I want to return.

Our landlord

This is Abdullah, our landlord. He always wears his traditional cotton dress called galabeya. It is very comfortable and has handy zippered pockets, where one can easily slip his Nokia phone, money and keys. He is always smiling and helpful.

One of the most important tasks of the landlord is to keep unwanted guests away. In other words, Egyptians of opposite sex. People in groups and foreigners are okay. On the bottom floor Abdullah has a small room, equipped with a mattress, and he constantly peers the people who is coming and going, even at 4 am.

He also has spare keys to our apartment. But here's the catch: If we forget the key on the inside of the lock, the door cannot be opened from the other side. This happened to me once, on my birthday, late in the evening after a long day at work. My neightbor wasn't home, so we had to wait for her to arrive, because the only way to get back inside was to climb into my balcony from hers and get inside through my balcony door. I climbed, but of course the balcony door was also locked. Then Abdullah climber over the balcony rail in his galabeya – on the height of 5th floor. He cracked into my room with his tools and then fixed the door. Voilá, I was back at home.

Landlord's other tasks involve supplying us with the household equipment that is included in the rental contract. We received the ironing board and laundry lines in due time, within a week after our arrival, but the balcony furniture never showed up, and the shower curtain was installed punctually in the middle of the bathroom – two meters from the shower itself.

However, we concretely discovered the meaning of Egyptian time concept while waiting for the bed covers. Officially, the expression goes, 'bukra, insh'allah' (Tomorrow, the Lord willing'). This roughly means the same as 'mañana' in Spain.

We started asking for warm blankets in the end of October, when the apartment started getting cold at night. Abdullah does not speak many words in English, but he made most of it. The first few times the answer was 'tomorrow'. After several inquiries, apparently aiming to calm us, he then promised to bring them 'after ten minutes'. I came back after two hours, but there were no blankets, neither the next day. (Those who have lived in exotic countries can probably relate. It was no helping the case that I was going through culture shock in other ways, too.)

We really needed to get the covers, so my flatmate and I took turns asking, but the answer was always the same; either ten minutes or one hour. However, it didn't make any difference. After few more weeks of this I called my Egyptian colleague and asked him to interpret for our landlord, that we couldn't risk becoming sick, because it was freezing cold at night, and we didn't have the promised blankets that were supposed to be there when we had arrived. Calmly Abdullah walked into the laundry shop in front of our flat and said the guy working there something in Arabic. He produced two blankets. They were clearly used, but our landlord explained that they had been washed. Actually we were supposed to have new blankets, but after all the hassle and waiting I was more than glad to have them.

Miraculously, after another month the new king-size covers and even more pillows arrived. Our boss had found out that Abdullah had actually visited the household store, but it had been out of stock for a while. Anyway, now I know what 'five Egyptian minutes' stands for.

Conquering Mt. Sinai

One of my dreams during my stay was to climb on Mt. Sinai. I had few days off in May and flew to Sharm el Sheikh to realize my desire.
Our Egyptian guide picked me up 22:15 from the hotel, and the others after me: 3 French-Egyptians, 4 Russians, and 2 Egyptians. I didn't know beforehand that it would be a 3-hour drive to the base, 1500 m from the sea level. We reached the gate of the national park 2:25 am. Each was given a bottle of water and a flashlight. And then we started climbing.
The trail was quite narrow, and we had to beware of camels, that were available, if anyone would get too tired to hike. Every 40 minutes were took a rest of 5 minutes and then we pressed on. We were not alone on the mountain: every night about 3,000 pilgrims venture towards the top, so the huts along the trail and the path was quite crowded at times.
I felt dizzy and slight headache in the beginning, but it passed after I took some painkillers. After a couple of hours of climbing I didn't feel tiredness or the altitude, just totally at balance. It was full moon, so we could see the outline of the surrounding mountains and numerous stars. The trail was dotted with hundreds of torchlights of fellow climbers coming up the rugged terrain.
The last leg before the top, 2285 metres, was the steepest and the most dangerous. We stepped into 350 stone stairs in pairs, and every now and then we had to stop to wait, because of the long queue ahead: everyone wanted to reach the top before sunrise.
Finally, after 7 kilometres and 3 hours of climbing, we were on top. It was cold (+10 C), but the scenery was breathtaking: sharp mountaintops reaching into 2000-3000 metres everywhere around us. The rising sun coloured the sky orange long before we saw the red ball of sun emerge in the east. We took our time to snap pictures and admire the barren beauty of the uplands. Then we took a steep plunge down: 700 stone blocks and 2 hours later we we back in the starting point, St. Catherine's monastery. We paid homage to the Burning Bush and the well of Moses, where he supposedly met his wife-to-be, Zipporah.
In Egypt you have a change to plunge into the depths of the sea or to the bottom of the pyramid, or to reach the heights of the highest peaks. The hike was no walk in the park, but absolutely an experience to remember for a lifetime.

Nowhere else than in Egypt...

I like Egypt. It is not only getting warm, but soon I will start missing this country, for my contract is coming to end here.
Where else does a driver casually stop the bus or taxi and walk to a convenience store to buy a pack of cigarettes, and then continue driving like it was the most natural thing to do.
Where else can you walk into your favourite restaurant and ask them to open the wine bottle for you (if you don't have the corksrew), as in Egypt they are nowhere to be found in shops.
You can also ask the landlord/security of your building to go and buy a prepaid phone card or bring some takeaway food for you.
In hospital you can get past the queue in you know some doctor there, or if you take with you a friend who does.
The landlord/security doesn't allow the Egyptians of the opposite sex come into your apartment, unless there are several, or they are rich and figure a way to pay. Likewise the Europeans are not allowed into most Egyptian's apartments.
In this country they will also do anything to sell you an item. Once I wanted buy a beautiful lilac turtleneck sweater. One knitted string loop had gotten loose in the middle of the front part, and as I mentioned this to the seller in order to get the price down, he got his scissors and cut the loop, which practically ruined the whole sweater.
If the shop owner doesn't have change, he may give you a cookie or candy instead. If you buy something expensive, you'll often get an extra gift.
This list could be continued endlessly. Nowhere else than in Egypt...

Survival tips

Living in Misr, as the Egyptians call their land, is quite a cultural experience. I love many facets, but few others take a long fuse. I've collected some items that I've learned or still in the process of installing into my everyday behaviour.

1. Smile, you are in Egypt. You cannot underestimate the importance of a warm smile in this county. It is not only a nice thing to flash to others, it means you do not harbor hostile thoughts. People smile even when they deliver the most severe complaints or are quite upset. You can say anything with a smile.

2. Keep small notes and coins with you at all times. You will need them in shops, for tipping and public toilets, because there is very little change around.

3. Develop a high tolerance against honking horns. You are honked at about 50 times a day, mostly by taxis, but also other traffic. Add also vendors and any men cooing and yelling after you and commenting your looks. Their top 3 favourites: 1. ”Ohhh... I can't belive my eyes! 2. What beautiful eyes! 3. Krasiva! (see the next point).

4. Learn Russian. It's the second (un)official language here. Most restaurants have a menu in Russian, shop and pharmacy signs have Cyrillic script, and most people speak some of it. In many hotels 70-80 % of the guests are Russian-speakers.

5. Take time to everything. It pays off (sometimes literally) to sit down, drink tea, and chat with people. There's no hurry with people. You will learn a lot from the culture, as Egyptians are eager to share ffrom their lives. I spent one hour buying bedsheets. Before this I had already chosen the exact fabric, model, and color I wanted. They were the top quality famous long-fibre Egyptian sateen cotton. But when I went to pick it up and pay for it, I politely let them show me several models and colors in detail. I turned down their offer to show me towels and other stuff. I asked the price of my sheet set for the first time. Then we drank karkade (hibiscus tea), exchanged Arabic music via bluetooth, got to know the shop clerk and his 2 friends, plus politely refused the invitation to marry him :-). Then we bargained the price and waited if the boss would give me special discount. (The clerk called the boss). Next I read out loud some words in Arabic script for their delight. They asked about my family and job, and again we bargained. The boss eventually called and gave his approval for the special price, only for me, because I was now considered a friend. I finally exited the shop after 60 minutes with a broad smile. I had not only gotten a great deal, but experienced another unique moment.

Impressions on Cairo

Constant stream of vehicles, black and white 80's Lada taxis, all honking and beeping. A maze of ramps and highways in three layers, the highest ones above rooftops. Grey concrete and clay tile buildings, skyscrapers, smog and dust hanging in the air, making even the parks and palm trees grey. The river Nile splits the city into two parts. In daylight Cairo, or Al Cahira in Arabic, is an ugly city, and there seems to be too much of everything.
Cairo with its 22 million people is the largest city in Africa, and it actually is a cluster of 10 cities. Giza, where the pyramids lay, is a different town altogether, the capital of Upper Egypt, which stretches to the southern regions like Luxor.
The Islamic Cairo hosts the Citadel on a hill, completed in 1183, and several mosques. I visited the mosque of Ibn Tulun, where the endless noise of traffic ceases. It is hundreds of years old, and brought a refreshing break after the hustle and bustle of touristy spots and kitch vendors. Spacious inner court, gas lanterns, arching hallways, and light sieving from woodcrafted windows invite the guests to quiet reflection. There is a museum inside the mosque area, with a beautiful garden and a vast collection of items. Some scenes from James Bond 007 The Spy I loved, were filmed here.
Khan el Khalili's bazaar, the largest bazaar area in the Middle East, starts from Al Hussein mosque. Yes, it's the same where the bomb had exploded 2 weeks ago, just 4 days before I explored the narrow alleys. There were policemen and security at every entrance, making sure it was safe. Many stalls were still closed 10 am, when we hit the bazaar, but I found few beautifully decorated scarves, and a carpet.
When you have seen the dusty city, the contrast couldn't be sharper when you explore the city at nighttime. Cairo Tower offers the most breathtaking views. It glistens at dark into distance and stretches 187 metres high. You can take an elevator to top and admire the vistas spreading in every direction. The skyscrapers and hotels rise up to 20 storeys high. If you are lucky, you can catch the light show on the Giza pyramids in the south. I could see the river Nile flowing peacefully below and cruise ships, decorated with hundreds of light bulbs, leisurely gliding in it. I took the opportunity to dine in the rotating restaurant on top. The food was just ok, but the service was superb.
I visited the largest shopping centre, City Stars. After having visited the pyramids, museums, and mosques, it took a while to believe I was still in Cairo. Designer labels and and international brand names offered all you could possibly imagine in six floors. I've been trying to avoid buying a lot of clothes and other stuff, because I will have logistic problems hauling everything back to Finland, so I congratulated myself as I made my exit with only one new shirt!
Cairo is cheap - another trap for shop-a-holics. So cheap that it's easy to catch the shopping virus and buy stuff you don't really need. I have to admit I got infected on the day 2. I bought two pairs of beach slippers, just because they cost only 35 pounds for both, 5 euros.

Taxi rides are cheap, too: 30-40 minute ride for 20-25 pounds, the start-up rate being 60 piasters (less than 10 cents). There is one downside, though: the drivers don't understand a whole lot of English, and therefore they don't always know where they should take you. I once too a taxi who didn't have a clue where he was going, so I got off after few turns. The best strategy is to learn the key terms in Arabic, such as 'mahattet mas' (railway station). The hotels are better recognized.
One thing that annoyed me about Cairo is the toilet caretakers in restaurants, museums and airports. They are all too helpful, pointing where you can get liquid soap, offering you toilet paper, and napkins. It is wonderful, expept that they expect tips with extended hand and begging look in places where there are posted notes on the wall: no tips, please – service is free. However, I fell in love with Cairo, and am looking forward for the next opportunity to visit there again. Wait for me, here I come!