Mushkela 122!

8/2/2009

Day four in Egypt continued our marathon trip.  The train did not arrive quite as early to the Cairo station as it had to the Luxor station, but it was still only 6:30am or so when we were out on the platform and trying to figure out our next step.  Our goal for the day was the Egyptian museum in Cairo, and the bazaar.  We decided to go for the museum first, as we had heard it wasn’t air conditioned, and we wanted to try to beat the crowds.  One of the guys went to the tourist information to ask what time it opened, and we were told it opened at 7.  Thinking this was perfect, we headed outside and crammed all five of us into another cab to get us to the museum.  We were dropped off near the door, and had to go through a metal detector to get to the main gate.  Upon arriving at the main gate, we were disheartened to see that the museum did not, in fact, open at 7 am, but that it opened at 9am.  We were left with just under two hours to kill, and no idea of what to do with ourselves.  Luckily, we were right near a big hotel (The Nile Hotel or Palace or something like that) and so we went in looking for some food and a place to stay for a while.  It worked out perfectly.  At 8:45, we walked back to the museum.  Turns out our plan to go early still didn’t help us to beat the crowd!  We went through security, purchased our student tickets – it takes a lot of convincing to get them to take our Semester at Sea ID’s as student cards, but we always manage – and headed inside.  After what felt like going through airport security, we were inside the museum.  The museum was massive!  So many artifacts and statues and sarcophaguses and more!  It was slightly overwhelming.  It was very interesting to have seen all of the temples and tombs where the artifacts were from the day before in Luxor, and then to be seeing all of the statues.  I have decided archeologists have to be very good at puzzles… some of the statues or pots were clearly found shattered into tiny pieces, but have been put back together to look like the original again, not an easy feat with such small pieces that are so similar.  I think it would be like the popcorn puzzles, where all of the pieces look the same, but the shape dictates where they go.
In the museum, we decided to get the extra ticket to go into the two mummy rooms.  We had heard it was well worth it, and also that the mummy rooms were air conditioned, always a plus!  Each room had about 12 or so mummies in it, some of them from the tombs we visited in Luxor.  Some of the mummies were still completely wrapped, but a large majority had their heads, toes, and hands visible.  They were so well preserved.  Fingernails and toenails, hair, teeth still pearly white, even eyelashes on some of them.  It was amazing to see, but at the same time you have to think that this is not what they intended for themselves when they were mummified.  After the mummy rooms, lots of artifacts, and seeing King Tut’s mask, we decided it was time to continue with our day, and we exited the museum and made our way to the bazaar.  It was nothing compared to the Grand Bazaar in Turkey, and most things were much cheaper.  We spent some time looking around and made a few little purchases, but all of us were so tired, and desperately in need of a real shower, so none of us were really in the mood for bargaining or haggling over prices, and we decided to head to the train station.  At the station, we knew where we were supposed to get tickets, but were having trouble getting to the front of any of the lines, and didn’t really understand what was going on.  After a while of waiting and scoping out different lines, an Egyptian girl said to Audrey and I, “get in this line”, apparently we had been waiting in the men’s line, which explains our utter lack of progress.  She introduced herself as Hadil, and asked where we were trying to go.  We told her, and she offered to buy our tickets for us.  She was so friendly and helpful.  Hadil was also taking the train to Alexandria, because that is where she lived, she had been in Cairo applying for the American University of Cairo.  On the train, we got to talk to her and learn about her thoughts on Egypt and America.  She also told us places where it was safe for girls to go at night in Alexandria, so we would be able to go back out after a shower and a little down time.  She gave us her phone number, and told us to call her and she would see if she could come out with us. 
Upon getting off the train, Hadil even got us a taxi to the port, and negotiated the price with the driver so we wouldn’t get ripped off.  Then we said goodbye with hopes of seeing her later.  We made it to the port in one piece, and were all very proud of ourselves for our successful adventure.  We were also ecstatic to see the ship, it is a very welcoming sight after a few days away.  We showed up in time for dinner, and then spent some time just relaxing and unpacking.  Then, Sarah, Audrey and I decided to go back out to try to find Hadil.  We ended up not meeting up with Hadil, but we found a nice little café along the water with outdoor seating, and stopped there.  As we were enjoying the people watching, a family walked by and smiled and waved.  A while later, they walked by again in the other direction, and after they had passed, one of the little girls turned to look back.  I smiled and waved, and her face lit up with joy.  We decided to call it a night pretty early, and started walking back toward the ship.  A few blocks down from where we had been, the family we had seen was sitting at a similar outside café.  They recognized us, and invited us to sit down.  We obliged, as it is not everyday you get a chance to sit and enjoy the evening with a nice Egyptian family.  The father, Hassan, and the oldest daughter spoke English fairly well, and the mother understood almost everything we said, she just wasn’t as able to communicate it back in English.  It was so pleasant sitting and talking and smiling and laughing with them, and they seemed so genuinely pleased that we sat with them.  They got us each a tea and we sat and talked for hours.  They taught us some Arabic through pointing and saying words, or teaching the Arabic words to us for the words they new in English.  We learned how to count to five, and say a few basic phrases.  The youngest daughter was absolutely thrilled when she could help to teach us something.  We took pictures, and as we were learning that the number for 911 was 122, the Hassan’s wife turned behind her and started cracking up laughing.  She managed to get out “muschkela 122” (that is how the word sounded, I'm not sure how it is acutually spelled) the equivalent of which is “problem 911” in English between her laughter, and we peered around her to see what was so funny.  There was a little boy with his pants around his ankles peeing on the building with his eyes closed!  He looked like he was falling asleep, and he was there forever!  We all started laughing too, and the little boy was completely un-phased by the whole ordeal.  We were amazed when we looked at our watches to see it was 2am, so much for our early night.  We decided to bid them goodnight, and thanked them profusely for their kindness.  We made it back to the ship, and then it was time for bed, we were all exhausted.