19 to 21/11 : Hooligans, Santa Claus and Coptic Cairo

On 19/11 I woke up at noon, went to the Alphamarket with Quentin and had breakfast at 13h30. Then to the NVIC, to have a lecture from Ilona about Archaeology in the Sudan, and to watch a BBC documentary on the Black Pharaohs. It was interesting to learn a bit more about ancient Nubia and its inhabitants. We ate very quickly at Beano’s, and then another lecture from Kento Zenihiro about funerary cones, and how we can use them to reconstruct the social hierarchy in the New Kingdom. He was very sweet, because after the lecture, he offered us a copy of his thesis on the subject. We gave it to Ilona, so that she can use it in the Institute.
Then we went to the Belgian night in La Bodega, a bar 2 minutes from my appartment, sponsored by the Belgian Embassy in Cairo. There were mostly Wallonians there. I talked all evening with Ilona, Quentin and Kaz on various subjects, and we met with a friend of Ilona, an Egyptian lady married to a Belgian man from Hasselt!
When we came out of the bar to go back home, there was a lot of turmoil in the streets : all the roads were blocked with tooting cars, screaming people and men all running towards the same direction : the west of Zamalek. It was a bit scary to see them run and shout like that. We asked an Egyptian what was going on, and he explained that there were fights at the Algerian Embassy, because of the aggressive football match from yesterday. I don’t really get it, because the Algerians won! So why would they make a fuss? The last thing I wanted was to get stuck in the middle of a hooligan fight in Cairo, so Quentin and I walked quickly home, where I tried to get some sleep, despite the incredible noise coming from the streets all night.

20/11 : More chaos in the streets today. The roads on Zamalek were all entirely blocked, and apparently there were riots at the Algerian Embassy all day. Luckily I didn’t need to get far away, so I didn’t notice a lot.
In the morning I went to work in NVIC, and I met some students from Leuven, doing their Cairosemester in Arab studies. We exchanged phone numbers. Then Amy, Quentin, Sandra, Kaz and I went to the Christmass bazaar in my street. Almost right in front of our appartment there is the All Saint’s Cathedral, where the Christian community of Zamalek gathers. They had a Christmass bazaar for charity. There were some nice kitschy things for sale, and also scarfs and bags with strange combinations, like Santa Claus feeding a camel. We talked briefly with Mike, the priest. He’s British, but he ended up being a priest in Cairo and doing charity at the cathedral. He was such a nice man. He said to me : “Ah, Belgian? Congratulations for Van Rompuy!” He also invited us for the Bible study on Sunday, but I don’t think I’ll go there :p
Then we went back to my appartment and Koos came as well, and we talked a bit, and Kaz and I popped bubble plastic, and then everyone went home, Quentin and I cooked and ate, and I worked on my kashkoul and watched Blackadder all evening.

21/11 : We visited Helwan this morning. There is a necropolis from pre- and early dynastic period. Two women, Christiana and Jane, gave us a tour around their excavations. We got to touch some ancient pottery, and we came to the conclusion that women are much more suited to work with pottery than men, because they have better eyes.
Then we went to visit the Coptic museum, which had some beautiful art and scary portraits of people with large eyes. Then Ilona went home again, and we, the students, visited some shops and the Coptic area of Cairo. It had small streets, very windy, and a beautiful but scary Christian cemetery, packed with angel statues smiling down upon us. It was a vampire-like place, and if it would have been night, I would have freaked out.
Then we took the metro back to Zamalek (the metro in Cairo is, surprisingly, very clean!), and we ate in McDonalds (I know, like real tourists).
Then I went to Amy’s appartment to chat with everybody. Quentin went home and I stayed to watch some television. Because it was already late and the streets were still in a bit of a riot because of the football hooligans, I stayed at their appartment. I watched television with Kaz until we just nearly fell asleep. The poor guy had to sleep on the couch, so that I could use his bed. Moehaha.

Now I’m one day further, and this morning, guess what I did? Yes, I watched some more television with Kaz. I’m starting to get addicted to the Arab soaps, because one of them has got really funny English subtitles! Some quotes from a Romantic conversation between a sjeikh and a woman :

S : I’ve written a poem for you! (Reads the poem)... You gave me a complete mutton barbecue!
W : I feel like in a family environment.

Now,... I don’t know whether the English subtitles of this conversation were all wrong, or whether the Egyptians have a very VERY strange way of being romantic.

Tomorrow I’ll go on a 3-day excursion to the Fayum oasis, where I have to give a presentation in the site Dionysias, so today I’ve finished my presentation in the library. I’ll write again once I’m back!