Egypt Tromps Algeria in African Cup Football, and the Party Comes to Us

In the wake of violent riots following their previous meeting, Egypt's football team headed to Angola yesterday for a rematch against bitter rival Algeria in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals. Security messages were issued by the embassy warning all to stay away from downtown areas where spectators had gathered to watch the match in an effort to avoid potential violence following the expected 12:00 midnight finish.

As it turns out a trip downtown would have been a waste of cab fare, the Egyptian football fans brought the celebration to us, literally. At 12:50 am we awoke to the sounds of a raging party outside our bedroom window. Horns blared, drums were beating and voices sang. As I drew back the curtain and blinked away the haze of sleep I expected to see a house party at our neighbor's home. Instead I saw the Egyptian version of the Rose Bowl Parade making it's way down our little street. People were piled on top of trucks waving the Egyptian flag and singing at the top of their lungs. Traffic was crawling as processions merged from all directions.

I crawled back in bed and muttered, "Egypt won."

A few moments later police sirens could be heard in the distance. "I wonder if they are breaking up the celebration or participating in it?"

On to the finals!

Skiing in Switzerland

For better or worse, we have returned from a 10 day trip to Switzerland.

After a 3.5 hour flight and a 3 hour train ride, we arrived in Fiesch, Switzerland to meet up with the Telemark Ski Company for a week of skiing lessons. After a quick night in Fiesch, we woke up to 4 inches of fresh powder. We hustled onto the gondola, tossed our bags into the hotel we'd call home for the rest of the week in Fiescheralp then hit the slopes. Little did we know, it would be the only fresh powder we'd see all week.




Despite the lack of fresh powder throughout the week, our instructors did a great job of teaching as well as finding untouched powder stashes throughout the mountain.  After classes ended on Thursday, we had another day and a half of skiing with students from the class, then Meg and I continued on our own for two more days.

A Feluccaing We Went

This week marks the third 3-day weekend in a row as Coptic Christmas is celebrated. As a kick-off to the long weekend, and a celebration of a friend's birthday, a group of us met up at the docks along the Nile in downtown Cairo for a relaxing felucca ride.

A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat that was once used as the main mode of transportation along the Nile and other bodies of water in the region. Today they are popular among tourists and are still used for transportation between cities in Upper Egypt.

We filed down the dock and across a gang plank onto a boat. Walking along the narrow side and around the stern we hopped across onto a second boat that would be our ride for the evening. As we stepped down into the boat and each took a seat on the U-shaped bench I was reminded of squeezing into a limousine on prom night when you would cram as many people in as possible.

As we shoved off the dock the sail was raised and the food was spread out on the table. We snacked on hummus and pita, tabbouleh and falafel, shawarma and birthday cake. Wine was uncorked and we sat back in the breeze to unwind. The evening was cool and most were wearing a light jacket. After some discussion we agreed that "felucca" could be used as both a noun and a verb as in "to felucca" after all, you can sail, canoe and kayak right?

My first impression was the noticeable quiet of the river. The sun had long since dipped below the horizon and the city was pulsing with light and traffic. Tail lights lit up the bridge spanning the Nile like an airport runway and yet...the predominant sounds were waves lapping the hull of our boat and conversations among friends. When I stopped to listen I could make out the distant sounds of traffic and city noise but, in a city of 18 million people, the fact that I had to try to hear it was remarkable.

We had asked for a 2 hour ride and we began to realize that we were tracing one large circle on this portion of the river as we could not pass under the bridge, possibly due to the height of the mast or some other restriction I didn't find out for sure. Regardless of the repeated views the evening was relaxing and lovely and the conversation was fantastic. But, as mom always said, be sure to go to the bathroom before you leave the house (dock).

On another note, our taxi was involved in a small accident on the ride home as one too many cars thought they could squeeze into the traffic circle at the same time. One buckled door later we all slid out onto the sidewalk and paid our cabbie as he argued with the other driver. Fortunately we were a short walk from home.