Bonjour et Marhaban from Meknes!!

My last few days in Egypt were both amazing and the hardest days I have had in the last three weeks since I left the USA. We visited so many sites: the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum (where I saw mummies for the first time…still a bit traumatized by the image!), the Nile, Ismaili and the site of the Egyptian War of 1973 against Israel for the Sinai territory, and the Suez Canal. The fact that I was able to sail on the Nile, touch the ancient pyramids, have sand from the Sinai pass through my fingers were so much blood was shed, and cross the Suez Canal onto another continent (as the Egyptians say) were some of the best moments I have spent thus far.

I was sooooo excited to see these!!! 

I had to take a silly picture...I know cheesy, but I was definitely representing the Aggies
"Gig 'em Ags!!"

Second to driving in Egypt,  I think another equally as memorable moment
was getting to "drive" a camel. Here we were only getting situated. Yes, he was slightly unhappy
but then we got along just fine. Yes, his breath was stinky. Yes, his mouth was scary.

Here, Carly was about to start freaking out because this is when I took the reigns to the
camel!!

Family picture!! Tarek is included because he was taking the pictures!!

Thinking of you Nandy!!!

My family and I in front of the Egyptian Museum of History! This is where
I saw the mummies and ancient artifacts from the time of the Pharaohs!!

We also visited the Palace/Mosque of Salah-al-Din. The inside of the
mosque was breath taking! Sadly, my pictures didn't turn out so well. 

Tarek took us sailing on the Nile!!

Nandy-I did this for you. A pure "Nandy shot!"

This is right before we crossed the Suez Canal

When we reached the other side, all we saw was pure desert. It was
a really neat experience. 

When we visited the cite where the Egyptians won
back their territory the Israelis, we got to see some of the authentic weapons used during the war.

I can't explain the chills I got from this site. We were literally standing
and touching sand where Egyptian blood was shed over the last territory. 

Inside the underground fort of the Israelis. After capturing the place ,the Egyptians
left everything the way they found it in order to preserve the memory of the monumental
event. 

Afterwards, our guide took us to see the monument
that the Egyptians erected in memory of those who died in the 1973 war.

The panoramic mural inside the memorial was breath taking. It was painting
by a Korean artist, and each scene had a historical significance. 

The 7 leaders who planned the victory. Sadaat and Mubarak are featured
here as well as several important military generals who orchestrated the attack.

However, those last few days in Egypt were also the most difficult days I have spent. I experienced the worst culture shock I had ever experienced in my life. I was harassed verbally several times in our hotel by a Libyan soccer team. For some reason, this harassment really got to me. I think, mainly, it was  because I realized that my rights as a woman, a free woman with the right to fight back, to be strong and independent and feel safe, were being violated. As a disclaimer, I will say that Egyptian and Moroccan women are much more liberated than the Western believes they are, but as a “westernized” woman, I definitely feel like my rights have been violated and I feel so helpless sometimes. I can’t go out at night. it’s better to avoid making eye contact with people of the opposite sex to avoid sending the wrong message. It’s ill advised to walk to school alone. There are certain parts of the city where I could be picked up as a prostitute and beaten (if I dress immodestly and am out late at night…which never happens).  I wear a wedding band to wear off unwanted attention, etc., etc. Being here has made me appreciate my public life and public liberties back home....


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Let's fast forward 6 days from when I made this post (orginally, the first part of this post was mad 5/26/2012 and I am now continuing on 5/31/2012).  I need to share something that happened to me yesterday that I think goes along with the last paragraph of what I was saying last time. Yesterday ended up being one of the worst days I have had in a long time. I can't complain because at least I don't live in a war zone and I don't fear for my life, but in the context of my life, yesterday went from bad to worse. It all started with the following event:

 So, I'm sure by now many of you that the relationships between men and women are very different here, right? They aren't as conservative is I thought, but still, different. Knowing this, you would also be aware that here,cafes are basically a viewing spot for men to look at women. They all sit outside and watch women go by, make cat calls, smile, point, laugh...it's been explained to me  that this is the equivalent of men picking women up at a bar. Since there is no such as thing as a meeting place for men and women here, all flirty and romantic interactions happens on the street. Strange, but true. Anyway, matter where I go, I get cat called and looked at. No, I don't just get looked at, I get stared at and undressed with a simple look. Girls, you know how awkward it is back home when a creepy guy does this to you every once in a while? Well here, it happens every 30 seconds in various degrees of severity.

 I usually walk in a group or a guy walks with us when we are out and about town, which helps detract some of the unwanted attention. Anyway, today on the way home, I was with only girls. We had just got out of school and were making our way home after getting off the bus. Usually, the cafes we pass by are tiny, but today we passed by this HUGE and I MEAN HUGE cafe with an audience of about 50-100 men all sitting outside and watching. To get a better image, just imagine an audience of men sitting and drinking (here it's coffee and tea) something and watching a show at a cabaret...got the image? (Ok, now that you are as uncomfortable as I was, let's keep going with the story.) We strolled by and I couldn't help but laugh. I was so disgusted...we were pretty much a parade of animals and models in front of these love/lust craved (some could say innocent but in my anger I saw disgusting) men. If that wasn't bad enough, I had to split from my girlfriends to get home. They all live together and I live a few blocks away. For a good 15 minutes, I was walking alone for the first time since I arrived in Morocco. I got lost, so it made it a bit scary, but I was ok. At one point in time, the cat calls, whistles, "I love you's," "hey's" and "pshpshpshpshpshpshpshpshpsh's" got really bad; every other man was saying something. Then, I was followed. Some asshole (excuse my language) took it upon  himself to follow me for a few blocks. I kept walking as fast as I could, and I thought about stopping at a near by hotel to get help, but there were only men in the door which made me more uncomfortable than I already was, so I just kept going. (As an aside, as part of our training, our directors told us that this would happen. They said that if we were ever followed or felt uncomfortable, we should either stop inside a shop and ask for help, or scream and draw attention to the situation to make the guy feel bad and leave. That is why I mention the hotel.) The guy followed me for a good 5 minutes, speaking to me in English saying, "Hey...wait...one minute...can we talk? Please, just let me talk to you. You are so pretty...I have questions for you...please just stop" I kept walking until I got blocked by traffic. Unfortunately, this stop gave him the chance to catch up to me. He tried to talk to me and I just ignored him, since that's what we were told to do.I was so focused on getting away and feeling safe again that I wasn't thinking straight. I guess I was just so uncomfortable and I couldn't stop anywhere, so my first instinct was to cross the street and try to get away. I ran out in front on traffic and barely missed getting hit. I'm ok. I think the adrenaline and fear helped me play frogger in the middle of the street, and luckily, the drivers are used to crazies like me jumping out in front of the so I didn't get hurt.  I lost him in the traffic and the rest of the way home was ok.

 Im fine and nothing happened. I just feel violated and weird, but I guess it makes me stronger. I had friends that warned me about how bad the harassment was, but I I told myself I was strong and I could make it through all of this. Words and personal stories don't prepare you for what you experience here. I think I'm just getting over the shock still. Things like this don't really happen to the me in the USA. This is all new to me and I have to get used to it, but it's just tough. I miss walking down the street and being slightly invisible to men and feeling a tad safer. I know that I am always in danger, but I guess being able to exert my  rights as a "woman" in the United States (whatever that means...I think I have lost all sense of rights) make me feel like I am safer, even though I might not be. Anyway, I guess it's part of the experience, I just had to share.

I'm going to end this post here, and hopefully after this I can start adding my other stories and adventures. I just really needed to share this. Thanks for listening, and have a good day.