Egypt Journal #3

JOURNAL: November 19, 2006 - Sunday - 10:50 a.m.

I slept a full 10 hours last night! It was just what I needed after not getting nearly enough rest for several days in a row. We began the day today with a lovely morning prayer service, led by Andrew Rowell. Andrew is Episcopalian, so the service he used was out of the Book of Common Prayer.

I've been trying to squeeze in reading time here and there, and I've been mostly successful. I've been behind in my devotional reading and in my reading for class, but the plane rides and bus rides have allowed me to do a lot of catching up in both those areas. Especially in regards to my reading for class, I don't want to fall too far behind while we are away. Final exams and papers will be in the horizon as soon as I get home.

We had a nerve-wracking incident last night trying to find an Internet cafe. We were "befriended" on the street by a young Egyptian man named Hakim, who promised to take us to a cafe to send some e-mails home. After leading us on a 20-minute walk with no cafe in sight, he turned down a quiet side street. I looked over at Hakim, and I noticed that he was sweating profusely, despite the fact that it was a very cool evening. Something about that set off my internal alarms, and I put the brakes on right there and stopped the group. I insisted that we turn back, despite the pleadings of Hakim. A couple of people in our group may have been frustrated with me, but I felt strongly that it was worth the risk of acting in a culturally insensitive way if our safety was at risk.

Now we have been told over and over by a lot of people that Cairo is a very safe city and that it is okay to walk alone at night; I believe that, and truth be told, Hakim was probably harmless. But we are strangers here, and I didn't want to risk it. And for what it's worth, we passed two Internet cafes on our way home that we had not noticed before (and which Hakim had passed without pointing them out).

Got to call Emily last night! We only spoke for 5 minutes or so, but it was good to hear her voice. Calling here is much more expensive than it is in other places I've been, so we'll probably communicate with both phone calls and e-mails (if I can ever get to an Internet cafe!).

We leave in a little bit for "old Cairo," which is the part of the city dating back to the Byzantine era. Some of the oldest churches in Egypt are there, including the famous "Hanging Church," which is built on top of pillars. Can't wait to see it.