Pictures Upper Egypt

Pictures Cairo

Last month, last week

Hei there,
the last days not too much happened. Since Ramadan is over we are going out again and enjoy the nightlife in Cairo. I am getting close to the end of my time here in Egypt, only a good week is left. It is time to do the last things that are still left on my list and prepare reentering Cologne. Definitly will write a resumée about my time here in the near future and reflect the good and the bad. For today I only want to present you a couple of pictures from last week. My dad visited me and together we went to Upper Egypt (Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simpel), we did sightseeing in Cairo and a one day trip to Alexandria.
Since I have been to Luxor before I had the chance to look at things closer this time, all the momuments became even more fascinating. I really liked Aswan, it is a really great place to relax and enjoy the sun. Since it is close to Sudan you feel the african influence. Abu Simpel is nice, but definetly to crowded with stupid tourists.
That's it so far...

Society and religion

The egyptian society is divides into three unequal parts. The by far larger part is the underclass of poor people, which is about 85-95 percent of the total population. The upperclass with about 5 percent lives a western life protected from the outside. As a problem of developing country the middleclass is far to small. Estimations speak of about 45 percent of the population that can not read and write. As a result of a process of concentration more and more people are searching for their luck in the cities (mainly Cairo), which grow fast. Because not everybody can effort a legal house, illegal settlements emerge in the outer parts of the city. Just a month ago a terrible rockslide with several deaths and hundreds of homeless happened in such a illegal settlement. On the other hand side the upperclass draws back into closed private settlements, with western standards and life.
During my time here in Cairo I sort of jump between the both sides of this country. Most of my friends belong to the middleclass and during my internship I meet some Egyptians which are definetely upperclasse. On the other side when I go to work by bus or when I travel within Egypt I see the lowerclass and their life. These people are trapped in their layer of society and their is nearly no way out of it. I feel anger and sadness when I see children searching for plastic bottles in rubbish heaps or mothers which their newborn begging for money. I try to tread these people with repect.
One more thing concerning this topic for everybody who is planning to visit egypt in the near future: everybody in Egypt dealing with tourist in any way or who earns his livelihood in a touristic place is not poor! These people are making a lot of money dealing with foreigners and it is a good advise to inform yourself about adequate prices and giving the safed money to those who really need it.

About religion: 90 percent of the inhabitants of Egypt are Muslims, about 10 percent are Christians and refering to wikipedia.de there are about 100 Jews living in Egypt. I will not write much about religion in this blog, because english wording is not good enough to discuss about this topic properly. I just want to say a short statement:
I talked to a lot of egyptian friends about religion and belief. About the differences and the similarities, about the good and the bad. I learned a lot and I found friends during these talks. My conclusions are, that the three main religions are only varied interpretations of belief. If you like somebody depends on the person and not on the religion. You can only judge something, when you know it.
Inschah'Allah (meaning: gods will)

Egyptian Food

I wanted to tell you something about egyptian food and egyptian eating culture. First of all there are some dishes I like a lot like Koshary which is a mixture of nuddels, lenses and onions. You can get it for a low price nearly everywhere and it fill your stomage easly.
I like fuul which is kind of a squish of fuul beans. It is delicious but it is very heavy for your stomage. And I really like the fresh vegetables you can get everywhere here, especially the tomatoes and the cucumbers which make a great oriental salat in combination which some parsley.
Unfortunately a lot of the Egyptians I know eat very unhealthy and like fast food in different varieties a lot. A lot of the food you find in the street kitchens is either fried or very very oily. I guess it is because of the heat. Most of the dishes contain a lot of meat and some rice, may be vegatables.
Meat used to be a sign of wealth. But nowadays everybody just eats it because they got used to it.
The egyptians sweets and deserts are also quite heavy compared to european sweets. Sadly most of the time when I travel in Egypt and I make a quick stop at a gas station to buy something to eat, I only find chocolate bars and chips...
One more thing: Egyptians are crazy about soft drinks, especially Pepsi and Sven Up- they drink it a lot.. a lot...
Hopefully I will have the chance to eat some homemade, traditional, egyptian food in the near future, to prove me wrong that everything here is unhealthy. But so far I am quite shocked.

Marsa Alam

During the last 6 days we have had a short holiday, because of the end of Ramadan. I have been to Marsa Alam in the south of Egypt, diving and chilling. Enjoy