Key Stage 1 Sports Day

Societe de Geographie d’Egypte

A wonderful ethnology museum and home of the Geographical Society is hidden in the parliament grounds just off Qasr al-Aini Street. Being a born again geographer, Shona had read about the Geographical Society and wanted to check it out with the intention of perhaps taking a school group  on an educational visit. Lesley Lababidi says, “if you have been to this museum, then you know you are not a tourist!’

I don’t really know what we are. This was just a magical find. We never seem to meet other families, foreign or local, exploring these treasures. We handed over our passports at an uninviting gate to the Egyptian Parliament grounds and entered an old building labelled with the French above. Not many tourists get here. We are alone once again. No tickets - but a helpful escort to switch on the lights in the various rooms which make up the Ethnology Museum. Slipped him some LE after the first few rooms so we were left to explore on our own.   

A quirky collection of things belonging to certain eras and cultures. Old keys, a birthing chair, an elephant’s foot, shadow puppets, drums, weapons, costumes and carved dessert spoons. The boys once again desperate to show us things  that they have discovered in each of the rooms. The Suez Canal room captured the magnitude of the engineering feat and the opulence surrounding the opening. Great dioramas,  unfortunately not at a six year old’s height.

It just got better. We climbed a most magnificent staircase up to the lecture hall of the Geographical Society. We did not expect such an amazing room. Built in the 1920s the lecture hall was breathtaking. An ornate ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows produced a wonderful atmosphere. Rooms led off from the hall through enormous doors, some rooms with open fireplaces, all lined with bookshelves. Students were seated at large reading desks researching through the books on display. Magical place that is stuck in that all now familiar time-warp.

Following Greatness

 

Great photographs of Obama’s visit to Cairo yesterday from the Guardian.

House Hunting

Behind the Mosque of al-Azhar is a labyrinth of streets and alleyways. We walked some of this last year on the way to Bab Zuwayla and found the Tarboosh makers. Yesterday we were house hunting yet again. The boys were not enamored by the proposed itinerary (wonderful mashrabiya windows and geometric wall decorations and stunning murals and frescos) but were coaxed along by the prospect of getting a reward from the Khan afterwards. 

We walked to the Barber’s Gate. Long ago students of the university would have their heads shaved here before entering. Beyond the gate we found the entrance to the Wikalat al-Ghuri. Lesley Lababidi writes;

“This is one of the few remaining wikalas (at one time there were more than two hundred such structures in this area) and by far the most excellent example of these commercial establishments remaining. Built around an enclosed square or rectangle, a wikalat (or khan) would have allowed stabling for the camels and donkeys of the caravans in the courtyard or ground floor and storage of merchandise and perhaps small showrooms on the first floor. Slowly, as you look around, you can begin to imagine the merchants haggling, grooms scurrying to and fro, camels laden with packages coming in that same doorway, donkeys, boys, dust, laughter, arguments, heat … life in the time of the sultan.”

Originally the Khan al-Khalili was a collection of small and large khans or wikalas. Outside of Cairo a khan was often referred to as a caravanserai. Today it is all set up for concerts and whirling dervishes. I think they need to get rid of the chairs crowding the rectangular courtyard when there is not a performance.

Back outside we squeezed along the side of al-Azhar mosque looking for Bayt Zaynab Khatun. We came across a bookbinders shop. Some very unusually bound notepads and stationery displayed in Abd El-Zaher. When the French occupied Cairo Napoleon and most of his officers billeted themselves in the best houses around Azbakiya, but a few of the accompanying scientists and artists found accommodation around al-Azhar. Perhaps the house (bayt) of Zeinab Khatun was home to a Frenchman. The house has been restored by the French government which might suggest a connection. The house is certainly not on the tourist trail as we left a trail of footprints in the dust covering every surface of the structure. Very impressive mashrabiya.

 

Outside the house is a paved square and an old house being used as a gift shop – Al Khatoun. This is an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful and unusual items. We bought a coat rack for our new flat and Lucas got a mechanical wooden toy, both beautifully painted. We popped our head in at Bayt al-Sitt Wassila but it was still being restored. The murals and frescos would have to wait.

We will be moving to a two bedroomed flat when we return in August. We can see the windows being painted.

Postcards

I can’t remember the last time I wrote and actually sent a postcard. We have bought a lot during our travels but they never get used as intended.

On Thursday we visited the Egyptian Museum. The boys were keen to go back and see the mummified crocodiles. Lucas remembered that while preparing the crocodile for the mummified animal room they had discovered a baby crocodile in the jaws of the larger one. The museum was mobbed with busloads of tourists and school parties. Somehow the museum just seems to be able to swallow them up. The original Egyptian Museum, located in Bulaq, was founded in 1863 by Auguste Mariette. The new museum at Midan al-Tahir is huge. In the future, it was scheduled to open in 2009, the Grand Museum of Egypt is due to open on a site between the Giza Pyramids and 6th October City. This one will be massive. Tutankhamen will be moving. The old museum will continue to be used to house art works but perhaps the buses will no longer visit.

We made a point of visiting the Amara Room which contained bits from the city of Tell al-Amarna in Middle Egypt. The city was built by the pharoah Akhenaten. Akehenaten was Tutankhamen’s dad. Big story behind Akehenaten but basically he pissed everyone off. Tutankhamen re-established the capital at Luxor while picking up the pieces - including his old man’s remains and buried them in the valley of the kings ( No. 55) inside a woman’s sarcophagus. You couldn’t make it up. We did pop upstairs to check on the young Tut’s mask and treasure.

In the shop on the way out I got to thinking about postcards. Why does a museum shop never have a card with a picture of the exhibit you were most interested in? While in the Greco-Roman rooms we came across an amazing statue. It was of a mother, her young son and a goose. They had all been decapitated. However, the body language was wonderful and it looked as if the boy was pleading for the bird’s life. I couldn’t find a postcard showing the sculpture. While in the shop I overheard two young lads as they browsed through the postcards. ” There you go,” said one as they looked at a black and white row of shrunken heads, ” we might not have paid to go inside the Royal Mummies room but now you can say you’ve seen them!”

Bulaq has been an area I have wanted to explore since getting an email from dad. Attached was a letter from his brother in Canada. Miller writes that my grandfather was in Cairo during the Great War. He stayed in the Bulac Palace Convalescent Hospital. My grandfather climbed to the top of the great pyramid while on an afternoon’s leave. I wonder if he managed a visit to the museum? Were we walking on floors walked on by my grandfather’s army boots? I wonder if he wrote any postcards? The old postcard above and the photograph of an army camp at Mena House I found while looking for information on the internet. They  belong to Matthew King, who seems to be much more knowledgeable about his grandfather’s exploits during World War 1.  I hope he doesn’t mind me using them. I still can’t quite believe I didn’t know all this before.

Staying cool in al-Qahira

It has turned hot. A few weekends ago we were down in al-Qahira to check out an old house situated between the al-Husayn Mosque and Bab al-Futuh. This meant a visit to the Khan during a Friday afternoon and we got to see the enormous mechanical shades outside the al-Husayn Mosque in operation. Many mosques can’t accommodate all those wishing to attend Friday prayers and worshippers spill out on to the streets surrounding the building to listen to the sermon on loud speakers while sitting on matting. To provide welcome respite to those wishing to attend al-Husayn Mosque three beautiful shades are opened outside the mosque. Somehow they just compliment the centuries old structure. I think they are beautiful. Coming out of the Khan on our way back to the car they had been folded away.

As a family we visited Bayt al-Sihaymi last year. I now wanted to take my Year 1 classes to see the house as part of their current unit of inquiry. We went on Sunday and were all pleasantly surprised at how quiet al-Qahira was at 10 o’clock in the morning. We got dropped off at Bab al-Futuh and walked by the al-Hakim Mosque down deserted streets. The house is magnificent. Some parts date back to the 1700s. It has been beautifully (and authentically) restored. The children let out a few ‘wows’ while walking around, especially when they saw the bathroom ceiling, the toilet, the stained glass and the coffee grinder! The mashrabiya (wooden windows) allowed a cooling breeze to filter through the house. We ventured in to one of the rooms and I asked the children to close their eyes and tell me what they could hear. Almost in unison they said, birdsong. High 30s outside and we were cool. The builders must have been geniuses.

Board and avoiding the Bar

What a great game. I think I have learnt the fundamentals of backgammon thanks to a great man called Otto. We went out to a restaurant in Heliopolis last Friday and I had a whirlwind lesson. All around us at tables outside locals played the game at speed, sipping sweet lemon juice or tea and sucking continuously on their sheesha pipes. My poor head was fuddled  so quickly I had to relent from drinking copious amounts of beer. However, I am now hooked on the game. I’ve had this beautiful board that Shona bought for me since Christmas but I’ve only just got round to using it. Just the whole process of throwing the dice, the sound that they make as they hit the board  and the click of the checkers. Even when defeat seems certain the tide can change and the underdog may win. They say it is a life’s work to learn the secrets of the strategy of backgammon. I would just like to play at speed and with a beer on the side. Thanks Otto. The Blog might be taking a back seat for a while.

Post Nasser’s Car

Although extremely fond of our 1981 Mercedes, I would have no hesitation trading it in for this 1957 American Classic Cadillac. It hangs from the ceiling in Cairo’s Hard Rock Cafe but the car was not owned by the likes of Elvis or Rod Stewart. A former owner was none other than President Nasser. If Nasser’s ghost sometimes returns to sit at the wheel, behind the car’s blacked-out windows, his view of modern day Cairo might not be what he had in mind when he tried to construct a socialist-orientated  Egypt.

Being on holiday, and a weekday, we ventured downtown today to try, once more, to visit the Post Office Museum. The Museum is housed in the Central Post Office off Midan al-Ataba. To buy a ticket we had to enter the main post office and pay for them at the commemorative stamp counter. We then had to exit the main post office and enter the museum through another door marked, ‘L’Organisme Nationale des Postes.’ On the second floor, having climbed a wonderful stairway, is the museum. Lesley Lababidi gushes about this museum so we were all just a little bit disappointed with the experience. Initially it looks as if it will be another hidden treasure, like the Railway Museum, but it did not have the same charm and high interest exhibits. Some things did get our attention: the stuffed pigeon and a map detailing how they were used to communicate between cities and countries during the Mamluk period. We had just seen evidence of this last week in Taba. There were also some lovely models and an amazing collage picture made up entirely from various post-marked stamps. You can just make out what the stamps represent.

While heading for lunch we came across one of the wonderful belle epoque department stores in the vicinity of Midan Ataba. We went looking for this last year but ended up somewhere else buying an antique champagne glass. Sednaoui is still operating as a single grand store, although sadly a shadow of it’s former self. We went inside to see a magnificent building, all glass chandeliers, brass lifts, a spectacular glass ceiling and dust. This must have been the equivalent of Jenners but it now looks very Soviet Russia. The boys bought a very cheap rug from a large selection of seconds piled on the ground. This could only be Cairo. The streets were busy and vibrant today in the heat and it felt good to be back. We made our way out of town on the metro.

This is the coloured glass ceiling up close.

From his Cadillac Nasser would surely still recognise a lot of this incredible city and feel it’s heart beating. Cairo is not living in the past, it is not a themed venue, nor is it a museum. The American University in Cairo’s Practical Guide’s preface has a wonderful paragraph, Cairo’s magic contradictions – its minarets and Malboro signs, its vastnessand surprising intimicy, the dust of its past and the cacophony of its present – can be best savoured step-by-step. Certainly more enjoyable than trying to drive through it.

Wilderness of the Wanderings

We have just returned from a long road-trip across the Sinai. We drove 720 km across the desert after going through the tunnel at Suez and parked up (7 hours later) at Taba for a week. The car was magnificent, handling sand and steep mountain roads with aplomb, but our electric windows packed in when we arrived at Taba and on the return journey we had to use the old Mercedes’ ac to try and stay cool. This made the engine overheat and we watched anxiously as the temperature gauge climbed. Just before the Suez check point coming home we had to put coolant in the radiator. However, the catch for the bonnet had snapped off the day previously so I spent a good while trying to open the bonnet with some wire, whilst some rather unhelpful check-point guards ordered me to move the car and loads of  flies bit me in the fierce heat.

The drive was an experience through a baking wilderness of jagged rocks, drifting sand and awesome desolation. For large stretches of the drive we seemed to be the only vehicle on the road.  Then lorries would appear before us in clouds of dust and sand, their chassis bent from years of hauling far too heavy loads, seemingly veering on to our side of the road. Road works seemed to start and stop whimsically and drivers often had to guess the route. Not a cone in sight. At one point we almost hit a donkey. Brilliant. Who needs a four-wheel drive? Shona and the boys might say otherwise.

Taba, dubbed  ‘The Red Sea Riveria’,  was tame in comparison but it was interesting to be able to see the lights of  four countries from our hotel: Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Our week consisted of swimming, skateboarding, sunbathing and snorkeling. The water was teeming with fish, octopus and coral. The hotel teeming with British, French and German visitors.

On the second last day we ventured out and drove to Gezirat Faraoun (Pharaoh’s Island). We had read about the Crusader Fort built on the island and how expensive it was to try and get a boat across. It was built in 1115 to enforce taxes on Arab merchants and to protect pilgrims travelling between Jerusalem and St. Catherine’s Monastery. Most Egyptians call it Salah al-Din’s Island because he captured it from the Franj. T.E. Lawrence also visited the castle and used it often as a base –  but to name check him with Salah al-Din is probably an insult to the great Islamic warrior. We drove down on to the beach and tried to hitch a ride on a tourist boat. Bizarrely this boat was not intending to visit the fort, only sail around the island. We eventually found out that there was a regular ferry boat to the island. For 100 LE we joined a group of Egyptian tourists on the ferry, surrendering our passports to the police back on the beach and parking the car in the shade. We had a great couple of hours climbing all over the fort.

There were some anxious moments as the boys climbed along the ramparts as nothing was secure or fenced in. I think a few liberties have been taken with the reconstruction of the fort but it was still impressive and interesting to visit. I liked the Carrier Pigeon coops ( even Napoleon failed to see the beauty of this form of communication when he tried to conquer Egypt 700 years later) and just the stark location of the fort.

Pyramid Selling and those Oversized Shoeboxes

I like this photograph. It was taken inside the Cheops Boat Museum at the Giza Pyramids when we visited with Shona’s friend Diana. From the outside the museum is an eyesore ( reminds me of the back end of the stand at Tannadice blown in Wizard of Oz style)  but it houses a magnificent Solar Boat and the design lets you see as much of the boat as possible as you climb up from floor level – albeit wearing ridiculous jute shoe covers. There’s another one in reserve awaiting excavation.

This was the week before we returned to Giza for the school’s 30th anniversary celebrations and the prospect of accompanying yet another visitor to the pyramids was not easy to sell to the boys. An anonymous proverb, from the Rough Guide, could be adapted for many a long-term resident of Cairo obliging another visitor by taking them to see one of the wonders of the world: All things dread Time, but Time dreads the Pyramids.

However, I still like going to the pyramids. I still feel there is something magical about visiting the site. We always experience something new and come away with some great memories. Travelling back from the plateau last Thursday we viewed the pyramids at night. They looked fantastic and we all now want to attend the sound and light show to see what it is like. While we were there with Diana the weather turned wild and the wind whipped up the sand. We sought respite in one of the many mastabas surrounding the site and the boys finally got well into the visit as a guard let us crawl down a narrow passage and enter a tomb with a large sarcophagus, turning on the lights and calling after us that we only had three minutes. Recently the school had a visit from one of the chief architects responsible for the redevelopment of the Giza site. His words and aerial photographs  outlined  plans, already underway, to clear large residential areas (and the stables) deemed too close to the pyramids and change the way visitors get their first glimpse of the monument. When we drove there with Diana we parked in a street close to these stables and entered down by the sphinx. It was the first time we had visited at the weekend and attempted to get in without using the main entrance. 

 

The streets close to the ticket booth were lined with hundreds (if not thousands) of  colourful and exuberant  Egyptians, having  poured out of buses lining the canal road - all making their way in to visit their monument. Egyptians seem to be able to wear any colour of  bright clothing and make it work. They also seem to think that being descended from the labour force who  built the pyramids in the first place, this entitles them to access all areas. Who are we to disagree? The lower tiers of the great pyramid had great splashes of  colour where people took photographs,  chatted loudly to each other or on the phone and ate their lunch.  It is much cheaper for Egyptians to visit the pyramids (and so it should be) so our fancy 60 LE tickets stood out somewhat. There was a whole load of shit on the roads to avoid from the horses and camels but I hope this vibrant and unique experience does not disappear completely  when the site is finally redeveloped and entering the site becomes more sanitised. God forbid that we see too much of this reality (and humanity) restricted by cost or replaced (to please foreign visitors)  with  clean  streets  and  lifeless Ali Baba pots;  already appearing downtown in newly pedestrianised areas. And will you still be able to slip 20LE to a magician doubling up as a security guard?

 

 I don’t remember being fascinated by ancient Egypt as a child but I do remember always wanting to visit the pyramids. I recently convinced myself  that this fascination is a result of SRA. I remember in the 1970s working my way through the different sections of coloured story cards and questions from an oversized shoebox, which we could mark ourselves and then, for a few moments, get to use the magical matching coloured pencil ( exotic aqua or unobtainable colours of the elements) to record your results on your workbook. I’m sure my love of reading and desire to travel was partly nurtured from these cards. When I first worked at Duncan Forbes Primary the boxes were still being used as part of the school’s reading programme but the children did not seem to find the same satisfaction. The school did not provide the official coloured pencils which might have been a factor. Published at first in America by a firm (Science Research Associates) producing aptitude tests for soldiers seeking employment after the Korean War, new research might discover that many of  the 100 million students who have used this reading programme  over the last 50 years, have travelled the world to locate historical sites and places they have been made aware of through SRA. Would you be able to tell how successful they were at Reading as a child (what colour of pencil they finally got to use?) by the country, or monument they are visiting? I remember reaching the relevant colour for the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Taj Mohal. Still haven’t visited these places. Wasn’t there a card explaining the history and the magical fermentation process (pioneered by the Egyptians) of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin? 

P.S. If you visit our school website and click on the gallery there is a picture of Lucas singing with Hisham Abbas at the pyramids last week.