Journey to Egypt

I hate to admit it, but I had to look up the exact location of Egypt before I departed for the trip. Cairo was not what I expected and my experience could be greatly summarized by a fellow traveler's comment, "I'm glad I came, but I won't come back!"

Cairo had beautiful mosques and sandstone buildings along side crumbling brick structures. The sheer size of the city was astounding. It could take hours to travel from one end to another, with light traffic. On a positive note the streets are wide and spacious. Like Bucharest, driving is a bit hairy, and the horn is used often and without hesitation.

The history this part of the world can offer cannot be measured. In the span of a few days I was able to see and bring to life what weeks in a classroom fails to do.

As most of you know, riding the camel was an all-time life highlight. Although it may seem everyday to those in that part of the world, the only other camels I had seen were in zoos and on a farm outside of Colorado. My camel's name was Mickey Mouse although I also met a Snoopy. The camel was tall and his gait was slow. Even at a trot, it wasn't a fast journey. Much to my surprise, riding him was not as rough as I would have expected, although riding a horse would be my preferred form of transportation.

One of the most fascinating museums I've attended was the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. It housed tombs, mummies, mummified animals, tools and a wealth of other artifacts. By far I was most fascinated with not only the hair on the bodies of thousand year old dead men but also by the fact that they mummified animals like monkeys, crocodiles and even fruit! It by all means was more intriguing than the typical painting or sculpture (at least to my uneducated eye)!

Equally interesting was the layout of what might be considered the old downtown. What I would have considered a space appropriate to be a modest storage unit, was indeed a variety of shops in Cairo. Hundreds of small rolling doors opened from early in the morning to late at night to reveal shops of all mediums including bakeries, cell phone providers, shoe shining stops, cafes, spice stores and knick knack stands. The majority of these spots were occupied by men, men lingering with no real place to go and sipping tea. Women were not often seen being stationary in any one spot let alone resting in a vendor's place of business.

Attire there varied from traditional coverings to modern day fashion. As would be expected, most women wore head scarves; however, these women might wear skirts or jeans. Clothing was more form fitted than I would have anticipated but unlike in America or England, cleavage was not seen nor were bare arms. I did not see a single pair of shorts, other than on tourists and skirts touched the ground. Although sparse, occasionally women were completely covered in black Niqab and Hijab, even wearing gloves. I discovered that when women are covered in this way, children often look at shoes to find their mothers. Interesting, no???

Romanian Tidbits...Part One

When traveling outside of your own comfort zone, you will inevitably bump into cultural differences. I am not referring to those obvious differences such as varying cuisine, unique wardrobe choices or language barriers. The cultural differences I have in mind are those which surface only after submersion, in a new habitat, occurs. Here are some of the cultural tidbits I found after living in Romania for a few months........

I spend a large majority of my time on the floor. Not only because I am a first grade teacher but because I have limited seating in my home. I often sit with my students on our carpet or the tile if there is no room. This ritual never seemed problematic until one chilly day in December. I was seated, pretzel style, with my bum on the tile and my legs on the carpet. My teaching assistant came to me, whilst I was talking to my young pupils, and said, "Ms. Loeper, you need to sit on the carpet. Please move." Seeing as I am the youngest of three children, I regularly do what I'm told without question. I scooted up and forgot about the incident. However, that was not the end of my reprimand. I was later running around, on the tile, without shoes and another teaching assistant approached she. She, rather agressively, asked me, "Don't you want to have children?" As you can imagine, I was slightly confused. I replied with, "Of course Iwould like children one day. Why?" Her answer was this, "You will not be able to have children if you continue to walk around without shoes or sit on cold surfaces. The cold will make you infertile." Not wanting to be insulting (or risk the chance of infertility) I quickly doned my pair of indoor shoes. After further investigation I learned that the common belief, among both those young and old here, is that coldness can seep into you and cause infections as well as ruin your eggs. This is not limited to women alone; men can get kidney infections!

Somewhat attached to this belief is a belief about the 'current.' The current, as you would assume, refers to a flow of air. In Romania the 'current' is the source of much illness and despair! It is believed that if a person falls victim to the flow of the 'current,' they will, without doubt, end up with a cold as well as a variety of infections. To illustrate this point, I will use a story from my classroom. The women who cleaned our classrooms often left doors and windows open in an effort to make wet surfaces dry with greater speed. Following one of these days I received an email from a concerned parent. The parent stated that his child had a slight eye infection, and he was aware that the door had been open at some point in the day. He stated that he believed the cold air, sweeping through our room had caused the infection. He politely requested that we keep all doors and windows shut, for the health of his daughter. The 'current' had struck again!

One final tidbit, for the time being, concerns the use of slippers. As you now know, cold feet are simply not permitted in this society! When visiting the home of a native Romanian, or those that have been here a long period of time, you will immediately be offered a pair of slippers. The refusual of these slippers is not only an insult but unfathomable. I, adapting to my surroundings, now have three pairs of slippers; one for me, two for guests!

Stay tuned for future tidbits!