Monica no longer in Egypt: Activities and new discoveries

Dear friends and family-
These past few weeks have been pretty unexciting. We've had lots of big papers and books to read, so most of my time has been spent behind a book or trying to do some research on Ghasan Kanafani- the Palestinian author or about the Palestinian education system. Luckily, there have been a few perks and exciting events to get me through my dreary homework.

Events:

1. Soccer Game!
Last week, the group went to the stadium in Alexandria to watch a soccer match. The Egyptian soccer league is made up of teams from Egypt's sporting clubs- just like the one I am interning at. They are basically the Egyptian equivalent of American country clubs and have a tremendous amount of sports facilities- soccer, basketball, squash, ping pong, track and field, swimming, gymnastics, polo, horse back riding... you name it- they have it. They hold seminars from love classes, cooking classes, women's issues, politics, anything and are even well equipped with restaurants, cafes, sports gear stores, and kindergardens. They are often a huge social hub where both kids and adults go to hang out, but usually the clientele are among the upper classes of Egyptian society.
But back to soccer. The biggest soccer rivalry in Egypt is between two teams from Cairo- Ahly and Zemalek. From what I've seen, the country is torn between these two teams- we're talking Michigan and Ohio State, Eagles and Dallas, LA and Boston, but bigger. Because generally, Egyptians LOVE soccer. They live it. Breathe it. Wake up and think about it and go to sleep to dream about it. So when I say rivalry- I mean RIVALRY. I mean, we were told not to wear certain colors to the game because it could get ugly. I mean my professor saw a little kid get beaten up on a subway in Cairo for wearing Zemalek colors amongst Ahly fans. Soccer is big. For some reason, and I'm not sure why, most Alexandrians cheer for Ahly, not Zemalek, and also not any Alexandrian teams. I've been told that soccer teams from Alex are not that good, and only a few- like Itihad and Smouha- are in the professional league.
So we were fortunate enough to get tickets to an Ahly vs. Smouha game. Smouha is a neighborhood in Alex (were the zoo and the boys dorms are) and has yet to win a game this season (it's their first season in the professional league) and Ahly is supposed to be among the best. The game turned out to be pretty boring. Neither team played particularly well and it ended in a tie 1-1. But it was still very exciting to hear the chants, see how excited my favorite teacher- Ustath Mohamed Abdu Salam- got whenever Ahly played well, and it was just a nice way to spend an afternoon.
Factoid: Soccer teams here have a fan group called the Ultras. Like the Crew at Maryland sports games, the Ultras are avid fans who make sure that someone is cheering for their teams at the game. They meet during the week, practice and write cheers, and make sure the crowd is always pumped.

2. Concert:
The following night, we were told that there was a free concert and the Alexandria Center for the Arts. The name of the band was "Storm" and they are a new up and coming band on the kind of Indy scene in Egyptian music. They had a really cool style- kind of a mix of classic Egyptian sounds, rock, and jazz. I really enjoyed the concert. And we were also fortunate to go with a man named Iyman- a big personality in the Indy Egyptian music scene. He is currently making a data base of sort of underground, no so pop, Egyptian music that tries to make a successful fusion of western and Egyptian sounds without selling out and going to poppy. He's trying to help them develop their sound and make it in the music world. He has his own band as well and plays the viola (the Arabic word for viola is "kamanga." Awesome). He is also in a movie that just premiered at the Cairo International Film Festival called "Microphone," a movie that explores the underground music scene in Alexandria and its connection to political resistance and societal issues. I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

3. Awareness Walk
My roommate, Nada, has an internship at the Association for Women and Development and told us that they were having an awareness walk to combat violence against women and family violence in general. Cosponsered by USAID and the National Council for Women, November 25 started a 16 day international awareness campaign combatting violence against women, commemorating a day when a group of women, fighting for equal pay at the factory in which they were working, were set on fire and killed by their boss, a day that was later made the international day for combatting violence against women. 1700 organizations in more than 135 countries participated. The campaign ends today, the anniversary of the international declaration of human rights- an attempt to link the inherent connection between women's rights and human rights. So today, we gathered on the Cornische and walked for about an hour, wearing t-shirts and holding posters that said, "No to violence," "Yes to peaceful families," and my slogan said, "Our slogan: Hand in hand to combat family violence." There were at least 50 people, men women and children, in attendance, including a famous Egyptian movie star/ singer- Simone. I even got interviewed for tv! (It was terrifying). But all in all, it was really great to learn about the organization and all of their campaigns and various activities, and I'm hoping to get involved with a similar organization next semester for my internship.