Yallah and Yani

Egypt gave birth to what later would become known as 'Western Civilization,' long before the greatness of Greece and Rome.

- John Henrik Clarke

Saqqara

On my trip to the Middle East at the very end of last year, I went out of my way to visit Egypt. A 15 hour bus ride one way (only to stay for one night) might not seem worth it, but as we made our way towards the border to return to Jerusalem, sleep deprived and only a little grumpy from the 2 hour border cross interrogation process, none of us were regretting our decision to explore this amazing country. As we were on a guided tour, we had a second day packed with goodies; that is to say, we had no choice but to wake up early. Our first stop, that chilly December morning, was Saqqara.

Bad guy Imotep!

Saqqara is just south of Cairo. It is home to the ancient necropolis of Memphis and is best known for having the first step pyramid that we all recognise as the tombs of pharaohs. Imotep, considered by some to be the earliest known architect as well as other cool titles such as High Priest of Heliopolis and Chancellor to the King of Egypt, Doctor and, how I personally recognised him, Bad Guy in 'The Mummy'. The Pyramid of Djoser, which Imotep was chief official of, was the first of its kind. Before then, nobles were buried in 'mastabas'; flatter, rectangular buildings built with mud brick instead of stone. Long after he died, Imotep was raised to deity-status; a bonafide god. Maybe that's how he had all those bad ass magic powers in the film!

The view of the traffic from our hotel window.

 Making our way through the city was a bit of a nightmare. I can't imagine any tourist renting a car and navigating the streets of central Cairo. The drivers have their own language made up of different car honks the vehicles make. Beep. Beep Beep. Beep Beeeeeeeep. They all mean different things: left, right, who knows what else. I imagined the drivers having a conversation: "Hey!" "Hellooooo!" "How you?" "Fine. You?" "Gooood Thaaaaanks!" I was quite nervous whenever cars got so close together that I could lick the other car's window if I wanted to. I didn't want to, but that is beside the point. Putting my absolute faith in our trusty driver, I did my best to just take in the sites of the city.

“Egyptians undergo an odd personality change behind the wheel of a car. In every other setting, aggression and impatience are frowned upon. The unofficial Egyptian anthem "Bokra, Insha'allah, Malesh" (Tomorrow, God Willing, Never Mind) isn't just an excuse for laziness. In a society requiring millennial patience, it is also a social code dictating that no one make too much of a fuss about things. But put an Egyptian in the driver's seat and he shows all the calm and consideration of a hooded swordsman delivering Islamic justice.”

― Tony Horwitz, Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia

As you drive the anthill of the metropolis, your eyes are drawn to the many minarets of the mosques. You also can't comprehend the amount of desert dust that tinges the buildings of the city. The outside of buildings look shabby and dilapitated but, we were told, every Egyptian takes pride of their homes within. I pondered about why they allowed the buildings to stay that way, but when you live in the Sahara and it's a poor country on top of that, water is a neccesity, not a luxury.

The view of the polluted city from the mosque

As I am who I am, that being extremely unobservant, I asked our awesome guide Nasser where the churches were; with Christianity being a minority religion in the country, I was simply curious. Not surprisingly, if I had just paid more attention to what I looking at while we were driving through the city, I would have noticed that some of the minarets had crosses at the top of them. Use your eyes, Aurelia. Don't just look next time; see. And why did mosques have minarets anyway, I asked. In modern day society, they are purely symbolic, but in the past, before the invention of loudspeakers, callers would climb the architectural structure and call the people to prayer. Prayer, being one of the Five Pillars of Islam, has to be practiced 5 times a day.

Muhammad Ali mosque

The other famous site that was on the agenda for the day was visiting the Muhammad Ali mosque. What, I was secretly wondering. I was smart enough to know that they were not talking about the legendary boxer, but who were they talking about. If I can explain it this way, the "original" Mohammed Ali is viewed as the 'Father of Modern Egypt'. Built in the style of the Ottomans, the mosque was completed in 1848. It is one of the landmarks and tourist attractions of Cairo and sits impressively atop a hill overlooking the city through hazy, polluted air.


The building is exquisitely intricate in its design but I was less interested on the facade compared to my rising curiosity once we entered. With our shoes off, we made our way into the carpeted house of worship. Nasser was giving us a fountain of information and I just sat there absorbing it all in. He allowed me to ask any questions that I had burning inside me, whether they seemed silly or not. Knowledge is the death of ignorance, and I am tired of being ignorant.

The ceiling of the mosque

Our last day in Egypt ended with Nasser taking us to a local Egyptian cafe where we ate a typical dish called koshari; Egyptian rice, macaroni and lentils with a spicy tomato chile and garlic sauce. Afterwards we went to another local spot; a tea house, they are very popular in Arabic culture. Sipping our very sweet tea with mint (nana), smoking shisha and chatting with Nasser, as well as being the only foreigners, more importantly, the only girls in the vicinity was a wonderful experience and a perfect way to say good bye to the city.

The streets are devoid of colour

I learnt some Arabic on that trip. The language is beautiful to listen to and romantic in its wording. I have never been so taken by a language; wooed by the mystifying sounds. My two favourite words, though, were "yallah" and "yani". There is no direct translation for "yani" but can mean anything from "more or less", to "um" to "that is to say". It's a great word that I quickly adopted into my bastard word collection. "Yallah" means "let's go" or "hurry up"; something I heard from our guides in Egypt and Jordan. During this trip Nasser often said, "Yallah ya patata"; "Let's go potato." I love picking up little words and phrases like these from other languages. They have a way of adding colour to your vocabulary.



On our way back to the border, we had to stop due to the many checkpoints, we had to stop and wait until the next convoy. I couldn't wait any longer. I needed to pee. And in this way, I discovered the Squat Toilet. I write it in capital letters because of the significance of the experience. I have done my business in the Namibian desert, I've done my business in the African bush, but it was first time having to pee into a hole in the floor! Just another thing I can add to the weird things I've done in my life :)

My whole trip to the Middle East was an amazing, unexpected spiritual encounter. Egypt has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and I am proud of myself to say that I can now tick it off!

 

I love the colours in this photo. Inside the mosque