An Affair to Remember

I hope everyone's summer is going great so far! I'm sure all the recent graduates are hard at work finding job opportunities and the new second-years (yes, we are all powerful now) are busy with their internships. I recently received an email from Anna Langer, a second year MPP student doing her internship in Egypt. I was so impressed with what she had wrote, that I felt the need to share it with everyone! Below is lightly edited copy of her email; Enjoy!

Greetings from Cairo, Egypt! I have been here for about two weeks now doing an internship for my master's program. For the next two months, I'll be working at the Population Council, an international NGO that does research on population issues, in their regional office here. The internship is a part of my Masters in Public Policy program at the University of Minnesota, which I have finished my first of two years of and have been really enjoying. I don't have too much internet access, so I thought I'd send out an email to try and keep in touch! Plus I know I haven't talked to some of you in a while, so it seemed like a good way to say hello and let you know what I'm up to.

Cairo is a very fascinating and very chaotic city of 7 million people (it's the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world, and the largest city in Africa) that can also be really charming. Of course, on first landing, you mostly notice the chaotic aspect- the streets, especially in the core city areas, are constantly full of people, people are hopping on and off of jam-packed minibuses (one of the main modes of transportation for locals), and the traffic is a sight in itself. The roads are constantly congested, and there do not seem to be any traffic rules- drivers just try to weave between each other, and only stop when there's a traffic jam. A lot of it also seems to be a negotiation among the drivers- they will honk/yell at each other out their windows in order to decide who goes next. Crossing the street can be tough, because there is no such thing as a crosswalk, so you basically have to try and run across the street between streams of cars or wait for a deadlock. Like a lot of things about living in a foreign situation, it's fascinating to watch, but often challenging to participate in. One of my first nights here, I was in awe of the number of cars crammed together at a big intersection downtown, and then realized that I would have to somehow cross it. Luckily, my roommate and I were with another friend and we all held hands and made it. Against logic given my typical sense of direction, though, I seem to be fairly adept at giving the taxi-drivers directions, (in Arabic!!), at least to my apartment! (I am good at saying "right," "left," "straight," and "here.") Taxis are the main mode of transport, since they're fairly inexpensive (it costs less than $1 to get to work), everywhere, and it's way too hot to walk very far, but they don't usually know how to get to the place you request, so you have to direct them. And although the taxi drivers drive like maniacs, one of the nicest things can be to ride through the city along the Nile.

After being driven around various areas of Cairo in jeeps by two different agents who spoke only Arabic for a few very overwhelming days after first getting here, one of whom kept rising the price of an apartment every 15 minutes or so as we looked at it, my roommate and I (Swati, a woman from my program in MN working at a different organization here) were able to find an apartment in a good neighborhood, a suburb of Cairo where a lot of ex-pats live, and where we both work. Because of rapidly rising prices in Egypt lately, our apartment is actually about the price of mine in Minneapolis, which was a surprise. (Of course, whom it's actually hard for are Egyptians, who have to deal with rising prices for a lot of their staples.)

One of the first things you notice as a Western woman is the attention you get walking down the street. Women here dress in a range of styles- some wearing a burka (in 100+ degree weather) with only eyes exposed, or else with a head cover, and some are dressed more provocatively in tight European-looking clothes. I don't understand yet how they choose how to dress or why all ways are seemingly accepted. Walking down the street, especially in busy downtown areas, you get stared at and often get cat-called (often in Arabic, which is probably for the best), but one of the things that starts to get really affecting is that public spaces are VERY male-dominated. I wouldn't feel comfortable walking into one of the local coffee/hooka shops, since, at most, there will be one woman in the shop, with a man. Walking down the street, you mostly see men. It's something that doesn't feel threatening in terms of safety, but on some days can feel really exhausting, because you feel like you need to constantly make sure you're not making eye contact with anyone and yet are aware you're being watched/talked about.

Fun things I've done so far include visiting Alexandria this past weekend, which is a city on the Mediterranean, and seeing ruins of a Roman amphitheater and eating fresh seafood at a restaurant on the beach, walking along the Nile through Cairo, and enjoying the local food. Typical dishes are mostly some type of bean sandwich- similar to a falafel.

I've really enjoyed my internship so far. I'm assisting on writing a survey about youth and employment in Egypt, and so have been doing a lot of background reading on the issues so that we know what to include. Work is also a much more accessible way to meet Egyptians, and everyone has been really friendly and interested in giving me advice about how to do things here.