From the Roman street, to the Life street and the Intersections in Between

If you could take a a photo from a birds' eye view of Maharah Bey, it would be the closest thing to an actual representation of Egypt. And let me be more specific; Maharam Bey is the district in which my grandparents' home is located. And like I've mentioned before, it is one of the oldest and continually inhabited areas of Alexandria. It's a very cultural place and even the people in it are extremely fond and glad to be from there. The Roman street is the street perpendicular to Othman Jalal, and on that street alone is two mosques, a mechanic, and several useless stores shops that the average Egyptian uses to make a living; even if it means that the standards of his life is poor, it's still better than nothing. Now, the intersection at which the Roman street and Othman Jalal cross is probably one of the most hyped up places in the district; and that's only because of the youth that inhabit it. Soccer games are held until two in the morning, fights during or after the game, and several car accidents that occur because of the terrible city planning; with a particular focus on that district alone.

Now, if walk along Othman Jalal, in the opposite direction of the Roman street, you'll run into a very rundown street called Al-Hayati (Life). And I honestly have to admit that I try to avoid this street as much as possible only because of the stories that I heard about it. Some stories say that it's a possessed street, some say that the greasiest people live there, and some take both of that and combine them together to produce one bizarre story. I only pass through that street if I have to use it as a shortcut to get to another place. Even the youth that hang out around there are all much more dangerous and bad. Just flat out bad. The intersection of Life Street and Othman Jalal is inhabited by a completely different crowd of kids (by now you know that Life street and Roman street are parallel and are connected by Othman Jalal which is perpendicular to both). The kids there are very corrupt and their daily lives is just filled with juvenile activities. Many of the young adults over there have been in numerous fights and there's not one of them that doesn't carry some sort of weapon. And I have to admit that some of the fights that I've heard about that occur over there are truly frightening.

This year made me think a lot about how I have so many friends that live on Othman Jalal and Roman Street, and how I have none on Life street. Even the kids who actually live on Othman Jalal claim that they don't even know anything about the kids over there other than that they love making problems. It's very hard to believe how two streets so very close are inhabited by people that are so different.

The Beach

I love the Alexandrian beaches. However the thing I hate most about them is the fact that they are always crowded. And not all of them are necessarily clean; so in order to avoid that you have to go to the more expensive ones. But that didn't matter much when we would go with our friends. And before I would go inside the water and get slammed by the waves I would always just relax on the coast, constantly having some sort of ice cold drink in my hand. And I wouldn't go in the water until I would get fried by the sun. And when I would finally enter the water and cool off, I would always direct my attention towards the skyline of the city and the street. It was an amazing scene. This image right here is exactly what I witnessed one of the days I went to the beach. I was extremely surprised to see this picture online because I didn't take the picture. Now, this beach is called The Mandara Beach. It was a very nice beach and it was pretty clean.
Now, there was a time when my friends and I went night swimming. It was one of those days where they were playing soccer up until two in the morning. And after the match, they were all sitting down claiming that they needed to cool off and a dip in the sea would satisfy them. Now, keep in mind that I have never been night swimming in my life and I was really eager to try this out. So everyone sort of disappeared to go inside their home and so they would change and get ready for the "second half" of the night. After twenty minutes every one met back outside and they were all ready to go. It was around two thirty in the morning when we all took off; we were a party of 12. One of my friends inside the car I was in claimed that the beach we were going to was a nice one to swim in at night but we weren't going to make it there before four. I was confused; was this beach far away or what. Then my friend went on to explain that it was going to be the traffic. So, it's three in the morning along the coast of Alexandria and we were stuck in traffic for literally twenty minutes. I honestly thought it was like nine p.m. because you would never believe that it was four.

And after the long car ride, we got to the beach and almost everyone got inside. It was the most amazing time I've been swimming. The lights of the buildings across from us were lighting up the water so well that I forgot it was night time. We stayed at the beach until sun rise. And by the time we left and were on our way back home, the streets were empty. I was also really amazed by the amounts of nice cars that showed up during this time, it's maybe because there wasn't any traffic.

But all I could tell you was that I couldn't wait to get home because I was dead tired. But before we got there, we stopped somewhere and got some food because we were all hungry off of our minds. And after we ate, we finally got home.

Othman Jalal

Othman Jalal is the name of the street that my grandparents live on. It's a very cultural street, with mosques at almost every intersection as well as the daily drink guy coming with ice cold drinks to distribute among the working men. I love Othman Jalal. It's on that street that I made many friends over the years and it's when I leave them that I know we really were friends because they always ask me when I will return. And my grandparents took the first apartment on the first floor, so the floors above us all include friends and family. So there will be days when I would never leave the building except for when I need to pray. And the good thing is I could pray at a different mosque for each prayer due to the fact that there were so many in such a small area.


Othman Jalal is a very old street. It's been around ever since the kingdom of Egypt. And our specific house there has been under our possession ever since the 1920s when my great-grandfather first purchased it. Despite the fact that's it an old street, it's still clean. And the buildings that tower the street seem very ancient and have this Mediterranean look to them, even thought we're not on the coast. There was one word that my brother and I decided on that described the area where we live; haunted. All the buildings seems like they are haunted because of the entrance to the buildings and the long windows. However, they are not starting to tear down those old buildings and are starting to put up new and more modern/luxurious ones in the area. Nonetheless anyone who lives on Othman Jalal, whether in the old buildings or the newer ones, they're still 100% Alexandrian and deserve that respect.


I'd usually spend my nights on this street either hanging around with my friends, playing soccer, or going to the beach for a little midnight run, however I'll explain about those experiences later. And it's honestly really cool just sitting listening to what these people have to say. And I say that because I'm considered a completely different person than them. I was raised in America and they were raised in Alexandria. So listening to them talk was always interesting because their stories that they had were ones that I would never hear anywhere else in the world. Stories that could only be conjured up in this country.

Alexandria

I stayed a while in Alexandria, Egypt, and I honestly have to say that during my stay in Alexandria this summer, I developed a new love for the city. It is among the cleanest cities in Egypt and it's very simple, yet amazing. A long time ago during the reign of King Farouk, Alexandria was considered a European city due to the fact that Britain occupied the country at that time. King Farouk resided in Alexandria at the Montazah Palace, Montazah.Montazah is a district inside the city and it's considered the most affluent residential place in the entire area. So with Alexandira being the royal city at the time, Farouk made sure that it was going to be the cleanest city in the world. He stated numerous times that if you would walk or drive along the corniche of the city you wouldn't even find a tiny sand particle in the street. So ever since then, the city has been always considered clean and even up until now, it's still a very clean city. And even the buildings along the Mediterranean Sea have this Roman/Italian touch to them. And even the names of the streets are really Italian-esc. For example, there's a street that's near where we live called Share3 El Romani (The Roman Street). They really want to make Alexandria seem like a clean Mediterranean City and not a Middle Eastern City, like Cairo, and they're really successful at doing it.

Now, there's a catch to Alexandria, and that is the people that are originally from there. A true Alexandrian can instantly catch a foreginer (non-Alexandrian) and they won't necessarily do anything, however they'll make you feel uncomfortable. But when you start to know the people better, they'll literally become your best friend. For instance, the dialect of a Cairo born differs a little from that of an Alexandrian, so they'll be able to catch it right away.

And there was something about an Alexandrian and his/her relationship with that of a Cairene. For some reason there's some tension between them and I never really understood what it was. I have numerous friends that resided in Alexandria and I asked them if you would ever leave this city to move to Cairo, and all of their answers were no. They don't like Cairenes because they claim they're very self-centered and arrogant. And they also got really used to the life in Alexandria, so it wouldn't make sense to ever leave it.  

Tahrir Square

The time in Egypt this past summer felt extremely like it was my first time there. Part of the reason was because I hadn't visited it for three years and the other part was because it was just a different atmosphere all around due to the revolution. I honestly have to admit that I felt good to be there during that particular time because I didn't know what to expect. I realized that the people are very happy with what happened (hence the numerous paintings and posters of January 25th) yet they still felt uneasy because they were worried about what was going to happen next. The revolution wasn't necessarily over nor was the violence for that matter so it was considered to early to early to be glad. I asked my cousin numerous times what it felt like being in the middle of the action and he would reply that he never felt more brave and proud of his country than the times when he would charge at the police guards head on and knock them down. He would say that on his right side there was an old man charging along with him and on his left side a little boy no older than five years of age. After hearing this from him I really wanted to witness the feeling of the revolution and told him to take me to Tahrir Square because I knew people were still there.

So later that night my brother, my cousin, and I got ready and went to mid-town Cairo to witness Tahrir Square and I can't even begin to explain the feeling I got when I saw the tents and the thousands of people gathering around an influential speaker standing on a podium (keep in mind that we went there at night). The people seemed extremely eager and happy and each person's eyes were "gleaming" with determination. I honestly have to say that it was probably the most exciting feeling to actually be there in real life. And I felt safe inside the square due to the volunteer college students gathering around the circumference  searching everybody as they entered making sure they weren't apart of some unnecessary organization looking for trouble, or even the being among the thousands of criminals released on January 28th.


My time in Tahrir Square was one of the best experiences of my life, even though my cousin classified the square that night as an "extremely dead and uncrowded state". When I heard this from him, I kept thinking of the days when two million people would gather inside this very small area, all with the same message; "Down with the form (of government).

City of a Thousand Minarets

We had to get up early the day we went to visist my grandmother. I always dreaded these says. It's not because I had to visit her, but it's because I hate where she lives. I think it's safe to say she lives in the most rundown place in the country; Garbage City. However this year was much different because she lives with one of my aunts in a very nice district. So the trip wasn't so bad. Or at least I thought it was. The next day we had to go back to her old apartment (or whatever you can call it) to visit her other daughters (my other aunts). I thought we didn't have to go back there again, but my thoughts were wrong. There's several "mistakes" about that place. It's too hot. It's literaly at least 5 Celcius hotter than mid town Cairo. Also, the mosquitos live in that area and the smell just smells of a run down and corrupt district (Sincerely Hosni Mubarak). Honestly, the best part about the trip from my aunt's house to my grandma's house was the ride there. We got to witness the true scene of old Cairo. An amazing panoramic view of the ancient world: Cairo Cidatel (the castle and the castle walls), Muhammad Ali's Mosque, which is one of the most glamorous mosques in the world, and just the other thousands of Minartes just scraping the sky above it. And the residential homes (if you can even call it that) are probably the most run down apartments ever. Just look above that the photo, the portion on the left is exaclty what I was witnessing. And in front of the run down homes is what they like to call "The City of the Dead" which is probably the most interesting thing there. An unbelievable amount of land dedicated to just the dead bodies. It's too large to call it a cemetery so they decided to address that location as a city. Unbelievable. And as the car got on top of a hill, I thought that it would be pointless to look for anything "luxurious". I'd be wrong to even think about that. Yet again my thoughts were proven wrong by a beautiful Ferrari just drove down the line of cars going opposite of us. As I looked at this amazing car drive through the crowd and watch every car literaly make room for it as if it had room, I thought if I could just capture an image of this scene, it would be the highlight of my summer. The picture would include the run down apartments in the very back, with the City of the Dead right in front of it, with this black gleaming Ferrari at the tip. And to top the picture off would be the numerous amounts to minartes spiking into the sky. I kept saying in my mind, this is exactly what Egypt is. It was the perfect picture to describe the country. The disproportional social classes; either you're too poor to even find water, or you're rich enough to purchase 100 palaces. That is what you find in this country. And for everyone else who doesn't fall under this category, is just a common "Masry" or "Egyptian."

One of the Best Summers Ever

After an eight hour flight from London, I realized how much I missed this country truly. I looked out the small window on the airplane and witness the cultural capital of the cultural capital of the entire world; Cairo, Middle East. I realized that the combined time of the summers of the previous three years will never amount to the minimal time that I will soon spend in this beautiful country. From my window I could see the Giza Pyramids, Gezira Island (which houses some of the most affluent districts of Cairo), and the booming towers along the Nile. And suddenly, the pilot spun the plan around so he could show the passengers within an ominous birds-eye view of the rest of the city. There we went to Nasr City (where I was initially born), and the other richer areas of that portion of the city. Luckily for the tourists on the plane the pilot didn't go to the slums, for I know they would have been shocked and possibly thought twice about the rest of their stay.

After a good five minutes of circling the city, the pilot finally landed the plane. My brother and I quickly got our bags from the container above and rushed to beat the pushing, shoving, and other unnecessary roughness that the other passengers inflict upon each other. And after the adventure of finally getting pushed and shoved, my brother and I walk down the tunnel leading in to the airport and there we see one of my aunts (who happens to work at the airport) standing there. My feelings were mixed of happiness, gladness, and others. I hadn't seen her in over three years and it just felt so good to see some one else outside of the family. After a series of hugs and kisses and this and that we start walking to the baggage claim section and retrieve our bags so we could leave. There we met more family members and hugs and kisses from them, and we found out that there were some still waiting outside. And due to the tight security from the revolution they weren't able to enter. Either way it didn't really matter because we got out bags quick and were on our way out sooner than later.

As I take the first step outside, I'm greeted by a powerful slap on the face. Not by a hand, however, but from the wonderful heatwaves of Cairo. As I recover from the powerful attack, I realize that I am truly home!