Maps

It might be a particularly German trait to value a good map. That trait - or should I say tic - stole two half days from me. I found some great book shops on the way. For example Lehnert and Landrock, which had books in Arabic, English, French, and even German. You could already tell by the store's outer appearance...

Their map shelf was so well organized to put the map for South Sweden right next to the map of Cairo. However, the maps of Cairo they had were either in English or in Arabic. Never both. Those which were better were bulky and one was designed as a book, which was handy, but still only in English.

Today I went to the AUC's bookshop. They had lots of great books that I wanted to buy, but no good map. Finally I went back to the very first whop I tried out yesterday and bought a map there for 25 pounds (a.k.a. 3 EUR):

Yeah, one more thing off my list!
(Sorry for this boring entry!)

The Street Art Festival

Find more information at: http://www.masterpeace.org/Action.aspx?id=195

This was the line up of the bands:

4:10 to 4:40 Alwan Band
4:50 to 5:20 Kayan Band
5:30 to 6:00 SimpleXity
6:10 to 6:40 Shawari3na Band
6:50 to 7:20 May AbdelAziz
7:30 to 8:00 Shady Ahmed
8:10 to 8:40 3lama Band 
8:50 to 9:20 City Band
9:30 to 10:00 Zap Tharwat 

I loved the 3lama Band with its 'metal':

Check 'em out: http://www.reverbnation.com/3lama -- unfortunately, I haven't found a good video with their songs I liked most... :-(

Signs of Protest

This is a wall of the AUC campus. It is the corner of Mohammed Mahmoud St. and Tahrir Sq and was the epi centre of violence during the revolution:

The metro station's name that you cannot read used to be 'Mubarak'...

Note: It's fairly close to 'Sadat' station...

What a day!

After my second night in Cairo I already experienced a day packed with experiences and stories. For example, there is the story of me continuing my search or a good map of Cairo - and repeated failure. There are Marwan, Jakob and the Molsem who studies the 'Holy Bible' whom I met in the street and who, in contrast to the many others, did not want to sell me anything. In fact, Marwan helped me to finally get my Egyptian SIM-card! Then, there is the story of the tension in the air and the ongoing protest. It's Friday and one could hear the prayers everyhere. Blocks around the American University, that also include other official buildings, have been massively barricaded and guarded with armored vehicles - probably in fear of new protests in response to that strange inflammatory movie... (Therefore, I did not find the bookshop of the AUC.) And indeed there were some protests at the wall of the grphitties, but I couldn't tell abut what. And then there is the story of music in Cairo, which is probably the most interesting one. At a "Masterpeace" street art festival, I listened to something like American protest songs, Egyptian Metal, and a contemporary band that was inspired by classical Egyptian music and witnessed the crowd go wild. (Many were young Egyptian ladies.) And at night, I joined an acquaintance and her friends going to the "Cairo Jazz Club" which was playing electonic remixes of 'Western' pop songs. Behind eah of these tags, there is a story I am too tired to tell right now. I feel, I made the most of today! Good night!

Logistics

Last night I had to cut short my attempts at catching up with emails, as my two dorm-mates went to bed early. Therefore, I got up relatively early today.
The better part of the day I spent checking online which cell phone company to choose... There are three major companies in Egypt that offer prepaid plans. The difficulty o deciding for one of them results from the fact that each company is some mulit-national corporation with all its disgusting practices. In the case of Vodafone it is tax-exemption and in the case of Orange their connectedness to cases of suicides among France Telekom employees... What a choice! If you want to live a life "in peace" on this planet, it is quite a challenge if you don't want to retreat completey.
I decided to postpone my decision and by a mapof Cairo first. After I noted some bookstores in my agenda, I tried to find one in English and Arabic, which is small and handy. But this, also, appeared to be rather difficult. So, I skipped that too in order to be in time for my first appointment. I met with a German expat, who was of great help in connecting me to other activities on the ground and turned out to be a like-minded person that reminded me of a friend and former classmate from college.
We met in a relatively pricy location in Zamalek, the expats' Nile island, so I waited with dinner until my return to cheap downtown. Continuing my search for a bookstore and a SIM card, I ended up only with some eggplant and tehina in a pita and a Seven Up in my hand...
Back home, I am quite tired and won't do anything else tonight. Same procedure tomorrow, I guess!

Sufi dances

Arrival

Cairo airport lets you know that most of this country is desert. Its runways, covered by black rubber from the arriving and departing planes, are amidst the sand. They are quite long and spread out so that it takes a while to get to the terminal. It feels as if this airport is too big for the demand - or have the airlines decided to wait for calmer times? As far as I could tell from the bus ride from the airport to the hostel, everything is pretty calm and not much different to the last time I visited this country. The hassle of taxi drivers offering their services remained the same, but so did their politeness. They even helped me find their cometitors: the public bus stop. (Visitors who come to Cairo: Don't listen totheir advice to haggle cab prices down to 20 dollars or so... Take the bus: it'll cost you only 1 Egyptian Pound (= 16 U.S. cents) for you and 1 for bulky luggage!) On the bus, I experienced the same feelings of being in Egypt as five years ago. A mix of excitement, fascination and other emotions - before I fall asleep.
We arrived behind the Egyptian Museum, where it is only a short walk to the now internationally famous Tahrir Square. It is also the address of my hostel - guess what... It's the same one as five years ago. (Gosh, am I conservative!?) Some smaller structures on the square are being rebuilt, yound trees are there and a new KFC and Mc Donald's. Besides that, not a lot has changed. Even the guy at the reception remembers me.
My dorm-mates are a young oman from Taipei, who travels like crazy (She intends to go to Somalia!) and a guy from Eisenach, who is a photographer... After a cheap Kushari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushari), I fall asleep. Istanbul Airport was not a very hospitable place to sleep... Tonight, we plan to head for the Sufi dances...