Jack’s Cairo Chronicles

The “lizard brain” is a term I use to describe the “old” part of the brain. The part that triggers the four “F”s of the limbic system

• fight
• flight
• feeding
• reproduction

An example:

Take a large human male, wrap him in neoprene, stick a big metal tank full of air on his back, slap a bunch of weight on him, cram a hunk of rubber, plastic and metal into his mouth, connected to said tank by a TEENY TINY RUBBER HOSE, submerge him in sea water and tell him

BREATHE NORMALLY

The lizard brain is the part of you brain that says

BREATHE NORMALLY? BREATHING NORMALLY does NOT involve all this equipment and it CERTAINLY doesn’t involve breathing UNDERWATER. GET TO THE SURFACE YOU MORON!! NOW!!

Heh.

I received PADI’s Open Water Diver certification about 11 years ago.

I never used it after that.

About 1.5 years ago, we went to Dahab, on the Gulf of Aqaba (part of the Red Sea) in Egypt.

I did a dive.

I did not particularly enjoy it.

My lizard brain was kicking and screaming.

I kept looking at my gauges and wondering “can I go back on shore now?”

I was pretty bummed out about it. Cause I “wanted” to enjoy diving. But it just wasn’t working for me. I did a few more dives and was never really happy about it.

Time goes by.

Another trip to Dahab. Another dive. This time was better, but still not really enjoyable. It was OK.

Another trip to Dahab. Another dive. I had a good time on this dive and actually enjoyed myself. While it would be a great stretch to say that I was “comfortable”, I was more relaxed and not fixated on the fact that

ALL MY AIR IS COMING THROUGH THIS LITTLE HOSE AND THERE ARE ABOUT A MILLION THINGS THAT CAN GO WRONG.

Hardly thought about that part of it all.

After that dive I realized I had conquered my fears and enjoyed myself. I had gotten back on the horse camel that had thrown me and proved to myself that I could do it.

So what’s next?

One thought that went through my mind was

Ok, you can do it. You conquered your fear. It is no longer bugging you. Declare victory and pull out.

In other words, I had nothing left to prove. I could retire from diving on a high note.

I mean it is a hassle.

It is a lot of heavy gear. It requires expensive equipment. Suiting up is a laborious process. And there is an undeniable amount of danger involved

If I want inconvenience, expense and danger, I can go motorcycling.

(It is a lot of heavy gear. It requires expensive equipment. Suiting up is a laborious process. And there is an undeniable amount of danger involved.)

Right? I don’t need scuba.

Snorkeling is fun too. Cheaper, less dangerous, much less gear required.

When we left Dahab last time (in July) that was my thinking: I am done. khallas.

We are back in Dahab for the month of August. We have a little apartment with a view of the sea and Wi-Fi. I am working and generally just enjoying living 2 blocks from the beach.

What have I been doing in my spare time?

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

I am now a certified Advance Open Water Diver.

A big thank you to Kasia, Pritesh, Shadi, Khaled and all the other great people at Sinai Divers, Backpackers Dahab.

I, apparently, made a comment some time ago when someone asked me about how I enjoy living in Egypt and asked if I will miss it.

My reply was

I look forward to the time when I miss living in Egypt.

Now this was really an off-the-cuff, throw-away kind of line.

But my wife was there and she remembered [She remembers everything].

She reminded me of it a while back, and it is now my standard reply when people ask me “what do you think of living in Egypt.”

I think it sums it up.

I have noticed, on several occasions a scene on the streets of Cairo, for which I had no explanation.

[Well, ok. There are MANY scenes on the streets of Cairo for which I have no explanation. I am going to talk about just this one, for right now]

The scene involves a man on bicycle.

This man is usually, but not always, dressed in coverall, usually green. Well under the grime and muck, it looks like it might have, at one time, been green.

And the grime and muck on this man is of epic proportions. One, if one cares to look, will see much grime and muck in Cairo. On the streets. On the cars. On some people.

There is a background level of muck and grime one expects to see everyday, and it becomes the everyday norm.

This muck, this grime….

It is truly a sight to behold. Enough that makes one cross the street to the other side when you see this guy pedaling your way.

In addition to this grime and muck, there are strapped to his bicycle a dozen or so, 2 meter long rods. With knobbly bits on the end.

At first I thought they were welding rods. But that did not explain the knobbly bits. Nor the level of grime involved.

Today, while walking the mean streets of Dahab, I saw this man in action.

He is the ROTO ROUTER man!

Those rods fit together to form a somewhat flexible “snake”.

I was walking down an alley and all the sewer covers were off and several guys were laying out these rods in anticipation of giving the sewers a good old snaking.

I stopped for a second to watch them assemble the tools of their craft. And then I realized

“Um. In a minute or two all that grime and muck I usually see on the bicycle rider is going to be right there in front of me, nice and fresh like. Time to move on”

So I hastily left the scene happy in the knowledge of another mystery of life in Egypt solved.

I celebrated with a milk shake on the beach.

And tried REALLY REALLY hard to not think of the muck-man on his bicycle.

Just a quick page with a small handful of shots of riders we were able to get in the paddock at Catalunya.

More to come, as soon as I get that load of round tuits I ordered.

Super short post.

We live in Cairo.

We are used to the heat

We go to Rome.

We go to Coliseum.

I get heat stroke, get dizzy, puke in the Coliseum, and collapse.

WTF?!? I live in Egypt and the heat in *ROME* knocks me on my ass?

All is fine now. More about (other, more pleasant aspects of our trip) later.

No, not “the kissing disease”.

I suffer from mono-culturalism. (is that a word?).

i live in a mono-culture within a mono-culture.

Egypt is the larger mono-culture.

• Religion. The vast majority of residents are Muslim. I have nothing against Islam. I don’t find it any more or less “fanciful” than Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, or Zoroastrianism.
• “Lifestyles.” While having more than one wife (at a time) could be viewed as alternative to the western mainstream, the day-to-day SAME-ness of things is getting to me. Coming from a place with a certain level of diversity (Seattle) to here is a bit jarring.
• Homogeneous population. Hair color, eye color, skin color, hair texture, “porn star” mustaches. It all blends together.
• Cuisine. There isn’t a lot of variety in the cuisine. There is an appalling lack of “ethnic” food. Or rather an appalling lack of appealing ethnic food. There is plenty of bad “italian” and worse “chinese”. One can only eat so much schwerma and kofta.

And then my social life is a smaller mono-culture within the larger context.

It is also rather homogeneous, though I suspect several people would object strenuously to that generalisation. (Too bad. Get your own blog!)

• Professors. How many times can you discuss cheating, lazy students etc and still have it be interesting? I mean really. Branch out. Go out on a limb. Talk about something else. ANYTHING else. Please.
• Politics. (Ok, so maybe almost anything else) Most people seem to be fairly liberal big “d” democrats. Like most people back home in Seattle. I have nothing against that. I think their earnestness is so cute. But, like most people in Seattle, living here gives them a distorted view of the political landscape. “EVERYBODY they know is voting for Obama. It is going to be a LANDSLIDE“. I am sorry to say that I think they are mistaken about the outcome in November. (Assuming, and I quote, Obama manages to keep “that woman” from “stealing” the nomination.)
• Race. Most of the American faculty are Caucasian. Not a big surprise, as most Americans are Caucasian. And most American college faculty are Caucasian. But it is still strange to me that there aren’t more minority faculty members.

The one place that the faculty has great diversity is in their travel. The people here have traveled quite a bit and have seen more of the world than most people. Talking to them about that is fascinating.

So what is the cure for Mono? Rest. Drink lots of fluids.

Well, 1 out of 2 ain’t bad.

One of the things that one learns to do here, is eat seasonally. Grab what is fresh and enjoy, for it may be gone tomorrow.

It is May here in Cairo. (It is probably May elsewhere, as well)

The days are almost hot, the nights are very comfortable and tomatoes
are ripe and beautiful. And the garlic is coming in, in force.

Driving on the ring road through agricultural areas is a treat for
the eyes and nose.

Large trucks full of the reddest, firmest tomatoes imaginable.

Trucks full of garlic.

Trucks full of onions and leeks.

On a good day, the smell of garlic and onions on the ring road is
enough to overpower the smell of burning garbage.
(It is an unfortunate juxtaposition of farming land and garbage dumps)

I was riding out to Giza the other day and was watching the trucks of
tomatoes etc go by and thought

“Hmm, I would love some of that mexican soup…”

So I dug out the
“Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home”
cookbook and flipped to the
Mexican Tomato Lime Soup
recipe.

see http://wetleather.com/recipes/show-858 for details.

A yummy soup, hot or cold.

Great with a rose or white Rioja.

[digression]
Yes, yes I know: “a rose? ick”.
We used to think the same thing. Then we attended a wine tasting
at The Spanish Table in Seattle (http://www.spanishtable.com).

They were pouring a rose.
We turned up our noses, but the nice woman doing the tasting
insisted we try it. It was only a small taste, and we weren’t paying for
it. She assured us she would not be offended if we tasted and dumped
it in the bucket.

It was quite nice. A perfect summer afternoon or evening wine, lightly
chilled.

If only we had some here in Egypt

Alas.
[/digression]

Anyway, I know that the tomatoes probably are not in season yet where you are, nor is it likely to be warm enough for a cold soup, but tuck this one away for future reference.

There is an article on the Discovery channel website about sea shells embedded in the stones of the Sphinx, pyramids and other monuments in Egypt

I mentioned this in one of my recent posts when we were scrambling around the Sphinx.

There is an hypothesis that the stones that built the pyramids (among other large monuments) were cast in place like cement. It is not a highly regarded hypothesis.

Zahi Hawass (Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities) vehemently denies the possibility that the blocks were cast. He views it as an insult to ancient Egyptian in that it insinuates that they were incapable of building the pyramids by moving the blocks. I don’t necessarily share that opinion. It would seem to give the ancient Egyptians some great credit for figuring out cement all those years ago. [shrug]

And if Zahi Hawass is unhappy with you, you will never get another permit to dig or explore in Egypt while he draws breath.

And if Zahi Hawass were to say something like “write an article that refutes this nonsense about cement casting the stones of the Pyramids” to another archaeologist or geologist, it happens.

[I recently attended a lecture at the SCA that was "requested" by Zahi Hawass to "clarify" some statements made on a BBC documentary about the town of Armana. Someone had dared to say that the people that built the city of Armana worked hard and suffered hardships. Preposterous! All Egyptians have always been healthy and happy and whistled while they worked. This misinformation had to be stopped!]

This article seems at least partially aimed at refuting the casting hypothesis. Perhaps by request?

For the last few weeks I have been spending some time doing some basic computer networking/repair/upgrade/de-virus-ing at the offices of one of the archaeological groups here in Cairo.

The group is responsible for the Giza Plateau Mapping Project(opens in new window). The director of the project is Mark Lehner.

The work isn’t particularly challenging, but it is great to have some non-AUC social contact. They are a very bright, hard working group of people. And they are interesting to talk with and listen to. An interesting mix of nationalities and disciplines.

One of the big benefits (to me) of working for them, is that I get invited on tours of the sites that they give to new arrivals to the project.

Mark Lehner has been in town the last few weeks and has given a couple of tours. One was a Sphinx tour.

I was a horrible host and deserted our house guests to go to this. I felt rather guilty for going. But I got over that once we started our tour. [A big thanks to Kaddee, who convinced me to go].

One of the interesting things that Mark talks about is the geology. He ran into a geologist, Tom Agner (now head of geology at Tubington) at Giza some 30 years ago. Mark tells the story something like this:

I saw this guy with a geologist’s pickaxe being frog-walked out of the area by a whole bunch of policemen. He had been picking at the ground and the walls of the sphinx enclosure with his pickaxe and examining what he pulled out. The police wasted no time in arresting him.

I told him I would try to get him out of trouble if he came to work for me. I did and he did.

Mark goes on to talk about what he learned from this geologist. No one had ever before really looked at the Sphinx or the rest of Giza geologically

.

The entire area was on the ocean bottom 50 million years ago or so. You can see in one of my photos the coral reef exposed near the base of the Sphinx. Oyster shells, tube worm holes and other shells are easily visible in the rock here if you just look.

The head of the Sphinx is a different composition than the shoulders and the lower body. Many people think that the head was attached to the body, but it is one big hunk of rock. The sea ebbing and flowing left mixed layers of soft and hard deposits. This is perfect for quarrying, you can cut the soft layer and pick off a large hunk of hard layer rock.

It seems that there was a huge lagoon/harbor that stopped a few meters from the base of the Sphinx. This is based on long ramps that have been found (and are now reburied) that go down about 20 meters from current ground level, to heavy, thick effluvial mud flats.

After our mini-geology lecture, we moved to the Temple of Amenhotep II and then on to the Stela between the paws of the Sphinx.

The Stela tells the story of Tutmoses’ dream. At the time of Tutmoses, the sphinx was buried in sand up to its head. Tutmoses fell asleep under the head and dreamed. The sphinx came to him in the dream and told him to “free my body from the sands and I will make you king”.

Tutmoses did as he was told and became king. There is some speculation that there was an older brother that was slated to be king. This brother disappears from the record and Tutmoses became king. Perhaps Tutmoses used this story to legitimize his reign. Who knows.

What is visible now of the sphinx’ body is covered with cement to keep it all together and prevent further weathering.

We looked at the elevation documents that the project has compiled over the years and walked around the entire sphinx.

There were many stories that Mark told. He would be a great guy to have a beer with, I would imagine.

My photos.

About a month ago, we had the great privilege to attend a tour of Sakarra and Memphis with Dr Alain Zivie.

Dr Zivie has been digging in Sakarra for a very long time. He has made many notable discoveries including a mummified lion and the tomb of the wetnurse to Tutankhamen and is featured in a short movie they show at the Imhotep museum in the Sakarra complex.

He took us on a tour of the necropolis of Sakarra. We visited the tomb of Horemheb.

Much of that tomb’s original art now lives in museums in Paris, Belgium and London. Most of what is on the site now are replicas. They are still quite amazing.

All of this sits a few minutes walk from the main tourist attractions. And is practically unknown.

Dr Zivie then took us to Memphis. Not much remains of the once royal city of Egypt. Some statues mostly, and vague impressions on the ground of where walls once stood.

I managed to snap a few photos, as always.