Coptic Cairo
5/15:
This morning’s class was a tour of Coptic Cairo. We were split into groups and each group member was assigned to research a part of the city and act as the tour guide to the rest of the group for that one section. I did the Hanging Church, it was pretty cool.
At the end of the tour we went in into a Mosque- that was an interesting experience. In order to enter the Mosque, the girls in the group had to be wearing conservative long sleeve shirts, a long skirt or pants, and a headscarf. If you did not dress appropriately, you would be asked to wear a green jump suit so as to preserve the holiness of the Mosque. Luckily, no one in our group wore clothing that was deemed inappropriate.
(This would have been unfortunate --> http://photos.igougo.com/images/p155165-Egypt-bad_girls_in_green_robes.jpg )
Aesthetically, I thought the Mosque was awesome, but I’m not a fan of the scarfs, the separate entrance for women or other patriarchal rules associated with the Mosque.
We also visited a cave church, which was pretty amazing- it can hold more people than Matthew’s arena and in order to get to it you have to drive through a city of garbage.
Our guide/ Prof. Sullivan’s friend, Abdu, had us all over to his house for lunch where his wife had cooked 2 GIANT turkeys, fries, sambosas, grape leaves and a bunch of other food. The food was amazing and his family was super nice. By the end of the lunch I was in serious need of a siesta.
We ended the day with a sunset Felucca boat ride on the Nile.
This morning’s class was a tour of Coptic Cairo. We were split into groups and each group member was assigned to research a part of the city and act as the tour guide to the rest of the group for that one section. I did the Hanging Church, it was pretty cool.
At the end of the tour we went in into a Mosque- that was an interesting experience. In order to enter the Mosque, the girls in the group had to be wearing conservative long sleeve shirts, a long skirt or pants, and a headscarf. If you did not dress appropriately, you would be asked to wear a green jump suit so as to preserve the holiness of the Mosque. Luckily, no one in our group wore clothing that was deemed inappropriate.
(This would have been unfortunate --> http://photos.igougo.com/images/p155165-Egypt-bad_girls_in_green_robes.jpg )
Aesthetically, I thought the Mosque was awesome, but I’m not a fan of the scarfs, the separate entrance for women or other patriarchal rules associated with the Mosque.
We also visited a cave church, which was pretty amazing- it can hold more people than Matthew’s arena and in order to get to it you have to drive through a city of garbage.
Our guide/ Prof. Sullivan’s friend, Abdu, had us all over to his house for lunch where his wife had cooked 2 GIANT turkeys, fries, sambosas, grape leaves and a bunch of other food. The food was amazing and his family was super nice. By the end of the lunch I was in serious need of a siesta.
We ended the day with a sunset Felucca boat ride on the Nile.
posted by MSmith at
5/15/2010 10:19:00 PM
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