New riot update:
Text received en-route to Alex from a close friend in Egypt who is a member of the government:
Hope you arrived safely. Avoid to hang out today as Alexandria started a lot of protest specially in mahatet elraml and bakoos.
I thought they would have two days at most. Tomorrow is Friday, the day of prayer. It has been dubbed “angry prayer day.” The imams will get everyone riled up and then the protests will supposedly start after prayer. Of course our group (which mind you is quite good at these things: they were the first ones in Cuba and the last ones out, and have never willingly pulled out of a country) will be doing tourist things.
Alexandria is a much more conservative town than Cairo. This is where the recent New Years day bombings were. On the way in I saw a huge billboard with the Islamic crescent and the Christian cross filled in with the Egyptian flag. I translated the first line to read “I am Egyptian.” I asked our director what the second line said. He looked down and said “I am pleased you know the first line, and I hope you never have to know the second. It says ‘I am not a terrorist.”
Less than a month ago a bomb rocked the town I am now in, which led to riots. Supposedly tomorrow will bring the same, insha’allah-God Willing.
Oh and the government blocked facebook, so for those of you keeping up with this, the Egyptian Government will not be "liking" my post. (Some friends showed me the way around it, thankfully)
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6 comments:
Hi Ian!
It's Morgan and Sarah here. We along with Jane and crew have been scoping out the Egypt sitch today in the Admissions office.
Couple questions
1. Do your parents want you to get the heck out of there?
2. Are you at all fearful you may not be able to transport out of the country?
3. What started this conflict? In basic, fifth grade explanation to begin with please.
4. Do you miss us?
-The Gang
I've been watching with great interest, I was in Egypt a few years ago to visit my sister who has lived there for nearly 30 years (she arrived the day Sadat was shot) and my niece did part of her student teaching there last year.
Stay safe.
Hey, Ian.
I've been keeping tabs on you here! Please, be safe and make sure to come home in one piece. Besides being in a dangerous situation, knowing you, I know you're thrilled to be experiencing history while it's happening. Keep maintaining the contact, my friend! I can't wait to see you when you get home.
Looking forward to hearing more when you are able. What an amazing experience being there right now. Keep your head down and keep us posted as you can. - Tim
I have nothing exciting or intellectual to say as I really don't know much about Egypt in genera,l but it sounds like quite an intense trip you've got going on! I bet it's pretty interesting to be there for all of this, though. Be careful (but not boring)! :)
Stay safe, Ian.
-Alex
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