We went on many great trips but there are also trips that were not good. The worst trip that we went on was the trip to Giza zoo. Compared to zoos in America this one is not even comparable. After paying a pricey fee to enter you have to pay another fee to see the elephants, camels, and reptiles. It's a total rip off.

The zoo didn't have a lot of animals and the cages of the animals were unequal. By this I don't mean a bird should have the same amount of space with a lion. I mean the animals should have appropriate places. For example, the Lions were locked up in cells the size of a small bathroom. All of the Lions were lying down, without energy. The funny thing was that one giraffe had as much space as my backyard.

The pelicans also lived in a horrible place. They had a very large river leading to a pond but the bad thing about this pond is that it was basically the zoos trash deposit. Everyone threw their garbage in this pond. The color of the pond was a really dark green color.

That day we also ate a bad lunch. There's a very famous Egyptian food called koshery. It's a mixture of macaroni types. Usually it's very good, but this place did not make it very well. It probably wouldn’t have been as bad if it didn’t have an overwhelming amount of spices. Also the man gave me too much sauce so my lunch was basically a spicy macaroni soup.

Egypt is a big country with many places to go. We went to a few of them and there are still so many places to see. The first place we went to was hadigat El ezher, which is a huge Park. It's full of trees, fountains, and a large hill. It was nice to climb to the top and take in the view.

El Ezher Park

The next place we went to was the famous pyramids. In the morning we got our visas from tahrir square after waiting for two hours then we got lunch and then went to the pyramids. The pyramids were fascinating. After the pyramids we went on many other trips. Egypt is definitely a place with many places to go.


       
 In the future we are planning to go to Alexandria. We were supposed to go there this year but between our studies and other affairs we ran out of time. Hopefully we will go to Alexandria next year. I am looking forward for our trips next year.  My overall favorite trip was when we went to shamoussa. The trip was a boring three hour long trip but we were relieved when we saw how nice the place was. There were five swimming pools and the Red Sea. First we swam in the Red Sea but there were a lot of sharp rocks. Later we went to the pools. I tried every single pool in the place. After a tiring day we finally returned home. That night was a night I slept very well.

Shamoussa

 

In Eygpt I saw lots of stray cats in the streets. I saw stray dogs too but there was a great number of cats especially around trash cans. I remember in history classes we learned how the ancient Eygptians counted cats as holy animals or something like that. I don't know if that has anything to do with why there is a bunch of stray cats in Eygpt, but it's a theory. Also I know that no one is doing anything about these stray animals. It's not rare to find dead cats or roadkills. Hopfully later on in the future someone would stand up and do something about this and save those poor creatures. 

 

There are many things in Egypt that are cheaper than things in America, for example a bottle of water is around  2  Egyptian pounds which equals less than a dime.

1 dollar is equal to 10 Egyptian pounds. Most food items are cheap not passing 10 pounds.  A small chocolate bar is usually around 5 pounds and a huge bag of bread is also around that. As you can see many food items are cheap, but when you consider the average salary of a Egyptian everything is very expensive.  A teacher at a school doesn't get more than 1500 pounds a month. This is barely enough money for housing, running water, gas, food and family expenses. We may see  price of a chocolate bar at 50 cents while they see it at 5 dollars, but this is not it. Electronics are the same price as in America. Imagine buying a new smartphone for 10.000 dollars, that's what it's like.

Once we went to a restaurant in new Cairo. When I usually get a meal from outside it doesn’t cost more than 15 pounds. We went to this restaurant and the dish I got was 90 pounds. It was really cheap compared to prices in America but so expensive compared to other meals.

Everyone in Egypt keeps telling me the same thing, not Egyptians but other people older than me. They say “there are 2 things that goes fast while your in Egypt, those 2 things are money and time.” In my 7 months of living in Egypt I've come to a conclusion that this is true. Money runs out really fast and time goes by really fast.
     

The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to record and communicate information about religion and government. Thus, they invented written scripts that could be used to record information.       
The most famous of all ancient Egyptian scripts is hieroglyphic. However, throughout three thousand years of ancient Egyptian civilization, at least three other scripts were used for different purposes. Using these scripts, scribes were able to preserve the beliefs, history, and ideas of ancient Egypt on the walls of temples, tombs, and on papyrus scrolls.
     
The three types of Egyptian scripts are hieratic, demotic, and Coptic. Some of them are easier to understand, for example in hieratic a star looks like a normal star but in the other writings it could look different.
         

The writings of ancient Egypt is truly amazing. After these amazing writings came a even more amazing script and that is the Arabic script used to write the Arabic language, which is commonly used in Egypt today.

Before we came to Egypt to study the Arabic language we have heard that there was an old Cairo and new Cairo. Among friends we were debating where would it be better to stay in new Cairo or old Cairo. New Cairo is a calm and quiet suburban place with huge houses which are kind of like small villas. Old Cairo is loud and crowded and it's all city. A bad thing about new Cairo is that we would be 30 minutes away from school and the markets in new Cairo are really expensive compared to old Cairo. A good thing about old Cairo is that school would be 5 minutes away on foot and everything would be very cost effective. In the end we chose to live in old Cairo. 

 We stayed in a apartment with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. We were fine until we came across a few problems. First of all we got mice in our house. When we learned about the mice we got mouse traps. We caught around 12 mice that month. Also another problem was having one bathroom. We were 7 people in that house and one bathroom wasn’t enough. Sometimes a few people needed to go in at the same time which made it a problem. The last problem was the kitchen. I think we had the smallest kitchen in Cairo because the walking space in the kitchen wasn’t much bigger then the surface of my bed. Also it got dirty really easily and the counters were always sticky for some reason.

In the beginning of this month we decided to move. Our new house has 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. Also a spacious kitchen and living room. It is also closer to our school. We’ve been in it for almost 2 weeks and it's great. Another great thing that this house has a balcony, something that our other house didn’t have. Also, there is no sign of mice as long as one them from our old house didn’t try to sneak in one of our bags when we first moved.  I think we’re OK...

Nile Center is a school in Cairo, Egypt that teaches Arabic to foreign students from all around the world. It is one of the best Arabic teaching schools in Egypt. It doesn’t only have Arabic class, it also has Turkish, calligraphy, and Quran classes. Going to a school to learn Arabic is very important because the people in the streets speak colloquial Arabic which is a corrupt form of Arabic. This school teaches you to learn traditional and correct form of Arabic.

Nile Center has three different book series that teaches Arabic, El Muhtar, Kitab El Esasi, And it's newest book Et Tekkelum which I study. Et Tekkelum has five levels (starter, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper-intermediate). Et Tekkelum includes vocabulary, conversations, and Grammer explained in the easiest way to help you understand.  Right now we finished intermediate. We will start the last level  of the book soon. In my opinion  Et Tekkelum is the best of the three books at Nile center.

Nile Center also has skillful teachers with lots of experience in teaching. Each teacher has his own teaching way to make the students understand because sometimes the book isn’t clear. The name of our teacher is . He is  a teacher that has been teaching at Nile center for around nine years. Also there are three great Quran teachers that teach Quran at Nile center. There is also a talented calligraphy teacher that does amazing work from writing names to making a portrait out of words. Nile center really has some of the best teachers in Egypt and I am grateful to be a student here.
     

With the help of the Rosetta Stone in discovering the secrets of ancient Egyptian pictographs, Egypt was no longer a mystery. Human settlement in Egypt dates back to at least 40000 BC, when Aterian tools were still being manufactured. The civilization of the Egyptians was merged with a unified upper and lower political system under the rule of first Pharaoh of the Dynasty, Narmerin 3150 BC. The native rule in Egypt ended when the Egyptians were defeated by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 6th century BC. Egypt became one of the provinces of the Roman Empire after the death of Cleopatra. The Roman rule lasted from 30BC to 641 AD. Muslim conquered Egypt in 641 AD and their rule continued through middle ages under different Muslim dynasties till 1517 AD, Ayyubid Egypt is the most famous out of these. Egypt entered early middle age under Muslim Ottoman Empire, which continued till 1867 AD except brief French Occupation period from 1798 – 1801 AD. After Ottoman Era, Egypt was an autonomous region called Khedivate Egypt which fell to British control in 1882. However, first world war in 1914 and Egyptian Revolution in 1919 led to establishment of de facto Egyptian State under limited control of Britian. Republic of Egypt was founded after Anglo – Egyptian pact in 1954 and rule was passed to native Egyptians. The Republic of Egypt was declared on 18 June 1953 and General Muhammad Naguib was the first president in the republic. Nasser was declared president in June 1956 during his reign the British forces withdrew from the occupied Suez Canal, a strategic point of world on 13 June 1956. Suez Canal is a man-made water way connecting Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea thereby reducing sea journey by 7000 kilometeres for people travelling between South Asia and Europe. 

The major elements of Egypt culture and history are as follows:

Egyptian language: 
Egyptian language was among the first written languages and was also known from the hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on the sheets of papyrus and on the monuments. Coptic language was the last language used and it is the main language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Pharaoh's message reached the Egyptian through Hieroglyphs which were written on the front door of their houses. Arabic was introduced in Egypt in the 7th century by Muslim rulers which is the official language of the country.

Egyption Magic: 
Egyptian myth believed that magic was a force used by the gods to rule and guide the world. Magic was embedded in ancient Egyptian societyand the main practitioners of magic in Egypt were the priest especially the lector priest who were believed to be able to read the acient magic books stored in the temple and libraries of the palace. They also had a role of performing magic rituals to protect their king and to raise the dead. Scorpion-charmers used magic to get rid of poisonous reptiles and midwives also used magic in their field. 

Giza pyramid: 
 

 Egypt is famous for its Pyramids constructed during ancient era by the Pharaohs according to their religious belief. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex, it is also the oldest of the seven wonders of ancient world. The Great Pyramid of Giza holds the title of the tallest man made structure in the world for more than 3800 years. The setting of buildings with mortuary temples in honour of Khufu arethe main part of the Giza complex. 

   Even if egypt might not be the best County in the world every country has its specialties that make it different. Since egypt is a Muslim country it has quran playing every where.  If you go to the market you will most likely hear quran in the market and on your way there. It is a nice characteristic of Egypt.



Also in Egypt adhan is recited.  Even if some of them aren't so great egypt is also the country with the best adhans if you ask me. The reason some of the adhans aren't so great is because the door men are the ones reading some of them, but if you go to a famous masjid you will hear great adhans.

Hello, I recently did an interview with someone that has a great knowledge in Egyptian economy.


1: How do you see the Egypt’s economy in future? 
"The economy is sluggish right now and it seems difficult for the economy to recover soon as the situation is getting worse day by day. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have a bright future."

2: How does Egypt generate its income? (What are the sources of income for Egypt?)
"Well! It used to get a lot of income from the Suez Canal, but now it is closed (sealed) for the tourists and media. It used to get huge media attraction as Egypt had been the Hollywood of the Middle East."

3: Is it possible for the economy to recover?
"Theoretically yes, but it would take hard work to do so. Actually, people here are not productive and hardworking, and it shows they won’t be in future too."

4: Does dollar have a role in the economy?
"Dollar is a very important currency for the economy from business perspective. It is used to buy goods from other countries, but since we only import and not export, dollar is rare and expensive."

        For most of us Sundays are "fundays". Everybody wants to sleep, rest, and just generally wants to have a good time. However for us, we have to go to school on Sunday. Yes, it might seem weird, but in some Muslim countries the work week is from Sunday to Thursday. I know you might be feeling bad for us, but when think about it, it just makes Fridays two times better and Thursday not that bad of a day. The only bad part is that Saturday becomes like a Sunday...

       Well, one Sunday I woke up, feeling how you guys feel on Mondays, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part is that Sundays are my days that I make the breakfast in the house. Getting out early to buy supplies and being deprived my two hours of sleep in the morning is not my definition of a good day. Nevertheless I had to do it, so I got ready and went to ask money for the breakfast from my friend ( who handles the financial things), however this time he asked me to buy him some things also. He gave me 100 LE (Egyptian pounds).  I told him that this was too much money for the things I was going to buy, but he said that it would be a good way to change the money (into smaller bills)

        So I'm here, on  Sunday (Monday) in an Arab country at the age of 14, and I barely know how to talk. Money in hand I walked to the store. "How hard could it be?" I asked myself, "all you have to do is just give the guy the money and he gives you the change and you leave." However I still had this thought that he would ask me something I wouldn't understand.

        On the road I was thinking about what I would say to the worker there, and all of the situations and combinations  that could happen. I walked worriedly, as I was newbie to Arabic. But didn't expect this would be one of my most embarrassing and confusing memories in Egypt.

         Once I got there the man at the counter was already looking at me weird. I was worried that he would ask something I wouldn't understand. After I was done buying the eggs, bread and other breakfast materials, I went to the counter and gave him the 100 LE. He counted the total price of the products and asked "fekkah?" ,  it was a word I didn't know, I was trying to figure out what it could mean. Yes that was exactly what I worried for. After seeing that I clearly didn't understand, the man then showed me a one pound coin and said  fekkah! Fekkah! Again. At that moment we were both trying to understand each other. I thought he was saying that I paid short. However on afterthought I thought that It couldn't be because 100 LE would be enough for all of the things I bought. So I told him that I paid him 100 LE. This time the guy got really mad (probably because I wasn't understanding that so simple, and that it was very early in the morning, or on second thought it was because it was Sunday). He whipped the coin that was in his hand into a box, this time he said angrily "fekkah!". I still couldn't understand, I thought that maybe he means that I can pay the rest of the price of the items later. So I left the money, took the bags and went out...

        Lucky for me there was a kind old lady that called me back, this time they were both trying to make me understand. After a while the shop owner just gave up and gave me the change of 100 LE . I left embarrassed.

         At home my  friend asked me why I took so long. So I told him the story. I hardly kept myself from saying "told you see, I told you that 100 LE bill was too much". After my story was over he smiled and said "fekkah" means change...

       (The shops here don't want to give exact change, if you paid for 15.50 LE with a 20 LE bill the guy would say "fekkah?" And you would give 50 piasters coin and he would give you back 5 LE...)