Rosetta

Last Friday we went to the catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa in Alexandria, which was very interesting. This underground network of burial chambers was built in the 2nd century AD, and is a testament to the coexistence of cultures which has been so characteristic of Alexandria throughout the ages. The only thing of real interest is the principal tomb, which is decorated in a mix of Egyptian, Greek and Roman style. What fascinated me the most were some figures of the Egyptian god Anubis, with the serpent tail of the Greek god Agathos Daimon, dressed as a Roman legionary. That is a combination I don't think you can find anywhere but in Alexandria. Unfortunately it was not possible to take pictures in the catacombs, but you can see a picture of this hybrid god here: http://blog.otel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Catacombs-of-Kom-el-Shoqafa.jpg, and some more pictures from the catacombs here: http://photosbyehab.com/catacombs.html.

Apart from the one night I stayed in Cairo when I first got here, I had not been outside of Alexandria until Chiara and I made a day trip to Rosetta on Sunday. Tired of sticking out so much in the crowd, and of people always feeling the need to point it out, I decided to wear a hijab. Most people here don't seem to understand that it is possible asking the question "Where are you from?" without enthusiastically introducing it with "You really don't look Egyptian! Wow, you definitely don't look Egyptian! She looks Egyptian, and she could be Egyptian, but you don't look Egyptian AT ALL!". So this was my attempt at changing my SO-NOT-Egyptian look.

Rosetta is a small city in the Nile delta, situated where one of the branches of the Nile meets the Mediterranean. It was here the Rosetta Stone was found, but as it now resides in the British Museum, Rosetta's main attraction is the Ottoman architecture of several of its houses.

As the streets are so narrow, it was hard getting a good picture of the houses, but they are really lovely. One of them was open to visitors, and several of the very eager staff gave us a tour of it. Before the tour they served us cookies, and afterwards we were offered red dates, which they stuffed my whole bag with. 

Chiara in one of the Ottoman houses

Me and one of the girls who showed us around

Rosetta is only an hour away from Alex by bus, but is still so different. It has a very relaxed atmosphere, and even though most of the houses are quite simple, some thought seems to have gone into building them, which cannot be said for most buildings in Alex. I found it a very charming city. All the people we met were extremely friendly, and willingly helped us out without expecting any money for it. There were no other foreigners around, and the amount of horses and donkeys in the traffic made it clear that we were now in the countryside. It is the sort of place where you're bound to end up with half a horse in at least one of your pictures.

The Rosetta Stone was actually found in a fort a bit outside of the city, which we also went to visit. Even though there was not a lot to see at the fort itself, except for the very exciting naked brick wall where the stone used to be, I quite enjoyed the drive along the Nile, and the view over it from the fort. I also found the bus ride to and from Rosetta very enjoyable, as I was astonished by how lush and green the landscape was. I've never seen so many palms in my life. The life-giving powers of the Nile are truly amazing. I don't have any picture of this landscape, though, as my guidebook informs me taking pictures from a bus window is considered very suspicious activity.

The fort

Where the Nile meets the sea

The surroundings of the fort

 

Some boys who really wanted their picture taken

However, we don't just live a life of leisure. After two weeks of classes I'm already quite overwhelmed by the amount of homework we're given, and by the fact that I have more classes here (18 hours a week) than I had at SOAS last year. Everyone keeps telling us how this year is our chance to learn how to speak properly, and that the most important thing is that we get Egyptian friends and get involved in life here and practice our Arabic, but I don't understand how they expect us to take so many classes and do so much homework, and in addition have time for extensive socialising. I also find it a bit frustrating that most of our classes are on fusha (Modern Standard Arabic), which is what we focused on at SOAS and which you can study just as easily in England as in Egypt. The 3ammiya (colloquial), on the other hand, is difficult to learn properly if you're not surrounded by it. If we want to learn it, now is the time, and still we only have 4 hours on it a week. As I see it, it doesn't all add up, but I guess after a while I will work out the right balance. One thing is  for sure, though: this year, I'm going to learn how to speak Arabic confidently, no matter what.