Manifest Destiny

T and I decided to make the big move back to the west coast, where we both definitely belong. Toronto is a great city for what it is, and I've made some really awesome friends there, but... I can't handle another 8 month long stint below zero. That's just too cold. I remember when I first announced that I wanted to go to Toronto to my dad:

"I've decided that Toronto would be a good place to finish my studies."
"That's great! But... you do know, it gets cold there."
" ...right. Snow, cold, yada yada."
He paused and looked me straight in the eye as I passed him the salad bowl. "No.. It gets cold there."
"I know! I know! I'll have to buy a better coat."
He stopped everything, took a long pause and burned a hole through my head with the seriousness in his stare and said, "You don't know. It gets COLD."
"...um."

Well, he was right. A San Franciscan has no business living in Toronto. As it happens, there are some other things that I wasn't aware of when I moved there. People are very different on the West coast. No offence to my Toronto friends (though chances are that if I've befriended you and stayed your friend then you have proven yourself not to be like 95% of the city's population), but Torontonians are cowards. Nobody sticks up for themselves! I mean, of course you should have some degree of tolerance for everyone. Things happen. But there is such a thing as trying too hard to keep everyone happy— if you don't stick up for yourselves then nothing gets done! I have a thousand examples (In my last few months there I threatened to sue 3 people!) but this is turning into a bit of a rant tangent, so I'll stop there.

Day One: What do you mean it takes 18 hours to get out of Ontario!?!?

First thing in the morning I grab Mr. Gray's fancy harness and pop him in the truck with the both of us. The vet recommended that we keep him in a carrier with food, water, and some sedation to keep him less stressed... but being the crazy outdoor stray that he actually is we decided that he was more stressed out in the carrier than out, so we set up a nice pillow for him in between us and he turned out to be an angel. So off we went on our trek.

Going through the states with a cube van full of the three of us and all our belongings, regardless of the fact that it would've taken fewer days, was something that we decided might've been more trouble than it's worth (customs is that much more annoying these days). So, going around Lake Superior was the thing to do. Obviously the universe wanted us to really hate Ontario by the time we left it so that we'd know we were making the right decision. We managed to get pulled over twice— once for speeding (and we were, so we deserved that) and once for not having a logbook. Wait, what...? Isn't that only required for commercial drivers on a job? If he gave us a ticket for that then he'd have to give tickets to RVs and passenger cars who didn't have logbooks. Well, he decided to take advantage of the fact that it would be near impossible for us to get back to Thunder Bay, ON to contest it so I guess he figured that we'd be like most Ontarians and just pay it even though there was no reason to give it to us. Douchebag. We're not paying it, and instead launching a formal complaint against him. Ugh, there I go again...

Anyway, we stayed for the first night near Timmins, ON, which is just where it started to look like what Canada is supposed to look like.

Day Two: Okay, let's aim to be in Manitoba for the night!

Fat chance. At least this arm of the trip was nice to look at... Northern Ontario is straight out beautiful. Nothing but trees and forest and more trees and forest. I got very excited because we kept seeing those cute yellow "moose crossing" signs. We managed to see one (very large) moose hanging out in the middle of the road at one point— he was just chilling out there and didn't seem too phased about the large white truck that was slowing down in front of him (he was easily taller than the cab of the truck) but freaked out and ran into the bush once a bicyclist came up on the opposite side of the hill/road. I was too slow with my camera to take a decent picture.

The closer we got to Thunder Bay, Ontario, the prettier and more hilly it became. I've never seen so many lakes in one place in my entire life. The entire landscape looked like this picture to the right. I could definitely live there for the beauty, but that's about it. No worries, I would soon be living in Vancouver— one of the most desirable places to live in the world, according to some polls I keep hearing referenced but still don't know where they actually come from.

We also managed to see what I think must be the world's largest Loon (though it's missing all the pretty speckles that dapple the back of the actual bird, which sucks big time). I don't remember what the name of the town we found it in was called, but it was very tiny and it was on Canada route 1 and hard to miss. Yes, you are in Canada now, kids.

By the end of the day we just barely made it to Kenora, Ontario. Whew... I wondered if we took the long way but no, it does actually take somewhere from 18-20 hours to get out of the province of Ontario. They weren't kidding. In any case, we crashed and geared up for a major push the next day.

Day Three: Four Provinces in One Day! Beat That!

The next morning we awoke early and set up fresh kitty litter for the big push. Finally, we made it out of Ontario. We seriously were beginning to think that it couldn't be done. I was pleased with the "Welcome to Manitoba" sign because it was shaped like the province. Unfortunately that was the only interesting province sign there was on the entire trip. Lame! In any case, Manitoba is a pretty... flat place. Everyone kept telling us that but really, it's exactly the same as my dad telling me that I really don't know anything about cold. That said, it was still fun to drive through, and we could see Winnipeg from a distance. PS: I had no idea that perogies were such a staple in the prairies.

Next we went through Saskatchewan, another very flat province. Unlike Manitoba, there were virtually no trees whatsoever but it was definitely more interesting. We passed salt flats which pressed on for miles in the distance. That's a lot of salt... The amount of salt there was could probably season the dinners of every person in the world at least for a week. That is a good example of something that I definitely didn't expect from Saskatchewan. Another surprise was just how beautiful flat can be when you've got a nice sunset. Epic!



We drove right through Regina and Moosejaw (Moosejaw having not only one of the coolest names, but probably the biggest moose statue in the world. This trip is all about oversized Canadian animal statues), and we can safely say that we got a feel for the town by driving through. According to my handy dandy Canada Lonely Planet guide, there's a tonne of cool history revolving around Moosejaw (and consequently some cool things to do to learn about that cool history) so I'm sorry that we weren't able to make the trip more of a mosey through the country rather than a straight move, but it was important not to stress out Mr. Gray too much. Although as you can see here he obviously didn't care much about most things that were going on during the trip...

Day 3.5: Mr. Gray's Escape

We stopped for the night in Medicine Hat, Alberta, which turned out to be quite the party town. It didn't help that we were there on a Saturday night and that we had all had a long day, but Mr. Gray was really ready to be outside and not be in the truck any more so he was threatening to bolt. I had a good grip on him until we got into the hotel room where I figured that we were buckling down and not going to have to stress the poor cat out more. That was when there was a knock at the door and before I could get a hold of the cat T opened the door and he was gone in a flash of gray! Before I realised what happened, we began to run out to get him and remembered that we were in our underwear. Throwing on clothes as fast as we could we ran out and yelled for him. There was so much traffic and chaos that it aggravated the situation unbelievably. We searched almost all night but decided that it was impossible to find him in a city that we don't know and that was that crazy.

Early the next morning we awoke from a pathetic attempt at sleep and looked again, hoping that the calm of the early morning would make it easier to find him and hear his little collar bell jingle, but we came back with nothing. I was hearing cats in my head and could've sworn that I heard the jingle a bunch of times, but it was definitely my imagination and my extreme hope of finding him.

Disheartened, and sure that we would probably not hear about him for months, if ever (he did have tags on him so if someone finds him they'd call), we left Medicine Hat hoping that he was at least okay.

200 kilometers later we stop the truck for fuel at a station/rest stop and get out. The drive was somber and quiet— I was holding back tears all morning and we were both exhausted from searching and a lack of sleep. Terrance got out to start fueling and I got out to stretch my legs and pee, when I heard a meow. I was pretty sure I was still hearing things until I caught a glimpse of Terrance's face, which was sporting a look mixing confusion with awe that I'd never seen on his face before.

"...Did you hear that, too!?" I asked.
He nodded, "Yeah! Mr. Gray??"

I ran over to him and we both looked under the truck synchromoniously. I immediately burst into tears and started laughing/praising the gods— "Meow?" said Mr. Gray curiously. He was sitting on top of the gas tank underneath the box of the truck. Terrance was speechless and stood up with his hand over his mouth for a good minute, and then proceeded to tell everyone at the rest stop the miraculous story of Mr. Gray making damn well sure that we didn't leave him behind by coming back, finding the truck, and securing himself on the gas tank for 200 frickin' kilometers! I was still beside myself with relief that the crazy cat didn't get hurt or thrown off on the highway and that the universe obviously wanted Mr. Gray to stay with us for some reason, so I sat on the floor, cried, prayed, and then talked with Mr. Gray until I could get him out and put him back up front in the cab with us.

Day 4: B.C. BABY!

Once again we were one complete happy family, so we continued on our path to our new Vancouver home. Alberta turned out to be a very nice province, and at first glance it reminded me very much of southwestern Germany's cow fields full of super green grass, dandelions, cows, and alps (or in this case rockies) in the distance.

Calgary was another city that Canada's route 1 basically just goes right through the downtown core, which I think is totally weird and not particularly useful when you're trying to get somewhere beyond the city and you have to deal with downtown traffic and stop lights. But hey, it's obviously a cool city and I'm sorry that we didn't really get to spend time there. Everyone that I've known from Calgary is pretty awesome, and from Vancouver you could potentially get there in a long day of driving, so I can see myself going back there at some point. Alberta has some really cool dinosaur museums and that's totally up my alley.

From the road just west of the city you can see the ski jumping slides from when the Olympics were in Calgary, which is crazy— I've never seen these things in real life and they are freakishly huge. I'd be terrified up there. Well, I will probably be seeing more and more of these silly Olympic things as the year wears on because this February the Olympics are being held in Vancouver. I'll probably be sick of the event when all is said and done— let's hope it creates some work for me! Mr. Gray on the other hand obviously didn't care (as usual) but he was very happy not to be under the truck any more because he being cuter than he's ever been before. What a dork.

Day Five: New Home Sweet Home

We stayed the night in Revelstoke, British Colombia, and I daresay that I've found the place that I want to live for the rest of my life. That little town is by far the most beautiful and peaceful little town and I fell in love with it right away. The only issue is that it's kind of hard to get to unless you drive (if that can really be considered an issue in the long run), but once I'm all established in my career choice then I can be more flexible with where I live, and that's it, baby.

The drive through the Rockies was beautiful. In fact it was so beautiful that pictures really don't do it justice, so I'm only posting one of a particularly cool-looking crag to encourage you to drive through it yourself. Besides the beauty the ride was uneventful, and frankly we were glad for it after the day before.

We made it! Greetings from Vancouver! The road to real life lays ahead and I'm totally ready for it.

A Zoo (Gesundheit!)

I know, I know.. I've been horrendous at updating. I still have so much to talk about my trip earlier this year, as well as some of the things I've been involved with this year! But before I start the madness that was my trip to Istanbul, I wanted to talk a little bit about zoos and why they are important to me (hence the fact that I make it a point to visit the zoo in every city I manage to— except third world countries because those just make me cry).

<--PS: King Crab says "GET IN MAH BELLEH!"
During my Europe adventure I went to two zoos. That's pretty pathetic in my book, but I tried to make up for it by going to the Stuttgart zoo at least once a month when I was there. It was definitely one of the nicest zoos I've seen— Southern Germany lays such importance on horticulture, not just at the zoo but everywhere, that when spring hits you're bombarded by pure colour and enough flowers to kill someone with moderate allergies. That, along with the beautiful, clean, and spacious enclosures for each animal made it extremely peaceful and a beautiful place to go. They also had bugs and fish and lots of other fun things!

First you walk through this long greenhouse-type building that is filled with tonnes of plants, each section being from another part of the world. After that you come to small mammals and rodentia as well as small birds and things like that. once you get out of that there are a slew of buildings to check out, including an aquarium with the biggest crab you'll ever see (see above), an insect zoo, monkey house, ape house... very fun.

Hopping along to each of the buildings is also pleasant because there are so many well placed horticultural designs that lead you uphill to the many outdoor enclosures. Probably one of the most interesting things that I came across was the trend in Arabesque architecture around the park. I kept trying to figure out if those buildings were already there when the zoo took over the property and they just decided to keep it because the buildings were beautiful, or if there's another reason why there were Koranic passages in Arabic inscribed in parts of the buildings. In any case, they were gorgeous and I loved it!!



In Köln, the zoo was equally as fun to check out, and we managed to arrive at the llama pen just in time to witness a birth from start to finish! In total it took 30 minutes for a baby llama to poke its nose out of its mom, then feet, then body, then plop on the floor, then stand up and walk! It was pretty incredible... That's when I noticed another cultural difference between North America and Germany (or probably just the rest of the world). Very few people in North America would take the miracle happening in front of them as a great educational opportunity for their kids and instead would cover their children's eyes and walk away. Or be embarrassed... or something along those lines. When we were sitting there watching the first breaths of this little llama I kept hearing parents talk around me, saying things like "Ohh! Er ist frisch geboren!" ("Ooh! Freshly born!") They would sit there and watch the event with their kids, big and small. I know there are people in the states that would do that, too, but you can take it from me as someone who has worked at a zoo for 8 years— most parents cower away and aren't really sure what to do. But that's a whole other rant...

Anyway, the Köln Zoo was very nice. Not as nice as the Wilhelmna (Stuttgart) Zoo, in my opinion, but they did have an EXTREMELY nice lizard section which is definitely worth noting!

I shall leave you with a particularly beautiful hornbill and a spoiled mountain goat:

What Köln Are You Wearing?

I realise that I've been a bad girl and have not updated since I got back from Germany. But, I still have a lot to say and I'll try to remember as much as possible! Then I will try to get back onto updating on a regular basis.

Köln— the Furthest North I Got

I was told by many people that I needed to get up to Berlin and Hamburg, and as much as I wanted to, I just didn't have the funds this time around. But, I did manage to get up to Köln (or Cologne, as most Americans know it) for a week where I got to experience the magic of Lindt chocolate, a BIG church, and behind the scenes primetime television.

Above all, it was a beautiful little city. It definitely felt small, though I have a feeling it's bigger than Stuttgart.

It is the birthplace of scent for men— and you can even go visit the boutique that first made the stuff. That would've been a useless trip for me seeing that I have no sense of smell, but it's an interesting piece of history... I would've thought that cologne was invented by the French! But no, it was the Germans that decided that men should be allowed to smell "pretty" too, so... surprise!

Köln lies on the Rhine River, and is pretty much split by it. I never made it to the East side, but I was told that it was pretty industrial and there wasn't really that much to see out there. Actually, by the end of the week we made the conclusion that there wasn't really that much to see anywhere in Köln, but I was happy to be there and to have a relaxing week, regardless.

There were a couple things definitely worth mentioning, though. And overall I liked the city— people were very friendly and I found that the dialect of German that was spoken was the clearest and the easiest for me to understand. In Stuttgart they mumble horrifically and throughout the entire semester I was definitely feeling like my German had come to a standstill until I went to Köln and found that I could understand almost everything! I did learn German!

Here are some of the highlights of the general city:



Looks like God dropped his ice cream cone... That sucks. :(

To Finally Complete This Particular Church Could Mean The End of the World

The Kölner Dom is the main attraction in the city, and it's easy to see why. It's REALLY big. I mean, I remember seeing the tallest church in the world back in Ulm and thinking... wow, that's really tall. But this was not only tall, but WIDE. I mean, it's like a fortress. All in all, a very impressive church. The city likes it so much that you can buy things shaped like it— like a little square plush toy with two pointy rabbit ear-like towers sticking out of one end. I wanted one so badly, but I had no money.

I just like the expression of both the figures in this picture. The shiny gold bishop guy seems to be very concerned about who he lets in.

The church has lots of fun stuff in it, including a crypt that you can walk down into (but is ultimately not that impressive) and a swallow's nest organ. There were also lots of crypts on the main floor where dead religious people have lain for hundreds of years. My favourite was of one that basically had this castle built around the statue of his body. It was painted and everything! There was another one that had these two little medieval animals at his feet looking up into the air in some sort of terrible fear (oh noes!). The massive front doors, made of solid iron or metal, were also worth mentioning because they were sculpted so nicely.






The other fun fact about the Dom is that there is this conspiracy concerning the construction of the site. Basically, it's unfinished. The church we see today was first starting to be built in 1248, though it was always a religious site, at least since the Roman empire. Now, 800 years later, it's still not done. The gist of the conspiracy is, that the day the cathedral is officially finished, is when the world will end. Well, we'll see about that...

I thought that this particular apparatus looked like some sort of futuristic mechanical spider sitting in this medieval church... Just like in the game Obsidian (whatever happened to that? That was a kick ass game)!

Oh Chocolate, My Ultimate Weakness

Of course, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria are known for their really good chocolate, and of course, when we're in a place that has a chocolate museum and we're chocolate fiends, then we have to go. The Lindt chocolate museum (and small factory) is located in Köln, and it's a pretty nice museum. It sits right on the river and they give you free samples. Definitely a must-do if you're in Köln.

They showed you how they made all sorts of chocolate goodies, and also showed their football pride. It also of course told about the general history of chocolate, and then the history of German chocolate. This included little nerdy loves of mine such as the packaging histories of many of the chocolate brands that we see today. Many of those companies have been around for a VERY long time, and the logos and packaging take their evolutionary turns. I love seeing how the latest design differs and is similar to the original package that it was put in back in the 1700-1800s!

Here they're moving little chocolate things from one tray to the next.


Here they're making those big hollow chocolate things like bunnies, footballs, and bears:

Yum.

Car Flips

The couple that I was staying with were the parents of a friend of mine back in Canada, and their son works on the set of a popular German prime time crime drama. So, we got to go watch some of the stunts get filmed! We were going to watch a gas tanker explode, but the weather sucked so they just flipped cars and made everything crash into each other instead. Oh well. In any case, I think the photos/bad movies off of my little camera will explain it all better:






and some photos to supplement:



It turns out that the stuntwoman in the silver car was actually a grammar school teacher for her day job. Can you imagine being in grade 2 or 3 and seeing your teacher come to school with cuts, bruises, broken bones, and/or black eyes and missing limbs? I mean, it's really COOL, but it'd also be potentially frightening for the kid!

Anyway, in the end, Köln was definitely worth visiting. I went for beautiful runs through Beethoven lake/park even though it was pouring rain and covered in swans (literally), and I could actually understand what everyone was saying to me in German because they speak much more clearly there than in the south. So, it was a good trip and a much needed week of relaxation (and schokolade).

FOOTBALL!!!

Before I continue with more parts of Germany (and other places), I have to take a moment to talk about the phenomenon of football. Being from North America, "football" usually brings up memories of epic Monday Night Football music, a brown "pigskin" oblong ball, and college. Everywhere else in the world, "football" = PARTY TIME/NATIONALISM!

Not really for Germans, though. They only just started to raise their flags for their national team as of when they hosted the World Cup in Germany a couple years ago. Raising the flag and cheering for a country is a new (and still widely debated) occurrence. When asking an American if their proud of being American, most will say yes (politics aside.. just the basic principles of being American). Ask a German and they'll just ask "why?" It's not that they don't love their country or are happy to be there, it's just that why should one be proud of his country? It's a piece of land! Pride is a sinful state of being! "German" is not an identity, it's who you are as an individual. I can respect that... it's just weird for me to comprehend because as an American where you come from is just as much a part of your individual identity as everything else. Like when an American asks another American what they are, he/she will talk about their ancestry (for example, I would say German, Italian, Bulgarian. Not American. Even though, ultimately I am just an American). That confuses Europeans so much!

In any case, most places in the EU (or around the world, for that matter) love football and are so passionate about their country winning that they go nuts. Here you can see the German Polizei ready to jump into action should a riot break out in the public viewing area. This was during the semi-final between Turkey and Germany. Turkey is the largest minority group in Germany by a long shot and they tend to be pretty rowdy. This was proven to me by when I was in Turkey a few days before to witness Turkey beat the Czech Republic:


They were ridiculous. The entire city of Istanbul was honking, screaming, and waving flags. It was utter chaos! Germans make it much more organized by all parading to and congregating on one particular street to raise flags and cheer:


In any case, it was darn fun to be there for the semi-final victory. After beating Turkey they went on to the final game, where they beaten to a pulp by Spain. Still, not bad considering the fact that Germany was basically pegged to lose in the first round!

Although there is a heavy degree of rivalry in Football matches, there is some love shared despite the national intensity. There is lots of crying if your team loses, and there are lots of IN YOUR FACEs when your team wins, but football can't stand in between true friendship (awww).

These two were each yelling passionately about their individual teams— starting chants, jumping up and down, etc. They would start to scuffle, as if they were going to start a full out fight, but then they'd break out laughing and hug each other. It was cute.

Anyway, I can now say that I was in Germany when they hit the Eurocup finals (even if they only got 2nd place) and I myself managed to get all decked out in Deutschland swag:

Touring the South of Germany

I feel like I've gotten to know the Southern region of Germany pretty well since I got here, and for the most part it's a very beautiful and busy place. I think the weekend that we decided to drive around down there had about 5 random holidays lines up in a row that we didn't know about, which might account for the busyness, but it was fun, so there.

We pretty much just hopped in a car and drove aimlessly around the region (although there was an overall destination in mind). We drove through Ulm, Ravensburg, Weingarten, Lake Constance, a bunch of random tiny towns that I can't remember the names of, and ended up in Füssen for Neuschwanstein for the second time— except this time it was spring and not winter, so it was incredibly more colourful (and warm). We passed by many cows, dandelions, and the Alps were almost always in the picture dead ahead. Here are two of the highlights which I found the most interesting.

Bodensee: Zeppelin-land
Lake Constance, known to the Germans as Bodensee, is the area in which the Zeppelins were birthed and mostly produced in the time of the Zeppelins. It's obvious that they are very proud of their Zeppelin-building history and they express that pride in the form of über-modern sculpture. There was a lot of it in the town. I mean, there's a lot all over Germany... they love their modern art! But the stuff here was even weirder because it tried to integrate the Zeppelin motif as much as possible. I'm not completely clear on why this particular man-headed Zeppelin figure has horns, but whatever.

Across the lake you can see Switzerland and if you so desire, you can take a ferry across and spend a couple hours there. I always get really excited when I'm in a place where I can see another country from where I'm sitting. I got the same feeling when I was in Biarritz, France and looking out down the coastline to Spain. Coming from the United States, where the land space is just so ridiculously big, I never really get that feeling. I mean, you might feel that if you lived on a border, like in Buffalo or south of San Diego... but most people in the US will never look out and see another country across the way and have it be normal, like it is in Europe or other parts of the world where the countries are so small and close together.

It's like when the international office people here at the German school at which I'm studying say that 85% of their exchange students stay on for another semester (and give us Americans/Canadians puppy dog-eyed faces when we say that we want to go home after just one semester). It takes us 6 to 8 hours to fly back home to our families and it can cost us thousands of dollars. 85% of the exchange students here are from somewhere else in Europe or Persia. They can hop home for a weekend for €20 on a flight that only takes them an hour or two (and they do... multiple times during the semester)! This is commonplace for them. It's not magical or weird to be able to see another country/culture/world across a lake because they're all so close together.

Ottobeuren Abbey, or Why I Find It Hard To Take the Baroque Period Seriously
The Abbey at Ottobeuren is this huge, over the top building that sits in the middle of this town that can't have more than a population of 50. It was originally founded in 764, but the building you see here today was built from 1737-1736 (the past five or six incarnations of it were either torn down or consumed in flame). It's got three organs, including one of the more historic ones in Europe— and if you know me, that's exciting!

Overall, this place was so over the top that I couldn't decide if I was nauseus with awe from the beauty or with disgust from the kitsch. There is so much to look at in this church that it would take a lifetime to find every detail. That said, would it be worth it? It's just so frilly and crazy that I think that would go too far. BUT... it is definitely worth seeing if you're in Germany because you'll never see anything like it again!

What I Did at School Today 3

For the radio I've interviewed a total of five bands now. One of them was a disaster and the other ones were mostly good. First off was an Indie band from Sweden called The Horror The Horror. The music is rather generic in my opinion, but the guys were really talkative and it was a good interview. Also, their performance was really good, too! Great musicianship and a positive attitude.

The crappy one was a band called Eagle Seagull, which was an interesting band with a few really interesting songs (the rest were kind of generic, too), but the interview was horrible. Actually, the first time I interviewed them it was turning out to be a great interview! Then my recorder completely failed and I embarrassingly had to go get another one and wait to redo it after the show. So after the show, not only did they keep me waiting for way too long, but the lead singer was PLASTERED and was saying all sorts of contradictory things to what he said earlier in the day. He came off as extremely self-centred and put down his band a lot. Who does that to a journalist? I mean, I know that journalists aren't usually treated well, but you'd think he'd have some degree of professionalism or AT THE VERY LEAST not say things that make you sound like a big jerk. I mean, you do want to actually gain fans right? It sucked.

The last band I interviewed was a small San Franciscan band (that made me happy!) called Bellavista. They put on a great show but unfortunately there was almost nobody there. I still have to put together the feature for them.

My biggest band was We Are Scientists. I was going to interview Dinosaur Jr., but they cancelled on me at the last minute.

We Are Scientists was an interesting interview. They didn't really take it seriously, which frustrated me a little bit at first. But in the end it turned out to be a quirky feature and it's my favourite so far. Not to mention that they put on a GREAT show and they showed wonderful musicianship. At first I didn't like the music, but their latest CD really grew on me as I kept listening and now I have to admit that I like it a lot.

I've really lucked out with this particular job, and I have to say that this was probably the best opportunity that's presented itself to me here in Germany. I can only hope and pray that it leads to something more substantial in the future. Fingers crossed!

The Last Days Are Never Enough

Of all the places that I've ever been to on a vacation, Egypt was the only one in which I felt like I wasn't finished. I found myself wanting to stay longer and explore more, as if I hadn't even scratched the surface. With most places, after about two or three days I start feeling like I'm ready to go back, but Egypt was just so different in every way possible, and that might be the reason why I genuinely didn't want to leave. It was refreshing in a very surreal way.

Friday: The City of the Dead
The poverty in Cairo is overwhelming everywhere you go, but the greatest concentration of the poorest of the poor in the city live here, in what's known as the City of the Dead.

The City of the Dead is a graveyard, filled with Islamic-style tombstones, tombs, and mausoleums. The area is noticeably shorter than the rest of the city partially because all the tombs are less than a storey high, and partially because the overall ground level of the city has risen considerably over the past 100 years. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to walk past a window, door, or archway that was half buried in the ground all over the city! It was just way worse here because it was even more unkempt than the rest of Cairo.

What I found the most interesting about the city was that it is actually listed in the Lonely Planet guide as well as some other tourist guides and websites as something to see, but we were definitely the only foreigners there. It was yet another example of why most people come to Cairo and what those people completely miss out on: what's relevant to today! As I've said before, as cool as that ancient stuff is, it has little to nothing to do with current Cairo— which is ultimately more important.

This raises another issue. The City of the Dead is a cemetery. A rather beautiful one, I might add. However, it has also become the living space for the poorest people in Cairo. The families that literally have no money or food take shelter in random tombs. This has a bit of symbology for them. Apparently in interviews with some inhabitants, they've said that they might as well be (or wished they were) dead because they were so poor (I know that I should cite this, but it was told to me orally through the friend who is living there and he's very informed and well researched). Therefore, they live in the tombs.

So what's the issue? Well, because many tourists only visit Egypt for the Pharaonic artefacts, they sort of see the rest of modern-day Cairo as an annoyance. So they'll go out of their way to make sure that they are as far away from the reality of poverty as possible. I think they're missing the point. Americans in particular should care about that stuff, especially in countries where lots of their tax dollars are supposed to be helping these people and it's obviously not.

Anyway, I thought the area was amazingly beautiful and I was surprised at how colourful it was! Lots of mustard yellows, deep pinks, bright blues, greens, you name it. And there was a lot of random writing on the walls that were usually very colourful as well. At first I thought it was graffiti, but eventually I started thinking that it was just writing on the walls from the family of the person(s) buried and memorialised there. In any case, it was quite beautiful.

There was a point in which we were mobbed by a gang of 8 year old boys, all smoking cigarettes and talking to us in Arabic with the movements and gestures of a typical Italian mobster from an American film. That was surreal, to say the least. They were really interested in the pins on my bag (and I made the grave mistake of giving one to them... they wouldn't leave us alone for a while after that), and they kept calling us "friend" so it was truly an experience. The leader of the gang wrote out his phone number and hands it to my friend saying in Arabic, "You need something? You call me!" These kids have seen The Godfather Trilogy one too many times.

There were also many parts of the city that were so similar in look and feel to the American south west that it was seriously not funny at one point. The same colours, the same plants... It was very surreal to see a cactus plant growing out of what could've been a saloon from the cowboy days in Arizona or New Mexico. Still, I loved the area and I highly recommend that if you go to Cairo that you face the reality of poverty and visit it— even if only to see the tombs and the mausoleums. It's definitely different than Pere Lachaise in Paris..

Saturday: The Citadel Overlooking Cairo
Probably the most dramatic building in Cairo, as well as the hardest to miss what with it being on top of a hill overlooking the city, is the great mosque at the Citadel.

Similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, it has cascading domes and lots of pointy bits. The mosque is situated in the middle of what is basically what's left of a fortress/palace, where there's a couple of military and police museums, a few smaller mosques, and a whole bunch of great views. Historically, it was built to protect Egypt from Crusaders in the middle ages, but it was then ruled by a couple of different rulers until the Ottomans took over in the 1500's. What's left at the current citadel site is mostly from that era.

The fortress part of the citadel is just like any typical fortress, with the exception that it's obviously Ottoman/Arab. It's got fountains and gardens where barracks used to be, and the buildings that are now museums were basically where ancient rulers used to live. There's a room in the military museum (which I didn't get a chance to go into) called the "Summer Room" where there is a system of fountains that was made specifically to cool down people. The old fashioned Arab air conditioner? Apparently it's the only room of its kind left in Cairo today. Supposedly it also very obviously used to be part of a palace because it's supposed to be adorned with gold and jewels and such. Ah to be a Sultan in the 1100's! If only those pesky Crusaders would get off my back.

In any case, because all the buildings inside are basically from different rulers, there are all sorts of different architectural styles. I'm sure someone could write a book on all the different things found just inside this complex! Unfortunately I'm not an expert so I won't go into too much detail. But the great mosque is obviously Ottoman as well are many of the walls that still stand, and the police museum had a bunch of fancy lions on the side from I think it was the Malmuk rule. They were cool. At one point there used to be a nice building in which they ended up using as storage space for the explosives and weapons but someone wasn't paying attention and it exploded. Oops. The picture to the left shows what's left of it. I think that the sign on the right side makes it look like a Looney Toons cartoon in a way.

The mosques are all pretty different in style. There was a very small one, a medium one, and the big kitschy one. Goldilocks would've had a heyday. I think was the most beautiful one was the little one, with gold, red and blue inlaid mosaic everywhere. It also had this black and white inlaid strip going around the entire interior with words from the Koran written. Arabic is one of the most beautiful languages to look at, and when they make pictures and designs out of the calligraphy it just makes me go nuts!

Then there was a medium one that had more of an open courtyard and these bright green domes (pictured above). It was nice but ultimately not as interesting as the smaller one, in my opinion. Finally there was the great mosque that everyone can see from miles away! The courtyard was huge and clean, with polished white stone and a big fountain for cleaning your hands and face to get ready to enter the house of Allah for prayer. At one point the French gave the ruler at the time a gift of a French-style clock tower (which you can see on the right of the picture here), which I have to say sticks out like a sore thumb. It was also funny to learn that the clock has never worked. Ever. That's so typical...

Another thing to notice is that the mosque has two minarets instead of one, and that's not typical. In fact it was Ottoman law that only a Sultan could build such a mosque with two, but the ruler of Egypt at the time may have built an Ottoman style mosque because he was technically under Ottoman rule at the time, but he put two minarets in an act of rebellion— we won't stay under Ottoman rule forever!

The inside of the mosque is just ridiculous. There is no other word for it. Yes it's incredible with the gold and the green and the high ceilings, but dear god this was just gaudy! There were grand chandeliers and fancy painted windows on the walls and gold up the wazoo. This level of extravagance is only possible if an overindulgent ruler built it.

That said, it was definitely worth seeing!

Police and the Omnipresent President
When you're an American watching the news, almost all you see of the Arab world are women who completely cover themselves against their will, bombs, terrorists, and policemen dressed in white with black berets. When I was in Cairo and was able to see the bigger picture first-hand, the only thing that I saw was the policemen. They were everywhere. Now, I say all this with the realization that Egypt is a relatively safe and open-minded place compared to
many other Arab countries (there the women are not required by law or necessarily pressured to cover themselves, and America is not at war with anyone in Egypt so I wasn't a walking target), but I still stand by the fact that I would probably be just as/more likely to be hit by a car back in Toronto than get blown up somewhere there.

In any case, the police were, in fact, everywhere and I have to say that most of the time it didn't look like they were really doing anything. There were a few instances where I would see these big prisoner trucks driving or sitting on the side of the road with a bunch of policemen standing guard with a huge rifle. I don't know who was being kept in there or what they were for. Apparently over the past few months there have been some riots in the southern part of the city regarding a bread shortage, so maybe they were trying to take care of some of that. But it was definitely intimidating at first to see so many police officers and military people standing around with large guns. I would say that it was the most stereotypical thing that I think I saw when I was there... at least in regards to what I remember seeing on television back home.

Also, there were many instances in which I saw the president painted on the side of a wall or posted up in front of things. He was almost always depicted in a suit with large sunglasses. It made me think of Men in Black or something, which just made me laugh. It definitely wasn't intimidating... in fact I don't think they are meant to be. If anything he just comes off as "cool" and I think that many Egyptians think that too. My Egyptian tea/shisha buddy from Wednesday night said that he liked the president because he liked the way he talked. He also liked that he always had this entourage of beautiful women around him. Good times.

So there ends my all too short trip to Cairo. There's a lot still out there and frankly, I can't wait to go back! I learned tonnes and it has completely opened my mind and my desire to explore more of the middle east and Arab cultures. I can only hope that some of the conflict there comes to an end in my lifetime, not just so I can go visit without being in danger, but for the sake of what I've come to love about the area. It deserves to have some peace.