Ataturk Restaurant and Crazy Drivers

Tonight three of my friends and I went into downtown Cairo to have dinner. Perusing through a guide book, we found a relatively inexpensive restaurant on the otherside of the Nile. We took a taxi there from our bus stop and were ushered into the restaurant by the owner. The restaurant, Ataturk, a Turkish and Levant restaurant, was gorgeous inside. The walls were ornately painted with gold. The menu and food were fantastic! Our meals were served with a traditional and delicious flat bread called manakish that has black sesame seeds on it. For dinner we split an appetizer of spinach filled puff pastries called Borka (I think that's its name), and then I had hummus and stuffed wine leaves (really grape leaves, but they like to call them wine leaves). Others had chicken in a walnut sauce that came in a metal bowl and sat on a metal container with stars and moons cut into it, and sat over a flame to keep it warm. Overall the meal was fantastic, filling, and inexpensive.

After dinner we of course needed dessert, so we stopped at a patisserie around the corner. We each got something, and I treated myself to a filo dough pastry filled with a caramel-tasting mouse, garnished with chocolate bits :) YuMMY

Then our trip got interesting. We had to catch a cab to get back to the bus stop across the river for our 8 o'clock departure time. We hailed a cab, but somehow the cab driver misunderstood and took us to the University of Cairo instead the American University in Cairo. We were already cutting it close in time and now we had to make out way through traffic to get to our correct destination. The drive was terrifying and surreal. The cab driver was listening to innappropriate 50-cent songs (he didn't speak english, so I'm not sure if he understood the lyrics) and speeding through traffic. We were traveling at high speeds, winding, and weaving around cars, narrowly missing pedestrians and other vehicles. I have no idea how we fit through some of the spaces we did. I swear, Egyptians are fearless drivers. They some how manage to make a three lane highway into a seven lane highway. Ridiculous. Anyway, we were running late, so we called the bus company to see if they could wait a couple minutes for us. Once we got there, we though we had missed it but in the distance we saw it pulling up with our Palestinian friend, Khalil inside! Praise Khalil! He had spoken with the driver and convinced him to circle the block and wait for us!

On the bus ride back to the university, we had a very interesting and enlightening conversation with Khalil. Khalil is studying at AUC but the rest of his family remains in Gaza or spread out between Syria, Jordan, and parts of Egypt. Khalil was telling us that most of his extended family cannot claim Palestinian nationality or travel to see one anther. Their passports are essentially invalid, and in his words, "The world does not welcome them." I found this statement to be particularly heartwrenching.

We talked a bit about the conflict between his country and Israel. Khalil is a Christian and he himself harbors no ill-will toward the Israelis. He believes that both countries are at fault and have suffered greatly. He believes that in order to have peace, both countries must first improve and stablize their own governments, and then work towards developing a solution to the problem. Most importantly Khalil feels that the Palestinians and Israelis should be using their minds and not their arms to solve the conflict.

A satisfying, terrifying, and enlightening day.

Luxor this weekend to visit the Valley of the Kings and Queens!