Street Scenes (Thursday night/Friday morning)

So the dirty little secret of my Watson project is that I'm not specifically interested in religious communities. I'm not religious, and I often feel quite phony (What up, Salinger?) feigning belief in order to get to the heart of what makes religious people tick stay faithful, and stick together. Nevertheless, what fascinates me is communities in general and what binds them, religious communties included. In walking around Cairo the last few days, a few things I saw were quite profound on this second point, in regards to the Egyptian community, the Watan, or patrie.

Thursday night was the semifinal game of the Africa Cup of Nations, which is being held this year in Angola. Egypt was recently eliminated from World Cup contention so this is the biggest event they can win this year. On Thursday, they faced Algeria, the team which eliminated them from The World Cup a short while ago in a nail-biting two games, complete with blown calls, allegations of bribery, and riots in the streets. So yeah, soccer is kind of a big deal here.

As I wandered out to get some dinner and watch the game, every cafe had chairs spilling out not only onto the sidewalk, but also halfway across the street as people gathered to watch the semifinal match. During every break in play, the young shabab in the front would beat on a makeshift drum, leading chants of "bump ba-bump bump bump MISR!". Any questionable contact would lead to cries of "kuss ukhtak" (YOUR SISTER'S VAGINA!) or even less printable words directed at Algeria's players, fans, and national history.

In a country which suffers from extreme poverty, pollution, corruption and other ills, this was a major release, especially after the previous defeat. Egyptians have a chance, a reason to feel national pride. This binds the community together. Having awoken many mornings to the 8am chanting of the national anthem ("baladi, baladi" or "my homeland") at the primary school next door, I know the pride Egyptians feel in their connection to this land and it's history. Watching the game and its viewers confirmed that and made it much more real.

After Egypt's 4-0 victory, I headed back to my temporary home, but I didn't fall asleep for a long time, as car horns, dancing, flag-waving, and chanting filled the streets below. As I watched from my safe perch above, I knew I had seen something of the Egyptian spirit and nation. No, it wasn't a religious community (though you could certainly argue that football is a co-equal with Islam as Egypt's dominant faith), but it was something I won't soon forget.

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The next morning, Friday, as I set out for a busy day of juice-drinking, pastry-eating, and drawing (it's a tough job, this Watson thing), I walked past the cafes which had been overflowing the night before. The TVs were turned off, some covered with a sheet, and men sat on the ground, listening to the Friday sermon from a nearby mosque.

These two scenes, twelve hours apart on the same corner, are what make Egypt continually engaging for me, even though my life and study here haven't exactly gone as planned.

As I walked back from sketching a few kilometers away in the afternoon, the cafes were now half-full, as patrons watched a replay of the game from the night before, reliving the triumph. I haven't come to any grand conclusion about Egypt or its people; it's a diverse place with 80 million people and 100 million opinions and philosophies, but in the last few days, I saw something. And that's what keeps me coming back for more.

[I've decided that I'm going to spend my last few weeks in Egypt before I go to Ethiopia sketching. Now, my days can be categorized by what I drew/what juice I drank/what pastry I ate. Yesterday was ablution fountain/orange/cheese dayyneesh (that's Arabic for danish). Today was tree at Ataba/sugar cane juice/cinnamon roll. I think I'm going to have a portfolio and diabetes by the time I leave.]

Location:Cairo, Egypt