So for the first time in my life I feel tear gas burning my eyes, nostrils and throat. My flatmate and me just stepped out on the balcony to smoke a cigarette and decided within a minute to break with the no-smoking-inside for this evening. We live about ten minutes away from Midan Tahrir where protest intensify since the peaceful demonstration last Friday but did not hear or smell anything during the last four days. At the moment I am not sure why we can feel it now, if because of the massive use of tear gas against the protesters (some say it may even be CS gas or worse, but until now this rumors are not approved) or because additionally the wind changed direction. And this happens just after the Field Marshall Tantawi stepped in front of the cameras and assured (coverage by the English edition of state-owned Al-Ahram, scroll to 19.46) that the military would not hurt any Egyptian, adding that the military felt insulted by the protests but would patiently cling to power. Hilarious! And obviously meant as a warning against continuing the protests. 
edit: Well, I just now listen to an interview on Al-Jazeera about it being definitely a more intense gas then usual tear gas and that it is used unbearable extensively. The people try to find out what kind of gas it is to be able to fight the symptoms.

Still I feel save where I live and do not expect the battle raging in the streets off Midan Tahrir to expand into my area. And still I would like to support the protests but do not dare to go to the Square myself for several reasons. It would feel like a kind of war tourism, I would not be very helpful still having problems to understand the local dialect especially when spoken fast and I fearing all the time to be run over by a stampede. So, what I can do is keeping my friends updated and buy medical and other supplies for the field hospitals.

So please do not worry! I am fine - especially in contrast to the ones who are fighting on the streets - and a I will not change my habit to avoid Midan Tahrir and the protesting masses when heading to school or get my other stuff done.

My main information (English) sources: Al-Jazeera, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Twitter #Tahrir

just in case, you're worried: I am safe and secure, avoiding Midan al-Tahrir and the Downtown area although skimming Twitter and media coverage all the time instead of doing my homework...

If you want to follow I recommend: Al-Jazeera-Blog and the daily al-Masry al-Youm or the hashtag #Tahrir

They do much better then I could at the moment. I just hold my breath...

Good news, very good news!

I got the scholarship granted by the DAAD. I just opened the e-mail expecting it to be a refusal because they decided so fast. So they will pay me money to do my field research here in Cairo and certainly support me by other means too.

Happy!

=)

ungeduldig wie ich bin, konnte mir die Wohnungssuche gar nicht schnell genug gehen. Dabei habe ich diverse Wohnungen gesehen, über die ich nun mit einigem Abstand auch wieder lachen kann.

Es ging mit einem winzigen Zimmer in einer Wohnung los, in der die Inhaberin quasi auf dem Flur schlief, mit einem Vorhang abgetrennt, und die von ihren zwei Mitbewohnerinnen so viel Geld nahm, dass sie am Ende quasi gar keine Miete bezahlte. Es ging weiter mit einem echt süßen Ägypter, der mir vom Broker in der ersten Minute unseres ersten Gesprächs als Schwuler vorgestellt wurde, und der sich selbst als überzeugten Feministen beschrieb. In der Wohnung gab es kaum Möbel, ein Loch im Fußboden sollte mit einem Papierkorb getarnt werden, über den ich prompt erst mal stolperte und die Straße kannte ich bereits als mehr als laut und vielbefahren - tags und nachts... Höhepunkt war aber eigentlich die Wohnung, vor der ich als erstes angebettelt wurde, kaum hatte ich die Metro verlassen, im Fahrstuhl glitzerten Blutstropfen auf dem Boden vom gerade stattfindenden Eid al-Adha und in der Küche huschten mit dem Betätigen des Lichtschalters diverse Kakerlaken verschreckt zwischen die Schränke.

Drei Wohnungen habe ich insgesamt gesehen, in die ich gerne eingezogen wäre, die Wohnung in Garden City ist es nun geworden, weil die anderen potenziellen Mitbewohner nicht schnell genug entschieden haben.

Mein Zimmer:

Blick in den Flur - neben dem Balkon befinden sich das Zimmer meiner kanadischen Mitbewohnerin und rechts die Küche. Zwischen unseren Zimmern ist das Wohnzimmer.

Und der Blick aus dem Fenster:

schon wieder ein Geburtstag in der Ferne. Diesmal sogar ganz ohne Party.

Dafür morgendlicher Sprachtest mit erfreulichem Ausgang, ein herziges Skype-Gespräch, zig Glückwünsche per Facebook, libanesisches Essen auf einem Nil-Dampfer.

Und ein Blumenstrauß:

Danke für alles! :)

Friends, lovers, sweethearts!

I arrived safely in Egypt, was picked up at the airport in time, met old friends and made new ones, bought a bunch of books and after visiting three flats also seem to have found a good place to stay for the next months already. I will see two more flats tomorrow and then decide for one, but honestly the one I saw today seems to be perfect. In the heart of the city but in a quiet street, in an old-fashioned but clean building, with an Egyptian and an Italian flatmate and at a very reasonable price.

Because I ignored the happening of a big Islamic feast, Eid al-Adha, I have to wait for my language lessons one more week. But this certainly will turn out as something good because this way I will not force myself to hurry too much. I will just move out of the hotel, stroll around, meet friends and read newspapers. Should be enough to do...

So hope with me for more good news and a lot of pictures, for example of sheep, cows and cats :)

P.S. And I have to thank you again for the wonderful Goodbye you celebrated with me. I really loved it! So much, that I was still singing and dancing when I cleaned the flat the day after :)

Sneaking back to urbanity.

Nature gets the Emscher back.

Almost at home:

Starting the day with a castle

Green only, no cars, hardly any people, just adverse winds and rain breaks. Love it!

An old fashioned railroad crossing. You need to call the control center and then hurry to cross the rail treck.

Some weeks ago somebody at work claimed this part of a Hamm non existent. I did some research then and now I could see myself: Hamm-Kump is for real ;)

Visiting an old friend and leaving a sunflower.

Finally the map became my friend, but now opposing wind and rain made me stop several times, getting saved by chapels and carports. Stop overnight in Wadersloh.

Starting a new day.

Having a cigarette in the green.

The old houses of Rheda-Wiedenbrück.

Scrap metal art in Rietberg, having an ice cream.

The artificial wildlife sanctuary Steinhorster Becken.

In the morning of our third day I decided to go on alone because my friends planned to head on with their high speed which I found too stressful. Besides my knees had started to hurt because I had no possibility to adapt to this long distances and small breaks. And, last but not least, as the only smoker in our group I always had to hurry to finish coffee, food and cigarettes and not make them wait for me. So here my first relaxing cigarette break, just before I go and buy a map to find my way home.

The map and me had some problems first, what made me stop again and again and drive pretty slowly. Additionally the road signs were far from perfect...

Orchids everywhere.

Nobody around, relaxing speed, no need to talk. That's holidays!

Sleep over in the Flussbett Hotel, having excellent organic food.

We were driving pretty fast and had almost no breaks, but at this organic supermarket we got coffee and wonderful chocolate cake.

And then, all of a sudden, we stood there: A bridge in the middle of restauration, no way to just cross it by bike. And my friends had only a map which did not help to find an alternative route. Fortunately it was possible to cross the bridge by foot though only by ignoring the fences. So we removed our bags and carried every single bag and bike past the fences, over the gaps betweens street and bridge and to the other side. As you can see: We had a sense of humor about the unexpected disruption.

The evening came with some more surprises: The camping ground we headed for did exist but the people there did not allow us to stay. The owner was not present and the women managing a christian youth group for some reason seemed to be afraid of us three travelers and did not show any grace of charity. However, we were happy then to find this old farmyard about three kilometres away from the camping ground. The old owner told his dog that we are okay, allowed us to stay and use the water pipe next to to door and by sunset even brought us three bottles of beer to welcome us.

Three days ago I did not even know I would be travelling. I had so much work that I decided to need a break and told a friend that I did not exactly know what to do except leaving town for some days. She invited me to the trip she and her boyfriend had planned months in advance and here we are, biking and camping about 90 kilometres from our hometown on our first evening.

I bought a new tent because I only had a big one which weights to much for biking. So I decided for the Coleman Rigel. I do not understand how two people should sleep there comfortably even if they like each other very much. Rain becomes a problem when you try to get your stuff out of the tent - you have to decide if either you get wet or you stuff. Although I have to say: It stayed tried also during heavy rain. But even if it does not rain the condensation water wets you and your sleeping bag. Still, the tent is fast to fix, small to pack and really very light. So I will keep it for later loner tours.

Two things I like about Germany:

1. Taking a cab and entering the front seat like a duck takes to water. One thing I would never dare to do in the Middle East. In Germany I think nothing of doing so. Every taxi driver would consider me vain and snobbish not sitting next to him and chatting about the weather, family, jobs, whatever. Besides the sight is a lot better than from the back seat. In Egypt or elsewhere in the Middle East taking the front seat would most likely be understood as an invitation to harass me.

2. Imagine a crowded place in Germany, a placid evening, everyone chatting, smoking, trinking. And in the middle of this urban scene imagine a small cat searching for food in the rubbish. Apart from the fact that there would hardly be any rubbish bag lying in a German Downtown - it would be unthinkable for anyone to kick the cat for all the world to see. Not everyone may love animals, but no one would dare to torture an animal in public. I have seen incidents like this not only once in the Middle East. I always wanted to hit or kick the animal abusers back. But I never did because I was on my own and not any one of the passerbys would have understood why I was angry, arguing and certainly screaming. In Germany it would not only be me showing the bad ass that he is doing terribly wrong.

There are certainly more important issues to discuss about, but both are about respect.
Respect between men and women.
Respect for any living creature.

I do not claim that Germany is perfect. I do not claim that respect is present everywhere, for everything, for everyone.
But still I realize the small contrasting things I love my homeland for.

just for the fun of it... who knows when I will ever have such a good and interesting view ;)

Cairo

al-Iskanderia / Alexandria

I already posted the pictures of the traces of the revolution but I also talked a lot with Egyptian friends and other people about their hopes and fears. I arrived just after 77 per cent of the population voted "Yes" for the constitutional referendum and exactly the day the Ministry of Interior burned. The revolution is still everywhere - a newpaper article is pinned at the hotel reception and in the elevator, people are discussing the latest revolutionary events in other Arab countries, e.g. Syria and Yemen, whereever you go you the TV is turned on and does not show soap operas as one year ago but the news by Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabia. And then there was this silence well after midnight. Silence in a city that is know as the one that never sleeps. No traffic, no honking, no laughter, only the screams of fighting cats during the night because of the curfew.

Most of the people I talked to had voted "No". Young liberals who had been at Tahrir square, some for all of the 18 cold, cold nights, some only a few times, but all with high hopes. Did you know that coke works against tear gas? I did not and my new friends did not either. But some Tunesians knew already and helped their egyptian friends by telling them. Some of the people I asked now started to work at the grassroots, talking in their neigbourhood about the coming events and political decisions, planning to campaign for promising parties and candidates or just keep talking with family and friends because they lack time to be engaged more. Most of them fear the influence of islamists, even the moderate ones as the Muslimbrotherhood, but none of them denies that especially the Brotherhood will play a important role in new Egypt.

So I also met the Muslimbrothers because writing my PhD about Egypt means that I need all the information I can get. I confess that I was a little trouble by the thought of going to their office and meeting them. For me it felt like walking into the lion's den. (No offense to anyone! Just my feelings!) It was interesting though. I did not get this much new information because we had a little misunderstanding when I asked for an appointment with an official some days before. But it was important anyway because now my personal fear is gone and I can handle them with reason although I am still pretty sceptical about their ambitions. And it was interesting to see how many people are visiting the office and try to get into the network of the brothers - memorable especially to see the western visitors.

The strangest encounter came when I did not expect any more. Heading for my flight back, drinking my last coffee in Egypt in the crowded lobby I accidentally shared my table with a young woman who catched my attention before because of her stylish clothes. It turned out she was an actress on her way to Casablanca to present her new film. "I hate the people of Tahrir" she told me and "I want Mubarak back, he is so sweet and good." I was not surprised because I knew already about the role of the state owned media and a lot of entertainment VIPs like actors and singers during the revolutionary days. I did not ask for her name. But I realised that the girl that traveled with the blonde, sunglassed actress, her "friend" and stylist, did not participated in our talk although I invited her to. The second girl stayed silent, ate her meal and then as a matter of course took the big bag of the starlet when the two of them left for the gate.

So what will happen next? I have to change the design of my PhD to catch the changes caused by the revolution. Hopefully I will be done by the end of the year and then gather my data in Egypt. I do not expect to travel before Octobre, but who knows - maybe we will have a litte summertrip for a week or so :)

So, what I really was here for was searching for the traces of the revolution. Entering my hotel I smelled the scent of fire as well as when first heading for Tahrir. In the lobby of the hotel some windows are crashed, near the egyptian museum the building of the ruling party was burnt. After a bit, I did not smell the agone fires anymore - habituation works...
What I see and hear instead is the proudness of most Egyptians. At Tahrir the do not only sell t-shirts that say "I love Egypt" but also lots of theses badges that remind of the start of the revolution.

At Tahrir I also found a single remaining leaflet showing the wishes of the angry demonstrators.

If I did not know better I would have thought: "Well Egypt is a third world country, it is normal that the streets are broken, even downtown."

 

 But I know better. These are the traces of the fierce battles between the demonstrators and their counterparts paid by the regime. A friend of mine spent his nights at Tahrir and told me how they removed the pavers, crashed them and prepared this way for the attacks they knew would happen. We all know the pictures of the people of Tahrir who tried to protect themselves. To walk where formerly the street was neat if not tidy feels weird, especially because you find broken spots all around the square and in the neigbouring streets and know you are walking a battlefield.

I came also across a very touching gesture: All around Tahrir people had hung little plastic baskets at lampposts and other pickets to say "We wil keep our country clean - now and for the rest of time." Rubbish very often just lies at the ground because the is no convenient number of dustbins all around. And although my best fried in Egypt told me: "Well people did this but I do not think that keeping the streets clean is our business." I think the little coloured buckets are not only a try to keep the streets clean but are clear political claim.