Our shouts reverberated throughout the bustling streets of Cairo as the 15 of us American students, along with five or so Egyptians, shouted "Arbah wahid" continuously on one special night last week.
The words "Arbah wahid" translate to "four and one," the score of the soccer game between Egypt and Cote D'Ivoire in the ongoing African Cup, the most famous soccer tournament throughout the entire continent.
When Egypt won this semifinal game last Friday night, all of Cairo literally exploded like a firecracker. I was in a friend's apartment when the game ended, and immediately after its culmination, Egyptians flooded the streets of Cairo, chanting "Arbah wahid."
Cars sped throughout the streets, their horns beeping incessantly. Countless locals waved huge Egyptian black, white and red flags on the sidewalks, in moving cars and outside their apartments. Our group eventually ended up in a public area under a bridge near the Nile River.
Here was the most incredible part of our night. At least 300 Egyptians (along with American students scattered throughout the crowd) were chanting "Misr" in unison. Large groups encircled Egyptians who were hoisted up on the shoulders of their friends, waving flags and leading more cheers in colloquial Arabic.
A few friends and I moved ourselves right into the thick of the crowd. Egyptians, recognizing the presence of foreigners, grabbed our arms and started dancing with us in a circle. Keep in mind that this occurred as innumerable cars and passengers continued to drive by the area, beeping, yelling and waving their own flags without stopping.
Cairo is inhabited by almost 20 million Egyptians, so imagine 40 million eyes glued to television sets in "sheesha" shops throughout the city, silence permeating every crevice at one moment. And then the next moment, an explosion erupts whose intensity would put any UMass riot to shame. This was one of those singular moments that define your study abroad experience.
On a deeper level, the celebration showed how nationalism can be used in a positive manner to unify one's own people without creating divisiveness with another group. History has proven the deadly effects of having pride only in one's own ethnicity.
But there are cases, such as the one I experienced, which remind us never to forget to distinguish between oppressive governments, like Mubarak's regime, and the people, whose spirit never dies even under a dictatorial power. The pure joy evident on the 300 or so Egyptians' faces during the celebration confirmed this belief.
Less memorable, but no less satisfying is the food I recently consumed in Alexandria, the famous ancient city founded by Alexander the Great of Macedonia. A seaport of the Mediterranean Sea, "Alex," as it is known here, contains amazing seafood restaurants, along with historic citadels, remnants of Roman temples, and the second largest library in the world (behind the Library of Congress).
On Saturday night, we ate at a local place called El Baron, where we consumed hummus, salad, fish filets, fried calamari, seafood rice and a special tomato seafood soup, costing £432 in total.
During the meal, our three waiters kept bringing out more and more fish filets and calamari, even though we hadn't ordered any extra of these dishes. Their desire to please us Americans, their guests, embodied the hospitable spirit ubiquitous in Egypt (along with, of course, their desire to persuade us to give them money).
Now to an unabashed carnivore like myself, the seafood, along with the popular chicken, lamb and beef dishes, was heaven. Yet my favorite meal so far has been cooked pigeon, which I ate at a local Cairo restaurant with some American students and my Arabic teacher. They smirked at us at first while we were trying to figure out the best way to find the actual meat.
To Tejal Patel, my UMass friend who is also studying abroad here, it is a little more difficult to find the perfect meal, since she is a vegetarian. In fact, on the flight to Cairo, she was trying to learn how to say, "I don't eat meat," in Arabic, but of course forgot the phrase once we landed.
In any event, she has discovered delectable hummus dishes and other tasty vegetarian concoctions unique to the Middle East, meals that rival the flavor of the meat dishes I frequently consume.
Eating authentic Alexandrian seafood, downing Cairo pigeon, and dancing with 300 Egyptians - it has been an incredible week. This week may be even better - Egypt is playing Cameroon in the African Cup championship on Sunday.
Greg Collins is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at gcollins@student.umass.edu.
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