Phew

Finally uploaded all 4,054 of my photos to Flickr.

Anniversary

Today a year ago, everything changed...

Fabulous

Mental note - read/watch all of this.

Ahly vs Negb

Last Friday saw Luke and I finally able to make it to that cornerstone of the Egyptian cultural experience – a football match at Cairo International Stadium, a stones-throw away from my old apartment in Nasr City. The game was a big deal (it was the African equivalent of the Champion’s League final) and so finding tickets was a big deal for us unwitting Westerners and our Egyptian friends, and so when we found out we had them a few hours before the game alarms were duly rung and we made our way East to the stadium. This is where the fun began.

Instructed to wait in front of the green-and-white Mosque, I did so for 15 minutes before further phone conversations yelled over the noise of tens of thousands of fans indicated that a) I was in front of the wrong green-and-white Mosque, the right one being on the other side of the stadium, and b) I had 10 minutes to rectify the situation before the gates were closed. A brief period of sprinting ensued and thankfully I was able to find the others partaking in a 200-person Rugby scrum next to one of the stadium compound entrances. By this point the police and guards had decided to close the gates on the swarming fans, many of whom (like ourselves) were waving tickets in the air; like many things in Egypt though this wasn’t as final at it would be in other places, and by cramming under the barricades and pretty much shoving past the police we were able to get through the first line of defence, along with a great number of other fans trying to gain entry. Next came more charging down the street until we came to line-of-defence number 2, where everyone was herded through a narrow passageway, an ineffectual metal detector and more guards, who this time were brandishing riding crops and seemed a lot more keen on people now getting through. Still waving our tickets (and elbows) in the air, we managed to squeeze through somehow, me dodging two policemen’s arms and taking a smack to the back of the head in the process. Yet more running brought us to the final line of defence, a line of turn styles sorted by seating section that bordered on the orderly; showing our tickets gained us access to the inner sanctum of Egyptian sports. Our only hurdle came as Luke’s bag (containing two cameras and an iPod) was searched, with the guard demanding baksheesh (a tip) to let him keep our items with him. Thankfully our Egyptian friends help him avoid getting ripped off having to pay the fine gentleman and we staggered up the stairs to our section of the stadium.

At this point we still had a solid 90 minutes before the game got underway, so we had plenty of time to find space to sit, catch our breath and write “Ahly” on various body parts using red face paint. Somehow a vast number of fans with nothing resembling a ticket had made it through the various trials we had just navigated, and so our seats for the evening were the concrete steps in the aisles between the rows of chairs – thankfully this still gave us a decent view of the pitch and the thousands of fans surrounding it. Passions were running high – the chanting was continuous; altercations ranging from raised voices to physical violence was regular (and this was all between fans of the same team); a line of riot police kept a barrier of 20 feet around the huddle of away supporters; red clothing was ubiquitous amongst everyone else.

Sadly the game didn’t turn out the way the Egyptians had planned it to. The opposing team, Negb of Tunisia, grabbed the lead shortly before halftime, and although Ahly scored shortly after this result would have still meant Negb’s victory on away goals (the first leg in Tunisia had ended in a 0-0 draw). A red card for Ahly a short time later didn’t help things, an neither did Ahly conceding two goals in the last 5 minutes of the match. Final result: Negb 3, Ahly 1, and a lot of crying Egyptians.

Still, at least Luke and I can claim to have survived getting to the stadium and have seen a football match in Egypt – although maybe next time we’ll get to the stadium a little sooner to beat the rush…

Unpatriotic

Sadly I wasn't able to watch the Colts-Pats game last night (CBS isn't a common channel over here, as you might expect). In the imaginary game that I imagined though, Brady tripped, fell and hurt his ankle during the team introductions; the backup could only throw 10 yards at a time; Moss got pissed and refused to run anything except Hail Mary routes, until he was torn in half by a flying Bob Sanders tackle; and Belichick just stared off into space the whole time, like a combination of Art Shell and one of those Easter Island statues.

When I check the score in 2 minutes, I do not expect this to be the actual outcome.
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UPDATE: Bugger. At least it was a close game (and close when Indy was missing some important starters). How about we meet up again in January for another go-around?