Christmas Break Part 6: Zowek

Do you ever see pictures of the Egyptian guys wearing their traditional clothes and working on the farms? Well if you have that was exactly what Zowek was like.

During our time in Zowek we stayed in the abode of Magdy Dief. He was a great host. He took us everywhere and was kind of like a travel agent, I guess. He'd make sure we'd get to students houses on time and then leave in a timely manner to get to the next students house- a really organized guy, pretty contrary to his performance in school...

Back to Zowek, though. The village is what I would describe as "rustic." I don't know how to describe the buildings very well. They're brick and usually painted white on the outside. The alleyways are narrow and they're generally two-level houses. Many of the students fathers go and work in Kuwait, so they live in pretty comfortable houses, but I think it goes pretty hard on many of the students.

The people of Zowek are what I would like to think of as the "true Egyptians." Many of the Cairo, Luxor, and other big city Egyptians have fallen away from the traditional Egyptian culture because they have been so "Westernzied" by tourists and media broadcasting. The villages, however, have stayed to the hospitality and frienliness that Egypt is well known for. It was refreshing to go to Zowek and know that the people there weren't trying to sell me something and take advantage of me. It reminded me to keep a proper perspective in making opinions on Egypt.

Whenever we'd walk through the village, people were kind and would usually say hi or would at least smile. It was nice! I got the chance to wrestle with one of the "Zowekese" men as they like to call themselves. The Zowekese men are really proud of the fact that they're so strong and so they like to make it known.

We were eating at one of my students house, Romany Assad, and his uncle said something about how meat was so good for you and that you don't need to wash your hands. Somehow the talk of health came up and he said his way was better and he'd prove it by wrestling me. He was a really fun guy, so I figured "why not?!" I was told that the way you win is by knocking the other guy to the ground. I did exactly that by using "The Bar Cigar" but he kept wrestling after I got him to the ground and got on top of me when I thought it was over. He was a heavyset guy and pretty strong and there was no way I could get him off once I realized we were still going. Needless to say, he pinned me. It was a great experience, even though I lost. I can say that I've wrestled one of the legendarily "Strong Upper Egyptians."

The meals at houses were another whole story all of themselves! In summary, they bring out a LOT OF FOOD and have you eat until you explode. On our last day there, we had a pretty intense eating time. We had breakfast at 11 am, Lunch at 1:00, 2nd Lunch at 3:00 and Dinner at 5:00. This might not sound too bad, but you are expected to eat a lot at each house or you're being offensive to the cook. I gave up by puking between 2nd Lunch and Dinner. It made me have a 1st hand understanding of the ancient Roman feasts where they would feast and puke all day- it was disgusting. My stomach had to have stretched so much in Zowek, it makes me sick, but grateful.

We ended up spending two days at Zowek, which were mostly spent eating and recovering from eating. The idea of eating meat makes me sick, but I had a great time getting to better understand the culture and lifestyle that my students come from. A truly enriching experience!