And Moses Said...

Let me preface this by stating that I am supposed to be in Alexandria. There was a train that had my theoretical ticket, and a theoretical seat, where theoretically I should have been sitting drink my theoretical drink and reading a theoretical book. But that didn’t happen. Mainly because I was supposed to go with my roommate who was going to come with me because this girl lives in Alexandria but she goes to school at AUC and she told me to come visit sometime because she goes up there for the weekends a lot. But noooo… He had a book report to write, so we didn’t leave.

As it turns out, that was a really good move. See, one of my roommate’s parents are in town so they are out on a Nile Cruise, and so if we had left there would have been no one in the apartment to stop the flood. Yup, thats right, the flood. See, because there are so many bad pipes in Cairo, there is a great invention in many of the bathrooms of a drain. The idea goes as follows: pipes will clog, and water will get everywhere, and therefore every bathroom should have a “master drain” that has an opening somewhere in the bathroom floor so that if anything ever clogs the water has a place to drain, instead of going all over your apartment. Quite a stellar idea which has come in damn handy when the door to the washing machine popped open and water flooded everywhere.

So you can imagine my surprise yesterday morning when I walked into the bathroom to find a mini-lake sitting in the bathroom. I thought to myself “this isn’t good”. However, there is a precursor to this story, because a few days ago, the same thing had happened. The lake was a tiny puddle, and at the time I thought nothing of it. Without my glasses on early in the morning I dismissed it as nothing more than water that dripped off my roommate after he got out of the shower. Well, I got a text from Andrew later that day asking if the bathroom was flooded when I got up. I found this strange, but I said not really. He said that it just sort of magically went away after a bit. So this was good news. I thought perhaps it was our continually troublesome toilet. Maybe the tank that held the clean water didn’t stop filling and started flowing everywhere. Thanks random internet for the pic of drains in Egypt (this one isn't flooded).

So back to the story story thingy. I had to piss, so I got up and went into the bathroom. Naturally I was still groggy, and not fully with it, but was surprised to find my foot in about 3 inches of water. The only good news is that our bathroom isn’t quiet level, so the water was mainly only covering about half the bathroom.

Well, I turned off the water to the sink and the toilet. Or I tried. The problem is that our sink leaks 100% of the time, all day, everyday. The knobs underneith to turn the water off are stripped on the cold water, and doesn’t shut all the way on the hot water pipe, so there is no stopping the flow of water. Well, I didn’t think anything of it because I thought it was the toilet. There was no sign of water leakage from the sink, so it couldn’t be from there. I decided the best course of action was to start to scoop the water off the floor and then get a fan to dry off the floor. So I got a pot lid and started scooping into the shower. Well, after a good 20 minutes I realized that the water level wasn’t decreasing. This was strange. So then I decided to check that drain that was “supposed” to make the water go away. It obviously was clogged (otherwise the water would have drained). And thats when it clicked -- all the water lines in the bathroom go to a central pipe (perhaps except for the toilet)! I did a little test, and sure enough, when I dumped a bunch of water in the bathtub, I could see the ripples of water come up OUT of the drainage ditch. This is a bad thing. I didn’t think much of it, perhaps it would drain by itself like it did with Andrew. The bowab was no where to be found (it was Friday morning, when everyone is at prayer, Friday is the holy day) so I though I’d go get some milk from the one store that was open and just wait until I could get my hands on a plumber.

I get back maybe 15 minutes later, and I see there is a problem. The water had started spreading. It was clearly advancing up towards the carpet of the hallway. In fact, it was only about 6 inches away, and getting closer. Something had to be done. The good news is now with the exasterbaited problem, I could detect the cause. There was a good 2 inches of water ABOVE the shower drain, and this was the clue I needed. The way the piping system worked under the tile floor came to my brain in diagram form. The only question was… where was it draining? Or supposed to be draining? In retrospect, its quite obvious that there was only a partial clog, so it clogged and filled up a little, but then that morning when I went out to get milk it entirely clogged, and the never ending flow of water from the sink came out of the drainage pipe into the bathroom. Regardless, I didn’t put that piece of the puzzle together until later. I got our big plastic garbage can out of the kitchen, woke up my roommate, handed him the pot lid, and told him to get scooping. The water was beginning to move into the carpet, not good.

I then followed the pipes. There is an interesting central shaft that is just open without a roof. It is there that the vents for the gas appliances and the water pipes run. You can get into this space by crawling through a window. Luckily we live on the 1st floor, so getting to our pipe was relatively easy. It was quite obvious there was a problem because water was seeping everywhere in this little space. Just as I was about to go investigate further, a guy came up, and I said I needed help, so we went into the bathroom, and started to use a mop to try and plunge the main drain in our bathroom. After some searching, we managed to find a plunger under the kitchen sink. After that there was progress. The clog partially dissipated, and the threat of apartment flooding was averted. It wasn’t draining great though, so it required someone to wade out to where our master pipe came out on the other side of the bathroom wall in the small space for all the apartment pipes. The pipe has an “oh shit” opening, basically so that if there is a clog downhole, you can plunge something, and theoretically the water has a place to drain out of (which it was partially draining). After some motivated plunging work, the clog was gone. The man asked for money. At the time I thought he was the bowab, who we pay to handle this kind of stuff, so I didn’t pay him much, but in retrospect, I think he might not have been, which means I was a real mean bastard for being a cheep ass, so I’m sure. Feel a little bad about that. Oh well.

Later I had to mop the floor to get the “dirty” water from a backed up drain off our floor. The smell wasn’t great, but after some good mopping, and the use of a fan for a few hours to evaporate the rest of the water, I think the bathroom is probably cleaner than it was prior to the incident.

And that my friends is why going to Alexandria would have been really really really really really really really really bad. Whew. Dodged a bullet.

Family Time

Let me preface this by stating that we are three grown men. Sitting around, watching a love story. About a man dying from cancer young. It was terribly tragic and sad. So we got to talking about families, and I decided I wanted to find out about some of the history of my family's past. I'd heard some fun stories and I decided to use the new tool of the internet to see if they were true.

The first is about my great-uncle: a Mr. Fritz Weinschenk. The story goes as follows -- after being born in Germany the family escapes from the Nazi's in the 1930's. He goes on to fight in WWII and made it into Life Magazine! He had a special talent that he was able to seal himself INSIDE his own dufflebag. Well, such an amazing skill couldn't help but make it into Time Mag. It has been family legend for years, but the article in question had been lost to the sands of time.

Enter the internet. Google is doing this cool thang where they archive all the old publications they can get their hands on. One perk of this is that they have some great software that automatically transcribes the print on the page from bits to meaningful letters and text. This means that time Mag is now searchable. So I pulled up my handy google books search engine, and typed in fritz weinschenk, and guess what?

http://books.google.com/books?id=3E0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA94&dq=fritz%20weinschenk&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q=fritz%20weinschenk&f=false

Check Page 94 on the bottom for my Great Uncle.

There is my great uncle staring back at me! I must say, I was quite impressed. It was very cool to be able to dig up a relic of the past. He of course fought in WWII, and in fact was a feature charictor in a documentary about Jews in WWII. The website for the documentary has a nice little snippet about him.

http://www.aboutfacefilm.com/soldiers_weinschenk.htm

He moved from Mainz, Germany in... I think it was 1935. Anyways, thats just some interesting family history. I've always wanted to visit Germany, and now I think I'll have to take a visit to Mainz when I go.

I wish I knew a bit more about my mom's side of the family. Her maiden name is a bit more common so its harder to search for her side. Also, both her parents died when she was younger, so I never met them, and there is just a lack of "family stories" simply because there aren't many people around to tell them. My grandfather (from who I believe I take my middle name -- Miles) I believe (if I remember correctly) also fought in the war as a medic. Invasion of France, and all that fun stuff.

Anyways, I just think its cute.

Dream Team?

Let me preface this with a question -- what would your dream team be?

The reason is this -- I've just realized that if the US leaders were to play any sort of competitive sport against the "enemies of america", America would just own. They'd slam down. If we pick basketball, for example, lets see how the lineup looks. Lets look at the "dream team".

USA political basketball team:

Center: First, I gotta go with my main man Abe Lincoln. 6'4", mean beard, crazy top-hat, ghetto (he got shot), but not a ballhog (emancipation proclamation). Good post move. Has a tendency to sacrifice to keep the team together. Also, will go all "Burnin' Sherman" on yo' ass if you try and secede from the team.

Small Forward: Easy, oh so easy, I'm going with Kobe Hussain Obama baby! Err... Thats Barack. Seriously, have you seen this guy's moves? If he gets a foul, he's awesome at talking his way out of anything, and getting the refs to change the call. Good stroke from outside the arch.

Small Forward: Clarence Thomas. NBA star turned supreme court judge? Sounds like a match made in Heaven. Quick to the boards and quick to the gavel. Used to taking whatever Justice Scalia dishes out, but a good coach could get him out of his funk.

Point Guard: Rob Emanual. This guy is a leader. If you can orchestrate a presidential election, orchestrating a 2-1-2 zone is easy. Good play at the top of the key. He's quick and plays smart.  Good vision downcourt. Has a strong drive to win. Works well with Barack, so there is a great driv'in dish out to Barack who can hit the three.

Shooting Guard: Ralph Nader. Experience Experience Experience. He's see failure his entire life, so he's not afraid to fail, but is a solid player. He doesn't get discouraged which makes him a great shooting guard. If he misses a few threes he doesn't get in a funk. He just keeps shooting with that beautiful stroke of his until one rattles in. He's not your go to guy at the buzzer though, I'd give it to Barack if time was winding down. He'll give you solid minutes, and can probably average maybe 8-12 points a game, but don't expect a superstar.

Sixth Man: Westly Clark. Overall good athlete, will give you 100% all the time. Used to having a good tryout but always failing to make the A team. Good sport though. Defensive specialist (from his army training). If you think he's going to give up the baseline to the enemy you're crazy.

Crazy Man: I gotta go with Theodore Roosevelt. Every team has one of these players. Think of them as the Ben Wallace of the world. No skills, won't really give you points, but provides a great spark, and OK defense. Teddy was a roughrider so we know he's crazy and not afraid to foul hard. Gives some personality to the team, even though he lacks some ball skills. 

Coach: FDR. He led us through the Great Depression and WWII, therefore, a run to the world playoffs will be easy in comparison. Levelheaded, but never satisfied. He'll make you work hard even if he has to hire 2 million americans to dig ditches to do so. Plus, he's iconic. Coach in a wheel chain. Common...

List of American Enemies:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Notoriously short. Maybe he's quick, and maybe on the football (soccer) pitch he could be a decent player, but not basketball.

Kim Jong Il II: Seriously? By far, easily the worst basketball player ever on the history of the planet.

Adolf Hitler: Painter who was crazy and un-athletic. Not tall either.

Stalin: Maybe... Maybe... Doesn't seem quick but that mustache intimidates.

Osama Bin Ladin: Ok, he'd def. be a decent center. Probably no endurance because of the dialysis but he's tall, mean, probably has a good post move or two, and undoubtably has motive. Probably if we could shut him downwe'd be OK.

Hugo Chavez: Probably would spend too much time getting rid of all the photos taken by the press of him to have his head in the game, that, and if his team wasn't red he'd flip a shit nut.

Putin: Ok, intimating, and probably has a pretty good 15 footer from the baseline, but lets be honest, kinda a ball hog. Instead of getting it to Osama who has a good high percentage shot, he's gonna shoot fadaways from 15 feet out every time, and they are going to clank off the front of the rime more times than not. So potential? Yes, but I'd have a Clarence over Putin any day.




I can't think of a single team who could ever beat up on the US. We're just too good at basketball. What would your dream team be? Let me know!

World Cup Final Match U20 Ghana vs. Brazil

Let me preface this by stating that I had zero inclination that I was going to a football match (kurra in arabic, which means ball -- technically the full name is Kura al-kaadim, literally, ball of the foot, but people just use kura, since there is only one sport with a ball in Egypt). Just to make a little more sense of everything, I will be referring to AMERICAN FOOTBALL as american football, and “soccer” as football/kura. I’ve found this is the easiest way to avoid confusion. Often when you’re dealing with Americans and other world people, complications do arise.

But Katie from the University of Wisconsin showed up to review the AUC program for UW. She was nice enough to have dinner with the Study abroad kids and we just talked about life and Cairo and Madison. While I was there, Liz mentioned that “she knew a guy” and we could get free tickets to the FINAL of the U-20 football tournament that has been taking place in Egypt. The final was the next day between Brazil and Ghana. Not only that, she said she knew some other people, and we could get in the Brazil Cheering section.

So thats what happened. We took the subway to the old AUC campus, where we took a pretty long taxi ride (but it was only 15 pounds -- we’re getting good at negotiating fares) to the stadium. We got through security, the girls got their faces painted, and then we made our way to the “first class” entrance. It was really really bad. They’d only let in white people/forgieners. It was the most blaitenly racist thing I’ve every seen by far. We managed to get in 3 egyptian friends by saying they were “Mexican”. We taught them some “spanish” really fast and they got in. It was horrible.

Plus we were with two hot girls, so that helped. Somehow we managed to squeeze our way through some crazy crowds into the “first class” section for foreigners. Liz knew some Brazilians from somewhere who live in Egypt, so we got into the Brazilian section! It was so awesome, right down near the field. It did make me wonder why I didn’t go to Brazil to study abroad -- those ladies are FINE.

The atmosphere was crazy. Most of the fans were Egyptian (obviously), and so they were kinda cheering for whomever, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a good showing for the Brazilians. It was ok. The cheers were great. Lots of people, lots of cheering. When the match starts, the millions of police officers make everyone sit down, so during halftime shit gets crazy because people can stand up and yell and cheer.

The game was all going Brazil's way. They had so many chances to score. It didn't help that Ghana got a red card, so they were playing down a player the entire second half. The Brazilians had a great way of ball control. They basically dominated Ghana in terms of the game, but in terms of physical endurance, and playing hard, the Ghana's played better. In the end, it was 0-0 after 90 minutes. So the game went into OT. The way it works is two fifteen minute halfs. It was really close, but after another 30 minutes -- still tied. Finally, it goes to penalty kicks. They tie that! Then its sudden death penalty kicks, and Ghana manages to capitalize after Brazil misses. Crazy game.

Ballin'

Let me preface this by stating that I have been getting into basketball recently. As some of you may, or may not know, I decided to try out for the AUC University Basketball team. It went down like this. So one of the nice things about the new AUC campus is it has a really nice gym, its really nice, and of course, really empty. So there are hoops, racquetball, a big huge track and soccer stadium, handball, weight room, carteo room, the works. So thats super nice. During some free time I had over break, I was bored, and so I’d go to work out. I ended up strolling down to the gym and renting out a basketball. I used to be really bad at basketball. I still am, but I used to be really, pretty terrible. However, I remember my days in basketball at school. I love playing the game, especially if its pickup. That “team” feeling is nice. So I had all day, and as the white stripes would say “I just don’t know what to do with myself”.

I worked on post moves, I worked on free throws, I took my shot apart and rebuilt it. Drive and Penetrate. Pick and Roll. My skills aren’t as shabby anymore. The good news is that as people came back from break, there were more and more pickup games. I made some good buddies. The thing was, I wasn’t really that good, but I was OK. OK enough to try out for the AUC basketball team. Now, to be perfectly clear, I didn’t have much of a big intention of getting on. Basketball isn’t that big in Egypt, but its probably the third largest sport, or at least the third most popular after football, and football (again). Its mostly a one sport country, but to put it in perspective, the government built a HUGE sports complex outside of the city. It has Cairo Stadium (which I’ll talk about later), the bowling centre, but also a HUGE venue for Basketball. Probably seats 50,000-60,000. So its not like American Football where no one plays. I’m guessing a little over 100 guys tried out for 16 spots on the team.

We had three tryouts, and there were some really quality players. Apparently there is this one guy who plays for the Egypt National team, he’s really good. A dick, but a good basketball player (though those usually go hand in hand). Regardless, the tryouts are kinda a joke. You get split into teams of 5, then its just a big tournament. If he sees you do something athletic, or you’re tall, you “sign the list”. Apparently (I have a friend who made it on), there were 21 guys who got “signed” but then 5 got cut. The point is, you play one five minute game, so if you happen to not hit that 3, you don’t make it. W/e, its his team, I don’t want to complain. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t make it on. The scary thing though, is that I was close. I wasn’t as good as the good guys, so if I made it on the team, I would not have started or anything, but on a great day, I’d say I was about as good as the worst 4 who got “signed”.

Please note -- there are some really horrible egyptian players. They just never got coached, so they just see NBA play, which is really bad ugly basketball. Most egyptians are not team players because they just don’t understand how to be a team player. Most don’t box out, or set picks. They take a lot of misguided 3’s. Basically a team of Americans would destroy an equal athletic and talented Egyptian basketball team just because Americans understand the game better, and how to WIN at basketball.

Regardless, the pick-up games are really fun. Especially since the talent level varies a lot, so its a good feeling to be on the average to better player scale. Obviously I’m short, but I do OK. Thanks to the internet for the pictures. They aren't mine.

I’ve made some good friends on the court. Unfortunately I have class so I can’t ball all day. Ha.