The Actual Protests at the American Embassy

Let me begin this post by saying I sometimes don't follow rules.I've already blogged about the protests and let everyone know everything here is great. So here's the story about how I actually saw the protests. Three of us began our adventure downtown. We didn't plan on just strolling into the protest. We wanted to see at what safe distance could we actually witness history happening. Trust, it was a planned approach.

Our original plan was to go to the roof of the Ramses Hilton, a couple of blocks away from Tahrir Square, to see if we could see the protests. The rooftop restaurant on the top floor didn't open for a couple hours, so we decided to just walk around and see what we could find. As we were walking towards the Egyptian Museum, I could see a large crowd of protesters waving flags. We decided to walk around the museum and change our course around the square towards the Nile. As we were turning the corner, a guy stopped us and asked if we spoke English. He basically explained the safe places to walk around and gave us a stopping point where we shouldn't walk past.

 While we were walking towards the crowds of people, there were some people leaving the protest. Some of the men had surgical masks on to shield themselves from tear gas. It was very intimidating to know that a couple hundred feet away people were protesting the American Embassy. So we were walking towards the protest, when we were stopped by a group of men. They signaled to us to turn around. With a wave of a hand and a shake of the head, we knew we had to listen. It really meant a lot to me that these people wanted to prevent us from walking into an unsafe situation.

I wrote the previous blog post on the protests the night I went downtown.I didn't want my father hearing about my little adventure on my blog, so this post had to wait until after that skype conversation. I could blog about the protests, but I had only seen what everyone in America had seen on television. I wasn't trying to get hurt, but I wanted to witness history from a reasonable distant. There were students who voluntarily went to the protests and students who had the misfortune in getting caught in the protests on the first day. I spoke with some of the students who got stuck in the protest, and they said some people said some mean things to them. That was it. No one was hurt. Those guys who warned us on the street didn't want to see us get hurt. The people of Cairo have really impressed me with their kindness and hospitality. I never expected anything less, but people are people.

After we were advised to turn around, we walked to one of the bridges over the Nile to get back to Zamalek. Everything was fine. I never felt unsafe the entire time I was downtown. I had to witness my first protest in Egypt. Egyptians loved to protest. I've see three protests since I've been here: a football(soccer) protest for Ahly vs. Zamalek, the protest at the Embassy, and a protest at my school. I'll explain about the football protest and the school protest another day.

Protests at the American Embassy in Cairo

So here's the post I didn't expect to do so soon, drama in Cairo and I haven't even been here for a whole month yet. Protests irrupted a couple days ago at the American Embassy in Cairo after a ridiculous trailer was released that depicted the prophet Mohammed in one of the most blatantly offensive videos I've ever seen. Listen, I'm 1000% for freedom of speech, but that movie didn't even looking entertaining. Team America was funny, but the Innocence of Muslims is a joke. You have to understand that in Islam it's wrong to depict any form of god, prophet, partner, or characteristics of god.

So the protests began. Now I can only speak about my experience in Cairo. Different things happened in different countries, people were killed, and the embassy where I would go for an emergency was surrounded by angry people. Earlier that day, before any protest happened, I was downtown a couple blocks away from Tahrir Square and the American Embassy. I had an amazing time at Khan el-Khalili and Hussein Square, drove home in a taxi through downtown, and never knew anything happened. When I got home later that night, the dorms were showing the news on CNN about the protests. I couldn't believe what I heard on television. An American Ambassador was killed in Libya. If it wasn't for the television, I would have NEVER know a protest was happening at the embassy.

Things are good here. It's a great time to be living in Egypt. People are protesting one of the most important things in this area of the world, their religion. We forget how accepting we are in the states of the freedom to offend. I'll be the first one to fight for the freedom to make fun of anything and anyone, but there are some things that are off limits to some people. It's called respect.

I've been really suprised about how well my dad has been handling the events. It makes me feel good to know when I tell my dad "don't worry I feel safe" he believes me. Although worrying is something he'll never stop doing.

Don't believe what you see on television. They show you want they want you to see. Did you see the protesters with posters that say "Islam against terrorism" and "Thugs and killers don't represent Benghazi or Islam"? Of course not. Everything has calmed down here around the embassy and the protests have stopped. Thanks for all the concern everyone showed. Cairo has been great to me so far and the people are even better.