living in a cemetery

Just when I thought to myself, I could almost live here. It's cool and shady and quiet. The space between is wide and the hustle and bustle of the city is not even heard here. As I turned a corner I saw this.... clothes hung out to dry...people live here, just as they did in the Muslim cemetery that we visited a few days ago.

English... I couldn't resist. Sorry, whoever you are, I just had to take this picture. Now you are on the Internet!

Part of the old Roman wall passes through here. Coptic Cairo is the oldest part of Cairo.

As we continue deep into this cemetery, we were met by this guy who greeted us in English. He said, he lived there on his family's tomb with his father. He was really friendly, like he needed people to visit and talk to him. He invited us into his 'home' which is above his family's tomb. His father wasn't in, maybe he is at work. This guy had a limp, so he probably couldn't find work.We followed him up the steps.

I sat on this 'couch' next to him and the three of us started chatting. Christians in Cairo are a lot nicer. it is like they want the world to remember them. They don't want to be forgotten. I will never forget this man. It reminded me about an incident years ago on my first visit to Rome. My sister and I went to a Chinese restaurant near our hotel and we met a waiter there who was also from Malaysia. Two years later I went back to the same restaurant and asked to see him. He was surprised and happy to see me. I hadn't forgotten. I hope the next time I'm in Cairo, I wouldn't be tempted to visit this guy.

His father.

When we left, I slipped him a 20 Le note.

We left and continued to explore the rest of the Coptic Christian area. We stopped and listened in at a school.

The Coptic Christian cemetery

Around the corner in one area of the Coptic area is the Christian cemetery, this broken cross marks its entrance. I peeked into it and motioned to Sophie, 'Come on!' She asked, what is it? 'A cemetery,' I said. Imagine us being excited about cemeteries. This one was interesting, the more decrepit something is, the more curious I become. It is like Pandora's box, 'don't open it'... and all the more you want to open it. I was curious about this one.

Near the entrance was a pile of stones, it is obvious nothing is thrown away, nothing is wasted. Unlike our civilization where we chuck everything and then go to the Home Depot to get some new ones, maybe ones made in China. Who knows, some of these might have come from the pyramids.

There was this Egyptian guy working, hauling some stones to repair a tomb. I took his picture, he smiled and was pleased that I took his picture. I showed it to him on the monitor of my camera.

An angel, but where is her head. No matter she is still there keeping watch. The Bible in Psalms says, 'we have a host of angels encamped around us'.

He smiled as I took this picture. It was a lovely day and I thought this is the most pleasant cemetery I've ever been to, one can almost live here, it's cool and shady with wide boulevard that separate the tombs.

This was a very modest cemetery, no sumptuous mausoleums here, no Sultans or their families, just ordinary Christians.

Daily news

Here is White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers nods off while President Obama talks to the press after a meeting with officials from the credit card industry. Like they say, nice work if you can get it.

This is a cute cartoon. Unfortunately it is too small. It showed a little boy asking this old man why he has this boring tattoo on his arm, it is just a bunch of numbers. The old man said, it was put there when he was the same age as the little boy and he kept it as a reminder. 'A reminder of happier days? asked the little boy. The old man replied, 'No...of a time when the world went mad.' The little boy asked again, 'So you kept it to remind you of a time of political extremism?' 'No, the old replied, to remind you'.

At my niece's Bat Mizwah, I met one of my sister in law's aunt who has this same boring tattoo on her arm, this was a few years ago. It was a real honor to meet a live holocaust survivor.

Icons and ancient things

I went around and shot pictures of interesting detail, the latticework on windows, the beautiful and old carved doors, the detailed carving on the stone walls, the wood carvings on church benches..... it is so Byzantium. The details bears a lot of similarity to Byzantium art. There are iconic pictures of the Holy family everywhere. These days, people, still need their faith, especially if one lives in the minority and are oppressed. Whereas in the West, we hear of a decreasing church attendance, I'm guilty, I'm part of the millions of unchurched Christians. We are Christians and still believe with the same fervor but has not found a church we could relate to. I heard on the radio a few mornings ago, the Atheist Society are giving certificates to people who unbaptise themselves.

You're not supposed to take photographs of the police but this guy happened to get into this picture.

The Muslims also use the Cypress tree as a symbol of life. The Cypress tree and the Cedars of Lebanon, these were the same materials they used to build the Temple in Jerusalem as is recorded in the Bible.

This reminds me of an exhibition of Iconic art I saw in Bologna, Italy last year. It was the most beautiful exhibition I've ever seen.

The Bible is the most translated book in the world. It still amazes me to see it in Arabic. I know of a church in Santa Monica that has Bible study classes in Arabic. This must be a Coptic Christian church.

The ceiling reminds me of Noah's ark. The other gorgeous wooden ceiling I saw was the Duomo in Monreale, Sicily, that one was covered with the most gorgeous golden colored mosaics, another very Byzantium feature.