Sid Bou Said and Carthage

While in Hammamet we ventured off to Sibu El Said and also Carthage. It was a day filled with driving and awesomeness. Sibou El Said was even more the eternal Greek village with its winding alleyways and beautiful views of the sea and its just plain ridiculousness. The town is high on this hill so everything drops away when you are look at the ocean. All the buildings are painted this stark white and all the accents are bright blue. The doors here and in Hammamet as well are so fun. There are no boring doors here, I swear. They all are painted a fun color or decorated with studs and designed. I had quite the fun time taking pictures of all the doors, after all, it is one thing that they are famous for. The streets wind all over the place Another place I could stay forever, man, the amount of places that I could stay forever are mounting quickly. Carthage, by the way, is AMAZING! I stood there imagining being there when it was all actually built and functioning back in the Roman times. The sheer size of the whole thing is mind-blowing. Even among the ruins you feel like a tiny little ant, myself especially because I fee like that on some normal days when I stand next to someone over 6 feet tall. The ruins are right up against the water and there are some FANTASTIC views of the rest of the city and the ocean from the ruins. There are ruins scattered all over the place too, its not just one big plot of land; its about 9 big plots of land. When I say the ruins are HUGE, I mean it. Man, how cool it would have been to be there when it was in all of its glory. I can only imagine.

Tunisia!

We had two holidays at school that happened to bump right up against one another and so a few friends and I planned a trip to Tunisia. It was the one place that none of us had been to yet. When you hang out with a bunch of travel freaks, finding a place no one has been to before is very difficult. We all wanted to go (but then again, I pretty much want to go every and anywhere in the world, so my input on this whole process was "sure, that sounds fabulous, I'd love to go there"). We decided on Tunisia and then we were off!
Firstly, I am sure that I cannot move to this country or really and any country that has major European influence or is actually European. This is because I would become hugely fat in mere days upon moving in. Our first stop in Tunisia was a city called Hammamet. This is a lovely city along the beach, as was our fabulous hotel. Breakfast here involved crepes with nutella and chocolate croissants. Gelato was a must after every meal. I love food. I love all kinds of food. I am beginning to think that I could be plopped in the middle of hell and still enjoy is as long as there is good food. Not quite sure that they would have good food in hell, defeating the whole purpose of hell, but whatcha gonna do. However, Tunisia was very far from hellacious. It was awesome. The people were nice, occasionally the boys were a little lecherous but I acted like I was deaf a few times and they left me alone. . I loved walking about the town. Town in Hammamet was very Greek aesthetically. The buildings were all white with blue doors and windows speckled along the streets and alleyways. The shopkeepers were hilarious! Some were down right stalkerish. They would track you down in different shops trying to make good deals. I thought it was a bit funny at first, then a bit annoying. After a while, you get used to bartering or you just abandon ship and go to a store with fixed prices (which are conveniently labeled, might I add). I loved all the shopping. The whole medina was filled with great little shops that sold pottery (a must buy in Tunisia) and scarves and camel leather bags. In case you were wondering, camel leather feels quite different from cow leather. It's much lighter in texture and weight. Also, the stores were FILLED with knock-off designer goods. The funniest thing was they were really good knockoffs, quite believable. To the untrained eye, they look like the real deal. The trained eye may have to even take a second look. So I got to shop until I dropped and then lay on the beach. I'd say that is quite the fabulous day.

The Trip Home from St. Catherine's

On the way back from St. Catherine’s we stopped off at the beach to have some lunch. This was not the same hot beach; it was a regular beach that was beautiful. Any time that I can walk along the water and bury my toes in the sand I am a happy girl. I don’t think it’s humanly possible to be next to the ocean and not feel amazingly content. One of my friends found a sea urchin and since its pokiness stabbed no one we were all happy. The water was so blue and clear. I am thinking about putting up a tent and moving there permanently, or at least as long as the weather holds out. I have a pretty good chance of this weather holding out since its Egypt and the weather doesn’t even get slightly cold until Novemberish. Maybe I could build a small hut instead of a tent; someone back in the states needs to get on the designing of this project. I do have a in with someone in architecture. (hint, hint there daddio)

St. Catherine's and Climbing the Mountain!!!

We FINALLY arrived at St. Catherine’s, which is the uber famous Church that was built around the burning bush and at the foothills of the mountain that Moses received the Ten Commandments. Crazy huh? When we checked in, we had a few hours to kill before dinner was served, so we wandered around and breathed in the air. Did I forget to mention the air? It is the most clear and crisp stuff you have ever breathed. Perhaps that is because I was sadly growing accustomed to the grey dinge that passes for air in Cairo, but here it was beautiful. The sky was a crisp blue that had not one iota of smog or impurity in it. Not even a cloud! It was GORGEOUS! As we walked around I took a gander outside and the guide pointed out where we would be climbing. I happened to notice that opposite St. Katherine’s there was this small collection of rocks that one could possibly climb to get a better picture of St. Katherine’s and the trail that we would be taking in the morning. So I climbed it, in my flip flops, with my camera strapped to my back…. And I had a blast! The views just kept getting better and better the higher I climbed, so (mom, stop reading this now) I leaped up a little higher until I was above the church and could see all they way in. It was such an amazing view! Getting down was a bit tricky and I was worried I was going to fall due to the whole flip-flop wearing and me being ungracious as all get out thing, but I made it out with only a slight bruise or two. I was proud of myself. It was like a mini training session for the next day of climbing… or so I thought.

We had dinner at 7:00 and were done by 8:00. Our guide tells us to sleep well and he will see us at 1:00. 1:00 AM. Did I fail to mention that this is a sunrise hike up the mountain? Oh I did, did I? Well, in order to have the opportunity to see the sunrise you have to climb up before the sun rises, in the middle of the night. Which would have been no problem for most people. Most people go to be early and when they have done as much we had that day, they go to bed even earlier. Well folks, 1:00am is early for me. It’s a school night bedtime. I was not a wee bit tired at 8pm, which was expected bedtime. So I popped a simple sleeping pill to help me off of lala land. I wanted to be well rested and ready to climb, is that so wrong? A few hours later, groggy from the lack of actually getting 8 hours of sleep that the pill is supposed induce, I still thought that climbing a mountain at 1am was a great idea. I strapped on my pack and was on my way. The climb was shorter than I expected, it’s amazing how short a climb seems when it’s in the pitch black of night. You’d think that climbing in the dark of night would be boring, but it’s not! Mostly because of the camels, and the ton of other climbers, and guys to help you up in case you feel like giving up. In fact you think that you are doing just fine, right until the stairs. Did I mention the stairs? There are a lot of stairs. About 376 stairs, carved into stone in a trickily uneven fashion. I must say short legs are not helpful when you are climbing things that are not uniform in any way. I must say that it was quite to the workout on the legs. The best part about the whole night climb was the stars. The night was so clear that the stars were so close that you could touch them. The climb took longer because I was stopping all the time to stare up at the sky, that and I had to dodge a bunch of camels who were constantly trying to run me off the path. Once you get to the top of the mountain you get to hang out and wait for the sunrise. It’s freezing! It was quite the different feeling than you get in Cairo. Laying there watching the stars and laughing in hysterical sleepiness was amazing. I was lying at the top of Mount Moses (technically the mountain’s name on account of the whole Moses climbing it and receiving the ten commandments there rumor) staring at the stars. This is not something that I could have imagined ever doing in this lifetime. Then the sunrise! Wow. I cannot even describe the way it looked. It was breathtaking. I am not using any more clichés to describe it because I will make it seem less amazing that it was. A few friends and I started to walk down ahead to beat the crowds and it was a wise choice. We were the only ones walking back and the views got more and more fantastic as I walked on. The sun practically lit the rocks on fire as we were walking back. I took over 100 pictures on just the walk back, if not more. I could not stop myself. Everything was outrageous, most of all the whole me climbing a mountain thing. The whole experience was indescribably incredible, and I am sure it was even more meaningful to those who are religious in any aspect. So at the end of it, there I was, 8:30 am and I had already climbed a mountain, literally! Who knew I could accomplish so much before brunch? I guess starting at 1am will do that that. Look at the pictures, be filled with awe, nothing I am going to write will do it enough justice.

Trip to Mt. Sinai

September 26th

Up way to early for a weekend day, my back is packed and I am off to climb a mountain. Actually, I am walking to the bus that is waiting to drive me to the mountain. But in my defense, the mountain is hours away and I still had to climb it once I got there. I began my journey to Mt. Sinai with left over chips and cookies and a hung-over seatmate. We had a party the night before and the early morning wake up call did not bode well for all. I was fine; I think it has something to do with my youth and fabulous ability to never drink too much. (all right, you may all stop laughing now. I mean it. Once and a while I can make responsible decisions!)
Back to the point. I am on a bus destined to Mt. Sinai. We did have to make a few stops, just to keep it interesting, of course. Our first stop was the old Palestinian defense point, which is obviously no longer active since Egypt bombed the heck out of it forever ago. We get out in the middle of the desert, literally, there is nothing around for kilometers. Half of the base is buried under ground, covered in rocks and chicken wire like type stuff. Apparently the whole thing use to be covered by the sand too, so people couldn’t tell what it was when they were flying over it. It was a crazy intense place. They had huge gun cannon things on these rail systems that were automatic and went through an automatic door. No one actually had to be anywhere near the out doors to do some serious damage to the enemy.
The rocks were meters thick as well. If someone did drop a bomb or shoot at them, the rocks would break but not shatter and the chicken wire would keep it all together, keeping those underneath just as protected as before. Pretty sneaky, huh? There were so many teeny tiny tunnels going all over under the sand. To be honest, I don’t know how anyone bigger that me lived there. I realize that military life is not always the most glamorous thing, but you could really do some permanent back damage crouching down and walking like that all the time. I would have loved to see that chiropractic bills for that crew! There were all kinds of frighteningly large guns and such all over the compound. There was also a really wicked telescope the size of Texas that made 17 kilometers away seem like you could touch it. That was pretty cool. The telescope was almost as long as I am tall!
Basically it was an excellent example of military tactics, which is why it took so long to find and destroy it. It was impressive but scary all at the same time. It was a marvel to see and learn the history behind what everything did and how the soldiers survived and attacked others. I wasn’t too keen on the whole attacking others part, but that goes right along with my whole anti-gun feelings. It was horrifying to think that man has still not moved past the point of using their massive amount of creative intelligence for evil instead of good. All in all the stop was interesting and mildly thought provoking as we continued our trip to the HOLY MOUNTAIN of SINAI. (perhaps this seems ironic to you as well, yes?)

The next stop on our list was my favorite apart from the whole climbing the mountain thing. We stopped at this cave that is the only hot cave in Egypt. I’m serious, some caves might get a tad hot, but this cave is the only one that sweats! It is located over a hot spring and the steam comes up into the cave and makes it like a giant sauna. It was so warm that I couldn’t even go all they way in. There was the whole crawling on your belly in the pitch black to get to the center that may have influenced me as well. Regardless, the cave is not even the coolest part. Because of the hot springness, the ocean is warm. The cave is right across from the ocean and all that hot water flows under the ocean, which heats up the ocean and makes it warm. Like bathwater on a cold day warm. There is also a leak in this hot spring and the water flows along the sand parallel to the ocean. This water is steaming hot! I could make a cup of tea with this water (if I wanted really salty, silty tea, which I don’t). Some of the water got on my flip-flop while I was attempting to take close up shots and I burned my little toe! It was so awesome! I have never felt an ocean that warm before. It was quite the mental joke for me. I enjoyed it. My brain is still trying to figure it out. Definitely must investigate hot springs in my future.

Lunch was with a Bedouin tribe our in the desert. I didn’t get to talk to them much as I am a woman, but they did make us tea and I met their goats. Really cute goats by the way. Their wives were also very nice. At least I think they were the wives, communication was a little sketchy. The goats were cute though. I don’t think that I could ever be that nomadic, but I am amazed at the lifestyle they have and the strength they have to pull it off. I got to pee in a bush, also another reason that I am not destined for the role of traveling farmer who lives off the land. I like my bathrooms to at least be slightly enclosed, with one of those enclosures not being my flatmate telling people to back away. After the bathroom fun we boarded the bus and were back on our way!

International Peace Day

September 21st
So I have been terribly lax in my blogging, I apologize. I have been one very busy lady. It’s hard to keep the adoring public up with your life when you are barely keeping track of it yourself. I joined the peace committee here at school. We were organizing the International Peace Day assembly for International Peace Day, which is September 21st. It was a whole school assembly for peace day, which the school had never done before. It was a whole celebration of peace and the history of peace day and what peace means to the students. It was really cool to see the whole school together on the field. I was up early to set up the field so it was really cool to students get into the assembly and come together like that. The students rocked and it went off with out a glitch. It was awesome! It was totally worth the hours of planning and map making and getting things approved and setting up everything. It was cool to envision something and see it all come together. It was everything that Peace Day is supposed to be.

Pretty Fanoos

The lanterns here are so pretty, and they are everywhere, as you saw in my previous pictures of the lanterns in the Kahn. However, there is one medan that has them all over its trees, in a 360-degree view. It’s phenomenal. In the dark of night the tackiest and most ugly of lanterns looks magical and beautiful. My flatmate and I were walking home on Mustafa the Camel street (my flatmate’s name for it, its really called Mustafa Kamel street, with the stress on mel part, so it sounds like KaMel, not the mammal) and we found this wonderful medan. I could not help myself and immediately followed by taking pictures. Some came out, some didn’t I was only carrying around my little point and click digital so I have to go back with my bad ass camera and see what I get. Thought ya’ll would like a glimpse of what I see EVERYWHERE when I walk around after dusk. Not too shabby, eh?


Also...

Ramadan Hilarity…
Dry cleaning to be delivered at 5pm… however the shop is closed for Iftar and prayers then, so it must be delivered later. Guess when. Just guess, I’ll wait. I’ll even give you a hint. Most businesses close from 3:30 to at least 8:00 pm. Most are open again from 8 to 10 pm. So you figure that the laundry got delivered at 8:30 ish, at the latest, right? WRONG! 10:45 PM BABY! My flatmate went to bed at about 9, which means she missed her dry cleaning by almost two hours. What is she going to do when the insomniac moves out in December? I just don’t know.

Ramadan Excursions

Went to the Kahn for Ramadan tonight. Took us 45 minutes to get there, probably about 30 of it all to navigate the alleyways and find a parking spot. We actually wound up driving down a walk only alley, which was a very interesting experience indeed! No one died, and some nice men cleared a bunch of stuff out of the way to make a parking spot for all of us.
We wandered around and immediately it was like a riot on all my senses. Voices screaming and laughing and chatting, music tinkeling in the background, the crash of vendors who didn’t quite see each other around a corner. You see everything at once. There is every color you can imagine and even ones you cannot dancing in front of you. Scarves wave and sparkle with their beads. Jewelry both real and fake gleams in the bright light created by lanterns hanging from every surface. There is a sent of jasmine (literally the most popular and perhaps only scent of things here in Egypt, though the jury is still out on that one) sticks in the air, tainted by Shisha smoke and that twinge of sweat that only being in a small area with too many people can create.
I could have stood in the same place the whole night and experienced different thing every few minutes. As luck would have it, we did not have to do this, we did some exploring. We were brave little Americans, Canadians, and Australians (but to be fair, he does call himself a kiwi, apparently there was some confusion with Australian and American one day and to make sure people understood, we now refer to him as the Kiwi… wouldn’t want those nasty Americans to claim they are from Australia, now would we!) who ventured out into the insanity that is the Kahn during Ramadan, at night no less.
As a result of our adventuresome spirit, we were the only oddities there. In our two hours of touring the Kahn, I saw NO other non-native adventurers like ourselves. Perhaps this was a clue? If it was, we ignored it. Our crew is pretty good at trying things out, regardless if it is normally done by non-natives. We do however, try to take along at least one person who can speak Arabic and get us out of trouble, should we ever land in it. (knock on wood)
So we ventured further into the Kahn, bombarded by vendors and their runners, pushing their wares in your face like coke dealers. I mean they are intense! The shop keepers say a few things but mostly stop once you tell them thanks, but no thanks. We stopped at a famous café called Fishawi to have tea and sit. We were crammed around a tiny table, 10 of us sipping on drinks and being knocked about by people walking by. The chairs for the café are out in the alleyways, so people are always moving about. The funniest bits of the night occurred during out sit.
Our group was comprised of nine females and our one stand alone male. All the Arabic men kept talking with him and joking with him, though he had no clue what they were saying, they didn’t care. One of the Egyptian women started laughing and Michael asked her what was so funny, she told him to get used to being harassed tonight. When we all asked why it became clear. Since was Michael alone was traveling with all of us, he was in charge of us and therefore if a man wanted to talk to any of the ladies in the group, he had to go through Michael first. I looked at Michael and congratulated him on becoming the gatekeeper. Michael was not too keen on the idea of being responsible for all of our virtues, especially not a young lady’s like mine! Every one gave him crap for being worried and to realize that I was not really a lady, I was a college student and he needs to remember what he was like when he was in University. He felt a bit more comforted at this thought.
While all of this was going on, we also have the runners who are schlepping all this junk (and believe me, it is JUNK), shoving it in your face and talking price at you. The runners are the ones that keep pushing. Unless you use a firm voice and look them in the eyes when you say no, they just keep pushing. You can almost not help but to feel claustrophobic and over stimulated… but in a totally amazing way. I know it’s not for everyone, that this was just too much for some even in our little group. But for me, to see everything and just people watch could take up hours of my time. Never mind if I actually wanted to go out and start bartering.
The Kahn is a huge tourist trap in areas and so the prices on things are laughable. One man said as we walked by “Half off, I give you good price… 100 dollars.” To paint a picture, 100 dollars is a bit over 500 pounds, which is more than some people make in a month here. However, it is so much fun to look at everything and make some small talk with the vendors who don’t come after you like you have the cure for cancer and they have only hours to live.
Being at the Kahn during Ramadan is a totally different experience that I cannot explain properly with words. It is too much for words. Get into roofless 7x10 room with 100 people. All of you must talk at once, half of you must be smoking, a few of you humming, some playing music. There must be things hanging from all the walls. Things like clothes, pipes, pillows, purses, jewelry- all of this on display. There must be lights of all different colors hanging about and all of you must constantly be moving. This is the best way to reenact the intensity of the Kahn at night. I have been during the day, and it’s a feat to navigate your way around then. At night, during Ramadan… don’t even try it. Take a guide and hope for the best!
It was an amazing experience that I am not doing justice to, but I had to try. So for my first official night out for Ramadan (on a school night no less, I am so bad) I have been told that I have been to the craziest spot in town, short of heading to a massive Iftar. I will keep you updated on how crazy might Ramadan gets. Ramadan Kareem!

Pretty Flowers and Trees

Here in Maadi we are blessed with TONS of beautiful trees and flowers. It is apparently one of the things that Maadi is famous for. Who knew? I was very pleasantly surprised when I got here and everything is in full bloom. I love pretty flowers (what girl, even a tomboy with allergies like me, doesn't like pretty flowers? You'd have to be an even colder hearted person than I, and that's a bit of a challenge). My favorite is a tree called Cassia Tree. There are varied types of this tree that produce different types and colors of blooms. The one that surrounds the campus and my walk to campus is soft pink and white and smells heavenly. Its a light, florally (I know, its a generic adjective, but I really can't come up with anything better; even with my extensive vocabulary) sent that you can smell especially when the wind shifts, as it is wont to do here quite often. Basically it makes my little walk to campus a fabulous one every morning. You gotta love mother nature like that. She'll make you wanna die with the heat but give you the prettiest and most fabulous flowers at the same time. This is what makes me think that mother nature is a scorned woman slowly wreaking her havoc on us for unknown reasons... more on that later. However, the coolest thing about the Cassia tree is not the flowers, but the fact that its branches grow at angles! Yep, its growing strait out from the tree and all of a sudden, Woah! It takes a ninety degree turn. So the branches all wind up being zig-zaggy and crazy. I'll have to take some more pictures of the branches, but this is what I have so far for all of the trees and flowers.

There are cool cars in Egypt....

So as I was walking along one day, I happened to see a car. Not just any car, but the coolest car in existence. What? You say? This is a third world country, surely no such things exist. But I promise you, dear readers, indeed this country is rife with a variety of motor vehicles. From those that are held together with tape and wire to this little beauty below.



And everyone thought I wouldn't feel at home here in Cairo...

Things that make me laugh

So here I am, one month into my stay here in Egypt, and I must say, there have been some HILARIOUS moments thus far. I just thought I'd recap a few things that made me laugh, frustrated me or in general just make me shake my head and remember I am an visitor in a country that is being nice enough to host me!

1. What are those? For those of you who don't know this story, freckles are not too plentiful here in Egypt (surprise!). I went to the Kahn and was told that Nefertiti oil would take away all of "my marks" (meaning my freckles). Then a few egyptian kids in my classes asked what was on my arms and face. I asked my Egyptian friend about this and was told that freckles are not looked upon as a thing of unique beauty (as they should be) but instead as marks that mar otherwise lovely skin. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

2. I am from IOWA. Some english speaking Egyptians here are interested in knowing where I am from. Some speak english better than others. My friend Regina was talking to a storeowner about his postcard collection (we were in a stationary store, this is not totally random!). She told him she was from New York. I walked up and and he asked me if I was also from New York. I said no, I was from Iowa. He shook his head and said yes, New York. I repeated no, Iowa. He again said yes, New York. And then I remembered that the arabic word for yes is aiwa, which basically sounds exactly like Iowa when you say it. WOW! I just laughed, shrugged and said "Aiwa, I'm from New York!"

3. Ordering delivery from restaurants: Yes, everyone does deliver, and yes, it is magical. However, ordering off of an indian menu when speaking to an Egyptian who doesn't understand english or indian is a bit challenging. Also, when they say "repeat your order", what they really mean is "I am going to repeat your order" this caused a bit of confusion between me and the poor dude taking my order, but after a while and some groans of frustration, we got it sorted. And lets face it, all the orders that we have received thus far have been complete, which is more than I can say for the states!

4. The ‘culturally sensitive farmers tan’ (that’s my personal adjective usage) that I now have. Here in Egypt, to be respectful of the culture, we cover our shoulders and knees. For me, this means a tee shirt when I am out and about running around and exploring. Egypt is a sunny place, all the time. So when I am traipsing around in my tee shirt, the sun is beating down on my pale little arms, creating the coolest farmers tan ever! I don’t mind too much though, because I got my farmers tan in Egypt, how about you?

5. The process of getting Internet for my home. HAHAHAHAHA! Just had to get that out of the way. We have been here a month, and we are ALMOST close to getting Internet. We signed up with a company, but when we hadn’t heard from them about our router and a friend who signed up with us had, we called them. The Internet company informed us that our flat still had an active account with another company, so they couldn’t do anything until it was cancelled. So we call the former tenant (luckily, she still teaches at CAC, she just changed flats) and were informed that she had indeed cancelled the internet and would call her old company for a cancellation number. We explained this to our company and they said they could not move forward until all accounts were settled. We were unable to get a real cancellation number, because the old company NEVER ACTUALLY CANCELED THE SERVICE! I mean, why would you? How silly to cancel a service that someone is no longer using or paying for, right? So the old company tells us that if we sign up with them, they will waive all the fees and get us set up right away (to which I want to say, define ‘right away’). So now we have to go back to the new company, get our money back and retract our order and then go to the new company and place a new account… but we still have to have school authorized lease papers to do this to prove we actually will pay the bill and do live there. FUN! Hopefully we will soon have DSL at the flat though, inshalla!

6. The Sleeping fruit stand man. This makes me smile every time I walk downstairs in the early morning to swim. I leave the flat at about 4:45 am and every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday I see they guy who sells fruit outside our market sleeping next to his wares. He sleeps there every night, or several nights a week to protect his stuff. Apparently this is easier than packing it up every night. I cannot imagine sleeping on the street here, especially by choice, but whatever makes you feel like your fruits protected I guess.

7. What's your name? When you say the name Mohammed, 3/5 look your direction. This seems like a gross over exaggeration, but it’s really not. There is at least one Mohammed in every class I work in, if not more.

8. Umm...I think it says... Buying products written in various languages at the grocery stores. I make a rule of trying one new thing every time that I go to the store. Most times it’s not exactly by choice, but because I can’t really read the label. There are lots of different languages on packaging here, because it comes from all over the world, in its regional packaging. I have indeed walked out of the store with French, Japanese, Arabic (duh), and Spanish packaging on my food. It sure makes for some fun food experimentation, let me tell you!

9. Welcome to Cairo A lot of the younger men who see us walking alone at night will use a wanna be creeper voice and say "welcome to Cairo" They won't come near you, or say anything more. Once I was a bit annoyed at this when it was the 3rd time it happened in about two blocks, so I turned to the guys (who probably about 15 years old, maybe) and said "Why thank you! Ya'll are just so sweet!" and started to walk towards them. They looked scared an stared to walk, then run, away. This is what happens if you confront men for getting too close or talking to you. They know that it's against the rules, and If you call them on it, they panic. It amuses me. What can I say, I like a cheap laugh now and again!

So that's the stuff that I have either laugh at or have learned to laugh at in my brief stay here in Cairo. I know the list will grow, I will just have to keep adding to it as the time passes!

Making the Flat more Homey and Flat like

After being here for approximately 24 days, Carolyn (my flatmate) and I have officially unpacked all but about 10 boxes, which contain art and ornementals for the decorating of the flat. We have chosen to not unpack these because we are getting the flat painted! FUN! Our fabulous Karima (cleaning lady) has a husband that is a painter. What are the odds, I mean really, does this woman have no end to her amazingness?! Anyway, she and her husband came by Friday (remember this is a weekend day for us) to look at the flat and see what we want done. Carolyn told him and briefly discussed colors. He actually knows a place with exact color matching technology, so we just gave him a few examples of what we were looking for. The living/dining room will be a light sage green, my room gets to be blue (yea!), the craft room is a lime green fiesta and Carolyn chose a peppy purple for her room. We are also having the molding painted white, the housing guys who repainted the place just before we got here painted all the molding on the floor the same off white/creamy color as the walls, but left the top crown molding white... go figure. So soon we hope to have a painted flat with art and such hanging, essentially to be all moved in! Our must be done goal is in October, because Carolyn would like to host a B-Day party for herself and wants the flat looking fabulous (who wouldn't?) I am going to also take another moment to discuss how much I love Karima. I think she may actually be able to read my mind. For example, last wednesday, I woke up and thought 'gee, I need to move the furniture around in here, this is not the best set up at all!' I figured that was the task for me when I got home, something to be a little bit motivating. So I get home, appreciate how clean and shiny the house is, how sparkly the floor tiles are; pass down the hallway and open my door. I walked in and said, out loud mind you, "Did I walk into the wrong room?" Now, seeing as how I am one of two door options on the left side of our hallway, the other being the bathroom, I obviously did not walk into the wrong room. Karima had rearranged my furniture! To exactly what I was thinking of when I woke up!! It's almost creepy I tell you! So there I was, amazed and thrilled, when I went to put away my teacher shoes, when I notice that not only has Karima washed, dried and ironed all my clothes, she has put them in the exact order that I keep my clothes. Seeing as how I am anal retentive about silly things, my clothes are organized by type (skirt, capri, pant, heavy pant; light weight tee, tee, sweater like, etc) and then by color, lightest to darkest. You can think I am crazy, go ahead, but when you only have enough clothes to make it two and a half weeks, this makes it look like I have so many more options! It works, really. So here I am, thinking that Karima cannot do any more to improve my life and then I go to run errand with Carolyn. I put my feet in my flip flops, and discover that they are kinda damp. At first I was grossed out, but upon further investigation I discovered that I could see all the colors in the design on my straps and realized that KARIMA HAD HAND WASHED MY FLIP FLOPS! I will leave it at that. Basically, I don't know how I am going to come back to the states and live without Karima. I can already tell that it is going to be a rough transition when I get back! I mean, doing my own laundry, washing my own veggies (this doesn't sound as bad as it is, here we have to bleach our veggies soon upon getting them, and they are delivered when Karima is in our flat, so she washes them) and even make my own bed! I think not! I will just have to revert back to that slovenly nature that everyone who has ever seen my room in the states has come to know and love! Hopefully I will have more pictures to post about the flat soon, depending on when we get it painted and all that. Hope all is good in the states!

Lantern Market & Tentmakers Alley

8/23

Went back to the outskirts of the Kahn today, this time with a large group of newbies that were led by a woman in our Egypt culture department. She took us to see the Lantern Market, which has sprung up like crazy with the approach of Ramadan. Lanterns are only here in Egypt, at least they were originally, until other places caught on to the popularity and it continued in other cultures. The history behind it is the Lanterns were used as guides to show people when it was time to break the fast, later they started to use cannons as well, because it was hard for people not living close to the mosques to hear the caller. The lanterns were lit to signal the break of fast and then they were put out when the eating was over for the night, waiting to be lit until the next night. Ramadan is a lunar-based holiday, so we don’t know if it will be starting on the 31st or the 1st, we have to wait and see what the moon does. All I know is that I am glad that I don’t have to follow this holiday. You wake up around 4 am to have a light breakfast that has to last you until sunset. You have to wake up early because you have to eat before sunrise. There is no eating, drinking (of anything, water included), smoking, or nookie makin’ (or any such activity) taking place from sunrise to sunset. I was thinking that if I didn’t get to eat all day, I’d eat a huge breakfast and then I’d be okay for all day. The people from our Egypt culture department were saying that it actually makes you hungrier later in the day if you eat a bunch in the morning. (These people have obviously never seen me pack it down at the Waveland (mmm… breakfast special…) and not eat until dinner the next day. During Ramadan there are special prayers that are said and at sunset the fast is broken and iftar is taken. Iftar is the HUGE dinner/meal that celebrates the break of fast. These meals are really big deals and some of the older places organize mass iftars that have over 4,000 people in attendance! So there is lots of food and merriment and dancing and carrying on all night, until early in the morning. Most places are closed for Ramadan, or open much later than usual and close earlier than normal. CAC is not one of those places. We keep our regular schedule, and I am told to be prepared to have some sleepy kids in my classes! These kids try to stay up to celebrate but then still have to go to school in the morning! However, you don’t have to fast until you hit puberty. Children are not required to fast, which is good, because if I were 6 and someone told me I couldn’t have snack or lunch anymore, I would not be so happy.
Another place we saw today was tentmakers alley. The work there is amazing. The craziest thing about it to me is that all the appliqué and quilt making is done by men. None of the women work on quilts or wall hangings or anything of the sort. The work is exquisite from some and not so great from others; overall it is just so beautiful to walk along this alley, surrounded by bright and colorful fabrics and quilts all around you. I have picked out a few things in my mind and am going to have to go back! Who knows if I will have any room or money for presents for you guys back home! (I’m joking! …ish)
Lastly we ended our day in a convent. There is a French Arabic convent here that sells pottery. A newbie was looking for some plates and wanted something a little more artistic and local than the plastic stuff available in Carrefour. Once we finally tracked this place down, after asking directions from a bazillion people and one monk, we met sister Mary. Sister Mary led us inside and explained that while they do not actually make the pottery, they sell for people who are in a small village just south of Luxor. The people in the village do not have enough money to afford shops or the taxes on shops, so the nuns sell the pottery for them and give them the money. They also make whatever the nuns need and help the nuns our around the convent when they come to bring new wares. Apparently it’s a pretty great set up for all involved. The stuff they have was really cool, lots of blues and browns because it is all glazed with a local glaze made from the stuff in the village. And yes, we asked, it is food safe and oven safe, thank you very much. I picked up a few mugs and 2 cool vases, all for about 20.00 USD. Not too shabby! So that was my weekend. We like to pack a lot into the weekends, as you can tell. Right now we are deciding when to take a trip up to the Red Sea for the weekend, have some sand between the toes and saltwater in the hair.

The Kahn

8/15

The Kahn… is crazy. It is the most intense market area with what seems like millions of different alleyways that lead to the most random people and things. A few newbies and I had the pleasure of getting lost in search of certain parts of the market when we learned a very valuable lesson: the instant you stop looking for something, either someone you meet will take you on a crazy adventure or you will stumble upon it. We stopped in a small little hole in the wall teashop to take a break and see if we couldn’t figure out where we were when we met an Egyptian who taught English at a local school. And wouldn’t you know it, he just had so many things he wanted to show us. We found ourselves following him through a labyrinth of twists and turns that suddenly left us as “his spice man” we were taken even further into the alley of the shop and given a private tutoring session on all the different spices, what to look for when buying things and what not to buy from certain people. It was so cool to just sit there and smell and look at all these spices and get their history and what they are used for in Egyptian cooking. (Turns our new friend was quite the cooking history buff as well) We shown all kinds of spices from real saffron to the stuff others try to pass off as saffron to Egyptian yellow tea to red and green pepper. In all honesty, just looking around was enough for me. I could have wondered around all day just taking pictures. The Kahn is so massive I have a feeling that I could go back every weekend and never see it all. So what started out as a run of the mill trip to discovering the Kahn led us to a new friend and a lesson that I never expected. If there is one thing that I have learned in my short time here, it’s that things usually don’t happen as you plan, and that’s when the best stuff happens!

Felucca Ride

8/14... the night of the visit to the pyramids day... we were busy!

There are these big sail boat like type boats that cruise up and down the Nile called Feluccas. We decided to hope on one with some of the other newbies one night. It’s really cheap to rent for an hour or two and you just cruise up the Nile and back. It’s a big boat that has seating around three of the sides, minus the front of the boat, with a giant table in the middle so that you can bring food and beverages and have a mini party on the boat. You can get a really big group and lash the boats together, but then you just sit in the middle of the river, no cruising. I think I like the cruising too much to bother with this. The wind in your face and the changing scenery is just too good to pass up. Plus, you’d have to bring a TON of people to require multiple boats. Each boat fits up to about twenty people, with some slightly limited personal space depending on where everyone sits. We had ten and there was tons of extra space. It was so relaxing to just float along on the river, just as the sun was going down. My human welcoming committee Peter told me that he sometimes rents on just for himself when things get too crazy and he wants to get away and have some alone time. I could totally picture doing that. Grabbing my iPod and a good book, lazing around on the cushioned benches and enjoying a little picnic on the river, no one to bother me or worries about paper work and getting things done. I especially liked the ride at night, because the city lights are all ablaze, music is playing from various venues and there are other boats all lit up cruising by. It’s so fun to just watch people out and about for the night without being close enough to see or here the details. It reminded me of summers on the coast and made me miss the ocean even more. As a result, my friend Shannon and I are planning a trip to the red sea for the weekend post haste. I need a little beach sand on my toes and a little salt water on my skin. I know, it sounds like a rough life right now, doesn’t it? I am working my tail off in school too, don’t you worry. I just keep in mind that while everyone else I am with has a two-year contract; I am only here for five months and am trying to do and see as much as possible. I don’t want to be flying home in December wishing I had gotten off my lazy arse and seen more, experienced more. There are always people who want to do things and explore more of Egypt, so I find whoever wants to go different places and start adventures. So far, so good. Only 4 ½ months to go and one million more places to see/things to do!

The Pyramids!

The Pyramids
8/14

Okay, so we did the whole pyramids thing. It was a pretty basic tour that the school bought tickets for so that we could all say that we had been. We didn’t go inside the pyramid or see the solar boat, both of which I need to do when I go back. I know this sounds bad, especially to those of you who have never been, but I kind of expected more. Now, before you go and think me a buffoon, let me explain myself. I did leave the pyramids with a sense of wonder, so don’t you worry. I blame my friend Michael for my sense of non-wonderment. I was thinking to myself that I thought I’d be more amazed, but still fairly impressed at this time, when Michael walked up and told me that he thought that the pyramids would be “well… bigger”. I must say, I did agree. I mean, its one of those things where the pyramids are soo big its hard to comprehend. You get up close and they don’t seem that big, because you are right there, able to touch them! When you are that close their hugeness eludes you, I swear. Then you go far away and the distance makes them look small. So as Michael and I were walking, we started to talk about how impressive it was that they were build so quickly and really, those were some giant freaking’ rocks that they moved from all over Egypt. There was some amazing logistics to figure out how to get the stone there, let alone how to get them on top of each other. I also began to think about how big they really are. The guy in charge of all the new construction on campus told me that the largest pyramid, and the one that happened to be built first, has a base that is 20% larger than the CAC Campus. That is just crazy big to me, especially since I am running all over campus to be in different classes all day! I also looked back at my pictures, and though they don’t do it the proper justice, the hugeness is there. My flat mate took a shot of me after I had climbed up a bit (which is allowed, thank you people who think I am still creating trouble in a whole new continent) and I look soo tiny. There is also a shot of my friend Shannon, but shot at a more intense zoom, so she doesn’t look as small. However, you do have to admit when you are standing on those blocks that they are huge. Incomprehensibly huge. My brain hurt at thinking all of the effort and crazy planning it must have taken and what they must have looked like when they were build and brand new. The amazing colors of the different types of rock and stone. Basically I left not with a sense of awe for the way the pyramids looked, but more for the effort that it took to build them and all the logistics behind building something so massive that has lasted so long. The pictures aren't half bad either!

Undervalued Technology

There is one technological advance that I have completely undervalued in my life…until now. What is that certain thing, you may ask? Surely it must be the computer, for it is how I am doing all of my communication from Egypt, all my lesson planning and emailing. Or perhaps it is the mobile telephone, which enables me to order food or deliveries of my dry cleaning in only a moment, from where ever I am. Nay, it is neither of these things. The appliance that I speak of, my friends is the clothes dryer. What? A dryer, in this day and age? This is what I am so impressed with? You bet! I have been without a dryer for two weeks now, which was no big deal with my clothes, because I brought enough to last that long or they were air-dried. However, I did have a problem with my sheets. My flat mate was told that there would be a twin bed in her guest bedroom, which is what my bedroom is. However, since I was staying for so long, they were kind and made it a double. Which yes, is much better than trying to relive my memories of falling from my loft freshman year of college. But, I had only brought twin sheets. The school was nice enough to provide sheets. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, ‘Well, you’re in Egypt, hello! Egyptian cotton.’ Think again. Think more along the lines of prison sheets, washed in fiberglass. I threw my twin sheets on the bed and tried my best. I bought sheets when we want to Carrefour (the local version of Kmart). Since we didn’t have a dryer installed yet, I figured I would just wait until we got one to wash the sheets and put them on my bed. Our fabulous cleaning lady thought differently. She was appalled that I would sleep on sheets too small for my bed so she put the new ones on. They did fit the bed; forming right angles on every corner they were so stiff. I have been doing just fine, until today. THE DRYER WAS INSTALLED TODAY! This was a momentous occasion for me. I was officially going to wash my sheets and dry them. I was thinking that they might be at least a little bit softer once they had been washed and dried. Who was I kidding? They were TONS softer! I am currently sprawled out on the softest sheets ever to have graced the face of this earth. (This may be a slight exaggeration but I doubt it) These sheets are like buttery soft goodness that slides against me like only the finest fabrics would. (Not too bad for some Kmart sheets, huh?) I don’t know who invented the dryer and I am sure they have long since departed this earth, but if they were still alive I would give them a huge wet, sloppy kiss. Maybe a well-structured and enthusiastic thank you letter would suffice, depending on age of the inventor. (Let’s face it, I am not a big boobed blond and the inventor is probably not Hugh Hefner) So I would like to take this moment, to acknowledge the underappreciated appliances everywhere. I appreciate you! I value all that you do for me, all the fabulous moments that you have made daily occurrences in my life. I must say, that this goes out to my dryer, without whom I would still be sleeping on stiff, scratchy sheets. I love you lady! (I decided to make it a lady because it is going to be interacting with my cleaning lady on a regular basis, and I am not sure that her husband or her conservative nature would be okay with her being that close to another male. Big love for Karima, may she have as many wonderful experiences with my dryer as I have)

Ah... Love!

Things I love about Egypt, Maadi to be precise
• I can walk to everything I need, or take a cab if I am being lazy
• People are really nice and helpful
• Our amazing housekeeper who keeps the dust from taking over my allergies and generally makes my flat look AMAZING! (and making my bed. BIG love for Karima!)
• EVERYTHING delivers: the grocery store, vegetables and fruit (thank you veg man!), all food (even gourmet choices like McDonalds and Hardees), Dry Cleaners, etc.
• The exchange rate, which helps those of us who are not getting paid to teach!
• All the beautiful things to see!
• All the greenery
• Flower shops on every road, if not several flowershops
• Fresh Fresh Fresh Mango juice
• Tarek at Phino bakery… mmm… morning baklava and fresh crossiants…
• Hearing at least 4 languages being spoken as I walk home
• Experiencing new things everyday
• Egyptian food… mmm carbs!
• For once I have an accent!

It’ll be on time… Egypt time!

So here’s the biggest difference between home and here: shopping. Back home you go to the Sears, buy a washer and dryer, set up a delivery time, they give you a window and the delivery guy comes, brings it in and sets it up. Here, not so much. Here you have a “guy” for everything: one to build furniture, fix broken electronics, plumbing, installing parts, painting, making and hanging curtains (which is actually two guys). So we go to the appliance shop, if you want to call it that, to get a washer and dryer. We also bought a microwave and vacume while were at it. Also, electronics here are EXPENSIVE! (read: WICKEDLY CRAZY EXPENSIVE) So we pick out the stuff and order it. No information on when it will be delivered, when to expect it at all. Also, the place you bought it from will not be the company that installs it. If you bought an LG washer, the LG man comes and installs it, otherwise your warrenty is VOID. So we go out to dinner one night, almost a week after ordering appliances, and when we get back, all of our lovely appliances are sitting outside of our door! Apparently the delivery man came and since we were not there he just left the stuff, not a phone call or a note to be had. So now we have a dryer, washer, microwave and vacume. Quickly we put away our mc wave and the vacume. Two days later some people call to tell us that they will be here soon to install stuff. This is at 7:30 at night. The one man finally arrives and in 5 minutes hooks up our washer and tests it. I ask him about the dryer, he says “not LG, Shokran” So at this point we have an installed washer, a dryer in a box (in the kitchen) and a semi-broken microwave (the turn table didn’t turn). We call about the microwave and they promise to come and replace it… which happens to be at 10:30 at night! He called my flatmate repeatedly and got no answer, because she was asleep! He called back again the next night at about 9:30 and got to my flat at about 10:00 to swap microwaves. The man was very confused about why she did not answer her phone last night and when she explained she was asleep, he was convinced she was sick or crazy. Thus begins our discussion on Egyptian time. Egyptians do not wake up early. The live for the night time.To have something scheduled before noon is pretty much not done, unless you are talking about food places or certain things like manicures. If you need someone to come out to your flat to fix something, they are coming at night. LATE at night. This is common with lots of things. Doctors appointments are scheduled at 8pm or later, groceries delivered, wires fixed, etc. Egyptians have a siesta after their morning routine and when they arise from their siesta, around 4/5 pm, it is then afternoon for them. So if an Egyptian tells you that it will get done in the afternoon, think dinnertime for us Americans. Also, expect them to be at least half an hour, probably more like an hour late. The darker it is, the more you will get things scheduled. The service men are nothing but nice and very efficient, it’s just the waiting for them to get there part that is a killer. For example, we still have a dryer in a box in our kitchen, it’s become more of a second island really. There is also a new in Ma’adi put in place by our mayor to limit traffic during the daytime. No delivery or large corporate vehicle larger than an SUV can make deliveries between the hours of 8am and 8pm. JOY! This means that the 10:00pm visits from the microwave men are the norm and are now regulated by the mayor! Really, you just have to sit back, have a laugh, say “welcome to Egypt” and “I hope it gets here soon, insha allah”(god willing)”.

Traveling in Maadi

Just a quick shot from a very rare moment of being stopped in the cab..

Here are some things that I have learned about traveling while I have been in Maadi:
1. Cab drivers and regular drivers will not hesitate to run your butt down. “Hesitation Kills!” has become our motto. Hug the curb for all your worth, and when you can, walk facing the traffic. This is the theory my flatmate and I are testing out: “Maybe it will suck less when you see the car coming to kill you as opposed to just clipping you from behind.”
2. Cab drivers and most cars communicate in honking. I’m serious, it is a well developed and practiced language both here in maadi and surrounding cities. 1 honk means “Watch out, I’m coming!” Two honks “Did you not hear the first honk? I am going to run you over!” and Three honks, which is usually meant for other drivers, is “*%&$ YOU BUDDY! I was here first/I want in/Don’t cut me off (whichever is appropriate for the situation)”
3. If you are a female, DO NOT sit in the front seat, it labels you as “a woman of questionable morals”. If you are traveling with four people, all women, our vote is to have the person wearing pants and most looking like she could kick your ass (our vote has always been our friend Regina, she’s a pretty bad ass Italian from New York- need I say more?)
4. Do you remember the game Frogger? If you do, you will see the human version reinacted every day! People literally dart among cars, regardless of the speed, to cross the street. This is not your normal run across, wait for a moment, (hesitation kills, remember) and then continue crossing. This is a mad dash, run three cars up, cross some more, run two cars down and finally get to the other side. People dodge cars with a grace that I am sure has to be born, for if I attempted this, I would surely die.
5. If you are going to be doing any large amount of traveling/ repeatedly/going long distances, you need to develop a relationship with a private taxi driver. This almost always insures a few things: the cab is air conditioned (a huge plus), the music is not techno, the driver knows where you are going and hwo to get there and back, and the driver speaks English (the most amazing plus). If you choose to hop in a cab at random, you may find some of these wonderful bonuses: a driver who smokes like a chimney, faux fur covering all dashboard/ rearview areas, a huge array of mirrors at various angles to make even the most modestly dressed person feeling a little scandalous, blasting techno (for some reason this is wicked popular with the cabbies here, don’t know why), the driver may or may not know where they are going. This is why you always know how to get home once you enter Maadi and why you learn three key words: ARABIC STRAIT LEFT AND RIGHT. A nice Shokran (thank you) never hurt anybody either.
6. Lastly my travels have taught me that the little cabs we take are nothing compared to the “buses” (and I use that term loosely) that many Egyptians ride. The people I have the most awe of are the women who wear complete burkas (a garment that covers all of the body except for hands and a space for the eyes.) I think I might literally sweat to death if I had to wear that much fabric and sit squashed with 30 people in a non air conditioned bus with people smoking! Those are some tough ladies!

The views from my balcony...

I realized that after I put up pictures of my flat I forgot to show you the views from my little balcony… yes that’s right folks, I have a balcony. It’s not huge, but it is good enough for two chairs and a little table. Its nice to sit out there at night when it cools down and have a cup of iced tea and relax. Which is essentially the reason to have a balcony, no? Anyway, as you all know, I am not a big one on sleep and instead of staying up super late here in Cairo, I tend to fall asleep earlier and wake up at the crack of dawn. Does create some productivity though, which is a positive. Most mornings I am up before the sunrise. Sunrise has become one of my favorite parts of the day. Egyptians are not ones to get up early, so it’s pretty quiet. I have a pretty amazing view of the sunrise beyond the buildings, which you can see for yourselves below. In case I neglected to tell you, my flat is directly 5 floors above Kimo market, which happens to be one of the bigger markets here in Maadi. The store is pretty busy loading and unloading and with general hustle and bustle, so these quiet moments are pretty cool. (especially since I know once I get to school I won’t get a quiet moment until I get home for the night!) So beyond the photos of the sunrise (and yes da, I did copy the panoramic sequence shot from you, even though my camera can do panoramic shots!) I also wanted to show you my neighbors. All different kinds of people live around us. Kimo, the building I live in (aptly named after the marked on the ground floor) houses fellow CAC teachers, Egyptians and random business and corporate folk who buy multiple flats neighboring one another and knock down the walls!) The building next to me may look rather beaten down, but actually it’s the norm here. Most of the buildings don’t have ceilings on the top floor, just rebar and plywood or woven sticks. I made mention of this to my buddy (the person who looked after us when we were fresh off the plane) and she told me that in Cairo, if the building doesn’t have a roof, you don’t have to pay taxes on it! Also, as families get bigger, they just use the rebar as a base and add more and use cement and make another floor. It might look odd to us, but it saves the people tons of money and as a college student, I can definitely appreciate the art of living cheap(ish) (okay, I’m more of an extravagantly cheap college student). Also, the construction out here makes me laugh. You will not see metal scaffolding and cranes here. Nope, here they make wood scaffolding that is roped together and use advanced systems like tying a rope to the handle of a bucket and hauling up stuff that way. There is an apartment being renovated right by my flat, so I’ll have to take pictures and show you. Basically I just fear for the lives of all the workers when I walk by, but they are totally unconcerned. So that’s about all for now, just wanted you to get the whole picture of my surroundings. (and yes, almost all the buildings are made of brown cement, shaped like a giant rectangle with some windows. Simplicity rules here in the would be burbs, and I must admit, I like it.)

Newbie... That's Me!

Today was the last day of only newbie orientation; the rest of the staff arrives at the school tomorrow. Most have been in town for a bit, but don’t have to be in the class, so they’ve just been adjusting and hanging out. (lucky!) Today was pretty uneventful for me, it was a nuts and bolts kinda day for the teachers, and so it was a lot of being useless for me. It was interesting stuff to know for future employment stuff, to see what you have to deal with and such. After that my flatmate and I toured road 233 and walked along the shops, we passed by some embassies (there are soo many here, it’s hard to remember which one is which!) You can always tell which buildings are embassies, because they have those nice armed guards out front. Nothing like a man looking bored while he stands there with an automatic weapon to keep you on your toes! The school I am teaching at has armed guards at all the entrances too. (Note to Mum and Da: this means I am especially safe, because not only are they armed, but they are MEAN, to strangers that is.)

We went to Carrefour yesterday, which is like a giant giant Kmart for those of you in the states. I say Kmart because it’s a bit helter skelter and kinda worn down. We got a few essentials for the apartment, nothing too crazy, we really want to go in stages instead of getting all this stuff and not having anyplace to put anything! I have a feeling that one my flatmate’s boxes get here there will be more that enough stuff in the flat! I found out that I am going to be getting a cell phone from another teacher so I won’t have to buy one, just pay for the minute cards! (which is MUCH cheaper) I can’t wait to meet all the other teachers, the newbies have gotten a little bond going on and it will be odd to see and interact with people beyond us. It will be a refreshing change though!

My first days in Ma'adi....

So that’s my flat! Isn’t it fabulous? We haven’t decorated yet, but we are working on it. Most of it requires my roomies boxes to get here, because she has a lot of prints and such that we can hang and such. Funny story about my roomie! Her suitcases were lost by Air France, which stinks, but now she has NO CLEAN CLOTHES! We ordered a washer and drier but it might be a bit before we actually have them. As a result she washed her clothes in the sink last night. And before you get all ‘why didn’t you give her some of your clothes you meanie?’ on me, she is a tall lady who would have looked like the jolly green giant in my clothes, so she decided against it. Anyway… after she washed her clothes she hung them outside to dry. Well at night it isn’t so hot here, so the clothes didn’t dry. We had heard about a teacher using the oven to heat her flat, because it is cheaper that using the heater. So she turned on the oven and draped things over the door, hoping the heat would help them dry. It worked for the tee shirt and undergarments, but the pants were still pretty wet. So she put them on the rack on oven and I told her I would watch them while she showered. She set the timer for 10 minutes. I didn’t think that it would take that long, so I pulled them out at five minutes. However, there was a peculiar smell and it wasn’t just the burnt flesh on my hand from pulling the pants out by the front (read burning hot metal zipper and button). I looked at the pants and saw this:





She came out and I told her “Good news: pants are dry. Bad news: pants are burnt!” She had to wear them all day like this as well, because she still had no suitcase! Everyone asked what happened and soon our story was all over the staff and people were laughing and staring at us… it was pretty hilarious! Welcome to Cairo! Rule Number 1: Don’t bake your clothes!!

My Flat! Home Sweet Home... Ma'adi Style

I figured everyone would want to see what kind of place I am living in, as I myself pictured all kinds of things before I got here. I snapped a few shots and they are posted below with captions for your enjoyment.



This is a shot of my kitchen.



This would the dining room and the living room, which are all open to the kitchen (see the end of the kitchen cabinets)



This is the bathroom... before the facelift we will give it when Carolyn's boxes get here!
I would include pictures of my room, but it's pretty bare bones and lame, so I will wait until it gets more exciting to show you where I am sleeping. Really, its just a bed and a dresser right now!

Travlin' Fool

Traveling was uneventful, which is always nice. I didn’t encounter any problems and I was checked all the way through Cairo, so getting a boarding pass was at each stop was not necessary, which was awesome, because those lines got long! I have discovered that the best place in the entire world to people watch is the international flights area. There is such a jumble of cultures and languages all going on at once. Its so cool to be sitting next to someone and hear them talk interchangeably in three different languages, although it did make me feel slightly less accomplished. I love looking at advertising in other countries too. I had forgotten how funny things can be when words are directly translated and meaning is left by the way side. The funniest things that I have encountered in terms of products are boxes of cigarettes. I know, it seems odd, but they are hilarious. In Germany, half the box is blocked out in white and in bold black letters it states that SMOKING CAUSES AND EARLY DEATH. Here in Egypt, the boxes state that SMOKING KILLS YOU QUICKLY. This is not just some polite little reminder on the corner of the box, no, it is on the two largest sides of the box and it just screams at you! I don’t know that it makes much of a difference to the smokers, I’m pretty sure that they are going to smoke anyway, but it is funny to see them walking around with these huge warning labels that are just so direct it cracks me up.
I have also found a deep and undying love for in-flight movies. They were my saving grace on my flight from Chicago to Germany. I LOVE them! My first and second movie of choice was Prince Caspian. Why my second choice as well you ask? I was watching the movie the first go round and then we hit some turbulence and somehow the movie was restarted. I thought to myself, ‘self, you can’t possibly switch over to another movie now, you don’t know how this ends!’ As it turns out, I was only about a half an hour from the end of the movie when it restarted, so I watched Prince Caspian for about five hours and forty-five minutes (also known as almost 2/3 of my flight… woo!)
After my flight landed in Frankfurt, I had about 4 hours to kill. I wandered and looked around, but at 5:15 in the morning, not much is going on. I passed out on a bench in my terminal for a while, and then awoke when some of the other teachers from my school started to arrive. (How my body knew that this indeed was the time to wake up, I have no idea, but I am grateful that my future colleagues did not see me passed out on a bench like a homeless person, clutching her backpack!) I slept pretty much the whole four hours from Frankfurt to Cairo so that flight went wicked fast. And then, there I was sitting in Cairo airport waiting for my adventure to begin….

Leaving Tomorrow~

The time has officially come, I leave tomorrow morning for Cairo! I am almost all packed, I just hope that my suitcases are in the right weight area. I really don't want to pay 35 dollars for a heavy suitcase, but I am packing for five months of living people! It is a challenge, let me tell you! Hopefully I will have some uneventful and easy travels. I will be spending roughly 21 hours (when the time change is not counted) in the air and in different airports, awaiting my flights. I leave here at 10:40 AM on August 1st and arrive in Cairo at 2:15 PM August 2nd. WOW! All I can say do is thank the creators of iPod and mass publishers, for I will be listening to a lot of music and devouring books. I will keep you posted when I finally arrive! I cannot believe it is so close, the summer seem to have flown by! Cannot wait to actually get to Egypt!

8 Days and counting...

I leave in 8 whole days! One would think this is when I would be relaxed, packed and ready to go. Obviously, they have never met me! I have more dirty laundry than clean, which isn't that overwhelming seeing as how I have strategically placed said laundry in multiple places throughout my house! HAHA! (read: parents house) My teaching clothes are also in multiple locations, leaving me to guess about whether I have the necessary amount of fitting professional garb or not. However, having just quit my job yesterday.. peace out Applebees! I feel that I have all the time in the world, which is bad, (read: very, very bad) as it only aids my procrastination. I sense a bitter cycle, yes? Hopefully I can pull myself together and act like an adult for at least one week in my life and get things done. Don't hold your breath!!

Cairo I go?

So it's a mere 21 days until my departure and I am mere moments away from probable melt down. I have tickets.. ish. One of the segments of my flight TO Cairo is still waitlisted. NOT COOL. I realize that 21 days seems like a massive amount of time to remedy this, but it still makes me a tad bit uncomfortable. I am behind on things to get done and am now kicking myself for wasting my summer with work and laziness. It is amazing what a time crunch will do to your motivation, however. I have already crossed 3 things off my intimidating typed to do list- thank you Da! The rest of the list, not soo scary, just fairly massive and that is frightening in and of itself. However, in spite of my overwhelming under acommplishedness, I am super excited to get there! 21 days seems both daunting in its closeness and how far away it is! I want it to be here now! I want to get there tomorrow! Lets just hope that I accomplish more in the days to come.