And this is why I love you. Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVrNV_5LhNE&feature=related
Watch it. Now!
With love :)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The 600 LE "Bebsi" And Other Ridiculous Stories
Okay, so I know I'm supposed to keep this thing updated and tell you stupid things I accidentally do in Egypt, but instead I just go to class, go to the library, rinse and repeat. Literally. Arabic is kicking my ass on a daily basis and I have no life. Take me back to senior year in college, please and a very big thank you. If that doesn't happen though, here are a few ridiculous stories to hopefully make you appreciate America a little more.
Last weekend happened to be my birthday. Thank you everybody, I wish you could've been here to celebrate Egyptian style with me. It included a nighttime trip to the Pyramids. We went to a show called sound and light, and they have lights and lasers on the pyramids and the Sphinx 'talks'. It was a very touristy thing, but I can say I spent my 23rd birthday at the pyramids. As a side note, as anybody who knows me knows that I tend to say really dumb things from time to time. Unfortunately, just because I'm in Egypt, it doesn't change. I was with some friends at a place called Pub 55 or something like that. Jess and I were talking and she said something about finding the ex-pat lounge. And being the absolute genius I am, I intelligently responding, "The ex-pat lounge? Like a place for the New England Patriots?" Yes Belle, because ex-Patriots love coming to hang out in Egypt so much, there is a bar just for them. Duh. I'm sure all you smart people know exactly who the ex-Pats are, so we're going to leave it at that. We will move on to the rest of my very interesting birthday. A large group of us went out to this Lebanese restaurant in Garden City, which is basically downtown Cairo where all the embassies are. If you want a cab from where I am to go somewhere, you need to call at least an hour in advance. So we called for two cabs to pick us up at 7 so we could get there around 8ish. Well 7 comes and goes and were still sitting on the side of the street. 715, 720 no cabs. So we happen to see one drop other people off and we book it to that one, thinking at least some of us can still try to make it and hopefully the other cabs will show up at some point soon. So 4 of us hop in and off we go. Now in Cairo. people drive fast. This dude was driving really really slow. Not what you want when you're going to be almost late for a reservation. Now instead of speeding up, the dude is slowing down. Like literally 5 miles an hour down the street. We're all looking at each other going what the hell is happening? Nobody drives this slow...anywhere. And then the car stops. It just dies. Turns out the cabbie forgot to put in gas in the tank and we were stuck in the middle of the highway/desert. Its about 735 at this point and there's nobody around. They only thing we can do is laugh at this absurdity and call our friends back at school and hope the 2 cabs are there. Which thank God, they were and we we able to take our original cabs to the restaurant. We made it there by 815; not bad considering. I had just started eating real food again two days before so I wasn't sure what I was going to get. So I ordered this chicken dish with potatoes and some other things on it; it was a new item on the menu. But apparently it was there for future reference, because they don't actually make it yet. Oookay. So I pick the first thing I see that doesn't involve fish or tomatoes and it turns out to be beef and potatoes. I can manage that. Except when I get it, its in a bowl. And the beef looks like the beef you use when you make beef stew and its soupy. And there wasn't potatoes, or at least I didn't think so. So I try it, but when I pull the fork out I had (not a bug) but a french fry. Weird, but maybe it just got misplaced. So I take another bite and another french fry comes out. So I dig around and it clicks. Beef and potatoes. The potatoes were the french fries that they lined the bottom of the bowl with. I'm not sure if its a Lebanese thing or an Egyptian thing, but it was a little weird. It was good, just weird. Whatever. A baked potato would've been fine, though.
My friend Jess had invited me to Marabella, which is on the Mediterranean for this past weekend. Her family has a place there, and we were going to rent a villa in the complex and go to the beach and hang out. I would be taking a bus with another friend from Cairo to the coast, about two and a half hours away. I had to buy the ticket at least a day in advance so I asked my friend Hibar to come with me downtown because he knows the city pretty well and the place we were going to apparently wasn't the easiest to find. Not surprising. So away we go. He is able to speak a little Arabic and understand it so it was helpful. So we get downtown after a normal charlie foxtrot of traffic (accidents). Every few feet we would stop to ask people if they knew where Cairo Gateway Plaza was. The thing about Egyptians is that they will tell you they know where something is even if they've never heard of it before. And they will give you directions to "the place" too. So we're ambling along and we stop to ask this guy if he knows. And he starts speaking fluent English. Score. Except he turns to me in my sunglasses and skirt and goes, you look Arabic. You Arabic? Okay, have you seen me? I'm about as white as they come. And I have magic eyes. So I say no, American. Big mistake. He starts going on and on about his time he spent there in Chicago and California, especially Long Beach and how he boogied (his word, not mine) and drank and girls and food and blah blah blah. I sort of giggled cause he sounded so ridiculous and kept calling my his sister and Hibar his brother. So Hibar is like okay, but do you know where CGP is? We need to get there. And the guy goes its closed. Oh shit, now what? So dude sees our slight panic and goes, oh well they'll open again, around 5 (it was about ten of 4). They just close for an hour or so. Okay, fine. So he goes why don't you come see my pictures from America, I have water. Erm, okay? So he's showing us his pictures and then starts talking about perfume. And my boyfriend. Wait, what? And my sister. My sister? Since when? He is now shoving perfume under our noses and telling us that we need to take some home and drive the boyfriend crazy and get him horny so we can play (his words, not mine). And take some to my mother so she can drive my father crazy, and don't forget your sister and brother cause they need to drive they're boyfriends and girlfriends crazy too. What. The. Hell. Once again, you are all smarter than I am, because it doesn't end. Yet. We'll skip everything else he was saying about making the world horny (still his words) because it just got more ridiculous. And guess who ended up getting a bottle of this 'magic' perfume. Yes, I got hustled. Hardcore. And since I'm sometimes blond, I didn't even realize it until it was happening and then we had no idea what was going on. So this guy told me to tell everybody that I paid 600 LE for this stuff. Which I didn't, by the way. I didn't end up losing that much actually, and its even less in American dollars. Moral of this? Don't talk to Egyptians who speak really good English. Actually, I'm not even that mad I got hustled, it could've been way worse, and now it won't happen again. And I got a free "Bebsi" out of it. Which is Pepsi, but since Egyptians can't say P's, it was bebsi. By the way, we finally got to CGP for the bus ticket, which of course wasn't closed. But you already knew that...
What next? Because there is always a next. How about the bus ride to Marabella. The bus was semi normal and didn't look like it would fall apart and there were seats so people weren't jammed on like sardines or hanging off the bumper, cause that's what public buses are like. So we settle in for our little journy north. Through the desert. That has no street lights. Which is fine until you realize that the bus driver is trying to entertain a cute little girl of about five. And by entertain I mean he is leaning over and tickling her and turning the headlights off. So basically we're sort of swerving down this pitch dark sandy highway with no lights and no civilization around for miles. I am all for keeping the kids entertained, but buddy, when you're driving a bus through the desert, lets try to keep our lights on and eyes on the road. Maybe next time. Oh,and lets not forget the stop to pray. Because there are mosques in the middle of the dark sandy desert along the deserted highway. But there are no bus stops for where we were going so we were dropped off on the side of the highway. Literally. Nothing makes any sense in Egypt. Ever.
Our short stay on the Mediterranean was fantastic, however. Jess's family are so kind and welcoming and we had a great time. They made us dinner, and breakfast the next morning and got lunch for us before we had to go back. The food was fantastic and their beach house was gorgeous. You could sit on the deck and see the Sea. And walk to the beach which was about twenty five feet away. Jess has two cousins; one goes to school in Germany and she had German friends visiting so we spent the night trying to teach them American drinking games. It was a lot of fun and we were up until 5 am. (Tim, if you read this, I'm sorry and you might want to skip the next part :) Jess and I were in the same room and we got up around 1030. Our friend Tim was in the next bedroom. We were going to go to her aunts for breakfast, so we got up and started getting ready. I was walking into the kitchen when I heard a knock. At first I wasn't going to open it because we don't know anybody there, but then I figured it could be one of her cousins to see where we were. So I open the door and sitting on the ground is Tim. In only his boxers. Oookay..what the hell are you doing there like that?! Apparently, around 7 (two hours after we went to bed) Tim decided he wanted fresh air and went outside. And the door locked from the inside so he was stuck outside for about 3 hours. Jess and I didn't hear him knocking on the door; we needed beauty sleep. Poor Tim. Our day at the beach was phenominal; it was like the Carrabean: clear blue warm water, white sand and everything. It was great.
But all good things come to an end and we had to go home. The bus gives you a ticket and a seat number, but its not like there are assigned seats. So on the bus we go and we're off to one more stop before we are able to leave. We're siting on the side of the road waiting for people and outside is this large group of people, aka a family with the grandmother and daughters, right down to the crying grandchildren. And they're making a minor scene, but whatever. I'm half asleep with my headphones on and suddenly I look up and Grandmother is standing next to us speaking rapid fire Arabic and yelling to the bus driver. Great. She is looking at her ticket and insisting that we are in her seat. Okay, lady, there are two seats right next to us and two seats right behind us that are open, why don't you just take those. Well, normal people would. She wasn't normal. She's going "YELLA YELLA", which when said like that is basically move your ass. But she is blocking us into our seats so we had nowhere to go. So after 5 minutes, the bus driver had enough and asked us to move. To the seats next to us. But Grandmother doesn't even sit in the seats we just vacated. She sits right in front of me! And turns around. leans over the seat and starts dictating to her grandchildren (who were sitting in our old seats) which is three rows back and across. And of course it wasn't quiet. Crazy Grandmother. After that it was a relatively normal ride (with headlights) and a terrible Arabic movie that included blood, heroin, guns and the final shootout scene with bad guy being beaten with a mop.
The next morning (yesterday) we went to the Pyramids and Spinx. I wish I could go on and on about them, but really, words and pictures don't even do them justice. It was astounding to actually see them and climb on them. Some of the blocks were bigger than me (and yes, I know I'm not that big, but still). The base of the biggest pyramid is 13 acres, average weight of each stone is about 2 tons and there are about 2.5 million blocks. And 446 feet tall. And they used mules and men and pulleys. It was incredible. We were able to go into one of the queen's pyramids; it was hot as hell in there and very tiny. We saw the Sphinx, and yes I kissed him. And then hoped on a camel. It was wild. And fun. Pictures are of course on facebook, so go check them out. We spent about 4 hours there with a great tour guide and our security guard; they really knew what they were doing and had so much knowledge about the whole area and what the hieroglyphics meant and stuff.
I'm going to Alexandria this weekend, so that will be another adventure. Unfortunately until then I have classes and Arabic is still kicking my ass. I will be studying until I pass out, rinse and repeat. Charmed life I live.Well, on to homework until next time!
Ciao :)
Last weekend happened to be my birthday. Thank you everybody, I wish you could've been here to celebrate Egyptian style with me. It included a nighttime trip to the Pyramids. We went to a show called sound and light, and they have lights and lasers on the pyramids and the Sphinx 'talks'. It was a very touristy thing, but I can say I spent my 23rd birthday at the pyramids. As a side note, as anybody who knows me knows that I tend to say really dumb things from time to time. Unfortunately, just because I'm in Egypt, it doesn't change. I was with some friends at a place called Pub 55 or something like that. Jess and I were talking and she said something about finding the ex-pat lounge. And being the absolute genius I am, I intelligently responding, "The ex-pat lounge? Like a place for the New England Patriots?" Yes Belle, because ex-Patriots love coming to hang out in Egypt so much, there is a bar just for them. Duh. I'm sure all you smart people know exactly who the ex-Pats are, so we're going to leave it at that. We will move on to the rest of my very interesting birthday. A large group of us went out to this Lebanese restaurant in Garden City, which is basically downtown Cairo where all the embassies are. If you want a cab from where I am to go somewhere, you need to call at least an hour in advance. So we called for two cabs to pick us up at 7 so we could get there around 8ish. Well 7 comes and goes and were still sitting on the side of the street. 715, 720 no cabs. So we happen to see one drop other people off and we book it to that one, thinking at least some of us can still try to make it and hopefully the other cabs will show up at some point soon. So 4 of us hop in and off we go. Now in Cairo. people drive fast. This dude was driving really really slow. Not what you want when you're going to be almost late for a reservation. Now instead of speeding up, the dude is slowing down. Like literally 5 miles an hour down the street. We're all looking at each other going what the hell is happening? Nobody drives this slow...anywhere. And then the car stops. It just dies. Turns out the cabbie forgot to put in gas in the tank and we were stuck in the middle of the highway/desert. Its about 735 at this point and there's nobody around. They only thing we can do is laugh at this absurdity and call our friends back at school and hope the 2 cabs are there. Which thank God, they were and we we able to take our original cabs to the restaurant. We made it there by 815; not bad considering. I had just started eating real food again two days before so I wasn't sure what I was going to get. So I ordered this chicken dish with potatoes and some other things on it; it was a new item on the menu. But apparently it was there for future reference, because they don't actually make it yet. Oookay. So I pick the first thing I see that doesn't involve fish or tomatoes and it turns out to be beef and potatoes. I can manage that. Except when I get it, its in a bowl. And the beef looks like the beef you use when you make beef stew and its soupy. And there wasn't potatoes, or at least I didn't think so. So I try it, but when I pull the fork out I had (not a bug) but a french fry. Weird, but maybe it just got misplaced. So I take another bite and another french fry comes out. So I dig around and it clicks. Beef and potatoes. The potatoes were the french fries that they lined the bottom of the bowl with. I'm not sure if its a Lebanese thing or an Egyptian thing, but it was a little weird. It was good, just weird. Whatever. A baked potato would've been fine, though.
My friend Jess had invited me to Marabella, which is on the Mediterranean for this past weekend. Her family has a place there, and we were going to rent a villa in the complex and go to the beach and hang out. I would be taking a bus with another friend from Cairo to the coast, about two and a half hours away. I had to buy the ticket at least a day in advance so I asked my friend Hibar to come with me downtown because he knows the city pretty well and the place we were going to apparently wasn't the easiest to find. Not surprising. So away we go. He is able to speak a little Arabic and understand it so it was helpful. So we get downtown after a normal charlie foxtrot of traffic (accidents). Every few feet we would stop to ask people if they knew where Cairo Gateway Plaza was. The thing about Egyptians is that they will tell you they know where something is even if they've never heard of it before. And they will give you directions to "the place" too. So we're ambling along and we stop to ask this guy if he knows. And he starts speaking fluent English. Score. Except he turns to me in my sunglasses and skirt and goes, you look Arabic. You Arabic? Okay, have you seen me? I'm about as white as they come. And I have magic eyes. So I say no, American. Big mistake. He starts going on and on about his time he spent there in Chicago and California, especially Long Beach and how he boogied (his word, not mine) and drank and girls and food and blah blah blah. I sort of giggled cause he sounded so ridiculous and kept calling my his sister and Hibar his brother. So Hibar is like okay, but do you know where CGP is? We need to get there. And the guy goes its closed. Oh shit, now what? So dude sees our slight panic and goes, oh well they'll open again, around 5 (it was about ten of 4). They just close for an hour or so. Okay, fine. So he goes why don't you come see my pictures from America, I have water. Erm, okay? So he's showing us his pictures and then starts talking about perfume. And my boyfriend. Wait, what? And my sister. My sister? Since when? He is now shoving perfume under our noses and telling us that we need to take some home and drive the boyfriend crazy and get him horny so we can play (his words, not mine). And take some to my mother so she can drive my father crazy, and don't forget your sister and brother cause they need to drive they're boyfriends and girlfriends crazy too. What. The. Hell. Once again, you are all smarter than I am, because it doesn't end. Yet. We'll skip everything else he was saying about making the world horny (still his words) because it just got more ridiculous. And guess who ended up getting a bottle of this 'magic' perfume. Yes, I got hustled. Hardcore. And since I'm sometimes blond, I didn't even realize it until it was happening and then we had no idea what was going on. So this guy told me to tell everybody that I paid 600 LE for this stuff. Which I didn't, by the way. I didn't end up losing that much actually, and its even less in American dollars. Moral of this? Don't talk to Egyptians who speak really good English. Actually, I'm not even that mad I got hustled, it could've been way worse, and now it won't happen again. And I got a free "Bebsi" out of it. Which is Pepsi, but since Egyptians can't say P's, it was bebsi. By the way, we finally got to CGP for the bus ticket, which of course wasn't closed. But you already knew that...
What next? Because there is always a next. How about the bus ride to Marabella. The bus was semi normal and didn't look like it would fall apart and there were seats so people weren't jammed on like sardines or hanging off the bumper, cause that's what public buses are like. So we settle in for our little journy north. Through the desert. That has no street lights. Which is fine until you realize that the bus driver is trying to entertain a cute little girl of about five. And by entertain I mean he is leaning over and tickling her and turning the headlights off. So basically we're sort of swerving down this pitch dark sandy highway with no lights and no civilization around for miles. I am all for keeping the kids entertained, but buddy, when you're driving a bus through the desert, lets try to keep our lights on and eyes on the road. Maybe next time. Oh,and lets not forget the stop to pray. Because there are mosques in the middle of the dark sandy desert along the deserted highway. But there are no bus stops for where we were going so we were dropped off on the side of the highway. Literally. Nothing makes any sense in Egypt. Ever.
Our short stay on the Mediterranean was fantastic, however. Jess's family are so kind and welcoming and we had a great time. They made us dinner, and breakfast the next morning and got lunch for us before we had to go back. The food was fantastic and their beach house was gorgeous. You could sit on the deck and see the Sea. And walk to the beach which was about twenty five feet away. Jess has two cousins; one goes to school in Germany and she had German friends visiting so we spent the night trying to teach them American drinking games. It was a lot of fun and we were up until 5 am. (Tim, if you read this, I'm sorry and you might want to skip the next part :) Jess and I were in the same room and we got up around 1030. Our friend Tim was in the next bedroom. We were going to go to her aunts for breakfast, so we got up and started getting ready. I was walking into the kitchen when I heard a knock. At first I wasn't going to open it because we don't know anybody there, but then I figured it could be one of her cousins to see where we were. So I open the door and sitting on the ground is Tim. In only his boxers. Oookay..what the hell are you doing there like that?! Apparently, around 7 (two hours after we went to bed) Tim decided he wanted fresh air and went outside. And the door locked from the inside so he was stuck outside for about 3 hours. Jess and I didn't hear him knocking on the door; we needed beauty sleep. Poor Tim. Our day at the beach was phenominal; it was like the Carrabean: clear blue warm water, white sand and everything. It was great.
But all good things come to an end and we had to go home. The bus gives you a ticket and a seat number, but its not like there are assigned seats. So on the bus we go and we're off to one more stop before we are able to leave. We're siting on the side of the road waiting for people and outside is this large group of people, aka a family with the grandmother and daughters, right down to the crying grandchildren. And they're making a minor scene, but whatever. I'm half asleep with my headphones on and suddenly I look up and Grandmother is standing next to us speaking rapid fire Arabic and yelling to the bus driver. Great. She is looking at her ticket and insisting that we are in her seat. Okay, lady, there are two seats right next to us and two seats right behind us that are open, why don't you just take those. Well, normal people would. She wasn't normal. She's going "YELLA YELLA", which when said like that is basically move your ass. But she is blocking us into our seats so we had nowhere to go. So after 5 minutes, the bus driver had enough and asked us to move. To the seats next to us. But Grandmother doesn't even sit in the seats we just vacated. She sits right in front of me! And turns around. leans over the seat and starts dictating to her grandchildren (who were sitting in our old seats) which is three rows back and across. And of course it wasn't quiet. Crazy Grandmother. After that it was a relatively normal ride (with headlights) and a terrible Arabic movie that included blood, heroin, guns and the final shootout scene with bad guy being beaten with a mop.
The next morning (yesterday) we went to the Pyramids and Spinx. I wish I could go on and on about them, but really, words and pictures don't even do them justice. It was astounding to actually see them and climb on them. Some of the blocks were bigger than me (and yes, I know I'm not that big, but still). The base of the biggest pyramid is 13 acres, average weight of each stone is about 2 tons and there are about 2.5 million blocks. And 446 feet tall. And they used mules and men and pulleys. It was incredible. We were able to go into one of the queen's pyramids; it was hot as hell in there and very tiny. We saw the Sphinx, and yes I kissed him. And then hoped on a camel. It was wild. And fun. Pictures are of course on facebook, so go check them out. We spent about 4 hours there with a great tour guide and our security guard; they really knew what they were doing and had so much knowledge about the whole area and what the hieroglyphics meant and stuff.
I'm going to Alexandria this weekend, so that will be another adventure. Unfortunately until then I have classes and Arabic is still kicking my ass. I will be studying until I pass out, rinse and repeat. Charmed life I live.Well, on to homework until next time!
Ciao :)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Learn to Cope
This is the post where I talk about my first week of school. In Egypt. I suppose normally I would say how awesome it was and blah blah blah. Unfortunatly it amounted to the worst. week. ever. But we'll start off nice and cheery so as to disillusion myself that it will magically change if I write something good.
The last few days before school were actually great. There was an ALI orientation that everybody in the program had to go to. ALI is the Arabic Language Institute, and its all Arabic classes and its designed to teach you Arabic as quickly as possible. Its pretty intense. So we had that, and we got our schedules; I have three Modern Standard Arabic classes, and two electives, which are listening and trying to pick out the letter the professor says, which is still slightly non-easy, and Readings in the Quran, where we discuss the readings and talk about it. They also discussed trips that the program sponsors throughout Egypt, so hopefully I'll get to do some cool traveling. That ended early, so a group of us went downtown to a party that some off campus AUC people had. There are a surprising number of military academy students here for a semester; these guys were from West Point and the school had paid for their apartment. It was pretty awesome. It was in Zamalak and had a balcony with a view of something other than sand. Impressive for the desert. We got home around 430 and watched the sunrise basically. It was a fun night.
Then hell started. I woke up feeling pretty miserable. And no, it was not a hangover. At first, it was pretty managable, the stomach cramps and nausea. I even made myself venture out with friends for the night. We went to Khan al Khalili again which was a good time until sketchy mcsketch 40 year old Egyptian male decided to follow me around and continuously grab my ass. It was dirty and I wanted to smack the bastard, but still undecided if that's the best idea. I think next time it may happen. We went to this awesome Hibachi restaurant after. It was literally on the Nile, like a boat. It was really good. It was Saturday night and it was the last time I ate until Thursday. Meanwhile, I was still feeling not so stellar, and my stomach hurt everytime I moved, walked, went over a bump in the cab, etc. Great.
And then school started. I barley slept the night before because the room was really warm and every time I tried to move, I would wake up in pain and not be able to sleep for the next three hours. Of course my first day I had three classes starting at 9, and I'm not so sure how I even made it through the day. It hurt to walk, to sit, anytime I had a cramp, I couldn't even keep walking. So by the end of classes, I was back in bed for the day. I managed to do my homework. I guess the silver lining is that getting incredibly sick this week was good, because we learned the alphabet and didn't have a pile of homework yet.
Monday was much the same. Miserable, painful, more forcing myself to go to class. I couldn't eat anything, nor did I feel like eating anything, so water and Gatorade became my best friend. I went to the doctor cause I didn't want to die of some funky Egyptian disease. So my thing is when I'm sick, especially when I'm sick over five thousand miles away, I cry. So I started crying to this little lady doctor, and she tells me to stop crying. Now I'm scared and scared to cry and I'm trying to tell her what's wrong. She says, oh this is common, don't worry, but come back tomorrow if you're still feeling not good or you think your getting worse. So guess who had to go back the next day. Now, she decides that she wants to run tests to see what's really going on. Except the tests are an hour bus ride away downtown in Zamalak. So I drag myself to the bus and try to curl up on a seat so my stomach doesn't die on this very very bumpy ride downtown. So I get there and venture to the lab, which is thankfully pretty close to the Zamalak dorms. Except at this lab, the techs are two older Egyptian men and here I am giving them very personal information and samples of things you would rather not give to older Egyptian men you don't even know, or even communicate with. No shame anymore I guess. Now, the thing about the bus to and from campus is that it doesn't run every hour. So now that its about 130 and I've done my thing and the only thing I want to do now is to go lay down in bed because that's the only thing that makes me feel remotely pain-free is impossible. Because the next bus back to school isn't until 630. So I have quite a few hours to kill. I read a book I bought and tried to sleep in the middle of the dorm lobby (no shame, remember? :I went out with Jess and Tim until my bus, because Jess had to go to campus too. So I finally got back around quarter of 8, did my thankfully minimal homework, and tried to sleep. Tried because I couldn't stay asleep for more than a few hours at a wack, thanks to my awesome feel-like-I'm-hemorrhaging stomach.
Now these test results. I had to pick them up. And of course they weren't ready by the time I left, so I had to do the same thing on Wednesday. Back to Zamalak for hours I went and did much the same. Sit, sleep, feel miserable. But I did eat half a bagel. Improvement! This time, the 630 bus was delayed. For at least a half hour. Just what I needed. Typical Egypt. So we left at 7 and got back a little after 8. And I did homework and went to bed for a few scattered hours of sleep.
Thursday. I woke up and for the first time I actually felt marginally better. Still not great, but the cramps/hemorrhaging as I'd taken to referring to it in my head was actually almost manageable. I was still a slave to Gatorade, but I actually ate a whole bagel...with cream cheese. Made my day, since it was the first thing I was able to eat since Saturday. I was able to get things done, including dropping my test results off to lady doc. She looked at them, and said that I was right to cry that first day. Didn't help much, since I was dry eyed and almost happy at that point. We're not sure what I ate but I had a wicked bad case of food poisoning and she is giving me these strong meds next week to make sure its gone. And then I get to go back to the lab to have more tests done to make sure its really gone. So adventure part who knows next week. Maybe I wont have to spend 7 hours in Zamalak in-between, but at least I feel better so it won't be as bad.
So this was my week. Except that wasn't exactly all that was going on. On Sunday, I found out I had a hold on my account, and my internet didn't work, my ID didn't get me into campus or the library, and my email didn't work, all because of this hold. And this hold was due to the school giving me the wrong registration number and they registered me wrong. I had been giving a different number this summer, and when I used it, they said it was wrong and I explained that this was my new number, but they didn't believe me and went ahead and used the wrong number anyways. So I had to add a new class and drop some that I wasn't signed up for, but I couldn't do that until my hold was lifted. And since I was wasting away having tests done and feeling like death everyday, I couldn't really do anything about fixing it. But I did manage to get some of it settled yesterday. I got my new ID, after being sent to four different buildings on opposite sides of campus in the 96 degree heat, in jeans, each saying go somewhere else, of course. The IDs had to be activated separately, so I asked where I could go to get mine done. The guy said it was already taken care of so I was pretty excited. Until I got to my dorm and it didn't work. So I guess its not activated after all. And I can't get it activated until at least Monday because its the end of Ramadan today and everything is closed Thursday-Sunday.
So that in a semi nutshell was my first week of school. In Egypt. I guess my disillusioned hope that it would change if I was all happy at the beginning didn't work. As some wise not so old soul told me, learning to cope makes you stronger. So I hope I'm stronger. But all I have to say is that if the four bug bites on my leg turn out to be West Nile, shit is going to hit the fan.
Stay healthy! (and send me a miracle, I could use one..or a wish if I want to be cliche and quote songs :)
The last few days before school were actually great. There was an ALI orientation that everybody in the program had to go to. ALI is the Arabic Language Institute, and its all Arabic classes and its designed to teach you Arabic as quickly as possible. Its pretty intense. So we had that, and we got our schedules; I have three Modern Standard Arabic classes, and two electives, which are listening and trying to pick out the letter the professor says, which is still slightly non-easy, and Readings in the Quran, where we discuss the readings and talk about it. They also discussed trips that the program sponsors throughout Egypt, so hopefully I'll get to do some cool traveling. That ended early, so a group of us went downtown to a party that some off campus AUC people had. There are a surprising number of military academy students here for a semester; these guys were from West Point and the school had paid for their apartment. It was pretty awesome. It was in Zamalak and had a balcony with a view of something other than sand. Impressive for the desert. We got home around 430 and watched the sunrise basically. It was a fun night.
Then hell started. I woke up feeling pretty miserable. And no, it was not a hangover. At first, it was pretty managable, the stomach cramps and nausea. I even made myself venture out with friends for the night. We went to Khan al Khalili again which was a good time until sketchy mcsketch 40 year old Egyptian male decided to follow me around and continuously grab my ass. It was dirty and I wanted to smack the bastard, but still undecided if that's the best idea. I think next time it may happen. We went to this awesome Hibachi restaurant after. It was literally on the Nile, like a boat. It was really good. It was Saturday night and it was the last time I ate until Thursday. Meanwhile, I was still feeling not so stellar, and my stomach hurt everytime I moved, walked, went over a bump in the cab, etc. Great.
And then school started. I barley slept the night before because the room was really warm and every time I tried to move, I would wake up in pain and not be able to sleep for the next three hours. Of course my first day I had three classes starting at 9, and I'm not so sure how I even made it through the day. It hurt to walk, to sit, anytime I had a cramp, I couldn't even keep walking. So by the end of classes, I was back in bed for the day. I managed to do my homework. I guess the silver lining is that getting incredibly sick this week was good, because we learned the alphabet and didn't have a pile of homework yet.
Monday was much the same. Miserable, painful, more forcing myself to go to class. I couldn't eat anything, nor did I feel like eating anything, so water and Gatorade became my best friend. I went to the doctor cause I didn't want to die of some funky Egyptian disease. So my thing is when I'm sick, especially when I'm sick over five thousand miles away, I cry. So I started crying to this little lady doctor, and she tells me to stop crying. Now I'm scared and scared to cry and I'm trying to tell her what's wrong. She says, oh this is common, don't worry, but come back tomorrow if you're still feeling not good or you think your getting worse. So guess who had to go back the next day. Now, she decides that she wants to run tests to see what's really going on. Except the tests are an hour bus ride away downtown in Zamalak. So I drag myself to the bus and try to curl up on a seat so my stomach doesn't die on this very very bumpy ride downtown. So I get there and venture to the lab, which is thankfully pretty close to the Zamalak dorms. Except at this lab, the techs are two older Egyptian men and here I am giving them very personal information and samples of things you would rather not give to older Egyptian men you don't even know, or even communicate with. No shame anymore I guess. Now, the thing about the bus to and from campus is that it doesn't run every hour. So now that its about 130 and I've done my thing and the only thing I want to do now is to go lay down in bed because that's the only thing that makes me feel remotely pain-free is impossible. Because the next bus back to school isn't until 630. So I have quite a few hours to kill. I read a book I bought and tried to sleep in the middle of the dorm lobby (no shame, remember? :I went out with Jess and Tim until my bus, because Jess had to go to campus too. So I finally got back around quarter of 8, did my thankfully minimal homework, and tried to sleep. Tried because I couldn't stay asleep for more than a few hours at a wack, thanks to my awesome feel-like-I'm-hemorrhaging stomach.
Now these test results. I had to pick them up. And of course they weren't ready by the time I left, so I had to do the same thing on Wednesday. Back to Zamalak for hours I went and did much the same. Sit, sleep, feel miserable. But I did eat half a bagel. Improvement! This time, the 630 bus was delayed. For at least a half hour. Just what I needed. Typical Egypt. So we left at 7 and got back a little after 8. And I did homework and went to bed for a few scattered hours of sleep.
Thursday. I woke up and for the first time I actually felt marginally better. Still not great, but the cramps/hemorrhaging as I'd taken to referring to it in my head was actually almost manageable. I was still a slave to Gatorade, but I actually ate a whole bagel...with cream cheese. Made my day, since it was the first thing I was able to eat since Saturday. I was able to get things done, including dropping my test results off to lady doc. She looked at them, and said that I was right to cry that first day. Didn't help much, since I was dry eyed and almost happy at that point. We're not sure what I ate but I had a wicked bad case of food poisoning and she is giving me these strong meds next week to make sure its gone. And then I get to go back to the lab to have more tests done to make sure its really gone. So adventure part who knows next week. Maybe I wont have to spend 7 hours in Zamalak in-between, but at least I feel better so it won't be as bad.
So this was my week. Except that wasn't exactly all that was going on. On Sunday, I found out I had a hold on my account, and my internet didn't work, my ID didn't get me into campus or the library, and my email didn't work, all because of this hold. And this hold was due to the school giving me the wrong registration number and they registered me wrong. I had been giving a different number this summer, and when I used it, they said it was wrong and I explained that this was my new number, but they didn't believe me and went ahead and used the wrong number anyways. So I had to add a new class and drop some that I wasn't signed up for, but I couldn't do that until my hold was lifted. And since I was wasting away having tests done and feeling like death everyday, I couldn't really do anything about fixing it. But I did manage to get some of it settled yesterday. I got my new ID, after being sent to four different buildings on opposite sides of campus in the 96 degree heat, in jeans, each saying go somewhere else, of course. The IDs had to be activated separately, so I asked where I could go to get mine done. The guy said it was already taken care of so I was pretty excited. Until I got to my dorm and it didn't work. So I guess its not activated after all. And I can't get it activated until at least Monday because its the end of Ramadan today and everything is closed Thursday-Sunday.
So that in a semi nutshell was my first week of school. In Egypt. I guess my disillusioned hope that it would change if I was all happy at the beginning didn't work. As some wise not so old soul told me, learning to cope makes you stronger. So I hope I'm stronger. But all I have to say is that if the four bug bites on my leg turn out to be West Nile, shit is going to hit the fan.
Stay healthy! (and send me a miracle, I could use one..or a wish if I want to be cliche and quote songs :)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Hey Magic Eyes, How Many Hearts Do You Break?
I have a feeling that after Sunday, venturing around Egypt and subsequently getting into ridiculous situations are going to decrease exponentially...nobody is going to care how much time I spend in the library trying to make heads or tails of Arabic. But until then!
Monday was quite the day. Two friends and I went to al Maadi, which is a pretty Americanized/Westernized area. Its quieter and greener, and therefore not as hot as downtown Cairo is. My friend Hibar had been to Cairo before, and he knew a taxi driver from his previous trips so we took a ride. If you can get to know a cab driver in Cairo, you keep him. Mohammand Osama is a pretty cool dude; he takes us wherever we want, teaches us Arabic and puts up with a cabful of crazy Americans at all hours of the day. So we drove around Maddi for a bit, then drove past the Citadel. Its an old fortress thing that overlooks part of the city. It was built to protect the people from Crusaders. We didn't go in, but got a few blurry pictures from the highway. Enclosed is also a Mosque. In the year that I'm here, I'm sure Ill make my way to actually see it, especially since its its on the Top 10 Things To Do In Cairo list. We then went to Khan al Khalili (pronounced han al halili) which is a big outdoor bazaar. It was incredible. It was more like a giant maze with stuff everywhere. There were hookahs, dresses and clothes, typical touristy things like scarabs and mini pyramids and papyrus and spices. We didn't stay too long, so we're obviously going to come back. Osama came with us and haggled with the owners so we didn't pay the tourist prices and taught us Arabic so we could try to talk to them. I had my sunglasses on for most of the time we were there, but as we went into one area, the sun was low and I took them off. Out of nowhere, 3 guys swarmed and started calling me Magic Eyes, and one guy said I broke his heart, and another asked how many hearts I break. I was confused, but Osama said it was because of the color of my eyes. So, uh, hey Magic Eyes!
We went back to school for a bit, then headed out to Zamalak for the night. Zamalak is an basically an island in the Nile where the other dorm of AUC are. We met up with my friend Jess from home, and a bunch of us went to this rooftop bar. It was on top of a semi-sketch Korean hotel, but the rooftop was nice and breezy and overlooked the Nile. I had what I think was Egyptian wine, but if it wasn't it was still good. We hung out, got some shisha and of course closed the place down. We got home at 330 and got gross late night food. Typical.
Tuesday another group of us headed back to the Zamalak area, and this time went to the Cairo Tower. Its the tallest building in Cairo, and we were able to go to the top of it around sunset. You could see the whole Cairo area, and through the heavy heavy smog that is forever present, were able to see the tops of the pyramids. (I got a blurry and bad picture that will of course make its way to facebook) We watched the sunset then ventured out to find Abu el Sid, our restaurant of the night. After almost being hit by a few cars and witnessing a collision, we finally found it. It was this big dark building and it was mostly typical Egyptian food. Our group ordered a ton of food, of course, from lamb meatballs to stuffed grape leaves and falafel. We had some interesting main courses, including duck, rabbit, and pigeon. And yes, I did try pigeon. It was small and stringy. I don't anticipate ordering it as a meal anytime soon. On our way home, we hoped in a cab and only one from our group could speak passing Arabic so you can imagine how that was. Our driver didn't know where our campus was in New Cairo , just the general direction, so he agreed to take us if we sort of helped him out with directions. As I'm slightly directionally challenged, I didn't pay much attention to driving (its defiantly better that way anyways) until all of a sudden we go from driving 85 miles an hour between two big rigs to honking and flashing lights at the cab ahead of us and trying to catch up to him. Now we are cruising down the highway chasing another cabbie for reasons unknown to us. We reach him, role the windows down, both cabs slow down to about 25 miles an hour, still between two big rigs. Our driver proceeds to lean across the console and shout for directions from the guy in the other cab. We somehow made it back to campus alive.
Today we went to the Egyptian Museum, but first proceeded to miss the free bus that would take us there. So roomie and I hoped in the first safe cab we happened to see and tried to tell the driver who spoke no English were to go. Through bad cell phone connections and very butchered Arabic on our part, we made it to Tahrir Square in record time. Cameras were not allowed and they wanted us to leave them in a 'safe' area, which seemed a little shady, so we smuggled our cameras in..in our pants. And maybe took a few pictures (without the flash of course!) This museum is very big and very not air conditioned. They have thousands of things from thousands of pyramids throughout Egypt. It was amazing how many artifacts there was. It seemed slightly disorganized and was more of a free for all in the sense that there was no order to follow and not many labels for things so we drifted and did our (semi illegal) thing. They have eleven or twelve royal mummies that they charge you to go see, so we paid and saw the faces of Rames and Seti and a few other famous mummies unwrapped. They also had mummied cows and horses and alligators. I'm not sure how mummied alligator helps you pass into the afterlife, but hey, if it works. Oh, and I saw the for real mask of King Tut. It weights almost twenty five pounds and it rivals the Crown Jewels in worth. It was a good time.
We took the train back to Maadi for dinner. The train has separate cars for men and women, which was interesting. The male car looked like a typical subway would at home-jam packed. At least the female car wasn't like that; there was room to breath at least. It is also only a pound to ride, which is about 18 cents. Iowa (the phonetic spelling of Yeah) Anyways, we went to this seemingly cute Asian restaurant. We ordered our food, got it and started to eat. You already know that this isn't going to end well, right? So I was mowing down some chicken Marsala/curry dish, which was quite delightful, until my fork pulled out something black. Something that had six legs and antennae. And took up at least the length of my fork. Yep, nice little big bug in there. I legitimately almost puked. The waiter took it away as I was trying to figure out if I should laugh, cry or puke. I settled on a weird combination of the first two. The manager came over, apologized to my friend, whom he knew, then asked if I put the bug in there myself. Obviously this guy doesn't know me at all, because the size of this bug is something that if I saw on the street, I would scream and or freak out. We left very quickly after that.
So I guess I've been in Egypt for a week now. I've seen and done quite a bit, and have somehow managed to not have my schedule for classes. Hopefully I'll get it tomorrow. If not, well, we're going to the pyramids on Friday so it will have to wait. Just kidding. But really. I hope life stays this entertaining for the next foreseeable future, but who knows. Until then, I'll just have to keep breaking hearts....
Monday was quite the day. Two friends and I went to al Maadi, which is a pretty Americanized/Westernized area. Its quieter and greener, and therefore not as hot as downtown Cairo is. My friend Hibar had been to Cairo before, and he knew a taxi driver from his previous trips so we took a ride. If you can get to know a cab driver in Cairo, you keep him. Mohammand Osama is a pretty cool dude; he takes us wherever we want, teaches us Arabic and puts up with a cabful of crazy Americans at all hours of the day. So we drove around Maddi for a bit, then drove past the Citadel. Its an old fortress thing that overlooks part of the city. It was built to protect the people from Crusaders. We didn't go in, but got a few blurry pictures from the highway. Enclosed is also a Mosque. In the year that I'm here, I'm sure Ill make my way to actually see it, especially since its its on the Top 10 Things To Do In Cairo list. We then went to Khan al Khalili (pronounced han al halili) which is a big outdoor bazaar. It was incredible. It was more like a giant maze with stuff everywhere. There were hookahs, dresses and clothes, typical touristy things like scarabs and mini pyramids and papyrus and spices. We didn't stay too long, so we're obviously going to come back. Osama came with us and haggled with the owners so we didn't pay the tourist prices and taught us Arabic so we could try to talk to them. I had my sunglasses on for most of the time we were there, but as we went into one area, the sun was low and I took them off. Out of nowhere, 3 guys swarmed and started calling me Magic Eyes, and one guy said I broke his heart, and another asked how many hearts I break. I was confused, but Osama said it was because of the color of my eyes. So, uh, hey Magic Eyes!
We went back to school for a bit, then headed out to Zamalak for the night. Zamalak is an basically an island in the Nile where the other dorm of AUC are. We met up with my friend Jess from home, and a bunch of us went to this rooftop bar. It was on top of a semi-sketch Korean hotel, but the rooftop was nice and breezy and overlooked the Nile. I had what I think was Egyptian wine, but if it wasn't it was still good. We hung out, got some shisha and of course closed the place down. We got home at 330 and got gross late night food. Typical.
Tuesday another group of us headed back to the Zamalak area, and this time went to the Cairo Tower. Its the tallest building in Cairo, and we were able to go to the top of it around sunset. You could see the whole Cairo area, and through the heavy heavy smog that is forever present, were able to see the tops of the pyramids. (I got a blurry and bad picture that will of course make its way to facebook) We watched the sunset then ventured out to find Abu el Sid, our restaurant of the night. After almost being hit by a few cars and witnessing a collision, we finally found it. It was this big dark building and it was mostly typical Egyptian food. Our group ordered a ton of food, of course, from lamb meatballs to stuffed grape leaves and falafel. We had some interesting main courses, including duck, rabbit, and pigeon. And yes, I did try pigeon. It was small and stringy. I don't anticipate ordering it as a meal anytime soon. On our way home, we hoped in a cab and only one from our group could speak passing Arabic so you can imagine how that was. Our driver didn't know where our campus was in New Cairo , just the general direction, so he agreed to take us if we sort of helped him out with directions. As I'm slightly directionally challenged, I didn't pay much attention to driving (its defiantly better that way anyways) until all of a sudden we go from driving 85 miles an hour between two big rigs to honking and flashing lights at the cab ahead of us and trying to catch up to him. Now we are cruising down the highway chasing another cabbie for reasons unknown to us. We reach him, role the windows down, both cabs slow down to about 25 miles an hour, still between two big rigs. Our driver proceeds to lean across the console and shout for directions from the guy in the other cab. We somehow made it back to campus alive.
Today we went to the Egyptian Museum, but first proceeded to miss the free bus that would take us there. So roomie and I hoped in the first safe cab we happened to see and tried to tell the driver who spoke no English were to go. Through bad cell phone connections and very butchered Arabic on our part, we made it to Tahrir Square in record time. Cameras were not allowed and they wanted us to leave them in a 'safe' area, which seemed a little shady, so we smuggled our cameras in..in our pants. And maybe took a few pictures (without the flash of course!) This museum is very big and very not air conditioned. They have thousands of things from thousands of pyramids throughout Egypt. It was amazing how many artifacts there was. It seemed slightly disorganized and was more of a free for all in the sense that there was no order to follow and not many labels for things so we drifted and did our (semi illegal) thing. They have eleven or twelve royal mummies that they charge you to go see, so we paid and saw the faces of Rames and Seti and a few other famous mummies unwrapped. They also had mummied cows and horses and alligators. I'm not sure how mummied alligator helps you pass into the afterlife, but hey, if it works. Oh, and I saw the for real mask of King Tut. It weights almost twenty five pounds and it rivals the Crown Jewels in worth. It was a good time.
We took the train back to Maadi for dinner. The train has separate cars for men and women, which was interesting. The male car looked like a typical subway would at home-jam packed. At least the female car wasn't like that; there was room to breath at least. It is also only a pound to ride, which is about 18 cents. Iowa (the phonetic spelling of Yeah) Anyways, we went to this seemingly cute Asian restaurant. We ordered our food, got it and started to eat. You already know that this isn't going to end well, right? So I was mowing down some chicken Marsala/curry dish, which was quite delightful, until my fork pulled out something black. Something that had six legs and antennae. And took up at least the length of my fork. Yep, nice little big bug in there. I legitimately almost puked. The waiter took it away as I was trying to figure out if I should laugh, cry or puke. I settled on a weird combination of the first two. The manager came over, apologized to my friend, whom he knew, then asked if I put the bug in there myself. Obviously this guy doesn't know me at all, because the size of this bug is something that if I saw on the street, I would scream and or freak out. We left very quickly after that.
So I guess I've been in Egypt for a week now. I've seen and done quite a bit, and have somehow managed to not have my schedule for classes. Hopefully I'll get it tomorrow. If not, well, we're going to the pyramids on Friday so it will have to wait. Just kidding. But really. I hope life stays this entertaining for the next foreseeable future, but who knows. Until then, I'll just have to keep breaking hearts....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)