Act local!

Ok this has very little to do with Egypt or anything, but it is very exciting nonetheless and sort of relevant since yesterday I actually did a terrible presentation in my colloquial Arabic class on organic farming! Right, without further ado...my first job/favorite job/favorite organic farm/source of the tastiest things has a website!!!! Go look at the pictures! Delicious times! Man, I would really enjoy sitting on the warm dirt picking some cherry tomatoes or peas right now, or walking up and down the rows of basil. I'd even be okay with, perhaps, some light lettuce harvesting!

In other news, ONE WEEK UNTIL I AM HOME. Ok that's not exactly true but basically it is. One week from now, in the evening, I am going to be getting on a bus to Cairo, and then early in the morning on Friday I will be heading for AMERICA. I am so ready. I am going to eat so many clementines!!! I will be so festive! Candy canes! Hot chocolate! Popcorn! Festive holiday drinks! Snow! Shopping! Holiday parties! Oh man, I am so excited!

Oh no

So, apologies, apparently the facebook link didn't work...I'm still trying to work that out, but in the meantime, take a gander at THIS:


We had a competition at the end, with the results:
Mountain Man


Most Angelic


Most Resembling the Facial Hair of a French Pirate, and Also On Fire


Creepiest


...but wait! There's more! Here are the crazy creations the boys came up with:


So. I hope your day has thusly been brightened with all the beardly glory.

Beard Explosion

So, last month was No Shave November, and our five flagship boys managed to cultivate some quite excellent facial hair. And then, at the start of this month, they all shaved their beards into weird and delightful patterns. For your viewing pleasure, you can view the pictures here!

Kisses!

Well then.

It seems I have some explaining to do. I have not written in quite a while. I'm so sorry! These things happen, you know. I just keep thinking, oh I should write, and then I just don't. I get all my best ideas on the tram, in the shower. I get all motivated, and then by the time I am actually by a computer that motivation is gone. Someone should invent a shower idea-taking device. I feel like this already exists? Anyway. This is probably not very important to be discussing.

I also haven't posted to our flagship blog (the program's blog, where we all contribute), which I also feel bad about. Again with the ideas and empty promises. But anyway. I should move on. What has been happening lately? What are the haps?! How is it where you are?? I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving, and also a good November in general. This was quite an epic month for all involved, I feel like. I will attempt to recap.

Siwa
We went to Siwa! I can't even remember how many times I promised to write about Siwa (I even did that the first time we went, over the summer! Haha oh good times). Here is what you should know: Siwa is fantastic. It is very relaxed and laid back and the best place to go if you enjoy things like palm trees and relaxing around fires and riding in jeeps in the desert and rolling in the sand and having dance parties under the full moon and stars and having midnight parties at hot springs in the desert. We all got the desert madness, some people saw like tracks from a one-legged creature of some sort, we partied with Bedouins, we had some truly epic cuddling. It was magical.



Wednesday is the new Thursday
Remember how sometimes, in college, Thursday is the new Friday? Well, since our weekends here start on Friday, we finally made Wednesday the new Thursday after we totally accidentally had a ridiculously epic party on a Wednesday after class. Seriously, it started at like 2pm, and then next thing I know, someone is building a pyramid out of beer cans and calling it a beeramid, there is crazy dancing going on, everyone is ridiculous, and we're all passed out by 9pm. It was magic. Then we spent the entire weekend watching movies and having more parties. Truly productive. (picture: festive times commence! aka we bought Christmas lights)



Sick, and also Secret Clubs
Then I got sick for like a week. I just felt really run down, and had a sore throat a lot, and felt really nauseous a lot, and threw up a few times. Oh also there was some football madness for a while, Egypt vs. Algeria for a spot in the World Cup? They played twice, and Egypt won the first round but lost the second. I saw one of the games at this magical place called the Portuguese Club, which is ridiculous for a few reasons. Reason number one: there is no sign on the door, just a gate which you knock on and there is even a little panel that gets pulled back so someone can see who is outside. I really wanted to give the guy a password but couldn't think of anything, and he let us in anyway.

Thanksgiving!!! (Flagship style)
So, that brings us to Thanksgiving. Not real, America Thanksgiving, but our fake Thanksgiving the weekend before the real thing. We did it on Saturday, and the day before we went shopping and got some Christmas decorations. Nothing major, just some tinsel and lights. So, now our bookshelf in the living room has become a Christmas tree, and our balcony is extra festive. Anyway, Thanksgiving. We all made a list of who would make what, and spent the day preparing. We wanted a Turkey, and I was skeptical about that but lo and behold, Jake suddenly showed up with a 28lb turkey and proceeded to cook it to deliciousness. It was really impressive. Also, I elected to make pumpkin pie, which would've been easy if we had gone to Cairo and bought canned pumpkin stuff, but we didn't. So, I set about looking for pumpkins, and actually got lucky. The fruit guy down our street had some nice, pumkin-y looking things (they are small, roundish, and like tan coloured?). I didn't ask what they were, so I'm still not sure. I read that there are pie pumpkins and regular, and regular aren't as sweet, but my pie turned out lovely. So, verdict is out on what I actually cooked. But anyway. We also didn't have evaporated milk, so I evaporated some of my own, and used half condensed milk to make it sweeter. I also made my own crust, didn't even roll it out, and cooked the whole thing in a metal frying pan because we don't have a pie dish. I also hand ground some cloves, steamed a pumpkin, and 'pureed' it by hand with a fork. And guess what? It turned out amazing! I plan on making another soon, since I definitely have the second half of the sketchy pumpkin left. (picture: my pie! It sort of looks like quiche or something, so I figured I'd best clarify)



Real Thanksgiving!
We had half the week off for the holiday (there is a Muslim holiday at the same time, Eid al-Adha, which is all about slaughtering sheep! Look it up! Apparently the streets were running with blood, slaughter happening in the streets, good times!). I ended up going to Dahab with a friend, and we had an amazing time. We literally did nothing except sleep, eat, nap, read in the sun, and eat and sleep some more. Very very nice. Dahab is so ridiculous, there was this tiny militia of 7-year-old boys with fake guns that roamed the streets looking menacing, and they had this fierce rivalry with this band of dogs that also roamed the streets. I also saw way too many pantless guys (in all fairness they were wearing t-shirts and speedos, but come on). Oh, new favorite? Lemon milkshake. Think really good lemonade juice (basically lemonade) and vanilla ice cream, blended. Amazing. It tastes like melted lemon ice cream.

Hilarious
So, we almost missed our bus back to Alexandria! We took a bus from Dahab to Sharm al-Sheikh, and then had to buy tickets and wait for another bus. I had taken some Egyptian motion sickness medicine, which had totally kicked my ass, so I felt incredibly loopy and like I was dreaming. We were awaiting the bus, and guys kept coming over and being like, "you want bus to Dahab?" and we were like, no, Alexandria, and they said that bus wasn't there yet. So, we had faith that someone would come get the two foreigners once the Alexandria bus showed up. I guess we weren't keeping track of time, since suddenly one guy is like, "the bus is here!". So we gather our stuff, go outside, and look around. No buses look particularly like people are getting on, so we ask some old men, and one of them gets up and starts rushing around the side of the building. We follow, only to see our bus driving off through the gates of the station. This old guy starts running after, yelling at the driver, but to no avail. We're standing around stunned when a Bedouin guy jumps out of the bushes and is like, "come on! come on!". We follow to his pickup truck, throw our stuff in the back, and have barely climbed inside when he peels out of the parking lot and takes off after the bus. Meanwhile, I'm rolling around in the back of the pickup, having failed to secure myself properly, feeling quite groggy, and wondering what the heck is going on. The bus was really booking it, and we didn't catch up for quite some time, but finally we made it, pulled up along side, and after much horn honking and whatever the bus pulled over and we climbed aboard. I was super embarrassed, but there turned out to only be like 5 people on the bus, so not too many accusing stares were given at the stupid foreigners. Good times.

Ok! That was fun. I might have other stories to tell later, but mostly they are all boring and about how I hate going to classes. It is the birthday of one of the guys today, so we're having a party. We got party hats and a cake and sparkly pink candles that say '63' because we couldn't find any other numbers. We're going to have balloons, and play Apples to Apples! It's going to be great. And then it's Thursday! And the weekend! And oh my goodness guess what in less than three weeks I'll be home!!!! Like, America style!!!!

Music times!

Hello! I will post more in a little bit, but for right now I wanted to quickly share some music I am totally in love with. I am too lazy to go about posting the music links here, but you can just as easily visit some other sites and maybe discover some new music, too!

First, go here. There are some fantastic remixes posted on this blog.

Next, go here and search for Hot Chip, and listen to the first song, 'Take It In'. It is fantastic. Then, search for a song by Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel. It is a Vampire Weekend cover, and it is totally wonderful.

Also, is it wrong that I am totally into the new Lady Gaga song? ('Bad Romance'). You decide!

Everything is true!!!

So, I found on Google Books today a book I read sophomore year that totally changed my life. It is this super silly hippy anarchist type book, but I love it. Here is an example of why I love it so (because it says things that are so wonderful and scary):

Everything in nature is perfectly real including consciousness, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Not only have the chains of the Law been broken, they never existed; demons never guarded the stars, the Empire never got started, Eros never grew a beard.

No, listen, what happened was this: they lied to you, sold you ideas of good & evil, gave you distrust of your body & shame for your prophethood of chaos, invented words of disgust for your molecular love, mesmerized you with inattention, bored you with civilization & all its usurious emotions.

There is no becoming, no revolution, no struggle, no path; already you're the monarch of your own skin--your inviolable freedom waits to be completed only by the love of other monarchs; a politics of dream, urgent as the blueness of sky.

I love this book the way I love poetry. It's not like I believe everything it says, I just love the way he says it, and the wonderful crazy ideas that are in the book. Examples:

POETIC TERRORISM: Weird dancing in all-night computer-banking lobbies. Unauthorized pyrotechnic displays. Land-art, earthworks as bizarre alien artifacts strewn in State Parks. Burglarize houses but instead of stealing, leave Poetic-Terrorist objects. Kidnap someone & make them happy.

Awesome!

In other news, I went to Siwa again!!! I promise (really I do!) that I will post about it tomorrow. I may even start writing tonight and save a draft so I can have all my ideas down! It was a totally magical trip. Ok, time to go watch '17 Again' (that movie is seriously awesome)! Goodnight!

The sky gathered again

I feel immensely guilty about my lack of insightful posts recently! I have been reading other people's blogs, and they say much more interesting stuff than I do. So, since I can't organize my thoughts right now, I'll instead post some random...tidbits? Items? I don't know. Anyway.

The Tram
Every day we ride the tram to school and then back home again. The tram is this rickety old metal train thing, generally with three cars, that trundles along a mostly straight metal track (there are cables above it, too). The cars themselves are quite past their prime, and there is not that much seating room so I generally stand. The tram is generally not super crowded in the morning, but in the afternoons and at other times it is super crowded, to the point of being ridiculous. It's like rush hour on the most heavily trafficked subway system, or something even worse. All this, only with the added benefits of being in a mostly hot climate and being filled with women wearing far too much clothing who are inclined to shower less than I would deem necessary. It is quite the experience. Social norms on the tram are super bizarre to me, as well. For example, sometimes I will get on the tram, and be greeted by just flat out hostile stares from women. It is like the very fact of my presence is offending them. I thought maybe it had to do with how much skin I was showing, but apparently not, as some days I am super covered and I get it even worse. Then there are the girls who will just unabashedly stare and talk about me and whoever I'm with. It's really super uncomfortable to be subjected to that, so I just make a game of staring back, not looking away, and maybe throwing in some arch glances and eyebrow-raising just for good measure. People will also try and cheat you out of your standing space if you are lucky enough to get a spot next to the wall or window. It's so weird.

Weather
So, last week or so, we were having this weird spell where it was super ridiculously humid, and there was horrible smog or something everywhere. It was like Texas weather. It was gross. Now, after some normalcy, we have been having rain! We had some on and off rain recently, and then at the end of last week (I think) there were some thunderstorms, complete with lightning and everything. It had already been chilly (or just cool) in the evenings, and now it is even chillier. It rained like monsoon style yesterday (imagine those news clips of hurricanes, or a rain storm in Texas), and it is still damp and cool outside. There was sun earlier, but intermittent clouds have been hanging around in a very serious fashion. Last night I was actually cold, and right now in my apartment I feel a bit chilled. Craziness! Is there truth to this rumor of Alexandria actually having a winter?!

Siwa
We're going back to Siwa this weekend!!! I'm super excited. Pretty much half our group hasn't been before, so that's going to be interesting. We're staying two nights in a hotel and one in the desert, and doing the bus rides there and back during the day (as opposed to our crazy night bus trips last time!). I'm just excited to run around in the desert. I do love being in the desert, particularly in the late afternoon and close to sunset. It's just so fun and pretty. It's going to be pretty cold to sleep outside, though, so I'm getting ready for some epic cuddling.

Classes and confrontations
Today there was a semi-epic throwdown in my translation class. We have all been complaining about it, but we never actually complained to the teacher, and so she found out from one of the directors. She's pretty disappointed in us, meanwhile, since a lot of us didn't hand in some assignments, and lots of people have just been not giving the class a lot of effort. It's a tricky subject, as it is both hard to teach and hard to do (translation, I mean). I don't want to go into the specifics, but there was some ranting in class and the teacher took it quite admirably, but still did not handle it that well (a main complaint against her is that she does not explain things, and she handled this by...not explaining things). Oh well. The point is: I still don't understand Arab social norms. I just don't. I was so surprised that she didn't lose her cool or yell back when things were getting heated in class, and she mostly seemed upset that we didn't go to her first. I just don't know. Maybe I'll write more about this later.

The whole education system here is different, of course. The teaching style is much more different from what we are used to, as are just the social interactions in school or office situations. Teachers always want complaints brought to them directly, but I have not met that many Arab teachers who I felt comfortable bringing complaints to. They also all have a very lecturing style (by this I mean that they talk and talk and you sit there and, I don't know, absorb or something). We have one teacher who just talks the whole class and then sometimes says that he knows he talked throughout the whole class just this once but there was good reason. He never lets us talk, and tells us semi-interesting stuff about literature and history, which would be acceptable if the class was not in fact an Arabic language class in which we are supposed to be learning and using the Arabic language. It is quite annoying.

My roommate and I have been watching spooky movies lately, since we both got into the Halloween spirit and decided that it was time to catch up on scary movies. It has been going well so far, except that we've watched very understated and atmospheric creepy movies, which does unsettle the viewer some. This was not helped by the super creepy howling wind yesterday.

I've kind of run out of coherent thoughts for now, so I'm going to go and try to get started on my homework for this weekend. We leave for Siwa tomorrow after class, and we're coming back Saturday night. Hopefully I'll have all sorts of good pictures and such to post then!

I hope it is nice wherever you are, and that you are having a good time!

Spooky Towne!!!

So, we had a Halloween party. I know I should post other, more interesting things, but honestly, life is not all that interesting lately! I get up, I eat sleepily, I take the tram to class, I sit in class, I have my internship or I go home, I don't do homework, I do homework, I eat food, maybe work out, go to bed. Repeat. And then it is the weekend and we have parties! ...like a Halloween party!

Everyone dressed up in admirable costumes; the only one who wasn't wearing a costume was a last minute friend of a friend who got a free pass as this was her first time here. Everyone else? A+ efforts! There was dancing, spooky Mafia games, a costume contest, and general fun times. Example:





Notice how my roommate and I are matching sexy lumberjacks. Well, at least, that's what we were aiming for, and what resulted was an infinitely more awesome, like, 1920's or 40's but also French Canadian explosion of fantastic, complete with party mustaches on sticks. Win.

Anyway, I just wanted to share all that (oh, the picture of the skeleton? That was, and still is, on the front door of our apartment...). We're off to have dinner at a super awesome teacher's apartment, so I'm excited for what is in store. Also, the weather is starting to act like it might be getting cooler. It's very lovely and fall-like in the evenings. Yay?

All the sun long

Hello! I have a confession to make. Today, I listened to christmas music. And I sang along. And I'm okay with that.

In other news I am having a formal party tonight!!! I hope it turns out super classy. We all painted our nails last night, and I'm baking a cake, and apparently the boys are having some surprise classy clothing or whatever, I don't know (they just keep telling me that we are going to need to 'bring our A game' and such). We're also going to play mafia, and charades, and that hat game! Oh boy. I'm gonna wear heels!!!

OH also I dyed my hair last night. Dark brown. Well, my roommate dyed it. And she did such an A+ job! It looks super good, except now I think the actual hairs need work, like haircut style. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of this weekend.

There is really not much else to report, unfortunately. My classes are really sucking right now! I feel like I am getting progressively more and more dumb with each passing day. This is because we do not learn things. And, also I guess my attitude is not too good right now. But it's really hard when you don't ever do anything! I need to step it up, I suppose. I did talk to our director about one of my classes, because while all of them are sort of so-so right now, there is one that is really really awful. The teacher uses English in class, doesn't give homework, doesn't give us chances to talk or do any using of language in class, and doesn't teach us anything really. He also seems to be under the impression that we are in first year Arabic. So, I talked to our director, and hopefully some sort of changes will be made.

Oh my goodness I am in such a festive mood right now!!! I'm listening to this ridiculous 'African Christmas' cd that I got freshman year, and it is probably terrible. It's all like 'African' flavored christmas classics, totally not authentic or anything I don't think, but it's just so awesome and festive! Plus, it's practically dark outside already, and it's only 5:30, so that is helping me feel like it is Christmas.

Anyway! I got distracted and didn't finish what I think I was going to say, but oh well. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow! Except how I always say that! Haha! ....aaanyway. I'm going to go bake a cake! And I'm wearing a polka dot dress!!! Good times ahoy?

Kisses!!!

Aww yiss

Oh look what I found! A poem that I wrote one time! I really am kind of into it, but I can't tell if that's just because I'm into myself or because it is really an okay kind of poem. So, you be the judge!!!

All Is Not Lost

The leaves were raining,
and the rain was leaving puddles
around my feet and misty imprints in the air,
and I have never felt more alive.
All morning the sun burned away at the fog,
leaving halos around tall buildings and church spires
--and I walked among the trees
and the people and the bus stops,
and I felt alive.
And then it's night and the stars are up and out and
I am four again.
I am four and I am in Australia, and
I am realizing the sky is just what it is
and you will always be right there,
right where I know to look.

And at least we're not drowning yet.
At least the skies have not swarmed down,
at least the rowdy sea has not decided that
enough is enough,
and seized the land once more.
For a time it is only just enough
and more than well enough,
for a time it is ok for waves to meet
rocks and for rocks to meet cliffs,
and for cliffs to meet grassy heaths
and heaths to meet roads
and roads to lace up the surface of the ground,
winding their way back to us,
to tell us of the sea.

Ok then. Let's go to work.


Thoughts???? Believe me, there is plenty more questionable creative writing from Freshman year where that came from! Oh boy.

Anyway. I don't really have much more to add, I guess. I can't remember when I last updated, but not much has been accomplished really in October. We've had some parties? I think maybe I'll think about this and post some more tomorrow. Right now it is really freaking hot, like sultry and irritating hot, like you want to turn on a small fan and not wear much clothing and sort of mope about in a sexy way, except how I am in Egypt so really all that is happening right now is my apartment is full of mosquitoes because the windows are open and I really do not feel like doing my homework. I wish I was somewhere sexy. Anyway! I should go eat some lentils or something. Will write more tomorrow! Kisses!

Back again!!!

So, I'm back in Alexandria. I know, I know, pretty much last time I posted was freaking back in the summer and I was all, "oh I'll post soon about Siwa haha", and I totally didn't, but yeah. I'm sorry! These things happen. I think that the link I posted to another girl's blog that one time about Siwa should about cover it for you, though, and if I ever think of anything I could just write it. But for now I have other things to tell you of. I went home for about 6 or 7 weeks, and it was lovely! Here are some highlights:
-Michigan: saw my cousin who is now in CAMEROON!, ate at Zingerman's (i hope that is right) in Ann Arbor, went to a wedding of a girl I hardly know, had an awesome family picnic in Grosse Pointe Park, and had some nice home cooked meals. It was basically a really good time, and my mum and I listened to a really good story tape on the drives, too.

-Illinois: I relaxed, saw friends, had a special classy evening hosted by Sasha and ending in a drag show at a gay bar (the drag queens! they can dance! like, they will own your shit! in a dance contest, and otherwise!), went running, read books 4-7 of Harry Potter, had Netflix!!! and watched several really good movies I'd missed, and had an all around good time. There were shenanigans, it was awesome. Oh! And I had a bath!

-Austin: Woooo! Ate at some of my favorite places (although Sao Paulo's chicken was not amazing for the first time in recorded memory...), saw my awesome friends, saw old friends, played drunk mini golf, accomplished goals, and basically was forcibly reminded of how totally wonderful Austin is. Then I drove back to Illinois.

So now, that leaves me in Alexandria. I got here, oh, Friday? I think? I left America on last Tuesday, arrived in London (!) on Wednesday, and had a lovely day around town with a boy (!). Then Thursday I did whirlwind shopping and then, weeping dejectedly, boarded a plane for Cairo, where I just got progressively more and more disillusioned and angry. On the plus side, I read The Time Traveler's Wife? It was pretty okay. Crazy premise!

My apartment is nice, so that's a plus. I am feeling really uncertain guilty shadows of feelings about not doing a host family, because I know it would be so nice to have a family just ready made and there to take care of you and love you. Maybe I would come out of this year being the kind of bubbly, exuberant, large-close-family-having person I've always dreamed of! More likely, however, is that it would be rather stressful for me, I think. I'm just not used to that, and however beneficial it would be, at the outset of all of this business I promised myself that I would get an apartment. I figure that I am going through a time (not a rough time or a bad time, but certainly a time) of change, perhaps, or a time of uncertainty or volatility in my personality, so I'd better do what I can while I'm here to ensure success. If that makes any sense. And I already made this decision, so I'm going to stop being wishy-washy and pretending like I regret it, right now! Ok.

Although, honestly having an apartment is weird right now. I haven't really lived with other people much! I mean, there's two years of dorm rooms, and then there's a summer of total stress and other people in an apartment, and then there's a year of solo living/dorm rooms, and then a year of what was basically solo living with an ever-absent roommate. So, I don't know what to do with two other people who I care about liking me. You know? And, plus, I'm all jetlagged and confused, so I keep having these feelings like, what am I supposed to do now? What do we do with our time? It's really stupid. I'm sure I'll get the hang of being a person soon. I mean, I better, because man!

Anyway. Oh, news! The boys got quarantined! It was a stupid swine flu paranoia thing, involving one of our number getting taken to the hospital against his will, breaking out of the hospital, and then getting a whole floor quarantined. And, because Egypt is so great, the staff in the dorms was trying to stop them using AC or showers, because those are things that will make you get sick! (.....) But, good news, I don't think anyone actually has swine flu, and I just got word that the boys organized a breakout in order to go drink beer by the sea. So, good news?

Food is another weird thing right now. I'm not obsessive about my food, by any means, but I am particular. I'll seriously eat anything if I'm hungry enough, but I do like what I like. I like having access to good quality, healthy food, preferably with minimal artificial things in it. Lately, just the idea of tons of extraneous ingredients in food makes me feel weird. But, so far, this kind of thing is going to be difficult to come by here. I mean, I can get vegetables (what's in season, anyway...peppers, tomatoes, some basics). I can get seasonable fruit. I can get bread. I can get white pasta. I can get low fat plain yogurt, juice from concentrate, skim milk, and (from the right places) tuna in water. There are loads of lentils and beans and peas and such. But, I am having a hard time with the following: lack of good cheeses that I am used to, lack of meat that I trust (where is the good old organic chicken behind it's reliable fly-proof counter at Central Market?!), lack of whole grains. I don't know. I know I'll get used to this, but it's hard right now. Little things like this really throw me off kilter. I splurged and paid way more than necessary for brown rice, but am sadly without any kind of hard cheese to grate on top. I'll figure it out?

Speaking of rice, mine has been sitting on the stove for a while, so I should go eat. Oh, we have a gas stove! Which I guess is desirable? Although ours is quite...not modern. Anyway. I'll update soon with more exciting insights (haha)! Chances are, I miss you!

Know how to climb a tree?

So! Of course, I have tons of important things to tell you about. Just so I remember later, and to get you excited about them, here is what you will be hearing about as soon as I have more time: Zoo! Siwa! Cairo! Emotions! Dancing!

In the meantime! I have had an excellent idea! Check it: I have lots of awesome friends, yes? (This is a trick question, of course they are awesome, they are my friends after all). Between all of us we have traveled a fair part of the world, and it is safe to say that everyone has something interesting to say about some place somewhere. I'm always meeting people who are going someplace I've been, or want to go, etc, and always want to tell them exactly where to go and give them all this advice. But I'm always too lazy to do that. Well! I came up with this idea! So, google maps, right? Pretty cool, a nice way to coordinate travel plans (as I discovered last year). Also, a good way to show people where to go and find necessary places in other lands. So finally my idea: make a google map (or several, maybe, broken into regions) of travel recommendations! I leave it open for collaboration, and everyone can invite other people, so we can all edit it and add our own tips and favorite hostels and restaurants, etc. Awesome?!

I've started already, with London. I know of two people already who are going to London over the break, so of course I'm totally living vicariously through them. Other people are going to other places I've been, and yet more people are doing things I would like to do. Oh man! I'm so excited about this! Collaboration! And travel!!! Yes!

Here is the link for my London map, and it is also to the right-hand side of the page ---> along with some other tasty links to pictures I've taken (and also a small collection of works from my freshman year artsy phase!). Ok, that is all for now, bed time!

Awesomeness on Many Levels!!!

So, a few things. I really should post about Siwa, and I will, maybe even tonight. But! For now! Here are some things! I've been taking less pictures than I should, because I a) just don't think of it, and b) assume someone else is taking pictures. This is ok, but frequently the person doesn't post their pictures online or in an accessible place, etc. So my friend Monica took lots of pictures, and I don't want to just flat out steal them (although secretly I did copy some onto my computer!), so I will direct you to HER blog post about Siwa, so you can see all her pretty pictures.

Second thing! There are a couple Arabic songs that I am ok with, and a couple I really like. There is this one that was EVERYWHERE when I was in Cairo, and it had this catchy electronic intro, and every time I heard it I would think "man, this sounds good" but then I'd realize what song it was and get super irritated because it was every freaking place. But! I kind of miss it, and have been looking all over for it, but I can't remember any words or anything. But! My awesome friend Valerie is awesome and totally knew what song I was talking about just from my vague description, and so I found it and learned the lyrics with my language partner. And then! There is this other song I like but don't know anything about, or the tune or words really, but my language partner just HAPPENED to be like, "oh, let's listen to this song, it's pretty great" and it was totally the song! So, for your pleasure, here are the two songs:
Amr Diab--Ne'oul Eh


Nancy Ajram-Ebn El Jeran


I also went to the Zoo here in Alexandria last Wednesday, which was...an experience. My language partner told me we were going to go on an adventure (I told her I wanted to go out somewhere, so she planned it), and I guess it was! I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, since the internet is starting to be irritatingly slow. So that's all for now, goodnight!

Weekend Shenanigans pt. 1

Hello!!! I haven't updated in a while (ok so it was only a week but still!), and I wanted to tell you about last weekend before I get to THIS weekend. Last weekend a group of people went to Siwa (this desert oasis way out by the border with Libya), but I opted to stay in Alexandria and hope to go the weekend after to Siwa with my friends. Speaking of friends, it was one of their birthdays, so the weekend turned into basically a huge celebration. Thursday we went to a salon (ok, this was not part of the celebration since the birthday friend was a boy, but we wanted to be fancy!), where one of my friends got her hair cut and the rest of us got blowouts or manicures. Her haircut looked amazing! Seriously, she came out of the back room looking like a movie star. It's nice to know that there is a good hair place around here, just in case.

Later that night we went out to a bar (there are multiple bars here but we've only ever gone to one) for some celebration, and our Egyptian guy friends met us there. It was a pretty good time, and we managed to play a decent game of King's Cup, despite being crowded around a big long table and having to shout over extremely loud music. After the bar some of us decided to stroll along the Corniche a bit and basically act like hooligans. We ate cotton candy! It was a tasty night.

The next morning we all ate breakfast (Note: Friday morning breakfast is extremely tasty, it is the only time they cool fuul and falafel for us! Ironically it is also the breakfast that all of us are most likely to miss), and then met our Egyptian friends to head out to the beach. We didn't go back to the same beach house we went to last time, since it was being used, but one of their friends said we could use his parents' beach house (or rather, the yard). After the obligatory waiting around in the parking lot of Carrefour (a shopping mall), we headed out. The beach was nice, but a little dirtier than the last one, and there was an unnecessary amount of gross seaweed/plastic bags in the sea. Oh well. We brought snacks, buried a few people in the sand, etc. Good times.

After that, we all went back to the house to clean up, since we weren't returning to Alexandria before our night activities. The girls ended up taking a massive group shower (the 'shower' was just a shower head in a small bathroom, so the entire little room was our shower). We were all wearing bathing suits, but decided to not make that clear to the guys outside. I don't think they really knew what to make of all this. Then the people who owned the house made us this nice big meal, and we hung out in the yard until dark. Then it was off to the next adventure....

We crammed about 7 people in each car and made the 45 minute (something like that) drive back to Alexandria to drop someone off, hung around at Carrefour some more, then turned around and drove for a similar amount of time (now only 5 people per car) to Agami, which is like a suburb area of Alexandria. We got there at like 1:30 or later, then went into this club called Tiajuana. The entry was 100LE (around $20?), and it was totally mostly worth it, just for the experience. Everyone was dressed super scandalously, everyone was dancing, it was outside, there was like pyrotechnics or something. The music wasn't that great, but it was danceable. It wasn't that crowded, either, and it really wasn't the sort of place where creepers come up and try to dance with you. So, we just danced around until it closed at 4am, then made it back to the cars in time to hear the 4:30 call to prayer. (Hearing the morning call to prayer on your way home=the sign of a good night).

We got back to our dorm some time later, to find the doors locked. This was not a surprise, since they lock the doors after 11 or midnight or something, but it was annoying. If we go out late, we have to let them know when we'll be back. This is apparently so they can open the door for us, but even if we tell them, we always still have to wait a while for them to come open the door. This time, we hadn't told anyone when we'd be back (since we hadn't been at the dorm since earlier that day), although we did try to call, only to find that the person we were supposed to call wasn't with her phone. Oh well! We waited for something like 30 minutes, maybe more, I'm not sure. The guard outside gave us a number to call, and we kept calling and calling and finally they woke up I guess and came down to let us in. It was light out by the time we were in bed. Good times.

Later that day (so this is Saturday, now), I neglected my responsibilities and headed out to the movies with the Egyptian guys. We saw Teer Anta (طير أنت), which was a sort of ghost-helping-people-so-he-can-go-to-heaven type thing. It was really good! Really hilarious. The basic plot: There is this main guy, and he is super nerdy and dorky in a 70s glasses, sweater vest kind of way. He's a vet, and a clutz, and has no skills with girls, etc. He sees this girl come out of the vet clinic, and falls in love with her, and gives her his card (and makes a fool of himself). Then he goes out to a bar with his friends, is sad because it's his birthday and he has no women skills, and goes home alone. He lives alone, and starts talking to a photo of his dad (who died long ago). Then, while he is singing himself happy bithday, a creepy voice starts also singing! And there is creepy light, which is coming from a super creepy mysterious birthday cake!!! And then! A ghost!!!! They have a hilarious conversation about who the ghost is and what he wants, and the general outcome is that the ghost is like in ghost school or something, and needs to help people to graduate, or something along those lines. The guy talks about how he loves this girl, and the ghost says he gets 7 tries to be happy (sort of like 7 wishes), but the ghost makes it clear that he can't do anything about love or death.

The first wish turns the guy into this ridiculous blond, muscular, silly exercise instructor guy. He's all getting manicures and dancing to techno music and acting kind of prissy and into himself and like those guys from Night at the Roxbury, you know. He meets the girl, invites her to a party, but fails when bandits come try and rob them on the beach at night and he wusses out. He goes back to the ghost, laments his failure, and says how the girl complained. Each wish he bases off of whatever the girl's complaint was the last time, so for his second one he wants to be more manly or something. He turns into 'El Kabeer' (literally: The Big One), and is this silly mustachioed horseback Arab bandit guy, galloping around with guns stealing cows and being mafia-like. This too fails, because he is too domineering and evil and the girl leads a revolt against him. Then he tries to be sensitive (makeup, super done hair, very emotional, having emotions all over everything, making super emotional movies), then a leader (total failure of being a soccer coach), and a rich person (obnoxious pot-bellied slightly italian seeming guy). There might have been more, but the last one was the most hilarious. It was this indian movie thing, with singing and dancing and fake language. The guy and the girl are dancing together, but then (and he has a super bushy mustache) bandits come take the girl and stab the guy through with a spear. He dies, but then is not dead! He comes busting into the warehouse where the girl is, with the spear still in him, and hilariously kills every person and refuses to die himself. Then he frees the girl, and they are all in love, but THEN an old man appears and tells them it can never be because they are actually brother and sister. They are all, "nooooooooo", and the guy goes back to the ghost, defeated.

The ghost is sad, but it is all sweet, because the guy's like, no, you did good, go on and go to heaven or whatever. Then he's really sad, but the ghost tells him to just be himself and be the person he is on the inside, and not care about the outside. And THEN! One night, he's all alone doodling and writing poetry or whatever, and suddenly the girl's dog gets sick (she has a dog). She's freaking out but finds the card the guy gave her, calls him, and goes to his 'clinic' (his house). He is sweet, doesn't act like too much of a dork (he's sort of resigned to his fate), but she sees his poetry and all his pictures on his walls, and they totally fall in love. Then they hang out together and act like huge dorks together and then they get married!!! The end.

I'm sorry, that was rather epic, but I wanted to share. THE NEXT day, Sunday, WE GOT TO SEE HARRY POTTER!!!! It was the best thing. Ever. Despite the loud kids, and the people answering their phones in the theater, and the obnoxious kids talking super inappropriately loud behind us (much worse than they ever do in the US). Such a good movie. I can't wait to see it again.

Ok, ok, I guess that wraps up this segment of 'what I did recently'. Maybe later today I'll tell you more about this past weekend (in which I had desert adventures!!!), and hopefully my pictures will be loaded by then.

And It Makes Me Feel So Fine

Hello! So, this past weekend I had? It was pretty awesome! I will tell you about it! Right now!!!

Thursday after class we got on a bus headed for Mt. Sinai. I expected the trip to take a while, and of course we left a little late, got stuck in traffic around Cairo, etc, etc.....so we rolled into our hotel by the mountain at like 1am, just in time for an hour nap before our 2am ascent of the mountain. Hooray! The bus ride was...okay. It was very hot for most of the time, until the sun went down. The seats definitely left something to be desired, although I luckily had two seats to myself so I could configure my sleeping position accordingly. We watched THREE movies! An Arabic drama I do not know the name of, Omar wa Selma PART ONE, and The Fast and the Furious. It was a good time. The first movie, the dramatic one, had this actor in it who played a character in the DVDs that came with our Arabic textbooks. So, naturally, we were all really into it. The storyline was weird, though; I didn't really catch a lot of it, besides drama and people yelling in literally every scene. There was this one girl who just kept pouring gasoline on herself and threatening to light herself on fire, and there was a LOT of violence against women. It was pretty ridiculous.

Anyway! We stayed that night at a hotel close by Mt. Sinai (not at the monastery, where I stayed last time). There were surprisingly few people on the trails, and the moon was ridiculously bright. We didn't even need flashlights, except when the moon was behind the mountain. It was pretty cool. I was kind of worried at first, since I was totally exhausted and really didn't sleep, but I pulled it together admirably in the end and made it to the top before pretty much everyone else. We got the same awesome spot as last time, then snuggled (some smart people brought blankets!) until sunrise. On the way back down I followed some people down the camel path instead of the Steps of Repentance, which I was a little disappointed about but was probably for the best, since I was completely exhausted.



Later in the day (after napping), we headed out to Sharm el-Sheikh, and of course we left late. The bus ride was terrible in many ways, but oh well. Finally we got to our hotel, which was nice of course. I was almost the last person to get a room key, and the saga to our room was totally ridiculous. We had a room in the 700s, so naturally looked for the 7th floor, which, there wasn't one, and the elevator gave us issues, etc, etc, FINALLY we get to the right floor but after walking and walking and not finding it we find a door leading outside....and up some stairs, we discover like a resort village thing, with sweet villas and pools and such. It was crazy. Then we had a showdown with this dude driving a golf cart thing that really wanted us to ride in it too. (picture is view from my awesome balcony)



After that, we rushed back out for a glass bottom boat trip!!! It was so cool! We got to see all sorts of stuff, and then when I looked outside the boat at the water I could see fish! I could actually see all the awesome fish just sitting there. The water was so clear. We got to all jump in and swim around, it was the coolest.



That night we ate at the hotel, which had an amazingly tasty buffet of awesome. The desert was very varied, but a bit disappointing. Food, though, is always good and appreciated. Then, we pretty much just wandered and marveled at how ridiculously touristy Sharm is. Seriously, it was like a totally different world. People were just dressed totally in a silly fashion, and it was basically like the most ridiculous tourists from every country (especially Europe) decided to all come hang out and wear their trashiest clothing and be so trashy. Ridiculous. I felt FAR too modest.

Also interesting: every time we spoke any Arabic at all, the Egyptians were all, "OH MY GOODNESS you speak ARABIC?!?!?!" ......even when all we would say was like, "how much" or "two" or "thank you" (in Arabic of course). Then they would be like, "you speak such good Arabic". Ridiculous. I got really sick of it after some dude got all excited about me and followed me around this store bothering me and trying to be my friend and took my stuff and cut in line for me to help me pay (earning me dirty looks from some trashy Europeans). He then followed me out like we were best friends, all "what are you doing now?!". Creepy.



The next day (Saturday) we got up early, had an awesome breakfast (unnecessary picture of the bread display above), and headed out for our trip to Ras Mohammed! Ras Mohammed is a really cool marine preserve, or something? Look it up, though; it is a cool thing and kind of unique, I think? Anyway. We had a really frustrating and confusing thing at some dive shop, of course, but then headed out on a boat and it was so sweet!



We got to chill out on the top of the boat in the sun, and the water was the most beautiful blue. We stopped at three different places, and I got to snorkel!!! Snorkeling is the coolest, you guys! I had no idea! I was really freaked out at first, because the flippers were all awkward, and the mask was even more awkward. Looking under the water the first time was so strange! I couldn't get used to the fact that I could breath and also have my head under water. Crazy! But man, it was SO COOL. Just being able to see stuff was amazing, and the water is so unbelievably clear that you can see to the bottom even when there isn't stuff to see.

And then! We got to see THINGS! Under the water! Coral and fish and fish and coral! The coral wasn't quite such a color explosion as I was expecting (I really had no idea what to think), but it was pretty cool. And fish! We saw so many fish! A lot of the time, there would be a school of fish just hanging out, by the surface, just inches away. I kept thinking I would hit one, or that I could grab one. I never did. But they would just be right there, they weren't avoiding us at all. We saw tons of cool blue fish, some big dark colored fish with little spots, big flat fish of different kinds (angel fish and other variations on that kind of thing), big round fish, stripy fish, some long skinny pipe-cleaner fish, some really big rainbow fish....we saw a barracuda, and a manta ray! It was just cruising by, down by the bottom. There were some big fish with big eyes and kind of bulldog jaws, and man it was just SO. COOL. I loved it. By the third snorkel expedition, I finally got my nerve up and dove down deeper. Loads of people were doing it, but I was nervous. It was actually pretty easy, with the flippers and all. It was a little tough to manage the snorkel, but I did okay.

It was just the best day. We hung out on a boat, they fed us, we even hooked up an ipod to the speakers. I got a little sea sick at one point, but not too bad. We jumped off the top of the boat!!! It was awesome! And really high! Our director lady, Robyn (who is unquestionably awesome), DOVE off the top of the boat, because that is how she rolls.

Lots of people got pretty sunburnt on their backs, because of the snorkeling. I made out okay, and actually got a lot less sun than I thought, I guess on account of the sunblock I kept reapplying. Yay? Some people did scuba diving, which must have been awesome, and it was cool to see them down there. I dove sort of deep (but not as much as many people) with my snorkel, and kept trying to follow fish. I spent a lot of time in the water at the third stop, and we kept having to avoid these glass bottomed boats or weird 'submarine' things that kept going back and forth over our area. At one point we were just hanging out in the midst of hundreds of different fish, just chillin. I tried so hard to catch one, but the closest I got was feeling the rush of water against my hand as it jetted away from me.

As if the day wasn't already awesome enough, after we got back to the hotel I ate some Movenpick icecream. It was the best thing. I got chocolate and blackberry, and oh my goodness the deliciousness. And later that night? After dinner? I got creme brulee and lemon sorbet. So freaking good. We wanted to go out and go dancing or do some kind of fun thing at night, but we were all pretty exhausted and no one had any definite ideas (and no one wanted to be the one to make decisions), so me and a few people just bought beer and hung out on our awesome balcony.

The next day I really wanted to get up and go to the pool or beach, but I slept in a little too long (because, the bed was AMAZING compared to my bed at the dorm). And then, of course, we had to take our luggage to the lobby at 10:30...and check out at 11...and we were 'supposed' to leave at 11:30....and the freaking bus didn't show up until like 2pm......so I was very frustrated. I really hate feeling like I waste time in a place, particularly time I could be spending doing things specific to a place. Like being immodest and splashing around in an awesome sea. Oh well. I got over it. The bus ride was fine, I guess, if a little (ok a lot) frustrating and uncomfortable. I ate sushi for dinner? We got home at like 2:30am. I just want to turn around and go straight back!

I'm sorry, I feel like that was slightly rambling. The internet in my dorm as just continued to get worse and worse, so I am doing this in the Dar (our common room thing on our floor at the university). I have laundry I should be going home and getting, but I'd rather just get this done. People are talking and playing Arabic scrabble, so I'm not concentrating 100%. We apparently have internet on all floors of the dorm, but I guess it doesn't really work on most floors. On my floor it used to (just really spottily), and the network still shows up, but there is now a password that nobody knows. Very mysterious. The only good internet now is on the 6th floor, and there is basically always tons of Americans up there using it. Very irritating, particularly when I want to be concentrating on something. The girls are always all from the new batch of people that showed up recently, and I don't like to judge prematurely (except how I sometimes do), but they are a bit weird. I don't know about them. But, anyway. Time to go! Oh, and I updated Picassa with pictures and videos, so check it out!

Kisses!!!

Pictures Are Existing!

Oh my, I have been putting pictures online here. Picassa is super cool! There are even videos!!! You should probably check it out.

In other news, tomorrow after class we leave for Sinai!!! We're climbing Mt. Sinai tomorrow night for the sunrise on Friday, then going to Sharm el-Sheikh for like 2 days of awesome. We're even going to Ras Mohammed, which is apparently an amazing nature place with awesome under the sea stuff! Yeah! It's gonna be so cool, I'm going to snorkel! Ok, too much excitement!

Lailat al Henna, Football, etc

Ok! As promised, here is some more words! Specifically about things!!! First order of business: the pre-wedding party I went to this past weekend. Ok. The wedding was the next day, and so this was not the farah (literally 'happy occasion'). The farah would have the bride and the groom, and it would either coincide with their obtaining a marriage certificate or come some time after (my knowledge of this is limited at best, but I think this is all how it works). The party we went to was for a girl that lived in the dorms here and knew a lot of girls with the program I'm on. She invited some of them, and then just invited all of us. So, we headed out in a bus (specifically for our program) to the village where she lived.



It was about 1.5/2 hours outside of Alexandria, in a village called Kofr Sheikh (I think). For those of you who don't know, the countryside around the Nile Valley in Egypt is really, really beautiful. It's all rich greens and fields and water buffalo and goats. We drove and drove, and finally realized that once we got there we would be even more of a spectacle than we normally are. We were right! We parked the bus outside the village and walked in, where we were ushered immediately to a seating area to wait for things to get started. (Note: the whole way there we had a police escort, I think at least one car behind us and one in front. I'm used to this, but it was really confusing for some of the students, since we really don't see ourselves as being in any danger).

The bride's mother came out, kissed all of the girls hello, and then we were invited into a patio area where there was a huge long table piled with food, and no chairs. Someone else described the situation as being like one of the feasts at Hogwarts, and it was definitely similar to that. There was a very wide variety of dishes, huge platters of pastas, really tasty things that I don't even know what they were, and pretty good meat. It was just really overwhelming that these people went to such trouble for us!

After eating, we went upstairs in this decrepit-seeming building to discover a perfectly lovely apartment where the family lived (I assume). The toilet had a western-style flusher! We met millions of the bride's family and friends, each of whom immediately selected a few of the visitors to latch on to and befriend for the night. It was very sweet. We sat around for a bit, then of course had a huge dance party crammed into the little apartment (I'm trying to upload a video of that!), since the bride was still at the hairdresser. Finally, word came that she was done, so basically everyone from the village (definitely over a hundred people, maybe two hundred) all walked out to a pavilion in a neighboring field. The whole village, the road to the pavilion, and the whole pavilion itself were completely covered with strings of coloured lights. It was like a carnival!



The situation at the pavilion was very strange to us. There was a stage at front, with a band, professional sound system, a lavish throne-like chair for the bride, a table where a couple men were sitting with a box of money. The rest was all chairs where people were sitting to watch. There were two professional-looking video cameras filming the bride (and TV screens so we could see what they filmed) and everyone who came up to greet her. The bride looked absolutely beautiful; she was in this gorgeous poofy sparkly pink concoction and basically looked like a fairy princess cupcake. In the best possible way.



The whole time there was music, basically the same song non-stop, and a dude with a microphone sing-talking. At first I didn't know what he was saying, and then I thought he was announcing who was up greeting the bride, (which he was at one point I think). But, there were these men with a box of money, and I really didn't understand what they were doing or why they had to do it up on stage with the bride. We finally figured out that people were giving money (I assume for the new couple, or for the party, or something) and the dude was saying their names and stuff about them. Very interesting. It really underscored the whole carnival atmosphere of the thing. We left after not much time, but not before some of the Americans got to go up on stage and have a dance party with the bride. Of course, there was a crowd of boys/men to the side filming the whole thing on their camera phones. We are used to this by now.

One thing that I found interesting was how many men there were strutting around acting important, particularly on the stage. There was really no need, and you (or at least I) would think that the party was supposed to be all about the bride. She just sat there looking pretty and being filmed, and men strode around talking to each other about things and standing in front of her chair looking around importantly, etc. This is just my observation, not saying there was anything wrong with it, and I of course don't really know much about the party or how it was or how it was supposed to be. It just struck me as...interesting.

Fourth of July:
Our Egyptian friends (who keep hooking my friends and I up with everything) invited us late on Saturday night to go out to some beach resort place for some celebrations. So of course we went, got ridiculous, had a rousing and probably terrible rendition of the national anthem, had an obligatory dance party, probably scandalized the locals a bit, came back at like 4am, much to the disappointment of the women at the dorm.

Football!
So, football is, like, a thing here, as I'm sure you are aware. Apparently it is World Cup season or something, so there are qualifier matches? I think? Anyway, Egypt played Rwanda on Sunday, and I guess from what I hear it was important for Egypt to win (maybe teams are put in groups, and Egypt needs to beat everyone in this group?). Our awesome friends drove us to Cairo after class (naturally we left very late and there was traffic upon arrival), and hooked us up with tickets. The game itself was frustrating (and there was less dancing in my section than the last game I went to in Cairo!), since both sides, particularly Egypt, appeared to be unaware of exactly how to score a goal. They had the idea down, they knew where the goal was and that they should get the ball in that direction, but I'm not sure they knew that the ball should go IN the goal and not over or beside it. Very annoying, people do not really think the team is good, but they pulled it together quite well in the end. They scored 3 goals in the last part of the last half, one very close to the end of the game. I was happy. People were going crazy, of course, as if they could will Egypt to win through sheer force of team spirit. I think it worked.



We drove home very late after eating and having a bathroom saga at the stadium (frustrating: no bathroom in our section, difficulties pushing through the crowd to get out and back into another section, our friends didn't really want us doing that because we're American girls, etc, etc). We got home at like 3ish, again. Oh well.

Also: WHAT IS THIS ABOUT

This is in the common room of my floor in the dorm. What.


Also I am sadly no longer going out shopping today. Instead, I am doing errands (cleaning silver with toothpaste! handwashing clothes!), homework (maybe), and hopefully watching the sun set from the roof and/or watching Anchorman and/or eating ice cream. Happy 4th of July!

Tamer Hosni Madness

Well, hello! I've had a pretty busy few days, and have some interesting things to tell you about, but I'd rather postpone the in-depth details until such a time when I have photos to supplement. And since my camera is charging right now, that time will not be today. But! I'll give a run-down of my recent activities.

Wednesday: I had a four hour meeting with my language partner, which I was rather nervous about. But happily it turned out okay! We went out to a fruit market, which was really lovely and kind of intense. (Good: so much fruit! Beautiful fresh fish, too! Bad: smelly, dirty, FLIES EVERYWHERE). I bought some apricots and apples, but I haven't actually eaten any of them yet because 1) I keep forgetting fruit goes bad here quicker than in the US, and 2) a lot of it had big bruises that are only getting worse. Oh well. It was a good experience. Then we went to a shopping district, Ibrahamiyya, and my language partner showed me around some stores. It was fun, we looked at purses and shoes, but I felt kind of bad since I am very picky and indecisive. Every time we'd go into a store (and this is true for pretty much all stores here of any kind), it is a much more personal experience than in the US. You say hello to everyone working there, they all immediately come over to try and assist you. I felt really guilty every time I didn't buy something, like I had to explain why I didn't like their products enough. Oh well. I think my language partner understood. She also was being nice and suggesting things for me to try on and such, and that is always awkward when you have to say that something suggested is really not your style. You know? And clothes in Egypt are very weird, the majority of stuff I wouldn't really think to wear ever. But I have faith that there are some good things out there.

After shopping we took a minibus to meet up with her best friend at a club (remember I told you about clubs, it's more like a country club). It was right by the ocean, and the sun was getting close to setting. Very pretty. Her friend was really sweet, I was kind of shy but I think it was okay. They are obviously really close, and became focused on each other when they met up, so I was kind of left out. But I didn't mind. We sat in the club, but then left to eat our food outside (we bought sandwiches and couldn't eat them in the club), then got some amazingly delicious cotton candy. Seriously, it was so good! It melted really quickly, turning all caramel-y and drippy. Lovely. Then I went home, met up with a friend, and got cake and took a walk. A good day!

Thursday: Class. Nap. Fourth of July party? I heard that our program had rented the university stadium for a party with frisbee and BBQ, so I went at the advertised time (5pm). Of course no one was there yet, except people from another program. It was awkward a little. We all sat in the bleachers, and there was an Egypt vs. USA soccer game between people affiliated with our program. Egypt won. We ate cotton candy and a bit of shwarma, I think. Pretty much everyone I know this weekend either went to Cairo or was planning to go to a Tamer Hosni concert Thursday night (he's a pop singer who I think wants to be the Justin Timberlake of Egypt...not even close). I didn't have tickets, so I was feeling a little morose. But! Fortunately, my friends had the hook up through these guys that we keep hanging out with (they took us to the beach last weekend), and apparently not many of them had tickets either. I got to tag along, and I was super pleased.

The concert....it was okay. I mean, yeah. I did not care for the music that much, and the structure of the concert was not pleasing (too many slow love ballads, too much slowing down then speeding up, basically my complaint boils down to NOT ENOUGH DANCING). I was also exhausted, since of course Tamer Hosni went on much later than he was supposed to. Also? Freaking Tamer Hosni was NEVER DONE. Seriously, it was like the third Lord of the Rings movie, you know, when it just never ends? It was like that. So I guess I was just cranky, we were all hungry, and I wasn't digging the whole situation. But it's good to be social. An interesting thing: the guys we were with are very protective of us, to the point where it makes me uncomfortable. They constantly look out for people getting close to us, and actually hold their arms out to kind of fence us in. I really didn't think that there was any harm coming from a guy standing in front of me, but apparently they did, since they made him move away. It just made me feel even more like we stood out, like this little group of foreigners being separated in the middle of the crowd. Oh well.

After the concert, I decided I should probably be social SOME MORE, so I went with everyone to a cafe (the sort of place with shisha, tea, juice). I was beyond tired, and not really making conversation, but I had the most delicious thing! It was lemon juice (so basically sugary lemonade) mixed with vanilla ice cream (it must have been melted, because it was not very thick at all). What resulted was basically like melted lemon ice cream. It was SO GOOD. I need to experiment and make my own some time.

Friday: I was supposed to go on a critical mass bike ride thing (critical mass is where a ton of people all ride bikes together?), but it was early and I didn't know what time, and I was beat. So, I instead got up for breakfast at 10:30, met up with my friends (who at this point consist of mostly Michigan and Maryland people, plus a few Texas), and went to the pool! There is an outdoor pool at the university stadium, and apparently we have two lanes reserved 10-12 on Fridays (allegedly 'no one is there at that time' so it is a good time for girls to go). We got there a bit closer to 12, and lo and behold there were tons of people there, including a large swim team composed of little kids (majority boys). Oh dear. There were all sorts of people (mothers mostly) in the stands watching, and no free lanes. Luckily, we asked one of the coaches, and he cleared a lane for us. So, we swam (I felt weird in a bikini but OH WELL). And discovered that in addition to the million little boys, there was also a group of scuba divers (the pool had a very deep end for diving, etc), who at one point were lurking right underneath our lane. Very awkward. The pool was probably like 50 meters long, and swimming was EXHAUSTING. I always find swimming to be so tiring, it is so different from running. It was really good, though. I swam 10 laps!!!

After swimming we went to McDonalds for ice cream, got water, ate lunch, and then showered and met back up to watch a movie in one girl's room. Remember how I went to see an Arabic movie a while back, called Omar wa Selma 2?? And it was ridiculous and mildly (extremely) full of terrible male-female interactions? Well, one of my friends bought the first Omar wa Selma, so we decided to watch it. Added bonus: Tamer Hosni stars in both films as Omar! There is no escaping him. The film was pretty ridiculous (we only watched the first half). It looked like it was shot in 90's USA (everyone had terrible clothes and hair), and was just strange in general.

Basic Plot:
Omar was seeing this girl, then she dumped him, and he is so sad. There are emotional music video montages of them and her and him like weeping or some nonsense and like sitting at home shirtless under a blanket on his sofa with candles lit everywhere staring at the phone, etc, etc. Then it's like him messing around with his goofy dad, and then it's like he's such a ladies man and there's this girl in his ridiculous bedroom and his dad knows about it, and then they joke about women, and Omar like shoves the girl out the window or something. Then, he's sad about his ex. Then, he meets Selma and is all goofy silly guy at her and she's not interested, but she walks away and then later smells her hand or something (he shook her hand) and gets all dreamy about her Tamer Hosni smelling hand. I don't know. THEN there's all this weirdness where he acts like a clown trying to get her attention and she's all "not amused" but she secretly is, then he like slashes her tires and then acts like a jerk about changing them for her. Then they both like roll around in their own beds, separately, and moon about daydreaming about the other, and over it all is this soundtrack of conversations between the two of them that I'm not sure ever happen in reality, but then suddenly they are dating and at a dinner party together. And THEN Selma's ex is there, and calls her on the phone, and she goes outside to tell him to go away. But! Omar sees that he called on her phone or something, and angrily drags her out of the place. They drive to a secluded outlook spot, and argue hardcore, and he slaps her, and then she cries about her horrible past relationship with this other guy, and they make up because Omar does something goofy. LITTLE DOES SHE KNOW Omar turns out pretty much the same as the other guy in the end.

Whew. Aren't you glad you know that? ANYWAY, after the movie we went to a wedding party (in Arabic the various celebrations for weddings are complicated, so I'm not sure what the technical English name for this would have been). It was very intense. When we were invited we were told it was a Henna Party, which is traditional for the day before the wedding. I guess maybe it still was considered a Henna Party, or I don't even know. It was basically like a village-wide carnival celebration thing held in a field and it was ridiculously.....it was an experience. More to come on that later, as soon as I can get photos and videos up online.

We got home from that late (it was like 2 hours into the countryside, I feel like!), and then today I went to Carrefour (wal-mart basically) with one of my friends. Luckily she had to get lots of stuff, too, so we strategically made the rounds and got all we needed. I got a small basin thing for holding stuff and also for hand washing clothes, some tupperware, some better shampoo and conditioner, orange juice AND apple juice, milk, yogurt, chocolate biscuits (TWO KINDS), some other stuff, 80% chocolate, and GRAPES! And water. Upon arriving home we ate lunch, and happily I got invited to even more stuff.

I really like how things are going here, it's like I somehow accidentally have found myself having a group of friends that I am considered a part of, if that makes sense. A weird thing that happened a while ago with the Texas people was that they had plans to go out to eat, and one girl (who I quite like) asked me if me and my crew were coming. It was sort of strange, like first of all I have a crew? And second of all, am I not in yours? It wasn't a bad thing or like a mean girl moment or anything, it was just a weird social interaction moment. It's easy to forget that with some groups you need to work to be included. Anyway, back to the present, I've been doing pretty well this past week (and weekend especially) with a great group of people, all of whom also keep hanging out with the Egyptian guys from Rotary who hook us up with everything. So, it's a good set up!

Later on today I am going with some of the girls to this market that is especially for women, I'm not sure what to expect there but I'm glad to be going, maybe I'll find some good scarves or jewelery? And tomorrow there is a soccer game in Cairo, Egypt vs. some other African team (I feel like it is a World Cup qualifier game?). The Egyptian guys called to invite us, and it is very hard to say no to them, so we are going. No word yet on whether this is a good idea or not (I do have class, we'd be missing lunch, when would we get back, we'd be driving, etc, etc...), but OH WELL I guess we'll just see! I decided that for the next little while I'll go along with more things even when I don't really want to. I'll agree to more things?

Special bonus side note of no importance: I washed all my grapes, removed them from the stems, and put them in my tupperware. And I bought a cup for drinking juice and milk. This pleases me very much. And! Next weekend! Mt. Sinai AND Sharm el-Sheikh!!!!

Delicious Explosion

Hello! Well, this has been a very update-filled week so far! I really seriously am going to start having more in-depth things to say other than just blow-by-blow 'what I did' posts. But! That will be AFTER I tell you about the delicious times I had yesterday!

We had a meeting at the American Cultural Center (Alexandria's branch of the US Embassy, I guess) which was anti-climactic. Afterwards, me and a couple other people went out to find this fateer place. Fateer is crazy delicious: it is like some kind of flaky pastry dough, thin, in a pancake shape. It is then stuffed with stuff, and cut into pieces. There are savory and sweet ones. We got to this restaurant, Dahab's I think it might be called, and sat down. I ordered a chicken fateer, and got the most amazing meal I've had recently. It was literally packed with chicken and cheese and red and green peppers. The pastry was so flaky and good, and it was all hot and lovely. Very filling. After that we got a sweet one, which was just a ridiculous concoction of cream, sugar, raisins, and who knows what else. I only had a bit of that.

THEN, we went to a juice place next door. I'm sure I've talked about 'juice' in Egypt before, but here is a refresher (haha! Is that funny? I feel like it is): the juice you buy at juice stands here is very thick, basically pureed fruit. Of course it has water and sugar too, but still. The most common kinds are mango, strawberry, orange, guava, and sugarcane, along with lemon (more like sugary lemonade). But there are places that have much more, and this was one of those places. I got kiwi (which was less tangy than I would have liked but still good), and my roommate got watermelon (which looked tasty, at least). The place had a really big menu, and I'm not even sure what half of it is. There are lots of fruits that aren't in season right now, I think, (like pomegranates!!!), so I'm going to have to frequently go back there and check on what's new.

After THAT, we went to Helwiaat Misr (Egypt Sweets), which was probably a bad decision, but oh well! I've told you about that place before, right? Amazing dessert place? Ok, well, I was already beginning to be incredibly sleepy by that point from all the food, but we still went there and ordered delicious nonsense. They have really, really good chocolate mousse! It is unbelievably light and fluffy (imagine clouds made from chocolate mousse), has a tiny bit of chocolate cake in the middle, and is covered in chocolate sauce. And it's a pretty big portion, all for 5LE ($1 or less). Amazing.

We rode the tram to all of these places, and the tram is kind of growing on me. It's nice to ride in the later afternoon and evening, when the sun is not too bad and it's breezy (it's been very windy here lately). The windows are open (and sometimes the doors hang open), you can just sit or stand and watch Alexandria go by. Very nice. I felt more comfortable here yesterday, but it may have just been a side effect of all the food. Oh well!

Today I have like a four hour meeting with my language partner. We were all assigned Egyptian people (students or people affiliated with the program in some way) to meet with four hours a week to practice our Egyptian colloquial. A lot of people seem to have really, really cool partners (tatoos, taking them to get nose piercings, inviting them home, etc). Not to say mine isn't good! We just haven't met that much yet, and she seems like the kind of person that you need to spend a little time getting to know (I'm the same way, so I guess it works out?). We didn't meet enough last week, so this week she declared that today we are going to meet for four hours: we're going shopping, then something else maybe, then eating, then maybe something, then hanging with her friends and a club somewhere??? I'm nervous!!! (NOTE: by 'club' I do not mean like 'in da club'. Clubs here are more like a community center/country club type thing. At least I THINK that's the kind she meant...)

OK ok. Time to go do some homework! I don't have class until 11 today, so hopefully I can at least try and be productive. Ma'asalaama!

Beaches!!!

Oh man all ze beaches!!! I'm going to write some words soon, but also here are some pictures of the crazy awesome beach I went to last weekend: