هل تحب أن تأخذ صورتي

After we had a guided tour of Islamic Cairo with Dr. Tariq [I hope I have the spelling right], we were required to do a tour of our own according to a textbook. So me, Simmi, Bing, Carissa, Ioana and Rosie hit the narrow streets to do some exploring of our own. Since a picture is worth a thousand words (if you aren’t lazy to come up with that many words for it, that is. Otherwise it is probably worth like 100), I’ll let them do the talking. Also because I’ve done a paper with my group on this tour and I don’t feel like writing again. Yes, I am lazy.But if I were to give a general impression, it would be this: Yes, there was a lot of trash, dirt, garbage and decaying buildings. Yet I found beauty in everything I saw. It is probably true if I said that the only reason I see all this as beautiful is because I am a tourist experiencing a culture shock. In reality, the area is probably far from beautiful for the people who have to live with all the dirt, trash and mud there everyday.

Luxor, a touristy area that seemed to be built around ancient ruins to which all tourists flocked. The moment we existed the airport, after a brief and bumpy one-hour ride, I knew this was far from Cairo. The Nile was a beautiful blue and hotels lined the road. The tourism didn’t conceal the decaying buildings and poverty that was exists here as well, but the cuteness of some of the streets did take one’s attention off of the harsher reality of some the Egyptians living there. Within an hour of our arrival we were on our way to see the Temple of Karnak, and others. Let’s just say that seeing those sights and temples was a bit like getting a pony for Christmas; I never thought it would happen, but then it did and it was amazing. 🙂 Ponies aside, the next day was way too rushed. Valley of the Kings was our first stop, and we spent our time intruding other people’s resting places.  I found it strange. Going into tombs and gawking at everything. The ancient people who ordered these sites to be built kind of wanted to be left alone there, with all their goodies, for a very very long time (aka eternity). Think about how well sealed all those places were. And here we are, taking all their possessions out, putting them up for display in museums around the world, and then letting thousands of people run around their tombs everyday. I bet if they were alive, this would be the kind of thing that would go on Jerry Springer or something.

Having spent a good amount of time in the Valley of the Kings, where we were not allowed to take pictures, we were given 30-10 minutes in other sites, such as the Temple of Hatshepsut. Forgive me for whining, but 10 minutes is not enough to even tour the Hatshepsut temple completely! On the other hand, we got to spend a considerable amount of time in a pottery-place-thing-workshop where everything was overprices. Oh yeah, our tourist guide probably got  a lot of commission out of that one. Let me just say that he took his time with the shisha in that store. But despite all the rush, Luxor was still an amazing experience.

There was a stone scarab in the Temple of Karnak, and the myth was that if you walked around it 3 times, you would have lots of luck. 5 times and you would have love. 7 times and you would have love and marriage. Or you could make a wish and walk around 7 times and that would come true too. I went with the last option 😉

We successfully arrived in Egypt last night and thankfully, our baggage wasn’t lost. Some people from our group were not that lucky and about  ten lost their baggage. After stopping by a cafe and getting dinner, me and my roomate Simmi finally crashed and slept like babies. We rolled out of bed the next day and dragged ourselves downstairs for a quick breakfast.

At 8.30 we set off to see the pyramids and I got my first look at the streets of Cairo. For some reason, I kept feeling like I was back in Uzbekistan, even though the trees and sand should have told me I was in Egypt. The exhaust from the cars, the air, everything just screamed, “You’re back in Tashkent!”

But despite trash scattered on the streets and rubble everywhere, Cairo has a certain beauty about it. The green fields contrast with the pale yellow buildings and the dark Nile, creating a serene and exotic look.

Once our van dropped us off next to the camels, it was all uphilll from there. Or downhill, depending on how tightly you held onto the saddle. First of all, I never knew camels can be so cute. Some may call them fugly, (coughsimmicough), but I beg to differ. I can’t say I was all brave and jumping on the camels at first. Actually, I was scared out of my mind. Let’s just say I was holding on to both horns of the saddle (the front and rear one) as the camel stood up. That frightening moment when you are about to make an embarrasing scene as you awkwardly fall off the camel….yep, I could totally picture being in that situation. No, seriously, when that tall, but cute, animal first straightens out its LONg back legs and you lunge forward in that cloth saddle…..let me tell you, you are praying you don’t just roll off its back. Once it decides to straighten out the front legs, then you are back in the safe zone.

But riding through the desert on a camel, and wondering if this mode of transportation would be acceptable on Park Avenue, was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. As Boris, my camel, trudged through the sand with the view of the pyramids and the desert surrounding us, I forgot al about rolling off the back of my camel and just couldn’t believe I was actually here. Well, I was concerned when the guide gave me the rope to lead my own camel, because I was sure I would crash it into some rock, somewhere.

The pyramids. thy Sphynx. We read about them and see pictures of them, but to be there, in the flesh, its almost a bit unbelievable. Especially on the back of a rocking camel.

After we checked out the pyramids and the sphynx, we headed to the Papyrus museum and I managed to get some souvenirs for my parents. And since I know they are reading this, I realize I’m giving away part of the surprise….

Then we were off to finally eat some lunch! God knows I was dehyrdrated and starving. Yes, I was smart enough to not take any water in the DESERT. Thats how I roll. We tried all sorts of things from rice, potatoes, kebabs to hummus and Egyptian bread. I have to say it was so delicious and the hummus was the best I ever tasted. My hummus loving friends: be jealous 🙂

On the way back, we rode with our professor and his old friend, who taught us a catchy song so that we could learn the arabic numbers. Finally we got back Horus Hotel (take the shady elevator in our buidling up to the fourth floor and you’ll find yourself there), and crashed for a few hours. Even though we now felt the jet lag creeping in, my friend Simmi was limping more than usual (she has a foot injury, just so you know), and the camel rides left….painful memories in our legs, we proceeded to go to a concert.

No family dinner, no ball dropping in Times Square. A great oud concert was the way to greet 2011. The music breathtaking. I do not mean to be cheesy, but since I said ‘breathtaking’ already I might as well be cheesy and go on to say that each song was like a story unfolding and revealing itself to my ears with each note. We were lucky enough to sit next to a student of the famous oud player who was on the stage, and he became our first friend here in Egypt. let us say that 2011 already gave us new friends, new memories and I can only imagine what it holds in store. Lesson learned: go with the flow and drive around 😉

Happy New Years to all my friends back home, and all my friends around the globe!

This camel wishes you the best and dares you to get on him:

Sunday afternoon, my fellow travelers and I gathered in Newark International to board our plane. Despite the eerily optimistic “ON SCHEDULE” sign beside our flight, we were kind of worried. Maybe it was the deserted airport, or the fact that almost every other flight in Newark was canceled, or maybe it was that all other airports had closed or were closing, but something didn’t feel right. Huge lines of people were rescheduling their canceled flights all morning and all through the afternoon.

We looked out the window as we awaited the boarding of our plane (which was now covered with snow) and saw that the visibility outside was practically zero. This was beyond scary. Yet the staff looked happy, so everything had to be all right. Right? I mean, we wouldn’t be flying out in this terrible, terrible weather if the pilots weren’t completely sure that we could take off, right?

We boarded our plane late and me and Simmi poured over the safety manuals and actually took time to memorize the exits ans safety procedures. We didn’t know whether Continental was crazy for flying out in the worsening storm, or just suicidal.

Then the stewardess informed us that the plane would have to be de-iced for about an hour and that the runway had to be cleared so the plane could get enough traction to take off. But we were still flying out. Wait, what?

Around 7pm, when all the other people had rescheduled their flights and were probably at home watching their cars get snowed in, we were told the flight was canceled and we were told to get off the plane. What finally forced Continental to cancel the flight? Oh, that’s right,  NEWARK CLOSED DOWN. It was kind of scary thinking that if Newark hadn’t completely shut down, we would still have (tried) to fly out in that blizzard. Crazy people.

Remember those huge lines of people who were rescheduling as we were checking in? Well, they took most of the seats on flights to Europe that were leaving Monday night and Tuesday. So we were informed by the crazy people at Continental that the only next flight was on the 30th. After we begged, we finally were able to reschedule our flight to leave on Wednesday, December 29th.

So thanks to the late cancellation and Continental, we will now be arriving in Egypt three days late…on Thursday.

But Newark and Continental kept pulling tricks on us. First, they were all like, “Look you’re boarding!” Then, “Psych! You’re not. LOL. Get off the plane.”  Then they told us, “You’re flight might not be canceled for sure. Just delayed.” Then, “Psych! LOL It’s canceled for real now. The airport is like, closed. LOL.”And finally they told us, “Go get your baggage! We will send it to Carousel 9.” Then, “PSYCH! LOL, we can’t find one of your bags! LOL.”

Yep, they made us wait for more than three hours for one of my friend’s bags  because they couldn’t find it. They lost her bag even though the plane didn’t even move! Oh Newark. Oh Continental.

While we waited on the floor for my dad to pick me up from the airport and for Ioana to get her bag, we recorded our reactions to the hectic day we went through:

Insha’allah, we will fly out Wednesday and get there safe and sound.

We don’t need Simmi looking sad again: