هل تحب أن تأخذ صورتي

Okay, okay, I’m not that silly to have thought that the red sea would be red. I just thought that the title would be more interesting rather than “A Day at the Red Sea,” which is what this post is about. I’ll let the pictures do the talking once again, because I am passing out and tired.

our first view of the red sea 🙂

Yayy!! (What am I doing here?!) But anyway, YAY!

yes, we silly people went swimming in the Red Sea. Then I developed a nasty cough and flu…but lets not talk about that. The funny part was that we all thought it would be too cold to swim…so most of us didn’t bring swimming clothes. I ended up swimming in my underwear, white shirt and someone’s scarf (that I cleverly utilized as a skirt…). Once we got out of the sea…I changed back into my plaid shirt and jeans. I don’t think I ever appreciated the warmth of dry clothes more than on that day.

We also got to see the Suez Canal!

And even witness a boat pass through:

Before this program we were emailed a guide of things to pack and what to expect of Cairo. While it was useful to some extent, there are so many things that I feel were not included or were not clear enough. So this is my list of things to pack and what to expect.

1. If going during the winter break (a.k.a. January like me) BRING SWEATERS…more than you think you would need and some jeans. I had the silly notion that  I would be rocking a t-shirt and light cargo pants because, well, this is the desert and its hot! Right?  The truth is that it is so much colder than expected here. I wear jackets inside and outside here. I wish I brought more sweaters because it is chilly all day long. Some days are warmer, sure. Especially when we go out to the pyramids and places like that. But I think many people on this trip would agree that it is much colder than expected.

2. Bring some conservative clothes, but really, you can wear anything you want. We were under the notion that baggier clothes would be the way to go…but most people on this trip still wear tight jeans and shirts and they do not get extra harrassment or anything of the sort. As long as your shirts do not expose you cleavage or more skin than necessary, wear what you would usually wear to college.

3. Bring much more cash than you think you’ll need. During days that we go on excursions to touristy places, money somehow flies. When you go shopping in the marketplaces, pounds will fly as well. You can spend up to 100 dollars or more in a day if you go shopping. Extra sights and more souvenirs, money will slip out of your hands. We were told that around three hundred dollars would be enough for food for the month…and to some extent this is probably true. But i only brought three hundred dollars extra after that and I am quickly realizing how badly I wish I had more. I brought 600 dollars, and with 2 weeks still left…I have about 150 dollars left. O_O

4. Cartouches. Some people will tell you to buy them at certain stores…but trust me when I say that is not the cheapest ones you can get. Shop around and see what you can get. The best cartouches we found were the ones that were offered to us on our tour bus in Luxor. They were amazingly cheap and beautiful [13 to 18 dollars].

5. Plan your evenings here well. most of your mornings and afternoons will be busy with lectures and classes, but you will haeva  tendency to get tired and want to spend the night in at the hotel. Force yourself to go out, make plans before hand. Ciaro is huge and there is so much to see and take in.

6. Don’t be afraid to talk to and make friends with Egyptians. Sure some people, especially if you’re a girl, will try to harrass you. But you can weed those people out. For the most part, talking to Egyptians around you will yield some interesting and maybe even hilarious stories.

7. Wet wipes, which we were told to bring lots of, are actually not that convenient. Liquid hand sanitizer is so much easier to use on the go…not to mention more useful.

8. Bring medicine for colds/flus, and stomach things. ‘Nuff said.

…This is it for now, but if I feel strongly about something else, I will add it on here.

😀

Yes, I copied the title of this post exactly the way it was on my worksheet, so that I don’t make any embarrassing mistakes. Shhh.

So while my crazy roomate Simmi is out having fun god knows where, I am sitting in our hotel room writing this. Most of the time here I am cold and hungry, and now is not different. We haven’t found good places to eat dinner in yet and most of the time we just have no time to eat dinner (for mischivieous reasons I cannot mention). I am stuffing my face with BBQ chips, so when Simmi arrives, there will be none left for her. But I mean, I’m the one staying in and starving here! 😛 BBQ chips and iced tea. What a classy dinner.

The days are starting to take on some form of a routine. I never know what day of the week it is, but that doesn’t really matter since classes flow into tours and tours turn into nights out in town and then the morning brings more classes. Time just flows and I can’t believe it is the fourth of January tomorrow. Arabic classes are fun and our teacher is the sweetest, most cheery person ever. She smiles even though most of the time our class gives her blank stares of outright confusion. Her cheery aura rubs off on you and you end up just feeling very happy sitting there. The classes are two to three hours long, with a thirty minute istraha (break) but they go by so fast!

 [some of the people from our beginner (noob) class]

The other day we had a tour of Islamic Cairo and Bab Zuwayala, which is one of the few remaining gates of the ancient royal city. The gate has two minoret towers and the view from the roof is absolutely beautiful:

Past the roof, one can climb up the stairs of the minorets to get an even better vista. But oh the price you oay for that view. We climbed the spiraling staircase of doom in fear. The spiraling steps are very narrow and very high. There is NO railing and at times it is pitch black so you have to feel around with your feet to find the narrow winding steps. Just when we think that pitch blackness in an ancient narrow tower can’t get any worse…it does. As one emerges into open air at last, the stone steps become metal strips that wind their way up in an even more terrifying way. It is like someone took a ladder, and made it a winding staircase. Now, let me just say, me and my friend  werevwearing skirts. Not only did the skirt keep getting in the way of my feet, making it even more hazardous for me, but the person climbing up behind me was a guy. And its a winding ladder. To make the story short, we made himclose his eyes until we went up the metal death thing and CLIMBED OVER THE EDGE OF A STONE WALL to emerge onto a small balcony that went around the top part of the minoret. Yep. Twas fun.

This is the view of the minoret across from us, but we were on this same kind of balcony, and you can even see the winding ladder of death in the center of the columns  if you squint:

We decided not to even go on the top-most balcony for fear that we will fall doing it. Going down was even scarier and we had to feel around with our feet, arms and bodies to make it back out to the roof safely.

After that we went into a very stunning mosque. Stunning is a strange word to describe a mosque, I know. Its more like the word I would use if one of my friends got dressed up and asked me how she looked. (Response: Gurrrlll you look stunnin’.) But since I overuse beautiful anyway, I thought I would mix it up. Bear with me here. We had to take off our shoes and put on scarves and this is a picture that Ioana took of me.

Simmi and Ioana made me look all contemplative and stuff…I swear I don’t usually stare out into space like that. I think. But I’m rocking that pink pashmina thing. 😛

And then we posed in various places around the mosque. Because camwhoring is what we do best, naturally. I actually really like the pictures I took of Ioana and Simmi around the mosque. 😀

Anyway, after that we did some stuff. And I’ll just move on and leave it like that, just to keep you guys guessing on what it is that we (the continental three, as me, Simmi and Ioana are called) did. 😛

Today we had class and after that we finally had really good food. Abduh, our tour guide, go to guy and helper, also long time friend of  Professor Sullivan (:P), hosted a lunch at his house. His wife and daughter made SO MUCH GOOD FOOD. I swear, I will come back an emanciated child after this trip because I don’t eat. But seeing all that food, I think I put more on my plate than I could handle.

Muffin, or Muffy (as she likes to be called), soon became the star of the lunch, and got passed around more often than food. She must have been in everyone’s arms at some point. That doggy is one small fiesty biter. BUT SHES SO CUTEEEEEEEEEE >.<

Here is a photo of Simmi and me harrassing Muffy:

As you can see, Muffy out-camwhored us in this photo with her cuteness. :3

Abduh (whom we all love) played a game with some of us towards the end of the dinner. Since I am an immigrant, of course, I don’t know the name of this game. I would call it the violently agrresive game where you stare at someone as you slap their hands and pretend it’s fun game. Abduh was very fierce at this game and Tyra Banks would approve of his poker face as he slapped our hands so hard that they turned red. He was fully of glee when he would win:

Because that is just how Abduh rolls.

For example, this morning I was convinced I lost my passport. Last time I saw it, as I remember it, was a week or more ago. Freaking out, I could imagine having to stay behind and missing out on this whole thing…because I lost my passport. How embarrassing.
Miraculously, I found my passport within five minutes of my search. I think I panicked longer than I searched for it. Silly me.
But packing is still just as heart-wrenching. Yes, it is still the shoes. Since I went shopping today, I now have more stuff (and shoes) to choose from and no room for any of it.

Of course, my parents forced me to pack half of my suitcase with medicine, but that is not why I have no room. Nope, that is not my problem at all.

Or, as my previous packing experiences would warn me, overpacking. Staring at these piles of pants, jackets, and shoes (oh, it’s always the shoes!)…I know all of this may be just a little bit too much for a month away. But only a little bit too much. And being  a bit overpacked can’t hurt, right? Well that is what I am going to keep telling myself as my dad laughs at me. Yes, seeing me trying to pack all this STUFF into my suitcase with stubborn determination is a bit of an amusing sight.

Earlier today I discovered that my Canon 30D SLR’s autofocus is slightly broken. I refuse to admit it might be on its way to being completely broken and packing it anyway. Lets hope most of my photos will be in focus so that I can show you around Egypt!

Well, I will be leaving in a few days, so I wish everyone a merry Christmas and I’ll blog more once I am settled in Zamalek (a district of Cairo)!