Lucky

[by Jason Mraz. feat. Colbie Caillat]

I just want to start out by saying I am excited to come home. It will be wonderful to see family and friends and all those familiar things. I am having trouble because I know I'm not ready. There is so much I did not see. There are so many friends I did not say goodbye to. There are so many adventures I missed out on. I'm looking forward to returning home because I don't want anyone at home to be offended that I'm not excited to see them. Ha. Silly, but mostly true. I wish I could stay here longer. I spent this whole semester thinking about school and now that I have no school obligations, life is different. Better. Peaceful and enjoyable (not that it wasn't before but... you know what I mean). Sigh.

The Spring 2010 semester will forever go down in my history as

THE SEMESTER I. . .

studied in Cairo, Egypt at the American University in Cairo

started a blog and remained consistent with it

learned more about the "making of the modern Arab World" than I knew possible

went to class when it was 109 degrees outside

didn't attend a Lutheran church, not once

realized that I actually do like chocolate

went aerobics classes three times a week

got more in touch with my Norwegianness

depended more on skype and facebook than anyone ever should

truly felt independent

fell in love with the call to prayer

mastered dividing and multiplying by five

never went to bed before midnight

lived on a resort

learned enough (Egyptian) Arabic to "survive"

had to keep track of the minutes I spent on my phone

didn't make my bed

used taxis and buses more than any other mode of transportation

walked like an Egyptian.

It's time to come home and tell you all the stories I didn't tell you on here. Thanks for reading, and later on, thanks for listening. I love you all a lot, and I miss you too. It will be great to just call you and chat. I miss that. Very soon. This was an amazing semester! I know the appropriate word is blessed (instead of 'lucky') but I'm lucky that everything worked out. I like what's happened to me and how I've changed. I like a lot of things about this semester. I'm not crying now, but I will in a few days. Give it time. I hope I can adjust (I'm so not ready for American prices. yikes!) and the things about Egypt I will miss are endless. You must come back with me someday. Until then, I guess it's farewell Egypt and a happy and safe flight(s) to Denver, inshallah.

tell me how anybody thinks under this condition

This is the penultimate blog. Freaky deaky dude.

I'm taking some time as a break between studying. I'm close to the point where I can't study anymore, none of it. I mean, I'm in Cairo and these are my last days and moments!! I should be enjoying it, but I have to study ya know? It's my job. I have my history exam (ahhhh!!) and my psychology exam (whew.) left this week. They're coming up fast. Immediately after exams I have packing and goodbyes. I don't think I'm quite ready for all that. Oy.

Last weekend was fun. A small group of us drove to Alexandria. We have some friends who have cars so that was easy. On the way there we went to this sweet place called Africa Park. It's basically a drive through Zoo that some would call a safari. Seeing caged animals is rarely fun for me. I had a lot of fun but the sadness was still there. Poor animals. None were in their natural habitat and most were severely malnourished, but that's Egypt for you. We would drive to a cage and get out of the car, take pictures with the animal, get back in the car, and drive to the next animal. Totally new concept to me. Some animals were roaming, but even that was not quite right. Deer and ostrich at the same time, sharing the same treats. The best part was probably this cage where your vehicle goes in too. They release all these baboons and throw treats/food all over the car and so the animals climb onto the cars! It was crazy. Hilarious too. We had a baboon on our car for a long time. It would look into the car and stare each one of us down. Surreal. I got to hold a baby lion. It was soft and cute, just like a teddy bear but a bit heavier. There was a kangaroo, a bear, some hippos, and chimpanzees. My friends held the chimp too, but I didn't feel like it. This park was in the middle of nowhere. It's like a place you see billboards for while you're on a road trip and think "am I bored enough that I want to go there?" But we had planned on going. It was on the way to Alexandria. It was definitely worth it!

Our trip to Alexandria was short and uneventful. We had all been there before and seen all the attractions. It's nice for visiting too. You get to see the Mediterranean, and eat really good seafood. The air is nicer there than in Cairo. We walked along the sea and went to a cafe afterwards. It's a bit of a drive for a short trip but I like that Alexandria was my first trip and my last. Just keeping it consistent.

Now back to some studying. I find it difficult to focus still. Just in disbelief that I am seriously leaving this place. I hear planes every one in a while. Ahhh!! See you soon lovers. ;)

it's oh so quiet

Last weekend was my friend Kathryn's last weekend here. Very sad. No one can believe she's leaving tomorrow morning. She had made a list of things she still wanted to do so we tackled that. It was a lot of fun.

Thursday night she found out about this "Secret Supperclub in Cairo" where you go to a location that isn't revealed until the night before the event, pay a lot of money, eat really good food, and meet/converse with complete strangers. It was a little odd, but I got in touch with my spontaneous and adventurous side. It was a Cinco de Mayo themed dinner (a little late, yes) but the chef is from the Dominican I think. These secret supperclubs are all over the world in different cities and are known for their really good food. Let me tell you, amazing food. The best part was how extremely vegetarian friendly it was!

Friday morning we tried to "beat the heat" and see the Pyramids of Giza before the sun was at its highest. Another friend asked if anyone wanted to go and I was the only one who responded. I've been there before but that was the very beginning of the semester, a second time was necessary!! What I didn't know is that she wanted to ride camels to the pyramids!!! WAAAAA?! This went against whatever I had said about those poor camels and how I was never going to ride one. Poor things. But I had to, for her, and Kathryn.

matching shoes. TOMS at the pyramids.

Sadly, we failed to beat said heat and were there when the sun was high in the sky!! No sunburns though (hamdulillah) just sweat everywhere. Poor camels. I climbed up the small pyramid, not far because the blocks that make these pyramids are huge!!! Luckily, some friends of friends of friends have a house in Giza and were having a pool party!! We didn't have our swimsuits but dunked our heads in the water. I left the pool party before "Donkey Baseball" started. A very silly game I can describe for you later, I've never played. It's what happens when you mix sports, drinking games, and donkeys. Kathryn's epic weekend continued with a motorcross show at the pyramids/sphinx and I went home to study and watch a movie with Gurminder.

More things on the list left to see! Saturday we went to a free museum of this Egyptian singer from a few years back who was assassinated. She was a very big deal. Her name is Oum Kalthumm (spelling varies). She's cool. Then we got feteer, an Egyptian traditional food. It reminds me of pizza but with phyllo bread and all the toppings are folded inside. Maybe it's more like a calzone? The important thing is, it's delicious and the bread is very very thin, unlike a calzone.

I finally went to the Egyptian Museum!!!!!!!!!
No cameras allowed in this museum, which is insane because there are just so many things to take pictures of. Huge museum. Filled, I mean cram-packed with things and information. I even went into the royal mummies room (extra ticket) and saw Queen Hatshepsut's body!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen it on TV before and in documentaries, this was real life before my eyes. So crazy. 4,000 year old body preserved. Gross but totally amazing. I saw a lot more amazing things I can't even remember them all. Pretty much all of it is from the insides of tombs so shiny and fancy things that Pharaohs wanted to have in the afterlife. There was a room of just jewelry too, that was fascinating!

Museuming is tiring, especially after a camel trip to the pyramids the day before. But we still needed to shop! We planned on "shoppin til we drop" but it was too exhausting to begin with. The bazaar can really be annoying, especially when you're tired. I got about half of the things I intended to. We were just over it. We'll go again though. Only, this time without Kathryn :(

Kathryn and Gurminder at the Nilometer

I just printed a paper for my Education Psychology class. That was a bit of a stressful assignment, but it's done. I'm also completely done with my Global Literature class. Today is my last day of classes!! This is happening too fast. Someone slow it down!! I need to study!!! Three exams next week but more fun and goodbyes to be had this weekend.

Love you.

stand and deliver!

I really don't like history. I had been avoiding it these last three years. But it's about time I enrolled, I need it to graduate. The history class I've been taking here is called "The Making of the Modern Arab World." I still don't like history, but I've learned so much. I didn't know squat about the Arab world, now I almost know it all (since 1800). Well, for this class we had two separate role play projects. One last month on the marriage and divorce laws in Egypt in 1929. And another this past week about Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood in 1966. For the role play this last week my role was as a defense lawyer (there were 4 total) for Sayyid Qutb. It was rough! This guy was radical and executed when he was put on trial back then. He was accused of inciting violence and falsely interpreting Islam for devious purposes. Apparently he was against Nasser and had encouraged his followers to assassinate him. For both role plays, I had to dress up like a man. Not a big deal. I had to make a speech of closing arguments yesterday. I was pretty nervous but thanks to that beginning acting class freshman year, I delivered the speech with power. Unfortunately, not enough to save Sayyid Qutb's life this time around. The defense team wasn't as strong as the prosecution. Maybe I was the only one taking it really seriously, I mean, I wanted to win this thing (not to mention the tiny amount of extra credit we would get for "winning" the case). Our witnesses were bland and a one of the lawyers was really hard to understand, I'm not even sure if he knew what was going on. We just told him what questions to ask the witnesses.

Story time:

Flashback to freshman year in high school. What was that class called? Civics? Civic Government? Civil something law? I have no idea, Civics we'll call it. I was assigned a similar position. One (of two) defense lawyers for Scott Free, accused of breaking into something... I can't remember too well. I'm not sure if it was vandalizing or murder. It was that time in my life where I argued everything and would not stop until I was right. I would twist words and argue until I won. Momma and Papa told me I should be a lawyer. (I still have this tendency, of course). Well, I was a lawyer for that case. No one knew if he was guilty or not. But in that role play the jury declared him not guilty! Turns out, Scott Free got off scott free and was actually guilty on all counts. I was the hero for winning that one!! I smile thinking about it. It was super exciting, but those feelings didn't happen again yesterday, like I had hoped they would. It's whatever (hahaha) because I'm so so so so so glad the role play is over. Ugh!!

After the role play I finished an 8 page research paper for anthropology and started and completed an 8 page literature paper. I am totally beat. Except, today both of my classes got out at least half an hour early. I guess that means it's the end of the year. (as if the papers and finals didn't give it away). Two weeks from now I will be done with all the papers and finals and will keep myself busy with packing and sorting out all of my junk! HAPPY WEEKEND (for me)!! I love you like craaaYYzaaaYY.

I had a mustache drawn on but a friend said I looked manly enough without it. I left some sweet sideburns though. I also had the mustache for the first day of the trial, not the second.

:{ (->mustache)

The jury deliberated while the persecution and defense were giant flies on the walls. Looks like fun doesn't it?

trip to Luxor

Forget what I said about no laundry on Tuesdays, or homework on Saturdays. There's just too much going on next week for that nonsense! Museums and Cairo will just have to wait.

Everything worked out for the Luxor trip! We left on Thursday evening, first class tickets, and arrived in Luxor at 8am(??) on Friday. There was a travel/tourist information building across the street from the train station so we went there (very nice bathrooms) and talked to a woman about what to do. We had no solid plan. We walked to the Nile and boarded a ferry to the other (west) side where we went to Valley of the Kings and saw three tombs and then Queen Hatshepsut's tomb which is sometimes called Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple. I hopped a fence/gate and went into the temple and got caught but everything's okay! I can tell you that story later ;) After the ferry ride back to the other (east) side we lunch and it was so-so. Next we headed to Karnak Temple, that was huge. These places are pretty spread out and have walls or artifacts that you can reach out and touch, not much security. No photographs were allowed at the Valley of the Kings but I managed to snap a few. It so so so so so amazing how well preserved these places are. Especially at Valley of the Kings, these tombs (that have been raided of course) have walls and walls of depictions of the Pharaoh doing his thing and the gods/goddesses who love him for it. Some walls did have a glass fence so protect them, but definitely not all.

inside Hatshepsut's tomb! EEk!!

After Karnak we waited for a train ride home. We boarded second class at 7pm. Cairo had a time change so we arrived very early, 5am but felt like 4am (because of the time change!). We weren't in Luxor for long, only one day. And we went to three places, there are probably 15 times as many awesome things to see there, so I'd definitely like to take a trip back. It doesn't have to be soon, however, just some time before I die.

Tonight I saw the Taming of the Shrew, our theatre arts people did a production of it. It was pretty good! We dressed up, which is always fun. This weekend I might go to a museum though, and perhaps a birthday party. I guess it depends on where I am with the three presentations and four essays. Wish me luck! I love you a lot.

sunrise back at campus. [Cairo skies making me smile]

i feeeeeeel good

In Middle Eastern countries they always use this phrase when talking about the future. "inshahallah." It means "God willing" and can even be translated as hopefully. Professors might say, "I'll see you in class on Monday, insha allah." Anything could happen to interfere, but God wills it. I use the phrase occasionally, people around me use it a lot. I also say other arabic phrases and when I come home it will be hard for me to let go of these very few words I know. In time, you will know them too ;)

Later tonight, perhaps midnight, I'll be boarding a train with 3 other friends in Cairo heading to Luxor, insha allah. The train will take at least 9 hours so we'll arrive by morning, insha allah. We'll spend tomorrow sight-seeing, visitings tombs, and extremely ancient monuments, insha allah. This is a place I've always wanted to go. Always always always. Tomorrow night we will crash in a hostel, insha allah. If we missed something tomorrow, we'll wake up early Saturday morning (to avoid the heat) and take some photos before boarding the train back to Cairo and arrive before bedtime, insha allah. I realize I've overused the phrase, but I'm trying to emphasize how much this weekend is a "fingers-crossed" type excursion. I really hope everything works out according to plan, but overusing this phrase will help me to avoid disappointment if/when my dream Egypt trip doesn't play out quite right. [If I don't make it to Hatshepsut's tomb this weekend, then I promise you, I will be coming back to Egypt someday in the future. No 'insha allah' necessary, it will happen.] This is my first "on my own" trip, though I'll agree with you, there should have been more. This is also the last weekend that I don't have anything major going on with classes the following week. I'm not stressed about school... yet. So this weekend is perfect.

I'm so so so so happy right now!! I have been waiting for the package from California (Grandma and Grandpa + Samantha and Katie) since spring break! I've gone to the mail center practically everyday, pestered the mail guy about this package, I've even gone to him twice in one day!! I was getting to a point where I checked less often (it's psychology; if you don't get the reward you're looking for, the behavior to get the reward decreases until it becomes extinct. this is also the best way to deal with a child having a tantrum. you ignore them until their tantrum decreases and will eventually become extinct but if you crack before it becomes extinct and give the child the attention/candy/ice cream they are screaming for, then they will increase that behavior and extinction will become more difficult for the next time they want the attention/candy/ice cream). Well, today I went to the mail center, but not to check for the package (that behavior was becoming extinct) but to mail a postcard! And there it was! Sitting on the counter waiting for me!! Even though I wasn't going back to my room I took it with me and opened it in the cafeteria. I tried not to cry reading the birthday cards (yes, birthday) and looking at all the sweet things. I FEEL GOOD!! Aww, my friends and family are fantastic! I love you all!! I'm so so so thankful. I now have exactly one month left here. I'd love to say the time is flying by, but it really isn't. This is the longest semester of my life. This package has made me temporarily homesick (how can I be totally homesick if I'm going to Luxor this weekend?!!!) and longing for home or grandma's kitchen. I miss a lot of things about California and Colorado. In fact, earlier today I was missing Trader Joes! But the goodies in the package have relieved that feeling. Thanks TJ!! Heehee. I'm excited to go home but I'm going to make this last month worth it. Tuesdays wont be for laundry, they'll be for museuming and living in Cairo. Saturday's wont be for homework, they'll be for museuming and living in Cairo too!! I'm excited! I might even ride a camel...

I miss you like a fat kid on a diet misses chocolate cake!! Love!

trip to Abu Simbel and Aswan

Whew! What a trip! I registered for fall semester Friday morning at 2:30am and then went to the gate with my friend to wait for the bus to take us to the airport at 2:45am. From there we took a short plane ride to Aswan. From there we took a 4 hour bus ride to Abu Simbel. These towns are in southern Egypt (also called Upper Egypt) and Abu Simbel is extremely close to the Sudan border. Here we boarded our cruise ship and settled into our cabins before touring the temples of Abu Simbel in the afternoon. The next morning the ship sailed north toward Aswan.

All the temples we saw (there were a lot) had been 'moved' from somewhere else along the Nile because a dam was built and so the temples would have been flooded. All were pharaonic and outstanding. The detail in the carvings, the hieroglyphs, and the art was awesome. After some time my photos all started to look alike. I'm having a hard time differentiating the insides of all the temples. Different pharaohs were portrayed and I saw a lot of images of gods and goddesses. Beautiful.

The cruise part was nice. We sailed through Lake Nasser, this huge lake between Abu Simbel and Aswan and flows into the Nile. Our bathrooms were larger than I anticipated. There was a pool on the roof of the ship. The food was almost always buffet style and they were very accommodating to the vegetarians (there were three of us). The sunsets were amazing every single time. We even had an hour in the day devoted to "tea time" with cake and crepes. It was hot out but the sunshine and breeze was pleasant. The last day in Aswan at the temple of Kalabsha was the worst as far as heat. My camera was dead by that point but that helped me to experience it without it being through the screen of my digital camera. It's really something how they can move entire temples like they did. And most were done 40 years ago! It's also amazing how the art is so well preserved and ancient. I took one day off of classes for this trip and now it's back to reality! It was so relaxing and luxurious, but now I have homework. I love you!