trip to the Pyramids

Sorry about the huge sunglasses, but it's the style!! My head is also covering up a pyramid in this photo, my bad.

We drove to this panoramic viewing area. There were so many tourists here. We were the biggest group of them! Then we drove to the great pyramid. The majority of us paid 15 EGP to go inside the pyramid. It was hot and stinky but 100% amazing! How neat is it to be in such an old structure. The architecture is just outstanding. I love it! I don't care if Egyptians don't find it a big deal, it is right in the city. But I find it a big deal. Thanks to that book I read over winter break ;) and art history is one of the major reasons I've always dreamed of coming here! I'm so lucky! Outside of the pyramid people are selling things. All kinds of things. They are also ripping you off. So it's scary. I went the safe route and left my wallet on the bus. How could I buy something from a snotty-faced kid without my wallet? All I had was my camera and I wasn't going to be giving that up at any point.

Right now I'd like to apologize. To all the people who requested I ride a camel, or at least get on one. I refuse. I'd eat meat before I'd ride a camel. Those animals, living and breathing beings, and treated like crap!! They exist only for the tourists. People make a living asking tourists to climb on their camel. But no one makes sure it's okay with the camel!! Next time I go I'm bringing those camels some food. Healthy food. I'm not sure where I'll find camel food but honestly, these animals are tourist attractions. They dress them up. Camels are kicked, pulled, and poked. They are so high up that the person with the camel has to convince (force) the camel to sit down/lay so the tourist can climb on. Then poked until the camel stands back up then pulled and forced to walk around. These animals are not happy. They aren't even pleasant. They pee and poo wherever they want but that's about the only freedom they have! Yucky. I won't do it, sorry.

After we hung around the pyramids we went to the Sphinx. That was pretty cool. I found the pyramids more amazing than the Sphinx which makes sense because the pyramids are much larger. And the perfection of them, ugh! I just love them. Afterwards we went to lunch (3pm) at this little place in Sakkara (spelling?) which was just dandy! I didn't have to pay extra for water, I almost did. The downside to the restaurant was the animals. They had a camel, pony, and some puppy chows (which is funny because puppy chow is a snack many of my friends enjoy!) but it was disgusting anyway. Drooly, sweaty, stinky animals is not fun! But it's all part of the experience. I love you guys! I'll be heading to Alexandria next friday and saturday. That's the next adventure! Besides classes starting...

<--the girl didn't tell me when to open my eyes... oh well!

for my papa:

Sunday/Wednesday: Global Literature, Social Movements, and History of Arab something something.
Monday/Thursday: Educational Psychology, Cultural Anthropology

Bedouin Night

I had no idea what a Bedouin Night was. Actually, I still don't. I think it's just a tourist thing and not a real indicator of the culture, but last night was AMAZING!! I don't think I've ever had so much fun.

For starters, there was a big match! Egypt and Algeria have been rival soccer teams for something around 4 years (maybe more) when they once played each other and riots broke out. Well, the teams were playing again and everyone was pumped about it! This was an important game. Very big deal! If they lose, chaos. If they win, chaos. A couple of my friends were trying to decide where they wanted to be for the game. I had already paid and signed up for the Bedouin Night, fine with me. I did NOT want to be caught in a firey mob ready to riot!! I started asking around to see if anyone I knew would be at Bedouin Night. Most students had found out that it was a combination of the horseback riding and the dancing on the Nile cruise. "Oh dangit!" That didn't sound worth it. I had already done those things. I was not interested in getting on a horse again, pretty much ever! I'm still sore from the last time. And the belly dancing and spinny dancing didn't need to be experienced two nights in a row. Oh well, no turning back now...

I saw the group of people gathering. I scanned it. No one I knew. Shucks! So I started reading the bus schedule posted nearby. Then my one friend that I hoped and dreamed was coming tapped me on the shoulder!! Hooray!! This should make things better. She wanted to go out and do something else so she could watch Egyptians who were watching the game. But it wasn't a huge let down for her, neither of us are big soccer fans. Just up for an adventure I suppose! We saw the pyramids in the dark again, from a little closer. The restaurant where we were eating was not far from them! Neat! It was huge. A giant tent set up which kept us very warm. This huge group of international students sat on the floor on these neat pillows and the game was projected on a huge screen! Cool!! Everyone was pumped! It was almost kickoff. This was way better than any Super Bowl, no lie. No nachos, drunken men, or chest pounding stuff (yuck). Everyone was so into it. 2-0 Egypt and the servers start rushing getting all the students some food, which is good because we were starving. It was lovely. Hummus, water, and shisha? Uhhh, yes please! Even though my vegetarian meal took an extra half an hour, I still enjoyed my time there. Egyptians kept cheering, yelling, dancing! And the company wasn't bad either.

Then Egypt won. They scored too many points I guess. WOOOHOOO! Instant dance party!!! For the next... 3 hours?? There was a dancing horse (sad, I know) and small camel rides, a stage for dancing with lights going crazy. And AUC students having a blast dancing to this Arabic club music. I haven't had such a great night in a really long time! I loved laughing at the stupid way people would dance. I hope I'm not that bad of a dancer. Sheesh. And the crazy lights or how we would get dizzy. Everyone was SO happy that Egypt won! It was contagious. We got kicked off the dance floor/stage so that the "oriental show" could start. This had a spinny skirt dance (much like the night before but with lights on the skirt!!) and belly dancers dancing with men who are dancing with sticks. Very neat stuff. I didn't get back to my dorm room until 3am. But that's the general trend around here. I really had a great time, and I'm so glad that I did. I was worried I would hate my life! But that was the safe AND fun way to spend the evening watching the game surrounded by Egyptians.

By the way, this dancer has umbrellas all around him, above one of the skirts that he's holding in the air. Looked a little like a flower. VERY cool. Notice the lights too!

Nile cruise dinner

It's a beautiful thing to be cruising down the Nile. Even if there are so many things you don't like about it. You still must call it an adventure. And if you get there by vehicle in Egypt, it most definitely is an adventure. I rode in a coach bus this time. Big and bulky. It amazes me how that huge bus can make those small turns, seriously. Or how other cars will just stop in the road to the let the huge bus make its wide turn. We went to the wrong place for our Nile cruise actually. Then we fixed it. Waited for at least half an hour for them to clean up the ship before loading us on. The night consisted of meeting some new people, eating bad food with hard bread, attempting polite conversation. I'm getting tired of small talk, that's for sure! Then dancers. OOo la la. No. Not really. She was pretty. But everyone on this ship just wants to make money! The belly dancer would do her thing on the dance floor with this unappreciated band of drummers (sitting directly behind me. it was LOUD!) then walk up to people and a photographer would take their picture with her. Then sell it to you. I avoided it at all costs. Some were suckered in though. I'm not sure how "authentic" the dancing was. Still, it was entertaining.

this man was a professional spinner. He kept spinning for his whole show, pretty cool. This style was actually repeated the following night. But still enjoyable. I would get dizzy. Actually, everyone I know would get dizzy.

Plenty of dancing and entertainment but I would have to say it was too loud. Especially since I was seated so close to the drumming and music. More dancers came, some with sticks! It was fascinating! But I'll never do it again. Haha. The trips I've been going on are very poorly organized. There's hardly a description of it. You just sign up and throw money at them. If I had known the so-called "dinner" wouldn't be until 10:30pm, I would have eaten first. If I known water wasn't part of the meal, I probably wouldn't have gone! Nahh. At least I can say I've experienced it. On to the next trip!

horseback riding by the Pyramids

yesterday I paid 50EGP ($10) to do something amazing!! I have to admit it took some convincing. I haven't been on a horse since Tante took me bareback riding on Sizzle I think. Forever ago! I was somewhat afraid of horses, or how one company would have 100+ horses for all the students going, or that seeing the pyramids at night wouldn't be cool. I guess I underestimated Egypt!!

It started out with all the kids signed up for this waiting. We waiting for probably, not even lying, 45 minutes before we were allowed to walk out of the campus gate and onto these two buses. One a coach bus, and the other... a wimpy bus.

I took a picture because we ended up filling the bus completely! They have these little fold out seats in the isle. I was in the back row (aka: the bounciest) where there are no fold out seats! We didn't get to the place with the horses until 10pm. And when we did, we had to wait for the coach bus kids to all sit on their horses, and the people from the Zamalek dorms to sit on theirs. I met a new friend on the bus though! Hooray!! She and I found our horses together and actually had a man (Abu or Abdu) walk our horses all the way there!! We were such bad drivers I guess. But what nobody told us was when you have someone lead your horse, you're supposed to tip them! Not a problem though, he was a nice guy.

So I was glancing to my right. There were some interesting buildings. I couldn't tell if they were tombs or houses or what! But just beyond those structures was a huge hill made of sand. And as I looked out, at that horizon of sand, I noticed this peak. OH MY GOODNESS!! It was a pyramid! I had totally forgotten that that was what I was doing there! It wasn't just to ride horses with fun people! It was to marvel at these amazing pyramids!!! And were they amazing! I couldn't believe it. I really had a hard time with it. I started crying saying "WOW!" 4000 years ago (or more) and here they were. I kept thinking about the book Peter gave me for christmas about the Great Pyramid. I was looking at it! In real life! It was almost a sense of pride. Ughh! I can't explain it well enough. It was moving! Now that I think about that it sounds lame but it really was the most amazing thing I could have ever seen. Thanks to a waxing gibbous moon, it was bright enough and the pollution made thick clouds that helped illuminate everything! The pollutiony clouds reflected this light behind the pyramids, it almost looked like sunrise or something. It was a dark red color. Absolutely beautiful. AHHHH!!! I'm glad I got to see them. But it's not the last time! Friday is a trip to the pyramids with lunch so pictures will come with that.

Tonight there's a Nile Cruise Dinner. I saw the Nile last night, actually, it was right outside of mcdonald's. But tonight I'll be on it and dinner is included!!! Thank you all for reading. I miss you!! Muuuuuaaaah!

culture shockkkkkkked

So it's Sunday morning and I'm not at church. This will be a recurring event because every Sunday morning I have class. Classes start next Sunday. I've been here for two nights now (I arrived in the evening) and have met plenty of amazing people. This is just the start. I don't think all the international students are here yet and pretty much all local students aren't here yet. Which is fine, and means that all the girls I know live in double rooms alone for awhile (including myself).

Residence Life has been hosting a few outings. I missed the Felucca Ride on the Nile because that was while I was arriving and at the airport :( but that was only the first day of free events!! Last night I went to Khan El Khalili (an Egyptian Bazzar) with plenty of people from the dorms and some from the off campus living place called Zamalek. The girls and boys mingle but mostly stay separate because our dorms are actually separated. What's the point of getting to know someone if you can't hang out in their room or meet them outside of their dorm? I have to tell you about the Khan. Getting there was ridiculous. If our parents knew what Egyptian driving is like, they never would've let us go to this city. They would have a heart attack!!! I almost did. That was definite culture shock for all of us on this bus. We all had seats but none of us had seat belts. Our driver was a honker. He would honk at everyone on the road. People walking, stopped cars, people going slower than him, people he knew, or people in his way when he wanted to turn. Perpetual honking. We got there and it was about 8pm I think. It was obvious that we were a big group of foreigners. Naturally, all the girls feared for their purses and luckily, nothing was stolen the whole night. But this place! At first it just looked like the center of some town. It reminded me of Chihuahua quite a bit. After making a few turns into the alleyways and such, it turned out to be a whole lot of stuff you could buy! You name it! Imagine the big store in Chihuahua. The one where it has a lot of stuff but then you sort of go into this back door and there are more tables and everything is separated into little booths and covered with cloths and shelves all over. I think there's even an upstairs to that store. Anyway, the Khan was like that. Only 5 blocks long and 5 blocks wide with a few chairs in the middle sometime and a couple of cafes. Ridiculous. Everyone was trying to sell something and plenty were trying to sell them by speaking English to us. If I wanted to buy something they'd overcharge me so I'd need to bargain, which was something I did not want to do! The cafe where we sat and relaxed was so much fun. Literally, hole in the wall/alley. Occasionally I'd have to lean away from a man moving, oh, 15 chairs outside of the cafe. I almost died! The stack was way to big! The Khan was great, I'd love to go back, numerous times. On the bus ride home, the bus drivers were late. Apparently they were checking on their tires or something. But while we were driving back, like maniacs, our driver honked and stopped and found something wrong with his tire. Uh oh. It was probably 11:30pm! But they changed the tire and all of that. Finally we were on our way. My goodness. I'm sure that was the first of many unintentional bus stops due to a broken vehicle. Wow.

I'm overall enjoying the culture shock and getting used to the concept of time around here. I like the friends I'm making and the place I'm in. My room is actually quite large, for two people. There is a communal bathroom shared by 7 girls but so far I think at least 3 of us are here. There are so many fountains and relaxing places to chill (what else do you do in relaxing places). The campus is big though. I'm afraid I'll get lost, but I haven't gone on a tour yet, that should help. There are plenty of places to eat on campus!! Super fun! But there's no meal plan so I guess it'll be out of pocket.

I finally know that I am here. I am so here. And I can do this. No problem. Even if I am the only one here who can only say "thank you" in Arabic. Oh well. I miss you guys, but not too badly ;)