Dahab- the final weekend

If I could give one word of advice to next year's program students, it would be to make a periodic escape to Dahab to keep your sanity during the year! We made it back to Dahab with quite the production. I'm not sure if there was some kind of security threat, but our bus was stopped multiple times at check points and twice we were stopped for over an hour. Total, it took us about 14 hours to get to Dahab. But it was worth it. The premise of the weekend was to celebrate Melissa's 21st birthday and we were also invited to the birthday party of Charlie, the British girlfriend visiting her Egyptian boyfriend who is a scuba instructor that we know in Dahab. We arrived and got some food and checked into our hostel. In summary, the weekend consisted of us hanging out at Yalla bar restaurant during the day, sitting in the sun and swimming and then going to happy hour at Yalla bar then moving to Mojito bar for the rest of the evening. The weather was hot and the sea was the perfect temperature for swimming. We celebrated Melissa's birthday in good form, all wearing pink barbie party hats. We much some new friends- a few Austrialians traveling around Egypt, one then making his way to Canada, a guy from Washington state working on his dive master certification, some random French guy. Overall it was a ton of fun. We decided to skip class on Sunday to stay an extra day, well worth it. We were all sad to leave Dahab. It seems like the one place in Egypt that is liberal were we can be more of ourselves. Plus the Red Sea is so beautiful! I never tire of swimming in its crystal blue waters. Now, its back to the reality of Alexandria- the crowd, the traffic, the noise and the weather and humidity are really picking up. We finished our last classes today and have a week of exams and projects in front of us before we leave. Then, it's off to Paris for a two day layover before finally coming home.

I have mixed emotions about the year ending. I'm excited to finally be dome with all the work of our program. I'm happy to be heading back to America. However, I feel like I've finally adjusted to life here. I love hearing the call to prayer, the cheap prices, the fresh juice and other delicious food like fatir and koshary. I'm definitely going to miss the people in my program that I've become close to. Luckily, a lot of them are going to be in Washington, DC, where I hope to move and work after spending some time at home. I will definitely enter a final post or two in my last week here and then I hope to have lots of fantastic tales from paris to tell!!

Spring Break Dahab!!

Shortly after Laura left, it was time for a much needed Spring Break!!! Several of us decided to pack up and go to Dahab for the week, a little spot over on the Red Sea. We took the train down to Cairo and spent a night in Cairo and then hopped a mini bus over to Dahab because the public bus was sold out. We arrived in Dahab early in the morning and lounged until we could check into our hotel.

The week was spent lounging on the beach and eating good food and hanging out with friends. I completed my open water Scuba course! I'll paste a copy of part of an email I sent my parents about my course:
At first it was really scary. It took a bit of time to get used to breathing through the regulator. The first time I went down (we were in super shallow water) I came back up after only 30 seconds because I was scared. But after that, it got easier and easier. We practiced skills like clearing your mask and your regulator, retreiving your regulator if it falls out of your mouth, breathing from a friend's extra regulator, and breathing w/o your mask on.

(pic- My Diving Buddy during my course- Lizzy)

The last one is a little difficult for me because I have contacts, so I have to keep my eyes closed, which is a little scary. Then we did our first open water dive where we just swam around a coral reef. Today we did some harder skills, like taking off and putting back on our weights under and above water and removing and putting back on our BCD (the vest thingy that our tank is attached to) under and above water. We also did an emergency ascent (simulating that you are out of air and have to ascend slowly to the surface) and swimming without our mask on. Everything went well though! The hardest are the drills where you are simulating that you are out of air, and they want you to know what it really feels like, so the instructor turns your tank off (and then right back on). Like I said, it's a little scary at first, but it is getting easier and easier. I love it! I think I'm addicted!!
I completed the course the next day and passed my written exam only missing one question. The course was really great except for my instructor, who was super nice, but Egyptian and was trying to date/marry me on the first day. Brent was also visiting from the States and he went to Dahab to do his open water and advanced SCUBA course, so it was nice to have another visitor from home to hang out with. He even came up to Alexandria to visit for a few days at the end of his trip.

At the end of the week a group of us took a trip out into the desert and hiked through the white canyon, which involved a little more climbing than I expected. I wished I was wearing something other than flip flops! After the white canyon Robert and hopped a ride with a few bedoiuns to Nuweiba and spent the night there. We stayed at a small camp on the beach. At night we had quite the mix of people: Beduins from Sinai, Israelis on holiday, a cook from Sudan, a musician from Saudi Arabia, and of course, us, the 2 Americans. We had everything but an Egyptian! After dinner there was a little party where the musician from Saudi Arabia played some stringed instrument and the beduins sang and danced. It was strange and wonderful. It's hard to explain, but its the kind of experience you only get backpacking around the Middle East.

The next day (my Birthday!) we hopped a bus back to Cairo and then the train from Cairo to Alexandria ending a wonderful spring break!

2 weeks after spring break a few of us went back to Dahab for a long weekend and I completed my advanced SCUBA course, so I am now a certified advanced diver! That weekend was one of the most spectacular weekends I've had in Egypt. I did three dives for my advanced course, including a night dive. I was really worried about the night dive at first, after all, who really wants to be underwater in the dark? But it was surprising how much you could see! It was really relaxing and I enjoyed seeing all the different aquatic life that's out at night! The only bummer was I got nose bleed on the night dive. I thought my mask was filling up with water, but when I lifted my hand holding my flashlight to clear my mask, I could see that it was blood. Luckily it stopped after a few minutes. Other activities included jumping in pool completely clothed. Yes I was in a bar but I was sober! And sang karoake with my friend Sara. For those of you who know me, this is a rare phenomenon. It was a super fun weekend and I was sad to return to Alexandria, but we are actually making another trip to Dahab this weekend for a birthday/engagement party and Melissa's (girl in my program) 21st birthday. It's a long bus ride (around 10 hours) but it's worth. Night bus to Dahab, here we come! Again!

Mom and Laura's Visit Part 2

Ok. Back to update again. Sorry- it's been busy times as usual!

So Laura arrived and we packed our bags and headed to Cairo the next morning. I thought we were taking the direct train, but turned out it was one of the slower ones. It was about a 3.5 hour train ride. We arrived in Cairo, bustling with life as usual and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. By some miracle, my directions landed us pretty close. When I stopped to ask a man about the name of a street, he of course insisted he take us to the hotel, and though I tried to shake him off (he more followed us than anything) he went with us to the hotel and tried to earn a commission from the owner for "bringing in customers" even though we already had a reservation. The owner just blew him off. Then we grabbed some quick lunch at Hardee's complete with a giant poster of Brad Pitt from the 90s up on the wall in the lobby. Laura and I wanted to get a picture by it, but there were people sitting right in front of him, so we passed. Then I walked my Mom and Laura over to the Museum and bought them tickets, using my student ID for Laura so she could get a discount. Whenever she had to show the ID since she really doesn't look like me, but you know, to Egyptians, all short white blonde girls kind of look alike, so she just put on her sunglasses and flashed the ID. Apparently it worked! I went back to the hotel and took a nap since I've been to the Museum 3 times already. When my Mom and Laura got back we hopped a taxi to Al-Azhar park which is a beautiful park on a hill in Cairo where you can see all around the city and hear the call to prayer from everywhere. We watched the sunset and got some dinner. It was beautiful, but a little windy, so it was surprisingly chilly. Then back to the hotel for a quick stop before off to a delitefully sketchy local bar atop a hotel for a beer and a shisha. It was Laura's first time smoking shisha (Hookah, Nargeela, Hubbly Bubbly, all the same thing) and I got her hooked! As we were leaving the coal guy asked Laura to take his picture, so she has a fantastic picture of this old, toothless Egyptian man in a galabiya (the long robe thingy). Awesome.

The next day we got up bright and early and headed out with a drvier to see all the pyramids. We did what my Dad and I did when he visited, we went to Doshur, Saqqara, and Giza and we also threw in Memphis this time. We arrived in Doshur first and the weather was pretty clear. We all climbed up the Red Pyramid and Laura and I went down inside. I was talking to the guy sitting at the enterance, basically doing nothing and of course when I spoke Arabic to him we started the usual, "where are you from, why do you speak Arabic" conversation and he asks me if I'm married and when I say no he starts telling me how beautiful marriage is and how I should marry soon and have kids and how I need to marry an Egyptian because I speak Arabic, etc and I signal to Laura it's time to go! We then walked around the side of the pyramid to take pictures of the Bent pyramid off in the distance and two of the tourist police start coming over to us. Then end up bringing over a camel and letting Laura sit on it while we took pictures. Apparently the camel's name was Antonio. Awesome.

Next off to Memphis and then Saqqara and finally Giza. Of all the pyramids, the ones at Doshur are definitely the best. Saqqara is really fun too, but Giza is crowded, dirty, and annoying. But what can you do? You can't come all the way to Egypt and not see the pyramids at Giza. Memphis was underwhelming, but we did take a picture that looked like I was picking the nose of a statue of Ramses II. Nice.
A note on our driver. Our driver was nice, but his english was pretty poor, so I ended up conversing with him in Arabic most of the time. He seemed pretty nice, but things got a little strange when we went to Giza. We took a detour and he drove by this car tire place, stopped, honked the horn and started yelling angrily for a solid 2 minutes. He was yelling really loud and fast and I could tell he was not happy, but it was hard for me to understand exactly what he was saying. He then drove down the street, turned around, and did the same thing on the other side of the street. Finally, after we drove off I asked him, Ok what was up with that? He explained that once he bought tires from that shop and they popped within a week and the shop refused to give him replacements or refund his money, so everytime he is in Giza, he droves by and yells that they are all theives, so everyone will know. Ok then.

After our pyramid tour we went to Zamalek for some delicious lunch and then back on the train to Alexandria. My mom left the next morning.

The next 2 days Laura and I spent hanging out in Alexandria. We visited the citadel, the library, and Manshia, the local shopping market. Laura bought a small shisha to take home with her and me and a friend bargained for over an hour for two handcrafted copper shishas, one of which I'll be bringing home with me. We also did some shopping. A few highlights: While we were walking out of the Citadel, as usual a group of young Egyptian girls asked to take their picture with us. This was probably the fifth or sixth time this happened during Laura's visit. For some reason Egyptian's like getting their pictures with foreigners. Laura and I decided that there is actually a point system and when they get together with their friends they all show each other the pictures they have with foreigners and award each other points depending on nationality, gender, and attractiveness. Who knows, it could be true. Then as we were walking along the sea, Laura got to experience some wonderful Egyptian male harrassment. Most of it was pretty mild, but at one point, a young guy walked by and said, "I want to f*** you." I turned around and started yelling in Arabic and Laura just started laughing. It was an experience.

Too short of a time later I had to take Laura to the airport and send her off. It was wonderful to have both her and my Mom visit and show them the touristy places in Egypt but also how I live around here on a daily basis. They'll tell you, it's no picnic, but once you get used to the trash in the street, the harrassment, and the insane traffic, well it feels like some twisted Dr. Suess/ Tim Burton version of home.