land of contradictions

I love Egypt, but I hate it. I will miss it so much, but I want to go home right now. I have never felt so safe, yet SO uncomfortable at the same time. My roommate said it best today: We are in a city where it is sunny all the time, but we can't see the sky. Walking and driving through this country, I see some of the most beautiful sights, taste some of the most amazing tastes, and experience the most amazing experiences of my life:

Amazing sunsets and sunrises

The most crystal clear night skies in the desert & mountains
(can't get nighttime but...)

The greenest trees and the reddest flowers

The most random acts of kindness in times of need
The mouthwatering smell of kabobs and shawerma
(No pic yet)

The fruits of the earth that taste like a dream (the most amazing dates, mangos, melons)

The juice of the sugarcane & mango & strawberry & hibiscus & so much more that are sweeter than anything I've tasted before

Why is it that these things are so wonderful here? This country leaks of joy. I love this country.

But there is the other side. The horrible side. The side that wins out the majority of the time. I have never felt hotter in my life with no escape for miles and hours. I have never felt so incredibly dirty all the time because of the pollution and trash and dust and dirt on the ground.

I have never felt so disgusted by human nature, by selfishness, by greed. I have never experienced so many fights, let alone fights between people of the same blood, often of the same family. And by fights, I mean physical fights. Yesterday I watched as a 15-year-old boy threw a large wooden chair at a man, and (after I was ushered into a shop) apparently others proceeded to grab canes from the shops and beat each other. I hate this country.

Yet without these awful things, the amazing things would not be as consequential. I would not appreciate the sweet sugarcane juice nearly as much if I was not so thirsty from the heat. I wouldn't taste the sweetness of the fruits as profoundly if I hadn't been tasting dust all day. The smell of kabobs and shawerma wouldn't be as tempting if there was no smell of pollution in the air. I would never notice small and "insignificant" acts of kindness if I hadn't experienced hate and evil. The green of the trees and the red of the flowers would not be so bright if the color of the buildings was not so dusty and bland. I wouldn't be as swept away by the magnificence of the middle-of-nowhere night sky if I didn't experience the sever light pollution from one of the largest cities in the world.

I have experienced extremes on both ends. I am appreciating everything beautiful, in all senses of the word, so much more now. I have been tested, I have learned, and I after this I expect that I will be a better and more grateful individual.

Well... I had my first car accident today. It was bound to happen eventually, really. Like I've said numerous times, the driving here is like nothing you have ever seen before. Trust me. I can't overemphasize this point. The day was pretty much a bust until the very end. Things winded down nicely at Al-Azhar Park. It's really beautiful and relaxing and...just...not like Cairo.

Lindsay & I were on our way to the Citadel, and we come to the worst part of town in terms of traffic. Unbearable. I was having an animated chat with Linds when, all of the sudden, I hear a loud BAM and my body flings forward and my face hits the seat in front of me. Yes. Knew it was gonna happen. Our car gets slammed into the minibus in front of us, and we are on the busiest street in Cairo. Linds & I were both shaking from the adrenaline. We got out immediately and watched as they pried the vehicles apart. Verrrrrrry interesting. Did we still want to go to the Citadel? Of course. So we get in ANOTHER taxi. What else? Arrival at the Citadel was less than satisfactory...it was closed by the time we got there because of the accident. SO... feisty/angry Leila pops her head out and says hello. Taxi drivers outside of the Citadel kept telling us 20 Egyptian pounds to go about 5 minutes. That is absolutely insane. INSANITY, I tell you. So I yelled at them, told them they were crazy, said, "khalas" (stop, finished) many times, and went off to the main road to find a taxi. Finally the other taxi drivers say fine, 5 pounds. Then we went to a mosque nearby. It was a blue mosque, one of 3 in the world (one is in Istanbul, one in Isfahan, and one in Cairo). It wasn't incredibly gorgeous because it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1992, but the blue tiles were pretty amazing. A guy inside the mosque voluntarily showed us around, I thought out of the goodness of his heart. Apparently that concept doesn't exist here in Egypt. After he showed us around, he just stood there, obviously expecting something. So I got my wallet out and gave him a few pounds for his hospitality. And then he immediately looks at the money. Doesn't say thank you or anything, and counts it. Then he looks directly at Lindsay, waiting for her to give him something. She said, "I thought that was for both of us" and I said, "It was" and he mumbled something. I couldn't hear him, so he said it again. Still couldn't hear him...so finally he said, "this is very little... for a guide of the mosque." AHHHHHH! STOP TAKING MY MONEY. Can't even escape it in a place of worship. Disgusting. So Lindsay finds a few more pounds and I got very upset and disheartened and we left. We ended up at al-Azhar park in the evening, and it was absolutely perfect. REALLY relaxing, perfect for the day we had. We talked and talked, walked and walked, and laid in the grass. Amazing. Now I'm home safe. Whew. I am so sick of taxis. haha...I feel like half of this blog is devoted to the driving. :) crazy

Anyway, Lindsay and Lindsey are here visiting me now. It has been a great trip, but full of adventures. We went to Alexandria and Luxor last weekend. We missed our train from Alexandria back to Cairo (to catch our night train to Luxor) so we ended up on a minibus with 15 egyptians, loud prayer music, and then a loud arabic movie that had anti-american rhetoric the whole time. A little uncomfortable. But I met some cute kids on the minibus...i was playing with a little one, and then the grandfather threw her over the seat and handed her to me. I was so confused...hahaha. Tried to play with her but she just started crying. Haha. We BARELY made it to our train in Cairo...arrived at 8:20...our train was supposed to leave at 8:20. hahaha. Whew.

In Alexandria and Luxor we saw amazing ruins. Alexandria we saw a lot of greco-roman art and some mix with ancient egyptian art. in Luxor we saw the most amazing temples and tombs, bright colors still alive from 4000 years ago. the temples were HUGE...god-sized, so to say. We took a felucca ride on the nile, and went to a couple museums, and went shopping, and that was that. Lindsey went to climb Mt. Sinai by herself these past two days. I haven't discussed it with her completely yet, but it sounds like she had an amazing time!

This weekend we plan to go to Dahab, climb Mt. Sinai, and then Petra in Jordan. Really looking forward to that. Then next week is my last week here and I leave on August 8. Very very excited to go home.... ready to eat Mexican food, drink beer, and wear whatever I want. Also ready to be in a more organized place.

yesterday, today, and plans for the future

Yesterday - Woke up at 10... and I was still tired. I went over to the Belgian student's apartment the night before because they threw a party. We didn't even stay out late, maybe midnight, but had a couple of beers and that really takes a toll on the body in this country. It's a mixture of the heat, pollution, and feeling like you are constantly trapped in a cloud of cigarette ashes because people are smoking up a storm in your face and on your clothes.... and then on top of it alcohol... you pretty much cannot function. So I had class at 11:30am, like every day. I decided to forgo the aamiya classes (Egyptian colloquial) because I could not focus on two classes at once. Little did I know that it had nothing to do with having 2 classes....it's just Egypt. This place makes it very very hard to concentrate on anything substantive, other than the crazy philosophical thoughts brewing in my mind.
Anyway, woke up at 10 (I usually wake up earlier to get to school to do my homework in the morning) and my American roommate was still home....she went to the party too, and skipped her first class. So we went into school together today, instead of me catching a taxi by myself like usual. It's a little bit easier having someone that doesn't look Arab with me because then the taxi driver assumes we don't speak Arabic and knows we are going to the school... by myself sometimes I get caught in one-way conversations that I just say the usual words to: "Meshi" (okay), "Ay-wa" (yes), "lif tah-te kobri" (u-turn under the bridge), etc etc. Haha. I get by....barely.
We arrive at school after an event-less taxi ride, alhamdulillah (praise God). :) Then class.... My teacher is great and hilarious. His name is Amir and he tells us little stories in Arabic about his adventures smoking sheesha and drinking beer (he's a Christian, so no problemo). He acts out the stories with huge gestures, and I think when I get back to the States I will be the master at charades. I'm exhausted in class and barely focus. My mind wanders constantly. "I wonder what so & so would say to this & that...", "What are those loud people saying outside the window, I wonder...", "I bet the guy who collects old things hates his job...", "I wonder if anyone else is listening to what Amir is saying right now...." hahaha. Yes it's horrible. And it's not during the WHOLE class. And yesterday was especially bad. I usually focus well in class, don't worry Mom & Dad & if anyone else out there might be reading this. Hahahaha. So true.
After class, I made plans with several people to do things this weekend: go to the pool, go to downtown, go out, eat, eat some more. Then I headed home with two of my roommates, the American and the Swiss (there is a French one, as well). We got in a taxi that looked less-than-immaculate to say the least, but perhaps only slightly worse than most taxis and cars in Cairo. I got in front (usually a no-no, but he opened the door so I got in). The cab smelled a little bit funny, and my door looked like it was about to fall off. As we started driving, I heard a strange noise coming from the engine each time we had to speed up. It seemed like the car was struggling. We got about 4 blocks, and KHALAS (finished). The taxi died in the middle of the street. I look at the driver and say, "khalas?" Haha. And he looks at me sheepishly and says, "Benzine..." (gasoline). Oh boy. So at this point we are stuck in the middle of an extremely busy road in a taxi that is khalas.... A couple of guys come over and help push the taxi over to the side of the road. We get out, and the driver keeps saying sorry sorry sorry to me, and I said, "Mafish mushkel" (no problem) and we gave him a couple pounds (he obviously needs it) and found another taxi home.
There, I made a WONDERFUL PERSIAN LUNCH! Alhamdulillah! I made Persian rice and black-eyed peas. Yummmy....much needed. After lunch, my French roommate and I went to a cafe near my apartment named "Second Cup." It is my "Second Home." Ha. I spend a lot of time here (I say here because I am here right now).... Anyway, so everyone who works here knows me. Every time I arrive they try to guess what I'm going to order. And each time they are WRONG. I try to change it up, as I am not an animal of routine...wait a second...I come to Second Cup every day....hmmmm.... Okay, well that's beside the point. Haha. After spending some time writing in my journal, letting Maude (the French roommie) use the computer and using the computer myself, it was about 7pm. All of the roommies were at our Second Home, so 3 of us decided to go shopping. Maude needed a bag for her desert trip that she is currently on this weekend, and Laura (the American) needed shoes. Cornelia (the Swiss roommie) hasn't been feeling well so she decided to stay behind. We head out under a full moon -the only thing you can see in the night sky- on Shariaa (street) Gameet al-Dowal. After our shopping extravaganza, I headed home and decided that I wanted to GO OUT! So I SMSed some friends, and we decided to go to a bar called After 8. I think I've already written about it before. It's a bar/dance place in downtown Cairo and it is SO fun. I love it. It's small and cozy, but the music gets good towards the end of the night (which is 3:30-4am). To get there you have to walk down this creepy ally that is dark and narrow and just plain unappealing. It doesn't seem like a place that little Leila should go. But then you enter the bar, and the atmosphere transforms immediately to a lively, "hip" hangout for Cairenes and foreigners. I really like this place. We arrived and the Egyptian guys we were with, Ahmed & Aly, seemed to know everyone so we got a table inside and they really took care of us. We drank a few beers, ate some baba ganoug and danced the night away. At around 3:30 we left and my friend Aly took us to this place to get juice. IT WAS PACKED at 4am. Unbelievable. Cairo never sleeps, literally. There was traffic to get there, and there were cars lined up to buy the juice. But I know why...the juice is absolutely incredible. I got assab (sugarcane) and mandarin (almost like Tang...except FRESH). Wow. Then I went home, and I listened to music for a little bit and went to sleep around 5 or 5:30am.

Today - After a nice rest, I looked at my phone's time today... and it was 1:30pm. Hahaha. WOOPS. Slept the morning away. I guess that is to be expected considering the timing... I think I'm slowly transforming into an Egyptian with my strange sleeping pattern. I wanted to go to the gym today, I wanted to go to the pool today, I wanted to study today, I wanted to get coffee with my friend, and then I wanted to go to dinner. Maybe the last few are possible. Inshallah. :) Now I'm sitting at my Second Home, drinking Earl Grey and laughing to myself because there are possibly 18 workers behind the counter standing around and doing nothing. Sometimes there are more workers here than there are customers. What a waste of manpower. Honestly! My friend Elline from Sweden is coming to join me in a few minutes, and then later tonight I am going to get dinner with my Egyptian friends Reem and Marwa at a place called Sequoia on the Nile in a part of town called Zamalek (it's an island in the middle of the Nile).
Two of my roommates are away this weekend. Laura is in Alexandria and Maude is in the desert (the same White desert and Black desert that I went to). Cornelia was supposed to go to Alexandria with Laura, but she still is feeling very sick. Poor girl. I was thinking about going to Alexandria, as well, BUT... Lindsey is getting here on Sunday!!! I am SO excited! I figure I will save these activities for when Linds and Linds get here...I need to try to save money anyway. Plus I want to go to Alexandria with them on a day trip while they are here....and inshallah we will get to go to Luxor if it is not too expensive and to Dahab in the Sinai and climb Mt. Sinai. Can't wait!
Hope all is well in the USA. I know it's been hard communicating a bit so I hope everything is great. I am missing home and I can't wait to see my friends and go to The Village and go to Valhalla and hike in Colorado and eat some good Mexican food (Tex Mex, actually) in Houston again. :) Hope to hear from everyone soon. Post comments if you want, or just email me when you can. Love, Leila

back in cairo

Just got back from a long weekend in Sharm el Sheikh, a resort town in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It was LOVELY. Really beautiful, very relaxing, just a great time...and I got a tan! I'll post a few pictures. I went with a Rotaract Club of the region (18-30 year olds), so I was with about 300-350 Arabs speaking Arabic the whole time. Haha it was pretty amazing, and a little bit annoying sometimes because I didn't really know what was going on. I kind of made up in my head what I thought they were saying instead of actually knowing the conversation. And I have a feeling most of the time I was wrong. But by the end I made a lot of really great friends and some good contacts for my future research in political science. My vacation turned into an opportunity. So it all worked out. Good deal. Before I comment on my annoyances of Egypt thus far, I want to first post the pics! :)

This first picture is the beach at the Ritz Carlton in Sharm el Sheikh. It is really beautiful. The water is SO perfect...much cooler than the pool water, perfectly clear and you can see bright fish swimming all around. Best part - no sharks.
This is me, my friend Reem who invited me to the Rotaract conference, and our friend Mohammed that we met there. We went to the water park in Sharm el Sheikh. I don't know if I would recommend the water park if I were paying for it....but since it came with my package, it was fun. By the way, the pizza is not as tasty as it looks. Neither was any of the food. :)
Marwa, Carol and me sitting at the cabana at the Ritz having screwdrivers. Haha. THIS DOES NOT FEEL LIKE EGYPT. It's a very very strange Egypt, for sure.
Beach party for the rotaractors at the Grand Rotana hotel beach.
The pool at the Ritz Carlton. Very nice atmosphere, much more relaxing than the Rotana, especially because the Libyan government officials and maybe some other African country officials stayed out our hotel for the African Union summit... what a mess. That is why we had to move to the Ritz. And it was SO GREAT. I liked it much more than the Rotana, although the view from my room was much nicer at Rotana...

I finished my first session of Arabic classes last Wednesday and left for Sharm on Wednseday night. It was a HORRIBLE ride there (on a bus) and I was exhausted almost the whole time. But it was so beautiful. The clubs and sheesha places and restaurants in Sharm are great, but super expensive. But it is worth it for a little freedom for the chaos in Cairo for a weekend. Although I have heard the Dahab is more laid back, more relaxing, and cheaper. I would like to check that out next time I go to the Sinai to climb Mt. Sinai when my friends Lindsay and Lindsey come! Looking forward to that!

Ok, so now some words about this country. There are quite a few things that I do not like about this city (Cairo) & country:

#1 - The smoking & the pollution. I constantly feel like I am breathing something disgusting into my lungs. Even though I like a weekly or bi-monthly sheesha, I cannot stand smelling cigarette smoke CONSTANTLY....it never ends. Not only that, when I finally get away from the cigarettes all I can smell is pollution. I never smell fresh air here...Sharm el Sheikh and the desert were nice escapes from this.... I'm afraid that when I get back to the good old USA I will have the lungs of someone who has smoked for 20 years. Let's hope not.

#2 - The cooking. OH man....IT IS SO GREASY AND FATTY AND ...blah. I can't get away from junk food. There is a fast food restaurant on every corner. And I refuse to go...well, actually...I have a secret. I ate my FIRST EVER McDonald's hamburger here in Cairo. Can you believe it? Disgusting. Hahaha. Well, even the Egyptian food is really greasy and unhealthy. The rice is thick and heavy and oily, not like Persian rice that is fluffy and delicious. They eat mostly greasy meats, always with french fries or something. I had one dish called Koshary and it is a mix of noodles, rice, lentils, red sauce, and fried onions. It tastes fairly good, but IT IS SO HEAVY. I can't stand it anymore. I feel like I have gained 50 lbs in 1 month. Let's hope not. I am going to try to cook for myself more for the next few weeks until Linds & Linds get here. At least the fruits and veggies are so fresh that they taste better than anything I have had in the USA. That makes up for it. That is why cooking will be SO NICE here....really great ingredients.

#3 - The disorganization. NOTHING is organized in this damn country. I am tired of it. I really cannot stand constantly being on edge, constantly worrying what I am doing next. I am making many many Arab friends now (since after the conference), and still I never feel completely satisfied, like I know what isgoing on. There is a complete lack of communication. Crazy. The conference was extremely disorganized. Even the Ritz Carlton, a supposedly "7 star" hotel couldn't get their act together. The DOUBLE BOOKED rooms, so a group of rotaracters walked in on other people. Then I ordered breakfast, and it took them about 1 hour to get it right. I had to keep telling them to send stuff back. Oh, by the way, would you consider "fresh fruit selection" as a glass of mango/strawberry juice? Didn't think so. That is what they gave me as fresh fruit selection. Then I wanted flavored yogurt and they gave me plain yogurt...so I asked for flavored yogurt and they brought me plain yogurt with chunks of apple in it. Absolutely ridiculous. The service in this country is really unfortunate. Even at very very nice places. Everything is just too disorganized and too chaotic. The traffic, the people.

#4 - The rudeness/sneakiness/anger of many of the people. In Cairo in one month, I have seen more fist fights in the middle of the street break out than I have in my entire life. I have seen more men yelling at each other. I have seen a man and woman fighting while they were driving, the man almost pushing the woman out of the car. I have seen Egyptians of all sorts purposefully scam unsuspecting and innocent foreigners. One day a taxi driver felt we didn't pay him enough, so he drove away with us still in the taxi cab. We were scared. Why would someone do this? We had little boys of about 13-15 throw glass at our heads as we were walking by. WHO teaches these kids these things?? I have had men look at me and say rude things to me pretty much every few feet as I walk down the road. I have learned to ignore it... People throw trash on the ground without a second thought. Most people disregard other humans, pretty much just live in their little bubble of a life ...and that's that. It is discouraging.

Okay, so I needed a venting session. But luckily I have made some amazing Arab friends who have gone beyond these things and are really really great. They are such amazing people. I am so happy about this, and it does give me hope. I can see a HUGE barrier in terms of wealth... the wealthy Arabs are much more open minded, much more willing to have a dialogue, much more well traveled and understanding of different cultures, much more aware of their surroundings, and much much much more respectful. Amazingly and to my surprise, I rode in a BMW last night... I have met some very wealthy Egyptians here, and I am thankful for that because I think I would lose my mind otherwise. That is sad to say, but it is really really true. I went to an amazing bar here in Cairo called After 8. It is in downtown, and you have to go through this grimy walkway to get to it, but once you are inside it is an oasis.

My absolute FAVORITE things about this country are the oases. Whether it is an oasis of water surrounded by desert, an oasis of modernity surrounded by a poor Middle Eastern country, or an oasis of openness surrounded by a closed off world.... I love these things here. When I enter the oases, I absolutely LOVE Egypt. It is one of my favorite places ever. But the other Egypt, the "real" Egypt, the prevailing and dominant Egypt... it is very different. Very difficult to deal with.... But I am learning to deal, learning to learn. I think the Rotaractors are going to save me from insanity while I am here, for sure.

Verrrry Innnterrresting

Ok! Picture time!

Pic 1: This is the view from my flat in Mohandiseen. The cafe right there on the corner is the cafe that I am sitting at right now! :)

Pic 2: This is the pool that I go to on top of the Atlas hotel near my flat. It is a lot of fun.

Pic 3: Camel & the pyramids :) :)

Pic 4: On our way to the desert. Nothing

Pic 5: Me in the White Desert

time flies

I can't believe I've already been here for over 2 weeks. And I also can't believe that most of the friends I have made at school are leaving in about 2 weeks, including my roommate. Crazy. Time is really flying by.

Well I have done so much since my last thing...I won't bore with the nitty gritty details, but I'll try to explain a little bit since I can't post pics at the moment. Last weekend I went to the pyramids, and of course it was pretty fantastic. They are so large. But it is interesting how they are kind of in the middle of town, not off in the middle of nowhere like you would imagine. We took horse/camels with some random guy on the side of the road. He was a little weird to say the least, and kind of jipped us out of our money when we thought we had already paid. But it ended up being a good time anyway. We took the horses camels off to the outskirts of the pyramid grounds so that we could see the whole panorama. Then all of the sudden our tour guy got into a shouting match with one of the tourism policemen (they are everywhere) who had an AK. I'm pretty sure he was fighting with him because we got in through the back door and I don't think that's allowed...he's probably making lots of $$. The people around Cairo are very willing to make a quick buck by screwing foreigners & tourists any way they can. Unfortunately it will always happen, so oh well. At least we had fun.

Then another week went by, and I did a few things...I've been to the Cairo Jazz Club a couple of times and it is a hangout for younger/richer Egyptians. The people in there are so different looking than the people in the middle of Cairo. Egyptian women are wearing the same clothes that you would see in the United States and are acting just they way they would there. People are drinking lots of alochol (most tables I saw bought bottles of whiskey or vodka) and dancing and having a great time. It is very different than all of the hijabbed women in the streets of Cairo. The modern/Western Cairo is mostly hidden when you walk around during the day... most people who are modern and Western drive cars and you don't see them walking around. But if you go to certain places, like the jazz club, they will be there. There is also the extreme poor of Cairo. It is very sad and intense. Children beg a lot, and sometiems it is hard to tell if the beggars are for real or if they are faking it. I have heard on the news about the food crisis around Egypt and Cairo, but I have yet to see the long lines for bread or anyone protesting. I suppose I am not really around those areas much. I hope things start getting better soon for these poor people. I feel really bad seeing mothers on the side of the road with their small children. Sad sad.

This last weekend I camped out in the Great White Desert near the Bahariya Oasis for 2 nights. It was absolutely amazing and it is the exact opposite of Cairo. There is no one around...you are isolated from everyone, and you don't even think about the bustling wild streets of Cairo or any other city. We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday to the Bahariya Oasis and got our driver (who I named Sharky) and his helper (who I named George). At first I was a little bit iffy about them...Sharky was very quiet and a very large man and George just seemed strange. But Sharky ended up being very fatherly and he is so skilled at what he does (driving on sand/rocks, cooking fantastic meals on an open fire, etc...)....George was still strange the whole time. Haha...but a good guy.

Nothing lives in the desert except a couple of things, not even small bushes or weeds or bugs. It mostly rocks and sand. But a long time ago it was a large sea, so there are signs of past life everywhere like sea shells (I collected a few). Right when we arrived we saw amazing rock formations and fossils, including a huge fossil of a shark that we stood inside. We stopped in the white desert and camped on Friday night, eating some great chicken, rice, and potatoes that Sharky cooked along with some great sweet tea with mint. I thought no life could possibly sustain itself, but all of the sudden we saw some shadows scuttering along in the dark. They ended up being desert foxes! In the middle of the night I woke up and looked up at the sky and saw all of the galaxies and millions of stars. It was so quiet. I fell back asleep and I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of completely silence. You don't really know what silence is until you are in the middle of the desert with no wind and no life. It is like you are in a vacuum of space. I could barely open my eyes because it was so bright everywhere....the sun reflected off the white rocks and it was shocking after a dark night. That day we stopped at a small oasis where 5 men have been living for about a month and had lunch for a few hours. We also swam in a natural spring pool...it was so refreshing and amazing. Randomly in the middle of the desert there was a large tree with blooming flowers on top of a hill surrounded by no other life except bees buzzing around. Sharky said it has been there for 3000 years. Incredible. We stopped that day and had another delicious dinner of pasta and tea. Then me & my travelling buddies played hide and out in the dark.

Our travel back from the desert was not as nice. We got back to the Bahariya desert and said goodbye to Sharky & George. Then we got in a van with a young driver guy who looked a little bit out of it. We got to a checkpoint (where, by the way, I had to claim I was not American so we would not be escorted by armed guards all the way back to Cairo....don't know why, I guess to keep Americans safe....?). Right before we got to the checkpoint, our driver HIT a small boy on a bicycle. Now, the kid was acting a little recklessly, but I'm pretty sure our driver could've easily avoided the situation. It was a bit shocking, but I moved on without thinking about it. We got passed the checkpoint. I fell asleep, and the next thing I know I hear a very loud THUMP THUMP THUMP... I was a little shaken and finally our driver pulled over and got out of the car and looked at the tire and was a little shocked. Then we got out of the car, and looked at it, and it was completely ripped to shreds. NOt only that, part of the front bumper was smashed off and there were wires hanging out. We were all a bit upset to say the least, but he fixed the tire and we were on our way. The rest of the time I couldn't sleep and I was just watching the road. He was still driving kind of funny...I think something was wrong with him. We got back and demanded to go straight to the office to get our money back for the trip. I think we are going to get it back. If not, we are going to tell everyone on internet sights not to use their company because it is unsafe. They should compensate us considering how scary it could have been. The accident could have been much worse. Thank God it wasn't.

I'm learning Arabic, too. :) It is good, I feel like my classes are intensive and I am learning a lot. I can kind of communicate to cab drivers now.

Ok, well, I will write again soon. Still not letting me post pictures, but I will do it as soon as I can. Miss and love you all.

hello again

It has been so hectic around here! Wowie...what a city. I don't have any pictures really right now that I can post, and also I am without laptop internet access. Sad sad. I am in the Arabic institute's computer room right now. It's so crazy how much my life changed without internet! I feel like I can barely get in contact with anyone! haha. Haha. I'm a nerd...well, I guess I'm not a nerd, I'm just in the 21st century, people!

Anyway, enough about my lack of internet. I got an apartment with a really nice Italian woman who is also going to the Arabic school. We're spending kind of a lot of money compared to most people, but it's worth it because some of the other apartments we saw were gross (it was really crazy finding an apartment...SOOO stressful, and the people here really know how to pressure you and pretty much try to rip you off...we looked at 6 apartments before we found one that we actually liked). It is a REALLY big apartment in an area of town called Mohandiseen. It is in a really good mantaga (area in Arabic), lots of shops and restaurants and things going on...the traffic is really light in the mornings so it doesn't take us long to get to the institute with a cab, but at night the traffic is crazy because it is such a popular area for people to go.

Oh man, I still get a little bit nervous driving in a cab...and I already know a few people who have been in accidents. My friend Zeina's (who my friend from UCF Reham introduced me to...thanks, Reham! she's great!) boyfriend and brother both were in accidents recently. Luckily nothing too bad, but still. People get within inches to other cars (they even put their side mirrors away so that they can squeeze more closely to other cars), honk incessantly, and jam into intersections. I think I have seen a couple of traffic lights, but they are not obeyed. There are men in the middle of the streets "directing" traffic, but really it is madness. One of our cab drivers was having a GREAT time, laughing the whole way. He really loves his job! Haha. Crossing the streets is still scary because you have to time it so perfectly...the drivers very very rarely stop for you, and if they do it is likely that they will get rear-ended. Hahaha. It is a lot of fun even though it's scary.

I've met some very nice people here! Zeina is one, and she has been great showing me around and taking me to cafes and things like that. There are so many nice cafes here. The first one I went to had a view of the Nile and I got the best frappe. Mmm. Zeina also introduced me to another Egyptian, Reem, who I am probably going to Sharm el-Sheikh with with a bunch of other people from a rotary club when I have my break in between courses (instead of going to Turkey...sad sad).

I have also met a bunch of people at the institute. There are a ton of Europeans here...many from Northern Europe and the UK. I met a few Scottish guys today who are very cool, and there are also quite a few people from Sweden, Switzerland, France, England, and the like. It is awesome! There are also Americans, but much fewer than I expected actually. I like that there are so many people from around the world. Most of the people at the institute are younger, still in college and about 19-21. I don't feel too old though. :) I feel like a little 5 year old kid at heart, even though my roommate said that I'm very mature for my age...oolala, that is a new one! Hahaha. The Scottish guys said that I might be able to go to this oasis out in the desert with them in a couple weekends! I am looking for a few girls to go with me so that I won't be an outcast...but it sounds awesome. It takes about 8 hours to get there and you take a jeep and then you camp out under the stars in the middle of nowhere. I want to go really bad. Hopefully I'll be able to.

I still haven't seen the pyramids or any of the touristy things in Cairo! I guess I'm still kind of just getting adjusted to living. Time flies so fast...by the time I get home from class, it is about 3:30-4pm, and then eating lunch and doing homework, it is already time to go to bed! Barely have time to eat dinner! Haha. I don't know why time flies so fast, but it really does here. It's such a different atmosphere... very very laid back but extremely hectic...how is that even possible? Haha, well it is.

The food tastes SO GOOD here. And not the cooking, really, but for example fruit smoothies (really popular here) are AMAZING! And I had one of the best burgers I've had! Haha. The food is really better than anything in the U.S. It has so much flavor. It is not bi-maze (Farsi for Daddy) like so much of the food in the U.S. Fruits and veggies and meat have so many chemicals that it just is different. I was so happy when I tried this stuff and it was like a new experience! Haha. But the food here is definitely not healthy. Lots of fried stuff, lots of meat, and even their rice is made with some sort of lard (it is thick rice that is sticky like Chinese except heavier & salty, not like Persian or Indian rice). I haven't gotten sick yet, and inshallah I don't think I will as long as I'm careful.

There are also SOOO many European-style cafes it is unbelievable...there's even a French cafe right below our apartment and I went there one night and met the manager who is from Paris. Seems like a nice guy, and he lives in our apartment too. The difference between Europe/US and here is that there are tons of sheesha cafes EVERYWHERE. It is so much fun, and people just stay up until all hours of the night smoking and drinking tea and hanging out. The city doesn't really come alive until after about 8pm or so when everyone goes outside.

Next to my apartment is a mosque, and the loudspeaker for the prayer is RIGHT next to our bedrooms. Every morning they wake us up at 5am. I don't mind the call during the day, but when it's so quiet it startles me! I wish I could record it though, it is such a unique sound. Like churchbells except...different. Hahaha.

I am surprised at how few people really speak English here. It is not like Europe at all. There are a few people who speak English SO WELL but the majority don't. I am picking up a few things, and there are some things that people say all the time, even when they are speaking English. Like "yani"...it is almost like "like" or "ya know" in the U.S. where people just say it every other word. Yani yani yani...it means "i mean" or "it means" or something. I've almost started saying it. Haha.

The music here is soooooo good. I already have favorite songs. Unfortunately our apartment isn't picking up any Arabic tv though (just English and 1 Egyptian soap operan channel because the person who lived there before us was American), but I love the music videos. Soooo good. I almost want to quit my PhD program and become an Arabic singer....man oh man that would be fun! You should look some up on youtube. My favorite song right now is by Haife Wahbe (controversial Lebanese singer who is barbie-doll beautiful and wears very skimpy clothes) and it is called Ma T’oulch Lhad. Check it out. It's an older song, but hey, I have to catch up.

Most women here wear the headscarf, but I don't feel weird not wearing it. I am wearing pretty much the exact same stuff that I was wearing in the U.S. except if I have lowcut shirts I just put on something underneath. Even though I dress like this people still think I'm from Egypt...apparently it is what wealthier/less religious Egyptians wear anyway so that's good. I don't stand out too much. The Scottish guys said I look more Latin than European though...so like I said, I look like everything. hahaha...it is pretty easy to tell where everyone else is from though. Europeans are very obvious... Americans are obvious too...just the way they interact with people is a little different. If you smile at someone and they don't smile back, usually that means they are NOT American. Just little things you pick up with the different cultures...it's pretty funny.

My classes are good, but hard. I definitely need to do some studying on my own because in my standard Arabic (fus'ha) class I am a little bit behind...and I'm only in level 1! I am picking up some Egyptian colloquial (a'amaya) pretty quickly...that's not too hard compared to fus'ha.

Ok, well, I suppose that's all!! Long post! But I tried to write as much as possible because I don't think I will be writing again for a while since my internet isn't working (bleeeeeh). I'll email people as much as possible though... Miss ya'll!