The Promised Land

~~~~ Sleepy

Sunday - At least my historiography professor wasn't quite as insane as Thursday. We just kinda talked like normal but she gave us a kinda fun assignment. We had to ask three people if 1) We really landed on the moon 2) Egypt really won the War of 1973 and 3) If the sexual harassment incident during Eid really took place and why they thought that way. The only problem? I was really interested in it from a psychological viewpoint because I wondered what their answers said about them as a person... I don't think that was the point of the exercise but my three people all said yes, no, and yes so I didn't have very much variety. After class Allison and I got the text copied for our inclass writing assignment in Historiography and I attempted to read it... ha. What a bore. It didn't work out too well but I have tried to go through it twice so I should be ready for the exercise thursday. Then I went to Egyptology. Now that we're actually talking about stuff (namely history at the moment) I really like the class. Granted, I know everything we're talking about but still it's fun to hear his opinions on some things. After class I went back to the flat and ate... what else? Macaroni and cheese and watched an episode of Smallville (kinda becoming adicted, p.s.). I was not looking forward to starting on my paper so I tagged along with Cori to get some groceries. When I did get back to the apartment I made myself the biggest pot of coffee ever and started working. It really didn't take me all that long to churn out a four and half page analyses paper but I just dread doing that kind of stuff so much I make it worse then it really is. After my paper was done I took a little break to head to the library to print it off and get some koshari for dinner :) Perfection! So once I got home I continued with the rest of my homework then went to bed. All-in-all an unimpressive but productive day.

Monday - Actually woke up and went to Social Movements! It turns out that Dr. Saad is planning his Palestine / Lebanon / Israel / Jordan trip for Spring Break! I might have to blow off Europe! Turned in my paper and went to do some errands. Got my passport back (my visa is so pretty!), made some photocopies, went to submit all my stuff to get an ISIC (finally), and caved and bought myself a notebook so I can continue to be OCD. Finally headed back to the flat for (what else) macaroni and cheese, and another episode of Smallville. After that I got my life organized in my notebook and did my homework. Went to Geography of Ancient Egypt where Dr. Swanson went off on some tangent about Alexander the Great and the Siwa Oasis... sigh. Ended up texting Katie throughout the class and settled on feteer for dinner. Allison and I swung by to pick it up but the love of my life wasn't working :( Also decided on some fabulous fig cookies and I stopped by for some oranges from my fruit vendor friend who, btw, gave me extra oranges, they turned out to be blood oranges which should be more expensive, and only charged me two pounds for them! I looove that man! Went back to the flats, ate, and then Katie and I got bored so we went back to the grocery store. Hahaha they will know our names soon! Came back and did a little planning for the Sinai trip.

Tuesday - Katie called early and told me the travel office had no idea how to get from Pelusium to Mt. Sinai so we decided to ditch the ideo of going with the Egyptology classes. That's fine with me. After last weekend I'm not really that crushed. Went to Historiography where we had another boring discussion. Afterward I went to the ATM (I think I spend too much money here) and tried to get my ISIC but apparently they haven't come in yet. Booo. Went back to the library and explored the fourth floor. Not that exciting. Got some work done that started to head to Egyptology when I ran into Brian. Made plans to make falafel for dinner then went to class. "Learned" about the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period then went for feteer with other Brian and tried one more time for my identity card... no dice. Came back to the flat and got some work done until I met up with Katie to go to the sook. Got some groceries then headed back to the apartment for falafel making fun. Honestly? It would have been ten times easier and ten times better to just walk down the street and buy falfel for 50 piastres... but what's the fun in that? Brian, Dan, Duncan, and Nick came by and we had a little dinner party. I love it. The only part I didn't love was the ridiculous amount of pots and pans we used to cook... and the amount of dishes we had to do afterward. hahaha. I really sould finish my homwork and take a shower so I can get to bed. Cori wants to go to the gym tomorrow morning during the female hour (we were gonna go Monday but that totally fell through) but I don't think I'm gonna make it. Hey, the elevator's broken... I have to take the steps to the 10th floor... that counts, right?

Plan for the weekend - Friday: Take a seven hour bus ride to Mt. Sinai early in the morning. Climb the mountin and catch the sunset. Camp out that night and... Saturday: catch the sunrise. Climb back down and see St. Catherine's Monastery. Go Home.

Did I mention how right this feels?

Warehouse

~~~~ Okay

What an exhausting weekend!

Thursday - Started out really weird. Allison and I went to Historiography and our crazy teacher went on several seperate tangents. The two weirdest? The Jews built the pyramids and I didn't learn evolution in high school [even though I did] because creationalism is still a scientific argument for the creation of the world... awkward! After class I ran some errands. Went to the bank, picked up my gym I.D. (I'm gonna start going to the gym at 7:30 in the morning... I know it's crazy but at the hour only girls are allowed in the gym and that'll be nice), then ran into Random Dan in the cafeteria. So I got a soda and sat and did work with him until Egyptology. Favorite part of the little study session?
Dan: Yeah, Jews don't write down God's name. We spell it G-d because paper is disposible and if you write down his full name you have the chance of just throwing it away.
Me: *Tries desperatley to digest the new, strange information*
Dan: You are so judging me right now...

:D Hahahaha

So anyways after that I went to class. It was really ironic because Nicholas (I just learned that's my prof's name... good Greek name ;) ) went on his own mini-tangent about how slaves DID NOT build any of the pyramids! So after class I went back to the apartments to putz around until Katie got out of class. When she did we did a little grocery run to the fabulous grocery 2 minutes away. No more Alfa for me! I got some toast (what they called sliced bread) and now I can make grilled cheese! After that we were still bored and the boys weren't answering their mobiles so we decided to be total girls and get our nails done! So we grabbed a cab, headed over to Mohandeseen, and got manicures at Twins! 5 pounds of cuticles and a French manicure later my nails are so pretty I think I might buy some clear nailpolish and keep this female thing up! After our O.D. on estrogen we got a came over to Zamalek and Nick made his infamous soup. He even cooked the chicken seperatley so I could have some too :) awwww. It was actually pretty good... I approve. We made it a short night after dinner because I had to get up early on...

Friday - Oh my goodness! Allison and I got up at 6 AM for a fun-filled day with Dr. Swanson. We got on a bus and took a three hour drive to a site called Buto. It use to be a temple but it's mostly ruioned now with the exception of a few statues and a Nilometer. Then we headed on to the fort in Roshied where the Rosetta stone was found. I mean, that sounds impressive but really? It wasn't... so we continued on to the site where the Nile meets the Meditteranean. Once more, sounds impressive but not so much. Afterward it was getting later so we stopped by Alexandria for lunch. Okay, I wasn't especially in love with Alex the first time... the second time didn't change my mind about much. We went to this little cafe that is suppose to be featured in a lot of famous mystery novels about Egypt. Well, it had a fun atmosphere and the food was decent but we had to be back on the bus at a certain time... seeing Dr. Swanson angry at the waitstaff for taking too long encouraged me to never turn in any papers late :) We finally made it back on the bus and headed out to our final site. It was a 3rd century (BCE) temple to Osiris. It was situated right between the Med and a half ruioned lighthouse. This site was pretty cool. A lot of the foundation was still intact so it was great to explore and the sun was setting so those views were great. After everyone had their fill of sightseeing we got back on the bus ready to head back to Cairo. But apparently the bus wasn't ready. The clutch broke or something and we were stuck on the side of the road for an hour! By some miracle, our bus driver was able to fix it and we did make good time back to Cairo but the thought of being stuck on the side of the road for four hours kinda ruioned the night. Needless to say... I went home and hide in my room for the rest of the night. It had been a 15-hour bus ride.

Today - Hahaha what a day! Got up at 9 to meet Brian and Dan at Zamalek to catch a cab to Saqara and Dahshur. Brian had hired out one of the yellow cabs for the day so we were actually paying a meter instead of bargaining because that's cheaper for longer rides. Our first stop was Saqara. That was fun. It was a refreshing change from the harassment at Giza. We could just wander on our own and not be asked if we wanted to ride a camel every 2 minutes. There were some fantastic tombs we went into that had a lot of beautiful paintings still intact. Afterward we climbed back into our cab and headed to Dahshur. First we went into the Red Pyramid. That was exciting because it was a high climb up the side of the pyramid on the outside then an even longer climb down the pyramid inside. Inside was just as hot as the other two pyramids I've been in but it was a little more exciting because there were more rooms open to the public inside. It was an exhausting climb but we were allowed to take pictures inside this pyramid! So after that we wanted to go to the Bent Pyramid. After a little misunderstanding with the driver where we ended up going out of our way a big we ended up where we wanted to be. The Bent Pyramid is my favorite because even when the ancient Egyptians get their math wrong and they have to change the angle of the pyramid in the middle of construction it still stands tall for thousands of years! We couldn't go inside this pyramid but we were the only tourists around so it was kinda fun to wander around completely alone. After that we went back to Zamalek and had lunchish dinner at a pizza parlor. It was a fun atmosphere and our waiter was such a cute little man! The pizza was pretty good too! We finally said goodbye to the boys and Katie, Allison, and I tried to catch a cab back to Garden City. Unfortunatley, we were near a bunch of hotels and the cab drivers weren't willing to take us on the fair we normally pay... being such Cairo-cab-saavy girls we knew it only cost five pounds to Garden City and the cab drivers were intent on riping us off and charging us ten. So we decided to have one last mini-adventure and walk. It was a pretty easy-going walk. My favorite part was crossing the bridge to get back to Tahir Square. Now I know that walking to Zamalek isn't as bad as I thought and I may try it more often.

It was kinda a short day but a nice compliment to the freakishly long day I had yesterday. I've been doing laundry and watching internet tv for the rest of the night. I'll probably go to bed soon because I have to deal with the raging inferno tomorrow morning.

This weekend? SINAI!

Lookin' Out My Back Door

~~~~ Full

Sunday & Monday - Nothing too fun to report. Went to classes, hung out. Generally school days are slightly redundant. I have a tendency to stay in the library and get all my work done between classes so I never have anything to do when I get back to the flat at night... it's nice.

Tuesday - Fat Tuesday! Okay, so obviously I don't celebrate Fat Tuesday, to be perfectly honest with you I've never even heard of Fat Tuesday until Katie started talking about. But she wanted to do something for it so we decided to make Pancakes at the Boys' Apartment. Fun! We had a million different toppings and enough pancakes to last a lifetime... that's a theme for my food this week. I would like to say that my cinnamon apples were an absolute success. I was quite proud of them.

Today - Didn't have Social Movements so I slept until 11 (thank allah since we were out until 1 last night). Woke up, putzed around on the computer for a few hours, took a shower, did my readings (once more, no homework right now! :) ) and went to Geography of Ancient Egypt. A snoooze! I'm really not looking forward to this trip Friday either. Alexandria wasn't all that fun the first time... Anyways, came back and cooked Koshari. Hahaha! It was fantastic. Once more, I have enought Koshari to last me a lifetime but I really enjoy cooking here and who can ever complain about cooking with your friends!

Tomorrow? Who knows! Yaaay for the weekends (TGIT in Egypt!) I'm thinking the outdoor coffee shop sounds really appealing. I really need to learn the arabic word for nuts so I can order sahlab again!

P.S. I've been in Egypt for a month. I can't believe it. I never want it to end. At the moment? #1 Grad School? AUC!!!

Seeing the Pyramids of Giza

~~~~ Anxious

Oh my gosh what an amazing life I have!

Thursday - With another week of classes out of the way Katie and I decide to take it kinda easy but still conquer a few more post-its. So we called Brian and headed over to Cairo Tower. Wow. That experience was so unnecessarily exhausting! First of all, because we turned down one street too soon we ended up walking around the entire park complex Cairo Tower is located! *Groan* Then we went up to it unsure as to how to go in and, of course, like everything else, it required a ticked. We finally made it inside of the elevator and met a bellhop who took us up to the top floor. You could tell he didn't speak much english but he did know one phrase: "George Bush not so good?" We agreed with him and we all had a little laugh :p So we hung out on top of Cairo Tower and the views were pretty much amazing! After that we decided to meet other Brian and Duncan at Zamalek restaurant for dinner. Well, we got lost going there agian! Thursday night was just the nigth for getting lost. But we managed after I called Brian in a despairing lost voice and he offered to meet us outside of Drinkies (before we ordered anything for ourselves!) and take us to the restaurant. Seriously? I've had some good falafel since I've been here but that was the best yet! Two more post-its down Thursday night! So we decide to head home early because we're getting up even earlier to go to the pyramids! Well after having my first Kinder chocolate egg (with the best toy EVER inside) I sit down to check facebook one last time before I go to bed. I see that Chanda has written on my wall (yay!) So I check it out to find that SHE'S BOOKED A FLIGHT TO CAIRO AND SHE'S COMING TO SEE ME! Triple Yaaaay! She's coming for her spring break and will be here in 18 days. Oh joy of joys! So overall, Thursday? Very good day!

Friday - What a looong day! We woke up real early to meet some of the rush to the pyramids. To say the least. We beat the crowd, were there with the crowd, and stayed long after the crowd was gone. They really weren't kidding. You get HASSELED at the pyramids. First we went inside Khafre's pyramid. Amazing! Then we walked around Menkaure's pyramid and say views of Saqqara. Even MORE amazing. The we went down to say hi to the Sphinx... I think you get the picture. Then we went inside Khufu's pyramid. *Swoon* Next was the solar boat museum. Really interesting but honestly? The best part? The little slippers they made you wear over your shoes to keep out the sand. Hahahaha! After that we needed a break so we headed over to the Pizza Hut. Eating pizza while admiring the view of the pyramids? Oh. My. God. So to end the day in perfection we hired horses and camels and rode into the desert. I got a horse named Heidi and we actually galloped up some sand dunes. Actually, galloping is a lot easier then trotting... except when the horse makes a sudden stop you weren't expecting and you fall off! It's okay though, we were still in the desert and it was really soft sand... actually it was kinda fun believe it or not. So after another day of unimaginable experiences we headed come to collapse into bed.

Perfection.

You Know You Want To

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANDA!

In Your Arms Tonight

~~~~ Tired

I really should keep up with this. It certainly would be fun to document EVERYTHING about this adventure instead of just the big things.

Thursday - Started out okay. Went to historiography and the prof tried to argue with me again. She asks me the most opinionated questions ever and then tells me my opinions are wrong. Ummmm, they're opinions... can they really be wrong? Afterward got some coffee and sat in the courtyard and did some work with Random Dan who, once more, showed up randomly! I love that kid... Went to Egyptology and made Brian promise he'd go to the Anitquities museum and Khan el-Kalili with us this weekend. I told him Katie and I needed male escorts... more on that later. After class I went back to the flat and roomie and I went to CityStars. I mean, I read it was the second largest mall in the world but I was sooo not ready for it! Crazy! We ate at this restaurant called the Crazy Crocodile... yeah, it was based in California... the entire mall was so American. I had onion rings and a banana milkshake... more America. Then we shopped for a while. We were there for three hours and I think we barely saw a quarter of the mall. We did manage to make it to the Virgin Megastore and I got two arabic cds... ZeeZee and Cheb Mami. Then we grabbed a cab to go back. The cab driver took one look at us, pulled out a tape, said "just for you" and stuck in a tape of all sorts of '90s power love ballads. He was so cute :) Trying to impress the Americans! I didn't know many of the songs but then "Take My Breath Away" came on and the driver got a kick out of watching me and Cori sing our hearts out. After I got back, Katie and I decided to be antisocial and walk to the Hard Rock Cafe and get desserts to go and come back and watch Rent. mmmmm, Apple Cobbler, Brownie Sunday, and beer... what could be better! We did manage to get a little lost on the walk home but it ended up working out really well because we found a grocery store, a bakery, and koshari right down the street! :D Why do we turn left all the time? Right at the Co-op is amazing!!!

Friday - Me, Katie, Allison, Brian, Dan, and Nate went to the museum of Egyptian Antiquities. I totally picked the right career. Everything took my breath away. I could have stayed in that museum forever. I already know I'm gonna be the annoying old Egyptologist who walks around the museum yelling at tourist not to touch the artifacts! We went to the mummy room and I looked into the face of Ramses II! I totally sketched out my friends by my fascination with the mummies but, hey, it's my career, not theirs! Then of course we had to check out King Tut's goodies. I've seen his head mask of solid gold. But it's a big museum and Katie has a little stomach ;) so about 3 / 4 of the way through it we were beginning to lose some steam. So we headed over to Tahir for some Koshari! After a quick stop by my fruitvendor friend for some oranges for Allison we went back to our flat to play cards. Yeah, just so you know, four of a kind is four of the same number... not four of the same suite :rolleyes: totally learned that one the hard way! After that we went to a local cafe. I had karkaday hot without sugar. I think I need sugar in my karkaday! Brian and I decided to get some apple sheesha and smoke it... not bad! After relaxing at our favorite cafe we caught a cab to Zamalek for a party hosted by Pete from Pomona. I told him Chanda was almost for sure coming and he got really excited... of course he was also quite intoxicated by the time I got there! :laugh: We met Adam, the other guy from CMC who was also nice and hung out with him. We ended up on Pete's balcony which has this amazing view of the Nile... sooo perfect!

Saturday - Not quite as early of a start as Friday. I needed to sleep in! We met our male escort at AUC to go to Khan al-Kalili. Hahaha it was me and Katie and Brian 1, Brian 2, Dan, Nate, and Adam. We got our male escort... that's for sure! We climbed into our cabs and got to the market. After some wandering (and an offer of a dowry!... 'how many camels? i pay any price for you' 'shakira! shakira!' and 'if you buy this shirt, i have sex with you') we stumbled across some fantastic shops. I got a headscarf, a wall hanging, a pair of earrings, and a cartouche with my name in hieroglyphics! We found the cartouche shop up some stairs and in this quiet corner away from mose of the tourists. There were two men sitting at this table just metalworking. It was the best way to have cartouches made ever! It was a long day but I got so much, bargained, and spoke so much arabic I felt like it was so worth it!

Today - Back to school. Another uneventful Historiography class, work at the library, Fateer for lunch (the love of my life wasn't working :@ ) Egyptology where Brian and I spent most of the time passing notes about our prof's man-boobs... hahaha. Don't get me wrong though, he's a really sweet guy! I should tell him I want to go to Greece for my spring break and see if he has any suggestions... he's Greek. After class I came back here for some paper-writing and laundry. I got my paper done around six and Katie and I walked to the bakery for some figgy goodness! Then Katie got a chocolate fateer for dinner... whatever, we're in Egypt, we can do what we want! Then I printed off my paper at the library and we wandered back. I've been trying to do my Egyptology reading for Tuesday but I just lack the energy... and I have everything else done up til then. I made myself couscous for dinner. It wasn't very good couscous because it was really mushy (that's what you get for buying the one pound pack with the box that was practically falling apart) but it was still fun to cook for myself like that! Now I think I'll go to bed a little early and try to catch up on some sleep.

This weekend? THE PYRAMIDS!!!

i love this place.

this is the life

~~~~ Satisfied

This has been a fun week before classes start. The on-campus orientation was a little boring on Monday but one of the professors got up to talk to us for a while and I'm actually taking his class, Geography in Ancient Egypt. I know the class doesn't sound very interesting but all the locations we discuss we actually get to visit so I think it'll be a lot better then it sounds and the professor was engaging.

Tuesday we left for Alexandria. The bus ride wasn't too bad. They got us nice charter buses and on the way out of Cairo we saw the pyramids in the distance. It was really beautiful. In Egypt they organize people by first name instead of last so I was on the bus with Nick, a guy who goes to Claremont College, and the Pete from Pomona I was suppose to meet. So now I have officially met Pete. He was an Australian accent like Heath Ledger! After we got to Alexandria we checked into this beautiful five-star hotel with this incredible view of the Mediterranean. I roomed with two girls named Mary and Mary-Clare, since we were in alphabetical order by our first names. Thankfully I was not in a room of three Megan's like I thought I'd be in originally. We all went to lunch together and had this fantastic buffet meal in the hotel. Afterward we wandered around the hotel, bought some postcards, and explored. For dinner we went to this fish house and had a not so good meal. They served opened-face fish with the tails and eyeballs still intact! Needless to say I had rice for dinner... After dinner we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby-area. There was a band playing and they served us coffee and ice cream so it was a fun time to socialize and get to know a lot of the kids
we hadn't met yet.

Wednesday we woke up bright and early for breakfast in the hotel. After that we had to sit and listen to Tomander, our academic adviser talk for a long time about cultural adjustment and such. It kinda took too long but we discovered our cell phones have a form of pong on them so we were entertained! Tomander talked until lunch and after another lunch in the hotel we explored the grounds. There was this bridge that went out to a lighthouse in the Mediterranean that we walked out to. The views were incredible and the Mediterranean was so blue! After that we met up with one of the full-time AUC students who came along and we went out to the city of Alexandria. He took us to a beach where we ordered drinks and
played in the sand. It was really nice. We stayed there until it was time for dinner so we got cabs and went back to the hotel. Dinner was better then the night before. We went to a steakhouse and I had a big plate of steamed vegetables... something I've been missing since I got here because I haven't had the time to cook my vegetables to keep me from getting sick. They even had okra. And creme brulee for dessert! After dinner they took us to a mall which I actually really didn't like because I felt like we were right back in America. There was an Adidas store, a Starbucks, even a Fudruckers! It was funny to see that no matter where you go, everything is pretty much the same.

Thursday we woke up early again and got ready to leave Alexandria. We ate breakfast at the hotel then set out to see the Roman catacombs. They were beyond description. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I can't even show what they looked like. But the Romans who built the catacombs tried to emulate the style of the ancient Egyptians so all the tombs and walls were covered with beautiful Egyptian decorations. After the catacombs we visited a Roman amphitheater and got a group picture taken of all the International students. Hopefully Mohamed will send the picture out soon! Then we went to the pharos which the location of the original lighthouse of Alexandria but is now an old battlement. That was amazing to see and explore and was probably my favorite thing to visit out of the day. After the pharos we went to lunch at a restaurant
overlooking the Mediterranean. The food was really good and we even got ice cream for dessert! After lunch we went to the library of Alexandria. I'm glad I went to see it but it wasn't as spectacular as the original library would have been. Then we loaded up the buses, came back to Cairo, did some laundry, and went to bed. I'm glad I am now able to say that I've been to Alexandria but overall I thought it was a little overrated and I am definitely more in love with Cairo.

Last night we went over to Nick's apartment for some... um good old American fun. ;) Nate, Katie, and I hung out most of the day. We got Nate a cell phone, I added some minutes to mine, we had karkaday at our favorite coffee shop... which I don't know the name of by the way... hmmmm. Got take-away Koshari, and hung out until we decided we wanted to order Drinkies. The only problem? We didn't know the number for Garden City Drinkies! So we took a cab to Zamalek ("which Mohamed sheriya?" "Ismail Mohamed" "Which sheriya!?" ... "supermarket?" "aiwya, metro supermarket" "supermarket?" ummmm, that's alfamart...) and proceeded to get lost on the way to Nick's apartment. But we ran into a random other AUC guy who was just looking for someplace to eat so he got Hardees and came back with us. Hahahaha :p what a random event! Drinkies came, we hung out. Talked. It was beyond amazing. Something I don't get in Miami, that's for sure! Only problem? By the time we were ready to leave it was four in the morning and Kaite and I weren't willing to take a cab back! So we crashed on Nick's couches... with Nate ;) This morning we woke up, got coffee, and stopped by Alfamart for some essentials... umm, Nate's not allowed to shop with us anymore. Hahahahaha.

Classes start tomorrow. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday I have Intro to Ancient
Egypt and Intro to Historical Theory and Method. Monday, Wednesday I have
Anthropolgy Social Movements and my Culture and Geography of Ancient Egypt
class. I really want to take a fifth class but I need to wait until add /
drops happen to see.