You Look Good Jack

~~~~ Pleased

Sunday - Pretty usual day. Woke up and went to Historiography. She yelled at us for having bad annotated bibliographies and for hunting for sources that would support our side of the argument... ummm, isn't that the point? Anyways, she gave them back to us and told us to go to the library. She told me my sources only supported my side of the argument. Ummm, excuse me? One of my sources is the Warren Report (I'm doing the JFK assassination) and since I'm taking the side that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the only gunman that source really doesn't support my side. Whatever. All I need is a C to pass the class because, you know, the Jews built the pyramids. Got out of that hell house and Allison and I started planning our Greece trip. I'm so pumped to go. I love love love Cairo but I'm ready for a little Western culture. Greece should be perfect. Was almost late to Egyptology but what else is new. Started to talk about language and writing, which is Nicholas specialty. So this should be good. I love the idea of hieroglyphics. I can't wait to learn a few words. Went to the gym after that. Just rode the bike for 45 minutes but it felt really good. Took a shower then headed back to the flat. Got some work done and chilled for the rest of the night. After my spectacular Saturday I actually got to bed at a decent hour and have been doing so for the rest of the week.

Monday - Woke up and took my midterm for Social Movements. Not too bad. I actually think I did pretty well. Sometimes I was a little broad and by the end my hand hurt so bad it was kinda hard to finish but I covered everything I want to and I'm as pleased with myself as I can be. After class I decided to walk to Zamalek. What a wonderful idea. It's a really easy-going walk and I just enjoyed the weather and listened to music. Wonderful. Got to Metro and picked up everything I needed for my pasta dinner Tuesday. Bought too much so I called a cab back to Garden City. It was the first time I had ridden in a cab by myself. I was dangerously pleased with myself. It's not that I've been afraid or anything to ride in a cab by myself but I'm always with someone else and I ride with them. But not then. It felt so good! And I got to give him directions in Arabic which I always enjoy. Got home and had some lunch and studied for Historiography before Geography of Ancient Egypt. Went to class and poor Allison was "having PMS on the rictor scale of 14" :) and left. Boy is that class deadly boring without her! Came home and checked on Allison. She was feeling better so we otlobed McDonalds and watched the Boondock Saints. Allison speaks Russian and I've always wondered what the mob guy was yelling. She couldn't understand some of it but the general idea is that he wants his gang to unify and centralize in America. I was hoping he was yelling about something totally unrelated. Oh well :rolleyes:

Tuesday - Historiography was terrible. Took a midterm and I feel really confident that I answered everything as precisely as possibly and made good arguments but I have a feeling she'll say differently. And probably most of it will have to do with the fact that I really don't like her :| After class went to the library. Did my reading and then wanted a feteer for lunch. There was a line so I just got a cheese sandwhich and strawberry juice from the cafeteria. Yuuuummy! Went to the Rare Books Library to do my Egyptology reading then went to class. Learned man in Hieroglyphics but nothing else. After class talked to Nicholas about Greece. While we were talking some student from the next class came up to him and they started a conversation in Greek. Wow. Nicholas is not a really attractive man (and he's my prof) but I saw him in an entirely different light when he started speaking Greek. *Swoon* :p Came home and started cooking for my pasta dinner. Overall, I think it turned out pretty well. The Alfredo sauce wasn't spectacular but everything else was absolutley delicious and there weren't that many leftovers (taken that I leave for Greece in 4 days that's a good thing).

Wednesday - Went to Social Movements and had probably the worst discussion yet. Dr. Saad wasn't there again and we talked with Maria. Not saying it was her fault or anything but she just picked a topic that was kinda weird for the us to talk about because the American students (two annoying girls in particular) were trying to be more involved then they should be and the Egyptian students were trying to tell them they didn't know what they were talking about without being rude but the Americans just didn't get it. I think some of these Americans forget that we're only in this country for a very limited time and that it isn't fair that they stick their noses deep into political business that they won't be here to see through in 5 months. It's just stupid, rude, and disrespectful. There. That's my 2 cents I didn't throw in in class because I don't talk. After class I walked back to Zamalek (I'm in love with this walk) and got myself some pasta (yes, more hahaha :laugh: ) from Alfa and then walked to a coffee shop for an iced caramel latte. Perfection. Read my book for a while and just enjoyed the quiet and comfy chair then walked back. Kinda warm out there but otherwise still really nice. Got home, made myself a cup of tea, cooked lunch, and am now just chillin in the living room with the roomie. Gotta go to class but other then that I am done for the day.

GREECE IN THREE DAYS!!!

Substitute

~~~~ Relaxed

Sunday - What a crappy way to start out the week! Made it to Historiography to write a response paper but had to throw in the towel after that... food poisoning. yuck. I blame it either on the sub sandwhich I had at the Jordan airport or the grilled cheese sandwhich I had that night that might have had some mold on it. No good. So I spent the rest of day in bed unable to do anything.

The rest of the week went by pretty normally. Tuesday Brian came over because he needed to get away from his flatmates. Awww. Everyone's planning their Spring Break trips. Allison and I made out hostel reservations. We're staying at the Zeus Hostel. Just so we can scream "Zeuuuus" :laugh: I also made my hostel reservation for Rome. Just one night because I'm getting there the day before Steph. I'm actually really looking forward to that. I'm gonna be in a new city, in a new country completely alone. With just my Italian to get me through the day. It should be a really good experience for me. I have amazing friends here. But because they are so great and I want to do things with them all the time I never do anything on my own. I think these 24 hours by myself in Rome will be really good for me. I'm gonna try to go to do some of the really touristy things before I meet up with Steph. Just because I can. I'm staying in the "Pop Inn Hostel" because they get there. Get it? ;) I sent out emails to hostels asking if they had rooms available and, just because I can, I wrote them in Italian. And guess what? They understood what I said and responded in Italian! I am so happy... I can pseudo use the language! This week I also figured out my schedule for next semester. It turns out that international students get to schedule before everyone else! I totally went through all the courses I need to graduate and picked out the hardest ones to get into. I should study abroad more often! One more reason I love Cairo!

Thursday - Woke up thanking the gods it was almost the weekend. Went to Historiography then to the ATM to get money out to pay back Brian for Jordan. Turns out I can only take 1000 pounds out a day so it looks like I'll be paying Brian in installments. Afterward headed back to the library to get my work done so I didn't have to do any this weekend. Decided I had a craving for a good salad so I went to McDonalds for a salad and a chocolate fudge sundae... let's be honest... one of the real reasons I wanted the salad! I sure am gonna miss the McDonalds here. Went to Egyptology and talked about the field trip on Friday. Got out early so I had time to get back to the flat before my schedule time. Can only register for 17 hours the first time around so I didn't get into my art history class (I have 18 hours) but since it's a huge class I think I'll be okay. Def. taking that class pass/fail though! After that I was really bored so I went to see Allison. After breaking her bed (she has the most cracked out bed ever!) we decided to walk to Zamalek to get her a camera. No luck but the walk was fun. Got back and played around with the idea of going to City Stars and seeing a movie (I really want to see Last King of Scotland) but never got around to it. Otlobed Chilis and watched Lost episodes instead. After walking in on Chris and Cori three times finally kicked Chris out because I needed to go to bed. Of course, I needed to change my bedsheets first because someone spilled wine on them... yeah, I have a problem with that.

Friday - Woke up early to catch the bus to Fayuum with the J-Swan. Of course, not before being woke up at 5 in the morning by a text message. :@ Oh well... First stop was to Karanis. The Museum there was closed but it was interesting to see the temples used on an everyday basis... instead of the grand temples in Karnak for example. Then we picked up a police excort who took us to the pyramid of Lahun. Lahun is one of the collapsed pyramids. This particular one belonged to Senusret II. Then we headed over to Hawara where the collapsed pyramid of Amenemhet III. But my favorite pyramid of the day belonged to Sneferu in Meidum. It looks pretty cool because it was built in three layers and only the bottom-most layer still exists. It was also one of the best pyramids to go into. The other two weren't open but in comparision to the other pyramids I've been in Meidum was right up there with the Red pyramid in Dahshur. Then we went into the great Mastaba near the pyramid. What an experience! It was a crazy climb / crawl through dust and dirt and we all came out looking like we had survived an explosion but looking back it was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went in. The burial chamber inside was also really fantastic with a large sarcophogas still intact. Then we headed back to Cairo. After a much needed chower Allison and I went out for Koshari. We tried the place near Garden City. Other then being a little heavy on the lentils it was still good. And watched more Lost episodes. Everyone is officially caught up. Then I came back and watched the Boondock Saints until I passed out. Before, of course, taking careful measures to turn off my alram :)

Saturday - What a fabulous day it's been. Slept in until noon. And have done NOTHING since. Watched a movie and some friends. Otlobed Pizza Hut... waiting for that to come. And I have literally not left the flat. I haven't had a day like this (not counting my food poisoning) since I've gotten here. Especially on the weekend. It was a break I dearly needed. Tonight I'm just gonna eat my pizza and watch some more Friends episodes and get ready for the last week before spring break.

I can't believe in a week I'll be in Athens... and then Rome! I'm so excited. What an amazing life I actually have.

To Jordan and Beyond

~~~~ Indescribable

Oh so many updates!

Monday - Got up and went to Social Movements (yaaaay)! Turned in my paper then headed out in search of an ATM. After four failed attempts I trudged back to the Flat, picked up Chanda, got money exchanged, had Koshari for lunch, and headed to Khan al-Kaleli. I think Khan was Chanda's favorite. We bartered for stuff, had karkaday with a shop owner when we told him we didn't like Bush either (hahaha) :laugh: made lots of Egyptian man-friends. I bought myself an Eye of Horus, another headscarf, a wall hanging, and my own mini-hookah! Oh how I love it so. It's red and as small as they come. After several failed attempts I finally found the cartouche shop again for Chanda and it turns out that friendly guy also owns a hookah shop so he set us up with nice hookahs, pipes, sheeshah, and everything else we could possibly need. It was a lot of fun. After all that Katie called and said she was in Metro buying ingredients for feteer so we caught a cab back to Garden City, dropped off our purchases, and headed to the Soq to by some veggies for toppings. Then we made feteer... once more, it was hard, it was messy, it didn't turn out exactly how we planned, but it was good and, of course, we had fun.

Tuesday - Headed out to Historiography aka free time in the Library where I completed the assignment I was suppose to do in 15 minutes so Allison and I did crosswords on the computer for the rest of the time. After class I found a quiet corner on Main Campus and did homework until Egyptology. Went there and Brian mentioned a trip to Jordan he was planning for the weekend. Told him I had to think about it then went back to the flat to get some food. Chanda and Cori were hungry so we decided to walk over to Zamalek for the best falafel ever! Chanda claims she doesn't even really like falafel but she liked this one. We got a cab back to Garden City because we were running a little late and had a great conversation with our cab driver. He could speak English very well and he helped me with all the phrases I needed to know to help direct cab drivers. I can say "left" and "right" and "straight ahead" in arabic but I wanted to know how to say things like "take the next right" or "I can direct you from Tahrir Square" and he taught me and whenever I got anything right he would smile and say "bravo!" ... needless to say he got an extra pound! Then we met Katie and Dan and took a felucca ride. We watched the sunset and enjoyed the Nile... it was wonderful! Then Chanda had a little more shopping to do so we went back to Khan. We wandered around for a while. I bought a bracelet cuff for my Mom, a pair of earrings for Lindsay, and a headscark Cori had requested and then we stopped by a coffee shop and drank Mango Juice and Sahlab. There was a football game on tv and I've felt kinda obligated to pick an Egyptian team to cheer for since it's such a big deal here but the only team I knew was Zamalek so I picked that. Yeah, obviously that wasn't the best choice because everyone had the cafe was cheering for the other team... oh well, I tried. It was at about this time that Chanda and I decided special brownies and sheeshah would be a good ending to the night so we caught a cab over to Metro to get aluminum foil (where we ran into Adam :D ) and headed back to the flat... P.S. Special brownies and sheeshah? Dangerous combination!

Wednesday - 14 hours later... Chanda and I wake up still a little messed up! Have a slow start but finally make it to the Egyptian Museum. I think she found it a little overwhelming but still impressive. We started at the top so I could see some of the things I missed the first time. Then we met Katie for some fresh squeezed juice (because Chanda didn't get sick the entire time she was here and, of course, it was a post-it) and then came home for a shower and to get all pretty because we had reservations for the revolving restaurant. Wow, what an experience that was. It's the tallest revolving restaurant in the Middle East because it sits on top of the Grand Hyatt hotel on the 40th floor. I made the reservations for 8:00 because you can see the pyramids from the restaurant and I wanted to catch the sound and light show on them, which, I'm really glad I didn't pay 60 LE for because it really wasn't all that impressive. But the food was wonderful. I had a veggie pastry puff and creme brulee for dessert and the views were indescribable. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and a good sendoff for Chanda.

Thursday - Woke up early to get Chanda into a cab :( Went back to bed for a little bit then went to Historiography. After class Allison and I started working on our spring break plans and I went ahead and got my tickets for my flights. I am officially going to Rome and Athens for spring break! This is just my semester of all things ancient! Went to Egyptology and then hurried back to the flat to finish back because... I went to Jordan! It was just Brian and I but after a very stressful sendoff in the Cairo airport because of the awful traffic we arrived in Amman with little trouble. We got a cab to our hotel which was this cute little place with this amazing owner who was nothing but nice. We had a cute little room with a balcony. The only problem? IT SNOWS IN JORDAN!!! Yeah, I did not know that. So it was cold. Really cold. But we found a nice restaurant for dinner and warmed ourselves up with a little beer ;) Jordan's really has not drinking age as opposed to Egypt which just doesn't enforce it. Then we were kinda lame and went to bed early.

Friday - Got up early and had a yummy breakfast of warm bread, cheese, and coffee / tea at the hotel. Checked out and got a cab to Petra. After a relatively uneventful two hour drive we arrived in Petra. Dropped our stuff off at our hotel and headed to the site. Of all the experiences in my life, this one will stay with me the longest. Of course there was the obligatory stop at the treasury where the corny American tourist was blasting the Indiana Jones themesong but then Brian and I found a stairway that lead into the mountains. Really? the views there were even better then on Mt Sinai. It was wonderful. We finished exploring the site then got Italian from a restaurant just because the name made me giggle... Mystic Pizza. Then we headed back to the Petra site to have drinks in a bar called Cave Bar. The reason it has that name? Yeah, it's definitley a tomb from the 1st century BCE that has been turned into a bar. You can actually drink inside the tombs! How amazing!!! And they make this awesome drink called Petra Punch that's rum, fresh squeezed orange juice, lemon juice, and sweetened pineapple juice. Yummmm. Came back to the hotel and organized our private driver for the Dead Sea the next day. Met some people from England who were watching Eragon in the lobby and invited me to join them. I was very tempted but the hot water had been turned on and a shower was calling my name... After that it was another early night.

Saturday (HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY) - Got up early again. Had another warm bread breakfast and met up with our driver for the day. His name was Abdallah. While he was a very sweet man who kinda reminded me of Saleh, he was at times a little too helpful. He droves us through the mountains of Petra until we met up with the Dead Sea Highway. Stopped by the Dead Sea and didn't understand why we didn't want to swim... ummm, it was cold! Took lots of pictures then continued onto Bethany Beyond the Jordan. This site is believed to be the baptismal site of Jesus. It was nice to see but, honestly? My favorite part was being so close to Israel we actually entered its territory for a little bit. I don't have any desire to go to Israel. In fact, I refuse to go, but just to be near it and be able to see it was kinda exciting. The mountains were really beautiful. Then we got back in the car and headed up Mount Nebo to see the site that is believed to be where Moses looked over into Israel then died. It was a cloudy day so we couldn't see but rumor has it you can see Jerusalem on a clear day. Sad. Then we moved on and after a quick food break for our driver in a local town we were dropped off at the airport. Said goodbye to Abdallah then hung out and waited for our flight. Ate a cheese sub and hot chocolate at the airport... pretty tastey! Exchanged Dinars back to Pounds and wandered around the dutyfree shop. Got on the plane and made it make to Cairo without a problem.

Jordan was a wonderful adventure. Petra really changed my life and reaffirmed by true belief in nature. I kept wanting to tell people I knew a Yousef (the Kennedy's of Jordan) and I missed Saleh terribley. But all-in-all? I am still in love with Cairo!

Yellow Submarine

~~~~ Tired

Thursday - Wednesday night went off without any problems. Got Chanda and got back to the flat with plenty of time to sleep. Woke up and went to Historiography. I swear I say this every time but that class would be unbearable without Allison. Went to the library and churned out a five page Social Movements paper in one hour! Yes! :eek: Met up with Brian and filled out travel request forms for Jordan... I really want to go but I'm so apprehensive to spend money... I really should talk to my parents about that. Then went to the Rare Books Library and got information on the statue of Taweret I plan to write my paper on. Went to Egyptology class and then went right back to the flat. Picked up Chanda and we went for Koshari for lunch. Always a good choice. Showed her some of the city and went to get more coffee from my coffee bean shop. Came back to the apartment and met up with Katie and Allison to plan the night. Decided on the Hard Rock Cafe and our favorite outdoor coffee shop and called Brian to meet us. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and watched our waiter dance to the YMCA and other crazy dance songs... hilarious. I had Mac & Cheese and Nachos for dinner :p Just some cravings I was having. Went back to the flat for more layers because it was cold out and then went for Sahlab at the cafe. Once more, got it with the nuts but without the fruit :@ we aren't very good at this.

Friday - After calling it an early night we got up early Friday for the pyramids. Allison came along with me and Chanda and we felt like pros heading to the metro and then confidently calling a cab in Giza to take us to the pyramids. We just went into Khafre's pyramid because Allison and I were unwilling to pay the money to go into both again. Wandered around the site... honestly? How could you get sick of that! Got Chanda's obligatory photos (kissing the sphinx, etc.) and then went to Pizza Hut for lunch. Chanda couldn't understand why we insisted on Pizza Hut then she saw the view and it all made perfect sense :) I had a toasted cheese sandwhich... yummy. Then we went for the camels! I RODE A CAMEL! And, of course, I got Ed, Dan's dysfunctional camel from the time before. It was an amazing experience, sitting on top of a camel, but, as Allison said, "Who the hell looked at one of these things and was like 'I'm gonna ride that'?" I can't see myself doing that again. Then we headed back home, took a shower, relaxed, and Chand and I headed back out for the CityStars mall. After a stressful cabride (citystars? citystars? OH! citystars!) and the cabbie trying to charge us 50 pounds for a 30 pound cabride, we found ourselves at the second largest mall in the world. We just kinda wandered. Looking in some shops and exploring. And then we got some dinner at Cilantro (I approve of pesto pasta and Cafe Nutella). Then we went back to the Virgin Megastore and I got another arabic CD and a RoughGuide to Athens (because, P.S. I'm going to Europe for spring break) and Chanda got herself an arabic CD. Then I needed to break my large bills for the cabride home so we bought gelato and Kinder eggs. I think I got Chanda hooked on Kinder eggs.

Saturday - We started out kinda slow because I think Chanda's really beginning to suffer from her jetlag. But me, Chanda, Dan, and Katie caught the Metro down to Coptic Cairo and looked at some churches. They were all pretty and I must say I like Coptic churches more then the medieval churches of Europe... I dunno, they just seemed more warm and welcoming. We then got lost in a Catholic cemetary until some stray dogs chased us out. You think I'm kidding, they really chased us out! Then we ran into some puppies I almost took home again. They were sooo cute :rolleyes: Stopped by a souviner shop for some postcards and Chanda picked up her first Egyptian lover. Walked back towards the metro and stumbled across some more churches, the catacombs of the holy family, and, just for Dan, a Jewish synagogue. Decided we had hit our church limit and headed back to Tahrir Sqaure. Got feteer and figs for lunch, did a little grocery shopping, and headed back to the flat to chill. Got some of my Taweret paper done and Allison helped push it into the 700 word range so I'm almost finished. Otlobed McDonalds for Chanda's experience (even though she was asleep through most of it hahaha), and then Chanda and I headed over to the boy's apartment in Zamalek to catch the sound and light show on their roof. Ended up that we couldn't see it... the sky was too hazy that night... but the view from their roof was astonishing nevertheless. Hung out with Brian and Duncan for a while (did you know you have to rotate your TV every once in a while! ;) ) and headed back home.

Sunday - Woke up bright and early and met Katie to catch a bus down to Fayoum. A crazy two hour busride later we were slightly lost in Fayoum City. We stopped to ask directions from some nice ladies and we were conversing in Arabic and understanding one another when some guy came by and ruioned it all. Sure, he spoke English, sure he got us in the right direction, but the ladies were helping too and they told him we were doing fine and that we could speak Arabic! :@ It was sad... we were doing so well. But we were pointed in the right direction and we were able to walk around the city and see the Obelisk of Senusert. Then we grabbed a cab back into town and wandered the Souq for a while. It wasn't what I was expecting but it was still a good experience. Then we got a cab out to Lake Qarun and ate lunch in this cute restaurant on the lake. I had tameya salad... but I didn't really like the salad so I just had tameya and bread but it was still really good :) Then we walked around the lake for a while but it was kinda sad becaue there were all these little kids begging and trying to sell seashell necklaces. It was sad. I wish I could tell their parents that maybe I'd buy things from them if they sent their kids to school instead of sending their kids out to tell tourists the money was going to school when we all knew it wasn't. Okay, I know that's not fair but that's my tangent and I'm sticking to it. After that we were pretty much warn out so we caught a cab back (our cab driver gave us his phone number and told us to call him and he'd come pick us up again!) and got a bus back to Cairo. 0% hassel-free and now we're safe at home. Except now Chanda's passed out ont he couch and I'm beginning to think that I'm hungry. What a long weekend! Tomorrow I have to go to Social Movements to turn in a paper and then we're heading over to Islamic Cairo. Tuesday is the Cairo Museum, Felucca Ride, and dinner at the revolving Hyatt. Wednesday potentially Alexandria... Brian wants to go to Jordan this weekend but I think I might need a vacation from Chanda's vacation!

Information Travels Faster

~~~~ Amused

Monday - Woke up and went to Social Movements. Dr. Saad wasn't there so we had a guest lecturer. Dr. Bayat wrote a book about street movements so he talked about it. I'm sure it was an interesting book but he wasn't a very engagin speaker so my mind wandered... and I texted Cori to see if she wanted to go to the gym. Got out of class and went back to the flat. Had tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwhich for lunch. Cori came by and we decided to go to the gym. I was molto proud of myself for going. :p I just road on the bike, did some crunches and a few yoga positions but it felt so good. It stretched out all my sore muscles. Forgot my flipflops and a towel so I couldn't shower there so Cori and I walked back through the streets of Cairo all sweaty. Took a shower at home and realized I was late for Geography of Ancient Egypt. Went to see Allison and decided our time would be better spent if we planned out Luxor trip. Started planning and I came up with a pretty good plan of cheap hotels, efficient train rides, and a tour of Luxor and Aswan which allowed us to see everything in three days. All for less then 500 LE. So Emily and I otlobed Chinese (Fried Noodles and Spring Rolls *yummy* sauteed mushrooms? not so much) and watched Family Guy.

Tuesday - Historiography was just as boring as ever. I'm really not sure how I'm gonna survive that class. Began to feel really sick... I think I got a cold ontop of Mt. Sinai so I went back to the flat to rest for a while. Suzanne was home and told me that the train tickets to Luxor were sold out already... so much for that idea. Hopefully we'll go in two weeks. Got into bed planning to just take a quick nap before Egyptology and ended up sleeping through the class. Cori came home soon after and we decided to go for Koshari. We also decided to get some shopping done. We bought some fresh flowers for our room and then got some groceries to make stuffed peppers for the flat. Got home and started cooking. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy cooking here. Ate our peppers and got my homework done then took some ThermaFlu Roxanne gave me and went to bed.

Wednesday - Woke up feeling a little better... like the worst part is over. Forced myself to go to Social Movements even though I really didn't want to. Went and dozed the entire time. The idea of that class is so exciting but it really isn't. Oh well. Went to the suk with Katie and got the rest of the ingredients for fuul. I went back to the flat and started cooking. The beans had to steam for 5-6 hours so I needed to get started then. Made myself a salad for lunch then read for a little bit. I'm really enjoying American Gods. Thought about getting some work done that isn't due until Monday but I couldn't talk myself into it. I'll regret it when Chanda's here but I guess I'll just suck it up. Drank more of Roxanne's ThermaFlu (still feel poopy) and took another mininap. Woke up for Geography of Ancient Egypt. Allison didn't learn anything except that Posiedon is the god of orgasms (obviously not from class). See, Posiedon is the god of thunder. Thunder=orgasm. Posiedon is the god of the ocean. Ocean=ejaculation. Posiedon is the god of horses. Horses=big penis. Therefore, Posiedon is the god of sexy-doo. Yeah... aka we learned NOTHING. Came back and Random Dan came over for fuul. Out of our three cooking experiements I have to say that our fuul has been the biggest failure. I think we used the wrong beans. Now I'm still over at Katie and Allison's flat killing time before Chanda's flight comes in. Brian's over too and he's coming to guard us during the cabride. Chanda's flight should be in in an hour and fifteen minutes. We'll probably leave in an hour. I'm really super excited but at the same time I really sleppy at the moment because of this cold. But right at this moment? I'm really amused watching Brian and Allison play soccer with a beach ball... it's the little things in life.

My One Question

~~~~ Happy

Friday - Woke up bright and early at 5:45 to meet Katie to go to the bus stop to get tickets to Sinai. Took the Metro (I love the women's car... it's so much fun) and then grabbed a cab the rest of the way. Unfortunatley, everything we read didn't bother to mention that we needed out passports to buy our tickets so we couldn't buy any tickets for anyone else... the entire reason we went so early. So we spent the next three hours trying to get everyone organized over the phone and get people there as fast as possible! Stress! But everyone else showed up a lot faster then it took us because apparently it's only 2 pounds more to just take a cab and it's only a 10 minute cab ride... ooops. That's okay though, we all got our tickets and hung out to wait for the bus. Katie and I took off for a while to get some food since we were starving at this point. I got Koshari and Katie got feteer. The bus finally came and we settled back for a seven hour bus ride. There were lots of stops along the way so we got to stretch a lot but poor Nick and Dan didn't have their passports back from the university visa department so every time we got stopped at a checkpoint and they had to explain, in arabic, why they just had photocopies. The best one? When they got taken off the bus to talk to someone else ("Dan, just tell them your religion. You'll be fine!"). But finally we made it. We wandered around the village for a while and found this restaurant with outside picnic tables. Some people ate there but me, Katie, and Duncan went and got.. Koshari. Took our Koshari back to the picnic tables and after we ate played card games... I lost some more. Then we were pretty tired so we followed Nick and Chris to this camp ground. They charged seven pounds for a fire, tent, and all the tea we could drink. It was pretty nice. Got some sleep and met the owner who told us jokes (Why don't Koreans use this finger to drink their tea *points to his own finger* ... because it's my thumb!) and this wonderful Chinese man named Choeng who works in Maadi and decided to travel to Sinai for the weekend and he seemed very lost and confused. But he was fun and he taught us some Chinese!

Saturday - Around 2am we set out to climb the mountain. We decided to go up the camel path because the stairs seemed a little too much... the camel path was almost too much! It took three hours and a couple stops but finally we made it just when the sun was beginning to rise. We grabbed a spot on the top and huddled together for warmth. I mean, we heard it would be cold but we didn't believe them... it's Egypt after all! But it was freezing! After about two hours the sun came up and it was amazing! I was suprised how fast the sun came up once it started but it was so beautiful. We explored the rest of the mountain top and then started our descent. We went for the stairs of redemption for the way down and that was pretty cool but I'm glad we didn't take them up. 3000 stairs is alot to take but the view was great and not falling was even better :) Once we got down we headed over to Saint Katherine's Monastery. There were a lot of people which kinda took away from the beauty of the monastery but I'm glad I could say I was there. Saw the "ancestor" of the burning bush and after that we all felt like we were crashing hardcore so we set off for the bus stop again. Got a ticket to Suez and ate... once more... Koshari! Got on the bus and headed to Suez. Four hours later we were back in Suez with little trouble. Got a ticket back to Cairo and were back around 9pm. All said and done it was about a 39 hour weekend but it was totally worth it. Got home, ate some dinner, took the best shower of my life, and I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

Sunday - Woke up feeling terrible! My entire body ached but I forced myself out of bed and went to class. I'm so glad I did because I actually felt much better. Except, in the words of Allison "I will never take flat ground for granted again!" Got work done in the library, had a cheese feteer (my love was there!), then went to Egyptology. Talked about the military. Wooo. Went to the Rare Books Library and got my reading, went to visit my fruit vendor friend (got two oranges in baksheesh!) and gave my form to Bakry. Went back to the apartment. Did a little more work and then watched a Smallville and Lost episode (Charlie's not dead yet!). Ate feteer for dinner... again (maybe my trend is to eat a ton of the same food for a while and then move on to another food). Then Allison and I took a trip to AlfaMart. What an adventure! The driver took us to Metro (the exact opposite of our previous experience) and then we got lost on the way to Alfa. Took a wrong turn and ended up where we started :( But it's okay... we called Random Dan and he helped us out. Went to Alfa. Bought entirely too much. And got into a cab back to Garden City. The driver didn't understand my arabic so we had to back up on the road (because you can do that here) and finally got back to the flat. I bought sooo much but now I can make salad instead of paying 14 pounds at McDonalds! Now I've done some traveling research ($400 for a flight to Greece!) called my parents, my cousin Alex, and Lindsay and now I should shower. Did I ever mention I love my life?