Hurghada

In transit now after spendng 3 days in Hurghada which is about 6 hours south of Cairo by car. The city is definitely a tourist town. Russians were everywhere in very skimpy clothes. There are about 1,000 hotels in Hurghada and 50% of Egypt's tourist flock there. I spent most of my time window shopping and laying on the beach. There isn't a lot of beach not consumed by hotels. We paid to hang out by the sheraton's beach which was quite clean and provided chairs. The water is multi-colored and amazingly clear. Even in deep water you can see to the bottom. The Sheraton brought in sand as the sea coast here is typically rocky. There are scattered coral reefs near the shore; but I only saw one small, bland fish while swimming. From shore, you can see several little islands where people snorkel and dive. I didn't do either while I was there, but hope to in Dahab. Hurghada has a beautiful new Marina and from it you can see the construction of a beautiful, new beach-side mosque. My Let's Go book said the town was very conservative; but I didn't see much of that. In the tourist areas signs are written in English, Russian, and Arabic. Sometimes the signs won't even have Arabic on them. Skimply dressed tourists and unveiled locals were everywhere. I hate it when a city loses it's initial culture to tourism.

I'm waiting to take the night bus tonight to Dahab. I hear Dahab is much more natural...

Garbage City or Maadeenah az-zableen

Garbage city houses 40,000 people. 95% are coptic christians. In Egypt, the christians are either very poor or extremely rich. The people that live in Garbage city collect the garbage from all over Egypt and bring it back to the city. In the city you can see and smell the large bags of trash piled all over town. In buildings, on top of buildings...everywhere. I've heard the people keep their homes relatively neat and clean, but I didn't get a chance to go into anyone's apartment. The city use to have pigs that ate the trash; but the government killed them during the swine flu scare. It's a sobering sight. There is a monastary at one end of the city built into the cave that overlooks the city. It's an amazing justaposition to see this church in such a destitute place. Inspiring to have it there. I read in my "let's go" book that about 400 people come to the church every week... I'm not religious, but I felt a sense of awe in this place.

Balance

One of my biggest challenges here is finding the balance between not being taken and being human. I feel guilty walking into a restaurant to eat when there are homeless women and children on the street with nothing. It's painfully difficult to ignore the begging children, but I'm told it's bad to give them money because they will learn to beg instead of earn their living and that some of them are not really poor. I buy things..kleenex and bracelets from kids and street people and feel a little like I'm tossing money in the air. I went to buy a homemade instrument from two street vendors. Originally, they asked for 15 pounds. I knew it was worth no more than 7 pounds. One of the men's legs was seriously swollen and pussy. They asked for 30 pounds. I knew it was too much; but was concerned about the leg. 30 egyptian pounds goes a long way here and is less then 10 dollars; so I agreed. I didn't have correct change;so the man took my money and wasn't going to give me change. Instead they were going to give me more instruments. I asked for change in arabic several times. Finally, I put the instrument I'd wanted down, grabbed my money out of the guy's pocket, and left.

Soccer Finals!

Went downtown tonight to watch the soccer finals at an outdoor cafe...we won! Everyone was quite crazy. People with painted faces on top of vans, on stilts, dancing and singing in the streets. Spraying flames of fire from cans and climbing statues. People - old and young - cloaked in flags.

The cool part is that no one was drunk because most people don't drink at all here. It's 12:30 in the morning and I came home early to finish homework, but I can still hear lots of cars honking and skidding followed by sirens. It will go on all night.

Coming to the end of my second week

I've been here nearly 2 weeks and figuring out some of the cultural differences still has me a bit baffled. How is it that I can go up and down elevators with egyptian man and they are nothing but kind and polite; but, on the metro, it's necessary to enter the metro train in the women's only section or potentially be grooped?

How is it that a woman dressed in tight high-fashion clothes and a hajiib is not enticing men's attention; but me, in my old jeans, a casual tee-shirt, covered by an old jacket without a scarf is seen as asking for attention? Everything is quit confusing.

I'm told that many prostitutes are Russian and they cover everything except their eyes; so if a foreigner were to do the same, they would most likely be mistaken for a prostitute.

My roommate is having a 'girl party' next weekend because the Egyptian girlfriends she's invited won't come if there are men here. She's forewarned me that when Arabic women are together they dress very scantly. I'm curious to see what exactly this means. I think of how modest and proper my teachers are at school and don't even want to imagine them in something scant.

I've been studying both Egyptian colliquial and Modern Standard Arabic for the last weeks; but I've dropped my Modern Standard as the words and grammer of the two language are very different. I'll be focusing on my Egyptian Colliquial which is easier, more fun, and what the locals speak here. Who couldn't love a language with fun words like Shib shib (slippers) or bishweesh(slowly)?

Before I came I sent out a number of emails to an ecolodge at the base of Mt Sinai to do some volunteer work there and I finally heard back from them this week. I'm really hoping it works out for me to go! Will let you know more when I do.

Until later....LOVE!

I'm here!

Finally, I have internet in my flat. Sorry my blog has been bare for so long.

I feel so fortunate to be given the opportunity to take these 2 months off. I was really touched at how supportive everyone at work was about me taking this trip even though it meant more work for them. Thanks everyone who has helped me out. As some people know, I injured my sciatic nerve and I wasn't able to sit or lay without pain. I couldn't shovel or carry anything. Mary Donated a massage discount. Judy carried 10 bags of litter and 4 bags of cat food into my house. My Dad offered to drive a half hour in a snow storm to shovel my car out. My brother, Shawn, drove me to the airport and disconnected my battery for me; so it won't die while I'm gone. Mary and Chris held their annual New Years party early; so I could come. Paula's looking after my cats while, Anne - the woman kindly caring for my cats and house while I'm gone, is briefly out-of-town. Nicole offered to be the vet-on-call should anything go awry with my cats. Lucy's taking my mail, and Mary and Chris are back-up for Anne.

The airplane ride was relatively easy and quick. Fortunately, by chance, I had an aisle seat. The plane space was incredibly tight and I needed to stand a lot because of my back. The only real excitement on the plane was a women who seemed 'slightly off.' She screamed her way onto the plane early. Then, screamed hysterically when a baby started to cry; the attendents had to settle her down. Later, She started playing a game with the people in front of her and, once again, screamed and laughed so loud the attendents had to hush her. About 2 minutes before we hit the ground in Egypt she was giggling and dodging the attendents who had to chase her into her seat. In the end all was safe and good.

Drayah, the Arabic school I'm going to, picked me up at the airport. Egyptian drivers are really crazy. We came within inches of shaving cars a number of times. At one point I screamed. Waleed, the manager at Drayah, explained that I shouldn't worry because Egyptians like excitement. The driver and Waleed were also playing with their cell phones swapping songs etc... After this, no one can convince me I'm a bad driver.

Waleed dropped me off at the Kings Hotel which is in Dokki - the city I'm living in. I spent my New Years with a friend. We went out to eat, then to the Sheraton to see the entertainment there. Happy be-lated New Years everyone!

I moved into my new flat the next day. I REALLY like my rooomates. Aisha is a journalist from South Afirca. Khalidah is another, more advanced student, from Drayah. They're both fun, thoughtful, and socially conscious.

Our flat has 'rules.' no drinking, no men overnight, and no loud parties.
We decided to test the 'No loud parties' rule and hosted a housewarming party last weekend. We had people from Korea, South Africa, America, Egypt, Canada, and Belgium. Most people here have either been here for awhile or plan to be here for some time. Everyone has an interesting story to tell.

I'll write more later...I need to go now as I'm writing this instead of doing my homework. Will write more later.

Love you all.