Never was there a place where the saying “assumptions make an ass out of you and me” is truer than Egypt. Here are some things it is not safe to assume…
-There is toilet paper in any bathroom.
-The school you work for will explain things to you in English and not only Arabic.
-The matrons will figure out you do not speak Arabic at all and speaking to you in Arabic is pointless.
-The books, courses, and schedule of the school you work for will be explained before week six.
-The grading system will be explained before six weeks into the year.
-That one-hour means one-hour and not four.
-That the electric guy is actually the electric guy and not just trying to get 500 pounds from you.
-That signs outside stores mean what they say, so the gym by your house with the sign “For men, women and children,” allows women, children and men.
-On a bus with 26 seats only 26 people can ride, not 32 people.
-That the letter “p” is pronounced “p,” and not like a “b.” Bizza, Bebsi, Boto, Byramid, I could go on!
Other than learning how to never assume anything, at all, ever Egypt is coming along. Luckily I was warned by my good friend Maya, who told me the it takes at least two months to adjust to the Middle East or Egypt (it is close) and I should not give up until after a good two-months. Cairo has taken a solid two-months to sort of adjust to and I am probably still not there yet.
I have completely readjusted my definitions of clean, sidewalk, on-time, quick, dinner (which is around 11pm), lunch (which is around 6pm), breakfast (which does not really exist), early (which is now around noon) and late night (which is now closer to 4am than 12am), and weekdays (which start on Sunday and end on Thursday), but I am happy to do so. I can now tell whether or not the cab is taking me where I want to go or to Sudan. We have hot water in our apartment. I know the numbers one through 5 and a few vital words for directing cab drivers. We do not have Internet, that might take forever so please do not hold your breathe.
In the meantime I am trying to branch out and make new friends who like to do non-AIESEC things. New friend making was helped by my new roommate Chrissie who know teaches at Kenana. She is ton of fun to go out with and plans on being here for close to three years; she is hoping to go to a grad program at the American University in Cairo. Chrissie was greeted by no one because we were all in Marsa Alam for the feast/vacation at the end of Ramadan. Yeah for Ramadan being over! She had no room and for a while was living in the living room, now there is a wall sectioning off a good chunk of out living room. She does not have a dresser yet, but give it time and it just may happen!
While adjusting I have also gone on some fun tourist trips. The AIESEC bunch took a trip to Marsa Alam and it was nowhere near as awesome as my first trip. Traveling with 30 people who all have different needs and the ability to complain is just never fun. Also singing on a nine-hour bus ride makes me want to cry and scream and hurt people. So, no singing on busses for me ever again. Otherwise I spent two solid days on a boat diving with a good group of five people, all excellent divers and we had a killer time. Our friends who were snorkeling did not have as much fun and the guys who were learning how to scuba might not be certified. Traveling with 30 is never a good idea!
The AIESEC bunch also organized a walking tour of Islamic Cairo, the older part of the city. Beside being kept nice and clean for tourists the area is home to some of the more interesting and “Moorish” architecture in the city and lots of mosques. Our tour started at a glass blowers home who was really happy to have us all, about 20 people, wander through the twisting and turning five stories that was his home. We walked through kitchens and bedrooms to get to the top floor where we were greeted by a jungle of roughly blown glass Chiuly it was not, but I never liked him that much. Actually incredibly cool stuff and as usual my pictures do a better job of explaining than my words, see below! After the glassblowers house we wandered to a beautiful mosque. Religion and churches seem to make more sense to me in a city as crazy as Cairo, they are one of the only calm places you can find. Then we toured a little bit of Khan El Khalily, the tourist trap bazaar, and had delicious Egyptian pizza named Fitir, a yummy end to one very long and fun day.
I went up to Alexandria with one car, aka four people, just for the day and had a wonderful time. During the two-hour drive our happy group stopped at the weirdest roadside stop of my life, Lion or Tiger Town, I cannot read Arabic signs. Whatever the name it was a restaurant/crappiest zoo of your life. They had three tigers, three lions, crocodiles, one hog, llamas, dogs, fish, birds, red-butted baboons, other monkeys, horses, mini-ponies, goats, more dogs, one wiener dog which was caged and looked vicious (Hahaha), and the ugliest animal I have ever seen. If you can figure out what it is I promise to bring you a prize when I get back to the states. All the animals were in 19th century style cages, no room to move and they depressed me. Still, live lions and tigers are pretty cool.
Oh my!
Once in Alex (as the hip locals call it) we went to the Bibliotheque, a delicious Egyptian restaurant, King Farouk’s old summer home-turned vacation get-away/garden/beach, and the Qiatbey Fortress. I ate way too much, walked a little and touched the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, also saw blue sky and breathed non-polluted air.
In between Marsa Alam and Alex I participated in my first official AIESEC official event: an introduction to AIESEC for new members joining through Cairo University. We spent the day at a very nice country club down in Giza, tried to ride horses, but really spent the day napping in large super comfy chairs and finishing a good book. I did not participate in the conference because I had no idea what was going on, I was very tired and I also am not a new member through CU. I did learn a few basics about AIESEC, all very useful and will be saved for another post as this one is already to long.
A bunch of pictures should follow. Excuse my absence October has been a long month and has finished with a very bad cold and some tough stuff, but I will survive and try to make the best of it all!
Next stop the White Desert, more attempted horse-back riding, the Pyramids and beyond!
-There is toilet paper in any bathroom.
-The school you work for will explain things to you in English and not only Arabic.
-The matrons will figure out you do not speak Arabic at all and speaking to you in Arabic is pointless.
-The books, courses, and schedule of the school you work for will be explained before week six.
-The grading system will be explained before six weeks into the year.
-That one-hour means one-hour and not four.
-That the electric guy is actually the electric guy and not just trying to get 500 pounds from you.
-That signs outside stores mean what they say, so the gym by your house with the sign “For men, women and children,” allows women, children and men.
-On a bus with 26 seats only 26 people can ride, not 32 people.
-That the letter “p” is pronounced “p,” and not like a “b.” Bizza, Bebsi, Boto, Byramid, I could go on!
Other than learning how to never assume anything, at all, ever Egypt is coming along. Luckily I was warned by my good friend Maya, who told me the it takes at least two months to adjust to the Middle East or Egypt (it is close) and I should not give up until after a good two-months. Cairo has taken a solid two-months to sort of adjust to and I am probably still not there yet.
I have completely readjusted my definitions of clean, sidewalk, on-time, quick, dinner (which is around 11pm), lunch (which is around 6pm), breakfast (which does not really exist), early (which is now around noon) and late night (which is now closer to 4am than 12am), and weekdays (which start on Sunday and end on Thursday), but I am happy to do so. I can now tell whether or not the cab is taking me where I want to go or to Sudan. We have hot water in our apartment. I know the numbers one through 5 and a few vital words for directing cab drivers. We do not have Internet, that might take forever so please do not hold your breathe.
In the meantime I am trying to branch out and make new friends who like to do non-AIESEC things. New friend making was helped by my new roommate Chrissie who know teaches at Kenana. She is ton of fun to go out with and plans on being here for close to three years; she is hoping to go to a grad program at the American University in Cairo. Chrissie was greeted by no one because we were all in Marsa Alam for the feast/vacation at the end of Ramadan. Yeah for Ramadan being over! She had no room and for a while was living in the living room, now there is a wall sectioning off a good chunk of out living room. She does not have a dresser yet, but give it time and it just may happen!
While adjusting I have also gone on some fun tourist trips. The AIESEC bunch took a trip to Marsa Alam and it was nowhere near as awesome as my first trip. Traveling with 30 people who all have different needs and the ability to complain is just never fun. Also singing on a nine-hour bus ride makes me want to cry and scream and hurt people. So, no singing on busses for me ever again. Otherwise I spent two solid days on a boat diving with a good group of five people, all excellent divers and we had a killer time. Our friends who were snorkeling did not have as much fun and the guys who were learning how to scuba might not be certified. Traveling with 30 is never a good idea!
The AIESEC bunch also organized a walking tour of Islamic Cairo, the older part of the city. Beside being kept nice and clean for tourists the area is home to some of the more interesting and “Moorish” architecture in the city and lots of mosques. Our tour started at a glass blowers home who was really happy to have us all, about 20 people, wander through the twisting and turning five stories that was his home. We walked through kitchens and bedrooms to get to the top floor where we were greeted by a jungle of roughly blown glass Chiuly it was not, but I never liked him that much. Actually incredibly cool stuff and as usual my pictures do a better job of explaining than my words, see below! After the glassblowers house we wandered to a beautiful mosque. Religion and churches seem to make more sense to me in a city as crazy as Cairo, they are one of the only calm places you can find. Then we toured a little bit of Khan El Khalily, the tourist trap bazaar, and had delicious Egyptian pizza named Fitir, a yummy end to one very long and fun day.
I went up to Alexandria with one car, aka four people, just for the day and had a wonderful time. During the two-hour drive our happy group stopped at the weirdest roadside stop of my life, Lion or Tiger Town, I cannot read Arabic signs. Whatever the name it was a restaurant/crappiest zoo of your life. They had three tigers, three lions, crocodiles, one hog, llamas, dogs, fish, birds, red-butted baboons, other monkeys, horses, mini-ponies, goats, more dogs, one wiener dog which was caged and looked vicious (Hahaha), and the ugliest animal I have ever seen. If you can figure out what it is I promise to bring you a prize when I get back to the states. All the animals were in 19th century style cages, no room to move and they depressed me. Still, live lions and tigers are pretty cool.
Oh my!
Once in Alex (as the hip locals call it) we went to the Bibliotheque, a delicious Egyptian restaurant, King Farouk’s old summer home-turned vacation get-away/garden/beach, and the Qiatbey Fortress. I ate way too much, walked a little and touched the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, also saw blue sky and breathed non-polluted air.
In between Marsa Alam and Alex I participated in my first official AIESEC official event: an introduction to AIESEC for new members joining through Cairo University. We spent the day at a very nice country club down in Giza, tried to ride horses, but really spent the day napping in large super comfy chairs and finishing a good book. I did not participate in the conference because I had no idea what was going on, I was very tired and I also am not a new member through CU. I did learn a few basics about AIESEC, all very useful and will be saved for another post as this one is already to long.
A bunch of pictures should follow. Excuse my absence October has been a long month and has finished with a very bad cold and some tough stuff, but I will survive and try to make the best of it all!
Next stop the White Desert, more attempted horse-back riding, the Pyramids and beyond!
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