Camping in the Desert

Last Thursday I was planning to have a pretty chill weekend in Alex with people coming from Cairo. But as I was sitting at work and talking to Megan on GTalk , I discovered a trip to Siwa that was about to happen. Since this was one of the destinations on my list of places to visit while I’m here, I started investigating a way to be able to go. I found out about the trip around 3pm and by 5pm I was officially going.

Thankfully the minibus that was rented to take us on our journey came to Alex so Jana, Mustafa and I didn’t have to travel to Cairo first. We ended up departing from Alex at 1:30am Friday morning. With a few stops on the way, we arrived in Siwa sometime after 9am. It was a long trip with little personal space. When we got into town, we stopped at a restaurant to have breakfast. It was a really nice place. The restaurant was an outdoor one with palm trees all around. The Siwan tea there was really good. After breakfast all 8 of us got bikes and rode around the area. It was such a beautiful place. The fruit on the palm trees had so many different colors which added to the scenery. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. We stopped to see a couple of ruins. I think they were the Temple of the Oracle and the Mountain of the Dead. The temple had an amazing view of the area where you could see a lake, desert, palm trees and mountains plus the town.

After the bike riding we went back to the restaurant changed and got ready to head to the desert. The restaurant had the best restroom in the town, so we lucked out. We took two jeeps to the desert. On the way there, one of the jeeps had some trouble so we had to stop to get it fixed. We happened to stop somewhere with a spring. So we stayed for about an hour while people swam and the jeep got fixed. We headed to the desert afterward. Once there the guides took us for a ride in the jeeps going down steep dunes. I don’t even know how high some of those dunes were but they were pretty high. The guys driving had serious skills.

We stopped so people could go sand surfing. I didn’t take part in that activity and once I did think about actually going surfing, my roomie ended up tearing her pants and getting a scar on her butt; so there was not more thinking about surfing for me. We later stopped to see the sun set which was so beautiful. Afterwards we caught up with the guides as they were setting up camp. Yes, I willingly went camping the desert! I still can’t believe it. I’m not a nature person at all. It was a good night. The sky was so clear and full of stars. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so many stars at one time before. A couple of us were laying down staring at the sky trying to find different consolations. And I was able to see a couple of shooting stars. The guides cooked as a great dinner: rice, salad, chicken, bread and more. After dinner we sat around and some were reading or playing cards.



When I woke up the next day, I couldn’t believe that I had actually spent the night in the desert. Once we had breakfast, we headed to a couple of springs. The first one was a hot spring. Temperature wise it was great, cleanliness wise, not so much. We then went to a cool spring. It looked more like a lake than a spring. There were different kinds of fish there. I swam with the fishes! I was really nice and refreshing. A perfect way to get some of the sand off. Man, sand hurts! It was really windy on Friday and the sand was definitely stinking and sticking to everyone. Once we finished with the cool spring we headed to this resort type place and chilled for a few hours. We had lunch there and played Asshole for the rest of the afternoon. Around four we left and went back to the restaurant.

We left Siwa and headed to Marsa Matrouh to have dinner. We went to this restaurant to have fish. They had some good fish. They ended up over charging us 70 LE. But after awhile we got it all straightened out. The ride back to Alex was as bad as the ride to Siwa. I got back to Alex around 3am. It took me forever to get all the sand out of my hair.

Now there’s talk about going to the White Desert and the Black Desert soon. I’m so happy that I finally got to go someplace besides Cairo. So it’s looking like I might be hitting these other two deserts up soon, Luxor later in October and someplace in Sinai in December. The traveling begins….

Good Times

This past weekend I spent the second weekend in a row in Cairo. As usual I had a great time; this time tho' was extra great.

I left work early on Thursday and headed to Cairo and actually arrived before the sun set. I bravely went on a Felucca ride on the Nile. It wasn't so bad. I think the one thing that prolly freaked me out the most was the fact that there were no life jackets. But I survived. I was a really nice experience to just float around on the Nile at night.

Friday I went to the movies with May (cool Egyptian girl who may end up on a traineeship in Chi-town next year!!!). We went to see The Break Up. I had already seen it in the states, but I couldn't pass on an opportunity to see it in Egypt.

That night there was a party held at Rhea's as a joint venture: Sarah's bday party and Mino's farewell party. Rhea's place was the perfect spot to have a house party. And the party was done right. Mustafa brought his stereo all the way from Alex. I was kinda shocked that the neighbors didn't complain. The party was a huge success. My first real house party in Egypt!







Saturday ended up being a more chill and relaxing day. Didn't leave Nisrin's til dark and then went to hang with some other Aiesecers at a cafe. When we got back to Nisrin & Luli's we ended staying up late having conversations on serveral different topics. Nights like that one make me appreciate the fact that I did come to Egypt. I've been able to broaden my topics of knowledge while educating and learning from others with different views and backgrounds.

I ended up staying in Cairo til Sunday night. Last week I inquired about getting a tour of the Cairo office of my company and took that opportunity this past Sunday. I was able to get the tour and have lunch with the country director and two other employees including Mustafa. It was a successful day. I found out some interesting projects I can be apart of. And I have seen immediate results. I've been working for the past two days getting things together for an upcoming event. And found out that I will be able to have the chance to work on projects based out of Cairo. Which means that I will most likely be visiting there more often, which I'm totally down with.

Later that night Nisrin took me shopping with her and I FINALLY found peanut butter. It's pretty expensive because I bought an imported brand but I had to have it. It's the little things that make your day, ya know?!

This week has been going pretty well so far. Jana came back from Sharm, there's an LC meeting tonight plus a movie at the American Center. And this weekend people are coming to Alex to hang which is great because I can't actually afford to keep going to Cairo all the time. I'm looking forward to this weekend.

Hedashar September

Today is definitely a day of reflection. Five years ago today an event occurred that caused a shock wave around the world. Because of this event there was action taken and the Salaam Program created. These events caused a ripple effect that has landed me in Egypt. I am here in an effort to help bridge gaps between cultures that unfortunately not enough people are able to do.

Have you reflected today???

Eight

Okay so I was just sitting here writing an email to someone when I realized that today marks 8 weeks of being in Egypt! (Monday marked 8 weeks since I left the states). The time did go by somewhat fast. I can't believe I've been here for 8 weeks. And I will be in Cairo this weekend celebrating.

"I'm somewhere in Cairo..."

I took a much needed trip to Cairo this weekend. I'm sooo happy I went because it definitely lifted my spirits up. I moved into my new place right after work and then got a ride with one of my roomies co-workers to Cairo. There were five of us in the car for a little over 2 hours. It was my first road trip in Egypt. Thankfully I slept most of the trip because it was a new experience driving on that high way. Imagine being on the highway and not having too many rules that people are following plus add a bumpy road.

So we got into Cairo pretty early. When I got there I went to dinner with the Country Director of the company I work for along with Nisrin, Mustafa, Jana, Mino and some other interns from the company. It was a really nice place. It was located on the Nile and very high class. I was able to have my first glass of wine since I came. That fact alone was worth it. But it was a very enjoyable dinner. I got the chance to get to know the director more plus learned of some opportunities that I'm thinking of pursuing in the upcoming future. More to come on that topic at another date.



After dinner we all went to a social gathering in Downtown Cairo. It was fun. Lots of conversation and games. It was really good to see a lot of the people I like to hang with in Egypt and see how everyone's doing. And of course as tradition has it, Nisrin and I ended up staying out late. I think I got home around 5:30 in the morning. But it definitely beat sitting at home staring at a TV in Alex.

The next morning or rather afternoon :) in a big group/trainee fashion a whole bunch of us meet up at this place with great fatir. Or so I hear cause I had chicken strips! The place was really nice and comfy. A place perfectly designed to accommodate large numbers of people. I think it was almost twenty of us and we all got to sit next to each other on this big couch. It was crazy tho' cause people kept getting phone calls asking where they were. Some how most of us had no clue where exactly in Cairo we were. So everytime someone got asked that question, they'd response, "I dunno; I'm somewhere in Cairo!" Hence the title of the blog. After we finished eating, I meet up with some people at this beautiful park in Cairo. I think the name of it is Azhar Park. We went to see the sun rise on the city. The park has an awesome view of the city.

After the park, Nisrin, Luli and I headed to the movies. We went to see Miami Vice. I'm sooo happy that English speaking movies are starting to come out here. Over the summer the only movies that are typically released are Arabic speaking ones. Going to the movies was a new cultural experience. When you want a pop/soda you get a can instead of a cup. The movie and commercials are played using a DVD player. So when they showed different commercials we had to wait for them to take out the DVD and input another one for the next commercial. Also, since Egypt has such a large population of smokers, the movie has a 5 minute intermission so that people can have a cigarette break. I think that was the topper.

We actually got back to Nisrin and Luli's pretty early at about 3am. It's the earliest I've ever gone back to their place. Which is good because it allowed us to wake up BEFORE noon. I was very proud of us. I had motivation tho'. Nis had told me of this place in Maadi that had American style breakfast. So I made sure that I woke up so that I could get me some grub. I missed out on it last time I was there. It was great. I had pancakes, eggs, beef sausage and toast. I was soo happy and stuffed. It was a nice family style breakfast. Nisrin, Luli, Kaitlin, P and I all made it for the meal. During our trip to the breakfast spot we were discussing being away from home and what you can do when you need to feel a little close to home. And Luli says that when she's away from Egypt she likes to go to a McDonald's to feel like she's back at home. Which sounds kinda odd at first, but then she explained how McD's is the same everywhere so you can think you're in whatever country you want when you're inside. Later we accompanied Kaitlin on her first Metro ride in Cairo. We all ended up downtown. Nisrin and I split from the group and headed to where Megan is staying to hang. Of course we both ended up falling asleep for two hours.

When we woke up Nisrin, Megan, Tom (former MCP of Egypt) and I walked around Cairo. We ended up walking from Pam's all the way to the Great Gates which is near Khan al Khalili. For all of you who know the distance between those points, you know we were walking for a good minute. After walking to the Gates, which I'm told is where people in Egypt meet before making pilgrimage to Mecca, we got semi-lost around the neighborhood. There were some sketchy moments. But we made it safely back to where we started and I had enough time to get back to Nisrin's to pack my bags. I met up with Mustafa and Jana at the train station where we ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for our train. We got back to Alex at about 1:30 in the morning. I was so tired. That night was our first night sleeping in the apartment.

Needless to say, I will be returning to Cairo this upcoming weekend. I'll get to go and visit the Cairo office of my company and hang out with more of the amazing people that I love being around.