New Job

So for everyone who didn't already know, I've decided to stay in Egypt a little longer due to a job offer at touregypt.net as a writter/blogger. I made the move to Cairo a couple weeks ago and have settled into an apartment in Nasr City, close to work and a little outside of downtown Cairo. Since I will be writing all day every day I don't know how much I will be able to update this blog but you can check out my newest article here.

So for all those interested in taking a trip to Egypt now is the chance! You have a place to stay and an semi-local tour guide. Book your tickets now. And YES, its safe.

Pyramids

We hired a taxi to take us around to the many pyramids in Giza and beyond. Driving to the pyramids might be the most impressive sight with the tips popping up over the skyline of Cairo. We made an unexpected stop at a papyrus store where we were coerced into spending lots of money on (I'm sure) overpriced paintings.

The pyramids were impressive yet somewhat disappointing. While their scale was spectacular, the atmosphere left a little to be desired. As one might expect, the revolution had adverse effects for the tourism industry here and trinket sellers and camel drivers are in dire need of some customers. Not to mention that summer is low season anyway. So every five steps we were hassled with someone try to sell us something. The dirt paths are not well marked though it is pretty obvious where the next pyramid is and there are no signs anywhere to indicate what you should be looking for in certain places.

The sphinx however was my favorite. Though it is being restored right now it is still a pretty incredible sculpture. And of course an independent guide there made us take the ridiculous photos with it.

We then headed past Saqqara, the oldest pyramid found yet, for a photo op and onto Dahshur, the red and black pyramids. The "black" pyramid looked as though someone rounded off the sides of it and we were able to go 140 m into the "red" pyramid but I have to admit I didn't really see the colors our guide spoke of. Matt thought it was about the coolest thing ever to be in a pyramid by ourselves (there was nobody else around!) but my claustrophobia caught up with me, causing me to nearly faint and I had to get out of there as fast as possible.

It was a long, hot day which required a nice long nap in the cab while our driver navigated the constant Cairo traffic. The great pyramids of Giza can now be checked off the list!

Sorry again about pictures. I am having trouble loading them onto my computer...soon though, I hope!

Cairo

I apologize for my absence loyal readers. I have been finishing up school and trying to figure out future plans plus study for the GMAT and saying tear-filled good byes. I will try to be better....

As most people may know Matt came to visit last week and we had a blast in our whirlwind tour of Egypt.

Our first stop was Cairo, a huge city with a long and grand history. Our first night we headed to Zamalek, the island in the middle of the Nile where wealthier Egyptians and many foreigners live. We walked across the 6th of October bridge, got lost but eventually ended up at La Bodega (http://www.labodegaegypt.com/), an upscale Italian restaurant for which we were definitely under dressed. But foreigners get away with everything so we had cocktails and a lovely meal which consisted of a veggie pasta and chicken stuffed with cheese and bell peppers.

I have to say that I am never more scared for my life than when crossing a busy street in Cairo. I have learned to stand next to a local and do as they do but walking the in the middle of speeding traffic has never seemed like the best idea. Regardless if you want to get anywhere in Cairo on foot this is an inevitable situation. So tip for anyone coming to Cairo: put your hand out like the force is with you and walk with your head up high walking at steady pace and of course be ready to jump out of the way of an excited cab driver. Check this out: Cairo street crossing

The Cairo adventure will continue...

animals

For all those who know me pretty well, you probably know that swimming has never been my thing. Fortunately, thanks to a snorkel and some tropical fish, I have become a lover of the sea. Most days after school are now spent in search of schools of fish and avoiding the beautiful but deadly Lionfish. Recently, we have had an influx of Jellyfish that I have been told don’t sting but I am still weary. Every time I bump into one I nearly pee myself, though I guess that is not so bad in the sea. There is one canyon that reminds me of the part in Finding Nemo where they have to bounce on the tops of the Jellies and I have to tell myself to “just keep swimming.” Our friend took us out on his boat last weekend so we were able to explore a further coral reef with a small shipwreck. It is amazing the way that the sea will just incorporate the foreign objects. The coral was just growing over the rusted railings turning them into a fixed part of the underwater life.

We have had a sudden baby boom in the recent weeks here at our camp. A stray dog that we had been trying to name for some weeks, which finally chose the name Heidi, had eight puppies last month in one of the huts. Because guests must have access to the hut a group of us decided to move the puppies and the new location was chosen...on our porch! After a few days of struggling with Heidi, who kept taking them back to the original hut, I has finally decided to keep her pups in the new location. While they were incredibly cute, they whined a lot at night but it was still nice to have them so close by. On Friday we had to send them to Nuweiba to their new foster home since we leave at the end of this week. It was very difficult to send them away because we have gotten accustomed to the pups and love Heidi very much. She even tried to protect me from the scary donkey, Mao, one day.

I have been trying to upload pictures but my computer has made this impossible so forgive me for the long break. I was trying to add pictures...

Could you have the hots for Bin Laden?

Bin Laden is handsome. I hadn't considered this either until his death last week. I overheard the high school girls giggling about someone they deem good-looking only to find out that they were talking about the infamous al-Qaeda commander himself. I’ve got to say it is bizarre having girls gush to you about the physical attributes of a person that for the last ten years you have only considered a fanatical terrorist. But I tried to be open-minded, reminding myself that his physical attributes have nothing to do with his notorious reputation.

They made the case that I must see a picture of him in his youth. So for your viewing pleasure, here he is:

I argued that the scraggly beard just doesn’t do it for me and one added that the nose wasn’t very nice either. But they maintained that he was definitely attractive.

Now this sparked my curiosity about Middle Eastern women and girls in general. Do many women find him attractive? Do teenage girls across Egypt and surrounding countries have posters of him on their walls like girls in the States have posters of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner? If you don't know who these supernatural heartthrobs are check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twilight_cast_members

I live in a pretty isolated community so it may be a little difficult to obtain further data asserting or denying that this is a nationwide or even regional phenomenon or if it isolated to the particular girls I work with. I hope to obtain more information and report back if I find some fascinating new information.

To Jordan and Back

Two weeks ago we had a long weekend and Mady's brother came for a visit so we decided to go on a little vacation. We managed to see two ruins, the Dead Sea and trekked quite a ways back to Egypt through the West Bank and Israel. This trip is best said in picture form.

PETRA

The view of Petra from our hostel the Valentine Inn

Ben's trip was themed Indiana Jones

The entrance into Petra

The long corridor

Ben in a bowl

Look familiar?

Every room like this smelled as if it was used as a restroom at one time

What blog post is complete without an adorable baby animal?

Ben and I celebrate our victorious climb to the top

Mady was upset that we beat her so attempted to killed Ben on the sacrificial alter.

Don't worry he escaped.

Eating bananas in your honor. You know who you are.

So many steps!

A man selling rusty keys, pots and bones.

The ceiling in one room.

The columns fell over before I got there, I swear!

Sheep are everywhere. There was even a flock blocking our way in a nice neighborhood in Amman

Jarash: Roman ruins in Jordan

Jordanian Bagpipes, anyone?

There were red Poppies everywhere

The Dead Sea

View from the resort.

Mady and I floating on top of the water.

Our journey home is much better described in words (and I was too tired to take any pictures). So because we had planned on going to the West Bank side of the Dead Sea, we had prepared to journey home through Israel. Honestly, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Our first stop was the border between Jordan and...we don’t really know where. We were dropped off at a group of buildings in the middle of nowhere not knowing what country we were in. We talked to some Jordanian officials, paid a tariff, handed over our passports (which always makes me uneasy) and waited for “the bus.” We waited for this bus for about an hour and then hopped on still not know where it would take us.

I immediately fell asleep and when I was woken up had no idea where we were or how long we had been on the bus. I had assumed a couple hours but it had really been around 45 minutes. The workers hauled all of the luggage off the bus and then proceeded to boot us off as well. We then waited outside in a line. We gave our luggage and passports to the new set official-looking strangers and continued on in the new line where our passports were returned. We bought some water with Jordanian Dinars (still not sure where we were but glad that this currency was still valid) and joined our bus buddies in a new line. Here we were asked the purpose of our trip. By the look on the man’s face you would think no one had ever thought to just pass through Israel to Egypt. After a few more questions and skepticism about not stamping the passports with the Israeli stamp (many countries won’t let you in with it and we could get hassled on the way to Cairo as well) we were free to join the next line. We finally found our luggage throw on the floor and this was the first time I thought my laptop was probably broken due to the way it was carelessly flung then buried under heaps of other baggage.

The next step was to take a mini bus to the Damascus gate into Old Jerusalem. This we did without a problem. When we were dropped off we were told to continue straight and we would find where we needed to go. We entered a bussling part of town which was so beautiful and clean and filled with more Hesidic Jews than I have seen in my entire life! We knew that we had arrived on the day after a holiday and therefore this day was treated like Shabbat. We also knew that this might be a problem. After getting lost and changing money we were informed that due to the holiday no buses to the border town of Eilat (or any other bus for that matter) would leave until sundown at 7:52 PM. That meant we had three hours to kill. We grabbed some cheap and delicious street food and went shopping for avocados and red bell pepper that are practically impossible to find in Sinai. We sat down on a street corner with about 10 men asking us if we wanted to go to Tel Aviv.

We arrived at the bus station an hour early so that we could be sure to get a ticket to our destination. Never have I wanted the sun to go down any faster than I did that afternoon. After about 45 minutes, Ben decided to check around the corner to see if the we were sitting at the back of the station which, in fact, we were. So we grabbed our stuff and waited with the rest of the weary travelers.

Once inside we were informed that there were no buses to Eilat until the next morning at 7 AM but that we could catch the bus to Tel Aviv (which we could have traveled to earlier in the day) and catch the midnight bus to Eilat from there. These are the times I miss the Internet the most. They don’t post this information anywhere! This is the point in which Mady and I parted ways with Ben as he was staying in Israel for the night to meet up with old friends. We had three hours to kill in the Tel Aviv bus station but were able to change money, drink an amazing hot chocolate, laugh about the biggest bagels we had ever seen and ponder why so many civilians carry large fire arms.

The bus ride was a nightmare. It abruptly made stops, stopped for breaks often and at one point during a break I looked out the window to see a Hesidic Jew put his fingers down his throat and throw up all over the place. He was then handed a soda and boarded the bus again. It was so surreal.

We arrived in Eilat around 4 am and were ushered into a cab and later joined by an Israeli couple going home. The cab driver threw their heavy luggage on top of my bag again causing me to believe my computer was doomed once again. We dropped the couple off at home and headed for the border which was a cake walk. We were greeted by friendly officials on both sides, who were very helpful. The problem came with the taxi home. There were a group of Bedouin cabs waiting for tourists to cross the border. They refused to drive us home without a full van even though we only live about 20 minutes from the border. Who else is going to come at 5 AM!!! After about 30 minutes we had a German guy heading further south than us and telling us he comes every year and that $150 US is a good price to pay for St. Katherine’s. Thanks to Mady’s Arabic skills we paid the equivalent to $10-12 in LEs and finally got home at 6 AM. I got no sleep and started school at 8 AM. Luckily it was only a 3 day week!

Dress like an Egyptian

This is an e-mail Mady received from Susan Hering (her mom) on April 1 in anticipation of coming to visit Egypt:

"So I've been working on the clothing issue...when you're waiting for the items to show up in used clothing stores, you have to be patient and often... and I've already found one perfect pair of lightweight, loose [pants] that come nearly to my ankles..and yesterday I found the most amazing find: an actual burka! How could I NOT buy it ($11.99, St Vinty's). It is not one of those absolutely hideous blue ones you always see in movies...it is a rather nice sort of pinkish beige in color, and made out of some light material that is kind of slippery. It does NOT have a screen over the eye slit, which in my mind is what makes it wearable. I think it will actually be a good thing to have along. That way, if my regular clothes ever seem too provoking for a middle aged woman, I can just pull the damned burka over my head and no one will be the wiser. It doesn't even take up a lot of packing space, surprisingly...it compacts into a pretty tight little roll. I am getting SOOO excited! Does it still get cool at night there?

xx Mums"

Mady and I then spent some time discuss what Mady should reply to this e-mail ultimately deciding that she would tactfully tell Susan not to bring it because it would just be inappropriate.

This happened to be an excellent April Fool's Day joke played on Mady by the incredibly clever Susan Hering who apparently has been a mastermind of April Fool's Day pranks for years. When Mady received the response we couldn't believe how easily we were fooled.

This did however get me to thinking about the style and dress of Egyptians and people in the Middle East in general. One of the things that I think people, mostly women, stress out about when coming here is the way they should present themselves. Some of the tips I received were to keep my knees and shoulders covered and not to wear anything too tight or revealing which I think are pretty common sense going to a country you have never been to before.

Since I have been here for two months I have see a great number of different fashion options for locals and foreigners and I will begin by saying that things here are more conservative and more liberal than I had imagined. I will start with the conservative (mind you this is all my understanding and may not be 100% accurate).

The women of the local Tarabin Bedouin tribe do wear the jellabiya (pronounced galabeya), a long black robe that sometimes is adorned with sequins that covers their arms and legs leaving only the hands and feet exposed. They also wear the hijab which is the head covering but is also the term for the modest style of Muslim dress in general. When a Bedouin woman is in a place where there is a chance that a Bedouin man could see her then she also wears the niqab that covers her nose and mouth, at this point only leaving her eyes exposed. Young girls do not have to start wearing this style of dress until they become a teenager generally and can shed it all if they are in the presence of only women or their immediate family. Women take pride in the clothes they wear beneath the jellabiya and dress up for occasions like weddings in long ball gowns. Men also wear a white or blue Jellabiya most of the time which is not well portrayed in the picture but you can begin to understand. There are extreme cases like a woman I saw in Amman last weekend who was completely covered and still wore sunglasses at night and had to be lead around by another woman because she couldn't see anything in her attempt to be modest.

Egyptian women do generally wear modest clothing such as long skirts reaching their ankles or loose-fitting pants and generally wear at least short-sleeved shirts if not, long-sleeves. But we do live on a beach and many liberal Egyptians from Cairo and other big cities vacation here and have a more western-style of dress that includes shorts, tank tops and of course, swim suits. There are many foreigners here as well who, staying at a beach, wear typical beach attire that are not all too modest.

It is getting much hotter these days and is beginning to be difficult resist just throwing on some shorts and a tank to hang out outside. Being a teacher here adds to the desire to respect the Egyptian customs and attempt to blend in a little. I generally brought modest clothing but can get away with a little more on the weekend when we are hanging out on the beach though we try to stay further away from the main hut and fellow workers.

And for the record, I have not seen any Egyptian women wearing a burqa.

Under the Desert Stars with Marshoosh

Day One
This past week we had our class trip to the desert. I gotta say at first I was dreading it because it would cut into the weekend and be 24-hour teaching/sitting duty. But in the end it was a really lovely and relaxing trip.

Loading up the van.

Our trip began with a 3-hour drive to a dirt road then another 30 minute ride in the back of a truck to a lodge in the desert near St. Katherine’s called El Karm run by the Bedouin tribe, the Jabaleya (which means something like of the mountains). The hills and land surrounding the lodge were numerous shades of brown with bright greens from the Palm trees, Paradise apple trees and numerous herbs dotting the landscape. Everything from the rooms to the dining area to the fire pit was lovely.

When we arrived Jameel, the owner, served us tea made of Rabl, which is an herb that is great for the respitory system and is a bright lime green color. It was really tasty too which I am sure was in some part due to the giant spoonful of sugar that was scooped in my cup. After we settled into our rooms and eaten our lunch of salata (traditional salad), gibna and pasta with tuna, Jameel took us on a walk to teach us the uses of many of the herbs in the area.

I was amazed by how almost everything we saw was edible and used to cure some ailment. We eventually came across a poppy (and a poppy field later on) as well as a plant that makes you "drunk for 24 hours." We had to make sure none of the kids tried to get their hands on that one. The place where we meandered was actually a caravan trail years prior and it was kind of funny because there were tubes and cables running through the canyon area transporting electricity from the solar panels and water. I imagined that it is what being on a movie set might look like.

The canyon

Seeds that use the wind to spin into the ground to plant themselves

Eating a sour flower

Karim takes smelling the flowers a little far

That evening a British man named Gordon brought his GPS telescope (not earth but sky GPS) and gave us a lesson in Astronomy. We learned so much: The numbers assigned to a star’s brightness, the different colors stars appear to be and why this is so, different constalations including the zodiac and that the north star is the only star in the sky that never appears to move. We also were able to see the rings of Saturn and the craters in the moon with the telescope.

Day Two
Today was our long trek out further in the desert though really the journey was a “U” shape and we ended up about a 45-minute walking distance from the hostel. All but two people rode camels (jamel in Arabic) for the aprox. 3 hour tour. It is currently mating season and our pack was feeling it. We had a group of male camels who were all sniffing each other out and foaming at the mouth. My guide Mohammed and all of the other guides kept saying that my camel, Marshoosh, is crazy. Though I liked Marshoosh very much, I don’t think he liked me. Every time we stopped he kept flipping his tale so that the urine residue would splash onto my back. It was pretty disgusting. Luckily it was never very wet.

Mohammed, my guide asked about my relationship status and told me that he had a girlfriend. Then he proceeded to ask if I wanted him to sleep with me this evening or if I wanted to go back to his place. He told me that Bedouin women only know the word, “no.” I guess I can’t blame the guy for trying.

Me and Mohammed with Marshoosh

We finally arrived at camp and said goodbye to our camels and guides. Our home for the evening was on the side of a rocky hill with old ruins scattered about. The ruins all had tiny little doors. We were informed that they were built this way to keep intruders at a disadvantage if they wanted to invade a home. Ducking down makes your rather vulnerable. Pretty genius. After exploring for only a few minutes, the kids discovered a human skull and eventually a human vertebrae. We played a few games and then set up camp. Camp consisted of setting out some mats and putting our sleeping bags or blankets on top. No tents for us. We are serious campers. For dinner, we had a traditional Bedouin meal of rice, potatoes, and meat that we shared on four large platters. I was taught how to eat by rolling the rice in my fingers to form a ball and put it in my mouth without my fingers touching my mouth. In this way, we can prevent germs from spreading and it is just polite. I was horrible at this and the kids made fun of me but it was a great experience.

They showed me how to wrap my head like a true Bedouin

Day Three
It was rather impossible to sleep in the last day because almost every kid was up with the sun around 6 am. Our guide was already making bread in the ashes by the time I poked my head out of my sleeping bag and all the kids were gathered around the fire. We all had some tea and had our fill of fool, salata, gibna, aesh (bread) and halawa bars. Once we had eaten and cleaned up camp we walked back to the lodge to rest before the group headed to pray and then drive back home.

The daily grind

I just received an email from Nancy with a few questions so I thought that I would answer them in the blog because I assume more people are wondering the same things. I will take you through a day in my life.

7:40 am: I wake up in the morning after hitting the alarm clock about 5 times and wake up generally 20 minutes before school starts. I get dressed, go over lesson plans for the day and if the wind isn't blowing too hard and if I have enough money on my internet USB than I check my email.

7:59 am: I generally start the walk to school. By then most of the kids have arrived and unlocked the classrooms. Each period is 45 minutes which can seem really long or short depending on how much I have prepared for class. I always have 6th grade first, then 3rd and generally 12th is next except on Sundays where I have individual tutoring with one student.

10:15 am: We have our first break. We, the teachers, grab the food trays from the kitchen along with serving utensils and head out to meet 6th and 3rd grade at one of the tables in the main hut. We all sit down on the ground around the table and one or two of the teachers serve up the food and pass out bread. This is generally when we get visits from many of the cats hoping to score some food but the boys generally tend to lick their plates clean.

Pregnant Julie on a Bedouin rug in the main hut.

10:45 am: We resume class once again for another two and a quarter hours. I generally have a break at some point during this time unless it is Tuesday and then I have a double dose of project class. Currently in project class we are gearing up for the end of year performance. I've just started doing acting and improv games with the kids which they really seem to like. We are writing our own original score for the play as well. If anyone has any interesting game ideas I would love to hear them. If I do have a break I generally dedicate it to lesson planning or reading as well as a much needed cup of coffee.

1:00 pm: Lunch time! Again we go to the main hut to eat. Every student has one meal time a week where they are in charge of cleaning the table. We generally have water to drink but Tuesday is the ever so exciting juice box day so we are able to each take a juice box from the hostel refrigerator.

1:45 pm: Many times 3rd grade finishes before lunch and 6th grade is done most days by this time as well so most classes in the afternoon are dedicated to the 12th grade girls. We never have class after lunch on Thursdays. Lately they have been making coffee which helps them stay motivated as well as their thankful teachers (Mady and me).

3:15 pm: School is done for the day! I generally get some exercise after school that all started the week after I arrived. For two weeks we had two men, Samr and Ahmed here doing Tai Chi, chi gong and Capoeira with our student, Sohaila, Mady and me. This was really fun and they were really excellent teachers. After this, a German man, by the name of Martin, also did some Capoeira with us at Rock Sea camp which is about a 15-minute drive and also where one of our students, Roxy, lives (this is her parents camp).

I now do yoga every other day with Katrin, a fellow teacher and mother of two students and my neighbor. We generally do this at her chalet because she has a nice outside area with plenty of space. This week two of the students, Sohaila and Sarah, Mady and I have started Billy Blake's Boot Camp work out videos. We use one of the unoccupied huts and bring a laptop to follow along and laugh at the ridiculously things we are asked to do. If you don't know who Billy Blake is I suggest you look the man up.

There are two kinds of places to stay here at Basata, the chalet and the hut. We technically live in a chalet but ours is smaller than most. The biggest perk is having your own bathroom and of course, electricity. These buildings are a little further back from the water but still get an excellent view of the Red Sea. The huts are where most guests stay and many of the workers as well. They are made of bambo and have no electricity but they are right on the sea's edge. There are two bathrooms on either side of camp that have solar showers for all of the guests in the huts.

7:00 pm: If we decide to eat dinner, it is served at 7 pm in the main hut. Lately there have been 1-2 tables filled and this is when we can mingle with the guests if we so choose. Most guests are Egyptian or German (or German/Egyptian) but sometimes we get guests from other European countries and even the States.

Evening: Mady and I are pretty good at keeping ourselves busy in the evenings either with school work, reading or making future plans. I also spend some time on the phone with Matt, who calls the Mady's cell phone through Skype or chatting online (if the internet is working).

It isn’t too hot here yet but we have heard that in the summer it gets so hot that you cannot stand on the sand. A woman once burned her feet on the sand causing blisters to form on her soles. It has been a little cold at night but the day is always sunny. When I first arrived it was quite windy during the day but now it is really only windy late at night. There was talk of a sand storm but that never happened.

There are a good many animals including cats, dogs, geckos, camels and many ants, large and small. I think the camels are my favorite. Last week we visited the camp of one of our students and I got to meet his camel and see one of the cats, Lotfi, we ousted from Basata a few weeks prior. Last week I sat down in the main hut to read. After about 2 minutes I felt a pinch, then another, then another. I looked down and realized that a guest had left some crumbs on the ground which attracted the small, biting ants and they were crawling all up my legs. I quickly got up and brushed them off my legs but I didn’t feel any better so I ran all the way back home, threw off my clothes and jumped into a cold shower. You can bet I will look down before I sit in the main hut from now on.
We have no TVs here, Mady and I share her cell phone that doesn’t always work, and we have slow but reasonably consistent internet. We have USB internet sticks that we pay for based on how many KB are transferred back and forth, though we are working on trying to pay an unlimited monthly bill instead. The whole camp is run on gas-powered generators that are turned off at various points during the day.




On the weekend, which is Friday and Saturday, I work on lesson plans for the week, study for the GMAT, wash my clothes all by hand and attempt to learn some Arabic. Arabic is quite a difficult language so we'll see how far I get in three months.

This is my life in Sinai. I love it. If anyone has any questions feel free to email or ask on the blog.