The Only White Person in the Room

The last 24 hours have been crazy! Last night I went to my friend's house for fetar (I hope I'm spelling that right) dinner. It was an amazing cultural experience! There were about 40 people there that were all friends with her family and everyone came up to me and introduced themselves in English. Some people knew about Hayah and were very interested in what I was doing here. They even offered help if I ever needed it during my stay here. I have learned that Egyptians, as a whole, are extremely hospitable and will help you out whenever you need them.

But on to the dinner. The table was full of food. And it was all Egyptian food! Everyone grabbed a plate, got some food, stood around and talked to each other. This was a challenge for me because everyone was speaking in Arabic. Occasionally, someone would come up and talk to me in English... probably because I looked so out of place. But I loved every minute of it. I don't think I've ever been the only white person in the room before who doesn't understand what's going on. After the meal, the table was filled with dessert! My friend's mom literally took a plate for me, and filled it with dessert. I guess that is Egyptian hospitality. It was all so delicious, but don't ask me what I ate. Then we watched t.v., talked (well, they talked in Arabic and I tried to understand what was going on), and my friend drove me home. I would say that every night of fetar is like our Thanksgiving in the US times 5.

This morning I got up at 5:30 to go to the pyramids! We went as part of our orientation... I'm not even sure what to say about them. I can't upload pictures right now, but they were unbelievable. I couldn't believe I was actually seeing them up close! I also saw camels!! It was all very exciting.

Tomorrow, I am going to the school for the first time! I'm pumped to see what it looks like in person. Oh yeah... I wanted to talk about traffic. It's insane. There literally are no rules. There are no lines to stay in, they don't drive with headlights on at night, there are no stop signs, no stop signs, nothing. It's mayhem. I don't understand how it works at all... but apparently it does? Also, cars park other cars in all the time. So I asked someone once, "What does the other car do if it needs to move?" Well, the person that parked the other car in leaves the car in neutral. That way, the other person can push the car out of the way if they need to. Crazy, right? I kinda love it. And taxi drivers will honk at you when they drive by to see if you need a ride... especially because I'm foriegn. It's kinda nice of them... but extremely irritating when all I hear is honking when I'm walking down the street. Sometimes I want to yell "NO!! I don't need a f***ing taxi!!!!" But, they wouldn't understand me anyway. So I say "la" (no) and shake my head.

Wow, I kind of went on a rant there. I've almost been here a week!