Beautiful Dahab

This week was a whirlwind of emotion... Dahab was one the most beautiful, serene vacations I have been on, I conquered a huge fear of mine, I turned 24, I had to come back to Cairo, I may or may not have flirted with a hot bouncer with big guns (arms) at a club, and then I got sick. Wow, there's a lot to write about.

I left for Dahab last Monday morning at 11:00 for a 7 hour ride in a bus. The bus trip there was much more fun than the bus trip back because of the excitement and all the cool things (like sand?) we saw on the way there. We had to go through several "checkpoints" on the way to Dahab, even though we never left the country. I'm not sure what the point of them was... but I don't understand a lot of things in Egypt. Our bus driver just gave the policeman a paper, and we went on our merry way. Once we reached the Red Sea, we could see Saudi Arabia on the other side, and we could see Jordan at one point as well. This will be the closest I ever come to visiting Saudi because, well, I would have to have every part of my body covered and always be accompanied by a man... basically. Jordan would be cool to visit though, so who knows.

When we (finally) reached Dahab, I knew it was going to be a great week. It was silent. There was no trash everywhere. There weren't calls to prayer (which don't really bother me, but it was nice to get away). And, I just enjoy travelling overall and seeing new places. Dahab is on the Sinai Peninsula and on the Red Sea in Egypt. We stayed in a cute motel (I need to upload pictures) with the hardest beds I have ever experienced in my life. There was a man who worked there named Makhmud who, in the span of the 5 days we were there, supposedly "fell in love" with me and could "see the whole world in my eyes." How did this happen? I'm not sure. I enjoy talking to local people (but now I know NOT to talk to Egyptian men). We would all sit around a big table outside out of the hotel and talk, and he would join us and make us tea. I would talk to him about his life, etc. and all of a sudden he was in love with me. This is another good example of the Arab world is very different from the Western. Of course not all Egyptian men are like this, this is one case. But I know of many other stories from other foreigners who the same kind of thing has happened to. So I'm not trying to stereotype Arab men at all... it was just crazy how fast he could fall in love with me. I guess I don't know my own power... that was joke.

Anyway... some people chose to dive in the Red Sea, others to snorkel. I chose to snorkel because I have a fear of jellyfish, sharks (which there are none) and an overall fear of dying in bodies of water. Laugh if you will, but I was TERRIFIED to go in the water. Sameh was our instructor, and he was amazing. He even gave me a wet suit so I would float more and assured me that I would not float out with the current and die. We also stayed with partners and swam around. So at first, I would basically almost start to cry at the thought of getting in the water and swimming around. This was especially true when we had a yacht (to ourselves) for one day and had to jump off the yacht and swim around. It seems like such a small thing now, but I am so happy that I was able to conquer my fear, and learned to love snorkeling. I really want to dive now next time I go back to Dahab, but I know I need to be more confident in my swimming abilities. We also snorkeled the Blue Hole in Dahab which is the 2nd (I think) most popular diving spot in the world. No joke. Of course this is probably because a lot of people have died there. We could see monuments to the people that passed away while diving. But this is because the Blue Hole is so clear that people don't realize how far they are diving down. They get disoriented, and die... or something like that. Google it. It was beautiful... but incredibly busy there. Overall, I snorkeled about 5 or 6 times in 4 different locations. It was awesome too to lay out on the beach (or on our yacht) and relax. I did a lot of reading, sleeping, and soaking up the sun. Of course I still don't have a tan.

On Friday, I turned the ripe age of 24. This proved to be strangely difficult. It was my first birthday abroad, which was probably the biggest problem. Of course, all of my friends here were amazing. We went out to dinner on Thursday night to celebrate because we would be spending 7 hours in a bus on Friday coming back to Cairo. Funny story!! A bunch of us ordered the catch of the day. (There's amazing fish in Dahab) Which means that they grill up a whole fish, and bring it out you... head and all. It's delicious. Anyway, they bring out everyone's food except for mine. I may have had a few beers by this time (it was my bday celebration after all) and I'm upset!! I have never been so mean to servers before in my life. It literally look 30 extra minutes to get my food, and all the while I am not being nice to them at all. I even made them give me a free beer. When I finally get my food, I say something like "Great, I'll start eating now that everyone else is finished!!" They just kept apologizing. Little do I know, that the reason it's taking so long is because they're making me a birthday cake. Am I the meanest person in the world? Yes. So they bring out a cake, turn out the lights, and start playing "Happy Birthday" for me... and I'm so embarassed. Needless to say, I apologized profusely and left a huge tip. Then we went out to the opening of this new club in Dahab. One of my shoes broke, so I decided to take it off and only wear one. Luckily, the streets there are clean (unlike Cairo). There was this super hot bouncer named Nmzy (don't ask me how to pronounce that), so he told me to call him Richard, haha. He had big guns. We danced together, it was fun. They also gave us free tequila shots... overall it was a good birthday celebration.

It was super sad leaving Dahab. It was so beautiful there... but now I am back in Cairo. I woke up this morning at 7 AM and have been sick ever since. I have no idea why. It's probably because I thought I was so cool for not getting the "Egyptian sickness" during my first two weeks here. Or maybe my new 24 year old body can't handle Cairo. Anyway, last night was the first time I felt homesick and almost cried. I've literally had 2 birthday celebrations here, and my friends have given me awesome gifts and spent time with me... but it's weird not being around my friends from back home. I guess this is part of growing up? And I just realized that I'm in my mid-twenties. I'm not even sure what that means. But I really don't want to leave this on a depressing "I'm getting old and I'm sick" note. Dahab was beautiful and amazing and I'm proud to have gone snorkeling, instead of just saying that I was too afraid to do it. I think that's what this whole experience is about. Doing things that I'm afraid of or that make me uncomfortable sometimes because life isn't always about being comfortable. I was comfortable for 23 years... for the most part. Well, that's a lie. I lived a comfortable life, that's a better way of saying that. And I look around here and realize how amazing my life is here and back home. I'm just feeling sorry for myself, and I hate when I do that. Being sick doesn't help the situation either. Tomorrow is a new day... and Insha Allah things will be looking up!

I Found my Zen

Vacation is treating me very well so far. Thursday night I decided to go to bed early... but then I couldn't sleep and my friends started texting me and telling me to come out. I have never been one to resist peer pressure, so I went out and met them at the ACE Club. Then I went to my first house party while in Egypt and ended up staying out until 4 AM. But hey, I'm on vacation. Yesterday I went to the biggest mall I've ever seen in my life!! It was 7 stories tall and so large that I can't even begin to describe it. We saw Inception (I've already seen it once before), and it was still amazing. I always enjoy going to movies when I'm in other countries because I feel like I'm at home. I also went shopping! And accidentally charged things to my credit card. Oops...

Everything in Egypt is brown and sandy and dusty. But today I went to a park where everything was green!! I laid down in the grass (that felt like golf course grass, but it still made me happy) while everyone played frisbee or catch, and I felt so calm and at peace. Families came to have iftar dinner there after fasting, and they were looking at us like we were crazy... probably because I was laying in grass and we were playing games. It was also clean there! There was no garbage in sight which was amazing... Cairo is a very dirty city, generally speaking. There is garbage everywhere.

Have I talked about the calls the prayer? I think so... they happen 5 times a day over a loudspeaker-esque thing and you can hear them wherever you are in the city. I can hear it in my apartment, for example. Every mosque (and there are a billion of them, approximately... that's sarcastic, but still) will do their own call to prayer. So if I'm walking down my street, I can hear 3 different calls to prayer at the same time. At the park today, we were walking up a hill and it was time for iftar (the 6:30 call to prayer that means the fast is broken and people can eat and drink). All the mosques in the city below us started their call to prayer, and they all happened at the same time. It was such a hauntingly beautiful thing to hear. I tend to think that the calls are peaceful sounding, unless the guy doing it has an awful voice because it kind of sounds like he's singing... but he's praying. So to hear a bunch of them all together at the same time was incredible.

I am actively preparing for my trip! I'm doing laundry... oh yeah. To wash a load of clothes in the US takes about 20-25 minutes. Here, it takes about 2 hours! The machine will randomly stop and just sit there. I call it the resting period... the machine is just taking a break. Everything else here takes about 10 times longer than normal, why not laundry too? Tomorrow I need to buy sunscreen, pack, finish laundry, maybe get a pedicure (which only costs about 50 LE here, or about 10 US dollars!!), and get ready for 5 days of fun!! I'm so excited to snorkel... even though I can't really swim. I have doggy-paddling down though, so I'm pretty sure I won't drown. I'm just excited to see the Red Sea! Oh yeah... I'm pretty sure that Insha Allah I'm going to go to Istanbul for spring break. One of my friends here is from Istanbul, so hopefully a group is going to go there! There are so many places I want to go... I just need to find the time and money. But it's what the experience is all about! And teaching, I guess...

VACATION!

My vacation has officially begun... and I am enjoying it by watching Hotel Rwanda on tv. It's actually a very depressing way to start my vacation... but it's a good movie so far! Update on my difficulties communicating with people: my bowab just came to my door and automatically pulled his phone out to call someone to translate! haha. I fail at Arabic. So far... And he always wipes his phone off after he's been talking on it before he hands it to me. It's so amusing. Oh Muhamed.

Yesterday I discovered the wonder of otlob.com. It's pretty much the most amazing invention EVER and I had no idea that Egypt could be so advanced. You register with them with your address and phone number... and you can order food from anywhere! And they deliver within 45 minutes! Have I mentioned that you can order ANYTHING and they will deliver? Groceries, medicine, food, pretty much anything you could ever imagine. So last night, I ordered Pizza Hut and they delivered to my door in 30 minutes. And it was glorious. So otlob is pretty much my new best friend.

I went to an art show last night where the artist was Egyptian and actually there talking about his work. It was really cool and I would have loved to buy one if I weren't poor. And there was free wine, which is always a bonus. Afterwards, I went to the ACE Club with some friends. I can't remember if I've talked about the ACE Club yet... but it's a club for expats living in Cairo. So I meet people from all over the world there. And by club, I mean a place where you can go, have a couple beers, eat food, and sit outside or at the bar if you want. It's a nice place to hang out.

I was at the ACE Club with a couple who has lived here for 1 year, but they have been teaching abroad for several years. I learned a lot more about the culture and the "class" system in Egypt. For example, the way a woman wears her headdress represents what class she's in. I also see a lot of women wear head scarves that are Gucci or Chanel or expensive brand names. I see a lot of Coach bags too!! So my Coach feels very at home here.

This JUST happened. I paid my landlord with the rent check that the school gave me, which is of course all written in Arabic. I can't read Arabic (I did teach myself the numbers though!). He looks at it and says it's not made out to him. It's made out to some other guy. Wow... I feel like a 1st grader. I can't even read to tell that it's not made out to him. So I call people from the school and they're working on it for me. You take things for granted in the states... like being able to read all the signs and names on checks. I did ride in a cab for the first time alone last night though and spoke in Arabic the whole time to get home! One small step at a time.

Ummm.... what did you say?

Today was payday... which is always a good thing! But then my day got confusing and I decided I need to learn Arabic at a much faster rate than I am currently learning it. I stopped by a small shop to buy some water after school and saw my bowab, Muhamed. I figured out that he was offering to carry my bag back to the apartment for me in Arabic. I declined, saying that I had my school bag to put it in, but shokran! And I went on my merry way. I wasn't home for 2 minutes when I heard the doorbell ring. It was a lady who didn't speak ANY English. And my Arabic skills are not amazing. But I figured out she was telling me to call the housing guy from the school. So I did. And he didn't answer. So I called my saving grace "M" who always offers to translate for me. Luckily he was available and talked to the lady. She was there to collect the monthly fee that goes to the bowab. So I payed her. In my mind I was thinking "wow... they really collect their money at the end of the month."

About two seconds after she leaves my door, the bowab and the meter reader come to my apartment. The meter reader sees how much electricity you've been using somehow. I don't really understand it all. I should take a moment here to explain that in Egypt, no one sends you bills in the mail. They come to you door to collect their money. It's quite strange. So I invite them in and the guy goes to read my meter (whatever that is). And again, they're telling me to call the housing guy. So I call him, and he answers! I explain to him in English what's going on, and he talks to my bowab in Arabic, and Muhamed gives me the phone back. My housing guy tells me to pay the electricity with the money the school already gave me. Since I haven't been living here during the summer, the school already gave me money to cover the electric bill. So, I give the guy his money, ask politely for a receipt, and they leave. Wow, I really need to learn more Arabic! And they will really come to your door on the last day of the month to collect their money. Luckily it was payday.

I went out with some friends to the ACE Club and came home to a pleasant surprise! My sister, nephews, and niece were at my parents house and we could Skype. It made me so happy to be able to see and talk to them. Even Chloe said "Hi Sa" to me because she can't fully say my name and she waved and smiled. My biggest fear (Ok, one of my fears about moving here) was that Chloe and Jackson would forget who I am because they're so young. And two years is a long time to be away. But so far, Chloe and I still seem to be "besties" (as I call us, and she laughs), and Jackson still is my little man. Mathew and Marshal asked me questions about Egypt and we talked about school starting soon for them. They wish they lived here because school is always postponed! Typical.

Then my doorbell rang again when I was Skyping with them. I answered it. This time it was a Chinese woman. I can speak Spanish and English. I can barely get by with Arabic, and I certainly can't speak Chinese. I just kept looking at her and shrugging and she was asking me a question. Then she pulled out of her bag the ugliest dress/nightgown thing I had ever seen like she was asking if it was mine. I probably had a disgusted look on my face and just shook my head. I said thank you and closed the door. But seriously, I don't know who would ever wear that. Hopefully she wasn't trying to sell it to me.

2 more days until vacation!

One Week!

Is it bad that I will be on vacation one week from today and I haven't even started teaching yet? I'm going to say that it's not because I have been in inservice for three weeks! I am so excited for vacation! One week from today I will be in beautiful Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula. I'll be there for four days laying on the beach, snorkeling, relaxing, and taking in the sun. It will be perfect! I think it will be nice to get away from the city for a while (even though I've only been here for 3 weeks)... but it gets tiring hearing traffic all the time and dogs barking and people yelling and everything 24/7. The only downside of the trip is that it's a 7 hour bus ride, but luckily it's with people that I know and like. We're also coming back on my birthday (September 10 for anyone that still needs to send me a gift, haha!)... which means I'll be sitting on a bus for 7 hours on the glorious day that I turn 24 in Cairo. But I've already made everyone promise that no matter how tired we are, we WILL be going out to celebrate that night. And they agreed. What choice did they have?

My Egyptian life was made a lot better today by a few events. First, I had Mexican food! I adore Mexican food and can't live without it, and realized that there's a Mexican restaurant about 15 minutes away from my house. I love Maadi. Next, I went to a house where a couple lives who works at the school. They had a bunch of stuff left over from someone who left last year to move back home. This was perfect for me because they offered to give me whatever I needed! It's really difficult moving to a foreign country and not having a lot of kitchen supplies for example and learning where to go buy everything and also not having a ton of money to buy stuff. So I took everything! I now have more glasses, a strainer, picture frames, towels, sheets, and a blow dryer!! I have been living with NO hair supplies since I got here. I also lived without a fingernail clipper for 2 weeks. Gross, right? So I was pumped! It was so much stuff that I couldn't carry it all back to my house today... I'm getting the rest tomorrow.

One last thing made me have a nice day. I hung up pictures of my friends and family in my apartment. I am slowly working on making my apartment more home-y. I figure I better try since I am going to be here for 2 years. It made me so happy to be able to look around and see pictures of the people I love! I also have the pictures of playwrights on my wall because they're my inspiration and because I'm just that cool. So overall, I'm feeling better about making this apartment feel like it's more my own.

But one bad thing did happen today. I went on a huge rant in my blog yesterday about Coke products and I stand by them! And I don't drink any soda. But I have been drinking Fanta Orange sometimes since I've been here. Well... I was looking on the can and realized that Fanta is a Coke product!!! I feel so ashamed. It really quenches my thirst because it's so hot here and it doesn't taste like soda. So now I don't know what to do. Maybe it's okay because I only drink it sometimes? But maybe I just shouldn't to stand my ground against Coke. But then again maybe it's okay because I won't be shopping at other evil corporations like Wal-Mart for 2 years. So it's a give and take. I'm going to give in and say it's okay once in a while. But only while I'm here and only when I'm really thirsty and hot. So there.

Tomorrow's my hump day! Yay! Only 3 more days left of work until vacation starts!

Can't I just have a telephone?

There's something at school that is taking me a while to get used to: the role of matrons. Matrons are ladies who work for the school; they generally do not speak English, they are usually very young, and they are obviously Arab/Muslim. Their job is to sit outside of the majority of classrooms and offices and... wait. Wait for you, the teacher or administrator to need something or need a message to be sent. Because we have matrons, we don't have telephones in our classrooms or a loudspeaker coming from the office. It seems very strange to me, but apparently it's very common in Egypt. So usually when I'm walking down the hallway, I'll see all the matrons sitting outside the rooms practically falling asleep because they're so bored.

I asked an expat who had been here for a while... what do I do if I need a message to be sent right away or have an emergency in my room? You tell the matron. And since they don't speak English very well, you get a student to tell them the message in Arabic. I used a matron the other day for the first time. I was working on covering my bulletin boards in my classroom and didn't know where to find the fabric that goes over them. I asked a fellow expat. She said, "oh honey, you don't do that yourself. You send a matron to get it for you." So I worked up the courage, and asked a matron to get the fabric for me in purple. Luckily, she speaks pretty good English. Did I mention that my classroom is right across from the head principal's office? No pressure there. So I must have the really good matrons by my room. I just hope I'm never too loud with an activity or something to make her mad.

Today we had to get blood drawn for our HIV test to get our work permit. I know, it seems a little extreme to get an HIV test to be able to work here. I thought it would be sketchy ... but the doctor seemed to know what he was doing, haha. The only thing that made me nervous was that he didn't wear gloves when he did it! Isn't that something all doctors do when they're drawing blood? Especially when they're testing the blood for HIV? Maybe the concept of gloves hasn't hit Egypt yet. Furthermore, wouldn't it be discrimination in the US to fire someone for having HIV? I guess I'm not in the US anymore, and hopefully I don't have it!! But how would I know? This is how I freak myself out.

I'm slightly depressed because I realized that I bought Dasani water today and I didn't know that Coca-Cola is the Company of Dasani. For those of you that don't know, I strongly boycott Coke products, and you should too! Coke is pretty much the devil and they have a huge negative impact on indigenous people in Mexico because they're trying to take all the clean water that's left and use it to make more Coke. They're also responsible for a ton of health issues and overall bad things. So I hate them and don't buy any of their products. So now I feel bad for buying Dasani water... but I didn't know!! And I only bought 4 bottles of it... so now I guess I know. Live and learn... and then only buy Nestle Pure Life water.

The Battle of the Internet

Nothing in Egypt comes easily. I have been trying to get internet for... a long time now. My friend (I'll call him M) has kind of taken me under his wing and is always looking out for me. He also speaks fluent Arabic because he's from Jordan and Arabic is his first language. He was very influential in helping me get internet. It took us FOUR trips to TE Data (my internet provider) to finally get it!! And I still have to go back one more time after I pay my phone bill to prove to them that I am living in this apartment. They can't seem to understand that the lady who lived here before me moved back to the US and that I live here now. They also wanted a ridiculous amount of paperwork, and practically my left ovary. M had to fight with them in Arabic and I had to practically cry and yell at them in English and tell them I just wanted to be able to communicate with my family back in the US... couldn't they understand that?!?!? I brought them everything they told me to and they still wouldn't hook it up?!?! Oh yeah, if I wanted to cancel with them and go with Vodafone who only wants my passport and telephone number... TE Data still wanted the same amount of paperwork. So I was stuck!! Finally they called a manager. And I finally have internet!! Egypt is crazy. I haven't even tried to get banking yet because it is even harder to get. In case anyone is keeping score... it's tied: Egypt 1, Sara 1. After I get banking I will totally be ahead. One battle at a time.

The Eid el Fitr break is coming up. From what I understand... it's the holiday after Ramadan. Even though Ramadan is pretty much a month of holiday. Anyway, I'm deciding whether I should go to Dahab for break or stay here in Cairo. Dahab is a beach-y place on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt about 7 hours away from here. Some of my friends from school are going, and it's the cheapest option. Other friends of mine are going to Thailand (which I would love to do but just don't have the money right now), or Turkey and various other places. I think I'm going to go to Turkey in November during the "Thanksgiving" break Insha Allah if I have enough money though!! I'm thinking I should really go to Dahab instead of sitting at home for 10 days and I can go snorkeling or diving there, relax, go out, and get away from the "big city" life for a while. Even though I've only been here 2 and a half weeks. That reminds me! I made the 2 weeks without getting traveler's illnesses!! I have been healthy thus far. I think this is a good sign... hopefully this means that Egypt is a good fit for me.

I went to Khan el Khalili again tonight with some friends. This is the big market I've already been to twice before. It's so much fun there! Tonight, some shop keeper told me that I have beautiful eyes. I pretty much wanted to marry him for saying such a nice thing... or not. Last night I went to the Air Force Club with some friends and had such a good time. It was pretty much the closest thing to an American bar I will ever get to here. I even drank Bud Light!! It was pretty amazing. I got home at 3 AM and decided it would be a good time to SKYPE with my parents... so I ended up staying up until 5:30 this morning skyping with people! That's only because I'm living in the future... 7 hours in the future to be exact. Tonight I went to the ACE Club again. It's a club for expats living in Egypt and it's fun to go to because it's cool to look around and see people from all over the world. It's also nice to sit outside with a nice breeze! I'm starting to enjoy it when it doesn't get over 100 degrees here!

I had a dream last night that I decided to go home for the first break. Which is weird because I've only been here for a little while. More things ensued while I was there in my dream... but I somehow lost my passport and was worried about how I was going to get back to Egypt. When I was working on waking up this morning... my eyes were still closed, and I was deciding on whether I was in Viroqua or Egypt. Then I wondered which was better... then I wondered if I had ever been in Egypt at all. Maybe I had never gone and everything that had happened here had been a dream? As much as I miss everyone at home, before I opened my eyes I hoped I was in Egypt and that it wasn't a dream. I feel independent here and I know (or hope) that after this experience I will be able to take on anything life gives me. When I opened my eyes, I was still here in Egypt. And I was happy.

One last story. At the market in Khan el Khalili, you can get your name written in hieroglyphics on necklaces. I already have one, but the shopkeeper was super nice and wrote out my name in English, then in hieroglyphics, and then explained to me what each letter meant. The S meant that I will unite two families, and I forget what the R meant. But... I have two A's in my name which means that I have a very strong-willed personality and that I am a goddess. I joked around with the shopkeeper and told him that I already knew I was a goddess and that my family and friends already know I have a strong personality. He asked if my male friend was my husband and I said... hell no! Do you think someone with 2 strong personality signs would have a husband?!? And he said yes... it would just mean that I'm the boss in the relationship. Haha... it made me laugh. So the moral of the story is that I will unite two families (like in Romeo and Juliet?... I guess they never united though) and that I am a goddess who is strong-willed. Pretty accurate I'd say.