Two Weeks

Jake woke me up this morning with something like "it's 8:15." True to form I gave him a quite coherent response of "I don't want to get up," but when I did roll over and look at him walking out of the room he says "today is our anniversary."

Two weeks in Alexandria, and tomorrow is three weeks in Egypt.

We haven't quite figured out how to celebrate yet.

Jesus is way cooler here

I have been meaning to make this post for a while -but please check out the neon-light-up of Mary and child. I wish we had been in Coptic Cairo at night to see it.

Granted, this does not even compare to the giant tapestry we saw of Christ risen that was outlined (on the tapestry) in fluorescent green lights.

Sometime I will get a photo of the bumper stickers declaring friendship with Mohamed, but the idea is the same: religion is much more impressive here.

and now time for a real post.

I am exhausted. Everyone came from Cairo and Minya yesterday morning to visit and just left tonight and I don't know if I can even make it until midnight. I would probably be less exhausted if the last two days had not been the first break we'd had since.... last Friday. Otherwise my life has been dominated by teaching, lesson planning, and hunting for a meal.

Oh, and good news on the food front - we finally figured out where to eat. I always pronounce (and in this case spell) the name of the restaurant wrong but Abu Radiae is about three blocks away and for twenty cents I can get some pretty amazing falafel in a pita. I have also became quite the sucker for batatas - or french fries, which they treat like falafel and put in a pita with some cucumbers and a humms like dressing (but I think it sesame seed based). Delicious. Now a falafel and a batatas dominate my diet at less than .40 USD a meal. You really can't beat that. I have been meaning to take a picture of me chowing down on my delicious lime green (why is falafel this color?) meal, but never have my camera around when I am eating. It is excellent.

Of course, with everyone being here from other cities Daniel just followed the fruit and we also discovered a pretty amazing juice shop where I had excellent sugarcane juice for $.15USD. The strawberry juice there is also the best we have had since our first glass in Cairo - but is $.40USD. Now that I consider it, today I had a lot of juice.

We finally made it to the library today. With people here to show around we had quite a bit to do and see here in Alex... and yesterday was spent being lazy at the beach (where I swam in my shorts and tank top, yes I did), so we trekked all over the city. I wish I was a blogspot genius so I could figure out how to put pictures with each section of this post, but I am not quite competent enough yet.

So. The Library. I want to live in Alexandra just for the library. It is incredible. You will have to google it to get a better idea of the shape and how amazing it is on the outside (or just check out my Picasa web album), but the building slants in a way that you wonder what it will look like inside. We were charged 5LE (1USD) to get inside, but Jake and I are wondering if we can get some kind of season pass for the building... I want to go there to do lesson plans just so I can say I worked on it's tables and sat in it's curved back chairs.

We also visited the pillar of Potelmy, which only Julie and I payed the 10LE to get into, but it was completely worth it. Of course, there is one single pillar that is perfectly in tact, and two sphinxes framing it as if the Romans (it was the Romans, right?) knew that only that one pillar would remain standing... and then all sorts of other artifacts and statues laying around.... and of course because it is Egypt no one cares that you are walking right up to these ruins that are THOUSANDS of years old, and touching them and creating ridiculous photographs.... but Julie and I also met the most ridiculous police officer who after asking our nationality decided to show us underneath the ruins.

Of course, the whole thing was rushed, hushed, and he was very serious about us not taking any pictures of him.... but he showed us the water system that was used for the city. It was some pretty incredible stuff.

We also saw the Catacombs and while I could write pages I am too exhausted.

Granted, after all the time in the sun everyone was keen on eating somewhere Western with AC.... so McDonalds was the obvious choice. I am so happy to be curling up in a blanket right now, but am dreading the work load I will have tomorrow.

I only post on days we eat at McDonalds

I have a Skype date with Ashley sometime in the next hour and I can't wait. While I have talked to my family a few times since I have been here, I have hardly spoken with my friends at all so it will be refreshing to talk to a friend who has known me for longer than two weeks.

I really wish I had gotten a picture of the seven men lined up on the side walk praying today. We passed it in the cab and it was something worth a picture. At the same time, I feel weird spectating religion like that... of course here it is kind of not difficult to watch religion.

Oh wow, Christina is calling me! Two friendly Skypes in one evening. I guess I will have to finish this later.

Again?

Okay. McDonalds three days in a row. I feel disgusting.

I did check out chowhound and a slew of other food websites for Alex yesterday, but they are all listing restaurants that are quite the cab ride away. Last night we tried to sit down in a nice sheesha restaurant (where they are always beaconing us in) and order something a little less... greasy? fake? You know...

But the entire menu was in Arabic (if you are constantly harassing the English speakers, I would think you had an English copy), and neither Jake and I had the skill or patience last night to decipher through it.

In other news, I started my adult classes last night, and they went pretty well compared to the kids class - I am teaching both a level 7 and a level 9, which must be difficult for the students because the entire class is conducted in English. Level 7 was just alright, but level 9 went really well. I just think my life is going to be two full days of teaching and lesson planning before I get a break... when all I can think about is where I can get a salad with edible lettuce (the lettuce is supposed to make us sick here), and how badly I want to sleep.

The Inevitable

Jake and I just made quite the progressive dinner out of American fast food chains. Dinner at Little Ceaser's (yes, pizza again), then milkshakes at McDonald's. It is sad and pathetic, I know... but Ceaser's was out of ice cream and apparently I am just DYING for my face to break out.

We just need to figure out where to eat.

At The Beach: June 20

You might as well turn on the Avett Brothers, because that is all I wanted to listen to during the three or four hours we spent in the sand. We went to the beach at Mountazzah - which I could write out in Arabic script in two seconds but am definitely struggling with how they spell it in Roman letters. It is a beautiful private beach, and definitely what I needed on my day off.

Moataz, the IT guy who has become our tour guide is becoming annoyed with Jake and I, who for whatever reason fall silent when we are with him. He gets rather self-deprecating at our silence. I guess I just do not have too much to say about anything here yet.

However, the beach was perfect - and I went without a swimsuit because I knew I would much rather just sit in the sand and enjoy the wind. It was amazing weather, and I could have sat for hours in silence as if it was some sort of religious experience - which of course drove Moataz mad and so I eventually declared that it was, in fact, time to build a sand castle.

We had a water bottle and two empty ice cream cups -- which meant we were a little short on the supplies but I was ready to make it work. Running back and forth to get water for our castle, the three little girls (all in the same style but different colored bikinis) whose parents an umbrella away and had been smiling at me all afternoon finally called out to me.

Apparently, I look like Sara - and so our conversation starting something like "Come and play with us in the water!" When I declared I didn't have my swimsuit they were shocked, "Why would you come to the beach with out your swimsuit???" and I told them I just wanted to sit in the sun. That is when they started calling me Sara and I laughed, the bottom of my skirt falling into the water and telling them that my name was Christine.

Emptying my water into the moat Moataz and Jake were building, I went back to the water, where they asked me these questions:

"Which one of them do you love? Which one is your husband?" I explained that I had no husband or love so of course the next question was why I kept filling up a water bottle and ice cream cup (and why I wouldn't play with them in the ocean).

Where did these little girls come from?

The next thing I knew, we had a whole little crew filling up pretty legitimate sand pails with water and dumping them in the castle for us. Of course, they gave Moataz a pretty hard time everytime he just tried to wash his hands in the water, and it only took a few minute of my new friend's help before both Jake and Moataz had given up.

At one point a whole pack of boys ran over with balls of sand in their hand that were the equivalent of snow balls. When I made eye contact and smiled and them, however, they were completely discouraged and ran twenty feet away where they began working on their own castle.

I eventually gave up when the girls started getting sloppy with their water dumping - I was getting it in my hair and on my back... and with out me their to direct the water dumping and castle forming, they hand jumped on and crashed into its walls in three minutes time.

Our quest for food after beach time brought us to what I have been holding out on for ten days now: McDonalds. I had apple juice with my chicken nugget combo (juice is so good here!) and felt incredibly satisfied when I had finished my meal: Jake and I haven't quite figured out the food thing here in Alexandria yet.

After the beach we were both exhausted (and dirty), so we showered and then spent a few hours laying around the flat reading. We somehow ended up sitting cross legged on the daybed playing Guess Who - which our revised rules to make the games last a little longer (no repeating questions, no gender questions, no shirt color questions)... and then I downed the fruit and nut bar I had been saving in the fridge while we recounted our love lives. You have to love the roommate bonding experiences.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention a car drove by us in Mountazzah with a few of my lovely students in it. They hollered out the window to me, and I just can't wait to hear what they will tell me on Monday.

TGIF: June 20

Already the novelty of having Arabic everywhere has gotten old. Maybe it is just in our apartment that I have grown tired of it. I can't even figure out how to update this blog because Google has done away with English and decided that Arabic would be much more suitable for me to try to navigate my way through.

TGIF has a whole new meaning in Egypt. I have been exhausted since we've arrived in Alexandria and Friday, being the Muslim holy day, promises to be one day off. Regardless of the break, my body still woke me up at 9:00 so now I am trying to be as quiet as possible in the apartment. I really envy that Jake can sleep past eleven. Moataz, IT guy has promised to take us around Alexandria today - which he also did last night and I had a great time.

We went to a restaurant near the sea called Grand Cafe. We met three of his Americans friends, and then later other Egyptians. The Americans are all getting TEFL certified, something I don't know if I will still want to do after the first class I taught. Ryan, who studied in Jordan last semester had a tonsil infection that put Rachel's swollen gland to shame. The three or four hours we sat there was a nice contrast to the six hours I spent lesson planning - and not even finishing my lessons.

Sunday we start teaching adult classes as well -- two two hour classes. Tomorrow, I am going to settle with a cup of NesCafe 3in1 and start preparing. However, today is Friday, and I am going to enjoy the one day off.

June 18

I have barely been in Egypt for a week and already eaten pizza three times. It is sadly disgusting, but I have also had at least six chicken schwarmas, so in considering my lack of variety (and our lack of cooking appliances) I guess it is acceptable.

Jake and I are finally in Alexandria after a week in Cairo -- it is good to have a place of our own. The flat we are staying in is uber cute - coral walls, two TVs, decent AC and a quaint balcony looking over the garden -- the same garden of the building where we teach. The sea is about a five minute walk, and though I have seen the ocean a few times now from the street, I have yet to actually put my feet in the sand.

Today was my first day teaching - we arrived here Monday afternoon, I observed on Tuesday, and today the class was mine. It was awful. Firstly, the kids were just too smart for the subject - space exploration. They were shooting off facts at me in English about the sun, stars, and planets faster than I could respond. Not to mention the talking in Arabic, running around, wrestling. I am going to have to get it seriously under control. I am really worried that I may not have it down until next session.

In other news, I think the disc drive of my computer may be broken.

June 10th.

Cairo, the City Victorious.

Actually, I feel victorious right now - I just successfully made it across the street to buy minutes on my cell phone, then down a block to the pharmacy by myself. Now if I could only figure out how to put the minutes on my phone...

Important life skills I learned in Cape Town: Crossing the Street

Right now I am exhausted. It is an absolute fight keeping myself awake right now - I slept for a good seven hours on the flight, but I am still completely jet lagged and worn out. After checking into our Hostel in Cario, Jake and I wandered around the city for a few hours. The last hour was looking for Radio Shack - which we never ended up finding. We also walked along the Nile for while.

While in Cape Town, I easily blended in, here I am obviously American -- which is partially a handicap and yet the easiest way to make friends. Granted, these are friends that just want our business, and I feel like I am becoming well versed in ways to walk out of shops and avoid following people so they can just give us their 'business cards.' I don't really think any of these people even have business cards - and when they see us standing on the street corner looking around, I want to ignore even their "what are you looking for? could I help you?" to avoid following a man down the street so he can show us his shop...

Also, I get a few words out in Arabic and who ever is speaking English to me. I know that things take longer when I am trying to find the right verb, but let me use my Arabic. I reply in Arabic to the men on the street trying to sell us things - but they still continue to bother us in English. The thing that kills me is that I am even using the Egyptian dialect. I guess everyone knows an American when they see one, though.