Anjene

Switch

2007-05-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't heard, I've switched back to my other blog.

naynay.nomadlife.org

DISNEY

2007-03-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Disney was amazing. Which is saying a lot considering this was my third time going. But I don’t think I ever experienced Disney like I did this time. The first two times, my time was split between Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. This time it was strictly a Disney event. We arrived on a Saturday and left the following Friday. I hit all four parks; actually I went to them all twice except for Epcot which is funning considering that’s the area of Disney we were staying in.

I can’t even go into detail all of what we did; it was just too much. We ate a lot, we walked a lot and took a crap load of pics - well my sister Charli took the majority of them!

So my trip in a nutshell:
-2 dinner shows
-2 character breakfasts: Cinderella’s Castle and Chef Mickey’s
-Saw my two former roomies: Maressa and Carebear
-Wishes (fireworks show over Cinderella’s Castle)
-Fantastic (a water & lights show - the best thing EVER; if you ever go to Disney and don’t see this, you’re experience isn’t complete)
-Illuminations (lights and fireworks show at Epcot)
-Cirque du Soleil
-Saw Mickey three times (totally making up for not seeing him the first time I went to Disney)
-Little Sleep
-Plenty of Mickey Waffles

That’s about it. If you wanna know something more specific, ask!

What's a Geisha?

2007-03-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

In preparation for my trip to Florida, I went to get a pedicure. As I'm sitting in the chair, I over hear this woman talking to the man who's doing her nails. In the middle of their conversation, the woman asked the man, "What is a geisha?" The man looks at her like she's crazy, and replies, "How should I know?" The appearance of the man would lead you to believe that his family originates from a country in Asia or Pacific Islands. The woman then remarks something along the lines of "You should know. It's part of your culture." Now I'm sitting here thinking, does this woman actually know where this man's family is from or is she just assuming that he should know because he can be categorized as AAPI. From the response of the man, I'm guessing she didn't because he started looking really pissed and more aggressively states, "I have no clue what a geisha is or does." The woman keeps going on for another 5 minutes insisting that this guy knows what the answer to her question is and starts to appear in a very airheadish manner. Finally, she remarks, "You're Cambodian right? Then you should definitely know what a geisha is!"

I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that this woman had the audacity to sit there and try and tell this guy what his culture was and insult him for not knowing. Because of the way the beginning of their conversation had gone, I figured that she knew a bit about this man and she's a regular customer of his. But the minute she mentioned that he's Cambodian and still insisted that he knows about geishas, I just wanted to yell at her and say stop assuming one Asian culture knows everything about the next. And get your facts straight, geisha's are part of the Japanese culture. Maybe if she had watched the movie - that's what brought upon the topic - it would've clued her in.

In Egypt...

2007-03-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here’s a list of random things that I noticed during my stay in Egypt. I’m sure there’s more but I can’t remember everything! If you can think of anything else that should be added leave a comment!

In Egypt...

You can stay in the mall till 1am
You can smoke in the mall
Nonsmoking areas are the minority
You can buy two bars of soap, popcorn and bread for a dollar twenty-five
Two men can walk arm and arm without looking homosexual
Funerals are held on side streets
At conferences you have to pay for all your own drinks
One phone number for every Pizza Hut in the country - the same is true for McDonald's, KFC, Domino's etc.
Women aren't allowed to smoke on certain campuses
Shops have to have "no hassle signs"
You can have a french fry sandwiches - this is true with beans and chips
Pizza is served and eaten with ketchup
You can smoke sheesha til 5am
You can get drugs from the pharmacy without a prescription
The police officers fall asleep at post
EVERYTHING delivers
Everyone says bye-bye the same way
You can leave the site of an accident and not get into trouble
Money buys you everything
Getting a cleaning lady for 3 hrs = $5
A four lane road can become a six lane road
Road signs are only suggestions
You can see people fishing in the nile at 4am
Cats everywhere
The movie theater says the show will start at 6pm but it really starts at 6:50ish
There’s an intermission during the movie for those who smoke
You can find families walking on the corniche (boardwalk) at 1am with small children on a school night (in Alexandria at least)
Janitors can do all your errands, i.e. get your prescription from the pharmacy, withdraw money from your banking account or get a train ticket
You have a love/hate relationship with all taxi drivers
Bawebs (doorman) are the nosiest people in society
Your experience isn’t complete until you’ve been asked to leave your apartment at least once and only have two weeks to find a new place
A party isn’t complete unless Nisrin takes a nap!

Back Home

2007-03-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have now been back in the states for a week now and I’m trying to recap on the last 7+ months of my life. It’s gone by way too quickly and my automatic response when people ask me “How was your trip to Egypt” is “It was too short.” I wish I could’ve stayed longer but I know that this will give me the drive to go back and visit later in life - especially since I didn’t get a chance to see and do all the things that I wanted to do. My last week seemed rushed and came to an end rather abruptly. I left Dahab to enter into a time when I tried to cram in a lot of visits. For the most part, I was able to see everyone that I wanted to.

The last day/night I spent in Egypt was definitely filled with the presence of a lot of friends. Kait and I walked around Dokki to find some sheesha’s since I was too tired and annoyed of Khan from the previous day. Later Nisrin, Kait and I went to the Cairo Opera House to watch One Thousand and One Nights. Although it was incredibly short and started late, it wasn’t a bad show. I actually got to see some belly dancing that looked half way decent.

Afterwards I headed to Rhea’s for my last party in the country :-( which lasted til about 4am I believe. It was a good time and a great way to go. Went back to Nisrin’s with May and did some final packing. My duration in the airport wasn’t long at all. I think I was only idle for 5 min max. At first I thought my flight home would’ve been a grueling 12 hour flight but considering I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours nor was my audio equipment working to watch all the movies, I slept for the majority of the ride. Plus the flight landed an hour early which I have to say I was highly impressed since the airline was EgyptAir.

Kicked it in NYC for the weekend with one of my closest friends and my sib, Tiffany. Besides walking in some stilettos which ended up causing me great pain, the trip was great. It was a nice transition between Cairo and Chicago. Landed in Chicago almost 2 hours late and was greeted by my dad, mom, step dad, both sisters, my grandmother and her boo. They took me out to dinner and aunt Raven “surprised” me with her presence there. Unfortunately the person who came up with this idea, my uncle Troy, couldn’t make it because of the weather. Did I mention that Chicago has a crap load of snow - it’s actually snowing now and on the brink of a storm!

Since last Friday, I haven’t really done much of anything. Watched a lot of Law & Order thanks to my dad and the DVR. Currently I’m sitting at my moms listening to 4 little kids playing in the basement for my youngest sister’s pseudo birthday sleepover. Only two more days til my road trip begins tho’ that might get postponed if my phone doesn’t show up. I’m cursing the usps right now cause my phone has yet to arrive. And I realized that all but one biological aunt works for them.

I start work in about three weeks following a family trip to Florida and I’ve got a few plans to see friends. Besides that, no real idea what will be happening. And the year of displacement begins…

Catchin' Up

2007-02-19T05:06:00.000-08:00

Time is definitely going by quickly. It’s been three weeks since I’ve blogged and there’s so much that has taken place.

Kent and I watched the Superbowl kick-off on a balcony of the Marriott with the Nile to our backs

Farzina has gone back to Singapore

Meet some new AIESECers from Bahrain

Amanee and I have completed our work on the conference (well there’s still some post-conference stuff going on)

I got “locked” out of Nisrin and Luli’s place

Cooked a Soul Food dinner

Said goodbye to Dody

Saw Shirley at Horreya

Went to a bad belly dancing show, again!

Went to Chocofolie a lot

Picked Jen up from the airport

Ate dinner with Missy, Riley and Mohammed

Bought a crap load of scarfs – I was working my bargaining magic on this one

Went to Dahab

Climbed Mt. Sinai with Nisrin – the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments

Rode a camel for the first time – because I couldn’t actually climb Mt. Sinai :-(

Went Snorkeling at the Blue Lagoon, part of the Red Sea

Came back from Dahab at 7am on Sunday

Went to IPM 2007 Opening Ceremonies at 10am

Watched Missy play the cup game and break the glass

Went to IPM’s Global Village

Hung out at Salman’s for his bday

Wrote this post!

Okay now you are all up to date on my life. I’m about to start packing. Only four more days left in Egypt :-(

24 Hours

2007-01-26T02:33:00.000-08:00

The last 24 hours have been slightly crazy and extremely eventful. I woke up early yesterday to go get my ticket back to the states only to be greeted with a mass of people waiting at the place already. After standing around for about 45 minutes I had to leave to make a meeting at the Marriott on time. After a few meetings and mass of emails that I still haven’t made my way through yet :-( I left work in hopes of taking a much needed nap since the theme of this month seems to be lack of sleep but unfortunately that just wasn’t in the cards for me and start catching up on some news back home and emailing.

Finally decided on a date of some get togethers back home – March 10 for the fam and March 31 for my bday party; this will be the first time I’ll be celebrating my bday in Chicago since I was 14!

Later in the evening I headed to this Yemenis restaurant with May, Farzina, Kent and Mustafa. Kudos to Kent; he’s always trying to further my education about the world and made the suggestion to go to this restaurant a few weeks back since the country of the month for me is Yemen. If you ever feel the need to learn more about Canada – I kinda wanna make a joke here but I won’t – then u should definitely check out Kent’s blog. He hooks me up with some pretty interesting info about his country.

Anyways, the food was good. A big bowl of yellow rice with some chicken and lamb plus the awesome bread (pic to come later) and according to Kent some random pieces of animal hair – it’s good protein! And a very nice waiter who was more of a gentlemen than most of my boyfriends.

Afterwards I went over to Nisrin and Luli’s for a sleepover with them and Kait. It was lots of fun; after watching Luli kick Kait’s butt in Scrabble, we watched this clip on how incredible ignorant Americans can be. Then we played Cluedo – I believe the British wanna be version of Clue. It was a seriously intense game. Between Luli, Nisrin and I, we were playing our strategies hard. I just needed one more round. I was soo close but between Nisrin wanting to be funny and move me half way across the board and Luli beating both of us to the punch, I didn’t win :-( It’s all good tho’; next time!

I woke up early this morning to attempt once again at getting my ticket. Got to the office, a five minute walk from Cinema Tahrir, and thankfully didn’t have to wait too long before I could talk to an agent. Gave her all my info and debit card. Then the words, “It was declined” came out of her mouth. I’m saying to myself ok, that’s odd and asked her to try again. “Decline” Now I’m a bit annoyed. I have to say one thing about Egyptians, they don’t seem to care about others hearing your “sensitive” news cause the lady said really loudly, “You must not have enough money in your account.”

I’m standing there trying to figure out what was the problem. I’m asking if she can just manually type in the numbers b/c maybe the strip got demagnetized but she was very persistent in not taking that suggestion. She once again claimed that I didn’t have enough money. So I took my card and told her I’d pay in cash. Walked out the door and headed to the ATM and withdrew the money. I was already a little bothered that the price was a higher than I original had thought and then to have to go and withdraw money from my American account which charges me a nice little service fee every time I take money out here. Not very happy. But after figuring out how to change the payment from credit card to cash – a task that shouldn’t have been that difficult but it apparently was for her - I got my ticket!!!!! It’s official. February 23 I will be back in the states (I’m grinning heavily right now).

I walked home happily taking random pics of Dokki for my mom and was greeted warmly by my one and only doorman who speaks enough English to have a small conversation. I guess he was really please to see me cause he likes to practice his English on me and called the lift (another effect of living with Farzina!) and shook my hand. I was kinda shocked by that one but it’s all good.

It’s a good morning with lots of potential for the future. AND I’m going to Lucielle’s for breakfast; what more can I possibly as for right now ;-)

Catchin' my Breathe

2007-01-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Life has definitely been non stop lately. I’ve been meaning to write but have yet to have the time to really do so. The last two weekends I have been out and about and enjoying my last moments here. Last week I finally went to the Egyptian museum. It was okay but a suggestion to anyone who has yet to go – go there before you go to Luxor or any other museum or you might just be bored. But I have to say that I really enjoyed the mummified animals. There was a crocodile that was mummified and this huge fish from the Nile!

This past weekend I was almost on the brink of having insomnia. I was already tired going into it because last week Farzina, Kent and I hung out a lot plus a nice movie night on Wednesday – Night at the Muesum with Kait and her sister-in law; Pursuit of Happines w/ Farzina, Mustafa and Harrison. Thursday I got home from work only to turn around and start getting ready for yet another party at the Nay-Zine Penthouse (a new name coined by Mustafa). This time we celebrated Megan’s bday. It was really fun; much more chill than the last but just as unforgettable; esp. Kent dancing…classic!

Woke up the next morning and Farzina tried to convince me to go chill at a café near the pyramids, but I decided to go eat lunch with Megan, Kent and Dody – Nisrin was supposed to come but her deep sleep got in the way! After lunch, Megan Kent and I headed back to my place to veg for a few hours only to have a bunch of people randomly drop by. Some people in attendance included some fellow AIESECers from Madison coming to study at AUC, newly arrived IPM teamsters and about another 5 or so people. Oh yea, and May – you get your own shot out!!!

Later headed to a café for some sheesha with Megan Nisrin and the WI boys and decided to hit Alexandria the next day. Woke up early the next morning – had about 5 hours of sleep – and caught a train to the beautiful city. Tho’ it was only slightly beautiful that day; more like windy, cold and rainy. It was so windy, Luli’s car started shaking at one point.

It was a fun and much needed day away from Cairo. Hung out at a café for breakfast, walked around a bit, had lunch at the infamous Mohamed Ahmed headed to Roushdy’s Senter ElSalam (no this isn’t a typo) for bowling where Nisrin totally kicked everyone’s butt. It was a total off day for me; that and Megan kindly jinxing me every other second!

After bowling and some ice, we all headed to Carefour to see AAST Alex. It was good to see some of the LC – Alaa, Bahaa, Salma and Shazly. It had been a minute. I definitely have to head back there again and say a proper good-bye (I’ve been living with Farzina too long)

Anyways, later we got some seafood, a must when you visit Alex. Got to see Ahmed Badr which was kinda sad cause I had to say my first good-bye. I didn’t even realize it til Badr said something. It’s just gonna get worse.

Slept for about 5 or so hours and got up to catch a train back to Cairo. Got home took a much needed nap. Later meet up for Korean food with Kent, Tom, May, Farzina and one of her co-workers. It was really good and my first time eating the cuisine. And of course after we finish a meal decide to head for coffee and sheesha.

When I got home I truly tried to book my ticket home. I had the credit card in hand and everything. Only to read a line that says, this ticket is not available as an e-ticket and a few lines below that, sorry but we can’t ship tickets internationally. Thx expedia :-(

This week doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I got home from work today to be presented with this weeks plan by Farzina and it’s VERY full…

The Undiscovered Pearl of the Peninsula

2007-01-12T03:48:00.000-08:00

Part of my new year’s resolution was to start researching a new country every month. This month I chose Yemen. And I was informed by the wonderful Kent that I have to share my knowledge on here. Tho’ I can’t possibly put everything on here – I have about 7 pages of notes right now – I’m gonna hook you up with some info. I’m also hoping to talk with some people from Yemen before the end of next month to gain some more insight into the culture. If I get that opportunity, look for some info on that.

“The reputed home of the Queen of Sheba, Yemen has been at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East and Asia for thousands of years thanks to its position on the ancient spice routes.” – BBC News

The capital of Yemen is Sana’a. It borders Oman, Saudi Arabia, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. According to Wikipedia it’s somewhat larger than California and comparable in size to Thailand. It is the 49th largest country – after France. According to the CIA’s World Factbook, Yemen is slightly larger than twice the size of Wyoming.

The population is around 21.5 million. The people are predominately Arab, but there are also Afro-Arabs, South Asians and Europeans. Muslim is the dominate religion with small numbers of people who are Jewish, Christian and Hindu. And the official language is Arabic.

Yemen has a lot of history that can be dated back to at least the 2nd century AD. So here’s some recent history: North Yemen was part of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 16th century and again in the 19th century until 1918. The British occupied the port of Aden from 1839 – 1967. When they left, this area became known as South Yemen. Around 1970, a massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the south to the north lead to two decades of hostility between the two. They basically split into two countries, North Yemen and South Yemen. In 1990, they came together to form the Republic of Yemen.

Encyclopedia Britannica states, “Yemen is a part of the Islamic world and as such reflects many of the contemporary trends in Islam. At the same time, the Yemenis are intensely proud of their pre-Islamic heritage. The national museum in Sana’a and the archaeological museum in Aden house important treasures from this period. In their extensive networks of overland and maritime trade, the ancient Yemenis encountered myriad cultures and civilizations. There is ample evidence of Greek, Roman, Indian, Indonesian, and Chinese influence on various aspects of both traditional and contemporary Yemeni culture. Similarities have been drawn, for example, between marriage institutions in India and Yemen and between religious music in Yemen and Byzantine masses.”

There are 46 airports in the country, 16 of which have paved runways. There’s approximately 71,300km of roadways but only 6,200km of it is paved.

There are 19 governorates; the capital is treated as an additional governorate for electoral & admin purposes. The legal system is based on Islamic law, Turkish Law, English Law and local tribal customary law. The president is elected by popular vote for a 7 year term. Everyone else is appointed by the president. The next election will be held in Sept. 2013.

The agriculture consists of grain, fruits, veggies, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton, dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry and fish.

The economy mostly depends on oil. Most of the people are employed in agriculture and herding. Construction, services, industry and commerce make up less than ¼ of the labor force. They partner with the following countries for importing & exporting: UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, Kuwait, India, Chile, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the US.

The currency is Yemeni Riyal. 1 YER = $0.005083 and $1 = 196.75 Riyal (Yahoo! Finance, Jan. 6, 2007).

The life expectancy is 62.12 and the fertility rate is 6.58 children born/woman. Half of the population is literate with men dominating the skill.

There are 7 broadcast stations compared to Egypt’s 98 and the US’s 2,218. There are 220,000 internet users compared to Egypt’s 5 million and the US’s 205 million. According to BBC News, “the Ministry of Information administers all broadcasting through the Public Corporation for Radio and Television. It controls most printing presses and funds some newspapers. The press is strictly controlled and newspapers have often been prosecuted over political articles. TV and radio are vital sources of news in Yemen because of high levels of illiteracy.”

As of 2005, there were 63, 511 refugees from Somalia.

According to Lonely Planet, the places to see in Yemen are Sana’a, Shihara, Old Sana’a, Shaharah and Shibam. Sana’a is believed by many Yemenis to be the first sites of human settlement, founded by Noah’s son, Shem. Sana’a is now sprawled outside the walls and many homes in the Old City are over 400 years old. The area within the walls is the largest preserved medina in the Arab world. In Old Sana’a, the town is so perfectly preserved it is said that you can walk on a square km without coming across a single new building. The old city is famous for its 14,000 tower houses which reach up to six or eight stories high.

Anything that wasn’t specifically sited came from the CIA’s World Factbook. Hope you enjoyed learning about a new country ;-)

Animal Moments

2007-01-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

ok so i have seriously taken for granted the wondeful animals that surround me everday here. as i walked home from work today i caught a glimpse of a sight that i rarely pay attention to anymore. a man sitting in a cart being pulled by two donkeys down my street - a very busy street in dokki. i have to say, anyone who's willing to be in that cart while being surrounded by the driving in cairo gets points in my book. and they guy made the donkeys u-turn along with the cars.

i see stuff like this all the time and i think i've gotten used to it. i'm starting to wonder if i'll be sad when i go home and look at my neighbors roof but am unable to find several chickens playing in the morning. or walk down the street with friends and be heart broken not to see lambs, camels, cows or goats....

now, don't think that there are animals just randomly roaming the streets of egypt - well besides cats. it's just that its a new experience (well not anymore) to be able to walk down a street and see some animal tied up and kickin it 5 feet from you. especially when it's near an Islamic holiday. boy, the animals you get to see then.

New Year update

2007-01-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

So it’s been awhile since the last time I wrote…last year to be exact! Since Christmas I’ve gone on random excursions to ice cream shops in Nasr City, bought a new coat (I’m now a very warm person), partied in Alexandria and learned about a new culture.

Myself and 12 other trainees/aiesec people/friends spent new years eve in Alexandria. We bought tickets to this nice dinner held at a hall near the Hilton. There was a belly dance, tho’ not the nicest one I could’ve known and a DJ. Tho’ it wasn’t the music we were hoping for, we made the most of the night.

Part of my new year’s resolution is to learn about a new country each month. This month I started with Yemen. It’s pretty interesting stuff. Look for a blog later this month to learn some interesting facts on the country.

Another resolution – one Farzina and I both share – is to explore Cairo more. We’ve already started wandering around the city and created a game plan for the next few weeks. This will be great considering neither one of us has really gotten to know the city and we’re both leaving soon. Farzina in about three weeks and I’m leaving around Feb. 23. It’s actually crazy because a week ago today I was supposed to leave Egypt.

Anyways, tonight was our first real Cairo outing. We headed to the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art, which was supposed to be free, but found out that they wanted to charge us! First it was 10LE, then 5LE, then 50LE and finally 15LE :-o So we decided not to go and just walked around the grounds which also included the Cairo Opera House, a Museum Library and more. Afterwards we dined at Peking in Zamalek and then had desert a Joffery’s. If you haven’t gone to this place, you should try. They have amazing treats.

Tomorrow there’s a movie night and later this week the Egyptian Museum, two other museums and some exploring of Coptic Cairo and of course more great dining!

2006 Reflection

2006-12-30T03:55:00.000-08:00

It’s almost that time of the year when we have to say good-bye to it. It is amazing to me that in only two days it will be 2007. 2006 went so fast. There were times when it seemed like it would never come to an end; but here I sit reflecting on this past year, the good and the bad. I can’t even think of a word to describe all the things that happened this year.

This time last year was actually quite stressful. And probably caused a domino affect on how things turned out for me this year. If you were at WSC in Dayton, you know how crazy things were. It wasn’t the best way to start of the New Year. But yet, I got through it and luckily didn’t go insane by May.

2006 marked a lot of milestones for me.

This year I entered my third semester as LCP and third year in AIESEC.
It was the year green became my favorite color ;)
I got a reality check on a few of my friendships and relationships.
I got over some heartache but then drama decided to resurface itself back into my life, yay – oh how I love sarcasm.
I went to a ball
I graduated in FOUR years from Miami University and owe not a cent to the school but…I still have loans :(
I moved out of #25; a place I called home for 2 years with two great friends.
I had to leave my friends, um correction family, of four years
I had dinner with my two dads.
I got a new car :)
I left the country for the first time ever, and did it on my own (the physical part, not the financial – thx fam!)
I went more than a week without watching my soaps – been watching Y&R for 11 years, so this was a hard thing
I was reunited with Nisrin – still amazes me that we both ended up in Egypt together, AND live across the street from each other
I’ve met and befriended people from every continent
Was able to see some old friends
I saw the Pyramids of Giza & the Sphinx
I walked along the Mediterranean & Red Sea
I got an awesome buddy, friend & coworker :)
I camped in the desert – soooo not a thing I would normally do
I lived in my first apartment by myself – but it was only for a week!
I learned to say “Ana Amrekeya. Ana mean Chicago.”
I learned to cross the street in Egypt
I moved 4 times in 5 months
I moved in with the best roomie
I’ve gained an international perspective

And this is just what I can think of off the top of my head. This year was an absolute rollercoaster from beginning to end. It started off crazy and I have a feeling it will end that way. I owe a lot of thanx to many people who supported me and were there for me through thick and thin. Too many people to name but you know who you are.

So with NYE being less than 48 hours away, I can’t help but reflect on all the things I accomplished and still strive to achieve.

I was supposed to fly home in three days but extended my time here. And I’m happy I did for many reasons. I think in a way the thought of ’07 kinda scares me. This is the year of the unknown for me. I’ve accomplished everything I’ve wanted to do up until this point. I graduated when I wanted to (summer school was worth it now that I looked back). I made my goal of coming to Egypt – something I decided on two years ago btw – a reality. The next thing on my list is grad school but that won’t start becoming a reality for another 3 years. I basically know what’s in store for me until April. Maybe my week in Disney with the fam will get me prepared and energized for the unexpected. Here’s to 2007…Out with the old and in with the new ;)

Post-Christmas

2006-12-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas has now come and gone but it still doesn't feel like the holidays.

Farzina and I had an awesome Christmas party; we even decorated the apartment with Christmas lights on the windows and trimming along the walls. I spent Christmas day basically at Nisrin's – watched t.v., fell asleep at 6am, woke up at 4am, went home to shower and change, went shopping for food at 6pm, started cooking at 7pm, ate around 11pm (one of these days we will start designing our menu around the size of Nisrin's oven!)

The food was random – a 5 layer taco dip, a chicken & potato with lemon flavor baked/stove thing :) some other veggies and desert was fudge brownies. The company was good – Nisrin, Kenny, Dody, Mike and May. It was cool to have a chilled out Christmas.

I was even able to talk on the phone with all my parents and siblings on the same day; which I probably haven't done since I graduated from Miami .

All in all, it was a good weekend; I guess I just don't feel the holiday spirit here. Tho' I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of spirit soon since next week is another Eid! Yay more cultural learning :)

Santa Claus

2006-12-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

as i was leaving zamalek today after an amideast intern dinner, i caught a clipse of something familiar in the window of diwan. it was santa claus! it kinda shocked me yet made me smile. besides the random places selling christmas trees (and the one standing outside of my office) i haven't seen much christmas paraphenelia around. i was in a taxi back to dokki when some other interns when i saw santa. we quickly and joyfully waved to him and he waved back as jolly as santa should. this made me look forward to the upcoming holiday season.

what also added to my day was the post that went out over egypt trainee voice from tom trying to get everyone together for christmas day. it seems that there are quite a few people that will be around; kudos to tom for being proactive :)

so it seems that my holidays won't be too bad. the 22nd will be Farzina & Nay-Nay's Christmas Bash/Thomas' going away party. and the 25th will be christmas dinner with friends; what more can you ask for when you can't share this time with your family?

'Tis the season ;)

Living la Vida Cairo

2006-12-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

I’m totally strugglin’ right now to even write this, so bare with me! Alright so I’ve been in Cairo for about 5 days and things have been going on non-stop ever since. I arrived to Cairo to find an awesome apartment – kudos to Farzina for the find! It’s on the 18th loor of a building on Tahir Street, across from Cinema Tahir. It’s a two floor apartment; my room is on the second floor. I live with three other girls, Lizzy & Abby who are students at AUC, and Farzina, another AIESEC trainee. Farzina has an awesome room with a view of the Nile on the left and the Giza pyramids to the right, tho only really visible on a non polluted day. My view is of the Nile and much of Cairo, Dokki and Zamalek. I’ve got my own bathroom and a sweet lounge area outside my room.

Got to Cairo Saturday afternoon and was quickly welcomed by most of the people I know here. For about 5 hours, we had people coming in and out of the apartment. Next day headed to work; did I mention that my office is a 10-15 minute walk from my place?! Work was crazy; we were in the middle of doing all the final things for the company’s 50th anniversary gala dinner and symposium held Tuesday and today.

Working on these events have added to my ability to not sleep well. I got to work at 1pm yesterday (at the Four Seasons) and left at about 11am. Tho’ it was worth it. It was our gala dinner, and there were so many important people there from Egypt and America. The First Lady of Egypt gave the keynote speech. There were ambassadors there, CEOs from different corporations. Mobinil, GE, USAID were just few of the companies/organizations in attendance. It was amazing. Especially all the security. You couldn’t enter the event unless you had a stamped invitation from the Egyptian government. They had dogs sweep the room several times before the event to ensure the safety of the First Lady. Tons of guards, dogs and large guns were present at the beginning, thankfully they were well hidden throughout the event.

After learning that I had to be at work at 7:30am today, I went straight home and headed to bed. Woke up this morning soo tired and headed back to the Four Seasons (which I can see from my bedroom window). Worked towards getting the symposium ready. It went really well. Dina Habib Powell, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Educational and Cultural Affairs gave the second keynote speakers. There were also two panel discussions. The first one was about Education, Training and Job Creation. The second panel was about International Educational Exchanges and Linkages.

There were some really interesting information presented. It was mentioned repeatedly that the educational system here needs to be demand driven. There are a lot of people getting the opportunity to have a higher education, but there aren’t enough jobs available. One speaker, Dr. Dell Felder, made a couple of comments that I think were really important. “Teachers pass knowledge into their students, who passively accept what they’re taught” and “Women are an undeveloped economical resource.” It was just really great to hear people discuss how important education is.

After the event and lunch, I headed home and crashed. Now that this event is over, I have to start concentrating full-time on the upcoming conference I’m helping to plan. I just learned that all of my roomies are going to be gone for Christmas, so I’ll have the apartment to myself :( Anyone wanna hang out on Decemeber 25th with me? At least I know I’ll be around people for New Years. Gotta start making those Dahab plans soon.

New Apartment

2006-11-29T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yay, I got the apartment I wanted :) I can't even express how happy and relieved I am! yall I'm moving to Cairo FINALLY. More details to come....

Thanksgiving Weekend

2006-11-27T05:14:00.000-08:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, things have been a little crazy lately. This past weekend was no different. It all started last Wednesday as I headed to Cairo – gotta love working for an American company that understands the importance of not working on turkey day :)

Wednesday was Nisrin’s “surprise” bday party so I left work early to be there. May and I finished up some errands for the party after she picked me up from the train station. It was held at the Nile Hilton. It was a really chill place. Kicked it there for about four or five hours and had an intriguing conversation with Kent about the differences between a sweet potato and a yam. After we left there we headed to Abu Rami’s and got some chicken shawarma – btw if you’re in Cairo and you haven’t been here, you gotta go; it’s the best shawarma place.

After eating we headed to a café to chill some more. And that’s when Nisrin got her surprise. After a lot of conniving, May surprised Nisrin and picked up our friend Sarah S. from the airport and brought her to us. Nisrin, Sarah and I all went to Miami together and it had been a while since we’d seen each other. I have to say that from the look on Nisrin face, she was totally shocked. Now it’s about 4 in the morning and May is trying to get us all to stay up and watch the sunrise – thankfully we got out of it ‘cause everyone else was sooo tired. I was so exhausted that when we went and took Sarah to her hotel, I ended up sleeping there. Never get into a bed when you’re extremely tired and expect to actually get out of it before you catch some Zs!

The next morning Megan, Nisrin, Sarah and I got some breakfast from GAD – mmm…more chicken shawarma and fatire :) Afterwards we headed downtown and walked around for a few hours. It was pretty cool because I got to see more of Cairo. After getting some sweet potatoes off the street – over priced btw – and finding a taxi after about twenty minutes of trying, we headed back to Dokki to start working on Thanksgiving dinner.

Dinner was really good. It was a pretty nice size group of people – Sarah F., Angela, Megan, Nisrin, Sarah S., Kent, Tom, Simon, myself and a few other people. When I first realized that I wouldn’t be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I thought it was going to be so difficult to be away from my family. But it really wasn’t that bad. I was with another family that I belong to and had the opportunity to share the day with them. It didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving to me until I got a phone call from my mom while I cooking some sweet potatoes. Apparently a lot of people back home think I’m never coming home – no worries I’ll be back soon!

Later I headed to a BBQ where another group of friends were hanging out. I’m happy I went ‘cause I was able to chill with some people I hadn’t seen in awhile. Rhea, for example, I hadn’t seen her in almost a month :( Harrison, Githanjali, Mustafa, Farzina, Miguel, Salman, Percy, Nader, Mazhar and more were all in attendance. It was cool to sit and talk with Nader and Mazhar for a while, something else I hadn’t done in a while, even tho’ I was totally freezing outside on the balcony!

Got home around 4am and crashed. Woke up to my cell phone ringing around 10am. I went looking at an apartment when I finally got the strength to get outta bed. After departing from Megan, Tom and Simon after looking at an apartment, I met up with Nisrin and Sarah as we searched the streets of Cairo for a duty free shop – much love to people who fly into Egypt! Later we meet back up with Tom and headed to Al-Azhar Park to see the sun set. Because of all the wonderful pollution Cairo has, all we saw was clouds with a bright light shining through. The Call to Prayer was cool to hear there as well.

We left the park and went to Khan el-Khalili (a market place). We stopped and grab some food. It was pretty descent kofta, grilled chicken and mac -n- cheese. We wondered about the bizarre and then sat down at the Egyptian Pancake House. OMG, the place has the best fateer. We split one that had bananas in it. Amazing. Dang, now I’m hungry lol.

Later Nisrin, Sarah and I ended up in Sarah’s hotel room pre-gaming for a night of clubbin’. It was really good to be able to chat with a group of girls like back at home. We ended up at this club called Space which was totally dead – Bling Bling was having a private party, so we couldn’t go there. We went in anyways and had a great time. It was techno night and I quickly needed to hear some hip-hop. Thankfully, the rest of the group agreed. After a lot of discussion and getting the manager involved, we got our hip-hop :) The club was mad far. It was about a fifteen pound ride and thankfully it wasn’t too bad getting a taxi back to Garden City and Dokki at 3:30am.

I quickly passed out when we got back to the hotel room – we knew trying to climb six flights of stairs wasn’t an option. The next day (Saturday) came all too quickly. Nisrin, Sarah and I went to Maison Thomas for breakfast and had some really good Mexican pizza. Sarah headed to the museum and Nis and I went on a mission to find a turkey. We did find one, but unfortunately when we got back to Nis’ the bird wouldn’t fit in the oven. Purvi to the rescue, ‘cause she let us come over and cook at her place. (There was a lot of rescuing going on the weekend, sah?!) Dinner was supposed to be served at 7pm, but the bird didn’t even get into the over til 6pm, so….Sarah, Nisrin, Kenny, Purvi, May, Luli and I chilled at Purvi’s til the bird was done – 10pm. Between this time, I left Zamalek and went back to Dokki to check out another apartment with Farzina. Unfortunately we missed the girls who already live there so I wasn’t able to see the place :(

Got back to Zamalek about thirty minutes before the bird was done. We all piled up and headed to Heliopolis for a Saturday Thanksgiving dinner. We had dinner at Nora’s. The place was amazing. We ate with formal dinning ware and everything – I can’t remember the last time I used a gravy bowl lol. It was a really delicious meal, even tho’ we didn’t eat til midnight.

Left Heliopolis and got back to Nis/Luli’s around 2am – early right? Not when you have a 6am train back to Alex :-O And of course I missed it. I was supposed to wake up Badr and he ended up calling and waking me up. After rushing to the train station – and happy the taxi driver knew what I was saying when I asked to be taken to Mahatat Atr – I missed the train and had to wait 2 hours til the next Turbini left – I have a feeling that they wouldn’t let me take any other kind of train b/c I’m a foreigner.

The minute I sat on the train, I fell asleep. I was straight comatose. Got to Alex around 10:30am. Went outside the train station to find some type of Egyptian Guards holding up traffic and then had to bargain with a taxi driving to get home – the driver was clearing trippin’ if he thought I was about to pay 10 pounds to get home; I was nice by giving him 5! After he tried to take me to Ibrahimeya instead of Camp Shezar about 4 times, I got home, hoped into the shower and rushed to work.

Now I’m stuck with the daunting task of moving to Cairo and finishing up some business in Alex. I don’t really see any of the “calm” days in the near future. I’m having a blast tho’.

Crazy Days

2006-11-20T03:58:00.000-08:00

Life has actually been quite busy lately. Last Tuesday jump started it all. I had a pretty full day at work then right after helped out the advising center with a video conferencing event with this community college back in the states. Left there to go to an LC meeting and facilitate a presentation with Mustafa. It was a good session. The topic was challenging world perspectives. We focused on the perspectives that Arabs have about Americans and vice versa and talked about misconceptions that can be formed, the differences between the two cultures as well as the similarities and tips on how to constantly change a persons world view. It was a really cool session; I personally had some perspectives challenged on both the Egyptian and American culture.

Wednesday was another crazy day where I worked on this Civic Education manual. This is something I’ve worked on for the past month or so changing the formatting of the document into something that was presentable. I swear I started having nightmare about margin changes and color choices! It was definitely an experience I’m glad has come to an end. Thursday was just as hectic. After work, I headed to the villa my company uses as an additional location for classrooms. There I assisted in a session about studying in the U.S. Another American and I sat with some Egyptians who were interested in studying in the states and answered questions that they had. That lasted til about 7pm and then I headed to the train station to catch a train to Cairo.

I hadn’t been in Cairo for a weekend in almost a month. I headed downtown once I got off the train to meet up with Nisrin, Dody and Martina. We walked (and got semi lost) to this restaurant/bar and met up with Simon and Percy. Megan, Kent and Taher joined us later. It was really cool to just hang out with a large group of people. After chillin at the place for a while, we went to see the new James Bond movie in the most random theater. The movie was aight; I think I like Pierce better as a Bond. I had been to the movies here a few times, but this theater definitely gave me a new experience. People talked and were loud during a good portion of the film and some smoked in the theater. Needless to say, I have no desire to visit that particular establishment again!

After the movies, Nis and I headed back to her place where we proceeded to talk until 7am! Hadn’t had a night like that in a while. It was really great to be able to sit around and talk to a friend for hours on end. And Nis is one of the few people that I can talk to on a vast range of topics. She’s been around since ’03 so she has some historical background, has the AIESEC perspective and is a trustworthy female….what else you could possibly ask for!

We woke up the next day ‘round 1pm and headed to Lucille’s. Okay if anyone who decides later in life to come here and you love an American breakfast, you gotta go to Lucille’s. Even tho’ it’s pretty far, in Egypt terms anyways, it’s totally worth it. I went with, Nis, Purvi, Tom & Kenny. Afterwards, I headed to the SilverKey office and chilled for awhile. Later we attempted to see a movie but couldn’t get tickets. Instead we went to Purvi’s place and hung out. It was a real chill night. We sat around and watched Al Jazzera for a while (yea we’re cool, watching the news on a Friday night!) and played some “intellectually stimulating” games.

The next day was the craziest of all. Nis and I woke up sometime at 9:30a and 10:30a respectively and headed downtown to meet up with Megan, Pam, Brian, Tom, Purvi and Simon. We left Pam and Brian’s place and took a trip to the City of the Dead and Garbage City. City of Dead was formed back in the sixties when a bunch of people came to Cairo and had no where to go, so they ended up living in the tombs located in this huge cemetery. The City has a really pretty mosque which has an amazing view of Cairo. Tho’ I didn’t get to see the completely spectacular view cause my fear of heights would only allow me to go so far up the building.

We ventured to Garbage City next. It’s the place where all the garbage from Cairo goes and people sort it. There’s a shit load of garbage there (no pun intended). It’s crazy that some of the people there had better cell phones than I did. Most of the people there are Coptic Christians and there’s pork there! It was kinda nice to for once see a pig hanging instead of a cow or lamb. Going through Garbage City you get to this area where there’s a lot of different churches. The churches were built in the mountains that the stones from the Giza pyramids were taken. The sides of the mountain have different images of Jesus and the disciples carved into them along with some scriptures. It was really beautiful. This one church had sitting for about 1,000 people. The alter had several biblical paintings. All pics of the last supper had Judas missing. There were two other churches that were basically built inside caves of the mountain. I was really happy that I got to go there. Stupidly I left my camera in Alex L cause I never really do anything in Cairo that warrants the need of one. Luckily Pam, Megan and Purvi did!

After getting some food, Nis and I began a journey around Cairo. First we headed to Radio Shack to get some equipment for a presentation that Luli had to do the next day. Then we headed to the Ramses Hilton to purchase tickets to a movie. After we dropped by Salman, Miguel and Kent’s place to chill for an hour. We really needed that time to just hang cause we were so tired. It was good to see all of them plus Githanjali and Mustafa (sad how that was the first time tho’) and met a new trainee Farzina.

We headed to the movies afterwards. We saw The Departed. It was a really good movie and I got to see it in a nice theater compared to Thursday night! Once the movie was over, we went to Dody’s for a BBQ. It was a good-bye party for Pam and Brian as well as a cook off between Kent and Tom. Great food surrounding by good friends. There was grilled chicken, lamb and veggies. Plus Pam scored some bacon (which was marked Haram! Pork!) and we got some beverages from Drinkies. I don’t even know how many people came thru. I was able to talk to Kaitlin on Skype…I need to get Skype when I get back, it’s awesome.

I got to sleep around 2:30am and proceeded to wake up at 6:10am. I meet up with Mustafa and we went to pick up Oznor, a CEEDer from Turkey. We all got on a microbus and headed back to Alex. It was a bad ride back home. People were arguing over the price which was basically a difference of two pounds! I got home around 10:15 so I was already late to work. Showered and got dressed and was at work by 11am. Work was rough. Tho’ I am glad that I went cause I found out that I am officially staying on with the company for another two months. And that I gotta move to Cairo as soon as I can. So now I’m looking into places to live.

I got home yesterday totally exhausted from the past week and this weekend’s activities. I got home around 5pm and by 6pm I fell asleep while reading a book. I didn’t even wake up til 8:45am this morning minus a phone call from the roomie and the cat loudly meowing. Which sucked cause I ended up washing most of my work clothes and didn’t hang them up to dry b/c I was asleep. It was fun trying to figure out what to wear this morning.

This week is gonna be just as random. I’m heading to Cairo Wednesday for Nis’ bday and Sarah Sommerfield is coming to visit from Turkey for a few days. Plus it’s Turkey Day this week! I can’t wait to have some turkey. Egypt just keeps getting better :)

LUXOR

2006-11-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

I think one of the things that has helped me pass the time here is the fact that I started traveling. I decided a while back to go to Luxor with my friend Megan and her fam and it was what I was looking forward to during all of October. And it was well worth it. I had such a great time. At first I thought that only going down to Luxor for two days wasn’t going to be enough time to get everything out of it that I wanted. Little did I know that I would leave having seen everything that I wanted.

The last full week of October was the end of Ramadan and the Eid so I didn’t have to go to work. I ended leaving Alex Tuesday afternoon and hung out in Cairo til it was time to leave for Luxor. I barely made it to the train station on time but thankfully I made it there about 10 minutes before the train was taking off (the train system here is almost the only thing that runs on time here)

We took a sleeper train down to Luxor. We left at 8pm and arrived at 6am the next morning! Not my average ride between Alex and Cairo. Upon arrival we headed to our hotel which was so nice. I was actually surprised when I walked in. Tho’ all I really had to compare it with was the hotel I stayed at near the Red Sea during an AIESEC conference and the hotel was a military hotel.

After getting a somewhat late start, we headed off on a day of exploring. Megan’s parents had taken care of all the arrangement for the trip and had gotten us a mini bus to take us everywhere on the first day along with a tour guide. So here’s what we did Thursday and Friday (the pics are in order of where we went):

Thursday:

Colossi of Memnon – this was really cool to see. These are two statues that stand about 18m high and the remains of what was once the largest complex on the West Bank of Luxor.

Deir al-Medina/Temple of Hatshepsut – this was so amazing. I remember my roomie telling me about it and you can’t really know how awesome this place is til you visit it. It’s partly rock cut and partly free standing.

Valley of the Kings – man, there are so many people buried in this place tho’ I only got to visit 3 of the tombs. This place is considered to be the place of death because the nothing that grows on its cliffs. It was the final resting place for the royalty and the first to be buried was in 1504 BC. Talk about being someplace where some history has taken place.

Valley of the Queens – of course theres gotta be a place for queens and of course it’s not as nice. This is the place where queens, princes and princesses were buried and goes back to the 19th and 20th dynasties (still haven’t figured out when that is!)

Temples of Karnak – now I felt like I had been to places with historical significance with the other sights, but this place just blew me away. This landmark is soo huge that it can fit 10 cathedrals in it! And the art work and the architecture were so amazing. It was really great to see that something like this was able to survive centuries especially since it seemed that the Nile overtime destroyed a lot of the stuff that used to exist. The Temples of Karnak is a spectacular complex of sanctuaries, kiosks, pylons and obelisks dedicated to the Theban gods and the greater glory of the pharaohs. What I really liked was the Avenue of Ram-Headed Sphunxes. This walkway lead between these temples and the Luxor Temple a few miles away. Tho’ most of it is destroyed now.

Luxor Temple – this is smaller than the Temples of Karnak but are still breathe taking. We went as the sun was setting and omg it was the perfect time to go. The lights that illuminate the temple at night brought such a remarkable look to the whole structure. And those of you who are familiar with my camera knows that it doesn’t really like taking pics at night so hence the lack of pics of this temple!

After seeing all of this we all went back to the hotel and some of us (like me) crashed for awhile. Later, Megan, Simon and I headed out and explored the town a bit.

Friday:

Luxor Museum – I have to say that this is the best museum in Egypt that I’ve seen so far just because of the documentation that they had. I got to see some beautiful statues that are incredibly huge. Also got to the see two mummies that were unwrapped! Ramsis I and Ahmose I. It was really odd to see these mummies especially without the wrappings. Boy did Egyptian know how to preserve some bodies. It’s like looking at a starved body with charcoal paint all over their bodies. And these people were short….I liked that part!

The rest of the day I hung out with Megan’s parents and aunt while Megan and Simon went back to the Temples of Karnak to explore some more. We went shopping throughout the town. And then went on a boat ride to Banana Island, had some bananas and tea and then headed back to Luxor to watch the sun set.

It was such a great two days. I had so much fun. Plus it was cool to be with Megan’s parents who had only been in the country for less than a week and are unfamiliar with the customs in Egypt (and still used to converting pounds into USD to see how expensive it is!). I was able to use all the Arabic that I’ve learned thus far. And I was haggling with people and getting good prices on items. People kept thinking I was either Egyptian or Nubian. I swear I kept hearing “Hi cousin” “Hi sister” the entire time I was there. “Cousin, I’ll give you special discount. Only for you, because you are my cousin!” It was interesting yet weird at the same time.

This one guy kept trying to talk to me and I kept walking past his shop. The last time I did he was trying to get me to come in and then proceeded to say “Cousin, I just want to smell your money!” at which point Megan and I started laughing uncontrollably. That definitely was a new line…at least he was very upfront!

Later we went and ate all together as we waited for some time to pass before we had to head to the train station. It was a pretty good meal. I really like chicken shawarma. Tho’ the meal was a bit interrupted by the presence of some cat on cat orgy porn going on….

The ride home was fun, tho’ the train people change the sits into beds way too early. We ended up ordering two bottles of wine – red and white – with some beer and everyone got someone buzzed.

We leave Luxor at about 9pm on Friday and arrived at 8am the next morning. And yay, I arrived sick! The train did such a great job of keeping the compartments cool that I ended up getting sick from sleeping in air conditioning. A fever, some chills, congestion, and a messed up knee and poppin’ ears which messed with my balance. But I guess it was all worth it even tho’ I’m still a bit sick.

What’s next? Sharm, Dahab,and hopefully the Black Desert and White Desert.
Only two months left…

New Beginnings...

2006-10-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

I guess a lot has happened since I last posted. I hadn't even realized that I haven't posted in a while. Where do I begin…

Well about two weeks ago my roomie went back home to Czech Republic. I was actually in Alex the weekend that she left - the first time in almost a month. The day she left was one of the best I had in Alex. We woke up relatively early and headed to breakfast at the Shakespeare Cafe with Mustafa, Bahaa, Ahmed and his brother. Went bowling and played pool afterwards. Bowling was fun. It was the Americans against the Jackasses against the “Couple.” Any guesses who was on what team? I played pool for the first time and validated my suspicion that I suck at the game.

After all the games we headed to a mall to play more games. There had been talk of getting Cinnabon and we totally lucked out that the mall we went to had one. It’s become one of my indulgences to treat myself to Cinnabon. A little artery clogging taste of home! After stuffing our faces with the delicious cinnamon rolls we headed to an arcade (don’t think I’ve truly played in one since I was either in high school or a freshmen in college) and later got to witness a motivated monkey make attempts at getting a straw from Mustafa as all the other guys cheered the monkey on.

Later I said my goodbyes to Jana as she headed off to the airport – a task she’d been trying to make happen much early. The next morning I woke up to realize “Hey, you live by yourself!” I never expected to come to Egypt to have my first experience of living completely on my own. My own apartment, my own bills, working and living all alone, all without the help of parents…what a crazy concept right?! I think I kinda freaked out about living by myself. A step I had no desire to take at this point in my life. No worries…I tackled that problem really quick!

After discussing my desire to move out of my apartment to a fellow co-worker, she thought of someone I might room with. What a life saver because that conversation totally changed things for me. I’ll admit, living in my current apartment was totally depressing me and making me very agitated towards anything here. So it was for the sanity of myself and those around me that I decided that the apartment MUST go! So after living by myself for all of a week or so, which part of it was spent in Cairo, I found my new home.

It’s about a ten minutes walk from where I used. It’s further from my job but closer than when I lived in Ibrahimeya. It’s on the same street as the Tram and in front of one of the stops so an easy commute to work. 7th floor but there’s an elevator. My new roomie, Claudia, has been in this apartment for the last two years and it’s really nice. We actually went to the same middle school back in West Windsor-Plainsboro, NJ, though not at the same time. I swear it’s a small world.

The place has Showtime (a satellite provider here), a Microwave (haven’t even seen one of those in a home yet), a new refrigerator, a new washing machine, a shower with a tub (can’t explain how happy I am about this), a DVD player and two cats. Now, if you know me well at all, you know me and animals aren’t really close pals. So the fact that I could over look such a detail as living with two cats lets you know how much I felt I needed to move. They aren’t that bad. Though I know my mom couldn’t deal :) She’s always told me that if I wanted to keep her from visiting all I have to do is buy a cat!

This place is a definite upgrade from a place where everything leaks, the walls are peeling, pieces of ceiling randomly fall, t.v. networks change channels weekly and the washing machine is basically unidentifiable.

So I moved in Monday night with help from some AAST Alex AIESECers. I was totally shocked because not only did they arrive before I expected them to, they arrived an hour earlier! This is such a rarity. I swear if you run on CP time, you’d be right at home here!

Three apartments in three months…and there’s the possibility of a fourth!

Besides this new apartment development, I’ve found out that I’ll be heading to Luxor at the end of October. I’m really looking forward to going. I’ll be going along with Megan and her family for about 3 days. Will get the chance to go to my first international AIESEC conference – NLDS – the second weekend of the month.

My time in Cairo this past weekend was great. I actually didn’t do much compared to my other visits but it was a fun weekend. Since Ramadan is going on right now I decided to take part and have been fasting. Upon arriving in Cairo, I headed to Michaels place for Iftar (the meal which the fast is broken). Here’s another example of it being a small world: Michael was actually the DJ at my first national AIESEC U.S. conference. I didn’t have a chance to get to know him then, but met him in Egypt. And…he lives in Chicago! I just doesn’t get better than that. Afterwards I headed to Rhea’s for another gathering. I love Cairo cause there is always something going on…or is that just when I come? During this gathering I got the opportunity to really sit down and chat with Rhea. We have a lot in common. The girl is awesome. She’s another trainee’s best friend’s cousin and I’m glad that we got a chance to meet and get to know one another.

The rest of the nights I was in Cairo, Nisrin and I cooked each Iftar we ate. It was great. I was really the first time I’d cooked an actual meal here. And although we didn’t leave the apartment that much I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations we had. I always learn something new when I talk with Nis. I guess since Ramadan is going on, a good portion of the convos were focused on religion. And a point was brought up about women in Islam being veiled and how much Westerners in particular make such a big deal about this. “Women who are veiled are oppressed, blah blah blah…” Well has anyone noticed that nuns are veiled? The minute Nisrin told me how her aunt (?) brought this to her attention it took me a second to realize this is true. I don’t think I’ve ever really realized the way nuns dress. Do they not wear something to cover the majority of their bodies? So if it’s generally accepted that nuns dress this way, why can’t people accept that some Islamic women also choose to dress in a way that covers the majority of their bodies? Just some food for thought…