The Great Pyramids!

It’s starting to feel real. While driving, the constant chorus of car horns is beginning to fade into the background. The sight of trash covered roads and sand, a telling sign about the financial situation of many Egyptians, is becoming less of a surprise. The Arabic campaign posters for the thirteen presidential candidates are no longer a constant reminder of how far away from home I am. It is simply a sign of my current reality. As I look out the window of my hotel and the bus, the magnificent sight of Egypt’s numerous pyramids no longer arise feelings of shock and awe, rather feelings of appreciation and wonder. It is sinking in. I really am in the location I learned so much about throughout middle school and have heard so much about recently in the news. I really am living out of one of my lifelong dreams.
I really am in Egypt.

The Great Pyramid

 Today we saw The Great Pyramids! Yay! I have looking forward to this day for so long and it definitely did not disappoint. They are incredible. I can’t imagine how humans were able to make them without the use of machinery. The blocks are all huge- weighing in the tons. We were able to enter the largest pyramid and it was amazing. I really wish we could take pictures of the inside but we can’t. Just take my word for it- it was really cool. We also saw the Sphinx! I tried to take a picture kissing it but it didn’t really work out. Shucks. I guess I will just have to go again! Of course, I rode another camel. J

Walk like an Egyptian!!

Kite the pyramid!

Lunch

For lunch, we had Chicken Tikka. Honestly, that is just a fancy name for chicken. As usual, we had chicken, rice, pita, and fries. It seems as if these are the staple foods here in Egypt. Don’t get me wrong, I love these foods and everything is cooked to perfection but I am starting to get tired of eating close to the same thing every day. Carbs upon carbs upon carbs. When I get home, I’m not eating pita for at least two months. I’ve had enough pita to last that long and more.

After our lunch, we had the day to ourselves. Although I should have spent the afternoon blogging and catching up on some much needed sleep, I decided I had more important things to do. Namely, I needed to tan, play water polo, and go to the sauna. Although I still stand by that decision, I’m not sure if everyone reading this blog (which is extremely behind) are. Oops- sorry! #egyptproblems?

The Mall

At about 8pm we met in the lobby of the hotel to travel to the MALL! We went to the Mall of Arabia (A Mall of America impersonator- I think so!). The mall was very… interesting. It was a lot nicer than I was expecting. It was very large and had some very nice stores. These stores were not as cheap as most places we have been on the trip. They still are fairly cheap- don’t get me wrong. I got a nice Ralph Lauren-esque polo except it has a camel as the logo for only $20. Not bad, but more than other places we have been. The mall was beautiful. I was lucky enough to be able to see more of it than most other students because I desperately had to go to the bathroom while we were waiting for our food. Oddly, that meant a slight bit of a hike. We had to go outside and into another section of the mall. Outside was gorgeous! They have a large dancing fountain in the middle of the circle, it was dancing while we went through. It was very cool. Another thing I found intriguing was how late the mall stays open. Cairo truly is the city that never sleeps, the mall stays open until midnight- much later than it does in the states.

When we first arrived at the mall, we had to go through metal detectors. Not surprisingly, the security seemed very disinterested in what we actually had in our bags, instead focusing on deciding which security guards would follow us around for the entirety of our time in the mall. At first I did not notice this, I only heard a bunch of loud Arabic being spoken. It was not until we were sitting in the food court, eating Egyptian fast food that I noticed all of the security surrounding us. In fact, Judge Samir pointed it out to me. We had three security guards to our left, two behind us, and three on the right. Everywhere we go in Egypt, it seems as if security is overcompensating for our safety. Due to the decrease in tourism, they see tourists as signs of hope needing protection in order for more tourists to come.

A few general comments….

Food

I have to say that I am sure my friends are getting tired of sitting around me when I eat. I am usually in a constant repetition of yum, delicious, what is this, and I don’t know what this is but it is really good. Interestingly, the food here is not as different from American food as I thought it would be. I don’t know what I was expecting, it all seems very silly now, but I have been shocked to discover that we eat the same basic things (for the most part) just cooked in a different way. We have been eating a lot of beef and chicken.

Water Polo

So far, we have played water polo twice: the day we arrived and yesterday. Let me tell you, water polo is not for the faint of heart. It is a tough game with brutal violence and intense wrestling. It is my goal to beat Professor Hamad in the game at least once while here. He is extremely competitive and a definite trash talker. In other words, he is exactly like me and I will get him one of these days. The level of competitiveness reached in this game is beyond extraordinary. At several times, I feared for my life and the lives of those around me. Many students and I have received numerous injuries from the game. Just yesterday I got an elbow to the face last night and it does not feel the greatest. In fact, I still have a red mark on my face from it and it still hurts like crazy. Oh well, I will not let that keep me from my ambitious goal!

The Heat

I’ve had a few people message me on Facebook and ask me about the weather in Egypt. I am happy to say that it feels fantastic here. There is no denying that it is very hot in Egypt. Shocking, I know. Although it is hot, however, it is not very humid. I find myself able to easily stand the 90 degree weather simply because this. I have not once been miserably hot or extremely dehydrated. 

Traffic

Let’s talk a little bit about the traffic here. If you think traffic is bad in the big cities in the United States, you have no idea what you should be thankful for. Traffic here is absolutely insane. It is as if traffic laws do not exist. There is no such thing as lanes. You just drive down the street until someone is in your way, then you honk your horn and the car moves… maybe. I was talking to a native here that said accidents happen all the time but it doesn’t really matter because nobody has insurance. People rarely even stop. They just keep on going and get their car fixed only if they can afford it. One time while driving we saw an ambulance driving down the road with its sirens on but no car was moving for it! Another Egyptian told me that it use to be a little bit better when there was a stable police force but now it’s just a free for all. I would not want to drive here. As we drive through town, people make their own rules. Oftentimes, we see entirely too many people crammed into tiny cars. Sometimes we even see people sleeping on mattresses either inside the car or tied to the roof of their car.