I stand corrected…yesterday’s celebration was for the liberation of Sierra Leon, not Liberia. My apologies to all those reading this from those countries. *grin*
But the party was good. Quite lively. We arrived a bit after 11pm and things were just getting started. It turns out that one of my friends Charlie is going home to the U.K. today, so it was a bit of a send-off for her. The dancing was good, with an interesting mix of music. Lots of American R&B/rap but also some Ethiopian, Sudanese, and other assorted African music.
Plus, a healthy dose of Bob Marley. What’s a party without some heavily-politicized Reggae to dance to??? *smile*
So last night, there were 5 of us Westerners in a crowd of around 200 Africans, mostly men. Would I ever feel comfortable in a setting like that in the U.S.?? Not likely. But here, it’s totally natural and fine.
We were there until about…2am I guess and things were still going strong. I think people were probably there until dawn. The location was the top floor of a decent hotel downtown and the view was really nice!
I got up blurry-eyed for church this morning, then came back home for a quick nap. Well, that’s what I intended, but I woke up 3 ½ hours later! Oops!
Off to Frisbee at that point. Fun to play but my left knee always hurts and creaks for about 24 hours. *sigh* Am I starting to get old?
Then, we went over to Annie and Charlie’s to borrow some CD’s for Darren and say goodbye to Charlie. Darren is trying to get lots of Arabic music around to take home with him. So I’m converting the songs to MP3 right now and then I’ll burn them to a CD for him.
In exchange, I’m going to give Annie the complete 3rd Season of South Park. *laugh* Thanks to David for providing me with those! I forgot I had them and then Darren found them on my computer yesterday. We watched the one about the “Sexual Harassment Panda”. So silly!
But it’s a quiet night here. Darren’s reading and we’re both digesting the pizza we had for dinner.
Friday, May 02, 2003
Thursday, May 01, 2003
Happy Liberian Liberation Day!!!
Happy Egyptian Labor Day!!
What?? Aren’t these holidays on _your_ calendar? *smirk*
As is the tradition on labor day, people have the day off. I’ve always thought of that as an odd way to celebrate, but oh well!
I need to find out more about Liberation Liberation Day, but I presume it’s celebrating the overthrow of their previous government. A friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend here is from Liberia, so I guess he’s having a bit of a celebration tonight, so that’s why I know about this…
Arabic tutorial was rough last night. I’m trying to put lots of things together and realizing what I’ve already forgotten, just because I don’t use/practice some vocabulary enough.
Today, I’m working on some MCC paperwork, but this morning I took a bit of time to sit in the sun and start _The Return of the King_.
Happy Egyptian Labor Day!!
What?? Aren’t these holidays on _your_ calendar? *smirk*
As is the tradition on labor day, people have the day off. I’ve always thought of that as an odd way to celebrate, but oh well!
I need to find out more about Liberation Liberation Day, but I presume it’s celebrating the overthrow of their previous government. A friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend here is from Liberia, so I guess he’s having a bit of a celebration tonight, so that’s why I know about this…
Arabic tutorial was rough last night. I’m trying to put lots of things together and realizing what I’ve already forgotten, just because I don’t use/practice some vocabulary enough.
Today, I’m working on some MCC paperwork, but this morning I took a bit of time to sit in the sun and start _The Return of the King_.
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
WARNING – good story, but scary visual images ahead. Read through to the end…
Finishing up the summary of Dahab, it should be noted that Darren and I were mistaken for Israeli tourists! *laugh* We heard that they were coming back by the thousands to the area, but this was confirmed when we were greeted with an enthusiastic “Shalom!” by a hotel manager! *smile*
Monday was Sham el Nessim. In Egypt, Sham el Nessim is a national holiday, where Christians and Muslims alike enjoy the Spring breeze while eating onions and special fish. Wherever people can find a bit of grass – they set up a picnic and spend the day. This includes the grassy strips between very busy highways!
One of my classmates, Caroline, invited the rest of my teaching class to a Sham el Nessim party that her family was having. This was quite the bash – live music, dancers, and a belly-dancer! I went with 2 friends from class and we ended up getting the royal treatment – practically becoming part of the family!
According to the invitation, we were supposed to bring our own food and we did, but then we were asked to eat what the family was eating – great roasted chicken, fresh bread, watermelon, and stinky/salty raw fish.
Guess what I ate just a little taste of? Correct! I merely sampled the fish. *grin*
*** So here’s the big story for the day! ***
The first entertainment was some traditional dancing with the band playing and that was pretty cool. Then came the belly-dancer. She stayed over by the band for awhile and then started moving around by the crowd. Uh oh!
We were seated in a high-profile area right out front, so eventually she came around to our table.
…and then she pointed at me…and motioned for me to join her out in front of everyone. *blush* At first, I refused…but with the second request…I decided that it was time to become part of the entertainment!
So there I was – out in front of a crowd of about 200 Egyptians, trying to follow what the belly-dancer was doing. She wanted me to dance beside her and mimic what she was doing! Let’s just say that I need some lessons!
The highlight (??) of the dancing were when she had me lift up my shirt to show my belly as I was dancing.
Strange, but I thought of my friend Mark while I was out there. He used to do this trick with his stomach where he could roll it in all sorts of funky ways and that skill would have come in handy!
Yes, there are photographs to be used as evidence and possibly for blackmail purposes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me so I’ll have to wait until my classmates get theirs back. There was also a professional photographer wandering around, so maybe he got some good pictures.
This was quite a day! The location of the party was on a farm and a villa about 30 minutes outside Cairo. Apparently the family hosting does all sorts of business and marketing, so they are definitely “upper class”.
My classmate has a driver who takes her to/from class. Yeah, that kind of set-up. So things were really nice and it’s probably the only time in Egypt I’ll have the chance to see how this minority of the population lives.
Finishing up the summary of Dahab, it should be noted that Darren and I were mistaken for Israeli tourists! *laugh* We heard that they were coming back by the thousands to the area, but this was confirmed when we were greeted with an enthusiastic “Shalom!” by a hotel manager! *smile*
Monday was Sham el Nessim. In Egypt, Sham el Nessim is a national holiday, where Christians and Muslims alike enjoy the Spring breeze while eating onions and special fish. Wherever people can find a bit of grass – they set up a picnic and spend the day. This includes the grassy strips between very busy highways!
One of my classmates, Caroline, invited the rest of my teaching class to a Sham el Nessim party that her family was having. This was quite the bash – live music, dancers, and a belly-dancer! I went with 2 friends from class and we ended up getting the royal treatment – practically becoming part of the family!
According to the invitation, we were supposed to bring our own food and we did, but then we were asked to eat what the family was eating – great roasted chicken, fresh bread, watermelon, and stinky/salty raw fish.
Guess what I ate just a little taste of? Correct! I merely sampled the fish. *grin*
*** So here’s the big story for the day! ***
The first entertainment was some traditional dancing with the band playing and that was pretty cool. Then came the belly-dancer. She stayed over by the band for awhile and then started moving around by the crowd. Uh oh!
We were seated in a high-profile area right out front, so eventually she came around to our table.
…and then she pointed at me…and motioned for me to join her out in front of everyone. *blush* At first, I refused…but with the second request…I decided that it was time to become part of the entertainment!
So there I was – out in front of a crowd of about 200 Egyptians, trying to follow what the belly-dancer was doing. She wanted me to dance beside her and mimic what she was doing! Let’s just say that I need some lessons!
The highlight (??) of the dancing were when she had me lift up my shirt to show my belly as I was dancing.
Strange, but I thought of my friend Mark while I was out there. He used to do this trick with his stomach where he could roll it in all sorts of funky ways and that skill would have come in handy!
Yes, there are photographs to be used as evidence and possibly for blackmail purposes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me so I’ll have to wait until my classmates get theirs back. There was also a professional photographer wandering around, so maybe he got some good pictures.
This was quite a day! The location of the party was on a farm and a villa about 30 minutes outside Cairo. Apparently the family hosting does all sorts of business and marketing, so they are definitely “upper class”.
My classmate has a driver who takes her to/from class. Yeah, that kind of set-up. So things were really nice and it’s probably the only time in Egypt I’ll have the chance to see how this minority of the population lives.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
I’m back from Dahab! I have a much better tan now, but a bit less money in my pocket! Actually, things were reasonably priced. Bottles of water are about the same in Cairo and nice dinners were about 20 LE ($3-4 US) They had really good chocolate milkshakes, too!!!
Darren (my flatmate) and I made it on our night bus and got to Dahab around 10am on Friday morning. A bit tired, but we made it. We started walking down the boardwalk to check out places to stay. We saw a few places that were alright, but nothing that really grabbed us. So we ended up walking all the way down to the far end of the strip (about a mile, maybe?) to a place he saw on his last trip.
Since this is the end of Darren’s time in Egypt, we decided to stay somewhere nice, so we got a room in a 3-star hotel. 2 nice beds, good bathroom, a fan, a view of the water, plus breakfast everyday. We each paid 40LE per night so that’s about $7 U.S. Not bad!!!
I decided to walk around to see some different stores and within an hour, I ran into a group of people we knew from Cairo!! *laugh* So silly to run into people everywhere. At first, I just saw 4 people that I recognized, but they were part of a bigger group of people who all work together – 9 of them total! I joined their gang in some serious relaxing on the beach!
Everyone in the group volunteers for an organization called Legal Aid which works with refugees, mostly from Somalia and the Sudan.
Friday, we all went snorkeling and swimming, plus we ate a lot of food! The snorkeling was great! Clear water and comfortable to be in with just a swimsuit – no wetsuit required! It was hot and we all were careful not to get too much sun!
I saw eels and lots of different fish, but I don’t know what they are. I should do some checking.
After food and resting up, we went dancing that night. This was nice just to be silly and hear all sorts of music – some Arabic, but lots of American/European stuff.
Saturday involved more sun, water, food, playing backgammon and a few games of Connect 4, plus some shopping. I bought a really nice silver ring to wear. I should take a picture sometime.
Saturday night, most of the group went to climb Mt. Sinai, but I really wasn’t up for it this trip. It was really windy, so I knew it would be quite cold, and I thought it was odd timing since it was going to be Eastern Easter on Sunday.
Sunday – guess what I did? I spent more time in the sun, in the water, reading, and shopping. Noticing a theme here? Darren and I both bought nice, soft long-sleeved white cotton shirts. They should be really comfortable.
Since there were so many of us (11 people) coming back to Cairo that night , it worked out just as cheap for us to get our own little bus as to get on a bigger bus. So we booked a 22-seater and set off! Very comfortable! Most of us could stretch out in our seats and then we had our bags in the aisle. There’s a picture posted of this…
We left about 12:30 and made it to Cairo around 7am. Much quicker than the big bus, too b/c we could drive faster and didn’t make stops to pick people up – just for bathroom breaks.
I slept a bit here in bed and then got around for a party one of my classmates and her family were having on Monday. But that’s a story for another day…
Darren (my flatmate) and I made it on our night bus and got to Dahab around 10am on Friday morning. A bit tired, but we made it. We started walking down the boardwalk to check out places to stay. We saw a few places that were alright, but nothing that really grabbed us. So we ended up walking all the way down to the far end of the strip (about a mile, maybe?) to a place he saw on his last trip.
Since this is the end of Darren’s time in Egypt, we decided to stay somewhere nice, so we got a room in a 3-star hotel. 2 nice beds, good bathroom, a fan, a view of the water, plus breakfast everyday. We each paid 40LE per night so that’s about $7 U.S. Not bad!!!
I decided to walk around to see some different stores and within an hour, I ran into a group of people we knew from Cairo!! *laugh* So silly to run into people everywhere. At first, I just saw 4 people that I recognized, but they were part of a bigger group of people who all work together – 9 of them total! I joined their gang in some serious relaxing on the beach!
Everyone in the group volunteers for an organization called Legal Aid which works with refugees, mostly from Somalia and the Sudan.
Friday, we all went snorkeling and swimming, plus we ate a lot of food! The snorkeling was great! Clear water and comfortable to be in with just a swimsuit – no wetsuit required! It was hot and we all were careful not to get too much sun!
I saw eels and lots of different fish, but I don’t know what they are. I should do some checking.
After food and resting up, we went dancing that night. This was nice just to be silly and hear all sorts of music – some Arabic, but lots of American/European stuff.
Saturday involved more sun, water, food, playing backgammon and a few games of Connect 4, plus some shopping. I bought a really nice silver ring to wear. I should take a picture sometime.
Saturday night, most of the group went to climb Mt. Sinai, but I really wasn’t up for it this trip. It was really windy, so I knew it would be quite cold, and I thought it was odd timing since it was going to be Eastern Easter on Sunday.
Sunday – guess what I did? I spent more time in the sun, in the water, reading, and shopping. Noticing a theme here? Darren and I both bought nice, soft long-sleeved white cotton shirts. They should be really comfortable.
Since there were so many of us (11 people) coming back to Cairo that night , it worked out just as cheap for us to get our own little bus as to get on a bigger bus. So we booked a 22-seater and set off! Very comfortable! Most of us could stretch out in our seats and then we had our bags in the aisle. There’s a picture posted of this…
We left about 12:30 and made it to Cairo around 7am. Much quicker than the big bus, too b/c we could drive faster and didn’t make stops to pick people up – just for bathroom breaks.
I slept a bit here in bed and then got around for a party one of my classmates and her family were having on Monday. But that’s a story for another day…
Monday, April 28, 2003
Back from Dahab -- with pictures!
Username: jpics
Password: easy
See:
Fun People and Beautiful Scenery
and if you really have some time to kill:
Cute kids and animals
Tomorrow...stories from my days away and Monday.
Username: jpics
Password: easy
See:
Fun People and Beautiful Scenery
and if you really have some time to kill:
Cute kids and animals
Tomorrow...stories from my days away and Monday.
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