100 posts?

It honestly snuck up on me. This is the 100th time I've posted on this blog, starting the night before I left home to come to Cairo. Wow.
Today was a good Tuesday, again. I went to Coffee Bean and worked on my essay, and made a good amount of progress. Then I went to lunch with friends and then came home to essay a bit more, a goal which I completely failed to accomplish. That was okay, though.
I made my vlog for today, and had a really good time doing it.
If you watch the video, which is at the bottom of this post, I suggest clicking through to the video page and watching the linked video in the doobly-doo. Well, I suggest that if you're a huge nerd, or a nerdfighter. Otherwise, I guess it might be slightly confusing or off-putting.
Tomorrow I've got to get to school early and read The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Dramatic Lit, because I totally forgot to get a copy from the copy shop on campus, so I couldn't read it today like I meant to. I hope I can finish it before class and still have time to work on my Art and Architecture paper or the Dramatic Lit paper. If that doesn't work out, though, I'll settle for just finishing the play on time. I hate it when I totally blank on reading assignments like that, especially when they're for a class that is completely made up of discussion of the reading.
And that was a really boring 100th post! What can I say? It was a Tuesday.

tanis and bubastis

I woke up this morning without any clear idea of how the day was going to go. I knew two things for certain: 1) I had no more water, and 2) I needed to be downtown by 8:00, which left me no time to go buy some, except at the cafeteria, which was closed. That was it.
In the lobby, I met up with two other students who were going on the Tanis trip and we shared a cab downtown, where luckily, we found a McDonald's, and I bought a water bottle for the day. I still didn't have any food, but my lovely friend Kim, ultra-prepared as she was and always is, let me eat the extra banana that she had brought with her. Thanks Kim!
Actually, we were joking about Kim being so prepared all day long. In one purse, she had a giant water bottle, her wallet, mobile, iPod, book, and probably more, as well as hand sanitizer and a mongoose. I'm not sure about the mongoose, actually, since I never saw it, but she did say it was in the zipper compartment, so I may never know for certain.
Also while we were at McDonald's, I stole toilet paper from their bathroom, which turned out to be my one concession to being prepared for the day.
Once everyone had arrived, we drove in the bus to the new campus to pick up the students who lived there, and then we were off to Bubastis, an ancient site in the middle of the delta. Here's the map of our trip:

The site of Bubastis is actually in the middle of the modern city of Zaq-a-ziq, so everywhere we looked we could see cars and apartment buildings, but that was okay. Originally, the site was a temple, although the monumental structure is completely gone now because like a lot of other sites in Egypt, it was torn apart for its limestone (which was then used to make quick lime for mortar), leaving the granite facing stone lying all around. If you look carefully, it's still possible to see how some of the temple was laid out, which was pretty amazing.

a colossal statue of a goddess, reconstructed

what most of the site looked like - granite blocks everywhere

a row of granite cobras with no heads
(this is why kim needed her mongoose)

you can see the outline of the hypostyle hall in the columns

monuments are great, because i can take
pictures of soldiers and not get in trouble

a well where the holy family stopped on
their journey through egypt, according to legend

After we explored Bubastis, we used the unfinished visitor's centre's scary scary bathrooms (thank you McDonald's!) and headed for Tanis. The drive was about an hour and a half, and we had a police escort the entire way. This was a little annoying, because I think we were drawing enough attention to ourselves already, what with the huge bus, that we didn't really need a squad car and a motorcycle with both their sirens on to announce our presence. The drive went really slowly, because we had to pass through lots of little villages on the way. It was interesting to see another part of Egypt outside of the big city that I've gotten used to. Well, that is, when I could stay awake. The professor lectured a lot during our drives, and he had one of those soothing documentary type voices and it just put me straight to sleep. I did manage to get a few pictures, though.

COWS!

donkeys and a motorcycle

We arrived at Tanis around 1:30, and after the professor talked for a bit, explaining where everything was, we got to wander and take whatever pictures we wanted. The site was very different than what I expected, but still very interesting. Like Bubastis, it was full of granite blocks either left behind from previous constructions or moved to the site by the government for safe-keeping. Here's what we saw:

first, adorable puppies. don't worry, i didn't touch them.

awww

a broken colossus of ramses the great, about 10 ft tall

another broken colossus of the pharaoh
- the queen is just visible behind his leg

the royal tomb of psusennes the somethingth - originally, the 'top' was
at ground level, and everything you see here was buried.

ancient egyptian sprite bottle - so much litter everywhere!

sorry, i don't remember what this means
it's probably horus/the pharaoh, though

broken columns

pretty sure this was the inscription on the cover
of my hieroglyphics textbook

hieroglyphs inside an opened tomb

inside a tomb - the granite sarcophagus

is it? could it be? the well of souls? yes. (no.)

who is that mysterious man in the distance?

Just as I ran out of water and was dying to get back on the bus, we did, and the air conditioning was probably the most beautiful thing ever. Then the drive back to new campus took three hours, and another hour to get back to downtown and catch a cab to Zamalek. Yay for Egypt traffic, again. Our cab driver was nice, though, and even admitted he didn't know where we were going, but was happy to follow our directions instead of just driving around randomly. As soon as I got into the dorms, I bought two big bottles of water and some dinner, and I'm not feeling so tired and dehydrated anymore.

So, that was my trip, and although I didn't find the ark of the covenant, I've concluded that going to Tanis was a good idea. It was a really long, really hot day, full of lectures and driving and big chunks of rock, but I'm glad I went. Even if it ate up my last day of the weekend and I have to go to class tomorrow and talk about Antigone and The Shipwrecked Sailor and pretend I know Arabic. That's okay. I went to Tanis.

i rode through the desert on a horse with no name

And I have absolutely no pictures to show for it. We were warned enthusiastically by our RAs to leave everything on the bus so we wouldn't lose our cameras or mobiles, and unfortunately, I listened. I think it probably would have been okay, but I wasn't willing to risk it.
Our bus left Zamalek at 9pm, and arrived in Giza around 10:20pm. Normally, the drive wouldn't take that long, but as usual, Ramadan changes everything.
When we got off the bus, I was forced to volunteer the information that I had ridden a horse before, a fact which automatically put me in the group that would be galloping. This was not exciting for me, mostly nerve-wracking.
I was helped onto my horse by a man who at first asked me "black or white, black or white?" presumably referring to the color of the horse I would ride. I didn't know what to say to him, and I ended up on a brown horse. All of the horses were brown.
It might be worth mentioning here that I have only ever ridden in carefully controlled Girl Scout or family reunion environments before, and always on big, well-fed, American horses. These horses were not American quarter-horses, not mustangs, and not ponies. These were Arabians. And we were supposed to gallop them across some sand dunes in the pitch black to get a glimpse of the pyramids from about a mile away.
The pyramids in the end were a bit disappointing because they were so far away, but the view across Cairo, lit up for Ramadan, with the yellow half moon hanging in the sky above the city almost made up for it.
A few of the adventures that we had on our ride include: one horse sitting down and refusing to get up, my guide trotting my horse and my knee into another guide and knocking him flat on his face in the sand, a horse that would only respond to commands given to the horse next to it, a horse that seemed determined to run over any and all small children it came across, and my horse guide yelling "quick, quick!" and dragging my unwilling horse and another behind him as he ran up a sand dune.
That pretty much sums up the entire adventure. In the end, I didn't gallop, just trotted painfully for a few minutes, and since my horse didn't sit on me or break its leg and have to be shot (this didn't happen to any horses while we were there, but it seemed like a possibility...), I consider the trip to be a success. Would I do it again? Yes.
But next time, I would gallop.

drive through the desert

Another day of boring bureaucracy and repetitious Arabic today. However, I did learn to hail a taxi, tell time, and count to 100, so I guess it can't have been that bad. Also, I only had to wait 45 minutes for my ID card, instead of the 3 hours I would have waited yesterday. Still no progress on the paying for survival Arabic front, though. They only take cash, and the ATMs on campus wouldn't let me withdraw what I needed to pay. I'll have to try again tomorrow to make up the full amount, then again after that to get enough to buy my bus pass.
Speaking of buses, the drive home today was agonizing, sitting next to the hot window in the cold bus for an hour and a half in traffic. At one point, someone noted that the bus was driving on the wrong side of the highway, but I didn't have the courage (or the energy) to look.
When we got back to Zamalek, everyone was starving, so four of us walked to dinner, this time to an Egyptian fine dining establishment overlooking the Nile. We ate Italian food brought to us on silver trays, and... Okay, who am I kidding? It was Pizza Hut.

not this pizza hut & obviously not my photo. maybe next week, though...

It really is a restaurant in Egypt, though. Two floors, comfy chairs, real menus, and waiters too! We had problems ordering, mostly because we were confused about what 'pepperoni' meant. Apparently, in the Middle East, if you order 'pepperoni', what you get is olives and mushrooms. Don't ask why, not even the manager could tell us. Eventually, he did fix our order for us, and the rest of dinner was delicious. The best part was, when it was time to pay, no one in our group skimped and tried to pay less than their share. It was a miracle, and I think it shows that Cairo really does bring out the best in people.
To finish up, these are some pictures I've taken on the drive to and from school. This is what I'll be seeing twice almost every day for the next nine months.

this is some kind of mausoleum thing, we think. it's really huge, and covered in crosses.

smog on the nile

a very famous mosque

permanently ongoing construction

the desert around new cairo

unfinished apartments

the 32 hour day

It's finally over. All I have left to do is write this blog post and then I can crash.

My day started at 5:00am pacific time with some last minute packing and a drive to LAX. My family stuck around while I got checked in, but then mercilessly abandoned me to face security alone. Which turned out fine, actually. I even remembered to take my belt off.

Then I had a short wait for my flight to JFK, which seemed long at the time, but now is in the distant past. The couple I sat next to were disgustingly infatuated with each other, making my lonely plane ride just that much more fun.

Anyway, once I arrived at JFK, I had time between check-in and boarding to grab an iced coffee and a muffin. Both of which got onto my new shirt. So that was lovely, and then I boarded the plane, and spent the next 13 hours or so trapped in a metal cylinder with screaming children, no one to talk to, and only Mockingjay to entertain me.

It was a very entertaining read, and what parts of it confused me I'm sure were due to the fact that I haven't re-read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (the first and second books in the trilogy) for a long time.

Shortly after I finished Mockingjay, we landed in Cairo. The city looked huge, spread out beneath the plane, and now that I've driven through it, I can confirm that it really is that huge.

The temperature was only 86 degrees outside, and after an hour of waiting in immigration and customs and baggage lines, I was very glad it wasn't any hotter! I met some people from AUC who were taking the same bus to the dorms as I was, and together we shared our first experience of Cairo driving.

I think it would be wrong to say that Egyptians in Cairo are bad drivers. After all, I only saw one accident the entire time we drove, and it seemed incidental. A rule of thumb for driving in Cairo seems to be that no matter how many lanes are painted on the pavement, there is always room for at least one more. Maybe two. Oh, you really need to get by? Three is fine. The air was constantly filled with honking horns, and not the crunch of metal and squeal of brakes that I was dreading. My conclusion is, all the best drivers in the world live in Cairo, just for the practice. After all, who needs to follow the road signs as long as nobody gets hurt?

The Zamalek dorms were just as nice as I'd heard they were, and I ended up on the 3rd floor, in a double room, currently without a second occupant. Hopefully one will arrive tomorrow, though, because I know I'd be lonely without anyone else to share this giant room with.

We were served a complementary lunch (at 4pm Cairo time) and were 'orientated' to our new living situation. Apparently, there's a demerit system. Caught immodestly dressed (no shoulders, ladies!) in a common area? 2 demerits. Caught with an alcohol bottle (empty or not)? 4 demerits! Shame on you. Just one more, and you'll have to find a new place to live! (Better keep those PDAs private... Oh, and yes, that includes mixed-gender hugs.)

After orientation, I unpacked, and discovered my woeful need for hangers. I don't know where to buy them, but the RAs are all very nice, and I'm sure they can help.

By 7:30pm Cairo time, I was nodding off, and only the promise of being taken to buy a cell phone by and RA could keep me awake. A tiring but fruitful hour later, I am now the owner of a tiny little cell phone, and 50 whole minutes to talk on it. Wow!

And now, friends, it's time to sleep. Time check: 12:52pm in California, 9:52pm in Cairo. T-minus some preferably large number of hours before I wake up and start my first full day in Egypt.

here today, cairene tomorrow

I leave for Egypt early tomorrow morning. Very, very early. Early enough that I should be asleep right now, instead of blogging. But I'm packed, all three suitcases, and all I have to do tomorrow is sleep on a plane, so I think I'm doing okay.

The last few days have been stressful, trying to get everything together, but now I'm done, and (insha'alla) I will arrive in Cairo tomorrow, with all my luggage intact. Then I can move into the dorms, unpack, and start my adventure for real.

One thing I'm most thankful for about this trip is that I'm not afraid of it. Cairo and its people don't frighten me, and although I know I'll encounter obstacles with both, I'm not scared to face them. Whatever gets thrown at me, I'll do my best to handle it, and I'll let you know how it goes right here.

Also, since music is a big part of my life, and I'm planning to keep it that way, I've decided to bring it into this blog as much as I can. I'll leave you with two favorites, an old and a new.

First, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, by Neutral Milk Hotel: a song that never gets old, and furthermore, seems appropriate, since I'll be crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time tomorrow.

Second, a new favorite, discovered only an hour ago by a google search for Cairo's indie rock scene: Kol El Nas, by Cairokee, a group apparently at the forefront of Egypt's rock music scene. And forgive me, but I honestly don't know what the lyrics mean. I can only hope that they're wildly inappropriate.

Wish me luck for my journey tomorrow, I'll write next time from Cairo, Egypt.