A title which has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of this post. Moving on.
Today I took a slightly later bus, and got to campus just in time for the rare books library to open. Then I spent a few hours doing really really fun research. I'm not even kidding. I found this German book that has an amazing catalog of tons and tons of statues in the Egyptian Museum. The only problem is, it's in German. But that is really just an extra obstacle. I can read enough German to figure out whether something is a limestone statue of a husband and wife or not. I think.
Then it was time for class to start, and I went to Dramatic Lit, where the professor cunningly steered all discussion away from the more controversial topics of Streetcar, and we mostly talked about the boring character of Mitch.
After lunch I tried to go to my Egyptian Lit class, but the professor just didn't show up. So that was a complete and total waste of my time. When it was finally apparent that the professor just wasn't going to show up, I went with a friend to the campus book fair, where I bought two books that I didn't need, and have no idea what I will do with when I need to move. Oh well. They should be entertaining for a while, at least.
The bus ride home seemed longer than usual, but I met a nice girl from Kenya who is studying at AUC who I sat next to.
The rest of the night was fairly uneventful, except for a brief half hour period where I looked up and memorized a Japanese tongue twister to upload onto youtube for a project Hank Green is doing. I hardly ever participate in stuff like that, so I'm really glad I did today.
Showing posts with label bus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bus. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
freezing in the library
But at least I got some work done. I was actually remarkably productive almost all day today, and got everything done that needed to get done.
I meant to take the 10 or 11 o'clock bus to campus to work on researching my paper, but I put my laundry in late enough that I couldn't. Instead, I took the 2 o'clock bus.
That might seem a little silly, since I could only spend two hours on campus before needing to get on the 5:15 bus back home (after the library closed at 5 o'clock), but it was worth it, because the bus rides were relaxing and I got some good work done on my paper. I'll be back there tomorrow morning before classes to do some more research, and then hopefully I'll have enough to type up my bibliography and run it past Professor Ikram for a check.
Tonight there was a "girl's night in" party on the fourth floor, the flyers for which promised pizza and drinks and henna and belly dancing, only the first three of which I was actually interested in. When I got there, though, there were just sandwiches and really loud music, so I left pretty early. It turned out that they did have henna, so maybe I should have stuck around for a while, but it really doesn't matter in the long run. If I really want henna done, I can find a place to do it.
And that was my Saturday. Pretty sweet. See you tomorrow.
I meant to take the 10 or 11 o'clock bus to campus to work on researching my paper, but I put my laundry in late enough that I couldn't. Instead, I took the 2 o'clock bus.
That might seem a little silly, since I could only spend two hours on campus before needing to get on the 5:15 bus back home (after the library closed at 5 o'clock), but it was worth it, because the bus rides were relaxing and I got some good work done on my paper. I'll be back there tomorrow morning before classes to do some more research, and then hopefully I'll have enough to type up my bibliography and run it past Professor Ikram for a check.
Tonight there was a "girl's night in" party on the fourth floor, the flyers for which promised pizza and drinks and henna and belly dancing, only the first three of which I was actually interested in. When I got there, though, there were just sandwiches and really loud music, so I left pretty early. It turned out that they did have henna, so maybe I should have stuck around for a while, but it really doesn't matter in the long run. If I really want henna done, I can find a place to do it.
And that was my Saturday. Pretty sweet. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
dahab!
Wow, I really haven't blogged for a long time! Dahab was amazing, and although I did find internet, I didn't make time to blog while I was there, which I think was probably a good thing. I had a hard time relaxing as it was, so that little bit of stress off my mind helped, I think.
We left Cairo on the bus at 7:30 pm on Thursday and arrived in Dahab around 5 or 6 o'clock Friday morning. Even though the five of us had all our bags, we were too stubborn to take a taxi to our hotel, which was a bad idea. Dahab, at least the touristy part, is laid out in a giant line. We walked from the middle-ish, where the bus station was (far back from the beach) to one far end, then along the beach to the other far end where we eventually found our hotel. We were really really tired by then, but our room wasn't ready, so we had to chill on the beach for a while and watch the stray puppies play in the sand.
Our rooms turned out to be pretty nice, although they didn't come with toilet paper. Oh well.
That first day, we spent mostly by the beach right by the hotel, although we did walk back along the boardwalk street for dinner and to meet up with other friends from AUC. The best part of that night was definitely our thick shakes at a restaurant called Yalla. Basically, a thick shake is ice cream in a glass, served with a spoon and superfluous straws.
All the days we spent in Dahab kind of blended together, so from here on, I'm just going to give highlights. The best restaurant in town is Chinese, called the Three Brothers, run by three actual Chinese men, possibly actually brothers. The main server is nicknamed Baba, and he doesn't speak any English or Arabic, so to order, everyone has to point at the item they want in the menu. Then when it's time to pay the bill, he comes over and adds everything up on his pocket calculator. We ate there a lot, and it was always delicious.
After the first night, I woke up with countless mosquito bites on both my calves, which made the rest of the weekend much less fun. I would show you a picture of how many bites I got, but the camera's still broken, so that's a no go. Plus, it's kind of awful to look at.
For our third night, we moved from one side of town to the other, into a villa owned by the same hotel. It was amazing, and I would love to stay there again if I could be with a group of people that would make it more affordable. Since the kitchen was fully supplied, we got to go grocery shopping and cook dinner for two nights, the first time any of us had cooked in three months. It was amazing. We had spaghetti one night and chicken and rice the next.
The fourth night, another friend arrived and brought friends over with her that she had met at the bus station, telling us only that they were Tanzanian. This turned out to be not quite true, they were actually two Peace Corps volunteers visiting Egypt before heading home after their two years service. It was really interesting to talk to them, because I had never really considered the Peace Corps before, but they made it seem wonderful. I'm still not really considering it, but it's not a completely invalid option any longer.
By around the third or fourth day, I was going kind of crazy, what with staying in one place and not really having anything to do, not to mention the insanity that so many mosquito bites brings. Because of all that and a host of other stuff, I decided to go home early, which is why you're getting this blog post tonight (Wednesday) instead of on Saturday, when I was supposed to get home.
Long story short, I bought my bus ticket Tuesday morning, had a wonderful last day in Dahab, snorkeling the famous Blue Hole reef, and caught the bus at 10 pm to take me back to Cairo, where I arrived this morning. Now I'm really tired, so I won't tell you all about my bus trip home adventures, I'll just say that instead of a cab from the bus station, I took a taxi to the Metro with a guy I had just met, who's studying in Alex and had just gone to Dahab for Eid, and who was extremely helpful and gave me a pound for my Metro ticket, then got off in Tahrir square and took a taxi home to Zamalek, where I lazed the day away watching stupid television shows and skyping with my mom. Oh, and NaNoWriMo, which actually went really well in Dahab.
Here's my Tuesday vlog about my last day in Dahab, hope you enjoy:
NaNo word count: 29381
p.s. If anyone has any helpful suggestions about making mosquito bites stop itching or making me start being able to ignore them, please leave a comment! Or leave a comment with sympathy, and we'll see if that helps!
We left Cairo on the bus at 7:30 pm on Thursday and arrived in Dahab around 5 or 6 o'clock Friday morning. Even though the five of us had all our bags, we were too stubborn to take a taxi to our hotel, which was a bad idea. Dahab, at least the touristy part, is laid out in a giant line. We walked from the middle-ish, where the bus station was (far back from the beach) to one far end, then along the beach to the other far end where we eventually found our hotel. We were really really tired by then, but our room wasn't ready, so we had to chill on the beach for a while and watch the stray puppies play in the sand.
Our rooms turned out to be pretty nice, although they didn't come with toilet paper. Oh well.
That first day, we spent mostly by the beach right by the hotel, although we did walk back along the boardwalk street for dinner and to meet up with other friends from AUC. The best part of that night was definitely our thick shakes at a restaurant called Yalla. Basically, a thick shake is ice cream in a glass, served with a spoon and superfluous straws.
All the days we spent in Dahab kind of blended together, so from here on, I'm just going to give highlights. The best restaurant in town is Chinese, called the Three Brothers, run by three actual Chinese men, possibly actually brothers. The main server is nicknamed Baba, and he doesn't speak any English or Arabic, so to order, everyone has to point at the item they want in the menu. Then when it's time to pay the bill, he comes over and adds everything up on his pocket calculator. We ate there a lot, and it was always delicious.
After the first night, I woke up with countless mosquito bites on both my calves, which made the rest of the weekend much less fun. I would show you a picture of how many bites I got, but the camera's still broken, so that's a no go. Plus, it's kind of awful to look at.
For our third night, we moved from one side of town to the other, into a villa owned by the same hotel. It was amazing, and I would love to stay there again if I could be with a group of people that would make it more affordable. Since the kitchen was fully supplied, we got to go grocery shopping and cook dinner for two nights, the first time any of us had cooked in three months. It was amazing. We had spaghetti one night and chicken and rice the next.
The fourth night, another friend arrived and brought friends over with her that she had met at the bus station, telling us only that they were Tanzanian. This turned out to be not quite true, they were actually two Peace Corps volunteers visiting Egypt before heading home after their two years service. It was really interesting to talk to them, because I had never really considered the Peace Corps before, but they made it seem wonderful. I'm still not really considering it, but it's not a completely invalid option any longer.
By around the third or fourth day, I was going kind of crazy, what with staying in one place and not really having anything to do, not to mention the insanity that so many mosquito bites brings. Because of all that and a host of other stuff, I decided to go home early, which is why you're getting this blog post tonight (Wednesday) instead of on Saturday, when I was supposed to get home.
Long story short, I bought my bus ticket Tuesday morning, had a wonderful last day in Dahab, snorkeling the famous Blue Hole reef, and caught the bus at 10 pm to take me back to Cairo, where I arrived this morning. Now I'm really tired, so I won't tell you all about my bus trip home adventures, I'll just say that instead of a cab from the bus station, I took a taxi to the Metro with a guy I had just met, who's studying in Alex and had just gone to Dahab for Eid, and who was extremely helpful and gave me a pound for my Metro ticket, then got off in Tahrir square and took a taxi home to Zamalek, where I lazed the day away watching stupid television shows and skyping with my mom. Oh, and NaNoWriMo, which actually went really well in Dahab.
Here's my Tuesday vlog about my last day in Dahab, hope you enjoy:
NaNo word count: 29381
p.s. If anyone has any helpful suggestions about making mosquito bites stop itching or making me start being able to ignore them, please leave a comment! Or leave a comment with sympathy, and we'll see if that helps!
Monday, November 8, 2010
yup
Well, nothing interesting happened yesterday, which is perhaps why I forgot to blog again. Good for you, Elise. Fail.
Basically, I went to work for the first time in forever, had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and left a bit early. Sounds like fun, right?
Then classes, yay. Then bus ride home, where it was a NaNo race against my computer battery, that I actually won for once. Then I had pineapple cheese pizza for dinner, and skyped with my mother in the lobby because once again, my roommate decided to go to bed early. It's not that I mind her needing her sleep, because I don't, I just mind when it intrudes on my life, which sounds horrible and mean, but it's true. If I have to talk in the lobby, I can't say the same kind of things that I would say if I were alone in my room, and I don't like that at all.
So, tomorrow (I lie, today) is Tuesday, and I have an essay to write, a trip to Europe to plan, and at least 1667 words to write before it gets dark. Once it gets dark, I never get anything done.
NaNo word count: 14048
Basically, I went to work for the first time in forever, had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and left a bit early. Sounds like fun, right?
Then classes, yay. Then bus ride home, where it was a NaNo race against my computer battery, that I actually won for once. Then I had pineapple cheese pizza for dinner, and skyped with my mother in the lobby because once again, my roommate decided to go to bed early. It's not that I mind her needing her sleep, because I don't, I just mind when it intrudes on my life, which sounds horrible and mean, but it's true. If I have to talk in the lobby, I can't say the same kind of things that I would say if I were alone in my room, and I don't like that at all.
So, tomorrow (I lie, today) is Tuesday, and I have an essay to write, a trip to Europe to plan, and at least 1667 words to write before it gets dark. Once it gets dark, I never get anything done.
NaNo word count: 14048
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
let's do the time warp again
I woke up late this morning, but made the bus on time. Actually, I made the bus a little bit early. Still, the extra forty minutes of sleep I accidentally got did not improve my mood today. I don't really know what was wrong, I just didn't want to put up with anybody's crap, which can be hard in classes where I have to work in groups.
Talking about The Misanthrope in Dramatic Lit was interesting, though, even if we got a little more technical than my admiration for the play really called for.
My second class of the day, Egyptian Lit, turned out to be cancelled, as I found out after waiting around for the teacher for 10 minutes with another two students until my friend pointed out the very small, not at eye level sign on the door. Woops. So, since we had nothing better to do, we talked about hieroglyphs and played hangman for a while. I drew a picture of an owl wearing a cowboy hat on the board, but I didn't take a picture of him, because I forgot I had my camera.
In Arabic class, we witnessed a march/walk-out/strike by the campus janitors, protesting for higher wages and better food options on campus. As it is, they have to pay the same prices for food that students do, which is ridiculous, since they get paid so little and are completely isolated out in the middle of the desert all day with no other food options.
The protest was still going on when class was over, and I took a few pictures. This is what a protest in Egypt looks like:
The bus ride home was long today, but I got a fairly good nap. When I got home, responsible student that I am, I started my homework right away. I had Arabic, an essay for Art and Architecture, and transcription for anthro. Tomorrow I'm presenting to my group in my anthro class about my conversation analysis, so that should go well. I have stuff to talk about, but I don't think it will fill up the time I'm supposed to fill. That's okay, though, because no one else's stuff will take that long either. So, that was my evening, full of homework, with only a few short breaks to dance the time warp while my roommate was gone, but that's it, I swear.
Talking about The Misanthrope in Dramatic Lit was interesting, though, even if we got a little more technical than my admiration for the play really called for.
My second class of the day, Egyptian Lit, turned out to be cancelled, as I found out after waiting around for the teacher for 10 minutes with another two students until my friend pointed out the very small, not at eye level sign on the door. Woops. So, since we had nothing better to do, we talked about hieroglyphs and played hangman for a while. I drew a picture of an owl wearing a cowboy hat on the board, but I didn't take a picture of him, because I forgot I had my camera.
In Arabic class, we witnessed a march/walk-out/strike by the campus janitors, protesting for higher wages and better food options on campus. As it is, they have to pay the same prices for food that students do, which is ridiculous, since they get paid so little and are completely isolated out in the middle of the desert all day with no other food options.
The protest was still going on when class was over, and I took a few pictures. This is what a protest in Egypt looks like:
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| guys, what's going on? guys? nobody knows. |
Speaking of the time warp, I finally started to watch the Rocky Horror episode of Glee, which I've kind of been waiting for forever, but the stupid internet won't let me finish it. They're just about to cast Santana as Dr. Frank-n-Furter, and I'm not sure if I want to go on. Glee, I love you, but I'm not so sure about this.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
birthday at the pyramids
Happy birthday to me! I'm not a teenager anymore, how sad. But so far, being twenty has been pretty good.
I was a little bit afraid that having my birthday without any of my old friends or my family around would totally suck, but instead, I had an amazing day, since I've met so many wonderful people here in Egypt.
The day started early, with a taxi ride to AUC's old campus in downtown Cairo, where we got on the bus that would take us to Giza. Professor Ikram wished me a happy birthday and gave me a brownie, which was very nice of her. The drive to Giza was relatively painless, although commiserating with the other students in my class about how totally lost we are for our midterm on Monday was a little worrisome. Still, I've been studying, and I'll do my best. Hopefully that's good enough.
We started our tour of the Giza plateau by meeting up with an archaeologist who is currently excavating the one of the workers' villages near the pyramids. Her work was really interesting, even if we had to climb ridiculous sand dunes and a giant rocky hill to see it. Here's some pictures of that:
Then, we walked to the valley temple of Khafre (the builder of the second pyramid), which is right next to the Sphinx. The temple was beautiful, at least what remained was (all the decoration and statues have been taken to various Egyptian and European museums), but I didn't get any pictures inside. Here's the Sphinx, though:
After the professors were done talking, they somehow disappeared, or we just didn't keep up. We got a little lost, and were chastised when we found our way back to the group eventually. I won't be doing that again any time soon! (Or ever. Never ever.)
Next, we visited the funerary boat of King Khufu (the builder of the first pyramid). The boat museum was wonderfully designed, and we got to wear awesome shoes inside to protect the boat:
At this point, lots of people in our group were very very thirsty, because we'd been promised a return to the bus, which hadn't happened yet, and actually never happened until the trip was over. Professor Ikram bought water for the people who needed it, but once you're dehydrated, one bottle of water isn't going to make you better, especially when you're still out in the hot sun.
Luckily, I'd brought my entire bag with me, two huge water bottles, four granola bars and all. I got a little dehydrated, just because I was usually too busy scrambling along with the group like good little ducklings to have time to take a drink, but by the end of the trip, both bottles were completely empty.
After seeing the boat, we entered two mastaba tombs of the 5th dynasty (I think). They were both really interesting, with carvings and paintings just like we'd talked about in class. Did I take pictures, despite the sign saying no cameras? Well, yes. Because the professor told me I could:
Then it was time to visit the great pyramid. You might remember, last time I visited Giza, I only went into the second pyramids, because the first was too expensive. However, when you're with Professor Ikram, nothing costs any money beyond the field trip fee! It's just like magic.
The first pyramid was amazing, with the corbelled ceiling in the grand gallery and the sheer size of the tunnels through the rock. The pathways up to the burial chamber were steep, but not impossible. It felt like there wasn't any air inside, and it was amazingly hot and humid, but as you can see (read?), I survived. It was a close thing, though, especially when I hit my head on the ceiling of one of the tunnels, giving myself an instant headache. Ouch. Getting back out into the fresh air was a huge relief, except then we walked straight over to the next pyramid to go inside that one as well.
I almost didn't go, just because I'd already seen it, but then I thought, why miss out on the chance to visit it again, with a famous Egyptologist as a tour guide? It was a great choice, and I had a good time, even though I almost suffocated again.
(The best part of being inside the great pyramid, by the way, was when a man inside with a flashlight offered to take a group picture of us by the king's sarcophagus, even though photos are strictly not allowed. Professor Ikram said it was okay, though, so I jumped at the chance. I'll post that picture whenever I find it on someone's facebook, I promise. Even if I look horrible in it. [Here it is!])
After getting out of the second pyramid, we headed back for the bus (Professor Ikram made everyone sing Happy Birthday to me and the other birthday student, which went something like, "happy birthday dear mumble-mumble") and went home. I caught a cab back to the dorms with some friends, and then headed straight upstairs for a birthday nap. When I woke up, I showered to get the dust of Giza off of myself, and then studied some more. In between readings, I made plans with friends to go out for a birthday dinner. We ended up at Dido's, an Italian restaurant not very far away. I had pesto fettuccine, which was completely delicious, so I'll definitely be going back there again! After dinner, we walked to a bakery/gelato place for dessert, which was amazing. I ordered tiramisu and coffee gelato, which was the best choice ever.
When we got back to the dorms, sigh, I came upstairs and studied some more. Aren't I dedicated? I hope that I do okay on my Dramatic Lit midterm tomorrow, because I'm afraid I kind of neglected it in favor of studying for Art and Architecture. Oh well.
In conclusion, I had an amazing twentieth birthday, and I can only hope that bodes well for the coming year.
I was a little bit afraid that having my birthday without any of my old friends or my family around would totally suck, but instead, I had an amazing day, since I've met so many wonderful people here in Egypt.
The day started early, with a taxi ride to AUC's old campus in downtown Cairo, where we got on the bus that would take us to Giza. Professor Ikram wished me a happy birthday and gave me a brownie, which was very nice of her. The drive to Giza was relatively painless, although commiserating with the other students in my class about how totally lost we are for our midterm on Monday was a little worrisome. Still, I've been studying, and I'll do my best. Hopefully that's good enough.
We started our tour of the Giza plateau by meeting up with an archaeologist who is currently excavating the one of the workers' villages near the pyramids. Her work was really interesting, even if we had to climb ridiculous sand dunes and a giant rocky hill to see it. Here's some pictures of that:
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| view across smoggy cairo from the hill |
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| the second pyramid |
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| foreground: the pyramid builder's village |
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| on the left is the top of the hill we climbed, it's a lot higher on the other side. |
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| okay, not the sphinx. a camel leg bone prof ikram found on the ground and took home with her. |
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| sphinx! |
Next, we visited the funerary boat of King Khufu (the builder of the first pyramid). The boat museum was wonderfully designed, and we got to wear awesome shoes inside to protect the boat:
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| boat booties! |
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| the boat pit where the boat was found |
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| so pretty. i want to sail in it. |
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| what do you mean, i can't sail in it? why not? |
Luckily, I'd brought my entire bag with me, two huge water bottles, four granola bars and all. I got a little dehydrated, just because I was usually too busy scrambling along with the group like good little ducklings to have time to take a drink, but by the end of the trip, both bottles were completely empty.
After seeing the boat, we entered two mastaba tombs of the 5th dynasty (I think). They were both really interesting, with carvings and paintings just like we'd talked about in class. Did I take pictures, despite the sign saying no cameras? Well, yes. Because the professor told me I could:
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| the tomb owner and his special kilt |
The first pyramid was amazing, with the corbelled ceiling in the grand gallery and the sheer size of the tunnels through the rock. The pathways up to the burial chamber were steep, but not impossible. It felt like there wasn't any air inside, and it was amazingly hot and humid, but as you can see (read?), I survived. It was a close thing, though, especially when I hit my head on the ceiling of one of the tunnels, giving myself an instant headache. Ouch. Getting back out into the fresh air was a huge relief, except then we walked straight over to the next pyramid to go inside that one as well.
I almost didn't go, just because I'd already seen it, but then I thought, why miss out on the chance to visit it again, with a famous Egyptologist as a tour guide? It was a great choice, and I had a good time, even though I almost suffocated again.
(The best part of being inside the great pyramid, by the way, was when a man inside with a flashlight offered to take a group picture of us by the king's sarcophagus, even though photos are strictly not allowed. Professor Ikram said it was okay, though, so I jumped at the chance. I'll post that picture whenever I find it on someone's facebook, I promise. Even if I look horrible in it. [Here it is!])
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| i'm waaay in the back, just about in the middle. behind the freaking sarcophagus. |
When we got back to the dorms, sigh, I came upstairs and studied some more. Aren't I dedicated? I hope that I do okay on my Dramatic Lit midterm tomorrow, because I'm afraid I kind of neglected it in favor of studying for Art and Architecture. Oh well.
In conclusion, I had an amazing twentieth birthday, and I can only hope that bodes well for the coming year.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sinai 1 (10/14/10)
[Sorry for the late catch-up blog. Here's day one of my Sinai trip, finally.]
Blogging on the bus is not very fun. Oh well. That's what I get for deciding to go n awesome rips to Sinai. Before I get to that, though, here's what happened today.
Umm. Not really anything. School (stuff), lunch (falafel), bus ride home (agonizing). In Arabic today we presented out dialogues, and the teacher gave us a resounding 'mumtaaz' (excellent) after we were done, so that went alright. But I digress.
Like every school day, I got on the 5:15 bus home. One of the 5:15 buses, anyway, there are usually two or three. We left around 5:10, and drove for a while, then got stopped by traffic. It took until 7:00 for me to get back to the dorms. The bus ride home has never taken that long before, and I hope it never does again. I don't know why the traffic was so bad today, but I assume it was an accident of some sort. (Speaking of accidents, the bus drove by a burned out truck this morning, still kinda on fire. That was interesting.)
Anyway, I got back to the dorms at the precise time the bus was meant to depart Zamalek to go pick up the New Campus students, and I wasn't packed yet.
I went up to my room, and finished packing, and made it back downstairs in about ten minutes, just to wait until 7:40 when we were informed by an RA that the bus would be another twenty minutes.
I left my stuff downstairs and went back to my room to charge my iPod as much as I could and talk to my mom on Skype a little. I was about to head back down when I got a call from the RA that the bus was there waiting. As if I was holding it up.
But whatever. I went downstairs, all seven students leaving from Zamalek got on the bus, and we headed out. I took the opportunity that the long drive to New Cairo provided to do a little homework for my linguistics class, and recorded (with permission of course) a conversation between several of the other students on the bus, to transcribe and analyze later. [NB: I have still not analyzed this recording. Oops.] The conversation was actually more of a debate about marriage and the benefits and detriments thereof. I was kind of disappointed that I had to record, and therefore couldn't contribute to the conversation, but on the whole, I'm glad I got the recording done with. I got almost an hour of data before my flipcam threatened to die on me, so I stopped.
We picked up the New Campus people a few minutes after that, and now we're on our way to Sinai. The bus ride promises to be long and agonizingly boring and/or painful, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm going to try and get some sleep now, so I'll be all refreshed for a nice relaxing day at the beach tomorrow.
[And a special gift for you catch-up blog readers, I'll include the doodle I made in my notebook after I wrote this blog]:
Blogging on the bus is not very fun. Oh well. That's what I get for deciding to go n awesome rips to Sinai. Before I get to that, though, here's what happened today.
Umm. Not really anything. School (stuff), lunch (falafel), bus ride home (agonizing). In Arabic today we presented out dialogues, and the teacher gave us a resounding 'mumtaaz' (excellent) after we were done, so that went alright. But I digress.
Like every school day, I got on the 5:15 bus home. One of the 5:15 buses, anyway, there are usually two or three. We left around 5:10, and drove for a while, then got stopped by traffic. It took until 7:00 for me to get back to the dorms. The bus ride home has never taken that long before, and I hope it never does again. I don't know why the traffic was so bad today, but I assume it was an accident of some sort. (Speaking of accidents, the bus drove by a burned out truck this morning, still kinda on fire. That was interesting.)
Anyway, I got back to the dorms at the precise time the bus was meant to depart Zamalek to go pick up the New Campus students, and I wasn't packed yet.
I went up to my room, and finished packing, and made it back downstairs in about ten minutes, just to wait until 7:40 when we were informed by an RA that the bus would be another twenty minutes.
I left my stuff downstairs and went back to my room to charge my iPod as much as I could and talk to my mom on Skype a little. I was about to head back down when I got a call from the RA that the bus was there waiting. As if I was holding it up.
But whatever. I went downstairs, all seven students leaving from Zamalek got on the bus, and we headed out. I took the opportunity that the long drive to New Cairo provided to do a little homework for my linguistics class, and recorded (with permission of course) a conversation between several of the other students on the bus, to transcribe and analyze later. [NB: I have still not analyzed this recording. Oops.] The conversation was actually more of a debate about marriage and the benefits and detriments thereof. I was kind of disappointed that I had to record, and therefore couldn't contribute to the conversation, but on the whole, I'm glad I got the recording done with. I got almost an hour of data before my flipcam threatened to die on me, so I stopped.
We picked up the New Campus people a few minutes after that, and now we're on our way to Sinai. The bus ride promises to be long and agonizingly boring and/or painful, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm going to try and get some sleep now, so I'll be all refreshed for a nice relaxing day at the beach tomorrow.
[And a special gift for you catch-up blog readers, I'll include the doodle I made in my notebook after I wrote this blog]:
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| yeah, you know you're jealous |
Thursday, October 7, 2010
time keeping fail
I am actually ashamed to write this in my blog. I overslept and missed the bus to school this morning, thereby missing my first day of work. Lovely.
I talked to my boss and it's all okay, but I feel really bad about it. I triple checked my cell phone alarm last night, but either it didn't go off this morning or I turned it off and don't remember.
That was a really great start to my day, as you might imagine, but luckily, except for a few low points, it did get better.
Art and Architecture was fun as usual, although I was disappointed to find out that the class trip to Saqqara and Dahshur is scheduled for the same weekend that the Mt. Sinai trip was rescheduled for. Since I paid for the Sinai trip, I'll definitely be going on that one, it's just annoying to know that I won't get to visit Saqqara and Dahshur with Professor Ikram. At least I've already been to Saqqara so I won't miss out too badly.
After class, I had taamiyya (falafel) for lunch, which was delicious and cost three pounds, which is why I love Egyptian food so much. It is ridiculously cheap and very very good.
When I finished my lunch, I went to the library to do some reading for class, where I saw this informative warning sign:
At one point, I checked the time, and saw it was 2:15. "That's okay," I said to myself, doing some math in my head. "My next class doesn't start until 2:30." The math in my head went something like this: All the classes here are an hour and fifteen minutes. I had class this morning at 11:30, and it ended at 12:45. That means the next class started at 1:00, and ends at 2:15, so my class must start at 2:30.
Regrettably, while my math was correct, I neglected the fact that AUC makes no sense, and therefore there is no 1:00 o'clock class. I turned up half an hour late, for no real reason. Worse, I'd talked to my professor in line at lunch earlier. French the llama. It turned out alright though, because all we did was watch a youtube video that I'd already seen. The video is pretty interesting actually, even though it's really long. You can watch and learn all about web 2.0 here if you're interested.
Also, here's the famous video that went viral a few years back, all about how web 2.0 is changing the world and us:
In Arabic class, I turned in my paragraph, described some object, and made up sentences like 'the girl in the television is happy' and 'this man is old and tall'. I know, I'm practically fluent already, right?
After Arabic, I headed to the library to research more for my Dramatic Lit paper. I had only been in the library for 45 minutes when suddenly I noticed that it was really quiet and there weren't many people left. I knew that the library wasn't due to close for another four hours, but it still really creeped me out to have it be so empty when it's usually bustling and loud, at least on the ground floor.
I ended up finding a really useful book for my paper, and decided to call it a day in time to catch the 6:30 bus home. I tried to check the book out at a self-check station, but the computer told me there was a problem with my card, so I had to go to the front desk.
While the librarian was half way through checking out my book, and making me fill out information about my address (which is apparently what the hold on my card was all about), an Egyptian girl came up to the counter to ask a question. Instead of finishing up with me, which would have taken about 20 seconds, he went immediately over to help her, making me wait at the desk for ten minutes for my book to finally be desensitized and handed over. So that was fun.
I did get my book eventually, though, and went out to see AUC's campus in the dark for the first time. It was actually really pretty, and I wish I hadn't had to hurry to catch the bus so I could have snapped a better picture. This one will have to do:
The bus ride home was made quicker because I had someone to talk to, since Maggie was on the same bus. When we got back to Zamalek, I ate some weird pasta from the cafeteria and went upstairs. Tomorrow is another day, the start of my second weekend so far this week. Should be fun, if I manage to keep track of the time.
I talked to my boss and it's all okay, but I feel really bad about it. I triple checked my cell phone alarm last night, but either it didn't go off this morning or I turned it off and don't remember.
That was a really great start to my day, as you might imagine, but luckily, except for a few low points, it did get better.
Art and Architecture was fun as usual, although I was disappointed to find out that the class trip to Saqqara and Dahshur is scheduled for the same weekend that the Mt. Sinai trip was rescheduled for. Since I paid for the Sinai trip, I'll definitely be going on that one, it's just annoying to know that I won't get to visit Saqqara and Dahshur with Professor Ikram. At least I've already been to Saqqara so I won't miss out too badly.
After class, I had taamiyya (falafel) for lunch, which was delicious and cost three pounds, which is why I love Egyptian food so much. It is ridiculously cheap and very very good.
When I finished my lunch, I went to the library to do some reading for class, where I saw this informative warning sign:
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| but i really really wanted to take notes with my quill pen! |
Regrettably, while my math was correct, I neglected the fact that AUC makes no sense, and therefore there is no 1:00 o'clock class. I turned up half an hour late, for no real reason. Worse, I'd talked to my professor in line at lunch earlier. French the llama. It turned out alright though, because all we did was watch a youtube video that I'd already seen. The video is pretty interesting actually, even though it's really long. You can watch and learn all about web 2.0 here if you're interested.
Also, here's the famous video that went viral a few years back, all about how web 2.0 is changing the world and us:
In Arabic class, I turned in my paragraph, described some object, and made up sentences like 'the girl in the television is happy' and 'this man is old and tall'. I know, I'm practically fluent already, right?
After Arabic, I headed to the library to research more for my Dramatic Lit paper. I had only been in the library for 45 minutes when suddenly I noticed that it was really quiet and there weren't many people left. I knew that the library wasn't due to close for another four hours, but it still really creeped me out to have it be so empty when it's usually bustling and loud, at least on the ground floor.
I ended up finding a really useful book for my paper, and decided to call it a day in time to catch the 6:30 bus home. I tried to check the book out at a self-check station, but the computer told me there was a problem with my card, so I had to go to the front desk.
While the librarian was half way through checking out my book, and making me fill out information about my address (which is apparently what the hold on my card was all about), an Egyptian girl came up to the counter to ask a question. Instead of finishing up with me, which would have taken about 20 seconds, he went immediately over to help her, making me wait at the desk for ten minutes for my book to finally be desensitized and handed over. So that was fun.
I did get my book eventually, though, and went out to see AUC's campus in the dark for the first time. It was actually really pretty, and I wish I hadn't had to hurry to catch the bus so I could have snapped a better picture. This one will have to do:
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| the deadly fountain doesn't look so dangerous at night... |
The bus ride home was made quicker because I had someone to talk to, since Maggie was on the same bus. When we got back to Zamalek, I ate some weird pasta from the cafeteria and went upstairs. Tomorrow is another day, the start of my second weekend so far this week. Should be fun, if I manage to keep track of the time.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
my map is upside down
I slept in again today. It felt good, not to get up at 6:30 to catch a stupid bus. I got to campus around 10:50 instead, and had just enough time to buy breakfast and eat before my first class.
We didn't have a new play to discuss in Dramatic Lit, so instead we talked about the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare, and our essay assignments. It was really interesting, actually. I need to brush up on my history of England, because there were a lot of things the professor brought up that I didn't remember correctly, or even at all!
Then it was time for lunch, and then boring Egyptian Literature. I didn't fall asleep today, so that was a plus, because it meant I didn't feel nervous the entire time. I discussed my essay topic with the professor, and was really confused when she started suggesting sources for me that have nothing to do with the topic I proposed. I wanted to talk about the role of fate/destiny/gods over mankind in Greek drama and Egyptian literature, kind of a compare/contrast thing, and she seemed to think I just wanted to compare and contrast the gods themselves. Her idea would be way easier, I think, but I don't think I'd have to do as much interesting research for that idea, so I'll just stick to my first plan. Plus, that way, I can combine the research for my two papers and not double my workload. Aren't I clever...
In Arabic today, we learned how to complain. Well, not really, we just learned a bunch of negative adjectives that we can use when someone asks us how we are. Now instead of just saying we're fine or excellent, we can say we're too hot, too cold, tired, sick, exhausted, hungry, or thirsty. Those are going to come in handy. Imagine meeting someone for the first time on the street (in the unlikely event that you meet anyone who speaks modern standard Arabic, and in reply to 'How are you?' telling them 'I'm hungry.' That just doesn't seem plausible. I guess it'll be useful for in class, though.
The bus ride home today took forever. And by forever, I mean an hour and a half. Almost an hour and forty-five minutes, but who's counting?
I got on the same bus I always do, it left at the same time it always does, and yet Cairo traffic managed to snarl it up so badly that crossing one bridge took at least ten minutes. One bridge!
It was completely dark by the time we got back to the dorms and I could finally go upstairs to do my homework. Lovely. The work wasn't too bad, actually, and I was done early enough that I went out to dinner with two friends, back to that exotic Egyptian restaurant known as Hardee's. Mmm.
When I got back home, I studied with my friend Vince for a while, for our map quiz in Art and Architecture tomorrow. Did I say it got postponed?
Vince, lucky guy, actually owns the book we were supposed to use to find the places on our map. [I just heard the weirdest noise outside. I've never heard anything like that before. It was like a cross between the very beginning of a fire truck siren, a giant electric drill, and a stepped-on cat. Weird. Now it's gone.] I only had photocopies of the first 45 pages to work with instead. When we compared our maps, the differences were pathetic. I must have been falling asleep or something when I made mine, because I made all kinds of mistakes. Some cities were just an inch or so off, while others were in completely the wrong place. Take Serabit el-Khaddem for example. I put it on the wrong side of the Red Sea. Who does that? What was I thinking? Vince suggested my map must have been upside down. There were a few more mistakes, that being the worst of them, all of which are fixed now, just in time for me not to learn them for the quiz tomorrow. Wish me luck!
We didn't have a new play to discuss in Dramatic Lit, so instead we talked about the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare, and our essay assignments. It was really interesting, actually. I need to brush up on my history of England, because there were a lot of things the professor brought up that I didn't remember correctly, or even at all!
Then it was time for lunch, and then boring Egyptian Literature. I didn't fall asleep today, so that was a plus, because it meant I didn't feel nervous the entire time. I discussed my essay topic with the professor, and was really confused when she started suggesting sources for me that have nothing to do with the topic I proposed. I wanted to talk about the role of fate/destiny/gods over mankind in Greek drama and Egyptian literature, kind of a compare/contrast thing, and she seemed to think I just wanted to compare and contrast the gods themselves. Her idea would be way easier, I think, but I don't think I'd have to do as much interesting research for that idea, so I'll just stick to my first plan. Plus, that way, I can combine the research for my two papers and not double my workload. Aren't I clever...
In Arabic today, we learned how to complain. Well, not really, we just learned a bunch of negative adjectives that we can use when someone asks us how we are. Now instead of just saying we're fine or excellent, we can say we're too hot, too cold, tired, sick, exhausted, hungry, or thirsty. Those are going to come in handy. Imagine meeting someone for the first time on the street (in the unlikely event that you meet anyone who speaks modern standard Arabic, and in reply to 'How are you?' telling them 'I'm hungry.' That just doesn't seem plausible. I guess it'll be useful for in class, though.
The bus ride home today took forever. And by forever, I mean an hour and a half. Almost an hour and forty-five minutes, but who's counting?
I got on the same bus I always do, it left at the same time it always does, and yet Cairo traffic managed to snarl it up so badly that crossing one bridge took at least ten minutes. One bridge!
It was completely dark by the time we got back to the dorms and I could finally go upstairs to do my homework. Lovely. The work wasn't too bad, actually, and I was done early enough that I went out to dinner with two friends, back to that exotic Egyptian restaurant known as Hardee's. Mmm.
When I got back home, I studied with my friend Vince for a while, for our map quiz in Art and Architecture tomorrow. Did I say it got postponed?
Vince, lucky guy, actually owns the book we were supposed to use to find the places on our map. [I just heard the weirdest noise outside. I've never heard anything like that before. It was like a cross between the very beginning of a fire truck siren, a giant electric drill, and a stepped-on cat. Weird. Now it's gone.] I only had photocopies of the first 45 pages to work with instead. When we compared our maps, the differences were pathetic. I must have been falling asleep or something when I made mine, because I made all kinds of mistakes. Some cities were just an inch or so off, while others were in completely the wrong place. Take Serabit el-Khaddem for example. I put it on the wrong side of the Red Sea. Who does that? What was I thinking? Vince suggested my map must have been upside down. There were a few more mistakes, that being the worst of them, all of which are fixed now, just in time for me not to learn them for the quiz tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
surprise!
Guess who didn't go to Sinai tonight? Apparently a huge sandstorm came up that made the highway unsafe, and we never even made it out of Cairo before turning around and returning to the dorms. All in all, it was an interesting two hour bus ride with my friends, even though we didn't get anywhere.
I won't bore you too much with what happened at school today, except to say that the map quiz I've been studying for never even got brought up. Of course, once Professor Ikram didn't say anything, none of us were going to! My Arabic quiz went well too, even though I did have to cram to learn all the vocab right before class started.
Today was the first day I was asked for my bus pass, ever. It was a little weird, but it turns out my card wasn't activated to scan for the buses, so I had to turn it in to do that and pick it up later in the day. It was an unnecessary hassle just like so many other things are in Egypt.
When I got back from campus, it was about 6:00, and I was supposed to be in the lobby to leave on the trip by 7:00. I plugged everything in to charge, and finished packing, then headed downstairs to wait for 45 minutes until the bus got there. During that time, I helped Jen catch a cab to the airport for her flight home, and also saw a girl get her foot run over by a speeding car. She was okay, but it was really scary. At least the car stopped after, even if they didn't stick around for long, and at least they didn't actually hit her.
The weather had been windy all day, with lots and lots of dust in the air, so I guess the news of the sandstorm shouldn't have been a huge surprise, but it kind of was. It was pretty disappointing to know that our entire weekend was cancelled just because of a freak event that no one could have predicted. Oh well. The trip is going to be rescheduled, thankfully, although we're not sure when yet. Hopefully some people who paid but weren't able to go this weekend will be able to next time.
Since we were all a little bummed about having to spend the weekend at home instead of in Sinai, everyone on the bus (about 8 or 9 Zamalek students and 2 RAs) started making new plans for the night and the weekend as soon as we got the news that the trip had to be cancelled. Two of my friends actually decided to take a train to Alexandria instead, and last I heard, had already bought tickets to leave tomorrow morning. I'm not quite that desperate to get out of Cairo, myself. I'm looking at the trip being cancelled as a good opportunity to catch up on my sleep and reading, and take a breather from everything that's been going on.
My plans for the night, once the bus had turned around, morphed to include getting dinner with three other students at a restaurant called Crave. I'd actually walked to it before, although I didn't really know where I was then. I had spinach ravioli, and it was delicious. We also decided to splurge and order dessert, so I had sweet potato pie with caramel. I would have taken a picture for you, but I was too busy eating it.
On the walk home, I saw a very familiar face.
It was very strange to see a dog that looks so much like mine, and know that it really wouldn't be a great idea to go up and pet it. He was very well behaved when we walked by, though, and didn't even move. I might walk back that way another day this weekend to see if he lives there, and maybe get a better picture or talk to his owner.
So, no catch-up blogs this weekend (yay!) but also no monastery of St. Catherine and no sunrise from Mt. Sinai (boo!). It's all working out, though. I just have to remember to go with the flow. This is Egypt.
Also, this is completely irrelevant to the rest of this post, but I just heard that Tony Curtis passed away. This makes me sad. But it reminds me of this movie, which I love, and which I have an excuse to watch again now, since Tony Curtis is one of the stars.
Poor Charlie Potatoes.
I won't bore you too much with what happened at school today, except to say that the map quiz I've been studying for never even got brought up. Of course, once Professor Ikram didn't say anything, none of us were going to! My Arabic quiz went well too, even though I did have to cram to learn all the vocab right before class started.
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| who drew that on the table? |
When I got back from campus, it was about 6:00, and I was supposed to be in the lobby to leave on the trip by 7:00. I plugged everything in to charge, and finished packing, then headed downstairs to wait for 45 minutes until the bus got there. During that time, I helped Jen catch a cab to the airport for her flight home, and also saw a girl get her foot run over by a speeding car. She was okay, but it was really scary. At least the car stopped after, even if they didn't stick around for long, and at least they didn't actually hit her.
The weather had been windy all day, with lots and lots of dust in the air, so I guess the news of the sandstorm shouldn't have been a huge surprise, but it kind of was. It was pretty disappointing to know that our entire weekend was cancelled just because of a freak event that no one could have predicted. Oh well. The trip is going to be rescheduled, thankfully, although we're not sure when yet. Hopefully some people who paid but weren't able to go this weekend will be able to next time.
Since we were all a little bummed about having to spend the weekend at home instead of in Sinai, everyone on the bus (about 8 or 9 Zamalek students and 2 RAs) started making new plans for the night and the weekend as soon as we got the news that the trip had to be cancelled. Two of my friends actually decided to take a train to Alexandria instead, and last I heard, had already bought tickets to leave tomorrow morning. I'm not quite that desperate to get out of Cairo, myself. I'm looking at the trip being cancelled as a good opportunity to catch up on my sleep and reading, and take a breather from everything that's been going on.
My plans for the night, once the bus had turned around, morphed to include getting dinner with three other students at a restaurant called Crave. I'd actually walked to it before, although I didn't really know where I was then. I had spinach ravioli, and it was delicious. We also decided to splurge and order dessert, so I had sweet potato pie with caramel. I would have taken a picture for you, but I was too busy eating it.
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| here's the menu instead. does the woman look like mrs. claus to anyone else? |
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| it's a hooch-dog! sorry it's so blurry... |
So, no catch-up blogs this weekend (yay!) but also no monastery of St. Catherine and no sunrise from Mt. Sinai (boo!). It's all working out, though. I just have to remember to go with the flow. This is Egypt.
Also, this is completely irrelevant to the rest of this post, but I just heard that Tony Curtis passed away. This makes me sad. But it reminds me of this movie, which I love, and which I have an excuse to watch again now, since Tony Curtis is one of the stars.
Poor Charlie Potatoes.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
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.
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.
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| a colossal statue of a goddess, reconstructed |
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| what most of the site looked like - granite blocks everywhere |
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| a row of granite cobras with no heads (this is why kim needed her mongoose) |
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| you can see the outline of the hypostyle hall in the columns |
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| monuments are great, because i can take pictures of soldiers and not get in trouble |
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| 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.
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| COWS! |
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| 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:
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| first, adorable puppies. don't worry, i didn't touch them. |
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| awww |
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a broken colossus of ramses the great, about 10 ft tall |
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| another broken colossus of the pharaoh - the queen is just visible behind his leg |
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| the royal tomb of psusennes the somethingth - originally, the 'top' was at ground level, and everything you see here was buried. |
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| ancient egyptian sprite bottle - so much litter everywhere! |
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| sorry, i don't remember what this means it's probably horus/the pharaoh, though |
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| broken columns |
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| pretty sure this was the inscription on the cover of my hieroglyphics textbook |
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| hieroglyphs inside an opened tomb |
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| inside a tomb - the granite sarcophagus |
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| is it? could it be? the well of souls? yes. (no.) |
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| 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.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
a ramble on various topics
Today was ridiculously procrastination filled. I got up on time, got ready on time (probably because I didn't have to worry about my roommate, since I haven't seen her in three days - or does that mean I should worry about her?), and caught the bus on time.
Then I got to school, and promptly started procrastinating. In my defense, it's not like there was a lot of stuff I actually had to get done, but I sure didn't do any of it at all. I read the entire internet (the parts of it that I frequent, anyway), at least three times today - once on a library computer in the morning, once on a library computer in the afternoon, and once on my iPod touch on the bus ride home. I have to say, it is incredibly sad and pathetic that I get better internet on the bus than I do sitting in my dorm room. In my room, it can take ten minutes to watch a three and a half minute youtube video, not to mention how long it takes to actually upload one! On the bus, I can watch that same video in three and a half minutes, and that is how the internet is meant to work. Yes, I remember dial-up, and I know that almost any wireless connection I have is infinitely better than what we had with AOL, but the world has moved on, and my generation demands better internet. How else will we be able to watch our illegal US tv shows the same night they air at home (or rather, the same morning, Cairo time)? How else will we be able to skype with our friends and families without the call connection being lost, the sound fading out, or the picture freezing into hilariously pixeled parodies of our loved ones? The point is, I guess, while there may be nothing I can do about it in real life, whatever internet connection I have does at least allow me to post my complaints about it to my blog, and I guess that's all I need. (Except for the tv shows. We all need those.)
The three and a half minute video in question:
Wow, I really did not expect to write that much about really nothing at all. Sorry if that was really boring. The rest of this post probably won't be much better!
33.33% of my class time today was interesting, which I guess is okay, since some days, like Monday and tomorrow most likely, are 0% interesting. In Dramatic Literature we discussed Antigone, which I really liked because I haven't really discussed that play since high school, and getting a different perspective on it was neat. The professor for that class is hilarious too, and he's really good at getting the other students and me to get to conclusions ourselves, instead of just telling us what to think about the plays. I'm the only American student in that class too, so it's almost like my perspective on the plays is always a little bit off from what the rest of the class thinks from an Egyptian standpoint. It's kind of nice actually, because it means that I almost always have something to say. I'll be getting my participation points this semester! (Actually, it's a little hard not to get participation points in any of my classes, just because they're all so tiny. I guess that's a good thing?) For example, I used the word 'blustery' to describe a character in Antigone today, and got props for it. I almost wonder if it's just the fact that while all the students in the class are fluent in English, I may be the only one who thinks in it. That's almost weird to contemplate. Does everyone always think in their native language (outside of language classes, anyway) or do people ever think unconsciously in a language they didn't learn as a child? This is a serious question, my friendiss, one which will have to be explored as soon as I learn to read people's minds...
Well, that was pretty much the most rambling and disjointed blog post ever. Pretty sure there were some beginnings of thoughts up there that never got finished. Will I go back and check? No. I kind of like it.
My blogs for the past few days have been lamentably short of pictures, or at least that's how I feel. I'll do my best to take a few snapshots tomorrow if I see anything interesting.
I haven't posted a MIKA video yet, but I've been listening to his stuff a lot. Here you go:
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Then I got to school, and promptly started procrastinating. In my defense, it's not like there was a lot of stuff I actually had to get done, but I sure didn't do any of it at all. I read the entire internet (the parts of it that I frequent, anyway), at least three times today - once on a library computer in the morning, once on a library computer in the afternoon, and once on my iPod touch on the bus ride home. I have to say, it is incredibly sad and pathetic that I get better internet on the bus than I do sitting in my dorm room. In my room, it can take ten minutes to watch a three and a half minute youtube video, not to mention how long it takes to actually upload one! On the bus, I can watch that same video in three and a half minutes, and that is how the internet is meant to work. Yes, I remember dial-up, and I know that almost any wireless connection I have is infinitely better than what we had with AOL, but the world has moved on, and my generation demands better internet. How else will we be able to watch our illegal US tv shows the same night they air at home (or rather, the same morning, Cairo time)? How else will we be able to skype with our friends and families without the call connection being lost, the sound fading out, or the picture freezing into hilariously pixeled parodies of our loved ones? The point is, I guess, while there may be nothing I can do about it in real life, whatever internet connection I have does at least allow me to post my complaints about it to my blog, and I guess that's all I need. (Except for the tv shows. We all need those.)
The three and a half minute video in question:
Wow, I really did not expect to write that much about really nothing at all. Sorry if that was really boring. The rest of this post probably won't be much better!
33.33% of my class time today was interesting, which I guess is okay, since some days, like Monday and tomorrow most likely, are 0% interesting. In Dramatic Literature we discussed Antigone, which I really liked because I haven't really discussed that play since high school, and getting a different perspective on it was neat. The professor for that class is hilarious too, and he's really good at getting the other students and me to get to conclusions ourselves, instead of just telling us what to think about the plays. I'm the only American student in that class too, so it's almost like my perspective on the plays is always a little bit off from what the rest of the class thinks from an Egyptian standpoint. It's kind of nice actually, because it means that I almost always have something to say. I'll be getting my participation points this semester! (Actually, it's a little hard not to get participation points in any of my classes, just because they're all so tiny. I guess that's a good thing?) For example, I used the word 'blustery' to describe a character in Antigone today, and got props for it. I almost wonder if it's just the fact that while all the students in the class are fluent in English, I may be the only one who thinks in it. That's almost weird to contemplate. Does everyone always think in their native language (outside of language classes, anyway) or do people ever think unconsciously in a language they didn't learn as a child? This is a serious question, my friendiss, one which will have to be explored as soon as I learn to read people's minds...
Well, that was pretty much the most rambling and disjointed blog post ever. Pretty sure there were some beginnings of thoughts up there that never got finished. Will I go back and check? No. I kind of like it.
My blogs for the past few days have been lamentably short of pictures, or at least that's how I feel. I'll do my best to take a few snapshots tomorrow if I see anything interesting.
I haven't posted a MIKA video yet, but I've been listening to his stuff a lot. Here you go:
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
home from alexandria
Okay, tons of stuff happened today, and I didn't have time to take notes on it all, so I'll just do my best not to forget anything.
We woke up this morning in the sketchiest hotel room I have ever been in. (And yes, that includes the one in Berkeley, Mom.)
Here are some lovely pictures to help you imagine the experience. I have to say, they don't do it justice.
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| my lovely camp bed. it tilted back and forth. |
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| all the beds, three in a row |
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| the bathroom, complete with no toilet paper |
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| the sink with a faucet that would not turn off, ever |
Jealous yet? Well, you should be. Because after checking out of the hotel, we visited the Alexandrian catacombs.
Sadly, we weren't allowed to take cameras in with us. Certain members of our group disobeyed this decree, and one part of the photographic evidence can be found below. I'd include more of his pictures, but as they were taken extremely surreptitiously (mostly from the hip) and without a flash (thank goodness for small mercies) they aren't really that great, so you're not missing out.
To get into the catacombs, we climbed down a spiral staircase, about three or four stories down. Although the climb was slightly unpleasant, we were informed that it was nothing compared to what the catacomb's discoverer experienced when he fell through the earth covering another shaft and plunged 30 meters to his death. Poor donkey archaeologist. Rest in peace, we owe you so much. (Speaking of donkeys, you might be surprised to know how many archaeological sites in Egypt have been discovered by them, not always fatally. I could quote a number, but I'd just be making it up, so I won't.)
Anyway, we learned that the catacombs originally contained four types of burial sites: private tombs, pit graves, public graves, and wall niches for urns holding ashes. We saw all four types on our walk through the caverns, but my favorite were the public graves.
The ground water in the earth of the catacombs is so high now that the floor is actually flooded in the public graves area, which meant we walked through balanced on wooden planks set between periodic stone blocks. The ceiling was also very low, which meant I had to duck most of the time. There were three layers of graves hewn into the rock, the lowest completely flooded with crystal clear water that glowed almost green in the dim light.
There was no trace left of who the tombs had originally belonged to, but we did learn that when the catacombs were first explored, the public area held at least 300 mummies.
Another interesting and/or extremely frightening part of the catacombs included the largest private tomb, complete with two small statues of its former occupants. I know not everyone reading this is a huge nerd, but DON'T BLINK. They were so so so freaky, and the lights kept flickering, and they were just staring at me, and... Okay, sorry, I'm done. I'd post a picture but you know what they say about an image of a angel. Or you don't know, and good on you for that. Moving on.
In the catacombs, we also saw the only human remains left behind (a kind of pathetic femur or humerus sticking out of the dirt in one of the graves), as well as a case full of horse bones, apparently buried there because the catacombs were near a horse racing track when they were in use.
With our visit to the catacombs complete, we moved across the city to an ancient Roman theatre. Our guide described it as an odeon, but I'm not sure he was correct. It definitely wasn't an amphitheatre, though, since according to our guide, 'two men didn't wrestle in it, like in that Russell Crowe movie.' Yeah, that's what that movie was about. Two guys wrestling. Now I remember.
It was pretty neat to see the theatre, though, and we all had a good time, especially when exercising our right not to sing when the guide asked us to demonstrate the amazing acoustics of the stands.
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| one of our tour guides, who kept hitting on emily. |
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| we didn't really follow this sign very well, as you can see from the previous picture |
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| i spy with my little eye, something not built by the romans |
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| brick arches of the theatre |
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| i didn't know the romans baked giant cupcakes |
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| myspace! um, i mean, no one was there to take the picture for me... |
After the theatre, we visited downtown Alexandria, where, in defiance of the warnings of our guide that lunch was next, we purchased delicious cold chocolate frappes. I have never drunk something that delicious ever before, ever. It might be worth it to go back to Alexandria just to visit that cafe again and see what other delicious treats they have.
Lunch was a bit disappointing, making our chocolate frappes that much more delicious in hindsight. Although, there was a strange sculpture coming from the ceiling of the dining room that seemed to portray horses falling through a wormhole from an alternate dimension.
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| wormhole horses do not great art make |
Anyway, the bus ride was long and tedious and napping was difficult, but somehow I survived, thanks to the battery on my iPod, which somehow lasted a few hours more than it technically should have. The upside of the long bus ride? We got to see the sun set into the pollution over the city. Home at last.
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| one thing i have to say about smog: the sunsets are always gorgeous |
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