Transportation

So I was finally off to Alexandria for a week. My day started at 6:30 am. Which for me was crazy early. Seeing as how I had only fallen asleep at 3 am. So I was running on only three and a half hours of sleep. Which for me isn't as fun as it sounds. But there really wasn't anything I could do about it because I was apparently in charge of making sure everyone was ready to leave at 10 se we could catch the bus to Alexandria at 11. So I showered and then packed for an hour. Before I packed I woke my grandmother up and made her have a shower that way there would be no one who needed it when my brother wokeup and had one. After I was done packing, I woke my brother up. That was an adventure. It consisted of punching him until he decided that he didn't want to sleep through how annoying as I was being. Once he was up he followed me around till he decided that he should either pack or have a shower. This being followed around lasted for half an hour. Then he was like oh I have to leave soon and had a shower. Then we had to wake my cousin up. Ohh that wasn't fun either because once he was awake he started whining about how he didn't like his brothers from his mothers second marriage. So I gave him to his dad and was like I'm free. That was until we got in the car. The kid decided to complain that my hair was in his face. It really couldn't be helped seeing as how he is shorter then me and my hair tends to blow around in the wind. So it just goes every where. But yes, at 10 we were off to catch the bus to Alexandria, so exciting.

We arrived at the terminal an hour before the bus was supposed to even arrive. If I had known it was only a 2 minute drive from my house I would have left a lot later and slept in for a bit longer. But what can you do. While I waited for the bus, I watched the men renovate the terminal for almost an hour. Which pretty much means I watched paint dry. Yay for me! But yes, the bus finally arrived. It looked exactly like the greyhound that we have. Not only did it look like it the symbol that was on it was a warped looking greyhound. Its funny. Tragically, I didn't get a picture of this awesomeness, my camera battery was dead. You'd think I'd check and see the battery power before I use it next. But yes, we boarded the bus and were off. Or at least thats what I thought we were going to be doing....

Turns out the bus likes to take the scenic route out of the city. A ride that should have only take 20 minutes turned into a ride that took two and a half hours to make. Seriously, longest bus ride of my life, or so it seemed. The bus driver literally drove me around the city of Cairo. I left the area I'm staying in and then went to one side so that we can go to another bus terminal. Then I went back to the main terminal, which meant driving through the area I'm staying in again. Then we left the main terminal again and went to a sub terminal. From there to another subterminal. And then to another. At each terminal we dropped people off and picked people up. Some people were using the bus as a taxi service to get around the city. So nearly three hours later I was on my way finally. Tragically, I wasn't going to get there when I was supposed to. The bus driver decided to drive under the speed limit. Which made it odd because normally if a driver is going to ignore the speed limit, they do it to in order to speed which is normal. Not this driving slower thing that was going on with the bus I was on. So this driver turned a one and a half hour drive into a 2 and a half hour drive. So, I wasn't a happy camper for that ride. I spent all that time sitting on a bus that wasn't air coniditioned and was driving through the desert. It was practically impossible to breathe on the bus but I some how managed to do it. I also somehow managed to fall asleep in the bus. I was shocked. It was so stuffy and warm. I thought the ride would never end. But it did. Thank heavens for that.

When I arrived at the terminal in Alexandria, my uncle was there waiting. Well he's really my mom's uncle. He waitied for me at the terminal and then let me stay in his empty apartment, which is way bigger then the apartment that I'm staying in in Cairo. Butyes at the terminal, while we were loading the car with all the luggage, I was bombarded by a dude who saw the Canadian flag on my luggage. He was like ohh Canada. And then my brother opened his mouth about my having Canadian money in my bag and he attacked me and was like can I have something. Tragically my uncle didn't save me in time. I finally got frustrated with the man and gave him a loonie. Grr...

Then we drove off to the apartment. We drove along the beach. It was such an amazing site to see. And the breeze off the beach was so very welcome, especially after the drive on the bus through the desert. I was happy that drive was over. We got to the apartment a half hour after getting off the bus because the terminal is outside of the city. When we got there the first thing we did was run onto the balcony and enjoy the wind and view of the beach and sea. We spent the evening sitting there and visiting with my uncle and his wife. We also got to meet my uncles new adopted son. He always has a new one for me to see. This little one is now three and is nicknamed cookie. That is the name of my cat. You have no idea how hard it was to call him that without laughing or being like here kitty kitty kitty. My grandma realized that my brother and I had taken to calling him by his given name of karim. And she told everyone what was going on.

But yes, we had finally arrived and were exhausted from the heat and the long drive. So happy to have finally arrived because it meant that we could finally sleep. Which we did. Yay for sleep!!

So my trip hasn't been all that eventful. Things kinda slowed down here for a bit. This is due to the fact that my cousin was finishing her first year university finals. And my other cousin is only starting his grade 11 finals. So I sat around the house and stared off into space. Then, when I did decide to go out I really should have stayed home.

So I decided to go out and buy some carpets. Its chearper to buy Egyptian/Persian carpets from here then it is from Edmonton. Thus once I made the decision to go out my family was all for it. Thus, we were off. My uncle, my mom's brother, took my aunt, my mom's sister, and I. My brother was supposed to come buthe wasn't ready by the time we were and he was still eating breakfast. So we left him behind. We climbed into the cab, my uncle is a cab driver. And he took us to this random place. This place was all duty free and everything had a crazy discount. But I'm jumping ahead of myself. As my uncle was driving to this random place all was going well with the driving. It was crazy as normal. The lines on the road mean nothing. I think they are just decoration. There are no trafiic rules. Maximum speed is as fast as you want to go. Its pretty scary at times. But remarkably you still feel safe. Which really shouldn't be the case since you don't wear seatbelts. Anyways, we got half way to our destination when it happened. Thats right I was in a car accident. Some dude rear ended the car I was in. It took us 5 minutes to get the car that hit us disengaged from the back of taxi. The disengaging process consisted of us driving forward and the car that was stuck driving backwards until he became unstuck. Once he was unstuck we just drove away. There was no exchanging of words or insurance companies. Just a wave and you were on your way again. It was a surreal experience. After that I bought my carpets and some knives then was on my way home again. Thats an adventure I'd like to not have again.

Then the next day, I spent it with some of my dad's side of the family. They fed me fish that was BBQ. Mmmm...fish. It was so good. Seriously, I think I'm gonna miss that the most when I come home. But I keep forgetting how large my dad's side of the family is. I only saw 1/8 of them yesterday. So I'm gonna go to Alexandria on Saturday and then visit them when I get back after being there for a week. I'm excited for the leaving of Cairo. I need a change of scenery.