Events

My last three days in Alexandria were really uneventful. I spent them visiting family mostly. I also made an executive decision to not ride the bus back to Cairo. And seeing as how it was executive and I had veto power no one was able to disagree with me. Therefor we were riding the train. I bought tickets for us so as to make it final. And to celebrate the finality of my decision I went to the beach. I was there for the moment I woke up until it was lunch time. It was so grand. I spent 6 hours on the beach, from 12 until 6. It was heavenly. I turned a wonderful shade of brown and then it became red. Yes thats right I sunburnt for the first time in my life. I was rather shcokd by this. But I have now learned my lesson. I must wear sunscreen if I am going to sit for that long in the sun. I tragically didn't get to go in the water and thats because my three year old cousin had to follow me around and do what ever I did. So if I attempted to go into the water that was deeper then he was tall he'd drown seeing as how he can't swim. So yeah I stayed in water that was up to my knees. Which wasn't so bad. But the water would have been nice in that heat. So the rest of my trip was spent doing absolutely nothing but relaxing. It was heavenly. On my last night there I was off to the fish market. My uncle asked me to buy him some clams. So I was like ohh I want clams. So I bought 4 kilos worth of the stuff. It was fantastical. After the fish market I decided to wander around the market itself. I went down the squished lady street. When I first heard the name I was like why would anyone call the street that. Well, after walking down it I can offically say that name was well earned. I was one squished lady as were every other lady that walked down it. It sold nothing but material and threads and beads and any other thing that as deemed for ladies. And the street wasn't any wider then 2 feet. It was an experince I throughly didn't enjoy but am willing to do again just because it was funny watching everyone trying to get through. Then my last day arrived, which was Saturday. And it really wasn't a last day, more of half a day. I spent it in the apartment gathering my things and making sure I didn't forget anything there seeing as how I wasn't going to be coming back for a long while. Then after that I spent it trying to get my grandmother out the door so we wouldn't miss our train. I started telling her to get dressed at 11:30 by 1:00 she was done and we were on our way out. Our train was scheduled to leave at 2 so we were on time. Which was rather bizarre. Seeing as how we are always just barely make it when she comes out with us. When we got to the station we had a half hour wait. This wait was rather disturbing due to the fact that we sat and watched trains come and go. And the trains we saw were not the appealing. They looked as if they were going to fall apart and there were no seats and the windows were broken. I was in shock, I actually was beginning to think that this was the train that we were going to be riding. Then all of a sudden a train that actually looked like it was in one piece pulled up. I was like whoa. Then when we got on there was air conditioning. Which in that heat was heavenly. The train was so much better then the bus. It only took us two hours and we were home as opposed to the five hours that it took us to get to Alexandria. So yes I was immenesly happy. Mostly because of the air conditioning. The heat here is starting to get to me. Once we got home, we spent the rest of the evening just sitting around and doing nothing. We ate and then after a while we slept because we were apparently exhausted. I wasn't going to complain. Sleep is a luxury here. I go to bed and can be woken up five mintues after sleeping. So when I actually get a chance to sleep, I pounce on it. Thus my trip to Alexandria was relaxing due to the fact that most it was spent just being lazy and hanging out on the beach or the club house.

So yesterday I didn't really do much. Due to the fact that we were spending time with my uncle. And one of my cousins was studying for finals with her friend at the friends house. Then in the evening my cousins decided to give me a taste of Canada. Its was boring. I was like but I'm in Egypt and want Egyptian food.

So yeah, we went out after we picked up my cousin. we came back to the apartment so she could pick up some money from her mom so she'd have some with her for the evening. As her and I were sitting in the car, my brother and her brother went upstairs to get the money, something scary happened. we were sitting in the car and a man ran by us with a big stick. It was pure sketch. The man was cursing and running around, and his friend was holding him back. We were like oh my goodness. Then all of a sudden a man came up and jumped him from behind. There was a fight in the streets. Then this lady came along and was like go home you are nothing but a bunch of children. It was funny that it took a lady to break up a fight. Scary because it was a fight in the street and it involved sticks and belts and rocks. Once that broke up we were off to the mall again. The only reason we went was because my cousins wanted to give me a taste of home. They took my to Starbucks. Yay for coffee. That was pretty much all we did out. Then we got home and was like hmmm food. So we ordered KFC. Even more of a taste of home.

Then later that night, we were sitting upstairs watching a movie and the all of sudden we hear screaming from outside. This person has been screaming on the streets since I got here. Apparently he has been doing it for the last year. And people have been giving him money to make him go away. And well last night, everyone got fed up. So it started with some people telling him to go away. Then all off a sudden someone yelled at him for a few mintues and the man on the streets then threw himself onto the ground and started pounding his head on the street. After that when people came out to see if he was okay he took off down the street. Then the people were like come back and get your stuff. But he didn't, he sat on the corner and ried a bit. Finally he came back grabbed his stuff and the people tried to grab him. They were telling him they were going to call the police on him and send him somewhere better. But the man was like no and took off again. The man comes around at 3am and wakes everyone up. He didn't deserve what happened to him the street. But it wasn't right that he come and wake an entire street up. He hasn't come by yet today. But its only 10 pm at the moment. So we'll see. Still a few hours to go.

Tomorrow I am off to the palace of King Mohammed Ali. I'm excited.

So today wasn't overly eventful. Minus the fact that I got wet randomly. Let me start from the beginning.

After spending the afternoon with my uncle, my cousins decided to take me out to the mall for a bit. Just to show me how much the city has chaned since last I was here. So we went to the mall and wandered around for a bit. The mall has 8 floors. I was shocked. So I and my brother tried to take a picture of this. Then the police officer came up to us and told us to stop because it wasn't allowed. My cousins told me that they let the tourist and he only stopped us because we looked Egyptian. I laughed at this. So m brother and I went down one floor and took the picture. Then we reaized the police officer thought we were taking pictures so as to bomb the mall or something. So we laughed some more. Then it was off from there for some food. We ate some Traditional food, ie donairs. Then we decided to leave. As we were walking to the car, I decided to step on something. This someting was the water system that they use to water the grass. Anyways, I go and step on it and it breaks. My fat foot broke it and I ended up getting wet and I splashed my cousin. My other cousin laughed at me so not even five mminutes later, he steps in a giant mud puddle that formed from the grass being watered. He gets his white pants all covered in mud. Thats what happens when you laugh at me.

Then they took me out for a drive. I got to see some of the city and where my mom lived after she had been evacuated from Suez during the war. So we took pictures of that to send her.

But yes, that was the high light of my day. The water was rather refreshing in the crazy heat.