Egypt

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.

Now my Monday in Alexandria wasn't all the grand. We spent the day in the apartment sleeping and watching the beach. Seriously, I could like this living just off the beach. Its quite relaxing. And you fell as if you have no worries ever. But really I know this isn't how life really is. Just watching my uncle run around and working makes me happy I'm only visiting and not living there.

My evening was a it better. My brother and I went out with our cousin. My cousin, decided that we needed to get out of the house. So we were off to the club that he is a part of. Really this isn't all that fascinating because all we did was sit and talk and drink tea till the wee hours of the morning. While I was there I spent time with his wife and two daughters. And I had ice cream. I was like yay ice cream. The weather that day was just so hot. As soon as we stepped out of the ice cream store, the ice cream melted. So, instead of eating the ice cream, we were covered in it. It was an interesting site to behold. I'm a fan of ice creamy hands...but not really. Yet, before all this happened, I should say that his sister drove us over. My brother and I had to sit in her car with he three crazy kids. My brother was lucky, he managed to escape them somewhat. He sat in the front and I sat in the back with all three of them. Their mom only recently learned how to drive. So not only was she scared of driving, she didn't know how to check and see how things with her kids were going. So it made for a horrible ride. The eldest daughter of hers, is somewhat sane. She didn't really do anything. It was her younger brother and sister. Her brother decided that whenever my brother or I spoke English, he was going to say the exact same things we did. We managed to get past this really quickly by talking too fast that he couldn't get his mouth arounds the word. The youngest kid was the worst. I have never seen that much energy in any 6 year old. The kid is a monster. She sat and punched and kicked and pulled my hair and jumped around in the back seat. I finally got mad, nearly smacked her and then told her that she was really disrespectful to her aunt, which is me. All younger cousins call me aunt. Makes me feel so old. But its tolerable, they call my brother uncle. So I can deal with it. Then when we arrived at the club I run to my cousin and was like save me. And so he took me for a drive. He was like lets go see if the palace is open. It wasn't. Turns out it closes at 4:30 and it was much later then that when we decided to go. Then he was like lets go see if the Greek museum is open. So we were off to that. When we got there we were a little saddened by the news that was given to us by the guard. Turns out the mayor decided that it was time to do some major renovations on the place. So it was going to be closed for 2 years. I was very saddened. After those 2 disappointments we decided that maybe it was better if we just went to the club. So we did and sat there for hours and hours. Grand fun. Until the wind got so cold that I developed goosebumps.

On the drive home, we decided that the next day we didn't want to spend indoors. So we schemed as to what there was to do. And the plans that arose were awesome. Thus once we got home, it was off to bed so that we could get an early start the next day. Yet, that early start wasn't to be expected. THis is due to the fact that I oke up at 10:30 instead of 8:30. But really it was all good because my cousin didn't show up until noon. We left as soon as he arrived to head to our first destination of the day. It took us an hour to get there instead of twenty minutes because of traffic. But really I didn't care because we drove along the coast. Which I must say is amazing due to the wind that comes off the sea and the smell of the water. In fact I enjoyed this ride throughly that it was the only way anyone would travel while I was in the car after this moment.

After this hour long ride, I was at the citedal of Quitbay, which I was told was a palace but it really was just a defensive tower during the war. This tower was used to attack the enemy ships as they attempted to enter Alexandria. But yes, now this little citadel is longer in use and is just a tourist attraction. I'd have to say it was one of the best places I've been to so far. I think this has to do with the fact that it was empty on the inside and we got to do whatever we wanted to and not have to worry about breaking something. We spent two hours running around the citadel and looking into every little nook and cranny. It was grand fun. I don't think my cousin thought this though. This is because while we were in there my brother would run in one direction and I would go in the other. Then he would stand in the middle of the two directions that we took off in and yell I can't follow both of you at once. Another of the incidents that happened there was that I found this window that was a foot of the ground and the top was about 3 feet from the bottom part of the window. Once I found this window, I decided to sit in it and wait and see what would happen. Turns out my brother and cousin couldn't see this window from their hieght. They walked past me a few times while calling my name. After watching them walk past three times, I couldn't help but giggle. Thus, my awesome little hiding place was discovered. I was saddened by this. As we were leaving the citadel after two hours of wandering around my cousin pointed out to me that that was the longest he had ever been in that place. He said the citizens only really go for half an hour and then leave. And then he said that he was shocked about spending that much time in there. All I could tell him it was my first time being there and I had to investigate and wander around the whole thing in order to be satisfied by my visit there. In fact I probably would have stayed longer had we not had somewhere else we had to be that day.

My next stop was going to be the jewelry museum. Yet, upon arrival to this museum I was lead to disappointment. This disappoint was because just like the Greek museum they were renovating it and this renovation process was going to take even longer. This is because the Greek museum is only being renovated on the inside. While the jewelry museum is being renovated on this inside and the outside. in fact they took the walls off on the outside so the building looked like a gutted out skeleton. This caused us to have to resort to plan 'b'. I'm a fan of plan b. In fact I wanted plan b to be plan a but my brother wanted the jewelry museum. So he got what he wanted seeing as how I picked the citadel. But ultimately in the end I did get my way. I'm rather on the spoiled side. Even when it is unintentionally being spoiled.

After the disappointment of the museum being closed we left. The plan b scheme was to go to a Roman theatre that had just been excavated. along with the theatre was the gymnasium where they were taught, the bath house and the villa that was still under excavation but open to the public at certan points during the day. I was in pure heaven. I wandered around and played. We tested the acoustics of the theatre, which to me were amazing. Just being able to experience how well it was and just being able to walk through the theatre was mind blowing. I spend numerous classes just studying the architecture that finally getting to see some of it made all those hours spent studying worthwhile. Not only did I walk through the theatre I walked through the villa and the bath house. As I walked through the area, I was able to tell my cousin and brother what was happening in all the areas, what the things in the area were used for and how it was excavated. I think this is one of the few times in my life, maybe the only one, that I'll be able to use my Anthropolgy and Classics degree. I was impressed with myself.

Once we were done, after being there for 2 hours, we were off to my cousins house for a late lunch. Spent a few hours there and managed to talk to my mom for the first time in a few days. Which for me was awesome. After we were done talking and having lunch, I left and went back to the apartment to get some sleep from the long day of awesomeness. Once again on the drive home my cousin and I schemed as to what we would do next. Tragically because all the museums were closed we were very limited. But there were still more adventures to be had.

Little did I know that my Sunday actually was going to start on Saturday night...

It all started when I decided to go to bed my first night in Alexandria. Before I could sleep I had to take my cousin upstairs to his parents. He's only 3 and fell asleep on the couch where I was staying, seeing as how its his parents old apartment and they moved from it to the one above it. As I opened the door to leave, I found his mom and some random strange people I had never seen before. My aunt saw me and was like oh he fell asleep, put him on the couch I brought some company down. Turns out these people were visiting her upstairs and she decided that downstairs was a better place. I should say all this was going on at midnight. So, I'm running on 3 hours of sleep and had just spent 5 hours on a bus...yes I am not a happy camper at this moment. So, I told her we were going to bed and she said that was alright and walked in. I was like okay. There really was nothing I could do to stop it, seeing as how it was her old apartment I was temporarily living. Thus I had to play hostess. I made tea and coffee and such. Then I sat and listened to the people who I had never met before start to talk about me. My favorite was 'she doesn't speak Arabic so we can say whatever we want about her.' Thats when my aunt asked me where my grandma was and I answered her in flawless Arabic that she was sleeping and wasn't going to wake up till sometime in the morning. hehe..company wasn't happy with me. But I thought it was awesome. Teaches them to make assumptions like that. Anyways, these people then leave after an hour and a half of waiting for my grandma to wake up, which I said wouldn't happen till sometime in the morning. Little did I know that my rudeness and such would come back to haunt me within the next few hours.

I woke up the next morning at around 10 and was told that I was leaving at 11 to go to the library. So very exciting. So I got ready. When I got out of the shower, there standing in the living room waiting for me was one of the ladies that had been over the night before. Turns out she was taking me out for the day and showing me around the library. YIKES!! Not only was she taking me but my cousin who is three, he's adopted, was coming as was one of the first kids my uncle and aunt adopted. So my brother and I were off with the people we didn't know that well and the lady that I mocked the night before. Yes this made for a rather awkward situation. I really didn't want to get in the taxi with them but seeing as how I had no choice really, I went.

The drive to the library wasn't all the bad, just quiet. No one wanted to talk to any one for fear of either being mocked or ridiculed. So silence was the order of the day. I like to think that we were practicing for inside the library.

When we got to the library, we paid. I was shocked by this. You had to pay a fee just to walk into the library. I'm so used to walking into libraries for free that I just expect that to be the way it is no matter where I go. After we paid the entrance fee, we had to give our bags to the people in the next booth because bags are prohibited in the library. i wasn't going to leave my purse with strange people and neither was the lady I was with. So we gave it to my cousin who drove us. I took a few pounds just as a percaution and my camera and then went into the library. Yet, before we could enter, we were stopped. This was because apparently children under 6 weren't allowed in the library. So not only did we give out purses to the cab driver but we also gave the little boy to him to. Once that was done, in we went. Inside we waited for a dude to give us a tour of the place. We waited and waited and waited. Finally there was enough people. Dude spoke to us for 15 minutes and then was like tours done and walked away. The tour consisted of him telling us about the ancient library and how it burnt down. Then he told us that the new library was built on the exact same spot as the old one. Then he explained the concept behind the design which I don't really remember and then he went on to explain that it was 7 floors. With the first floor being under ground. I thought that was snazzy. Once he finished that he left us alone to wonder. As I wondered I didn't look at a single book. This was due to the fact that the library was also a museum and housed so many amazing artifacts. I kept running from one to the next being like ohh and ahh. It was grand fun. I spent 2 hours just looking at all the different things that were in there. There was a section dedicated to Alexandria through the ages and how it has changed over the years. Another was dedicated to a man who flimed a move and left everything to the library when it was built after he passed away (the building happened years after he passed away). There was section dedicated to old books, but I didn't get to see it because it cost money to get into that section. Then I went to the useum that was there. Turns out they found some stuff at the site of the library. So everything that was found at the site was out into a museum in the library once it was done. It was pretty surreal to see it all.

So my day at the library was spent looking at artifacts and not books. I learned there is a call for books for the library. They want to make it rival the old library that was there before. But what makes this call for books funny is that when they told us they wanted books from all over the world and that they hoped we would send it to them, they wouldn't tell us the address to send the books to. So I'm getting the feeling that they don't really want the books. They just want said library to be a museum and not a library as we know it. Which is fine by me. I really enjoyed seeing all the things that they found that may have belonged to the old library.

After spending 2 hours inside we decided it was time to leave. This is where we ran into a bit of a problem. This problem consisted of not having a cell phone. How were we supposed to phone the guy who drove us over and tell him we were ready to be picked up? We couldn't think of an answer to this pressing question. Thus we decided to head into the gift shop and do some shopping. Which was fine by me. Bought a few things, which I knew was overpriced because of the fact that it was a tourist stop. But really it was to hard to resist. After we bought the things we still had the problem of getting home. But really it wasn't as pressing as we thought it would be. So, we decided that we would wonder around outside the library for a bit. We walked around and investigated what was going on outside. Once we finished that we decided that we would walk to the street where we were dropped off just to see what was going on there. After we walked a block, we saw my cousin who wasn't allowed in because he was too young. Then we looked up and there was the dude who drove us. He had decided that he would park the car after driving around for an hour just in case we decided to come out early. So we were saved and went home. Tha was the end of the advnture of how am I supposed to get home. YAY I was saved!!

When we got home, I was bombarded by family that I hadn't seen in 10 years. i was awesome. Some even stayed the night. But yes that was the events of my library day. It was the end of my adventures for that day. Which was nice. we sat and waced the beach, the sun set over the ocean and the people walk along the coast. I must say it was awesome.

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.