I've successfully made it to India. Everyone so far has been amazingly nice to us, a refreshing change from Egypt. We live in a very rural area and have to pay for internet so I'm going to make this brief. I'll post about both the end of Egypt and India when I have time but it might not be until Hong Kong. Oh well it will give everyone a break from my long-winded post.
I'd like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, I had a really special time in Mumbai. Imagine my surprise when, at the club we were at, I was served a giant chocolate cake with my name (and Sarah and Yelena's names too, how likely is it that three people have birthdays over two days on this trip?) on it. The Indian students who we had met and had taken us out with them had gone to a local bakery they knew and gotten us the cake! It was pretty awesome.
Unfortunately that's all I have time for. Bye for a while.
-JT
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
An engagement and Alexandria
We returned from our excursions and resumed class. We had only two days before leaving for an mini excursion to Alexandria and El Alamein . Yet those two days proved to have their own share of excitement. Katie and Sarah has become good friends with two of the students at the AUC. These two Egyptian students invited Sarah and Katie to an engagement party (the lucky lady thought it was a birthday get together) and they wanted a guy to come with. The opportunity (or responsibility depending on your perspective) fell to me. So I found myself in a taxi cab with three AUC girls I did not know while the other girls went with their friends in another car.
Somewhere in the course of events we arrived early and the other car got a bit lost, or at least side-tracked. So I arrived with three strangers to a bit of Cairo I had not explored. We found the place and I at once realized that Katie had been a bit liberal with her use of the word "club" when inviting me. It was not a club in the traditional sense, instead it was a salsa-dancing bar and restaurant. What's more is our 50 LE (less then 10 dollar) cover charge included a free salsa dancing lesson. Well those of you who know me well understand that dancing would not be my number one choice of activity. So I was content to stand well in the back and watch.
The instructor went over the first step while I listened somewhat halfheartedly. He finished his example and asked for a male volunteer for an example. My eyes wandered over the crowd of 20 people in front of me and my brain suddenly registered that they were all women. The instructor caught my eye and before I could say "oh crap!" his assistant darted through the crowd pulled me forward with and iron grasp. All I could do now is try not to embarrass myself. A task that would be difficult as I was the only white person in the club and I had on my ridiculous sandels. I tried my best, and perhaps was evening starting to get a handle on the basic 8 beat set (mostly due to the skill of my dancing partner) when Katie and Sarah showed up. Now I won't say they fell over laughing, but they did need something to lean on.
The rest of the night was thoroughly enjoyable. Once the class ended and the music started the regulars showed up. And they were good. It fun to watch. What's more our cover charge allowed us.to buy anything on the menu. It's the best chocolate cake and cheesecake I've had here. The engagement went smoothly too, the music stopped and the girl was called forward. She was completely surprised, but after congratulating the happy couple we snuck out and left them to their celebration since we had to get up early to go to Alexandria the next day.
Alexandria was a trip of two sides for me. When we first arrived we tried to go to the beach. We were kicked out by a gaurd. Our only crime? Having girls with us. As it turned out the girls had a seperate beach, a much smaller and more crowded beach. Unused to such discrimination we went to the peer instead. It was no better there. We received so much verbal abuse for being American we soon retreated to a nearby mall.
Yes, you heard me correctly. A mall. Right next to where we were staying was a giant hotel called the four seasons. It took up a whole city block (maybe more like 2-3) and had a whole mall contained within it. We walked past posters of American girls modeling clothing from inside this suspiciously clean building. The westernization made me feel almost physically sick, no wonder we had received so much abuse on the street.
The next day we saw the other side of Alexandria. Alexandria has some extremely significant historical sites. We toured the fort, saw the place where the lighthouse (once on of the seven wonders of the world) stood, and visited the library which is probably one of the most impressive academic institution I've seen in a while. It was strange to comprehend both the historical and modern elements.
On our way back to Cairo we stopped in El Alamein , a famous site of the second World War. We visited the graveyard honoring the British troops who had fallen in North Africa. It was pretty sobering and had quite an impact on me, realizing I could have ancestors buried there. One inscription read under the name "some corner of a foreign land, that is forever England." Here was Churchill's offering of blood, sweat, toil, and tears. I just didn't expect to find it in Egypt.
-JT
Somewhere in the course of events we arrived early and the other car got a bit lost, or at least side-tracked. So I arrived with three strangers to a bit of Cairo I had not explored. We found the place and I at once realized that Katie had been a bit liberal with her use of the word "club" when inviting me. It was not a club in the traditional sense, instead it was a salsa-dancing bar and restaurant. What's more is our 50 LE (less then 10 dollar) cover charge included a free salsa dancing lesson. Well those of you who know me well understand that dancing would not be my number one choice of activity. So I was content to stand well in the back and watch.
The instructor went over the first step while I listened somewhat halfheartedly. He finished his example and asked for a male volunteer for an example. My eyes wandered over the crowd of 20 people in front of me and my brain suddenly registered that they were all women. The instructor caught my eye and before I could say "oh crap!" his assistant darted through the crowd pulled me forward with and iron grasp. All I could do now is try not to embarrass myself. A task that would be difficult as I was the only white person in the club and I had on my ridiculous sandels. I tried my best, and perhaps was evening starting to get a handle on the basic 8 beat set (mostly due to the skill of my dancing partner) when Katie and Sarah showed up. Now I won't say they fell over laughing, but they did need something to lean on.
The rest of the night was thoroughly enjoyable. Once the class ended and the music started the regulars showed up. And they were good. It fun to watch. What's more our cover charge allowed us.to buy anything on the menu. It's the best chocolate cake and cheesecake I've had here. The engagement went smoothly too, the music stopped and the girl was called forward. She was completely surprised, but after congratulating the happy couple we snuck out and left them to their celebration since we had to get up early to go to Alexandria the next day.
Alexandria was a trip of two sides for me. When we first arrived we tried to go to the beach. We were kicked out by a gaurd. Our only crime? Having girls with us. As it turned out the girls had a seperate beach, a much smaller and more crowded beach. Unused to such discrimination we went to the peer instead. It was no better there. We received so much verbal abuse for being American we soon retreated to a nearby mall.
Yes, you heard me correctly. A mall. Right next to where we were staying was a giant hotel called the four seasons. It took up a whole city block (maybe more like 2-3) and had a whole mall contained within it. We walked past posters of American girls modeling clothing from inside this suspiciously clean building. The westernization made me feel almost physically sick, no wonder we had received so much abuse on the street.
The next day we saw the other side of Alexandria. Alexandria has some extremely significant historical sites. We toured the fort, saw the place where the lighthouse (once on of the seven wonders of the world) stood, and visited the library which is probably one of the most impressive academic institution I've seen in a while. It was strange to comprehend both the historical and modern elements.
On our way back to Cairo we stopped in El Alamein , a famous site of the second World War. We visited the graveyard honoring the British troops who had fallen in North Africa. It was pretty sobering and had quite an impact on me, realizing I could have ancestors buried there. One inscription read under the name "some corner of a foreign land, that is forever England." Here was Churchill's offering of blood, sweat, toil, and tears. I just didn't expect to find it in Egypt.
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