To all of you who have written me, I will write you back when I get back to Alex. I have to pay for the internet by the hour here so I use it maybe once a week.
And it looks like I won't be making it back to Alex as soon as I thought. I just got a room for less than half the price I pay in Alex here in Dahab, so I will be here for a couple of weeks more, then back to school.
So, a teaser of things to come: I am a rescue diver, and as I'm currently writing this I feel like I'm swaying on a boat (from rescues from the surface). Also, I'll be writing about my travel companions, and I'll write about the people whom I've met here.
Also, remind me sometime in about ten months to tell you a funny story about Dahab, after the program is over to protect the innocent or otherwise.
Toodles.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Language Barrier
We needed people to go see the Colored Canyon with us, so Robert told me to go talk some Japanese people into going. I spoke to them in English and we had a very difficult conversation when I heard some of them speaking Arabic. I asked one of them if he spoke Arabic, and it turned out that these "Japanese" people were Indonesians. The language barrier was gone in two seconds.
Then Robert starts talking to four Russian girls. One speaks broken English so she translates what we're saying to her friends, and the translation each way is garbled. It's another very difficult conversation, until Robert slipped and said an Arabic word and they giggled. I asked them if they spoke Arabic, and suddenly the language barrier was gone again for all of us.
Tourists that speak Arabic? What's up with that?
Then Robert starts talking to four Russian girls. One speaks broken English so she translates what we're saying to her friends, and the translation each way is garbled. It's another very difficult conversation, until Robert slipped and said an Arabic word and they giggled. I asked them if they spoke Arabic, and suddenly the language barrier was gone again for all of us.
Tourists that speak Arabic? What's up with that?
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Walk of Shame
We lost the Great Race.
We started with a bus from Alex to the Suez Canal. Left a little late, but no worries. We get there and get overcharged to take a taxi to the other side of town where we find a microbus to get us to Nuweiba. We argued with the drivers for an hour and a half to drop the price from 50LE to 30LE, then we drove for hours through the bumpy night. We were stopped seven times by the police to have a look at our passports and interrogate us. Interrogate means to joke around or ask us why we are in Egypt. It's really a crack security force.
We finally make it to Nuweiba and a guy that was on the bus told us to stay with him, he knew a place where his friend lived. This guy was probably about fifty, and he introduced us to his twenty-one year-old friend by saying, "This is my very best friend, I met him three months ago." We camped in the open and flies and mosquitoes bothered us the entire time. Salt water showers left my hair with the consistency of camel hair.
Like idiots we went to sleep and chose not to take the 6AM bus (it was around 4AM at this time) and upon arriving at the bus stop we found out that the 10AM bus wasn't coming. We jumped on an overpriced taxi and made it out to Dahab from Nuweiba several hours after the other group.
So we lost on time, but depending on various factors of our trip that are still under judicial scrutiny, we either won financially by an Egyptian pound or by five Egyptian pounds. We had an adventure and we made several friends and got important phone numbers.
But we still lost.
Favorite quote from the trip:
Robert: We should have left at 6AM. Then we could have gotten there first and won.
Laura: But what would we have done when we got there?
Robert: Won.
Also, I'm in Dahab now and I've snorkeled four times, swam, and I'm about to get my diving certification. We've met several awesome people and had an awesome time, and we're scheduled to be here for several weeks (traveling elsewhere, but Dahab as base camp).
It's a good life.
We started with a bus from Alex to the Suez Canal. Left a little late, but no worries. We get there and get overcharged to take a taxi to the other side of town where we find a microbus to get us to Nuweiba. We argued with the drivers for an hour and a half to drop the price from 50LE to 30LE, then we drove for hours through the bumpy night. We were stopped seven times by the police to have a look at our passports and interrogate us. Interrogate means to joke around or ask us why we are in Egypt. It's really a crack security force.
We finally make it to Nuweiba and a guy that was on the bus told us to stay with him, he knew a place where his friend lived. This guy was probably about fifty, and he introduced us to his twenty-one year-old friend by saying, "This is my very best friend, I met him three months ago." We camped in the open and flies and mosquitoes bothered us the entire time. Salt water showers left my hair with the consistency of camel hair.
Like idiots we went to sleep and chose not to take the 6AM bus (it was around 4AM at this time) and upon arriving at the bus stop we found out that the 10AM bus wasn't coming. We jumped on an overpriced taxi and made it out to Dahab from Nuweiba several hours after the other group.
So we lost on time, but depending on various factors of our trip that are still under judicial scrutiny, we either won financially by an Egyptian pound or by five Egyptian pounds. We had an adventure and we made several friends and got important phone numbers.
But we still lost.
Favorite quote from the trip:
Robert: We should have left at 6AM. Then we could have gotten there first and won.
Laura: But what would we have done when we got there?
Robert: Won.
Also, I'm in Dahab now and I've snorkeled four times, swam, and I'm about to get my diving certification. We've met several awesome people and had an awesome time, and we're scheduled to be here for several weeks (traveling elsewhere, but Dahab as base camp).
It's a good life.
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Great Race
I'm off to Dahab tomorrow, but with a twist:
It's the Great Race!
Laura, Robert, and I are going to take a bus for 30LE to the Suez Canal and from there rely on our combined luck and our combined wits to get to Dahab.
Monica, Katlyn, Brent, and Jacob are going to Sharm al-Sheikh for 85LE and from there are going to catch something to get them to Dahab.
The trick is to get there first and to spend less money per person. We'll have a seven hour head start but their first destination is only an hour away from their last destination, while we have to catch a bus with three or four hours left in the journey, not knowing what times they leave and such.
Since my team was buying the tickets, I thought we should buy their tickets sitting them apart from each other, and putting one of them by the bathroom on the bus. We also toyed with the idea of buying their tickets for Sunday instead of Saturday, thus forcing them on the time issue, and also forcing them to spend an extra five dollars to spend the day in Alexandria. We laughed and discarded the idea, keeping the competition friendly.
Anyway, the hostel has only two rooms available, so we figure that the first team to get there wins the rooms as the prize.
Now I only wish there was a red flag at our hostel in Dahab that we could replace with a green one to prove that we were there. I guess we'll be the ones placing the flag for those to follow.
And I went to Cairo this morning and bugs ate my feet while I was on the microbus. Seriously. I probably have over forty bites per foot, I'm not sure if they were mosquitos or fleas. Miserable.
It's the Great Race!
Laura, Robert, and I are going to take a bus for 30LE to the Suez Canal and from there rely on our combined luck and our combined wits to get to Dahab.
Monica, Katlyn, Brent, and Jacob are going to Sharm al-Sheikh for 85LE and from there are going to catch something to get them to Dahab.
The trick is to get there first and to spend less money per person. We'll have a seven hour head start but their first destination is only an hour away from their last destination, while we have to catch a bus with three or four hours left in the journey, not knowing what times they leave and such.
Since my team was buying the tickets, I thought we should buy their tickets sitting them apart from each other, and putting one of them by the bathroom on the bus. We also toyed with the idea of buying their tickets for Sunday instead of Saturday, thus forcing them on the time issue, and also forcing them to spend an extra five dollars to spend the day in Alexandria. We laughed and discarded the idea, keeping the competition friendly.
Anyway, the hostel has only two rooms available, so we figure that the first team to get there wins the rooms as the prize.
Now I only wish there was a red flag at our hostel in Dahab that we could replace with a green one to prove that we were there. I guess we'll be the ones placing the flag for those to follow.
And I went to Cairo this morning and bugs ate my feet while I was on the microbus. Seriously. I probably have over forty bites per foot, I'm not sure if they were mosquitos or fleas. Miserable.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Nour Alby
So Nour is the Syrian that speaks English but not slang, and several posts down I mentioned teaching her some stuff. The other night someone said something to which I replied, "For serious?" and Nour asked, "Shizzle?"
Fo shizzle?
Fo shizzle?
Fifth in the series of The Hospital Lectures
I went to Dr. Ahmed's office for an x-ray, so I waited for him for half an hour, and then went upstairs for the x-ray, then came downstairs to wait on him for another hour and a half.
While I was waiting, he spoke to several people, including one couple in particular. At one point he told all of the women to leave, and then closed the door and put a chair in front of it, thus leaving himself, myself, and a man I didn't know alone in the office. The man proceeds to strip down in front of me and point to various areas on his body where something is going wrong, with the doctor checking him out if front of me, nodding and grunting assent intermittently.
The man re-clothed, and Dr. Ahmed told me that I don't need another surgery as of yet, that I am medically fit to travel, and to come back in a month.
I left the hospital, hailed a cab, and proceeded to watch a car crash into another. I looked at my driver and said, "Praise be to Allah" and we took off.
Also, in two days I will be going to Dahab for at least three weeks, so updates will be after that.
Allahu Akbar.
While I was waiting, he spoke to several people, including one couple in particular. At one point he told all of the women to leave, and then closed the door and put a chair in front of it, thus leaving himself, myself, and a man I didn't know alone in the office. The man proceeds to strip down in front of me and point to various areas on his body where something is going wrong, with the doctor checking him out if front of me, nodding and grunting assent intermittently.
The man re-clothed, and Dr. Ahmed told me that I don't need another surgery as of yet, that I am medically fit to travel, and to come back in a month.
I left the hospital, hailed a cab, and proceeded to watch a car crash into another. I looked at my driver and said, "Praise be to Allah" and we took off.
Also, in two days I will be going to Dahab for at least three weeks, so updates will be after that.
Allahu Akbar.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The Great Train Heist
I went to Cairo this weekend with several friends, and we got to the train station and waited for our train. When the train pulled up at 6:15PM, we all heard an announcement saying that this train was the 5:30PM train and that they were running late. Too bad for us, we all heard it passively and didn't listen actively, so we could recall that we heard it later but we didn't heed it.
We all got on the train, and when I got to my seat there was someone in it. I showed him my ticket, and he told me that we weren't on the right train. We had to move through two cars to get to the platform, and people were still piling in behind us, so getting off was fun. Not everyone in our group understood what was happening so telling them to get off the train through two cars while the train started moving was kind of a trip. We finally jumped off a moving train (not as exciting as it sounds, since it was going maybe a mile per hour, but it was lurching to a stop with the train employee behind me yelling at us to move it and quickly the whole time). We remembered then that we weren't all in the same car, so we frantically called Valerie to tell her to get off, which was great since we didn't all have her number or credit to call her.
Now that we were all regrouped and happy with the success of our adventure, we drew quite a crowd of people that wanted to talk to the strange foreigners that were too dumb to listen to the announcement and got on the wrong train. One comment in particular that stood out was when a lady singled out Laura and told her several times that she's "pretty like honey". Then another train pulled up and some women pulled out their cell phones to take pictures of us. I smiled at them and they realized that I saw them and got really embarrassed and put their phones away. I told them to take pictures, that I was from Alexandria, and that inspired a whole new crowd to come and scrutinize me to see if my claim was true. They asked my name, and thinking quickly I said, "Mohammad". One of the little kids said, "Mohammad what?" so I said, "Mohammad Ibrahim". Upon being asked my last name, I said "Wahaba". So Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohammad Wahaba got the shout out. Convinced for the moment, the kids settled down, but an old lady still had doubts. She asked me for some of my water, so I handed her my bottle and she looked uncertain. She took a drink, then gave it back and told the crowd, "I just wanted to see if he would understand me." I eventually told them I was from America, that it was ok to take pictures of me, and our train finally showed up and took us to the middle of nowhere and stopped so we could watch cows, donkeys, and goats pass us.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you can't be an awesome adventurer like me if you don't go on adventures.
We all got on the train, and when I got to my seat there was someone in it. I showed him my ticket, and he told me that we weren't on the right train. We had to move through two cars to get to the platform, and people were still piling in behind us, so getting off was fun. Not everyone in our group understood what was happening so telling them to get off the train through two cars while the train started moving was kind of a trip. We finally jumped off a moving train (not as exciting as it sounds, since it was going maybe a mile per hour, but it was lurching to a stop with the train employee behind me yelling at us to move it and quickly the whole time). We remembered then that we weren't all in the same car, so we frantically called Valerie to tell her to get off, which was great since we didn't all have her number or credit to call her.
Now that we were all regrouped and happy with the success of our adventure, we drew quite a crowd of people that wanted to talk to the strange foreigners that were too dumb to listen to the announcement and got on the wrong train. One comment in particular that stood out was when a lady singled out Laura and told her several times that she's "pretty like honey". Then another train pulled up and some women pulled out their cell phones to take pictures of us. I smiled at them and they realized that I saw them and got really embarrassed and put their phones away. I told them to take pictures, that I was from Alexandria, and that inspired a whole new crowd to come and scrutinize me to see if my claim was true. They asked my name, and thinking quickly I said, "Mohammad". One of the little kids said, "Mohammad what?" so I said, "Mohammad Ibrahim". Upon being asked my last name, I said "Wahaba". So Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohammad Wahaba got the shout out. Convinced for the moment, the kids settled down, but an old lady still had doubts. She asked me for some of my water, so I handed her my bottle and she looked uncertain. She took a drink, then gave it back and told the crowd, "I just wanted to see if he would understand me." I eventually told them I was from America, that it was ok to take pictures of me, and our train finally showed up and took us to the middle of nowhere and stopped so we could watch cows, donkeys, and goats pass us.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you can't be an awesome adventurer like me if you don't go on adventures.
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