Hello/Salam,
If you'd like to access my blogs, you can view them on the following website since I have changed my blog service to WordPress.
http://blogs.dickinson.edu/anumegypt/
~ Anum
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Things Wrong with this Place
The Things Wrong with this Place
1. Guards that don’t do anything, except look like they’re doing something important- Let’s start with the story of my friend waiting in front of the AUC library because she had left her student ID card at home and the three incompetent guards wouldn’t let her in. She is obviously a student, but no they did not want to let her in. She had to already have signed in just to get onto campus and been “scanned”, so they know she doesn’t have any bombs. Yet, they still wouldn’t let her in.
Every time I enter the library, a few students always beep and the red light goes off (meaning their cards didn’t scan or they didn’t actually use their ID cards to get in). They tend to do this when it’s rush hour so the three incompetent guards can’t figure out who just entered the library that had beeped. But, my friend didn’t want to do this. It is not that difficult to try and prove that she is a student at AUC, but no, the guards just wanted to be lazy and not let her in, not thinking that she needs to use the library for more important matters than just standing around and guarding nothing. If people want to steal books out of the library, it already happens right under their noses.
The guards that scan us before we enter campus aka: Most useless and ineffective quality of service
For about hundreds of students using this entry point every hour, there is a small checkpoint station where you have to put your bags in to be scanned while you show your ID card. So many students bring in what they’re not supposed to on campus (aka: alcohol). Except, guards don’t detect it, because they’re scanning for “weapons”. One case, they didn’t let my friend bring in his drum, which he wanted to use for an evening event. What type of harm will he try to make with his drum? If people want to bring in weapons, they can do that easily without being detected.
The guards at the dorms—They “check” our bags by looking at the top of our bags, and sometimes actually searching inside. Soo many students sneak in things they’re not “supposed” to. Shisha is not allowed in the dorms, yet smoking in dorms rooms is. You get points for sneaking in “shisha”. Lame! Once again, guards want to seem what they’re doing is important and effective.
2. The internet and dryers and washers in the dorms- The main reason why I’m trying to move out of the dorms next semester. I feel like I’m in dial-up mode again of the early 1990’s. I wait and wait for a page to upload, and then when it doesn’t fully upload, I have to refresh. This entirely sucks when you’re dealing with time sensitive information (like paying your bills or booking flights).
The RA’s have said that they’ve been working on this matter this semester for the longest and this issue only occurred this semester. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that hard to get some decent internet in the dorms, while every other place in Egypt has great internet. Constantly, we have been told that they’re working on it, and while it has gotten a little better (understatement), the internet is super slow. Their definition of fixing doesn’t make sense. They have so few routers in which so much traffic is going through. They need stronger routers with wider range capacity, not to mention, more routers if they can’t do the former. Yet again, they can’t figure that out.
Stated by an RA: “This is the only place in the world with free washer and dryer service for students’ dorms…It wasn’t even supposed to be a service provided by AUC, it was extra.” Completely incorrect. Dickinson, like other colleges have free washer and dryer services, with even both on each floor of dorm buildings. AUC dorms in Zamalek do not want to fix or get new ones because they believe it’s pointless because they’ll just break anyway and students aren’t putting lighter loads in the machines. Maybe, if they got some better machines, it wouldn’t be a problem. How do other colleges and universities have these services for free? But, they want us to use the launder services in the basement because they assume all American students at AUC are rich. My friend asked the receptionist when they would be getting new laundry machines, and when the receptionist said they wouldn’t, she asked why. The receptionist was surprised and responded in a scoffing manner, “Why, don’t you pay for doing your laundry back in the States?” No, not all of us take our laundry to get it done by someone else. We still do our own laundry.
The Things Right with this Place (and that I’ll Miss)
1. Housekeeping Services- For Sure!
The best thing about this place: calling the Receptionist and asking to get the room cleaned. Three to four women come with buckets filled with cloroxed water, a sweeper, and clean sheets. They conquer the room instantaneously. Five minutes later, you’re left with a clean bed and a spotless floor.
2. The Receptionist-
Transfers you to any place—all for food delivery of course. That speaks for itself.
1. Guards that don’t do anything, except look like they’re doing something important- Let’s start with the story of my friend waiting in front of the AUC library because she had left her student ID card at home and the three incompetent guards wouldn’t let her in. She is obviously a student, but no they did not want to let her in. She had to already have signed in just to get onto campus and been “scanned”, so they know she doesn’t have any bombs. Yet, they still wouldn’t let her in.
Every time I enter the library, a few students always beep and the red light goes off (meaning their cards didn’t scan or they didn’t actually use their ID cards to get in). They tend to do this when it’s rush hour so the three incompetent guards can’t figure out who just entered the library that had beeped. But, my friend didn’t want to do this. It is not that difficult to try and prove that she is a student at AUC, but no, the guards just wanted to be lazy and not let her in, not thinking that she needs to use the library for more important matters than just standing around and guarding nothing. If people want to steal books out of the library, it already happens right under their noses.
The guards that scan us before we enter campus aka: Most useless and ineffective quality of service
For about hundreds of students using this entry point every hour, there is a small checkpoint station where you have to put your bags in to be scanned while you show your ID card. So many students bring in what they’re not supposed to on campus (aka: alcohol). Except, guards don’t detect it, because they’re scanning for “weapons”. One case, they didn’t let my friend bring in his drum, which he wanted to use for an evening event. What type of harm will he try to make with his drum? If people want to bring in weapons, they can do that easily without being detected.
The guards at the dorms—They “check” our bags by looking at the top of our bags, and sometimes actually searching inside. Soo many students sneak in things they’re not “supposed” to. Shisha is not allowed in the dorms, yet smoking in dorms rooms is. You get points for sneaking in “shisha”. Lame! Once again, guards want to seem what they’re doing is important and effective.
2. The internet and dryers and washers in the dorms- The main reason why I’m trying to move out of the dorms next semester. I feel like I’m in dial-up mode again of the early 1990’s. I wait and wait for a page to upload, and then when it doesn’t fully upload, I have to refresh. This entirely sucks when you’re dealing with time sensitive information (like paying your bills or booking flights).
The RA’s have said that they’ve been working on this matter this semester for the longest and this issue only occurred this semester. Honestly, it shouldn’t be that hard to get some decent internet in the dorms, while every other place in Egypt has great internet. Constantly, we have been told that they’re working on it, and while it has gotten a little better (understatement), the internet is super slow. Their definition of fixing doesn’t make sense. They have so few routers in which so much traffic is going through. They need stronger routers with wider range capacity, not to mention, more routers if they can’t do the former. Yet again, they can’t figure that out.
Stated by an RA: “This is the only place in the world with free washer and dryer service for students’ dorms…It wasn’t even supposed to be a service provided by AUC, it was extra.” Completely incorrect. Dickinson, like other colleges have free washer and dryer services, with even both on each floor of dorm buildings. AUC dorms in Zamalek do not want to fix or get new ones because they believe it’s pointless because they’ll just break anyway and students aren’t putting lighter loads in the machines. Maybe, if they got some better machines, it wouldn’t be a problem. How do other colleges and universities have these services for free? But, they want us to use the launder services in the basement because they assume all American students at AUC are rich. My friend asked the receptionist when they would be getting new laundry machines, and when the receptionist said they wouldn’t, she asked why. The receptionist was surprised and responded in a scoffing manner, “Why, don’t you pay for doing your laundry back in the States?” No, not all of us take our laundry to get it done by someone else. We still do our own laundry.
The Things Right with this Place (and that I’ll Miss)
1. Housekeeping Services- For Sure!
The best thing about this place: calling the Receptionist and asking to get the room cleaned. Three to four women come with buckets filled with cloroxed water, a sweeper, and clean sheets. They conquer the room instantaneously. Five minutes later, you’re left with a clean bed and a spotless floor.
2. The Receptionist-
Transfers you to any place—all for food delivery of course. That speaks for itself.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Got sick and lost my credit card
So I caught a cold because the weather keeps changing. During the day it gets to around 80, but then at night, it drops to about 60. I hate it. I went to the health clinic on campus and the doctor prescribed me three different meds to take at all random times. Though, she said the clinic didn't have them and I would have to go to a pharmacy. So as soon as I got back to the dorms, I went to a pharmacy and to my surprise, the guy understood her chicken-scratch English handwriting. He went to look for my meds in the various cabinets he had on his wall and opened some of the meds to see if any of the pills were missing. I thought it was odd, but I needed these so I didn't object. I paid for the pills and went back to my dorm. My roommate thought it was weird that I had to take all these meds, but what can I do? They don't have Robitussin or other U.S. brands. The Egyptian meds are supposedly "herbal". I guess that's true since I don't feel loopy with them.
The other morning (just like most mornings), I called my favorite local deli to deliver my breakfast. Once I say my name, the lady knows my order and asks if I want the usual. I love that. But this time when I called, the lady told me it was already on the way. I was so confused thinking they already have it on their schedule to deliver me the usual, even without me calling them? This is great, I thought. So as I was getting ready to go downstairs to pick it up, my roommate walks in with my food and tells me she picked it up for me from the lobby. I thought that was sweet of her, but then told me she called them and ordered it for me. I knew it was too good to be true. Then, my roommate said she went to a bunch of different pharmacies to look for Robitussin, but all the store clerks didn't know what she was talking about. They asked her if it was something Spanish or Italian. Instead, she got suckered into buying some migraine pills for my cold.
~~
I wanted to return the Aladdin pants I got from Zara because they just looked weird on me, so I gave it to a friend to take to the mall tonight. I gave her my HSBC credit card since I bought it on the card. I got a phone-call from her some hours later telling me to not get mad. And then she told me she left my bag and credit card and ID in the cab. I couldn't believe it. That's how I take my money out from ATM's here. The first thing to do is try to call the bank and cancel the card. Except, I couldn't call an international number through my phone so I had to use Skype. Problem: the internet sucks in the dorms. I really think the school is cheap to pay for some good internet. I don't understand why since they take a lot of money from us (and the U.S. gov't--yes, U.S. tax-dollars are going to fund this school out in the desert).
After a dozen dropped calls on Skype (with waiting for "the next available representative"), I finally got through. Though, once I told the HSBC person that my card was left in a cab, the call would drop. So, this happened a good couple of times. I would advise them before-hand that I was calling through Skype from Egypt and my internet was really bad. I even told one HSBC woman to take down my cell number to call me back. She said she would have to put me on hold and ask her Supervisor. Great, you need to ask about following-up with customers, especially when there's a lost card involved? Shouldn't they be worried about fraudulent charges? Anyway, the HSBC lady said it was ok. Then that moment, the call dropped. I didn't even think about waiting for my mobile to ring. Though she got permission from her supervisor, I knew she wasn't going to call. So I started Skyping again.
A couple of dropped calls later, I even got to answer security questions. The most annoying guy however really frustrated me with his security questions. "What type of account do you have?" When I told him, he repeated the same question a good five times before I told him that I didn't have any other account and I wouldn't be hiding some information like that, it's only this type of account and NOTHING ELSE! He then asked me what month I opened my account in. What month? How can you remember something specific like that? So I estimated and gave him two back-to-back months. He said he couldn't accept that answer because I was giving him "two answers". What?? Then he asked me when my last transaction took place, and so I told him on my campus. Yet, he wanted a specific address. I told him the name of my campus, yet he still wanted an address. I repeated the name of my campus yet again and became this close to telling him that it was in the middle of the desert. Then once I got passed these "security questions", he asked me where I wanted to get my replacement card delivered to. I told him my dorm address. He then asked me what country Cairo would be in. What?? He didn't know where Cairo was?? He could at least not asked me that and googled it or something. How is he working for this bank? (This is one of many results of outsourcing!) By the time I was getting to my zip code, the call got dropped. Just my luck.
Then I thought about calling the local HSBC branch (since its worldwide) from the landline since the internet was being useless like it always is here. I got through. He asked me for my passport number. Then asked me for my second name. Second name? What's this second name that I don't know about. I told him I didn't have one. Then he told me that my passport number was invalid. Invalid?? I repeated it again. Still, nothing. What's going on. Is this some Bourne Supremacy plot going on? I exist. Then he said he couldn't help me. I was so close. Then I started crying on the phone. He felt bad so he then told me to call the NYC office. I said I couldn't, I wasn't able to. So he took down my mobile number and said he would call me back, which he did! He had me transferred to some guy in NYC where I was able to give him the information and have my card replaced with the call not dropping. Moral of the story: the number on the back of your HSBC card sucks--don't call the number if its stolen because they'll put you on hold, and it won't go anywhere. Call the local HSBC branch and have them help you.
Inshallah, the card will get here.
Just remembered another question that other HSBC lady asked me: Will there be someone over the age of 18 to sign for the card. Umm, yes..me?! How do these people work for a bank like HSBC?
The other morning (just like most mornings), I called my favorite local deli to deliver my breakfast. Once I say my name, the lady knows my order and asks if I want the usual. I love that. But this time when I called, the lady told me it was already on the way. I was so confused thinking they already have it on their schedule to deliver me the usual, even without me calling them? This is great, I thought. So as I was getting ready to go downstairs to pick it up, my roommate walks in with my food and tells me she picked it up for me from the lobby. I thought that was sweet of her, but then told me she called them and ordered it for me. I knew it was too good to be true. Then, my roommate said she went to a bunch of different pharmacies to look for Robitussin, but all the store clerks didn't know what she was talking about. They asked her if it was something Spanish or Italian. Instead, she got suckered into buying some migraine pills for my cold.
~~
I wanted to return the Aladdin pants I got from Zara because they just looked weird on me, so I gave it to a friend to take to the mall tonight. I gave her my HSBC credit card since I bought it on the card. I got a phone-call from her some hours later telling me to not get mad. And then she told me she left my bag and credit card and ID in the cab. I couldn't believe it. That's how I take my money out from ATM's here. The first thing to do is try to call the bank and cancel the card. Except, I couldn't call an international number through my phone so I had to use Skype. Problem: the internet sucks in the dorms. I really think the school is cheap to pay for some good internet. I don't understand why since they take a lot of money from us (and the U.S. gov't--yes, U.S. tax-dollars are going to fund this school out in the desert).
After a dozen dropped calls on Skype (with waiting for "the next available representative"), I finally got through. Though, once I told the HSBC person that my card was left in a cab, the call would drop. So, this happened a good couple of times. I would advise them before-hand that I was calling through Skype from Egypt and my internet was really bad. I even told one HSBC woman to take down my cell number to call me back. She said she would have to put me on hold and ask her Supervisor. Great, you need to ask about following-up with customers, especially when there's a lost card involved? Shouldn't they be worried about fraudulent charges? Anyway, the HSBC lady said it was ok. Then that moment, the call dropped. I didn't even think about waiting for my mobile to ring. Though she got permission from her supervisor, I knew she wasn't going to call. So I started Skyping again.
A couple of dropped calls later, I even got to answer security questions. The most annoying guy however really frustrated me with his security questions. "What type of account do you have?" When I told him, he repeated the same question a good five times before I told him that I didn't have any other account and I wouldn't be hiding some information like that, it's only this type of account and NOTHING ELSE! He then asked me what month I opened my account in. What month? How can you remember something specific like that? So I estimated and gave him two back-to-back months. He said he couldn't accept that answer because I was giving him "two answers". What?? Then he asked me when my last transaction took place, and so I told him on my campus. Yet, he wanted a specific address. I told him the name of my campus, yet he still wanted an address. I repeated the name of my campus yet again and became this close to telling him that it was in the middle of the desert. Then once I got passed these "security questions", he asked me where I wanted to get my replacement card delivered to. I told him my dorm address. He then asked me what country Cairo would be in. What?? He didn't know where Cairo was?? He could at least not asked me that and googled it or something. How is he working for this bank? (This is one of many results of outsourcing!) By the time I was getting to my zip code, the call got dropped. Just my luck.
Then I thought about calling the local HSBC branch (since its worldwide) from the landline since the internet was being useless like it always is here. I got through. He asked me for my passport number. Then asked me for my second name. Second name? What's this second name that I don't know about. I told him I didn't have one. Then he told me that my passport number was invalid. Invalid?? I repeated it again. Still, nothing. What's going on. Is this some Bourne Supremacy plot going on? I exist. Then he said he couldn't help me. I was so close. Then I started crying on the phone. He felt bad so he then told me to call the NYC office. I said I couldn't, I wasn't able to. So he took down my mobile number and said he would call me back, which he did! He had me transferred to some guy in NYC where I was able to give him the information and have my card replaced with the call not dropping. Moral of the story: the number on the back of your HSBC card sucks--don't call the number if its stolen because they'll put you on hold, and it won't go anywhere. Call the local HSBC branch and have them help you.
Inshallah, the card will get here.
Just remembered another question that other HSBC lady asked me: Will there be someone over the age of 18 to sign for the card. Umm, yes..me?! How do these people work for a bank like HSBC?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Life after Swine flu break
I know it has been awhile since I wrote last, so here are some updates from life in Cairo. Swine flu break is obviously over and now professors were given the chance to make up their missed classes on Tuesdays (which we once had off). Some professors decided to make up their classes on other days, which is fine with me since I’m already used to having class 5 days a week. Things are finally picking up speed with midterms, papers, presentations and other exams already scheduled for this week and the next. Midterms when we only had a few weeks of classes! It’s alright. I’ll get over it.
I accidentally called my parents 6 am for them (while it was 12pm for me) a few days ago. It was funny because they returned my phone call later in the evening with my mom asking me if everything was alright. She sounded concerned and all I kept thinking was, even if it was an emergency, they decided to return my phone call 7 hours later? The conversation continued with my dad asking how I liked my campus, classes, the food, etc as if I’ve just arrived to Cairo. It was very weird.
Last weekend my friends and I went to the FIFA Final U-20 World Cup at the Cairo International Stadium with Ghana vs. Brazil. It was my first football match. My friends made me wear the colors to support Brazil, so I assumed most of Egypt supported Brazil as well. We were wrong. There was a good mix of supporters for both countries. Midway through the game, I realized that I actually liked Ghana better. All Brazil was doing was keep passing the ball when many of the players had clean shots to goal. Getting a cab back was nearly impossible!
There’s a “Gucci corner” or rather entire area of students on campus that replicate scenes from high school in the States, even more adverse. There are many rich Egyptians that very well look like they’re dressed for some sort of fashion show with all their designer clothes, bags, sunglasses, etc. It’s more serious than the States. But what’s worse is the awkward and random English phrases blobbed on the shirts. For example, “I don’t have a big Ego, I just love you too much.” Why would you even wear something like that?
Some American students decided to make a Facebook event, “Americans Liberate Gucci Corner” where we shall dress like “trashy Europeans” and “end” segregation. It’s happening tomorrow. I’m really not sure how that will turn out.
On another note, my friends and I definitely want to try and live in an apartment next semester just because these AUC dorms are seriously lacking in major areas.
1) The internet is slow and constantly drops. We didn’t have internet in our dorms for about a week!
Incident: I needed some information from a bank of mine, yet I couldn’t have called them toll-free without using Skype. I was afraid that once I called them using Skype, it would get dropped. I tried anyway. It was about 16 minutes straight that I was put on hold and the call didn’t get dropped. I was getting pretty nervous. A lady then came on the phone asking me what I needed assistance with. I quickly told her that I was calling from Egypt and using Skype and to call me back on my cell phone. She was a bit confused, but took down my number anyway. So I waited for her phone call. About 10 minutes passed by when I realized she was never calling me back. I called the bank again. I got through much quicker this time and as soon I asked for the information, she was halfway done giving me the numbers I needed when I didn’t her voice anymore. I put my head down on the table thinking to myself how close I was to getting what I needed. As my head was down, I heard a voice ask, “Did you get that?” I optimistically yelled back, “No! Can you repeat that?” Once I got the information, she tried to sway me into opening a savings account with them. Since I was so happy I got the information I needed, I told her, “Sure.” As soon as she was done reading me some of the information the call dropped.
2) There are about 2-3 working washers and dryers for about 100 girls. And clothes plus other types of clothes (hint-hint: why would you ever steal these?) are getting stolen.
Incident: Some of the girls had their clothes stolen and one of our RA’s recommended us to “sit” by the machines while our clothes were getting washed. That shouldn’t be a “recommendation!” They just need more dryers and washers so strangers aren’t coming in to use machines on other floors.
3) The elevator doors’ sensors are broken meaning that it closes and opens about 4 times before it finally closes and takes us down to the first floor where we have to WALK down more stairs before reaching to the lobby.
Incident: Running to catch a bus that only comes every couple hours when the elevator doors don’t want to close, sucks. And you can’t run down 6 flights of stairs in a minute. Maybe it’s possible, but you don’t want to early in the morning. My roommate had to climb those 6 flights one time because the elevator doors weren’t closing.
4) I have to take about 75 steps before reaching to the communal bathroom (because we’re at the end of the hallway). This causes my roommate and I to pre-plan our bathroom trips.
Incident: Just today, my roommate washed her hands with some bottled water in a bowl in our room.
5) The receptionist likes to choose or rather “screen” our calls.
Incident: The receptionist wasn’t picking up the phone for a good half hour so we had to get dressed to go downstairs to order food! I know. It sounds a bit spoiled, that’s the way things get done here.
I accidentally called my parents 6 am for them (while it was 12pm for me) a few days ago. It was funny because they returned my phone call later in the evening with my mom asking me if everything was alright. She sounded concerned and all I kept thinking was, even if it was an emergency, they decided to return my phone call 7 hours later? The conversation continued with my dad asking how I liked my campus, classes, the food, etc as if I’ve just arrived to Cairo. It was very weird.
Last weekend my friends and I went to the FIFA Final U-20 World Cup at the Cairo International Stadium with Ghana vs. Brazil. It was my first football match. My friends made me wear the colors to support Brazil, so I assumed most of Egypt supported Brazil as well. We were wrong. There was a good mix of supporters for both countries. Midway through the game, I realized that I actually liked Ghana better. All Brazil was doing was keep passing the ball when many of the players had clean shots to goal. Getting a cab back was nearly impossible!
There’s a “Gucci corner” or rather entire area of students on campus that replicate scenes from high school in the States, even more adverse. There are many rich Egyptians that very well look like they’re dressed for some sort of fashion show with all their designer clothes, bags, sunglasses, etc. It’s more serious than the States. But what’s worse is the awkward and random English phrases blobbed on the shirts. For example, “I don’t have a big Ego, I just love you too much.” Why would you even wear something like that?
Some American students decided to make a Facebook event, “Americans Liberate Gucci Corner” where we shall dress like “trashy Europeans” and “end” segregation. It’s happening tomorrow. I’m really not sure how that will turn out.
On another note, my friends and I definitely want to try and live in an apartment next semester just because these AUC dorms are seriously lacking in major areas.
1) The internet is slow and constantly drops. We didn’t have internet in our dorms for about a week!
Incident: I needed some information from a bank of mine, yet I couldn’t have called them toll-free without using Skype. I was afraid that once I called them using Skype, it would get dropped. I tried anyway. It was about 16 minutes straight that I was put on hold and the call didn’t get dropped. I was getting pretty nervous. A lady then came on the phone asking me what I needed assistance with. I quickly told her that I was calling from Egypt and using Skype and to call me back on my cell phone. She was a bit confused, but took down my number anyway. So I waited for her phone call. About 10 minutes passed by when I realized she was never calling me back. I called the bank again. I got through much quicker this time and as soon I asked for the information, she was halfway done giving me the numbers I needed when I didn’t her voice anymore. I put my head down on the table thinking to myself how close I was to getting what I needed. As my head was down, I heard a voice ask, “Did you get that?” I optimistically yelled back, “No! Can you repeat that?” Once I got the information, she tried to sway me into opening a savings account with them. Since I was so happy I got the information I needed, I told her, “Sure.” As soon as she was done reading me some of the information the call dropped.
2) There are about 2-3 working washers and dryers for about 100 girls. And clothes plus other types of clothes (hint-hint: why would you ever steal these?) are getting stolen.
Incident: Some of the girls had their clothes stolen and one of our RA’s recommended us to “sit” by the machines while our clothes were getting washed. That shouldn’t be a “recommendation!” They just need more dryers and washers so strangers aren’t coming in to use machines on other floors.
3) The elevator doors’ sensors are broken meaning that it closes and opens about 4 times before it finally closes and takes us down to the first floor where we have to WALK down more stairs before reaching to the lobby.
Incident: Running to catch a bus that only comes every couple hours when the elevator doors don’t want to close, sucks. And you can’t run down 6 flights of stairs in a minute. Maybe it’s possible, but you don’t want to early in the morning. My roommate had to climb those 6 flights one time because the elevator doors weren’t closing.
4) I have to take about 75 steps before reaching to the communal bathroom (because we’re at the end of the hallway). This causes my roommate and I to pre-plan our bathroom trips.
Incident: Just today, my roommate washed her hands with some bottled water in a bowl in our room.
5) The receptionist likes to choose or rather “screen” our calls.
Incident: The receptionist wasn’t picking up the phone for a good half hour so we had to get dressed to go downstairs to order food! I know. It sounds a bit spoiled, that’s the way things get done here.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Trip to Dahab/Climbed up Mount Sinai
Dahab, Sinai, Egypt Trip
We left at midnight on a private bus to Dahab in Sinai, Egypt. It was an 8-9 hour drive and the bus driver apparently was driving pretty dangerously. I knocked out on the bus so I didn’t see any of his driving. We stopped once for a break. My friend and I ended up in some sketchy bathroom stalls (obviously with no toilet paper). The little girls in the bathroom kept looking at us and smiling because they knew we weren’t used to this. We went back to find some tissue in the bus and used that.
We got to our hostel around 9am. We dropped off our bags and went to a restaurant called Same Same, But Different for some breakfast, which was right on the beach. We ended up having that for breakfast for the next couple of days. We’re still not sure what the name of the restaurant means, but it’s certainly unique. The workers at the restaurant let us play whatever type of music we wanted. We went from Whitney Houston (who they thought was called Gloria and made me seem crazy) and Coldplay to Eminem.
After breakfast, we changed and hit the Red Sea. The guy at the hostel allowed us to board the back of his jeep where he had handmade some vertical benches for us to sit. We ended up jeeping to the beach and back the next day as well. The Red Sea was gorgeous with clear and bright blue water. On the other side we could see fish close to us. Some young Beduin girls came up to us and sold us some hand-made bracelets. Their parents then offered me some Beduin tea and food right on the beach.
After getting some sun, we went to the strip and lounge-hopped. We were the center of attention in all these places, which was awkward sometimes. But, I don’t think any of us cared. We went back to our rooms only to wake up early again for breakfast.
We had breakfast at Same Same, But Different again. We figured we’d go to the Red Sea again since the beach was relaxing. We jeeped there once again. After some hours there, we called a guy to do some ATVing. Right around sunset we took our ATV’s out through some mountains in the middle of a desert right near the Red Sea. We saw some beautiful scenery. On the way back my ATV wouldn’t start up again. The guy who was leading us came around to try to start up my ATV. After awhile it started, and then kept apologizing. He told me that I would have to ride behind him and said I can’t go that fast. So he made me ride behind him until I figured it was riding fine. That’s when I told him I think it was okay for me to ride again. We got back with sand all over ourselves, but no time to shower. We grabbed dinner at an awesome local restaurant. Then, we had an hour before we were supposed to meet the guy taking us to Mount Sinai by bus. We were going to climb Mount Sinai the very same night.
I tried to take a nap for that hour until I got some phone calls from the states. One was from my mom who was wondering why I hadn’t called her in some days. I kind of forgot to mention to her that I was going to the Sinai Peninsula, so decided to leave the whole climbing Mount Sinai out of the conversation. Then I wondered if I was getting these phone calls right before this journey for some crazy reason or just a coincidence. What was going to happen to me on this mountain? Yes, I tend to get superstitious at times. I couldn’t nap anymore. My friends started singing outside our doors. So I thought I would just get ready for this nightlong climb to the mountains. The manager at the hostel told us that there was something all his guests said to him when they got back from Mount Sinai, but couldn't tell us until we got back.
I packed my backpack and we left for the bus at 11pm. It was a two and half hour drive to the site. The drive there was crazier than the drive to Dahab. This bus driver kept making random stops and picking up random people. We thought this mountain climb trip was organized specifically by the hostel we were staying at. Guess not. Once we arrived to the site, we saw a couple of hundred of people waiting to get their bags checked for the climb. I felt less nervous we were doing it in such a large group.
Our tour guide’s name was Muhammad (not unusual). And our team name was Ramses (not unique either). It took us about 3 hours to climb 7,500 feet with just about 5 rest stops (for about 5-7 minutes each) along the way. Right before we got to the top, we had to climb about 700 steps. And these steps weren’t all the same size. Some were unusually huge rock pieces that the monks supposedly built for their daily climbs. That was the most tiring of all. The stars that you could see from where we were were gorgeous. We could see Little Dipper and the North Star pretty clearly. Down below we could see narrow lines of just torchlights following us. Almost everyone had some type of flashlight with them. I wanted to take a picture, but was too tired to take my camera out besides for my water. As we got closer to the top, it was getting cooler. I was going from getting really cold to really hot (from all that climbing).
We got to the top just in time for the sunrise. It was beautiful. The sun was slowly peeking out. We conquered Mount Sinai, now how were we going to get down. We were hungry and exhausted, but we had to get down before it got too hot. It’s interesting the temperature contrasts out on the mountains within a couple off hours. It took less time to get down (about 2 hours). One of our group members got injured. His knee gave out and had to limp all the way down, which sucked. It was a hard climb alright. We got back on the bus around 10am and reached back to our hostel some hours later. We grabbed breakfast at the Same Same, But Different restaurant yet again. After breakfast, we crashed. The manager at the hostel told us that all his guests tell him that the whole Mount Sinai experience was very interesting, but they'd never do it again. I can relate!
We took a 4 hour nap at our hostels before I woke up really hungry. It was 5:30pm before I woke my roommates up and wanted to go to the restaurant we went the night before. We all went back to that restaurant and had delish food. After dinner, we went back to Same Same, But Different for some drinks. We continued our rest back at our rooms for some karaoke. We had the guys sing some Backstreet Boys while the guys made us sing some Eminem. We all sucked! But it was fun. We then got a phone call from a friend from another group also in Dahab inviting us to a beach party at the Hilton. We jeeped there as well. The beach party wasn’t too great. The DJ refused to play anything else but house music. We even pointed out to him that no one was really dancing and all he did was waved his hands in the air and said with an awkward European accent, “Ha ha, I know,” and kept dancing. We called the jeep guy and told him to pick us up.
We finally crashed into bed and ended our trip in Dahab with one final breakfast at Same Same, But Different. Oh, how we’ll miss that place.
We left at midnight on a private bus to Dahab in Sinai, Egypt. It was an 8-9 hour drive and the bus driver apparently was driving pretty dangerously. I knocked out on the bus so I didn’t see any of his driving. We stopped once for a break. My friend and I ended up in some sketchy bathroom stalls (obviously with no toilet paper). The little girls in the bathroom kept looking at us and smiling because they knew we weren’t used to this. We went back to find some tissue in the bus and used that.
We got to our hostel around 9am. We dropped off our bags and went to a restaurant called Same Same, But Different for some breakfast, which was right on the beach. We ended up having that for breakfast for the next couple of days. We’re still not sure what the name of the restaurant means, but it’s certainly unique. The workers at the restaurant let us play whatever type of music we wanted. We went from Whitney Houston (who they thought was called Gloria and made me seem crazy) and Coldplay to Eminem.
After breakfast, we changed and hit the Red Sea. The guy at the hostel allowed us to board the back of his jeep where he had handmade some vertical benches for us to sit. We ended up jeeping to the beach and back the next day as well. The Red Sea was gorgeous with clear and bright blue water. On the other side we could see fish close to us. Some young Beduin girls came up to us and sold us some hand-made bracelets. Their parents then offered me some Beduin tea and food right on the beach.
After getting some sun, we went to the strip and lounge-hopped. We were the center of attention in all these places, which was awkward sometimes. But, I don’t think any of us cared. We went back to our rooms only to wake up early again for breakfast.
We had breakfast at Same Same, But Different again. We figured we’d go to the Red Sea again since the beach was relaxing. We jeeped there once again. After some hours there, we called a guy to do some ATVing. Right around sunset we took our ATV’s out through some mountains in the middle of a desert right near the Red Sea. We saw some beautiful scenery. On the way back my ATV wouldn’t start up again. The guy who was leading us came around to try to start up my ATV. After awhile it started, and then kept apologizing. He told me that I would have to ride behind him and said I can’t go that fast. So he made me ride behind him until I figured it was riding fine. That’s when I told him I think it was okay for me to ride again. We got back with sand all over ourselves, but no time to shower. We grabbed dinner at an awesome local restaurant. Then, we had an hour before we were supposed to meet the guy taking us to Mount Sinai by bus. We were going to climb Mount Sinai the very same night.
I tried to take a nap for that hour until I got some phone calls from the states. One was from my mom who was wondering why I hadn’t called her in some days. I kind of forgot to mention to her that I was going to the Sinai Peninsula, so decided to leave the whole climbing Mount Sinai out of the conversation. Then I wondered if I was getting these phone calls right before this journey for some crazy reason or just a coincidence. What was going to happen to me on this mountain? Yes, I tend to get superstitious at times. I couldn’t nap anymore. My friends started singing outside our doors. So I thought I would just get ready for this nightlong climb to the mountains. The manager at the hostel told us that there was something all his guests said to him when they got back from Mount Sinai, but couldn't tell us until we got back.
I packed my backpack and we left for the bus at 11pm. It was a two and half hour drive to the site. The drive there was crazier than the drive to Dahab. This bus driver kept making random stops and picking up random people. We thought this mountain climb trip was organized specifically by the hostel we were staying at. Guess not. Once we arrived to the site, we saw a couple of hundred of people waiting to get their bags checked for the climb. I felt less nervous we were doing it in such a large group.
Our tour guide’s name was Muhammad (not unusual). And our team name was Ramses (not unique either). It took us about 3 hours to climb 7,500 feet with just about 5 rest stops (for about 5-7 minutes each) along the way. Right before we got to the top, we had to climb about 700 steps. And these steps weren’t all the same size. Some were unusually huge rock pieces that the monks supposedly built for their daily climbs. That was the most tiring of all. The stars that you could see from where we were were gorgeous. We could see Little Dipper and the North Star pretty clearly. Down below we could see narrow lines of just torchlights following us. Almost everyone had some type of flashlight with them. I wanted to take a picture, but was too tired to take my camera out besides for my water. As we got closer to the top, it was getting cooler. I was going from getting really cold to really hot (from all that climbing).
We got to the top just in time for the sunrise. It was beautiful. The sun was slowly peeking out. We conquered Mount Sinai, now how were we going to get down. We were hungry and exhausted, but we had to get down before it got too hot. It’s interesting the temperature contrasts out on the mountains within a couple off hours. It took less time to get down (about 2 hours). One of our group members got injured. His knee gave out and had to limp all the way down, which sucked. It was a hard climb alright. We got back on the bus around 10am and reached back to our hostel some hours later. We grabbed breakfast at the Same Same, But Different restaurant yet again. After breakfast, we crashed. The manager at the hostel told us that all his guests tell him that the whole Mount Sinai experience was very interesting, but they'd never do it again. I can relate!
We took a 4 hour nap at our hostels before I woke up really hungry. It was 5:30pm before I woke my roommates up and wanted to go to the restaurant we went the night before. We all went back to that restaurant and had delish food. After dinner, we went back to Same Same, But Different for some drinks. We continued our rest back at our rooms for some karaoke. We had the guys sing some Backstreet Boys while the guys made us sing some Eminem. We all sucked! But it was fun. We then got a phone call from a friend from another group also in Dahab inviting us to a beach party at the Hilton. We jeeped there as well. The beach party wasn’t too great. The DJ refused to play anything else but house music. We even pointed out to him that no one was really dancing and all he did was waved his hands in the air and said with an awkward European accent, “Ha ha, I know,” and kept dancing. We called the jeep guy and told him to pick us up.
We finally crashed into bed and ended our trip in Dahab with one final breakfast at Same Same, But Different. Oh, how we’ll miss that place.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Ohh Alexandria..a way to remember it the 2nd time around
So I had 3 hours of sleep before I had to wake up at 6am to get ready. We met at 7am to take a cab to the train station. We bought first class sleeper cell tickets to Alexandria for 41 pounds (less than $10). It was a very comfortable ride. It took us about 3 hours to get to our destination.
When we arrived, we tried to figure out where the beach was so I took out my Egyptian phrase book and asked the cabbie where it was. He had no idea what I was talking about and then pulled over next to me the second time to ask me where I got this book from. So that didn't work. I saw a woman on the street and I asked her. She replied in perfect English, "I don't speak English." It was the funniest thing ever because she had the most serious look on her face when she said it. We asked another 3 people before we headed in the right direction and the Mediterranean was in sight. As we were walking along the water, we passed by a crowd of people taking boat rides and just hanging out on the beach. As obvious tourists, we attracted attention. These girls wanted us to take pictures with them. Then, this guy insisted I take a picture with him. I wasn't sure what to say so I said okay. His friend took our picture, then he said shook my hand and shukraned (thanked) me. It was a bit weird, but the beginning of many pictures to be taken with locals. Oh how we didn't know!
After lunch at the Fish Market is when our journey of craziness began. We walked to the Citadel. We found out from some locals that Egyptians only had to pay 2 pounds to get in and foreigners had to pay 25 pounds. We didn't want to pay the foreigner price so we thought we would ask some local guys to buy us some tickets to get in. They got us the tickets, but as soon as the lady saw our tickets, she knew we weren't Egyptian. Our backpacks screamed "TOURISTS!" We had to get other tickets, but at least we paid student prices of like 15 pounds. We went to the top of the Citadel to take pictures and all of a sudden a group of guys started watching us and taking our pictures. I wasn't sure at first until I saw the cameras pointed directly at us. The roles were reversed. We were the objects of study. These guys then wanted to take pictures with us, so we agreed. One by one and two by two, these young guys were standing up and taking pictures with us. They would then shake our hands and thank us which we thought was interesting. We felt like some sort of Hollywood stars, until the unimaginable happened.
We finally (well my friend) mustered up the courage to tell the guys that we were done taking pictures with them. We literally spent 10 minutes going around and having our pictures taken with these locals. We got down and started to exit. We didn't realize until the group of 20 boys or so that we took pictures with were following us. They were following us all around and it got to the point where it was so crowded that was got physically violated. I've never had that experience in my life. We had two guys with us, except one just disappeared off somewhere so we had one male guarding us. We had to run from these mob of guys. When we finally exited, some boys saw us and asked me, "Remember me? One more picture?" I didn't know how to say no so my friend told them a straight "NO." I've never been more creeped out. We apparently were attracting a lot of attention. A lot of locals were coming up to us and taking pictures with us and trying to have conversations with us. From young newlyweds talking about going to Texas soon to little kids trying to sell us single cigarettes. We finally got out of there and went elsewhere.
We cabbed to the Catacombs area, except the cabbie didn't drop us to the exact location. We had to walk in a local neighborhood to get to the place, which once again attracted much attention. We saw 10-year olds on motorcycles and young girls who wanted to shake our hands. We finally got there around 5pm right when it closed. So we walked back through this local neighborhood and realized we couldn't stay in one place for some time because we grew mobs of people that liked to surround us and sometimes bother us.
We cabbed out to the beach. We entered a hotel entrance and told them we wanted to take pictures just so we didn't have to go to the public beach where more people would have bothered us. The hotel receptionists were nice and let us in. When we exited, we found out that the room rates were $200 for locals and $400 for foreigners per night!
After the beach we had dinner. At about 7:30pm, we decided to cab back to the train station and got there at 8:10. We had some challenges figuring out where to buy our tickets from and where our platform was. We thought the next train would leave at 8:45pm so we casually started to walk to our platform. We asked a guy if this was our train and he said yes and it would leave in a few minutes. We ran to the train and just as we thought we made it, we realized the first class sleeper cell was all the way in the front end of the train while we were all the way on the other end. We ran so fast, again. As soon as we entered our cabin, we were out of breath and all the passengers could see how we were gasping for air. Two minutes later, our train left the platform. We completely confused the 8:45pm time with the 8:15pm time.
We got back to Cairo at about 11pm. We got a cab, however the minute we told him we were American, he wanted to charge us $15 instead of 15 Egyptian pounds (equaling to about $3). We said no and that we would just take another cab then. He agreed, except it was like sitting in deathcab. The most awkward thing about the ride was how he slipped on his seat belt. I have never seen this with all the cabs I have been in Cairo. He did it with such ease. The seat belt was already buckled, he just swung it over his head and that is when I wondered why he put it in on and how we weren't able to. Yet, we made it all safely back home, Alhumdulilah. We survived this strangely adventurous day in Alexandria.
When we arrived, we tried to figure out where the beach was so I took out my Egyptian phrase book and asked the cabbie where it was. He had no idea what I was talking about and then pulled over next to me the second time to ask me where I got this book from. So that didn't work. I saw a woman on the street and I asked her. She replied in perfect English, "I don't speak English." It was the funniest thing ever because she had the most serious look on her face when she said it. We asked another 3 people before we headed in the right direction and the Mediterranean was in sight. As we were walking along the water, we passed by a crowd of people taking boat rides and just hanging out on the beach. As obvious tourists, we attracted attention. These girls wanted us to take pictures with them. Then, this guy insisted I take a picture with him. I wasn't sure what to say so I said okay. His friend took our picture, then he said shook my hand and shukraned (thanked) me. It was a bit weird, but the beginning of many pictures to be taken with locals. Oh how we didn't know!
After lunch at the Fish Market is when our journey of craziness began. We walked to the Citadel. We found out from some locals that Egyptians only had to pay 2 pounds to get in and foreigners had to pay 25 pounds. We didn't want to pay the foreigner price so we thought we would ask some local guys to buy us some tickets to get in. They got us the tickets, but as soon as the lady saw our tickets, she knew we weren't Egyptian. Our backpacks screamed "TOURISTS!" We had to get other tickets, but at least we paid student prices of like 15 pounds. We went to the top of the Citadel to take pictures and all of a sudden a group of guys started watching us and taking our pictures. I wasn't sure at first until I saw the cameras pointed directly at us. The roles were reversed. We were the objects of study. These guys then wanted to take pictures with us, so we agreed. One by one and two by two, these young guys were standing up and taking pictures with us. They would then shake our hands and thank us which we thought was interesting. We felt like some sort of Hollywood stars, until the unimaginable happened.
We finally (well my friend) mustered up the courage to tell the guys that we were done taking pictures with them. We literally spent 10 minutes going around and having our pictures taken with these locals. We got down and started to exit. We didn't realize until the group of 20 boys or so that we took pictures with were following us. They were following us all around and it got to the point where it was so crowded that was got physically violated. I've never had that experience in my life. We had two guys with us, except one just disappeared off somewhere so we had one male guarding us. We had to run from these mob of guys. When we finally exited, some boys saw us and asked me, "Remember me? One more picture?" I didn't know how to say no so my friend told them a straight "NO." I've never been more creeped out. We apparently were attracting a lot of attention. A lot of locals were coming up to us and taking pictures with us and trying to have conversations with us. From young newlyweds talking about going to Texas soon to little kids trying to sell us single cigarettes. We finally got out of there and went elsewhere.
We cabbed to the Catacombs area, except the cabbie didn't drop us to the exact location. We had to walk in a local neighborhood to get to the place, which once again attracted much attention. We saw 10-year olds on motorcycles and young girls who wanted to shake our hands. We finally got there around 5pm right when it closed. So we walked back through this local neighborhood and realized we couldn't stay in one place for some time because we grew mobs of people that liked to surround us and sometimes bother us.
We cabbed out to the beach. We entered a hotel entrance and told them we wanted to take pictures just so we didn't have to go to the public beach where more people would have bothered us. The hotel receptionists were nice and let us in. When we exited, we found out that the room rates were $200 for locals and $400 for foreigners per night!
After the beach we had dinner. At about 7:30pm, we decided to cab back to the train station and got there at 8:10. We had some challenges figuring out where to buy our tickets from and where our platform was. We thought the next train would leave at 8:45pm so we casually started to walk to our platform. We asked a guy if this was our train and he said yes and it would leave in a few minutes. We ran to the train and just as we thought we made it, we realized the first class sleeper cell was all the way in the front end of the train while we were all the way on the other end. We ran so fast, again. As soon as we entered our cabin, we were out of breath and all the passengers could see how we were gasping for air. Two minutes later, our train left the platform. We completely confused the 8:45pm time with the 8:15pm time.
We got back to Cairo at about 11pm. We got a cab, however the minute we told him we were American, he wanted to charge us $15 instead of 15 Egyptian pounds (equaling to about $3). We said no and that we would just take another cab then. He agreed, except it was like sitting in deathcab. The most awkward thing about the ride was how he slipped on his seat belt. I have never seen this with all the cabs I have been in Cairo. He did it with such ease. The seat belt was already buckled, he just swung it over his head and that is when I wondered why he put it in on and how we weren't able to. Yet, we made it all safely back home, Alhumdulilah. We survived this strangely adventurous day in Alexandria.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Eid time in al-Qahira
I was talking to a friend about when Eid might be and that's when I realized I could call the receptionist and find out the same information. He responded, "Yes, Eid is tomorrow." I was so happy and called my friend to go out and buy some mehndi (henna). It was officially chand raat. We went to a few pharmacies to find it, but they were all for hair. The guy at the pharmacy insisted it could be used for the hand and kept telling us to use it with a "sa-ring". In the back of my mind I thought he was telling us to use it with a syringe, but hoped it wasn't. Then I had a confused look on my face and he just popped out a syringe to show me. My mouth just went open and the word, "Uhhhh" came out. He then reassured me that I don't need to use the "needle" part. Obviously! That would be intensely inappropriate. It was interesting to see with how much ease he took out a syringe. I replied, "La shukran." (No thanks). I took the henna in the form of powder (that's used for hair) and paid for it. He didn't have the exact change to return to me and popped out a mini packet of shampoo and handed that as currency. I was once again confused, but simply took the shampoo packet and walked out the door. I've never been given some shampoo packet as currency (bartering, really?) If only I can go to a restaurant with some friends and we could all look into our bags, put some value on our belongings and pay the check with it. (10 pounds of Vodaphone credit minutes? Maybe.)
So now my friends and I had henna in a huge pouch in the form of powder. We read the directions and had to mix it with water and let it sit for an hour. It was an interesting process. We created the liquid form of henna in a small cup and spoon, but now how were we going to put it on our hands without an actual tube. Should we have bought the "sa-ring" from him? I thought of using some toothpicks, but didn't have any. We were able to find matchsticks. Yes, matchsticks. We put on henna with matchsticks and listening to some old-school pop and Bollywood music. Around 2am we ordered some Papa John's, which was hard to eat with one hand. We managed.
We were supposed to be ready by 5:30am to leave for Eid prayer. We made plans to go to Al-Azhar mosque for prayer. Though, we were still putting henna on until 3am and finally decided to maybe sleep for an hour before we had to get ready for prayer. I caught some shut-eye for an hour before my alarm went off. I didn't bring any special Eid outfits from the US, so I just put an outfit together with whatever I had that looked fun. We were waiting in the lobby at 5:15 to catch some cabs. We walked out to the main road. It takes less than a minute to find a cab anywhere around our area and most areas in Cairo. But today was Eid and we couldn't find any cabs. We found one cabbie who told us he was going home to change and then he would go to Al-Azhar mosque. 5:30 was quickly approaching and we thought we wouldn't make it to Al-Azhar since there weren't any cabs coming our way. We decided that we would just go to the local mosque near the Nile River and just do our Eid prayer there. Just as we approached the local mosque, we found a cab. All five of us crammed in this cab because we weren't going to find another one. We got to Al-Azhar just in time. It was incredibly crowded in there. The prayer was literally five-seven minutes, yet there were hundreds of people in this small, yet famous mosque. It took awhile to get in and out. The crowd reminded me of the Khan-el-Khalili market at night. Catching a cab on the way was much more difficult. We waiting in one area for about 20 minutes then decided to go to the other side of traffic and wait for a cab. We finally found one.
We went back to our dorms and ate breakfast at the local cafe. It was now about 8am and decided to sleep and wake up again around dinner time. Yes, my sleeping schedule is a bit disorganized, but I shall get it back to normal soon, Inshallah. We had dinner at the Pottery Cafe and watched a movie afterward. It was a nice Eid with some good friends.
So now my friends and I had henna in a huge pouch in the form of powder. We read the directions and had to mix it with water and let it sit for an hour. It was an interesting process. We created the liquid form of henna in a small cup and spoon, but now how were we going to put it on our hands without an actual tube. Should we have bought the "sa-ring" from him? I thought of using some toothpicks, but didn't have any. We were able to find matchsticks. Yes, matchsticks. We put on henna with matchsticks and listening to some old-school pop and Bollywood music. Around 2am we ordered some Papa John's, which was hard to eat with one hand. We managed.
We were supposed to be ready by 5:30am to leave for Eid prayer. We made plans to go to Al-Azhar mosque for prayer. Though, we were still putting henna on until 3am and finally decided to maybe sleep for an hour before we had to get ready for prayer. I caught some shut-eye for an hour before my alarm went off. I didn't bring any special Eid outfits from the US, so I just put an outfit together with whatever I had that looked fun. We were waiting in the lobby at 5:15 to catch some cabs. We walked out to the main road. It takes less than a minute to find a cab anywhere around our area and most areas in Cairo. But today was Eid and we couldn't find any cabs. We found one cabbie who told us he was going home to change and then he would go to Al-Azhar mosque. 5:30 was quickly approaching and we thought we wouldn't make it to Al-Azhar since there weren't any cabs coming our way. We decided that we would just go to the local mosque near the Nile River and just do our Eid prayer there. Just as we approached the local mosque, we found a cab. All five of us crammed in this cab because we weren't going to find another one. We got to Al-Azhar just in time. It was incredibly crowded in there. The prayer was literally five-seven minutes, yet there were hundreds of people in this small, yet famous mosque. It took awhile to get in and out. The crowd reminded me of the Khan-el-Khalili market at night. Catching a cab on the way was much more difficult. We waiting in one area for about 20 minutes then decided to go to the other side of traffic and wait for a cab. We finally found one.
We went back to our dorms and ate breakfast at the local cafe. It was now about 8am and decided to sleep and wake up again around dinner time. Yes, my sleeping schedule is a bit disorganized, but I shall get it back to normal soon, Inshallah. We had dinner at the Pottery Cafe and watched a movie afterward. It was a nice Eid with some good friends.
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