The Past Month...

Hello Everyone!

Sorry about the huge lag in the posting. I have been busy/thought that people at home would not really be interested in what I have been up to as I haven’t thought it was that interesting. Then I remembered that being here is so different from being pretty much anywhere else that everyday stuff might be more interesting than it normally would.
I am going to try to update more often, once a week maybe so we’ll see how that goes…

I can’t believe it is already October. I am starting midterms at school and actually might have to do some studying! Yuck.

We just had our first break from school for Eid which is the holiday at the end of Ramadan. My roommate Heather and I went to Dahab, which is a beach town on the Gulf of Aqaba on the Sinai peninsula. I had the flue when we left but I went with one of my Egyptian friends to a pharmacy and he made them give me lots of different medicines. So I basically slept for the first two days of vacation and then we spent the next few just hanging out on the beach, eating good food and smoking sheesha. Traveling as only two people was really nice because we didn’t really have to coordinate anything and could jut go with the flow. The last couple of days we decided that we should probably actually do something with ourselves so we went snorkeling in Blue Hole. The area of Sinai where we were has world renounced snorkeling and diving. The water is beautiful and you see all types of amazing and exotic fish just under the surface.
That night we took a bus out to Mount Sinai or Moses Mountain as they call it here and hiked up it. We wanted to see the sunrise so we started the hike at about 2am. There were literally about 500 people climbing the mountain, which meant that there was a continuous trail of lights winding its way up the path. It was incredibly beautiful. We got to the top about 40 minutes before the sun rose and sat there freezing and watching it get light. As it got lighter we began to see the stark and breathtaking beauty of the mountains. The rocks are all rose colored and in fantastic patterns. I have tons of pictures but unfortunately can’t post any of them. I have never seen a sunrise like that one. IT was like a ball of fire that came up from behind the mountain. Within minutes it went from freezing to warm and then as we were climbing back down to broiling hot. Our guide up was a really cool Bedouin kid. I had heard from other people that the guides are not very nice but I really liked Mahmoud. We talked about his family and what it’s like to live out in the desert. He said he could live in the US or Russia for “an hour” but then it would be too loud and he would have to come back. HE has been a guide for three years and is only 18 but he says it is a good life. He also says that he can climb the mountain in about an hour, with out shoes and can get back down in half an hour. I have no trouble believing that because when he moves over the rocks it looks like he is gliding in a smooth dance. It incredibly impressive, as I felt like I was going to die on the way down and my legs hurt for the next three days!
The next day we took a Jeep out to the desert to see the colored and white canyons. The silence was amazing. I haven’t been somewhere that is actually quiet since I got here. There is always noise in Cairo, always. The canyons are also gorgeous. The landscape of the entire region is awe-inspiring. There is almost no vegetation and its stark and barren but still incredible looking. Once again I have pictures that will just have to wait.
Other than that I have just been exploring Cairo and getting lost less and less. I am used to the cabs and cabbies and rarely get ripped off and pay too much to get somewhere. I still hate the buses out and back from school and am unimpressed with a few of my classes but all in all I am extremely happy to be here and can’t believe how fast the time has gone!