First day of classes!

Wake up Sunday morning bright and early...wait a second why am I waking up this early on a weekend!? Our week here in Egypt begins on Sun and our last day of classes for the week is Weds. Three day weekends all semester! =D Woot! So this Sun was our first day of classes and it was definitely a full day! Four classes lasting from 9am to 5:30pm! Although I did have like a 3 hour break before my last class.

To begin the day we had Egyptian Arabic. It is a good class very very handy to know some colloquial Arabic to get around the streets but I am terrible at pronunciation! Next class was MSA Arabic...lol very weird going from one Arabic class to the other but I really enjoy MSA Arabic because I am actually good at it! =P Plus I really like my teacher Asharf. Directly after the class I get to go into the one classroom that has a heater! (thank god!) and it is Ancient Egyptian Religion and Culture from Ancient to Modern times. A mouthful, I know, but it seems interesting. Kind of a woman power class/seeing what remains of the ancient world in today's modern world. Then the 3 hr break...

Since our internet is now out at our AP again...BAH! I stay at Kambiz (our school building) with most of the rest of the kids. I sit out on the balcony in the sun trying to get what little warmth I can while reading my new book, Pathfinder, and eating an AMAZING orange =) The book is wonderful by the by I love Orson Scott Card a lot =D But the clouds soon cover up the sun so I am forced to go inside but luckily I now know about the room with the heater ;) so I go in there turn on the heater and read till my last class, Art and Hieroglyphics. So Art and Hieroglyphics...sounds great I love what he has planned for us to do (even the stuff with art since i'm not really an art fan...) but it was late so a few of us really just wanted to nap during that class hehe. And that was it. We go back to the AP (discover one heater we are thrilled about!) and go to bed after finishing our Arabic HW for tomorrow =)

So here I am on another 4 hour break in between my two classes of the day. Had MSA Arabic and am going to have Intro to ancient Egypt in a few hours. So mah salamah! (goodbye) Everyone stay warm cuz its cooooold here in Egypt and rained again today!

- KC 

Finally the weekend!

Wow! The weeklong orientation period is over! While it was very helpful I think we are all glad it is over because it was exhausting! So we finally have a night off and can sleep in on Friday! Now when school starts we will be having 3 day weekends but Fridays especially are the days we can sleep in...on Fridays the biggest call to prayer happens (which all call to prayers are projected over loud speaker throughout the city) however it doesn't happen until noon so everyone sleeps in and the streets are actually quiet for a short period of time! Which helps the sleeping in =D So yes we sleep in and I went over to the smaller girls AP to hang out with/get lunch with Lauren, Allegra, Christine, and Shama. After a day of wondering around we head back to get ready for the potluck!

Potluck at my AP! Wasn’t really told about it but the girls I was with got texts so I guess I was invited as well =P EVERYONE comes over =) New friends from the program, new arab friends, and even Salma our very cool assistant program director! Tons of food and a great time! Unfortunately that meant we got to bed late and we needed to get up early for the Pyramids trip!

Up at 8am...have to hurry need to meet the grp at the bus for the trip to the pyramids! Of course 4 of us accidently went earlier this week but we knew this experience was going to be amazing! So Cairo is pretty warm and you would think going into the desert would be even warmer...hmmm were we wrong! It was freezing when we got there and I was definitely shivering but luckily shortly after we arrived we go inside...the air was warmer inside and we went up and up and up and up! Omg was way out of breath and the air was so dead inside! Super creepy but definitely a very cool experience! Started coughing up a storm tho, which I am STILL coughing from, so i was glad when we left the inside of one of the most amazing monuments of the world!

A short bus ride to the view where we can see all three of the pyramids! This is also where we will begin our 30min camel ride down to the Sphinx! We sit on the camels as the rise and wow are they really high off of the ground! I of course squeak and scream. But we all become some what comfortable on the camels as we are led through the desert. The comfort fades somewhat when the camel behind me (pooka) takes a liking to my leg and enjoys spitting on me!

Now back in the states I live in two states where it rains a lot. I love the rain. Of course coming to Egypt I knew not to expect rain especially not in the desert...seems the rain follows me. Because on our camel ride through the desert it starts raining! Hahaha I loved it! The others weren't as happy. And our ride got interesting when we started lagging behind and our guide starts the camels trotting! Soooo scary!!! Of course there were more squeaks and screams our guide finally slowed us down. We make it to the Sphinx with sore legs and pet our camels goodbye. After many photo opportunities we drive back home and all take naps in preparation for our first day of classes tomorrow!

- KC

Coming to Cairo!

Ahehlen! Hi all! After a long day of traveling (on my birthday) I arrive in Cairo!

I would love to include pictures in my blog but since downloading these 2 pictures took about 2 hours I'll stick to just words for now =P

It has now been 5 days that I have been in Cairo. Feels like so much longer! Right now I'm in the "honeymoon stage" which is unconscious incompetence. I like this stage =P As much as I would like to know what people are saying to me I know that after I'm here for a couple of weeks I will switch into conscious incompetence  and become very frustrated at myself for not understanding the culture and language here. 

But anyways, my time in Cairo has been good so far. We have had Orientation this week as we have wondered around our neighborhood and even all around Cairo! Survival Arabic classes have taught us some brief (very handy) colloquial arabic to help us get around.  The program directors (Matthew, Tamir, and Salma) are very great! Although getting used to the Egyptian's concept of time is hard to get around and not getting internet installed for a couple of days was rather frustrating. 

SO much is different here its hard to not write of every single one of my new experiences I've had here! I've learned how to walk like an Egyptian, seen tons of street kitties, got chased by street dogs, eaten Hardees for the first time (they only play Britney Spears there very funny =D), and of course gotten lost.

One of the more recent and exciting things we have done was the Cairo 'Amazing Race' Our Program director put together a game where a grp of 3 or 4 of us grp up and follow this packet's directions and go around Cairo by walking, cab, or metro! My grp began with a cab trip to the Zoo...well thats what we were supposed to begin with...instead our cab driver, I guess, hears us say Giza and doesn't understand Zoo so he takes us to the Giza Pyramids!!! So before everyone else in our grp we get to enjoy seeing the magnificent Pyramids which are the last standing monuments of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. 

We leave the pyramids and finally head to the Zoo driven by a man who understood us when we said Zoo in English and Arabic! The Zoo was cool! Cats were everywhere! Lounging in the exhibits with the animals, wondering the paths, and of course eating scraps the visitors drop. My favorite animal, besides the very pregnant camel, was the Persian Cats! You know those adorable squashed face cats we keep as house pets...are in a cage in the zoo on display! Like rare exotic animals! Has much as I found that really funny it was also very sad...they needed loving, someone petting them, and kitty beds or at least a cardboard box to sleep on! But after getting all the pictures we needed (with my new camera from mom =D) we moved to our next stop...KFC!

I keep mentioning all these very American places we are eating =P but don't worry we are eating Egyptian food as well =) But after the Zoo the kids in my grp were hungry so we stopped at the only food place around...KFC. Not a huge fan of KFC...so I will skip ahead a couple of hours to when we met up with another grp of kids from our program who walk with us to Tahir Square, our next stop on the Race.

Getting slightly lost we finally are in the right direction to get to Tahir Sq. as we are walking toward this shopping area an Egyptian man in front of us mentions that we are walking right by the Cairo Museum! This guy becomes our new friend =) He tells us where we need to go and is very helpful and as we were about to leave he starts talking about a great shop and points out where it is...but instead of taking the chance that we wouldn't go there he takes us across the traffic to this shop which turns out to be a Papyrus Shop!

Beautiful. Every painting in that store was beautiful. The colors were exquisite! But when we walk in the shopkeeper is very nice and speaks English well. He sits down and and shows us the process of making Papyrus paper, it is fascinating! The paper requires no glue or chemicals it is completely natural. Naturally he wants to sell us some but the paintings are rather expensive. But he says they are all half price and they are just so beautiful I couldn't resist =P I was torn between two...a painting of Nefertiti and one of an ancient Egyptian kitty...try to guess which one I got =)

After buying my painting and trying some of is amazing oil perfumes we move on to our last stop a Koushary shop. Here we go some Egyptian food =) Made of rice, lentils, pasta, and tomato sauce it is a very traditional Egyptian dish so we all enjoy some and take the metro back to the boy's AP where we meet up with Matthew and get our T Shirts from the program =)

Well that sums up some but not nearly all of my adventures I have had so far in Egypt but I will continue blogging and fill everyone in on all I am doing =)

 مع سلامة          

 كايسي