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