Part 1 - Blog Tawil: you do not need to fear the camel

did you know living in cairo is like smoking 3 cigarettes a day for the entire time youre here? no anti-pollution laws, lots of sand, i can hear my lungs caving in now.

anyway i figured id split this blog up into 2 parts since itll probably be pretty long as i havent written in a few days and i tend to ramble... ill try to stick to the highlights- i dont want to bore you and im lying in a kind of uncomfortable position on my couch right now.

soooooooo orientation at the red sea. i repeat: god loves me. we were staying at el-goona (no im sure thats not how you actually spell it but im also sure i dont care enough to go look it up so if youre that curious email me) its this spot on the red sea on the egypt side about 5 hr south of cairo by car. we were staying the movenpick hotel and, let me tell you, i have been to some nice places in my life and this definately rivaled most of them. the place was GORGEOUS - the architecture the blue blue (very clear, surprisingly) sea that swear to god looked exactly like the sea out of the very last scene of the little mermaid when the sea is soo sparkly and you assumed that the artists were making it look unrealistically beautiful? oh no. one of them had visited the red sea on a good day. (and dont diss the little mermaid references. yeah i know what youre thinking) the sky that was exactly the same color blue as the sky in riyadh. the clear, cloudless, breathtaking true sky-blue that doesnt happen on the east coast. ever. and this wonderful cool breeze blowing in off the water...mmmm yum. of course i burnt myself to a crisp in an effort to gain a beautiful tan which no one will be able to appreciate. itll be a race to see which gets me first - the skin cancer or the lung cancer. lets place bets. woot.

the organization of the trip was classic. they had us leaving at 2am, riding a bus all night and arriving at 9am the next morning. perhaps a conspiracy to make sure we were too tired to get into trouble? or they probably just didnt want to pay for the extra night at the hotel. either way it didnt matter all that much - you dont need that much energy to fall asleep in the sun. so we all met up at 1:30am outside of the campus gate. and of course they had to shuffel the lot of us (all 350 of us) in and out of the university main campus a few times and then herd us all into a tennis court before splitting us up into groups which were organized alphabetically. by first name. i was in p through r and there were 3 rachels in my group (surprise surprise) along with like 5 variations on phillip, this is also the room system they used so 3 out of the 4 sarahs were rooming together and i was with one of the other rachels... at least it made it easy to remember your roommates names. i think our last names are just too much trouble for auc to bother with. one of my friends who isnt officially in the study abroad program (she's at the arabic language institute, an affiliated prg) argued her way onto the trip. when she was finalizing the arrangements over the phone the man (muhammad, of course) asked her what her last name was and she was like "P-A-" and he cuts her off and says "you will be michelle ali". awkward silence. "umm, ok?" and thats what they called her for the rest of the trip.

the hotel was beautifully westernized. or rather, "europeanized" as the egyptians would say. no decency necessary whatsoever. indecency encouraged. maybe they think americans bond better with their clothes off.

they could be right.

either way it was a lovely break from the stifling amount of modestly required in cairo. covering my shoulders is such a burden. i am so abused. and the hotel was just FUN. although they made you pay for all liquids which was kind of weird - free water with dinner? psh. but the food was delish and it was fantastic to be able to eat fresh fruit without anticipating face time with the toilet bowl a few hours down the line. i ate pears! mmmmmmmm pears. you ppl dont appreciate pears the way you should.

oh and i made a conquest- best part of the trip hands down: there was this guy with a camel at the beach saturday. he was giving ppl rides for a fee on what was, btw, the absolute cleanest camel i had ever seen. virtually shining. the amount of time that guy must spend cleaning his camel.. i dont even want to think about it. but anyway, so a few of my friends wander over the get rides and pet the camel. im not a huge camel person, and ive seen how far they can spit so i was hanging back a bit and the camel guy comes up to me. he was goodlooking if you like arab guys - which i do - but this was probably the second most awkward conversation ever:

camel guy: (thick arabic accent) would you like to pet my camel?

ok i just want to point out there that that would make an awesome pickup line, just in general. i recommend it to all guys out there. use it in the bars. girls will fall over themselves

me: no thank you
camel guy: are you afraid of my camel? you do not need to fear the camel
me: no im not scared i just...dont want to
camel guy: (looks deeply into my eyes and pauses for a few seconds) you are first real woman i have seen in long time
me: (astonished)
camel guy: your eyes so beautiful
me: (laughs. nervously.)
camel guy: your smile lights up the beach!
me: um. thank you. (walks quickly away)

it was awesome. and was quickly followed 20 min later by what was definately the most awkward conversation ever - when i was sitting with some friends for lunch, he comes and finds me again. leading his camel.

camel guy: (to the girl sitting next to me) do you know how lucky you are to sit next to such beautiful flower?
friend: (looks at me. looks back at the camel guy. looks at me again.)
camel guy: her eyes are like sky. i could swim in those eyes. i see the whole world in her eyes!
me: (at this point ive sort of turned away, buried my head in my hands, and almost sufocated in an effort to keep from laughing in his face. maybe my mother just raised me well, but i felt like it would be rude not to be somewhat impressed with his proclamations)
camel guy: (to me) why do you turn away? a woman like you should not be shy (the camel chews a bit on his shirt)
me: (frantic whisper to my friend - "what should i do??? make him go away!" i mean, yeah, it was hilarious. but i was also totally embarrassed and i had NO idea what to do. he had me cornered)
camel guy: (still waxing poetic. i think it was about my mouth now. and dolphins? did he mention dolphins?)
friend: (to camel man) please stop
camel guy: i cannot! if my mouth stops, my heart stops.


i mean, honestly, who IS this guy?


friend: (to me) tell him you have a boyfriend!
me: (oooh good idea) thank you very much sir but i have a boyfriend (no seriously look how well my mother raised me)
camel guy: oh he is luckiest man in world! if i see him, i give him one hundred camels!
-awkward pause. he wanders off-

im not entirely sure what he expected me to do in reaction to his stunningly original compliments... buy a camel ride? either way, he pretty much made my day. in retrospect it probably would have been funnier if i had played along...except he might have thrown me over his camel and ridden off into the desert and that would have been less funny.

oh i also went go-carting with some friends. SO much fun i dont know why i havent done it before. although apparently its a bit different in egypt... perhaps the lack of safety regulations makes the difference? either way i guess the go-carts went a LOT faster. and we didnt wear seat belts. but we were wearing these mamoth helmets which im sure made up for it. i went around 10pm saturday night with some ppl on a whim...didnt exactly dress for it. the cars are really low-to-the-ground and you put your feet in pedals on either side of the steering wheel. one quick recommendation from a girl who has experience: DONT wear a skirt. i definately gave the go-cart guys a bit of a show and the only way i could really fix my skirt so it didnt blind me while i was driving or, more importantly, get me arrested, was something sort of along the lines of a loin cloth arrangement. so picture this: giant black astronaut helmet, cute coach purse, bright red loincloth. hot. no wonder the rest of the world thinks americans are weird.

anyway it was amAZing such an adrenaline rush i was on i high for the rest of the night. and the track was sweet - lots of really tight turns that are impossible to do at full speed but you do it anyway bc we all have a bit of a death wish, dont we? or at least the ppl studying abroad in cairo do. the trick to really enjoying yourself is to expect to drive full speed into the side of the track, and be okay with that. because you know if god wills it you'll crash no matter how fast youre going so you might as well have fun getting there... but i only lost control of my car once when i took at turn a leetle bit too quickly and skidded. i did like a 180 or something. now with my mad skills i WOULD have been fine, but unfortunately the girl i had just passed - thus the need to get around the turn quickly - slammed into me and the go-cart ate my leg. i have a bruise thats bigger than a bread basket on the inside of my thigh - it didnt even have my skirt ot protect it. looks like my caironian husband is already beating me.

umm from go-carting i met up with another group of ppl at an irish pub. you know, bc when in rome... right. drunk on the red sea at an irish pub -

friend: oreed vodka katheeer fee drink-ee. katheeeeeeeeer (makes hand gestures accordingly)
waiter: laughs. (thinks: stupid drunken americans)

(rough translation -
friend:i want a lot of vodka. a LOT of vodka. get me trashed. go.
waiter: i think you guys understood that part)

there is also a rather amusing story involving the beach at 2am and a couple of drunken guys who decided to go skinny dipping. it was totally black out but they were trying to describe who they were to me.

drunken boys: we have 6-packs
me: awesome.
drunken boys: no seriously. feel!

and it was true. they did. very nice ones in fact. 2 thumbs up to that. of course i have no idea what their faces look like but ill keep my eyes out for the nice abs...

oh and ive been nicknamed "sassy" by a group of guys here. wtf? im sort of ashamed.