the good and the bad

Hello again,







I am sorry that I have let a while go bye since I wrote last but I had a stretch there where I was pretty much just going to class. I know its weird, that I spend a week and the main focus is class but I feel that it is important for everyone to know I pulled through.







This past week so far has been very bitter sweet. I will start with the awesome part. This last Saturday myself, my adventuring partner in crime Sheehan and about 28 other people headed off into the desert about 80 kilometers west of Cairo to do some sand boarding. Plainly, it was awesome. We drove a little over and hour out on the desert road and then eventually just turned off the road into the open desert and drove for about another half or so. It is mostly flat however there is a single line of dunes. They are I would guess upwards of 100 feet high and probably close to 1000 feet wide and the line of them extends as far as you can see. It took about ten minutes while our legs where still good to climb up them with boards. Once we got to the top literally there was nothing, nothing but sand in every direction for as far as you could see. We where out in the desert.

The boarding was a lot of fun and I was doing really well considering I have never tried snowboarding back home. (I think now I would like to) There was even a ledge on one of the dunes that we where able to use as a jump. I was pretty confident (or stupid) and went off of it several times. I never landed it but I got a lot of air each time and one of the guys took a video of that. (that will probably get posted to my personal fb page- not the group)





The guides we where with also provided tons of water for everyone which was really good because between the 90+ heat and the effort of climbing the dunes I drank about 7 liters of water. In addition to the water they also made lunch for everyone which was really good. There where burgers and also the things on a stick (meat vegetables and such) that for all your sakes I am not even going to try to spell. Everyone got along great with it except Sheehan because she is a vegetarian, so she just removed the chicken and I ate it. All in all it was a ton of fun but it did leave me pretty sore, very tired and a little bit behind on some homework. Totally worth it though.





On a less exciting note; I found out some bad news last night while working on Arabic homework. A friend of mine from high school, Patrick Freeberg, was killed on Friday. I didn't find out about it until kinda late and it disrupted me pretty good. Pat was a pretty cool guy. I had a small group of friends that while not super close; we hung out a lot. After high school he went into the Navy and the last I had heard was stationed at Norfolk VA. I do not yet know any details of what happened or why. I honestly had not talked with him for a long time; you lose contact with people when you go separate ways and even more so with Pat due to his long absences thanks to the US Navy. I can remember him crystal clear though, hanging out with him. I couldn't sleep last night at all so I ended up calling a friend here, someone I have gotten pretty close to and the two of us just went for a walk and talked. That helped a lot. It had been a long time since I had seen or talked to Pat but it still through me off pretty bad; we got back from the walk about 4 am and it was nearly 6 before I finally went to bed. At that, I didn't sleep much. There is already a tribute group to him on facebook with nearly 400 members. Also I do not know who made it but this video was made and posted on youtube; never forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcN5klu8Uzk

"Those who are dead are not dead there just living in my head." -42

Alexandria

This last weekend I traveled to the fantastic city of Alexandria on the northern mediteranean coast of Egypt. Although we really did not have enough time to really savor the flavor of the city it was a wonderful trip. We left Cairo friday morning and and about three hours on the bus we arrived in Alexandria. Our first stop was a castle fortress type thing sitting out on the end to a point that divides the harbor into two main port areas. Where the fortress is located used to be an island but there is now a manmade concection one mile long and two hundred meters wide thanks to the efforts of Alexander the Great. After spending two weeks in Cairo where just breathing here is on par to smoking a pack a day the fresh air and cool breeze coming of the gloriously beautiful mediteranean was very much enjoyed. Standing on the ancient fortress wall watching the waves crash onto the rocks, feeling the wind gusts accross my face and the incredible blues of the water made the whole situation one of those "whoa" moments. I have several awesome pictures that will be posted to the facebook group.



After a little over an hour of enjoying the fortress we left for the Roman Catabombs. Unfortunatly they did not allow cameras in so I do not have any pictures of them however they where very cool. We entered the park area and preceded to decend a spiral staircase roughly 120 feet strait down. These catacombs have been slightly frustrating to archaeologists thus far becase no bodys have been discovered inside. As it is understood the catacombs where in use for some period of time (due to non-natural wear on the floors and walls as well of remanents of fires and trash deposits) yet it is believe that although they contain many burial tombs (all empty) they where used as a hiding place. Another unique thing about them is there is a very apperent mixture and blending of the three main cultures of the time influencing that area in its design; Roman, Greek and Egyptian.

The second day we went to the Library at alexandria. It was awesome, it was very cool and the programs they run through their livrary are very cool and world renownd. We did'nt get to stay there very long but the time spent was very much enjoyed. After two weeks in cairo breathing the smog and the sand it was very refreshing to enjoy some beautiful mediteranean air.

Pyramids

Before I start writing this blog I just want to say right out that mom and dad, I didn't get mugged, ripped off, taken advantage of or into trouble. The pyramids where amazing and although it took a lot to get to them it was worth it.

The other day myself and a friend decided that we wanted to take a early afternoon trip out on our own and check out the Great Pyramids at Giza. We got out backpacks and water and I asked the front desk worker to write down in Arabic where we wanted to go on a piece of paper for the cab driver and he also gave me the desk phone number. We caught a taxi and told him we wanted to go to Giza, to the pyramids. We agreed on 30 pounds and he took us to Giza. The problem is he took us to a different part of Cairo also known as Giza. After some back and forth banter and some translating by the front desk worker we got it figured out.

This is where it gets interesting. After about ten min of driving from that point the driver started making a bunch of phone calls. We didn't think anything of it at the time. A few min after that his taxi broke down. Ironically though, there just happen to be another taxi waiting right where ours broke down and the driver took the liberty to inform the next taxi driver where we where going and what we wanted. We paid the first driver and agreed on a price with the second driver for the rest of the distance. We where in the second taxi on our way to the pyramids and although so far we had had a small problem we where feeling pretty good.

The two of us where both sitting in the back seat of the taxi. The person I was with was a female and I wanted to sit in back so I could talk to her, otherwise I would have had to sit in the front. (It is culturally not acceptable for women to sit in the front with men in the back-the taxi drivers get pissed.) The taxi pulled over and a guy waiting on a street corner quickly got in the taxi with us and the taxi took off again before we had a chance to try and ask what he was doing or who the guy was.

The guy then turned around to us and asked us who we where, what we were doing and where we where from. I asked us if we had been to the pyramids before and if we where excited to see them. At the time, it did not even occur to us that we had not even told him we where going to the pyramids. He was talking to us about how to go about seeing them, as in what gate to use and such to avoid excess fines. All in all he was very nice, and seemed genuine. We got with in visual range of the pyramids and that was pretty cool to see them at first out the window but they where mostly blocked by buildings. The taxi drove around some buildings and then went up a really sketchy looking ally and along some stables for awhile and took us to stable where a guy was standing outside waiting for us. They had us get out of the taxi and while the driver waited outside they took us into a room, sat us down and explained several different viewing options that involved paying them a lot of money. We knew that a ticket in was 60 pounds (30 for students) but they where telling us that that was for each thing if you walked in. That we would have to pay 150 pounds at least and we would keep getting stopped and asked for our tickets. They where very persistent and very aggressive towards us. At one point they agreed to tell us the prices if we got on their camels. We where talking to each other also and decided we where not going to give them any money until they provided us with a legit looking ticked which they failed to do; so I got a free camel ride. (it was really short, but still) We just walked away even though they where yelling and screaming at us and we eventually found the main gate. (the entire area is surrounded by a 10 concrete wall with a 10 foot chain link fence on it) We got out tickets for 30 pounds instead of the 150-300 pounds the schemers where trying to sell them to us for and we walked right in. We went all around the Sphinx, the pyramids as well as some ruins around them.

There are tourists everywhere, tourist police everywhere, and guys riding camels everywhere. They vendors are very aggressive and pushy. One guy took my camera and took some pretty cool pictures of me using angles and I was going to tip him 5 pounds for it but he demanded 50 pounds. As we walked around the Sphinx and the grand tomb entrance he continued to follow me, push me and grab me demanding 50 pounds. He even went up to the tourist police at one point trying to scare me into giving him the money. We where followed by creepy guys on camels all over trying to give us "Egyptian" prices to ride their camels and they would follow you around also. I have a bunch of pictures to post as well as a video. At the end of the video you can actually hear Sheehan telling a guy on a camel who came up behind me while I was making the video that we didn't want to ride it. That conversation is in Arabic, mostly its us just telling him no.

The pyramids themselves where very cool. I was able to walk right up to them and touch them. Standing there touching something that is so old, Carries so much history was really awesome. I was more or less standing beside myself.

We left the pyramid area and decided to walk a few kilometers down the road so we wouldn't get charged 400% percent for the taxi ride back. When you hear about people saying that the locals there rip off and take advantage of the tourists, its and understatement. We where going down the road and it became apparent after awhile that we where no longer in a "tourist" area. I don't mean to insult anyone, but it became very apparent we where no longer in a "white person" area. In the ten minutes of walking the buildings had fallen apart and the road had turned to animal shit covered rubble. We where very thankful to find and hail a taxi (and a nice taxi at that) to get us back to the inner city. We ended up going back to Giza but this time it was intentional. We met up with another friend of mine here and walked around for awhile, went to a juice bar and really appreciated the quality of Giza and Zamalek. We got back to the dorms with a bunch of pictures, the ability to say we have been to the pyramids, an acceptable amount of money spent and a huge cultural experience. Although it was about the most cliche trip to take while I am here, so far it has been the most interested and culturally shocking so far.

If you have any questions or comments write them on my face book group wall. I will post the pictures and the video of this as soon as I can. I also have pictures to post of the Citadel, Azhar park and some other stuff. I am sorry I am behind on the pictures, the Internet here sucks pretty bad.