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
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