Travel, languages, birthdays

It's official.... and I can say it in 3 different languages:

I'm going to Italy tomorrow / Andro in Italia domani / haru7 italy bkra!!!!!!

I will be flying into Rome, staying at a hotel for a few days until Christina arrives there on Sunday. We are purchasing EuRail passes so that we can take trains all over Italy whenever/wherever we want! We have been asking around friends on facebook and collected contacts staying in various Italian cities who we will be able to meet up with and get tips on places to eat/go/what to do for fun/etc. Unfortunately I can't say I'm excited in Italian or Arabic because saying such a phrase in either language has a provocative connotation... but in English... I'm sooooo freakingg excited!!!!!!

And for those who care, I will be returning to Colorado on the afternoon of July 6th.

Learning languages is possibly one of the most frustrating, time consuming, and annoyingly fun things to do. I so so so so wish I could stay in Egypt longer than through July, because I feel like I am just now getting a footing on learning Egyptian Arabic - I can understand more of the random blurbs of speech I hear around me every day. Speaking of course is still kind of not happening..... but one of these days insha'allah that will change. :)

It was my birthday Tuesday! Last Friday night a bunch of friends and I went to a club called Purple here in Cairo to celebrate my birthday and another friend's birthday. It was a fun night - lots of dancing, friends, and not a lot of sleep!! Then Tuesday night, myself, Christina, Said, and a friend of Said's went ATV riding by the pyramids (same area we went horseback riding at previously), which was super fun!! One of the headlights on the ATV I was on kept flickering on and off - very convenient when you are racing through the barely moonlit desert trying to avoid things like random holes and huge sand dunes! Then we decided to go on a faluka (sailboat in the Nile) and have a drink, from which point on my night got wild - as a 21st birthday should. I blame Christina for being the instigator. Anyways.... upon my return to Colorado, I can't wait to go dancing with my ladies!! As Tess so poetically put it: "Bar-going men of the world... beware!"

Other than the birthday.... life has been as mundane as it can be in such a place like Egypt, where you are likely to see all sorts of strange things happening on a daily basis. I wonder how many skinny Egyptian men can fit on a moped going through heavy traffic? So far 4 is the most I've seen, but I'm betting that Egypt will best that soon.

April 5th (happy birthday Kayla Metheany) was AUC's international day, where students set up booths and do performances representing their countries. There was a lot of delicious food, and some fun performances too - my friend Hassan performed a song called Ba7ebek ya Masr (meaning I love you Egypt), the folklore troupe danced a couple of pieces, another girl I know did a dance for Cuba, and my friend Nancy did a folkloric dance with a large groups of people representing Palestine (I think). It was fun. Here is a picture of myself and my friend Mia (she's Moroccan, we like to bellydance together), Nancy's dance group, the folklore troupe, and my friend singing:

OK, I think that's all for now.... I'm going to go review some more Italian. :D Love you allll!!!!!!
~Kerry

Italia

I just spontaneously bought myself a plane ticket to Italy from April 16-30th!!!!!!!!!!! Another lifelong dream about to come true (insha'allah)!!!!!!

On my agenda will hopefully be: Rome, Venice, Tuscany, and the Amalfi coast. I'm flying into and out of Rome, but will be taking trains and stuff to places around Italy!

I'll post more details as I plan them!!

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Italia, here I come...

Reporting in.

Hey guys!
Really not much news to report over the past couple of weeks.... I've been doing a lot of dancing and socializing, working, and actually a rare couple of hours of studying! :D

In case you care though, here is what an average Kerry-day in Cairo is like. The weeks since I last wrote have basically consisted of this:

On school days, I wake up earlier than desired to catch the bus. Sometimes I miraculously manage to leave my apartment 15 minutes before the bus is scheduled to leave so that I can stop by the grocery store downstairs and grab a water bottle and a candy bar for breakfast. Usually though, I am running late and leave approximately 7 minutes before the bus is scheduled to leave. More often than I should, I end up sleeping through my first class.
The bus ride takes anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour and a half to get to campus. I usually use this time to listen to music, catch up on emails (the bus has wireless internet, which is totally sweeet), and sometimes do the homework that I didn't do when I should have the night before. When I get to campus, I get a hot cup of green tea with mint and three spoonfuls of sugar and usually burn my tongue. If I wasn't able to go to the grocery store before the bus, I go to the convenience store on campus and get a muffin and a candy bar. Then I sit in the sun outside whatever classroom I'm going to, chat with friends, and wait for class to start.
Mondays and Thursdays, I have my developmental biology class from 8:30-9:45 (those are the worst days, since I have to wake up at 5:30am). The class is fun though, there are only about 6 students, and the teacher is really nice. We talk about detailed genetics and cell biology a lot, which is a lot of new material for me, since I am usually a "skin-out" biology person. Although I am usually only half awake, it is a really excellent class. The teacher and a couple of students are trying to do something where we can visit local high schools to try to encourage students to major in biology when they go to university.
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, I have my two Arabic classes - Egyptian colloquial (Amaya), and formal Arabic. My Amaya professor is really great - she is really funny and good at making the class fun. Her son, who is our age, hangs out with us sometimes and helps us practice what we are learning in class. I recently gave her my dad's pizza recipe (modified to using ingredients available in Egypt). The formal Arabic class is a bit harder, but I still like it. The teacher is a bit stricter, but I think she has a great sense of humor. Mondays and Thursdays, I stop by the class that I TA for between my two Arabic classes to pass papers back and check in with the professor.

I finish class every day by 12:45. I usually go to the salad bar on campus and get a something that *almost* satisfies my cravings for the delicious salads at home. They are missing some key ingredients though, like spinach, avocado, manderine oranges, croutons, almonds and balsamic vinaigrette, but it still makes for a pretty good meal. Monday and Thursday, I go to folklore dance practice from approximately 1-5 (but I'm usually fashionably late and take lots of random breaks). Sunday and Wednesday I go to the gym (sometimes), where I run on the treadmill, do the bicycle thing, some ab stuff, and stretch. The gym has a great women's locker room, where I take a shower after working out, then try off in the sauna - very relaxing after a good workout. Monday evenings, I try to go to a Zumba class at the gym (latiny workout dance class - very fun!). The class is also offered on Sundays and Wednesdays, but I don't usually stay on campus long enough to go on those days. When I'm bored on campus, which happens a lot, I sit outside the food court in the sun with random friends and talk about nothing special. It's a very easy going lifestyle.

I don't have classes on Tuesdays, but come to campus for a few hours to work at my TA job. I attend the general lecture for the Scientific Thinking class and help the students with their worksheets if they need it. Then I help the teacher grade papers and input them into the online grade system for the students to see. Pretty boring, but I like the subject matter and I actually really like being a somewhat teachery role - a good sign since I someday want to be a professor!

Thursday evening, the weekend begins! My social life on the past couple of weekends has really taken place primarily at night, and I sleep through a lot of the days. It is a lot of fun, but it's starting to catch up with my immune system! ;)


Life is good.
I bought the most beautiful jacket in the entire world. It is red, leather, and smells like a saddle shop (for those of you who know the glory of this smell...) Here is a picture:

The dance costume that I have been having custom made for me is also finished, and I picked it up on Tuesday. it is SO SO SO SO SO gorgeous!!! If you want pictures, email me and I'll send them to you.

Also on Tuesday, while we were at Khan el Khalili getting my costume, we randomly ran into a guy we had met recently and had a very random experience. Apparently it was the birthday of this historical Sufi guy associated with one of the famous mosques near the marketplace, and there was a big feast/celebration going on. The guy we ran into wanted to show us how they were celebrating. We followed him inside a random building, where we sat with a bunch of Egyptians and listened to a group of men sing beautiful Arabic songs about Islam. Everyone, including us, was given delicious food (lamb, rice, potatoes, and dessert) and tea. It was a really wonderful cultural experience, and I'm really glad that it randomly happened! The singing was really incredible! I continue to be pleasantly surprised by all of the warmth and welcoming that I receive from Egyptians.

That's everything I can think of for now.... Love you all! <3

Horses, Dahab + long overdue update on everything :)

Hello everyone! I guess I'm a bit overdue on my weekly updates...
Mom, I apologize in advance that so much of this blog entry is copied almost word for word from emails I've already sent you... but I didn't feel like re-writing everything :)

I'll start with the horseback riding, since that's where I left off last time: It was a completely surreal experience. It was dark by the time we got to the horse place, but my friend Said told us it's normal to go at night. His friend knows some people, and hooked us up with really high quality Arabian horses. Like horses that would cost a lottt of money in the states. Holy crap so beautiful!! There was a chestnut stallion in a red saddle that I was so in love with... I was originally going to ride him, but he was definitely waaaay too much horse for me being so out of practice. Instead I rode a beautiful dark brown mare. The stable was literally like a house with a little yard out of which we rode onto the streets of the edge of Cairo, passing people on atvs, donkeys, cars, etc. The horses didn't spook at any of it, although they were certainly typical high strung Arabians who wanted to just let loose and run. As usual with Egypt, nothing waits for me to prepare mentally or hesitate or remember how to do whatever we are doing, and I just have to jump in and improvise as we go... We went down the street at a canter, reaching a break in the wall next to the road and entering the desert. Over a hill were the pyramids, like a scene from a movie. We were galloping through the desert faster than I have ever gone in a horse, it was like the most legitimately awesome experience ever!! We finally reached the top of a huge dune, where a camp was set up and we dismounted and had tea. While we were there, I got to ride around on the back of Said's friend's atv, flying over dunes and coming really close to falling off several times. So so so much fun!!! As we went home, it felt like being part of of a heard of wild Arabians... I was holding onto the saddle so tight that my left arm was useless the next day - like it was shaking if I tried to put it in certain positions.... Amazing. Unfortunately there are no pictures because it was dark out and Christina and I forgot our cameras... Oh I was soo saddle sore... I think my butt got bruised.

Sooooo then couple of days later, we set off for a weekend adventure to the beach:
Thursday night we left on a seven hour overnight bus ride to Sharm el Sheikh then took a cab the additional hour to Dahab. We got to our hotel around 5:30am and got two rooms - me and Christina shared and Said got his own. We slept in until about 11 and then got up to enjoy the rest if the day on the beach. It is so so so beautiful there... You can see Saudi Arabia across the sea! The landscape in Dahab is like mountainous desert that eases into the beach. It is a very small town where people go to get away from things and relax. There were plenty of people chilling in bikinis, so I wasn't shy about joining in - there are all these restaurant/hangout spots along the beach where you can go and eat and spend time in the sun. Apparently there are usually a ton of people there, but due to the revolution, we had a lot of space to ourselves. :)

Anyways, we woke up and went out to breakfast on the shore, then took a jeep ride to a different part of the beach about 15 minutes down the road. There were all these tents set up for people to spend time on the beach under and around, each with its own bedouin dude and family there to make you tea and cook for you if you want. It was very relaxing, just what I needed for a quiet escape from Cairo. Christina and Said went snorkeling but I didn't want to get wet because I was feeling cold already from the breeze, so I just laid out in the sun listening to music and napping on and off. After the sun started going down, we headed back to town and ate dinner on the water again. We had really delicious grilled fish and veggies. Mmmmmm!!!

After dinner, we walked around a bit and scoped out the shopping, which was fun - a lot of fun art shops actually! We talked to some atv guys because Said wanted to go off-roading in the morning to see the sunrise. I went to bed as soon as we got back because we were going to have to get up early (4am) for atvs, while Christina and Said decided to stay up all night and just go to sleep after we got back in the morning. You safety-freaks will be pleased to know that I wore a helmet on the atv! It was super fun! We first went up a road to a ridge where we watched the sunrise. Then we went into the desert and rode around on a bunch of trails and took goofy pictures of ourselves pretending to be badass :D. Freedom is amazing.

When we got back to town, Said and Christina needed sleep really badly since they had stayed up all night, so they took a long nap while I went and tanned more on the beach from about 9:30 to 1:30 in the afternoon. I put sunscreen on, but missed a bunch of random places, so now I have awkward sunburn splotches everywhere. Heheeeee!

I finally managed to drag the sleepy ones out of bed at two ish, and we walked around and went shopping and did a nice amount of nothing hanging out and chatting at restaurants and such. We ate some delicious Indian food. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, packed, and hopped on the 10pm overnight bus back to Cairo. I slept almost the entire way, including basically sleep walking through an army checkpoint by the Suez canal. We got delayed for about an hour or two at the canal waiting for the tunnel under it to open up for us... Which messed up my plans to get to class on time in the morning for a 10am exam... But I finally made it back to zamalek where I got onto the next bus to campus and made it in time for my 11:30 class and a different test. I was feeling surprisingly rested after such a long trip home. The day after, I made up the colloquial Arabic exam I missed and aced it - my professor said that she was very pleased with my level and progress :).


The week since then has been a whirlwind of busy-ness.... The class that I TA for had an exam this week on Thursday, so I was grading papers like crazy to get caught up before the exam-grading rush. Tuesday night I stayed up really late doing pretty much nothing - just chatting with friends on skype - I was so exhausted on Wednesday that I slept in until noon and missed all my classes :). I intended on spending most of Wednesday afternoon studying for a biology exam that I had on Thursday, but I somehow managed to waste the entire afternoon doing nothing as well. I don't know what is up with my brain... I just couldn't motivate to be productive at all this week! Finally Wednesday night, I ended up going salsa dancing (where I danced *horribly*), then going to get food at a yummy Egyptian drive-up place around midnight. This was a brilliant move considering that I then had to wake up at 6am the next morning, catch the 7am bus to campus, and read 3 chapters of my developmental biology textbook before my exam at 8:30. I really have no idea how I did it, but I still somehow managed to make it to my exam on time and feel pretty good about most of my answers. I guess I will find out if my confidence was justified or not when we get our exam scores back...

Last night (which doesn't even feel like the same day as the Thursday during which all this biology exam crap happened) was Saint Patrick's Day... Which I celebrated by eating Pizza Hut, watching The Hangover, staying up until 6am, and sleeping in until 1pm today. Now I am sitting on my couch, trying once again to motivate myself to do something productive, and failing. But at least I'm writing this blog entry and posted some pictures on facebook. Good job Kerry.

Here are some pics from Dahab!!

Restaurant next to our hotel, right on the water:

Our hotel - gorgeous right?

View from a road up above town:

The town... and the beautiful ocean:

From our ATV trip... We were all exhausted and goofy:

Me next to the ocean:

Christina and I being goofy again:

Good Dayyy!!!!

I had a fricking great day today!! Maybe it is just an infectious good mood that I caught from somewhere, but whatever it is, I love it!!

This morning, I ignored my alarm several times and didn't have time to do the dishes before I left for the bus, which was fine with me. :) I had a kit kat and gummy worms for breakfast. Very nice! Then the wireless internet on the bus was actually working for once (I somehow keep getting stuck on the bus with no internet... which sucks when you are a slacker student and rely on the 1 hour bus ride to look up the answers to your homework online) so, I got to do some last minute vocab studying for an Arabic test that I hadn't studied for at all.
Class sped by as usual, since I have a great schedule and finish by 12:45 at the latest every day. Then I just chilled on campus - had some gossip catch up time with some friends. Good stuff. After that, I went to the gym and did my treadmill routine and some ab stuff, followed by a nice cold shower and then the awesome sauna in the women's locker room!! Thennnnnnnn my friend wanted to practice some salsa dancing moves, so we looked up some advanced move combinations on youtube and practiced for a while. I decided I needed to buy some nice shoes for dancing, so we went to the big mall City Stars and went shoe shopping. At City Stars, there is a branch of "On the Border" - the Mexican restaurant - I got chicken enchiladas and they were so. f-ing. good. yesss!!!!!!!! I got my delicious Mexican food fix FINALLLLLYYYY!!!!!!! so so so tasty.
Tomorrow we are going to go either horseback or camel riding behind the pyramids. I'm so excited.

I am in such an amazing happy mood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wheeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Egypt. I love dancing. I love LIFE!!!!!

Musiqa

I danced alone in my living room for hours this afternoon and it was amazing. Everywhere I go here I find music - even the guy in the grocery store below my apartment sings as he restocks the shelves. I woke up yesterday and started singing in my bed.

Nothing expresses and makes sense of this strange world like song.

Thank you mom and dad for giving me a musical childhood, I finally understand why this is so important. I am so in love with life!

Another week...

Hey dudes...
Weekly update time!! Really not much to report... we had a pretty easy going weekend here, I slept a lot. Sleeping is good. :)

Last Wednesday, I went salsa dancing with a friend from the university. It was so fun - I had totally forgotten how much I love salsa dancing! There were some very good dancers - it was really fun to watch them, as well as dance myself. I can't help but think how random it is that I came to Egypt and am now salsa dancing again of all things. Hopefully I'll be going pretty regularly and practicing new moves and styling! funnnn!

Friday night, Christina and I successfully navigated the Cairo metro system to go to TGI Friday's along the Nile, in an area called Maadi. It was a fun roomie adventure - and definitely the best branch of this restaurant I've been to, especially since they had an awesome patio and shisha! Not to mention that we finally got our Mexican food fix - yay for fajitas!! We only got slightly lost twice - once in a cab when we were trying to get back to the metro station and the driver instead took us to a market called Metro Market. We had to call one of our friends and have him explain to the driver in Arabic where we actually wanted to go. The second time we got lost was while we were trying to get home from the metro station in Zamalek. Eventually we came up with the brilliant conclusion that since Zamalek is an island, and our apartment is on one edge of the island, that if we just stayed along the Nile, we would eventually reach home. This may have taken us slightly out of the way, but hey, it worked!

(photo credit - Christina's camera and our waiter)

The next day, Saturday, we went to the Khan el Khalili marketplace to do some shoppin!! One of our Egyptian friends came with us and helped us get good deals on scarves. I now have a lifetime supply... We also went to Mahmoud's 4 story bellydance shop, where I set up a fitting for the first of many custom made costumes I plan to get while I'm here!! YAYYYY!!!! The first is a pharaonic style costume - turquoise, red, gold, Egyptiany... It's going to be amazing. I have my fitting tonight :D

School is finally becoming more routine and sorting itself out a bit - I am taking two Arabic classes, one modern standard Arabic and one Egyptian colloquial Arabic, and a developmental biology class. It is a less than full-time schedule, so I should have plenty of time for dancing, exploring, and having fun. I like all the classes, and am meeting nice people in all of them. blah blah blah. k. moving on.


I hope you guys are all doing well... Shoot me an email or a facebook message if you get bored!
Love,
~Kerry