Less than stellar

Any place this beautiful, no matter how remote the surroundings, should lead to good times with the right company...Let's just begin by saying the company is less than stellar...

This is a view from our cottage..This beach, 3ageeba, right on the Med Sea is one of my favorite places. I actually like the fact that there isn't a café-filled, disco-teched out night life, and that I can swim all day, nap read and walk around outside at night...But apparently my idea of a relaxing trip is not what others would call enjoyable...My Texan cousins are on this trip...I think the quote that best sums up my cousin's personality is..."wouldn't it be cool to have a hummer in Egypt?!"...she actually said that...ya, that's what I am faced with. Reading is apparently an absurd hobby, and good music consists of Britney Spears and other pop bands...my music taste is ridiculous, my ambition is strange to say the least, and my sarcasm is outright cruel. According to these cousins from down south, what this place is missing is air conditioning, a night life, and a few hummers here and there just to make things really good.

I haven't even started on the Egyptians...There are now two men that tell bad Egyptian jokes, sing much more often than they should, and push buttons way past their limits, my father and his best friend. That's right, I now have to deal with two of my father. When they get together, they tell corny joke after corny joke, and everyone actually laughs, except of course my brother and I...they all then realize we're not laughing, decide we don't understand arabic well enough to get the hillarity of the said joke, and explain why it is so great...this happens after every joke...every single one. The fact that we just find the jokes as painful as rusty nails gouging our eyes out just never really occurs to them...

I am then shoved into a room to greet more family friends, and as I'm shaking my mom's friend's hand she says, "Oh my God what happened to your face?!" I stare back blankly trying to figure out what the hell she's talking about, and she continues, "your face! Oh my God you poor girl! What are all those dark spots on your face! This is just not right, you have permanent scars!," I finally figure out she's talking about a small scar that has tanned darker than the rest of my skin...and she continues doing so for about ten minutes as I awkwardly stare back trying to grab my hand away....

Their daughter then decides it is time she tells me about the ways of love...I am, of course, the naive American girl who is sadly driven by ambitions and careers and success, and who doesn't realize the importance of romance, loving unconditionally, sacrifice, emotional dependence, and marriage...apparently marriage should be one of my top priorities at this point...I should realize that love at first sight could hit me at any moment, and that when it does, I should be able to drop everything to make my husband happy...my husband is, of course, the head of the household, so wherever he decides to move me (which will obviously be Egypt since he will, of course, be Egyptian), i will have to agree to in order to please his every need, because his career is obviously more important than my own. God gets upset, I was reminded, when a perfectly good man comes along and we turn him away because he is not everything...we are in fact put on this Earth to procreate, and although careers are a fun little hobby, the job at hand is of course to make babies. She, of course, can speak from experience, since she has been in one relationship 3 years ago, and she is now at the wise wise age of 22.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kaitlin, Williams, and Ryan...this place is too beautiful to be spent with people like this...

Siwa

Adventures in Hurghada

It's three in the morning and I just got back from Hurghada...

My sleep schedule is all confused; I don't think I will make much of an effort to fix it for the next three weeks...
Any who, Hurghada...a tourist magnet on the Red Sea where there are fewer Egyptians than topless Europeans and old men in Speedos...soooo awkward. We got there by taking a microbus. Let me just say that the only way I survived that trip without dying of a heart attack was attempting to sleep the whole way there. I woke up, several times, only to notice that we were driving into oncoming traffic...but we made it, which is good. This was not the typical Sadek family vacation, which usually consists of waking up somewhere between noon and two and bumming around on the beach...everyone was surprisingly ready to actually DO something, which I found amazing.

The first day we were up by seven...SEVEN! The day consisted of banana boating and windsurfing and such...Adam and Trent, this windsurfing instructor was determined to prove that he was a better teacher than hoofers...he wasn't by any means, and would say odd phrases like "do macarena macarena," expecting us to understand what that meant.... Another odd thing...When we started the whole windsurfing ordeal, they asked us if we were Egyptian (Egyptians get better deals apparently)...now my Egyptian cousins are the ones dealing with this, so they of course say yes, but then my cousins and I start babbling in English and the guy feels like he has been cheated. Throughout the lesson, he proceeds to tell me how much he hates America and Americans, and I found myself constantly feeling like I had to prove to him that I was more Egyptian than American...which is ridiculous, especially since I identify more with being American than Egyptian. The good thing is, I was able to hold my own, express myself in Arabic, and basically make him feel like an ass...which I couldn't really do a week ago...which is good.

Now the fun stuff...I went scuba diving for the first time. At first it felt panicky and claustrophobic, because breathing under water defies any sense of logic...but, then I got the hang of the whole breathing in and out business (which is tricky, let me tell you!). Saw three huge eels, one which was probably within 10 feet, and a shark off in the distance (which I tried to run away from, but the instructor wouldn't let me...damn him)...

Overall, this has probably been one of the most productive trips to Egypt I've had...and I've been here less than a week...Thursday, off to Siwa with the AIESEC crew...

More later

Blogging from the Homeland

So I'm finally in Cairo. Our airport experience quickly reminded me of the lack or organization in this city...After two of our six bags (yes six, only three of us...the explanation: my mother is crazy) were frantically thrown onto a vacant bus which then took off without us, the following hour consisted of my mother throwing a hissy fit about the disorganization of the airport system, the city of Cairo, as well as the entire Egyptian government, screaming at airport managers left and right until we finally got our bags...I never knew my mother had it in her...

This situation also made me realize how frustrating the language barrier is for me...I was asked to explain the situation and through my anger and frustration I just couldn't articulate nearly as well as I wanted to just how pissed off I was, and ended up instead looking like a stammering spoiled American idiot...so my goal is to speak arabic whenever possible here, no easy way outs...

But despite the minor setbacks, I love it here.

It's been two days and so far it's surreal. I have spent time with my family, gone out to cafés with my cousins, and met up with Kaitlin for some much needed comfort. The hardest part has been leaving behind something that was so amazing and that made me so happy, knowing that when I return it won't be there anymore...Being so far removed from Madison has made the situation especially difficult...I keep looking for something tangible to hold onto...luckily, Egypt itself is just that...the smell of the shisha at the cafés, the references to places I've heard amazing memories about, and my own plans to explore a new side of Egypt for the next three weeks make me feel connected and in a way comforted.

It's hard, but at the same time it is perfect. I'm looking forward to whatever comes my way in the next three years...I have ambitious plans, and know that I will be pursuing them 110%...

As for the future, I hope it will lead me towards what has made the past three months incredible, but right now, it's time to be independent, be strong, and blow some shit up...