Taxis

So yesterday was not my day for taxis. I went to visit my friend in Garden City and it was too late to take the metro. The taxi said he would take me right away, which suprised me. Then he scared me by putting on his seatbelt. I was like oh this must be a dangerous highway so I went to put mine on but I didn't have one! ahh!! Then he didn't know exactly where he was going so I had him take me to AUC and then he dropped me off in the road. talk about almost heart attack!! but my friend came and picked me up and it was a lot of fun just hanging out and he was nice enough to ride back in the taxi with me because it was 2:30 in the morning. Then that taxi got lost !! and I can't even find my way back to the metro so how the hell should I know where my street is? hahah well we finally got home. The good thing was that I could understand his arabic and he could understand me. lol the first thing he asked was my opinion about George Bush...and I was like uhh ...lol thats a touchy subject! And then he went on a rant about war and was asking why everyone is dying. lol good question. oh well. At least he didn't drop me off in a busy street!:)


oh and I just finished my oral exam today. I think it went a lot better than my written exam. And the testers ended up knowing my arabic teacher from UW. Such a small world! oh and there's 5 students here from UW also. crazy!!

August 29, 2007

ugh I need to learn how to sleep!! I slept on and off the first few days, which was expected because of jet lag, but now I can barely sleep. Monday night I went to bed at 4 am!! lol And then I had to get up at 7 am for registration at AUC. Getting three hours of sleep is sooooo much fun...not. Later on, my arms started going numb because I was so tired. Then I was able to take a nap around 4pm. I slept so hard that I made a huge indent in the bed and had problems getting up:) Then, since I didn't have any plans that night I went to bed at 9am. I haven't had a good sleep for over a week. Then woke up around midnight and then again at 4am. I couldn't fall back asleep but I wasn't satisfied with 6 hours of sleep. I read a little and organized some of my AUC papers then was able to fall asleep around 8 and woke up at noon. hopefully tonight I can go to bed at a timely manner because I have a speaking proficiency test the next day at 10am!! ahh!

Above are pics of my bathroom, living room and its view, outside of the kitchen and me happy in my room. Haha I accidently fell asleep while uploading pics to my computer.

Here are some pictures of my room and the view from my tiny balcony. I'm really impressed with the room, especially for the price I paid!!

August 27, 2007

I took the metro this morning with Janan and went downtown to Tahrir to have a look around AUC. I’m so glad she knows her way around. The AUC campus is really small especially compared to the UW campus but it’s a nice change from enormous Cairo. AUC has different campuses and Janan showed me around. I was supposed to have an AUC ID to get in, but Janan knew the guards and they let me in. Then we tried to go to the library but the guards wouldn’t let me through. So I went to get an ID but my name wasn’t on the list. So I had to go to the ISSO office and show them my acceptance letter and receipt. But they said to go back and tell the ID office that I’m and ALI student. Apparently, I’m not a year long international student even though I’m no an Egyptian and I’m staying until June. Oh well. Then I didn’t have the uber official receipt and would have to go back to the ALI office but we had already been to that campus and the guards were making fun of us. So I decided just to wait until orientation on the next day. I took the metro back to Maadi…ALL BY MYSELFJ while Janan went to see her uncle. I thought I would try to walk home but got totally lost haha. That’s what I get for walking around in a place without labled streets. But I found a cool fountain in a roundabout ….if that counts? And I made my way back to the metro. At least I could do thatJ And had lunch at Cilantro. It’s a really nice food café and it has wireless so I’ll definitely have to come back. I had a chicken roll and it was really good. I even ate all the peppers and tomatoes in side of it!! ( for those of you who don’t really know me, I’m a really picky eater and this is a huge accomplishment for me. Hahah I usually gag when I taste raw tomatoes or big tomato chucks.) It was actually good but it had some super spicy vegetable in it and I about died! Who knows…maybe I’ll be able to handle spicy foods soonJ

August 26, 2007

I met my roommate this morning (or rather afternoon since I woke up at 12... but I went to bed at 4 am so I have a good excuse. As a tangent, pratically all of Cairo was still awake!! They stay up during the night …even the really young and old…and sleep during the day when its really hot). My roommate (Janan) is really nice and I’m lucky to have her. She’s been in Cairo and knows her way around. She showed me around and took me to street9 which has all the cafes and coffee shops…what I expected nicer areas of Cairo to look likeJ (a very nice relief). I sat down at Beanos, which has wireless and caught up on my email and surfed the internet. I ended up staying there for 3-4 hours! But I guess ppl usually stay longer. Also, the food was really good. I had a chicken wrap with peppers but I forgot to say no ice with my mineral water. When I came home I felt really sick and took some medicine right away. No problems so farJ After going to the grocery store I took a taxi home (1st time all by myselfJ ) but I got jipped and he charged me 5 pounds. The cost is supposed to be 2.50 or 3 pounds. I was firm and tried arguing and he wouldn’t budge so I just paid the 5 pounds because I wanted to get out of the middle of the street. With the crazy driving you never know what will happen!! Insha-allah (God Willing) I’ll do better with the taxi next time.

August 25, 2007

Well I’ve been in Cairo for 2 days, and it’s a lot more intimidating than I thought, but its still a lot of fun. The first night the landlord took me to a friend’s wedding. It was so crazy and loud,, but fun to seeJ The landlord has been very nice by taking me to places to run errands such as getting apartment supplies and a cell phone. Later, I met my friend Haytham from UW (it was so nice to see a familiar face!) and some of his Egyptian friends. They picked me up in Maadi (a “suburb” of Cairo where I’m living) and we hung out downtown at a mall and a club/bar with extremely loud music, lots of smoke, and belly dancers. It was cool to see a different side of Cairo and Haytham’s friends were really fun to hang out with. I even scored a bracelet from one of them:)

August 22, 2007

Well I’m off! I finally am able to accomplish one of my dreamsJ I’m sitting at DIA right now waiting to board a flight to Munich then to Vienna and then Cairo. It hasn’t hit me yet to what I’m about to do…probably won’t happen until I get to my apartment. I’m excited for that because I get a king size bed, a balcony, and there is a washer and dryer. But I’m also really excited to fly business class. The check-in lady said I’ll be served a lot of really good food and I’ll be able to lounge my chair back and watch DVD’s and in all….be pamperedJ haha maybe I’ll get champagne and caviar. But it’s worth it for all the trouble I’ve been though. It took me forever to find a flight with frequent flier miles, then they put the ticket in my Dad’s name and threatened to charge us $100 for their mistake. But I eventually got the correct ticket and was satisfied. When I arrived at the airport, the ticket counter would only check me into Munich. But I’m going to Cairo and I only have an hour between flights! There was no way I could go through customs and recheck-in and make my flight on time. But after waiting ~30 mins, everything was solved. But worst of all one of my bags (they were already behind the ticket counter) fell, hit one of the workers in the back of her knees, she flipped backwards and almost hit her head on the conveyor belt!! She was old too, so it would have hurt really really bad. Sorry? I don’t think I’m to blame….hope not!!