Hasta la próxima vez, Granada… 27 September, 2008

It’s tough.  I won’t lie; it was really difficult to say goodbye to Nicaragua.  I miss it every day, and wish I was still there.  I wonder how my kids are doing (both in the schools and from the streets) and if my four adopted street dogs are still hanging on.  It’s difficult because the volunteers come and go at different times; it’s not like Semester at Sea where every one of us came home on the same day.  I could lean on my SAS friends in the weeks afterward, but now my closest friends from La Esperanza are still in Granada or traveling elsewhere.  It’s tough knowing that they’re still in the place that I want to be.  I’m incredibly jealous, to say the least.

I’m ready to move on, but only with the hope that I’ll return again.  If I’m fortunate enough, it will be sooner rather than later.  I am looking to move to Washington, DC soon since it’s a hot spot for nonprofits and makes sense for me to go there.  There’s not many job opportunities in the international field in Philadelphia, so I’m hoping DC will bring me luck.  It’s certainly not Nicaragua, but it’ll do.  Plus, I think my parents (my mom especially) are pretty happy that it’s only a couple hours away, and not, say, a couple countries away.

I’ve uploaded the rest of my photos from Granada onto Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/micheleatsea.  There are a lot, and I mean A LOT, but if you get bored, check them out.  There’s lots of the school kids and the street kids who I handed out Polaroids to.  Hope you enjoy!

Remember me? 1 September, 2008

Hi, it’s been a while. Time has been flying in warp speed here, and I truly cannot believe that I’m going to be home in almost a week.

I switched from the health team to the English team, so the past couple weeks I’ve been teaching English to 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at Las Camelias, Angeles Morales, La Epifanía, and La Prusia. The kids have been great, but it is truly exhausting work. I teach a class on my own at Angeles Morales and I never fully appreciated how hard teachers work until I was thrown into it by myself. I really like Las Camelias, even though they are notoriously known as the wild kids who are hard to control. But I like joking with the “bad boys” of 4th grade and getting them involved and having fun in class.

I’m going to miss my routine here. One of the reasons time goes so fast here is because you get into a groove of the same things you do every day. But it’s a great version of a slump, one that I love being in. I feel so comfortable in Granada that I really am going to miss the people and places I see on a daily basis.

I’ll probably wait until I get home to put up photos since I don’t want to sit in a cafe waiting for photos to upload during my last few days in Nicaragua. I haven’t been traveling really, just staying in Granada, for a few reasons, one of them being that I’m helping with a computer class on Saturdays that La Esperanza set up for high school kids who want to learn how to use the Internet. So, most of the photos I have are kids with their Polaroids, which I cherish a lot more than any travel photos I have.

See you soon!

The Pursuit of Happiness 31 July, 2008

I was walking home from work yesterday, sweaty, covered in dirt, and sunburned, and it hit me, I have never been this completely, utterly, 100% happy with every part of my life. I am absolutely elated to be here, doing exactly what I’m doing, and I wouldn’t change one single thing about it.

When I was traveling with Semester at Sea, there were many, many, MANY moments when I was witnessing incredible sights and having experiences that some people only dream of. But the feeling I have in Granada is a different type of happiness; I feel so full right now because everything about my life here is just perfect. I don’t know how many people are able to say that, especially at my age. I can’t believe how lucky I am to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life at 22.

I have such an overwhelming amount of happiness that it seems unreal. On my walk home, I couldn’t think of one thing about my life that bothered me. Not one single thing. There are imperfections to La Esperanza, and I’d love to not sweat 23 hours a day (the other hour is taken up by 3 showers a day), but I honestly wouldn’t change anything.

The people working at the internet cafe have gotten to know me well by now, like how they go to the register when I come in, knowing that I’m going to grab a Fanta. I was just talking to one of the guys about music, and I told him that I wanted to buy a CD of bachata (not bachacha like I said earlier; music from Puerto Rico) music and he said he’d bring me one that he has tomorrow. And then five minutes later, my favorite bachata song comes on and I look over and he’s smiling. I LOVE Nicaragua. Life couldn’t possibly get any better. If I get any happier, I will probably explode.

P.S. I have been sitting here for two hours uploading photos on Flickr, so you better look at each and every one of them and tell me how much you love them. I have recently started giving the kids my camera to take photos, and I personally think they take wonderful shots. At first, it was a way to entertain them while they wait for their turn with the dentist, but I just adore the moments they capture.

La Casa de Santa Lucia 29 July, 2008

The name of my house is Santa Lucia. There are four (I think) other volunteer houses, and I always forget their names. One is El Materia (that’s definitely not it, but that’s what it sounds like people say) and another is Arnold’s house, which is, literally, a guy named Arnold’s house who works for La Esperanza and lets volunteers stay there.

There’s only seven other people in the house. Stephen (Steven?) and Primrose, who are a couple from England and both go to Cambridge. Primrose is as adorable as her name, and very nice and petite. Stephen is the Matthew McConaughey of the house; I’m not exaggerating when I say he takes his shirt off the moment he walks in the door. He’s very charming (must be that British accent) and funny. Eva is also from the UK; she started as a volunteer but stopped for some reason and is now just living on our couch.

Then there’s Emily and Chelsea, friends from North Carolina who came together. They’re both leaving this week, though, so we’ll be getting two more roommates I assume. Emily is a little quiet, but talks a lot when she starts. Chelsea is, well, not quiet, and opinionated, but very personable. She made me feel really welcome into the house.

There’s also a guy from Ireland whose name I forget all the time because it’s like Eaden or something equally Irish sounding. He’s funny and very outgoing, and he makes everyone smile simply by speaking in an Irish accent. As Stephen put it, he single-handedly makes the world economy go round because he takes everyone’s money during poker.

The last is another guy from Detroit, whose name is something like Vishnu, except that’s a Hindu god and clearly not his name. It starts with a V and I am (obviously) still working on names, one of them being his. He keeps to himself mostly, but I’ve talked to him a few times and you can tell he’s very giving (i.e., he rarely travels on the weekends so he can teach an extra English class on Friday nights).

I think about 95% of the volunteers are around “college age,” now especially because it’s summer vacation. Out of my health team, Frida and Jennifer are leaving this week, and Isaiah is leaving next week. Hopefully, someone will come in and replace them since I need the help. It’s also a shame because they’re great, and I wish I could’ve gotten to know them more.

One downside to La Esperanza seems to be the lack of communication. We went to La Epifiana (one of the schools) this morning, took five boys to the dentist (if you check my photos, there’s a bunch of the boys), and walked to the dentist. When we got there, we were told that the dentist was sick and she wasn’t in today, and that they called the office and told someone there yesterday, but we didn’t get the message. Frida said it’s happened a few times before, which is a shame because it wastes a few hours that we could have been doing something else. Not to mention the kids are disappointed because they thought they were going to get out of school today. (There’s morning/afternoon classes because there aren’t enough rooms or teachers to have the kids there all day.  This means that it takes the kids longer to finish school because they can only go to class about 4 hours a day vs. the US kids having 7-8.)

I cheered them up a little by taking out of the Polaroid, though. It’s a big hit here, which I’m incredibly happy about. I’m always not sure if kids are going to like it, but it never fails. I’ll have to find a (cheap) Polaroid alternative for the next trip now that they’re not making the film anymore.

I’ve uploaded some photos on Flickr for you to see my new house, the paths we take to the dentist, and some photos the boys took themselves (yes, I let them use my very expensive camera). Click on the link under “blogroll” (I still don’t know what that word means, but I can’t change it) or click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/micheleatsea

The “Real” Granada 26 July, 2008

The good news is I found an internet cafe with free wireless so I can bring my computer here and use the Internet as long as I want.  The bad news is I can use the internet as long as I want.

After the first week of work, I have gotten a sense of what the “real” Granada is like. I soon found out that the photos I posted earlier are mostly the tourist area that is clean, has paved roads, and generally doesn’t show any sense of poverty.

As I mentioned before, I’m part of the health team. We are in charge of the four schools that La Esperanza works with, checking the kids to see who is having dental or sight problems. Mondays and Fridays are reserved for eye exams, which means that we go to a school, pick a few kids from the list who haven’t been checked before, perform the eye test (the one with the big E at the top and rows of smaller letters), mark who has trouble with vision, and then come back another day to take those kids to the optometrist to get fitted for glasses.

Tuesday-Thursday, we walk or take the bus (about 30-45 minutes of walking) to a school, and pick kids to go to the dentists based off lists. Some schools are more organized than others, so sometimes the lists aren’t always accurate or have current students. We try to take the older kids first since they are usually the ones with the most problems, and also ask them to open their mouths and look around because it’s usually pretty obvious who needs dental work. Kids who have pain get taken above everyone else because they are in desperate need of some help.

A normal day consists of walking to the schools, getting the kids, walking to the dentist with them, waiting at the dentist, dropping them off at the schools, and walking back to the office. A volunteer goes into the room with them while they’re getting checked out, especially since a lot of the younger ones are scared and need some reassurance. We try to keep the others entertained with puzzles and games while they’re waiting; plus, it helps if they are distracted and don’t hear someone crying or a lot of loud dental tools. Sometimes it doesn’t work and they refuse treatment, so they have to come back next time with their mom.

The other day, I sat in and watched a tooth get extracted. It was oddly very easy to do. There are a lot of kids with teeth getting pulled, either because they’re young and have baby teeth or for other reasons.  It’s not the most attractive job on the health team, but I think it suits me well.  You see different kids every day, so it’s not like teaching where you develop relationships over time.  To be honest, they’ll probably forget us pretty quickly since they only get glimpses of us.  There’s also a lot of walking involved, more so than some of the other jobs.  With all that said, though, I really enjoy it.  I like being able to provide this kind of health care for them that they wouldn’t normally get.  I also get to see kids in every school, and most other volunteers only work in one of them.  All in all, I think it’s the perfect job for me.

The only downside is that Frida, Jennifer, and Isaiah (the rest of the health team) are leaving next week, so I will be put in charge.  It’ll certainly put my Spanish to the test.  I’m sure I will be getting another person to help, so hopefully it will alleviate some of the stress on me.  There are a lot of volunteers leaving in the next week (most of them are still in college) but I believe there’s another flow of people coming in.  I guess that’s how it usually works.

The streets on the way to the schools are mostly bumpy and unpaved or dirt roads, with much less glamorous houses than the main street that I took photos of.  There are some things I will never be able to get used to like seeing skinny dogs with their ribs outlined and limping because of broken legs, and then watching as someone kicks them out of the way.  Or naked little kids with bloated bellies because of malnutrition, standing outside, seemingly waiting for help.  There are certainly families who are living decent lives, even owning dogs and taking care of them.  But it sometimes gets overwhelming to think about, like in the grand scheme of Nicaragua (or even Granada), am I really doing all that much?  I want to be able to figure out a way to multiply the help that the kids of La Esperanza receive, but for now, I can only help the ones enrolled in the schools La Esperanza built.

Besides the work, my Spanish classes are going well too.  I am taking two hours a day, and have two teachers.  Alejo works with me on grammar and Erick teaches me vocab.  Two hours may seem like a lot, but it goes by really fast.  I am getting more confident with my Spanish and I think by the end of my time in Granada, I’ll really be able to say almost anything I need to, as long as I keep studying.  I’m really determined to be able to talk to people here, and I think that’s all the motivation I need.

It helps that after my lessons, I sit with a group of Nicaraguan guys who are learning English.  I help them with English and they help me with Spanish, so it’s a nice trade off.  Last night, they taught me how to dance Bachacha, this kind of salsa that comes from Puerto Rico.  Next week is Merengue.  They’re a lot of fun and really nice, as is most people here.  They’re really willing to help me with Spanish, which makes me feel more confident when I speak.

I moved out of my hostel and into one of the volunteer houses, Santa Lucia, yesterday, since there was a girl leaving.  I took some photos that I’ll post either tomorrow or Monday.  I’m going to take some on Monday as well since I’m going on an orientation (I missed it last week since I arrived in the evening) so you’ll get to see the schools and the area a little more.

P.S.  Congratulations to my Aunt Allison and Uncle Bill, who just had a baby boy, Cole Francis! 

Day One 22 July, 2008

Greetings from Nicaragua!

I arrived last night at 6:30 here (8:30 back home) and met Felipe (the taxi driver) and Ryan (another volunteer) at the airport.  It was a little overwhelming since I realized how challenging this is going to be not knowing much Spanish.  I met with Pauline (the woman in charge) this morning and things are looking up.  I had the day off today since I got here on a Monday night.  I was able to wander around for a little bit, around the central park and the main street that I´m staying on.  Everything is nice and convenient since it´s mostly all on 2-3 streets around La Esperanza´s office and my hostel.

I was able to get around a little on my own today, to the ATM,  a smoothie shop, where I had a smoothie of pineapple, coconut, and other identifiable flavor, and (obviously) the internet cafe.  I also bought some postcards, so check your mailboxes soon!  I will hopefully be able to mail them within the next couple days.

I am starting Spanish tutoring classes today at 4:00, so hopefully that will help.  There´s a nightly meeting at 7:30 for all the volunteers and staff that I´ll be going to.  Tomorrow I´ll be starting work with the community health team, which works with children mostly, helping them get to the dentist and other things like that.  The problem is that most families either can´t afford the dentist, get transporation to there, or have the time to do so.  So various activities like that are provided by La Esperanza since a trip to the dentist can be a lot more of a hassle here than it is back home.  I´ll have more details soon about what else I´ll be doing, so stay tuned.

I also took a few photos, some of the hostel I´m currently staying at (I´m moving into volunteer housing on Saturday, but it was full this week) and the surrounding streets.  You can click on the link on the right that says, ¨My Photos¨ or go to www.flickr.com/photos/micheleatsea.  There will be more to come!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting 21 July, 2008

I’m writing from the Miami International Airport right now, waiting for my flight.  The bad news is I had a six-hour layover in between flights.  The good news is I could now give you a guided tour of the Miami International Airport.  I have walked almost every inch of this place, and have been in all the Pizza Huts, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and Duty Free shops.  I did also manage to find one cafe that sold a tiny salad amidst all the pizza and wings, so that was a small triumph.

I’m sitting at the gate for my flight to Nicaragua, so of course, everyone around me in speaking in very fast Spanish and it’s making me nervous.  I’m sure I’ll be fine, but I’m just thinking, “can I really do this?”  I think the first week or two is going to be a test of how well I can catch on.  Hopefully my high school Spanish classes and the books/CDs I have will be enough to help me survive.  My dad got a program for my computer that I was able to put on my ipod, which is really helpful to have on the go.  A lot of it is a refresher course, and I’m counting on my good memory to pull me through.

Well, here goes nothing!

Quick Update 13 July, 2008

I’m not sure if anyone still checks this, so this may just be for me… and my mom and dad, haha.

I can’t promise anything, but I did some research and it appears that there’s a few internet cafes in Granada, the city in Nicaragua I’ll be living in.  Hopefully I will be able to periodically update this about my trip; it will be a lot less hectic than it was for SAS.  So, keep checking back starting next week in case I get the chance to upload some photos and talk about my adventures.

In the meantime, check out http://www.la-esperanza-granada.org to get a detailed take on what I’ll be doing in Nicaragua.  Below are a few photos from the organization:

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The Final SAS wrap-up 10 July, 2008

Hm… seven months later, perhaps I should recap Turkey, Croatia and Spain.

I’m going to clip some excerpts from emails I sent to various people because 1) it describes my experiences best and b) I’m lazy.  Here’s my story about going to a traditional Turkish bath:

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We went to a Turkish bath when we were in Istanbul, which was not quite what I imagined.  I thought it would be a giant bath that everyone sat in, but I was rudely awakened when we got there.  We put on these towels that felt and looked like picnic table covers, then were escorted to a room to sit in, where we awkwardly poured water over ourselves.  When we were walking in, I looked to the right and saw a woman completely nakie lying on her back, no door or any cover in the way between us and her.  That’s when we realized we just paid them $30 to bathe me like a child.

One by one, my friends got called in by large women in bathing suits, and I was left by myself with another French woman whose boob was hanging out the whole time.  I had to run back to the “bathroom” because I got so nervous that I had to poop.  So I tiptoe out, passing the open rooms with my naked friends in them, to run back to the bathroom.  Before making it to the bathroom, I passed a man with a giant hairy belly coming out of the men’s entrance.  I froze and felt like I was escaping prison.  Suddenly, the towel felt about 3 inches big and I knew that they knew what was going on behind the women’s door.

Anyway, I sneak back to the room to sit and pour hot water on myself for the next 30 minutes.  Every woman who comes in gets called before me, but I’m a lot scared so I don’t say anything.  Then, I almost died.  My friend Brittany walks in, following her lady, completely naked.  I didn’t realize this until two seconds after I saw her, and I said, “hey Britt… WHOA.”  Then I avoided eye contact for the next five minutes.

My other friends came back, and as I get called, I walk towards the large woman in a bathing suit, and my friend Laura says, “watch out, she really gets in the crevices.”  The lady tugs at my towel and I flinch and go, “hey hey, keep your hands where I can see them, lady.”  I walked slowly like a dog with its tail between its legs toward the marble slab in the other room.  She says, “is ok, I mama, you baby” before I awkwardly lay on a table that looks like it belongs in a morgue.

I’m laying there saying, “ok, it’s just like a car wash, just a machine, not an actual person.”  However, this didn’t work when she started singing in Turkish in my ear.  I’m laying on the marble slab with every muscle in my body clenched.  Let’s just say, I have never thoroughly cleaned myself like she did.  She credit card swiped me in the butt about a dozen times.  My lawyer is currently looking into molestation charges.

My favorite part was probably when I heard “mama” speaking in Turkish, but then I heard another voice.  Oh, hello new friend, don’t mind that I’m face up naked, please, come in for some chit-chat, no, no, now’s a great time.

My friend Brittany said she knew what it was like because she read about it in her guidebook.  I was pretty upset with her since she never mentioned that, but then again, I never asked.. touche, Brittany, touche.

After all the inappropriate touching was done, we sat in chairs in our picnic table towels and had some tea.  Two guys were there too, and I felt like dirty because they knew what just happened to me.  It was fine, just not for me.  And I’ve decided to devote my life to shutting down Turkish baths.

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We had such a good time in Istanbul.  It was the first place that people didn’t turn their head around to notice you or speak English or even notice that you were there.  All of these things are good, by the way.  The people were still incredibly nice, but it was a great break from having everyone be in love with the U.S.  I really liked that there wasn’t any English on signs or that most people didn’t speak English and didn’t even want to.  I didn’t feel completely out of place for the first time in a country, they just went about their business as if we weren’t there.  There were still people who said hello and noticed us because we obviously didn’t look Turkish, but it was so refreshing to not be catered to.

This feels like the first place I could really live in and have a great life.  It was a huge city and we didn’t even get to see most of it, but what we saw was great.  We went to Taxim today, which is a pretty popular area, and it was the first time that we saw a huge number of people on the streets – it reminded me of New York City.  It was just such a beautiful city and had so many great things to see and do.  We had a basic routine and just sort of did what we felt like, followed the same basic paths and I actually felt like I got to know the city and where were going instead of a new city every day.

Istanbul, Turkey

We also met four guys in Turkey that we became friends with and saw almost every day.  They were great and showed us around Istanbul.  The first day, we found these kids’ earmuffs that have ducks on the side and Phoebe and I made Brittany and Laura buy them since they were so cute/ridiculous.  The guys made fun of them, so as a goodbye gift, we gave them all matching pairs.  (photo below)

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We climbed the city walls today.  Basically, the city of Dubrovnik is partly a “walled city” which means that built up this wall around part of the city that you can walk on with a few bell towers.  The part of the city that’s walled in cannot be driven through, and it’s absolutely beautiful.  That took a couple hours, then we ate lunch where this cute little cat sat on my lap the whole time.

We saw a movie later that night, it’s called Rendition with Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryll Streep and Reese Witherspoon.  It was really hard to watch because it was about torture and terrorism, but it was so great.  After the movie, a couple Croatian guys behind us laughed and said, “oh, look what the Americans came to see” since it was loosely based on Guantanamo Bay and terrorism.  It was funny but also a little embarrassing.  Ah, the joys of being an American.

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Spain was a lot of fun, but once again, we stayed on the ship every night.  The Euro wasn’t our friend, and traveling around Europe wasn’t exactly the best option since we were on our last country and running low on cash.  We stayed around Cadiz, the city where we docked, and also the oldest city in Europe.  We went to a winery tour and tasting, found free puppies in a box (you have no idea how hard it was to walk away), and walked a LOT.

We went to a soccer game in Sevilla and missed the last bus back to Cadiz, so we ended up staying the entire night out walking around the city.  We sat outside the train station until it would open t 5am, but I was the only one who fell asleep briefly.  I woke up with the girls huddled around me, screaming, and a homeless man inches away from my face, with a hole in the crotch of his pants.  Needless to say, it was an interesting night.

I also found a tattoo shop in Cadiz, which was the shadiest place ever.  I had to pay only in cash, Phoebe wasn’t allowed to take photos when she asked, the girls weren’t allowed in the back room with me, and only the front door guy (not the actual tattoo artist) spoke English.  Anyway, it worked out well, and I got “give peace a chance” tattooed in a circle on my left wrist.  All in all, wonderful decision.  I am still loving it and looking forward to the next one.

Hailey, Britt, Phoebe, me, Laura

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Turkey, Croatia, and Spain were whirlwinds.  They all clumped together in a month, and before I knew it, we were heading home to Miami.

There were a lot of emotions stirring around (see January’s depressing entry) and I’ve managed to overcome the “homesickness” by traveling again.  In a couple weeks, I’m traveling to Nicaragua for about seven weeks to work with La Esperanza Granada, a fantastic organization.  Visit the website: http://www.la-esperanza-granada.org.  When I come back, I can assure you I’ll write in here about it sooner than seven months later.

I’m going to keep this blog open as a travel journal.  Next will be Nicaragua, and after that, I’m hoping to go to Rwanda for 11 months with WorldTeach (http://www.worldteach.org).  More details on that to come if I do get accepted to the program.

Hopefully this will just be the beginning of my travels!

P.S.  I don’t think I’ll be able to update at all while I’m in Nicaragua, but keep checking.  If I find an internet cafe, I’ll be sure to post a couple details.  If you want to know more, email me at Michele.Muller@gmail (.com) and I’d be happy to tell you all about my future plans.

Until next time.

I left my heart in Egypt 8 March, 2008

It’s been a long while since I was in Egypt; a little over four months to be exact. It’s a funny thing about the whole SAS experience – it seems like it happened years ago but my memory thinks it was last week. I absolutely fell in love with Egypt, and yes, I loved every single place I visited, but Egypt was spectacular. Between the Fall and Spring SAS semesters, the only major country differences are Egypt in the Fall or South Africa in the Spring. While I’m sure South Africa is an incredible place, there’s nothing I would trade for my time in Egypt. This entry will be pretty long since there are too many great moments not to include them all.

Egypt was only one of two countries where I did an SAS trip, and judging by the Cambodia scheduling disaster, I was a bit wary of the field office. They made it up to me in Egypt by giving me four days that I couldn’t have planned better myself (and I must say, I wasn’t too bad at planning every other country’s itineraries). To give you a sense of context, I had just gotten over that whole quarantine thing, so having my big SAS trip right after it was perfect. I was in no condition to be planning trips or traveling independently; I was too tired, and might I add, just starting to eat solid foods again.

The night before we get to a country, we’d have a logistical pre-port, which is going over the basics of all the info on the green sheet – currency exchange, key phrases, etc, including going over the SAS-sponsored trips. During pre-port, Sparkles (in charge of the field office – always wore sparkly blouses, in case you’re wondering) told everyone on the EGY03 trip that the tour agency in Egypt had recently sent them our final schedule. It was such late notice for a reason: our wake-up calls were 4:15, 2:30, and 4:00. Seriously. I was already having doubts about the trip, but then again, would you really want to sleep in and miss Egypt? It’s amazing the sacrifices one makes in the name of travel.
The first day in port is always up in the air because you could either get off early and get the day started or you could be stuck on the ship until late afternoon; you’re at the mercy of the customs officials and how motivated they are that particular morning. Luckily in Egypt, we got off relatively early – also a perk of being on an SAS trip is that you get preferential treatment and are let off first if you need to get somewhere.
The bus ride on the way from Alexandria to Cairo, about 3 ½ hours, was amusing for several reasons. First of all, let me say that one of the reasons I was against SAS trips is that you cannot choose who you’re traveling with. This time I lucked out for several reasons: 1) I had signed up with Phoebe, Laura, and Brittany and 2) we actually got to be in the presence of some of our favorite people on the ship, including:
-Lifelong Learner (LLL): I mentioned him in Japan, total idiot; nicknamed so because there are undergrad students on the ship and lifelong learners, those usually 60+; our LLL was rumored to be 25 or 26, clearly one of those “professional students” prolonging graduation for as long as they can get away with spending their parents’ money

- LLL’s girlfriend: we met her on the trip; actually seemed like a nice girl, but was clearly infatuated with her older man since she’s 19

-Big Dumb Friend (BDF): LLL’s sidekick; loud and obnoxious (as if that needed to be said)

-two girls hanging off the boys; not important to the story, just always in the background

Let me just put it this way – we were LLL and Big Dumb Friend’s biggest fans. It’s a shame Little Dumb Friend couldn’t make the trip, but he was one of the intelligent ones who was supposed to get kicked off the ship when we got to Egypt, so I believe at that point he (along with the other hoodlums) was put on an 8pm curfew every night in port, meaning he wouldn’t be joining any overnight trips.

Anyway – we got on the bus and quickly found the backseats to be our haven, along with a girl we met, Lizzy. I explained our love affair with our fellow travelers, and we were fast friends. LLL and BDF were in perfect sight, somewhere around the middle of the bus. Now, I admit that they were topics of our conversation, but never did we provoke them or outright express our dislike. When we got on the bus, we had a good laugh that we were stuck with them for four days, and that was the end of that. I took a nap, since that’s what you do on buses, and when I woke up, LLL, BDF, LLL’s girlfriend, and the two unimportant groupies had their heads turned, taking photos of us sleeping and obviously laughing at us. I’m not exactly sure what was hilarious about us napping; apparently their sophisticated humor was lost on me. However, this moment was significant. It was now over – they knew who we were, we clearly knew them, and the charade of hiding my disgust was done. Since then, we were no longer invisible to them and later on I’ll give you some juicy gossip about my confrontation with LLL – oOoOoOhHhH!!

When we drove into downtown Cairo, I looked out the window and saw the pyramids. As in THE Giza Pyramids. The things that people go to Egypt just to see. Just sitting there while the average Phineas and Habibah walk by them daily like it’s no big deal. They were absolutely stunning, but we didn’t get up close until the next day, so I’ll hold off on that description. Instead, we headed to see the Pyramids of Zoser, tinier versions that were incredible because you walked through a pathway of ancient ruins on the way there, almost like an archway into them.

The first day was rough since we had left early, traveled a lot, and had “lunch” – I use that term loosely – at 6:30pm. After “lunch,” we went to the sound and light show at the Giza Pyramids. It was basically an outdoor laser show with a booming voice telling you the history of the Pyramids. I wonder how much the ancient pharaohs would’ve liked their burial grounds to have flashing lights on them. My favorite part of the show wasn’t part of the show at all; at one point, we heard the Islamic call to prayer and could hear people in nearby houses chanting. It was the first moment that I actually experienced Islam, and I absolutely loved it from the beginning. It’s mesmerizing; their dedication to religion. That, to me, is truly getting a feel of Egyptian culture; not the overpriced laser show.

After the show, we headed to the Khan El Khalili outdoor bazaars where we experienced what I like to remember as my first Egyptian self-esteem boost. There is something you must know about Egyptian men. They’re not creepy, dangerous, sketchy, or scary. They will not grab you or touch you inappropriately. I read a couple other SAS blogs and heard from the past that Egyptian men are aggressive and one must always keep their eye out. This could not be further from the truth! I don’t know what kind of women are making these comments, but I personally felt welcomed by Egyptian men. They are completely harmless and only because they outwardly say cheesy pick-up lines like, “Wait! Lady, you drop something on the ground… (then you stop and look) It is my heart, it has fallen out of my chest when I look at you!” with a grand gesture of one hand on their heart and the other reaching out to you, a la Romeo and Juliet. I was reassured of my beauty and marriage-like qualities at least every 20 minutes, and I lapped up every compliment thrown my way. How many camels am I worth, you ask? Why, it’s 1 million, of course!

I also don’t think it was just because I was with a tour. There were several times, when we were at the bazaars, for example, that we’d split into twos for free time and get back to the meeting point at a certain time. Two young men that Phoebe and I passed asked us to be their girlfriends – we agreed (always agree), smiled and kept on walking. When we headed back the same way, one handed Phoebe a note that said something to the effect of, “I love you soooooooo much I think you beautiful please marry me (name and phone number)” Now, how is that threatening? I say, ladies, if you ever are feeling down and need a pick-me-up, hop on a plane to Egypt and you’ll feel better in two hours, guaranteed.

After reassuring our self-esteems, the group headed back to have “dinner” at our hotel at 11:00pm. This, my friends, is when I was blessed with speaking with my beloved Lifelong Learner. We were standing in the buffet line, and as soon as I went to grab the spoon for the rice, LLL slides in from the opposite direction and politely says the following to me (and I quote): “Let me get down with some rice.” I replied, “oh, no that’s cool, it’s not like there’s a line or anything.” He quickly turned his head back to me and said some eloquent like, “whatever, why don’t you just calm down?” This was my first and last direct communication with LLL, but one that I’ll never forget.

The icing on the cake was that we happened to sit at the table next to them, where I could plainly see LLL pointing and looking in my directions while presumptively, he was retelling the rice incident to his friends. What we couldn’t get over was that he didn’t say, “oh, excuse me, do you mind if I just get some rice?” but rather chose the expression, “let me get down with some rice.” It was pure genius, and prompted us to get the chef to write, “let me get down with some cake” when we ordered Laura’s birthday cake on the ship.

Sadly, that was our last encounter with LLL and BDF. They chose to skip most of the trip, instead drinking all night and only using the trip for the hotel rooms and the flights. I don’t think anyone missed them too much.

Our first 4:15am wake-up call the next morning was admittedly rough, but with the promise that we were going to see the Giza Pyramids at sunrise, it wasn’t that hard to get out of bed after all. Our tour guide, Hala, told us that it took a year of planning to convince the Pyramid guards to let our group in before dawn. There’s no way to describe what it was like seeing the sun rise over the Giza Pyramids; breathtaking is the only way to convey what it felt like.

After we had time to gaze, I had to make another one of those pesky “is this really ethical?” decisions when our tour guide asked everyone if they’d like to ride a camel down the hills to the Pyramids. The camel owners, like all good businessmen, had been circling us since we arrived hoping to catch some easy tourists. They were in for a treat since there were about 100 of us (200 in total, but some weren’t early risers) that morning.

Now, it’s quite obvious that it is not natural for a camel to bend down – since that’s how you hop on them – over and over and over again all day. The calluses on the camels’ front legs were inches wide and thick, and I don’t think I’m wrong in assuming that the owners weren’t exactly looking out for the well-being of their animals. First, I refused, but peer pressure got the best of me and I jumped on with Laura. We named ours Lightning since the other camels were practically galloping and our little guy tugged along at approximately 3 mph. Still, I wouldn’t call hauling two people around an easy task, so I can’t blame the poor guy. In the end, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed all the other various forms of animal abuse along the way. It’s fun as long as you are completely soulless and have no qualms about aiding those making money off their exhausted, old, and decrepit animals who are constantly in pain from being paraded around.

After the camel adventure, we walked around the Pyramids, climbed the Great Pyramid, and went inside the second largest one, and walked to see the Sphinx. (below: me getting some with the Sphinx, aka on the top ten list of cheesiest tourist photo)

kissing the Sphinx

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, we also visited the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. The Mosque was not only incredibly beautiful inside and out, but it was one of the most touching experiences I had in Egypt. We each brought our scarves to wrap around our heads; it’s not a rule or law but it’s respectful, especially in a mosque. We were outside, looking like fools trying to wrap our scarves around our heads properly, so we went up to a few girls that were standing near us and asked them if they could teach us. They lit up and were so excited to show us, so not only did that wrap it around our heads, but then walked with us outside and inside the mosque. They told us all about them: how old they were, what grade they were in, how much they love Phoebe’s and Laura’s blue eyes (in the land of brown eyes, they were royalty everywhere we went), and everything else they could think of. It was so nice to be a foreigner and have people treat you so well; they didn’t make us feel like idiots for not knowing how to properly wrap our scarves.

Alabaster Mosque

After leaving the Mosque, we jumped on a Nile Cruise boat where we had, what else, more buffet food and an awkward belly dancing show. Literally the only complaint I had about the SAS trip was that we ate every meal at a hotel buffet, and didn’t have any “real” Egyptian food. It was all pasta, rice, and anything Americans are used to, so that God forbid, we don’t try anything new that we might not like. I was dying for some Middle Eastern food, but since our schedule was jam packed, I never got the chance. Just another reason to go back.

The day ended by going to the Egyptian Archaeological Museum, which is most famous for having King Tut’s body and every single one of his belongings. The incredible part is that a lot of the original tombs or “beds” were on display with no casing around it, just out there, exposed so you could touch it.

After seeing the museum, it was fitting that the next day we see King Tut’s tomb. The next day we woke up at 2:30 to catch an early flight to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings, where King Tut and many others are buried. It’s hard not to repeat saying the same things over and over, but for lack of better words, it was incredible. We went in four of the tombs, and it’s amazing how much is still preserved. While the Pyramids were very cramped and narrow to get in, the tombs were wide open spaces. King Tut’s was designed like a floor plan with several rooms for all his stuff. Here’s one of my favorite photos of there, even though it doesn’t really show off the tombs (which we were not allowed to take photos in):

King Tut tomb guards

That day, we also visited the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. She’s pretty badass, and was the first female ruler who tricked most people into thinking he was a male pharaoh so that they would take her seriously. Her son got jealous and destroyed all her statues, and even buried part of her Temple under ruins, but everything was later excavated.

hieroglyphics up close

We had the option of going on a horse-drawn carriage ride through Cairo, so the girls and I decided to do it. Phoebe and I had a lovely ride, aside from the occasional time our driver tried to whip the horse and I distracted him. You know my previously stated feelings on the matter, so we’ll skip that subject. The ride was actually really nice. We passed through side streets where lots of kids waved and yelled hello.

A few kids ran alongside the carriage, hoping to get some money from us. I gave a couple little boxes of cereal that I stole from the ship. One girl was pointing to Phoebe’s sunglasses, wanting them presumably to sell, but Phoebe didn’t want to give them up, so I offered her my jade bracelet from Hong Kong but the girl refused. Apparently beggars can be choosers.

We stopped next to a small farm where they were going to show us a snake show, except Phoebe’s terrified of them. She tried to watch for a little bit, but after clawing my shoulders apart, we decided it was better to walk around instead. The famiy had a few animals in the back, including a horse and camel tied up outside. They were so badly injured, the horse even had a plastic bag around one of his hooves as his makeshift cast. It didn’t help that one of the teachers was surveying the damage loudly, and some SAS students were lamenting that the horse should suck it up, that it wasn’t really that bad. I had to walk away from it because the whole scene was disturbing.

We did meet some great people along the way, though, mostly kids. Here’s a couple of the kids and the whole ride:

clothes hanging

mother and children

bike rider

The next couple days were my favorite in Egypt. The girls and I also decided to do another optional part of the tour, which meant another day of waking up at 4:00. The next morning, we left in the dark and boarded ferry boats (since the bridge wasn’t open yet) to go to open fields where there were about 30-40 hot air balloons waiting for our group.

My dad and I took a hot air balloon ride in July, but this was a lot different. First, our balloon is July contained me and my dad, two other couples, and the pilot. The balloon is Egypt had about 25 people in each one. Needless to say, they were absolutely enormous. In July, we shot off the ground like a rocket, soaring to 1000 feet in the first minute. With 25 people, it was a little slower. Regardless of speed, once we got off, it was beautiful. A view of over 30 hot air balloons flying over ancient Egyptian ruins was incredible. We flew over houses that had no roofs, that looked like 3rd grade dioramas. A couple photos:

hot air balloons

diorama house

houses

Our balloon landed in the middle of a field. The farmer (below) understandably didn’t seem too happy about it.

we ruined a chunk of this man’s field

There were about 15 kids that ran up to the hot air balloon to greet us, so excited to see us. A couple of girls starting taking their photos, then the kids would run up to see it on the camera. I saw the perfect opportunity, so I called them over and brought out my Polaroid camera. I cannot express how good it feels to see them have their very own photo for the first time; it’s the greatest high in the world. Brittany took some photos, which I’m so thankful for, of the kids:

The day was short after that, stopping at Karnak Temple before heading back on our flight to Cairo, and then driving back to the ship.

The next day was one of my favorite days during the entire semester. It started off badly because Phoebe, Laura, Brittany and I had signed up for an SAS orphanage visit. When we got there, we were informed that the kids were in school and weren’t going to be at the orphanage to see us – at all. I am all for the importance of education, but this trip was obviously poorly planned and there was a lack of communication between the field office and the tour agency. It was an absolute waste of our time.

SAS often provides boxed lunches or dinners when a trip is going to be out past the time the dining hall is open, so they did that for our orphanage visit. Most of the boxes were left on the bus, nearly full. Phoebe, Laura and I started collecting the unopened food because we decided to walk around Alexandria and find some people who needed the food rather than throw it away. The trip leader saw us collecting and wanted us to give the food to the street vendors who stationed themselves next to the port, charging us overpriced souvenirs (much like at every port). We weren’t exactly convinced that these guys were in need of a free meal, so we grabbed all the food we could fit in my backpack and headed out.

Brittany opted out and went back to the ship to take a nap or do homework or something. I personally think she missed out on a wonderful day. But Phoebe, Laura and I started walking in one direction and kept turning until we found some poor areas of the city.

It was beautiful, seeing real people in their real homes and shops. I had the most wonderful time saying hi to everyone, petting their cats, just strolling along. We came across two young schoolgirls who were following us and smiling and waving. Kids were the best; always genuinely excited to see us. They were following us for a couple blocks when I went up to them and pulled out the Polaroid camera. It it hilarious to see the confused look on their faces. I took the photo, put my finger up for the international “wait a minute” sign, and gave them the photo as soon as it started to develop. They walked away with it, giving me a very strange look, not sure what to think of their new present, turning it front to back trying to figure out what it was.

Ten minutes later, the girls came up to us, smiles ear to ear, holding up the photo. It’s such a great moment when they realize what it is. I took another one so the second girl could have one. We continued walking and I found a few more kids, so I took more photos. Within another 5-10 minutes, we had a swarm of kids following us down the streets, jumping up and down and cheering in Arabic, and making camera clicking motions with their hands. I couldn’t give photos to all of them, but I used up the rest of my film, which was somewhere around 85 photos.

I took a photo of one boy – in the pink shirt, in the middle of the photo below, not looking at the camera – and a few blocks later, an older man came up to me holding up the Polaroid of the boy. At first, I was kind of upset that he took the kid’s photo of him, but I looked down and the boy was next to him. I realized it was his son, and he was trying to ask me if he could have a photo of the two of them. The kids are great, but the adults who came up to me – it’s impossible to tell you how much it meant, that they had never had a photo of their family before and I was able to give them that gift. It’s an overwhelming feeling to be able to give a person something so precious.

We met a woman who had several children; we couldn’t tell if all the kids around her house were her own, but it was clear that she had her hands full. We gave her the majority of the food we had. Her little girl (photo below) loved the Oreos, and when she dropped one, she swept it up off the street.

Our walk ended about 4-5 hours later, after we were out of Polaroids and food. It was the perfect end to my time in Egypt. This entry was probably too long and went into too many details, but I couldn’t leave anything out. Egyptians will always be some of my favorite people in the world.