Khan el khalili

We made it back to Cairo on a 2 hour train ride. Let me tell you... those train rides are totally GHETTO. We even rode 2nd class. Aline says there wasn't much difference betweeen first and second class. It was super gross. The seats had brown markings as well as the walls and there was just a disatisfying smell everywhere. Uber gross.

When we got to Cairo we met up with Aline's friend Mohammed who had a car. It was great that he had a car and he spoke really good english so I felt like I could ask him why Cairo traffic was SO BAD. He said he couldn't drive within the lines even if he wanted too. Seriously I think there is no explanation to it. I think it's based solely on intuition. You just feel traffic and you just know what to do. There is no rhyme or reason how you know if you pull in front of a bus it isan't going to hit you. I saw a shirt today at the market that said, "I SURVIVED CAIRO TRAFFIC". I hate to admit it but I kind of wanted to buy it because I feel like surviving the traffic in Cairo has been a great tirumph in my life. heh.

The name of the market we went to was Khan el khalili. There were shops everywhere! Every shop was specialized. They all threw out their english phrases as we walked by. "Hi how are you? Right this way! You want a scarf? Special price for you!" You know all the phrases you would need to know if you ran a shop in a market aim specifically for tourists. My favorite phrase of the evening was, "I dont know what you want but I have exactly what you're looking for!" Another humoring one was, "How can I take your money?" At which point Aline just looked at them and said, "You can't."

We saw a lot of souvenirs and we were pretty lucky to be with Aline's friend Mohammed. If someone was ripping us off he would start talking to them in Arabic and would start shaking his head and tell us in English the prices were too expensive.

He helped us buy a fanoos! It's an egyptian lantern children are famous for using during Ramadaan. Im not sure what the significance is but it's just another symbol of Ramadaan in Egypt. I taught about celebrations similar to Christmas that happen around the world to my 2nd grade class. I had them make paper lanterns that were like, "fanooses", but I never really knew what they looked like. When we came here I decided that I wanted one to show my class but I wasn't sure what it looked like. Mohammed was more than a hand and helped me find a real one for a great price. You'll see a photo of the Fanoos. It's nothing too fancy but I was excited about it! :)

We also found a section of the market for spices. Spices were so cheap. Usually at the store, in the US, for a little thing of yellow curry I think it's 7 dollars or so. We bought 3x as much as you would get in the little spice bottles for $1.50. It was so awesome.

We're going back to Saudi tomorrow. I'm excited to go back.

Traveling...

So for the past week Matt and I have been to the US, Amsterdam, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Matt had to go through a different airport so he got to go through Bahrain. We feel so lucky to have these traveling opportunities!

I mean it raelly just fell into place. I already had a one way ticket to Saudi for December so we thought, "Matt should just come this Christmas!" And then we realized that Egypt is a cheap flight from Saudi so we figured why not. Besides my folks got messed up with their airline tickets and aren't coming back to Saudi until after Christmas. Another good reason we came up with to fly to Egypt. Aline was here for a study abroad in the summer and is pretty familar with the area. Her arabic is a lot better than I thought. It's so impressive to see her get us around. She met some people here during the summer who worked at an English school. When she told them she was coming back with us they asked if she could bring us. They made an announcement that "THE AMERICANS ARE COMING". So everyone was pretty thrilled to see us walk throught he door. We felt like celebrities. lol.

It was fun to share ideas about our culture. We mostly asked them questions about what they do in Egypt and how they percieve things, etc. Egypt is predominantly Muslim. In no way is it as conservative as Saudi Arabia. Women and Men can intermingle in social settings and be seen in public together and can even go on dates. It was a shock for me to see that coming from my Saudi background. They are still relatively conservatives. Women and Men dont kiss before they're married and dont go to each other houses. A date is really being outside and going outside. They are see in the open but nothing behind closed doors. Which isan't too extremem, I think.

I think the coolest thing I learned was that you dont yell out a women's name in the street. So for example if you see your friend Nassima in the street you won't shout out, "NASSIMA." Or in Aline's case, "RHIANNON", you yell out the girl's brother's or father's name. "JAMES!" It's apparently more appropriate. Aline made the mistake of yelling my name like a drunk in the street. When I say like a drunk, I mean, like a drunk. She waved her hands in the air and in a belch like way shouted, "RHIAAAANNNNNOOONNNNNN", over and over again. People stopped and starred. We assumed it was because obviously she looks like a fool. We didn't catch the improper part. lol. Oh Aline. So unique!

We arrived in Egypt 2 days ago. We stayed in Cairo for one and we arrived in Alexandria last night. Cairo is CRAZY!

I feared we would be hit by a car!

There are traffic signals in the street, kind of, and sometimes you find a police man ready to blow his whistle as a signal for cars to stop, but mostly people cross the street wherever and they dont mind if the car passes inches infront of them. SO SCARY.

There are lines that designate lanes in the street but no one observes them. If you think you can fit between two cars you do it. I dont know if that makes any sense to you... but imagine this a street with 3 lanes but somehow you can see 4 or 5 lanes in some places. Cars just squish in. They honk if you're getting too close or flash their lights. I'm suprised I haven't seen any fatal accidents. I'm so scared to ride in a taxi and I am morbidly afraid to cross the street. I'm just grateful we got to Alexandria. The traffic is still crazy but not so bad. So far we haven't had to cross any major street--- Inshallah.

Today I went with Matt to some salt plant his company is working with. They asked Matt if he would bring his wife. I thought the invitation was sweet so I went along.

I had no purpose! I sat there for 8 hours looking at ponds and getting in out of the car to look at differen types of water. It was kind of interesting. I learned about salt concentration and what you should or should not see at a salt plant. Matt filled me in on a few big words they were using and helped me understand the ways of refining salt. I guess one of my major surpises was simply, "salt is really a big deal." I shot a picture whiel everyone was talking because I was so bored. See here is my husband doing his job! :)

It's funny to think that so many engineers and people world wide just hold salt to such a high regard. I never really put too much thought into the Morton Salt girl and her umbrella. I never even questions where that salt came from. Today I saw where salt is harvested and cleaned. Yes, cleaning salt is important.

In other news, before the end of the day was through Matt got SUPER sick. He kept complaining of these sharp stomach pains. We were with some of Aline's egyptian friends who were able to help us out and took us to a pharmacy. Believe me when i say this, the Pharmacy looked pretty legit and Matt was in so much pain he wanted a quick fix and they offered him a shot. I drilled the guy on what it was and one of Aline's friends said the shot was legit and she takes it herself. Matt agreed to it and got a shot. (He's better!) The point of this story is... it cost 1 American dollar for that thing! Can you believe it?! ONE AMERICAN DOLLAR!

Matt was cured but not after we went to the hospital because he didn't feel like it was working and he was in a lot of pain. When I say hospital we americans think of it as a big deal but know this--- Socialized Health care. It was really just a quick trip to the doctor who charged us 12 bucks so he could tell Matt nothing too serious was wrong and he shouldnt eat any fats or fried food for a while. 12 bucks! Anotehr steal of a deal.

Matt is healthy, so dont worry. He's sleeping so he can rise early tomorrow morning to go back to the Salt Plant and lick some mud. Oh gosh.

You should really see Matt in action when he talks to these people. We had like 9 engineers with us. Matt would ask a questions about how their plant was runned and they would all gather around speaking in Arabic and every now and again throwing out english answers. It was cute to see how they really thought his opinion mattered. (I'm not suggesting it didn't. I dont know anything about salt so anything Matt said seemed like gold.)

It was cute to see Matt do his part as he measured water and asked them questions on the types of soils they use and machinery. I'm telling you Matt really appeared to know what he was talking about. I know I already said, but truly, it was so cute.