Back-blogging

8-11-08

Back-blogging

Well, these aren’t necessarily in order with the stuffs I’ve already posted.  But too bad.  What with having to access internet at internet cafes and not being able to use Elizabeth’s laptop, I’ve been partly keeping up blogs in Word, and then posting short stuffs on other computers.  So, each post plan should be preceded by the correct date.

And now, before I let that loose on you, here are a few tidbits.  Not necessarily Lod’s Little Tidbits, but take them as you will.

I am falling apart.  Over the last few days, I have had my mouth swell in random places, had an allergy attack, gotten horribly sick where I was throwing up (no, not from tap water, from a cold I picked up from one of our group peoples), cracked my toenail in half, jammed and bruised my right middle finger...and there’s probably more, I’m just too traumatized to remember.  But don’t worry, I rallied my spirits enough to actually still enjoy the last few days...for the most part.

I’m afraid these upcoming posts may be a bit disjointed, as since I’ve been so out of it, I haven’t kept up on the writing like Elizabeth has.  Still, you should be able to glean something from them.

Er...smoke.  I sick of it.  Everyone smokes.  Everywhere.  Just thought I’d mention it.

Mmkay, I’m out of tidbits.  Actually, I’m stalling because I had some and I’m totally drawing a blank, so onto the posting.

Bgglw.  I’m relaxing in the hotel room now.  And though I desperately wish to blog about stuffs, and stuffs is blogable, I find it hard to even focus on the screen, much less type anything.  Let’s see...today, I shall contrast things.

 

Hotels: Our first hotel was actually quite cozy.  Small, but with everything we needed, and fun to be in the middle of downtown Cairo.  This hotel, being five stars, is extremely nice and westernized.  The room is large, it has a TV, soap in the bathroom...a safe in the closet...honestly, it feels a little weird.  I travel around the world to Egypt of all places, and stay in a totally westernized place that’s nicer than anywhere I stayed in the U.S.  Plus, although being pampered can be fun, it leaves me feeling stuck-up and useless.  On the other hand, two meals a day, a gift shop, and a place to exchange money...it’s nice not to have to go searching.  On the first hand again, at the other place we didn’t have to pay 110 L.E. (that’s twenty-two dollars...now I’m just showing off) to use the internet.

 

      Side-bar: There are six TV channels in English.  Last night Elizabeth and I stayed up late watching The Sixth Sense, which was fun.  Earlier we watched a movie with James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus from the new Narmia movie) called Bollywood Queen, which was cheesy and a total Romeo & Juliet story, but fun.  It’s one of those Indian/Pakistani movies where the girl and sometimes the other characters randomly break out into music video styled songs.  It’s funny.  And of all shows, an episode of Summerland was on yesterday, which is a horrible show, but there are some fun characters, so that was cool.  Today, I’m hoping to catch Earth Girls Are Easy...heh heh.  Hey,  our tour’s over for the day, and dinner’s not for another few hours, so whaddaya do?  But lest you worry that all our time in Egypt is wasted on TV, don’t be silly.  Yesterday was just our take-it-eays-day, since all we did was show up at the hotel and wait.  But it’s still a cultural experience, because the commercials are in their language, as are the subtitles.

 --end side-bar

 

Citadels:

The citadel in Cairo was where we went to see Mohammad Ali’s mosque.  Conquering rulers would come in, level previous palaces, and build their own on top, but Mohammad wanted something that would last, so he built a mosque instead.  The citadel in Alexandria was right on the edge of the sea and was used to defend the place.  It was really cool, with the big outer walls, the windows in the walls to shoot through...ya know, the works.  It was lots of fun to crawl around.

 

Mosques:

When we got to the mosque in Alexandria, they were in the middle of prayer, so we had to go back later.  When we did go back, we had to enter from the back door, take off our shoes, and wear the green head coverings they provided.  There were still people there praying of course.  The mosque in Cairo, on the other hand, is not even a fully functional mosque, since the citadel closes for the evening so they can’t get in to pray then.  It was originally just a private mosque anyway.

 

Tour guides:

Mohamed was very friendly, great at bargaining for us, and so helpful, going out of his way to get us what we needed.  He is still in school to be a tour guide, so he doesn’t know as much as our tour guide now through Pilgrim Tours, who is an Egyptologist and has studied theology.  This tour guide is a woman named Shereen (no idea how she spells it), and is extremely knowledgeable.  Her English and accent are extremely good as well, and it’s nice to be shown around by a woman for a change.

ed. Our tour guide for the Nile Cruise was also very knowledgeable.  His name is Mohamed.  Yes, about 50% of the men in Egypt are named Mohamed.  It’s a thing.

 

Street markets in Egypt and Mexico:

...Pretty much the difference is the language and product.  Mexico sells blankets.  Egypt sells papyrus.  Their behaviour, pushiness, belief that if they tell you you’re beautiful you’ll buy something...it’s exactly the same.  Go figure.

 

Papyrus:

We bought papyrus paintings at a registered place.  They showed us how it is made, and how to tell the fake.  At places like the street market, they make it cheap and fake from banana leaves.  So I’m glad we got the real deal.

 

Pyramids and mountains:

I tend to take the mountains at home for granted, but when I leave Utah, I miss them a lot.  They’re beautiful and cozy somehow.  But here in Egypt, with the pyramids as the back drop for your sightseeing...well true, in the winter I’d miss the snow.  But seriously, the pyramids?  You just don’t miss the mountains too much, except for maybe the snow.  But every time I see them I want to ask who painted the backdrop.  It’s just so unreal that I’m walking around a city with the pyramids right there.  I don’t think I’ll get used to it before we leave.

 

Tea and Coffee:

Why order coffee here when you can get Egyptian mint tea?  We’re talking real mint leaves and everything.  It’s really good.  And ironically, the shops will offer free drinks all the time, but I think they catch you in the end since everyone expects a tip for everything.  You insist you don’t need their help, they insist they will help you, and then they want a tip.  But that has nothing to do with tea and coffee.  But basically, the coffee here is good.  The tea is better.

 

Well, I’m impressed that I actually stuck with the comparing/contrasting deal.  I figured I’d give up after one paragraph.  Yay me.  True, it was a bit obscured in places, but, meh.

8-4-08

 

We have to fly tomorrow.  I got sick of airports really quickly.  I don’t wanna.  Mommy.  Don’t let them put me away again!

 

Okay, I feel better now.  Just had to get that out.  Well, today we were supposed to see Joseph’s storehouses.  We have yet to see Joseph’s storehouses.  Splainy?  Hopefully she’s just moving it to when everyone else has joined us (there are only four of us so far, five on the Nile cruise, and then 28 when we get back).  I’d be very disappointed if we didn’t get to go, but I didn’t remember that on the itinerary until we got back.  We did get to see a giant statue of Ramses II, which was missing the legs past the knee and was very eroded on one side, but actually extremely well preserved for something over three-thousand years old.  We also got to see a structure built by Imhotep.  Who is, of course, exactly like he was in the movie The Mummy.  And don’t try to tell me any different.

8-6-08
What is the one thing that could make Elizabeth and Rebecca forsake their preference for darkness and avoidance of the sun at all costs?  A cruise on the Nile, that’s what.  We have actually been sitting here for about an hour with the curtains wide open, because to miss the scenery would be just wrong.

 

I think our tour guide is amused by all of us.  Brad is one of those classic tourists who is pretty easily befuddled, and is a real joy and constant amusement to travel with.  Lou is another classic tourist who carries the book around with her everywhere, highlighting and such. and then Dan, Elizabeth and I just try to fly below the radar.  We’re having a lot of fun with our small group, and are a bit disappointed that there will be about thirty of us once we reach Cairo.

 

Did ew know...?

Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.

Thank you for choosing Lod’s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8-7-08

I got to pet my first kitty today!  It’s been two weeks, and I’m having major withdrawals.  Of course, I had all kinds of allergies later, but that’s a small price to pay.  She was sleeping in the Philae temple, a beautiful temple located on an island.  We had to take a small motor-boat to get there.  Of course, it also happened to be Imhotep’s stop after Karnak in The Mummy.  In case you were wondering.  Which I’m sure you were.

 

I have also managed to almost rip my toenail off.  I caught it on the motor-boat when I was getting on, and my nail got split in half horizontally.  So it started oozing blood.  Which was quite pleasant.  N-E-wayz, when we asked if they had anything to wrap it with just so it wouldn’t get dirt in it tomorrow, he comes back with disinfectant, gauze, bandaging, and tape.  I was hoping for a low key band-aid.  I felt like a spoiled, wussy little princess.  Needless to say, I was irritated, but grateful for their help and aware that it would be rude to be irritated, which just made me more irritated.  So now I have a mummified toe.  Yay me.

 

Tommorow (or rather today at this point), we are taking a bus to Abu Sembel to see a few more temples.  We’re leaving at 3:15 in the morning, so Elizabeth is just trying to stay up until then, because getting up that early after a few hours of sleep would be harder.  I, on the other hand, don’t think I can stay up, so I shall say goodnight and turn in.  Lay’uhs.