the DEAD sea.

DEAD SEA:

We woke up super early, had some shrak ( I will never get tired of saying that word) and headed off to the resort area of Jordan.  We twisted and turned around the Jordanian mountains and I freaked out while driving.  Matt (being from BC) took the wheel and us ‘prairie drivers’ opted for NOT driving but having small heart attacks from the backseat.  (we prefer our highways flat and with no high edges thank you very much)

Once we arrived, we settled in to a day pass at the holiday Inn Dead Sea resort.  First, we got really excited cause it was SUPER nice. THEN we got excited cause we could see Jerusalem from across the sea, THEN we got really excited cause there was a swim-up bar.

We ran down to the water where two large pails of ‘dead sea’ muck were placed.  The idea is to immerse yourself with these ‘minerals’ and then when its dry you go and wash it off into MORE stuff that’s good for your skin. 

So, of course, we did.

 

Let me tell you, the dead sea was AWESOME.  Its like floating on an invisible pool mat.  It’s impossible to sink. COMPLETELY impossible.  So impossible that I found myself floating up when I was only halfway in the water.  You can’t even swim in it. It actually takes a great amount of effort just to be upright.  You just kinda bob there.

(fyi: its due to the high sodium content in the water)

We barrel-rolled and ‘skydived’ and ‘starfished’ and then realized that any sort of blemish on your skin is going to begin to burn and we promptly booked it outta there and used the pool for the rest of the day.


Jordan:

Best bit: bobbing along in the sea
Worst part: stairs+ 45 degree heat = my personal hell
 Souvenirs: Bedouin jewellery for luther & 'landmark' for my skyline. Also, starbucks 'jordan' collectable mug




 

Jordan: PETRA AND THE DEAD SEA (OR...'INDIANNA JONES AND THE SEA OF UNSINKABLES!)

 

So, Kerry, Melanie and Matt (fellow teachers) and I decided to trek to the middle east (Jordan) and see what its like to visit these two places:

1.)    Petra: the site that always has a large prominent picture in travel-themed wall calendars entitled things like ‘things you must see before you die’ or ‘marvels around the world’  but is often overshadowed by  its popular Greek and Mayan ancient ruin counterparts…

 

2.)    The DEAD Sea: The sea with so much sodium its impossible to sink. ( I have to add- this was NOT a gimmick. I could NOT believe this until I realized I could ‘barrel-roll’ from one end of the swimming area to the other. Floating. On the water.

 

I went out for dinner for chicken shawerma with luther before leaving at a restaurant in maadi called ‘dishes’.  This restaurant knows us by now because luther always asks to watch UEFA on their tv.  We bid eachother adieu as he was writing his final exams the next day (he is officially DONE) and I had to catch a flight to ammon, Jordan at 11:15pm.

 

PETRA!

After we got there, we rented a car and Matt, Mel and I drove to Petra.  For those who do not know, petra is an ancient city that was used by Egyptians, Greeks, Asians etc. for trading.  It was built/carved into the red stone and although much of it is destroyed by water (once submerged by channels) its ruins are a large (expensive…75.00 cdn for a day pass!) and mysterious site to see.

(For more information: please consult your local dvd cabinet/torrent site/favorite 80’s youtube channel to check out petra. Its where they shot Indiana jones!)

transformers II too :)

epic.

 

 

Anyway, petra is HUGE.  We first saw it at night where they have this event called ‘petra at night’.  You walk down the path to the ‘treasury’ (most well-known building) and they have all these candles lit up in front of it. Its very beautiful (and impossible to take pictures in front of because cameras just don’t capture its mystery and beauty of the building behind the flames.  If you have ever attempted taking a picture in front of an awesome Halloween display you get what I’m saying. )

 

We walked back and called it a night only to arrive there early the next morning at 7am (hotel breakfast = shrak bread ie: Arabic bread and different spreads and such) Its like greek pita bread really.  Anyway, Petra was A LOT A LOT A LOT larger and spread out than I realized.  In fact, by the time I hit ‘the hill of sacrifice’ I was ready to take a nap.  Petra is the kind of place where its a lot of climbing and stairs.  Since the stairs are eroded and ancient they are not very levelled- so it takes quite an effort to climb around this place (also…whoever built petra must have really liked stairs and heights.  There was a TON of them.)

camels

for further info: google, 'married to a bedouin' -amazing lady who gave everything to live in the caves with her husband.Still lives there and I bought luther a ring from her. :)

 

Mel and I made it from 7am-2pm.  By then, we heard it was another ‘hour long walk’ mel decided to take a donkey. THEN we heard it was another hour long climb up to the monastery.  Factor in an hour walk down and an 1.5 hour trek back through the city to the entrance gates and mel and I decided to pack it in.  The others went ahead and we began the endless walk in the blazing hot sun back to the front gates.  We were both excruciatingly hot and tired.  My favorite conversation went something like this:

Me: omigod. I’m going to die.  I think I’m going to cry. I m actually going to cry

Mel: Oh- Go ahead, s’okay.  I already cried twice now.

 We also decided that perhaps mel wasn’t shedding tears, her eyeballs may have been sweating.

Anyway, after a long cold shower and some beloved Middle Eastern gummy worms, we decided that returning home early was the BEST DECISION OF LIFE.

The other teachers crawled in a few hours later.  Needless to say, we all went to bed early and walked and complained like old people for the rest of the trip.
 

the 'egyptian' way

So, our water heater in our kitchen crapped out on us a few weeks back.  After numerous attempts at trying to get it fixed through what the school labels as 'proper protocol' Luther finally had it and called our egypto-mom from down the hall. (the one with the dogs :) ) She managed to get someone to schedule a meeting.  So, 2 weeks go by with excuses from this company such as:
- 'illness'
- 'holiday' (ok that one was legit- it WAS the holiday of 'Sham el Nassim)
- 'holiday number 2' (not sure what that one was...)
- 'forgetfulness'

and just straight up, 'not today'.  So finally he comes by and looks at our water heater and leaves.  Turns out he can't do anything until he orders a new one.

Flash forward 1 more week when the water heater is 'in stock'

3 days later, someone comes in to install it.

They open the box, bang on our broken one a few times and leave after an hour.

Where did they go? I haven't a clue, but there is a broken water heater on my wall and a brand new one in an opened box. 

Let me irritate:

water heater broken.  2 weeks to get someone in.  1 week to order new heater.  3 days to have someone install it and one hour of banging around leaves me with an opened box in the middle of mu kitchen.

So my Egyptian mom comes by and just gives the guy hell.  Turns out he ordered the wrong one and totally got busted for trying to keep our money.  So...after an hour of yelling on the phone and at the repair guy we should have a new water heater tomorrow...

yup...

We were told after all this; that it is just the 'Egyptian way' and unfortunately, you have to fight like hell to get equality.  Westerner or not, most businesses will do absolutely nothing for you unless you scream blue murder at them.

(I should have known this after our internet and phone problems.)

but there you have it. 

And I STILL have no hot water in my kitchen. :P

p.s. the repair guy totally tried to steal luthers 'Egypt Exploration Society' pen.  Our bowab caught him.

p.s.s. luther and I went for a walk in another expat area called 'zamalek' (more crowded and closer to downtown- however this also means there is more to do and see)

I bought the coolest shoes of life. 

they ARE red. and yes, they ARE sparkly. and do you REALLY have to ask if I click my heels 3x and say....????

 

BEACHBEACHBEACHBEACHBEACH

El Ghouna – the PLAYA DEL CARMEN of Egypt.

 

So, Luther and I and a few staff members decided to spend a long weekend at the Red Sea.

Words cannot describe this place. AT ALL.

8 of us took an 8 hour bus ride down to a resort by the sea.  (which would have been an 'alright' bus ride except they decided to screen a loud obnoxious slutty Egyptian film WITHOUT the headphone alternative so the whole damn bus could hear it.  And the 'sluttiness' factor was borderline 'Canada-slutty' FYI.

Anyway, went to amazing restaurants, saw amazing million dollar boats, got really sun-burnt, watched phys.ed teacher kite-surf and finally enjoyed some much needed Egyptian sun. :)



view from our room

 

 

EGYPT XOXO

EGYPT-EY things I love:

Cheap veg. (3 LE for a head of lettuce.)  That’s like.. 20 cents.

Knock-off EVERYTHING (glasses, watches, bags, clothes, movies, electronics…)

Everything is shiny and bright.  If it isn’t that means its cheap and low quality.

My wadjit eye cloth in the bathroom.  Its waatttttcccchhhhinnnnng you….

Buying freshly peeled garlic on the street.

Foreign junk food. (Its from everywhere! China, Poland, india, Germany, italy…)

Egyptian radio: the reciting of the holy Koran. All day. Every day. On every station.

Egyptian versions of ethnic food: sushi, curry, burritos, chicken wings. MCDONALDS. pizza (they put wieners on it. And ketchup.)  Anyone who was my best friend in grade 8 will see the humor behind ‘weiner pizzas’

We don’t eat chips.  We eat chipsy.

On that note, I watched a pretty good movie called ‘cairo time’ (2009). Its really good and is pretty accurate of what life is like over here. (minus the whole expat love affair thing…although its not uncommon :P ) Check it out!

 

Luther got 'Al Jezeera' cable so he has been glued to the tv watching European football leagues.  We went to the Khan and he sent some poor shirt vendor on a wild goose chase looking for a Portuguese jersey.  The guy actually FOUND one.  He he is wearing it eating a gift from our neighbor.  Its Luthers favorite Egyptian food.

 

 

BIRTHDAY: EGYPT EDITION

My birthday:

So, I am officially 27.  I am not upset about this but I’m kind of weirded out because according to my students I’m ‘old’. (According to my students, 24 was old)

I remember being in grade 2 and 3 and thinking my teachers were old ladies already.  I feel like a ‘young’ teacher though.  I don’t remember having teachers as young as me.  They all had ‘woman’ haircuts and shoulder pads and fuchsia dress pants.  Does that make sense? (I guess it WAS the 90’s…)

I spent my birthday eve alone because my passport was still at the school having random passport renewals done to it (I still don’t understand the reasoning behind this) and I couldn’t get in to the ‘cool teacher club’ (ACE club in maadi. Google it :P  Its an expat bar/lounge) without it.  So I ordered mcds and watched TV which was almost better because it was a CRAZY long week full of subbing and no preps. 

I had flowers delivered to me.

 

 

I went to sleep and the next morning I woke up to a message from Luther on my ipod.  Attached to the message was a digital PEOPLE subscription!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I walked into the living room and had birthday decorations!  Then a cupcake delivery!  WOO-HOO!

Luther and I decided to go to Citystars mall because I can spend all day in there happy as a pig in mud.  We shopped (mostly at H&M) and saw a movie (the last exorcism…part TWO!!!) and had dinner.

Omigod.  Egyptians watching a movie about exorcism was ridiculous.  They laughed and screeched the whole time (Luther thinks its because they were uncomfortable) and they were talking and their phones were goin’ off and it is just a crazy gong show.

Then we went for dinner at Planet Africa (Egyptian version of ‘rainforest café’) because it was so damn good last time we went.  After dinner we tried to find the exit but accidently bumped into all the NICE FANCY restaurants the mall has.  So next time, we will try those.

 

We got home. Gobbled 2/6 cupcakes. I blew out ALL 27 candles. (TWICE. because the first time wasn’t videotaped lol) and watched ‘Ted’.

Mom got me a haircut for when I get back to Winnipeg in June and apple earrings (THANKS MOM!)

Luther got me a haircut for NOW because my hair has the look and consistency of french-fries and a facial and a massage at a spa recommended by the staff at the school. YEAH!

And he threw in a bathing suit too because we’re going to the beach this long weekend. DOUB LE YEAH!

However, my birthday is not the same without my friends and family.  I ALWAYS go to Boston Pizza at least some time in my birthday week.  So listen up BP, I want a 4-cheese ravioli waiting for me when I get back J  Thanks again for the Birthday wishes everyone!

 

(Fatima: Luther forwarded me your message! Thanks!)

Alisha! Got your picture! VERY excited!

springtime in egypt

Spring has NEVER been my favorite time of year.  There is Easter of course, and MY BIRTHDAY. But really, its just a big heap of messy weather and stressful students.

I always felt like mother nature used spring as a bit of a tease.  Right when we would go out and buy our fancy pale yellow and peppermint colored dresses for Easter and spring break- we would be bombarded with snowfall.  Not only that, but everyone's broke from Christmas and cramming for finals.  AWESOME month for a birthday. :p

Meanwhile...in EGYPT...mother nature does not f*** around.  Its more like, "K...SPRINGS HERE. ABORT LOCUST INVASION. INITIATE EXTREME HEAT.....THE BLOWING KIND!'

I felt like I woke up and just WHAM- heat wave!  I went to school in pants and a jacket and emerged drenched in sweat. (this was me and 11 other teachers on the bus. what a "fun" ride home)  So, temperatures here are in the mid-thirties and its not even considered 'summer heat' yet.  This is great an' all but the locals are warning us to stock up on water as there WILL be shortages. (There was when we first got here. you couldn't order a fountain drink at mcd's or find bottled water for quite some time)

Also, the use of electricity will skyrocket due to the use of air conditioners.  This is bound to cause power outages throughout the city (maadi is especially bad for it) so there is a good chance we will not have internet or electricity for a few days.  (ie: hard to get ahold of me)

Now that the nightmare of being a student is behind me, I am able to look at spring in another light.

MY BIRTHDAY!

EASTER!

SPRING BREAK!

30+ TEMPERATURES!

HOME STRETCH UNTIL SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMMMMMMMEERRRRRRR!!!!

On that note, we visited our neighbor the other day and I thought of monica because she has 2 adorable Pekingese.  BEST part about these guys is that you can tell them apart by one of them ALWAYS having an overbite, and the other one always has his tongue sticking out. SSSOOOOOO cute



Ganja and Mary-jane :)