Day Three

Today was my first class of survival Egyptian Arabic. It was intense but excellent. I learned so much, I can't imagine what tomorrow's class is going to be like. There are three other students in my class so it is very hands on and intimate. My professors name is Hannan and she is fantastic.

I went horse back riding tonight in the desert, close to the pyramids. Oh, and it was in the dark. It was awesome! My horse hated me though and rammed my knee into a concrete pillar, actually breaking the skin. But, it was still amazing. The pyramids are absolutely amazing, its surreal to see them. At night they are lit up by lights. The air was thick with dust and on the way back my horse took off so I was ahead of the group, all I could see behind me were black blobs. My horse was very determined to get back and obviously knew where it was going so I just went with the flow ( but it kept veering to the right and I kept having to avoid walls lol) The reason I hurt my knee was because I was in an alley on the way back and there was a group of horses coming at me with two camels (which by the way, are HUGE) and my horse wouldn't stop and the space kept getting smaller and smaller until my knee smashed into the concrete. Finally the horse stopped when it couldn't get passed the camels. When we got back we went to a bar and had Egyptian beer called Stella (not the kind found in the US). It was pretty good and the bottle was quite large :) Taller and wider than any bottle I have seen in the states.

Before the horse back riding we had a Bedouin dinner. There was traditional dancing and then the dancers took everyone in the group onto the dance floor and we all dances together. It was tons of fun! The food was delicious and they also gave us sheeha and I had my first shot of Turkish coffee. Its better than any coffee I have ever tasted.

Today I actually felt settled. Its an great feeling to not feel anxious all the time. Tomorrow we are going to have our first taxi trip. That should be interesting. I took some movies on my camera, one of them of how cars do NOT stay in the lines on the road. There will be a two lane road with three lanes of cars. Its crazy!

One thing I learned today was how to be aggressive. In Egypt there is no such thing as a line. You have to push your way to the front unless you want to wait 15 minutes. Even then there will always be someone else pushing you back. I had my first experience with this today at the felafel shop. Kathryn and I had to be aggressive to get our food. Its all chaos, but at the same time exhilarating, especially when the guy behind the counter chooses your ticket and makes your food!