Texas? Texas! Texas.

time	mile	update
7:30?	22.3	Gas up in the exotic, foreign land called "Lakeville". I move on before I can be savaged by the natives.
7:41?	33.0	Exit 69: haha!
07:57	45.0	Heavy downpour. Losing reception of The Current.
08:00	50.5	Dark sky ahead. Lots of rain. I have no windshield wipers. Road construction.
08:07	57.1	The Current ends. Semis and dump trucks trying to kill me.
08:22	70.1	Exit 32: Hope.
08:44	99.2	No more rain! 8 miles to Iowa. Car in limp mode.
08:52	108.7	Iowa!
09:53	169.0	Be Aware (Careful?) of Crosswinds. Energy drink fading.
10:12	205.2	Lubbock is West Texas? Getting directions via text. Need a nap [map?].
10:19	213.5	Steering column starts smoking. Cruise control? Stops, eventually.
10:23	218.4	I don't like the noises that the highway makes.
13:19	322.4	Back on the road after short nap at rest stop.
13:24	328.0	Missouri! Also, $10,000 fine if I hit a worker.
15:43	469.4	Kansas turnpike.
16:10	???	After a little scare, decide I'm on the right track. No turnpike ticket?
18:03	???	Still on 35. Paved with new asphalt.
19:51	749.5	Gas, no nap. Push on!
20:33	799.0	Took the wrong exit, but it turned out to be the right one.
21:01	830.7	Still more road construction.
22:52	954.8	Screamed for eight minutes. It went well.
23:51	1006.9	Bathroom break at nicest rest stop evAR! Car sounds terrible.
?0:0?	1??8.0	Voices...?!
0?:??	?1?e.e	Road turns into a river.
??:0*	1?q9.@	Shadowy blob sitting on overpasses keeps trying to kill me.
?1:*?	11?!.9	Someone is in the back seat.
*2:?!	1207.6	Exit 3 is closed!
?2:0r	1208.3	Find my way to the address. Sit outside for a bit wondering if it's the right house.
0?:2!	1208.3	Lizzy doesn't answer my text.
02:3*	1208.3	She does answer her phone though! I'm here! Alive! Thank Jebus!

Students in Solidarity with Gaza: About Us

We are a group of students organizing a delegation to Gaza. We aim to show our support for the people of Gaza by: meeting and building community with other students, working with grassroots organizations, delivering aid, and representing the face of the international community that does want to help and actively participate in lifting the siege. We are committed to enhancing our own perspectives about the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to bringing real, human stories back to our communities.

Many of this trip’s organizers are students who participated in a March aid delegation to Gaza. We witnessed destruction and listened to stories which serve as evidence that political alliances and goals have become more important than respect for international law and human life. We are motivated by these personal experiences to organize this delegation of students in solidarity with Gaza. We are part of a bigger movement, Code Pink’s 22 day campaign to lift the siege, in which delegations from around the world will be coming to Rafah in May and June, bringing international attention and putting pressure on Egypt to open the border.

We welcome anyone to our delegation who is excited to share in these goals and interested in learning more. Flexibility is also key. Our plans may change. The Egypt-Gaza border is officially closed, and while we will do what we can to ensure our safe crossing at Rafah, crossing the border can never be guaranteed.

[taken from the trip literature, not written by me]

Pre-Dated, Post-Written, Pre-Prologue

I'd like to elaborate a bit on just what I meant when I said "doing the Gaza volunteering thing" a few entries back.

Essentially, for the week of 25 May - 1 June I was a member of a student-organized delegation to the Gaza Strip called Students in Solidarity with Gaza. It was composed of 35 students (or student-ish people), as well as countless individuals who lent their support in time, money, contact-using, etc. so as to facilitate our envoy's success. Additionally, there were more than 100 other concerned citizens of the world who, as members of other associations, crossed [or attempted to cross] the border within about the same time frame. Each of these groups, for organizational and credence-lending purposes, fell under the umbrella of Code Pink, who also led a successful excursion in March of this year (where our organizers got the idea).

We did not rely solely on Code Pink to secure us access to the Gaza Strip. Invitations were obtained from the UN, NGOs, and other humanitarian institutions on the ground in Gaza, so that we could further prove to any parties interested in blocking our progress (of which there were a few) that our presence was requested. We brought with us medical supplies, sports equipment, and monetary donations, all of which were to be given as aid to hospitals or people in need once we'd gotten in. Our stated goals were simple: deliver our goods and engage in dialogue with individuals and organizations in the area in order to find out more about a region plagued by ongoing conflict.

Once we were in Gaza, we took part in an amazingly diverse itinerary that was put together by five Gazan girls who wished to share their and their country's stories with us. While we were there, we: stayed with host families, all of whose hospitality was beyond measure; met with NGOs and humanitarian organizations who work with and provide services to refugees and Gazans alike; visited areas that had been affected (read: destroyed) in the most recent incursion, Operation Cast Lead; talked about the issues at hand (and more mundane things as well) with Palestinians of a variety of backgrounds, from governmental representatives to the people on the street; and, basically, had a pretty amazing and unforgettable week.

What follows is a [relatively] short rundown of what we saw and did during our trip. I greatly encourage comments and questions of any kind regarding my experiences or about what exactly is going on in Gaza. Part of what I hope to accomplish by putting this on my blog is to instigate discussion about a topic that is too often ignored and misunderstood by the Western world, to the detriment of the peace process. If by spurring conversations about such a controvertial subject we promote voters to make more informed decisions on election days, perhaps this needless conflict doesn't need to be a permanent fixture of the Middle Eastern landscape.

Note: لن نصمت

Originally I had intended my entry on Gaza to be a one-time, unified entity, filled with grandeur and profoundness previously unheard of here or anywhere else. It was to be magnificently compact and potent, concise and direct, not to mention short and easy to read. However, as I began contemplating and preliminarily scribing the tales I had to tell, I realized that our week in Palestine was of a scope too great to be constrained within the boundaries of one, lone dispatch; the epic endeavour attempted forthwith, if forced to be molded in such a manner, would have its story cheapened and its capability for change damaged irreparably.

For this reason, I have decided to split the reports up in a circadian fashion, pre-dated to around the times when I would have posted them had I not crashed from exhaustion at the end of each chocked-full, information-saturated day (or if I had had access to the Intarwebs, which wasn't at all a consistent feature of the trip). Hopefully this will embody everything I hoped to do with the narrative in a manner consistent with the quality I'm sure you've all grown accustomed to through your years of reading this blog, as well as that which you should expect in any adventures with which I may choose to privilege you in the near [or far] future.

Enjoy!

Perfectly Perilous Pirate Party Presented By Persons Preaching Peace

United We Stand on a Solid Ground to Instigate Unprecedented Prospects with Experience

Greece, the final chapter: Our Santorini to Athens ferry was canceled without anyone informing us, but luckily some friends of ours tried to buy passage on the same boat and discovered this unfortunate news. Sam and I scrambled to get our refunds so that we could afford to buy new tickets for a different ferry (we were down to about €7.25 at that point) and then played cards all night with three Canadians. In Athens we avoided the cold by sitting in the entryway to the hostel we had previously stayed at, then went and got breakfast with the previously mentioned Canucks, then went to the airport using the previously mentioned last bits of money we had. A hop, skip, and jump away and we were back in the suffocating smog and heat of Cairo. I love it!

Back in Egypt: School's oppressive oppressiveness has returned with a vengence. I still haven't written my midterm (and I'm beginning to think I never will). Nobody does their homework in my Arabic class and our teacher keeps threatening to get someone else to teach it. I've got a presentation next week on my volunteering and it's relation to development theory, two three 15 page papers to write on topics I have yet to decide or research, an Arabic final that covers material from a book I don't own, etc. I'm not worried!

A Scottish guy I met in Greece, Graeme, is currently sleeping on my couch because I invited him down for the Pirate Party (which hasn't happened yet, but the next entry should have pictures and a rundown of the awesomeness) and he actually booked a plane and showed up. Nathaniel's aunt and cousin are also staying at the houseboat for a short while during their visit. Also, another friend, Jon, who had to vacate his apartment a bit earlier than the end of the semester has joined the club. That makes seven people in a two bedroom place. No big deal!

Wait a minute? Didn't I already do something like this back in 2005? Who'd have thought I'd be reliving that period in my life all over again?!

Anywho, last night we had a wonderful dinner where our old neighbor Khaldun, plus our new neighbors Jean and Clements, plus all the people staying at our houseboat, plus a few extras cooked vegetables and pasta and beer (well, we didn't cook the beer, but it was there). My pasta sauce was a hit, which is nice. I'm getting better at cooking, mumkin?!

The night before last was the opening performance of Dido and Æneas, an opera that AUC is putting on (the first ever, apparently), featuring my friend David and Kim as Æneas and a seriously wacky witch-lady respectively. It was my first opera, though probably not the last. I kind of liked it!

One of my English students gave me a liter of full cream milk as a present. Thanks?!

Jennifer is coming on 17 May. She'll be here for about three weeks, during which we plan on touring various places in Egypt, doing the Gaza volunteering thing, and visiting Jordan. After she leaves I'm going to be completely out of money, so I'll probably become a couch surfer again and see what I can see with what I can squeeze out of family and friends, killing time until my flight to Munich at the end of June, where I will then do the same until my final flight home on the 19 August. Two days short of a year abroad!

Time sure flies by fast, eh? or was it time's fun when you're having flies? I don't remember!

That's all I've got for now. Bye!

Rain, Rain, Go Away; Famous Last Words

Hi.

How are you?

I am fine.

I'm currently sitting at a computer on the wonderful Greek island of Santorini, waiting for the sun to warm up the slightly-too-cold air so I can go lay on the beach.

It's been a while, I know... but I can explain.

See, I've been busy. I had this midterm I was supposed to write that I didn't even write because I was so busy.

Ummm... what was I busy doing?

That's not important. What is important is that I'm here now and updating you on my superbly glamorous lifestyle... right?

Anywho.

Wolf's friend Steph who is studying in Madrid came to town, so we showed her a good time around the way. We went to Lucille's, who allegedly serves the best burger in the entire world, so says Time magazine. I ate one. Well, half of one. It was okay, but I think not having eaten meat in almost three years kind of left me no frame of reference for comparison, so my opinion on the matter is kind of moot. Also, I ate a delicious offering of the breakfast triumverate (pancakes, waffles, french toast), which left me so full I couldn't eat for at least two days.... or a couple hours anyway.

We also colored some eggs for Easter and then went to Dahab and did a desert safari where we climbed the mountains and I broke one of Nathaniel's sandals that I was using without his permission. The good news is that I broke the left one, which complimented nicely my unbroken left one (whose right one I had broken earlier, in Wadi Digla, where we had a picnic I don't think I ever mentioned), so that now I wear two unmatching sandals, one of which is slightly lower than the other, forever giving me back pains and headaches... but not really.

About spring break: so, remember when I said I was going to Morrocco? Well, I did say that, even if you don't remember. Well, then remember how I said I was going to Tunisia? Well, once again, I did. Well, as it turns out, my credit card wasn't working on the Egypt Air website so I couldn't buy the tickets in time so they skyrocketed in price and I was left with no plans for spring break.

Enter http://www.kayak.com, which allowed me to search around for places I might like to go from Cairo for under $300. I found three options: Spain, Turkey, and Greece. I asked my travel partner Sam, which he'd like to go to, to which he replied: "I don't know." I prodded him a bit more and got him to pick one, which ended up being Greece. So, here we are.

Sort of. I went and bought the tickets (after some ridiculous nonsense about me not being able to use my card in person either, then I could only buy one ticket, then I could buy both and it was all good) and then we left the next day.

We tried to couch surf, but being as it was Easter in Greece [Wait, two Easters? "How can this be?" you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked: Greece uses the Russian Orthodox dates for Easter, which, except for once every four years or so, end up being a bit later than "normal" easter... so... yeah... it was Easter two weekends in a row for me.... woot], everyone was busy with family stuff and we weren't able to get any free accomodation. We stayed in a hostel in Athens for a few days (doing an island cruise, seeing the Acropolis and the rest of the ancient ruins, doing hand stands for free food) before heading up to Meteora with our newfound friend Ash, the Aussie.

We climbed and hiked around for hours (me in only my sandals, because they're the only shoes I brought, which probably wasn't the best idea), saw turtles having sex, slept on a bench, and celebrated another Easter. Back to Athens we went, before catching a ferry to Santorini, where we've been relaxing for three days now. Yesterday we rented quads and zoomed about the island, annoying locals and watching our friend James flip his for the third day in a row. Ouch.

It's obnoxiously windy right now and there are a few too many clouds out for my taste, which is why I sit here blathering on about the things that I am blathering on about. I've reached the end of my thread though, so I'll leave you with the promise of two things once I return to Cario: pictures of the houseboat, as well as pictures of our Pirate party on the houseboat (perhaps both at the same time?) we'll be having in a week. Pirate costumes, pirated music, perhaps even a showdown with the infamous pirate "No Beard". Be excited.

Also, my iPhone is still broken and Sam didn't bring a camera so there are no pictures of Greece. Sorry.

Is Someone in the Fridge?; It's Okay, We're Regular Twins

omgzr, it's, like, almost April? I still haven't done my taxes or thought of my New Year's resolutions or anything. Where does the time go?

Funny you should ask:

• the Cairo Jazz Festival, where Kim made friends with kitties and Fathy Salama, who will now be featuring her in a performance about a week from now
• the birthday party, for our neighbor Patrick, where we surprised him with cake and people whom he didn't know
• the unbirthday party, which started on the houseboat but was eventually relocated to Jon's apartment (after a few hours of trying to get people moving), where I was greeted with chocolate cake and a poker game
• the poker night, inspired by the above, where I split the pot with Andy, the couch surfer
• the six days where I hosted Andy, the couch surfer, who is from Australia and who is also doing an around the world trip for a year (or two)
• the four days (some of which overlap with the above) where I hosted Ruth and Leo, the Germans (though she is actually from Vienna), who were finishing up their jaunt around the Middle East
• the three hours per week spent volunteering in Ain Shams (which is an hour's travel one way) where Sarah and I "teach" English (we mostly just hang out) to people from places like Chad, the Ivory Coast, Iraq, and Ethiopia
• the attempted chess game with backgammon pieces, which lasted only about six moves before everyone was thoroughly confused to the point of despair
• the twelve hour LAN party which ended in frustration and dashed expectations
• the party where Kim bought a rubaba (an ancient pharoahonic instrument, which looks like what a violin would have been if it were made with a stick, some wires, and a coconut shell) and scheduled practice sessions on my deck
• the aforementioned practice session on my deck, which was actually quite nice, despite the high pitched, screechy nature of the rubaba's "music"
• the frequent breakfast/brunches where I cook for all my friends and we eat on my deck, enjoying the Nile and all it's trash-filled goodness
• the Indian food night where we ordered Indian food, watched Flight of the Conchords, and danced naked in the street (well, maybe only I did the last part)
• the 3,000 piece puzzle Kim and I bought, which still sits mostly in its box (except for the edges) because my table is too small for it
• the unfortunate incident where I woke up one morning to find my iPhone's screen to be cracked, ensuring that the bottom half no longer detects any touches (it now serves as an iPod with not very much space that only plays songs via shuffle and as an instrument for me to read people's texts with no hope of returning them [sadly this also means that I shall not be uploading any more pictures {at least until/if I get it fixed}])
• the class presentation which required me to read a 400 page book and condense everything worth knowing about it into three hours (though, luckily, my teacher likes to talk and thusly did most of my work for me)
• the presentation on X-Files that I didn't prepare for except to find humorous pictures, like Mulder and Scully in an awkward romantic pose, Weekly World News covers, and Chris Carter making a funny face
• the one or two hours I slept
• the past two days we've spent without water in the houseboat, thinking that it was just another quirky quirk of life on the Nile, only to discover that someone had turned off our water in an attempt to turn off the toilet
• the blog writing

Anyway, I think that'll do for now. I was this close to getting the really good pictures of the houseboat on my computer, but I fell asleep instead. Next time, mumkin.

We Will Win in the End, Ciao!; Severed Phallus of an African-American

I've been guilted into writing another entry. You should know that I'm doing this instead of homework. Feel special.

So, last night we had a party at the 'awama (houseboat). We bought a giant tub of white acrylic paint and some little color tubes (one for every color of the rainbow, plus brown and black) with which we (we being Wolf, Nathaniel, and I, plus all our friends) decorated the walls. Everyone who came left something behind, such as: a tree, a squirrel smoking shisha in the tree, a pastel butterfly, purple pyramids, car emblems, a Koi yin-yang, or a Mayan space pirate. As soon as I get the pictures off of Kim's camera I will share them with all of you.

I painted a robot.

We also played Mafia until five in the morning. I watched the sunrise. It was nice, because, hey, I live on the Nile.

I will never get tired of saying that.

There was another party two weeks ago. A lot more people came to that one, but there was also a knife fight, so it kind of evens out. We tried to gather all the glass bottles of beer and bring them in for the deposit (like a friend did last semester, getting some pretty nice returns for the effort), but they told us that the bottles we had were not the two-way ones. Lame.

Since we've moved in the slant of the structure has leveled out (it was pretty dramatically tilted due to the Nile's water level being lower than normal), however, there are still plenty of boats that drive by, shaking our house at its very 'foundations' (read: pontoons). It's a two bedroom place, but we have three people living here. This entails one of us sleeping on the couch in the living room. Usually it isn't an issue because we either sleep at someone else's house, are too tired to care, or just cram into the bed together anyway. Other than the occasional quirk (an overflowing toilet tank which has to be monitored closely, a very clog-prone sink, constantly moving the clothes washer between the kitchen and the bathroom, stray cats), I would say this place is perfect. In fact, most of the previously mentioned quirks only serve to make living here more interesting, so I'll go ahead and say it is perfect.

Classes are going fineish. I told myself I'd do my work this semester, and I'm still telling myself that in the hopes that it comes true, but apparently you actually have to do the work, not just say that you should do it. Sounds familiar, I know.

I went to Marsa Alam with Amr (the guy who was supposed to go to India with me, but got delayed and ended up traveling on his own), Kim, Mohamed (Amr's brother), and various others. We dived in the Red Sea (Kim for the first time) and saw lots of really awesome undersea creatures, including: giant sea turtles (seriously! some of them were as big as refrigerators, with Remoras hanging off them and everything), crocodile fish(?), sand calamari(?), Bluespotted stingray, and Parrotfish and triggerfish of various varieties. There were supposedly Dugong (not Dewgong, the Pokémon) swimming around somewhere, but we couldn't find them. Bastards.

After our freezing underwater adventure, we trekked into the desert to Wadi El Gamal (valley of the beautiful; beautiful valley) which is a national reserve run by Amr's uncle. He set us up with desert huts like those built by the indigenous nomadic tribes. Then we took a camel 'safari' into the 'desert' and watched while Hamad, AKA Superman, threw rocks so fast that you could hear them buzz like a whistle. Also, we ate bread cooked in the sand, drank gibana (coffee that must be drunk in odd numbers), and camel cheese. My camel tried to kill me on multiple occasions, but what else is new?

I've also: celebrated Kim's birthday with [no sleep and] an early morning jaunt to the pyramids for the sunrise, acted as an extra in an Egyptian director's move (Moondog, and apparently it is going to be at the Cannes Film Festival?), gone on a picnic in the desert near Cairo, finished all the easy parts of a puzzle, played Double Dragon, honed my cooking skills, taken a shower, saw a performance put on by deaf actors for children, made people uncomfortable, etc.

Time is going by quickly. I start my English teaching tomorrow in the supposedly "ghetto" area of Cairo, which should be interesting. Midterms are coming up, allegedly, but I don't know if I have one. I'm planning on going to Morocco and Spain for break? or maybe Aswan, Luxor, and Sudan? or maybe Tunisia? or maybe I'll just stay home. I'll let you know. Life is good.

Satisfied? Sheesh.

P.S. Philip was released to his family safely, and is now attending classes as per usual. He was blindfolded the entire time, but they didn't beat him up or leave any scars that I can see. Additionally, Ayman Nour (whose son attends AUC), the opponent in Egypt's 2005 presidential elections (who was jailed for forging the signatures required for the creation of his party after "losing" the election with 1% of the vote) has recently been released for "medical reasons". Perhaps Egypt is finally rethinking its 'jail first, ask questions later' policy?

Naw.

Free Phillip Rizk!

Classes are all settled and I am halfway through the second week of school now. Although I am currently still sleeping on a couch in some friends' apartment, I will be moving into a houseboat on the 15th.

That's right. A house, which also happens to be a boat, which also happens to be on the Nile. Jackpot. Even though it is a two bedroom place we will most likely be fitting three occupants in (somehow), so my total rent will be somewhere in the realm of 700 LE a month ($126!). It has a wonderfully large deck with a gate that opens into the river (even though I probably shall not be swimming due to the disgustingly polluted and parasite-infested nature of the water), a sailboat, windsurfing equipment, new appliances, a new bathroom, and, of course, it is a houseboat on the Nile.

I'm excited.

My schedule is as follows:

I am also taking an independent study (which, for some reason, doesn't show up on my schedule) that involves reading about anthropological linguistics and discussing it with the professor and Kat, this other aspiring linguist.

I like my classes.

Also, apparently a student named Phillip Rizk was abducted by the Egyptian security forces during a political rally encouraging solidarity with Palestine. No one knows where he is or when (if) he will be released. There have been a few gatherings on the AUC campus with people screaming through loudspeakers and carrying signs and everything. It is all rather surreal, but hopefully it ends with a positive outcome as soon as possible. Just thought you all should know.

This weekend I am going to the Black and White desert. The following weekend will be the houseboat house party. April involves at least 16 days of traveling (perhaps with my sister?) due to the awesome way the holiday was scheduled. Ummm... that is about it.

See you later.

Bharat

Instead of rehashing each thing I did during my month in India, I am going to take the more concise (and easier) route of telling you one thing I did each day. Sound good?

Well, too bad. I'm in charge here.

Day 1: watched people play cricket in a park in Mumbai
Day 2: went to Elephanta island and learned the story of Shiva
Day 3: got my picture taken on the old woman's shoe
Day 4: woke up super early to see the dock madness
Day 5: finished a 29 hour train ride in Kochi
Day 6: enjoyed an ayurvedic massage
Day 7: couldn't find a rickshaw at three in the morning
Day 8: saw elephants, deer, squirrels, butterflies, bison, warhogs, and other animals in Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Day 9: took a ferry through the backwaters to Aleppi
Day 10: rented a house boat for the day and ate dinner with some new friends
Day 11: had our ticket checked four times on the train to Goa
Day 12: bought a horribly written book on how to learn Hindi in 30 days
Day 13: cheered Shane on during an open mike music night on the beach
Day 14: got a new tattoo
Day 15: arrived in Bangalore and met with my couch surfing host
Day 16: made fisherman's sandwiches
Day 17: attended Festival of Life 2009 and listened to Delirious, an evangelist, and Hillsong
Day 18: missed the banana crumble
Day 19: worked on a farm for the first time in my life
Day 20: acquired groceries and bread at the local grocer and baker
Day 21: irrigated lettuce and rice
Day 22: didn't ask the Dalai Lama inappropriate questions
Day 23: blistered my hands digging beds for eggplants
Day 24: built a bonfire for 60 Indian kids from an elite school in the North
Day 25: harvested vargue while the kids "helped"
Day 26: drove a scooter to a jazz concert
Day 27: left Auroville... :(
Day 28: nearly missed my train
Day 29: received food from my train compartment friends
Day 30: flew home [to Cairo]

*BONUS SECTION*

hours spent traveling by train: 91
motorcycle accidents: 1
motorcycle accidents involving children: 1
cows attacked by: 2
movies watched: 7
states visited: 5
souvenirs purchased: 4
money spent: too much
homeless kids seen: too many
friends made: a lot
life experiences that will never be forgotten (assuming no blows to the head): 1

Tune in next week for the pre-game on my second—and final—semester at AUC.

P.S. I have uploaded pictures to my Picasa account. Enjoy.

India

So... I'm in India. Have been for almost two weeks now. I'm not in the mood to recount all my adventures, suffice to say they've been life-alteringly fantastic, as per usual.

Tomorrow I set out for Auroville, the place where I shall be working for a couple of weeks. Everything I've heard about it sounds great, such as the friend of a friend who went for two weeks and stayed for two years, and the other friend of the same friend who went for two weeks and stayed for five.

I think that sounds like a good idea?

Anywho... I've been keeping a pencil and paper journal so far, so if you're actually interested in hearing about India and my story about it, ask me to look at it sometime. Assuming I come back. :)

Talk to you later, when/if I return to Egypt, I suppose. Bye.