Beach + Mountain + Nile + Frisbee + Sprinklers + Puppets + Midget = My Life

I'm skipping the Lebanon/Syria story for now so that I can actually update this thing and stop getting crap from my mother and grandmother. I want to do the trip justice, and I am only in the mood to do it justice every other Thursday, and then only if I've eaten three bowls of koshry under the hot, hot sun. I'll get to it soonish though.

Since returning from the eid break, I've had a good deal of experiences, some of which I will now describe.

Dahab: The weekend of 12 October was Chelsea's birthday, and because she wanted to spend it swimming in the sea, it was only logical to go to the sea so that she might fulfill her dream. Originally we--Andy, Chelsea, Christianna, Sarah and Katie (friends of Andy's who are studying in Ghana) and I--had planned on climbing Mount Sinai (where Moses was given the commandments, and Mohammed's horse ascended to heaven) the first night, going scuba diving the second day, and then lounging about on the third, however, our scuba guy wasn't up for sending a crew out for only one day of underwater adventures, so we ended up lounging about that day too.

It was a fun trip, characterized by a sleepless night of path-walking up the mountain (all the while hearing "Camel? Camel?"), a beautiful--yet eerie--sunrise, a Bedouin restaurant owner whom the girls just couldn't resist, a charging camel, a birthday cake surprise that wasn't all that surprising, a 10 minute Bedouin dance party, a lost mobile phone which turned out to be in my pocket all along, snorkeling, sunbathing, a free scarf from the shisha man, and mumkin* more.

Faluka on the Nile: As a secondary Chelsea's/Christianna's/Emily's birthday celebration, and also as an excuse to party on the Nile, we gathered up some people and rented a faluka. This excursion was far more successful (number-wise) than the last, and we had 19 people turn up for the festivities. Unfortunately, Christianna had a midterm the next day, and Emily was left behind when she went to get some phone credit, so they had to miss out on the awesome. We all decided that falukaing was a wonderful idea for biweekly fun, so about twice a month we'll be doing more of it, such as tomorrow night.

Picnic at AUC: Turns out there is a patch of grass on the New Campus, so a gaggle of us brought food and a blanket and showed the Egyptians how to enjoy greenery. For this to be fully appreciated, one must understand that the New Campus is in the middle of the desert, and I'm reasonably sure this basketball court-sized piece of landscape is the only one of its kind in the vicinity. Once all the food had been eaten, and after a short game of frisbee, we were informed that they would be turning on the sprinklers in two minutes. We quickly moved all of our valuables to a safer spot (which turned out to be not so safe, so we had to move them again), and then decided to not let a little thing like spraying water spoil our fun. Those of us who were still around danced about and threw the frisbee among the rainbows and grass and sprinklers and staring Egyptian workers, having a merry ol' time. After being soaked to the bone, a few of us needed to do something silly like attend classes or have midterms, so the game morphed into sprawling under the afternoon sun.

Night on the town: Last Thursday night Andy, Kira, Sarah, Chelsea, Kelby and I heard about a puppet show and decided to track it down. After a bit of wandering through the streets, we made talking faces with our hands and asked for directions, which we then followed. We found the theatre, paid, and went inside. The show had already started, and it involved a man, Sami, and a woman, Summer, who lip-synched a soundtrack of dialogue and songs, with the assistance of a few puppets: miniature versions of themselves, a creepy sun, a star, a few octopuses riding mashed potatoes, a king, a servant, a blue flautist, and an extremely flexible dancing lady. There were all kinds of adorable kids in the audience, so that was nice, but the sound was turned way up as usual, so that was less nice.

After the show, we lost Chelsea to homework ethical considerations, and then continued to the National Circus. We bought the cheapest seats in the house, were seated behind a bunch of other Americans (because we all know each other, so we must be friends, right?), and then were subjected to a [mostly] wonderful performance. A guy balancing stuff on a stick in his mouth started it off, followed by the clowns, one of whom attempted to juggle, though he was continually foiled by his midget companion. Next were acrobatic chair-sitters, a ring-on-a-rope swinger, and a really young kid who balanced on a board that was on a tube, and then used glasses to raise the level of the next board he climbed on, to the height of six boards. He was pretty awesome. Here is a picture:

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Obviously it isn't really proportional.

Next were the knife-throwers, where Andy and I tried in vain to be chosen as victims, but were passed by for people with better seats. Finally, there was the lion/tiger tamer. Now, I've never been to a circus with animals before, but I certainly don't think I ever need/want to go again. They had an intermission and set up a large cage around the ring, and then once the music started again they ushered the cats in. There were five lions, two males and three females, as well as three tigers. There were two platforms that the tamer made them jump over, and when one of them snarled at him or didn't do it right, he had their collar leashed from the outside of the cage and pulled tight, while he poked at them and whipped them into submission. It was extremely unsettling; even more so when some of the audience started to clap. More tricks followed: standing on hind legs, jumping over each other and the tamer, rolling over, spinning around little stools, and eventually, various ways of making showy exits. The best part of the whole thing was that it ended, at least as far as the cat-section of the show goes. The moral of the story: sad times for animals in the National Circus of Egypt.

So, that mostly catches y'all up to the now. More adventures are sure to come, so I'll keep you posted on them as they occur, more timely next time, mumkin*.

*mumkin means "maybe"

P.S. I forgot some things, but Andy covered them well enough in his post that I feel no need to elaborate. Also, if you're not already reading his blog, you should be. His and mine compliment each other nicely.