Day 3: Alexandria at Large

Today was by far the most fun I've had so far, even if I was so tired that I'm falling asleep as I right this.

When we all bet at the dar this morning, Robyn split us into groups for a scavenger hunt. Reid, Elizabeth, Tamar and I got a list of places we had to take pictures in front of and we were off, no directions, no map, no nothing. To some, this might sound cruel and unusual, but it made me interact more with the city than I had yet had the opportunity to. We knew enough to piece some things together on our own, but for everything else we had to ask people on the streets. And we were only allowed to take one taxi the entire day. As you can imagine it was chaos.

Most of the people were very nice. As I'd been to the cinema the night before, we decided to start there. On the way, we passed a juice bar, which was one of the items on the list. When we stopped to taste the juice, we got to talking to the man behind the counter, and he got so engaged in our hunt that he actually came out from behind the counter, out of the bar, and started pointing us in all the different directions we needed to go.

From there, we had to ask a man carrying fresh bread down the street. He in turn asked a man in a suit, who asked a police officer. The police officer wasn't very friendly, but everyone else certainly was. We did learn one things quickly though. Reid was our biggest asset. No one wanted to talk to the women, especially women who weren't veiled.

We finished all but three of the items on the list by lunch time, which was the deadline. The cab driver on the way back was the nicest I've had yet, chatting with us about Arabic and teaching us new words like horn, and honk. After lunch we met back at the dar to discuss the scavenger hunt. Only one group got them all, but everyone had fun stories to share. The people of Alexandria are inexhaustibly helpful.

The next item on the agenda was a seminar with Ustaaza Radwa and a girl named Seraphina who live in Alexandria for the Middlebury program. They mostly addressed harassment, with a few other topics thrown in. We've heard about harassment over and over again, but somehow this seminar was more entertaining. I expect it was because there were more examples and stories. Seraphina, for instance, kept making a big deal of it being the guys' job to watch out for us, because it was always her guy friends who chased away the creepers who were following us.

Speaking of creepers, on my way to the dar after lunch with Kaylea and Fiza, a guy approached us. At first he was telling Kaylea to quit smoking, but that was just a trick to get our attention of course. And Kaylea, being the sweetheart she is, took the bait. The entire way from the dorms to the University he followed us, chatting up Kaylea and trying to get our phone numbers. We knew not to give them to him, but that didn't stop him from writing his down and demanding we call him. His name was Hashaam, if anyone cares. He was harmless really, just annoying.

Anyway, after the seminar we were split into classes and took our language pledge. From here on out I am not allowed to speak any English unless it's to family or friends who don't speak Arabic. So far I've enjoyed it, but it's only been a few hours.

Between the pledge and dinner I didn't do much, but after dinner I had an outing planned with Habiba, my language partner. I had never been to Mahatat Raml, the big market place, so we took the tram (another first for me) and wandered around there chatting about life and such and looking at the five billion things they sell there: everything from food, to souvenirs, to hair barrets and fine jewelry. She's very patient with me and my shoddy Arabic, and I think we have similar outlooks on life. Either way, we get along well, which is good because now we'll be spending four hours a week together.

After we'd explored most of the market, she bought me a drink called 'asl. It was delicious, but I couldn't figure out what it was, and when I asked she didn't know the word in English. After a little investigating with the shop owner, it turns out the drink was made of bamboo. Bamboo has a taste, go figure. After the drinks, we decided to walk home rather than taking the tram. It's not too far, and the ocean is gorgeous at night. So we bought these nut/bean type things, covered in pepper and lemon juice, and ate them as we walked the corniche. I know, they sound disgusting, but they were a lot better than you'd think. And eating them was an experience in and of itself because there's a shell you have to learn to squeeze them out of. I'm happy to say that by the end I was a pro.

A little about Habiba. She 's the oldest of seven children in a family that lives on the East coast of Egypt. She's studying to teach Arabic as a foreign language and wants more than anything to study in America, but her father won't let her leave the country. She loves Bollywood romances and sitting on the beach at night. She's also very understanding when I flinch away from the friendly hand holding that all Egyptians do as second nature.

We got back from our outing at around ten-thirty. Hadir is upset about her exam tomorrow. She doesn't think she's prepared and has been crying off and on all night. I wish I had more words of comfort for her, but my Arabic is far from that level yet. Thankfully, the other Egyptian girls in the dorm are handling it all very well.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes, so I'll let you know how that goes. For now though, I'm just going to pass out and hope I stay awake through tomorrow.