Days 22 - 28: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Alright, alright, I know I'm a terrible person who can't keep up with her blog, but please bear with me. I'm going to try to squeeze a lot in to this post.

I left off at the end of last weekend, so... classes on Sunday were fine. Nothing really important to say about them. That night though, Habiba and I were trying like mad to make up for all the language partner hours we've been missing. We went (along with Zeinab and Darcy) to San Stefano, the biggest mall in Alexandria.

Now when I say mall, I mean mall, in almost exactly the same shape that you've all seen malls. Food courts with KFC and Pizza Hut, little kiosks with people selling cell phones or drawing charicatures, and lots of name brand, over priced stores. It was still fun to wander around, and Zeinab even bought some things. She's engaged, and it's custom in Egypt for brides to get entirely new wardrobes to start their new lives.

One of the nicest features of the mall, in my opinion, was the grocery store. It was a lot like Carrefour in the respect that it stocked American products, if not with American names. They had real milk (which everyone here's been dying for since they only serve heavy cream in the dorms) and cereal and Pringles and Mars bars and it was all fantastic.

Habiba bought me a bag of Egyptian chips, insisting I had to try them. They weren't bad, but I've never been a huge fan of chips, and the flavors here are awkward: ketchup and mustard, honey and sweet pepper. It's a little disconcerting. In exchange, I bought her a Mars bar. So, okay, I know it's more European than American, but she'd never had one, and they're ridiculously good. If they even sell them in America I've never found them, so I try to fill up while I'm out the country.

While at the mall, I got a phone call from Tamar who wanted to go to the circus of all places. Yes, I had homework, but I don't like saying no to experiences in Egypt, and I didn't know when I'd find someone else who wanted to go with me.

Now before you start getting confused, there's a circus that's pitched it's tent (and yes, it's literally a tent), in the school yard of the French boys school across the street from the girls' dorms. From our asking around, we have since learned that it is an Egyptian/Russian joint project and shows up in Alexandria every summer. At the time, all we knew was that there was a large tent across the street playing loud music every night for a couple hours.

When we showed up, the show had already started, but we were only fifteen minutes or so late. Ticket prices ranged from thirty to a hundred pounds. Luckily, we bought the cheap ones, because they're only about ten feet further from the ring than the hundred pound ones. And the hundred pound seats? As good as in the ring.

I love the fact that Egypt doesn't have safety codes, because nine times out of ten the safety codes in America are only protecting the idiots. For example, despite the fact that there were going to be lions in the show, there's no minimum perimeter requirement. They just put up a fence around the ring and anyone stupid enough to stick their arm through is just going to have to pay the consequences.

The acts themselves, while entertaining, left me finally understanding the old expression "to run off and join the circus." It was a hodge podge of people who were good at balancing and twirling and dancing. One girl balanced tubes on her feet, another hula hooped on about dozen different parts of her body. And then there were the obvious acts: the tight rope walker, the fire eater, the trapeze artist (though he was on silk chords instead of a trapeze). Some were more impressive than others, the fire eater most of all because on top of the fire, he also ground his face into broken glass and smashed a concrete block over his head with a hammer.

It's worth mentioning at this point that being a circus, the dress code wasn't exactly up to Egyptian par. I felt a little bad for the tight rope walker because while she was quite good at what she was doing, there was definitely a dirty old man next to us who just clapped louder the wider her legs got in her slightly skimpy outfit. It was modest, by American standards, but it showed far more leg than even I've seen in the last month, and I live with girls.

The second half of the show was all about the animals. There was wiener dog in the beginning who came out with the clowns. They weren't great clowns, but at least the dog was cute. He did jumping tricks and then "understood" Arabic by picking the same color the crowd was yelling from red, yellow, or green.

There was a somewhat mangy horse that mostly ran in circles. The poor thing's hair was falling out, and it was clearly underfed, but it performed like a pro, jumping through hoops of fire and walking upright on its hind legs (with the help of a bench).

After the horse came the main event. We knew they had lions because there had been a lion cub wandering around outside for pictures, but I hadn't realized just how many. After taking a break to set up the security fences, the trainer brought out three giant male lions, a female lion, and a tiger. It was mostly the tiger doing tricks. Jumping from raised platform to raised platform and through suspended hoops. Then over lions through suspended hoops and finally through flaming hoops. One of the lions gave high fives, another rolled over. Mostly it was just cool being that close to them.

Despite it's somewhat lackluster appearance (there's a better Arabic word for it, but it doesn't really translate) I throughly enjoyed the Circus, and hope to go back at some point before it leaves. That night, however, I had homework, so I returned to the dorms, did it, and slept a bit.

On Monday, I finally got to meet with Ustaaz Nour about my first exam. It wasn't stellar, which was disappointing, but having talked with the other students I'm not the only one. Due to the format of the test, it was quite possible to know the entire lesson back to front and still fail as most the questions required outside information that many of us had not learned yet. Ustaaz Nour and I had a nice long discussion about it though, he's a very nice man, and I'm confident that the next exam will be more on our level.

That evening there was a soccer game. Not World Cup, but better. The annual US vs. Egypt match on the University field, but which I mean all the Egyptian students versus all the American students battling it out for bragging rights. I went with a large group from the dorms, but I didn't play. Still, there was juice in the stands, and it was a great game to watch. Despite the excitement, I left a little early to work on homework. I heard later that the US won for the first time in years. Go us!

After I'd mostly finished my homework that night Habiba came over for language partner hours, since I don't have class until 11 AM on Tuesdays. She's an Arabic major at the University, and as such has a lot of great literature. We read through a short story of hers about a taxi driver who's upset that high class writers feel like they can write about lower class issues without talking to the lower class. It was interesting, and I learned more than I think I have in any language partner meeting yet, but I still think I would have understood the story better on my own, being able to focus and go slowly. Also, one of the major goals of the language partner program is to get to explore Alexandria, so as much as we both enjoyed the reading, we probably won't be doing it too much.

Tuesday brought a set of American troubles with it. I'd been putting off reading my Arabic House lease because, let's face it, even if I have any issues it's not like I can sit down with the landlord and talk them out from Egypt. But it was due on June thirtieth and Tuesday was the twenty-ninth, so I sat down in the dar and went over it after classes. There were one or two things I wasn't ecstatic about, but that I could live with, and I know the UT legal team has been over the document with a fine toothed comb. So I signed it and E-mailed it off (thank goodness the scanner in the dar is working again).

The only problem left after signing the lease was how to pay my first months rent. Even if I have my check book with me in Egypt, which I don't, mailing it from here wouldn't exactly be efficient. Thank goodness my parents love me. I E-mailed my mother to call me ASAP (phone calls only work one way), and asked her to write and send the check for me. Her, being as amazing as she is, did, and then dad transferred the money from my account to theirs later. It didn't get to Austin until the first, but I've spoken with Helena and there doesn't seem to be any problem with that.

When I finally got back to the dorms I crashed. It had been a long night the day before and I needed a nap. The best part of the nap was that I woke up refreshed and more than ready to write my presentation for media class. The presentation was fairly loose, it just had to be on an assassination, or at least an attempted assassination. I, having just completed a history class in which we focused in depth on the Indian revolution, chose Gandhi. Sure, it's not that original, but I feel like I had some information to share that the class hadn't heard before. For instance, did you know Gandhi survived four assassination attempts before the radicals finally got to him?

Anyway, this blog isn't about Indian history, so I'm not going to focus on the content of the presentation. I spent a good few hours writing and rehearsing, but it just wasn't sticking in my head. Habiba, being such a sweetheart, came in and edited the presentation for me at something like three in the morning, and said she'd be up for breakfast, if I wanted to practice on her after I had it memorized better. I'd planned to take her up on it, but unfortunately my alarm did not go off. I still had plenty of time to get dressed and eat breakfast and what not, but not enough to practice, much to my chagrin.

In class, however, it turned out that a lot of people were relying heavily on their written papers to give their presentations, so I made a few marks near the parts I was forgetting and gave a near flawless presentation (with only a little reading in between). It was a good feeling, especially considering the day.

As many of you know, Wednesday was my birthday. I tried not to make a big deal out of it, no one really knew, but I had let it slip to Tamar and Megan earlier in the week and Tamar, trying to be nice, just wouldn't leave me alone. She tried to buy me cake at least three times, and I only barely stopped her. It was the middle of the week, and I was tired, and despite my presentation success, not in the mood to celebrate. So that night I made plans to go out the next night instead, did homework, and went to bed. Unfortunately, the next night didn't work out quite as planned.

A few of us had been dying to go to this somewhat touristy dance club. The only one in Alexandria, in fact. It's called Mermaid, and they're so used to American students that apparently they let us take over when we come in: play our music, drink our drinks, organize the tables however we like. I was excited, so we made plans to leave the dorms around 10:30. When 10:45 rolled around and I hadn't heard from anyone, I made a few phone calls. It turns out everyone had already left. Not being able to take a taxi by myself, I turned in early again only to be woken a few hours later by a slightly tipsy Tamar waving a Mars bar in my face. It was a birthday present, and kind of sweet, but in my half asleep state all I could really do was take it, mumble a thank you, and fall back into bed.

The early night was probably a blessing because I had to be up early the next morning for an outing with Habiba. In direct translation, we went to the animal garden, or, as it's more commonly known in English, the zoo. Zoos are usually kind of sad to begin with, but the Alexandria zoo even more so. The cages are itty bitty, and the animals not well cared for. Other than that, the zoo itself wasn't all that different. I learned useful words, like elephant, and ostrich, and took a lot of pictures.

What was different about the zoo was the people who were there. Since the zoo is fairly cheap, and fun for all classes, there was a variety of people spending the day. And they don't spend the day like Americans spend the day. They spend the day like it's an actual park. Sure there are animals, but that doesn't stop them from playing catch or soccer or tag. While next to the baboon enclosure (by the way, Arabic does not differentiate between monkey and baboon, which confuses me) we met some women out with their children, all of whom had their faces painted. There's an adorable picture of them, for those of you who haven't seen it on Facebook yet. (Note: Unless Habiba requests I share more, these will be the only pictures on Facebook until I'm back in America. The internet connection is much too slow here to make it worth the hassel.)

There's also a miniature fair off of the zoo with a few run down rides, cotton candy, and a game or two. We tried to get on the ferris wheel, but the line was long, and it was hot, and we ended up wandering back to the zoo instead.

When we finally left the zoo a few hours later there was a man selling an unrecognizable fruit out front. Habiba explained to me that it was a stripped prickly pear, and insisted I try one. I was little wary, as I am of most street food, but I used my hand sanitizer and took a bite. It was actually pretty tasty, and though the seeds were a little hard they were easy to swallow. The vendor, once he realized I wasn't from Egypt, tried to give us the fruit for free, insisting it was a new experience for me. Just another example of how sweet Egyptians, or Alexandrians rather, can be. We gave him a pound anyway and went on our merry way.

It was still only a little past noon, and neither of us really wanted to go back to the dorms yet, so we wandered the streets for a while. The zoo is in a part of Alex I'd never been to before, near the boys' dorms, and it was nice to explore. We walked, and we chatted, and Habiba stopped by a salon to check prices for her roommate.

Egyptian women are far more particular about hair than American woman. Despite the fact that no one's ever going to see it outside the home, they insist on waxing everything. Even the unmarried ones. And by everything I mean brows to arms to toes. You name it. But it's cheaper here, like everything else. 150 pounds for full body. I'm almost tempted to try it...

After the salon, we continued our wandering until we ended up in a neighborhood called Ibrahimiya, where Habiba's family had a summer home while she was growing up. She knew the area very well from her childhood and took me to the best sugar cane place, as well as a nice pharmacy so I could by aspirin and dental floss, and a miniature mall to buy souvenirs. I finally found a great place to buy papyrus! If you want one let me know! They're printed, not hand-painted, but all that means is they run from sixty cents to twenty dollars instead of starting in the hundreds of dollars and going up.

I also managed to buy my first Arabic news paper. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but I'm still rather proud of myself.

After Ibrahimya we took the tram home. It's amazing how many fewer stares I get just by virtue of having a muhagiba (girl in a head scarf) with me. I did homework for most of the evening, despite wanting a nap, and went to bed early again. Go me, two nights in a row.

Thanks to my early night, I managed to get up for breakfast this morning. (I would like to put special emphasis on this morning, meaning I've finally caught all the way up. *dances*) There was supposedly a movie in the dar I was supposed to watch and write a paper on, and while I didn't know the name, some girls from my class were meeting there later to watch it, so I wandered over. I still had a lot of other work to do, and the dar is a great place to work on Saturdays because it's nearly empty and has the only comfortable furniture I've found in Egypt to date.

When the other girls got there, however, they didn't know the name of the film either. So, we spent some time calling all the other people in our class, and coming to the realization that none of them know, called our professor. Who didn't answer. Luckily, the professor had a contingency plan that if we were unable to watch the movie, we could write a story using the new expressions we learned in class instead. So we sent him an E-mail, explaining out situation, and telling him we were going to do that instead.

Afterward, I checked my E-mail, went back to the dorms for dinner, and then read out on the balcony all night. Don't be fooled though, it wasn't just for pleasure. I have a reading assignment due tomorrow. And I still have to write that story... But at least I'm caught up on my blog!

Now, few more miscellaneous notes before I sign off:

1. Hadir, my roommate, has officially left the country. She told me when she left last Friday that she'd be back on Monday. And if she wasn't going to be back on Monday, she'd call. She never called. And she never came back. By Wednesday I was getting a little worried and planned to call her that night, but a conveniently timed text message arrived that made that unnecessary. Apparently, she got a last minute visa or plane ticket or something and had to rush out of the country. And international calls are expensive, so I understand why she didn't call when she got there. Either way, now she's in Oman with her mother, and I'm not entirely sure when she's coming back. The original plan was ten days, but since I'm not sure what day her departure flight was, I can't even begin to hypothesize a return date.

2. The washing machine on my floor is broken. I know it's not that important, but as long as I'm telling you all the details of my life, I might as well add that major inconvenience. I can go to a different floor, sure, but: The first floor is pretty exclusively for administration. The second floor washer has always been broken. The third floor has double traffic from the second floor. I'm on the fourth floor. And it's mostly American's living on five through seven, which means they wash more, and the washer is never empty. And since I don't live on their floors, I can't leave my door open and pounce on the dryer when it's current occupant wanders down the hall. I have three clean pairs of pants left. Hopefully I'll find a solution to my problem before Tuesday.

3. Last, but best, and on a much happier note: What is the deal with Egyptian chocolate? I swear they put crack in it. It's absolutely to die for. As most of you know, I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but I was craving sugar the other day, so I wandered down to a shop and bought a candy bar. Galaxy Hazelnut Chocolate, made in Egypt. Nearly a week later I'm still raving about it. It was that good. I bought another bar today, but they didn't have any plain hazelnut, so I had to get a fruit and nut bar. The dried raisins changed it up a little, but they did not change the fact that the chocolate is heavenly. Why doesn't America make chocolate like this? They would make a killing. Hershey needs to take some lessons.

Anyway, that's all my rambling for today. Now that I don't have to make up back logs before I can write about the present day, I'm going to try to be better about publishing shorter posts more often. We'll see how that goes.

Also, Happy Birthday to my big brother Jason! In Egypt time, his birthday was technically yesterday, but it's still going strong in America, so I'm sending the wishes anyway.

On an Egypt time note, Happy Fourth of July! There was a party on Friday for the American students, but tickets were a little expensive, and I was out with Habiba, so I didn't go. I've heard there might be some activities going on tomorrow night, but we'll see.