I should probably title this post with the last half of Day 35 as well, because that's where I'm starting. But I'm not going to, because it wouldn't look uniform. So you're all just going to have to deal with it.
After I posted the other day, Meghan and I wandered towards that beach cafe I told you about, but we passed a tourist market on our way and stopped to do some window shopping. Everything was overpriced, of course, but their jewelry and glass ware was pretty, at the very least. The one thing I did buy was Dramanex (Arab Dramamine) from a pharmacy in the market. Sure, I had to pay the inflated price of twenty pounds, but I figured it would be worth it the next day if it made the twelve hour bus ride a little more bearable.
We did eventually make it to the cafe, which was even more gorgeous inside than out. It was touristy, of course, but once the people working there realize they're getting your business they stop trying to annoying tactics to reel you in and just serve you like normal waiters. My favorite part was that each party gets their own little section, almost like a private room. It's open air, so you can feel the sea breeze, but there are curtains of grass and beads hanging around each section and in the doorways, so you're separated from the other patrons.
We sat around on the low couches, sipping juice and chatting for a while. At one point I had to step our because my roommate called me frantically needing the key. I still don't understand why Egyptian hotels refuse to give out more than one key, but it's very inconvenient. At least we were nearby.
When we finished with the cafe, we headed back to the hotel proper. I caught the last few minutes of the Germany/Uruguay game on the giant projector screen by the pool, and then I sat in Tamar and Meghan's room for a while, chatting. At some point, my roommate had come back to the hotel from one club and gone out to another, but she'd left the key with the front desk, so I was able to pack up and turn in early.
The next day was the bus ride. There would be more to say about it except I'd bought those pills. They were a godsend. I took one just before getting on the bus and passed out for the first six hours of the trip. When I woke up stiff, I only woke up long enough to get off, use the restroom, and get a lunch of potato chips at a rest stop before getting back on the bus and dozing for another three hours. It was bliss, plus a neck ache. But that's the beside the point.
When the pills finally wore off for good, I woke up and joined in some of the conversations around me. Meghan and I watched a play I had saved on my laptop, as well as an episode of Supernatural, then we got off the bus for dinner an hour or two outside Alexandria. I think they were trying to get us back without stopping again, but traffic was murder, and it was getting rather late. I had McDonald's, again. It wasn't as good when I was craving American, but it was acceptable.
Despite all that sleep, when we finally got back to the dorms I was still tired, and the internet was out, so I couldn't do my media homework. I have an essay on a movie due Wednesday, so I tried to watch the movie before going to sleep, but I only got about half an hour in before concentration became impossible.
Luckily, this morning I got to sleep in. And by sleep in I don't mean all day, but they rescheduled our morning class so that I could wake up at eight instead of six. I didn't wake up refreshed, but neither did I wake up exhausted and reaching for the snooze button, so I call that a win. Without my usual snooze period, I had another half hour to watch the movie before I had to head to the dar to do the media homework from the night before (the internet only came back this evening). Overall it was a nice, relaxing morning.
After lunch, I wanted a nap, but I had to finish the movie so I could pass it off to another girl in my class. Just as it was finishing up, Tamar came to see if I wanted to go to the store with her. After all that movie, I wanted some juice, so we went around the corner to pick up juice and cell phone credit and water and chocolate. Tamar even found a children's book to teach her the names of different birds in Arabic when I stopped at the stationary store for a new notebook.
When I got back to the room, I did take that nap. I planned for just an hour, because dinner was coming up fast, but that hour turned in to two, and I only just made it down before dinner was finished. It was fish, which I kind of would have preferred to sleep through, but if I hadn't eaten I'd be hungry now. So at least there's that.
After dinner, I wandered back up to the room and have been puttering around ever since. Ustaaz Mahmoud, from Texas, sent me an e-mail to inquire about my schedule next semester, in case I was interested in being a TA in the fall. That sent me to the UT registrar site, which is like my crack. So I spent a few hours on that, making sure I was on track for graduation and convincing myself I don't want to add a class on the Qura'n in the fall.
All of a sudden it was eleven o'clock, and I hadn't started that essay. And still don't have the motivation to, unfortunately. But, you all got a blog post out of it! And I'm going to go start it now, I promise. At the very least, tomorrow's another eight o'clock morning just because it's Tuesday, and I never have morning classes on Tuesday. So hopefully I'll finish the essay and get some sleep to boot.
Happy evening everyone!
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