The internet has been down in Egypt for over 24 hours, but it just came back on. Evidently three internet cables were severed in the Mediterranean yesterday by anchors off the coast of Alexandria, Malta and near the Suez Canal...yeah I don't really get it either. But we're back online now, however the internet's still limited. I guess the entire Middle East and parts of Asia were effected.
Anyway, Peter's on campus taking his last final now, I have to take a bus to campus tomorrow at 6:40 am (grr) in order to take my 8:30 Islamic Philosophy final. Then I'm meeting Peter back at the dorm to catch our flight at 2:45 to Italy where we meet his family for Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! I'm going to miss being home, but mom told me she was going to give me Christmas when I get home in a month..so don't forget. :)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
From Jordan to Israel to Egypt
We took a micro bus from Petra to Amman, Jordan's capital, and arrived about three hours later. When we got to Amman we were planning on taking another bus to the Jordanian/Israeli border but we found a taxi driver who was willing to take all four of us directly to the border for just as cheap. It didn't really matter how we got there, just as long as we made it before the border closed later that day for the three day Muslim holiday. So it was a race against time. The taxi ride ended up taking another two hours, but I think the driver was secretly willing to drive us there for so little because of the beautiful landscape. There is a mountain range that runs along the Israeli/Jordanian border, the southern half of the mountain range is desert while the northern half is lush and green. The valleys are farmed meticulously, so we stopped a few times to take in the view, and were able to see Israel on the horizon.
After driving down the mountainside into the valley we got to the border with two hours to spare. There is about 5 kilometers of no-man's-land between the two countries at this point so we had to hop into another taxi and be driven across. Halfway across no-man's-land we had to get out of the taxi and take an Israeli bus through to the other side, where we were once again welcomed by the lovely Israeli border patrol soldiers. It took Peter about 10 minutes longer to get through because he was carrying around dangerous weapons.
Ha ha ha. Just kidding, he was carrying a laptop. I almost got stopped though because the border patrol officer-who looked 18-started drilling me on my ID information. She asked me what city I was born in, so I told her Fairmont. She shook her head and said "WRONG you were born in the city of Minnesota" I told her "Minnesota is a State" (you idiot). And I got through just fine.
From the border we took three more buses before we arrived 3 hours later at the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. We found our hostel really easily and took a nap before going out to chow down on amazing local food. We watched the sunset over the mountains surrounding the sea and finished our day by watching Wall-E.
The next morning we got up early and rented four mountain bikes and biked up the western shore of the Sea, until we reached a few biblical landmarks where churches were built in commemoration. The first was a church where Jesus supposedly broke the break and fish and fed 5,000. There was a sanctuary built around the rock where he sat, and a courtyard with a few baptismal fonts. Up the road aways, along the northern shore was another chapel commemorating the site were Jesus called (Saint) Peter to carry on his ministry. It's an extremely important site for Catholics especially who consider Peter the first pope. (we ran into a lot of Spanish speakers here, ha).
"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Matthew 16:18
We spent alot of time here because the beach was particularly nice. It's not surprising this is where scholars believed Jesus frequently visited. We also saw the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount. I continued up the northern coast alone to check out the ruins of Capernaum. Then we biked back to Tiberias, the trip was probably 15 miles roundtrip, but it was fairly difficult considering we were biking up and down steep hills on mountain bikes, I wanted my road bike so badly after that trip!
The next day we were planning on doing another biking trip, but it was raining so we left. Up to this point there were four of us on the trip. Peter and I split with the other two at this point (Kurt and Sterling). They took a bus directly to Tel Aviv, Peter and I decided to go to Nazareth. Nazareth was just as soggy as Tiberias. So we ran around the cobblestone streets trying to find the Basilica commemorating the spot where the angel Gabriel supposedly appeared to Mary and where Jesus was conceived. The basilica standing there now, is the fifth one on the site. It is build on top of the old ones sheltering them. It was like walking into what the city had once been 1500 years ago. The church is also the biggest in the Middle East. Other than then I thought it was really ugly. So we left the church and found a schwarma place run by an Arab family (we can read arabic now/ converse limitedly so it was a relief to do that again..since we know no Hebrew).
Nazareth is an interesting city because about half of the population is Christian, and the other half is Muslim. For the most part, I doubt that they have any problem living homogeneously, however there was a banner we saw in front of the basilica citing the verse from the Quran that says Allah has never begotten a son. So we took a picture.
We waited in the rain for a bus down to Tel Aviv for about 2 hours before one showed up. We ended up in Tel Aviv about 3 hours later, at the bus station where I lost my passport last time... so we knew our way around. Peter and I decided to spend a few days in the ancient port city of Jaffa, which has existed for thousand and thousands of years before Tel Aviv. Jaffa's been swallowed up by Tel Aviv's urban sprawl, but it is still intact and beautiful.
We saw some ancient ruins, played in the Mediterranean Sea, ate really good local street food, and sat on grass!! (there's no grass in Cairo). We met up with Kurt and Sterling again and went to the Chocolate Bar, this swanky place with a menu full of chocolate concoctions, yum yum yum! After two days of Jaffa, we reluctantly left the Mediterranean Sea behind to take another stuffy bus back down to the Red Sea and Egypt, we made it across the border in time to catch another bus across the Sinai Penninsula and be back in Cairo two days before finals started.
After driving down the mountainside into the valley we got to the border with two hours to spare. There is about 5 kilometers of no-man's-land between the two countries at this point so we had to hop into another taxi and be driven across. Halfway across no-man's-land we had to get out of the taxi and take an Israeli bus through to the other side, where we were once again welcomed by the lovely Israeli border patrol soldiers. It took Peter about 10 minutes longer to get through because he was carrying around dangerous weapons.
Ha ha ha. Just kidding, he was carrying a laptop. I almost got stopped though because the border patrol officer-who looked 18-started drilling me on my ID information. She asked me what city I was born in, so I told her Fairmont. She shook her head and said "WRONG you were born in the city of Minnesota" I told her "Minnesota is a State" (you idiot). And I got through just fine.
From the border we took three more buses before we arrived 3 hours later at the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. We found our hostel really easily and took a nap before going out to chow down on amazing local food. We watched the sunset over the mountains surrounding the sea and finished our day by watching Wall-E.
The next morning we got up early and rented four mountain bikes and biked up the western shore of the Sea, until we reached a few biblical landmarks where churches were built in commemoration. The first was a church where Jesus supposedly broke the break and fish and fed 5,000. There was a sanctuary built around the rock where he sat, and a courtyard with a few baptismal fonts. Up the road aways, along the northern shore was another chapel commemorating the site were Jesus called (Saint) Peter to carry on his ministry. It's an extremely important site for Catholics especially who consider Peter the first pope. (we ran into a lot of Spanish speakers here, ha).
"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Matthew 16:18
We spent alot of time here because the beach was particularly nice. It's not surprising this is where scholars believed Jesus frequently visited. We also saw the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount. I continued up the northern coast alone to check out the ruins of Capernaum. Then we biked back to Tiberias, the trip was probably 15 miles roundtrip, but it was fairly difficult considering we were biking up and down steep hills on mountain bikes, I wanted my road bike so badly after that trip!
The next day we were planning on doing another biking trip, but it was raining so we left. Up to this point there were four of us on the trip. Peter and I split with the other two at this point (Kurt and Sterling). They took a bus directly to Tel Aviv, Peter and I decided to go to Nazareth. Nazareth was just as soggy as Tiberias. So we ran around the cobblestone streets trying to find the Basilica commemorating the spot where the angel Gabriel supposedly appeared to Mary and where Jesus was conceived. The basilica standing there now, is the fifth one on the site. It is build on top of the old ones sheltering them. It was like walking into what the city had once been 1500 years ago. The church is also the biggest in the Middle East. Other than then I thought it was really ugly. So we left the church and found a schwarma place run by an Arab family (we can read arabic now/ converse limitedly so it was a relief to do that again..since we know no Hebrew).
Nazareth is an interesting city because about half of the population is Christian, and the other half is Muslim. For the most part, I doubt that they have any problem living homogeneously, however there was a banner we saw in front of the basilica citing the verse from the Quran that says Allah has never begotten a son. So we took a picture.
We waited in the rain for a bus down to Tel Aviv for about 2 hours before one showed up. We ended up in Tel Aviv about 3 hours later, at the bus station where I lost my passport last time... so we knew our way around. Peter and I decided to spend a few days in the ancient port city of Jaffa, which has existed for thousand and thousands of years before Tel Aviv. Jaffa's been swallowed up by Tel Aviv's urban sprawl, but it is still intact and beautiful.
We saw some ancient ruins, played in the Mediterranean Sea, ate really good local street food, and sat on grass!! (there's no grass in Cairo). We met up with Kurt and Sterling again and went to the Chocolate Bar, this swanky place with a menu full of chocolate concoctions, yum yum yum! After two days of Jaffa, we reluctantly left the Mediterranean Sea behind to take another stuffy bus back down to the Red Sea and Egypt, we made it across the border in time to catch another bus across the Sinai Penninsula and be back in Cairo two days before finals started.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Alexandria
Hello!
Sorry we haven’t blogged in awhile. It’s about that time of the semester when we’ve just survived mid-terms and are beginning our research papers for each class. Anyway, we managed to make it up to Alexandria two weeks ago and spend the weekend there. Alexandria’s by far the closest destination to Cairo. Although it’s 135 miles away, it was a fast trip for two reasons: first, we were able to catch a train and be there in two hours, and second it was the first place we’ve been to outside of Cairo where we didn’t have scar our eyes by looking at desert everywhere (due to the fact that Alexandria’s in the green Nile basin). We actually saw grass and farmland!
Our train left on Thursday night at 7, which means we cut ourselves a little short on time. And this is why. The time it takes to travel from our dormitory to our campus every morning is a quick one-hour. However the time it takes to travel from our campus to our dormitory after classes takes about twice as long due to traffic and psychotic drivers (one of our school buses hit a tractor last month going full speed when the tractor decided to cross the street directly in front of the bus.) Anyway that’s a different story.
My class ends at 4:30 on Thursdays, the next bus leaves at 5. Leaving me two hours to get back to the dorms and take a cab to the train station. Luckily the bus only took 1 hour and 30 minutes that day. Leaving 30 minutes to get to the station. We hopped in a cab and got stuck in traffic on the bridge crossing the Nile for about 20 minutes and arrived at the square where the train station is located at exactly 7. But of course that would be too easy. First we had to hop a fence and play frogger across three huge streets in order to make it across the square. We managed to do that in 5 minutes and ran into the station just as the train was leaving. So we had to run and hop onto the train (luckily before it had picked up much speed) than nudge our way through about 10 train cars before we found ours…then we had to kick some men out of our seats. But we did it, and made it to Alexandria at about 10 pm.
The next day we walked up and down the Mediterranean most of the day and made it to Qaitbay Citadel which is basically a castle, and explore that for a few hours. We found some tourists who were on a cruise in the Mediterranean…and Peter immediately started talking to a few men about religion and politics (yeah). So I started a separate conversation with their wives who were looking about as uncomfortable as I was.
After the Citadel we walked to the new Alexandria Library, which opened four years ago. It only cost 2 Egyptian pounds to enter (about 40 cents) because we’re students in Egypt. This is about ten times cheaper for people who aren’t students. The library was packed with students sitting everywhere studying. We weren’t allowed to bring our own books into the library, which didn’t matter because the library probably had whatever we wanted to bring inside. It was huge and doubled as a museum. So we spent a few hours there. Unfortunately it was Friday (holy day) so the library closed earlier. So we walked back and ate pork for the first time in 2 months at a Chinese Restaurant on top of a hotel overlooking the Mediterranean.
The next day we wandered around Alexandria’s streets before catching a cab to Pompey’s Pillar. Pompey’s Pillar is the name of the only part of the Ptolemaic Temple of Serapis that was left standing after the Christians invaded the temple 1700 years ago. The temple also doubled as the second library in Alexandria, containing 700,000 scrolls. Unfortunately the first temple of Alexandria was completely destroyed leaving no remains. After we got tired of looking at a pillar (with two random sphinxes thrown in for tourists) we walked to the Roman catacombs.
The catacombs were built for a family in the second century AD, and were used for three hundred years to accommodate more than 300 hundred corpses. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures, but I’ll try to be descriptive.
The catacombs were discovered accidentally in 1900 after a donkey disappeared through the ground. They are 35 meters deep and contain 25 chambers, including one large room called the Triclinium, used as a banquet hall for paying last respects to the deceased. The lowest level of the catacombs are flooded with water, but the level we were able to explore only got soggy in a few areas, and was well lit.
After leaving the catacombs we walked to the Roman Amphitheatre discovered fairly recently when ground was being cleared for an apartment complex on top of it. So we sat in the theatre for about an hour, and made a friend with a cat. Evidently it is the only Roman amphitheatre in Egypt.
Unfortunately the only ruins in Alexandria were the ones we visited, meaning there aren’t that many to see. However there are excellent dive sites right off the coast of the city where a lot of ancient Alexandria is now located.
After the seeing amphitheatre we took a train back to Cairo and were welcomed by smog, dust, noise, and traffic!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Shalom Y'all
Hello!
Peter and I got back from our trip to Israel last night, and to make this post a bit more understandable I've added a map of our trip across Egypt-the Sinai Peninsula-and Israel.
We left Cairo last Monday night with eight other students at around 10:30 pm on a public bus across the Sinai Penninsula, and arrived on the other side Tuesday morning at about 4:45 am where we were dropped off on the side of the road and had to wander until we were able to find the way to walk across the border into Israel. By the time we were past both the Egyptian and Israeli border patrol officers, the sun was rising over the Red Sea. We walked along the coast for almost two hours enjoying our first cool breeze in six weeks, before giving in and getting a taxi to the nearby town of Eilat, the southernmost town in Israel. After arriving in Eilat we set to work at finding a hostel to spend the night since there were no buses running that day to Jerusalem because of Rosh Hashanah-the Jewish new year. After visiting a few hostels the 10 of us settled in at the Corrine Hostel for 50 Sheckels (17 dollars) a night, and spent the day swimming in the Red Sea. (I know, what an awful place to be stranded).
The next morning we got up early and took off for the bus station to catch the earliest bus to Tel Aviv at 11:30, since the Jerusalem bus didn't leave until 5 we thought our best bet to get to Jerusalem the fastest would be to take a 4 hour bus to Tel Aviv and a 30 minute bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (Tel Aviv is marked on my map by the northernmost point of the blue line). After arriving in Tel Aviv, the girls promptly went on our hunt for a bathroom (one of the few words I know in Arabic). While the boys went to look for the ticket counter. While standing in line for the bathroom I was looking through my bag and realized my passport was nowhere to be found. I frantically dumped out my bag but had no luck. After Peter came up with nothing either we immediately took off and were able to find the main office where I was told that my bus was presently on it's way back down to Beer Sheva (which you can find on the map) about one hour south of Tel Aviv in the middle of the Negev Desert. The manager phoned the Be'er Sheva bus station for me and told me to come back in one hour. By that time the bus driver should have arrived and would be able to search the bus for my passport. So we went back to our group and told them we'd be waiting for the news and they could leave. We said good-bye to the 8 others and Peter and I stayed behind in Tel Aviv for a total of 3 more hours waiting for it's return. Luckily they found it and all went smoothly from there.
Peter and I arrived in Jerusalem at about 10 pm and were able to find room with our friends at a hostel in the Old City between the border of the Christian and Armenian quarters. The next morning I bet Peter he couldn't go until 3 p.m. without saying the word "Armenian". And sure enough the first person we were approached by was a young Armenian man at 9:30 in the morning who hadn't slept all night (smelled a bit like liquor) and was extremely friendly. Obviously Peter lost the bet. (Although we all wish he wouldn't have so early in the day)
We spent the day wandering around the densely packed streets of the Old City and trying to find our way to the Temple Mount. Eventually we learned that only the Muslims were allowed in because of their Holiday (the reason we were allowed on this break) Eid al-Fitr, marking the feast at the end of Ramadan. Christians would once again be allowed on the Temple Mount the following Sunday-the day we would be leaving. This news made us all very disappointed, but we ended up going to the Wailing Wall and getting to see the ancient Temple Garden's anyway. After spending some time hanging around the Muslim Quarter smelling delicious schawarmas we left the gates of the Old City and proceeded on our epic journey to climb the Mount of Olives. (Do NOT eat the olives.) Half of the Mountain is now covered in Jewish graves, about 150,00 which you'll be able to see in the photos I've added. Once we got to the top we wandered around the village and were able to get excellent views of the wall dividing Israel from the West Bank.
We walked back down the Mountain before stopping to sit on the side for almost an hour amidst the Olive Trees and take in the city. After climbing back down we found the gate to the Garden of Gethsemani and were able to walk through it. A Catholic Church is now built next to the garden so Peter got to attend a little service there, which was pretty impressive although in Latin.
The next day we got up early to walk the Via Dolorosa (The Walk of Pain). The supposed route Jesus took after his condemnation up to his crucifixion and burial. I was surprised to find out that Golgotha was actually inside of the Old City. Although at the time of his crucifixion it was not, it was just outside the gates on a hill. Evidently there is good evidence that the spot actually is Golgotha. It's just hard to imagine now because the spot has been covered by a building, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the spot where they think Jesus was crucified is inside the Church. The experience was a bit lackluster, although it is cool that the spot we were at has been a pilgrimage site for Christians for the past 16 centuries.
Later that day Peter, Cody (our friend from St. Olaf also attending the American University in Cairo) and I, found a taxi driver who would drive us across the border into Palestine so we could go swimming in the Dead Sea. That was excellent!!! The cab driver was a Palestinian/Israeli which is why he didn't mind taking us into the West Bank. He's lived in the Muslim quarter of the Old City his entire life and his family has been there for 850 years. His family has been keeping track by carving every firstborn sons' name on a tree. Because he grew up in the Muslim quarter, which is considered East Jerusalem (the Arab side of the city). He grew up learning Arabic, Hebrew, and English. So we were able to have a good conversation in English. The other half of our group spent the day in Hebron, the burial site of Abraham, also in the West Bank talking to Palestinians. We returned to the Old City and wandered around to find yummy kebabs, and returned to the Wailing Wall to watch an extremely solemn Jewish service, marking the beginning of Yom Kippur.
The next day was the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday. So everything was closed. Apparently you can't walk over 120 steps on the Sabbath, so it was funny to see the Jewish men taking very thought out, long strides everywhere they went (joke ha ha).
Seriously though, everything was closed. So we decided to go to the East side of Jerusalem and take an Arab bus to the West Bank to the City of Ramallah. Here we spent the day at a cafe on the roof of a tall building overlooking the city drinking tea and playing cards. We taught some Palestinians how to play B.S. and they taught us a version of canasta. That conversation was also very interesting.
Concerning the Israeli Checkpoints...
The Israeli checkpoints will let anyone go into the West Bank, so we just flew right through without stopping. The difficult part is getting out of the West Bank and into Israel. On our way into Ramallah Peter noticed some of his favorite graffiti artwork painted on the wall by Banksy, his favorite graffiti artist and immediately tried to take very inadequate pictures of them in the moving vehicle. On the way out of the West Bank, our bus was filled entirely with Palestinians (excluding the 7 in our group.) All the Palestinians were required to walk across the border by foot, while we Americans were allowed to wait in the bus. While we were sitting in the bus Cody was snapping pictures of the wall and decided it was a bad idea in case he was seen by the Palestinians lined up outside the vehicles. Also, a few boys saw him there and immediately starting throwing gum in the bus window and shouting random dollar amounts at him.
While I was watching this go on, I noticed Peter sitting in between us tapping his feet and staring out the window. After a few moments he got up and ran out of the bus towards the wall, camera in hand. Not to be outdone, Cody immediately ran after him, followed directly by the gum-throwing-boys. The rest of us just sat there, watching them as they rounded the corner of the wall out of site.
We waited five minutes before the bus started moving closer towards the checkpoint.
...Ten minutes, we were almost there.
...Fifteen minutes and it was our turn to go through. An Israeli officer entered the bus to look at our I.D. she was friendly once finding out we were American students traveling around without a purpose.
..20 minutes, the driver had stopped to wait for the missing 2 boys on the other side. Still no sign of them. Finally he told us we couldn't wait any longer, we agreed, and started speeding off towards Jerusalem.
"Crap" I thought, so much for promising Peter's parents I wouldn't let him do anything stupid...like stranding himself in the West Bank. Was this better or worse then letting him get hit by a car..?
We got back to Jerusalem 20 minutes later and I ran into the gates of the Old City so I could explore before all the shops closed at sun-set. I managed to wander my way through the Muslim and Christian quarters into the Armenian quarter and through the other side of the city to Mount Zion, where King David is buried. I found his tomb and the site of the last supper before making my way back through the maze of the Old City and into the hostel.
Peter was sitting in the kitchen teaching a Palestinian boy to play backgammon. I looked at him warily and kept walking to my room where I napped and silently thought not-so-nice thoughts. Ha.
The next day was Sunday, we got up at 5, caught a bus to the Jerusalem Bus Station where we bought tickets for a 10 am shuttle back down to the Red Sea, where we once again crossed the Egypt/Israeli border on foot (only this time we had to pay an exit/entrance fee of approximately 40 USD, gr.) we budged in front of a huge tourist group from Argentina to get back into Egypt in time to catch our bus back to Cairo. Unfortunately we missed the bus, but were able to hire a van to take us directly to our dorm for only $5 more than the bus.
We arrived back at Zamalek 6 hours later and went straight to bed.
And in case you're curious, I'm sure Peter will blog about his adventures taking pictures of graffiti in the West Bank.
Also, here is our album of the trip. PHOTOS
Sunday, September 14, 2008
As Ani would say..."I'm illegal!"
On Saturday Peter and I will have been here four weeks exactly. On that day, we will also be illegal aliens. Why? Because the american university in cairo lost our VISAs. Also, our campus is in the middle of a desert.
Everyday we get on a bus at 8:30 in the morning, and get to campus at around 9:30. Then we get back on the bus at 4:00 and get back to the dorm at 5:00. (Yes...just like middle school) About half of the new campus is "ready" and by ready I mean, just barely usable. Fortunately I really like all of my classes, and despite the condition the campus is in we're still getting the same education.
In May students were allowed to decided if they wanted to live on Zamalek in the middle of Cairo, or on the new campus in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately some people actually chose to live in the middle of the desert. Those people are paying for it, literally. The new dorms were supposed to be finished in June..then August..then November..now not until next semester. So those students who were supposed to live in the new dorms are now living in hotels in a neighborhood that doesn't supply them with the basic amenities like ours does, mainly food. They also don't get the internet, and the hotels are also segregated by sex, so boys and girls can't even go near the other hotel. And, although the girls' hotel has a nice swimming pool, they aren't allowed to swim in it because they are females over the age of 12, scandalous.
Yesterday at the student forum several international students decided they wanted to demand refunds. Mainly the students who are paying to live at the state of the art new campus dorms and have instead been thrown into the shabby hotels. (I guess there's a huge waiting list to get into the dorm we're living in.) Also two international students decided they wanted to sue the university for false advertising, hahaha. Basically they took 135 publications from the AUC's website, which included pictures and descriptions of the buildings and their dates of completion, and then went around campus and took pictures of what the buildings actually look like (inside) and interviewed staff and construction workers to get an idea of a realistic completion date. Then they turned it in to the president and demanded a refund because they are paying a tuition which includes all the facilities on campus, yet we are only allowed to use roughly 50% of them. And it's not just the students, the teacher's are just as fed up because most of them are without phones, internet, or even an office.
I just want a cafeteria (Peter as well...but I think that goes without saying).
Now I'm going to play soccer and eat yummy Egyptian food (at the old campus).
Everyday we get on a bus at 8:30 in the morning, and get to campus at around 9:30. Then we get back on the bus at 4:00 and get back to the dorm at 5:00. (Yes...just like middle school) About half of the new campus is "ready" and by ready I mean, just barely usable. Fortunately I really like all of my classes, and despite the condition the campus is in we're still getting the same education.
In May students were allowed to decided if they wanted to live on Zamalek in the middle of Cairo, or on the new campus in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately some people actually chose to live in the middle of the desert. Those people are paying for it, literally. The new dorms were supposed to be finished in June..then August..then November..now not until next semester. So those students who were supposed to live in the new dorms are now living in hotels in a neighborhood that doesn't supply them with the basic amenities like ours does, mainly food. They also don't get the internet, and the hotels are also segregated by sex, so boys and girls can't even go near the other hotel. And, although the girls' hotel has a nice swimming pool, they aren't allowed to swim in it because they are females over the age of 12, scandalous.
Yesterday at the student forum several international students decided they wanted to demand refunds. Mainly the students who are paying to live at the state of the art new campus dorms and have instead been thrown into the shabby hotels. (I guess there's a huge waiting list to get into the dorm we're living in.) Also two international students decided they wanted to sue the university for false advertising, hahaha. Basically they took 135 publications from the AUC's website, which included pictures and descriptions of the buildings and their dates of completion, and then went around campus and took pictures of what the buildings actually look like (inside) and interviewed staff and construction workers to get an idea of a realistic completion date. Then they turned it in to the president and demanded a refund because they are paying a tuition which includes all the facilities on campus, yet we are only allowed to use roughly 50% of them. And it's not just the students, the teacher's are just as fed up because most of them are without phones, internet, or even an office.
I just want a cafeteria (Peter as well...but I think that goes without saying).
Now I'm going to play soccer and eat yummy Egyptian food (at the old campus).
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Exploring Zamalek
After five days of exploring Zamalek Island and the nearby downtown area, we're finally going to see our new campus tomorrow! Here are photos of the Old Campus, we most likely will not be attending, but have been spending all of our time at this week at student orientation. Because Peter and I are not taking a Survival Arabic class like most of the normal students who still haven't had any Arabic, we have had alot of free time on our hands. Also because it is illegal for us to be alone together we have been forced to make new friends, haha.
Peter's roommate Ike, is sick right now and might have a fever. I haven't heard of anyone getting sick yet from the water or street food, which is good news because the food is great and cheap. My roommate's name is Maddie, she's a college senior and will only be here for a semester like most of the students we've met. 90% of the students here are International Affairs or Political Science majors, so I'm guessing everybody is going to be taking the same classes. I've also met quite a few Anthropology and Sociology majors who are really fun to talk to. I can't wait for classes to start, but we still have one week and a half left!
Ramadan also starts soon. I guess that means a lot of cranky Egyptians for a week or so until their body's get used to fasting during the daytime. Apparently they also fast from water, meaning I'm not even going to try because we drink 2 liters or more a day just to stay hydrated. Apparently that's not deterring most of the students who plan on taking part in Ramadan activities.
We ended up not going on the horse riding/bedouin night trip. Apparently it's a big sad tourist mess. The horses are these poor malnourished creatures struggling to carry tourists around all day long up the hill to the pyramids. One girl told me the saw a skinny horse get taken behind a building and heard two shots. Also the road to the pyramids is lined with the carcases of camels and horses. Peter and I still haven't been out to the pyramids, but will be on Monday for an afternoon picnic.
Yesterday Peter and I found out that our rooms are just down the hall from each other. However there's a HUGE impenetrable wooden board blocking any access to the other side, aggh! It's so frustrating! I know I know, we were warned..laugh laugh
Peter's roommate Ike, is sick right now and might have a fever. I haven't heard of anyone getting sick yet from the water or street food, which is good news because the food is great and cheap. My roommate's name is Maddie, she's a college senior and will only be here for a semester like most of the students we've met. 90% of the students here are International Affairs or Political Science majors, so I'm guessing everybody is going to be taking the same classes. I've also met quite a few Anthropology and Sociology majors who are really fun to talk to. I can't wait for classes to start, but we still have one week and a half left!
Ramadan also starts soon. I guess that means a lot of cranky Egyptians for a week or so until their body's get used to fasting during the daytime. Apparently they also fast from water, meaning I'm not even going to try because we drink 2 liters or more a day just to stay hydrated. Apparently that's not deterring most of the students who plan on taking part in Ramadan activities.
We ended up not going on the horse riding/bedouin night trip. Apparently it's a big sad tourist mess. The horses are these poor malnourished creatures struggling to carry tourists around all day long up the hill to the pyramids. One girl told me the saw a skinny horse get taken behind a building and heard two shots. Also the road to the pyramids is lined with the carcases of camels and horses. Peter and I still haven't been out to the pyramids, but will be on Monday for an afternoon picnic.
Yesterday Peter and I found out that our rooms are just down the hall from each other. However there's a HUGE impenetrable wooden board blocking any access to the other side, aggh! It's so frustrating! I know I know, we were warned..laugh laugh
Sunday, August 24, 2008
"I don't want to marry you, I only want your money"
Everyone here thinks Peter is Egyptian.
As soon as we got into the airport yesterday morning a few Egyptian men began coming up to him speaking rapid Arabic. The look on Peter's face is priceless when it occurs (and it occurs often). I wish all of you could see it, but I'm sure everyone in his family can imagine in detail how he handles the situation. Which is normally an awkward smile and a scuffle in the opposite direction. Also, I know this might be a bit blasphemous so say, but I believe Peter has been cheating on his Armenian heritage these past two days by relishing the fact that he looks a bit Egyptian, and trying to play it off like he is so. Unfortunately I don't think he realizes being mistaken as Egyptian while not knowing Arabic is a bad thing. Haha.
Today we began official student orientation at 9 am at the Old Campus in downtown Cairo. Apparently the new campus will be up and running this semester because 99% of the campus is done. However the 1% that is left accounts for quite a bit of scaffolding and dust. The new campus dorms also will not be done until November, meaning all the lucky students who were supposed to live there, now get to live in hotels at Heliopolis, about halfway between Zamalek Island and the new campus.
The president came to orientation, which was located in an auditorium. It reminded me of the student orientation at St. Olaf. The one where the parents officially said good-bye to their son or daughter "forever"(minus the St. Olaf hymn, the professors in Harry Potter robes, the all around emotional setting, and of course our parents). We learned some very interesting statistics. Apparently there are around 225,000 US students studying abroad this year. The top countries are the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China, Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia....and down the list. Egypt isn't on the list, apparently no country in the Middle East even made the top twenty. I guess only .2% of students make up this category. Which I find disappointing, considering the focus of our foreign policy right now, and everything we have "learned" about Middle Eastern countries on the news. Anyway, I won't get into it but it did spur on some good conversations. The AUC is also the top publisher of scholarly material in the Middle East, just in case I still need to sell some people on the credibility of this college...it's a keeper!
We also got some good advice about street smarts, then got to test out them out this evening at a bazaar located in the Old City. I've been noticing subtleties in the actions between men and women, and a few of my thoughts were confirmed at the meeting.
First I'll just say I was always taught to acknowledge people with eye contact or a hello when passing by them at a desk or walking down the street, completely ignoring them would be rude. Men here do not initiate eye contact with a woman, and if a woman does it, it is considered an invitation. The interactions between men and women are also closely monitored on campus. Last night Peter and I made the womens' hall guard nervous by sitting across from each other at a table and talking. (Yes we have guards at the entrances of the men and women dorms at all times, if a man is caught in a women's dorm, or vice versa, they get thrown out immediately.) I was disappointed to find out that women are not allowed to go swimming if they are over the age of 12.
So with the strict rules between opposite sex relations, the environment is very safe for women. If a man does show special interest in her on the street by yelling at her or reaching for her, other men will be quick to react in condemnation. Today a man bumped me on the street, and begged me to forgive him. So, mom, no worries about that. It's not like Ecuador. Even Peter got yelled at today for wrapping his arm around me to pull me away from getting hit by a car. A man across the street in English yelled "Do not touch! Looking is ok, but not touching!" Hahaha.
Actually, the street vendors seem to be the only ones breaking the social norm of having the utmost respect for women. Here's a list of the phrases we heard.
"Come on baby light my fire!" -A man selling Hookahs
"I do not want to marry you, I only want your money"
"I will kill my wife for you"-?
"Can I tell you that I love you?"
"Lucky Man!"-Peter got offended when none of the men said lucky woman
"You stepped on something"...."What?"...."My heart"
"You will spend here"
"Give me your money!"
Anyway, all we had to do was say "la shookrum" No thanks. And they instantly stopped. Laughing them off was also fine, they knew how ridiculous they sounded to us. As the one man said, all they cared about was money.
We also went to this SWEET hundred year old coffee house, which doubled as a hookah bar. Peter shared a hookah with this girl named Heather. He tries so hard to be cool. Haha anyway, I won't do it for several reasons, one of them being women just don't smoke them in public. Heather got reprimanded by a man who was watching her. He basically said that it was bad for her because she was a woman. So I asked him why it wasn't bad for men. He took my comment as an invitation, and started following me. Which is unfortunate because that could have been an excellent conversation!
Tommorow we continue our orientation! I guess it's also Bedouin night, and horseback riding. Unfortunately I don't like horses, however Bedouin sound a bit interesting..
As soon as we got into the airport yesterday morning a few Egyptian men began coming up to him speaking rapid Arabic. The look on Peter's face is priceless when it occurs (and it occurs often). I wish all of you could see it, but I'm sure everyone in his family can imagine in detail how he handles the situation. Which is normally an awkward smile and a scuffle in the opposite direction. Also, I know this might be a bit blasphemous so say, but I believe Peter has been cheating on his Armenian heritage these past two days by relishing the fact that he looks a bit Egyptian, and trying to play it off like he is so. Unfortunately I don't think he realizes being mistaken as Egyptian while not knowing Arabic is a bad thing. Haha.
Today we began official student orientation at 9 am at the Old Campus in downtown Cairo. Apparently the new campus will be up and running this semester because 99% of the campus is done. However the 1% that is left accounts for quite a bit of scaffolding and dust. The new campus dorms also will not be done until November, meaning all the lucky students who were supposed to live there, now get to live in hotels at Heliopolis, about halfway between Zamalek Island and the new campus.
The president came to orientation, which was located in an auditorium. It reminded me of the student orientation at St. Olaf. The one where the parents officially said good-bye to their son or daughter "forever"(minus the St. Olaf hymn, the professors in Harry Potter robes, the all around emotional setting, and of course our parents). We learned some very interesting statistics. Apparently there are around 225,000 US students studying abroad this year. The top countries are the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, China, Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia....and down the list. Egypt isn't on the list, apparently no country in the Middle East even made the top twenty. I guess only .2% of students make up this category. Which I find disappointing, considering the focus of our foreign policy right now, and everything we have "learned" about Middle Eastern countries on the news. Anyway, I won't get into it but it did spur on some good conversations. The AUC is also the top publisher of scholarly material in the Middle East, just in case I still need to sell some people on the credibility of this college...it's a keeper!
We also got some good advice about street smarts, then got to test out them out this evening at a bazaar located in the Old City. I've been noticing subtleties in the actions between men and women, and a few of my thoughts were confirmed at the meeting.
First I'll just say I was always taught to acknowledge people with eye contact or a hello when passing by them at a desk or walking down the street, completely ignoring them would be rude. Men here do not initiate eye contact with a woman, and if a woman does it, it is considered an invitation. The interactions between men and women are also closely monitored on campus. Last night Peter and I made the womens' hall guard nervous by sitting across from each other at a table and talking. (Yes we have guards at the entrances of the men and women dorms at all times, if a man is caught in a women's dorm, or vice versa, they get thrown out immediately.) I was disappointed to find out that women are not allowed to go swimming if they are over the age of 12.
So with the strict rules between opposite sex relations, the environment is very safe for women. If a man does show special interest in her on the street by yelling at her or reaching for her, other men will be quick to react in condemnation. Today a man bumped me on the street, and begged me to forgive him. So, mom, no worries about that. It's not like Ecuador. Even Peter got yelled at today for wrapping his arm around me to pull me away from getting hit by a car. A man across the street in English yelled "Do not touch! Looking is ok, but not touching!" Hahaha.
Actually, the street vendors seem to be the only ones breaking the social norm of having the utmost respect for women. Here's a list of the phrases we heard.
"Come on baby light my fire!" -A man selling Hookahs
"I do not want to marry you, I only want your money"
"I will kill my wife for you"-?
"Can I tell you that I love you?"
"Lucky Man!"-Peter got offended when none of the men said lucky woman
"You stepped on something"...."What?"...."My heart"
"You will spend here"
"Give me your money!"
Anyway, all we had to do was say "la shookrum" No thanks. And they instantly stopped. Laughing them off was also fine, they knew how ridiculous they sounded to us. As the one man said, all they cared about was money.
We also went to this SWEET hundred year old coffee house, which doubled as a hookah bar. Peter shared a hookah with this girl named Heather. He tries so hard to be cool. Haha anyway, I won't do it for several reasons, one of them being women just don't smoke them in public. Heather got reprimanded by a man who was watching her. He basically said that it was bad for her because she was a woman. So I asked him why it wasn't bad for men. He took my comment as an invitation, and started following me. Which is unfortunate because that could have been an excellent conversation!
Tommorow we continue our orientation! I guess it's also Bedouin night, and horseback riding. Unfortunately I don't like horses, however Bedouin sound a bit interesting..
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Saturday - Peter
Hello to all of you, we have safely arrived in Egypt, here are a few tales of how we got here.
Wednesday and Thursday were mostly packing and relaxing. Dad drove us to to the Dulles airport where we checked in and then hung out at the USO for a while before our flight. Soon it was time to go, we said good bye to Dad and then started through security. Stacie showed her Passport and boarding pass and would have made it through fine if it wasn't for the fact that I was traveling with her. As soon as I showed my boarding pass and passport we were magically selected for additional screening! They had to ask Stacie a second time if she was indeed traveling with me. Anyway, we sent our bags, shoes, and my laptop through the X-Ray machine and walked through the metal detector as usual. Then the fun started: we were asked to step into a small, glass cage where we were padded down. Meanwhile my bag (which still included a CD player, external hard drive, headphones, voice recorder, umbrella, graphing calculator, and plenty of books) prompted a bag check. Of course since Stacie and I were indeed travelling together, her bag had to be searched as well. The man searching my bag rummaged around and wiped down everything electronic to make sure they weren't riddled with explosives. They weren't; but he never dug deep enough to find my graphing calculator or external hard drive.
On the shuttle to gate C1 the culture shock started to creep upon us, most of the people on the shuttle were speaking languages other than English, with no clear majority. This would be a common theme all the way to Cairo.
Sleep on the DC to Frankfurt flight was sparse and coveted but somehow we managed to eek out four or five hours of it. Announcements were in English then German, but the flight attendants spoke French with each other.
Our first four hours in Frankfurt were perhaps the most rattling. We arrived at noon and though terminal diagrams seemed helpful at first, they were far too simplistic to be of any use once we deplaned. Eventually we made it to and past the passport check.
"Can we just walk through then?"
"Ya" ...we move to walk around the booth
"Show me passport and I let you into Germany"
"Oh, of course"
"Sprecken zie Deutsch?"
"No"
she smirks and shrugs and then, "Welcome to Germany"
Currency exchange is hell, there is no good deal, and no way out either! After the exchange and the service fee we ended up with 25 euros for Dad's 50 dollars! I felt so cheated and used. All signs were in German and English occasionally, but bathrooms were quite easy to find.
I don't know what it is about talking to someone whose native language is one other than my own, but I always feel like I'm being scammed. That was the feeling I had anyway when a genteel and uniformed S-Bahn employee tried to help me with the automated fare card teller. We decided to trust him and bought a day pass covering all public transport for up to 5 people for 13.75 Euros (so, you know, more than half of our Euros).
On the train to HauptBahnhof central station we sat amongst a group of vacationing 20something Israeli women with a strong persuasion to spend their whole day intoxicated (This is one of our first experiences in Germany, mind you, and when they got on the train with beers and schnapps and what else our perception of Germans was temporarily warped).
By this time we had forgotten that our day pass covered 5 people, not just us two, and it was a shame that we did, because the conductor made his way through asking for tickets and it seemed that everyone in the Israeli group except one girl was covered by their group passes. The conductor was speaking in English and German while these women were speaking in English and Yiddish. It was hard for Stacie and I to understand the situation, but almost simultaneously I began looking for our ticket and Stacie asked me whether our ticket was only for two or not. We discovered our ability to intercede, but by then it was two late and the one girl was was in tears while her friends were consoling her on how it could happen to anyone and how they would all split the cost. Their group, the conductor, Stacie and I then got off at the main station where Stacie and I left their drama behind with the feeling that a good deed had just slipped through our fingers.
HauptBahnhof. That station... you'd better just walk right out than try to figure out what train/tram you want to board. Following the advice of that genteel S-Bahn employee we sought out the #15 tram as our best way to get to the quaint part of the city. Unbeknownst to us, however, was the fact that trams board outside the station while the twenty odd platforms arrayed before us were for trains leading to places far away from any part of the city. Secondly, the Gleis # does not mean the train number, it is the number of the platform.
I'm getting ahead of myself. We got off of the S-Bahn and boarded the train on platform 15 even though none of the destinations matched any of the tram stops on our map. We crossed the Main river quickly, which I took to be good news, but soon we were cruising past dense forests and small towns clearly of no relation to Frankfurt. The train stopped in Langen when we decided we had gotten ourselves on the wrong train, but as we stood to get off, the doors closed and the train took us farther away to Darm??? (I don't have the map right now). Anyway we were far away and worried about getting back. We just missed two trains back to Frankfurt before getting on one that took us back. Total trip: 3 hours
We decided we'd had enough of public transit and we left the station and walked to the quaint part of town in less than 20 minutes. We were so exhausted by this time that we sat down on a bench on the side of a round about. This was the beginning of our good time in Germany. We sat their for 45 minutes or so and just watched the traffic. Lots of small cars, lots of bikes, and twice a trolley-like contraption propelled by its pedalling riders who, for their hard work, were served cold beers by a bartender in the middle of the trolley. They made a lot of noise and blocked up traffic in the round about where traffic usually isn't a problem.
Stacie and I then trekked back toward the station looking for a bathroom for me. Finally I bought my way into the Starbucks bathroom with a 4 dollar bottle of sparkling water later confiscated by security at the airport.
We had ein beir on the sidewalk, a Wiezen, it was good.
Back to the airport, with a McDonald's cheeseburger on the way for each of us. I was so tired on the train. Through security to a cafe where the English and German speaking bartender was unable to converse with a Spanish speaking customer. I finally got to help someone! The gate was changed, Stacie's seat was changed (starting an awful headache for the Lufthansa desk workers). We got our seats back together and met Maddie (short for Madison), a senior from CU Boulder. We talked with her while we waited for them to switch our plane, flight crew, baggage, and food delaying our departure by an hour or so.
On the plane we met "Hart" a Junior from a college in NC, his real name is Robert, he reminds me of Bret Peterson and Jacob Lovely. I stayed up teaching myself Arabic for the 5hr flight. Announcements were in German, then English, then Arabic. We arrived at 4 am this morning.
After passport check and wet luggage we found our AUC driver with space enough for seven people in his van (by this time we were a group of 15). He only had ride requests from five the 15, due in part to those like Stacie and I who got our slips in late, and also in part because of the seven or so students on our flight who were booted from their erlier-scheduled flight. Our AUC driver decided to squeeze 9 students w/luggage into his van. The other 5 of us he left to get cabs. We five were Hart, Robbie, Victoria, Stacie and I. We ended up in two cabs, Robbie and Hart in one, Stacie, Victoria, and I in the other Speeding across Cairo at 5 AM to Zamalek and a dormitory we had never seen. Somehow our driver, who helped me pronounce a few words in Arabic, was able to find the dorm. We actually arrived before the other van!
Into the first floor lounge we dragged our belongings and tired bodies, piling our bags to the side, handing over our passports, and piling ourselves in the lounge chairs. Most of us were too tired to introduce ourselves, and too tired to care what was happening to our passports. My name was called with Isaac's and we became roommates. Isaac, aka Ike, is a Junior from Georgetown U studying History. Like me he hasn't had any Arabic classes yet.
By 7:30 we had unpacked and I had an hour and a half of the best sleep ever. At 9 I showered and met Stacie in the Lobby for our trip to the huge mall, City Stars. Waking up in a bed made it Saturday for me, and I still feel like today is my second day here. We have Vodafones now for local use only for the time being. Our 4pm meeting laid out a lot of the rules, both enforced and cultural. Many questions were answered, Dominoes pizza was served.
Stacie and I spent some time afterwards relaxing in the courtyard, have a nice conversation about everything happening around us and more. Her Internet still isn't working, so hopefully that will come on line soon.
Tomorrow we have formal orientation (and breakfast!) over at the old campus at 9AM.
Good night all.
Peter
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday - Peter: PICTURES
This weekend Stacie, Dad, and I traveled to New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia for Stacie's and my last weekend in the United States (AHHH). We left Friday afternoon and made it to Fort Monmouth NJ by 10:30 or so. Two rooms, Dad got the bed, Stacie the fold out, Peter the roll away.
Saturday morning, continental breakfast: bagel/creamcheese, coffee, yogurt, orange juice. We drove to Metropark Train station to ride to New York City on the NJ Transit (This is where the pictures start).
Out of Penn Station we walked to the Empire State Building and braved the lines (about an hour). Dad chickened out so Stacie and I went up alone. On the 86th floor the morning air was cool, crisp, and free of carbon monoxide and cloroflorocarbons. Habia unas buenas vistas!
Then we walked to Grand Central Station on our way to Times Square. At Times Square we stopped in the M&M store, I bought a rap CD from some lady, we saw "The Naked Cowboy", gawked at all the huge screens, and then started walking towards Central Park.
Stacie and I had Gyros from an "All Halal" street vender, while Dad had a Falafel sandwich. BEST GYROS EVER $4. Seriously , the Gyro was amazing. We ate them on a giant boulder in Central park.
Next we walked throught the park to the Apple Store, there were tons of people there (and a line to get in!) I played around on an iPhone for a while (so cool) and then we looked at headphones, too expensive.
We took the Subway to Washington square, which is under renovation and totally closed down. Walked through Greenwich Village to Little Italy, Chinatown, the southern fish market on the east side, and then down to South Ferry.
On the ferry to Statton Island I somehow was able to get a great picture of the statue of liberty from behind the heads of three rows of tourists trying to get the same thing. Lady liberty is actually quite short compared to the New York skyline, you have to pretty close to feel that patriotic nostalgia immigrants were able to muster from much farther away on their way to Ellis Island. Like the warmth from the embers of a neglected fire.
At Statton Island we turned around and got back on the ferry.
We road the Subway to Times Square, passing underneath the site of the former World Trade Center. The lights on the subway car were flickering and the operator slowed the train down as we pass through what was once the WTC subway station. An eerie but important experience in my opinion.
At Times Square we found a pizza place to eat; pepperoni, Fanta. Stacie and Dad had cold ones and made jokes about their twentyoneitude. The mascots were out in force again; Elmo wouldn't let Stacie take a picture with me unless I paid Elmo a dollar. So I snapped one just of Elmo as we crossed the street. Mickey mouse was out too, and the screens seemed even bigger and brighter.
On our circuitous way back to Penn Station we walked past the Church of Scientology [sic]. I made jokes about Zenu and Thetans (Tom Cruise I'm sorry you wasted all of your money and sanity, now we have to tell ourselves that we're not like you, not so easily sucked in to manufactured religions, but it's hard, you know, with all the Thetans).
Anyway, we made it back to the hotel.
Sunday
Continental breakfast: bagel/creamcheese, two bowls of cereal, two cups of orange juice. I drove us to Philadelphia in the morning, we went to the Reading Market for hoagies and cheesesteaks. Stacie and I were pretty tired from all the walking in New York, so after seeing the Liberty bell we let Dad go solo while we sat in the grass by some historical house.
It was a good trip, I hope you enjoy the pictures!
.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday - Peter
This is the week we are going to New York and Philadelphia. We are leaving Friday afternoon and returning Sunday afternoon. We haven't planned much of the trip yet, but Sunday we hope to see Tony Campolo speak at a church service. He is a professor emeritus of Sociology at Eastern College and is a strong believer in Jesus and the separation of Church and State. It should be an interesting sermon.
While in New York Stacie would like to see China Town, Time Square, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. I would like to see the Apple store on the SE corner of Central Park.
No plans for Philadelphia yet, although, I would appreciate an authentic cheese steak (w/ cheez wiz).
Here is our flight information!!
DEPART
Thursday, August 21, 2008
United AirlinesFlight 932 Nonstop
Thursday, August 21, 2008Depart: Dulles Intl, Washington, DC, US (IAD) @ 9:54pmArrive: Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) @ 11:45am Friday, August 22, 2008
<<>>
United Airlines Flight 8910Nonstop Operated by Lufthansa
Friday, August 22, 2008Depart: Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) @ 10:35pmArrive: International, Cairo, EG (CAI) @ 3:35am Saturday, August 23, 2008
Here is a PDF of our excursion schedule.
TTFN,
Peter
While in New York Stacie would like to see China Town, Time Square, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. I would like to see the Apple store on the SE corner of Central Park.
No plans for Philadelphia yet, although, I would appreciate an authentic cheese steak (w/ cheez wiz).
Here is our flight information!!
DEPART
Thursday, August 21, 2008
United AirlinesFlight 932 Nonstop
Thursday, August 21, 2008Depart: Dulles Intl, Washington, DC, US (IAD) @ 9:54pmArrive: Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) @ 11:45am Friday, August 22, 2008
<<>>
United Airlines Flight 8910Nonstop Operated by Lufthansa
Friday, August 22, 2008Depart: Metropolitan Area, Frankfurt, DE (FRA) @ 10:35pmArrive: International, Cairo, EG (CAI) @ 3:35am Saturday, August 23, 2008
Here is a PDF of our excursion schedule.
TTFN,
Peter
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday - Peter: PICTURES
Last Thursday Stacie came down from the Parklawn building so we could go on an adventure to Oliver Johnston's house (one of my fellow interns) with the other interns and Sam the intern coordinator. We had a great time riding the commuter train to Stafford, VA, kayaking in the Blue Heron reserve, getting my camera wet, eating, and talking until late in the evening.
Luckily my camera dried out and is fine. I was able to upload my pictures and now I have them for you all to view!
I got a big backpack! It's huge! It will be useful for our travels in Italy, Greece and elsewhere in the mediterranean and the middle east.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday - Peter: PICTURES
I hope this works, hopefully this LINK will take you to a page where you can view our pictures. If not, let me know. I found my camera cable, and my camera, but at a fun get together at a fellow intern's house yesterday I got my camera submerged in the river! I took the battery and memory card out, and I plan on taking the blowdryer to it when I get home today, hopefully it will still work!
As it turns out, Stacie and I are already planning our trip to Italy and Greece over January, we have the whole month off and it will be nice to travel around a bit. I just wish the dollar would get a bit stronger relative to the Euro so we might save some money.
As it turns out, Stacie and I are already planning our trip to Italy and Greece over January, we have the whole month off and it will be nice to travel around a bit. I just wish the dollar would get a bit stronger relative to the Euro so we might save some money.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wednesday - Peter
I finished my book today, Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. It's a book about fitting in and self-discovery. Kind of a sad ending and yet a hopefull ending, but those are the endings I find so hard to swallow.
Emily has arrived in Washington, D.C.! We went to the folklife festival today to look at Bhutanese crafts and craftsmanship. It was a short trip, down and back in an hour. I need to be a better worker, I keep doing anything besides work.
11 days until Stacie's birthday
16 days until our beach vacation
50 days until we leave for Egypt
121 days until our 2 year anniversary
202 days until the Bush Administration is eligible for rehire
332 days until we return to the states
426 days approximately until we return to St. Olaf
689 days approximately until we graduate
Emily has arrived in Washington, D.C.! We went to the folklife festival today to look at Bhutanese crafts and craftsmanship. It was a short trip, down and back in an hour. I need to be a better worker, I keep doing anything besides work.
11 days until Stacie's birthday
16 days until our beach vacation
50 days until we leave for Egypt
121 days until our 2 year anniversary
202 days until the Bush Administration is eligible for rehire
332 days until we return to the states
426 days approximately until we return to St. Olaf
689 days approximately until we graduate
Monday, June 23, 2008
Monday June 23 - Peter
8:45
Stacie just found out that she got the Benjamin Gilman Scholarship from the State Department for $8,000 dollars! We're both really excited about this.
We've both started our summer jobs. I'm at the Humphrey building in downtown DC, I work for HHS-ASPE-HP: that's the Health Policy division of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation under the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. I have three projects.
Stacie works* in the Parklawn Building in Rockville, MD north west of the district. She's working for the PCC- Poison Control Center.
*They haven't given her much to do, and the stuff she as received she has finished over and above their expectations in less time then they thought. She's trying her hardest to stretch the work she has over the whole week, but it's not an easy task and she often has nothing to do and nowhere to go.
They pay for our transportation costs (SWEET!), so we don't have to worry about commuting costs. We'll get paid our first paycheck this week, which is exciting.
On the horizon:
Folklife Festival - Huge tents of culture out on the national mall, this year: Texas, Bhutan, NASA
Emily arrives this weekend
4th of July - Stacie and I are planning to see the fireworks from capitol hill
July 13th - Stacie's birthday
July 18th - Beach vacation yay!
Stacie just found out that she got the Benjamin Gilman Scholarship from the State Department for $8,000 dollars! We're both really excited about this.
We've both started our summer jobs. I'm at the Humphrey building in downtown DC, I work for HHS-ASPE-HP: that's the Health Policy division of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation under the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. I have three projects.
Stacie works* in the Parklawn Building in Rockville, MD north west of the district. She's working for the PCC- Poison Control Center.
*They haven't given her much to do, and the stuff she as received she has finished over and above their expectations in less time then they thought. She's trying her hardest to stretch the work she has over the whole week, but it's not an easy task and she often has nothing to do and nowhere to go.
They pay for our transportation costs (SWEET!), so we don't have to worry about commuting costs. We'll get paid our first paycheck this week, which is exciting.
On the horizon:
Folklife Festival - Huge tents of culture out on the national mall, this year: Texas, Bhutan, NASA
Emily arrives this weekend
4th of July - Stacie and I are planning to see the fireworks from capitol hill
July 13th - Stacie's birthday
July 18th - Beach vacation yay!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday - Peter
Welcome to our blog! It may be named Pizza Hut, and you may have arrived here by typing guntherliz.blogspot.com , but most assuredly this blog will be about our travels. Especially to Egypt.
Bart and I said goodbye to Mom at the Lindberg and then Bart drove me to Humphrey. Stacie and I met at the *Humphrey* terminal. She was mad at me for telling her it was Lindberg, she and Gary had to take the light rail over with all her stuff. I got my stuff out of the car (except our lunches), and we sat in the airport for a while. Eventually Gary left (Stacie was worried he wouldn't find his car). We got in line to check our bags.
My bag weighed 56 lbs, 6 lbs too many, Stacie's was 9 lbs over. We tried to shuffle clothes around and cram more into our carryons, I took out a burlap bag I had stuffed with computer cords, but I couldn't find anything else heavy or easy to remove. That's when I decided that all I had to do was make it appear as though my bag was 50 pounds. I set the burlap bag asside and tossed my bag on the scale, making sure to a definite minority of the bag to rest on the weightplateless side of the desks opposite us. 11 lbs under, big surprise (to the agent)! I threw the burlap bag back in, remarking, "This bag can't possibly weigh more than 4 lbs!" and she tagged it as a bag of proper weight. Stacie, one way or another, did the same and we escaped without any extra charges ($30 per bag!).
The flights were like any, I wanted to sleep but to no avail: Stacie wouldn't let me. We talked a lot on the flight to Atlanta, and looked out the window as well. Gourmet Pretzels, Coke.
Lunch in Atlanta Airport (They have a smoking salon!! We didn't go in) Ate at Atlanta Bread Company (Spin off of Panera Bread or original? My generation hopes originality has not disappeared yet). ATL to DCA we had an isle seat this time. Gourmet pretzels, apple juice (full can!).
Arrived in DC, met Carol my step-mom, got our bags, talked about Asa and Ani some. My bag was heavy and the car was FAR AWAY, but it was ok, I toughed it out like a champ (actually I complained the whole way).
Bart and I said goodbye to Mom at the Lindberg and then Bart drove me to Humphrey. Stacie and I met at the *Humphrey* terminal. She was mad at me for telling her it was Lindberg, she and Gary had to take the light rail over with all her stuff. I got my stuff out of the car (except our lunches), and we sat in the airport for a while. Eventually Gary left (Stacie was worried he wouldn't find his car). We got in line to check our bags.
My bag weighed 56 lbs, 6 lbs too many, Stacie's was 9 lbs over. We tried to shuffle clothes around and cram more into our carryons, I took out a burlap bag I had stuffed with computer cords, but I couldn't find anything else heavy or easy to remove. That's when I decided that all I had to do was make it appear as though my bag was 50 pounds. I set the burlap bag asside and tossed my bag on the scale, making sure to a definite minority of the bag to rest on the weightplateless side of the desks opposite us. 11 lbs under, big surprise (to the agent)! I threw the burlap bag back in, remarking, "This bag can't possibly weigh more than 4 lbs!" and she tagged it as a bag of proper weight. Stacie, one way or another, did the same and we escaped without any extra charges ($30 per bag!).
The flights were like any, I wanted to sleep but to no avail: Stacie wouldn't let me. We talked a lot on the flight to Atlanta, and looked out the window as well. Gourmet Pretzels, Coke.
Lunch in Atlanta Airport (They have a smoking salon!! We didn't go in) Ate at Atlanta Bread Company (Spin off of Panera Bread or original? My generation hopes originality has not disappeared yet). ATL to DCA we had an isle seat this time. Gourmet pretzels, apple juice (full can!).
Arrived in DC, met Carol my step-mom, got our bags, talked about Asa and Ani some. My bag was heavy and the car was FAR AWAY, but it was ok, I toughed it out like a champ (actually I complained the whole way).
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