I am actually going to die of exhaustion on this trip. We do so much stuff it is crazy!! So the last I talked about was Tuesday. It has been so hectic since then. We started our Arabic class on Wednesday which was a big deal. Classes are 4 hours a day and basically just dismantle everything that we have ever learned about the language. In amia (colloquial), you don't conjugate any verbs and the grammar structure is much more simple, comparatively. And like....basically every single vocab word is different. They even have a different word for yes; usually we say "naam" and now we have to say "eowa" (kinda like iowa). Also, the letters make different sounds. The ج usually makes a "j" sound, but in egypt it makes a "g" sound. I certainly don't think it sounds as pretty. And the ق that is usually a mix between a "k" and a "q" now makes the sound of an "ا", which sounds basically just like the letter "a". It is really frustrating cause we have to learn how to repronounce everything. Sorry, that was the boring part. Arabic class is good for the most part though. We have a really good teacher named Hassna. I have never met someone that giggles more in my entire life. It is semi-ridiculous. The only thing that is really hard is that it is 4 hours. I can hardly think of anything that I can do for 4 hours straight. It is a little hard to absorb things that quickly. 

After our first Arabic class, we went to the US embassy. I have to say, I was not impressed by this trip. We were required to dress up, with most of the guys wearing full suits, which is not that comfortable in the Cairo weather. When we arrived, we were brought around to one gate, and then moved to another gate after waiting for like 10 minutes. The whole place was very cold and not welcoming at all, which was only furthered by the 3 metal detectors. I totally get that though, it was just annoying. When we got in, we were supposed to be meeting with a deputy chief, I think, or someone that was fairly high up. Instead, we got a man who was in middle management and was only involved in the economic status of Egypt. The other guy got stuck in "Cairo traffic" which can totally be a legit excuse but I think that he just didn't want to talk to a bunch of college kids. The man that we ended up talking to was in the Peace Corp in Morocco though, and that was cool. As soon as I heard him say that, I knew that he was not the typical diplomat. I think that there is some sort of rule somewhere that says a diplomat can never actually answer your questions, then must just always talk around them. We were instructed to ask hard-hitting questions about the US-Egyptian relations and other topics as well. This guy was better than most at answering more, because what he said didn't really matter. He did give us his opinion on certain matters and it was definitely a breath of fresh air. But other things, he just talks for like 10 minutes and then never answers the question. Oh diplomacy. At the very end of the presentation, the guy that we were originally intended to talk to stands up and thanks that man for filling in for him and how he "really appreciates that we came out here". Such a lie. If you got here late you could have at least pretended that you cared. This entire time, all I could think about was that is this is what OUR OWN embassy treats their citizens like, I can't even imagine how the treat the local Egyptians, the people that they are supposed to be interacting with and understanding. It was all very frustrating to me and makes me hate governments for their lack of transparency and ability to even pretend like they care about all of us little people. But I guess some of the things we learned from the trip were interesting, like how we give a gigantic amount of aid to Egypt every year and fund SOOO much of their military. 

We got back from the embassy and it was time to go to dinner. A guy in the group, Rob, found the name and address of this really good and authentic place to eat, so a bunch of us headed out there. Needless to say, things did not go as planned haha. This restaurant was supposed to be like 10 minutes MAX away from our hotel, but we probably spent over an hour looking for this restaurant. When we finally found it, after help from many security guard that are stationed on basically every corned and random people on the street, we found it and realized we had passed it twice on our walk. It was sooooooo good though! The food was very authentic and pretty cheap, although basically everything is cheap in Egypt. 1 US dollar is worth roughly 5.5 Egyptian Pounds. I usually eat a falafel place once a day that only costs 1.5 EP. It is AWESOME! Even at the sit down dinners, I can get a big plate with a drink and water (which you have to pay for because we can't drink tap water) for around 10 dollars if the restaurants are nicer. Cafes are even cheaper. I love it and can't wait to go shopping!!! But I have decided I will not buy anything until I get to know Cairo and Egypt a little more so I don't get completely ripped off. Wow tangent. We just went to bed after that. 

Thursday we had Arabic class again, although nothing exciting happened. The cool thing was the dialogue with some students at American University at Cairo, which I was especially interested in because that is definitely a place where I might be studying abroad. At first, we just talked about our first impressions of Cairo and Egypt with the students. It ended up being a lot about driving, because we are all amazed at the driving here. Words can't even describe it. It is absolutely the most unorganized thing I have ever seen, worse than any other country. I don't even know what else to say, it really just must be experienced. I wasn't impressed by the dialogue with the students, but thats OK. I was really tired and felt like I just had an off day the entire day. 

Today was our free day. 3 of the Arabic language students and I went to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, where they have all the mummies and artifacts and stuff. I am SUCH a history nerd so I love every minute of it. We hired a guide who was OK, nothing too special but he was absolutely necessary. The museum is pretty confusing and things aren't really marked very well so it was nice having someone who knew his way around. We spent about 2 hours with him and then explored the museum by ourselves for a while. I was SOOO bummed because I wanted to see the mummies really bad but it cost 50 pounds and I have been having trouble with my bank account (Screw you Bank of America!!!!) so I couldn't see any human mummies!!! We did see animal mummies though, and that was still pretty interesting and pretty gross. There was a crocodile that was like 15 feet long at least. It was huge. 

We came back to the hotel, got some falafel, and then went to watch a motocross competition at the pyramids!! It was really western but still fun. We got to see the sun set on the Sphynx and the Pyramids and then saw them lit up at night and some fireworks. It really was beautiful. I heard that you can take camel rides at sunset and I for sure want to look in to doing that on a free day. The motocross was OK, nothing special. They just went off the same jump like 598344 times and it all looked the same to me. I wouldn't have been much more interested if it was racing. It was funny cuase each rider had a different song while they rode and 2 of them picked black-eyed peas songs. The Egyptians went nuts! They knew all the words and were singing along the whole time. I thought it was so funny. They were slightly indifferent towards Green Day, didn't like Nirvana, and kind of liked Outkast. It was weird to see all their reactions to the different music that was being played. There was a bunch of metal and they for sure were not fans of that at all. 

I am absolutely exhausted right now though, so I have to go to bed. We have a super long day tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep for the day long tour of Coptic (Orthodox Christian) Cairo!!

XOXO

Katie