Back to Cairo

Cairo is our next stop. We are leaving European paradise for the
craziest city in the world. I feel like my admiration for Alexandria
mitigates my love for Cairo which isn't true. I've been in Alexandria
since Friday morning and while its the most beautiful place I have
ever visited I feel that I could go anywhere in Europe and have a very
comparable experience. I like Cairo and was excited to come to Egypt
because it was going to be so new. Many of the other students are
obsessed with Alexandria but none of them have spent as much time in
Europe as I have. After the beach last night we went to a cemetery for
Italian soldiers who died fighting on the shores. After leaving and
driving for twenty minutes we stop on the highway and turn off into
the desert, there are no markers symbolizing a road or even a path
just a toyota pickup truck from the 80s leading us. We roll over a few
dunes and over a railroad track and finally we see a group of bedouins
and a large tent. We talked to them, played with the kids, looked at
the desert, saw a seemingly ancient train pass, and finally stepped
into the tent and ate dinner. We all knew that we would be eating
with the bedouins but we expected a large tent that was replica
Bedouin food but this was the real deal. Boys were herding sheep and
goats, the women were not to be seen, and they all wore the
traditional galabiyya. Mina took the time to explain to us that this
never happens, the bedouins will enter other societies to make a
living but they are very reserved and do not ever allow visitorsto
visit them. This goes to show how well respected Mina is and how
highly he thinks of us to risk his contacts so that we could have a
genuine experience. Of course we were on our most perfect behavior
and they were so happy that they even invited us to watch the Germany-
Uruguay game which was hard to pass up but with a two hour ride home
it was the right thing to leave when we did.

This morning we visited two palaces which were so artistic that they
outdid the art that they were housing. The second palace was the home
of the Egyptian "summer" government under king Farouk. The building
was expansive but the grounds were endless, they now house a beach,
fishing piers, parks, and now sadly a mcdonalds. After this we joined
Mina and his mother for lunch in the same house where he grew up. The
lunch was great which isn't surprising until you hear that it was
whole fish and freshly cooked shrimp. I turned to my friend and said
"if I was anywhere but Egypt I would no eat a fish whole" to which she
responded "I feel the exact same way". When I say whole fish I mean
whole fish, for the hamburgers, Fischmarkt whole, for pittsburghers,
Wholeys whole, for anyone else, skin eyes and tiny bones whole. It was
delicios and I ate everything except the head. It was a great end to
a great trip to Alexandria and now I get to look forward to a three
hour drive back "home", hopefully I'll get some sleep before going out
tonight for the world cup final. Oranje bovven!