And in the Meadows

Everyone likes to exaggerate. For example:

Some think NASCAR is an athletic activity. (Sorry for those of you reading this blog that like both wrestling and NASCAR. I did not mean to rail against your interests. It just kind of happened. Please forgive me.)

McCain said he is going to follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell. Don't forget the keys, Johnny.

"I laughed so hard after reading Matt's blog!" Right? Right?

When Egypt decided to exaggerate, it chose winter. In Egyptian Arabic, the word for rainy weather is derived from the word "winter." I suppose after summer anything cooler qualifies as winter. The weather has certainly been pleasant. The rain, along with a steady sea breeze, have brought the temperature down slightly. It is still, however, leagues away from conditions deserving the title winter.

This is my friend Adrian unintentionally doing his Donkey Kong impression. He can intentionally do a good Wookie impression. His impersonation range may extend to other fuzzy creatures but I only know of those two.


It wintered a couple days ago, this morning, and more winter is on the way.

Red Sky at Night

The American culture center in Alexandria organized a Big Brother Big Sister program for high school students studying English that want to meet and get to know Americans. We had our first meeting tonight. The kids are great. It is a great opportunity for them to practice English and for me to practice Arabic. We are meeting again this Saturday to hang out. It should be great.

Halloween is coming soon. No surprise, Egyptians do not celebrate Halloween. I could deal with that if I could satisfy my cravings for Mounds. (http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/mounds.asp)
What I would give to have a entire bag of Mound on October 31st. Oh wow. The hunt is on. So good yet so not good.

Shoes, 9 days , and thankful

It's 10 PM

Do you know where your American ambassador to Egypt is?

Well, chances are they are mounting the top rope preparing for a devastating moonsault on their dazed, weary, and unnaturally sweaty opponent to the satisfaction of a wildly screaming crowd. Oh, did I forget to mention that all of our ambassadors to Egypt have muscles on top of muscles that normal humans do not have, can tear phone book with their ears, and prefer to wear unnecessarily small, rhinestone covered spandex?

The WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, is the America Egyptians choose to watch on TV. Not Opera (well her sometimes but she's drawing viewers in Saudi Arabia instead), the Discovery Channel (and cute animals!), or Bush. Who can blame them? The cultural spectacle of huge, sweaty men brutally yet acrobatically assaulting each other must be irresistible. And it's real.

I tried to convince an Egyptian friend of mine that professional wrestling is not that popular in America. He replied, "But the stadiums are always packed." As much as I do not like to admit it, he's right. Oh my goodness. Americans like this stuff too?

Who cares what politicians have to say? Speeches are deathly boring compared to a seated three quarter face-lock jawbreaker rebuttal after being thrown from the ring and breaking your fall on a stack of office tables.

The America concerned with rebuilding its image abroad has found a strong opponent that has already captured the imagination of Egyptians: the real America.

Vertical suplex stunner, the twist of fate, and why can't we be like Canada and export hockey, not wrestling?

The moonsault: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonsault

Fish

Alexandria is famous for its delicious fish restaurants and lively fish markets. The fish are both fresh and plentiful. There is a good chance the fish you will eat was still in the ocean as you walked to the restaurant. I'm not sure it gets much better than that.

Egypt has another type of fish. This type, however, is considerably less famous and tasty but as prevalent as the other: The Egyptian handshake.

In America, we respect a firm handshake. A strong handshake reflects on you as a mature, self-confident person and conveys your excitement for seeing the other person.

It is the opposite in Egypt. When Egyptians greet each other, they tenderly and limply clasp each others' wrists and then quickly disengage. Although we, as Westerners, recognize this greeting as a hand shake, the hand is nominally involved in the process and there is absolutely no shaking.

The thumb plays no role in Egyptian salutations. The American handshake hinges on good thumb-to-thumb contact. Planting the thumb allows the rest of the fingers to wrap naturally, completely a full handshake. Even in the rare instances in Egypt when your hand finds the other's hand, rather than wrist, the thumb is always excluded. You are left with an uncomfortable palm caress that more resembles an severely underdeveloped high five than a handshake.

The differences in salutation tell an interesting story about our two cultures. Each handshake style still conveys respect and affirms the other person but in two distinct manners. Why does America respect a powerful handshake and Egypt choose a more tender greeting?

I am starting to come to grips with this cultural phenomenon but I do not think I'll ever be hooked by it.


Heads up, liberation from a chocolate prison, and I want my ballot

So you think you can dance

for three hours? I was young once too.

A couple days ago us American students in the dorm went to a farah, or wedding celebration, held on behalf of Nadar's brother. (Nadar is the previously mentioned cat rescuer). Nadar, like many of the students at Alexandria University, comes from the Nile delta region. His home is about an hour away from Alexandria by bus.

Let it be known, Egyptians can celebrate a wedding. Here' s a run down of the evening:

Arrive at the town around 8:30 -9:00 PM and enter Nadar's house
Do the chit chat thing. Nadar's family is extremely nice and welcoming.
Pose for pictures with young adorable children. Proof:


The boy's father took the boy's picture with each of us in turn. We were just making memories that night.

So where were we? Ah...

Feast.
Come up for air.
Resume feasting.
More pictures of us. (This will be a theme for the evening. Not many Americans find their way out to the small towns of the Nile Delta.)
Consider re-feasting but think better of it.
Get our dance on in the street in front of Nadar's house.

It is at this point that time and I parted ways. We danced for a while. How long though? No one can know.

Bride arrives.
Crowd follows bride to alternate dancing location. I'm not joking.


Break from dancing.
Hang out with the local younsters and decline offers to marry off the girls in my program.
Hit the dance floor again.

We partied like rock stars until 1 AM. I have never been exhausted from dancing before that night. (Does that mean I need to get out more?)

Appropriate and very appropriate occasions for Star Wars theme music, floral invasions, and almost famous

My Desert Life (or 1001 Hiding Places for Sand)

I spent the last four days in an oasis town named Siwa in the western Egyptian desert. Due to its remote location, Siwa has a unique history. The oasis enjoyed de facto self-autonomy from Egypt until recently when the Egyptian government built a road connecting Siwa to the modern world. The most prevalent form of transportation in Siwa is still donkey cart.

We rode a bus belonging to Alexandria University for the nine hour journey from Alexandria to Siwa. For those of you following at home, to find Siwa on the map, start in Libya, not Egypt. Siwa is not close to anything in Egypt. It was a long nine hours.

Notice anything peculiar in this picture?

Buses in Egypt come equipped with air conditioning and the occasional shower. Those unwillingly bathed, however, were not that amused.

The oases and desert surrounding the town of Siwa are beautiful. One day we got to go swimming in one of the springs near Siwa. It was great.

Here is the road to the spring:

And the spring! Boing!

Someone forgot their bathing suit.

The highlight of the visit to Siwa was the trip we took into the desert. I will probably use this word many more times before this post is over but it is appropriate: the desert is beautiful. We swam in a large spring surrounded by mountains of sand as the sun set. Gorgeous.

We also went sand boarding. Not quite as fast as skiing but still a lot of fun. There are no lifts though so you get some good exercise climbing back up the dunes. We dived our group into teams and had a relay race down a large sand dune. Going down was awesome. Going up was less so.


We also played ping pong (just 'ping' in arabic) with some Siwans. It just so happened that some of them go to Alexandria University and will be living with us in the dorms. Small world (with a really big desert). Matt Groh, for those of you who know and love him, was a dominate force on the Siwan ping pong circuit. He won six matches in a row. The Siwans quickly traded their initial amusement with an American opponent for a more serious approach as Matt took down some talented players. The Siwans were great company and allowed the girls play ping pong with them too.


My family in Egypt


Older than wisdom, blankets of stars, and well, if you're not going to finish that...