Busy, busy life!

Those of you who have been through this program during previous semesters will share my feelings when I say I'm just plain exhausted. This program is fantastic...we do SO much in such limited time, and Cairo has so much to offer during the short periods of free time we have - but that also means sleep is a secondary priority! I keep telling myself I can sleep in May after graduation :-) I'm not sure how my body feels about that vow to not sleep much (my mind says it's a bad idea), but my heart says to ignore schoolwork and sleep, and to enjoy this amazing part of the world as much as I can!

I feel like my posts never come close to doing justice to all that I'm experiencing here. There's just no way to relay everything...like I said, I barely have time to sleep, let alone keep this thing updated very regularly. Just know that I'll be more than willing to share stories with any and all of you, as often as you'd like, when I get home. So remember everything you want to know and be sure to drill me for details! I could talk for days about this place that I have already started calling home...I know I've only been here less than a month, but really, it grows on you so quickly!

My most recent adventure was this past weekend (well, it was a 4 day trip...) when most of our group took a trip to Siwa, which is about a 10 hour bus ride from Cairo. It's all the way across Egypt, almost to Libya (no, we didn't cross the border...no worries!). Being there was like being in a different world...it's SO different from life here in Cairo. Siwa is out in the desert, and it's a Berber culture so life there looks pretty much nothing like Cairo. We stayed at a hostel about 20 minutes outside of Siwa, and it had no electricity - it was great! It totally added to the charm! Siwa is a lot smaller than Cairo - only 20,000ish people. It's very secluded and traditional, and there are very few Western influences, at least when compared with Cairo. Most people speak the local language, though they do teach Arabic in schools and have recently started teaching English as well. Siwa is actually pretty populated with tourists because of the oases nearby, so I actually didn't feel as out of place as I imagined I would. Anyway, some highlights:

-The women in our group met with a handful of Siwan women and we were able to talk about what life in Siwa is like for them. Women there do not leave the home often, and they definitely do not leave Siwa unless it's for medical treatment or something like that. When married women leave their homes, they must be completely covered, with absolutely no skin showing. Women generally marry very early, sometimes even as early as 12 or 13. It was so fascinating to talk with them, through a translator of course (women don't learn much English there), and hear their stories and comments about Siwan life. They were so happy! It's really easy for me to look at women in a village like that and judge the men for being oppressive, or assume the women are unhappy and stuck under the dominating hand of their husbands, but that was not the case. The women went on about how safe they felt and how they enjoyed their lives as women there! I could say a lot more about this, so feel free to ask...

-There are coffee shops everywhere in Egypt, but I think every other storefront in Siwa was a coffee place. I love it!

-I woke up for the sunrise one morning, and desert sunrises are wonderful! Sunsets are great too, but I think of the two the sunrise was more impressive. Cairo has really colorful sunsets (due to all the pollution!) but there was something about the quiet, uninterrupted hour I spent sitting on the roof of the hostel watching the sun...you don't get a quiet hour in Cairo very often!

-We rented bikes one day and rode all around Siwa. Other than a sore butt, it was great! We got to see the neighborhoods and just wander around a little. It really is a cute little town.

-Siwan food = great! Actually, Egyptian food = great, so I guess I'll just say that Siwan food didn't disappoint.

-We took a desert safari into the Sahara...driving jeeps through the sand dunes, sandboarding, hot and cold springs, more duning, more duning, almost flipping our jeep while duning, and a little more duning (lots of pictures to be posted ASAP)...followed by sleeping like a Bedouin in the desert! What a great night! It was freezing at night, but it was fantastic anyway. It was almost a full moon, and without the lights of Cairo the sky was absolutely beautiful! You could walk around without a flashlight because of the moon being so bright, but you could still see the stars too! I don't know much about stars and planets and stuff, but we think we saw a red something...maybe Mars? We'll say it was Mars, because that sounds fun :-) Either way, the desert was great! *Kyle, if you read this, thank you for the advice to sleep in the desert!


So clearly I made it home from Siwa alive, despite all our "life forever moments", as our director would call them (duning, sandboarding, etc.). My next adventure begins tonight, as I leave for a week-long homestay. I will meet my family tonight at 6, and then I leave with them for their home. I will still have classes this week, so I will be commuting from their home to the villa each day...tomorrow's morning commute might be a little interesting :-) So I'll be with my family until Saturday, and then the following Tuesday we leave for a trip to Luxor! I feel like we never have class because we travel so much (not that I'm complaining...travel is great!) but even still, I am learning so much just by experiencing this place...it really is worlds away from the States.

I hope to post pictures soon...I'll do my best to get some more up this week! In the meantime, hope you are all doing well! Keep the update emails coming because I love hearing what's going on at home and elsewhere!