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Published: March 5th 2008
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Here I sit, in the courtyard of our beautiful campus in a t-shirt (its a comfortable 79 degrees) being stalked by a terrifying cat, and I am overwhelmed with the knowledge of how lucky I am to be able to experience all that I am. I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity, which has brought about so many other opportunities to learn and grow as a person. Although my classes are not exactly stimulating, I feel like I am constantly surrounded by unique learning experiences that are enriching and coloring my life in ways I didn't know Egypt could.
This past weekend was perhaps one of the best situations I've been in here. 14 of my good friends and I got up at 8 and hopped in a microbus that just barely held us all (don't even thing about leg room) and drove about 4 groggy hours into the midst of the real, live desert! Once we reached an oasis we stopped and layed amongst the palm trees while we were served a fantastic lunch of foul (beans), aiish (wheat pita bread), and a plethora of different dips and fruit and veggies. Eventually we piled into four hardcore jeeps and
set of on an amazing adventure off-roading through the desert sand hills and rocks. It was so amazing to just be out in the open, governed by nothing but human and technological limits. Our driver (Samy, an amazing man) was the one whose company it was and so really was in charge of everyone else. We connected someone's ipod to his radio and we listened to the most perfect music you can imagine while watching the sunset swirling around in the desert; a mix of Egyptian and American and who knows what else. First, we drove through the Black Desert, which was covered with little black rocks and sand dispersed by now extinct desert volcanoes. We stopped at numerous desert formations to run and jump and play. I ran and jumped a little too much with sandals and cracked a part of my toenail, which hurt a ridiculous amount (don't worry, the part fell off last night). One place we stopped at was called crystal mountain. I thought a lot of my Mom and Craig here because I knew one of them would have the explanation for how the sand solidified and crystalized into the most amazing little light reflectors.
After this we were off again to drive through the White Desert. Here there were awe-inspiring, breath-taking white chalk limestone formations that drove the imagination wild like big puffy clouds on a sunny summer day. There was "the bunny", "the chicken and tree" and millions more one could think up. The rock is sea-bed created by the calcite in shells of tiny sea creatures being deposited on the sea floor. As we wove through the rock statues someone in our jeep noticed a rainbow created by the sunset in the blue sky. It honestly looked like there was a hole in the sky and everything beyond the blue is bright beautiful rainbow. Just as we noticed the rainbow amidst the beginning of the sunset and golden glow of everything in the desert the song Love Generation flowed through the car and and soaked us all in its intoxicating beat and perfect lyrics "Just look to the rainbow you will see/ the sun will shine 'till eternity/ I've got so much love in my heart/ no one can tear it apart".
We eventually reached our campsite, just a random spot in the middle of the White Desert just in time to
watch the INCREDIBLE sunset. We had a delicious dinner of rice, veggies and chicken (just rice and veggies for me) and circled around the fire amongst Samy and his bedoin friends/employees. Once it was completely dark, our bellies had been filled and we were settled comfortably and warmly around the fire the "spice bedoins" came out and played really great drums and flutes for us. The music was amazing, and soon we were all up dancing around the fire under one of the most star filled and beautiful night skies I've ever seen. As things settled down we snuggled up in sleeping bags talking as one by one we dropped off to sleep. My friend Ross and I were the only ones to make it all the way to see the first light of morning, but as the sky began to brighten we woke up whoever wanted to join us for the sunrise. We walked a bit away from camp, climbed up on one of the huge rocks and watched the show as morning light fell across the desert slowly moving to the opposite horizon.
After catching a couple hours of early morning sleep we were up again to a
fantastic breakfast, and then we were off again driving free and crazy through the desert. We made it back to the oasis for lunch again and then around 3, wearily and reluctantly climbed back into the minibus for a horribly long and uncomfortable ride to the noise, hustle and bustle of Cairo. Arriving back in Cairo at about 9pm, I practically slept walked home only to realize I had stupidly left my wallet and favorite tennis shoes in the microbus that had just left through the traffic of Cairo. I panicked a bit, but after a few stressful days, a ton of help from Samy (the guide) and a bunch of extraordinarly frustrating phone conversations with men who only speak arabic, I finally retrieved my wallet as well as shoes and even socks from the microbus driver's cousin's (?) taxi. I was so happy to have all my cards and IDs back (yes and my shoes) I didn't really even mind the missing 100 le (about 20 bucks) and the 50 le the taxi driver insisted I pay him.
Now even looking back on this experience I am filled and bursting with emotion. What a perfect escape from the craziness
Black Desert
Nadia, Hannah, Me of this city I am engulfed in everyday; I couldn't have asked for a better two days. I cannot wait to see what other surprises this amazing country has in store for me.
Unfortunately in the rush to get to the bus Friday morning I forgot my camera, so the pictures are courtesy of Ariela Rutkin-Becker, Nadia Argineanu and Ross Beckman.
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Mom
non-member comment
Wow
Wow! I am glad you got your stuff back...