Advertisement
Published: March 22nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Things are heating up!
The warm weather has finally arrived!!! It has seemed that the weather was really not at all what one would picture in Egypt for the last 4 months...thankfully it changed in the blink of an eye and I am now pink, freckly and very very happy!!
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to try out a new sport: Sandboarding!!! of course with everything here being an adventure, I wasn't able to just go out to some sand dunes and give it a try, I had to do it for a TV show! haha A couple weeks ago I met a guy who is into extreme sports in egypt and does a talk show of sorts that discuss and inform viewers in the middle east (in arabic of course!) about extreme sports. So inevitably the two of us go talking about sports and when he learned about my snowboarding background, he asked if I would like to try sandboarding! THe next thing I know Im waking up at 430 in the morning to meet "the crew" who is going to drive out to the edge of the Sahara desert to some sanddunes. There were prolly
ready for the desert
two of the people I met sandboarding...the guy is the voice of egypt's english radio station..NileFM 40 people in total, including some people catering to our every food and drink desires!!! I brought along a one of my egyptian friends (the girl that I met this guy through) and we rode in a vehicle with a father and son. Turns out the little son (7 years old!) is also going to be on TV because he is a sandboarder! So they have some guys, a child and the token female..sounds like your typical sports show already!
It is still something relatively new to these guys and they had a few different "models" of boards. One was an actual snowboard with bindings and the other two were pieces of wood, in the shape of a board, with a formica bottom that lookes straight off of someone's kitchen counter top. So we walked to a small dune for a few practice runs and it was relatively easy on the snowboard as long as there was lots of wax. The other two had no bindings so it was more difficult to balance, but balancing on sand is much slower and easier than snow and ice, so I was hoppin around on the things pretty easily in the three practice
Khadiga
my egyptian friend from california :) runs that I got in.
After some lunch, it was time. So the director took my new friend, me, my girlfriend and the little boy to do some walking through the desert with the boards while they filmed the opening section. We were introduced in arabic and then Im introduced as the "pro snowboarder of 12 years who will teach us a few things about sandboarding!!!!!!" wow.. no pressure right?
So they hand me the snowboard and instruct me to climb this giant dune and wait for the signal where Im supposed to stand up and ride smoothly down to where they are filming the host of the show. THANK GOD I PERFORM UNDER PRESSURE!!!! by this time there were people gathered around at the bottom watching too! But luckily I carved down the mountain and that was that. After we did a million more shots with the guy, me and the kid all riding at the same time and it was super fun. No word on when this show actually will be ready to air, but I have been promised a copy that I'm sure you will all be forced to watch when I get home 😊
This weekend
was a long weekend in Egypt because it was the Prophet Mohamed's birthday on Thursday. So 8 of the teachers rented a 4 bedroom villa in Ain Sohkna for the weekend. I have been to this place before, I think there is a previous blog and pics, but this time was much longer visit and it was amazing!!! We just sat on the beach, ate buffett food, played some volleyball and swam for three days! It was a sad time when the bus arrived 😞 Paul and Sarah stayed at a different resort than us and unfortunately their only option for transportation was quoted as a 50 EURO cab ride (its 15 mins away!!!!) so we didnt get to see them all weekend, but the rest of us has a real girl's weekend that was so relaxing and HOT HOT HOT! multiple applications of sunscreen and some time in the shade and we all still had some pink patches! I have the same glow that usually comes after 2 months of sport camps in the kamloops sun!
Some of the highlights of the trip were:
dolphins and a stingray!
a man in an orange pumpkin shirt and his fully burka-wearing
wife!! (ya I know I am far too excited by bad fashion)
the smoooth as butter sand and clear aqua blue water
going to sleep every night by 11pm!
All in all an amazing weekend, we are already talking about going back in 2 weeks after report cards!
I was originally supposed to only be there for one night because I had a soccer match on Friday night. Thankfully my ride didnt work out and I was "stuck" there until Saturday! THis wednesday I am going to see the Egyptian National Football team play against Argentina at the stadium! I havent been to a football match since September so I am super super excited!!!!
Why am I leaving again?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0663s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Len
non-member comment
Sounds like
your having a great time. Sandboarding eh? Will it ever become an Olympic event? Your blogs make for good reading. Keep'em comin. cheers, love, Len