The 2nd A9ed

***WARNING*** this is kind of long and really pretty gross.

In late October I posted about the A9ed that was immediately following Ramadan. Roughly 2 months later the people here are celebrating the 2nd A9ed. This time, they take 3 days to celebrate when Abraham took Ishmael up the mountain to sacrifice him and at the last minute God provided a sheep instead. Yep...I said Ishmael. They don't believe that it was Isaac but Ishmael who went up the mountain. Anyways, so during this a9ed, anyone who is financially able is obligated to sacrifice a sheep to Allah for their family. It's a pretty strange thing to witness really.

Last night we went downstairs to visit my landlord since we just got back from Turkey and they invited us to come down and celebrate the A9ed with their family.

We went down this morning at about 9 am and they were all dressed up in their new clothes to celebrate. We had to wait a little while for the guy to come who would actually kill the sheep. When it comes to slaughtering sheep you can either call someone to come to your house or you can just hire one of the guys who walk around carrying an axe and some knives. They have a special guy that they use...it cost $10. Once he arrived we got right to it.

Oh yeah, throughout the whole thing I was holding my favorite 2-yr old so I'll include some of her comments as we go along.

Here's the before shot. The sheep has to be laying in a certain position and be cut in a certain area according to their religion. Here they guys are discussing how exactly they were going to get the sheep into that position.

'the sheep says baaaa, hear it?!?'

And the after shot....just in the middle of the street!

'What happened? Is the sheep OK? He's not OK?'

Then they hung him from the electric pole with some plastic cord and got at the skinning. At one point the plastic cord broke so they got a telephone cord and used that until it broke. Then they found some Internet wire and that held out until the end.

'What happened to his hiney? He got hurt?'

Here's the 'butcher' finishing off the head. He took that home as a souvenir...what that really means is that we didn't have to worry about eating the brain!

And we can't waste any parts....everything gets eaten eventually. Although, PTL, they didn't make us eat anything weird, just regular meat and some ribs.

This is what was left of our sheep. They just left it in the street.

And then here's my landlord's son and our dukan guy carrying the skins down the street to the mosque. Another rule about the sacrifice, you can't sell the skin but have to give it to the mosque. Keep in mind that this wasn't just our landlord's family doing this today, it was everyone in the neighborhood who could afford it...let's just say the street is a mess.



And here's me with my landlord's daughter and my favorite 2-yr old in the middle of my street, notice the sheep to the left.

Good thing that my dad raised me scaling fish and skinning animals, otherwise I probably would have been totally grossed out by all this and would have terribly offended my landlord when I couldn't watch. Hope this wasn't too gross for anyone. Let's just say be glad that you weren't here for the live show!

Istanbul

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I was very blessed to have spent my Christmas in Istanbul, Turkey with some very good friends. It is such a beautiful city and I enjoyed my time there so much. While I wish that I had been able to spend the holidays with my own family, my friends have become like family and we had a great Christmas together. I've never actualy seen a white Christmas although it did snow the day after Christmas...close enough for me!

The water behind me is the Bosphorous Strait. The city is split, half of it is in Asia and half in Europe. I am standing on the Asian side overlooking the European side.

This is a view of the city and the Sea of Marmara.

Here we are in the largest covered market in the world. We spent quite a bit of time in the market, 2 hours in this ceramics store alone. We drank apple tea and visited with the shop owner, bargained for about 45 minutes and ended up with most of what we wanted for a reasonable price.

This is one of the most famous mosques in the world, the Blue Mosque. It is the only one in the world that has 6 minarets, most have 4 or less.

Most of the time we were there the weather was cold and rainy but on Christmas day it cleared up for a few hours, just in time for a beautiful sunset.

And here's my favorite 2-yr old in the the entire world. Turkey has the most beautiful hand-woven rugs and we spent several hours one afternoon in this rug shop. He showed us some amazing carpets but they were all well over $750, even that brightly colored pillowcase next to her was $250...so I settled for a few smaller things.

Finished!!!

I went to pick up my visa today and they were finished with it, meaning that I now have official permission to leave the country!! PTL! I will pick up my tickets tomorrow and catch a flight out of here before 6am on Wednesday morning. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Visa - Day 2

I went back to the visa office, after 2pm like they told me. I pushed my way to the front of the window and gave the guy my receipt. There were passports all over that office, the guy barely looked around, didn't even look on the inside of any of the passports to see a name, even if they were US and then handed me back my receipt and said that it would surely be ready tomorrow. Instead of going home I decided to go back and visit my old man friend in the student office. He listened to my situation and then called over another officer and told him to go and find it. 5 minutes later, after the officer put his shoes on, he left to look for it. 5 minutes after that he came back in and talked to the old man, who translated and told me that it was still in 'the room' and they were putting the sticker in it this afternoon. I wanted to ask them a few questions, like; 'They do have stickers, right? They haven't run out? And they also know where my passport is, they haven't lost it? And all they have to do is put the sticker in? The office isn't closing early today is it? The guy who puts the stickers in isn't going to go home sick, is he?'. I didn't know all the words and I sure am not a fast enough thinker to do the quick translation in my head and get it right, so I left and I'll go back tomorrow. Insha'allah, my passport will be ready tomorrow morning and I will have permission to leave the country. We'll see. Like I've said before, I can't get my hopes up until the plane is off the ground.

Visas...ugh

Today I went to the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Affairs to get permission to leave the country. I've heard that it's this complicated process that takes forever and you have to deal with all these govt workers who are unhappy and want money. That was not my experience, well it was a stupid and complicated process, but people were very friendly. Oh yeah, this is a really long blog, but I want you to fully appreciate the beauracracy that I live with.

They open at 8:30 so I arrived at 8:45. There weren't many people around and I was beginning to think that maybe they are closed on Saturdays but I went in anyways and there were a few officers around. The first step was a breeze, just give them 12 copies of everything, plus pictures of me (?) and they signed off. Of course, that was after a brief skirmish between two of the officers because I had filled out the English blanks on the form but he wanted the Arabic done too, they got it figured out. Then I was on a mission to find the old man at the desk outside who sells the stamps. I went outside and at 9 am I found the desk but there was no old man...so that's why there weren't many people around, they weren't closed, it's just that no one shows up for work on time!

I knew for sure 100% that I had to see this old man or I couldn't go to the next step, so I just stood around waiting. After about 30 minutes I started to doubt myself, the old man still hadn't shown and I didn't see anyone else standing around waiting. But about 9:45 the old man finally showed up carrying his stamps. All the sudden there were tons of people around, apparently they had all been waiting...and they sent me to the front of the 'line' b/c they all knew that I had been waiting since before they arrived. I don't know where these people were or how they knew I'd been there (well, I guess being the only white person does make you sort of stand out, but still!). So I got my stamps, stapled my picture and made friends with a guy who runs papers for an NGO. (important later) Interesting, I got 2 stamps and they each say '100SD' on them, but I paid 300SD. I'm no math whiz, well I am an accountant, but that doesn't quite add up. However, when you're trying to leave the country it's just not worth it to argue with the old man over 50 cents.

The next step was to go to another window and get another stamp. When I finally got up there it was a guy I'd already talked to...I noticed him first thing this morning when he pulled a stamp out of his pocket and stamped my form. Turns out he just didn't want to be at his window so he was hanging out in someone else's office with his stamp. He knew that I'd have to come to his window eventually so he gave me my stamp out of order. Then the first officer guy I talked to this morning saw me and couldn't believe that I was still there, he personally escorted me to the next step.

The payment window...an actual window with the screen peeled back, was jam packed with men (around 25). There's no such thing as lines here, you just shove your way to the front, which can pose a problem for the only girl in a group of men in a society where women and men do NOT touch, not even incidentally. However, my 'friend' from the old man desk spotted me and brought me right up to where he had pushed to. He didn't even let anyone 'cut' in front of me. I was standing next to a Chinese guy and we joked about the problems that people face when there are no lines, the fact that breakfast time was coming up and it would be just our luck if they closed the window as we got there, etc... Finally me, the Chinese guy and our 'friend' got up to the front. The Chinese guy went first, it cost him 15,000SD. I went next, my 'friend' insisted that it would cost me 15,000 but, shockingly, it cost 25,000 (which I already knew). He was surprised and started to argue with the lady at the window but I just told him it was ok, that it's b/c I'm American and he let it go. (guess he just thought I was white and hadn't realized my nationality up to that point). So the lady behind the window writes my receipts (2?) and gives me my passport and paperwork back BUT she passes the receipts over to the lady sitting next to her. Then, I go to the window 1 ft away and the lady hands me my receipts. I'd love to be that lady and not do anything but hand out receipts, she doesn't even write them herself, just hands them through the window!

Then I had to go and turn in my receipts and paperwork, back inside where I'd already been twice. This time the line went quick. I had made friends with 2 teenagers from Jordan in front of me at the payment line and they were also in front of me in this line. When they turned theirs in the officer told them to come back after 1 week. I kind of started to panic, my tickets are for Wednesday, I can't come back in 1 week!! But then the guy processed mine, the exact same thing the Jordanians were getting, but he gave me my receipt and told me to come back tomorrow after 2....don't know why but maybe this is the one and only advantage to being an American here?

All this time I've been told how hard it is to get these visas, that it's not even worth the time to do it myself. However, in 3 hours I made it through the entire process (although ridiculous and needlessly more complicated than it should be, the old man at the desk outside, seriously???) and I have a promise of a visa after 2 tomorrow. I won't believe it until I see it. I'll go back tomorrow, probably even before 2, and push my way up to the window and give the guy my receipt in hopes that I will actually be able to leave for Christmas!

We joke here that you can't let yourself get excited about leaving the country until your plane is off the ground. Even if you've gone through all the airport security, you can still be waiting in the 'terminal' for 13 hours before they tell you that your plane just isn't coming (seriously happened to some friends, it just didn't come). So even though I might have a visa and I might have tickets I won't actually believe that I get to leave until my plane is off the ground.

The States Game

For those of you who watched (or watch) Friends, remember the 50 states game? It's the one where you try to list all 50 states from memory without looking at a map. If you've never tried this, I strongly encourage you to do so. I can never get all 50, as a matter of fact, I've only met one person who can actually get all 50. We use this game when we really just need to take our minds off of current circumstances...it works wonders!

Recently I ran across this website and it's like a world version of the 50 states game. Warning: It can be pretty addictive!
http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/worldmap/worldmap.html

Thanksgiving for Christmas!

At Thanksgiving we didn't have turkey. As a matter of fact, I've never seen any kind of turkey for sale here, be it sliced or whole. But today, in a random grocery store on a random corner of a random street, we found turkey. After dinner we wanted some ice cream and just stepped into the nearest store. In the back corner in a small freezer were 5 butterball turkeys. We were amazed and, just out of curiosity, asked the shopkeeper how much it would be. I've never actually bought a turkey before so I don't know how much one should cost in the states, however I have a feeling this one was just a little more expensive than normal. The shopkeeper told us it would be (equivalent) $15/lb meaning that the smallest turkey they had would be $150. Seriously, it was very tempting. It would feed quite a few people and if we all split it, it would definitely be worth it. But I couldn't cook one even if I wanted to. My oven is so little even a chicken is pushing it! So we left our dreams in the small freezer at the obscure grocery store and went home. But not without plain M&Ms. That's right, after 9 months of sporadic peanut M&Ms...we now have plain.

Bureaucracy...Frustration

I live in a ridiculous place where, on the surface, there appears to be no rules and yet when you dig a little deeper you see that your life is completely controlled by them.

The story...my friend's parents are/were coming here to see us for Christmas. After weeks of work trying to get their visa (they don't really like to give American visas around here), they finally got word that they had received an approval number. However, conveniently, her mom's paper got 'lost' and no, they couldn't just print out another paper with the same number, they had to start all over again for her. So at the last minute they finally get it all worked out and then my friend had to take the papers to our airport to make sure that the airport in Turkey knew that they had the proper paperwork. (again, they like to make life pretty much as needlessly complicated as they can). My friend gets to the airport with all of the required paperwork and the man says 'sorry, we're not letting Americans in today'. Although I didn't get a play-by-play on the conversation, let's just imagine how it probably went.

'We have all of the paperwork from downtown, they have approval numbers...'
'Good...but we're not letting them in'
'Even though we have the approval from downtown? I have the paper right here'
'nuh-huh'
'so, you're just not letting Americans in today?'
'Nope'
'But their plane actually comes in tomorrow. Will you let Americans in tomorrow?'
'We would have to process the papers today and we're not processing American papers today'
'Will you be letting them in tomorrow?'
'Insha'allah (if it's God's will)'
'How can it be insha'allah? Either you process the papers today or you don't?'
'Insha'allah'
'But they have to get on the airplane today and so we need to know if you will let them in'
'Malesh' (the all encompassing Arabic word for too bad for you, not my problem, etc)

Their parents were supposed to arrive tonight but they couldn't get on the plane because the guy at the airport decided that he just wasn't going to do that, even though the official offices downtown have issued them permission to come in. You would think that the high up, in charge guy gets the final say on who comes and goes...turns out it's the little guy who sits behind the desk, he has a surprising amount of power. Lift us up!

Treasures

Last night we heard from a friend that he had seen some Dr Pepper at the grocery store, they were unloading it as he was leaving. So this morning we got up and went treasure hunting. We arrived at the store and the clerk immediately knew what we were looking for, seeing as how we (or at least I) sure looked like we'd just rolled out of bed for something special. We bought quite a few DPs and they also had some A&W root beer, so I got some of those for my roommate. Because they are imported they were a little pricey, but I didn't care...we'll ration them, they should last until the end of the year plus maybe they'll make good Christmas presents!

Yes I am wearing jeans and my rear is not covered. Yes, I am wearing a fleece...it was 59 degrees last night...freezing! And yes, behind me is a lot of non-alcoholic beer. It's surprisingly popular (and gross) around here.

We also heard that, at a different grocery store, they had Doritos. There is a factory up in Egypt that makes different kinds of chips. About 3 months ago these puffy cheetos started showing up all over the place and at a halfway decent price. Now these doritos have popped up but they're so new and stores are running out quickly b/c all the foreigners are buying them up. So we went to the latest store that got a shipment and bought 'some'. (yes, I even have a rough idea of when stores get shipments, there's only about 4 decent ones!) So this morning I spent as much on Dr Pepper and Doritos as I would normally spend on a month of groceries. Some of that was for my roommate, but still. I just rationalize it by thinking that I don't ever buy anything b/c there's usually nothing to buy, so just this once it's OK.

Ya'll probably think that I'm crazy, going around and buying basket loads of junk food no matter how much it costs and really only because it is available, but that's how things work around here. The selection is severely limited and if you find something good then it definitely won't be around for long so you buy it when you see it and stock up. Last week a friend called from the grocery store to say that they had brownie mixes. The next day I went and there were no brownie mixes. The brownies have come through 2 or 3 times since I've been here but I've heard that they get a DP shipment once a year...you just gotta take advantage of things while you can.

On a totally separate note, I've explained to some of you about Friday prayers and the phenomena that occurs after them. Fridays here are like our Sundays in the States and most men goes to the mosque for prayers and a sermon (which is also broadcast over a loudspeaker so you don't even have to go to get the benefit, although it's not actually called a sermon, that's just what I like to call it). I usually don't understand the entire thing b/c it's in Arabic, but I can pick up on quite a few words like America, government, UN, Palestine, etc...every week they get pretty worked up over one of these topics. When the sermon gets out you have a flood of angry Arab men dressed in white jalabiyyas coming towards you and you know they've just been talking about you...hopefully they're not looking for some innocent white girl on whom to take out their anger. I generally try to avoid being in the middle of this, although I have been known to watch from my balcony just because it's so weird. Today my friend was dropping me off after our shopping excursion and I just happened to have my camera. So this picture was taken discreetly through the back window of her car while we were sitting in front of my house. Sorry it's blurry and has lines but I hope it gives you just a little bit more of a glimpse into my life here.

Pyramids

Unlike the first, our most recent expedition to see pyramids was successful. After we saw them we ate lunch at Pizza Hut across the street...it was weird just sitting and enjoying regular pizza while observing one of the wonders of the world.


When I was little, probably 7 or 8, I really wanted to be an archaeologist and explore pyramids so my Grandma took me to a Pharoah exhibit at the museum and I'll never forget how cool it was. While we were at the real pyramids we went inside one and it turned out to be much less exciting than we had anticipated...I must say that I'm extremely thankful I didn't actually choose archaeology as my profession, although I'm very grateful for my family always supporting me no matter what kind of crazy thing I wanted to be when I grew up.

Here I am standing on a pyramid. They don't let you climb just as high as you want, however they will let you stand on it.

The infamous 'they' who won't let you climb...I like to call them the pyramid police. They all ride camels, although I'm not sure if that's for practical reasons or for the tourists. Oh yeah, notice the city behind him? That's actually Cairo. I always pictured the pyramids being in the middle of the desert. Turns out, they're remarkably close to the city...my friends can see them from their balcony.
There's not much else you can say about the pyramids except they're big.

Was that Disrimination?

Warning: this post is a little more serious than most.

In my travels and especially in my daily life I am the constant recipient of racially discriminatory actions and comments. After a while it gets old and I've learned to ignore it for the most part, but still, no one can ever tell me that I don't know what it's like to be discriminated against.

For instance, at the airport leaving the Sandbox, the security guy at the metal detector said (in Arabic) 'these girls are white, search them.' It wasn't just a pat down either, it was a detailed, other people's hands in my pockets, kind of search that wasn't really all that pleasant. All I could think was 'seriously? because I'm the ONLY suspicious looking person in this line!'

We also had some problems when we tried to get into Egypt. All foreigners have to buy these stamp things to get through passport control. Problem was, there was no one selling them! And the guy in the passport control booth told us 'once I finish with my line I will call the man who sells the stamps'. 15 minutes later, long after the line was finished and my bags had gone around the baggage carousel 7 times, the stamp guy finally shows up. We felt warmly welcomed.

Then when I arrived back in the Sandbox the customs guy seemed really friendly, flipping through other people's passports to check their visas and chatting with them. I handed him my passport, he took one look at the cover and his demeanor totally changed. Instead of being real friendly he turns and says (in Arabic) 'What do you have in your bag? You're trying to sneak bad things into the country?' and so in Arabic I replied that I had only clothes and souvenirs from my holiday. PTL he was so surprised that I spoke Arabic that his demeanor changed back into that friendly guy...he didn't even go through my bag, just let me go through. But still, just having an American passport meant that he was going to give me trouble.

And then there's the fact that as I walk down the street I am constantly reminded that I am a foreigner. Specifically by the constant yelling of the word 'khawaja' which is pretty much a derogatory term in reference to a white person. So it usually works like this...I walk down the street and people, either sitting on the sidewalk or driving down the road or walking by or little kids...basically everyone, feels compelled to say 'khawaja' when they see me, as if I didn't already know that I was different. I need to remember to ask my language helper how to say 'thanks for the reminder'! For now I either ignore them or if there's an opporunity I'll just look at them and in Arabic kindly remind them that they are 'sandboxians'. (When I would really like to say something to the effect of 'congrats, you're pretty clever' or 'your mom')

And this is all because I'm white and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I am a single woman living in a society where women and dogs are pretty much looked upon as equals...I try not to let it get to me but somedays you just can't ignore it.

Part 5 - Cairo

Robin & I took the train from Alex to Cairo, about a 3 hour ride for $8. We have some very good friends who are living there and we got to spend lots of time with them. It was worth the whole trip just to get to catch up with them. We did a lot of shopping and enjoyed playing up the role of tourists, plus we did quite a bit of relaxing.

Here's the Nile River. Over here (and in most countries) it's actually illegal to stop on bridges. There are actually soldiers posted on each side of the bridge, I'm not sure what exactly their jobs are but up to this point I guess I had just assumed that they kept people from stopping on the bridge. Well, our driver just stopped on the side of the road and told us to get out so we did. It was freezing and the wind was blowing like crazy, but he took the next 15 minutes to tell us the story of Moses and to point out the very reeds where he was found in the basket. Notice the reeds just there to the right of the river in the picture? That's where they found him. Who would've thought! Kudos to the princess who thought to put a sign up when she found a baby who she didn't know was going to grow up to be a key player in the history of the world so that thousands of years later we would know the precise location where he was found. That's a little sarcastic, but the guys explanation was 'the princess had gardens all along the river but this was where one of the bigger gardens was so she had to find him right there'. Huh. Well if nothing else it was pretty cool to break the law and take river pictures off of the bridge, although, and I think I've said this before about other things but, now that I live on that very same river it just isn't quite as cool as it was before, it kind of loses it's novelty when you can go have a picnic next to it anytime you want.

We also took a falouka ride on the river. A falouka is basically just a small, rickety old sailboat and they're really common in Cairo. We went at sunset and it was so beautiful and incredibly peaceful...amazing that in the middle of one of the biggest, most crowded and craziest cities in the world you can find such silence.

This is my good friend and I while we were on the river. We go way back...all the way to conference over a year ago when we were roomies (and before you judge her for the huge earring in her nose, she had just gotten it pierced 3 days before!). And then in the second picture is another great friend from RVA. A year ago, who would have thought that we would end up in the same part of the world having very similar experiences.

Also, on our falouka ride the very exact spot where Joesph, Mary & Jesus crossed the river was pointed out to us. My first reaction was '...Does it say that they crossed the river? I mean, I guess, since they were in Egypt for a while and it is a big river, it could be logical that, at some point, they crossed it'. My next question was 'So was this when they were coming to Egypt or leaving?', along with 'at the time they were on the run they weren't exactly well-known, so who was the brilliant person that marked the exact spot so that thousands of years later we could commemorate that event?' I guess that's being a little critical and sarcastic but that was really what I thought.

And then, of course, a beautiful Nile sunset picture. Have you noticed that sunsets are my absolute favorite thing?

Part 4 - Alexandria

After we had stayed in Dubai for a while, myself & Robin flew to Alexandria, Egypt. This is Saudi Arabia out of the window of the plane. It was absolutely beautiful and this is probably the closest I'll ever get to it, seeing as how they don't exactly let just anyone in.

Egypt was very different from the Sandbox, even though they're located so close to each other. At one point on the ride home from the airport Robin & I looked at each other and at the same time said 'I think that couple was holding hands' and then we started looking around and realized that every couple was holding hands!! In the Sandbox there is NO touching between men & women. We even kind of make fun of the couples who go to parks and sit as close to each other as they possibly can without touching at all. It was strange to be in an Arab country where women were covered but the people were still so touchie...we even saw a couple kissing! We were also terribly harrassed in Egypt. You would think that they have lots of tourists there and are used to seeing white girls. Well it was even worse than it is in the Sandbox, especially b/c of the touching. Here in the Sandbox they can yell at you all they want but no man would dare to touch you, even barely brush by you, in the street. Egyptian guys will just follow you around saying whatever they want and getting as close as they want. They were so obnoxiously persistent that we finally just started to not speak English or Arabic. We wouldn't say anything to anyone until they guessed a nationality and then we just agreed and maybe said a few words in another language. It was an interesting tactic that seemed to work pretty well. At one point we had a group of guys walk past us and we heard them discussing (in Arabic) what they were going to say to us. Finally the leader turns around and says 'welcome to Egypt'. Seriously? 5 minutes and that's the best they could come up with?!?

We stayed in Alex just 2 nights but had lots of fun. We actually ordered Chinese food, which is quite different for us. In the Sandbox we have 1 chinese restaurant that isn't even that good and they certainly don't deliver...they don't even take orders over the phone and then let you pick it up later. So when we ordered in Alex and someone showed up on our doorstep in about 15 minutes we were amazed. Plus we got a 12 % discount for having it delivered. Egypt is weird and every restaurant delivers, even McDonalds, and every restuarant gives you a discount for having it delivered. However, every meal that we ate out, we ate at a restaurant overlooking the Med.

Here's the Mediterranean but it was cold and there weren't really any beaches. We did go to this beautiful fort that was set out away from the city and kind of just in the middle of the water, but then it cost to go in, so we admired it from the outside.

Here we are at some Roman Ruins. We didn't use a tour guide or anything like that, just lonely planet and the advice of some friends but our taxi driver was this really cute old man with a handlebar moustache and he kept volunteering to wait for us and take us to the next place, so we kept having him wait. Once we'd been to one or two tourist sites he figured out what we were looking for and then was so proud to drive us around and point out the sites and give us some history but he was speaking in Egyptian Arabic which is a little different than the Arabic that we are learning and plus he was talking really fast so we didn't actually have a clue what he was saying.

We ended our day in this huge garden, it's actually the Presiden't summer home but they open it up for tourists during the winter while he's not around. It was just beautiful, right on the water. Of course, we stayed for the sunset which was just amazing, then walked back to the road, absolutely freezing. We had a taxi driver follow us around for over 2 hours constantly asking if we needed a ride and we kept telling him no, but he just wouldn't leave us alone. After 2 hours of waiting for us, we left the park and went to eat dinner at chili's across the street...we weren't lying when we told him we didn't need a taxi. He was actually really mad but that was his own fault.

There was a lot more that we could have done in Alex, but the point of our vacation was to rest and to do whatever we wanted and that's exactly what we did. There was no schedule and we had a blast!

Funny story. When we met up with some friends in Cairo, they told us that their favorite place in Alex was the aquarium. Apparently when they visited there were absolutely no live fish and no water. They just had all these fish tanks with the backs painted blue and then plastic fish hanging from the tops by fishing line and everyone was just walking around like that was what an aquarium was supposed to be. Too bad we didn't know about it or I would have gone to see it.

Part 3 - Desert Safari

We went on a desert safari while we were in the UAE. It was one of those things where you just call a tour company and they come and pick you up and drive you out into the desert. We actually didn't know what we were getting into, but figured it would be fun so we did it. That afternoon a Pakistani driver came to our hotel...we didn't know who he was, but he had a shirt with a logo and his car had the same logo as his shirt, so we figured it was safe. We picked up 3 Indian guys from another hotel and headed out. After about an hour of driving we came across this little store in the middle of nowhere and there were about 50 other landcruisers with the same logo. We seriously had no idea what was going on and, up to that point, had thought it was just going to be us and the Indian guys and we were second-guessing just how much fun we could have in the desert with these guys, but then we saw all these other people and realized that it was a big thing. So our driver let some air out of the tires and we headed out and just drove through the desert...in just a regular, standard issue Toyota landcruiser through serious dunes like you see on TV. It was great!

Then all the sudden our driver stops and says 'you can take some pictures here'. So we got out and took some pictures. We pretty much just did what he said. We got back in and drove around some more. It was crazy. Picture this, you know how it's kind of hard to walk on the beach b/c the sand is constantly moving? Well this sand was so soft so that as we were driving, we were constantly moving, sliding sideways down the sides of dunes, fishtailing, almost flipping over (although I think that probably happens alot and we had roll bars, plus it was soft sand). The Indian guys were crazy, it was like they'd never been on a roller coaster before and they were yelling and laughing...just watching them definitely made it more fun for me!

We drove around (aka dune blasting) through the desert for about 2 hours until we came to camp. There we rode camels, did some sand-surfing, and ate dinner. But let me just say that when you live in the desert, camels sort of lose their novelty...and sandsurfing is pretty much impossible. We had a 'delicious BBQ dinner' that was actually Indian food and then there was a belly dancer who was actually Turkish. So overall it was a very authentic Arabian culture experience.

The most fun was the ride back home. After having spent the entire evening with the 3 Indian bank consultants and the Pakistani driver they finally came out of their shells. We were with them at dinner and so we can verify that they were not drinking, however you would never know that based on their behavior. The driver found a Hindi radio station and they sang at the top of their lungs, unashamedly. Then we all sang a little Aerosmith, then back to the Hindi. They would even have the driver turn it down so they could sing solos. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long long time. They were so funny and extremely sarcastic, which is kind of uncharacteristic of Indians...or bank consultants!!! And then, as we were driving, we got to see some fireworks. So, overall, the desert safari experience was a good one!

Brrrr!

So it's 75 degrees in my apartment and I'm here, drinking hot tea, wearing a fleece hoodie and making potato soup for lunch. At first, I thought it was a little strange that I'm freezing on what would normally be considered a beautiful day, but then I started thinking.

In TX, it might be 100 in the summer but if it gets down to 40 in the winter people are freezing, right? So that's about a 60 degree difference in temperature. Move that to the Sandbox. It may be 130 in the summer, but in the winter it's 70, that's the same 60 degree variance. Therefore, I'm not wierd.

It's a Small World

Here's a random story from Dubai. One day I was walking around just doing some shopping and decided I wanted some water. I stepped inside a little shopping place with a food court and walked up to this little cafe. The waiter (who was an Indian guy) came up and asked me where I wanted to sit but I told him I just wanted a bottle of water and so we went over to the little take-away order counter. He orders my water and then turns around and says 'I think I've met you before'. I say 'I've only been here a few days' and he says 'No, in India'. (for those of you who might not know, I spent some time in a remote and obscure part of India in 2004) What was wierd is that, instead of having one of those cool 'it's a small world' connect the people you know kind of moments, I was really creeped out. I didn't recognize him at all, he didn't look like he was from the same part of India that I was in, and when I was in India I didn't interact with many guys and the ones I did interact with I remember. So I figured I'd follow my instincts and not sit around and chat to figure out if he really did know me...instead I said 'so how much is the water?'.

Vacation Pt 2

After we spent about 5 days in Sharjah we headed over to Dubai. The UAE is one of the most diverse countries I've ever been to. I don't really think that I even saw many Emirate people but there were tons of Indians. One day I wandered into a random Indian market full of salwires and other traditional clothes...just a sweet reminder of how much I love Indian people. The UAE is also one of the richest countries in the world. Located on the Persian Gulf, they make all their money off of oil. The malls were full of designer clothing stores, $1,000 handbags, and fancy restaurants. We went to one of the malls and observed this...

Yep...that's an indoor ski slope. I guess living in the desert makes it difficult to get your snow skiing in. The picture isn't the best b/c it's through a window, but notice the Arab man on the right playing in the snow.

While we were in Dubai we also spent some time at the beach, this one was very different from the last deserted beach, but was still good. We laid under palm trees reading and listening to our Ipods pretty much all afternoon.

It was kind of interesting to observe the people. Most of the foreigners were in bikinis and skimpy swimsuits while the locals were totally covered. What is interesting is that, even though they were covered you could still see a difference in what they were wearing and know that they were in their 'beach clothes'.

Everywhere we went there were prayer rooms, in airports, in malls, on the side of the street. Here in the Sandbox people just lay their prayer rugs out in the middle of the sidewalk but I guess in 'fancy' places they don't do that. The bathroom signs were also interesting. I guess I never thought about how religiously discriminating our bathroom signs are showing a woman in a skirt (or a man in pants). Ya'll probably think I'm crazy, but I was just excited to have public bathrooms...I didn't care what the signs looked like! Everything there was really kind of fancy...well, it was probably just normal but it felt really nice coming from the Sandbox. The streets were paved and had sidewalks, there was air conditioning, they had real malls and not the open/outdoor markets, starbucks, restaurants, taxis with meters. I hate to say it but coming from the Sandbox it sure doesn't take much to make for a nice vacation!

Vacation Pt 1

I've spent the last 3 weeks out of the country, ended up in a few different places for different reasons. I guess I pretty much took several separate trips, so I think I'll do a couple of vacation installments.

I started in Sharjah at a women's retreat. It was wonderful and relaxing. There was a group of volunteers from the states and they were so encouraging and loving. They gave us haircuts and pedicures and counseling. We were definitely pampered and it was wonderful. The conference was in a beautiful hotel that was really Western and felt just like any other hotel. There were actual bathrooms with hot, clean water and we could even adjust the temperature in our room. I know that all of these sound like wierd things to be grateful for, but I think that through the vacation blogs you might just get a little more insight into my life in the Sandbox, or at least the lack of conveniences. Anyways, even though our hotel was pretty fancy we spotted this sign in the corner...just a little reminder that we were still in the Arab world.


One afternoon we went to a beach hoping to swim a little and just relax. When we got there we found it deserted and, turns out, there was no swimming allowed at this beach so we just sat in peace and seclusion.

We also enjoyed lots of shopping and regular food. I had heard (and seen on mall websites) that they had Gap and Old Navys around this city, but when I got there I was deeply disappointed becuase apparently they've decided to pull out of the Arab world. Most people when they go on vacation try to eat local food and experience culture. Well, I live in a constant culture experience and so on vacation all we wanted to eat was 'American' food...and Chinese. So I think we had Chili's 4 or 5 times, McDonalds, Fridays, Johnny Carinos, Burger King, Baskin Robbins, we even found a Tex-Mex restaurant. But my favorite things were Marble Slab and Dr Pepper. I had at least one DP every day and it was good.

But I think that my favorite part of this part of the trip was just the time away. Even though I was in the middle of one of the largest and most modern cities in the world I never had any trouble finding a quiet place to read or journal or to just sit and do nothing. I think the big difference was that I wasn't a novelty anymore. There were lots of white people, lots of Americans and the locals were politely mannered and used to seeing foreigners and so no one stared or yelled or gestured. I could just fit in with the crowd...be alone in a crowd...I haven't done that in a long time.

Back in the Sandbox!

After 36 hours of traveling and only airplane sleep the vacation is officially over and I'm now back in the Sandbox. I had a wonderful trip and, honestly, wasn't all that excited about heading back but I have to say that I definitely feel like I'm at home.

I think I've posted about the word that we have in Arabic 'insha'allah' which basically means either 'if God wills' or it can be a polite way to say no. Last night on the flight home our pilot came on the intercom for the standard pre-flight introduction and actually said 'we'll be flying over Ryd and then Jdah and then we'll arrive in K-town insha'allah.' Can a pilot actually say that we'll only arrive at our destination if God wills it???? We were the only white people on the plane and actually some of the only women, but we held our own and arrived at home successfully. Guess we should be thankful that God willed us to get there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Last Day!

Today is my last day in the Sandbox...at least for a while. I fly out at 2 am and will be traveling for the next 3 weeks. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about a 2 am flight, but when it means I'm getting the heck out of dodge I don't care what time the plane leaves, I'll be there! Real malls, air conditioning, Chili's, snow skiing (in the desert)...can a girl ask for anything more!

Pyramid Attempt #1

The Sandbox has its own set of pyramids, not the ones you would normally think of when you think of 'the pyramids', but they're supposedly pretty cool. Yesterday, we made an attempt to go and see them. They're about 3 hours north of K-town so it was a long day of driving through the desert.

There were quite a few reasons why we didn't really expect that we would actually make it all the way up there, but we figured that we would give it a try and the worst security could do (hopefully) was turn us around, maybe escort us back to the capitol. We made it through quite a few security checkpoints. Most of them only consisted of an orange cone in the middle of the highway and a train car on the side of the road with a few guys inside asleep....really effective. But the big ones were the problems. At the first one, they flagged us down but there was no where to stop and lots of traffic, so they waved us through. About 30 minutes down the road we paid the toll no problem. But then at the next one, we sat on the side of the road while Yosef took down all of our names and our father's names. When he went to call someone and ask about us, the wind blew the paper away and so, instead of going through all of that again, he just let us through! We waited around for a good 30 minutes and made friends with all the little kids who were selling stuff.

Down in TX, we know to watch out for deer. Out here we have to watch out for camels. Can you imagine if we hit one of these. The rule around here is, if you hit someone's animal you have to buy it. We'd be eating camel for a while! In front of us, you can see the guy's car.

It was the next checkpoint that was a little more stressful. We pulled up and immediately the security guys hopped in their truck and just said 'follow us'. We didn't know where we were going but we knew it wasn't to the pyramids! We ended up in this little town at the security office only about 20 minutes from our destination where we waited for another 30 minutes while they called people, trying to figure out what to do with 9 wandering Americans. Finally, they decided that they were going to turn us back. The thought of facing another 3 hours driving through the desert was too much, so we took turns using their bathroom...all 9 of us! I'm sure they thought we were crazy and they will always remember those weird Americans who used their bathroom!! Then we talked them into letting us stay and eat lunch, so they escorted us to the one hotel in town that happened to be right on the river and negotiated for us to just use their courtyard but eat the food we brought with us. The security guys were actually really nice, joking with us and all. They even left us there and didn't escort us out of town, although they did take our phone number and called to ask us when we were leaving a couple of times.

This is a picture of the rocks that we climbed, actually taken on the drive up, we didn't climb them until we were headed back. Notice the houses and the 'shoulder'' .

So we returned to K-town...well, almost. We stopped at some big rocks (and by stopped, I mean we pulled off the paved road and drove through the desert a while) and climbed them...then we headed home. Before we left, we really did think of several reasons why we thought security would not let us all the way up there, however, we never even considered the reason that was actually used to turn us back. But, we made it about 3 hours farther than we really expected and maybe they'll lift the travel restrictions soon and we will actually get to see some pyramids next time. Some would say it was an unsuccessful day, however, we climbed some cool rocks and saw a lot of camels and desert, had a fun road trip with good friends...and can now say that we've used the bathroom in the security office in Sdi!

More Desert Observations...

...from the road trip.

At one point we saw a sign that said 'Rebel Group' with an arrow under it. Of course the sign said the name of the rebel group, but here's a picture of what the arrow was pointing to. I'm sure that if we'd just headed off roading in that direction we would have eventually come to something, but still...just the fact that there was a sign with an arrow pointing to the desert says a lot.

The road was like a farm road except not. For one, you absolutely have to have a 4x4, even if you're only on the 'highway'. It's just a blacktop road in the middle of nowhere except that it was the desert and there were no lines or shoulders, no one-light towns, no crossroads at all, just a whole lot of nothing with goats and camels. And people here are crazy, driving about 90 and passing at the last minute, even going off of the road and onto the sand and then just whipping back onto the road.

There is no public transportation out in the middle of nowhere (at least not that I could tell) so there were people all over just standing on the side of the road waiting for anyone who would give them a ride. Several observations: 1) Where did they come from?? Seriously, it was the middle of nowhere, nothing to be seen for miles except these random guys with their stark white jalabiyyas flowing in the wind. 2) We were in the second car, so we got to see the looks on their faces when they realized that a car with 5 white guys just flew by, it was great! 3) Lots of them would gesture angrily when they realized that we weren't going to stop, we got lots of those 'throw your arm into the air, what the heck are you thinking' kind of angry looks. As if it was our obligation to stop and pick up any and every one on the side of the road. Well, I saw plenty of locals with empty seats in their cars too so I don't think it's a cultural obligation.

We joked about going around the checkpoints, just take off into the desert and see what happened. Theoretically, as long as we kept the river on the left, we wouldn't have to worry about getting lost, but we figured that, seeing as how we'd already done a little conversing with security, if we got caught we could really be in big trouble. Also a little joking about West Nile Virus but don't worry, we stayed on the East side of the river the entire time!

Photo Permit

I am now an officially licensed photographer in the Sandbox...not professional or anything. Every person who wants to take pictures here has to apply for a photo permit. It's free, which is unusual around here, but it sure is a hassle to do it.

First, we went to the ministry of tourism (that was the place with the floor mix-up) and the lady there told us to go downtown. Her directions went something like this 'look for the german center, then keep going, then go west, there's a hotel, well it used to be a hotel but now it's in ruins but you will see the sign, then turn and you will see the big sign that says the ministry of tourism. It is very easy to find if you know where the german center is.' Well, we knew where the german center was and we drove around for over an hour trying to find it. Later, my friend went back and just walked around and he did finally find it. But here's what her directions should have said. 'Go to the German center, turn left on the road that looks like it's paved but is really only paved for about 15 ft, then turns to dirt. Go a few blocks and then you might see the hotel in ruins, good luck finding the sign. Turn right which is also the wrong way on a one way road that looks more like an alley than an actual road and you will see an obscure, small black sign that is written only in Arabic. Go through the gate and into the first doorway and you will see a room that has 4 desks, 4 chairs, a stamp and nothing else. This is where you want to be.'

Seriously, the room had a few posters, 4 desks, 4 chairs and the stamp that we needed to make our photo permits official. You have to attach a passport photo, a copy of your passport and a copy of your visa. What's funny is that we had to make copies of the original ones and then they keep the copies and we keep the original, but you can't copy a picture so they have pictures of us that they can't even see.

My philosophy on this process is this: some high up guy in the govt has a 2nd cousin's brother-in-law who was in need of work. So they set up a 2nd tourism office and pay this guy to sit there and be the 'keeper of the stamp'. IF anyone can find it, then his job is to make sure that he makes it as difficult as possible for them to get their permit, causing them to make at least 2 trips to the office, if not more. The people in the office were very friendly and helpful, they told us exactly what we would need to obtain our permits the first time my friend went to ask. Usually, they will tell you only half of what you need, then when you go back they look at you like you're crazy and tell you something else you need so that you have to go home and come back again. You can go through that process several times before you have everything that you might need.

But, I can now legally take pictures of some things...there are still some pretty strict rules on what I can and can not photograph. The rule pretty much says that I can't take pictures of anything that might make the govt look bad or the country look poor. That really kind of limits how many pictures you can take, but still, now I don't have to worry about getting arrested!

John Mayer

After 3 months of patient waiting, I finally have the newest John Mayer CD in my posession. I pre-ordered it in August, then it came out in Sept. but I had to wait for someone to come this way from the states until I could get it. But I can now enjoy what the rest of the world has known for a while...and it will be good!

7-11

Today I walked past a guy in the street wearing a bright red 7-11 shirt and the nametag said 'Mohammed'. I wondered if it was actually his shirt or not, but then I figured it doesn't matter. There's still a 50% chance that his name actually is Mohammed, whether the shirt was his or not.

It's the surprising little things that remind you of home...and make you just a little jealous of the people who get to actually drink a slurpee on a hot day.

Chinese

Some friends of mine went to the 'mall' tonight and asked if we wanted anything, so we requested some chinese food from one of the 2 chinese places in town. This is the text message that we got from them.

'The chinese palace closed down...and the oriental corner is serving sandwiches...'

Anyone know how to make your own chinese food???

Where's the first floor?!?!?

Today I had the lovely opportunity to go to a government office...actually 3 and all in search of the same thing. But that's not the point of this story.

In every office there is a guy sitting behind a desk at the front door. He holds the power, or at least he decides if you get to go in and if you're extra nice he might tell you where to go. We asked the guy behind the desk about the forms we needed and he said 'go upstairs to the first floor'. (Around here, they call what we could call the 2nd floor, the 1st floor and that's ok, I've gotten used to it) We go upstairs to the '1st floor' and there's a gate blocking us from going in, but there are people in the hallway behind the gate. Thinking that, maybe it's just closed and we have to open it, my friend kind of shakes it and it doesn't open. We looked at each other just a little confused as to how we're supposed to get to the 1st floor when it's locked. Just then, the desk guy pops his head in and says 'not here, go up to the 1st floor' with this look on his face like we were stupid. Of course...b/c that's how things work around here. If you close the door to the 1st floor, the 2nd one automatically becomes the 1st. So...we went up to the 3rd/1st floor and didn't get the form we needed. Apparently they keep those forms in a different building now. Oh well, maybe they got too confused and decided to put the forms in a 1 story building!!!

The Panda Man

Here in this crazy place I call the Sandbox people like to decorate their cars in weird ways. My personal favorite is the animal head seat covers, well, they don't actually cover the whole seat, just the headrest. You can find them in just about any animal, tigers, lions, kangaroos, dogs, the one pictured is panda bears.

A very close friend of mine really likes the pandas. She is teaching English in a busy place where amjad drivers wait outside just in case students need a ride. Luckily, she's found the amjad driver of her dreams. He waits outside the school for her and, according to her, he is 'everything you could want...in an amjad driver'. We really kind of make fun of her about this, just because she gets so excited when she gets to have him drive her. He, like the picture, has panda-head seat covers and so, we have affectionately nicknamed him 'panda-man'....he is officially the #2 man in her life at the moment, #1 will be here for a visit shortly, at which time we'll determine if panda-man gets to be the new #1.

Picnic!

It's been a long week. I've been a little sick with some 24 hour thing but, since it's the Eid, everything has pretty much been closed and I haven't had language to worry about. Most of my local friends have all headed out of town for the holiday and so I've stayed close to home...I've definitely watched one too many movies in the past few days. Today we decided to plan an activity, so I went out with some friends down to the biggest river in the world (which, by the way, flows from South to North, not what I expected!) and we had a picnic. It really worked out great because there were tons of people out. Apparently picnicking is the way to go when you want to meet new people, especially on a holiday.
First we had to decide where we wanted to go. None of us have ever really been to picnic by the river so we drove around for a while, even crossed the bridge into a completely different part of town. It was there that we saw this...an Arab man scarecrow. No straw hat or overalls, just a stark white jalabiyya protecting someone's garden!! Actually, the last time I was at the river which was about a month ago, it was higher than it's been in 20 years (or so 'they' say) and everything that you see that is green was totally underwater. It's amazing to see the change in the water level...guess the rainy season really is over!

We continued to drive and ended up back on our own side of the river just in front of the palace, kind of like if we'd just gone to hang out on the lawn of the whitehouse or something!

Anyways, we sat and ate lunch and actually had a man who we suspected to be homeless came up and sat fairly close to us. My friends have a 2 yr old daughter who has never met a stranger and she immediately took to him. We sent over a plate of food and he was extremely grateful. My friend's husband talked to him for a very long while and tried to share some important things with him. When the 2 yr old got tired of that, she went and made friends with an Arab family that had just arrived. Before they had even arranged their blankets on the ground she had already sat down right in the middle and was playing with their kids and eating their food. It was pretty funny to just watch her make herself completely comfortable with this family we'd never seen before. But, it gave her mom a great opportunity to go and meet this family.

Imagine going to a picnic dressed like this woman. She was one of the ladies in the family. It might be starting to cool off, but it is by no means cool outside. I was still sweating while sitting. I sure don't understand how the women here can dress like the do. Not everyone dresses like this (we call it 'ninja') but the majority of them do cover their heads.

As people drove by our picnic, they were constantly yelling out their windows 'khawaja, khawaja' which basically means 'white guy, white guy'. I always want to say something smart like 'thanks for the reminder', but I'm not so much advanced in the Arabic, so I just pretend like I have no idea that they're yelling at me and they usually will eventually stop. It's not like there aren't other white people around here because, with all of the aid organizations, there are quite a few. I guess we just stand out a little since, even though we are dressed in a culturally appropriate manner, we're still not dressed like this lady.