Yes I AM in Egypt, thank you for asking.
And it is and isn't exactly what I expected at the same time.
I am sitting in an internet place with 6 OLD school computers (think 4th grade Samsungs that don't even fit on the desk because the back goes back so far) and it intimidated the shit out of me trying to log into my email and then this blog when the home pages are in Arabic.
I have learned a bit of Egyptian Arabic, as in, like, 5 phrases that I wanted to say when walking through the streets. It really is beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful, Egyptians are freaking gorgeous! They are a very exotically lovely group of people. Amazing skin and eyes, definitely. Especially our guide on this little excursion, Yassir. We have all fallen madly in love with him.
Another topic brought on by Yassir, the people here are also amazing because they all speak about 10 languages. Seriously, I am AMAZED at their capacity to learn and speak the languages of the world. It's more a necessity than a choice, though, because they make their livelihood out of talking tourists into buying their junk.
But seriously, at the monuments there are tons and tons of tourists from all over the world but in the cities like where I am in Aswan there aren't as many in the actual city. Sarai, Louise and I walked and walked all day yesterday in the not as horrible as I had anticipated heat and we saw very few other Westerners. We all expect to see many more when we get into Cairo later today.
Yassir speaks incredible Spanish, though. Our group is 14 people, all native Spanish speakers from Spain and 2 guys our age from Argentina and so the whole trip is in Spanish. I have spoken more Spanish in Egypt than I did on any given week in Spain all semester. Funny.
I know this blog has jumped around a ton but I had to write as quickly as I could for 20 minutes because I don't want to pay for another half hour. It's not expensive, we just have to get back to the boat because we're leaving for the airport in a bit.
I will say this, though. We went on a little excursion through the desert on camels this morning to a little Nubian village and hung out with them for a while and did some sweet stuff.
Then I swam in the Nile. Yes, THE Nile. It's all pretty dirty, but Aswan is right on the lake where the Nile begins and so the mouth is really clean.
And wait until I can show you all the photos of this HUGE ASS lake that justs hangs out in the middle of the freaking Egyptian desert. It was incredible.
I'll write more later!
I WILL BE BACK IN CALIFORNIA IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!! Then the comeback tour commences...
Friday, May 23, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
San Sebastián
We are nearing the end, folks.
The other night I was in my bed waiting for sleep to hit me and I found myself a little emotional when I realized that I will only spend 3 more nights (one of which will most definitely be spent in packing hysterically and trying to squeeze everything in my bags that once seemed so big) in my bed in my room in Madrid. Yikes.
I am now sitting in the hostel after finishing breakfast and before heading off to brave the cloudy beach. Yes, I am in San Sebastián. Therefore, yes, I am going to the beach. No matter what.
I have a blanket, a sweatshirt and jeans. An umbrella will be accompanying us. But make no mistake, we are definitely going to the beach. I have a crappy fiction novel about Katherine of Aragon to entertain me, so there is that, too. And some sangria, of course.
We went to the Guggenheim in Bilbao yesterday and it was absolutely breathtaking!
Seriously, you should google the building because it is awesome in every sense of the word. It is a masterpiece of modern architecture, a work of art to house others. It is Frank Gehry´s throwback to his childhood when he claimed he continually dreamt of sailboats in his dreams. Yeah, a little ambitious for a building. I thought so, too.
Turns out it is exactly the manifestation of what he said. We spent the same amount of time outside taking pictures and just generally admiring the building itself as being inside the actual place.
This is also where I fell in love with grand installation art pieces, too. Seriously, there are people out there who are completely creative with large-scale sculpture. Give these people a HUGE empty white room and whatever supplies they want and they will give you some amazing things. People can be so talented.
Lauren and I spent the way back to San Sebastián on the train talking about ETA and scaring the shit out of me. ETA is the Basque terrorist group (think March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombing and last month´s politician assassination in Bilbao) and we couldn´t help but reflect on the fact that all the tiny Basque towns we were chugging through on our little train were the nests for the Basque terrorists.
Yeah, and then the train stopped on the tracks for some unknown reason. In the dark. In the humid jungle that is the Basque country. I wanted to cry because I just knew a terrorist group was about to board our almost empty car and wreak havoc on us. They didn´t though, so we´re fine.
I really don´t have much to worry about here. They target Spaniards, not Americans. Hey, if I have to hang around the lairs of a famous terrorist group, I am super glad that it´s the one that doesn´t really have a beef with Americans. It´s comforting I guess.
So we are headed out right now, but I will write more later. Sorry I haven´t really kept up with any of this. The last month or so has been pretty crazy go go go and I was super duper sick for the last 2 weeks.
Later alligators.
On my next post, I´ll write some Basque, too. It is nuts. It is the oldest surviving language in Europe and the only one in the world about which we know nothing. Seriously, nothing about its origins or related languages. The only one we think MAY be related is Georgian. As in the old Soviet country. Yeah... weird.
The other night I was in my bed waiting for sleep to hit me and I found myself a little emotional when I realized that I will only spend 3 more nights (one of which will most definitely be spent in packing hysterically and trying to squeeze everything in my bags that once seemed so big) in my bed in my room in Madrid. Yikes.
I am now sitting in the hostel after finishing breakfast and before heading off to brave the cloudy beach. Yes, I am in San Sebastián. Therefore, yes, I am going to the beach. No matter what.
I have a blanket, a sweatshirt and jeans. An umbrella will be accompanying us. But make no mistake, we are definitely going to the beach. I have a crappy fiction novel about Katherine of Aragon to entertain me, so there is that, too. And some sangria, of course.
We went to the Guggenheim in Bilbao yesterday and it was absolutely breathtaking!
Seriously, you should google the building because it is awesome in every sense of the word. It is a masterpiece of modern architecture, a work of art to house others. It is Frank Gehry´s throwback to his childhood when he claimed he continually dreamt of sailboats in his dreams. Yeah, a little ambitious for a building. I thought so, too.
Turns out it is exactly the manifestation of what he said. We spent the same amount of time outside taking pictures and just generally admiring the building itself as being inside the actual place.
This is also where I fell in love with grand installation art pieces, too. Seriously, there are people out there who are completely creative with large-scale sculpture. Give these people a HUGE empty white room and whatever supplies they want and they will give you some amazing things. People can be so talented.
Lauren and I spent the way back to San Sebastián on the train talking about ETA and scaring the shit out of me. ETA is the Basque terrorist group (think March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombing and last month´s politician assassination in Bilbao) and we couldn´t help but reflect on the fact that all the tiny Basque towns we were chugging through on our little train were the nests for the Basque terrorists.
Yeah, and then the train stopped on the tracks for some unknown reason. In the dark. In the humid jungle that is the Basque country. I wanted to cry because I just knew a terrorist group was about to board our almost empty car and wreak havoc on us. They didn´t though, so we´re fine.
I really don´t have much to worry about here. They target Spaniards, not Americans. Hey, if I have to hang around the lairs of a famous terrorist group, I am super glad that it´s the one that doesn´t really have a beef with Americans. It´s comforting I guess.
So we are headed out right now, but I will write more later. Sorry I haven´t really kept up with any of this. The last month or so has been pretty crazy go go go and I was super duper sick for the last 2 weeks.
Later alligators.
On my next post, I´ll write some Basque, too. It is nuts. It is the oldest surviving language in Europe and the only one in the world about which we know nothing. Seriously, nothing about its origins or related languages. The only one we think MAY be related is Georgian. As in the old Soviet country. Yeah... weird.
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