bye!

This is me signing off. It has been quite the "incredible" "adventure." ha ha I feel very lucky that I got the opportunity to go to all these places and see everything I saw. I hope you enjoyed reading up on my journeys and monkey business.

Buying Chandeliers

It's official. I am done.

Yesterday, work was really fun. Knowing it was my last day of shows ever may have had something to do with it. There are quite a few of us leaving the company and they gave us all a papyrus painting as going away present which I wasn’t expecting and thought was really nice. My last show I really skated it out one last time. It is sad leaving and knowing I will never be lacing up my skates again to do silly numbers and entertain kids.

Our last three days of shows finally had a crowd. Our shows had really been pretty empty up until this week! The word finally spread now that we were leaving!! After work, we all went to the disco one last time and had fun dancing.


My last day in Egypt, I spent some time out by the pool with people one last time. I got my packing out of the way so that I would be able to enjoy my last hours. Alex, Mauricio, Meredith, and I took one last trip to the market to eat at Diaa’s fave restaurant again. I tried some melon juice this time and falafel which was pretty good. We walked around the market a little. We went inside this one store that was pretty exquisite. It used to be a palace. They had these massive chandeliers that were very different and funky looking. If I was going to purchase a chandelier, I would totally want one of these. Alex was asking the guy how much for one of them, as if he was actually interested which cracked me up.


On our return trip, we almost died……Well not exactly but all of a sudden the wind shield shattered into a million pieces. We really don’t know what happened. I guess a rock hit it, but usually when that happen the whole doesn’t crack. It was pretty crazy and our driver was way to calm about it as if it happens every day. He flagged us a new cab and sent us on our way.

Only in Egypt!

Habibi

Today, I took Skyler’s dance class he organized which was a lot of fun. It was just small group of six in the class which made it even more fun I feel. We did a jazz type warm up which included so many things we used to do for synchro warm up with Tisa including the alternating arm move. Doing these things brought back fond memories fro synchro. We then did some stretching and then small combos which were then used again all together as a dance to a Missy Elliot song. It was really a blast learning.

Later that night the locals were taking a group to a Shisha bar. I wasn’t really interested in smoking but I wanted to go to hang out and I’m really glad I did. The locals are such fun and I feel like they are just such happy people because they are constantly laughing. They are also so nice. Tarek, who earlier today at work asked, “Where are you?” I answered, “Right here” but he had meant, “How are you?” Anyways, Dora said she was hungry so he ran out and got some food for her and any others who were hungry which was really nice. They call each other “habibi” which translated means darling but they use it all the time to call here friends. . We started saying it over and over again. For girls it is "habibati" which doesn’t sound nearly as cool. We then changed it to "habiboo" because it sounds kinda like "hey boo." They were amused with us I think. One of them named Samy is going to be interning in Portland, ME soon! I wish we had started hanging out with our locals right at the beginning because now that we finally befriended them we are coming to the end of our stay but at least we got the chance to bond with them a little!

Picture Break

Pharaoh Boat Cruise

So the past three days even more people were out….so I got the chance to be the Popcorn Seller in Opening which Adrienne used to do. I love the opening number but her spot isn’t quite as thrilling as doing mom because she does a lot of standing by her cart while others are dancing and doing steps. I must say though the orange colored curly up-do wig looks smashing on me! With JJ gone, Tilley has been doing host quite often leaving me partner-less and brother-less so I have been skating with an array of all different people for my last few days.


Tonight we had our closing night party on the Pharoah Nile Boat Cruise. It was decorated in what you would expect to be cheesey Egyptian décor. They played Egyptian music and a belly dancer performed for us. She pulled some of us girls out on the dance floor with her to try belly dancing. I went up with Charlotte, Pia, and Corrie and made some sad attempts hahaha. I have no idea how they move in those ways. She really didn’t look Egyptian to me and not that non-Egyptian can’t belly dance but I just thought it would have looked better on the authentic Pharoah Boat to have a dancer that looked more the part. Turns out she is from Scotland!

The food was very tasty which made me very happy. It was a huge buffet spread which had two of my favorite things to eat here: hummus and dolmas. They also had quite a spread of dessert including ice cream which I hadn’t had in awhile so it tasted so awesome. After eating everyone went up on the top deck and sat outside to take in the view of the Nile. We only had the boat for two hours so soon enough it was over and were backing to the dock.

There was a football game going on so traffic was horrible. Some people went to the Hard Rock Café after which I regretted not doing because our ride back not so fun. It look us so long sitting in traffic and this English concession guy with the heaviest accent ever was very intoxicated and causing a scene. I was right in the midst of the craziness too sitting just one seat behind him. It was so uncomfortable. We got back safe and sound though!

I am so gothic.

Today was Adrienne’s last day here. Before even coming she had had a wedding to go to this coming weekend. She told them she had to go to it so they allowed her to leave Egypt early. I was wicked shock they were ok with this because usually people never got work off to do anything of that nature.

Our cast is kind of falling apart. Many have been getting sick and not just with mummy tummy; there’s been lots of sinus infections among other tings. Julia was out today and Sasha got hurt during the first show and then was out. And Pia’s foot is hurt so she’s been out for a few days as well. In between shows we played catch phrases which was so much fun and made the break go by so fast. Adrienne and I get so competitive with it and are really good at making each guess things so we aren’t allowed on the same teams. It got me so revved up for the second show.

After work we had a party that was a gothic theme. I was not into the theme but it turned into an awesome night. Some went all out with their costumes. I just didn’t have the means. If I had been warned prior to leaving we would be having a gothic party, I could have done way better but oh well. I just wore my sole black tshirt and pants I brought and I put on some eye liner and called it done.

I was so hyper and got a second wind from who knows where. There was a huge turn out which always makes it a shoe in to be fun. Netta and I had this dance off. It took place on the three stairs that are between the bar and the sitting area where crew and people were chilling. So everyone got to see the spectacle. Oh and I won! A song that Mauricio and I love came on and I wasn't with him. I went on a frantic search to find him. Dora thought it was hilarious because I was pushing through everyone to get to him.

Our locals crew came which was fun; whenever they played Egyptian music they got pumped and then we’d get pumped for our music. Adrienne was leaving at 5:30 so we just stayed up until then. We left at disco at 4:30 and were maybe the first to leave! I’m really sad she had to go. It was gonna be weird having an empty room and finishing it up without her.

I thought long and hard about that fake chanel bag.....

Today I went out shopping with Alex and Meredith. I should have known what I was getting into but was not thinking. They had got advice from our dresser Jenny and Nisma on where to go and we were going to meet them. I was under the impression we were going to a different market; we get to the place and it is a mall; a mall filled with stores selling fake bags and other crap I could care less about! I was super annoyed because this is not what I wanted to look for at all!

The girls had their friend Maha with them too. They were really good at bartering prices for them because in general it helps to have an Egyptian with you because they will often start the price higher on purpose for foreigners. I told Jenny I really wanted to find some cool scarves and she said she could help me find them. After looking around in all the identical store brimming with fake pradas and louis vuittons for an hour and a half Alex and Meredith were complaining of hunger so we left the mall and the girls took us to a Koshary Restaurant. It is a very Egyptian dish that these restaurants solely specialize in. I was slightly scared because it really doesn’t look that appetizing. They serve you this bowl with a random mix of crap thrown in it. It has rice, macaroni, lentils, chick peas, and fried onion and they give you sauces to put on top. I had mine with no sauce and thought it was pretty good. I liked that we got to try something very local.

Maha, had a car with her so she had drove us to the restaurant. I can’t fathom driving around here and she parallel parked; that’d be out of the question for me! When we were driving downtown all of a sudden Jenny was like want me to take you to get a scarf and we jumped out. Right on the side of the street there were vendors selling some and they were pretty ones too. I liked a few and couldn’t decide. If you buy more they give you a good deal so I ended up getting three! Jenny used her magical skills and got me an awesome price!

After that it was back to the crappy mall but I was totally content after eating some Egyptian food and getting scarves. Meredith has to be at work before us so she started worrying about time and Alex was taking so long so they started fighting and Meredith ended up taking a taxi by herself over it. Drama.

When we got to work we entered from the front of the arena which slightly resembles Disneyland. There are huge billboards and all the lap posts have banners with different character from the show as well as Belle who isn’t in the show! Hahaha There is also a trolley that takes you to your car just like Disneyland!

Wearing a green cape, singing Celine Dion, and exploring Cairo.

Our third day off filled to the brim! We did so much and it was a really awesome day, I’d have to say. It was a trip exploring more of Cairo because after being here for three weeks I still hadn’t even seen much of it!

We started off by seeing Mary’s Tree. This tree allegedly provided Mary and Jesus with shelter when she passed through Egypt. The tree looks pretty decrepit and is really warped. Aside from its age, it also apparently bent itself into this weird shape in order to give them more shelter.

Next we went to the citadel. Within the grounds was the Alabaster Mosque. All of us girls were given nifty green capes to cover ourselves with. We also had to either take our shoes off or put on stylish blue booties over our shoes. I liked how there were carpets laid out covering the whole floor and there were lights hanging that looked like lanterns.


We had a guide showing us around all day whom was amusing but hard to understand and hear at times. It was hilarious because when we were standing outside the citadel his phone rang. His ringtone was Celine Dion’s “Because You Love Me.” We all found this hilarious and started singing along with it.

It was extremely hot; not that it should have been a shock but on day excursion like this you really feel the burden of the hotness. After the citadel we headed to old Cairo where we visited the Coptic Museum. Coptic basically translates to mean Egyptian Christians. You weren’t allowed to have cameras inside which I was disappointed about because I saw some really cool architectural details I wish I could have photographed. The museum basically had a lot of stone carvings and old artifacts. I more enjoyed looking at the building itself. They had these windows that I learned are called Arab-esque style. From the outside they were this wooden box that jutted out and had intricate carving with wholes to let in light. There were small parts that could be opened like a shutter; There was one large one in the center and then two small ones on the side. The larger one was for men and the smaller ones for women because that’s fair! There was also cool carvings in the ceilings and doorways and awesome stained glass windows, none of which I can show you.

After that we walked down the block to see the Hanging Church. I still can’t grasp the concept but apparently there used to be water underneath the Church and it was held up kind of on stilts as if it was hanging over the water. The water has now dried up but there are parts of the floor that have glass inserts so you can see how far down the ground is underneath the Church. This is taken inside the Church.

As we left the Church, we could hear the Calling of the Prayer happening. Five times a day they play a prayer over the loud speakers of all the Mosques so everyone can hear it and pray even if they aren’t at the Mosque. To us it just sounds like weird moaning but I’m sure it means something important. If you are in an area with multiple Mosque, the sounds often blend and it becomes an even more muffled weird sound. As the moaning continued our guide took us through a part of Old Cairo like nothing I have seen yet. We were in this very impoverished neighborhood. The buildings were run down and trash lined the alleys. We saw some chickens on the side of the road as well as a family with a goat, just hanging out. Walking through here felt slightly wrong to me, like we were intruding on them. People were snapping pictures which I felt bad about but as others did I couldn’t help but snap a few as well.


People didn’t seem bothered by us though. There were tons of kids running around that all seemed so happy. A bare-footed little boy was riding his bike and kind of followed us. He kept having to get off and pick it up or because of steps along the way. There were two others playing with balloons. They never asked us for anything; they more just intrigued and wanted to say hi. When we were outside the Museum, a family had asked Megan if they could take a picture with her, I guess just because she looked so different.

After that we went to Diaa’s favorite restaurant to eat some Egyptian cuisine. The place was stunning. Our table was a shiny gold color and had designs covering it. My food was very scrumptious. I had hummus to start with and some fabulous mango juice. Then I had a dish called dolmas which was vegetables stuffed with rice. I really liked the peppers and zucchini but didn’t like the eggplant. Some people tried pigeon!!! And Mauricio got rabbit! He made me try a piece which I was very reluctant to do; something about eating such a cute little hopping creature seems wrong to me. I tried a little though and it wasn’t bad. It was very plain tasting though. I also tired Hibiscus, this super sweet drink made from flowers.

The restaurant was located at the market and for the first time I got to see the cool part of the market. I wish we had had more time to look around. This was where there were more stores rather than street stalls and they were selling all different kinds of crafts and snazzy things. I not having much guidance had ended up in the yucky part of the market twice. Now I feel I need to go back yet again to explore the nice part!

Scenes from Egypt

Here are some extra pictures!

A Muddy Mess

So running here has not been too thrilling but I’ve been taking it a little easier because I am gearing up for my first marathon and will be going full throttle into training when I return. Daytime is excruciatingly hot so running would be out of the question. There is also just no where for me to really go. Our hotel is right on the airport premises so the surroundings are just parking lots and highway roads. So I was left with no choice but treadmill running. After just a few days, I already was growing tired of running this way so I found a solution. I woke up at 8 to beat the heat and ran outside staying within the gates of the hotel. It is about a 6 minute loop I did on repeat. Not so thrilling but it was a nice change from inside on a treadmill and at that hour the temperature wasn't too bad. I did this absurd run once last week. Today I did it again and it just so happened to be the day they had the sprinkler system up and running. I thought, hey this will be refreshing.

I’m going along just fine and am not even getting hit by any of them staying on the perimeter. I get to this little garden area and step down and almost slip due to the mud underneath me. They must have really over did it in this area earlier because the path was such a mess and more importantly now I was! Up to my ankles was covered in mud! In all my year running cross country, I never was such a mess. You couldn’t even make out my shoes and they were so gunked up even walking on normal ground I was scared about slipping because the traction was so filled with mud. I slowly made my way through the muddy disaster area and then had to do something.

I decided to clean my shoes off at one of the sprinklers. I thought this was a good idea but as soon as I stuck my shoe under it, the muddy water sprayed right back at me. Now I was covered from head to toe in mud splatters! It was hilarious. I finished up cleaning my shoes and walked back into the hotel with shoes squishing away totally drenching and speckled with mud. I looked like such a mess!

Food, Glorious Food.

I finally ate a really awesome meal here. There is a Chinese restaurant in the hotel which I had yet to try because in general I am not the biggest Chinese food fan. People had raved about it so we tried it tonight and it was the best thing I’ve ate since I’ve been here! I just got stir fried noodles with vegetables but man was it tasty. Looks like I will be a regular patron to the Meishi Restaurant now!

Other things I find scrumptious here include the juices. They have amazing fresh squeezed/pressed juice that are super thick and have chunks of real fruit in them. Mangoes are grown widely here so it is one of the most prominent flavor that I just adore. They also have awesome orange and strawberry juices that I’ve had. They also have really awesome feta cheese. It comes in a carton and is a block of cheese but it isn’t crumbly like at home. It is more like cream cheese consistency so you spread it on bread.

Bartering, Mummies, and Flare!

I did a lot of bartering today and would have to say I’m pretty good at it. We told the taxi man, Ali, we wanted to go to the Egyptian Museum then the market and I through out 100 pounds. Before going out we had already discussed we would pay 150 so I started it super low. He then explained just to the museum would be 100 but for both it would be 150 which was exactly what I thought he’d say! I spent the day with Christy and Robbie which was a different group for me.

Today the big group was going to the Pyramids, Egyptian Museum, and Market but I had already done the pyramids so I just wanted to do the last two. When searching for someone to go with Christy and Robbie were the only one I could fine interested.

The museum was filled with coffins, mummies, papyrus, and statues. I really liked looking at the papyrus covered with intricate hieroglyphics. I wish I knew the stories they told. Everything is just so detailed; all the carvings in the mummy cases and in the stones and just so awesome. It is crazy how much details the put into something for a dead person. In one room Robbie asked if he could take pictures. The guard said yes so I snapped a few shots as well.

Turns out photos you are not allowed but he just said yes, let us, and then asked for money!

This sign was on the wall which I found highly amusing:


The mummies were pretty creepy and disgusting but cool seeing at the same time. They had some mummified animals too which were also creepy especially since you could make out with it was. There were dogs and a random crocodile.

I got to see King Tut’s coffins and mask which were pretty awesome. He had his own room to showcase his fabulous treasure. They were so much fancier than the rest of the things in the museum and were in such impeccable shape. They looked flawless as if they were just made.

After two hours of gazing at mummies we were done so we called up our chauffer to pick us up. We then had him bring us to the market. It was extremely hot out so walking in the blazing sun was pretty killer. It is definitely worthwhile to wait until night time to go to the market. He dropped us off on the other side of the street so we had to brave crossing a very busy road. Man, was it scary; the cars just come so fast and don’t show any signs of breaking.

Christy is too nice and had trouble dealing at the market. She had a hard time responding in a firm manner that she didn’t want things. I was leading and when little children would come up and offer me a necklace or something, I would say no and they would move on. She would be like, “Oh well it is very pretty but I don’t think so.” Or “You are really cute but I don’t need that.” She showed weakness and they picked up on it so they would then walk with her for like 10 minutes. She kept saying how bad she felt for them all. She ended up buying a scarf from one of these children!

The first part of the market is neat and has lots of Egyptian looking trinkets and souvenirs but the bulk of the market is just really seedy and full of low budget crap. Also as you walk you just grow tired of pushing through the crowd on the dirty street with men hissing at you and as the merchandise grow less interesting. So we turned around and went back to the good section.

This guy sells things right off his head!
We walked by a couple stands selling scarves. I wanted to get some new ones but up close I was disappointed to see that they all looked so crappy and not that pretty. I stopped at one stand and found one that I thought was nice. The man wanted to sell it for 65. I told him I would give him 20. He acted slightly insulted by this price but it was what I was willing to pay. He lowered it to 50, 45, 40, 35 and said that was his last offer. I said no thanks then and started walking away. As I was walking he started yelling 30 but I shook my head. He then went down to 25 and finally 20. I turned back with a smile because I won.

Then I wanted to get some of the mother of pearl boxes. They have them at so many palces and I was being so picky. I went to probably ten places to see each ones selection. I just wanted to get the best ones. Some of the patterns just weren’t as colorful or pretty or had imperfections.

So after that Robbie and Christy wanted to go to the mall to eat at an American place and do a movie. I was starved since we hadn’t ate all day since we’d been out and it was now 4:30 so I said that was fine. Then Robbie wanted TGI Friday which wasn’t my top choice but I just wanted to eat. Turns out it was just put in and wasn’t even open yet. The hostess explained to us that they were doing test run so if we were interested they could try out their services on us and we’d eat for free! Sweet!! Can’t beat free food!

I was super excited because they had on the old school striped shirts and suspenders with buttons that I thought were the coolest when I was little. The whole staff also would be fun dances. The food was very mediocre but free so I can’t really complain.

I rode a camel just like my big sis!

Today was the most fun day of Egypt thus far. I went to the pyramids with Adrienne, Christy, and Skyler and got to ride a camel! The whole group is going on Monday but being in such a large group for this excursion didn’t sound so appealing. Large numbers can really complicate things so it seemed much wise to go in a small group and have a much pleasurable time.

We had called up our cab driver who took us to the mall because he overheard us talking about going and offered to take us all around for a day for 200 pounds. Then since we were just going to the pyramids we got it down to 150. Now I didn’t notice on our trip to the mall but man does his taxi struggle. We were driving painfully slow the whole way and you couldn’t even tell how slow we were going due to the fact that his speed-o-meter didn’t even work.

People here are constantly trying to haggle you and trick you into things so when we were almost there. He pulled over in front of this papyrus shop. He told us the pyramids didn’t open until 10 so we should kill some time here. First off I’m pretty sure that’s a lie and the pyramids were already open and secondly it was of course his friend’s shop and they have a deal where he bring people in and they share the profits of something. It was too early in the am for us to strong-willed when dealing with such blasphemy so we went in.

It was cool though. They gave us a demonstration on the 12 day process of making papyrus. And then when looking around at all the paintings I decided on buying one for a present. When we got to the pyramids, he again tried to take us to his friend to ride camels. This time we were ready and we told him. We had no interest in riding camels and to just take us to the entrance. We had been told there were tons of camels and the ones outside are a rip off so you need to shop around.

Inside, we first went to the Sphinx and took some pictures here. There were all different kinds of people selling souvenirs inside the compound which I find crazy that they allow. They are constantly yelling out sales pitches in all different language trying to best guess where the next group of tourists were from.

After that we walked up to the pyramids. We started at the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the largest of the tree, and I climbed up on the first tier of stones. I then got yelled at and had to jump down. Hahaha I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed! They look massive from far but up close you see just how crazy huge they are. Each stone is at least 20 inches tall.

One of my goals for my trip here was to ride a camel. Right by the pyramid we found this young 15 year old, Muhammed, on his camel and bartered a deal with him. He ran to find a friend to bring another camel over. Adrienne and I rode together on Micheal. Meet Michael!

We felt very bad for him. The animals just seem so exploited and not happy at all. I was so stoked to ride one even if it was slightly scary.

When you get on them they fall down on there knees and then stand up so fast and jerky it is really startling. They are also so tall so it is a pretty far drop if you were to fall off. As they walk, it is a bumpy ride along the rocky sandy terrain. The camel ride was for thirty minutes which was plenty long for me. They want you to ride for one or two hours and provide you with a guide to explain everything. This, while informative, would have just been too long for me with the heat and uncomfortable seating arrangement. There was a carpet we were sitting on that was very scratchy and annoying my legs. Our ride took us from the largest pyramid over to the smallest one and then back towards the sphinx.

It was a very fun day and I got to check off my top two goals for my time here in Egypt: seeing the pyramids and riding a camel!

Arabic isn't going over big.

Check out our ad in Arabic!

So a week in our shows still weren’t doing so hot so they surveyed some of the audience so see if they could figure out what was up. Some people said they were expecting it to be in English and being in Arabic turned them off. We were told after this that they would be changing some of the shows to English to please tourists and English speaking residents. I was expecting maybe half and half but instead we now have all English shows except two a week!

This weekend I had some really funny moments. At the beginning of the Haunted Mansion number I stand on a candelabra as if I am a statue. Pia who plays Dash comes over and picks on my a lot. She sometimes ties the ribbons on my dress in bows or will move my arms. Yesterday Saturday, she took my skirt and tucked it up so my butt was exposed! When I jumped off to start the number I reached back to try to pull my shirt down and in the process I undid my skirt exposing my bum even more. I had to exit and have someone backstage fix it for me. It was really funny. And just so you know I wear pants under the skirt! Today, Jarrod was my partner in the number. He's never skated with me before so it was fun mixing it up. Before the number I gave him one pointed that we had to go downstage of the candelabra on our ballet hop and he joked saying so you don't want me to throw you right into it? Going into it we seemed like we were on the right track but then as soon as I was flying in the air I was heading straight for the candelabra. I didn't quite hit it but I had to put my hands out to brace myself and stop a collision! I made me laugh so hard; he did exactly what he had joked about. Even though I am so friggin hot in my character head, I've still been having fun being a chipmunk. When leaving work today, Smac, told me that I am such a funny Chipmunk which really brightened my day! Last night the first lady came to watch the show with her grand children! We started the show twenty minutes late because we had to hold it until she arrived.