sheesha

Hookah targeted in Egypt health drive
The way that Egyptians smoke their sheesha is much more intense than what most 'foreigners' (at least, the ones that I know) do when they go to a hookah bar. Egyptians each have their own, and they often don't even remove it from their mouths as they talk; only when they take a sip of their tea. When my friends and I have a sheesha (I've shared 3 in the past year), we generally have one sheesha for the group, and pass the hose around. You get a few puffs out of it.
Still... it is tobacco, and no matter how much you have, it is not good for you.

Anmyeondo beach party

They only served one kind of beer at the party... for 5000 won a bottle!!! It was Moosehead Lager, a Canadian beer. There must have been some Canadians involved in organizing the event. They also had cocktails for the same price. The food available was hotdogs, kebabs (4000 won) or pitas (5000 won). They did have bottled water for 1000 won a bottle, but they ran out fairly early in the evening. Not a smart thing to run out of water. Those in charge seemed to be a bit confused about many things throughout the entire party. They weren't very organized, I think. It was great fun, but not quite what was advertized. It was on a bit of a deserted beach (no little stores or anything around to buy your own drinks or food or water). Even the bus driver had no idea how to get there and was driving around for a bit trying to find it.
The little stage was set up just above the beach. Everyone set up their tents along the edge of the beach (safe from the tides). You couldn't get very far from where the music was as the area was quite small. There was plenty of room infront of the stage for dancing, of course.
Not far from the dance area, they also had a little sheesha/hooka tent set up. What's a beach party without one?!! :P
I think D and I finally went to sleep around 5 or 6 AM. The music was still pounding away, of course.
They started packing up everything at around 10:30 or so. It was supposed to be 24 hours of music... 12pm to 12pm. Didn't quite work out that way. They had expected a lot more people to show up, as well, I think. Not sure how they would have dealt with more people, as they ran out of things with the numbers that were there.

Sharm el-Sheikh

[Bedouin (sheesha) cafe decor][Mohammed, Megan, Ehab and I dancing in the cafe][the beach][Alex looking spiffy][dancing lessons at the beach][at the Bingo Cafe: Mohammed, Me, Ahmed, Megan, Ehab][waiting for the bus]

a weekend in Egypt

The weekend was great. Friday after classes, we went out for dinner with Taha and his friends. Taha is Megan's boyfriend. He is Egyptian but went to University in the States (that is where they met). We went to a fish restaurant on the Corniche.[Alex and the fish. Notice the pacifier in the mouth of the fish on the wall.]
A few of us don't like fish, so we just had rice, but it was very good, flavored rice.[They just happened to put the fish in front of Ian]
After the restaurant, we went to another place for a sheesha-I had peach flavored this time. It was also right on the Corniche. Taha's friends said that the place had the best sheeshas.[Ian, Kristen and Alex]
Megan spent the weekend with Taha at their summer cottage, at a compound somewhere about 40 minutes away. It is right on the Mediterranean and has private beaches and swimming pools.
The ride home was about the craziest taxi ride ever. The guy was weaving in and out of traffic, honking the entire way. I am not sure how fast he was going, but it was a lot faster than the other cars. Scary. I guess it is always like that in Cairo.[Kate posing infront of Montaza]
Saturday morning, Hussein picked the rest of us up and we went to a beach at Montaza (It was the summer palace of the King).We drove through the Montaza gates into the gigantic, beautiful park. The beach was at the far end of the park. The beach is in a little cove, so it was not all waves. The sand was a bit dirty, though (garbage and such).[Kristen]
Egypt is very conservative, so most women here go in fully clothed. Some have old style swimwear-covering shoulders and upper legs.
After a few hours there, we went back for a quick shower and then went to another area of Alex. to go to a restaurant called Mohammed Akhmed, that is famous for its fast service and good food (falafel, hummus, etc).We went there to meet 2 Swedes that we met at the beach. After we ate, we went back to their hotel, the Windsor Palace Hotel, for a beer.[Kristen and Kate]
Because of their religion, most Egyptians don't drink, so there are not many places to get a drink. The place was so fancy with painted ceilings and fancy furniture.
Today, Hussein picked us up at 10 and we went to the catacombs. They were discovered in around the 1900s when a donkey fell and disappeared into a tunnel. We couldn't take our cameras in but we did manage to get some pics with a camera phone that one of the girls had. They were built during that time that the Greeks and Romans were here. It was an amazing place to see... all underground, of course. Then we went to Pompei's pillar (which really has nothing to do with Pompei) and then the Graeco Roman amphitheater.[Pompei's Pillar][Alex and I at the Graeco Roman Amphitheater]
They were both very cool. I would describe them but am short on time at the moment.
We had lunch at a fabulous restaurant on the sea side of the Corniche. They had western and Egyptian food on the menu. There was a little man-made stream type thing (with no water in it) down the middle of the restaurant, and there were 3 ducks and a white flamingo wandering around. Very cool. We will have to go there again during the week. We then tried to go to Fort Qaitbey, where the Lighthouse was, but it was closed. We will try again another time.[infront of Fort Qaitbey]
Anyway, gotta go. Keep in touch. Love you all.

Egypt... getting into the groove

Our driver found my ticket. It fell under the front seat when he dropped me off, I guess. What a relief. The people in the course are all so great. There are 7 of us so far, 2 guys and 5 girls. One more person was to arrive today but we haven't met her yet. We all get along so far and feel like we have been together for a lot longer than just one day. We are all so different, but we all clicked instantly, which is a great thing since we will be seeing a lot of each other. Ian is from England and the rest are all American. I am the oldest. I hope that we don't scare Joanna, the new girl. Hopefully she will fit in like everyone else. After I got back to the apartments on Friday, I met Megan, one of my roommates. We went out Friday night for a sheesha (a flavored water pipe-we had strawberry) and some mango juice. The place was right on the Corniche, the main street that goes along the Mediterranean coast. When we got back, we moved to another room, cleaner and with working everything. Last night we all went down to a place on right beside the sea for a sheesha (orange flavored) and coffee/juice. We didn't realize that there were places to go under the corniche, so we were following the Egyptians that were running across the busy road,dodging traffic... a bit scary. The room that I am in now is relatively clean and everything works. Megan and Kristen are my roommates.Our room has become the hangout. This morning we all had breakfast/coffee in our kitchen. The course I am taking is how to teach English. Today was the first day of classes. It was quite amusing at times. They wanted us to experience the different types of learning, so we had a short lesson in Swahili and a short lesson in German. Then we were talking about different games to play and ways of having students interact... so we were making skits and such. We were all laughing so hard. The instructors are all pretty nice, too. I think we intimidate them because we are all so close already. Anyway... enough for now. I am tired as I didn't get enough sleep last night and we have to get up around 7:30 or so.