Alexandria - my hotel room

I stayed 2 nights in Alexandria. In this hotel and I can't remember the name. It had breakfast included and shared bathrooms, but my room had the sweetest little balcony and a fucking gorgeous view of the bay where the lighthouse used to stand. There was a constant breeze in my room. Unfortunately I got food poisoning. I don't know from what. It could have been anything. The breakfast, the sweets, the huge lunch, or the glass of water I forgot and drank at the coffee shop because I was used to drinking tap water in Cairo and forgot you can't anywhere else.
So I sat on my little balcony and ate sweets that I bought at a pastry shop in town and then I started feeling woozy. I made it to one of the shared bathrooms and then didn't know which way to face. It was really bad. I threw up all over my pants and the floor and I couldn't stand up and I thought I was going to die. There. By myself. In Alexandria Egypt. In a strange hotel. In a shared bathroom. And I thought, "what a funny way to die."
Obviously I survived. But it was scary for a bit.
This picture with the plant in the window is the actual bathroom that I was sick in. And this picture of the food, MIGHT be the culprit, although I am more inclined to blame the water.

Me and Miss Naincy

I was so happy Nancy was able to hang out with me for Thanksgiving! And we got plenty of cute pictures!

Another Wedding Party

Ragab took me with him to another wedding party. Sheeko came to this one. The groom was a friend of theirs and the party was in one of the places right on the Nile where people have wedding parties. The obligatory cake and Pepsi was served. It was fun and the music was loud and the people were all happy. This couple was a lot better off financially than the first wedding party we crashed that was held in the street. But both were about the same as far as the music and dancing and lights and festive atmosphere.

Because I look AWESOME in my Abaya

I went to pray in a really old mosque in Cairo. It's the same one that Obama toured when he was there. It was a special experience.

Thanksgiving Trampoline

Dawn has a trampoline. Need I say more?
Ok, so I didn't do a back flip. But that is ONLY because Eric made the (quite valid) point that only the crappy doctors are working on Thanksgiving day.

More pictures at Dawn's

More San Giving Day pictures at Dawn's. These were before I jumped on the trampoline. Don't worry. I'll post those. I didn't throw up.

Dawn's House

So Nancy and I and Daddy went over to Dawn's for a second San Giving feast. Meghan and Eric brought over a lot of food and Brian was there and it was really fun. Dawn made the best dessert, though- a cheesecake pie that I would just about kill for. But Eric's famous sweet potato casserole and the chocolate peanut butter pie were close 2nd and 3rds.

San Giving 2009 Farm

Ahhhh! Another San Giving! A chance to eat WAY too much and then sleep it off and eat some more. A perfect American celebration :) If you will notice - I am wearing "Thanksgiving pants" (like sweat pants, they expand as you fill up).
This year, Ginger and Luis didn't come down but Miss Naincy was here and Mommy drove up to the farm. We went to a restaurant in Jasper (Ryan's) for the first dinner and then we went to Dawn's for the second. It was kinda small without Ginger, but we had a good time anyway and it was really fun to have Miss Naincy there.
I didn't eat so much at Ryan's that I was afraid to stand up straight for fear of splitting my stomach open - but it was close. I should probably have skipped that last plateful of nachos.

Pinky and Blackie

The two newest baby donkeys, Pinky and Blackie. Aren't they SWEEEEET?!?!??!!

I say it's my birthday...

...happy birthday to me!!!! I can almost do the splits and I have tons of friends who made chocolates for me. And I got a really helpful, but expensive, grammar book! And, instead of studying for my Coptic exam, I drank wine and watched Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.

Wedding Party in Mohandeseen

I went with Ragab to visit some friends of his and ended up being spoon-fed goat by his friend's mother and I couldn't say no because it would have been unspeakably rude. These people are seriously poor and the sheep here in the photo are actually just outside the apartment. There were chickens in the stairwell and the whole neighborhood was decrepit. The macaroni meal with goat meat was probably an expensive dish and I couldn't refuse it.
Anyway one of the guys had been invited to a wedding party so we invited ourselves along. This would prove to be the first of several wedding parties we were either invited to or crashed. This one was fun because the people were poor and it was in an alley. You can see the dirt floor -it's because it was outside. The brick walls of the buildings had some decorative cloth screens, and the sound system was as loud as any I've been to, so it was a rockin- affair.
These wedding parties are the only places I saw where men and women dance together. And they don't really, just sort of. They dance in groups. The couple's families provide cake and Pepsi for all the guests.
I think it might be good luck to have a foreigner at your wedding party or get your bride picture taken with a foreigner because I had my picture taken a LOT with wedding couples.
If I've already posted these pictures I apologize. It's taking me so long to blog my trip to Egypt, I'll be surprised if I can get it all in.

SECAC 2009 Mobile

I had to submit my paper from my theory class last year to this regional art conference called SECAC. It got accepted so I got to go read it. Sarah's paper got accepted too so she rode with me and we made lots of funny pictures :)
I was lucky that the audience in my section were all Classicists - they knew NOTHING about Egypt, heh heh, so nobody could ask me any hard questions about my paper ;)