Adventures in England: Cairo, my favorite. :)

Early Saturday morning, Walt and I arrived in beautiful Cairo, a city of 15 million people. The Muslim weekend is Friday and Saturday (Friday is their Holy Day), so the work week is Sunday through Thursday. Pretty different! Walt and I stayed in Rachel McDonald's flat, which was SO nice! Rachel graduated from MSU with me, and has been working in Cairo since summer. One of my very good friends, Lacey Kuhn, went to visit her this summer and met a lot of great Egyptians. One of Lacey and Rachel's friends, Mohab, met Walt and me at the train station. The three of us just clicked! He was great, and drove us around the town (there are basically no driving laws in Egypt...no lanes, few stop lights, and no one pays attention to the speed limit...it can be scary!) Mohab took us to the Egyptian Museum, where we saw treasures from the tombs of the pharoahs, and we even saw some mummies! Mohab showed us the amazing sights of Cairo. It's a gameel (Arabic for beautiful) city! It's very modern, but there are some parts (we didn't really go through them much) where people are living in poverty without electricity or indoor plumbing. You can basically find a little sample, whether it be a house, church, or furniture, from every decade, beginning 7,000 years ago! We drove through Islamic Cairo and Coptic (Christian) Cairo, where there are lots of mosques and some Catholic churches. Walt and I were surprised to see that you can find more American products in Cairo than you can in the UK! McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Hardees, and Chilli's are popular restaurants, and you can find just about any American magazine or beauty product if you look hard enough. Mohab took us to City Stores, which is the largest mall in Egypt, and then he dropped us off at the Khan el-Kalili, a HUGE outdoor and indoor market. Walt and I picked up a few souvineers! :) That night, we went out to eat with Mohab and his friend Ashraf (Ash), and they took us to the highest mountain in Cairo to see the amazing view of the city at night. The four of us just hung out, admiring the view and discussing Egyptian and American politics...it was pretty cool! I learned so much about Middle Eastern culture and the Muslim religion during my trip! The Egyptian president, Mubarak, isn't a favorite among the Egyptian people. But, his opponent in the past presidential election mysteriously wound up in jail. Mubarak's picture is up all over the country, but we were assured by many people that Mubarak put the picture up, not any of his fans. On Sunday, Walt and I had coffee with Rachel's flatmate, Cam, who's from London and coincidentally goes to the same school at Walt! Then, we walked along the Nile and explored part of the city. After lunch, Mohab, Ash, and their friend Mahmoud (Huka) picked us up so we could go to...the PYRAMIDS! Wow! It was so neat to see them in person! They're huge, but I was surprised to see how small the Sphinx is. Anyway, by the time we got through the Cairo traffic, we had to run in and out of the pyramids before they closed, but we were laughing the whole time. How often do you get to race through pyramids? :) After we took tons of pictures outside of the pyramids, the five of us went horseback riding through the desert...AMAZING! It was so neat to gallop on a horse through the desert, and to turn your head to the right and see the pyramids next to you. We all stopped on a cliff to watch the sunset, and headed back. Minor incident along the way...all of horses started crowding each other on the first part of the journey, and Mohab's horse started bucking. Since Walt and I were right behind it, the horse kept kicking us in the leg. My foot is still a little swollen, and Walt had to get two stitches! But it was all part of the adventure. After horseback riding, we met up with Ahmed and the six of us headed to Huka's house, where his mom had cooked us a huge and delicious Egyptian meal! It was so nice, and the food was great! I've realized that I'm a huge fan of Arabic food and music. I also love the Arabic language, and really want to learn it better! The guys were great about helping me learn new words and work on my accent. A popular Arabic phrase is insha7 alah, pronounced "in cha alla," and it means "God willing." The Egyptians say it after anything that they say will or may happen in the future. For example, "I will return to Egypt soon, insha7 alah." It's so neat! After supper and cheesecake, the six of us visited Ahmed's sister and nephew, and we tried asop, which is an Egyptian drink made of sugar cane juice...it's very sweet! Later that night, Ahmed, Ash, Walt, and I explored the Marriot hotel, which is the largest Marriot in the Middle East. Hotels are popular hang out spots in Cairo. On Monday, Walt and I went to the Citadel, which is a fortress with a mosque that was built during the Crusades to protect the city. You can't wear shoes in mosques, and girls have to have their heads and bodies covered. No tank tops or bare heads! The mosque was very impressive...some amazing architecture! We also saw a breathtaking view of the Cairo city scape from the mosque. That afternoon, we explored Zamaleck, the section of Cairo where Rachel lives. It's such a neat place! The main street is 26th of July Street, and you can find neat bookstores and clothing shops. Most signs and stores are written in both Arabic and English, which is a relief! That night, Mohab, Ash, Huka, Ahmed, Walt, and I went on a falucca ride on the Nile, and then had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Those guys are so much fun! They were the perfect tour guides, because they're all native Cairoeans. :) The six of us just clicked, and we had the best time! Tuesday was our last day in Cairo (sad!), so Walt and I went to the Al-Azhar mosque, home to the world's oldest university, and made one more trip to the Khan el-Kalili market. Mohab picked us up at Rachel's flat, and drove us to say goodbye to Ash. Mohab's dad managed to get Walt and me FREE train tickets back to Luxor, so Mohab hung out with us at the train station to make sure we made it ok. It was SOOO sad saying goodbye! Luckily I've been keeping in touch with my Eyptian buds through email, and Walt and I are planning another trip to visit them this summer. :) I just had the best time ever in Cairo! I felt so safe, too. I was really worried at first, because the news makes it sound like Middle Easterners hate Americans, but I had the best experience and felt completely safe! On Wednesday morning, Walt and I arrived back in Luxor, where we walked around til it was time to fly out. I had a wonderful experience in Cairo, and I think it's an incredible city...unlike any place I've ever been!