So I'm in hurgada right now which is a beach resort in egypt. Sarah and I took a 6 hour long bus ride to get here (it only cost like 11 dollars :)) that kinda sucked but were here now in a really beautiful hotel called pyramisa. Ill put up pics when I get back isA. Soo yeah its rele nice here I'm relaxing and stuffff :) I'm a little bit sick but that's okkk
So its almostt time for me to go homee... So this is how I feel about that: I'm very excited but I'm NOT homesick (did u read that mommy!?) Anyways, I'm ready to go home cuz I miss things that I never appreciated before I came here. For example, I miss waking up in the morning and turning gilmore girls on and waiting for my timed coffee machine to go off and begin making my dunkin donuts hazelnut coffee while I make apple flavored toaster stoodle....and I miss leo coming to try and eat my food and drink my coffee, and sometimes being successful...and him crawling onto my tummy as we cuddly and watch the tv (he loves gilmore girls) what else... I miss being able to wear shorts and tank tops around when its 100 degrees...just basic routines... I miss driving!!! I don't even know if ill remember how it'll be so weird. I don't even have to mention that I miss my famz and sami cuz that's obvious... I guess I'm really spoiled in America. But like... I could get all that here but I don't think anything will ever be like how it is at ur home. I'm just built to live in plainsboro NJ!! Soo anywaysi just gotta finish up my finals and then I'm back to NJ... I will make an attempt not to complain anymore about being bored there...the only bad thing is the weather it is SO depressing!! But I think sami makes my rainy days sunny not to be corny but its true. Like the one time when it snowed like a gazillllion inches and ginas car was stuck and he came over and we helped her get it out when it was cold and crappy out... That was actually fun. Miss him :( and gina and my mommy!! Ahhh! Ok no more reminising I'm getting sad! Oh and my mama is gonna have a lil surprise when I get home inshallah ;)
Alright that's all for now ill updatew again before I leave!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
DUBAI :]
Hi readerss!
I am currently in DUBAI with my cuzin Mohamed and Nancy and their kids! I love it. The weather is so perfectly amazing, and there is soo much to see. Ahmed dropped me off at the airport and I boarded onto the plane very shortly after. We stayed up all night, so as soon as I was allowed to, I put the food tray down, put my head down, and passssed out. I woke up when we had 27 min to landing. It was a perfect flight alhamdulilah =]
So right when i got to the airport it was like a shock to me. All the people working there were wearing like the long white stereotypical arab outfits with the black thing on their head. I was like woaah this shit is true! So i took a pic of them from far away, and sneakily because I wasnt allowed to take pics. But nancy was like its not religion they wear it for its all a culture thing. And she explained to me that the rich people like in government and stuff wear those too but they have theirs lined with real gold, thats how you can tell their class.
Then I went to meet up with Nancy and the kids and we went straight to the mall, which is the biggest mall in the middle east. I took a lot of pics in it. The place has a freaking aquarium in it which was sooo freaking cool! They have like every store you can think of plus much more andd they have like restaurants there too. I kind of want to go back at some pt to go shopping maybe? So then we went to eat at rainforest cafe where i never ate before, and it was really good. Every so often the place has like a "thunderstorm" and all the animals start moving and making sounds it was pretty sick. Selma and Zane loved it.
So we went back home and I was so exhausted cuz i hadnt slept except for the 3 hours on the plane. So i read a bit of my book and then i passed out around 10pm. Then i woke up at 8 AM and talked to sami for a bit, and then i went back to sleep cuz i was still tired until like 12pm. so i slept for like...14 or 15 hours it was nuts.
So when I woke up Nancy and I went to get Zane from school and she showed me the beach, and then we eventually went to a different mall where they have indoor skiing! I didnt do the skiing though because it was like super amounts of money, but Zane and I went into the snow park, which was a nice change of weather for an hour. It was so cool you could go snow tubing and like play in the snow...it was pretty amazing.
Then we went back home and chilled, and then Nancy and I went back to the first mall to meet Mohamed who just came back from Qatar, and we ate at a really nice restaurant. It is right by the largest fountain in the world (Dubai has a lot of largest things) and every 20 minutes it has a fountain show. I cant explain how cool the fountain show was. They play a different song each time and the water moves with the rhythm of the song playing. I took a lot of pictures and a video, but its on my internal memory and I sadly dont have the wire to be able to put it on =[ im so upset about that. I also took a picture of the tallest building in the world, i think its called the Khalifa, and it was such a pretty picture i was proud of my photography skills. But thats also on the internal memory. im so mad
So TOMORROW we are going to the creek early morning, i think at like 8 or something, and we are going to see where the boats ship out stuff i guess? Nancy told me that people get all these items like cigarettes and DVDs and CDs and like allll this stuff and they load it onto a bunch of different ships, and then they all charge for Iran, and the police attempt to arrest them because they arent allowed to ship stuff to Iran, its banned. But a lot of people get through because they cant catch all the boats at once! Its such a smart idea. And then after the creek, we are finally going to the beach in this wonderful 100 degree weather. I will probably burn to a crisp because i dont have sunblock, and my nose will continue to peel, but it is worth it. Nancy is going to try and take us to the beach where people go kite surfing..?? Ive never seen it so thatll be something new. Hopefully i wont forget to bring my memory card this time.
Wednesday and Thursday I'm not sure what we are doing... I know we are going Dune Bashing on Friday; you can look that up if you dont know what it is the video is pretty awesome. And....then I leave sat at 3:45pm or something like that inshallah =]
Some interesting facts about Dubai: There arent police cars and all that like they have in America, but they have video cameras hidden EVERYWHERE so the govt is like watching your every move. Nancy said at the end of the year when you go to renew your license they show you all the pictures they took of you speeding or doing something wrong. Additionally, since Dubai is a dictatorship, they dont want outside brands or anything like that for people to use. So when I use their vonage phone, or my magic jack through the internet, it cuts off after every 7 or 8 minutes. The movies have random parts cut out of them for censorship, and you are not allowed to call the Gulf the "Persian Gulf" you have to call it the "Arabian Gulf" or else you could get arrested if someone hears you! Gotta love the dictators.
I love Dubai but Egypt is my homeeetowwnn im so comfy there so i feel like when i go back im like...going home even tho my home is in America. Its super confusing. And by the way, in case you are curious, the time difference is 8 hours ahead of America here, and 2 ahead of Egypt. I can see into your futureee :]
K heres some more pics
I am currently in DUBAI with my cuzin Mohamed and Nancy and their kids! I love it. The weather is so perfectly amazing, and there is soo much to see. Ahmed dropped me off at the airport and I boarded onto the plane very shortly after. We stayed up all night, so as soon as I was allowed to, I put the food tray down, put my head down, and passssed out. I woke up when we had 27 min to landing. It was a perfect flight alhamdulilah =]
So right when i got to the airport it was like a shock to me. All the people working there were wearing like the long white stereotypical arab outfits with the black thing on their head. I was like woaah this shit is true! So i took a pic of them from far away, and sneakily because I wasnt allowed to take pics. But nancy was like its not religion they wear it for its all a culture thing. And she explained to me that the rich people like in government and stuff wear those too but they have theirs lined with real gold, thats how you can tell their class.
Then I went to meet up with Nancy and the kids and we went straight to the mall, which is the biggest mall in the middle east. I took a lot of pics in it. The place has a freaking aquarium in it which was sooo freaking cool! They have like every store you can think of plus much more andd they have like restaurants there too. I kind of want to go back at some pt to go shopping maybe? So then we went to eat at rainforest cafe where i never ate before, and it was really good. Every so often the place has like a "thunderstorm" and all the animals start moving and making sounds it was pretty sick. Selma and Zane loved it.
So we went back home and I was so exhausted cuz i hadnt slept except for the 3 hours on the plane. So i read a bit of my book and then i passed out around 10pm. Then i woke up at 8 AM and talked to sami for a bit, and then i went back to sleep cuz i was still tired until like 12pm. so i slept for like...14 or 15 hours it was nuts.
So when I woke up Nancy and I went to get Zane from school and she showed me the beach, and then we eventually went to a different mall where they have indoor skiing! I didnt do the skiing though because it was like super amounts of money, but Zane and I went into the snow park, which was a nice change of weather for an hour. It was so cool you could go snow tubing and like play in the snow...it was pretty amazing.
Then we went back home and chilled, and then Nancy and I went back to the first mall to meet Mohamed who just came back from Qatar, and we ate at a really nice restaurant. It is right by the largest fountain in the world (Dubai has a lot of largest things) and every 20 minutes it has a fountain show. I cant explain how cool the fountain show was. They play a different song each time and the water moves with the rhythm of the song playing. I took a lot of pictures and a video, but its on my internal memory and I sadly dont have the wire to be able to put it on =[ im so upset about that. I also took a picture of the tallest building in the world, i think its called the Khalifa, and it was such a pretty picture i was proud of my photography skills. But thats also on the internal memory. im so mad
So TOMORROW we are going to the creek early morning, i think at like 8 or something, and we are going to see where the boats ship out stuff i guess? Nancy told me that people get all these items like cigarettes and DVDs and CDs and like allll this stuff and they load it onto a bunch of different ships, and then they all charge for Iran, and the police attempt to arrest them because they arent allowed to ship stuff to Iran, its banned. But a lot of people get through because they cant catch all the boats at once! Its such a smart idea. And then after the creek, we are finally going to the beach in this wonderful 100 degree weather. I will probably burn to a crisp because i dont have sunblock, and my nose will continue to peel, but it is worth it. Nancy is going to try and take us to the beach where people go kite surfing..?? Ive never seen it so thatll be something new. Hopefully i wont forget to bring my memory card this time.
Wednesday and Thursday I'm not sure what we are doing... I know we are going Dune Bashing on Friday; you can look that up if you dont know what it is the video is pretty awesome. And....then I leave sat at 3:45pm or something like that inshallah =]
Some interesting facts about Dubai: There arent police cars and all that like they have in America, but they have video cameras hidden EVERYWHERE so the govt is like watching your every move. Nancy said at the end of the year when you go to renew your license they show you all the pictures they took of you speeding or doing something wrong. Additionally, since Dubai is a dictatorship, they dont want outside brands or anything like that for people to use. So when I use their vonage phone, or my magic jack through the internet, it cuts off after every 7 or 8 minutes. The movies have random parts cut out of them for censorship, and you are not allowed to call the Gulf the "Persian Gulf" you have to call it the "Arabian Gulf" or else you could get arrested if someone hears you! Gotta love the dictators.
I love Dubai but Egypt is my homeeetowwnn im so comfy there so i feel like when i go back im like...going home even tho my home is in America. Its super confusing. And by the way, in case you are curious, the time difference is 8 hours ahead of America here, and 2 ahead of Egypt. I can see into your futureee :]
K heres some more pics
Saturday, March 13, 2010
im backk
Hello everyone!
I havent updated my blog in a while because I was going through midterms. It sucked, but it wasnt as bad as midterms at rutgers! I had to write three papers, that i probably didn't do so well on but oh well!! My GPA doesnt transfer over anyways!! Even if I dont get good grades, which hopefully i will, I am still learning so much here.
My arabic vocab is becoming extensive. I am able to hold conversations pretty well now which is much more than I could say for myself when i first got here. The only problem i have is conjugating verbs, but I am working on it.
My family is coming tomorrow inshallah if the flights arent delayed because its raining so hard in NJ and NY. I really hope they dont get delayed, but I hope they have a safe flight! I'm so excited for them to come i feel like skipping all of my classes and just spending all my time with them haha Gina will be staying with me in my room and coming to class with mee and then we are going to be meeting my mom and Ruth at night time. I have so much planned =] Hopefully we will be going to the beach this coming weekend!!
Spring break is in about 10 days or something... I am really planning on visiting my cousin Mohamed and Nancy in Dubai! I looked at their pictures and it looks amazing and I miss little Zane and Selma! Plus, who wouldn't want to go visit Dubai...theyd be nuts of they didnt want tooo! So maybe I'll go from like the 25th until the 3rd of april if my mom and Mohamed says its ok.
And speaking of family, my cuzin Deena is in Egypt right now from Sudan, so hopefully i will be able to see her today or tomorrow and her cutie pie son Khalilooo :]
I <3 My famz!!!
Ok time to eat Macarona wa bashamal and lots of delicious food courtesy of Tunt Nahed
Till neexxt time!
I havent updated my blog in a while because I was going through midterms. It sucked, but it wasnt as bad as midterms at rutgers! I had to write three papers, that i probably didn't do so well on but oh well!! My GPA doesnt transfer over anyways!! Even if I dont get good grades, which hopefully i will, I am still learning so much here.
My arabic vocab is becoming extensive. I am able to hold conversations pretty well now which is much more than I could say for myself when i first got here. The only problem i have is conjugating verbs, but I am working on it.
My family is coming tomorrow inshallah if the flights arent delayed because its raining so hard in NJ and NY. I really hope they dont get delayed, but I hope they have a safe flight! I'm so excited for them to come i feel like skipping all of my classes and just spending all my time with them haha Gina will be staying with me in my room and coming to class with mee and then we are going to be meeting my mom and Ruth at night time. I have so much planned =] Hopefully we will be going to the beach this coming weekend!!
Spring break is in about 10 days or something... I am really planning on visiting my cousin Mohamed and Nancy in Dubai! I looked at their pictures and it looks amazing and I miss little Zane and Selma! Plus, who wouldn't want to go visit Dubai...theyd be nuts of they didnt want tooo! So maybe I'll go from like the 25th until the 3rd of april if my mom and Mohamed says its ok.
And speaking of family, my cuzin Deena is in Egypt right now from Sudan, so hopefully i will be able to see her today or tomorrow and her cutie pie son Khalilooo :]
I <3 My famz!!!
Ok time to eat Macarona wa bashamal and lots of delicious food courtesy of Tunt Nahed
Till neexxt time!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
I wanna be a dog walker
So as most of you know, I've been in the hospital cuz i was sick. I didnt have time to update my blog with all the wonderful events of my life in Egypt :D
So I'm thinking about going to Dubai for my spring vacation and my cuzin Mohamed already said it would be cool to stay with him and see the famzz which i would love...so now i just gotta ask mama (who should say yes and you're prob reading this...its a totally good idea and we'll discuss it later)
My mom and Gina are coming in two weeks insha-Allah which i am very excited about..partly cuz i want them to bring me things!! hehe but mostly cuz i miss them very much. if only they could bring Leo with them =[
Egypt is really starting to become my home. despite the whole stomach issue, i really love it here and the more i think about going home the more i dont want to, haha. Ive decided to possibly change my profession when i get back? maybe take a break from banking and do something that i enjoy more, maybe involving animals? i dont know. but i just want to do something that ill be like, oh, I'm excited to go to work to see this cute dog, or cat, or to help so and so...i need more purpose in what i do in life even in the money isnt good. and i truly feel like i learned that here.
Im becoming more aware that life in America is nice and all, but not very happy. Yes, i may be on "vacation" here, but at least when everyone isnt working here they see their family and friends and laugh and have a good time and all that...there its like work work work im better than you, i have more than you, yes we're friends but i will do better than you...like every thing is a contest. here people are really my friend, really my family, really care about me...i dunno. maybe i have a false perception of everything but thats how i see it now. lets see if my opinion changes at all.
So I'm thinking about going to Dubai for my spring vacation and my cuzin Mohamed already said it would be cool to stay with him and see the famzz which i would love...so now i just gotta ask mama (who should say yes and you're prob reading this...its a totally good idea and we'll discuss it later)
My mom and Gina are coming in two weeks insha-Allah which i am very excited about..partly cuz i want them to bring me things!! hehe but mostly cuz i miss them very much. if only they could bring Leo with them =[
Egypt is really starting to become my home. despite the whole stomach issue, i really love it here and the more i think about going home the more i dont want to, haha. Ive decided to possibly change my profession when i get back? maybe take a break from banking and do something that i enjoy more, maybe involving animals? i dont know. but i just want to do something that ill be like, oh, I'm excited to go to work to see this cute dog, or cat, or to help so and so...i need more purpose in what i do in life even in the money isnt good. and i truly feel like i learned that here.
Im becoming more aware that life in America is nice and all, but not very happy. Yes, i may be on "vacation" here, but at least when everyone isnt working here they see their family and friends and laugh and have a good time and all that...there its like work work work im better than you, i have more than you, yes we're friends but i will do better than you...like every thing is a contest. here people are really my friend, really my family, really care about me...i dunno. maybe i have a false perception of everything but thats how i see it now. lets see if my opinion changes at all.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
I'm living it up to the fullest!
OKay so, theres some new things with me I guess I could say,
1. I switched my room so now I live with Sara! (yay!!!) I love it..this room is on the second floor, its really sunny and happy, and Sara actually talks and hangs out, unlike my last roommate. She was nice, but not my type of roomie.
2. I ate pigeon for the first time at Ahmed and Sally's house. It was good!! I just felt bad because the thing was in the shape of a bird still! Otherwise I enjoyed it thoroughly.
3. I went to the mo'atim last night with Sara and Ahmed. Its like a giant mountain where you can see all of Cairo. Its the second time I've been there and its always great. We had so much fun. We took all kinds of pictures with Sara's SLR camera and they looked so cool. Such a good night!
I'm trying to do all the fun things that I can here..such as going to places I've never been to. Sara and I decided we want to go to Alex, Hurgada, on a Faluka on the Nile, Sokhna- a beach an hour away from Cairo, and other places that I cant remember right now.
Today, I think I might go to the gym in like 45 min because its like a 30 second walk from my dorm and I think thats an excuse in itself to go. Tarek said we might hang out, but I never know..and I might go to City Stars mall because they have a place called Spinney's that has a bunch of cool stuff and I need hangers. SO I guess we'll see what happens! Here's some pics:
1. I switched my room so now I live with Sara! (yay!!!) I love it..this room is on the second floor, its really sunny and happy, and Sara actually talks and hangs out, unlike my last roommate. She was nice, but not my type of roomie.
2. I ate pigeon for the first time at Ahmed and Sally's house. It was good!! I just felt bad because the thing was in the shape of a bird still! Otherwise I enjoyed it thoroughly.
3. I went to the mo'atim last night with Sara and Ahmed. Its like a giant mountain where you can see all of Cairo. Its the second time I've been there and its always great. We had so much fun. We took all kinds of pictures with Sara's SLR camera and they looked so cool. Such a good night!
I'm trying to do all the fun things that I can here..such as going to places I've never been to. Sara and I decided we want to go to Alex, Hurgada, on a Faluka on the Nile, Sokhna- a beach an hour away from Cairo, and other places that I cant remember right now.
Today, I think I might go to the gym in like 45 min because its like a 30 second walk from my dorm and I think thats an excuse in itself to go. Tarek said we might hang out, but I never know..and I might go to City Stars mall because they have a place called Spinney's that has a bunch of cool stuff and I need hangers. SO I guess we'll see what happens! Here's some pics:
Saturday, February 6, 2010
In depth this time
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So my last two entries were sort of short so i want to make this one an in depth entry of what I've been up to and all my thoughts about life here:
I've been in Egypt for 11 days now, but it feels like its been muuchh longer. I went through my adjusting period already. I'm not going to lie, there was a point in time when I was afraid I was going to start feeling home sick but it passed really quickly. Luckily I have a lot of great ways to keep in contact with everyone from home...such as my magic jack which is a life saver, texting, aim, Facebook etc...I even got my mom to make an AOL screen name so I can IM her and send her pictures and what not. Technology is a great thing when dealing with distance! But I think it was on Monday that I was feeling extremely stressed out because I had gone to all of my classes, and I was afraid I was going to be behind in Arabic and I felt like I wasn't able to talk to people in America enough. I decided to name Monday my final adjustment day.
I came to this conclusion because I was in a really bad mood and didn't have anything that i needed yet, and I had got into a fight with Sami because I was in a bad mood. It was a mess. But then I had my friend Ahmad come and study Arabic with my from my book, and it was very frustrating, but I eventually learned everything I needed to and it put me in a much better mood. Also, I was upset because I kept getting constant headaches every day, and I would always be SO tired, which started to get me worried. But then I talked to Sami about it at night and he assured me that theres so many reasons why people get headaches such as a climate change, scenery change, stress, diff food...and we decided i was so tired because my chronological clock hadn't gotten adjusted to the time change yet.
After that day however, I feel like everything fell into place. I got my groups of friends situated, I caught up in my Arabic class, I learned to sleep earlier and wake up earlier(sort of..this is still in the works) anddd I started to take a lot of vitamins for headaches, energy, and health. I feel ridiculously better now :]
Its almost as if this is like my home away from home now. I got into a routine, and I started doing as the Egy's do hahaha. For example, I've learned to drink my coffee black. I know it seems nasty, but here if you want milk in your coffee, its considered a cappuccino or latte which is more money. My favorite is the McDonald's black coffee for 4.50 pounds. For everyone who doesn't know, one dollar=5.4 pounds. I'm a baller here hahaha...okay what else...Yesterday, I was explaining the sheesha place "Raz" to Mimi and Hesham, and I rolled my freakin R......WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME!!!! I didn't do it on purpose. I mean its great when I'm speaking Arabic but that was just awkward, i scared myself! I'm going to come back fobby =[ I bought a really cute cardigan yesterday too from this Egypt version of Zara(cuz zara didnt have any nice ones) ill have to take a pic of me wearing it and post it I LOVE IT...it was 25$ which isnt sooo bad.
I just had my room cleaned by the maids. They washed and swept my floors, dusted and wiped my desk, changed my sheets and spread my bed...God i love it here. Of course I miss it in New Jersey with my fav people =[ I don't think ill be staying longer than the day I have set to come back because I have a lot to come back to. Of course I will most definitely be living it up here in Egypt...
Esp cuz school=NO PROBLEM HERE!
After going to Rutgers for 2 years I can handle any school. Get this, two of my classes I can be absent 12 times until I fail. HAHA! An A- is a 87-92....LOVE ITTT :D
And to everyone in New Jersey...HAVE FUN WITH THE SNOW SUCKERssS AHAHAH :D
if i think of anything i left out ill update
<3
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