Doo Doo Doo Lookin' Out my Back Door

Or in this case- my back window.
I’ve developed a little ritual for myself to help me digest and reflect on the day’s events. At the end of every day, I like to look out my window for about 10 minutes and people watch. I have seriously considered buying a pair of binoculars, but something tells me my neighbors won’t appreciate it.
At night, this is what my view looks like.



On the surface, there is nothing particularly exciting happening. You see cars, people, balconies, all the things that you expect from Egyptian street.
But start looking closely.
To your right, you see a line of parked cars. It is unbelievable how no matter the size of the car, no matter the size of the space, Egyptians can parallel park like it’s their freakin’ job. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. SUV’s parked where a tiny one-door car should be. It is as if they have the ability to shrink their car down to proper size to fit into the space, and then expand it back to its original size once parked. It’s uncanny. My former program director assigned this phenomenon, among others, to the mysterious ability of Egyptians to weave their way through impossible situations and make something out of nothing. Give them an obstacle, and somehow, they persevere and find their way through. Give them line after line of bureaucracy, red tape, no after no after no, and they somehow make it work. Give them a three inch space to park their car, and by golly, they’ll do it!
To your left, there is a line of men sitting on plastic chairs, smoking shisha, drinking shai (tea), and playing dominos. They discuss the days events, sometimes bring their children outside to play (the other night, they had a toy gun and the kids were hiding from the father as he chased them with it), and they watch soccer, shoot the shit, and come back, night after night, and stay out there until 2, 3, 4 am.
When you look up, you see the lives of women in Egypt. You watch as they go in and out of their apartments, look at the streets, check on their laundry on clotheslines, dress their children, and unlike the soccer games playing outside, there are Turkish soap operas, entertainment television, music videos, or old movies playing inside.
The children run back and forth between their mothers and fathers. When the fathers hear the babies fussing inside, you can hear them from between their breaths of shisha yelling, “ma lak! Eiyza eih?” (what’s wrong? what do you want) and then the kids either calm down or come outside.
Men come every night and rinse the street with water, moping up the dirt from the street. People come and go from the trash dumps, throwing their trash bags either in the bin or on the ground next to it. Taxis come and go. People walk around all night. Sometimes fights erupt over neighborhood scandals.
Think what you will, judge the gender roles as you like, but this is Egypt. And it’s awesome to watch.


PS. Alexandria just enacted a new no-smoking ban. This means no shishas in any public space. The fine for shisha smoking is 100 pounds for an individual and 1000 pounds for the establishment providing the shisha. If you ask me (and anyone in Alex), it’s probably because the government needs some quick cash, it won’t last more than a month, and that it is an attack on the very essence of Egyptian culture- the Ahwa (the coffee shop). For a country suffering from astronomical unemployment rates, why try to take cash away from thriving local businesses?

PPS POMEGRANATES!

Mohamed and Sarah get hitched!

Last night, I attended the wedding of the century!
My friend, Mohamed El-Kholy (or Kholy as we know him), got married to his long time friend, Sarah. We met Kholy last summer (he was a member of the rotary club and was introduced to the program) and we were buddies ever since! He knows everyone in Egypt and always hooked us up with all kinds of awesome concert tickets, seats to soccer games, and was always down to have a good time. So we were so excited to find out that he was getting married and that we would be here in time for the wedding!

Now, first, a note on Egyptian weddings. Unlike in the states, the marriage process in Egypt happens in a few different stages. First, the engagement. Usually, the groom goes to the bride's parents and arranges everything with them- he asks for permission, the two families talk about it, and if it is decided that the match is suitable, the couple becomes engaged. And then they have a huge engagement party that often resembles a wedding in America. Next, the couple sets the date for the official Islamic wedding called, "The signing of the book" or "Ketab al Ketaba." It is very much like the Ketuba ceremony in Judaism, but it takes place several months prior to the wedding celebration. Only close family and friends attend this ceremony, and afterwards, the couple is married in the eyes of Islam. During the time between the signing of the Ketaba and the actual wedding ceremony, the couple arranges their home, makes sure they have enough money for everything, and basically gets everything set. Then, the wedding is just a huge celebration! There is no ceremony, it's just basically a party!

So last night:
We (Katelyn, Mae, and I) were told to be ready at 4 o'clock because the wedding starts at 6. We were obviously skeptical because as we have learned, Egyptian time is not the same as American time, but we got ready nonetheless.
Bazooka picked us up at 7:30. Maalesh.
We arrived at the King Marriot and the place was decked out and absolutely gorgeous (and might I add that we three mozas (hotties in Arabic) were decked out as well!) In addition to being gorgeous, the place was ready to feed an army. A table longer than anyone could possibly imagine was ready with food trays, there was a shwarma stand, an ice cream stand, a giant fruit statue. It was unreal. There was also a dance floor in the middle, 2 giant projection screens, and at least 50 tables (we were told that there was going to be 650 people at the wedding!)






We got there just in time for the Zefa ceremony. Basically, the groom waits with everyone and a band of tabla players (drummers), trumpets, and all sorts of other instruments plays as the bride gets out of her car, and her father walks her to the groom. The band continues to play and everyone sings and dances around the bride and groom. It's a really beautiful and joyful tradition. Here is a video:



Next, after the dancing, everyone sits down and the bride and groom have their first slow dance. Then everyone gets up and slow dances as well. After that, we are seated, and are served awesome juice (mango and something that tasted like jello).

After this, a DJ comes on and everyone dances around the bride and groom. Everyone there knows all the words to all the songs and is singing and dancing and just having a blast (this basically is what happens throughout the rest of the night).
So there was a DJ, then a singer who sang on the dance floor directly to the bride and groom, then a break for dinner.


And oh my god. I wish I had words to describe this dinner. My guess is that every kind of food ever made inside of Egypt was present at this dinner. There was a fish, 800 different kinds of meat, a whole salad bar, ice cream stand, shwarma stand, 8 kinds of dessert, and remember that giant table? There were 2 of them!! Here are some pictures, because words can't aptly describe the scene!!



After dinner, they brought in a different singer, then the DJ again, so at about 1:30, the wedding ended, and we all said our goodbyes, our mabruks (congrats) and went off to sleep.

Overall, the wedding was awesome!!










please note that the pictures were taken by the talented Katelyn Gallagher. For further insight on our trip in Egypt, weddings, traffic, and life, you can visit her blog (cakelyn.wordpress.com) or Mae's blog at (maemciver@blogspot.com)

public transportation: a guide to surviving Egyptians on the move

When you think of driving around in Egypt, I wouldn't be surprised if this image came to mind.



At first glance, it seems a chaotic mess of cars and taxis, minibuses, tour buses, donkeys, carts, people, all trying to maneuver their way through a city lacking traffic lights, stop signs, police, or even one way signs, even though most of the streets are only one way. To the foreigner, there are no rules. People jump indiscriminately in front of speeding cars and trams and everyone's honking and flashing their lights and you wonder how it's possible you've made it this long without losing at least a toe.

But, with the help of my roommate and all other Egyptians, I've learned a thing or two about a thing or two.

First, let me tell you about the different ways you can get around. At first, I thought there was just the tram (an above ground train that runs slower than my sister but only costs a quarter of an Egyptian pound and takes you to most places you need to go). The tram runs parallel to the Cornische (the street running along the waterfront). Then, there is the Mashrua (also known as minibuses or microbuses) that as far as my knowledge went, ran along the Cornische for half an Egyptian pound. Then there's a taxi- more expensive but obvious advantages.

Then Dalia opened up a whole new world to me: To get to school, I have to take the tram to a regular bus.
But (here's the kicker)
The tram isn't the same tram that I thought was the only one that existed in the city. There's another one! A different tram! I don't know it's route or anything about it- but it exists!
And a bus! A bus! It costs sometimes one Egyptian pound, sometimes half an Egyptian pound, and runs sometimes one route, sometimes another route, it has no regular departure times or arrival times, no indications for bus stops- it's a system that runs entirely on know-how. The bus waits at the train station and it won't depart until it is entirely full and all its passengers are sufficiently sweating and sitting on top of each other.
And then, Dalia took me on a minibus. But we weren't on the Cornische. It was another minibus! Like another tram! And again, there is no way to know or discover where these glorious little vehicles run or when or how.

But somehow, everyone seems to know the system. Everyone knows exactly what bus to take and how to find it, how much it costs and where to get off. Everyone around me knows the rules, the best seats (next to the window obviously to catch that amazing breeze when you first pull out of the station), and they know how to carry their purses, not to wear backpacks, just the right moment to jump off the tram so as to no hurt themselves, how much time they need to cross the street before being hit by a car, how many honks to indicate to the other drivers what you need, how many times to flash your lights. And I'm realizing that the transportation here, the life here, is exactly like the language. It's incomprehensible to foreigners without a guide, and even then, no matter how long you are there, no matter how hard you study, you will not know it like the Egyptians know it. There will always be an exception. The direct object is mansub after Ism Kan but Marfua after ism in. The bus costs more on fridays or doesn't run on fridays or maybe has some sort of peak hours. The bus stops in front of the university unless it stops at Port Said street. One taxi driver will take you somewhere for 3 pounds while another will take you for 2 and another will try to squeeze you for 10. You say Mesh in present tense but Ma in past tense. Both are systems that are so convoluted and complicated that they seem like an absolute mess. But slowly you realize that its not a mess, but it's calculated and intricate. You just have to grow up with it.

And sometimes, I feel like a masochist living here. But think of it like a puzzle- you are sick of sitting in that same stupid chair and your back hurts from searching for that last corner piece, but you can't stop until you've finished!

Tis the season

Yes, you heard me right. Tis the season. Pomegranate season.
All my poor friends in the states who have to wait until January for fresh oranges and clementines, munching only on measly pumpkins and gourds, brace yourselves because you are in for a bumpy and jealous ride.
Not only does pomegranate season mean fresh squeezed juice at every corner, but it means all kinds of desserts and delicacies that scream, "I dare you to not enjoy me." Pomegranate, enjoy you I will. From this moment forward I have committed myself to trying every food in Egypt that contains any trace of this delectable fruit. My mouth will be stained with that beautiful maroonish purple with seeds clinging to my every tooth.
Although we are just at the very beginning (I tried a juice and it wasn't quite ripe), I have seen the light. Phakhanis (fruit guys) at every corner with boxes filled to the brim. Juice stands with pomegranates hanging from the ceiling. Friends, I feel as if my life has just begun.

In other news, classes have also started (today was our first day) and it went quite well! I also joined a gym (lovely women's section with jacoozi, sauna, steam room, and aerobics classes) and I look forward to learning all of the words for the different machines.

Stay tuned, folks, the next post will be entitled, "public transportation: a guide to surviving Egyptians on the move."

P.S. I keep forgetting to bring my camera around, but I promise to bring it tomorrow and upload all sorts of photographs as soon as my internet lets me
P.P.S If you have any Egypt related questions that you need answering, send them along and I will be sure to investigate thoroughly and give you my best guess!

Welcome to Egypt! Or as Ari says, Don't Forget The Bitter Herbs in The Kushari: A Cross Cultural Culinary Adventure

Hello all my dear followers! Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my late blogpost. Egypt's a little hectic, internet's unreliable, and I've generally been getting myself acclimated. So far, things are great. I'm living in a new apartment with a great roommate named Dalia (who is also a vegetarian and a linguist) and I seem to be getting right back into the swing of things.

Now, first things first (truly).
As most of you all know, Yom Kippur is tomorrow night, a fact that has been plaguing me for several weeks now, as it forces me to confront one of the most challenging questions before me, "How do I exist as a Jew in Egypt" and I seem to have to deal with this question right from the get-go. As of now, it looks like there are no services for me on the horizon. The Jews here are scarce and difficult to find, and I am slowly realizing that I will be making a makeshift Yom Kippur all on my own. So, as a part of my Yom Kippur cleansing and self examination, I thought I'd share a few thoughts about Yom Kippur, forgiveness, Jews, and Egypt.

Being Jewish in Egypt is complicated. A google search of "celebrating Yom Kippur in Egypt" brings up a litany of historical facts abut the Yom Kippur War, the exodus from Egypt (both in the Torah and in the 1950s). There is no list of synagogues, no services, just a confrontation with a painful and complicated past that goes back far into the collective Jewish memory. Egypt, for most Jews, seems to symbolize slavery, oppression, and violence.

Although Jewish tradition is filled was vast insight into how to confront difficult situations, it seems to lack any precedent guiding a Jew returning to a place where he was once oppressed. Our scholars don't discuss reengaging our once oppressors in a dialogue, restarting a conversation about what happened and why. In fact, as my father told me, the opposite is true; the Torah tells us, "Do not return to Egypt." We have no guidance telling us what we should do when we go back to Germany, when we revisit Poland, Russia, Spain. It seems, as Jews, our instinct is to move on, settle in a new place, continue our wandering until we find our "salvation." Although we establish permanent communities for ourselves, we still celebrate Sukkot, constantly reminding ourselves how to set up temporary homes if need be, in case of emergency.

And that brings me back to Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, we are commanded, not to run, but to confront our friends, our enemies, anyone in the past year who we could have disrespected or could have hurt us. We must engage them, grapple with them, and ultimately, forgive. We must give each other the chance to apologize, give each other the opportunity to cleanse from guilt, anger, sadness, regret, so that we we can both move on and continue in a healthier, more meaningful relationship.

So, to answer my skeptics, this is why we must go back to Egypt. It's not about pursuing an apology that will never come (after all, we don't not see ourselves at the doorsteps of our Palestinian neighbors) (sorry for the controversial statement and for those who I might offend), and we too realize that being a majority is hard. It's complicated. Every nation on Earth has motivations and reasons for acting the way that they do. Every person on Earth has passions that guide them. The key, I have learned, for forgiveness, is to best understand what those motivations are and try our best to understand anothers' perspective. You can no longer be burdened with anger when you understand. It requires a patience that I certainly struggle to have, but I want to learn the human story behind the faces that we Jews and Americans seem to villanize and hope that by engaging, we can begin to understand and respect each other.

How lucky am I that I am arriving after Ramadan- when I can explain that I am fasting to my Muslim friends. How grateful am I that I arrived the same day as Bebe Netenyahu and Mahmoud Abbas on the eve of negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh. How difficult it will be to read the Hagaddah with my Egyptian friends come Passover, but what an unbelievable conversation that will be. What a feeling it will be to take a drop of wine out of my cup to recognize Egyptian suffering.

Yes, Yom Kippur will be lonely without a shul. Yes, this journey will be confusing and lonely and saddening at times, but I couldn't feel more blessed to be embarking on it.

I wish you all a meaningful holiday. May we all learn to understand ourselves and each other a little bit better.

Rectifying My Huge Mistake

I had made a huge mistake here in Egypt. When I went to Mohammed Ahmed's the first time (the famous falafel and ful place) I only ordered a falafel sandwich for take away and then deemed Abu Rabea's falafel much better. That was until a few weeks ago when my friend Eman and my language partner, Ali, took me back to Mohammed Ahmed's a made me sit down there and eat a meal. I have since learned the truth. Mohammed Ahmed has the best ful and falafel in Alexandria.

First and foremost, there is the Ful Iskandarani



This is ful with vegetables (cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and some cilantro) and then some tehina on top. Outstanding.

Then, there is ful and hummous and just plain old hummous (except the hummous has chickpeas which makes it awesome). Best hummous I've had in Egypt. No contest. Creamy and delicious and you can eat it with a fork.




Next, Gibna Maleeya


I don't know what exactly they do with this cheese but it looks like its been fried in some sort of amazing sauce, so it's kind of crunchy and fried on the outside but gooey and cheesy on the inside.

Next, Shakshuka:

Just plain old awesome.

And of course, falafel.

Keep in mind, they give you as much pita as you want (and they are all really soft and fresh), salata which is a lot of pickles vegetables, babaganoush, and tehina.

We were pleased with our meal.


BTW- this is Ali, my language partner, and this is Laura and Eman (not Eman my roommate but another important one).



لجطا الكبير بتاعي
٣٠/٧/٢٠٠٩
اخطات خطا كبير هنا في مصر. لما روحت محمد احمد اول مرة (مطعم الفلافل والفول المشهور)، طلبت سندويش فلافل للتيك اوي وقررت ان ابو ربيع احسن. لكن، ظننت كدة لغاية بعض الاسابيع اللى فاتت لما صاحبتي ايمان والمشرك اللغاوي بتاعي حدونا على محمد احمد واحنا وقدنا واكلنا واجبة كاملة. واتعلمت الحقيقة. محمد احمد عنده احسن فول وفلافل في اسكندرية.
اولا، في الفول الاسكندراني:
الفول دا فيه خضارات (خيار، بصل، طماطم، وبعض الكزبرة) وفي تحينة بردو.
وفي فول وحمس وحمس للوحده. احسن حمس اكلته في مصر. مفيش منفسة. دسم وممكن ناكل مع شوكة.
وبعدين: جبنة مقلية: مش عارفة هم بيعملون بالضبط مع الجبنة ولكن هو مقلية في سوس ممتاز.
بعدين: شكشوكة
وطبعا: فلافل
وهم بيدوكي عيش كتير وسلطة وبابا غنوج وتحينة.
كنا مبسوطين! وعلى فكرة: دا على مشركي اللغاوي، ودول ايمان ولورة (مش الايمان اللي معايا في الاوضة لكن ايمان تانية مهمة).

Best Weekend Ever- Siwa...

So, I know these two posts are one after the other, but I think they both needed their own spaces and not to be shared.
After I got back from Fuwa, I had classes and had about a minute to collect my things because at 10 pm, a group of 13 of us (including my 2 Egyptian friends Bazooka and Karim (Bazooka is actually named Mohammed but since everyone is named Mohammed, all the Mohammeds have nicknames) took the night bus over to Siwa.
Siwa is the most famous and biggest Egyptian oasis and it is right smack in the middle of the Sahara Desert. So at 6 am, we arrived in Siwa in enough time to watch the sunrise. We met our awesome guide, Nasr, and ate breakfast and started our day.
I will divide this post into chapters, as they were indeed chapters in our adventure saga.
Prologue:
Imagine Siwa as a giant series of circles. On the outer most circle is desert desert desert- sand dunes kind of desert from Lawrence of Arabia. The next circle is a layer of palm and date trees. Thousands and thousands of trees. The next layer is the city itself. Similarly, scattered throughout these circles are hot springs, cold springs, and a giant salt lake. This place is a geological wonder. I don't know how it exists. It is also really isolated from the rest of Egypt so it has its own language, a kind of Berber dialect of Arabic.
Chapter 1: History.
Siwa is really really old. Alexander the Great stopped there on the way across the North African Coast, and lots of other cultures and people have stopped there, thought it was awesome, spent some time, built stuff, and you can still see all of it today. So we hopped on donkey carts and headed over to Shali AlAdeem (the ruins of Shali). Shali used to be the citadel and fortress of the city and has a mosque and just an awesome view of modern Siwa.



Next, was Gabl Mota (the Mountain of the Dead) where there are lots of tombs from Ancient Egypt- specifically a tomb of a dude named Si-Amun (who actually kind of looks like Dad according to his portrait inside of the tomb) and someone named Mesu-Isis. Tombs are always really cool to see. And they all kind of looked like mole hills on the mountain. Plus, there was another really cool view of the city.




Next: Mabad Aleskander (Alexander's temple). So remember how Alexander the Great went there? It was to consult an oracle. So there's a temple there on top of a mountain and despite all the sun exposure, you can still see the carvings of the gods on the walls of the temple. The Temple also looks across at another temple, Temple Amon, and once a year there used to be a pilgrimage from one to the other. It was pretty cool.



So not everyone else cared about the history, and it was getting super warm out, so we stopped at a restaurant next to a cold spring to relax a little bit.

Chapter 2: Lunch.
Our awesome tour guide, Nasr, invited us to his house for lunch. So we hopped in our jeeps and head over to his house where we were immediately separated into boys and girls and we each went into different parts of the house. We walked into our part and the father, mother, 4 girls, and a boy are there waiting for us. So we helped cut up some melon, chatted a bit, and found out that they have 13 kids. 13! Whew. And the first question the mother asked us was who was engaged, and she was very disappointed when she found out that we were all between the ages of 19-22 and non of us engaged, as the kids get engaged there at the age of around 12. So we chatted, and then they brought out an AWESOME lunch. There was delicious pita, the best ful I've had yet in Egypt, shakshuka (a tomatoey eggy dish), tuna (which I didn't eat but I hear was yummy and spicey), melon, cucumbers, chips and tea with mint. Really really delicious. Then after lunch, the mother and 2 of the daughters gave us henna on our hands, and then they saw that we were all dying and falling asleep, so they let us take naps in the house. Wonderful wonderful people.



Chapter 3: DESERT.
So after our naps, we were all refreshed and the sun was past its hottest point, which only meant one thing. Time for the desert. So we hopped in these desert ready jeeps and drove out into the sand dunes. Nasr and our other driver were awesome. They were driving fast up and down the sand dunes and it was so so much fun. We got out at a few different stops.
1. Just for pictures.

2. SAND SURFING. They gave us these snow-board-esque pieces of equipment and we went sledding and boarding down these giant sand dunes (or flopping down if you're named Monica). It was an impossible trek back up the dune, but the way down was totally totally worth it.

3. Swimming. Now, I know what you're thinking. You were in the middle of sand dunes, how could you have gone swimming? You must mean swimming in sand, right? Wrong! Swimming in water! In the middle of the sand dunes is a giant pond of fresh water. How? I have no idea. But we got to swim in the middle of the desert.

4. Since this desert used to be an ocean, we made a stop and saw a fossilized fish.
5. Went swimming in hot springs

6. Watch the sunset on the dunes.

After all these fun activities, we went and ate dinner at a camp near by, but then packed up again and went straight to the middle of the desert for sleep. We laid out blankets and each had an exercise mat for a bed. It was pitch black and the stars were the brightest I had ever seen. It got to be freezing by the middle of the night, and none of us had blankets, but we were all so exhausted, we managed to sleep really well. And the stars and the atmosphere were totally totally worth it.


Chapter 4: Swimming and Salt:
The next day, we all packed up camp, had a quick breakfast, dropped half of our crew off at the bus (since they wanted to leave early) and the rest of us stayed in Siwa. We got a pick up truck and Nasr drove us all around while we were standing and sitting in the back. (Unfortunately, because of all the wind on the truck, my sunglasses didn't make it through the trip and are now somewhere lost in the desert. So long, good friends! You served me so well!)
First stop: The salt lake. The whole lake looks completely frozen over with snow from far away, but as you get closer and closer, you realize the ice is not ice but salt. The whole top of the lake is covered with crystalized salt! And we found a hole in the salt, and Jake hopped in, and like the Dead Sea, he just floated up. It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.



Next: Cold Springs. We stopped and went for an awesome swim at one of the hundred cold springs in the area.

Next: lunch and naps (its so hot you can't be outside), and then we did a little touristy shopping.

Last stop: The Salt Lake again. Now this is really wild. We went to an island in the middle of the Salt Lake (so get these circles in your head again, theres the desert, date trees, city, salt lake, then an island in the salt lake, and then somehow, there's also fresh water cold springs! It doesn't make any sense! So we went from swimming in the salt lake, which is just like the Dead Sea because you just float, to the fresh water to swim, then back to the salt water, and back to the fresh water. Also, all in the lake, there are branches and rocks that are just completely crystalized in the salt. It's so so cool looking. So we watched the sunset and then sadly had to head back to Alex on the night bus again.







ن اجازة في حياتي- سيوة
٢٥/٧/٢٠٠٩
بعد ما رجعت من فوة، كان عندي فصول ودقيقة بس لاخضر شنطتي العشان في الساعة ١٠ في الليل، ١٣ منا (وبردو صاحبيني كريم وبازوكا (اسم بازوكا في الحقيقة محمد، لكن اسما كل الرجالة في مصر محمد وعشان كدة عندهم لقبات) واحنا حدنا اوتوبيس الليلي للسيوة.
سيوة هو اشهر واكبر واحة في مصر وهو في منتصف الصحراء الكبرى. وصلنا الساعة ٦ في الصبح، واتفرجنا على الفجر.اتقابلنا دليلنا، ناصر، فطرنا وبدانا اليوم.
انا باقسم البوست دا في فصول.
مقدمة:
تخيل سيوة كسلسلة دائرات كبيرة. الدائرة الابعد هو صحراء صحراء صحراء- في كثبان رملية زاي في الفيلم لورانس من جزيرة العرب. في الدائرة التالية طبقة من النخيل واشجار الميلاد. الف من الاشجار. والطبقة التالية هو المدينة نفسها. وخلال الدائرات دول في مياة سخنة وماية سائة وبحيرة ملحية كبيرة. المكان دا عجب جيولوجية. انا مش فهمة ازاي يوجد المكان دا. وهو بردو معزل من بقية مصر وعنده لغة خاصة وهي نوع من اللهجة البربرية.
الفصل الاول: تاريخ.
سيوة قديمة جدا. وقف السكندر الكبير هناك في رحلته على ساحل الشمالي الافريقي، ووقفت كتير من الثقافات التانية هناك، احبته، قصيت وقت، بنيت حاجات، ويمكت تشوف كله اليوم. ركبنا عربات الحمير وروحنا للشالي القديم. كان شالي قلاء مرة وفيه مسجد ومنظر سيوة الحديثة جميل.
بعدين كان جبل موتى حيث كان في مقابر كتيرة من مصر القديمة- وخصة مقبر شخص اسمه سي امون (وهو يشبه باباية في صورته) وبردو مقبر شخص اسمه مسو اسيس. مراقب دائما جامدة. وكان منظر جميل تاني.
بعدين: مبعد السكاندر. تفكر اننى ذكرت ان السكندر الكبير راح الى سيوة؟ هدف الزيارة كان للتشاور مع وحي. وفي مبعد هناك فوق الجبل ومن الغرم كل تعرض من الشمس، لسة ممكن تشوف صور الالهة على حيطة. المبعد قدام مبعد تاني، مبعد امون، ومرة في السنة كان في حج من مبعد الى مبعد. كان جامد.
ما كانش كل حد مهتم بالتاريخ وكان حار قوي برة، ووفقنا في مطعم جنب ماية سائة واسترحنا شواية.
الفصل التاني: غداء
الدليل بتاعنا عازمنا الى بيته للغداء. وركبنا الجيبس بتاعنا وروحنا بيته وانفصلنا بين الرجالة والستات وروحنا اجزاء مختلفة في البيت. مشينا الى الجز بتاعنا والاب، ٤ بنات، وولد كانوا بيستنوا لنا. وساعدنا مع الغداء وقصرنا شمام ودردشنا شواية، وهم قالوا لنا ان عندهم ١٣ طفل! ١٣! واول سوال سالته الام كان لو احنا كنا متزوجات او مخطوبات، وهي كانت مخيبة لما قولنا ان ما حدش منا متزوجات او مخطوبات واعمارنا بين ١٩-٢٢ سنة، وهي قالت لنا ان الاطفال متخطبون لما اعمارهم حولي ١٢ سنة. ودردشنا اكتر وهم جيبوا لنا غداء لذيذ جدا. كان في عيش، احسن فول اكلته في مصر لغاية دلوقتي، شكشوكة، سمك، شمام، خيار، شيبسي، وشائ بالنعنع. لذيذ جدا. وبعد الغداء، الام البنتين خطوا حناء على ايدنا. وهم شافوا ان كلنا كانوا بنموت من التعب، وهم سمحوا لنا ان ننام شوية في بيتهم. ناس طيبين.
الفصل التالت: صحراء.
بعد ما نمنا، كان ابرد برة (لسة حار ولكن اكتر متعدل) وكان وقت للصحراء! ركبنا الجيبس للصحراء والسواق سوق في الرمل. هم ساقوا بسرعة قوي فوق وتحت الرمل وكان ممتع قوي! ووقفنا في بعض الاماكن:
١. للصور
٢. تزلج في الرملة: هم ادونا الات تشبه مزلجات وركبنا المزلجات دول تحت. وكان صعب اطلع الرمل، لكن الطريقة تحت كانت ممتعة!
٣. العوم: انا عارفة اننكم بيعتقدون انا احنا كنا في الصحراء، ازاي بالضبط عومتو؟ قصدك العوم في الرمل، صح؟ غلط! العوم في ماية! في نص الرمل كان في بحيرة مليانة من ماية طاظة. ازاي؟ مش عارفة. لكن عومنا في نص الصحراء.
٤. عشان الصحراء كان في الماضي محيط، وقفنا وشوفنا سمك متحجر.
٥. عومنا في ماية صخنة
٦. اتفرجنا على المغرب
وبعد كل النشطاء الممتعة دول، اتعشئنا في مخيم قريب، ولكن مشينا على طول ورجعنا علي الصحراء ونامنا هناك. كان عندنا حصير مارسة كصرير. وكان في ضلمة كتيرة والنجوم كانت لامعات والمع اللى شوفت في حايتي. ولكن كان بارد جدا في نص الليل وماكانش عندنا بطانيات، ولكن كنا مرهقين وعارفنا انام كويس. والجو والنجوم كانوا جميل.
فصل الرابع: عوم وملح:
اليوم اللي جاي، خضرنا المخيم، فطرنا، سيبنا ناس في الاوتوبيس، والبقية بقنا في سيوة. ركبنا في عربية بيك-اب (pick up) ناصر وهو اوصلنا حول سيوة واحنا قعدنا ورا. (لكن، للاسف، الهوا كان شديد وضيعت نضارات الشمس بتاعتي. مع سلامة صديقي!)
اول وقف كان في البحيرة الملحية. يبدو من بعيد ان في ثلج على البحيرة لكن لما تقرب، بتشوف ان الثلج ملح. الملح يغطي الجز العلي من البحيرة! ولقينا ثقب في الملح، وجيك قفز فيه، وزاي البحر الموت، هو عوم فوق.
بعدين: الماية السائة. وقفنا وعومنا في واحد من ميت المايات السائة في المنطقة.
بعدين: غدا ونوم. كان حار ومش قادر تمشي برة وكمان عملنا شوبينج
اخر وقف: البحيرة الملحية مرة تانية. دا عجبني جدا. روحنا جزيرة في منتصف البحيرة وكان في الجزيرة ماية طاظة! في منتصف البحيرة الملحية! مش منطقي!! وعومنا شوية في البحيرة وزاي البحر الموت، مش قادر تغرق. وفي البحيرة، في فروع وصجور تغطي من الملح. واتفرجنا على المغرب وللاسف كنا لازم نرجع اسكندرية.