Egypt, Day Five and Six

Day 5: We had planned our day trip to Alexandria through the Hostel, so they hired a driver that would take us to all the big sites in Alexandria and then he would take us anywhere else we wanted to go. Our drivers name was Muhammad…(we like to say of course it is after this because we pretty convinced that half of Egypt is named Muhammad)…he is 30. So we all got in his car…the three girls in the back and Ish in the front and headed to Alexandria…which is about 3 hours away. This is when we really first experienced highway driving in Egypt….there are three lanes on the road…but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be 7 lanes of traffic all trying to get to the same place. Driving in Egypt is absolutely crazy…I am sure I will talk about it more later….but automobile related accidents is the number one killer in Egypt just to give you a clue at how crazy people are. So on our way to Alexandria, I was the only one who didn’t fall asleep, but Muhammad and I had a good time taking pictures and messing with our sleeping friends.

When we first got to Alexandria Muhammad took us to a couple sites of Egyptian Ruins. They were so amazing to see. We also saw a lot of catacombs. It is crazy to think of how old all of these things where. Muhammad was very good about driving us around, but sometime in the middle of him driving us and us exploring these sites it turned into “pick on Melinda” day. He was constantly picking on me and joking with me, but me being me I was dishing right back to him. I have older brothers; I know how to handle myself. He would continuously say Melinda you are smiling and laughing all of the time…you need to stop and just be quiet for the rest of the trip. He also told me that my mouth is always open….and I honestly I looked and him and said “Really? Because that is what my mom says too …haha”. The joking and picking on continued…and I thought it was just all fun and games until Ish told me that while us girls were in the bathroom after lunch Muhammad asked him if I had a boyfriend. Basically this told me that his “picking on me” was a way of flirting.


We then went to a couple more historical sites and then we wanted to go to the beach because it was a really nice day out and we just wanted to go put our feet in the water and hangout there for awhile. While at the beach the flirting greatly increased on his side….I was just my ordinary outgoing self…which I guess he liked…..oops. And also at this point I didn’t know about him asking Ish about me having a boyfriend…..so I was really unaware of what he was really thinking. I then was almost shoved in the water a couple of times and had sand thrown at me more than once…..and then we decided to clean our feet off and leave. As we were walking back to the car I took off running because I knew that “lovely” friends would try to stick me in the front seat because they thought what was going on was funny. I worked my way into the back seat and Ish again took the front. Then after Muhammad started the car he said “Ish are you going to sleep on the way home (he asked this because Ish slept on the way down to Alexandria)”? And of course Ish said yes….and then Muhammad said “Melinda are you”? and without thinking about where this was going I said “No, Im not planning on it”. So then Muhammad went on to say that we should switch because he wanted someone to stay awake while he was driving since it would be dark out…..so we switched….and as soon as I got into the front seat Muhammad burst out laughing….basically saying hahaha I tricked you into sitting in the front seat. I didnt think it was quite as hilarious….but none the less I did fall for it. Then on the way home my again “lovely” three friends fell asleep and that left Just Muhammad and I awake.


I will now give you the short version of the rest of the car ride ……He professed him “love” for me…even though he had only known me for 12 hours….and he didn’t understand why I kept saying I didn’t love him and I did NOT want an Egyptian boyfriend. Reading this you would think that he is a total creep…which it was a tad creepish, but he wasn’t a creep….it is honestly just a different in culture. While this was all going on I was trying to reach behind me to squeeze Joy’s leg to wake her up, but the seat was too close to the door so it wasn’t happening….so after a long while of awkwardness I finally here Joy say “Wow Melinda look at the moon…it is sooo big”….which it was because it was full, but it was just the funniest line to interrupt with. Joy had then told me later that she woke up and she was listening to the conversation for about 5 minutes and she knew it was awkward so she was waited for a good time to interrupt. Then after that the other two woke up and I turned around and said that they all better sleep with their eyes open that night for putting me in the situation. The good thing about Muhammad was that his English wasn’t very good and so if we talked fast in front of him he wouldn’t be able to understand….or we also would talk in Spanish, which worked even better. So for Muhammad or as I like to refer to him as Muhaha….he has a very nice guy…..just apparently a fast mover….haha.


Before when I had mentioned the driving in Egypt is insane…the night time driving is worst. When you are on the highway people don’t drive with their lights on. What you do is about every 30 seconds you flip on your brights to let people know where you are….or when you are passing someone you just flip them on and off on and off while passing. I asked Muhammad why this was and he said its easier on the eyes….and I said well its not going to be easy on the eyes when I am sitting in the ditch after being hit by someone. After the three in the back woke up and noticed that’s what was going on, Michaela asked about it and he said Its normal, everyone does it and she looked and him and said THIS IS NOT NORMAL….IN THE US THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!. We arrived home safely….but Im sure we were holding on to our “oh shit” handles a little tighter that night. Later we had talked to someone about the driving at night and they said that you can actually get pulled over and get a ticket for driving with your lights on the whole time…..crazy….just crazy.


That night we were tired from an early morning and a long day so we just decided to go order a pizza from Pizza Hut. As we were sitting in Pizza Hut waiting for our order, a lot of American music was playing over the speakers….but it was older stuff from like when we were in late Elementary and Middle school. Then “I Believe I can Fly” came on and we all started to sing…and then I said we should be recording this, so I got out my camera and recorded us singing….it was hilarious because the people behind the counter were just staring and laughing at us like we were crazy….which we kind of are, but to see their faces while we sang every word to that song was pretty priceless.


Day 6: On day six we decided to go get our train tickets to go to Luxor in two days. After we finally found the train station we went in to go get tickets for an overnight train. As we were doing this we ran into our American friends that were staying at our hostel. They were planning on going to Luxor the same night we were, so we bought all of our tickets together. After going our separate ways with them the four of us decided to go to Coptic Cairo which is the Christianity part of Cairo. As soon as we got off the metro (quick side note about the metro in Egypt…there are separate metro cars for women and men and a women can only be on a men’s metro car if she is accompanied by a man…also they are verrrrrrrrry packed and the doors are a tad intimidating because unlike most metro doors they just shut whenever they want too and if you are half in…it doesn’t matter. So when getting on our off you have to make a mad dash in or out so you or your jacket or your purse doesn’t get caught in the metro door)…so as soon as we got off the metro and walked down to Coptic Cairo we ran back into our American friends, so we went to the museums, churches, and lunch together.

The museum was very interesting to see all of the old artifacts that have been discovered….old bibles written in Arabic, old clothing, paintings, and many other artifacts. For lunch we ate at a little café and I had falafel for the first time. It was very good. After lunch…which happened to be at about 4 pm…we decided to walk around Coptic Cairo for a little bit longer, and then after that we decided to go back to the hostel and relax because we had to stay up late because Catherine was flying in and was going to get to Cairo at around 2am. So later that night we went and got koshery for supper again and the people from the hostel ordered us in some Cream Carmel…which is basically like Spanish flan….which is basically like really good pudding but made with eggs. That night the plan was for Ish and I to go to the airport and pick Catherine up if she hadn’t called by a certain time, because we didn’t know the exact time her plane was getting in. So we took a little nap and had our alarms set for 2 and so when I got up I called her and she was in a taxi on her way…so I waited up for her, got her checked in and then we went back to bed. The funny thing about this night was that we didn’t get another room for Catherine since we were going to leave the next day for Luxor and so Catherine, Joy and I tightly fit in a bed that was clearly only made for two….it was a pretty restless night haha.