Experiencing local spots

The other night we had an orientation gathering for all study abroad students. Free food was provided (yay!) and it was all Egyptian style. The food venues on campus are all pretty disapointing and include places that the University thinks Americans might enjoy like Macdonald's, Cinabon, Subway, Pizza, bagels, etc. Not the best options. There is one ethnic food place and it's really good, but it's hours are limited.

After the meal, in which the RAs attempted to teach some people bellydancing, one RA took us into a town caled El Rehab to get cell phones. The place he took us, however, only sold the Sym cards, so then we had to go in search of a place that sold phones. This was no easy task, as we had to dodge speeding cars and motorcycles. Also, since this was the first time most of us had been off campus, it was also the first time we experienced any unwanted attention. None of the girls including myself were covered because we were in such a big group and didn't really know what to expect from the town. It was almost comical how much they stared, like we were from a different planet almost.
After trying two different phone places, we finally found one that offered cheap ones for about 30 US dollars.

Today, one of my friends here and I decided to go running. The gym was closed, so we ran around campus, with the sand hills of the desert surrounding us. It was pretty amazing. It wasn't too oppressive heat-wise, but we may try to go earlier in the day or later in the evening another time.

Since today is Friday, one of the holy days in Muslim countries, most things on campus were closed or had limited hours. Some of my friends and I decided to take one of the busses running to City Stars, which is a hugs shopping mall about a half-hour away. We found out that Egyptians are very much like Italians in that they work on their own clock. A 2:00 bus didn't appear until 2:20 for instance. Once we got to the mall, we were surprised to see how posh it was. It sold mostly designer items, and was packed with wealthy Egyptians and Europeans. Since we had felt uncomfortable the previous night being uncovered, we had worn scarves to the mall, but since it was very upscale, we really didn't have to. After looking through the mall we went to a grocery store in the basement of it. This store was certainly a change from the upscale stores upstairs. This was where real Egyptians were. The store was sort of like a walmart and it was packed with people shoving and pushing to get food and household items. Crazy.

After our purchases we went to meet the 6:00 bus to take us back to campus. Prior to leaving campus we had asked the front desk to make sure the bus picked up at 6, and, on top of that we had also asked the bus driver who had let us off the same question. Both had assured us yes. The bus did not show up. By 610 we decided to call because we new how slow Egyptians moved. No one answered. We called a different number. No one answered. Finally we tried again and some one answered and said she'd call us back. A man eventually called us back, and we asked where the bus was. He said he would call the driver and call us back. Once the man called us again, he informed us that there was no 6:00 bus, which is totally bs. We were so pissed. We had waited almost an hour and now had to pay for a cab to take us the thirty minutes back to campus. The cab driver was nice, and it was good to learn how to get one, however, it still baffles me how unreliable most services here can be.

That's all, downtown Cairo tomorrow!