One more time, ya?

If things go as planned, this will probably be my last post from Egypt. Right now that's got me feeling pretty ambivalent. I've loved my time here, even with the heat and the traffic and the language barrier and all that. But I also know I am more than ready to come home to all of you (and to American food!) again.

Today was a fun one for me and probably the best way to end our time in Cairo. We dropped a small group of kids off at the zoo and then made our way to Khan el Khalili bazaar for (lots and lots of) shopping. Like last time, I'd love to detail all the stuff I picked up, but that would just defeat the whole purpose of my shopping, now wouldn't it? I did get a little selfish and spend money on myself again. I got a little metal lamp and a fantastic antique Bedouin coffee pot. It's gorgeous now and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all polished up. I've been eyeing both of those items up almost the whole time we've been here and I knew I didn't want to leave the country without at least one of them. And now I have both. What can I say? I had a few hundred pounds burning a hole in my pocket. What else was there to do??

We hit up another mall food court for lunch. Somehow this one wasn't crowded beyond all reason so we were able to order, get our food and eat at an actual table, all in under 30 minutes. There's a first time for everything, I suppose. Adel directed us to a little artisan shop thing on the way back to the hotel where we watched a brief glass blowing demonstration and perfume sampling. Well, "essences" not "perfume" - the proprietor made an effort to stress that distinction. They've got a nice setup there. Glass making for perfume bottles downstairs, showroom for their scents upstairs. I think only one or two people actually bought anything there as it was a little pricey, and most of us had blown the last of our money at the bazaar earlier in the day. But Adel got us the hookup - he has mad connections - and made sure there would be henna artists there too. My foot is sufficiently henna'ed now. I would have gotten the full hand, but I didn't want to be scrubbing that off in a week or two when I start work at the Science Center. The foot is less of an issue for work, although it did mean I had to walk barefoot for about 20 feet from the door to the bus. It was a perilous 20 feet, but my tootsies made it just fine. Don't worry.

We've been back at the hotel since then. I know I should be packing, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm taking an extra carry on on the way back, so I should have room for all the crap I've bought along the way, but I'm just not sure. I may have to toss out some clothing items here or there. When I bought them, I made sure everything was super cheap because I didn't think I'd want to wear them again after Egypt. Now I've grown a little attached and don't want to part with them. I think I'll be emptying my bags once this post goes up and repacking from scratch. Yasser informed us that we're going to be allowed two checked bags on the way home, which was a surprise to most of us. I didn't want to have to take advantage of that, but it might be happening. We'll see what happens.

Since I missed my update yesterday, I'll give you guys the rundown on that too. We were still in Alexandria at the time, so we had a few more historic sites to see there. We had another late start since the profs were taking pity on our exhausted selves and we had to pack again to head back to Cairo, and then headed out to see the catacombs. No cameras allowed there, so no good pictures to show off once I'm home. We walked around the tombs a bit, and it was only a little creepy, as it was mostly emptied out. There was one room though that was used as the tomb for winning race horses, so there was a glass case of a pile of horse bones. Not gonna lie, kinda creepy. Also kind of funny because some kids weren't paying attention and assumed they were looking at human bones. Yeah, one gigantic human. (It was more amusing at the time, I swear. Also would be funnier if I weren't half asleep now. Yeah, that's it.) Fun fact about the tombs there: they were discovered by a donkey. A donkey and cart fell into a sink hole in the early 20th century and the sink hole grew as they tried to get it back out. In their digging, they discovered several tombs and just kept excavating. So thanks, donkey. The next stop was Pompei's column, or maybe Bombay's column. Something like that. I couldn't actually tell with Adel's accent. Either way, it's an enormous Greco-Roman column in the middle of the ruins of a Roman Empire-era city. Pretty nifty, but not the most interesting thing I've seen on this trip. It was hot and we were tired, so we snapped a few pictures, listened to Adel's schpiel, and got back on the bus. Last stop was the Quaitbay Citadel which is on the end of a spit of land in the harbor, so we were able to get great views of the city and the Mediterranean Sea. As promised, Adel made sure to stop by a public beach as we left so we could all file out, stand in the water for 3 minutes, and file back onto the bus. I can now say I've been on three continents, three countries, and two seas thanks to this trip, so that three minutes was enough for me.

Another mall food court became our lunch stop and I'm ashamed to admit that I broke down and bought American food. It wasn't the best Big Mac I've ever tasted, but it was close. I also made the mistake of getting ice cream again. A mistake in that it didn't live up to the hype of the day before and because the cashier was an a-hole. I should have known he was going to be a pain when he kept pulling the sample he offered me out of my reach for about a solid minute when I first walked up to the counter. Then when I went to pay, he refused to give me my change. Ten pounds worth of change! He thought he was hilarious, pretending to not understand what I was asking and then saying I was telling lies. Lauren, one of my roommates, and I argued with him for a good two or three minutes. That's an awfully long time when someone's trying to rip you off, let me just tell you. He finally gave in when I stopped being the polite American and started being the pissed off American looking for a security guard. I feel like the ice cream (white chocolate raspberry) would have tasted better had I not been fuming. Just a thought.

From there the bus took us to one of the shadiest train stations I think I've ever seen, in life or in cinema. I snapped a few pictures, but we were running late (shocker!) and had to make our train. Somehow the tour guide gods were smiling on us and we got one entire first class car all to ourselves. Apparently this was again thanks to Adel and our security detail pulling some strings. They do that a lot here in Egypt, I've noticed. That was probably the most roomy form of travel we've encountered thus far or will for the rest of the trip, all thanks to Adel. I love that little man. The train took us through the delta region on the way back to Cairo, so we got to see some different cities, towns, and farming areas before the sun went down. When I woke up, we were in an even shadier train station than before. The place must have been under construction. Literally every wall, all the way up this multistory building, inside and out, was covered in scaffolding and these dingy, dark green curtains. Super sketch. And of course we had to stand around in our giant group waiting for our luggage, then waiting to get on the next bus, making the security guys nervous all over again. We got back to King Hotel, home sweet Egyptian home, around 11pm. Sure enough, they had "dinner" for us, bringing premade plates of chicken and french fries and a few other things too all of us scattered about the lobby. I know this isn't the best hotel I've ever stayed in, but the staff sure is accommodating. Kudos to them for that.

That about wraps it up for the last day or so. I've got three hours now to shower, pack and try not to panic about checked luggage weight limits. It'll be a struggle at times, but I'll manage. We leave the hotel at 1:30am - so basically 2am, given our track record. We're flying Lufthansa again to Frankfurt and then to Philly. We've got a five hour layover in Frankfurt and four hours in Philly. Not sure about Germany, but I know I'll be able to update once I'm back in the States, which should be around 5pm tomorrow. I've got a long day of travel ahead of me, but it's going to be worth it. See you all again soon!