Hi everyone!!!
well, I miss you allready! there really is no place like home and the special people there...

here is some news from me

well, another day down, almost... and today was easier, but also sad, because trygve leaves tomorrow for the red sea, and I'm going to be here alone... so far I have not managed to find our hostel on my own, so I can imagine myself sending desperate sms's to trygve, help Help HELP!!!anyone got a gps I could borrow next time???

oh well, we have booked for our nile cruise and I'm looking forward to that, it should be a more relaxing experience than that of downtown cairo... I'm sipping whiskeys in the evenings, to try and calm the nerves, and downing rescue remedy during the day so I'm feeling pretty spaced out. don't know if it's still a bit of jet lag or if my blood pressure is low, but I'm feeling quite dizzy most of the time. it might just be the heat. the local drink of choice is karkaday tea, hot or cold, which is hibiscus tea that's deep burgundy and very sweet. delicios and supposedly very good for the blood pressure...

we have eaten kesheri which is a mixture of rice, lentils, noodles, spagetti and tamato sauce with lemon sauce or an extreeeeeeeeemly hot chilli sauce. so far that's ALL we've eaten...my tummy is twice it's usual size... trygve and I are farting up a storm... he laughed so hard when I told him I'd been farting all day... I'd never normally admit to such a thing...
and I can't admit I'm going to put that on tribe!!!!!d

I even drank coke today, just to get a bit of a sugar rush, and then poor Trygve couldn't keep up with me when we were walking back to our hostel!

booking our nile trip and flights from cairo to aswan took the whole day... truly, a whole day just to book a trip. at home we could make a 5 minute call and it would be done.

For every nice person you meet here, there are atleast 2 who try to rip you off... yesterday we paid 60 pounds for a sim card, and today at another store they charged us 20... at one restaurant we paid 11 pounds for a meal, and at another we paid 40 for the same thing.... and everyone can think of a brilliant reason why you should not do what you are doing, and should rather go with them, inevitably to their perfume shop where you are embalmed with all sorts of essences, some lovely, some disgusting, but all overwhelming. the good thing is that my galabaya still smells lovely, even in this heat and after wearing it for 2 days. (I must go and buy another one, I don't know how long the perfume will last...) this morning when we were trying to draw money the excuse was that the atm would swallow our card and this guy would show us a better atm, but the atm was in El tarhir street, and he took us down tal ha taab street... hopefully we have wisened up to their tricks.

the egyptian women still wear about as much make up as they did back in pharonic times, and if you think I wear alot of make up you should see these ladies!

there is internet access at the hostel where we are staying, so atleast for these few minutes infront of the pc, I feel relatively at home... so you'll be hearing from me frequently.

I LOVE you all sooooooooooooooooooooooo much. I can't wait to see you all again in July, Insh Allah!

with love
your bewildered teacher and friend

PS< my course starts tomorrow... 7 hours of dancing and lectures a day for 7 days... hectic. I hope I'll be half the size when i return...