Valentine's Day at the Beach - Sharm el Sheik

Sharm el Sheik resides on the southern most tip of Sinai where the Red Sea intersects with the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Based on this location you would imagine it a place very Middle Eastern to say the least.

The truth is however if there were ever a place where the East and West mingled freely Sharm el Sheik would have to be it. You see Arab women dressed in head to toe bathing attire swimming in the ocean along side topless Russian women. Everyone seeming to get along harmoniously.

I believe that you see this co-mingling of people not because we have found a blend of open minded people from around the globe simply sharing the sun together. But that it is a class and socioeconomic relationship. Only the wealthy of the world can afford to go on holiday. So lets assume that all of the Russians are at a minimum, middle class and same with the Arabs. People of similar socioeconomic status will always interact more freely with other people of that same status. It is counterintuitive at first, but how often do you see Warren Buffett actually on the ground in an inner city helping some kid with his math homework. It just doesn't happen, but you do see him on television having an interview with Chinese Bankers or Lunch with Arab real estate moguls. Economics and money trump national allegiances and create alliance not of people with their people but rather with other people with money.

Anyways we had a very wonderful time sitting in the sun and soaking in the ocean for three days in the clean air of the Sinai Coast. It was the perfect vacation from our vacation!

Swimming in the Red Sea

Walking to the beach

The giant Israeli built resort

Sunrise on Sinai

We left Cairo on a bleak rainy afternoon via bus to the small desert town of Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, bordering Israel and Jordan and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, the Suez Canal to the west and Sea of Arabia to the east. We arrived after seven hours on the bus, where we traveled through the town of Suez, under the Suez Canal and through the Feiran Oasis. We arrived in St. Catherine after dark, around 7 PM and were greeted by a friendly Bedouin man, the owner of the Beduin camp we arranged to stay in for the next two nights, the El Milga Bedouin Camp.

When we arrived at the camp we ate a small dinner and packed our bags for our venture out into the holy land in the middle of the night. We slept for a few hours before hoping into a truck and riding a couple kilometers down the road at 2:00 AM. By 2:30 we had found a guide, required by law due to the military presence in the semi-contested region, and were off into the night. The moon was shining brightly as it was the "Wolf Moon" of 2010, the brightest moon of the year. We could not have asked for a more memorable day for the climb up Mount Sinai (2,285 meters) locally known as Gabal Mousa.

We reached the peak in record time, just under 2 hours. We still had two hours before the sun was due to rise over the mountaintops of the holy land. We spent that time staying warm in a small and cozy Bedouin tent drinking tea and trying to understand the stories our guide so enthusiastically told.

Finally it was time for the sun to rise and we walked up a few stone steps to the highest point and watched as the bright red sun rose over the mountaintops to the East with complete awe. This is the very place that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush and provided him with the Ten Commandments, if you believe in the sort of thing. Regardless of your beliefs it was a truly beautiful place worth a visit.

We waited until the sun had fully risen and we began the trek back down the mountain. We opted to take the 3,750 stone "steps of penitence" through the valley down instead of the donkey trail we had taken up. It was nice to see the mountain from the other side, but the steps were often large and definitely gave you a good workout.

We spent another night at the El Milga Bedouin Camp having pleasant conversations about the Israeli Palestinian conflict with a French women, who volunteered in an Israeli kibbutz and British man who was recently denied entrance into Israel.

Overall it was really a beautiful little place that everyone should stay at when visiting Saint Catherine.

The "Wolf Moon" of 2010

Watching the Sunrise.

The Bedouin Tent that kept us warm.

Cairo for a Month

Today marks the one-month anniversary of arriving in Cairo. Today we went to the Mugamma or government office to apply for our visa extension, to be allowed to stay in Cairo for another two months and be able to come and go twice without penalty. Our first month in Cairo has been a blast and flown by with miraculous speed. We have seen most of Cairo's tourist attractions and gone up to Alexandria to see the sights there.

We have also begun to learn Arabic. We have mastered most of the alphabet, except for those tricky letters, and are capable of sounding out most words, yet of course we never know what they actually mean.

After crossing three rather major highways we made it to our new Arabic language school, theInternational Language Institute or ILI. It is a pleasant building locating in the Mohandaseen neighborhood of Cairo. It is an older part of the city surrounded by small Sheesha bars and cafes. The school itself is recently remodeled and looks like walking into any small university in the States. There are 18 classrooms, a cafeteria, and Internet lab.

Well first we were supposed to take a placement test, to determine which class we should be put in, but of course we have no prior Arabic training and we were simply placed in the very beginner class, called pre MSA or pre Modern Standard Arabic. There are two types of Arabic language, Modern Standard or Fous-ha used in the media and academic texts as well as the Qur'an. Then there is Egyptian colloquial or Aameya, each country has their own Aameya, and it is the language of the people, the language spoken in the street. While Aameya and Fous-ha are different they are about 40% similar. Jimmy and I decided to learn Fous-ha because it is the version of the language that I need to know for my graduate language exam.

At the end of the first week we have learned our new alphabet and a few basic phrases. The pace of the class is quite fast and by the end of our two months of language training we should have a pretty good grasp to hold a basic conversation. However it seems like we have a very long way to go... at times it has been very painful! All I can think about is how long I studied Spanish and how I'm still not fluent yet. However I have to master this language in order to graduate from a masters program so I guess I will find a way to learn it. Jimmy and I have already looked into continuing our study back in Chicago next year. I think it is very romantic that Jimmy wants to learn Arabic with me. He is very brave when it comes to the language, speaking loudly and with no fear, even though it is quite challenging.

Today we get in a taxi outside our apartment on the way to the Mugamma and Jimmy tells the cab driver Mugamma fey Madam Tahrir and the cab driver starts to drive in the right direction. Along the way the cab driver pulls over next to a man in a suit and asks if he speaks English - the man says Aiwa, or yes, and then Jimmy say Mugamma again - the man thinks for a second and says MugammA, Jimmy says Aiwa - ohh MugammA the cab driver says and we are back on our way. One wrong stressed syllable and people have no idea what you are saying. And when you read a word there are invisible accent marks that you have to know to pronounce but cannot see!

The MugammA look like a 1970's large concrete government building. If anyone has seen the apartment complex in Whittier Alaska, it’s similar to that. Upon entry the building was abuzz with people, resembling a metro station or a beehive. We push our way through people up a flight of stairs to the second floor where we walked down winding hallways until we found a sign in English and a form under it for visa extensions. We found a pen filled out the form and waited in a line in front of window 43. When it was our tern the woman told us that we had to go to window 12 - her English was not very good and she spoke very fast. We went to window 12 and were then told to go downstairs and have our documents photocopied, so we did. Back upstairs the women at window 12 examined our paperwork and then told us to go get stamps at window 35 so Jimmy went to get stamps and when he came back the women told us our papers would be processed and we could come back tomorrow and pick them up from window 24! Jimmy was a little annoyed that things were not better organized but all I could think about was how this only took us about an hour and in Argentina when we had to deal with bureaucratic stuff like this it would have taken all day!

Jimmy and I have also been working out everyday, in preparation for Kilimanjaro. We work out before language school - usually around 7 AM - we are always the first and only people at the gym. Most people in Cairo do not work out; they would rather drive one block than walk. Which brings me to another interesting phenomena here in Cairo, Cairo is the king of "take away" anything and everything can be delivered - or take away as it is called here. McDonald's, Subway, Chili’s, TGI Fridays, traditional Egyptian food, ice cream, ANYTHING! It's crazy. The food is delivered by a man who has a moped with a little box on the back zipping around the city in 30 minutes or less. Orders are placed on the Internet and delivered promptly.

All in all our first month in Cairo has been pretty routine - workout, school, coffee, homework, dinner, Skype with the family. Weekends - sleep in, workout, laundry, a new teahouse, explore, dinner, movie. Its been really nice... maybe a little routine compared to what the last four months have been but its been good.

We will keep you all updated with the Arabic and any new adventures that occur, we love and miss you all!