So i never really ended my spring break story i realized. I left off right at the end taking the midnight train back to Cairo and man what an experience that was.
My friends and I thought we had figured out the train system and the general rule was that even though you dont have a ticket you can still get on the train and pay on the train but the problem is though that you arent assigned a seat so anyone at anytime can come and claim their seat. Which is exactly what happend for about 3 hours into the night. for three hours i tried to stick with my friend Grace because the idea was that every girl should try to stick with one of the guys but after being kicked out over and over again and slipping by sleeping people to take seats only to realize it was the seat of someone in the bathroom walk around with my large backpack and also the lack of sleep throughout the trip was finally catching up with me. At around 3 i had gotten split up from grace and wandered thorughout the train cars at one point i just gave up hope and told myself the rest of the 8 hours i would stand in the akward place between cars where everyone goes to smoke their cigarettes. At some point i decided to do what some people do and laid down on the floor in one of the closets between the cars. Lets just say that was the low point of the journey. After being offered lots of cigarettes and other things i saw my friend Nate and he said he managed to find a seat. (Later he would tell me he sat next down to probably the creepiest army officer in all of Egypt... lovely)
I told Nate i would try to find a seat and so after 30 minutes of sitting in the closet/cubical thing (it was not really sitting but rather squeezing myself into a ball they are tiny spaces) i looked again. I walked by these guys who had seen me earlier and being the friendly egyptians that i have met in so many places they spoke in their arabic and i in my broken arabic and i figured out that they were 3 guys for the 2 seats. It happens a lot where they just take rotations and they basically offered for me to join up in their rotation whcih i was so relieved i happily accepted. after about an hour of standing/sitting they all eventually got of at a stop and i finally had not only 1 but 2 seats! all to myself. I was so incredibly happy. But that was short lived when four girls searching for their seats realized that they were separated and asked me politely (and in Arabic and i understood!) if i would move so they could sit together. I really really wanted to say know but it was 5am and i did not want them to go through what i went through. So i gave up my seat luckily at the back of the car there was another seat open.
I sat down where the old man next to me i dont know how but he knew where i was going exactly what time we would arrive and of course said these things only in his broken english even when i told him i understood arabic. I talked to the guys around me who were students I told them i was tired and i finally fell asleep. An hour from Cairo i woke again not only still in the same seat with the pleasant old man but in front of me all my friend Nate Ramsha Grace and Ryan had all managed to find seats near me and were talking to the students i talked to earlier. It started rough but we finally made it home.
Throughout the next week i got to celebrate a birthday/easter with a group of egyptian copts, went back to school for a week then had another small break which my friends Nate Amro and i decided to take advantage of and went to Turkey. Ill save that for next time which hopefully will be soon before i get into finals week.
One thing i did learn though about egypt this trip was how incredibly nice Egyptians can be. Although in Cairo it is different i still have never felt both so safe on a train where everything kept going wrong. Maybe though its because im a man and occasionally blend in. But one thing is for sure people are always capable of surprising you and im glad I traveled egypt and got to meet the people myself. If i listened to what the news had to say about the Middle East and the people then i dont think i would be here enjoying every second. (except that moment in the closet. that was not fun.)
My friends and I thought we had figured out the train system and the general rule was that even though you dont have a ticket you can still get on the train and pay on the train but the problem is though that you arent assigned a seat so anyone at anytime can come and claim their seat. Which is exactly what happend for about 3 hours into the night. for three hours i tried to stick with my friend Grace because the idea was that every girl should try to stick with one of the guys but after being kicked out over and over again and slipping by sleeping people to take seats only to realize it was the seat of someone in the bathroom walk around with my large backpack and also the lack of sleep throughout the trip was finally catching up with me. At around 3 i had gotten split up from grace and wandered thorughout the train cars at one point i just gave up hope and told myself the rest of the 8 hours i would stand in the akward place between cars where everyone goes to smoke their cigarettes. At some point i decided to do what some people do and laid down on the floor in one of the closets between the cars. Lets just say that was the low point of the journey. After being offered lots of cigarettes and other things i saw my friend Nate and he said he managed to find a seat. (Later he would tell me he sat next down to probably the creepiest army officer in all of Egypt... lovely)
I told Nate i would try to find a seat and so after 30 minutes of sitting in the closet/cubical thing (it was not really sitting but rather squeezing myself into a ball they are tiny spaces) i looked again. I walked by these guys who had seen me earlier and being the friendly egyptians that i have met in so many places they spoke in their arabic and i in my broken arabic and i figured out that they were 3 guys for the 2 seats. It happens a lot where they just take rotations and they basically offered for me to join up in their rotation whcih i was so relieved i happily accepted. after about an hour of standing/sitting they all eventually got of at a stop and i finally had not only 1 but 2 seats! all to myself. I was so incredibly happy. But that was short lived when four girls searching for their seats realized that they were separated and asked me politely (and in Arabic and i understood!) if i would move so they could sit together. I really really wanted to say know but it was 5am and i did not want them to go through what i went through. So i gave up my seat luckily at the back of the car there was another seat open.
I sat down where the old man next to me i dont know how but he knew where i was going exactly what time we would arrive and of course said these things only in his broken english even when i told him i understood arabic. I talked to the guys around me who were students I told them i was tired and i finally fell asleep. An hour from Cairo i woke again not only still in the same seat with the pleasant old man but in front of me all my friend Nate Ramsha Grace and Ryan had all managed to find seats near me and were talking to the students i talked to earlier. It started rough but we finally made it home.
Throughout the next week i got to celebrate a birthday/easter with a group of egyptian copts, went back to school for a week then had another small break which my friends Nate Amro and i decided to take advantage of and went to Turkey. Ill save that for next time which hopefully will be soon before i get into finals week.
One thing i did learn though about egypt this trip was how incredibly nice Egyptians can be. Although in Cairo it is different i still have never felt both so safe on a train where everything kept going wrong. Maybe though its because im a man and occasionally blend in. But one thing is for sure people are always capable of surprising you and im glad I traveled egypt and got to meet the people myself. If i listened to what the news had to say about the Middle East and the people then i dont think i would be here enjoying every second. (except that moment in the closet. that was not fun.)
No comments:
Post a Comment