Yesterday, I got sand everywhere, I got dragged behind a moving car in the desert, and a girl fainted, but it was one of the best days ever. I went on a trip with ASMUN to a place called El Fayoum to go sandboarding! For those of you who read my posts in like August, you know sandboarding is one of the things I've wanted to do since before I got here and it was amazing. The past week or so, I've been a little stressed about this trip, but it was worth all the stress and everything. Oh my gosh.
So the day started out at 5 AM. My host dad drove me to Ain Shams to meet the group at 6. In proper Egyptian fashion, we didn't end up leaving until about 8. I wasn't expecting it to be as far away as it was, it was three hours outside the city. We were deep in the desert and that's all you could see for miles. It was nice and quiet.
We had a breakfast of bread, black honey, and a cheese called "mesh". It was really good. Also for dinner we had a classic Egyptian barbecue.
Rice, chicken, kofta, and bread.
I didn't know anyone who went, but I made a really cool friend named Yara, who you will see in the pictures. We actually found out at the end of the day that we live in the same building. I still can't believe it.
After eating we spent some time on the beach near the lake. Sitting in the sun and in the sand.
Then we walked around near a waterfall, which ended up being four waterfalls. They were nice to look at but they smelt so weird. I don't know why.
Then came the best part. Sandboarding.
On the bus to the sand dunes, the guy said "girls are advised to sit on the board." Obviously, girls could do whatever they wanted, and stood on the board anyway. Which I did. I did both. I started with sitting and then tried standing. I never got all the way down standing without falling, but it was fun. Sitting was easier and faster, but standing was outside my comfort zone. Sandboarding is basically sledding in sand not snow.
Wheee!
Landed safely.
Starts out okay...
So being an exchange student is all about leaving your comfort zone. If I'm going to be honest, going down the sand dune was scary. I'm actual scared of lots of things, but that doesn't stop me from doing those things. As Veroncia Roth puts it, "I learned that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." And that's why I went parasailing.
The whole time I was on the ground between paying for it and actually doing it, I was scared crapless. I saw people going up and coming down and I was terrified. But I already paid so I had to do it.
I put on the lovely, colorful harness and got strapped onto the parachute with the wonderful Yara. The car started going and we started running, still scared. But once you're in the air, flying above everything else with no protection, it's liberating. You're flying. So obviously, I did the only logical thing I could think of which is flap my wings, I mean arms, and sing Breaking Free from High School Musical.
"We're soaring, flying. There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach."
Then the car slows down and you descend to the earth. One second you're floating in the air, the next your feet are on the ground and you think you're okay, the second after you're on the ground being dragged through the desert because the car hasn't stopped.
Yup, once we were on the ground, the car hadn't stopped moving. So attached to the harness attached to the parachute stretched to the car, we kept moving. They stopped el7amdulallah. After something like that happens you have two options, you could be scared or mad because you were dragged behind a car, or you could laugh because you were dragged behind a car. I chose the latter. I wasn't hurt, and it honestly was amazingly fun. Besides, how many people can say that they were dragged behind a car through the desert like in an action movie? Me, because I've said it five times in this post. And I will continue saying it for the rest of my life because that's what being an exchange student is about.
After that, we went and sandboarded some more. The sun was on the verge of setting and the lighting was beautiful. And we live in the year 2015, so when there's good lighting you take pictures.
I went home very very sandy, slightly dehydrated, and exhausted. But I also went home happy and adventurous and 200x cooler than when I left home at 5:45 that morning.
Gosh, it was so fun.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope your weekend has been awesome. Have a great day. :)
You're awesome and learn something today.
Byeeeee
Corie.
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