Cheesy Tourist Photos Forever

I went to the pyramids.

YES

I

DID

I don't know if you know this but they are effing ginormous. These giant triangular shaped geometric figures were built by people thousands of years before construction equipment was even dreamed of. And we complain about slow wifi. (guilty) Also, I really love the last picture. 

I also rode a camel.

Camels are my favorite mode of transportation.

And then I Sphinxed it. (I don't even know what that is supposed to mean)

The sphinx looks directly at a Pizza Hut and KFC. #tmyn

We took a boat on the Nile and I drank juice out of a plastic bag. 

I've been in Egypt for a month and it is fabulous. I think I may have finally had that "Wow, I'm in Egypt moment." But that's probably because of the pyramids.

Me and my camel love you and thank you for reading this post. 

Stay hydrated and stay motivated. If the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids you can do that thing you're procrastinating right now.

And........ BREAK!

Byeeeeeee

Corie.

Eid Sa3eed

October 4th is an eid for Muslims. It is a holiday that celebrates the fact that Abraham almost sacrificed his son or something. People do henna, trade gifts, pray, and most importantly, sacrifice animals.

People arrange for sheep or cows or other livestock to be bought to their home, where they slaughter them. Graphic details: skip to next paragraph if you don't like animal slaughtering. They begin by holding the sheep down, then they slit their throat. There's a lot of blood. And it's not that bad... until you realize it's still alive and moving around like it's having a seizure. Once it's dead, they cut a hole in its body and blow it up like a balloon. I don't remember why. Then they beat it, like a pinata. Again, I don't remember why. When they're done they cut the skin or fur or whatever off. Then they hang it, and cut open the stomach allowing the organs to fall out. It's pretty cool, honestly. I stopped watching after that.

The main thing to remember was that it was for God. So yeah that happened.

That morning I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, even though I didn't have school to go to eid prayer. While I was getting ready, I had to keep telling myself "Do it for the cultural experience. Cultural experience. Cultural experience." It was really early. I put on my nice conservative clothes and walked to the prayer. Never have I ever seen so many people do the same motions synchronized in my life. It was pretty cool and I'm glad I went.

Nadia and Corie after Eid prayer

After I went out with my friends. I haven't seen the streets empty like that, ever. It was really weird. We walked to a cheap restaurant and had sandwiches. I had tameah, basically fried beans, and batatas, potatoes. I had a sandwich that was french fries and ketchup in bread, why this concept hasn't reached America yet, I don't know but it was delicious.

Then we all sat around being tired until we decided to go home.

Then I went to the pyramids.


Byeeeeee

Corie.

Party Hard

I would just like to say: I am freaking exhausted.

Sunday was a big day for my host family. Hossam got married! YAYY!

I already talked a little bit about weddings in a previous post but I'm going to do it again. Egyptians party hard, man. And they do it without alcohol. I spent the weekend at my host cousin Amira's house. I got ready there and went with her, her husband, and her baby to the wedding party. When I got there, the dance floor was packed. All the guys decided to pick Hossam up and throw him around in the air. Nadia looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

The party was lots of dancing and food. I actually knew the bride and groom this time and took some pictures. Basically, by 3 AM I was back at Amira's tired with sore feet. (Heels are not always my friend).

After the wedding party, everyone gets in their cars and follows the wedding couple's car to their home. People are honking their horns, hanging out the windows, shooting fireworks, and ultimately being loud, obnoxious, and a traffic hazard. It was actually really fun. We didn't follow all the way to their home because we had a eight month old, but I got the idea.

When we got back I changed, ate, and went to sleep. I woke up at noon yesterday and watched MTV until Amira's friend came over. Then we went to this restaurant and hung out until I had to make my way back to Cairo. I got home and got to bed this morning at about 1 AM and got up for school at 5:30 AM.

I am seriously obsessed with this picture. I am, obviously, in the pink dress with the cute shoes and Boosy, my roomie/host cousin, is in the blue.

Host Mom, Happy Corie, Host Dad

Bride and Groom doing something. I don't know what, but this is a picture I took by raising the camera up and zooming in trying to get at least one picture of them.

This is a picture I'd like to call: I don't know what to do with my limbs. It's just a OOTD picture. (Outfit Of The Day)

That is all I can manage to do right now, I seriously need to get ready for bed. 

Good news: There is some Eid this weekend so I have Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday off which means FIVE DAY WEEKEND. I don't know what I am going to do. Maybe Egyptian Museum. Maybe going to look at mosques or churches or something... idk. Stay tuned. 

Also, Katy Perry is coming to Egypt for her 30th birthday, or so I've heard. But she'll be in Luxor where all the historical stuff is. Luxor is like a nine hour drive away or something. It's a bummer because there's cool stuff there.

Two more days of school for the week.

It's also starting to cool down and it's amazing. Tomorrow is October. Um... that's insane. It's the season of all my favorite holidays that don't get celebrated in Egypt.

Last thing, I haven't had a burger in like a month and I'm really sad so I want everyone to eat a burger this week. Do it for me!!! Seriously, do it. If you're vegetarian, that's what veggie burgers were made for.

I love you. King Tut loves you. Have a good week guys. Mwah!

Learn something today.

Byeeeeee

Corie.

School, Food, and Exercise feat. A Mini Rant

As you know, I have started school. Also I didn't know if anyone would like my last post. But it's done better on Facebook than any of my other posts which makes me really happy.

Anyway, I can't keep track of what I say on here and what I say on my social media platforms. But if I already said it, I don't care. This summer was 13 weeks long. Three months and a week. I don't know of any summer that has lasted that long. Saturday was the first time I got up early since June. (Not including my 4 AM wake up call for my flight to New York but I slept on the plane). So this week has been so tiring. I do not give a flying fudge where I fall asleep. (i.e. class, the couch, the bus, the floor, the bathroom, literally anywhere else). I don't know if it's an exchange student thing or a Corie thing but I can and will fall asleep anywhere. 

Here is my schedule:

The only classes I will actually take are the ones labeled "English" and then French if I can. Everything is kind of self explanitory. Religion is separated into Islamic and Christian. It's kind of like Sunday school. I only get it because a girl translates for me. I'm not sure how to explain it. It's nice how school ends an hour earlier on Monday and Thursday. Um... Comp. last periods on Thursday is different projects on a computer. Again I don't know how to explain it. The teacher explained it in Arabic so I didn't get it. 

First two periods on Thursday is "activities" which is basically electives. You pick one and you do that for the whole year. The choices were a little disappointing to be honest: Music (only for singing, drums, guitar, piano), home ec (I was advised not to take it), library (how to use the library without asking for help and research papers), art, and maintainence. I cannot draw to save my life. Nor can I do anything artistic really. Maintainence is basically woodshop (tech ed if you've ever attended A G Wright). I was pretty good at tech ed in sixth grade and handled myself pretty well building stairs at SSP so I thought hey, why not. Here's why not: girls don't take it. This of course made me want to take it more. This is basically what my friends told me: There are only 15-18 spots for this class. They only take the boys. And then I heard this: boys take maintainence and girls take home ec. Home Ec teaches us the stuff we need for when we're older. 

Wait... What?!

I've been here for a few weeks, I know girls and women do all the cooking and cleaning and the men barely do anything. Actually I don't think they do anything. For someone raised with a working mom and a stay at home dad (and the memory of my mother making pasta so bad we had ice cream for dinner) this is really weird. I mean, that's the reason I'm here to learn about their culture. And that's part of their culture. 

However, this pissed me off. The girls I'm friends with wanted to take maintainence until they were told it was for boys. Also, someone told me that they had a plan to travel and then settle down after. But, she then told me she wasn't going to it because that's not how it's done. Girls don't go galavanting around the world by themselves. She also told me her mother said she wasn't allowed to. Due to the whole it's-not-how-it's-done thing.* 

Now, I know, I know, "every culture's different." "Not good, not bad, just different." "American values and ideals aren't shared by everyone." And I agree. This just rubs me the wrong way, that's all. 

Note: I apologize if this rant sounded rude or mean or hurtful to anyone in anyway. This just came as a shock for me and seems unfair. 

Anyway, I just took art since all my friends did and maybe my sister rubbed off on me a little. The first thing we did was "draw a simple flower" so I did. And the girl next to me told me it was nice. And the art teacher said "hilwa" (beautiful) and "very good". Yup. An art teacher said something I drew was beautiful. *holds for applause* If I'm not asked to draw a realistic human I'll be fine. 

Other than school, my life has been sleeping, eating, and watching movies. I am watching Ratatouille in Arabic as I type this. I haven't exercised in a long time... I would exercise except it's really hot. All the effing time. So when it gets cold I'll exercise. 

Egyptians don't have junk food lying around. So if I'm hungry but don't want to make anything my options are fruits or vegetables so yeah. Also my eating schedule is all out of whack. They don't really have an eating schedule, they don't even sell food at school. 

I don't know how this went from school to me talking about food and exercise so I'm just gonna go now. 

The view last night from the balcony as I hung laundry on the clothes lines. Because I am helpful. 

A snapchat of my face while watching a movie in Arabic. And while sitting in a clas taught in Arabic. And every time I'm mistaken for an Egyptian.

I really really love hearing from you guys. Your comments are so encouraging and they make me smile. Thank you so so much. Keep them coming!

Tell someone you appreciate them today. Because I appreciate all of you. 

*Edit: 28/10/2014 After reading my blog my friend told me she wasn't not allowed to go to America, her mother gave her a good reason why she shouldn't and she is choosing to stay in Egypt. I took the wrong impression from the situation. My bad. I'm sorry. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Corie's Epiphany

I wanted to take a minute and address something. I had an epiphany (I think) today. 

The last couple days have been pretty rough for me. A mixture of exhaustion and homesickness and overwhelming-ness made life pretty hard. And I didn't understand what was happening. 

The thing is, is I only heard about the good things of AFS. (And some really really bad things. Like BAD). But I never heard about normal bad things. Like what happens when homesickness meets exhaustion. Well anyway, I didn't have really any advice. Nobody told me what to do when this happened. So I just went about my life, trying to be optimistic. But today during PE, me and some other girls were tossing around a ball and saying facts about ourselves. And something happened. I'm not sure what but I finally felt like I was in the right place. Like all the stress and money that I put into getting here was worth it. Something happened and everything worked out. 

Many of you who have done a year abroad may have experienced this or maybe I'm crazy. But the point is that if somewhere in the future an exchange student is reading this, or even if you are reading this ten seconds after I post this, everything you feel is normal. There's like a 0.01% chance it's not. 

While keeping this blog I have rediscovered my love of writing. And recently I've seen my blog stats and there have been over 1,500 total views. And half of them are between my mom and grandma. But that means that there's a small collection of people who really like what I write. 

You probably want to hear about adventures or whatever but this is what I got for you right now. So if you are having a bad day. It's okay because eventually it'll get better. And that might not be what you want to hear but it just happens sometimes. So yeah. 

Make today the best day ever. Or make tomorrow the best day ever. 

Also if you know anyone who would like this blog and doesn't know about it, be a good friend and tell them about it. Because if someone reads it and changes their initial thoughts on Egypt or the world or life then I succeed. 

And if you did not like my little inspirational rant, I will be posting about the first week of school tomorrow or Friday. And the wedding is on Sunday so you'll get that update soon as well. 

Thank you for listening... Or reading. And I hope that you have a wonderful day. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Apparently I don't speak English

Holy crap. I am so tired....

Hello everyone, today was the most exhausting, confusing, overwhelmingly scary, and stressful day of my entire life. Forget getting lost in JFK. Forget getting on a plane by myself to Istanbul. Forget being in a country where I know no one and nothing. High school in a foreign country trumps it all.  I got up at 5, the bus came at 6, and I am freaking tired. My first day went kind of like this: eh. ugh. wtf. why. wait what. omfg i'm so stupid. Then, I went home. 

The German boy is indeed in my class. He has pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. He looks foreign. Teachers ask him if he speaks Arabic. Apparently, I look Egyptian. People don't ask me if speak Arabic. They just say things really fast until I look scared and confused.

The whole day is was freaking me out and I hated it. I hated how all of these jumbled up syllables made sense to everyone but me. But then, I remembered something. The only classes that need to count are math, science, french, and english. With the exception of French, all the classes I actually need to care about are taught in English. Plus, at the beginning of school and during the beginning of break I was kind of a loner. But once I settled down, and realized that everything will be okay. I was fine. And I made some friends. 

The one thing that's really disappointing is that I have been in advanced math since sixth grade. I was supposed to be taking Pre-Calc this year. Instead, I'm doing Algebra, Geometry, and Trig... again. And when I get back, I will be taking Pre-Calc... Normal math. (Wow, that makes me sound really snotty. I am so sorry.)

Anyway, in English we will be reading Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist and doing grammar. Today, we did grammar. When the teacher called on me to answer a question... I. Got. It. Wrong. WHAT?! What the heck is wrong with me? I am an American exchange student from the land of "Well, why don't they all learn our language?" and I got the dang question wrong. Apparently, the word "fee" and the word "fare" are used in different contexts. And apparently, I don't speak speak English. *self five* Basically, I answered the question and the teacher goes "No." and then the German boy, who has literally said two words to me, turns and laughs at me. That's it. I'm done. I will never forgive myself for this. (You might be reading this like I'm serious and distraught, but know I will be laughing at this for the next hundred years of my life.)

And there's a girl on my bus, who sits next to me in school, so we talk a lot. It's nice. I'm gonna like it here now that I've calmed down. I'm gonna be lazy now.

I'll leave you with two quotes:

"'I like math.

                               'Ew, why?'

'Because it's the same in every country'"

-Mean Girls

"Attempting to care. Loading please wait."

-The shirt I'm wearing right now.

Byeeeee.

Corie.

Huh? Ice? Why do we need ice?

It's really hard for me not to start posts with the word "so". I mean, seriously, I'm 15... Heintz should have given me better  

.writing skills than this

Yesterday, I met up with my counselor (liason for you AFS-USAers). Her name is Maha. Maha, her cousin, and they're husbands took me to this restaurant in City Stars. It was the first time I walked over there by myself. I got lost in the parking lot of my buildings and then I had to cross the street by myself only since I was six." No. Now would be a good time to explain a little bit about driving in Egypt:                                              Driving in Egypt is not like driving in America. For all of you who are like my mother, drives relatively carefully, and hates it when anybody drives differently. Egyptian driving is your nightmare. Have any of you ever played Grand Theft Auto? Driving is kind of like that here in Egypt. Except, I mean, they don't hit pedestrians or other cars, but the whole "no law applies to me" mentailty is similar. There are no traffic laws. I have seen two stop lights in the entire city so far. And there are no cross walks. My cultural resource guide at Gateway Orientation described crossing the street as a game of frogger or hopper or whatever the game is where you have to get the frog across without getting hit by a car. That's 

.exactly it and it terrifies me

Yes, crossing the street is a big deal. At the restaurant in City Stars I had Oriental desserts. Kounafa, Bosbousa, these things that look like eclairs, this other thing that was sugary and delicious, and these things that are basically heaven. I forgot their name so I'm going to call them heaven balls. Heaven balls are like donut holes, except they're full of honey, and they're also covered in honey. It's honey and bread. Mom, these were 

.made for you

After I got home I sat on the couch and chilled for a while. Then we all go shopping for dresses for Hossam's wedding. I did find a dress. It's not conservative as many people would expect. You'll see in October. As we were walking back to the car, they were all trying to ask me something. All I got was ice. Then I was like "Huh? Ice? Why do we need ice?" (Title line!) And then they were like "mall mall with Amira yesterday" Oh. We were going to the mall that I went to with Amira yesterday. Tehn Muhamed asked me if I dance on ice. Then I got it. Ice skating. There's an ice rink at the mall 

.that Amira and I went to the day before

:I went Ice Skating

Last thing, my mother gave me ths rule before I left and that was: try everything three times.Three because my tastes will 

:develop or whatever. Thus, I tried fish

For some this may look delicious... personally, it's not my cup of tea. But I ate it. And it was good. I felt like I was in the biblical times for some reason fish and rice. Then again, Jesusland is like a 

.hop skip and a jump away


That's it. I'm in a positive mood. So I'm going to tell all of you that you are wonderful and I appreciate you. Tell that 

.to someone today. Spread the positivity

!Do it

Byeeeeeeee

.Corie