Out in Luxor

Last night we went out with some Egyptian students who were super sweet- Romani, Malani and Mahmoud. We got off the boat and stood around for a while waiting for Romani’s friends from Luxor. Malani’s private driver picked us up and took us to the Susana Hotel. (All the rich Egyptian kids, which = all the kids who attend AUC, have drivers) We went up to the roof and we were the only people there. Egyptians, I have learned, love to be extremely generous and pay for absolutely everything. It makes me feel bad. We got a bottle and snacks and enjoyed our time. Egyptian alcohol is, well Egyptian. While this may sound silly, the majority of Egyptians are Muslims which means a good majority of the country does not indulge in alcoholic products. A lot of the young kids do, but just as many don’t. Anyways, the point is- the alcohol is basically pure ethanol. It wasn’t all bad- we had amazing company and a really good time. Afterwards we went and got a felucca (sail boats that cruise down the Nile) and hung out there, sat on the top of the felucca for a while. Maggie and I leaned over and touched the Nile. We were a bit freaked out about all the diseases so we used anti-bacterial hand wipes immediately afterwards. We watched the reeds glide by, dark houses, ducks and we were able to see a beautiful night sky. Then we pulled up to this random marshy bank and the felucca captain/boat driver whipped out a plank thing to disembark. We walked through the marsh to this locals sheesha bar. Surprise, surprise it was all men. In addition, there was a stable right next to this bar/restaurant thing so horses and donkeys were just chilling in the stables next to us. There were puppies too that were absolutely adorable and so scared of people.

Side note- Egyptians absolutely love cats. All Egyptians have cats and the streets are filled with them. Only the ex-pats have dogs and walk them in Cairo. So seeing puppies was definitely a treat.

We had apple sheesha- which is the general flavor – and talked about Moses floating down the Nile, tried to explain fraternities and sororities which did not go over very well. There is so much bromance here there is no need for a organization to celebrate it. It is completely different here than in the states. Homosexuality is something very under the radar, not spoken about. However, it is the cultural norm for men to walk down the street holding hands, having hands in each other’s back pockets and walk arm in arm. There is no stigma of sexuality about these customs; it’s just the norm. Women on the other hand, definitely do not do that. We taught them all kinds of American slang- because they of course wanted to be up to date with all the cool phrases.