Haifa, Merna and Hathor

In my last post I forgot to mention that we went to a Haifa Wahbe concert last Sunday. Haifa is a famous Lebanese singer who is mostly known for her scandalous music videos (a cross between Pamela Anderson and Britney Spears). I was surprised when I saw her, as I expected her to be in her twenties and she was almost fifty. Her leopard print, floor length dress could not have been tighter. I left after one Haifa song, as the concert started at 9 PM and she didn’t come on until after midnight. We were the only women there, and it was really obvious. The cameras that showed the crowd continuously panned over us, people stared at us, and even went as far to touch some of us. Personally, I wasn’t shocked at all by this, I seem to have developed a level of tolerance for harassment, but a lot of the girls were upset.
Thursday night was the tea with my Religion teacher, which was nice. Josh, Elsa and I took the tram to his neighborhood, where he and his son George (who is eight) were waiting. We met his wife and his daughter, Merna (who is ten) as well as his mother who lives with them. They proudly showed us around their apartment, which was comprised of two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, a den and a huge balcony. They are on the fifth floor of a building with no elevator, so they use a basket to get things from the street or from their neighbors. For example when a deliveryman comes, they lower the basket down with the money in. and he puts the food in it. They had quite a spread of desserts and tea, and we spent about four hours with them, telling stories about our lives and laughed a lot. They were extremely gracious hosts, and I felt totally at ease in their home, and it was really a wonderful experience.
I spent the majority of Friday doing work at Clay Café, a café a few tram stops away that has great Wi-Fi and serves really good American coffee and food. The week was pretty uneventful, just classes and work and time in the dorm. Monday we had our bi-monthly meeting in English to discuss the program. Little did we know there is a BIG problem in the boys’ dorm. There is another American program staying on the same floor as the Middlebury guys, and they speak English all the time. The guys on the program were outraged about this, and we spent the better part of an hour dissecting this issue and attempting to find a solution. I am only relaying this story to demonstrate how serious this program is about the pledge.
I am really excited because today Andi and I are going to Luxor! We are taking a train overnight and arriving at 9AM tomorrow morning. We have an East Bank tour booked for 3PM tomorrow and a West Bank tour booked for the following day. Luxor is a bevy of Ancient Egyptian archeology, and I have always wanted to go. On the seventh we are taking a train to Aswan, and from there we will be going to Abu Simbel for a day on a private tour. Abu Simbel is where Ramses’s famous temple is, as well as the temple he dedicated to his wife Nefertari and the fertility goddess Hathor. We are then going to spend a day in Aswan and relax by the pool at our hotel and head back to Alex on Saturday night. The weather is going to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but we are going to play tourists and wear shorts so it shouldn’t be too terrible. It’s going to be an adventure, and I am going to take a ton of pictures!