Food and other such whatnot.

Food here is good.
Falaful is great.
Whatever my mood.
There's nothing I hate.
Course it's Ramadaan now,
So they don't eat all day.
Last night we had cow,
and it was yummay.

Dreams.

I had a dream last night that I was walking around compleatly naked. I've never had one of those dreams before. It's really very awkward. I wonder what it means. Probably somthing perfectly normal. Dream interpretation is weird like that if you have a dream that's like, I was trapped in a well with a crazy clown that turnned into a block of cheese and the the well filled up with orage juice and i drowed and went to heaven but heave was actually the kwik-e-mart from the simpsons and Apu was was a giant donkey, it always means somthing like oh you had a salad for dinner today, and if you have a perfectly normal dream like, I walked down the street and gave a homless guy a dime, it always means something crazy like, you're mother turned into a giant donkey when you were ten and then you fell in a well ful of orange juice and were rescued by you're dad who was a crazy clown.

A few Egypt photos.

A Boatsmith in Alex

The Castle in Alex

The Castle in Alex

A veiw of Alex from friends flat

Veiw of Tanta from my family's flat.

Tanta.

Ok, I think I'll start by saying Tanta isn't in the desert. It's still pretty dry and dusty but there are trees, small dusty sorta sad looking trees, but trees none the less. Tanta is in the middle of the delta so all of the surounding country side is farms, mostly rice and corn. It really looks quite a bit like northen/central India. Tanta is considered to be a small town, I don't know why, it has three million people, but I guess in comparison to Alex and Cairo it is pretty small. For the most part we walk everywhere or take a cab. Everyone here walks in the street because the side walks are eather in bad shape, blocked by a car or shop, or they just don't like walking on them. Fortunetly my hosts always insist that I walk on their side farthest from the cars. My family is very nice though acording to the other Egyptian families I've met they are boring. The father, Ahmed, is very nice but doesn't really speak english very well. The mother, who so far is my favorite member of the family, speaks slightly better english but still not that great, but she's just so warm, loving, kind, and good natured. The eldest son Muhamed is cool but I don't see him much and he can be a little boring but i think he is the most intresting of the sons once you get talking to him, he's studieing to be a Zooligest, which is cool and untypical Egyptian. Abdulah is the next son he's pretty cool but he's studying Buisness in Cairo so I don't really see him much. Then comes Abdul Rakman, who speaks good english and is pretty cool, but he's stuborn and kind of a party pooper sometimes. He also yells at his little sister alot which i don't like. Abdul Aziz is the youngest son but he's spending the year in the US so I won't meat him He sounds like the most intresting one. From what I've heard and seen he's brilliant, an artistic genious (which his father says "learn a real skill, like engineering" about) and all and all the best at everything he touches. Then there is Rooba (11ish) who is kind of like her mother very friendy and fun loving, they laugh and smile alot more than the boys do, I like watching cartoons with rooba, they have tom and jerry on TV here which is cool. We live in a flat in a building on a corner that they own. there are two stories that are livable but everything happens in the flat on the second level. when you first walk in from the stairs there is a big living/dinning room. the table and chairs on the left and the couch and three lounge chairs on the right facing the wall. agenst the wall is the computer in the corner with a rocking chair to sit in (which is pretty cool). then to the right of that is a large cubord dresser thing with the TV and some books and papers and stuff. to the left of that is a little hall/room off of which are the three bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen. if you walk in the front door and turn 90 deg. to your left you're facing the wall with the tv. walk about fifteen feet forward and you're in the little room/hall. clockwise from your left is my room, the room where Abdul Rakman, Muhamed, and Abdulah (when he's home) sleep, then the parents and Roobas room, then the bathroom, then the kitchen is (if you turn 180 around) to the left of the opening you walked in through. Now mom was that in depth enough for you. love you all. take care. email me. (rennerlarson@gmail.com)

Ramadan.

Today is the first day of Ramadan. I've desided to fast for Ramadan with my family. In case anyone dosn't know Ramadan is the month in which Allah dictated the Koran to the prophet Mohamed. During this month we don't eat or drink from sun up to sun down. So i wrote a big long post about what my hows was like but the for some reason it didn't work and got lost in the digital cosmos and i don't feel like writing it again so mabye next time.

Alexandria.

So we're in alexandria. Abdul Rakman and I. Along with some of his friends from tanta and from alex. It's nice here at night but during the day it's hot as hell. We went to see the 3rd largest library in the world which was kindof un spectacular in turms of it was just a lot of book but the german designed building was really cool. Then we went to the fort that is but on the foundations of the lighthouse of alexandria and that was really fun. My friends here are really cool and it's nice because i genuenly feel that they are my friends too not Abdul Rakman's friends who let me tag along. non the less i still miss everybody and wish you were all here with me. To answer Rake's question durning the day if we're not sightseeing or sleeping we're playing cards and watching tv. they watch a lot of movies here they know more american movie than i do which isn't saying much but still. They also love soccer/football in egypt and they play it eather for real or on playstation all the time. i'm not really very good at writing long bits in detail about whats going on so please ask questions about stuff and i'll answer them.

news update

So the way egypt works is you stay up late and sleep until 2:oo. that way you avoid the sun. I've been sleeping alot, it just takes a lot of energy to be here. cold showers in the morning help. and naps. my dreams are differant than they are at home. i often dream about home which makes it easier to not miss home if i get to see everyone when i go to bed at night. i can feel that i'm not getting enough hugs though. and i suppose i could hug the men in my family but it wouldn't be very comforting. guys here are really skinny and hard.