Tracygosnow's travel blogs:
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Home Again
Entry 3 of 53 | show all | print this entry |
Yes, it feels like being home again in a way. So, I obviously made it here okay...all of my flights were on time, so that made me happy. It was strange, though, because the last time I flew into Tel Aviv out of Paris...there were no 'outwardly' Jewish people to be found on my flight. But this time out of London, the flight was well over half orthodox Jews (and each family had an average of about 5 kids in tow!) I sat next to a Jewish kid from NY and the inevitable debate came up over the conflict in Israel/Palestine. But he was at least willing to listen to my liberal views, so that was nice.
My bags arrived in Tel Aviv just fine and I was allowed through immigration much more quickly this time. I got myself onto the new train at the airport that took me about 10 minutes into central Tel Aviv. I knew I had to walk over a bridge to get to the bus station but I was looking for a "new" station as this was how it was described to me. Well, all I saw were run-down buildings...so I asked a guy on the street who said he was going to the bus station himself and he was kind enough to take me there. The new bus station looked bombed out and vacant, and I would have never found it on my own. In any case, the guard at the door was none too happy to have to search all 3 of my bags and just waved me through. The station was filled to the brim with young army kids going to work and home...brown and green uniforms and automatice weapons as far as the eye could see! As most of you know, military service in Israel is a mandatory 2 year sentence.
So I got my 8am bus...a 5 hour journey to the border at Eilat. This time around, the taxi driver didn't try to rip me off by changing the price in the middle of the desert like last time--so that was refreshing. I made it through border control with no problems and was spit out on the other side in Taba, Egypt. My friend Anwar was to meet me there with a car to make the 2 hour journey to Dahab. He was nowhere to be found and I was a bit worried. I asked to use someone's cell phone and what do you know, the taxi driver who's phone I used knew Anwar! I swear this is a normal occurence in Egypt==everyone knows everyone! Well, there had been car troubles from Dahab and so this nice man was to drive me to Dahab. I slept the entire way and arrived safely in Dahab yesterday afternoon.
Wow, what can I say? All of my friends that I made back in January are here and have been so absolutely welcoming. Anwar was kind enough to drag me all over town looking for a camp for me to live at. In the end, he scored me a great deal. I have my own little house just 2 minutes from the beach and about 5 minutes walk to the main strip of town. It's very cute with a bedroom, tiny living room with bedouin-style seating, a fridge, tiny kitchen and a full bathroom. It's quite cheery with lime green walls! I'll send pix in a few days. So--to have stayed in a small room with a shared outside bathroom in a camp would have cost me $185/month...instead I got my own place for only $130 for 6 weeks!! And to get this price I got to see some old fashioned haggling. As some of you may remember, I became the master haggler in the markets and loved the challenge of getting a good price. The culture here is much more intense in this process...to an American it would seem the people are yelling at each other with arms and hands flying everywhere! I thought Anwar and the landlord were going to start throwing punches. But then I remembered that this is the culture here and so I am getting used to it (there was intense bargaining today over some tennis shoes Anwar wanted to buy)
So my two days here have been filld with making new friends and catching up with old ones. Having my meals looking out over the Red Sea with horses and camels running along the beach. I already have many offers of students looking for an English teacher. The head of the language school here wants to meet with me about a possible job...so we'll see how that goes.
So, this is my life for now. I'm already getting used to no television or New Jersy morons honking their horns and swearing at each other outside my bedroom window (although, mom--my iPod is a lifesaver and I don't know what I'd do without it). Everyone is just so relaxed here and it's just what I needed. I'm already adapting back to the way of life here...nice and slow and calm. My Arabic is failing me big time...so my immediate goal is to really start getting back into it. It's difficult because I was learning formal or classical Arabic and the Egyptian dialect itself is different than other countries--so it's almost as if my remedial schooling will do me only so much good as I begin to learn the Egyptian Arabic.
Okay, that's all for now. I think tomorrow we are going to go swimming and then in a few days trekking in the desert. I promise to get pix as soon as possible.
Ma salama.
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