karma

Last week, I took a sick day when I was just really tired and not so sick. So what happens this week....you got it, I actually got sick. It's a kind of really weird sickness. My lymphnodes on my neck are really swollen, my throat is sore, slight fever, and a very runny nose. Sounds like a cold, right? Well, I've been taking every cold medicine offered here- Egyptian and foreign- for 5 days and nothing is helping. In fact, I feel worse. So it must be Swine Flu, right? No no, much more likely to be caused by the pollution. Yes, the pollution has been terrible lately. The kind where you can't see your hand in front of you. Ok, not that bad. It's very hazy outside and the air is hard to breathe. Can't believe my parents are coming in town this weekend. I warned them not to come. It's weird how I've been travelling a lot the past few years and it just seems very natural to look information about a country before I visit it. Obviously, they have not done an ounce of research and they don't listen to anything I've told them. So I'm still getting questions like "Should I bring an umbrella?" We are in the Sahara Desert. "You said to pay the taxi driver 15 pounds?" No, I said 80 pounds. "Can I wear jeans?" Why the hell would you wear jeans? It's 90 degrees here. We are in the Sahara Desert. "Should I bring sunscreen?" We are in the the Sahara Desert. "Can I bring a laptop?" What? "Do you have internet?" How do you think skype is working? "Well, I just really really don't want to get Mummy Tummy..." You will. Sorry, but if you are in Cairo for more than 3 days, you will get sick. Everyone does. That's why I said to stay only 3 days. Oh well, last time to do touristy stuff in Cairo. I hate toursity stuff here. It's the worst part of Egypt. Everyone harrasses you. They over charge you. They grab at you. The pyramids are the worst. You would think this would be my favorite part of being here, but not at all. I hate going there. There are a million tourists who are paying 100 times what they should be paying to ride a camel or have a guy take their picture while they put their finger on the pyramid. It's embarrassing. If they only knew that it should cost $10 to ride a camel and not $100. Poor shmucks. My favorite touristy place is the Khan. I love it. It's crazy, people are in your face, men are making cat-calls, people get in your face and grab at your arm to get you to come in their shop. What I love is to take visitors there and just watch their reactions. Nothing about it shocks me anymore. And I know how much things should be and I know how to say enough Arabic words to make them lower the prices a lot. And then I just walk away because I can get all of that stuff on Road 9 with no hassle. It's just fun to mess with them and make them think they are going to have an overpriced-sale. There was a bombing there last year, and it gets bombed a lot because it's such a touristy spot. I can't wait to take my parents there, I think they will crap their pants.