Random Experiences II

Once again, so much has gone on and I haven't recorded it so I figure I will write it all in now.

-One Friday Monte and I were cooking our traditional breakfast and everything was going just fine until we actually started to cook. We were cooking the potatoes and they were sticking so hard to the pan that I seriously got a shoulder workout trying to keep them from sticking and burning. Monte and I made up a commercial for the "Man Pan", keeping men fit in the kitchen. We figured we might be able to out do Bowflex with the right marketing. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that we just forgot to heat the pan and the oil before adding the potatoes. We still might give it a shot though :)

-One Thursday night I was on supervision and the guys decided they wanted to play this mega enhanced version of leap frog. Basically, it is where somebody bends over and then you go and jump over them and make sure your legs don't touch them or then you're it. In which case, everybody gets to jump up and do a butt drop on your back. So I decided I'd play with them instead of being a bump on a log. Anyways, it was my first time to go and jump over the guy that was it. I started running, I jumped in the air and just as I was flying over him he stood up and I straight up kicked him in the head. I felt bad at first, but we got so much laughter out of it that it was worth it.

-One of my cats, Bigfoot (an ironic name since she doesn't grow and still looks like a mini-cat), whenever I pet her she gets so excited that she starts rolling around and then she starts drooling! It's pretty gross, but lovable in its own right. Kind of like the little kid that gets spaghetti sauce all over his face and then gets this huge smile.

-I was walking around downtown Cairo and this guy came up to me to talk. He spoke a little bit of English and so we talked for 20 seconds until his English reserve was exhausted. I in turn talked for another 20 seconds and then my Arabic reserve was exhausted and so I decided to say goodbye "ma is salaama". I shook hands with him and before I was about to go he held onto my hand and asked me for a tip. I laughed and said, "Lay?! (why)" and he replied, "Ashen(because) ana(I) speak English you." I then retorted that I wanted a tip because I knew four different ways to say hello in Arabic and he knew only one. He laughed, I laughed, and I walked away. Fun times in Egypt.

-One time I was in the metro and this guy across the tracks was giving me the middle finger. I laughed, made eye contact with him and asked, "Lay?" He smiled, did it again, and walked away. I still don't know what he was doing or if he even knew. Another fun time in Egypt.

-One time Monte, Daniel, and I were in the grocery store and Monte decided that he wanted to punch me. It's kind of a game between us and so I turned around and punched him back. It went back and forth a few times, then Daniel joined in on punching me so I started hitting him, too. When we finished our tussle in the candy aisle I looked up and there was a woman with a veil over her face and there was this humored look in her eyes of, "What is wrong with you!?" Truly refreshing.

-Yesterday, I learned how to make Egyptian bread from Om Fady, the cafe lady. Yes, I'm really proud of it because it was my first bread making experience! Anyways, while I was trying to make a ball out of the sticky dough for a loaf I couldn't really get it to become a ball without sticking to one hand or the other. Turns out I needed to put flour on my hands like she had before touching the dough- WHO KNEW!? She laughed at me and had the girl that was translating tell me, "You aren't supposed to make people not want to eat your bread!" This is just an instance of how many goober-like mistakes I made while cooking with her, but it made it a great time. She is a really sincere, fun-loving, and caring lady. She took the time out of her schedule to teach some kitchen inept guy how to cook.

Finally, I will say that I usually only talk about the tough times on my blog, but there are the awesome times, too and I'm grateful for both. The good times do make this place oh so sweet, though!