Brand New New Yorker on Location: Egypt

I must forwarn you - this post is going to be LONG. I was in Egypt for 2 weeks and took close to 1,000 photos (don't worry, I'm not putting ALL of them up here). only the ones that I think (well, hope) will give you a good sampling of what Egypt is like.

the first stop on our trip was of course to the Great Pyramids at Giza. now I went on this trip back in June, it's now November (I know, I'm a little late), and to be honest I still cannot believe I actually got to see one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. it is still very surreal and I cannot seem to wrap my head around the idea. and not only did I get to look at them, but I also got to climb on them AND crawl inside. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of the inside as they would not allow any cameras. :( seriously, they had a check point before going inside the pyramid to make sure you didn't have a camera. you couldn't even have a cell phone! (since most cell phones these days have the ability to take pictures).

we even went to visit the first pyramid ever built - the Step Pyramid of King Djoser built by Imhotep. Imhotep is argued to be the very first architect, but I had a hard time thinking of him this way because the only time I've ever heard the name Imhotep before was in the movie "The Mummy." and Imhotep was the bad guy in that movie, so I had to keep reminding myself that the real Imhotep was just an architect, not an evil-Pharaoh-killing-obsessed-with-my-girlfriend-bad-guy. anyways, back to the pyramid. so I was about to take a picture of the pyramid when this guy (see picture below) just jumps in my photo. I wasn't too angry because I did get a picture of the pyramid by itself and also this guy just kind of fit with the photo, don't you think? however, I was annoyed that after I took the photo he expected me to tip him! I didn't ask to take a picture of you buddy, you jumped in of your own free will so why would I tip you?!

the rest of this information is going to be out of order because, let's face it, it's been a while and I don't remember. before I get into the rest of the details, I must say that Cairo is one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to. it is such a juxtaposition of extremes that the city becomes absolutely beautiful. and for the first time in my life I was able to truly see what extreme poverty looks like. I must shamefully admit that in all my research of Egypt I only concentrated on the monuments and not the actual country itself. so, it took me by complete surprise that Egypt is as close to a third world country as I have ever been to. (I'm not sure if it actually is a third world country, as I still have not checked.) the city of Cairo is HUGE! almost 20 million people live there (and I thought New York was big)! the roads there are some of the scariest things ever as all traffic signals, signs, etc. are merely suggestions, which of course no one follows. and not only is it cars and trucks, but they also have donkey pulled carts! and then you have the people seriously just darting in and out of traffic.
one of the days we were in Cairo we went to visit the Citadel and saw the Alabaster Mosque of Muhammad Ali. the place was gorgeous and huge. to go into the mosque you had to either take off your shoes or wear these little bootie things over them (think hospital garb). you also had to be covered up quite conservatively. I thought I was (had on a crew neck shirt with sleeves and a skirt that went past my knees), but apparently it was not enough because as soon as I walked into the gates some girl rushed over to me and threw this long cape thing over me. whatever - it's their customs, not mine. though the thing did kind of smell...another place we visited in the old part of Cairo was what they call the "hanging church." the church itself is pretty spectacular, decoration wise, but what makes it really cool is that they discovered later that the church had actually been built on top of some old fortress walls. they had some sections of the floor of the church cut out and replaced with glass so you could see the walls below.
while we were visiting the church they were in the middle of restoring it. I thought it was pretty cool because you could see all the details of how the restoration process worked. below is a picture of a girl repainting some of the details on an altar piece.the rest of the afternoon, what was left of it after lunch anyway, was spent at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. the place was supposed to be humongous, but unfortunately we only had time to stay in the tourist area where they try and sell you all sorts of things you don't need. like sparkly, shiny let's-leave-nothing-to-the-imagination outfits. 99% positive I didn't see a single Egyptian woman my entire trip wearing anything like that.

the next stop on the adventure was the city of Aswan. first however, we made a stop at the Egyptian Museum (you were not allowed to take any pictures whatsoever, otherwise I would have included some - those next two below were "borrowed" from the internet). it was not the best organized, nor informative, museum I have ever been to (and I have been to my fair share - trust me). but they had so many cool artifacts that it didn't really matter. my two favorite parts were the collection of King Tutankhamen (I got to stand thisclose to his gold funerary mask) and the mummies.
they had the mummy of King Ramses II (this character had about eight wives and over 100 children and was the pharaoh well into his 90s! busy man) and it seriously looked like he had just died a week ago. there was still hair on his head!after the museum we finally made it to Aswan. and just in time to watch the sun setting over the Sahara. :)

there is not much to do in Aswan itself, but there are pretty cool things around it. our first stop was the Philae Temple. like many of the monuments around that area, it had to be moved because it would have flooded when the new Aswan High Dam was created (which is how Egypt ended up with the giant Lake Nasser). it was pretty exciting because it was the very first Egyptian temple I had been to (I sound spoiled for saying this, but it honestly became old hat by the end of this trip).after the temple we went to a papyrus factory and the gentleman there demonstrated for us how they make actual papyrus scrolls. we of course then had the chance to look in the shop and buy something for ourselves (it was kind of like at Disney, where after you finish a ride you conveniently have to exit through a gift shop. for every ride).

the next day we got up at the crack of dawn - wait, I lied. we got up before dawn because on our bus ride to Abu Simbel we stopped to see the sun rising over the Sahara. I am not really a happy camper that early in the morning, but it did make for cool picture.Abu Simbel was really neat and semi-sort of strange at the same time. maybe surreal is more of the word I am looking for. there is absolutely nothing there but the two temples (the main one for Ramses II and the second, smaller one for his "favorite" wife Nefertari) and Lake Nasser. it of course would have been a lot better to visit when there was no one around, but fat chance that is ever going to be the case. the temple for Ramses was enormous. and sooooooo many statues of himself (he was a bit of a narcissistic guy), but one thing that I found that I thought was interesting is that people carved their names into the stone with a date - "so-and-so was here" kind of thing. but what made it cool was that the dates next to the names were ones like 1762 and 1887. not really the kind of dates you see on the bathroom walls nowadays huh?
another interesting thing was that this was the first time you were able to see (albeit, just a tiny amount) how colorful these hieroglyphics used to be! check out the illegal photo below (you again were not allowed to take pictures inside, but they allowed you to walk in with your camera here - so I just snapped a couple of shots, minus the flash, while the guard wasn't looking). the best examples of colored hieroglyphics is in the Valley of the Kings - but they won't allow you to bring in a camera nor a cell phone (sneaky buggers - they are up with the times) into any part of the area, not just telling you know right before you walk into the tombs.
don't remember the exact days these next few thigns were done on, but does it really matter? ;) we took a felucca ride one evening up the Nile (yes, up - it flows in the opposite direction, remember?). apparently our captain, Mr. Mustache as they called him, is famous and has been on the cover of magazines. I have yet to find him though... but the Nile is an amazing river. it is much bigger than I expected and the land on either side of it is so fertile! the only place I have been to that can rival the green of the plants along the Nile is in Ireland (and trust me, they do not call that place the Emerald Isle for nothing!).

one morning, again I had to get up before the sun which is something that should totally be illegal on vacation, we took a hot air balloon ride over the city of Luxor (ancient Thebes). I was a little nervous, not going to lie, since this whole motion sickness thing and I do not necessarily get along. but it was great! my first hot air ballon ride and I LOVED it!! we weren't really that high up, but it was really cool to see everything from a bird's eye view. we passed over a few farm homes and everyone had their beds on the roof! apparently with the wind off the Nile, it was a lot cooler to drag your mattress up to the roof and sleep there. I think we woke some people up when we flew over them though, oops.

the last temple we visited on the trip was Luxor Temple. probably also my favorite. mostly because we were there right as the sun set so we got to see the temple all lit up at night. normally these Ancient Egyptians are all about their straight lines and symmetry, but not here. since more than one pharaoh added on to the temple it somehow did not end up perfect (which I still don't really understand, but whatever).

we went back to Cairo for one more day and night before heading back to NYC. and even though it was hotter than hell (literally it got up to 130 one day) most of the trip, I still really did not want to leave. I LOVED Egypt (though if I never eat another eggplant again in my life I would be ok). it was so different than any place I have ever been to and granted it definitely does not have all the comforts of home, I could still appreciate it for what it was. I am not sure when, but I will most certainly be back again for a visit. :o)

can you be both a Mets and a Yankees fan?

my baseball friends will tell me no - this is impossible. to be honest though, I don't care for baseball in the least, so I'll "cheer" for whatever team you ask me to. (I only mention this because in one of my earlier posts I said I was a Mets fan.)

on that note, Best Friend came to visit for Memorial Day weekend and we decided to go to a Yankees game. so I got my $10 Yankees hat (it was a kid's hat which is why it was so inexpensive), donned my navy and white and headed up to the Bronx. although I am not a fan of baseball, I will admit that I had a lot of fun at the game. the atmosphere of a baseball game is actually quite intoxicating. sitting there eating your hot dog (nothing but Nathan's of course), drinking beer and listening to (sometimes joining in) the dozens of different chants and cheers. plus, the new stadium is really, really nice. I never made it to the old stadium, but I am not sure I would be wrong in saying that the Yanks definitely traded up. I know the other had a lot of history and was the "House that Ruth Built" and all.. but the new stadium is seriously awesome. so even though I do not like baseball, you better believe I'll be going to more games.

a weekend jaunt

one of the most fantastical things about living in this city is the weekend jaunts to the "countryside." after all, this is a concrete jungle and it's nice to see green grass every now and then (I know we have that GIANT green space in the middle of the island, but having greenery be everywhere around you is quite different).

one weekend then, I hopped on a train then with Gay Uncle and we headed up to his home in Connecticut. he lives in a gorgeous farm house complete with the most amazing kitchen I've ever seen. so amazing in fact, that it made me want to cook full course meals! [and for those that know me, me cooking (let a alone a full course meal,) is definitely few and far between.] my cooking skills only made it as far as making an omelete. however, it was probably the best omelete ever - solely due to the fact that every time I've tried to make one it's always ended turning into scrambled eggs.
(I am pretty proud of this omelete, so I decided to share it)

during the day we took a drive to go antiquing, consignment, and yard sale shopping. things that are little hard to do in the city, especially the yard sale owing to the fact that pretty much no one has a yard.
other than that we didn't do much else - mainly just relaxed. though I did play a Wii for the first time. on the giant (I'm talking huge - I'm pretty sure it's the biggest TV on the market today) TV and I learned one very important thing. I absolutely suck at Wii Tennis. I am, however, quite good at bowling. at least much better than I am in real life considering I can never seem to get a score above 100.
(kind of what I felt I looked like when trying to play tennis)

Brand New New Yorker on Location: DC

My friend and I, we will call her Man-Eater, decided it would be a fun, grown-up thing to attend the official Cherry Blossom Festival Gala Dinner Cruise.

The cruise was actually a lot of fun. sat a table with people we didn't know. and the couple next to us was quite interesting, as the woman couldn't really believe we were at the event. because I guess apparently young girls do not attend galas, but only go to bars and get drunk (her words, not mine). minus that little blip though - the night was great.

the ship was huge, the drinks were free (ok, maybe there was some truth to her assumption...but not really), the food was delicious, and surprisingly the music was pretty good too. it was also a lot of fun to get all dressed up. oh! and not only did we get all the stuff mentioned above, but they also gave each of us an official Cherry Blossom Festival cupcake and pin.
had an enjoyable next two days in the city playing tourist. went to the Capitol building, National Cathedral and the Jefferson Memorial - three places I had never been before. we also made a little stop over at the zoo, where I basically became obsessed with this monkey. seriously, this little guy was so cute!

here are some pictures of the National Cathedral:


we of course also had to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival parade. and I will admit that it was not exactly what I was expecting, but then I cannot really tell you what my expectations were to begin with. we saw a band dressed in Colonial garb, a Mustang car club, Japanese drums, and of course both the U.S. and Japan Cherry Blossom Queen. and quite randomly some floats of the Veggie Tales. they also had floats of giant Japanese lanterns with cherry blossoms painted on them. those make sense, but the Veggie Tales?? quite odd and unexpected if you ask me.

all in all, a fantastic experience that I definitely planning on doing again next year! :)

I really do heart Fashion Week

so just like I did in September last year, this February I volunteered again for Fashion Week. I was not really looking forward to it at first - mainly because I can only ever volunteer after I get off work and the hours are long and I am exhausted by the time I get home.

however, this time it was TOTALLY worth it.

I was in the Tent both of the shows I worked (those are the fashion shows that you actually hear about on the news, for those of you who have no idea about any of this). the first show was Narciso Rodriguez. it was interesting because the set-up for his show was the EXACT same as it was last year. however, this year I was able to see Anna Wintour!! (she was at the show last year, but sitting on the opposite side of where I was standing so I never actually saw her) it was so cool, because not only was she there but also Grace Coddington and pretty much the ENTIRE editorial staff of Vogue. what was also cool was the fact that watching her at the show was literally like watching the movie "The September Issue," but live. she was there with her fur coat, her little bob haircut, and true to Anna style as soon as the show started her sunglasses went on.
the next show I worked was the best of them all. not so much for the designer (Tommy Hilfiger - I really just cannot seem to get into his clothes), but because it was the last show EVER at Bryant Park. I am not sure why they are moving Fashion Week to Lincoln Center now because whenever anyone thinks of Fashion Week they ALWAYS think of Bryant Park - I mean heck, they have been doing it there for 18 years! so yes, not only was the show cool because it was the last one ever in Bryant Park but also because it was my first show where men were walking the runway as well.

and now for the greatest moment of all. you would not believe the amount of "celebrities" at this show. Anna was there again (of course, though I would definitely say that if it weren't for the last show you probably would never see her at a Tommy Hilfiger show), also Ashley Olsen, Hayden Panettiere, Rosario Dawson, Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey from the show Gossip Girl), and the best news of all.... Chuck Bass!!!! (a.k.a. Ed Westwick) there was even a moment when Chuck and I locked eyes - like a little 12 year-old-girl with a playground crush, I shall never forget that moment. ;)
(yeah, I was standing behind all of them at the show)

I seem to know the right people

so the Little One (a.k.a. my sister) came to visit me in the City for New Years. now she is only 19, in college and absolutely loves to party (I am pretty sure she can out drink most boys too). her little 19 year old friends were in town as well and were looking for something to do.

so in swoops the greatest big sister ever and I call this promoter I know to see what was going on that night. after a few texts, I told the girls to get ready because we were going out. we ended up at a place called greenhouse (one of your stereotypical NY clubs that charge a beyond ridiculous cover and the place usually is never worth it). but we got in free and the girls were beyond stoked because The Prince (a.k.a. the promoter) took us up to VIP and we had vodka free-flowing all night. I was slightly impressed as well because it wasn't just seem cheap, no-name brand - it was Absolut (not top of the line, but definitely better than the cheap shit). I have no idea how, but we stayed out until 4 or 5 in the morning and of course stopped at a place on the way to get drunk munchies (the girls had to have the full New York experience).

now according to the Little One, I am not the "coolest" person in the world. but I seem to know the right people. I just hope she doesn't expect this EVERY time she comes to visit the City. guess that means I've got to start meeting more people...

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I'm definitely going to events by myself from now on

as a Christmas/Chanukkah present to myself this year (well technically last year since it's now January) I decided to by myself a ticket to the Cafe Carlyle to see a live performance of a really great singer.
the Cafe Carlyle is in The Carlyle hotel in the UES. it's a fancy-shmancy hotel that I could never afford to stay in (hell, I could barely afford attending the performance), but it has that 1960's high society type vibe. the kind of place you would have gone to all dolled up in your fur coat, while your husband made business deals over scotch-on-the-rocks and you gossiped with the other high society ladies about which "new money" gal was never going to make it.

not sure how many of you know this, but Father of the Bride (both I and II) is my favorite movie. a few of the songs on the soundtrack (Sunny Side of the Street and The Way You Look Tonight are sung by Steve Tyrell. I just absolutely love the sound of his voice. so when I found out he was going to be playing at the Cafe Carlyle, I couldn't pass up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (ok, it may not be once in a lifetime that he is singing at the Cafe Carlyle but it's once in a lifetime for me because I don't have $80 extra bucks to spend all the time).
well he was the one performing at the Cafe Carlyle. so I saved up my babysitting money to buy myself the $80 ticket to see him perform (mind you it was $80 just to sit at the bar - if you wanted an actual table...well that would have cost you more).

I got to the Cafe a little early (I wasn't going to risk not getting a seat at the bar). so I settled down with my Egypt book (I'm going on vacation there in June) and made friends with the bartender - Pablo. Pablo even introduced me to a waiter who was from Egypt and taught me a few words in Arabic. after a little while the place started to fill up and a woman sat down next to me. turns out she was Steve Tyrell's manager! I mentioned that I saved up my babysitting money to come see him and she loved it. before Steve took the stage she braught him over so I could meet him!! then I met Steve's doctor as well. along with a gentleman named Tony Desare, who is also a singer and performs at The Carlyle hotel. somehow, and I do not know if it was me or the Manager that told him, he knew as well that I saved up all my babysitting money for this.

the set was amazing. I was enjoying my wine and cheese listening to one of my favorite singers. he first started with Christmas songs and then sang the songs from Father of the Bride. I cannot explain in words how happy I was. I seriously had the biggest grin on my face the entire time. then he sang some other classic (and great) songs.

when it was over the Doctor was gracious enough to pick up my entire tab! $150 he told Pedro to put on his card. I couldn't believe it! but he was so sweet and basically told me that he was at a point in his life where he could afford to do this - so he wanted to. and he also gave me his card and said that if I ever need help in anything in life - just give him a call. how cool is that!?

to top it all off, after everything was paid for and I was getting ready to leave the Doctor walked me over to where Steve was hanging out in the hotel and I got to take a picture with him!! it was, by far, one of the best moments of my life. :)

it's just a little culture

first, I am very late with this post since this event happened in September...but better late than never right? that's what I thought - so here goes!

on a beautiful Monday morning (it was Labor Day, so I had the day off of work - don't want you to think I was skipping or anything), Fabulous and I ventured to Brooklyn for the annual West Indian Day Parade. and let me just say - wow. that is a site to behold. the streets were jam-packed with people. delicious smells of food everywhere. music playing non-stop (great dancing music if I do say so myself). and some of the most brillant costuming I've ever encountered.
Fabulous and I met one of my co-workers there. she was even gracious enough to give me a Ghana flag to wave for the day (even though I clearly was NOT from Ghana - but details right?). initially we ventured from our meeting spot to find a place along the parade route that we could watch. and along the way I decided to pick up a place of jerk chicken (when in Rome...) - which turned out to be amazing!! you know the saying "go big or go home?" well I did just that - not only did I get jerk chicken, but also this sort of fried fish ball things and also some potato stick things (don't ask me the name of them because I couldn't tell you for the life of me). I had the woman put a little bit of sauce on the chicken and only a little bit because I wasn't sure how spicy it was going to be. well after one bite I went right back to her and asked for me - lots more. needless to say, by the time she was done I probably had enough sauce to feed a small village.

we watch the parade for a while - taking in the costumes, atmosphere, and of course dancing to the music. then we decided to join everyone in the parade (you can do this sort of thing at this parade). we just kept walking down the parade route and stopping at various trucks to dance to the music. (side note: there were 18 wheelers carrying nothing but speakers that went down the parade route blasting different music - whether it was for a group or a country, it didn't seem to matter as people were dancing to it all). it was actually a bit scary at one point because there were so many people jam-packed into one area and they were making us all move quickly that we could have almost been trampled. the only thing I was concentrating on that whole time was staying standing upright - figuring out my direction and hanging on to Fabulous and my co-worker were second priority.
but we made it through and continued walking with the parade (in the correct direction this time) and away from the extremely crowded oh-my-god-I-almost-just-died section of the parade. by the end of it, we were so tired from all the dancing that we just hopped on the subway and headed home.
but what a fantastic experience! I will definitely be there next year - maybe I'll even dress up in costume. ;)