D.C.-Germany-Egypt First Day

First post, here goes.

I had a two-day orientation in D.C. with the rest of the participants for this trip. There's about 50 in all. I didn't get to see much because we were short on time, but i managed to get pics of a few important buildings in the area. Bonus.

I had to switch planes in Frankfurt, Germany which was pretty cool. I've never been to Europe, so to only spend a couple of hours in a terminal was a bit of a disappointment. I do have the option of re-routing my return flight though...

I flew Lufthansa: if anyone ever has the reason to fly with them, I highly suggest it. The food was good, the people were helpful, and they even let me fly! Just kidding on the last part.
I sat next to a German couple, Joe and Anita. They were friendly but couldn't really speak English all too-well. I asked Joe what his job was and he said "I'm a technical in a high house." Right. But he did tell me how to say sheep's cheese, when I asked him what the white block of whiteness was on my plate; "schaap's kazen," or something to that effect. I'm not sure if that'll come in handy, but who knows.

Anyways, we landed in Cairo at who knows when. We then had a near-endless bus ride to Alexandria. It was about 3 hours, but seemed like 5. I did pass the pyramids, and got some decent pictures. I get to climb them in a few weeks; well maybe that is an exaggeration, but i might go Maximus Prime on them. I don't see who's there to stop me.

In description of my living arrangements, let's just say it's not the Hilton. It's passable of course, but the toilets here are "bedees," which are the kind which shoot water at you so you can...*cough.* On the toilets are two levers, one to flush and one to wash; one guy this morning pulled the wrong one and got an extra shower. Haaaaaaa!

The food here is good, but meals are spaced out quite a bit to where I'm losing weight. Not that anyone who might get lost and stumble upon this blog should care. Tomorrow, I find out which classes I'm in, and then classes start Woden's Day (Wednesday, in case the same guy who stumbled upon this blog isn't Nordic). I'm anxious to get in a groove and have a structured practice schedule so I can see exact improvements. I

I played soccer with some Egyptians here, all of whom are going to be doctors in a few years. It was cool meeting them and they were surprised that I ""could speak Arabic. Which of course is a bit like saying Bush was a good public speaker. I'm not very good at rocket surgery either.

I'm gonna stop this before it gets any more out of hand. I'll re-blog (is that a word, if so I want credit) in a few days. As I speak, the local mosque is starting the day's final prayer. I can hear the guy who sings over the speakers rather clearly in my room. It's the typical sound one hears on movies, kinda hard to make out from a mile away. True story, in case anyone thinks I'm trying to finish with anecdotal imagery. Later