E is for Egypt

Continuing along today with the April A-Z Blog Challenge and my travel adventures. Our family moved to England when I was just shy of 13 and spent the next 6 years across the pond. This month, as part of an A-Z blogging challenge. I am reflecting on the time I spent overseas during my teens.

E is for Egypt

When I was a freshman in high school, I decided to join the swim team. Now, I was not a swimmer. I mean, I could swim. I grew up going to the pool in the summers and we had a boat when we lived in Annapolis so I could physically swim but as it turns out swimming as a sport is much more challenging. So why did I decide to take on this new challenge at 14 you ask? Because that year, my high school swim team would be headed to Cairo, Egypt for the International School's Sports Tournament (ISSTs). While most school sports teams in the U.S. compete in regional and state and national competitions- most of our regular season sports competed solely against the other international schools nearby.  But at the end of the season one school would host the ISSTs bringing a huge group of international students together to compete. And in the 2003-2004 swim season the Cairo American College would be hosting our big meets. 

So my best friend rallied me to join her on the swim team and I agreed. I will probably share more about my swim team experience in future posts but for now I'll leave you with the fact that while there was one moment where I thought I might drown (in one of my first meets), I did learn to be a competitive swimmer. And then we packed up and headed to Cairo. 

This trip was amazing for a number of reasons including: it was my first trip to Africa, I got to see one of the 7 wonders and I was doing it all with a group of people I loved (a must for a good trip in my opinion).  But before I go any further I have to tell one story that still makes me parents laugh. After my first full day in Cairo (the day we spent sightseeing at the pyramids, the sphinx and Egyptian market), I called my parents to talk to them. They asked me all about the sights and I told them they were "cool, the sphinx isn't as big as I thought and GUESS WHAT! Our host family has cinnamon toast crunch cereal!" 

Are you confused? Let me explain. We had been living overseas just over a year and some of the food choices in England are different from American grocery stores and so having "American" things like a a particular brand of peanut butter, or reese's cups or kraft mac n' cheese or yes, cinnamon toast crunch felt like such a treat and a small taste of home. So when I discovered that our host family had base access, meaning their pantry was full of American nostalgic goodness I was pretty pumped. 

Now 30 year old me is thoroughly embarrassed about my response but I digress. I was impressed with the pyramids, despite my lackluster retelling of the experience. And I actually went back to Cairo as a senior (again for ISST's) and got to see them again and I can confirm that they are impressive- more impressive than Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The Sphinx is also an interesting sight to see, although i stand by my statement that in my head I always pictured it as more towering. Don't get me wrong, its very big and I definitely undersold it to my parents- but pictures in textbook can be misleading. 

Speaking of pictures being misleading... I always imagined the pyramids being in the middle of this desert type area, kind of on their own. But you know what stands directly behind you when you're snapping pictures of the pyramids? A pizza hut. Its the funniest dichotomy to be standing feet from one of the most famous landmarks in the world and at the same time you are steps away from pizza. 

You don't see that in textbooks or in google stock photos now do you? 

I mentioned it earlier but I was actually fortunate enough to come to Cairo as part of our swim team twice. The second time, along with the previous landmarks, we also made a few stops we hadn't gotten to my first visit. We visited The Citadel which is home to museums, mosques and was an important part of Egyptian military in the past. Its a beautiful space architecturally and was truly an interesting space to explore. We walked barefoot across the limestone floors in the robes they gave us and admired the beauty in front of us. 

We also spent some time in the markets which are impressive and overwhelming at the same time. The market we visited was HUGE. It had stalls for so many different things- food items, clothing, jewelry, art, spices. And everyone you walk by reaches out to you with their best offer. As you wind through the labyrinth that the market creates your senses are overloaded and then you emerge on the other side, probably with a trinket or two, unsure how you managed to end up at the same spot you started. 

Whew...I had a lot of words for that one didn't I? My trips to Cairo stand firm as one of the most "exotic" places I've been but stay tuned for letter F because I've got more adventures coming.