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Sitting on a bench at the Port Authority in Nuweiba Egypt
July 17, maybe 11:40am?
OK where to start? It has been a long, tiring, and awesome 2 days. We left Amman yesterday at 4:20 pm on a Jett Bus and it cost 6.50 JD. The cab driver taking us to the station was very nice and we spoke in Arabic with him all the way there. Once we boarded the bus I saw that there was a super market next door so I left the bus, bought a Fanta and a Snickers bar and reboarded. The lady would not let me take the Fanta on board. If I had known this I would have hidden it in the first place! It doesn't say anywhere on the ticket that you can't have it on the bus. I asked her why I couldn't have it and she just kept saying "No" in English, this was annoying so I asked her if I could have it after the trip and I mentioned that it would be cold. She atleast said I could have it afterwards and put it in the refridgerator. I found out shortly afterwards that they sell Fanta products on the Bus! Anyway, the ride to Aqaba was about 3 1/2 hours long and we arrived at about 7:30 or 8:00? There were cabs waiting at the station and we haggled the price down from 10 JD to 7 JD which was a pretty good price considering how far it was t oteh port. Once we arrived at the port this is wehre teh fun began. We purchased our tickets and got our passports stamped easily enough and found out that we didn't have to pay an exit tax! We also heard that we won't have to pay a re-entry fee in Jordan! This equates to a free VISA for another month and 10 more JD in my pocket. We waited for the boat to arrive at 11:00 and we didn't board until about 12:00. So this is already 4 hours we've lost. When the ferry arrived and they opened the gates everyone literally ran as fast as they could to get in line. We didn't know exactley what was going on, but figured that this was a place we needed to be. After slinging a few elbows and buffering some pushes we found ourselves roughly in the middle of the line. This wasn't too bad for a couple of white guys in the Middle of a Palestenian Refugee boatline. Now I say this because this is exactly what it was. The only people going to Egypt by this ferry were Palestenian refugees that couldn't cross through the Southern Israeli border to Egypt. There were a few Egyptians on board but mostly Palestenians and their families. After waiting in line for a couple of minutes an officer came up to us and said "come" in English. I asked him why in Arabic and he just said "come please". I felt like we were about to lose our place in line for no reason but he ushered us to the bus that everyone else was rushing to get to. At this point I realized that there are some perks to being from the greatest country on Earth! We rode in the bus to the boat, went through all of the required security and filled out our customs cards. This was slightly aggravating because they are ruthless here with lines or anything that has to do with waiting. There were these women that would just push you out of the way and rush through with their children to the front of any line. Even if you were clearly next for them to stamp your passport they would reach their hand in front and hand it to the guy through the hole in the glass! Anywho, we got a pretty good seat on the boat and played cards with a Canadian we met before, named Dan. He taught us "Wist" and I lost by only one point! The boat did not leave until 3:00 AM!!! It was absolutely ridiculous and I could not sleep because of the noise of the kids running around, screaming, crying, and fighting. A random guy taught us an Arab card game called "Qumee" and it was played in teams, but that has absolutely no effect on the way it was played. There was no strategy, haha. Cameron and I lost to Dan and Mohommad and Dan fell asleep shortly after. I was left with Mohommad who was an extremely nice guy but a little zealous. He flipped through my Al-Kitaab book and only read the parts in Arabic since he didn't know any English. He came to a Chapter that we haven't covered yet and it was about the history of Islam and some key phrases from the Quran that have made their way into the language. Upon reading these phrases he would kiss my book, read another phrase and kiss my book. You could tell that he was truly moved by these words and was simply amazed that we could learn this in class. I guess he though that wouldn't be enough so he proceeded to tell me all about them and their meanings and relationships. In the end we agreed that God was the first and number one, that he created everything and is inside us. That I wasn't going to become a Muslim, but that I was going to Saudi Arabia anyway, haha. You have to realize that at this point it is about 5 in the morning and he speaks Egyptian Colloquial Arabic very quickley. The only people that speak Modern Standard Arabic are educated. I will say that my brain and body were worn out and this was a true learning experience, trying to understand and speak even though you're drained. Another man I met was travelling to Cairo with his 2 daughters and he was extremely nice and educated. We spoke in MSA, drank coffee that he gave me and just hungout while Cameron and Dan slept. We docked at Nuweiba at about 6:30 but we didin't actually depart from the boat until 8:30 or 9:00 am! Egypt is not very efficient and I can see why Cairo is going to be a mess. If you add up all of the time related to taking the ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, which I don't know how many miles that is but you can see it acrsoss the way; it took us 12-13 hours! This is enough for a Trans Atlantic Flight! HOWEVER, once we got to our hostel everything fell in place. We took a taxi to a hostel called Petra (which was the first in Nuweiba 20 years ago) and it was AMAZING. It cost all together with: an airconditioned bungalo, 2 meals, a milkdshake, waters ,hookah, a ride into town (everything) 100 Egyptian pounds a piece. This equates to about 17 dollars! Everything was cheap in Nuweiba , we went in to town and I bought a box of 18 Hostess Twinkies for 10 pounds (1.70 USD). The manager of the Hostel was Mohammad and he was extremely nice and very accommodatiing. We got into our bathing suits when we first arrived and went for a swim in the Red Sea. The water was so clear and blue that you could see everything from coral to Anemonies, or sea cucumbers. We didn't rent snorkel gear because I'm going snorkeling with Laura in Taba when she comes. I think this will be better tahn in Aqaba and cheaper too! After swimming we ordered 2 tuna and pasta dishes and some water and slept on the couches next to the beach under the thatched roof of the shelter. I fell asleep very quickley and then woke up when the food arrived. We ordered a hookah pipe as well for after eating but it was too much for me. I think the lack of sleep and full stomach caused the hookah to make me feel queesy. It was like a bad roller coaster feeling. Cameron said that it was time to get off of the magic carpet, haha. We swam some more and slept along time under the hut. I got up, showered, shaved, and changed into some normal clothes and enjoyed a milkshake with some new German friends we met. There was Raphael, Laura, and Helen. They just graduated from High-school and decided to travel around Egypt and Israel before college. We also met a couple from Amsterdam, Jimmy and Sophie. Jimmy is Jewish and makes fake Raybans fora company that sells them in Europe but are brokering a deal wth TJ Maxx in the US! We played some frisbee and when Cameron woke up we enjoyed some excellent Kabob and bread for dinner. I probably didn't go to bed until about 2:30 last night. Woke up at 9:30 this morning, enjoyed tea with Mohammad, paid and said our goodbye's. I have 2 quizzes tomorrow but I've been able to study on the boat on the way over, and now on the way back. We decided to go for the "Fast" boat on the way back because it will cut the trip by 2 hours. The guard says it will leave at 2, which means probably 3:30 or 4:00. Which will put us in Amman at about 5:30 -6:00. So I'm estimating that we will be at our apartment at 9:30. This is my best estimate and I will be shocked and very pleased if it is sooner. Overall the trip was alot of fun , a cultural experience, advanced my listening comprehension, and was a breath of fresh air from Jordan and well worth all of the waiting and inefficiency. I hope the boat is on time...
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