Block C's questions

Hi C Block, especially Mike.

Were the beaches crowded in Egypt?

The beaches weren’t too crowded. Each hotel owns a section of the beach, so only people staying at that hotel use that peace of sand and water. And since we were 40 people staying at a small hotel, we took over the whole beach. IT was a lot of fun because we played games and talked back and forth to each other in our section.

Did you see a lot of other tourists, any Americans?

I did see a lot of tourists, but only two other Americans. The city we were staying in was separated into three sections. In one section were all the really expensive restaurants, hotels and shops. That was the area where all the Americans, Germans and Canadians stayed. The stereotype is that Americans, Germans and Canadians are really rich, so they are always charged more than others.

In the second section the other Western Europeans stayed. Restaurants, hotels and souvenirs were all mid-range in price, even though they were the exact same as in the American part of town.

We stayed in a hotel in the third part of town-were all the tourists from Eastern Europe and the Middle East stayed. Things were the cheapest there. Because the belief and stereotype was that people from these countries have the least amount of money, and so have less to spend on vacation. Surrounding us were families from Russia, the Ukraine and Poland. The only time I saw other Americans was when I went to the tour agency and our guide, Alex, said he had a surprise for me. Then he introduced me to two other guests at the agency who were also American. We talked for five minutes, and that was it.

Can you e-mail Mrs. Krohn your postal address so that she can mail the soccer ball(s) to you?

Ok, done.

Can you tell us more about the things that you saw in the pyramids and other sites in Egypt?

I got to go inside one of the Pyramids of Giza, the second largest one named the Pyramid of Khafre. We walked down a ladder at a steep angle for about 100 yards. The entry way was about the width of two people standing side by side, which was good because it was the only way in and out so it was a two way street. It was also very low, about 5’, so almost everyone had to half-crawl half waddle like a penguin the whole 100 yards. Then there was a little platform, where everyone could stand up and stretch. Then there was another descending pathway, just like the first one. Again it had a low ceiling, so everyone had to scrunch down. The second path way led to the burial chamber, which was just a big room. A long time ago tomb robbers had stolen all the stuff from the pyramid, so there was nothing in it-just an empty stone coffin. And the farther down we went, the hotter it got! I’d guess it was about 100 degrees at the bottom. So, we didn’t stick around in the empty room long, it was just too hot!

Another thing about the pyramids is that they’re not smooth, like they look on the outside. It’s like a giant card pyramid, with ridges and levels. If it was allowed, which it wasn’t, we could have just climbed to the top like on a giant step-ladder.

When we went to the Valley of the Queens, it was also really hot there. But the inside of the tombs were still painted, so we could see the hieroglyphics in the original form. That was really cool. And we learned all about mummification, and how the pharos wanted their pets mummified so they could have them as pets in the after-life. That was really cool too.

What kind of food did you eat in Egypt? Was it a good change from the Romanian food?

Because we were traveling so much, we ate a lot of sandwiches. So, that was really boring. But on days when we didn’t travel, we had a lot of sea food. Shrimp pizza was a favorite with the students. Other than fish, we ate a lot of rice, beef and pita bread. In Romania we eat a lot of cabbage and pork, so I was just excited to have a change.

The hotel restaurant was used to catering to tourists so they had a menu in English, because almost everyone knows that language. Well, my favorite part was on the menu you could eat “Oliver.” It was liver, but they misspelled it. I laughed a lot at that, but since I was the only native English speaker, I was the only one who got the joke.

Can you tell us more about bargaining? Why would vendors have charged you more as an American?

Bargaining was really fun. If you saw a scarf or t-shirt you wanted, you would go up to the vendor and ask how much it costs. A normal conversation went somewhat like this:
Me: “How much is this scarf?”
Vender: “Where are you from?”
Me: “Romania.”
Vender: “Ahh, Romania! Bucharest! For you, my friend, we have a very special price. Only 50 pound.”

Me: “50 pound? That’s too much.”

Vender: “But my friend, this scarf is made of silk. If I sell for less I won’t be making any profit.”

Me: “But that guy there is selling the same scarf for 10 pound.”

Vender: “That guy doesn’t know business. He is losing money. Do you want me to lose money? Have you no heart?”

This type of conversation would continue for as long as 20 minutes until we could agree on a price. Normally scarves would start at 50 pound and I would walk away paying 15 pound for it. If I said I was from America in the beginning, the first price he would have said would have been 150 pound and worked his way down to 50 pound. That’s because of the stereotype that all American’s are rich. That’s why I sometimes just didn’t speak in English, because my accent is so very American.