Looking Ahead

Today went pleasantly enough. Class in the afternoon, then returning to the apartment to set up for the Iftar party we were putting on. I wasn’t aware we were putting one on until the day before, but I wasn’t going to complain about lots of food suddenly appearing in my house for dinner – including very tasty desert pastries. I’m feeling better, though still a bit sick. It’s certainly not enough anymore to keep me stuck in bed reading (because God knows I abhor downtime), so I’ve been out and about, and am even thinking about a one-night trip to Ar-Rashid (Rosetta – yes, the Rosetta) for my empty Tuesday. It’s pretty close, and cheap to boot. Apparently there is a fair amount of Ottoman-era architecture remaining, so I’m interested in doing the explore-photograph combo in a different setting.
The few days before have been a bit of slowly recuperating. I had an amusing experience with a very exuberant Coptic cab driver. He seemed intent on converting me on the spot, though that’s probably because I told him I’m half Muslim half Christian. A new experience every day.
I’ve been feeling kind of restless since I’ve been feeling better and everyone got back from Cairo. While I’m not in too much of a hurry to see Cairo, I realized that relatively speaking I only have so much time here in Egypt. So maybe the coming weekend I may head over to Cairo to see the Pyramids and hopefully the Egyptian Museum, though that in itself may take two days. We’ll see. At the very least it’s easy and cheap to get/stay in/to Cairo from Alex.
I also started thinking about how I’m going to end my time in Egypt. The program ends December 4th, and there’s a break until sometime in January (I think). I’m considering sticking around for another week and a bit, to tidy up loose ends and relax before more traveling begins. Then the plan looks like it will entail a day or so spent in Cairo, then maybe a week or so in Sinai (seeing St. Katherine, Dahab, maybe Suez), finally heading over to Nuweiba for the ferry to Aqaba in Jordan.
From Aqaba I’ll take a bus to Petra, see the city ruins, then head for Amman, the capital. I’m not sure, but it may well be worth it to spend a few days in a hostel touring the city, because I may as well while I’m there. At the very least, hostels are cheap. Hopefully I can find someone with a connection that could help me out while I’m in the country, but I won’t mind having to figure it out on my own. From Amman a bus, either directly to Beirut or to Damascus first. I want to spend some time by myself in Damascus as well, so it’d be easier to get it done earlier. Then from Damascus to Beirut, which is about an hour/hour and a half away. The getting back to the states bit has yet to be pinpointed, but I’m just glad to have an idea of what I want to do when I’m leaving here. I feel a little better with a semi-agenda, and hopefully my budget will allow for all the stopping (it appears that it would).
I’m going to try and get some sleep again, though I’m skeptical that it will work well. I may or may not be in Alex when I go to sleep tomorrow. We’ll see.