"Please Sir, how may I take your money?"

Things here in Egypt are getting wierder all the time. This might be my least favorite place I've ever been, EVER! I thought Bangkok was a sad and gloomy place, but it seems like Club Med in comparison to Cairo. I can't get to Jordan soon enough. A lot of people in my group feel the same way, but we've been told that it is just severe culture shock since Egypt is more third world than places like Jordan. The director of our program says that he never wanted anything to do with it after his first time, but now he now thinks it is the best place in the world. I'm hopping that this will eventually be my feeling too. There is just so much rampant poverty everywhere and to make things worst, us foreigners are expected to give people money all the time for the most ridiculous things and to brib them as well. I have never felt so awkward as a tourist, ecepecially when you are walking around among people who have so very little when you have so much in comparison. The other day I saw a little kid covered in dirt sleeping on a piece of card board box only a block or two away from a KFC. I've also seen dead animals just lying on the streets with flies sawarming around.

My food problems have come back. In fact, almost everyone in the group is sufering from the same ailments. The problem is that the food we have eaten is the food that the normal Egyptians eat or tourist food that was prepared days before and kept warm by those little flame warmers, a perfect breeding ground for bacteria unfriednly to foreign stomachs. I have now decided to only eat from American restaurants until we leave Egypt, its the only way.

We took the night train to Luxur two nights ago and it was quite an experience. Luxor was cool, but unbelivably hot. Luxor is the sight of several of the most famous ancient egyptian sights besides the Pyramids. It was pretty amazing to visit the Valley of the Kings, the Funnerary Temple of Queen Hatchepsut, and Karnak. On our way back to the train station last night, we passed a McDonalds about three blocks away. Because we had about 40 minutes before the train left, most uf us went there for dinner because the food on the train was dangerous (even though we were in 1st class), and I knew that it would be something that I could keep down. Unfortunatly we had to get our food to go so that we could be at the train station if it happened to show up early. Walking back to the train station with a McDonalds sack and soft drink cup may have been one of the most awkward experiences of my recent life. There I was, an American in a foreign country walking with McDonalds past a bunch of poor egyptians who desperatly needed my business to get by financially. I was the person that I hate. Some kids started following us asking for money and lifting their hand to their mouth like they were hungry. It ripped my heart out, but I couldn't do anything because I had spent my last of the Egyptain money I had brought to Luxor on McDonalds but there I was walking with American fast food that was too expensive for most Egyptians to buy. I had to act like a jerk so that people would give up trying to sell me stuff I had no use for.

Tourism is the most important form of revenue for people here and so I have felt very unconfortable here having to ignore all the annoying street vendors and Shop owners who try to lure you in to their shops by trying to seem nice. Just on our way to the internet cafe today, a guy pretended to bump into us and then act friednly towards us and even make fun of egyptains who lure people into their perfume or pupyrus shops. After a few minutes of talking to him, it turned out he wanted to sell us perfume. Also, this is a terrible place to learn Arabic because people only want to speak English to you.