Omg this morning was so nice. I was so well rested. I woke up after 8 hours of sleep to work on school. I sat on the balcony overlooking the entrance to the hotel, Aswan, and the Nile in the distance. What a sight. Breakfast was good, consisting of pastries, hibiscus tea, chicken sausage, fava beans, and falafel. Ate on the balcony by the pool and the temperature was great.
We left for the Nubian village on a ferry, the same type of boat we used the day before. We enjoyed some history of the area by Heba before we could enjoy the boat ride, taking videos and pictures. We saw cows and a donkey on the bank, ducks and gulls, and peaceful sites on our journey.
We arrived at the Nubian village and made our way to the primary school. They have Friday and Saturday off, so we didn’t get to see children (to Heba’s disappointment). We went into Mr. Wael’s class where he taught us the alphabet in Arabic, including the song (the last 3 symbols sound like HAIR WOW FAIR). We also learned numbers in Arabic AND Nubian. The irony of most of the world using Arabian numbers, and Arabic speaking countries using Indian numbers. 1 looks the same, 4 is a backwards 3, 5 is 0, 6 is 7, 7 is V, and 0 is • Heba wrote our names in Arabic and then we could donate to Mr. Wael to help support his classroom. The school was super colorful, with blues, reds, and yellows all around. On the second floor we could see, Mickey, Tom, and Jerry painted on the wall. The courtyard is the play yard for the kids.
Next we went to this house where they hosted us with tea and snacks. People could get henna and I ended up with braided thread in my hair. The house also was colorful, with the walls painted blue and colorful woven art on the walls. We were allowed to look around and see what the rooms were like. The rooms had thatched ceilings to have air flow, but also a few ceiling fans (I’m assuming for guests). At one point I wandered outside and saw Diane taking pictures with strangers. I mouthed if she was ok and she was smiling uncomfortably. Unfortunately that brought the guy’s attention to ME so I joined the picture with the son and his wife and Diane. Then the older gentleman took a selfie with me. I learned the younger man’s name was Romi. We danced in a circle while the hosts played music. It definitely reminded me of us dancing that night in the Moroccan Sahara desert.
Next we went through the market to head to the boat. I bought a hot pad that was orange and blue, a basket for Deborah, and a keychain from a little boy for Robin. I did buy a Nubian dress for $60. I told Heba and she said I was cheated. We went back and after arguing, she ended up handing him the dress back and getting my money back. I now know not to spend more than $20, but preferred $15 on these dresses. I hope to buy one to wear to Saturday’s dinner, but if not, I’ll wear a Tunisian dress.
We then took the ferry to our cruise, that we’d be riding for the next 3 nights. We went down to the first floor to have lunch. It was a buffet. I ate rice, beef shawarma, fish, veal, olives, broccoli salad, cauliflower salad, potatoes, and dessert. We then went upstairs to rest/unpack until we met up to go for our Felucca sailboat ride.
That boat looked similar to our ferry beside that it had a giant sail. We enjoyed our trip up the river. It was a nice, peaceful ride with no destination. We linked up to a motor boat for a few minutes to get us going. Children on paddle boards would hold onto the boat and sing to us. It was more annoying than cute; what did they want from us? Then was the photo shoot. We lined up to take pictures with the sail, with the sunset and shore in the background. Damn, we looked good. Jessie and I got deep on the way back to the cruise. Yay for trauma bonding. Damn. It’ll be 20 years since Ivan this year.
We got on the cruise, got the itinerary for tomorrow, and had food. It was a buffet and I had breaded chicken, fish in lemon sauce, moussaka, and dessert. Both times I had cubed mousse: strawberry and caramel, cheesecake or a tart, and something small and chocolate.
Im writing this the next morning because I started to work on school, but I downloaded the documents I need to read and take notes. I did for a bit, but I was sleepy and we leave the boat in 1.5 hours. Jessie’s 5am alarm woke me up. I turned it off and 25 minutes later another went off. I let it for a few minutes before I poked her to get it.
So yesterday we were on 3 different boats; how often does that happen?
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