Entries this day: AM_enter_Suez_Canal About_Port_Said In_the_Canal Watch_docking_process around_Port_Said_with_keiko dance!_with_Keiko

AM enter Suez Canal

7:12am AST Saturday 18 June 2005

We are in front of the Suez Canal, ready to rock in there. I got a video of the anchor chain being raised. Someone said we are the next ship to enter. There seems to be a lane through which big-ass cargo ships are plowing through. A big HYUNDAI marked ship passed us; I wonder if the more massive ships get precedence or something.

The front deck is packed with onlookers, taking pictures and chattering about whatever. There isn't a lot to see right now, but I can see the entrance of the canal. It's bigger than I guessed.

About Port Said

6:51pm JST Thursday 07 April 2005

(written before PB)

Port Said (Egypt govt) is situated on the north end of the Suez Canal (wikipedia, Egypt govt), which runs north-south from the Red Sea (between Africa and the Middle East) to the Mediterranean Sea (between Africa and Eastern Europe).

The Suez Canal was dug between 1860 and 1870 after Mohammed Said said, "yo man, hook it up" to a French cat named Lesseps. It's after Said that Port Said is named.

Khedive is the title of the Turkish rulers over Egypt between 1867 and 1914, so it's interesting to see some sites (usf.edu, Egypt govt) say Khedive Said authorized the canal in 1859.

In the Canal

8:44am AST Saturday 18 June 2005

In the middle of the canal, now. On both sides of the canal are big mounds of dirt. I'm not sure what they would be for, but there are guys walking around with machine guns on top. Usually they wave if we wave to them.

12:24pm

I have just arranged to do a language exchange with Kin, who is super genki and fun. We are looking at stuff on the bank, trying to decipher what it does / is for.

- - - -

I explained Silent Football to Toyo during lunch. I don't know how good a job I did; if he was impressed.

5:31pm AST Saturday 18 June 2005

We are at the other end of the Suez Canal, checking out a ferry about to cross the canal. This is English-with-Kin time now.

Watch docking process

5:53pm

We are docking now in Port Said, and for the first time that I've seen, docking on the port side of the ship. Usually we dock with the gangplank on the starboard side for exiting purposes. Good thing the ship is multi-talented.

7:13pm AST Saturday 18 June 2005

We've docked in Port Said, Egypt!! I'm writing this before actually getting off the ship; they say the internet cafes have USB connections so I can upload data that way. I may copy all my journal entries online in this manner.

This was the first time I had seen the docking process, since we have always arrived at like 7am in other ports. No way am I awake for that. I was all excited to see how they do it, so I ran up to the top deck to squeeze myself through the crowd a bit to get a view of the docking procedure. It wasn't as dramatic as I hoped it would be. No huge ropes being thrown: A small boat comes to the ship and someone on our ship drops a big ass rope to them. The boat takes the rope to the dock where it is hooked around the saddlehorn looking things. Do that a few times on both sides of the ship and then slowly tighten the ropes, which pulls the ship to the dock. Effective, but boring.

I'm super far behind (at least it feels that way, though a few hours of free time would catch me up) in transcribing my tapes: I'm about to finish recording on tape 7, but my transcription is lagging on tape 3, back in Singapore. Or actually the night we left Singapore.

Today I studied three different languages: Japanese (twice, plus chatting), Spanish (a bit with Adriana teaching other GET teachers), and Hebrew (?) (shit; what language was it??) with Niveen teaching anyone who was interested.

Also today I helped Hitomi with iPhoto on her computer. Honestly I wasn't very understanding/really helpful. I had shown her before and at that time she seemed to understand it, so this time I wasn't as happy to teach her.

around Port Said with keiko

9pm AST Saturday 18 June 2005

Talked to 佳子 (けいこ) while chillin' against the rail and ended up talking to her for quite a while. I told her I had been nearly married, and we played the "well, how old do you think *I* am?" game. We are nearly the same age (minus three-months-plus-four-days) and live(d) in nearly the same neighborhood in Japan. Within walking distance of one another's houses. And she visited her friend in Dallas for three weeks before hopping onboard PB.

We ate dinner in Topaz Dining, and then got ready to head out. Because Audrey had told us that Egypt is the only country in the world where she has been flat scared, and we should put our money in separate pockets, etc etc, I went for a bit of extra cash protection. I put my wallet in my shorts pocket and then put pants on over my shorts. So basically no one could pick my pocket. I trusted we wouldn't get mugged.

We walked around Port Said, and I was in guard dog mode with the meanest mean look I could muster. We had to ignore all the guys in the street saying, "hey my friend" and "only one dollar" and "where are you going?" and "have a seat here, my friend" and "where are you from? Really? My brother lives there!" etc etc. Keiko actually pulled me away from one guy from whom I was trying to politely detach myself.

I had six postcards I wanted to mail, so I asked a guy who was all, "take a taxi to blah blah blah" etc and I was like, "Dude; the stamps are on the cards; there has *got* to be a mailbox closer than a taxi ride away.." He was like, "oh, just walk down the street."

We walked down the street past the astonishing number of cell phone shops, equal number of dress shops, and a few other shops like perfume and music and ice cream, but saw no mailbox. We found an official looking building with a well-lighted foyer and a few guys behind the front desk. I went in there and showed them my stamped postcards. He looked up slowly, like Lurch from Addams Family, and slowly looked through each card. He didn't even look at me, but just gestured the cards over his shoulder, and gave them back to me.

Wow. I thought that was about the funniest thing I could ever have seen! I walked back to Keiko on the sidewalk and was like, "check this out" and we moved away from the windows so he couldn't see us. I mocked what he had done. She looked over my shoulder and he was right behind me! EEeeek!! I felt so bad for having been caught, and hoped hope hoped he didn't think anything of it. He walked us about 1/2 block to the mailbox on the corner. I probably would not have seen it without his help. Profusely thanked him and bowed and mailed my six postcards.

Now we are overlooking the canal in Port Said. There is music blasting from loudspeakers. Not drum-n-bass, but a harmony of voices being played far too loudly for the loudspeakers. Keiko guesses it's something for prayer.

Now there are a couple of guys speaking / reading something.

dance! with Keiko

11pm AST Saturday 18 June 2005

Oh my gosh. After we chilled on the wall for a bit, during which time I was no longer eyeballing strangers in I'll-kill-you-if-you-try-anything mode, but still in you-lookin-at-me? mode, we walked back toward the ship.

There seemed to be some sort of commotion across the street from the entrance. That commotion included music and cheering, so we went over to investigate. It was basically a dance party in the street, and Keiko's friends Eri and Riko were there dancing and hamming it up for the crowd!

I remained in hard-intense guard mode for a while, never letting Keiko (and her gyrating body) leave my sight. I recorded them on my little camera, and soon enough, I decided the crowd was harmless. I relaxed a bit and recognized that I also wanted to dance.

I didn't want to scare anyone with overly dramatic seizures of dance, so I just began to wiggle a toe at first. Then a foot tap included a little knee shake and it all ignited into Rob's Crazy Dance. Little kids tried to out boogie me; older guys, with quite direct eye contact and slight smiles, tried to show me their own versions of more hip-wiggling dances, which I tried for a bit, but just got back into my own groove of the music.

There were some women and young girls in the crowd, all wearing burqas, and only one older grandma type willing to dance. I tried smiling an invitation to some of the others to dance. Plenty of shy smiles all around, but they didn't want to dance. Fair enough.

Some guys left, came back for more dancing, and worked to communicate across our language barriers. I was introduced to someone's someone and we danced and it was great.

I'd be facing one way, dancing with someone and then get a taptaptap on my shoulder and turn around and be shown the latest dance move by someone else.

We became so popular in that crowd that it was literally difficult to leave... They were literally like, "noooooo" and people trying to pull us back in for more fun. But Riko and Eri had already left. I was drenched in sweat, as was Keiko. We agreed it was time to go.

For the few people who could speak English, who were all telling me how greatly we had danced, I was like, "you can do it; you have the same ability to dance as anyone."

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I talked to Kim in the hall once we were back on the ship. She had an equally awesome time. What a great friendly city!