August 8, 2018: Playing tourist

I loved today. We worked til noon then all of the new teachers piled into a van and went on a historical tour of Alexandria with our high school's principal as our guide.  Our first stop was the Citadel of Qaitbay, an old fort that was built at the site of the ancient lighthouse. (Picture). Up to this point, I've really only walked through the neighborhood surrounding the school, so I was eager to get out and see more of the city.  I've never seen any structure more than a couple hundred years old, so today was a new experience.  The citadel was established 1477 (so still fairly new, although by far the oldest structure I'd seen).  At the top you could see incredible views of the city and of the sea.  We ran into dozens of very friendly locals.  They were all eager to welcome us and to speak whatever English they knew with us.  Before coming here, I spent months practicing classical Arabic in my car using the Arabic for Dummies cd.  When I got here I realized that some of the words and phrases translated, but not very many since Egptian Arabic is a little different.  Today a big group of kids came up to me and my friend and immediately began to try to communicate with us.   One little girl introduced herself to us in Arabic, and I recognized the phrase, so I introduced myself to her in Arabic as well.  The kids got so excited.  One asked me if I spoke Arabic, so I replied in Arabic, "I speak a little Arabic.  What is your name?"  I even got some applause.  It was so fun!  We went around and shook all the kids' hands.  Their faces were beaming.  I'm sure mine was too.  As we left them, one kid yelled out, "Have a nice life" to which we replied, "Thanks you too!" (in English), and all his friends giggled.

After the Citadel, we went to see some of the ruins from a Roman amphitheater and bathhouse that dated to the 2nd century (NOW, I can say I've seen some old structures!)  I learned today that most of the ancient ruins of the city are buried multiple meters below the current level of the city.  These ruins were found by accident in 1960 when construction workers were clearing the spot to build a new government building!  Who knows what other treasures could be buried underneath the city, but you can't really go around demolishing everything just to see.   As I walk around, I like to imagine what kinds of things could be hidden underneath my feet.

We ended the day with a group dinner at a Greek restaurant that had delicious food and an incredible view.  Not a bad day!