Day 27-30 - Beni Suef

I received a phone call at noon on Thursday from Diana telling me our train left at 2:00 not 4:00. I was still at the center at this time so I had to make my way home, pack and pick up something to eat. It was a bit rushed but I made it to the train station with time to spare, especially considering our train was an hour late. Once Diana, Josh and I got on the train it was a bit of a relief. We had 2nd class tickets (only 40 pounds, ~$8) which meant there was to be A/C but alas it did not work in our car so it was a bit of a hot trip. The scenery was beautiful. Farmland mostly with families in the fields, some animals, even a few tractors. A nice change from cars, concrete and brick.

Beni Suef is smaller than Cairo, which was wonderful. The streets less busy, cheap taxi rides (2 pounds) and not as much honking and crazy driving. It is also not as safe for foreigners. From what I understand safety for foreigners are not as safe in Upper Egypt. There is not as much security and most of the areas are more conservative. It is not very common to see a foreigner in Beni Suef or surrounding areas. It is also better to say you are Canadian and not American. We had to be careful with security, because there is a great chance if they know you are in the town, they will follow you where ever you go and you end up having to pay them. We were only followed by security at the train station on the way home. We were just happy they did not follow us on the train.
The whole reason I was in Beni Suef was so that Diana and Josh could see their MCC friends Keith and Sofia and their kids. They are leaving in July so I was invited to come along with them. It was great. Sofia and Keith are great people and their kids Isabel and Pickle/DuDu (Dominic) are very cute.
We slept, read, watched movies, and ate yummy, very sweet bogeshi one evening (pastry with whipped cream), and visited most of the weekend. I did get out to the market with Keith which was nice because I got to see a bit of Beni Suef and we went to what is called English Table. This is a time for Keith and Sofia's classes to come and meet to speak English with each other. We sat in a club right down by the Nile and chatted. It was really nice and fun to talk to more Egyptians. I told them I work mostly with Sudanese and the 2 girls I was talking to, with slightly shocked faces, asked "Are they nice people?". I think they were quite astounded that I work with refugees...very interesting to see their reactions.
On Saturday, Diana, Josh and I went to Darel Bayad, which is a monestary I think...We bought some pop and relaxed down by the Nile. It was beautiful. There were kids there and they were just a chattering about us and starring. Josh said something to them in Arabic and they immediately went silent. It was hilarious. I love peoples reactions when they think that us foreigners don't know Arabic, then we speak it and they can't believe it.

We left Beni Suef on our hourish late train around 11:45am. I went with Diana to her house because I was going to go to work with her at the orphanage tonight. Fowler seems like a great place. We got there at 6 and played with the kids until 9. I was feeling pretty worn out by the end of it. The kids were excited that I was there. It was really nice to see where Diana works and meet the girls she works with. There are 75 girls at this orphanage from toddler to teenagers. It was fun. I bought some fruit and tomatoes in the market on the way home. 20 cents for a kilo of tomatoes. Oh man and I saw grapes, I am so excited to buy some....

So this was my first experience out of Cairo and it was wonderful. No crazy stories to tell but that is just fine. Relaxation is good for a person. I can see why Beni Suef is a place Diana goes to get away from Cairo.