After visiting the Pyramids and visiting with some friends in our nostalgia filled bubble of fun, it came time to get around to living in my new, chosen environment.  At this point in time I was still afraid to cross the streets because I wasn’t really sure if the cars would stop or if I would even survive the attempt. 
I finally solidified my class schedule, which was a treat as Egypt is very much on the other side of the scale from the US in that we are obsessed with the self, deadlines, and the regimentation of time.  However, in Egypt deadlines were kept but very seldom were they announced or even mentioned via email. It was almost as if we were supposed to anticipate them via information obtained through osmosis, or word of mouth. 
My classes were in English, with the exception of my language classes, which were invariably in Arabic.  I confess this was a safe haven for me.  Hearing my native language spoken in the academic context made me feel more at home in Egypt as there was always somewhere I could go and be understood (at least linguistically).  Culturally though, that is another story entirely, which should be spoken about at length at another time. 
In March, a friend from two of my history classes, a gorgeous and intelligent girl with a sense of adventure and I ventured out to see the world in a new light. We went to Luxor (Al-Uksur) in the Sa’id.  We saw monuments of dwarfing stature, history of breath taking length, and spoke to an entirely different breed of people.  In Cairo, people had been gracious and well-educated for the most part.  In the Sa’id, which is generally thought backwards by other Egyptians much in the same way Andalucia is thought backwards by the rest of Spain.  Education is poorer, life is more rural, and people sacrifice their educations to participate in the family business of tourism. 
We visited the Valley of the Kings, walked the 3 Km in ninety degree heat to the Valley of the Queens, saw Hatsheput’s temple from a distance and marveled at the miraculous achievements of Egypt’s past.  We crossed from the Western bank of the Nile and returned back to tourist ridden Luxor, where we found a gelateria serving heaven in a freezer for a pittance.  We relaxed and recovered from our excursions in a small restaurant. 
We spent 3 days in Luxor, but never before have I felt nor will I after feel so small, one person faced with the cumulative history of an entire civilization.  It was a humbling experience to see my import in the scale of things tangibly presented by me.
Additionally, I was able to see how Egyptians view tourists who venture to their country without considering custom or even appropriate dress.  It was embarrassing to see tour groups walk by and listen to the cab drivers complain of the disrespect for their culture shown by tourists as tourists in booty shorts and skimpy tops pranced around protected and slandered in the Sahara.  I confess I sympathized for the cabbies more than the tourists, though both seem to see the other as quasi inhuman, objectified into a solid version of the other. One subhuman for lack of financial clout, the other untrustworthy for lack of religious values.

I got a really good and only pleasant impressions from reading your last article.So after it i really have a great desire even to live there!=)