Only Pass Feluccas from Behind

Amazingly, I don't have a photo quite appropriate for today's post, so instead you get a Proconsul africanus. Cute, isn't he?

I found out today what the sunrise on the Nile is like. Emphasis on on the Nile, because I have somehow been roped into being the coxswain for the AUC women's crew by all the other Katies, who make up the majority of the team.

Practice was at 6am sharp this morning, so up I was at 5, and in the taxi with Hye Won and a girl named Mary (Mari? that's how the coach pronounces it...) before even the first hint of light from the eastern banks.

The coach took me out in his motorboat for the majority of the time to show me what I am supposed to be doing from now on. I did swap places with the more experienced cox the team has been using (he doesn't speak English which is why they want to replace him with me) for a few minutes at one point, only to quickly realize I had no idea what to do. I asked the coach how to steer, but he wasn't sure, and the other cox (his name was Samy I think?) only made vague hand gestures at me.

I put the boat on a collision course with both a cliff on the eastern bank and, later, one of the giant concrete supports for one of the major bridges just south of al-Gezira (the island with Zamalek on it, where the dorm is). I had followed what I thought were the directions Samy had given me, but I couldn't get the boat to turn at all.

I realized later it was more the fault of the decrepitude of any and all technology in Egypt than my own because on the way back in to the team's boat-house houseboat Samy steered right into a big yacht moored on the west bank.

I fell asleep in both my classes today. I think my sleep schedule is going to require a little reorganizing.

As to the henna, I'm not dead yet, so here's hoping the coast is clear. I swear though, if I get sick one more time, somebody's going to get hurt!