Three Days

I leave on Wednesday. I’m taking a bus from Bangor to Boston Wednesday morning, flying from Boston to New York at six o’clock Wednesday evening, switching airlines and headed to Amman, Jordan sometime that night, and then making the hop, skip, and jump of a flight from Amman to Cairo. If everything goes according to plan, I should be in Cairo by seven o’clock Thursday night. This should be interesting. On the up side, at least I won’t be setting foot on a Greyhound bus; if you don’t already know my numerous Greyhound horror stories, you really should ask me sometime.

To say that I don’t fly often would be quite an understatement. This summer I set foot on a plane for the first time in ten years. I’m glad I did, because otherwise I would be more of a nervous wreck about this marathon series of flights than I already am, and that wouldn’t do anyone any good. What I’m most nervous about is switching airlines in New York. I have this nightmarish vision of myself riding around endlessly on the airport trains or busses trying, but ultimately failing, to find the right terminal. This won’t happen, I just have an overactive imagination, but it’s still a concern. As long as I don’t get stranded in New York, I’ll be happy. At least in Jordan I could practice my Arabic. 

So, a few facts for the trip, in case anyone is planning an expedition to Egypt in the future:

There is a seven hour time difference between Egypt and the East Coast of the U.S. So, when it’s 7 a.m. for me, it’ll be midnight back here at home. 

I don’t have a visa yet, and I don’t need to worry about it. Tourist visas are granted to U.S. citizens automatically at airports in Egypt, provided you have $15 in relatively new U.S. currency.

15% of all mail sent to and from Egypt never gets to the intended recipient. So, if you’re feeling friendly and want to send me letters, don’t be too offended if they don’t get to me, or if my response doesn’t get to you. If you write to me and I get the letter, I’ll write back, I promise. 

They have the interwebs in Egypt! Unfortunately, it has a tendency to be quite unreliable. I will be checking my email, but facebook will probably be a rarity. Also, I’ve committed to a language pledge, so unless you want to talk to me in Arabic, I’ve got to keep communication with those of you back home to a minimum.  I’ll try to update this blog as often as I can, but in general, no news is good news. Also, as of Wednesday my cell phone will no longer be with me, so you’re out of luck if you’re trying to contact me that way.

On that note, wish me luck.

How exactly do you say "I'm a sternman" in Arabic?

Since it would get terribly annoying if I just wrote about my pre-Egypt anxiety for a month, I’m dedicating this post to my day job. Enjoy.

Sternman: A not so ancient or dignified profession. Put simply, a sternman is any worker on a lobster boat other than the captain. The title is derived from the fact that this person, formerly always a man, works behind the captain, and towards the stern (rear) of the boat. 

Interested in being a sternman? Here’s what you need to know:

1. Everything is your fault. Always. No matter what. If the captain misses a buoy, it’s your fault. If it’s raining, it’s your fault. Period.

2. There’s always more work for you to do. Here’s a short list of your potential duties: Filling bait bags, measuring lobsters, banding lobsters, charming lobsters, tending traps, doing battle with all number of unhappy sea creatures including urchins and eels, bait management, scrubbing, cleaning, washing, minor engine maintenance, and tying up the boat. Now, as a final point, all of this is irrelevant. Your job is whatever the captain tells you it is at any particular time. 

3. If it smells foul, looks disgusting, contains slime, grease, or other unfortunate fluids, or if it just gives you the overwhelming feeling that you need to vomit, it’s your domain. A helpful hint to all aspiring sternmen: befriend the maggots, they’re really quite cute. 

4. Always know where your knife is. It’s very useful and it could save your life or the life of the captain if one of you gets tangled in the rope.

Moral of the story, it’s no picnic being a sternman. It does have some perks, though. Really neat things tend to happen on the ocean if you’re out there often enough. In the last two days, I’ve seen a big harbor seal playing around in the water, a pod (I think the correct term is pod, like it is with dolphins...I’ll have to check on this) of porpoises, and seas so high that a boat running parallel to us was at least seven feet below us. 

It’s not glamorous, and it’s not always fun, but it’s a job that I really enjoy. Hopefully it will continue to keep me sane during the next month.

Explanations and Expectations

In twenty-seven days I’m going on an adventure. I’m getting on a bus, and then a plane, and I’m traveling across seven time zones to Alexandria, Egypt. I don’t know exactly what I’ll encounter or when I’ll be back, but I do know that  in one way or another this will be a life-altering experience.

Let me back up a bit for anyone not entirely familiar with my situation:

I’m Jessie, a Junior at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. where I’m pursuing a self-designed major in Middle East Studies. In September, I’m going to the University of Alexandria through the C.V. Starr-Middlebury program in the Middle East to study (primarily) Arabic in an immersion-based environment. I will be staying for an academic year, or possibly a semester, depending on my experience there and any effects it may have on my view of my future, academic and beyond.

I’m in the midst of getting ready for this adventure by rounding up my best guess at culturally-appropriate clothing, getting my finances and paperwork in order, and collecting more vaccines than I’ve had in the past nineteen years. I’m also working as a sternman on a lobster boat out of Corea, Maine, as I have for five of my last seven summers.

Needless to say I’m a very busy, and very tired person right now. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to relax for a few days before I have to leave, because I certainly won’t be catching much rest in Alexandria for a while. In addition to the jet-lag, I won’t be flying directly into Alexandria, and will have to devise some way to make the two-hour drive from Cairo to the university. This may mean a taxi, a train, or a van provided by the Middlebury program. At this point, my mode of transportation, much like many other things about the next year, is uncertain. In the meantime, there is nothing for me to do but wait.