Birthday Bonanza, Part I
June 19, 2004
Woo. Just got back from yet another weekend on the North Coast�
But first lemme talk about last weekend�s trip to the North Coast for Meeni�s birthday. It might make things easier to first give a cast of characters: Of course there was Meeni, who will from now on be known as �Mini� as dubbed by the second character in this story, Perfect Gentleman or PG (the name will be made clear later) cause she's bite size. Then there is Luka, our hostess for the weekend, Keitt, the boy who drove us there, and finally, yours truly. There were others, of course, but this is the main cast.
So after a crazy Thursday at work and class, I rushed to a bookstore in a last minute attempt to find Mini a better present than the CD I�d burned for her, and then finally home to pick up my things and get ready to leave the house. We were all supposed to meet near the exit to the Alexandria highway, and leave around 6:30 pm. I got a call from Mini and Luka at around 6 to tell me that they still hadn�t left Heliopolis (about 30 mins away) and were still going to go downtown to pick up PG so I had some time before I had to meet them. We finally ended up meeting at 8 and having to go find Keitt who was supposed to drive us all up there in his family�s mini van. Keitt, like many Egyptians has an impeccable sense of timing. So�yeah, after fixing a last minute flat tire, and changing his mind about which car to drive, we finally got moving at 9:30 pm. Keitt, though, did a decent job of moving fast and we managed to do the 2.5-3 hour drive in 2 hours flat. We got to Luka�s beach house stocked the fridge with �goodies� and then Keitt, PG and I (we don�t really know each other) just sat and stared at each other in total silence, while Mini and Luka were god-knows-where for about 20. Eventually, Mini walked in and asked if this was �the library� which managed to get us moving a bit, trying to turn on the TV so we�d at least have an excuse NOT to talk to each other. (Let me just say that while I think PG is pretty chill, Keitt and I spent the weekend alternately bristling at each other, and joking like old friends. Moody bastard.)
Anyway, we started drinking but we were all just too tired to get into it. Bing tired, of course, didn�t stop us from staying up till 6 am. Well, at least Mini, PG, and I did talking about�what else? Relationships. See, PG, who is visiting from England for a few months just recently broke up with his girlfriend of a couple years and he�s in that phase where he wants a rebound, but is still pining. (Oh yeah, his ex is a lap dancer. Anyone who�s heard Wyclef�s �Perfect Gentleman� should get the nickname. Sort of.)
Anyway, so it was cool all of us trading relationships stories through the night like it was college all over again. Even though I�d only met PG twice before he seemed pretty comfortable with divulging a lot of personal info in front of me. So we three stayed up and decided to watch the sunrise then we all crashed.
Next morning Mini and Luka woke up at 9:30 and went for a jog (crazy!). Since we were all sleeping in the same room I woke up when I heard them leaving, so I got up too, and got my suit on. We figured we�d go for a swim in the pool when they got back, and then head to the beach once the boys got up and our other friends arrived. The pool ended up being empty, and we were in need of a some food supplies so I ended up biking to the nearest supermarket (which was about a mile away) and picking some stuff up. By noon we were ready to head down to the beach. PG and I were the real whiteys of the group, so we took extra care with applying sunscreen. This didn�t stop us from ending up burnt to a crisp though. Keitt (who was still asleep when we left for the beach) eventually ended up joining us a couple hours later and brought beer and rum along as well as his �surfing� kite. I still don�t really understand if this thing is supposed to be used for sand surfing or what, but he had this huge, nylon kite that we spent a total of about two hours trying to get up in the air, succeeding only a couple of times one of which resulted in Keitt being pulled up 3 feet into the air and then tossed back down into the sand, head first.
Mini,Luka, and I gave up after we realized that the workers who were putting in a new walkway on the beach were enjoying the sights a little too much.
Eventually a second group of friends showed up and the drinking and sunning were in full swing, and Mango managed to sucker the second group into helping him with his kite, but the thing just never really took off.
Mini and I, though, did end up getting kinda tipsy on the beach and found endless minutes of amusement trying to tip each other over into the sand.
I had this pretty cool moment where I was probably the most tipsy (which was really not too much) and I decided to take a tip into the water. It was near sunset at that point and so there were all sorts of pretty shadows in the water, and I dove under and it was just really quiet and kind of eerie, and when I came up for air I felt kind of lost looking back at all my friends on the beach. So it was a kind of sad, but also pretty and serene moment.
Anyway, we all (those staying in the house, and the 5 other friends who had joined us on the beach) decided to get Mini�s birthday celebrations going, and headed back to Luka�s house for dinner. Mini actually did all the cooking which was yummy, but we all pitched in with the prep. So we ate, we drank, we had cake, we watched Dangerous Minds (�There are no victims in this classroom!�) and A Few Good Men (�Did you order the CODE RED!�) and a good time was had by all. There were many different things going on at all times, but we were all generally kind of subdued though we did get pretty caught up on this joke which was unfortunately being made at the expense of PG who doesn�t speak any Arabic. He made some comment about how he could never date/kiss a smoker and one of the guys there who had been trying to quit for a while, and who is also married kept saying in Arabic, "Well, why not come kiss me? Yalla, let's kiss." This had us cracking up, and PG really confused. The guy's wife made us all feel really bad about having fun at PG's expense though...Yeah. We were kind of mean. No one got really drunk because we were all pretty tired and not too keen on hardcore partying, though Luka and I did get to the point where we were so tired and had had enough to drink that we weren�t sure which was exactly the cause of our silliness. We all hung out till about 3 am, and eventually I passed out on the couch at 4-ish while PG and Mini pretty much continued our conversation from the night before while I snored in their midst.
The next day, Saturday, was the day we were leaving, but we still managed to get a couple hours of fun in and I played volleyball with Mini and Luka for quite a while. I�ve still got the virgin bruises on my arms. I generally tried to avoid the beach though because the wind the day before had deceived me into thinking I was not too getting too much sun, which I realized was not the case when I woke up Saturday morning red and in pain (though it�s all a decent tan now). The day, though, was generally uneventful with Mini, PG, and I getting into yet another long-ass conversation, and occasionally tuning in to catch the UEFA cup match between Greece and Portugal. (Greece won! Go figure).
At around 8pm we decided to roll out, and on the way home I started to feel really sick. By the time we were back in Cairo I pretty much had a full blown sore throat and cold. I got home at around 11pm and had to be at work the next day by 9 am in order to finish some work I was supposed to have done over the weekend. I obviously wasn�t too happy about that�.
Hmm...now that I�ve written all this down it�s not as exciting as I remember it being. I had a pretty good time though, and got to be more friendly with PG and Luka who are awesome. I�m working on getting some pictures up, and I�ll update about my OWN birthday celebrations as soon as I can. It might be a little more interesting as it involves a club, some inappropriate dancing with a stick, and a whole lot of people who call themselves my friends buying me drinks like it�s going out of style.