Scuba diving was so amazing! My skin was so excited to feel the sun! It was just wonderful. The wet suits, on the other hand, not so fun. We all got better at it, but in the beginning it was a three person job to get the dang things over my hips. Jumping up and down, doing squats, stretching arms…all just to get the stupid suit to move an inch further towards where it’s supposed to go…all the cultural norms I am growing used to were thrown out the window. Like I said, three men grabbing the wet suit, closer to my body than any Arab man in any other setting would come, and pulling up, zipping up…I just sat back and held my breath. You have to roll them up like panty hose… I couldn’t tell if these men who worked on the ship were used to having to help people in to the suits, or if they were taking advantage of me…but I seriously couldn’t get the things on by myself in the beginning. By the end of the trip though, it was no big deal. I could do it myself. No embarrasing jumping up and down. No embarrassing hold up right at the widest parts of my body…haha. Gotta laugh at it. The smaller the suit, the warmer they are, as they let less water in…but holy cow. The fish were amazing, the coral beautiful, the water so calming. I can’t wait to go again… We had lunch between dives and the food was, “cultural”. It was wonderful, but very different. Lots of grease. Vegetables cooked/fried in spice and olive oil. Rice, chicken, labna, pita bread, cucumber salad (tons of olive oil…) But water makes me starving so we all scarfed it down. Felt so good to eat in the clean air and in the sun unfiltered by smog. The hotel was kind of funny. On the outside it looked nice and had a very nice little café with Shisha and beer and coffee…the rooms were HUGE…with living room and kitchen in every double. Only 140LE a night for a double (24 dollars). But the plaster was falling off the walls, everything was a little dirty, and no hot water! Yet, we figured out that we could have had hot water if we’d figured out how to turn the water heater in our room on…sigh. It was the funniest little place, I’m having a hard time explaining it. We just spent time in the café and passing out before getting up to dive again so it was perfect. Hurghada’s an interesting little town. It completely revolves around scuba diving. Everything in Hurghada is in three languages, Arabic, English and Russian. Yes, Russian. Apparently Hurghada is THE place for Russian tourists. A lot of the cultural norms found in Cairo as far as modest dress etc. were not present in Hurghada…it was kind of refreshing. But I found myself shocked to see women in shorts,. Wow, my prespectives have changed quickly! I try to respect the culture, and covering up doesn’t really seem all THAT confining…yet being able to show a little skin this weekend was glorious!!