I'm wandering around the Citadel and there are almost no tourists in sight. I don't know where to go and no one seems to speak English. Egyptians are not good at things like explanatory signage in any of their museums or historical monuments. I missed so many things in Saqqara because of this and now I'm trying to figure out The Citadel. I'm supposed to meet Sayid at 2pm. I'm stuck in the military museum and can't get out and it's creeping closer to the appointed meeting time.

There is a roped off path and you're supposed to follow it around through this big building. Since I'm not a military buff, I'm bored and just want to get out. In fact, I haven't found anything of interest on the Citadel grounds. I keep asking how to get but no one understands what I mean. I finally hit on the word "exit" and get pointed further down this roped off path. I can't seem to get OUT, instead I'm going further into the bowels of the building.

I finally reach the end but realize I've no clue how to get back to my meeting point with Sayid. The Citadel is sprawling and I have a horrible sense of direction. I know I'm meeting him near a road with a freeway overpass that Sayid called "a bridge" and I remember him telling me there are two entrances to the Citadel and I should meet him at the one with the bridge.

I ask a worker how to get to the exit. He doesn't understand me. He calls a friend over who doesn't understand me either. More people come over and they are all speaking excitedly with each other in Arabic. I try to draw a picture. I'm desperately trying to communicate the concept of an exit near a bridge. I draw some parallel lines and try to show cars on it.

Another man comes up and says, "can I help you?" I reply, "Insh'allah, I hope you can help me" and throw my arms up to the heavens. At this point, my potential saviors are howling with laughter as I discover that yet another person has no clue what I'm talking about because despite knowing one phase with perfect pronounciation, "can I help you?", he doesn't actually speak English either! At this point, I'm surrounded by more than a dozen men all trying to decipher what I'm saying. I'm down to 15 minutes to get to my meeting point and haven't gotten any closer to figuring out where the right exit is and even once I figure out the proper direction, it's a long walk. I haven't enjoyed anything about my Citadel experience and I just want OUT!

I start to repeat the word entrance over and over again, figuring out that I have a 50/50 chance of them pointing me to the right one, which is better than trying to explain things like bridges and two gift shops across from each other and all the other landmarks I've been trying to explain to get my point across. You can see the lightbulb going off in their heads as they point me off in the right direction. They're probably thinking "yeesh, why didnt you just say so?"

Kayla :)