Teach Yourself Arabic: Lesson Ithnayn

I feel I must catch y'all up before I let the happenings here in Cairo pile-up to undocumentable proportions. Hopefully you'll forgive me if you find I've glossed over some details, but yarns like the previous one I weaved will take much too much time out of my non-stop party lifestyle I lead here, so you understand, of course.

I left off Thursday evening, thusly I shall begin with Friday morning: I woke up at 6:00 AM, thinking my jetlag was already on the route to being mitigated, however, unfortunately, I was mistaken, and soon found myself snoozing until noonish when I was tapped on the foot and forced to leave. Andy and I got a taxi to the dorm, and made our way to our supposedly temporary, or "maybe not", they said, residence in room 315. I introduced myself to loads of people in the lobby who were in similar situations, most of whose names I still remember (my name retention ratio here is amazing, I think I might have hit my head and got a jolt to whatever part of the brain that is, because--really!--I stunk at it before).

The Student Life coordinator led us on our merry way to get mobiles, and being as I already own an unlocked iPhone (which took the pictures in the post a little earlier), I just purchased a SIM card and some minutes. My number is 016 194 7218, but you need to add a 2 as the first digit if you are calling from somewhere that is not Cairo. I also get free incoming calls I think? Try it and see, I suppose.

Anyway, next we stopped at the grocery store and then ate ate a cafe for lunch/dinner. For some reason they kept giving us free slices of cake, including carrot, which you should all know is my favorite kind. Alex, the half-Greek, half-Egyptian leader guy told us about various subjects we were curious about, including: food at the dorms (okay), food at the hotels some people have to stay in until the other dorms are finished (amazing), travel (fun), his favorite ice cream (mint chocolate chip?), and perhaps other things.

Some stuff happened, I don't really recall, but fast forward to the hookah bar. I got a drink made from hibiscus extract, which tasted similar to red Icee syrup, but was delicious nonetheless. I--*gasp*--actually tried the different flavors of hookah, or shisha as it is called in Egypt, which were peach, apple, mango, and... apple again? After that some more stuff happened, and eventually Andy, Max, Mike, Tiffany, Wagma, myself (and some others) strutted into the night to find excitement.

At first they went towards the same hookah bar we'd been to previously, but I talked them into trying to find some place further away, perhaps downtown. We walked for about an hour, through Zamalek (the island I live on) and along the bridge across the Nile (dodging traffic all the way). It was exhilarating, to say the least. Bored of the busy, car-filled streets, we turned down an alley, which may or may not have been a good idea. There were absolutely no women outside, and a group of ten American students was an extremely conspicuous sight. There were lots of stray cats (which is actually true of everywhere in Cairo, but especially in this alley), along with some butchers cutting up goats (stacking their heads in a pile, which was very interesting). After progressing through the stares of the locals, we moved on to bigger, less dark streets.

We were most certainly lost, because none of the names on the streets corresponded to names in our Lonely Planet guide's maps, so--after two hours of wandering--everyone except Andy and I jumped in a cab and went back to Zamalek for drinks and shisha. The two of us walked around for another few hours, meeting a guy name Cariim (who has a brother that lives in Uptown Minneapolis), who then tried to sell us perfume extract, which is what they make perfume from, I guess? Later on, after sitting peacefully by the Nile watching bats chase mosquitoes, another guy propositioned us for... *ahem* sexual relations. Being that homosexuality is a criminal offense in Egypt, I was surprised at his forwardness, but he was too pretty for me anyway, so we politely refused (after he touched Andy's lips with his finger), and went on our way. :)

It was well into Saturday when we got home and went to sleep, which I only did for four hours before I was woken up to go to the mall. We spent an hour waiting and driving, four hours there, and an hour coming back. I bought some soap, a dish for the soap, and some deodorant. For our room (which ended up being a permanent assignment), Andy and I bought a hotplate and a pot and pan. We'll be cooking to save money, even though I have never spent more than $5 on any single meal yet. At the dorms I: met another of my three roommates, Jonah (from Colorado), who went to sleep soon after unpacking, attended a pre-orientation for all the study abroad students (who continue to arrive in droves), and then was off again to the Nile for a boat ride.

We went to where a bunch of falukas were docked, which are sailboat-like things, but they apparently didn't have enough for all the students to go at once, so I chatted with people and took pictures of the kitties before getting a turn. Pretty much all I have to say is: awesome! We came back home, met our final roommate, Mark (from Michigan), and then he, Andy, and I left again to go out to dinner with Ashraf. Our courteous guide picked us up and drove us to Tahrir Square, basically the downtown area (where we had been trying to go last night), and we ate koshry, a dish that consists of: smaller, macoroni-ish noodles, rice, lentils, onions, spices, and maybe some other kind of bean? It was delicious, and I asked Ashraf how to make it so that I can feed y'all when I get back. You'll like it, I am sure.

After dinner, we came back, met a new, pregnant cat in our dorm, and then I'm here. Jonah is still asleep, and the other guys are either sleeping or quietly on their computers, I can't tell. So, now that I have caught you all up, I'll probably stick to shorter posts from now on. I've been writing for an hour now, and I have to wake up at 7:00 AM for the real orientation tomorrow!

The things I do for my adoring fans...

P.S. Post comments or send me e-mails, please! I'll post more pictures as they are taken, and my address when I figure out what it is (but I hear the postal service is notoriously slow, so don't expect much in the way of replies for a few weeks after it is sent). I'm out.