Thursday
____________________
This was exactly the point when my hard drive crashed and burned into oblivion.
I have not yet fixed my computer but expect to get that taken care of this coming weekend.
Obviously, many things have happened in the meantime, namely, Gwladys came to visit me for 4 days and, another session of class has come to an end. I also walked in the street with Atef while linking arms, just like real Egyptian 'men'... Aftef says in 100 days I'll be a real Egyptian... luckily I'm leaving before then.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Cairo day 58, Egyptian social structure...
Wednesday
So, Hanging out with Angela the other day. She, by the way has an apartment tantamount in quality but for a much lesser price. This makes me slightly angry, but in a way, I'm still slightly ahead of the curve; she lived in the AUC zamalek dorms last semester which were much more expensive than my apartment... If I were to live here again another semester, I would know how to find cheaper too.
She was telling me a little about the Egyptian social structure...
On TWO occasions, a male (different each time) friend of hers came to visit later in evening, possibly late into the night. When they came down to their car, the tire, tires (two of them), respectively, had been slashed.
That's what you get for being Egyptian and hanging out with foreign girls...
Another thing, even more recent because it happened to C. Her neighbor, because she was having men over, called the cops on her at least 6 times. Finally, the cops responded, came by and told them about the complaint, originating from one of her neighbors. The weird thing is, that night when they all came home, they were REALLY quiet in the stairwell. Even had the keys pulled out of their pocket before reaching the door. Then all they were doing was watching a movie on a laptop which is also really quiet. Conclusion, the only way the crazy neighbor could have known is if he saw them through the peep hole...
There is absolutely nothing illegal about having boys over, especially for foreigners, but again, an Egyptian was with them, so haram... The Egyptian gave some money to the cop and they went away.
Saw Rochan, her friend, as did like 4 hours of convo with Atef. Rochan offered a nice point of view on the to Brazil or not to Brazil (it can be rephrased in another way as well) mushkila. Lately I have been getting various opinions on that issue.
So, Hanging out with Angela the other day. She, by the way has an apartment tantamount in quality but for a much lesser price. This makes me slightly angry, but in a way, I'm still slightly ahead of the curve; she lived in the AUC zamalek dorms last semester which were much more expensive than my apartment... If I were to live here again another semester, I would know how to find cheaper too.
She was telling me a little about the Egyptian social structure...
On TWO occasions, a male (different each time) friend of hers came to visit later in evening, possibly late into the night. When they came down to their car, the tire, tires (two of them), respectively, had been slashed.
That's what you get for being Egyptian and hanging out with foreign girls...
Another thing, even more recent because it happened to C. Her neighbor, because she was having men over, called the cops on her at least 6 times. Finally, the cops responded, came by and told them about the complaint, originating from one of her neighbors. The weird thing is, that night when they all came home, they were REALLY quiet in the stairwell. Even had the keys pulled out of their pocket before reaching the door. Then all they were doing was watching a movie on a laptop which is also really quiet. Conclusion, the only way the crazy neighbor could have known is if he saw them through the peep hole...
There is absolutely nothing illegal about having boys over, especially for foreigners, but again, an Egyptian was with them, so haram... The Egyptian gave some money to the cop and they went away.
Saw Rochan, her friend, as did like 4 hours of convo with Atef. Rochan offered a nice point of view on the to Brazil or not to Brazil (it can be rephrased in another way as well) mushkila. Lately I have been getting various opinions on that issue.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
cairo day 56 Haricots verts sautés (sauté(ed) (the 'ed' is redundant.
A seemingly delicious recipe I, alas, found too late for tonight but will try tomorrow:
http://darna.canalblog.com/archives/2008/01/22/4380850.html
I like green beans.
I also liked talking to my convo partner today.
He told me about how he flirts with a girl who is married, but just does it for kicks and isn't really interested in her.
He also told me his plans to move to España and marry a friend of his there in order to gain residency. That, or just live there illegally.
He hates how everyone tries to rip everyone off here, especially in tourism, and that the source of this is the government, I will inquire further tomorrow.
Had a surprise call from Afef, my convo partner, who, with a friend, was looking for an apartment to rent and thought it might be a good idea to call me to see if anything was available in my building. It just so happens that I exchanged numbers with a man who was trying to rent out his flat the other day... didn't work out through as the length of their desired contracts differed quite a bit (5 days and one year)
early bird gets the worm.
http://darna.canalblog.com/archives/2008/01/22/4380850.html
I like green beans.
I also liked talking to my convo partner today.
He told me about how he flirts with a girl who is married, but just does it for kicks and isn't really interested in her.
He also told me his plans to move to España and marry a friend of his there in order to gain residency. That, or just live there illegally.
He hates how everyone tries to rip everyone off here, especially in tourism, and that the source of this is the government, I will inquire further tomorrow.
Had a surprise call from Afef, my convo partner, who, with a friend, was looking for an apartment to rent and thought it might be a good idea to call me to see if anything was available in my building. It just so happens that I exchanged numbers with a man who was trying to rent out his flat the other day... didn't work out through as the length of their desired contracts differed quite a bit (5 days and one year)
early bird gets the worm.
Cairo day 55
Sunday
you know you're pumping Arabic when you see a word in English and immediately think of its translation.
Today is exemplified by me stepping out of the house for one hour only, about the time it took me to walk to the coffee shop, NOT need to order a coffee because the waiter already knew what I wanted without asking, and studying vocab, and thinking.
Basically I did homework all day. When my brain hurt, I took a break to eat vegetables, do push-ups and watch tv in Arabic. I also wrote some emails and touched bases with France this winter and my dad for summer.
In the shower, I realized, that I'm only 21 and will have lived in four continents/countries come next year. Pretty cool, and yes, I sense a tad bit of me being full of myself here, as four countries doesn't really mean too much.
Tomorrow after school, I shall my ballot, print out more papers for My argentina study abroad program (medical forms, host family forms :-) and the works so that I may fax them to the US again. This is really quite annoying as faxing stuff here is slow. I told Angela about this last night and she said "oh yea, I still need to send that in". As she is voting for the opposite candidate as I am, I really don't care, but still, I wonder if she'll be able to get that out in time. She has one week.
I also need to get more details as to Ahmed's nuweiba resort so that I may tell Jeremy about it so he may book his airplane tickets for sometime around eid (8-11th of December). I also need to see how many days we have off from school.
Can't wait for media class tomorrow. I'm waking up to bbc news, for sure. This is tantamount to waking me up with a swift kick in the butt, inciting me to wake up and learn more Arabic before it's too late.
you know you're pumping Arabic when you see a word in English and immediately think of its translation.
Today is exemplified by me stepping out of the house for one hour only, about the time it took me to walk to the coffee shop, NOT need to order a coffee because the waiter already knew what I wanted without asking, and studying vocab, and thinking.
Basically I did homework all day. When my brain hurt, I took a break to eat vegetables, do push-ups and watch tv in Arabic. I also wrote some emails and touched bases with France this winter and my dad for summer.
In the shower, I realized, that I'm only 21 and will have lived in four continents/countries come next year. Pretty cool, and yes, I sense a tad bit of me being full of myself here, as four countries doesn't really mean too much.
Tomorrow after school, I shall my ballot, print out more papers for My argentina study abroad program (medical forms, host family forms :-) and the works so that I may fax them to the US again. This is really quite annoying as faxing stuff here is slow. I told Angela about this last night and she said "oh yea, I still need to send that in". As she is voting for the opposite candidate as I am, I really don't care, but still, I wonder if she'll be able to get that out in time. She has one week.
I also need to get more details as to Ahmed's nuweiba resort so that I may tell Jeremy about it so he may book his airplane tickets for sometime around eid (8-11th of December). I also need to see how many days we have off from school.
Can't wait for media class tomorrow. I'm waking up to bbc news, for sure. This is tantamount to waking me up with a swift kick in the butt, inciting me to wake up and learn more Arabic before it's too late.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Cairo day 54, mish ashur bil hgurba delwokti
Saturday
was good. Talked to a Nayru and Pirus on skype which was very nice. Washed clothes, went to a modeling agency to try and get recruited for work while I'm here. Apparently it pays well. They said they'd call me back if they are interested... never a good sign. Also met up with Atef for convo partner stuff. He's paying now, for extra time going over English. This small revenue should really cut down on my taking money out of my bank account, except for rent.
Took care, or rather, began to take care of voting procedures. This was annoying. Involved printing out pages of absentee ballot stuff. Had to run to three different internet/fax places. Basically, to vote in Illinois, you need to print out your absentee ballot, fill it out, fax it to the Chicago City Board of Election Commissioners and then send it to them physically. They have to receive my letter 14 days after, at the latest, for it to count. Which, to me, makes no sense. What if they don't receive it, does my vote get voided? Weird. Anyway, I voted, provided my letter gets there in the next three weeks. I have the two envelopes ready to go, just need to go downtown to the post office.
And then the fax place wanted my address, nationality, and passport number in order for me to send the fax. I didn't have it so I made it up. No problems there... It took about 20 minutes to send a 3 page fax though.
Met up with Mohammad, angela and Chris and Teresa too. Went to Mohammed's place to watch a movie, called "the fall" it sucked, well, it was good when i was awake. But I think I spent most of the time sleeping on his bed. I think most of us were of the same opinion. and then he had us watch 30 rock, some show with tina fey. nothing special there either.
Ahmed, his pretty cool friend mentioned that we might all go to this dad's resort in Nuweiba for Eid. All inclusive, free. Sounds pretty sweet.
Lately I've been interested in going to Dubai. I need to meet someone who has hook ups there. Chris and I might also go check out Lebanon, by plane, during Eid, which i'd rather do than Nuweiba, but again, we'll see about that.
Got home at 4am. I love hanging out at Mohammeds, but I'd like it more if it was during the day. two of my weekends and one of my weeks has been screwed up sleepwise so far, and i've only known him for a little more than one week. I'm getting too old.
Last night, for the first time, as I was coming home to my apartment door, I had the feeling that I was coming home, to my home, by base, the Thibaud HQ.
was good. Talked to a Nayru and Pirus on skype which was very nice. Washed clothes, went to a modeling agency to try and get recruited for work while I'm here. Apparently it pays well. They said they'd call me back if they are interested... never a good sign. Also met up with Atef for convo partner stuff. He's paying now, for extra time going over English. This small revenue should really cut down on my taking money out of my bank account, except for rent.
Took care, or rather, began to take care of voting procedures. This was annoying. Involved printing out pages of absentee ballot stuff. Had to run to three different internet/fax places. Basically, to vote in Illinois, you need to print out your absentee ballot, fill it out, fax it to the Chicago City Board of Election Commissioners and then send it to them physically. They have to receive my letter 14 days after, at the latest, for it to count. Which, to me, makes no sense. What if they don't receive it, does my vote get voided? Weird. Anyway, I voted, provided my letter gets there in the next three weeks. I have the two envelopes ready to go, just need to go downtown to the post office.
And then the fax place wanted my address, nationality, and passport number in order for me to send the fax. I didn't have it so I made it up. No problems there... It took about 20 minutes to send a 3 page fax though.
Met up with Mohammad, angela and Chris and Teresa too. Went to Mohammed's place to watch a movie, called "the fall" it sucked, well, it was good when i was awake. But I think I spent most of the time sleeping on his bed. I think most of us were of the same opinion. and then he had us watch 30 rock, some show with tina fey. nothing special there either.
Ahmed, his pretty cool friend mentioned that we might all go to this dad's resort in Nuweiba for Eid. All inclusive, free. Sounds pretty sweet.
Lately I've been interested in going to Dubai. I need to meet someone who has hook ups there. Chris and I might also go check out Lebanon, by plane, during Eid, which i'd rather do than Nuweiba, but again, we'll see about that.
Got home at 4am. I love hanging out at Mohammeds, but I'd like it more if it was during the day. two of my weekends and one of my weeks has been screwed up sleepwise so far, and i've only known him for a little more than one week. I'm getting too old.
Last night, for the first time, as I was coming home to my apartment door, I had the feeling that I was coming home, to my home, by base, the Thibaud HQ.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Cairo day 52
Thursday
Arabic Media class was awesome, as usual, I am actually looking forward this weekend's homework. In general, I feel like I have been making progress in Arabic and getting more out of being in Cairo as opposed to, say an intensive Arabic camp at Middlebury.
I had a very nice conversation about religion with Angela's best Egyptian friend. In hindsight, I'm starting to think this may have been social suicide, but I'm glad we talked and 'I mostly' shared 'my' ideas 'with him' one another. It was more one-way. I won't go into details because I would like to watch a movie before going to bed.
Otherwise, I met with Atef again, met some of the classmates from his English class. Ate some koshary in front of the mugamma. Later, met up with C, A, M, and A for, again picnic with sweets (helwas) in front of the mugamma. Good night, didn't get home too late.
Arabic Media class was awesome, as usual, I am actually looking forward this weekend's homework. In general, I feel like I have been making progress in Arabic and getting more out of being in Cairo as opposed to, say an intensive Arabic camp at Middlebury.
I had a very nice conversation about religion with Angela's best Egyptian friend. In hindsight, I'm starting to think this may have been social suicide, but I'm glad we talked and 'I mostly' shared 'my' ideas 'with him' one another. It was more one-way. I won't go into details because I would like to watch a movie before going to bed.
Otherwise, I met with Atef again, met some of the classmates from his English class. Ate some koshary in front of the mugamma. Later, met up with C, A, M, and A for, again picnic with sweets (helwas) in front of the mugamma. Good night, didn't get home too late.
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