Spring semester is well over and I have taken the last week to relax and work on some design projects. We finally got a cleaner to help control the mess that accumulates so quickly here. Seriously, I dust a countertop and by nightfall there is already a new fine layer of dust. Sha'bam comes twice a week and we pay him the equivalent of $7 each time for four to five hours of work. Definitely worth the money. It's nice. The place seems better, no more pizza boxes left out for a week and no more dusty floors.
Last week I spent five days at a camp between Cairo and Alex. The Christian group on campus was responsible for organizing the time and they did a great job. The place was nice with a huge pool, sports facilities and comfortable living quarters. The entire time was filled with enjoyable activities, singing, sunbathing, etc. I even rode a horse for an afternoon and have the chafe marks to prove it!
Well, Kristi and I are getting married. It still feels weird to say that. I even blanch at calling her my fiancé, but every time I get more used to it. We’re both really happy and excited for the future. The time doesn’t seem to pass fast enough! Of course wedding plan talks have already begun. There really is a lot to decide even this far out. I can see why people hire coordinators for this kind of thing, but I really don’t mind being involved in all the details. I’m stuck here in Egypt for another six months so I can’t really provide anything but moral support, a listening ear, and opinions. The hard work is left up to Kristi! We don’t have a date fixed yet, but we have it narrowed down to next summer. You all will know when I do!
The doctor came over today (our landlord) and I signed the contract for the place over the next six months. He’s installing a new air conditioner in my room, part of the bargain I struck before signing the contract. It’s going to be new and the split kind that cordons the loud portion of the unit outside and the quiet vent inside; supposedly it’s almost perfectly quiet. We’ll see. It should be installed in a few days.
Marius and Nicole are gone now, off gallivanting around Palestine, saving the world with some NGO. It was definitely sad to see them go. The four of us really got along well. At least they will be back in a few weeks for a day right before their flight takes them to New York (Marius is going along to spend the summer at his girlfriend’s place in upstate.) In the meantime their rooms have been filled by Sandra, a graduate student, and Neal a recent arrival from Boston and here for the summer to study Arabic. They are both really cool and I’m happy to have them.
The sun has just set here. This time of day is especially beautiful as the daylight fades and all the lights emerge over the Nile. Night is prime time for feluccas and the river is quickly crawling with neon illuminated boats playing loud music that I can hear clearly from my balcony. On the other side of the flat, Midan Tehrir turns bright with street lights and the shining billboards held aloft above the buildings. My favorite is the Coca Cola sign which alternated between English and Arabic: “Drink Coca Cola” and “Ashrab Koka Kola.” All the workday traffic congestion has emptied by now and the giant traffic circle is filled with cars of people headed out to for shopping in Talat Harb, or one of the many cinema’s. Arabic films are dominated by Egyptian filmmakers and Cairo has its own miniature Hollywood district where all the big film companies reside. And oh! are the movies ever bad! Terrible acting, cheap production, but the locals still love them and turn out in droves across the middle east. It’s actually beneficial to learn the Egyptian dialect over others because people across the middle east generally understand Egyptian colloquial because of the pan-influence of the media industry here.
It’s about time to start dinner. Rob and I went shopping at Alpha Mart yesterday and we picked up some butter curry sauce to go with a bunch of chicken I had in the freezer. I pulled it out earlier today and it should be thawed enough by now to get started on it. Better get going.
