first last day in cairo

So, in less than an hour, I'll be on my way to the airport to fly home for winter break. That means in less than 24 hours (I think) I'll be at home. That is a good thing.
Today didn't really consist of much outside of packing and worrying about packing, but I did get to hang out with friends, so that was a good thing.
I figured out how to store my extra luggage (which can be done easily by finding an English speaking housekeeper and saying 'store' or pointing at a suitcase), and I hope that everything will still be intact when I get back to Egypt.
In order to finish out our semester on a traditional Egyptian note, we ordered out for dinner and had Chinese. Mmm.
I'm really not looking forward to navigating the airport and figuring everything out, but I know it will be okay. At least I'll have a bunch of AUC friends with me and we can help each other figure it all out. I don't know who I'll be sharing a cab with to the airport yet, but if I end up going by myself that will be okay too, it won't be the first time.
So, as of posting this, my first semester in Egypt is over, and I'm on my way home, laden with gifts and things that turned out to be useless. I don't know if I'll keep up with blogging while I'm home, it will probably depend on if I do anything interesting at all. I definitely would have blogged if the original vacation plan had gone through, but as it is, I just don't know. I'm not used to blogging in America.

surprise!

Guess who didn't go to Sinai tonight? Apparently a huge sandstorm came up that made the highway unsafe, and we never even made it out of Cairo before turning around and returning to the dorms. All in all, it was an interesting two hour bus ride with my friends, even though we didn't get anywhere.
I won't bore you too much with what happened at school today, except to say that the map quiz I've been studying for never even got brought up. Of course, once Professor Ikram didn't say anything, none of us were going to! My Arabic quiz went well too, even though I did have to cram to learn all the vocab right before class started.

who drew that on the table?

Today was the first day I was asked for my bus pass, ever. It was a little weird, but it turns out my card wasn't activated to scan for the buses, so I had to turn it in to do that and pick it up later in the day. It was an unnecessary hassle just like so many other things are in Egypt.
When I got back from campus, it was about 6:00, and I was supposed to be in the lobby to leave on the trip by 7:00. I plugged everything in to charge, and finished packing, then headed downstairs to wait for 45 minutes until the bus got there. During that time, I helped Jen catch a cab to the airport for her flight home, and also saw a girl get her foot run over by a speeding car. She was okay, but it was really scary. At least the car stopped after, even if they didn't stick around for long, and at least they didn't actually hit her.
The weather had been windy all day, with lots and lots of dust in the air, so I guess the news of the sandstorm shouldn't have been a huge surprise, but it kind of was. It was pretty disappointing to know that our entire weekend was cancelled just because of a freak event that no one could have predicted. Oh well. The trip is going to be rescheduled, thankfully, although we're not sure when yet. Hopefully some people who paid but weren't able to go this weekend will be able to next time.
Since we were all a little bummed about having to spend the weekend at home instead of in Sinai, everyone on the bus (about 8 or 9 Zamalek students and 2 RAs) started making new plans for the night and the weekend as soon as we got the news that the trip had to be cancelled. Two of my friends actually decided to take a train to Alexandria instead, and last I heard, had already bought tickets to leave tomorrow morning. I'm not quite that desperate to get out of Cairo, myself. I'm looking at the trip being cancelled as a good opportunity to catch up on my sleep and reading, and take a breather from everything that's been going on.
My plans for the night, once the bus had turned around, morphed to include getting dinner with three other students at a restaurant called Crave. I'd actually walked to it before, although I didn't really know where I was then. I had spinach ravioli, and it was delicious. We also decided to splurge and order dessert, so I had sweet potato pie with caramel. I would have taken a picture for you, but I was too busy eating it.

here's the menu instead.
does the woman look like mrs. claus to anyone else?

On the walk home, I saw a very familiar face.

it's a hooch-dog! sorry it's so blurry...

It was very strange to see a dog that looks so much like mine, and know that it really wouldn't be a great idea to go up and pet it. He was very well behaved when we walked by, though, and didn't even move. I might walk back that way another day this weekend to see if he lives there, and maybe get a better picture or talk to his owner.
So, no catch-up blogs this weekend (yay!) but also no monastery of St. Catherine and no sunrise from Mt. Sinai (boo!). It's all working out, though. I just have to remember to go with the flow. This is Egypt.
Also, this is completely irrelevant to the rest of this post, but I just heard that Tony Curtis passed away. This makes me sad. But it reminds me of this movie, which I love, and which I have an excuse to watch again now, since Tony Curtis is one of the stars.

Poor Charlie Potatoes.

'thank you for your disturbance'

*I should be blogging right now. Why am I not blogging now?* Oh wait. Never mind.
Those thoughts have been going through my head for the last hour and a half, but I guess they finally got through to me.
Today was a good weekend day to not do anything. I think I succeeded in that, while also accomplishing something! Good for me. I did my Arabic homework, and it only took an hour and a half, because I had to go on a hunt for a new dvd to use. The one that I bought with my textbook (used, of course), finally decided it was too scratched to go on living, and ended itself, taking my dvd player program with it, at least temporarily. Luckily, I could borrow the dvd from a friend, and even better, soon we'll be onto the new textbook, and it won't be a problem any more.

the picture that justifies egypt's rating (from here)

I learned an interesting fact today. Did you know that Egypt ranks as 49th in a list of the world's 60 most failed countries, with its neighbor to the south, Sudan, coming in at number 3? Read here for pictures and the full list.
Now, I don't really know how I feel about this. I love Egypt, almost everywhere I've been has been welcoming and intriguing and alive. I'm not saying there aren't bad things about the country (police state, anyone?), but I don't think it ranks as a 'failed country'. At least, not from my point of view. I guess there aren't that many countries in the world (193 according to the world almanac), so if you put 60 on your list, that's almost a third of all the countries we have! When I was reading through the list, it seemed like almost a roster of the third world, which may seem accurate given today's definition of that term, but according to what I learned, the 'third world' is just those countries that weren't allied with either the United States (the first world) or the Soviet Union (the second world) during the Cold War. [Please, Mr. Thomas, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong!] Is that really why so many countries are underprivileged and in trouble today? Because they didn't pick a team, or nobody wanted them? Is that what happened to Sudan? To Cambodia? To Egypt? Or is it the countries themselves? Did they do something wrong to invite trouble? Or is it a few people in each country, making bad decisions for the masses? I don't know the answers to these questions that I just made up, and I don't know if I can or want to. And since I'm rambling anyway, I think I'll move on to happier things.
I spent about three or four hours today watching John Green, one of my favorite authors, live on the internet. The purpose of the liveshow was to raise money for two things: jamesatwar's cat Chomp Chomp's operation (to remove a ribbon from his intestine that would otherwise kill him) and to fight malaria. Like John said, it wasn't either/or giving (i.e. either I can help James' cat or I can fight malaria) but both/and giving (I can both help James' cat and I can fight malaria). The liveshow was a success, and we completed the $1500 needed for Chomp Chomp to live to chomp another day, and raised $500 dollars to buy mosquito nets to fight malaria. [If you want to fight malaria too, please go donate to Malaria No More.]
John, aside from donating money to both causes himself, set up an auction system for viewers to promise donations in return for John doing things. In this way, I got to watch and listen to John read from his first book Looking for Alaska, read a chapter from his never-to-be-finished zombie apocalypse novel, and oh yeah. Proclaim his love for unicorns (which, according to John, suck like malaria).
The moment was captured by a screenshot-ready nerdfighter, and is now preserved for eternity on facebook:

The entire proclamation of love can be viewed on the effyeahnerdfighters tumblr here as well (and I highly recommend you do so).
Aside from the Arabic homework and my interview with the Egyptian police, the liveshow was the highlight of my day, as you can probably tell. What's that? I didn't tell you about the police yet? Okay, fine.
I got a call this morning around 10:30 on my room phone, which almost never rings, from Waleed, and RA of the dorm. He asked me to come down to the garden, because there was an 'officer who wanted to speak with me.' I was fairly confused and a little worried, until he clarified that it was about the squirt-gun incident from last week. I went down to meet them and found my friend Halima already there. We explained to the officer what had happened, and he took very good notes and seemed interested, but eventually pretty much dismissed what we had to say. According to him, it was not a threat to Americans' security, not targeted at Americans, just teenagers out being stupid. I agree with him, except for the part about the targeting. It may not have been assault or harmful in the long term, but it was targeted specifically at American students at a specific place and a specific time where American students reliably are. There is just no way that a random car full of Egyptian teenagers with a squirt gun would hit the same place multiple times randomly just as a bunch of American students were walking to the bus. That just doesn't make sense. That being said, I don't think there's a whole lot to be done about it, unless they get caught in the act.
At the end of the interview, the officer asked us to write down our names and information, including passport numbers. I tried to remember mine, then asked if he wanted me to go up to my room and check. I guess it seemed to him like I was trying to avoid giving him my information, because he immediately started reassuring me that he was a police officer and worked with the US Embassy. Yeah, dude, I get it. Now can I go get my passport number for you? Eventually I did, and came back and gave it to him, and it was all fine. He said goodbye, and thanked me 'for my disturbance', and English phrase he seemed very proud of. I didn't have the heart to look puzzled, so I just smiled and went to eat lunch.
And thats was it for today. Tanis tomorrow! If I can find my way to the downtown campus alive, that is...
p.s. I know this is post is a little nerdfighteria-heavy already, but here's John's latest video, one of my favorites in a long time:

lazy days

Sometimes I think lazy days are for the best. I woke up today around 9 am with this in mind, and gosh darn it if I didn't leave the dorm building until 7 at night.
I woke up, I showered, I took a nap. I woke up, realized I had drooled all over my pillow and decided it was time to do something. Then I watched some youtube videos, and checked twitter and facebook. I haven't mentioned this before, but the time difference really annoys me sometimes. I'm used to being able to check facebook and twitter in the mornings and have a lot of interesting stuff to read, but because of the time difference, that just doesn't work here. All the interesting posts come through while I'm in class, and obviously I can't read them then. I can't explain why it happens, I just know it bugs me. The only good thing I've discovered about the internet and the time difference is that the web comics I read get posted about mid-morning, instead of a few hours after midnight, which lets me catch up on sleep instead of waiting for them.
Basically, the only real accomplishments I've made today are finishing my Arabic homework, walking to McDonald's for dinner (it's the last day of Ramadan, by the way, and I'm really excited), and filming this week's vlog. I'll post the vlog below when I can; it's not uploaded to youtube yet, so it might be a while. (Warning: this vlog doesn't have cool Egypt footage of me visiting places. It's just me in my bedroom talking to my friends about stuff.)

Okay, I'm going to try and catch a few hours sleep before I have to wake up to leave for Luxor. The time changes for all of Egypt tonight, in a very confusing fashion, which means I get one hour less sleep than I thought, but that's okay.
If you're confused about why the time is changing, don't be. It's really very simple. Normally, Egypt practices Daylight Saving Time (otherwise known as this), but during Ramadan, switches back to normal time to make it easier on people who are fasting. Since Ramadan is over, DST comes back, we lose an hour (making the time difference back home 10 hours instead of 9), and then we wait a few weeks, and then go off DST like normal. Understand? Now try catching the bus or making it to class on time.
My next vlog will be written in Luxor or Aswan tomorrow, but won't get posted here until Monday because I've decided to leave my computer here where it's safe.
Here's a youtube video I've been watching a lot lately, Ben Folds performing one of my favorite Dresden Dolls songs:

here today, cairene tomorrow

I leave for Egypt early tomorrow morning. Very, very early. Early enough that I should be asleep right now, instead of blogging. But I'm packed, all three suitcases, and all I have to do tomorrow is sleep on a plane, so I think I'm doing okay.

The last few days have been stressful, trying to get everything together, but now I'm done, and (insha'alla) I will arrive in Cairo tomorrow, with all my luggage intact. Then I can move into the dorms, unpack, and start my adventure for real.

One thing I'm most thankful for about this trip is that I'm not afraid of it. Cairo and its people don't frighten me, and although I know I'll encounter obstacles with both, I'm not scared to face them. Whatever gets thrown at me, I'll do my best to handle it, and I'll let you know how it goes right here.

Also, since music is a big part of my life, and I'm planning to keep it that way, I've decided to bring it into this blog as much as I can. I'll leave you with two favorites, an old and a new.

First, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, by Neutral Milk Hotel: a song that never gets old, and furthermore, seems appropriate, since I'll be crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time tomorrow.

Second, a new favorite, discovered only an hour ago by a google search for Cairo's indie rock scene: Kol El Nas, by Cairokee, a group apparently at the forefront of Egypt's rock music scene. And forgive me, but I honestly don't know what the lyrics mean. I can only hope that they're wildly inappropriate.

Wish me luck for my journey tomorrow, I'll write next time from Cairo, Egypt.