fiftieth post! wow.

That's a lot of posts. Apparently, according to my blog clock, I have been in Egypt for 49 days, or 50 days by tomorrow. That seems like a lot when it's written down, but it really doesn't feel like I've been here that long. Well, that's not completely true. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever, and sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's a bad thing. I'm glad to be here, though.
Last night, I got back to late to tell you all about my adventures in my blog, but I can assure you, I had adventures. They involved hanging out with lots of new European friends on a 5th floor balcony until 2 am, talking about the metric system and scuba diving and Norway and other worldly and fascinating subjects. Then we walked home to the dorms and I got questioned by the guards for being out so late, which was really annoying. And then it was today, and so on to the real blog post.
Congratulations to me for not procrastinating today, and getting all of my homework (well, the homework due tomorrow) done before 3 pm. Round of applause. Of course, that only happened because the internet was being horribly slow and wouldn't let me watch television. Once I was done with my homework, though, I didn't have to feel bad about watching television, so I guess it worked out pretty well.
This morning, I went with my friends Emily and Michelle to get breakfast at the delicious waffle place we went to before. We had some issues, not the least of which was the fact that after 15 minutes of walking, we found out that the waffle shop was closed. We went somewhere else instead, and you can see where it was in my newest vlog, which I mostly filmed walking around Zamalek and suchlike:

I hope you like the video, it took a while to make.
And now I'm stuck with an interesting dilemma. What is the protocol for when one's Egyptian roommate comes in for the night and starts to pray? One has turned off one's music, and is about to cease typing. I hope that will do it.

complaining - a good way to get what you want?

Sometimes, complaining seems like the only way to get stuff done at AUC. If you talk to the right people at the right time and tell them your problems and make a big enough deal about it, your problem will most likely get solved. This is fairly contrary to the way I generally go about getting things done in the States. It does seem to work in Egypt, though, sometimes in magical ways.
For instance, I was talking to my friend today about scholarships, and how I hadn't even been told of the result of the largest scholarship I applied to, even though it was long past the notification date. Not three hours later, I checked my email in the library to find that I had been accepted for the scholarship. Clearly, my complaining about it made it happen. What else could it be? Crazy random happenstance, maybe.
The scholarship is for international students studying Egyptology at AUC, and I didn't really expect to get it when I applied, because I'd heard that the competition was really intense. I'm so excited, though, because I've never won anything like this before! As long as crazy Egyptian/AUC-ian bureaucracy doesn't screw things up, everything should go great. It's a big relief since I was starting to wonder about money for my travels around Europe this winter break, but now I don't have to. Yay!
I also studied for my map quiz in the library today. Thankfully the quiz turned out to not be today, but at least I've already started studying. Here's one of my practice maps, and my tempting alternative to studying, no matter how many times I've already read it:

which looks like a better use of my time?

Today on campus all the students in the plaza, including myself, were treated to an impromptu guitar and singing duet of that classic American tune "Rockstar", by Nickelback. I'd post the video here, but I really can't stand that song, so I won't. I'm sure you know it, though. The guys who were playing looked like they were having fun, though, so good for them. I certainly wouldn't be brave enough to play that song (or any other, for that matter) in public that loudly.

yay for enthusiastic covers of sucky songs!

After I got home, I met up with my friends to go out to dinner. Well, I say dinner. I mean waffles. Well, I say waffles. I mean waffles covered with chocolate. Well, I say chocolate. I mean nutella and ice cream. Yeah. That's what I mean. It was delicious, and while I probably won't substitute it for dinner again, I'll definitely go back for dessert!

waffles and nutella = love (probably a bad life strategy...)

And that's it for this Monday. Tomorrow is my day off, and I'm planning on sleeping in for as long as possible, and maybe taking a trip to the Cairo Museum. I'll let you know!

(Also, since maybe my luck will hold, I'm going to complain about something else: my roommate goes to bed so early! I hate to disturb her, but to avoid that, I have to leave the room completely just to talk to my family on Skype or do my Arabic homework. I feel like I can't say that she's disturbing me by going to sleep, because I know that's a horrible thing to say, but still. I would rather her wake me up in the middle of the night by coming in late than her go to bed early and force me out of the room. I guess that's just because I'd rather have something real to complain about, huh? Yeah, I'll stop whining now. Sorry.)

borders recommended this to me today.
get your own ideas, james patterson!

super-soaker adventures

My morning started off really well, with a squirt gun shot of water straight to the eyes while I was walking to the bus, courtesy of some drive-by Egyptian teenage boys. I don't know why it happened, but it wasn't just me. And it totally sucked.
After that, my day couldn't really get worse, so I guess it got better. Classes were interesting, I had delicious koshary for lunch, and then I got to come home semi on time. Party.
My friends and I walked to a restaurant called Cook-Door (or if you're me, Food-Stop) for dinner tonight. It seemed pretty creepy on the inside, with pictures of Charlie Chaplin, as well as some Salvadore Dali works.

why charlie chaplin?
what's wrong with a nice norman rockwell?

epically empty creeper restaurant

The food was good, though, so that's okay. We'll probably just get it delivered next time, to avoid the long walk and the creepiness. On the way back, though, we got Baskin Robbins, and saw this poster, which was amazing:

which package will you choose?

Back at the dorms, I returned to my room to find that someone had broken in and left their possessions scattered about! Oh, never mind. It was just my roommate, who finally showed up. She's very nice, although she wants me to clean my desk and doesn't really approve of my haircut for some reason. I think we can still be friends though, so I'll do my best to make that happen.
Tomorrow morning I leave for Alexandria for all of Friday and Saturday, which means I get to transcribe another AFK blog, just when I thought I was done with that for a while. Whoopee. Actually, I'm really looking forward to seeing Alexandria, so I don't mind that much. I probably will mind a lot if I don't get my homework done on the trip though! (Our itinerary states that we will be back in Zamalek by 6 pm on Saturday, but my estimate is more like 10 pm. We'll see then if I'm starting to develop a sense for Egyptian time or not. (Please, please let me be wrong about that!)