But at least I got some work done. I was actually remarkably productive almost all day today, and got everything done that needed to get done.
I meant to take the 10 or 11 o'clock bus to campus to work on researching my paper, but I put my laundry in late enough that I couldn't. Instead, I took the 2 o'clock bus.
That might seem a little silly, since I could only spend two hours on campus before needing to get on the 5:15 bus back home (after the library closed at 5 o'clock), but it was worth it, because the bus rides were relaxing and I got some good work done on my paper. I'll be back there tomorrow morning before classes to do some more research, and then hopefully I'll have enough to type up my bibliography and run it past Professor Ikram for a check.
Tonight there was a "girl's night in" party on the fourth floor, the flyers for which promised pizza and drinks and henna and belly dancing, only the first three of which I was actually interested in. When I got there, though, there were just sandwiches and really loud music, so I left pretty early. It turned out that they did have henna, so maybe I should have stuck around for a while, but it really doesn't matter in the long run. If I really want henna done, I can find a place to do it.
And that was my Saturday. Pretty sweet. See you tomorrow.
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
i don't even know anymore
I didn't blog last night, and I didn't even think about it until now. I'm on the bus ride home from a long day on campus, ready to finish my essay and maybe write some more NaNo so it won't fade into oblivion like last year's book.
I was upset last night, from lots of stuff, and it was really hard not having anyone to talk to about it, just because of the time difference and the fact that no one carries a computer around with them to get skype calls like from a phone.
At school today, I actually stayed at work until 11:15, instead of leaving early for one reason or another. I guess that was good because I got a lot of stuff done, but at the same time it wasn't very satisfying because none of the stuff that I did actually matters to me personally. Mostly it was sorting papers that the person who worked on the collection before me left unsorted, papers that if it were up to me would just be chucked in the trash or recycled, because they're a waste of space. But it's not up to me.
Then I went to Professor Ikram's class, which was really nice, since we haven't had real class for a while. The lecture was really really fast, and I'm sure I missed some important stuff in my note taking. I'll make it up with my friends' notes though. It all works out.
After class, I followed the professor to her office to ask a few questions about my paper, along with about half the class. No wonder she calls us ducklings, the way we trailed after her!
In my next class, we watched a really interesting film called The Return of Navajo Boy, which I think you should watch. It's a documentary made in 2000, about a Navajo family living in Monument Valley and about the history of their family and tourists and filmmakers and other people, and I really liked it. Also, it made me cry.
In Arabic class, we just practiced making sentences, but it wasn't boring. Then my friend Vincent and I bought brownie sundaes at McDonald's, which were completely amazing, if also completely unhealthy.
And then I got on the bus. And now I will take a nap. I do have a question for whoever is reading this. Do you like me posting every day? Would you rather I didn't? Does it matter?
I was upset last night, from lots of stuff, and it was really hard not having anyone to talk to about it, just because of the time difference and the fact that no one carries a computer around with them to get skype calls like from a phone.
At school today, I actually stayed at work until 11:15, instead of leaving early for one reason or another. I guess that was good because I got a lot of stuff done, but at the same time it wasn't very satisfying because none of the stuff that I did actually matters to me personally. Mostly it was sorting papers that the person who worked on the collection before me left unsorted, papers that if it were up to me would just be chucked in the trash or recycled, because they're a waste of space. But it's not up to me.
Then I went to Professor Ikram's class, which was really nice, since we haven't had real class for a while. The lecture was really really fast, and I'm sure I missed some important stuff in my note taking. I'll make it up with my friends' notes though. It all works out.
After class, I followed the professor to her office to ask a few questions about my paper, along with about half the class. No wonder she calls us ducklings, the way we trailed after her!
In my next class, we watched a really interesting film called The Return of Navajo Boy, which I think you should watch. It's a documentary made in 2000, about a Navajo family living in Monument Valley and about the history of their family and tourists and filmmakers and other people, and I really liked it. Also, it made me cry.
In Arabic class, we just practiced making sentences, but it wasn't boring. Then my friend Vincent and I bought brownie sundaes at McDonald's, which were completely amazing, if also completely unhealthy.
And then I got on the bus. And now I will take a nap. I do have a question for whoever is reading this. Do you like me posting every day? Would you rather I didn't? Does it matter?
Monday, November 8, 2010
yup
Well, nothing interesting happened yesterday, which is perhaps why I forgot to blog again. Good for you, Elise. Fail.
Basically, I went to work for the first time in forever, had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and left a bit early. Sounds like fun, right?
Then classes, yay. Then bus ride home, where it was a NaNo race against my computer battery, that I actually won for once. Then I had pineapple cheese pizza for dinner, and skyped with my mother in the lobby because once again, my roommate decided to go to bed early. It's not that I mind her needing her sleep, because I don't, I just mind when it intrudes on my life, which sounds horrible and mean, but it's true. If I have to talk in the lobby, I can't say the same kind of things that I would say if I were alone in my room, and I don't like that at all.
So, tomorrow (I lie, today) is Tuesday, and I have an essay to write, a trip to Europe to plan, and at least 1667 words to write before it gets dark. Once it gets dark, I never get anything done.
NaNo word count: 14048
Basically, I went to work for the first time in forever, had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, and left a bit early. Sounds like fun, right?
Then classes, yay. Then bus ride home, where it was a NaNo race against my computer battery, that I actually won for once. Then I had pineapple cheese pizza for dinner, and skyped with my mother in the lobby because once again, my roommate decided to go to bed early. It's not that I mind her needing her sleep, because I don't, I just mind when it intrudes on my life, which sounds horrible and mean, but it's true. If I have to talk in the lobby, I can't say the same kind of things that I would say if I were alone in my room, and I don't like that at all.
So, tomorrow (I lie, today) is Tuesday, and I have an essay to write, a trip to Europe to plan, and at least 1667 words to write before it gets dark. Once it gets dark, I never get anything done.
NaNo word count: 14048
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
general malaise
That's the only thing wrong with me. General malaise. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about it, except keep going forward. That usually (always) helps. It gets better.
I had an absolutely fascinating morning at work today, and if you think I'm being serious about that, it's only because sarcasm does not become me. I sorted through file folder after file folder filled with papers that had been paper-clipped and stapled and why-on-earth-would-anyone-do-this-taped together. Which I then had to sort out properly to make them 'archive appropriate'. Worse, the papers today weren't even interesting. To quote Tom Lehrer, they were 'full of words and meaning, and signifying nothing.' Mostly boring emails. Who prints out emails and then files them? That's what computers are for! They store things, things like emails. Sigh.
At least I didn't work in the freezing cold today. The office was empty, so I got to work in there with the warm sunlight coming through the window in front of me and the door to freeze-world shut securely behind me.
After my first class today, I had a library adventure with my friend Geoff, who needed to find books on diglossia for a linguistics paper. Actually, we didn't find any books on diglossia in the end, but we did find some on pidgins and creoles. Due to a mis-transcription of a call number, which may or may not have been my fault, we completely missed the first book we were looking for by just a few shelves, but we found it eventually. (We also took a moment to fangirl/fanboy over a really cool pidgin called Tok Pisin from Papua New Guinea. It's really cool. Tell your friends.) The other book we were looking for turned out to be on a different floor, a fact which I didn't realize until we had thoroughly explored Floor 2. So what if I can't remember that 'g' comes before 'h'? We found it eventually, didn't we?
[NB: There are currently insane freshman girls shrieking outside and running up and down the hall. If only a man-on-the-floor would appear and scare them all back to their rooms.]
I had my first real test in Arabic today, although my ustezza (professor) called it a quiz. I think I did pretty well, even if I couldn't remember how to spell 'seven' correctly. Yup, just checked google translate. Definitely got that one wrong. Arabic class actually kind of freaks me out sometimes. I don't know if it's just the fact that it's not my first 'second' language, or it's that I've taken a bunch of linguistics classes since I started learning Japanese, but Arabic seems to be coming to me a lot easier. It seems more like a puzzle that I can sort of figure out on my own without too much help. I kind of want to do a huge morphological analysis of everything I've learned so far, but I don't think I'll waste time I don't really have to waste on something like that. I'll waste it on Skype and Facebook and NaNoWriMo instead.
New song for you: Shut Your Eyes by Snow Patrol. They don't seem to have an official video for the song, so this is a fan-made one. I haven't actually watched it all the way through, so that's a disclaimer for you right there:
[NB: There are currently insane freshman girls shrieking outside and running up and down the hall. If only a man-on-the-floor would appear and scare them all back to their rooms.]
I had my first real test in Arabic today, although my ustezza (professor) called it a quiz. I think I did pretty well, even if I couldn't remember how to spell 'seven' correctly. Yup, just checked google translate. Definitely got that one wrong. Arabic class actually kind of freaks me out sometimes. I don't know if it's just the fact that it's not my first 'second' language, or it's that I've taken a bunch of linguistics classes since I started learning Japanese, but Arabic seems to be coming to me a lot easier. It seems more like a puzzle that I can sort of figure out on my own without too much help. I kind of want to do a huge morphological analysis of everything I've learned so far, but I don't think I'll waste time I don't really have to waste on something like that. I'll waste it on Skype and Facebook and NaNoWriMo instead.
New song for you: Shut Your Eyes by Snow Patrol. They don't seem to have an official video for the song, so this is a fan-made one. I haven't actually watched it all the way through, so that's a disclaimer for you right there:
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
caravan research, and a possible tmi
All my mornings are filled with work in the library now. I never would have guess that would be a side effect of working every morning. Makes life (and blogs) kinda boring.
Anyway, I took the seven o'clock bus again, so I had time to get my coffee and some delicious ginger cookie things for breakfast. I'm out of granola bars again, which makes me sad. I think I'll pick some up at the 24 hour Quick Mart tomorrow so I'll have them for the Sinai trip.
Speaking of the Sinai trip, I'll be leaving tomorrow, which means no blog entries for Thursday and Friday. I'll write them in my notebook, and post them on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully with lots and lots of cool pictures. Keep your fingers crossed for no sandstorms tomorrow!
At work this morning, instead of doing my normal catalogue editing, I got to do a little research/detective work. An article was published recently congratulating a certain student at AUC for being the first visually impaired student to graduate from the TEFL program (teaching english as a foreign language) with an M.A. After the article came out, a response email was written by a former AUC professor who recalled teaching a visually impaired student in the late 1970s, which makes him the first visually impaired student to graduate from TEFL. Unfortunately, she didn't recall the student's name, so I had to do some digging in order to reaffirm her claim.
I read through three years worth of issues of AUC's student newspaper The Caravan, whose tagline really should be 'worse than The Bottom Line' (for all you Gauchos out there). Eventually, I found a wanted ad requesting a reader in English to assist a blind student and I wrote down the name and contact information from the ad. Then, I found a list of graduates from the year the email mentioned, with the same name from the wanted ad listed under TEFL. Mission accomplished. I wanted to do a quick google search to see if I could confirm what I'd found out, but apparently that's not what archive researchers do, and it was time to go to class anyway.
During lunch, I visited student health. [The paragraph that follows kinda seems a little TMI to me, but I want to write it, so you'll just have to consider yourselves warned.] Yesterday, I found a bunch of bug bites on my arm and shoulder, without any memory of getting them. One of my friends here mentioned that she had had bed bugs here, so naturally that's what my mind jumped to. Scary, scary, ew, ew, ew. The doctor at student health said they were probably just mosquito bites, but since I haven't been out at mosquito times, I don't think that's the case. She gave me an antihistamine cream to make them stop itching, though, which was nice of her. That's the other reason I don't think they're mosquito bites - they itch too much. Usually, I can ignore mosquito bites until they go away, but these are just driving me insane. Plus, they're all in one area, which is not how mosquitos have attacked me in the past.
I emailed my RA about getting my mattress and sheets and pillows switched out ASAP, so hopefully that will get taken care of soon. This whole issue is just so freaky and weird. Bed bugs? For real?
In Arabic, we practiced dictation and learned that our dialogue with a partner is due tomorrow. Yay. So we could work on it, I went with my dialogue partner to her room in the new campus dorms, which I hadn't visited before. I hung out for a while, while she and her friends cooked dinner for a cook-off they were having with some guys in the dorms, which was pretty fun.
The new dorms are really nice, and clean, and organized, but just hanging out there for a few hours made me realize what a microcosm AUC really is. The students who live on campus seem completely isolated, without nearly as many things to do or see or visit or eat as the people in my dorms have. I feel so lucky to live in Zamalek, because expat community or not, it is still in the middle of Cairo, with city all around.
Anyway, I took the seven o'clock bus again, so I had time to get my coffee and some delicious ginger cookie things for breakfast. I'm out of granola bars again, which makes me sad. I think I'll pick some up at the 24 hour Quick Mart tomorrow so I'll have them for the Sinai trip.
Speaking of the Sinai trip, I'll be leaving tomorrow, which means no blog entries for Thursday and Friday. I'll write them in my notebook, and post them on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully with lots and lots of cool pictures. Keep your fingers crossed for no sandstorms tomorrow!
At work this morning, instead of doing my normal catalogue editing, I got to do a little research/detective work. An article was published recently congratulating a certain student at AUC for being the first visually impaired student to graduate from the TEFL program (teaching english as a foreign language) with an M.A. After the article came out, a response email was written by a former AUC professor who recalled teaching a visually impaired student in the late 1970s, which makes him the first visually impaired student to graduate from TEFL. Unfortunately, she didn't recall the student's name, so I had to do some digging in order to reaffirm her claim.
I read through three years worth of issues of AUC's student newspaper The Caravan, whose tagline really should be 'worse than The Bottom Line' (for all you Gauchos out there). Eventually, I found a wanted ad requesting a reader in English to assist a blind student and I wrote down the name and contact information from the ad. Then, I found a list of graduates from the year the email mentioned, with the same name from the wanted ad listed under TEFL. Mission accomplished. I wanted to do a quick google search to see if I could confirm what I'd found out, but apparently that's not what archive researchers do, and it was time to go to class anyway.
 |
| what the main drag of auc looks like every day |
 |
| i counted eight bites. woe is me. |
In Arabic, we practiced dictation and learned that our dialogue with a partner is due tomorrow. Yay. So we could work on it, I went with my dialogue partner to her room in the new campus dorms, which I hadn't visited before. I hung out for a while, while she and her friends cooked dinner for a cook-off they were having with some guys in the dorms, which was pretty fun.
The new dorms are really nice, and clean, and organized, but just hanging out there for a few hours made me realize what a microcosm AUC really is. The students who live on campus seem completely isolated, without nearly as many things to do or see or visit or eat as the people in my dorms have. I feel so lucky to live in Zamalek, because expat community or not, it is still in the middle of Cairo, with city all around.
Monday, October 11, 2010
bread mold is healthy, right? like penicillin?
I went to work again this morning. Organizing/editing wasn't as simple as last time, mainly because I finished the first few catalogue pages I was given, and more had to be printed out, except the new ones were kind of backwards, and still had the tags for html all over them. So that was fun. In short, I've now gone through boxes 1, 2, 3, half of 4, half of 6, 9, 10, and 11, which leaves four and two halves boxes to do on Wednesday and Thursday. That's pretty good progress I think. Then I can (hopefully) get on a computer and actually make the edits for real, instead of just on paper with a pencil. The library was also freezing this morning. I was wearing real shoes and socks, not just sandals, and my toes were numb by the time I was leaving.
Classes were fine today, except for some minor angst in my ling class regarding extra points awarded to those who showed up for class last Thursday instead of going on vacation. A fair point was made by a classmate, who brought up the syllabus and pointed out that we can all miss three classes without being penalized by the professor, according to 'the contract' that we are all a part of, including him. I think the argument was pretty reasonable, but it basically got shot down, with the professor overruling 'the contract' as if it didn't apply when he didn't want it to. That's his prerogative, he's the teacher, but I don't think I agree with him.
Okay, remember Sons of Admirals? I posted their video for 'Here Comes My Baby' a long time ago. Now they are apparently an internet sensation, according to the Sun newspaper. The had a live performance at the Sun, and recorded some acoustic songs, my favorite of which is posted below. Please watch the video, because it will make you happy. Or it will if you like these guys:
Sons of Admirals singing the theme song from Arthur? Yes please!
So, basically, hearing this song at school made my day. And then my day/month/year/whatever was made even more awesome by hearing what the teefury shirt for today is. In case you don't know, teefury is a website that sells a different shirt every day, for that day only. Once the day is over, you can't buy that shirt ever again. And this is today's:
Yes, I bought it. How could I not? Really? Of course, I won't actually have it for a while, since risking it in the mail to Egypt is not a good idea. I'll get it when I get home. A welcome home gift to me! And something to look forward to when I discover it again after I forget all about it in the next eight months.
The bus ride home today was interesting, because I got one of the very last seats on the bus, right up at the very front. I took the opportunity to film a bit of average Cairo traffic for you. Actually, this is quite a bit tamer than average, since at some points, you can see the road.
When I got home, I decided that instead of buying dinner, I would just eat some of the pita bread that I bought at the grocery store. The good news is, it tasted really good. The bad news is, I got through half a piece before I realized that what I was tasting was mostly mold. Oops. I don't know why I'm grossed out by stray cats but not by eating mold (at least not that grossed out), but I am. Go figure. Just in case I have to say it, I did throw the rest away when I found the mold, promise.
As a special treat to those of you who love Arthur, here's another classic. [warning: do not watch this video unless you are prepared to have a fairly annoying, if entertaining, song stuck in your head for a very long time.]
Also, if anybody noticed, sorry for the late blog tonight. I went out with friends and had fun instead of staying home and doing homework. I might have to make a habit of this, actually, since I had a great time. And now I'm friends with a bunch of Europeans who I never knew before. Good times.
Classes were fine today, except for some minor angst in my ling class regarding extra points awarded to those who showed up for class last Thursday instead of going on vacation. A fair point was made by a classmate, who brought up the syllabus and pointed out that we can all miss three classes without being penalized by the professor, according to 'the contract' that we are all a part of, including him. I think the argument was pretty reasonable, but it basically got shot down, with the professor overruling 'the contract' as if it didn't apply when he didn't want it to. That's his prerogative, he's the teacher, but I don't think I agree with him.
Okay, remember Sons of Admirals? I posted their video for 'Here Comes My Baby' a long time ago. Now they are apparently an internet sensation, according to the Sun newspaper. The had a live performance at the Sun, and recorded some acoustic songs, my favorite of which is posted below. Please watch the video, because it will make you happy. Or it will if you like these guys:
And these guys:
So, basically, hearing this song at school made my day. And then my day/month/year/whatever was made even more awesome by hearing what the teefury shirt for today is. In case you don't know, teefury is a website that sells a different shirt every day, for that day only. Once the day is over, you can't buy that shirt ever again. And this is today's:
The bus ride home today was interesting, because I got one of the very last seats on the bus, right up at the very front. I took the opportunity to film a bit of average Cairo traffic for you. Actually, this is quite a bit tamer than average, since at some points, you can see the road.
When I got home, I decided that instead of buying dinner, I would just eat some of the pita bread that I bought at the grocery store. The good news is, it tasted really good. The bad news is, I got through half a piece before I realized that what I was tasting was mostly mold. Oops. I don't know why I'm grossed out by stray cats but not by eating mold (at least not that grossed out), but I am. Go figure. Just in case I have to say it, I did throw the rest away when I found the mold, promise.
As a special treat to those of you who love Arthur, here's another classic. [warning: do not watch this video unless you are prepared to have a fairly annoying, if entertaining, song stuck in your head for a very long time.]
Also, if anybody noticed, sorry for the late blog tonight. I went out with friends and had fun instead of staying home and doing homework. I might have to make a habit of this, actually, since I had a great time. And now I'm friends with a bunch of Europeans who I never knew before. Good times.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
it's like this, cat
Congratulations to me, I woke up on time today! I ate my breakfast, caught my bus, and even had time to get coffee and print out my essay in the library before heading up to the third floor for work. I was right on time, but my boss was running a little late, so I hung out in the reading room in the archives and learned about papyri. It was pretty cool. Then I finally got to work for the first time, editing the catalogue list of documents owned by Hasan Fathy but not written by him. He was a famous Egyptian architect, you can read more about him here. The catalogue was legible, but inconsistently formatted and with a lot of mistakes made by the person who wrote it out, who definitely wasn't a native speaker of English and had probably never heard of MLA format. I basically have to work through the whole thing (twelve boxes of documents) and double check all the information between the catalogue, the folder labels, and the documents themselves, then fix all the mistakes in some consistent way. Should be fun. And for two dollars an hour, the Rare Books and Archives department is certainly getting their money's worth.
On my way to the bus this morning, I ran into a car and hurt my hand, scraping a bunch of skin off. Ouch. It'll probably be an impressive blue or purple tomorrow. I hope so, at least. Bruises aren't any fun if no one else knows they're there.
 |
| poor hand |
Maggie and I ate dinner in the cafeteria tonight, and met a new friend. Yay.
 |
| courtyard cat decided to join us (no, i didn't give him that food) |
 |
| going to stalk someone else for scraps |
That was pretty much my whole day. Fun fun fun all around. On the other hand, after tomorrow, I get a whole day off, with no essay to work on or anything! As long as I never see that damn cat again.
*You know that kid's book It's Like This, Cat? My version goes It's Like This, Cat: Get Away From Me And I Won't Call Security to Kick Your Kitty Butt Out of the Dorms For Good. Pretty catchy, huh?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
time keeping fail
I am actually ashamed to write this in my blog. I overslept and missed the bus to school this morning, thereby missing my first day of work. Lovely.
I talked to my boss and it's all okay, but I feel really bad about it. I triple checked my cell phone alarm last night, but either it didn't go off this morning or I turned it off and don't remember.
That was a really great start to my day, as you might imagine, but luckily, except for a few low points, it did get better.
Art and Architecture was fun as usual, although I was disappointed to find out that the class trip to Saqqara and Dahshur is scheduled for the same weekend that the Mt. Sinai trip was rescheduled for. Since I paid for the Sinai trip, I'll definitely be going on that one, it's just annoying to know that I won't get to visit Saqqara and Dahshur with Professor Ikram. At least I've already been to Saqqara so I won't miss out too badly.
After class, I had taamiyya (falafel) for lunch, which was delicious and cost three pounds, which is why I love Egyptian food so much. It is ridiculously cheap and very very good.
When I finished my lunch, I went to the library to do some reading for class, where I saw this informative warning sign:
At one point, I checked the time, and saw it was 2:15. "That's okay," I said to myself, doing some math in my head. "My next class doesn't start until 2:30." The math in my head went something like this: All the classes here are an hour and fifteen minutes. I had class this morning at 11:30, and it ended at 12:45. That means the next class started at 1:00, and ends at 2:15, so my class must start at 2:30.
Regrettably, while my math was correct, I neglected the fact that AUC makes no sense, and therefore there is no 1:00 o'clock class. I turned up half an hour late, for no real reason. Worse, I'd talked to my professor in line at lunch earlier. French the llama. It turned out alright though, because all we did was watch a youtube video that I'd already seen. The video is pretty interesting actually, even though it's really long. You can watch and learn all about web 2.0 here if you're interested.
Also, here's the famous video that went viral a few years back, all about how web 2.0 is changing the world and us:
In Arabic class, I turned in my paragraph, described some object, and made up sentences like 'the girl in the television is happy' and 'this man is old and tall'. I know, I'm practically fluent already, right?
After Arabic, I headed to the library to research more for my Dramatic Lit paper. I had only been in the library for 45 minutes when suddenly I noticed that it was really quiet and there weren't many people left. I knew that the library wasn't due to close for another four hours, but it still really creeped me out to have it be so empty when it's usually bustling and loud, at least on the ground floor.
I ended up finding a really useful book for my paper, and decided to call it a day in time to catch the 6:30 bus home. I tried to check the book out at a self-check station, but the computer told me there was a problem with my card, so I had to go to the front desk.
While the librarian was half way through checking out my book, and making me fill out information about my address (which is apparently what the hold on my card was all about), an Egyptian girl came up to the counter to ask a question. Instead of finishing up with me, which would have taken about 20 seconds, he went immediately over to help her, making me wait at the desk for ten minutes for my book to finally be desensitized and handed over. So that was fun.
I did get my book eventually, though, and went out to see AUC's campus in the dark for the first time. It was actually really pretty, and I wish I hadn't had to hurry to catch the bus so I could have snapped a better picture. This one will have to do:
The bus ride home was made quicker because I had someone to talk to, since Maggie was on the same bus. When we got back to Zamalek, I ate some weird pasta from the cafeteria and went upstairs. Tomorrow is another day, the start of my second weekend so far this week. Should be fun, if I manage to keep track of the time.
I talked to my boss and it's all okay, but I feel really bad about it. I triple checked my cell phone alarm last night, but either it didn't go off this morning or I turned it off and don't remember.
That was a really great start to my day, as you might imagine, but luckily, except for a few low points, it did get better.
Art and Architecture was fun as usual, although I was disappointed to find out that the class trip to Saqqara and Dahshur is scheduled for the same weekend that the Mt. Sinai trip was rescheduled for. Since I paid for the Sinai trip, I'll definitely be going on that one, it's just annoying to know that I won't get to visit Saqqara and Dahshur with Professor Ikram. At least I've already been to Saqqara so I won't miss out too badly.
After class, I had taamiyya (falafel) for lunch, which was delicious and cost three pounds, which is why I love Egyptian food so much. It is ridiculously cheap and very very good.
When I finished my lunch, I went to the library to do some reading for class, where I saw this informative warning sign:
 |
| but i really really wanted to take notes with my quill pen! |
Regrettably, while my math was correct, I neglected the fact that AUC makes no sense, and therefore there is no 1:00 o'clock class. I turned up half an hour late, for no real reason. Worse, I'd talked to my professor in line at lunch earlier. French the llama. It turned out alright though, because all we did was watch a youtube video that I'd already seen. The video is pretty interesting actually, even though it's really long. You can watch and learn all about web 2.0 here if you're interested.
Also, here's the famous video that went viral a few years back, all about how web 2.0 is changing the world and us:
In Arabic class, I turned in my paragraph, described some object, and made up sentences like 'the girl in the television is happy' and 'this man is old and tall'. I know, I'm practically fluent already, right?
After Arabic, I headed to the library to research more for my Dramatic Lit paper. I had only been in the library for 45 minutes when suddenly I noticed that it was really quiet and there weren't many people left. I knew that the library wasn't due to close for another four hours, but it still really creeped me out to have it be so empty when it's usually bustling and loud, at least on the ground floor.
I ended up finding a really useful book for my paper, and decided to call it a day in time to catch the 6:30 bus home. I tried to check the book out at a self-check station, but the computer told me there was a problem with my card, so I had to go to the front desk.
While the librarian was half way through checking out my book, and making me fill out information about my address (which is apparently what the hold on my card was all about), an Egyptian girl came up to the counter to ask a question. Instead of finishing up with me, which would have taken about 20 seconds, he went immediately over to help her, making me wait at the desk for ten minutes for my book to finally be desensitized and handed over. So that was fun.
I did get my book eventually, though, and went out to see AUC's campus in the dark for the first time. It was actually really pretty, and I wish I hadn't had to hurry to catch the bus so I could have snapped a better picture. This one will have to do:
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| the deadly fountain doesn't look so dangerous at night... |
The bus ride home was made quicker because I had someone to talk to, since Maggie was on the same bus. When we got back to Zamalek, I ate some weird pasta from the cafeteria and went upstairs. Tomorrow is another day, the start of my second weekend so far this week. Should be fun, if I manage to keep track of the time.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
holding the fort
Wow. Another boring day, another boring blog. I almost don't even want to post tonight, because absolutely nothing happened today. Except for me talking to my mom on skype about how absolutely nothing happened today.
Most of my friends are gone for the long weekend, so it's just me and Maggie here to hold down the fort (sorry Hank, I meant hold the fort). After a long day of neither of us being productive, we met for studying and dinner, and then continued to be non-productive, but with company, which is infinitely preferable to being non-productive and alone.
We also met a gecko. He was a nice orangey color and had absolutely huge eyes. He was on the wall by our table, hunting bugs for his dinner. I didn't take a picture, sorry.
The only semi-worthwhile thing I did today was start my Dramatic Lit essay about the Oresteia and fate and destiny and stuff. I'm glad I started it, because that means I might have some little motivation to work on it tomorrow when I'm in the library after class.
I also did my Arabic homework, which was supposed to be me writing a paragraph about an imaginary girl, and then meeting two new people and asking them about themselves. On second thought, maybe everyone mentioned in the homework I turn in tomorrow will be imaginary...
In other news, I start my library archives job tomorrow morning. I've got a schedule and everything, now all I need to do is learn what exactly this job entails. I'm actually pretty excited about it, because I'll get to meet some new people and do interesting work that isn't for a grade and doesn't have a real deadline. I'm pretty sure I'll be cataloging papers that famous people have donated to the library, and possibly even figuring out how to catalog things that no one has even looked at yet. Pretty darn exciting, don't you think? Hopefully my internship in the Respository at UCSB will have prepared me at least a little bit for how to organize and catalog stuff for a museum/archive thing. At least this time I won't be organizing rock that some archaeologist in the 1970s decided were interesting, dropped off at UCSB, and then forgot all about. Please don't let there be any rocks.
Yup, that's about it. Except for one thing - does anyone know how to get PayPal to work when I'm outside the US? It won't let me use my account for some stupid reason, so I can't buy any music directly from the artist online while I'm here. I might have to resort to using iTunes, which makes me very sad.
I'll let you know how work goes tomorrow, and I'll try to get some interesting pictures! (Finally...)
Most of my friends are gone for the long weekend, so it's just me and Maggie here to hold down the fort (sorry Hank, I meant hold the fort). After a long day of neither of us being productive, we met for studying and dinner, and then continued to be non-productive, but with company, which is infinitely preferable to being non-productive and alone.
We also met a gecko. He was a nice orangey color and had absolutely huge eyes. He was on the wall by our table, hunting bugs for his dinner. I didn't take a picture, sorry.
The only semi-worthwhile thing I did today was start my Dramatic Lit essay about the Oresteia and fate and destiny and stuff. I'm glad I started it, because that means I might have some little motivation to work on it tomorrow when I'm in the library after class.
I also did my Arabic homework, which was supposed to be me writing a paragraph about an imaginary girl, and then meeting two new people and asking them about themselves. On second thought, maybe everyone mentioned in the homework I turn in tomorrow will be imaginary...
In other news, I start my library archives job tomorrow morning. I've got a schedule and everything, now all I need to do is learn what exactly this job entails. I'm actually pretty excited about it, because I'll get to meet some new people and do interesting work that isn't for a grade and doesn't have a real deadline. I'm pretty sure I'll be cataloging papers that famous people have donated to the library, and possibly even figuring out how to catalog things that no one has even looked at yet. Pretty darn exciting, don't you think? Hopefully my internship in the Respository at UCSB will have prepared me at least a little bit for how to organize and catalog stuff for a museum/archive thing. At least this time I won't be organizing rock that some archaeologist in the 1970s decided were interesting, dropped off at UCSB, and then forgot all about. Please don't let there be any rocks.
Yup, that's about it. Except for one thing - does anyone know how to get PayPal to work when I'm outside the US? It won't let me use my account for some stupid reason, so I can't buy any music directly from the artist online while I'm here. I might have to resort to using iTunes, which makes me very sad.
I'll let you know how work goes tomorrow, and I'll try to get some interesting pictures! (Finally...)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
fedoras and bullwhips (and phasers?)
I woke up around 4:00 this morning with the most painful cramp in my calf that I have ever felt. I tried to stretch it, and it just wouldn't go away at all. I didn't get any more sleep, and the pain didn't go away until I got home from school, at around 6 pm. It was a long day. Now my leg is fine, though, and I really really hope that never happens again.
Cairo was really smoggy this morning, one of the worst days I've seen. I feel a little lucky that the campus doesn't get covered with smog, since it's so far out in the desert, but the bus ride usually makes me forget that one positive side of new campus. (Also, I sat behind rude people twice on the bus today. The first guy talked really loudly on his phone the whole ride to school, and the second guy sat down and immediately reclined his chair all the way, crushing my legs. That was a great way to spend an hour.)
In other, less painful news, I discovered a student newspaper that is suckier than The Bottom Line. Any current UCSB student should know what I'm talking about.
The newspaper did have sudoku (oh, sorry 'sudoko') so that was alright at least. The puzzles were both pretty easy, even though I'm out of practice. Sadly, I couldn't finish the crossword puzzle. It was just too difficult for me.
Good news on the work-study front! I got an official offer of a job in the library archives today, and all I have to do is submit a commitment form to be processed, and then I'm in! I'm a little less enthusiastic about the job than I was when I started looking into it, just because school is starting to get busy, but I think I'll really enjoy the work. I'll let you know more when I get started!
I finally hung out with my friends after school today, and we went to get dinner at Pizza Hut, then wandered Zamalek for a while until we found a bakery/gelato shop. The gelato was amazing, and really cheap, but I'm definitely going back for some desserts sometime soon. They had all kinds of Egyptian cakes, as well as more Western style desserts. It was funny, though, because the kind of cakes they described as 'Western' I've only ever really seen before in Japan:
Tomorrow I plan to catch a taxi to downtown, just to explore a little bit and find where the old campus is, so I'll know ahead of time when I have to meet there to leave for Tanis on Saturday. I'm so excited! Did I already explain why I'm so excited about Tanis? I'm too lazy tonight to check back and see, so I'll just explain again.
Remember that movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark? It had that one guy? With the hat, and the bullwhip?
Anyway, in case you never saw the movie (it wasn't ever very famous or anything), in it, an archaeologist named Indiana Jones (swoon) goes to Egypt in search of the lost Ark of the Covenant, stolen from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem by an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, and lost forever when his capitol city, Tanis, was buried by the desert. He also fights some Nazis and gets the girl and shoots a guy in a sword fight. All in a day's work. But I digress.
Basically, the city of Tanis existed. It was the capitol of a pharaoh named Sheshonk I, who is famous now for his tomb at Tanis, and for being mentioned in the Bible as having sacked Jerusalem and plundered Solomon's temple. So, if the Ark of the Covenant is anywhere, why not Tanis?*
So that's pretty much what I'm going to do on Saturday. Go to Tanis, follow in Dr. Jones' illustrious footsteps, find the Ark, and melt some Nazis. That's the rough idea, anyway. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Also, I just wanted to say, I searched "ark of the covenant indiana jones" on google images to get the above picture, but it also gave me this one, and I don't know why:
*Actually, there's a ton of reasons why not Tanis, mostly because there isn't anything really left there that hasn't been dug up, as far as I know. But I can still dream, can't I?
** And it should go without saying that none of the pictures from movies and tv shows belong to me, they are all the property of their respective copyright owners, and I mean no infringement by using them here.
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| smoggy thursday |
In other, less painful news, I discovered a student newspaper that is suckier than The Bottom Line. Any current UCSB student should know what I'm talking about.
The newspaper did have sudoku (oh, sorry 'sudoko') so that was alright at least. The puzzles were both pretty easy, even though I'm out of practice. Sadly, I couldn't finish the crossword puzzle. It was just too difficult for me.
 |
| a hand made crossword puzzle all about finance - a main feature |
I finally hung out with my friends after school today, and we went to get dinner at Pizza Hut, then wandered Zamalek for a while until we found a bakery/gelato shop. The gelato was amazing, and really cheap, but I'm definitely going back for some desserts sometime soon. They had all kinds of Egyptian cakes, as well as more Western style desserts. It was funny, though, because the kind of cakes they described as 'Western' I've only ever really seen before in Japan:
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| delicious looking fruity chocolate cakes |
Remember that movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark? It had that one guy? With the hat, and the bullwhip?
 |
| yeah, this guy. this guy right here. |
Basically, the city of Tanis existed. It was the capitol of a pharaoh named Sheshonk I, who is famous now for his tomb at Tanis, and for being mentioned in the Bible as having sacked Jerusalem and plundered Solomon's temple. So, if the Ark of the Covenant is anywhere, why not Tanis?*
So that's pretty much what I'm going to do on Saturday. Go to Tanis, follow in Dr. Jones' illustrious footsteps, find the Ark, and melt some Nazis. That's the rough idea, anyway. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 |
| my plan for saturday goes something like this (but i'll keep my eyes closed) |
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| it must be fate |
** And it should go without saying that none of the pictures from movies and tv shows belong to me, they are all the property of their respective copyright owners, and I mean no infringement by using them here.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Alexandria 1 (9/17/10)
[Catch-up blog again. Sigh. You know the drill, no editing, lots of pictures.]
We met in the dorm lobby this mornig at 7:00 am to meet the bus from the campus dorms that would take us to Alexandria. I was a little late coming down to the lobby because I was running slow due to last minute issues (mostly having to do with being super quiet for the new roommate) up in my room.
I got to the lobby at 7:05, to find my friends already waiting. Then we waited together for an hour and half for the bus from new campus to arrive. By the time it did, I was more than ready for my early morning nap, which lasted me almost all the way to Alexandria (about a three hour drive). It was one of those nice naps where I was asleep enough to not be bothered by anything, but awake enough to hear my music and avoid snoring and/or drooling.
I mostly listened to MIKA and Molly Lewis during the drive. Here's one of my favorite songs of Molly's, called Our American Cousin: (the actual song starts at about 57 seconds.)
Our first stop in the city was the Citadel of Qaitbay. It was built on the ruins of the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world, and it was the closest I've ever gotten to exploring a medieval castle. We took lots of pictures, including some really touristy ones. Our group for this trip is about twenty-five people, and only seven are from Zamalek. The smaller group of my friends included Emily, Jen, Michelle, Cheryl, and myself.
After exploring the citadel, we went to lunch at a famous seafood restaurant. The pita and various dips were delicious, especially the yogurt dip, which I really hadn't expected to like. However, then they brought out the main course:
Here's the view from our table, out across the Mediterranean:
None of of ate our entire lunch, some because it was looking back at them, but me mostly because it didn't taste very good. It may have been caught that very morning, but I didn't care, because it tasted exactly like the Nile and the Mediterranean (in some parts, at least) smell on a bad day - full of pollution and dead things.
After lunch, we visited the Library of Alexandria, or the Bibliotheque. The ancient library of course hasn't existed for hundreds and hundreds of years, but the new museum and library on the site was opened in 2001.
It's a gorgeous building, full of skylights and glass and most importantl, books. It currently holds 1.5 million volumes if I remember correctly, but has enough space for 8 million.
Our visit wasn't very long and I look forward to returning one day to actually browse the shelves and even see the only surviving scroll form the original library itself.
Also, the library has an extensive online presence with databases ad catalogs open free of charge to anyone; you can find that here.
We checked into our hotel (fundoq Kaoud) after visiting the library, and found it only slightly creepier than we thought it might be.
It's not really the kind of hotel to leave towel surprises for its guests, either. If it did, we probably wouldn't like them. (Speaking of towels, we had three people in our room and just one hand towel. And toilet paper that ran out after one use. We spoke to reception and got more towels, but they never did give us the toilet paper.)
Here's the view from our hotel balcony, out over the Mediterranean. It almost made up for everything else...
[edit to add: at least we didn't have cockroaches, like some of the guys I talked to. Makes me think they saved the 'nice' rooms for the girls!]
After a few hours rest in our rooms, the five of us set out for dinner and adventure. Our first step was the beach right across the street. We crossed eight lanes of traffic using a handy (and safe) tunnel underneath the road.
We took lots of pictures of the beach for a while, and then I climbed down to the next lowest level to touch the water. The sea spray was amazing, and it was a phenomenal experience. I didn't even come close to slipping on the algae and cracking my head open like a melon.
When it started getting dark, we began to look for a place to eat dinner. After wandering about half an hour with no luck, our group met up with two guys also from AUC, and we split up, Jen and Cheryl catching a taxi downtown with them to search for food, and Michelle, Emily and I returning to the hotel to order Pizza Hut delivery. We like to keep it classy.
It took a really long time to order and actually receive our food, but it was totally worth it. Egyptian pizza is so good. Now it's time for bed, and with any luck we won't run late tomorrow so we won't have to miss visiting anything extremely cool, like the catacombs or the Roman theatre. And with any luck this blog will get posted tomorrow night along with tomorrow's blog [Hey look, I did it!]
Also, here's my newest video from themicrowavesafe:
We met in the dorm lobby this mornig at 7:00 am to meet the bus from the campus dorms that would take us to Alexandria. I was a little late coming down to the lobby because I was running slow due to last minute issues (mostly having to do with being super quiet for the new roommate) up in my room.
I got to the lobby at 7:05, to find my friends already waiting. Then we waited together for an hour and half for the bus from new campus to arrive. By the time it did, I was more than ready for my early morning nap, which lasted me almost all the way to Alexandria (about a three hour drive). It was one of those nice naps where I was asleep enough to not be bothered by anything, but awake enough to hear my music and avoid snoring and/or drooling.
I mostly listened to MIKA and Molly Lewis during the drive. Here's one of my favorite songs of Molly's, called Our American Cousin: (the actual song starts at about 57 seconds.)
Our first stop in the city was the Citadel of Qaitbay. It was built on the ruins of the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world, and it was the closest I've ever gotten to exploring a medieval castle. We took lots of pictures, including some really touristy ones. Our group for this trip is about twenty-five people, and only seven are from Zamalek. The smaller group of my friends included Emily, Jen, Michelle, Cheryl, and myself.
 |
| the citadel |
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| view through an arrow slit |
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| window grills |
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| really really touristy picture |
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| up on the battlements |
 |
| well, i liked the rice |
None of of ate our entire lunch, some because it was looking back at them, but me mostly because it didn't taste very good. It may have been caught that very morning, but I didn't care, because it tasted exactly like the Nile and the Mediterranean (in some parts, at least) smell on a bad day - full of pollution and dead things.
After lunch, we visited the Library of Alexandria, or the Bibliotheque. The ancient library of course hasn't existed for hundreds and hundreds of years, but the new museum and library on the site was opened in 2001.
 |
| alexander himself! |
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| the outer wall, with writing from all over the world |
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| the guestbook we signed, in 4 different languages |
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| the stack and study desks |
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| the library skylights, designed to look like eyes |
Also, the library has an extensive online presence with databases ad catalogs open free of charge to anyone; you can find that here.
We checked into our hotel (fundoq Kaoud) after visiting the library, and found it only slightly creepier than we thought it might be.
It's not really the kind of hotel to leave towel surprises for its guests, either. If it did, we probably wouldn't like them. (Speaking of towels, we had three people in our room and just one hand towel. And toilet paper that ran out after one use. We spoke to reception and got more towels, but they never did give us the toilet paper.)
Here's the view from our hotel balcony, out over the Mediterranean. It almost made up for everything else...
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| sunsets are the best part of the day |
[edit to add: at least we didn't have cockroaches, like some of the guys I talked to. Makes me think they saved the 'nice' rooms for the girls!]
After a few hours rest in our rooms, the five of us set out for dinner and adventure. Our first step was the beach right across the street. We crossed eight lanes of traffic using a handy (and safe) tunnel underneath the road.
 |
| tunnels for safety! |
When it started getting dark, we began to look for a place to eat dinner. After wandering about half an hour with no luck, our group met up with two guys also from AUC, and we split up, Jen and Cheryl catching a taxi downtown with them to search for food, and Michelle, Emily and I returning to the hotel to order Pizza Hut delivery. We like to keep it classy.
It took a really long time to order and actually receive our food, but it was totally worth it. Egyptian pizza is so good. Now it's time for bed, and with any luck we won't run late tomorrow so we won't have to miss visiting anything extremely cool, like the catacombs or the Roman theatre. And with any luck this blog will get posted tomorrow night along with tomorrow's blog [Hey look, I did it!]
Also, here's my newest video from themicrowavesafe:
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
confusion in the library
I got my class with Professor Ikram! I can die happy now. *sigh of contentment*
Of course, now that I'm enrolled in a new course (or at least a different version of the old course), I have new books to buy. There are three textbooks for Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, but the professor recommended that we only purchase two of them. I did that this morning after switching my classes, and shelled out 400 pounds for two semi-large (paperback) books. That's about $80, which really isn't bad, especially since in the US those same two books at the UCSB bookstore would most likely have cost at least that much each. Still, it seems like a lot of money. I think my brain is adjusting to Egyptian currency and prices more and more each day, since now my reaction to paying four pounds for lunch is "That's waaayy too much money. I could get it cheaper somewhere else!" although I know perfectly well that four pounds is less than a dollar, and I could never get that much food for a dollar at home.
After my visit to the bookstore, I dropped by the library for what I hoped would be a quick visit. All I needed to do was get a book out of reserve, photocopy about thirty pages, and then return it. Because this is AUC, however, the completion of this process entailed the use of four different computers, multiple treks up and down the stairs (I have actually visited every floor of the library today, and some more than once), and talking to two different people about where on earth this book could be.
It's called The Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Its call number is DT60.B34 - you see, I've memorized it. I started my search by looking for it on the normal shelves, not such a crazy place, you might think, especially since the call number said CHECK SHELF after it. However, it wasn't there. Then I asked a friendly man at the reserve desk if he had it, since my teacher had said that at least on copy was on reserve. No dice. He sent me first to the reference shelf, then back up to the third floor to check in special reserves when that didn't work. By the way, look at the crazy scanner that was on his desk:
I couldn't find the book on the normal shelves, or on the special reserve shelves. Finally the lady at the desk took me to the special reserves reference shelf, and we found it there. Just to make it clear, all four places I looked or this book had the exact same call number, and apparently that is also true for most of the other books here.Of course, once I had the books in hand, I had to follow their rules to copy it, since I couldn't check it out. One chapter, or 10% of the book. I tried to get a little more, but she caught me, and I had to ask for only half of what I needed. To make the experience even better, the book couldn't even be photocopied immediately, I was told to come back in an hour. Aren't libraries wonderful?
After that lovely bit of confusion, I actually went to class and experienced some more. Some tidbits from my day: an argument with a professor over free will versus fate in Dramatic Literature, a confusing essay assignment (topic = whatever, length = whatever) in Ancient Egyptian Literature, and just general confusion in Arabic class. Actually, scratch that, Arabic made sense today, and that in and of itself was confusing.
I came home on a very crowded bus that drove much too quickly, and started on my homework. I guess I wasn't exactly 100% dedicated all day, but it seems like I was. I got it all done, anyway. Around 9 pm I went downstairs with some reading for Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt to get dinner, only to arrive about 30 seconds after the cafeteria shut down. So that was fun too. I was okay, actually, because I ate a big lunch of falafel and cucumbers and pita on campus today. I'll have better luck with dinner tomorrow, I swear.
No news on the cell phone front, still, but I was told to talk to reception in the morning, and hopefully they will call housekeeping down from their lair to return my mobile. Hopefully.
Two quick pictures:
Of course, now that I'm enrolled in a new course (or at least a different version of the old course), I have new books to buy. There are three textbooks for Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, but the professor recommended that we only purchase two of them. I did that this morning after switching my classes, and shelled out 400 pounds for two semi-large (paperback) books. That's about $80, which really isn't bad, especially since in the US those same two books at the UCSB bookstore would most likely have cost at least that much each. Still, it seems like a lot of money. I think my brain is adjusting to Egyptian currency and prices more and more each day, since now my reaction to paying four pounds for lunch is "That's waaayy too much money. I could get it cheaper somewhere else!" although I know perfectly well that four pounds is less than a dollar, and I could never get that much food for a dollar at home.
After my visit to the bookstore, I dropped by the library for what I hoped would be a quick visit. All I needed to do was get a book out of reserve, photocopy about thirty pages, and then return it. Because this is AUC, however, the completion of this process entailed the use of four different computers, multiple treks up and down the stairs (I have actually visited every floor of the library today, and some more than once), and talking to two different people about where on earth this book could be.
It's called The Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Its call number is DT60.B34 - you see, I've memorized it. I started my search by looking for it on the normal shelves, not such a crazy place, you might think, especially since the call number said CHECK SHELF after it. However, it wasn't there. Then I asked a friendly man at the reserve desk if he had it, since my teacher had said that at least on copy was on reserve. No dice. He sent me first to the reference shelf, then back up to the third floor to check in special reserves when that didn't work. By the way, look at the crazy scanner that was on his desk:
 |
| thank you, american taxpayers, for my egyptian university. |
After that lovely bit of confusion, I actually went to class and experienced some more. Some tidbits from my day: an argument with a professor over free will versus fate in Dramatic Literature, a confusing essay assignment (topic = whatever, length = whatever) in Ancient Egyptian Literature, and just general confusion in Arabic class. Actually, scratch that, Arabic made sense today, and that in and of itself was confusing.
I came home on a very crowded bus that drove much too quickly, and started on my homework. I guess I wasn't exactly 100% dedicated all day, but it seems like I was. I got it all done, anyway. Around 9 pm I went downstairs with some reading for Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt to get dinner, only to arrive about 30 seconds after the cafeteria shut down. So that was fun too. I was okay, actually, because I ate a big lunch of falafel and cucumbers and pita on campus today. I'll have better luck with dinner tomorrow, I swear.
No news on the cell phone front, still, but I was told to talk to reception in the morning, and hopefully they will call housekeeping down from their lair to return my mobile. Hopefully.
Two quick pictures:
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| 'sorry seems to be the hardest word'?? AUC computers are weird. |
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| be quiet in the computer lab, or this little girl will kill you. with her brain. |
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
cinnabon and feral cats
Okay, I admit it. I gave in. I ate at Cinnabon on campus today. It just smelled so good, and it wasn't that expensive, and there wasn't a line, and I did it. And it was delicious. I couldn't find a knife and fork, so the entire affair was a bit messy. I don't regret it one bit, but I won't be doing it again for a while!
That was my only adventure on campus today. Just to keep it interesting, though, here are some photos of AUC from the past week:
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the view from the library's second floor |
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| science and engineering building |
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the library's outside wall |
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library stairs |
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| omar sharif supports reading and i support omar sharif |
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plaza, complete with fountains |
Also today, we explored the area of Zamalek around our dorms a little bit more. We talked to some soldiers with AK-47s ("no pictures, no pictures!") and then we met some feral cats. These cats are everywhere in Cairo. They eat whatever they can find, and are always around. Some are huge and scary, and others are really tiny and pathetic. Some of my friends think they're cute, but I tend to think they're a little icky. Who knows where they've been? The one below was just chilling on the steps of the dorm when we got home tonight, cool as a cucumber. It skedaddled when the camera flashed, though, thankfully away from the open door to the residences!
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who knows where this cat has been?? |
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