A Way Overdue Update

Well, I wrote the bulk of this entry while on a bus in a notebook (like on real paper, not on a computer), and at the time, I thought it had been two weeks since I updated. I now see it's been three -- so first of all, my bad for lagging so far behind in updating.

I'm going to start with the present and work my way back to my last entry, more or less.

Things, in general, are very good -- lots of studying, lots of homework, which is as it should be, I guess. And for the first time in my life, someone is paying me to be a student. Score. Also, I'm learning a lot. I should probably put that in there, huh? Seriously though, I've been learning a ton in formal Arabic, which is really where most of my problems lay before, so I'm happy about that. And I'm getting a little more settled in general, in terms of friends, feeling comfortable (except for the HEAT) in Egypt once again.

Now, backtracking to when I was on a bus to this resort town called Marsa Matrouh, which is located on the coast of the Mediterranean, west of Alexandria. It was a fun and relaxing weekend. When I wrote the entry I was still stuck in the remnants of Cairo traffic (which, believe me, is no joke. I would hate to drive here), and could see the pyramids.

Sitting there and watching cars made me remember the reasons I really like Egypt. It's entirely disorganized, and it doesn't really seem like anything should ever get done, but it does, though often in a pretty scatterbrained fashion. What's cool is that I never worry about anything, really -- finding my way or what I need. Here, clearly, speaking Egyptian Arabic helps me a lot.

At the same time, I'm confronted by difficult, or, I should say, challenging (in the sense that they truly startle me and make me rethink certain things about myself) situations, pretty frequently. Just as an example, I was sitting on an air-conditioned coach bus on my way to laze next to a beach for a weekend. Two cars over, I could see these three working-class guys sprawled on top of bags of dry cement on the back of an open-bed semi. They were smeared with dirt, out in the Cairo sun, and clearly not on the way to anywhere relaxing. What I paid for this trip could well be three times what they make in a given month.

I don't feel guilty so much as conflicted about this. Clearly I'm a foreigner, but a sense of being so drastically comparatively wealthy isn't something I'm used to feeling. It's not something I can really articulate any more than that right now.

Okay, going back farther in time.

Issues:
Meeting people/getting used to being in Cairo -- Resolved as much as it should be after three weeks?
Finding an apt. -- YES. Located on sick (and affordable) pad with two other CASA students, near campus. It's in a neighborhood called Garden City, which actually used to be exclusively for the Brits when Egypt was a protectorate. It's now opened up to everybody, thankfully, but it's still a really nice area, with trees, and wide streets, and cool architecture, and it's also pretty quiet. Only downside is that it doesn't open up until July 1, which at this point, is only a week. In the meantime, I'm subletting the couch of a couple friends in CASA. Both future and current roommates are very nice.

Other than that, my life has pretty much been all about studying. My only complaint is that I haven't been able to get out much to see the city because I'm studying all the time. Which is good, because I really am learning a lot. I'm counting on future weekends and the long break I have in August to explore more. Slash I will have to outfit the new apartment, so hopefully me and future roomies will do some exploring (hopefully in the local markets). Also, a certain Agnabia (foreign girl) will be coming (!!!) to see me in August, which means I'll be going out to the Pyramids for sure, anyway.

All right. That's that for now. I'm done with studying, so I might actually do something fun for the hour before I go to bed. Like eat the pudding I put in the freezer. Small pleasures. Slash it's currently 93° F, and it was over 100 for most of the day, and in fact, the past three days, so that pudding is probably closer to a large pleasure.

I hope you're all well, and to the use the words of Garrison Keillor, be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Emma