For the past day or so the internet in our apartment hasn’t been working.  Predictably, as soon as there was urgent news from home it became difficult to make contact.   My grandmother fell a few days ago and hit her head.  I last heard that she appears to be stable and in less pain than … Continue reading →

I went out yesterday to do a research interview and didn’t end up going home until the wee hours of the next morning.  My friend Lorna called just as I was leaving the interview and asked if I wanted to join her in Mohandiseen to get our nails done.  Yes, please! Our nails newly beautified, … Continue reading →

Greetings, Skirts!  Photos from my November excursions (so far) here in Cairo are now posted.  They include pictures of the Mugamma, me in my dust mask to try and reduce the lung-destroying particles in a taxi ride, the desert road out to the AUC new campus, and the day trip to Saqqara, Memphis and Wissa … Continue reading →

My fieldwork has taken a backseat the past couple of days.  I’ve been very busy – going to the mall, going to the movies, going to see a comedy show, going on a guided tour of various historical sites of Egypt. Let’s start with the mall, eh?  There are a lot of different places to … Continue reading →

­­A few days ago in the wee hours of the morning I found myself sitting on the couch scribbling furiously in my journal.  I’d just got back from a night out with two friends in a bar known to one of them. We wound up sitting with two diplomats Ghana who were interesting and fun … Continue reading →

I helped my roommate out a few days ago by mailing her ballot while she was at class. This actually turned into a whole rigmarole because unbeknownst to me the Fast Mail option in the Egyptian Postal system requires not only the address of the recipient but also their phone number plus the sender’s whole … Continue reading →

I woke early this morning to get ready for a talk I delivered to the AUC Foreign Students’ Association today.  (Only one person showed up for the talk; no surprise given the number of people I know who were staying up all night to watch the election results.)  Shortly after getting up I flipped the … Continue reading →

I woke up late today.  I could feel my heart fluttering like an anxious bird and I decided it was because my body wasn’t getting enough oxygen from my weak lungs so it was just pumping the blood around faster in a futile effort to make it up.  I rolled over and went back to … Continue reading →

“So what are you doing in Cairo?” asked the young man. I explained about my PhD in belly dance, tourism, and globalization.  (That’s not what it was about to start with, but that’s a whole other story…)  Whereupon he said brightly, “Oh, I know somebody who’s doing a Fulbright about the same thing!” I nearly … Continue reading →

When the table crashed over spilling beer and broken glass everywhere for the second time, I decided to go home. Before I even say anything about this whole event I have to confess that I know who reads this blog and I’m afraid that in writing about it I’ll be setting a poor example and … Continue reading →