Yesterday a friend of a friend of my parents, Flora, offered to take me to Khan el Khalili and then to see some dervish dancing in the cultural center across the road.  The idea of going out and having fun really excited me because I’ve barely thought about that since I got here. She picked … Continue reading →

At the end of yesterday evening, a family friend told me she’d sent an e-mail to the Registrar’s office at AUC on my behalf.  She’d shown them my blog entry Research Fellowship: A Comedy in Three Acts, in which I describe my first day at AUC, and­ she showed me their response. Basically they accused … Continue reading →

I’m still homeless, living in the scary 70’s hotel.  I’ve been sitting in the hallway to use the internet because the wireless doesn’t reach my room.  There’s a big pile of sheets in one corner near the fire exit, which I didn’t pay much attention to at first but just today I noticed it is … Continue reading →

Yesterday I had to move out of the lovely Longchamps hotel into the place downstairs, the Horus Hotel.  (This building, in addition to two hotels, has several apartments in it.  I don’t think that’s unusual in Cairo.)   The Horus looks like somebody grabbed the seventies by the hair and unceremoniously dumped them here without … Continue reading →

Caroline, Loreli and I were sat chatting the other day and suddenly Caroline asked how old I was.  When I replied she turned to Loreli and said, “See I told you.”   Did they have a disagreement about my age?  Caroline remembered I’d posted it in my Cairo Scholars ad, and Loreli said, “Oh it’s only because … Continue reading →

Caroline and I were out hunting for flats the other day.  We tried the questioning-the-doormen method I mentioned before with a fair amount of success, although as often as not they directed us to a simsar (real estate agent) to show us flats in their buildings.   One of the women showed us a beautiful … Continue reading →

I agreed to meet a woman named Caroline yesterday to discuss whether we might want to live together and to look at some flats.  She e-mailed me back after the message I sent out on the Cairo Scholars list, just saying she’ll be here for six months working for an NGO to promote local Egyptian … Continue reading →

Whenever I go to the Marriott hotel I walk past a woman sitting on the street, clutching a child and making a gesture for food by bunching her fingers together and putting them to her mouth, out of which flows a torrent of words outlining her misfortune and destitution.  I don’t understand all of what … Continue reading →

I went to look at two apartments yesterday with my real estate agent.  We were supposed to meet around 3 but something kept her and we couldn’t meet until 5.  With iftaar, the celebratory fast-breaking meal at sunset, just around the corner we were only able to see two places and then she kindly invited … Continue reading →

This happened the day I moved into the boat and I forgot to put it down here at the time.   On the way to meet a friend at the Marriott hotel, I walked down a road I wasn’t familiar with in Zamalek.  As ever I tried hard to keep my eyes on the road … Continue reading →