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 →

Since the Good Ship Serendipity turned into the Houseboat Debacle of Shame, I’ve been trying to find a new place to live.  Lucky for me the Cairo Scholars mailing list is rife with people seeking a room or seeking a tenant to fill an available room. After the first room I looked at, the second … 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 →