exibit a: i was out with two other girls just walking around the shops in our local area when we ran into a 25 year old woman who asked us what we were looking for. when we replied that we were looking for food she very kindly paid for a taxi to take us to a nice little arab food place and sat and ate with us. we paid for her 5 pound ( less than a dollar) meal and we then asked her where we could find a blowdryer to buy. she then went with us to another area of shops, walked us around, was very kind, and wonderful to laugh with and talk to. we said goodbye, with her promising that if we called her she would take us to the pyramids. exibit b: this is the first time all of us international students have met, and 15 of us have decided we would like to go out to dinner. we walk over to a place recommended and find out that without reservations we cannot be seated. so we go back to the main road to search for another place. we ask a few people directions on the way, and they kindly help us. the last man we ask directions from offers to walk us there himself. first he takes us to an angus beef restaurant featuring 38 pound entrees (around 6 dollars, but still huge prices for Cairo). we tell him we;d rather a more arab themed restuarant for our first night, so we subsequently end up at a place called Le Peking. Yes, Chinese. We;re too exhausted to argue so we just sigh and file in. The meal is wonderful, although the man who guided us there has once again sat with us and is fairly creepy. he picks me for some reason to stare doe eyed at for the entire meal, then gives me his number. i';m already dreading the coming of the bill with this many people. the man who lead us there is seated in about the middle. when the bill comes he handles it. we pretty simply manage to hand over the right amount we all owe after remembering our entrees on the menu as he is not passing the bill around. he hands our half of the table’s money over to the other half, where they insist on seeing the bill, tally it up, and come up 250 pounds short. the man probably pocketed some of our half of the table’s money, but he plays dumb and we can't prove it without making a scene. (one nice guy sitting next to him thinks he saw him putting a wad in his pocket, but having just come out of a 24 hour trip across the atlantic and only in egpyt for less than 4 hours he wasn't entirely sure enough of himself to cause a huge ruckus, i'm glad he didn't in hindsight) As we later closely scrutinize the bill (which is in arabic and only some of us can read it and none of us have learned chinese terms written out in arabic script...) we realize that he, who is now claiming he has no money, has ordered TWO of the most expensive dishes at the place, totalling 60 pounds. we're fine with paying for him, but pissed with the way he's duped us inot it. we also notice that we have been charged 85 dollars for beer none of us ordered. long story even longer, we confront the restuarant staff, they wince because they didn't realize this slew of american students could read the bill, and change it. all in all after sighing and just paying it we were each out about 15 pounds. It’s a small amount in dollars for a lesson well learned I suppose. We were hosed. He had the nerve to follow us as we walked home begging for money for a taxi. We ignored him. Otherwise, Cairo is exciting and fun. The streets are filled with vendors selling as many different wares as you can think of, dead cow bodies hanging outside of slaughtershops, brightly colored fruit stands, people yelling "welcome in cairo" in broken english as we walk by, women and men in their flowing clothes, men following us girls with their eyes, children laughing and playing, the smell of exhaust mixing with humanity and spices in the air... i think i'll like it here. =)