Eclipse There was an awesome, big-deal, full on solar eclipse this last Wednesday. In certain parts of Western egypt and Libya it was a full eclipse. Tourists all over the world were coming to Libya to see it. Here in Cairo we only got about 83% or so. It’s been a huge deal with everyone here trying to find a way to view the full eclipse. Problem was it was turning into a bit of a dip into the wallet as the Egyptian government figured out they could profit off of this by charging tourists 200 pounds to get into the area of Egypt where it would be best viewed. On top of this was cost of getting there, etc. Also, the day of the eclipse I have nearly all of my classes, so I really avoid missing Wednesdays. As much as I was interested in seeing the eclipse, going to so much trouble to do so simply wasn’t worth it to me. Besides, I would see 83% here in Cairo, right? WRONG. I have a crazy teacher. She’s British. So I call her the Crazy Brit. She is so typically an old british woman it hurts. She’s strict, yells in her funny accent (haha) and calls attention to the slightest thing anyone does out of line. I really feel like I’m in high school again while sitting in her class. Partly because the students around me act like high school students. But this is AUC, it’s like a trip back to high school all over again. Anyways, the Crazy Brit scares me. Plain and simple. I avoid drawing her attention, simply because she is so condescending. I’m not sure if I would stand up for myself or just take it, which would be highly damaging to my pride. So I just avoid her. A few were begging to be let out of class to view the eclipse, which would only be viewable for about 6-20 minutes (I heard varying accounts). It was to be at around noon or noon thirty, right in the middle of class, we would come right back. Anyways, she freaked out, starting screaming in her loud Brit voice (“WE MUSN”T MISS A DAY OF CLASS!!! YOU ALL HAVE AN EXAM COMING! OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN! I HAVE REACHED THE END OF MY ROPE YOU DISRESPECTUFL STUDENTS! BLECH, BLECH, BLAH, BLAH…”). End of story. There’s an eclipse drawing world-wide attention going on outside and my stupid teacher wouldn’t let us leave class to see it. So instead I found myself sitting in a boarded up room (the windows are boarded for security as this room is on the exterior of campus) in the dark, watching a documentary on WWII. ARGH! GAH! *screams of frustration* I really feel like I’m in high school again. Sigh. The worst part of it was that Crazy Brit scares me so much I didn’t just leave. Sigh. I wish I’d ditched the day and gone to Western Egpyt.