People keep asking us (well, me, at least) about our adventures. For the most part, we haven't had many. Cara saw almost all of the tourist sights when she lived here before (and I've seen the big ones), so there seems to be little need to head for the pyramids again until we have visitors to show around. It'll probably be a while before we have another adventure like our excursion to St. Catherine's Monastery in 2005. Yet, in many ways, every walk down the street is a little adventure. Of the little adventures we've had, here is a quick list of some highlights:

• Having the bowab's little boys insist on helping us carry groceries the last 20 feet of the walk from the store.
• Watching a concert of "American Pop Music," which consisted of Sinatra-style love songs, accompanied by piano.
• Got shafted out of some money by people who came to "clean bugs" out of our drains. We should've known better and it could've been worse.
• Spending 45 minutes figuring out how to use a match to light a gas oven with temperature gauges. No, there is no pilot light.
• Shopping for towels at a multi-story store where you pick out your merchandise, then take a piece of paper to one kiosk downstairs, where they stamp it and you go to another kiosk where you pay and they have the guy that you talked to three minutes prior bring your towels down.
• Needing a cab for Cara to get all of her readings for the year from AUC to our apartment.

The biggest adventure in many ways is simply learning how to live here, with all of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences with the life we are used to. We've been spending most days working in our little home... Cara on her course readings and me on my web projects. Her classes are at night (8pm to 10:30pm during Ramadan), which is when I sometimes sneak out for shawarema around the corner. Since its Ramadan, they are not open during the day. Tonight, however, my little adventure quickly became a misadventure when I got back to the apartment, shawarema in hand, but no key. No way to get into the apartment for at least 2 hours. So I settled on a plan: (a) find something to read, (b) find someplace to sit and read it. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night in Cairo? After enjoying my shawarema (I keep spelling it like this because that is the English-ification of it around here), I headed toward Cilantro, a Western-style (but locally owned and operated) coffee joint with amenities such as WiFi, A/C, good espresso, and a delicious "Chilled Nutella" drink. I was keeping my eye out for a newsstand... but not any newsstand. One of the ones that sells English publications, too. Like Egypt Today and Al Ahram. I stumbled across a huge, schmancy hotel and waltzed my temporarily homeless self in, asking the bell hop where I could find an English newspaper. He informed me, however, that at 9pm on a Thursday night (Thursday night in Cairo is the equivalent of a Friday night in the US), I would not have much luck, and should try again in the morning, but I could try to go up to the square (straight and to the right, "a la tool wa yemin," I practiced my Arabic directions). Alas, no open newsstands, but there were a half dozen ahwa shops. Ahwa (coffee) shops in Cairo are about as authentic an experience a foreign guy can get, I've been told. They are the the place for men to sit and chat and drink chai and sheesha and play backgammon in the evenings. There are no menus, no wifi, no starbucks logos, no vegan scones, no women (though Cara says that there is one downtown where women are welcome). An interesting establishment to say the least. The closest comparison to any establishment I can think of in the US is a hole-in-the-wall bar. Like the Yucca Tap Room or the one on Kyrene south of Baseline. But no alcohol, so no one is drunk. I wanted to sit down and try to partake, but (a) I still didn't have anything to read for the next two hours and (b) my Arabic is not good enough to order tea and sheesha and pay and (c) the only open seats were in back of the shop, where the heat would be unbearable. So I made my way back to Cilantro and found an Al Ahram Weekly in the advertisement rack which I read while enjoying my coffee. When Cara finally got home, she gave me another lesson on my numbers and ordering things in Egyptian Arabic. I hope to be confident enough to head over to the ahwa shops soon.