So today, at the Fulbright in-country orientation, I received grand news. There are, in fact, two Mexican food restaurants and Cairo...and they're maybe pretty good? I was so excited! One of them is called On the Border so I was curious if the American On the Border food chain has expanded internationally so typed "on the border cairo" into google search engine. The top result? "Report: Egypt uncovers 3 tunnels on Gaza border - Israel News ..." Sigh. The orientation and the following Iftar up at the citadel complete with a puppet performance, traditional sufi dancing and live music was fun. Justin took some cool pictures of the dancers lit by show lights so he'll have to post those soon.

I love you mom :)

The month of Ramadan is a time of fasting, reflection, prayer and study of the Koran for the Muslims of the world, and In Cairo it is no different. Except that Cairo is a huge metropolis teeming with at least 18 million inhabitants. Usually Cairenes (I've seen that term in the guidebooks, is that really what you call people who live in Cairo in English?) are yelling conversations over the incessant honking, the roar of wall-air conditioning units and old diesel engines rattling by. This yelling mayhem continues during Ramadan, but only before around 4-5pm, and after about 7:30pm. Between about 5 and 7:30pm...the city is quiet.

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.

For the friends and family: We are quite safe. Yesterday morning, a cliff fell onto a bunch of multi-story homes in Cairo. The English-language news has described the area as variations of "shanty towns," "squatter towns," and "informal communities." Basically, Cairo is dense and there is a vast differences between the rich and the poor, and of the latter, there are around 2 million people who live in homes which have been built on its outskirts. They don't officially own the land (it is not officially Cairo), there is no running water or utilities, no formal governing structure. This happened on a weekend morning during Ramadan, when entire families would have been home together, enjoying the holiday.