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.

As Cara's last post indicated, I've had to fix a few things since we moved in. The list so far:

• reconnect to WiFi & DSL
• busted coaxial wire for satellite
• rewired plug for a lamp
• toilet tank wouldn't fill

Regarding the toilet, all of the basic mechanisms are the same as in the US, but it was quite a chore figuring out how to fix it. Since the flusher is on the top of the toilet, I had to disconnect it before I could take off the lid to really get into it. It must have taken me 20 minutes to figure it out. I now know a bit about the subtle differences between US & Euro styled toilet mechanisms. But was it worth it? Shouldn't I have been out-and-about, "experiencing" Cairo? I dunno. But I do know that we didn't have to pay someone to come and fix it.

Currently waiting for Cara to take care of business at the university. Flights were awfully long. United Airlines sucks. The only reason I got free wine is because our flight was 5 hours delayed. "Its on us this time" the flight attendant said. "Its on British Airways every time," I thought. They had to fly the part all the way in from Chicago. Since we got bumped to the next Cairo > Frankfurt flight, Cara missed the "mandatory" grad student orientation at AUC. Still, we got to our hotel safely. I felt like we were dignitaries or something... instead of having to haggle cab fares from the airport, the Fulbright office sent someone to the airport to help us negotiate our visa, luggage, and to give us a ride to our hotel. Not too shabby. Its exciting to be back in Cairo. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we'll be living here. Cara has done it once, but my brain is having trouble conceptualizing our stay past 3.5 weeks. Next steps for us: get Cara set up with AUC, get a SIM card for my phone & unlock it, check in with Fulbright office, start apartment hunting.

Sharm al Sheik: So that’s what they call them, scuba safaris. You dive as much as possible and sleep on the boat. It was absolutely one of the coolest things Ive ever done. The diving was amazing. I was able to accompany everyone on Advanced level dives (technically I don’t have the certification even though I’ve completed all the necessary dives, I just need to fork out the cash and take the test), which are SO much better and more amazing than basic dives. We dove Thistlegorm Wreck, at 28 meters, a British cargo ship sunk by Gernman bombs in 1940.

So a funny thing happened a few minutes ago. I was walking up on the fourth floor. (trying to avoid studying arabic by finding someone to distract me. If I don’t know it now I’m sure as heck not going to know it by my final tomorrow). And I’m just wearing a spaghetti strap top because I’m in the girls section. I was actually just looking at my skin, marveling at my shoulders, which I haven’t seen a whole lot of lately, when I hear the ominous and dreaded words “Man d’ floor” (translation, man on floor).

Last week I went to an FMRS lecture on nationality in Egpyt and how it restricts womens rights as well as the rights, obviously, of refugees. It was really interesting. In attendence was a woman lawyer who has been working on changing the laws on nationality here in egypt from a feminist perspective. The laws here currently give nationality only through the father. This means, that if your mother is Egyptian, you are born in Egpyt, live your entire life in Egpyt, but your father was born in Saudi Arabia…you do not have Egyptian citizenship.

I was wrong on the number of refugees that were involved in the peaceful sit-in in front of the UNHCR buildings here in Cairo that ended violently in December. It was not 300 Sudanese refugees, but 3000. THREE THOUSAND. And 27 of them are dead due to police brutality. I have an earlier post on this event...if you wanted to read it.

After the Bussy play was another amazing play put on by St. Andrews Church that serves mainly Sudanese refugees in Cairo. It was not as well done as the Bussy play, but it was so wonderful to members of the refugee population in Cairo expressing themselves. The play portrayed the events of the sit-in that ended violently in December. It showed the Egpytian government as blind to the problem the Sudanese face, and depicted the brutality of the sit-in. It had us in tears at points.

I went to an amazing play tonight based on AUC women’s stories of life, sexuality and their bodies as women in Egpyt. It’s based off the idea of the Vagina Monologues, where women write stories about their bodies. Very personal. Very challenging to the audience in that they usually talk about things that are kept quiet and really make you THINK. This was no different, only lots subtler than the Vagina Monologues. I was still just so impressed to see these women expressing themselves!