Back in Cairo!

I am very happy to say that Dan and I arrived in Egypt safely, as did my new boss and her family (she is the surveyor, and I am the assistant surveyor). Everything about our trip was easy and smooth—we even found our driver quickly! He was carrying a sign for "McCormack famillig, Daviddon and Schriever." But I should have known it was too good to be true. He dropped us off about a block away from where we were actually staying, then abandoned us, which led to great confusion for all since we didn't know exactly where we were going. Fortunately a very kind bilingual Fulbright scholar happened along to help us, and we eventually got to the right place.

Dan has already proven himself to be an invaluable travel buddy, since his Arabic is pretty good and he knew where to acquire my number one most wanted item: a cheap Egyptian cell phone. I have found it nearly impossible to find people, hire drivers, or make detailed plans without one. We started out at the Vodafone store, where the cheapest phone, before SIM card and minutes, was 899 EGP. Oh hell no. I didn't know what to do, but Dan did. We crossed the street to these little stores that turned out to be tech geek paradise (and also paradise for those who want cheap designer perfumes). In addition to iPods and Playstation 2 equipment, they sold boring old Nokia phones that were exactly what I wanted. I ended up getting phone, SIM card, and initial minutes for 210 EGP. We did have to wait forever for them to set the phone up, because the first SIM card they tried wouldn't work right. But hey, things run slower on Egyptian time. Moral of the story: Dan is a pro traveler who has it all together right down to the "everything bag." (I am not permitted to call it a purse.)



After the phone adventure, Dan took me to Doqqi, where he lived during his year in Cairo. We ate at a Yemeni restaurant, creatively named Yamany, that is owned by his former landlord. We ended up with a seriously delicious spread:



We ripped up the giant bread and ate with our hands like savages, which was deeply satisfying. I would do this again anytime.



And the night got even better when we went for strawberry juice. How did I not discover these juice places before? Apparently, any little shop with large bags of fruit dangling from the overhang is likely to sell delicious sugar cane and strawberry juice. I even got to see one of the workers shoving long sugar cane stalks into a juicing machine. Sugar cane juice is only 1 EGP, or about 20 cents. But the strawberry juice, at 3 EGP a pop, really takes the cake. It is basically liquefied strawberries with a little added sugar, and it tastes delicious. Now, however, it's after 11:00 and I should go to bed. We're going to try to see a Coptic mass in the morning!