Here.

Turns out this blogging deal will be a bit more difficult than expected, as the internet is a bit less than reliable and loading anything is going to take some patience.

Travel was long, including the four-hour layover on the JFK runway. (They blamed it on Boston.) I was bummed I'd forgotten my Abdel Halim cd, but luckily EgyptAir came with an all Abdel Halim station, as well as Mohammad Abdel Wahab.

I don't want to bore anyone with big general statements about Cairo, but I'll say the big city aspect is one thing getting me. People people and people. Standing, eating, smoking, drinking tea, selling, smoking, chasing buses, smoking. "Like New York City, but without white people." I'm almost used to the traffic by now. "Just close your eyes," is probably the best advice I've received on that note. Somebody was creative enough to put white lines going down all the streets for all the drivers to completely disregard.
Here it's more openly about what you can than what you should, and I mean that as a practical statement, not moral lapse or anything. For example, if you can run and jump on the back of the bus while it's moving, you've just gotten yourself a bus ride. If you can charge a tourist three times the going price of something (that still may be lower than what he'd pay back home), you've just made a satisfying transaction.

I'll get some good pictures for ya'll later. But right now this is the most important one:














Koshari...
Tasty tasty Egyptian slop. Tasty cheap Egyptian slop. Our first dinner here was at Koshari Al-Tahrir, widely recognized as the best in Cairo. Five pounds. (A little over $1.)

My Arabic as well as my roommates' Arabic (particularly our colloquial, as Egyptian is quite a bit different from standard Arabic) is like "speaking mashed potatoes," according to one hotel/restaurant owner. So I've been spending some time indoors re-learning everything I've forgotten over the past months, which is pretty much everything.

More coming regarding my apartment, flatmates, university, cooking, and hip-hop.
(This post was written yesterday, but due to internet constraints, it is being posted now. Hang tight.)
Leave comments and ask questions, eh?