Bored?  Need a distraction from woe?  Wondering how your scientific thinking skills measure up, but not enrolled in either section 09 or 14 of Sci120 at the American University in Cairo?  Take the final examination anyway!  Not your style?  How about some smuggled masa harina-based tamales, sacriliciously drowned in a black bean and corn medley?  Veggie (insha’allah) spring rolls packed for later use?  No?  Take the test.  And if I see the word nowadays you fail.

view from office

That’s right. I’ll be the first to admit that I look like a huge dork in this picture. What can I say? I loved Cairo. Every single minute I was there. Sure I feared all kinds of things, and yeah, I did go through my fair share of pre-dining Purell, but I loved it.

Maybe it’s because it feels kind of like an adventure or maybe it’s just because the person I love happens to be there, but it is a beautiful place and I hope all of our friends and family can experience it with us at some point over the next two years.

So because I am officially done with being unadventurous and unfulfilled, I am officially moving there. And the best part about it, I’ll be moving with my husband! Aaaah I am so excited! Alie is pretty excited too. She thinks there’s hope for me because she was starting to worry about how much dialogue we were having and she made me delete the part I had typed about how she already asked me to get her suitcase down out of the closet.

So if you see me with this strange expression on my face, don’t be alarmed, it’s just a huge dorky smile and it’s because I am completely and totally elated. It’s going to be hard living my life looking this ridiculous, but I am sure that somehow I will be ok.

Alie missed us

Brandon’s dad sent us this picture of Alie while I was still in Cairo. I think she is still harboring a bit of resentment. I never knew until now that it was her lifelong dream to ride a camel at Giza. I keep telling her that Marti didn’t get to ride the camel either, but it’s no use. At least she finally seems happy I’m home now, and thank goodness, because I would otherwise be pretty lonely. Too bad she doesn’t cook for me.

On Sunday, we went to an Egyptian Premier League soccer game with Brandon’s Egyptian friends Mustafa and Aiman. The game was between Alahly and Zamaalek who are apparently huge rivals, and this was the big game of the season.  As we moved through the line toward the ticket-takers and started seeing more and more police in full riot gear, I began wondering if we should perhaps rethink our plans.  Fortunately conservative-and-cautious-little-emily lost to why-not-emily, and after about six friskings for the men, and only two for me, we made it in.  Mustafa is a big Alahly fan, and he had to go through extra security because he had face paint on.  I think they were trying to prevent any over-excitement that might taunt rivals because it sounds like last year’s game was a little wild.  I think people ripped up seats and threw them last year… but with all those riot police around this time, no one was tempted to do anything beyond wave a flag or banner and subsequently be taken away for doing so.  Not sure how you smuggle a huge flag in with six thorough security checks, but I guess we can tell the fans are passionate.  Fortunately, our team won 1 to 0.  And we quietly and peacefully left and returned home.

Today we went to check out some souk action with some friends.  Following our trusty Lonely Planet book’s recommendation was somewhat of a bust, although we found a wonderful junk shop and stumbled across Coptic Cairo (expect more on that in a future post after our inevitable return trip).  We hopped back on the metro and headed for the markets near the Khan Al Kalili (and expect more on that later as well!).  There is just so much to see it is impossible to even begin to describe it all.  You will all just have to come visit to see it for yourselves!

Anyhow, I will say that everything is oddly arranged rather disadvantageously for the vendors but quite conveniently for the shoppers — every store on a block sells pretty much the exact same thing.  We went through a block of curtain rod shops, a whole block of baby shower trinkets, a whole block of party supplies and fake flowers, etc.  Check out the photos below for some oddities from the block of spice shops.

We also purchased and started to eat something that resembled koshari but alas was not (and probably had meat in it).  Then we tried some of the corn I previously mentioned in another post and we were pretty disappointed (we’ll have to find another feather-fan-corn-roaster to try later), and then FINALLY, much like goldilocks, found the street food that was JUST RIGHT.  I forget what it was called, but it was a delicious whole grain, wheat berry type of porridge with milk, coconut, chopped nuts, raisins, shredded wheat, and who knows what other delicious goodness… served very hot, YUMM!

And now, Brandon is making pizza dough again, and since I am apparently trying to eat as much food as humanly possible while I’m here, I am going to go help however I can by eating toppings while the dough rises.

I went on a trip to the Fayoum, or Fayyum, a couple of weeks ago.  I thought it was an oasis, but it turns out it is just a big, salty lake.  Saw some more pyramids, but didn’t get to see the highlight I was looking forward to:  Wadi el-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales.  This is a giant open-air museum where Jesus or the devil or someone scattered about fossils of whales with vestigial hind legs to test our faith.  Or something like that.  Anyway, we got turned around about 30 km before we got there because the bus drivers and the bus company decided we would not make it on the sandy road.  Supposedly this was all checked out beforehand and the green light was given, but arrangements have a way of changing here.  Anyway, it is something I definitely want to check out at some point while I am here.  Maybe if/when I ever have visitors we can hire a 4×4 and make a weekend of it.