June 1: Cleaning and a Movie

Still no wireless, or internet at all for that matter. Still really hacked off about all of it. I hope everyone doesn’t think I’ve dropped off the face of the earth or something...guess I’ll write this now and upload it later…

I woke up around 11, this is the first time I’ve slept in since I got here, not counting when I overslept on the day I arrived…that really shouldn’t count as sleeping in, I was jetlagged…

After I woke up, Meg and I decided to run to the grocery store to pick up some cleaning supplies. We did the requisite mad dash across Ahmed Orabi, imagine two one way streets with three lanes each, and picked up all our things. I got Skittles. I love Skittles. The Skittles were also only 1.5 pounds= 30 cents which means…I’m going to be eating Skittles…a lot. It also helps with my Arabic, because I know what the letters are supposed to come out sounding like, the direct translation actually comes out more like “Skttlz” which I enjoy…also, anyone really like “Bebsi”? (there are no Ps or vowels in Arabic) We got back to the apartment, and the Egyptian maids we hired to help us with the cleaning, arrived a few minutes later.

We worked on the kitchen, which is still not completely clean, while the maids worked on dusting and cleaning the floors. My major accomplishment of the morning was that the kitchen cabinets (imagine pretty, off-white cabinets covered in spaghetti splatter) are now clean. Anna and I spent a total of 4 hours scrubbing them with dish scrubbers, and they now look new. Yay! We also had to defrost the fridge, because it had a foot of ice in the back of the refrigerated part, not the icebox. I’m not kidding…I would have taken a picture, but you wouldn’t have believed it anyway. We defrosted that, with a giant knife and my hairdryer, then we put the food back in that hadn’t spoiled.

While we were doing all this, the maids had mopped and vaccumed all the floors, as well as dusted, and cleaned the bathrooms. Score.

About this time I got a text message from David, asking me what I was up to today. I said I wasn't doing anything, and he asked if I wanted to go eat and then go to the Egyptian Museum, and a movie. I met him downstairs at 4.

We ate at Tasters then took a taxi, we couldn’t go the museum because it was the Sabbath (Friday) and it was closed. David talked to the taxi driver the whole way there. I must say I had to laugh. Between the two of them, they had broken English and elementary Arabic. It was quite a sight. David has a habit of collecting everyone’s phone number, so he and the taxi drive exchanged phone numbers…while the guy was driving the car…I told David that he needs to stop picking up random Egyptians off the street. (A few days ago he traded numbers with a guy that was trying to get Amelia and my name) He said he wants to practice his Arabic, which is a valid reason:) We got to Dokki, district where the theater is, then walked around for a couple of hours before the movie started. We talked about politics and religion (David has a Religious Studies degree) and basically walked around just talking. Note to self: men do not heckle you when walking with a guy…nice to know. David has studied and worked abroad more than anyone I know. He spent a year in Pakistan working, and some time in Spain and Morocco. He’s from Kansas City, and he’s going to be going to get his Master’s degree in International Business…he thinks.

After we walked for a while, we got discovered by this nice man who owned a perfumery close by. We got hauled into this little shop with a TON of perfume, and then I got daubed with several different scents. Don’t worry, David got covered too. He smelled like Lotus before we got out. I decided that I really liked the Lily of the Valley perfume they had, so I bought a very small bottle of that. I really liked the Lotus scent though too, so I might be coming back there for gifts.

After we escaped the nice man covering us in perfume, we went to the movie and bought our tickets. Okay, and you have to imagine this theater. Assigned seating, ushers to your seat, balcony, drapes that cover the screen until it starts, intermission half way through the movie…rock hard seats. David thinks they had to put in the intermission to give you time to recover from sitting in the chairs so long… Also, during the intermission, does anyone want to know what was playing? Smooth…by Santana and Rob Thomas…David and I both looked at each other and laughed.

We watched Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End, which I thought was REALLY good. After that, David and I took a taxi back to Tasters. I’m really getting tired of always sitting in the back of taxis…but the drivers won’t let women sit in the front, because it looks improper.

We got back to Tasters and said good night. I went upstairs and tried another futile attempt at getting the wireless to work…alas…no such luck. Again, I’m writing this in hopes that I will be able to upload it later…

Going to read again, then go to sleep, because I have to go on the tour to Giza tomorrow morning at 7:30, but David is going too, so at least I’ll know someone:)