June 4: Old Cairo

Woke up early to go to class this morning. It’s definitely better to be in an apartment in this aspect. I can make my breakfast, and watch TV, and ILI is only 2 minutes away, so I don’t have to wake up so early.

In ECA we went over place names, and a few of the objects that we had learned last class. For homework I have to be able to tell exactly what my apartment is close to, and far away from. MSA was just more reading, although I think I’m definitely getting better at it. It doesn’t take me quite as long when Ahmed goes through the flashcards with all the letters.

After class ended at 2, Amelia wanted to go to a few museums and go through Coptic Cairo. We took a taxi to the metro, then took the metro to Old Cairo. After a little walking we got to the Nileometer. It’s this really tall column that would gauge how much the Nile was flooding, so the farmers would know whether they were going to have a good harvest or not. I got some pictures. David walked down into it, but I decided to just take pictures, because there were no handrails…and I’m a little afraid of heights. You can see from the pictures how far down it was…

After that we walked on the Nile road until we took a taxi back to Mohandseen. I got back to the apartment and one of the repair men was here, cleaning the filters out of the A/C units. It’s blowing dust everywhere, and now I have to clean my room again. Meg: “It’s Cairo, get used to it.” *eyeroll* I swear…if this woman says that one more time, I’m going to lose it. I don’t care if she’s twice my age, she’s driving me nuts.

Later I went downstairs to talk with Madam Didi, our landlady, about the internet. She said that she would talk to her son about it, and see if they could work something out. It’s been five days since I had internet. I think this is the longest time that I’ve been without it. I really miss talking online and being able to see my email…

I worked on cataloging all my pictures that I have taken so far. I have around 50, and that’s after I’ve culled all the not so good ones, and the duplicates that are almost exactly the same. Not bad for only being here a week and a half.

I made a roast beef pita sandwich and went back to my room to listen to music. I’m bored out of my mind at nights. My feet hurt from walking, and all I want to do is be able to talk to people. Just…lonely.

I think I’m going to read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy until I collapse…