Classes and an adventure

Over the weekend I went with some girls from Georgetown to Khan al-Khalili, this big bazaar/market thing in Islamic Cairo (one of the older parts, the bazaar was the oldest in Cairo I heard). There were a lot of cool things for sale like scarves, clothes, perfume, shoes, and all sorts of souvenir type things. I didn't buy anything but I took lots of pictures (they're up on my website). There were a lot of really cool old buildings. We went in a mosque that had a big opening in the ceiling so you could see the sky. We just wandered around for a while. We got lost but asked in Arabic how to get back and were able to successfully follow the Arabic instructions! Clearly Survival Arabic paid off. Getting lunch was an experience. There were probably 10 identical restaurants next to each other on this one street and each had a guy outside it trying to get you to come in. They would come up and thrust the menu in your face and try to get you to sit down. They would even come up while you were talking to a guy from a different restaurant. The one we picked was fine, nothing too exciting.

The funniest part about the bazaar was what all the men said. All three of us were dressed pretty conservatively but that didn't stop the vendors from saying all sorts of ridiculous things. I heard "Are you a movie star? Are you a movie star?" "Hello my future wife" "You're beautiful. Are you married?" along with a lot of "hi" and just staring. One guy said something about Obama and a bunch of guys started yelling "OBAMA!!" They love him over here apparently. One of the girls I was with is Puerto Rican and could pass for Egyptian so a lot people asked her what she was/if she was Egyptian. Oh, we got baklava and some Egyptian dessert from a street vendor that was soo good.

Classes started on Sunday. They seem pretty good. All of them are a majority American though which is kind of a bummer. I'm only taking 4 classes which is nice, especially coming after a semester of 5 hard classes and working 13 hours a week. The bus schedule is a pain and I'm always stuck with an extra 40 min before or after each class but hopefully I'll just use that to get work done.

Alix and I are planning on going to the Pyramids on Friday because neither of us have been and we both want to go soon. I will take lots of pictures- especially if I ride a camel!!

Drew's professor Denis invited me over to his apartment for dessert on Friday so that will be nice to go to. Oh and the director of study abroad and the director of GW's Arabic program took all the GW kids out for dinner and coffee last night. It was really nice. The food was great. I had moulekhaya which is this slimy green stuff made of a root like spinach and other herbs that you put on rice and eat with meat (I had a choice of chicken, meatballs, or rabbit. I went with meatballs). It was really good. Both of the directors were really cool to talk to, especially the director of Arabic. I'm glad I met him because I might have him in class later on.

I have pretty much given up on trying to watch TV here because the internet is so slow and the sketchy sites don't work super well. I wish I could use all the legit ones but alas they don't work outside the US. I really want to watch the Office!! But I have a lot more free time because I'm not watching TV.

Okay I'm going to get back to doing some work! (Also I'm in the study room and a cat just walked by. Cats wander around the lobby of our dorm. They are everywhere on the street. Last night we saw a little kitten and it was sooo cute. But we can't pet them in case they have rabies. Speaking of that- Mom have I had a rabies shot?)

P.S. I miss talking to all of you so definitely skype, fb chat, im me!