Cairo Raining

This weekend I stayed home in Agouza while most of the other kids went to Mt. Sinai to play for the weekend. Andrew and Amber stayed back too. I'm so glad that I'm here and not there. I took this weekend to put my life back in order, because from here on out we'll move at break neck speeds. Next week we are visiting the U.S. Embassy, the Arab League, taking our Arabic final, and then leaving for three weeks of travel on Thursday. So three loads of laundry later all my clothes are clean and my closet is organized. I even flossed my Chacos (my all-purpose sandals; not to be confused with Jon Chacko). Did you know you have to floss your Chacos? Its sort of a pain but if you don't your straps will get cemented in place. You have to run them under water and pull the straps all the way through one way and then the other. You'll be surprised at all the junk you'll see coming out and your hands will hurt, but it really is essential. I'm not sure why I said that...

It rained a lot this week. It was the closest thing to acid rain that I've ever seen. The raindrops were murky with pollution and the puddles in the street were festering with bacteria and strange disease, I'm sure. There are so many pot holes in this city and the rain filled them up creating huge ponds in the streets that did in fact slow down traffic for an entire day. Everyone was really concerned that if we weren't careful we would slip and fall on the wet pavement. I laughed and remembered the sidewalks during J-term. I can count on my hands the days during J-term that I didn't fall. I think Jill made it through two or three days with out meeting the pavement. I hear its still snowing in Upland. That's funny.

Thursday night Andrew, Amber and I went to my grandparents to do our homework. We worked hard on Arabic and then played cards with my grandpa and ordered rice pudding--delivered right to the front door. Everything can be delivered in Cairo, even MacDonalds. This is how we ordered that delicious dessert. You know how phone numbers usually have 7 numbers? Same deal in Egypt, usually. But as we have been discovering this place tends to defy gravity. So we have this mysterious 5-digit number that we supposedly can call from anywhere in Egypt and the rice pudding fairy will deliver it to your front door. I mean, it worked I'm not really sure how, but I do know that rice pudding in Egypt is way better than it is in the States.

Yesterday, Amber and I attended Amin's birthday party. (You know, the kid that wants to hunt penguins) He turned three. There was an ice cream man there and a face painting man and a some strange form of an Egyptian pinanta. I also met the pet flamingos, there are four of them and alledgedly you are allowed to pet them, except you have to be sure to grab their beaks first. The instructions sounded ominous so I decided to keep my hands to myself, although, I did have one of those destructive urges I sometimes get to try and knock their legs out from under them. I resisted. No, I'm not sure if they eat shrimp all day or not, but there legs were bright pink. I finally got to see my cousin, Nora and met her baby, Alex, he has bright blue eyes.

A verdict has been reached. I'm living in Fairlane (off-campus apartments) next year with (in order from oldest to youngest) Jenny, Bonnie, and Jill. (I go between Jenny and Bonnie in the birth order in case you were wondering). I am the luckiest girl on campus, don't even try to convince me otherwise. I'm not kidding Ekman, don't even try. I'm so excited to live with these amazing girls, but I feel a little bit of sadness as well. A big part of my heart will remain on 3CE. I mean, I love freshman so much, you're probably going to have to share your freshman with me. I'm well aware I'm no MVP, but I don't think you can stop me from playing football with you either. I think that's all I have to say about that.

My job prospects for the summer are looking rather bleak. And I thought job hunting from Indiana was difficult. Let me know if you wish to employ me, okay.

There are things I'm not saying, because I don't know how to say them and there are tears that aren't coming. Its good to know that Jesus understands me better than I understand my myself, because feelings are confusing and sometimes I wish I didn't feel quite so deeply. Talking to you last night was good and I'm glad we hung up laughing.

I'll try to post one more time before I leave for travel, but I'm not making any promises. Once travel begins you probably won't hear from me for three weeks. I'll do my best to clear it out, but my email will probably freak out while I'm gone. Just FYI. Thanks for reading and thanks for posting--your comments really mean a lot to me.