Ma3alish

So at UNC people joke a lot about Arabs being late.

They aren't kidding, at least when it comes to Egypt.

And when I say late I don't mean twenty minutes, I mean two hours. Luckily I am finding this out quickly, so that when someone says they will come by to pick me up at 10.30 am I don't start getting worried that they haven't arrived until about 12.15 pm. Ma3alish, it will be fine, they'll come eventually.

I love taking the tram here, I take it to go meet my Arabic tutor. It takes about 45 minutes to get where I am going. There is a middle car on the tram that is only for women, which is actually really nice if you are travelling alone or with only a few women. People stare a lot, and I am still trying to decide if it is okay to stare back. I want to, because I think people are interesting, but I'm still getting over my western reservations. My 45-minute ride only costs 25 piastres, which is like 4 or 5 American cents, and basically free in Euro. Not bad, not bad.

I am pretty sure I will be writing again quite soon. I may have a big change coming here in situation. More on that later.

By the way, I love you all very much, have I said that yet? I realize this more and more as I am away.