Egyptian Pizza and ID Cards

What...I missed a day? Oh well. To be honest I was so physically and emotionally exhausted last night that I just took some time for me. I replied to emails, read a book, and went to bed. Didn't even bother with the "going out" thing.

Yesterday had its ups and downs. But an interesting story nonetheless.

For lunch, four of us girls decided to try and find a falafel place we had seen on the "Tour of the Hood" earlier that morning. (The club 'Friends of International Students' did an hour-long walking tour that showed us the three main parts of campus, the post office, a good koshary place--oddly enough the same place I'd eaten on Monday!--, and the US Embassy.) So we headed back after a few wrong turns. We got there and a man standing on the street beckoned us in. It was tiny, rather dimly lit and dingy, but we sat down anyways. I wanted to try fuul (fava beans), and the other girls asked for shawarma. The man said ok (we were having a little language trouble...my food vocab is lamentable), but another old man came back a few moments later. He started talking to me about how they didn't have much chicken at all but he would bring two meals--each with half the chicken. We said ok, and he gradually starts bringing back food: two bowls of tahini (sesame seed paste), two bowls of a tomato/onion salad, and lots of bread. Then comes the plate of, here you go, homemade potato chips! Not UTZ but fun all the same. Then two plates of rice, and then two plates bearing this delicious chicken. It was grilled and the spices on it were amazing, absolutely amazing.

The man that keeps bringing us the food--the only waiter I guess--is this tiny round wizened man who looks like he's about 80. That means he's probably about 60. He doesn't have several teeth and walks with a limp. Then he makes his way back with four sealed bottles of water (I harp on the seals...since there are so many empty water bottles around people sometimes refill them with tap water and sell them) and a tiny package of tissues. All this time I'm using the best and most Arabic I can to thank this man, who is trying so hard to give four American girls a good meal. Whenever I complimented him, he would always say Allahu alaik, sort of a "May God make you thus."

Was he looking for a good tip? Yeah, probably. But we had a two-hour sit-down lunch for four for LE 40. We gave him a LE 5 tip which is a bit extravagant but he was so kind. Baksheesh is a hard thing in this country. People say that fifty piasters or one pound is good, but restaurants seem unclear. I usually end up tipping more in hole-in-the-wall places than the nicer places. But that's just me.

I didn't tell the girls I was with but I definitely watched a mouse run all over the floor in the kitchen (which I could see into). But I'm not sick, nor are they. So I got a good story of a sweet man and a chicken! And two men brought the cutest little girl in. She was obviously one man's daughter, but was something like 18-24 months and just adorable. She was standing on her chair chatting away to her father and to the waiter.

Also yesterday was my course-selection oddessy. Having been told it was difficult and that the advising woman was really mean, I stressed over it. The advisor blustered a bit ("Requesting a Senior-level Egyptology class with no previous experience? Hmph!"), but gave me all five classes I wanted. I ended up with what I think will be a good schedule:
--Intermediate Arabic
--Introduction to Colloquial Arabic
--Ancient Egyptian Religion and Ethics
--PolySci Seminar: Empire of the War on Terror
--Int'l Relations Seminar: 'Delinquent:' Non-State Actors in International Politics
This is the first time I've tried to "fix" my schedule. People at GU do it regularly (the MSB does it by default)--try to give yourself no classes on Friday. Here, I gave myself no classes on Sunday, which is the first day of the work week. So every weekend my weekend matches up with (and extends!) my American weekend--starts Thursday night and goes until Sunday night. I wasn't REALLY trying to do that, but it just started working out that way and I helped it along. I didn't really turn down any thrilling classes because they were on Sunday.

This helps, however, because I can now extend any weekend trips. One girl that I'm friends with has no class on Sunday until about 1600, and another has only late Sunday classes as well. I hope I don't get TOO used to this!

Last night was the "Dorm Orientation." It was nice to have questions answered (laundry, after what hours you must sign in and out, housekeeping, the admonition to not get married in Alexandria--some girl went for a weekend and came back married. He spoke no English, she spoke no Arabic. CRAZY.), and they fed us! Lots of free....are you ready?....DOMINO'S PIZZA! Although Egyptian Domino's is different. Crust is much chewier (more like a flatbread with yeast than a sweet roll dough like we have in the US), and toppings are different. Egyptian sausage pizza is not recommended. After one bite that went into the trash. I did, however, scarf three pieces of what I can only describe as "Cowboy Pizza." BBQ sauce, cheese, onions/peppers, mushrooms, olives, and chicken. There was shrimp with peppers and mushrooms--they told me I wasn't missing much. In Egypt the accepted dipping sauces for pizza are BBQ and ketchup. The BBQ I can see, especially since it was what seemed to be the pizza sauce of choice. But ketchup on pizza? I passed.

Today I applied for two ID cards: my dorm ID and my gym ID. And you'll say Mary Claire, aren't you getting an AUC University ID, and aren't the dorms and gyms part of AUC? And I'll say Yes! That's true, but here you also need an ID to get into your dorm/ride the shuttle and get into the gym. Part of the gym ID process was a medical exam. And you'll say Mary Claire, didn't you have a full physical including blood work, an HIV test, and a tuberculosis test that was required by AUC to go? And I'll say Yes! That's true, but here you also need a doctor at the AUC clinic to fill in Chest:___________ HR: ________ BP: _______ Fit to use Gym: ________ or not fit _______ Doctor's signature: __________.

So I went to the clinic. Two nurses took my blood pressure and sent me out to wait for the doctor. Apparently here you're not called for the doctor, when one person walks out the next simply walks in. Thank goodness there was a kind man who asked if I was waiting for the doctor, otherwise I would have probably sat there for a few hours very confused. When I walked in the doctor immediately checked off the "Chest/HR/Fit to use Gym" columns and then turned to me and said "Do you have any complaints about your chest or heart?" "No." "Okay." She signs it, explains in Arabic that she's the physician-in-residence (well, for two hours three days a week) at my dorm, and tells me where to go to finish out getting the ID. Unfortunately she did it mostly in colloquial so I had to smile sheepishly and ask for English. She gave me the directions and said "Next time I see you at the dorms, no english!" And laughed. So I turned that in, and by Sunday I should be fully official. Until then I'll have to count on the gym attendent letting me in. Which he'll likely do if I'm in shorts. *sigh*

In case you were waiting with bated breath, Luxor fell through. Bummer!!! They sleeper train that you take down was booked through the weekend. So we picked another weekend (late Feb) to go. This weekend we'll do the Pyramids of Giza on Friday and the pyramids at Shaqqa and Dahshur on Saturday. A little pricey because Giza especially is a tourist trap, but Egypt without seeing the pyramids? Please! And it might be a little hard because we're all Americans, but inshallah my Arabic will help.