Salaam

Yesterday a four-year old girl stuck her hand out of the window of the car next to us and told our taxi driver, "Salimni". He shook her hand, and she did the same to me. I shook her hand. She did the same to Tammam, and he shook her hand.

Yup.

My 101st Post

I deleted some old entries, so the numbers are a little off now, but this is my 101st post.

This fly has been in the room for the last three and a half hours, terrorizing us all. I've tried using my shoe against it, then a rolled up piece of paper. Nothing worked.

Nothing, that is, until I grabbed a Starbucks bag. That fly never saw it coming.

So I grabbed some tissue to pick the fly up off the floor, and on my way to the trash can the tea lady said, "No, let me" and took the tissue from my hand.

And promptly threw it out the window.

Welcome in Egypt.

Politics

I think 'esoteric' is a pretentious word. Is it? Is it a word that people use to seem intelligent? Or do they use it because it's really the word for that context?

Also, I went for a run this morning on the Mediterranean, and I saw several guys spray painting graffiti on the rocks that stop erosion, and on the tunnels that go under the street. Stuff like "Big Brother is watching you" and "A hungry mob is an angry mob" amongst other things.

Hmm.

Unrest?

Big Bang Theory

A little known fact: The tea lady wasn't always the tea lady.

My first summer here, she cleaned the place up. When I came back, she was running a side business out of the kitchen, selling tea, coffee, juice, and cookies and crackers. Oh, and chips too. I respect people supplementing their income with a side business.

Anyway, the tea lady gets mad at me sometimes for being at the Dar early, or staying late, or coming on the weekends, and doesn't really try to hide it. Today I got here just as she did, and she finally caved and just gave me the key and told me to open the place up myself, she was talking with a friend.

To paraphrase Sheldon Cooper:

I AM THE KEY MASTER!

The End of an Era

John left at 5AM this morning. I carried a bag downstairs for him and saw him off.

So get this: John went out to eat with us last night, saw some friends before he left, and sat at a cafe for a while, and then came home and studied Arabic on his last night here.

Now that's dedication.

Oh, and he cleaned the place up and moved out all of his stuff, which was refreshing. Tammam and I took out a bunch of trash too, and the place has never been cleaner. I love throwing useless nonsense out. It's the minimalist in me.

Safe travels John.

The 100th Post

And my hundredth post would be about Saba.

We went to the Middlebury end of the year party at the male dorms the other day, and Saba got there quite a while before Tammam and I. So being the sensible person she is, she did the only thing that made sense:

She posed as the Assistant Director for the Flagship Program and was taken on a tour of the facilities. She enlisted two Egyptian students we know, and they went right along with it. Then the Director of the dorms, a guy I don't really like, took her around and showed her how everything was up to code. If she had another girl with her, they would've shown her the individual rooms.

Hilarious.

Adult Onset

So I'm lactose intolerant, and every time I want to eat something I ask if it has dairy products in it, just in case.

People always apologize to me for adding cream or cheese, but just once I want someone to say, "Yes Tom, it does have dairy in it. I've been slowly trying to kill you with dairy for years."

Or something like that.