Day 17: September 10

Alarm went off at 7:15. Out of bed by 7:20. On My Way by 7:30. On Campus by 9.

Went to my first media Arabic class. I was a bit intimidated by the topic because it’s so broad. Additionally Evans Media Arabic class sounds extremely hard. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find out how easy going and relaxed our teacher was. She gave us some articles and worked through them with us, explaining vocabulary and making sure we understood what we were reading.
This class was followed by grammar which went smoothly. Had lunch after class with my classmates. Nothing to exciting to report there. After lunch we had colloquial. Not as enjoyable as the day before, but still a preferable structure to the formal. I much prefer the relaxed conversation style and feel I learn allot more talking than being talked at.

After class I headed to the bus stop and back home. Tried getting off the bus early at one of the ‘stops’. There are set stops but they are rarely stopped at. What happens is people walk up and ask the bus driver if he could pull over. If he is feeling nice enough he’ll do it. We were stopped at an intersection so I gave it a shot and was let off a block from my apartment. Sweet!

Got to my apartment and did some studying. Evan got home later than I did and we ate some dinner. He picked up some figs from the market nearby, and they were delicious. After dinner we both studied some more. Later we packed up the studying and decided to enjoy our Thursday night (equivalent to Friday back home…).

We headed into Zamalek and called a few of our friends on the way. We found out that Ben, Mike, and Jesse where having people over so we headed to their apartment. After a short taxi ride to Zamalek we got off near the dorms and started looking for their apartment. They live off campus so it took us a little while to navigate our way through the side streets and find the correct one… we did however find it and make our way up.

Their apartment was pretty nice. The three of them split the place which has three bedrooms 2 bath and a few make-em-what-you-want-em rooms. We were the first to arrive and hung out and talked. Got to know the three of them better. We had all met before but this was the first time I had talked to them outside of school. All really great people. After talking for awhile we decided to make a small group to go to Dahab over Eid(Holiday) together. Looks like some of those trips I wanted to take are finally materializing.

Anywho.. people trickled in by ones and twos from the dorms. Sooner or later we looked around and realized there were upwards of 50 people standing all around us. Our little kick back had turned into a full blown party. Stayed and socialized until the dorm kids had to return for curfew. After that it was just the five of us again.

Ben had to be up early for a trip to the desert the next morning. However, Evan, Jesse, Mike, and I had nothing planned and decided to go out to Khan El Khalili for sahoor. Sahoor is the meal eaten during Ramadan before the sun rises. It is the last food they will eat for approximately twelve hours. We took a taxi and headed over to Khan El Khalili to share in that meal.

We arrived and walked around, wading through the thick crowds of people out and about. We finally found a place to sit down at a small restaurant near the heart of Khan El Khalili. We ordered our Sahoor and socialized with the locals. We got 2 plates of Kabab, salad, and foul. The kabab was lamb and really tasty (albeit a bit pricy). We ate and talked, made some new Egyptian friends on the street. After an hour or so we decided it was time to head for home. We got in a cab and headed back to our apartment.

Our cab driver got horribly lost but we were able to direct him home with little trouble. He then attempted to charge us extra for the time spent in his cab…. We politely declined. Gave Mike and Jesse a grand tour of our place. Made some tea and watched the sun rise from the balcony of our apartment. The four of us decided it was time to call it a night. Mike and Jesse left to catch a cab while Evan and I withdrew to our separate rooms. I finally got the chance to call Sara and see how the MCAT went. She says it went decent, I think she is being overly modest.

Got off the phone and was in bed at 7am (for those keeping count that 24 hours awake).