Day 8: September 1

Today I got hit by a car… hooked yet? Read further to find out

Got to sleep in again today. Felt great to wake up naturally without an alarm. Woke up at around 10:30 and got ready for the day. Woke up Evan at around 11 so he could get ready for our meeting with Honi. I started to read the second book in the Dune series, Dune Messiah, while he got ready. We headed out and towards Tahriir square. Ten minutes down the road we get a call telling us to come by at 1 instead of twelve. We decide to backtrack and go to a local bakery to kill the extra hour.

The logical thing to buy at the bakery was of course a kilo of a coffee cake/bread. We took it back to our hostel and ate out of sight of the fasting Muslims (we thought that was better than doing it in front of them). After eating our fill of breakfast bread we went back on the road toward Honi’s. We arrived expecting to be shown a new place. Turns out he just wanted to convince us that we should pay 3500 LE for the same one. He showed it to us again and to be honest it looked worse during the day time. The paint was peeling and the kitchen and bathroom were really dirty. We explained that we weren’t interested in paying anything more than 3000 LE for the place and that even that was a stretch in our opinion. He then spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince us why it was a good deal... we weren't convinced. We left and walked back to our hostel.

There we checked our email and saw to responses from owners we had contacted. This means no finder’s fee. We called both owners and made appointments to meet them. One agreed to see
us immediately and we made our way back out onto the streets of Cairo. This one was advertised as a five minute walk from the old AUC campus. It was a 50 minute walk from the hostel and a 20 minute walk from the campus. In my opinion a little far from the bus.
Evan, however, really liked the place. It had everything we would need including things like a television, wireless internet, and a balcony. In personally thought it would work fine just didn’t like the look of the furniture. It was styled to look antique which isn’t really my thing… I prefer the more modern look that the others had. However, seeing as I will only be living in the place for 4 months I am willing to defer to Evan’s opinion as long as it has the basics. It starts at 3000 LE and has no finders fee, so isn’t too bad.

We started our trek back and called Saeed to confirm where and when we were to meet him for fattar. We didn’t have time to walk back to the hostel and change so we walked straight to the coffee shop where we were to meet. Met Saeed at five and walked around for an hour while we waited for the sun to go down.

We ended up at one of many areas we had seen people eating fattar earlier in the week. It was one of many communal eating areas set up for Ramadan in the residential sections. There were tables set up and set for eight. We sat down at one and where joined shortly by five others. As the sun set the call for prayer was played across the city and Muslims throughout the Middle East broke fast, taking their first drink of water and first bite of food for the day. We then proceeded to eat our meal with them.

The meat consisted of rice with beans and tomatoe sauce (similar to Koshri). Chicken. A onion, tomatoe, cucumber salad. And flat bread. It was really good food eaten with people who enjoyed it because it meant something special to them. We had allot of small talk with those around us but nothing in depth.

After dinner Saeed took us on a tour of the surrounding area We walked around and he explained the significance of certain areas and statues. As usual the conversation dealt allot with Islam, however, Saeed was also very interested in Americans and American culture and had allot of questions. It was interesting to me to hear his questions and notions of what America was like. However, from what I have seen and heard from him and others people in Cairo have a very positive outlook towards America and Americans, they just don’t necessarily like the government or the army. They do, however, love Obama and can’t wait for him to bring peace to the Middle East. He sure has big shoes to fill.

Anyways about halfway through the tour we were walking on the shoulder of the road to avoid walking through the large crowd gathered to window shop and talk with local store owners. I was the one closest to the road and looking toward Saeed as he was talking. Up ahead a cab tried to pass a car it thought was going to slow. In the process he managed to clip me with his mirror. He didn’t stop but he did manage to honk. I wasn’t hurt but I sure was shocked. It did however manage to scare the cop that was nearby and Saeed to death. Both wanted to know if I needed to be hospitalized. I explained that I was perfectly fine and that no I did not need to be hospitalized. Funny yet scarry.

Our tour ended at an apartment he had found for us because he knew we were looking. It was a small apartment that was in fair shape. It was not overly glitzy but it would serve our purpose. It was on the market for 2500 LE but if we wanted we could probably get it cheaper. I dunno what will happen but the gesture was nice.

We went our separate ways after looking at the apartment. Evan and I headed to a restaurant which we heard serves beer to foreigners during Ramadan. However, we called Kevin and he was unable to come so we decided to postpone till later. This was probably good because both Evan and I were exhausted from all the walking we had done during the day (4-5 hours worth).

We got back to our hostel and I am now writing this entry (doing it early… who knew that was possible) and planning on calling my parents and Sara.