Day 6:August 30

UGH its early… woke up at 8 today (yeah I guess not that early but still). We have to get to the buss stop by nine thirty or ten to make it to campus by eleven. Evan has orientation for EAP and I decided I was going to try to sit in and see if there was any useful info. We ate breakfast and left for the bus stop. We arrived shortly after nine thirty and joined the already growing crowd awaiting the bus.

The nine thirty bus never arrived and the ten bus was late. We got on the bus and were rolling at 10:30… we arrived on campus at 11:15 and entered the desert metropolis. Following the signs to EAP orientation we walked to the upper campus and into one of many auditorium buildings. We entered a small class room marked EAP and were greeted by 15 other EAP students sitting at desks with name tags… it was about that point that I realized I couldn’t sneak in inconspicuously and turned around.

I spent the next hour and a half walking around campus, exploring and taking pictures (which can be found under the AUC album on my smugmug http://dyehard47.smugmug.com/ ). The campus is gorgeous. Mostly sand colored bricks and tile adorn the campus. The architecture makes use of straight lines and geometric shapes giving it a very modern feel. Across the campus are many fountains and trees making it feel as if you are in an desert oasis.

I later overheard a campus tour guide say that the campus was designed in a fairly straight line with openings to funnel air through the campus and create a breeze. The 27 fountains around campuse were then added to cool the air as it passed over the water. Cool huh?

Anyways I figured it was time to find the ALI section of campus and check in. I arrived near 12:30 and found that there were signs posted saying to arrive between 9:30 and 10:30 (oops, that wasn’t in the email). I walked in and registered without to much of a hassle. They then sent me to get my ID card at the library.

At the library there was a line of about fourty people ahead of me. And according to one estimation it took about five minutes per card. I got in line behind another ALI student and we started talking. Brian graduated from a University in New York last year and plans to spend the next year or two studying Arabic in Cairo. Turned out to be a really nice guy and talking with him and other students helped to pass the time. two hours later the I received my card. This was fortunate because the ID center closed at 2:30 which was in another five minutes. It turns out that everything was closing at 2:30 so that people could catch the bus home to prepare for Ramadan.

Brian and I exited and went to the bus stop. We discovered that we were staying near each other and would be taking the same bus home. On the way back I napped. Upon arrival Brian and I decided to grab some lunch at a nearby place called Falafel. This is a chain Arabic restaurant and was not nearly as good as the hole in the wall places by our hostel. However, I was starving and wasn’t about to be overly picky.

Walked back to Talaat al Harb, a nearby square, where Brian and I parted ways. I continued to walk towards my apartment when I realized that I didn’t have the key to the hostel… Turned around and walked back to Tahriir square and called Kevin to come meet me.
Hung out with Kevin until Evan returned at 5. We then left to meet up with the apartment broker. Got bad news concerning the one we both liked with the balcony. We were told that it wouldn’t be ready for another month. We decided that was to long and he agreed to show us some more in downtown. Saw a building a few blocks away from the square that had two, two bedroom apartments for rent. Very modern looking furniture and well kept. Has internet and Air Conditioning which is a major plus. We are supposed to meet up with the owner later to discuss the price.

Headed back to our apartment to drop off our bags and then left for fattar. Took a different side street hoping to find some new food and got stopped by a local restaurant owner who guaranteed we’d like his food. He gave us a sample of some delicious meet and then surprised us by telling us it was liver…. Well I could have gone without knowing that but it was delicious. We decided to get some despite our hesitations. I had two pita filled liver sandwiches (called kibra) with some pita chips and hummus. It was really, really good. Possibly the best meal so far. After dinner/fattar we stopped at a juice stand to complete the meal.

We had decided to meet up at Eight with Nour so we could go and inquire about the price. We arrived at Eight and waited till Eight Thirty to call him. He told us he was nearby and would only be a few minutes. He kept calling with the same story and did not show up till ten. He actually arrived as Evan and I were leaving. Lucky for him.

He took us to the same apartment building where we discovered the price had increased from 2500 LE to 3000 LE within the week. Nour said it was because the owner new AUC students were coming to town. We also discovered how much Nour’s commission was. 1 months rent. Both Evan and I were shocked by this. It seemed really steep. Evan and I asked and he took offense really quickly which wasn’t very comforting. We were able to talk him down to three quarters rent but we still feel tentative. By the end of the night we had agreed to book (ask them to reserve) one of the downtown apartment until Wednesday for us.

Neither, Evan or I felt good about the way this turned out and are a bit skeptical. We think we are going to look around some more before Wednesday to see if Nour is overcharging us. We also heard of a site called cairoscholars which is supposed to help students find affordable housing. We’re going to look into that and ask around campus to see how much people were paying for their broker and rent.

We headed back to the hostel. Evan has to be at campus earlier tomorrow because he wasn’t able to get his ID or register. I don’t need to be there except for my oral placement so I decided to stay up and upload pictures/write in my journal. I also got to make my first call using skype. I called Sara and talked for an hour. It was getting near two in the morning and I decided it was time to call it a night. Took a shower and fell asleep.