Oh Oh Oh Oh Mr. Postman

My name
c/o International Student Services Office
The American University in Cairo
113 Kasr el Aini Street
P.O. Box 2511
11511 Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt

Postcards and mail should take 5-14 days to arrive; all bulky letters or packages must be opened by ze inflated bureaucracy and can take a month or longer to arrive. There are also customs fees that I don't know about... but in response to the staffer advising that moms just wire you the money to buy chocolate chip cookies instead of sending a package of chocolate chip cookies... you must not be thousands of miles away from your mom! They recommend airmail and documenting everything as personal use or other such stuff. Please do not feel pressured to write, your thoughts and prayers are surrounding me all the time; I just wanted to provide the information.


It's a big week here in Cairo. Classes started yesterday (more enumeration after I get my schedule set) and the election is tomorrow. This is the first multi-party Presidential election that has ever taken place in Egypt, and even though Mubarak will more than likely return for his 25th year in office http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4216750.stm , there are still many important changes taking place. Up until this election there has been a yes-no vote for Mubarak every six years, but this year he will be joined by 10 other opposition candidates on the ballot. Kifaya (enough), which has been a well-publicised opposition group outside of Egypt, is not actually very large, but is expected to hold demonstrations outside of our campus tomorrow (the traditional spot for such demonstrations). I will try to take pictures and avoid police confiscation of my camera. Don't worry, I don't plan on getting involved! I hope there is no violence, but earlier in May there was police brutality as well as police inaction while others beat the demonstrators. Hopefully international attention will protect against this, but Egypt is a police state.

I'm a little shamed to admit that on a landmark day in Egypt's history I might be thinking more about a personal landmark... don't worry, I'm not about to get mushy, but I will be giggly and smiley tomorrow thinking about one year of Lars + Helen. So many blessings. Al Hamdu-lillah

Ok. That's enough! Kifaya! I'll report more tomorrow or Thursday on what I could see happening; I'm sure NYTimes and BBCNews and CNN and Fox and everyone else will at least mention it.