Halas!

I just sent one of my first "You haven't treated me right and I'm going to bring this to your attention" emails. The International Affairs department has not fulfilled any of their advising promises to me, even after multiple emails, and because registration starts in a day or two, I decided to take action. This might not seem like much, but I think this can be directly related to my growing skill at arguing with taxi drivers. This morning we had a particularly rough one, who sped up after we got out and swerved into the road that Jayanthi was crossing into, almost knocking her back. (Here, Helen shakes her pointer finger, gives a stern look and says "Mish Munasiba" not appropriate!) Up until this point I was just thinking I didn't get enough sleep, but the taxi driver swung me into day mode. Jayanthi had begun arguing with our usual, "Every day it is 3 pounds from Agouza to Tahrir. In the day and in the night. I live here, I know." (I promise we think this sounds a little better in heated Arabic : ) ) I walked over there with my mom face on and I shook that little pointer finger and used a new line "Today is not different from any other day. Halas! (Finished! Over! Done!)" Everything was done in full colloquial with determined looks from Jayanthi and I and we won over passerbys and policeman who told the driver to move on. I must inform you that I felt extremely triumphant and radiant on my way to class.

Oh Cairo, you make me feisty.

I can't wait to tell you about my weekend, which involved eating with an Egyptian family and drinking 5 different beverages from dinner on, keeping me up incredibly late. : ) As for now, I must tame myself and learn about 19th century Arabic poetry.