Right now I am in Arabica, one of my favourite cafes, and I just ate a wrap with bresaola and rocket (very Egyptian, yea). Tomorrow I'm finally going to the Coptic Museum to see the Nag Hammadi texts, which I'm currently reading for a course.
Spent a day at ain sokhna, lounging with friends on the beach and having an adventure in a raft that drifted too far out to sea ("we're all going to be eaten by stingrays!!!") - let me tell you, Egypt is a crazy place, and Cairo is its old crazy self. Because of my adventures at the beach I missed my favourite Saturday night milonga, but I was relaxing on a terrace, eating great food with great company, and devouring chocolate cake, wine, and mint tea. I've been craving this type of evening forever, that exhausted feeling you have after spending the day in the sun, swimming, putting your clothes back on and having a meal, watching the sunset, the sea quiet in the background. What could be nicer? It's a damn good life.
Not so much other news, apart from finding strangely that my Arabic is better than it was in December. I guess I've spent the last three months in a bored/meditative state, everyone says I seem more relaxed, less worried, but I think it's because in the states you don't have to worry about getting hit by a car every time you walk on the street, or jump over thousands of obstacles from broken sidewalks to weirdly-placed palm trees to cats.
Here is something someone said to me the other day: "America is like a gourmet meal without any flavour. In Egypt, the meal is not so fancy, but it sets your tongue on fire." There are good and bad things about this statement (for instance, you could get terrible food poisoning - literally AND metaphorically) - but in general I agree with it. On the other hand, one of the only benefits I've gotten in the states these last few months is super-clean laundry.
So is the choice between "exciting life with food poisoning" and "boring life with clean clothes"?? Hm. Maybe a little of both is necessary to keep one's feet on the ground.
j.a.
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