Dear Haoma

C C

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:28:15 GMT

I just thought of the best signature ever for my emails. Are you ready for this?

-C_C-

It's my name, in a smiley. The babes are going to be all over me.

My day

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:19:37 GMT

True to my word, I'm typing something about my life. It should really be something that's not school, either. School's going good. I think it is a little over the top with the classes, but I'm happy with the broadening they're forcing me to do. I feel I ultimately learn much more from groups than I do as a solitary scholar, although I will admit I get most of my best work done and my most original ideas when going at it alone. What I learn from groups I tend to recall thus, "I don't know if this is true or not, but I remember hearing from someone that..."

But life is good. Andrea and I went down to Home Depot and got lumber to raise our bed off the ground, and suddenly, there was storage. I feel like the whole apartment breathed a sigh of relief. Bringing in a bit of order always makes me feel good, even if it's just doing the dishes or putting away some boxes. I feel determined not to let my life become all about school, but it's an uphill battle these days.

I always manage to relieve at least one piece of my nostalgia at any one point, usually in isolated chunks. Sometimes I just drop everything and play a video game all night. Over winter break I played as many Mega Man games as I could before I fell asleep in front of the screen. Sometimes I'll actually get a new song done. Right now I'm reading Piers Anthony again. Phew. Easy to laugh at now, but there's no dissing teenager fantasy novels just for being cheesy.

Classes start

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:26:51 GMT

Well, after much humming and hawing, I think I have my class schedule worked out. I'm basically sticking with the insanity I posted before—Language in the morning, library work in the middle, studies at night. French and Italian back to back, Persian and Arabic on the off-days. Afternoons, Canterbury Tales, followed by Italian Humanism. Friday, I TA and lead the Arabic Circle.

The way this will work, I tell myself, is that I'm only Really taking 3 of these courses. Italian is an audit, the prof who teaches Chaucer literally said he doesn't give a shit whether I'm registered or not, and French is there, but is not particularly high-impact. If it is I can drop it. Humanism will be interesting and engage my butt into writing my Masters Thesis, so that's a good thing anyway, Arabic is my strong suit, and Persian literature looks like it will be rather light—just read read read and come to class having read. I'm good at reading. Ultimately, most of these classes look like they'll be good classes that won't take a lot out of me outside class time.

I hope.

Fall courses

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:58:47 GMT

I always find myself torn between taking all the courses I want to take and remembering that taking them all will do me in. On top of that, I have Arabic Circle, my Persian class, MEME, my Master’s thesis to write, my library job, and Arabic tutoring—not to mention that I keep whining that I don’t have enough time to play fiddle music anymore. And what about that rock band I keep meaning to form?

I’m looking at 5 courses, although the recommended load for a Chicago quarter is 3. However, a good chunk of them are language classes, which are hard work, but significantly, they don’t demand huge research papers at the end of the term—they represent more a steady process of chipping away, 1 hour per day. That’s the sort of studying that I enjoy and I’m good at managing. If I were to do these classes, they would be

• Italian, MWF 9-10 (possibly just an audit)

• French, MWF 10-11

• Arabic grammar, TR 9-11

• Persian (TAing), just once per week on Fridays

• Modern Persian poetry (no long research paper, we hope, just lots of beautiful poetry)

Obviously this alone is five classes, but TAing Persian doesn’t count like a class, per se, although it’s a lot of work, and it’s been agreed that I can audit the Italian, although I’d still be doing the work. So we’re down to three, leaving theoretically zero remaining choices, but I’ll list off the other courses anyway:

• Dante

• Italian Renaissance Humanism

• The Canterbury Tales

Now, I really ought to take an Italian lit class, ideally one close to what I want to do for my Master’s—If I pull it off, I can hopefully make the paper I write for it the second component of my overall thesis. And honestly, after years with Nezami, Dante, Boccaccio, Ibn Sina, Ibn Hazm, and Kay Kavus, how can I not take a class on the Canterbury Tales? I mean, come on. Srsly.

So… five courses? Am I being sane?

cross-posted from K Salib

Okay, I'm back

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:36:08 GMT

Hello! I've decided to put an end to my year-long vacation from blogging. I don't know why, but ever since coming back from Egypt last year, I really felt the need to withdraw, and even though I continued to post for a few months, it was mostly despite myself. It was a pretty cool year, too, so it's a little bit odd that I didn't feel compelled to share. Maybe I just needed a break. Fortunately, one can always rely on the simple yet elegant bullet-point to recap the State of the Cam:

Apartment: Looking fabulous! Next door to the Obamas for another year. (Pictures to follow)

Arabic: The Nadwa went well enough, no disasters. Really enjoyed working with Farouk this year. We read some Naguib Mahfouz (who y'all MUST read, everything he's done has been translated), and I translated بيت من لحم by Yusuf Idris.

Egypt: Went back for 5 weeks to do some research on contemporary Egyptian literature. Also had a good time, met lots of good contacts, and it was good for my Arabic.

Italian: I really got back into it. I took a course on Italian cinema and the literature of Italo Svevo.

Kurabiye: She's no longer a cute kitten; rather a mean cat. C'est la vie.

Music: Snail-like progress. I really, really need a quiet space to practice and record in. I have been learning the setar, though, which is a blast. And hard.

Persian: Wrote a paper about LOVE and its political implications within the philosophy and court poetry of 13th century Iran. Presented said paper at MEHAT, and I hope to turn it into my Master's Thesis once I bring in some more sources. Also translated two stories by Bozorg Alavi, hopefully for publication.

Rea: Engaged! (as of July)

Work: Stumbled into an amazing job at the library, working in Arabic language acquisitions. What a cool field. Maybe I should be a librarian... So, you know, good stuff. In any case, I'm going to start writing again, although I doubt I'll follow the day-to-day grind unless I have something I really want to share.

Weekend snapshot, #3

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:46:56 GMT

We got a cat!

Last weekend, Esra and Baris had a cat follow them home. She was a little girl kitten who clearly had had an owner, since she was already litterbox trained and wore a collar. But after a week of posting ads outside, at the vet's, and online, there was no response from the owner. They couldn't keep the cat themselves, but they had gotten attached to her and didn't want her to go far, so they asked if we could keep her. It worked out really well -- Andrea had wanted to get a kitty, and now here was one practically falling in our lap. She's a really sweet, playful kitty. Her name is Kurabiye (Turkish for cookie) and except for some destructive episodes, she's been a total pleasure to have.

Andrea's job hunt began in earnest this week. She applied to a school down in Lake Shore -- it looks good but very intense. She has the job offered but she hasn't yet decided to take it.

I reconnected with my university life. I saw my Persian prof., had tea with Ustaz Farouq, and began regular lessons with Ustaz Mustafa. I've spent a lot of time deliberating what courses to take and where to focus my efforts first, considering all the languages I need to be competent in.

We also spent some time with Ariel. We had dinner together, then the next day went thrift-store shopping up on the north side. After getting a desk, some lamps, and some other useful things, our apt. is finally starting to feel comfortable.

weekend snapshot, #2

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:14:28 GMT

After a rough start, in which emotions were raw and tempers short, things started to settle down. We got our phones and internet working and were about to get our gas turned on. We had met our neighbors and I got in touch with my professors. Ramadan began and I started taking Arabic lessons with Ustaz Mustafa.

We also got some furniture. We went down to a local thrift store which holds lots of cheap stuff and found two chairs, a couch, and a bookcase. They agreed to deliver on the next day, but when they showed up, Andrea saw that the stairway was blocked by someone who had just varnished their table and had left it out to dry. She gingerly moved it to the bottom of the stairs so that we'd have room to take up our couch and other stuff. I wrote a note to put on the person's door, but when I went down, the table was already gone. I assumed the person had come out and taken his/her table. I left the note anyway to explain what had happened.

That night we were busy scraping the paint off my built-in bookcase and began to paint the one we got from the thrift store.

The next day I got a call on my intercom. It was the neighbor below us.

"Hello, is this Kamran?"
"Yes..."
"Yeah, I had that table that you moved..."
"Yeah..?"
"It's GONE."

After talking, Andrea suggested we go back to the thrift store -- that was the only place she could think it might have gone. I was unhappy with the idea, but after some sighs, I drove us down. Sure enough, there it was. The movers had taken the table out with them on their way out. We returned the table and in return got invited to watch some jazz with our neighbors up at a free concert in Millennium Park on the weekend.

Our social life started to get better at that point. We saw some jazz, visited Esra and Baris over the weekend, and on Sunday went up to the TACA (turkish american cultural assoc.) party up in the north side. While we were there, we drove over to the Arab neighborhood on Kedzie and picked up some good supplies. Suddenly we were equipped to smoke shisha, bake bread, and cook a mean dinner.

weekend snapshot, #1

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:50:10 GMT

Sat, August 23rd

Arrived in Chicago. Same old drill -- unload the car, heave all the boxes up, look around with no idea where anything could or should go. I was pretty unhappy for this part. Nothing was in its place, and I didn't even have a place to put it in. We had no phone, no internet, no gas, so we were living off of microwaved eggs and fruit salad. Every day we got a few more things put up, got a little closer to feeling like we lived here. Even though the weather was great, I didn't go out much.

moving

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:46:27 GMT

Today I left Colorado. The final pack took longer than it should of, mostly because of me. I hadn't packed up a lot of my stuff yet, and I was really sluggish in getting it all put together this morning. I was honestly really sad to be leaving, and as we pulled out and I looked out at the mountains heading down for the last time, I suddenly started sobbing. I'm really attached to my home, and it was so wonderful to be back here, even if it was only temporary. Now I'm back on my own, just me and Rea.

fiddle camp

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:01:19 GMT

I spent the day at Chris' house for my fiddle camp. It was really good. I feel like I have tons of stuff to work on, between the sheet music, recorded tunes, and things that Chris had me look at. It's mostly just the trick of finding time and a place to practice.

I was there till super late. When I got back, Andrea had already packed the car and was in bed. Wow. We're leaving tomorrow.

music!

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 05:51:49 GMT

Well, time has gone by quick. I've mostly been busy with music, although I had some neat things (such as turning 26) happen along the way that I'll blog about eventually. In the meantime, I want to get to the cool stuff:

NEW MUSIC

by ME

http://haoma.neonphog.com/music/bwren/demos.html

You can find demos of 12 new songs ready to be listened to and critiqued. I'm hoping to move this project into a full album ready to give to friends within the next month or so. To that end I'll try to get the remaining 6-8 songs I'm working on ready for listening by the end of next week. In the meanwhile, ANYone who is interested in eccentric, violin-based rock is welcome to listen to these tunes and send me feedback, from how the songs are played to their organization to their lyrics to their titles. It's all very useful for me. Enjoy!

Apartment found

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:24:56 GMT

Well, we had a very successful trip to Chicago. Driving out there was uneventful except for mom booking us a hotel in Des Moines when it was actually in Ankany, and we encountered some frustrations (as is to be expected) with missed/cancelled appointments on our first day of looking. We worked our asses off; by the end of the week we were totally sore, feet covered in blisters, hands and back cramping from all the weird positions we stood in to haul furniture and clean, but at the end of the day here it is, our new place:

It's perfect for what we need. It's close to all the bus and train lines and is in a really cool part of Hyde Park with fun diners and pancake places and Mexican and Jamaican restaurants and a Farmer's Market every Thursday. It has the obligatory hardwood floors, a nice kitchen, and hopefully it won't be freezing in the winter. We also have a door that used to lead to a fireplace that now goes nowhere -- it makes for a great window.

After we found the place on the second day, we had to unload the van (which was filled with all our stuff from Colorado), then go back up to Erick's house to pick up the crap I had left in Chicago before going to Cairo. Of course you can't just show up and take off without a pitcherful of margaritas to ease those aches and pains. We also found a cheap mattress on Craig's List and picked it up in the Hyde Park area. It was one of the hardest objects to move I have ever encountered, and it makes me all the more glad I like this place because I DON'T WANT TO MOVE AGAIN.

Cleaning was also a bit of a hassle -- they hadn't finished the bathroom and kitchen when we showed up, but since we wanted to move in immediately, they gave us a discount on our rent in return for our labor cleaning up. The guy that had lived there before was a total slob, however, and cleaning off the tops of the cabinets was totally gross.

Once it was all done, though, it feels awesome to have a place! We drove back in one shot and since then have been taking it REAL easy. I've indulged my dorky side by erasing my old IBM Thinkpad and trying to install Linux on it -- so far it's doing... okay. I'll continue to work on Arabic and music and other random things as I can, but for the moment I feel accomplished and deserving of some lazy time.

week summary, july 7

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:49:24 GMT

It was a quiet start to the week. I had some Arabic lessons with Mustafa and went down to visit Erik one day. We hiked Green Mountain and had cheap Chinese food. On the fifth, I went to a fiddle contest in Greeley. Took first place and saw my sister there. The next day, Rea and I started looking at apartments in the Hyde Park area and saw some great deals. We made some phone calls and found that, well, perhaps we should be leaving now to pick one of these places up. So, in a last-minute change of plans, we packed up all our stuff and set up a lot of appointments to see some places. This is a week earlier than intended, but hopefully we can get all of our stuff moved out there now and then the final move in August will be simple. Perhaps we can buy some furniture and job-hunt as well.

new guitar

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:58:56 GMT

Yeah, it's been ages since writing. I've done weekly summaries of the last two months, which should be enough for now. The last few days I've done nothing but sit in front of the computer with Andrea and do random stuff at a very slow rate. My photos are finally organized now, my hard disk is mostly cleared of viruses and ready to be backed up again, I've done some preliminary investigation into where I could live, I've emailed a few friends, so on. One thing I was really frustrated by was my inability to work further on my cd because all my equipment is back in Chicago. Furthermore, I had given away the crappy fender that Jed had given to me once he bought Jim's guitar back in 2006. So ever since coming back, I had been thinking about getting a cheap, ideally free guitar. I had been monitoring Craig's List for the last week and found that most guitars wouldn't come much cheaper than $50 unless I was trading... so today this morning I decided to go ahead and get the next $50 guitar that came along. It was SO worth it. I got a very simple fender squier with a single humbucker pickup against the bridge -- no switches, no second pickups, no internal wiring. The important thing is that it plays in tune and has a good, rich tone. From there I can modify it with Garageband. Rea and did a few more errands, stopping by the Arab quarter of Denver for shisha parts, before going home, and I spent most of the evening playing with my new instrument. Tres fun.

A week left to go

Tue, 20 May 2008 21:10:23 GMT

So, one day I just decided to stop blogging for a spell. I don't have any real reason for it, I just didn't care. I still don't know if I care enough to go back and fill in the important days -- perhaps my memory of this period of my life will eventually fizzle away and be just part of the CASA year.

That's okay though. I've mostly been busy as hell getting writing assignments over with, wishing I was home, wishing I had more time, and watching the days slip by like they were

However. I have seven days to go and then it's really going to be over, because Mark will be leaving that day. I'll stick around for another few days, but I know it won't be the same when I'm living alone. For that reason, I figure the last seven days ought to be dutifully recorded and celebrated as the end to an awesome year of my life.

And today seems like a good start. I finished up my literature paper and handed in my writing paper (that's 2 of 3!), chatted with Rea, who I haven't talked to for a very long month, and went home to watch movies for tomorrow's presentation. I don't really know what I'm going to say, but honestly I don't care too much. I'll jot down some notes, get it over with, and move on. I have one last major assignment due and I'm outta here.

This definitely feels weird.

???

Mon, 05 May 2008 07:04:43 GMT

Now this is weird. I didn't sleep all night. I laid in bed for six hours, feverish, coughing, sneezing, trying to avoid my anxiety-induced visions, and yet I couldn't at least feel slightly good about the whole thing, because I finally could acknowledge that yes, I am sick, and that is why I have felt like roadkill for the last week.

Except when I got up at 6:00 this morning because there was nothing better to do, I had more energy than I had had in two weeks. I actually felt motivated to get up and do something. So I read, made some coffee, had my grammar lesson with Mustafa, read some more, did my writing assignment... it was bizarre. I think I was a bit delirious through it all, because I do recall hearing myself spout Arabic in class today that was so slurred and distorted it amounted to nothing but nonsense, but nonetheless I'm more or less shocked at the outcome of the day. After lit class, Sahar invited me and Brian to go sit with her and Afsha in Azhar Park -- I would have liked to have put more time into my paper, but I can't say no to good times at the end of an era. I think I was pretty much done when I got home though. No paper, no dinner, immediate bed.

I got called "Khawaga" to my face for the first time, I think, the entire year I've been here. It was from a driver yelling at me to get out of his way. It wasn't that annoying, just kind of jarring to remember that oh yeah, I'm not really from here, and with the exception of my neighbors, nobody recognizes me as anything more than a foreigner. I'd like to write more about this topic, maybe once I get back to the states. I feel like my sense of who I belong to and who I am is going to be all sorts of fucked up.

last month in egypt

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:56:34 GMT

May 3.

I fly back to Colorado in one month.

I have 3 weeks of classes. Three weekends to visit cool places and hang out with friends. One suitcase to fill with whatever else I wanted to get for friends (any requests, by the way?). There's so much to do, and yet at the same time knowing that there's no way all I get it all done (plus the incredible fatigue I'm feeling right now) provides an underlying calm to my jitters. I've accomplished a lot and failed to do a lot of things I had planned for (such as writing monthly letters to my friends back in the states), and at this point there's no diminishing of what I've done nor rectification of what's missing. All there is to do is to enjoy what remains of this remarkable period in my life and try to wrap it up in a way that leaves me emotionally buffered for the shock of culture, relationships, language, and lifestyle that I know is coming soon.

The change is both foreboding and welcome. More than anything else, I'll be glad to be back home, chatting about this last year and reconnecting with my family and friends for a few months before going back to Chicago. Beyond that I don't know what to expect.

jess' last day

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:41:16 GMT

Because today was Jess' last full day here, we continued in vacation mode. I think it's just as well -- I'm sleeping terribly, I can barely eat solid food due to mouth pain, and my body just feels exhausted no matter how much coffee or sleep I get. I'm starting to wonder if I have some kind of cold/flu/something. I don't have any noticeable symptoms to speak of -- no runny nose or stomach pain or anything -- but I can't think of any other explanation for this feeling.

So, Mark, Jess and I plus the neighbors took a trip down to Ma3adi to eat at Lucille's. I hadn't been there in over four years, and I remember last time I had gone there it was kind of a surreal experience, as I was suddenly thrust into an American-style diner with 70's country blaring and the highest concentration of Texans in the country. It wasn't any different this time, but the bottomless cups of coffee made the entire trip worth it.

The afternoon I mostly worked on music. I'm way excited for what I'll be putting out in the summer.

The evening I went shopping. I won't say for what here because I'm WAY excited by what I got and I want it to be a surprise. I'm just glad that Jess was there to help me pick things out. When we got back Adel stopped by to say goodbye to Jess. He didn't leave until we popped in the BBC "Planet Earth" series that is so amazing. After the first 30 minutes he turned to us and asked, "Aren't there going to be any pirates?"

"It's a nature film, Adel."

"How about cannibals?"

"Nature film, Adel."

Pause.

"This sucks. I'm gonna go watch 'Mask of Zorro.'"

when life goes on hold, music takes over

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:39:55 GMT

I could have stayed in bed all day. It took a concentrated effort to get up, even after 12 hours of sleep. I honestly can't remember what I did most of the day besides mess around with music, singing a lot and writing lots of lyrics, and finishing the day with the Planet Earth series. It's really cool. I think I might try to find a cheap copy when I get back to the states.

introducing: Brother Wren

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:13:52 GMT

I felt pretty crappy and did very little today. I'm just exhausted and I can't seem to do anything but sleep. Pretty much nothing happened that I'm all that keen about, except making some progress on my CD. I think I might use the solo name "Brother Wren" ("Ren?"), an old nickname that my cousins gave me. I like the sound of it. Another cool name is an anagram of Kamran Cross -- Karma Scorns. But Brother Wren actually has a meaning and history to it. It'd be a good name.

"why are we still asleep?"

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:11:55 GMT

My bizarre luck with trains continues. Somehow both my alarm clock and Mikey's failed to wake us up. I was sound asleep when he knocked on the door and said, "Kam? Err... it's six o'clock." Groggily, I rolled over, let this information process, and said stupidly, "But the train leaves at six. Why are we still asleep?" Mike shrugged helplessly and said, "I don't know."

A frantic packing and hasty goodbye ensued. We got to the train station about ten minutes past the departure time, and were relieved to learn that the train had not come yet. We needn't have worried. We sat and waited for another hour before my train finally showed up. It was my first time riding a first-class car. I didn't notice that big of a difference except that the chairs were wide and comfortable, which meant that everyone was asleep and it was practically silent on board, a first for me.

I had only slept a fitful four hours, so I did my best to doze on the train, and when I got home I slept another couple hours. For some reason I felt like total ass, so I avoided doing anything at all. The one exception was going out to see Hala el-Badry before she left, which was the whole reason for my coming up in the first place. It was cool to see her, and she had some leftover Ringa and Fasikh (salted fish, so strong it reminds one of certain kinds of cheese), normally served as part of Sham al Naseem but I was too busy eating meat to try it in Minya. On the way home I stopped at my friends' shops and said hi. It was really invigorating to come back home after the last week and a half being away.

sham al-neseem

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:10:25 GMT

Mike and I slept in pretty late, then took an afternoon walk around Minya. Today was Sham al Naseem, an arrival-of-spring holiday that dates back to the Pharaohs, and the crowds were out in full force. There were dozens of families with blankets, mats, sheets, and all the picnicking supplies one could need spread out on the grass along the Nile, and Mike pointed out that most of them had been there since last night. Bumper cars, circular swings, and trampolines were set out all over the place, and vendors sold balloons, balls, and shiny conical hats called taratir. I was taken to the best ice cream place in Minya (and I daresay it rivals the mango ice cream at al-Abd) and we walked along the bridge, watching the festivities.

Minya also has its share of problems, however. It was the site of intense fighting between Muslims and Christians during the 80s and between the government and various Islamist groups in the 90s. Mike advised me to not take too many photos, as people are still suspicious of anyone with a camera, and as we passed the ministry of security in the middle of the city he told me about how people avoided passing by it if possible. That is where government agents snatch people and torture them if they're suspected of anything.

We eventually got back home and relaxed/studied for a few hours. In the evening, Rania and the rest of the group met up with us and we went back out to rent a felucca. It was the first time this year I've ridden a felucca and I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is. Afterwards we braved the crowds to go to a place that serves crepes. They're really yummy -- I wish they made them in Cairo! After that we took everyone home and I took down lots of emails and Skype contacts.

Mike and I decided to try to get our ticket again. He suggested I come with him and we could play the foreigner card. I really didn't want to play the poor clueless foreigner, and honestly didn't think it would make a difference, but I acquiesced. I was utterly shocked at what happened. Mike and I walked up and first asked if there were any tickets, any class, any price, between now and tomorrow morning. A firm no. Mike then pointed to me and said, but look, I have a foreigner with me. He needs this ticket. The man reached down and pulled out a first-class ticket to Cairo, leaving at 6:00 the next morning. Apparently they keep a couple spare tickets on any train to be sold to police, army, government officials, or foreigners. Regular Egyptians are truly third-class citizens in their own country. I felt kind of slimy taking the ticket through such unfair means, but that was the only way I was going to get back before Hala leaves.

Returning home, I was greeted by another plate groaning with the same potatoes, gulash, and macaroni as yesterday (all with ground beef), and supplemented with kofta and breaded chicken. This time I didn't even have a prayer of finishing. I ate what I could and then distracted the family by bringing out photos of Evergreen so they could see what my place looked like and how my family celebrates Christmas compared to them. There were also two really cool new people, Mike's aunt and uncle, who are both deaf. I told them about my sister and Jess and asked a lot of questions about how sign language is taught in Egypt. It seems that there's no standard system, so people learn what they can from al-Jazeera and basically make up the rest. I was amused by some of the signs for different countries. America is shooting revolvers, Britain is a broken jaw, India is a bobbly head. It was pretty late by then, so after an hour, I excused myself to sleep.

i'll take the meat!

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:03:23 GMT

Maybe my bad luck with trains got reversed. I was so tired, I almost slept until the last minute, but something told me I should get there half an hour early just to be safe. I found the train without too much work and sat down thinking I could have slept the extra half hour, when the train lurched forward. I was stunned. What's the train leaving *early*? I asked my neighbor and he pointed to my ticket. It said, departure, GIZA, 8:00. Ohh. I had assumed the departure time would refer to the station from which the train departs. I was way lucky to have not wasted another ticket.

The ride down was pretty and went by smoothly. I found Michael waiting for me on the platform, and he took me through Minya to his mother's house. It was a gorgeous building, in the shape of an octagon, with a private room extending from each side. I had chosen an interesting time to come. Today was Coptic Easter. The Copts had been fasting what they call the "oil fast", meaning that they only eat vegan food for 50 days before Easter. This means that now all the food they were serving was meat, meat, meat. I was served a lunch of probably the heaviest food I'd ever eaten: macaroni casserole with ground beef, gulash stuffed with meat, potatoes layered with ground beef. The food kicked my ass, and combined with the lack of sleep from the previous night, I asked if I could have an hour or two to sleep.

Blissful sleep flew by in an instant. When I woke up I met Mike's sister and her husband. Her husband was really interesting. I don't know if he represents a majority of Coptic opinions in the area or not, but his take on Egypt was very unusual. He was shocked that I liked Arabic, as he viewed it as the language of the "invaders", and seemed overall very hostile to Islam and its presence in Egypt. Mike's mother and sister seemed much more moderate, like Mike himself, so I think there must be a diversity of opinion on the issue (as if anything else could be expected).

Rania joined us later and we had a lot of fun catching up and talking about what she'll be doing in the US. Her ambitions include picking up kung-fu, swimming, and violin while she's doing her Fulbright. I admire her energy.

Finally that evening we went out and met up with a bunch of Mike's friends. They're all really nice and we had fun drinking tea and playing a game called 'wink' (غمزة). I don't think we got back home until 2:30 or 3:00, and the rest of the family stayed up while I went to bed. I'm amazed at the Egyptians' capacity to night-owl.

gettin ready for the road again

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:19:37 GMT

Time for journey #2 of my spring break. Tomorrow morning I'll head down to Minya, an important center of Middle Egypt. Although I stayed there for a few days four years ago, I haven't had the chance to see the city itself yet, so this should be a lot of fun. I'm expecting more stories and pictures when I get back.

The day itself was pretty laid back and nice -- I just stayed at home, drank lots of coffee, ate leftover Indian food (which is even better the second day), and wrote up a lot of entries for my journal (see below). I went out with Mark and Jess to Zamalek and found a little cafe that serves surprisingly cheap stellas, so I might actually have a reason to go to Zamalek again. I hung out with Adel as well tonight, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that I actually get along with him really well these days. Maybe the vacation did me good. I'm still deliberately avoiding most of my neighbor-friends since I'll be going again and I don't really feel like the "Where have you been? Where are you going? What are you doing?" routine even though I know it's out of affection. It's like having a cast on your arm in the states -- after a while you just get sick of telling the same story a million times. I might as well wait till I'm done traveling before I go through the drill.

the hour went ahead!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:41:01 GMT

Travel day. Daylight savings day. The two DO NOT MATCH.

You may have guessed that Brian and I missed our train because the hour jumped ahead at midnight last night and nobody knew. The funny thing is that when the train officer was explaining what had happened in Arabic and I had never learned how "daylight savings" would be described in this language, it sounded like the craziest thing I had ever heard of. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Where's my train?
Man: *looks at ticket* It's come and gone, about 45 minutes ago.
Me: How could that be? It says 8:00 here, and I've been waiting since 7:30.
Man: It's already gone! The hour went ahead, we're now on summer time.
Me: What do you mean, the hour went ahead? How could an hour go ahead?
Man: Eight became nine! Nine became ten!
Me: Oh come on. You think I'm that gullible? How can the train time just change like that??
Man: It didn't change! The train came on time, and you weren't there!
Me: That was an hour ago! If it left ON TIME at SEVEN, why does it say EIGHT on my ticket?!
Man: *looking desperate* Because the hour went ahead!
Me: *going crazy* GRAAHH! Quit saying that! What nonsense!

I didn't get it until he finally told me to pull out my phone and read to him what time it said. He then directed my gaze at the station clock, which was an hour behind my phone, and said, emphasizing every word, "See? The... time... changed."

It suddenly dawned. Daylight savings. Ohhhh. It's interesting that we in the states have become totally used to it as this annoying but somehow permanent biannual fixture in our lives. It even becomes a kind of joke. Whatever you miss -- class, doctor's appointments, weddings -- all you have to do is say, "Whoops! Daylight savings!" and everyone laughs and all is forgiven. Yet when an Egyptian is explaining to me what happened, I look at him like he's been doing shrooms.

So, a hot, unshowered, grumpy Kam and Brian had to take a bus, then a minibus, and then a metro to get back to our apartments a few hours later than we had hoped. When I got home, I felt crushed by lack of sleep and the heat, which was really intense. All I could do was lay down and wait for the evening to come.

The day has a happy ending, though. Our neighbors Matt and Nima cooked a huge feast of Indian food of rice, dhaal, tandoori chicken, big spicy lentils, eggplant curry, and lots of juice. After a few plates of that I was right as rain. We stayed up till 2:30 watching Scrubs after that, and then I remained up catching up on the internet for another few hours. I'm sure my sleep will be whacked out, but it's okay.