Arrival in cairo

While flying into Egypt, and seeing the sprawling metropolis extennd across the sahara in alll directions, i could only think ´¨that of all the places in the world, why did i choose to come here´´

(i´m using an arabic keyboard right now, so i don´t have a question mark at my disposal, and please forgive the countles s errors)

But  everything quickly improved immediately upon landing.  There was a person waiting for me at the gate with my name on  sign, and he took care of everything for m e from that point on..  I t was quite amazing really, all I did was hand him my passport  and he took care of my visa, hasseled with customs, and collected my luggage.  I didn´t need to stand in  any lines or anything.  I t was great.

He then drove me to my apartment in zamalek, which was okay... I could not tell from th aerial view that a gian t overpass is right at my front door.  And whuile tbe apartment could be spectacular, in its current condition, I would say its only okay.  The  best part was when my roommate Shawali opened t he  door and proceeded to speak to me only in spanish for the next 30 minutes.  I was told that he speaks a little english, and he was told that I speak a little spanish, yet he  obviouly assumedthat ´a little ´means more than ¨my red shoes are in the bathroom¨.¨

However, it turns out that he does speak a littl english, and his brother Moss, who also lives here, is fluent in about 5 or  6  languages.  So somehow all of our conversations are a mix of  english, arabic, and spanish.  I imagine that upon leaving here, I will have gained some considerable linguistic profiency from these guys.

Not much else to say from the moment.  We went to a cafe last night, and walked around a  bit.  Cairo is really dirty, crossing the street is nearly suicidal, and it is really difficult to classify a city that contains glass skyscrapers and donkey carts on the same street.  I will write more to you in a bit, hopefully after settin g  up the internet on m y own computer.