So here's the new place! Its simple, big, and quite comfortable. As you can see, the furniture isn't anything to brag about, but the flat itself is quite wonderful. To the left you can see the door to Andrea's bedroom, my roommate from the the Czech Republic, and to the left of her door
is mine. On the right side are doors for Matthew, an American journalist, and Andrea, an Indian-British girl who is studying Arabic.
Straight ahead are doors to the large balcony.
This is a photo of my bedroom from the doorway. As you can see, the its quite simple but I really like it. The orange blanket on my bed is made of camel hair and I swear it sheds more than a cat. The large window has a great view and to the right of the desk is a set of doors that go to my own balcony.
Another shot of the window, balcony, desk... not much to say about it... but hey, that guitar looks awesome right!
So here's the view from my place. If you look hard at this picture, you can see a building in the far distance, just to the left of center. That building is actually next to my old apartment, which is about a 2 hour walk from here.
I don't think I've mentioned it before, but the rooftops are heavily populated by satellite dishes. This is the roof of a neighboring building.
This photo was taken about an hour ago... the others are about 3 days old. As you can see, Cairo - like Beijing if you watched the Olympics - has its ups and downs in terms of pollution. This is another photo from my bedroom window.
Generally the pollution isn't this bad, although there is always some level of constant dirtiness.
Everything is pretty good otherwise. Some friends are having a party tonight, while the semester ends basically next week. For several weeks I've been heavily debating over traveling during the holiday break, and after seeing some photo's last night from someone elses travels, I'm definitely motivated now to get going. I will have to wait until at least December 22, when I get my next paycheck, before I can go anywhere, but I'm looking forward to it. Sure, constantly having to navigate bus schedules and finding room at youth hostels is exhausting, but I'm convinced that the hassel will be worth it. My greatest hesitation thus far is having to navigate the multiple dialects of Arabic, as Egyptian and Modern Standard Arabic (the sort that is used on Al Jezeera) are difficult enough - as they sound nothing alike. The positive thing about Egyptian Arabic is that Egyptian movies are very popular throughout the middle east, so other people will be able to understand me, however I will not be able to understand them. Syrian and Jordanian Arabic are simply too different from anything I'm familiar with, and while Arabic is listed as one of the two official languages of Israel, I really will be unable to use it there.
Nothing else is new otherwise. I have three research papers due this week, and I am to start working with some new rappers this Sunday. I'm doing okay otherwise, although I'm really feeling the need to focus on the purpose for which I came - as I feel that I've been perhaps to distracted upon arrival in Cairo. So I'm starting to realize the significance of my former priorities again, and I think my new apartment is a valuable asset within this process.
The only other significant news is that I've suddenly started listening to the Grateful Dead. Weird eh? I've never liked their music before, but I heard some snippets from the album American Beauty, and I immediately afterward downloaded the album from itunes. Now I can't stop listening to it.
Keep on Truckin'
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