Today I traveled to the golden Nile Pharaoh boat in Giza to meet my belly dancer friend Lorna.  She is a Scottish expat who has been living and working as a professional belly dancer here for over a year.  We got to spend some time together between sets on the boat painted to look like … Continue reading →

I looked down at my finished ballot with relief.  After looking up all the crazily-worded initiatives and unknown local politicians I had to pass judgment on for the current election I’d finally finished casting my vote and I was ready to fax it back to the Pinellas County elections office.   This morning I headed out … Continue reading →

My roommate Eva arrived home yesterday looking like she was about to pass out.  She said as they were driving in the minibus back from AUC it was possible to make out the visible outline of the bubble of pollution surrounding Cairo.  It looked like a wall facing them, and when they passed through the … Continue reading →

Last night I went to see a concert at the El Sawy Culture Wheel with some friends of friends.  Hamid, his cousin, his brother and some friends agreed to meet me around nine and take me to see Black Theama.  The band is Nubian and they have a large Nubian following, including Hamid and the … Continue reading →

On Friday I went to meet some family friends who are visiting Cairo.  On the way back I got in a huge strop with the taxi driver because I accidentally told him the wrong turning in Zamalek and we ended up in an hour-long taxi jam.  (The link is for those unfamiliar with British slang … Continue reading →

Baghat ‘Ali Street is one of my favorites during the day, a wide verdant and quiet avenue full of trees, climbing flower vines and stately old embassy houses set back from the road.  At night, though, much of it is so poorly lit it’s almost pitch black until a car comes along.  Some of the embassies … Continue reading →

I was in the doctor’s office.  He did your standard pulmonary-doctor things,  frowning as he listening to my chest as I breathed sharply in and out, taking my pulse, taking my blood pressure.  After listening to the burbling and whistling coming from my lungs, he took his stethoscope off and looked at me gravely.  “This … Continue reading →

One of the exciting things about Cairo is how easy it is to get food delivered, cheaply by American standards.  Even McDonald’s delivers – even Cinnabon delivers if you want.  For the past two nights I’ve been exploring the exciting culinary possibilities of a website that serves as a database of all the delivery restaurants … Continue reading →

This all starts with a call to an insurance company.  My British travel insurance has a service where they can provide you with the names of local services, like doctors.  I needed one of these because my asthma has really been troubling me since the sandstorm.  For a day or so I sounded like I … Continue reading →

Last night I went to Samantha’s house for iftaar dinner.  I was picked up in a taxi by one of the girls working in the same theater.  Naomi is Romanian, a dancer, actor and assistant choreographer for the show in which she and Samantha work.   We took a yellow cab down Pyramids road.  As … Continue reading →