a gentleman and a scholar

Getting adjusted to life in Cairo has become a lot easier surrounded by so many people eager to help out and show me around, and for that I am extremely grateful to the friends I have been making here. But for the perspective of other newcomers, I have benefited from the advice on Cairo Scholars.

Cairo Scholars is a listserv that was set up as a way to unite ex-pats in Cairo a few years ago, and has since grown from like 200 to 1500 people, which is pretty crazy. It's got students (undergrad and grad), people coming to Cairo to learn Arabic, people working for NGOs and non-profits, teachers, journalists, photographers, etc. A lot of it is people looking for a place to stay, or advertising an extra room. But other emails have included requests for everything from acupuncture to Ethiopian food, and also questions that I will eventually need to ask anyway, like how to renew one's visa or where to find a good English language bookstore.

So in addition to becoming addicted to Cairo Scholars, this weekend I spent some time catching up on some much-needed sleep. Thursday night I went to bar that has karaoke nights (possibly the only karaoke place?) and sang (badly). It was not quite the glory of Sundo (they didn't have Journey!!), but we did enjoy "Wonderwall," "It's My Life" -- Bon Jovi version, NJ pride represent, and several others. We requested Backstreet Boys, but time was out before we could sing "I Want it That Way." I know, I'm disappointed too.

On Friday I went with some friends to the pool to do some swimming and tanning at the Mohamed Ali Club, which is a little out of the way but pretty nice. You pay for a day pass and then can buy food and drinks pool-side. The beautiful home in the background used to be the Egyptian home of Turkish ruler Mohamed Ali Pasha, but now it's a nice pool club.

Another exciting discovery of the weekend: the British Club. The British Community Association (BCA) has two things that everyone covets in Cairo:
1. cheap imported alcohol
2. bacon
Now obviously I don't care about the bacon, but other people get so excited about it. Ironic that in Spain, ham was everywhere, and we complained about how it was so prevalent, and now I'm in Egypt (since this is a Muslim country, most restaurants don't serve pork) where it's nowhere and people complain about missing it. But the BCA has it, and some of my friends got really excited about that. They also have a fully-stocked bar of imported liquor, and for people who have been reliant on Drinkies (the local liquor store...they deliver, of course), it was a welcome sight. You can become members, and then come back as much as you want for food, drink, or just to sit and study or have a smoke. They also have a events, like movie nights, happy hours, and pool game. The only requirement to join is a foreign passport.

And finally: I have figured out Celsius! Great success! According to flatmate H, you take temp in C, multiply by 2 and add 30. Good thing I have finally mastered simple arithmetic. So today's temp of 34 C is actually.... 98 F! Take that, metric system.