where, oh where, is my absentee ballot?

The living situation has officially been finalized! A2 will move in with A1 and I, which we are excited about because he is a friend, and now we don't have to go through the trouble of screening someone from Cairo Scholars. Also, because we all have the same first initial we can now come up with a catchy name for the apartment. For example, I am pushing for "A-Team," because then we can make Mr. T jokes such as "I pity the fool who doesn't come hang out with us." But I bet my friends have more taste than I do, so I will probably be outvoted.

Other exciting things also happened! The magazine I edit celebrated its 10-year anniversary last week, so we had a big party at the Swiss Club. My boss really went all out, including hors d'oeuvres (I definitely spelled that wrong), an open bar, a live band and a DJ. It was basically a huge expat party, because that's pretty much the target audience for us, and it was cool because I actually knew a bunch of people. Plus I got to bring a lot of my friends, so that was fun as well.

Then another friend was working for a company that was sponsoring a bar opening downtown, so he invited all of us to come. Their theme for the opening was "baladi," the Egyptian word meaning "local," though it is often used in a derogatory way to mean low-class. We tend to use it to describe things that are very typical Egyptian. Anyway, this could not have been more appropriate for this bar, as it was located in a baladi downtown location surrounded by 'ahwas, they served baladi food (aka street food like kofta, ta'ameya, hummous, pita, samboussa), played baladi music, had baladi entertainment (i.e. bellydancers) and gave out baladi souvenirs (scarves and cymbals for the ladies, fez for the men). Overall, it was ridiculously over-the-top Egyptian in a fun way, plus they also had an open bar so we stuck around and had a good time.

A1 and I also decided this week that we could use a little pampering, and luckily that's cheap enough in Egypt. We went to a salon in Mohanessin not far from where I work, a place called Twins. It was just for women, though some of the hairdressers were men. It was not so much a place to get hair cut as it is to get styled -- upper class women just come in to get all done up for a big evening out. It's not a salon as you would think of one -- basically, you come and tell them what you want, and then you sit around chatting in folding chairs and people come to you. The facial-hair-removal operatives are mobile with their eyebrow threaders and mirrors, then you scoot over and the manicure-pedicure come around with large tubs of water for the feet and baskets of nail polish so you can choose your colors. We were just going to get our nails done, but on a whim decided to get our hair straightened as well.

The few times in America that I have attempted to get straight hair, it's always been an ordeal. If it was friends wielding straighteners it could take hours, and it was at the hairdresser it involved complicated products and multiple helpers. This was the easiest thing ever: all the women have thick, curly hair like mine, so it doesn't faze them at all. You just say curly or straight, they blow it out and then start styling. Mine took about an hour, which is the fastest ever. This could have been due to the hardcore straighteners they use, which are literally heated over an open flame. Then they came over to do my nails while I was getting the hair straightened (is that efficient or what?), so I felt like I was in that part of Miss Congeniality where Sandra Bullock is getting the makeover in the warehouse (aka best scene ever). Cost of everything together (manicure, pedicure, eyebrows, hair straightening): LE 80, or about $15. Awesome.

On a more serious note, I have been getting worried because I sent away for my absentee ballot more than a month ago (like seriously, in the beginning of September) and still have not received it. Nice job, state of New Jersey. According to all the other expats I know also freaking out over late ballots, I have other options. If I get it late, FedEx will mail it express back to the states FOR FREE (awesome!), and if I never get it then I can go to the U.S. Embassy and fill in an emergency write-in ballot (officially referred to as a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot, or FWAB), which they will mail in for me. I think this way I would not get to vote for the NJ stuff, but since I have not really lived in NJ for more than four years and don't plan to be back in the near future, I suppose that doesn't matter as much. I would prefer to send in my regular ballot, but if it doesn't come (I'm giving it one more week before I just go to the U.S. Embassy), at least I can still vote.