Pyramids, Papers, and Swine, Oh My!

Devoted Reader –

There are few moments that inspire jealousy in others more than hopping on Skype chat with a friend and having the following exchange:
--“Hey Kevin, how’s things?”--”Hey Joe, good to hear from you! What have you been up to this week?”
--“Just working over the summer, getting ready for school in the fall. What about you?”
--“Oh, you know, went to the pyramids this morning, the Nile this afternoon…same old boring Cairo!”
I don’t know how many more times I will get to say that I kicked the week off with a visit to one of the Seven Wonders, but this week was such a time. On Saturday my roommate, two friends from Dahab Hostel, and I rented a car and driver for 200 LE between the four of us and went out to Giza to marvel at the ingenuity and timelessness of local vendors hawking overpriced jewelry and camel rides. I mean, we went to see the pyramids, which were indeed awe-inspiring, although after the first five minutes of gazing at the biggest one, we all went, “You’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all! Let’s go get lunch.” The highlight of the trip for me was seeing about eight or ten camel ride-hawkers out on horses, trying to round up a camel that had gotten loose between pyramids. It took them about five minutes and reminded me of cattle wrangling, except with a somewhat different feel…
I also got to go to church on Friday, which was interesting because, at forty or fifty members of the Cairo, Egypt branch, it was the largest gathering of white people I’ve seen in Cairo thus far. The branch is located about twenty minutes from downtown Cairo by metro, in a neighborhood consisting largely of expats and foreign dignitaries. I had thought about getting an apartment there and am now relieved that I didn’t: one of every two people I saw there were American, there were fast food joints on every corner, and people drive around in their Beamers and Chevies like it ain’t no thang. On Sunday, I was part of my second largest gathering of Americans, i.e. orientation for the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA from here on in) program! They fed us and made us sign a bunch of scary papers, including a language pledge in which we promised to not speak Arabic with other participants in the program, and to speak Arabic as much as possible anywhere we go. Most of my CASA colleagues, to my surprise, PROMPTY IGNORED THE FACT THAT THEY SIGNED A DOCUMENT PROMISING NOT TO SPEAK ENGLISH WITH EACH OTHER, and went ahead and laughed up the afternoon. People: I’m generally an easygoing guy. But when I put my name to paper, I take it seriously, especially if it means the difference between developing linguistic skills which you are being paid by the U.S. government (i.e. taxpayer dollars) to acquire. It’s kind of a sore spot for me.
Anyway, the next day we had classes. That is until we were about to go to our last hour of class, when we were pulled aside and told that the entire American University in Cairo had been shut down due to a swine flu scare. Two American students at AUC who were living in Zamalek came down with the virus, and they had apparently been on buses going out to the new campus in Rahab (where our CASA classes are being held). So, all classes were canceled this week, which means I’ve spent most of the time at home relaxing and working on homework assignments we have in lieu of class. At last count, there are twelve total cases of swine flu in Egypt, including a McDonald’s employee, which has led the government to shut down fast food restaurants all over the city. But don’t worry, I feel fine. And I hope you’ll tune in next week for the real start of classes. Until then, I am sincerely yours,
K