A Month

Today is the one month mark. What has happened since then (and my last entry, additionally)?

I arrived in Egypt knowing very, very little spoken Egyptian dialect. Not only did I sound like an idiot, but I couldn’t get some of the more important pieces of information across (oh, like this isn’t the right hotel, for one…). It became a production trying to get almost anything (because odds are that the Egyptian word is nowhere near the Standard) and trying to give taxi drivers directions to my apartment was almost impossible.

At this point I can deal with the more important situations without too much trouble. I’ve successfully been able to navigate the food system, the transportation system (for the most part) and just generally staying alive. I can communicate what I need pretty effectively, though there are still certain vocabulary gaps that the Egyptian Dialect class is helping to fill over time.

I went to Cairo by myself this past weekend, learned how to get about the city, saw the Pyramids and the Old (Coptic) City. I explored a bit, but it’s Cairo – it will take a lot of weekends to explore the place, and I’m not sure I really want to. Being in Cairo for a few days definitely increased my appreciation of Alexandria. I’ll be sure to post pictures somehow, probably via facebook, but there are quite a lot.

Right now, as three weeks ago, I am sick. Though I seem to be worse, as my cough sometimes forces me to the ground and I also have a cold. I can’t really seem to sleep, either, which is helping neither my physical nor mental health. Something needs to change.