I'm on my own, I'm on my way

ok so maybe cairo isnt quite utopia parkway but dammit its close enough.

so yeah. ive decided, after much heartfelt deliberation, to start a blog. get excited.

this blog was actually started by my older sister when she was living in jeddah last year so she might be posting from time to time. but i have confidence that you all will not be overly confused - the name of the person writing is at the end of the blog. my blog will be slightly different from libby's, for those of you who have read both. she was a bit more...intellectual in her observations then i will be. do not read this blog if you are looking for deep thoughts. i have none that i could broadcast without feeling like a pretentious git. this will be something more along the lines of a cross between a mass email and a record of what ive been doing for my own amusement. but i do it for love of mes amis who, surprisingly enough, seem to care enough about what im doing with my life to give my blog a place in their procrastination schedules. read email, check. read aim away msgs, check. stalk ppl on facebook, check. aaand read rachel's blog, check! beautiful.

sooo where to begin. i arrived in cairo (for those of you not in the know im taking a year off and spending it in cairo. thats in egypt.) at 4:45pm this afternoon - with a 7 hr time difference to the east coast. those on the west coast can do their own mental math. i went through paris and after the amount of time and effort my parents put into preparing me to miss my transfer flight in paris, i was almost disapointed when i had absolutely no trouble getting to my plane on time. life is so cruel. but i slept. a lot. and pretended i knew french for most of the trip which worked pretty well unless the ppl expected me to respond to them.

stewardess: -incomprehensible frenchy babble-
rachel: -smiles. nods. feels ridiculously sophisticated. considers buying a cigarette just to complete the image-
stewardess: -pauses and looks on expectantly-
rachel: -continues to smile until pause reaches awkward length-
stewardess: -more frenchy babble, presumably along the lines of, "whats wrong with you woman! answer the damn question!"-
rachel: -finally realizes the stewardess wants an answer. looks around frantically. makes rolling dive for the exit-

cairo is beauuutiful. looks suspiciously like riyadh. less dry. very hot. it has that same chaotic feel to it, like nobody really knows quite what theyre doing, but theyre doing it anyway bc also, nobody really cares. and i understood arabic at the airport!!! -patpat patpat- of course, despite understanding it, i didnt speak any of it. nope. not a word. when i had to get my luggage i went looking for a cart, and found a bunch but there was this official-ish looking guy sitting in a desk next to them so i wasnt sure whether or not i had to rent the cart, or if i could just take it. and i didnt really want to start out my cairo experience by being wrestled to the ground by the poor cart owner whose children would go dinner-less tonight bc the stingy american female stole his cart. (and i was sure he would call me "imrah" in his stories. "al-imrah al-amrikia al-stingia") and so, to avoid said situation, i went to talk to the cart guy. of course he didnt speak english. so he called over his friend, who also didnt understand my question. so he called over another guy, who also didnt understand my question. no big deal. we were all enjoying the absurdity of the situation blah blah blah, total incomprehension on both sides. mind you, i know how to say "to rent" in arabic. i fact, i know EXACTLY how to say "do i need to rent this?" admittedly i dont know the word for cart, but i feel like i could have gotten around that one. now you may ask, why then did i not simply ask in arabic? i have a theory. maybe thats how middlebury keeps ppl coming back. along with brainwashing us to kill world leaders at certain times as was the general consensus of students actually at middlebury, they also brainwash us so we cant actual use any of the arabic we know. we can just repeat things over and over in english at a gradually increasing volume until we give up and walk away in disgust left with nothing but the constant fear of angry cart owners hanging over us. it is a conspiracy.

moving on...i am now sitting in my apartment, which is quite nice actually. view of the nile from the window :) if you have a webcam i can give you a virtual tour if you im me and i like you enough. nice big living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. and did i mention one of the girls actually arranged some fashion "101 sex tricks to try before you die" magazines on the livingroom table? cute. one problem - there are 6 girls, 5 beds. and i was the last one to get here so i am, at least for now, bedless. maybe ill buy a blowup mattress and set it up in the corner, ghetto-style. actually the bed isnt so much the issue as the clothing space... but i will manage. somehow. inshaallah. -cue dramatic music- on my way to the apt my driver says, "now we are crossing al-whatever street and after that we will reach Garden City (where my apt is). Inshaallah". i was like..yes i will commense prayer immediately in the hopes that god will not move the district before we get there. awesome.

ok children i feel like i have droned on for long enough. im listening to architecture in helsinki. and i think i might sleep on the couch. miss you all muchly-