So, today I was supposed to get to sleep in, but I was still working on that essay I'd been procrastinating on well into the night, so instead I took a nap and got up early to finish. When I only had about fifty words left I took a shower, got dressed, and went down to breakfast because it was 9:15 and my schedule says breakfast ends at 9:30.
Apparently they changed the schedule without telling me though, because the lady in the cafeteria definitely glared at me, told me breakfast was over at nine, and turned me away. So I finished my essay hungry and bitter. But it wasn't a bad essay.
When I got to class it turned out I could have slept in anyway. Ustaaz Immad had canceled Egyptian for the day because he plans to take us to the Orphanage on the weekend to speak with the children there. Unfortunately, none of us got the memo. So we sat in class for an hour waiting on him before Robyn called him and delivered the news.
I didn't really mind waiting. It was nice to just relax and chat. And half an hour in to the waiting Moutaz, the dar attendant, came in and pretended to lecture us on the history of Alexandria. As far as dar attendants go, he's pretty awesome.
During the second hour before lunch I managed to get some media homework done for tomorrow. Then there was lunch, and Formal Arabic, where I turned in my essay. Afterward, I returned to the dorms intending to take a nap, but my nap somehow turned into a few hours of reading before dinner. When I finally went down to dinner however, there was a big surprise waiting for me.
Hadir has returned from Oman. We caught up on her trip, which she seemed to enjoy, over dinner and then wandered up to the room where she had a present waiting for me. It's a miniature bust of Queen Kiyra, the mother of King Tut. Very pretty. I thanked her, of course, but our reunion was short lived. Her aunt is in town, so she went to stay with her for the night. Also, her mother has returned to Egypt for a while. I'm going to meet them at some point, according to Hadir. They've all been asking about me.
After Hadir left, I went with Megan and Tamar to Carrefour. They needed to stock up on junk food, and I just wanted to get out of the dorms. But of course, I ended up stocking up on junk food too. At least if I miss breakfast again, now I'll have something to eat.
Carrefour is part of a mall, so we ended up wandering a few clothing stores as well, H&M and some Egyptian store whose name I don't remember. After we'd made our purchases I treated the girls to Cinnabon, because I was craving sugar and dessert. It was awesome.
The taxi back was an adventure. We're not used to going too far from home, so we tend to assume that all taxi drivers know where the dorm is. Our cab driver, however, did not. We explained to him as best we could using land markers and reference points, but we don't know street names, so it was a little difficult. Add in the traffic and it took a while for us to get where we were going. But at least the driver was nice, and he had good taste in music, so the long ride wasn't bad. And we got there eventually.
It's kind of nice, seeing my dresser drawer stocked with juices and chips and candy bars. I even have two cans of Mountain Dew for a rainy day. Because this is the last night I'm going to have the room to myself, there are several American girls over making the most of it. In sha' Allah we'll get our homework done soon so we can have a mini American dance party before turning in for the night.
Habiba has also stopped in as I've been writing, so she's back from her travels too. She got a second language partner today because one of the other girls' partners kept bailing on her. It will be a lot of work for her, but she's too brilliant to keep to myself. Either way, we have a meeting tomorrow after dinner. We have to somehow squeeze sixteen hours into the next three weeks. Wish us luck!
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