Life Gets A Little More Normal

SECOND DAY OUT:
The next day I was too late to go to class at ILI, but I worked on my housing situation. I looked at a flat in Dokki (and took my first microbus--a crazy experience--everyone packs in and it costs like 5 cents and people hang off the doors yelling its destination) with this German girl, but it was really dark and run-down-ish and kindof lonely and there was no shower curtain, so the next day I told her no. I went back to AUC (american university in cairo) to copy down ads of people looking for flatmates, and started calling them. I also bought Cairo maps and a Egyptian phrase-book, which has been very helpful.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I started class on Wednesday, which was nice. There is an American girl in my class, a few years older than me (Marissa), an American old man who is here with his wife before they go to Sudan (David), and an old Irish man who makes me think of Sean Connery every time he talks (Mike), who seems to have a suspiciously sketchy relationship with Marissa. On my questions, he told me he "has a lot of girlfriends, but no wife." My teacher Heba is Egyptian, and funny. There is also Sayid, a Japenese guy who is very quiet, misses class a lot,and doesn't pay attention. We dont' know why he's here. My Arabic is really rusty, but it is improving fast. I was pleased to have homework--it was familiar, and took my mind off my worries. You know you're a UofC student when--in an unfamiliar situation, staying up late to work on homework calms you down like nothing else.

Also that day after class I went to Marissa's house, which is just around the corner from school, and checked email, read a British tabloid, and called around apartments. I went to see one in Agouza, which I really liked. It is much cheaper than the one in Dokki, and much nicer and cleaner and brighter. I really like it,and the French and American girls that live there (both teachers) but I am still waiting to hear back from them, since someone looked at it this morning and I think they want someone who can stay longer than a few months. Melissa also knows of someone who is looking for a flatmate, but I haven't heard back from here either.