Zamalek Dorms

Last Friday I moved into the AUC dorms at Zamalek, and the change of scenery is quite refreshing. The island is almost European; with lots of trees, relatively uncrowded and wide streets, and lots of expats and embassies. I also took the bus out to AUC's new campus on Saturday. The ride is very long, but the campus is beautiful. Everything is almost brand-new and the architecture neatly reflects Islamic tradition. The buildings are very open, with lots of courtyards. The only problem is that it will be very easy to get lost for the first few weeks.

Today Egypt played Cameroon in the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations, and pulled off a 3-1 win in overtime. The game was much closer than the score indicates, and Cameroon probably played better througout, although I wouldn't say that to the locals. We caught most of the game in the dorm lobby. There was a crowd of about 30 Egyptian staff crowded around the T.V., and then about the same number of students watching from outside. In reality, most of the students were watching the Egyptians cheer as much as they were the game. And, of course, their passion did not disappointment. After the game we walked towards a cafe to get dinner, and all the taxis were honking the horns (although this is hardly a rare occurence) and the Egyptian flags were out in force. If this is the celebration for a quarterfinal victory, Iid like to see the cheering after a major victory. This Thursday provides a big chance, as Algeria and Egypt face off in a semifinal. The two teams already have plenty of bad blood, as Algeria recently beat Egypt to secure a World Cup berth.

Tomorrow I have classes for the first time in over a month, and they began with a vengeance. From Tuesday to Saturday I will be taking a survival Arabic class which focuses on the Egyptian dialect from 3:15 to 7:45, with two 15 minute breaks. I'm excited to learn some practical Arabic that I can use in the streets, but I've never had once class for 3 hours and 45 minutes in one day. Finally, today I visited the Egyptian Museum. The amount of material there is incredible, and I was quickly inundated with mummies, hieroglyphics, and other Ancient Egyptian things. The presentation is fairly poor; as one person told me, the place somewhat resembles a warehouse stuffed full of priceless artifacts. Nevertheless, it was certianly worth a visit just to see the sheer volume of artifacts. And, of course, to see King Tut's mask and tombs, which are impressively laden with gold for a king who only ruled for a decade and died at nineteen.