"Ayewa...Des Moines?" -Senna

GREAT NEWS!!!! I have a place to live for the summer. I'm not going to be homeless. It was a little questionable, touch and go, but now I have a place to live. On top of that, praise God, or as we say in Egypt ahamdallila, it is only going to cost $50 a month to cover utilities. One of Justin's friend's family lives in Fishers and have allowed me to stay in their home as a complete stranger. I sent the mother an e-mail today explaining my situation, etc, but before she had e-mailed her son (justin's friend) a list of rules/expectations. It was very funny to see the difference of tone in e-mails. I think it is going to work out great.

I have so much to catch you up on otherwise...yesterday was another crazy day in Egypt. First I should explain today's title. Ayewa, or pronounce Iowa, means yes in Egyptian. However, I never noticed the entire time I was here until today. When Senna pointed it out, I felt a little dumb. Who knows. There are great things with language I experience here. Would you ever go to the emergency room of a Teaching Hopital...I know I wouldn't. Would you take your gifts to a professional gift raping store? Maybe. I need to stay awake on the bus more often just to read the signs. Did you know there are no alcoholics allowed in the park...but is alcohol? I'm sure my Arabic translations are just hilarious...now I understand why people laugh at me.

So yesterday I went to the Citadel with Mika and her boyfriend and friend that had just arrived in Egypt. Please note I am the only one in the group who has brown hair, and Louis and Carly still had the dazzled American look. We got done exploring and were very hot and tired, so we decided to sit down and drink water before heading to Al-Azzhar park. As we were sitting there, a field trip comes around and we were suddenly bombarded by 20 10-year-old girls. They wanted our pictures, wanted our names, and kept calling Louis, Lisa. It was overwhelming and hilarious at the same time. Maybe they thought we were movie stars. Wonder who they thought I was?

We had a nice evening in the park afterwards though. The city looked spectacular from the hill at night. We got a cab to leave, bargained our price, we got to the longest street of Cairo, and the cabbie pulls over and tells us in Arabic that we just have to walk and this is the street we want. I was polite at first and asked him if he could take us to our final destination (seemed logical). He told me no, he didn't have time, he had to get back to the park. I told him we didn't know where we were, and that we were going to pay him, but he needed to take us to our destination. He refused, and when we didn't pay him full price he started screaming from the taxi. It was so crazy. What kind of taxi doesn't take you where you want to go? Apparently the kind in Egypt.

I think that is all I have for today. I'm linking pictures so check them out! Happy Tuesday