HEAT

It was hot. Really hot. About 115 degrees and really hazy. Luckily I got to spend the morning visiting the NON-AIR-CONDITIONED Egyptian Museum. My brain was in a fog from the heat the whole time so I didn't get as much out of it as I would have hoped. The mummified animals were interesting though, and it was pretty funny when our tour guide disappeared several times. Unfortunately it was 50 pounds extra to see the human mummies, so we skipped that part.

After the museum we went to our 2nd dialogue at the University of Cairo which was much better than the one at AUC. The students really had a lot of interesting points to make as we discussed terrorism, democracy, and culture. The students basically chased us out the door to get our numbers and facebook information.

When we got back I was not feeling really great from the heat, so I stayed in the air-conditioned room and did my homework while some other people went out for Chinese food. There's only so much Egyptian food you can take sometimes.

1. haggling: at markets, for cab rides, for museum guides, YOU NAME IT. Taxis are the strangest part, I think. You just hop in, tell them where you want to go, and a lot of times they'll just take you there. Then you give them how much you want to pay and they'll bug you for more. Apparently there are certain cabs with meters, but I have yet to come across one.

2. Egyptian hospitality: every day in Arabic class, Hasna asks us if we want anything to drink and she'll have Nescafe or Kalkade (hibiscus tea) brought for us. I've never had school like THAT before. Also, when we were leaving UC, the students truly wanted ways to keep in contact with us and continuously welcomed us to Egypt and asked us how we were liking it. I haven't travelled anywhere else that was so welcoming.

3. Heat: At home I usually try to avoid air conditioning, but today I was so so SO thankful for it. If I've ever thought it was oppressively hot before, I take it all back. Maybe I could have handled 115 degrees on a normal day, but on a hazy day? Forget it. I felt like I was walking around completely unfocused and like it was taking twice as much effort to do anything.