New Digs

I hadn't intended for these pictures to be so large, but now that they're loaded I'll leave them - it took far too long and I don't feel like waiting again. So:

I have a new apartment! I have had it for nearly a month, but only after living here for a few weeks does it actually feel like home. Home-ish, anyway. It will feel home-ier (homlier?) when my roommate returns. I suppose I should update her code name, for Roommate Formerly Known as Number 3 takes too long to type. Roommate One would be silly, though, since she is the only one (thank goodness, seven roommates is about six too many). Perhaps Roommate One-And-Only? Or maybe I should just call her an appropriately descriptive nickname, although a short joke would be too obvious. I'll work on it.

Anyway, we've got ourselves a charming two bedroom love nest close to school, nestled in the downtown shopping district. Were next to a movie theater, surrounded by quite a few auto supply stores (they advertise ball bearings here called FAG. I don't know what the acronym is for, but the it makes me chortle) (yes, I am ten years old, thanks for asking).

As you can see, our neighbor is an artist. Or else our neighbor has ripped of an art studio and hidden the booty in plain sight.

Yet-to-be-Nicknamed Roommate and I had three requirements for our apartment: a balcony, a large kitchen, and a school-adjacent location. We got all three, and some gigantic grandma furniture in the process. There are, in fact, two large balconies with comfortable furniture items, a huge kitchen in which one could do the hustle were one so inclined, and the walk to school takes under ten minutes.

Well, it's under ten minutes when you walk at my pace. I'm not sure about midget speeds.

I've begun my winter session course which promises to be over before I realize it. The class is on the River Nile (this is the poetic way in which it's often addressed), its history, geology, irrigation-y, and various other fieldtrip-worthy topics. We had our first such field trip today, will have two more this week, and then this weekend we fly to Aswan in order to board a cruise ship bound for Luxor. Unless it goes in the other direction. Either way, it will be my first cruise and I'll be sure to bring along my buffet-eating pants.

Today my class visited the Nile barrages, which are long wallish things spanning the river. They have many doors in them so that the flow of the river can be interrupted or allowed to travel unimpeded, depending upon the requirements Now the barrages I visited mostly stand open since the Aswan High Dam ended millennia of summer floods in Egypt, but there are some huge barrages up river that still serve important agricultural purposes. I can't explain too well what those purposes are - something to do with the level of water in irrigation canals - but I assure you that they are essential. This is is still a largely agriculturally-based economy, and thanks to the blessed lack of winter, farmers can produce three or more crops a year on the same land.

The barrages we visited were built during the British occupation of Egypt, and as such have ostentatious Victorian architectural flourishes, like towers that may have served a military purpose. Today some are controlled by the military and pictures are forbidden, but I snapped shots of others that are free to the public - including some charming lads who clambered up the tower to show off for our group. We are 7 ladies (and one husband) after all.