Back in Business

Six weeks of winter vacation passed far too quickly. Highlights:

For Christmas Eve dinner, I wore newly-purchased three-inch heels but managed only to be the third tallest person at the party. Here I am with my aunt and uncle as we see who can bring his or her head closest to the door frame. Only I am cheating.



Three of my friends and one of my parents have birthdays in January, so I attended various festivities but was grevously denied cake.

GG tried to teach me pool at E's party. I won't be dropping out of school to make my living as a pool shark just yet.



I attended CSF's party at a pub quiz night, and we also took a day trip down to Monterey and Carmel to see NG and various sea creatures.

Those two events may not have occured in the order I just presented them.


I took advantage of the unseasonable warmth and sunshine to go paddle-boating on Lake Merritt.



The rest of my break was spent either eating all the vegan delights Berkeley has to offer, napping, reading or watching TV. New episodes without the sexy scenes edited out! Oh the joys of America!

And then: I left home, again.

I arrived in Cairo yesterday afternoon for my final semester at AUC, and only now that I am getting ready to leave does it finally feel like I am really home here. The flights were easy (both planes arrived early), I already had a visa (the lady behind me in line seemed to have never before heard of a "visa") and I was even picked up at the airport Number 6 and M! It felt great to tell the myriad cab drivers that I had a ride already arranged. One guy even offered me the use of his phone to call someone, so I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket to demonstrate conclusively that I am not a tourist.

Classes start in the next couple days, but I have only one to worry about. Rather than a packed schedule, my mind is crowded by The Terrifying Thesis Monster. But I will not obsess about that right now, instead I will offer the view from the window of my new apartment (my fourth in Cairo).

Space agey!

Here are two collages I made to cover ugly pictures in the old apartment - Number 6 and SLW peeled them from their previous frames and moved them for me.