watching you watching me, cairo

the city is shrouded by a thick haze. i am learning much about Islam. people spray huge clouds of ddt in the open. sniffer dogs are used at the entrance of the intercontinental hotel. i am not staying at the intercontinental hotel. closing my ears and eyes to certain sounds and images have invited a new cacophony of senses. 40 degrees in dry heat is bearable. it’s time to start respecting me, please. i think what i have to say is important. i believe in what i do. i finally bought my brass lamp, and i’m happy with it. i had odd dreams last night after going on a dinner boat cruise on the nile. i want to share my life with people i love. could i spend my life watching people? i have to believe in myself. i do believe in what i do. is that the same? i’m going to luxor tomorrow. the world is vast, but time and time again it becomes more impossible to deny how connected everything is. history is made manifest. everything here is tan colored. i got the donkey noises two nights ago. i met some people from singapore at the university today. i’m not that scared anymore, just tired. look at me. this is the life i have been granted. thank you.

watching aljazeera in a cario hotel room

highlight of the trip so far: watching two boys hug their mom at arrivals in the cairo airport in complete jubilation.

lowlight: sitting for three and a half hours in a stationary, non-functional plane at heathrow. and bmi’s airplane food.

quirk: me sitting in between two huge people from toronto to london, and them pointing out that fact to me.

coincidence?: me sitting next to two people from china on the london to cairo flight.

weather: hot. dusty, hazy, and hot.

body: weird bug bite on arm.

desire: to know Arabic. and to be in bangkok.

thinking: I can’t stop thinking about everyone. I miss the people in my life. But then, I guess the point is that we’re never really apart.

music: my endless love (playing in the background), mixed with a british woman getting mad at the embassy, and a cellphone ringtone.

interesting fact: ceres juice is the same price here as in dar es salaam. another similarity: prayers starting at 4:10am in the morning.

also thinking: what am i doing in the middle east? and also, this place doesn’t feel so foreign. i will try to write more after I’ve gotten some sleep, perhaps. i hope everyone is okay back home (home being everywhere around the world).