One of Those Days
It started with James almost getting run over. Nothing new. Only the guy was just a little closer than usual, so close that the woman in the passenger seat smacked him.The bus to school was closer than usual to a truck hauling propane tanks.3 students out of 30 had their papers in hand. When I told them I was extending the deadline, they shrugged like, "Whatever, lady."Someone failed the Minister of Information's daughter. The Registrar's office called and told that person to change the grade.As I was walking to my 5:00 class, a group of students laughed at a small fire they had produced on some stairs. A

4 stops north of here
Yesterday, A & I took a day trip up to Coptic Cairo. It's just off the Metro's Mar Girgis stop--literally. I have taken the Metro north to Sadat station dozens of times, and each time I have seen the domed Church of St. George looming over the stop. First things first, though: here is a video of the Metro ride. Careful, my camera buzzes for no reason while taking videos in things that are moving.Coptic Cairo is its own little district, made clean just for tourists. It shows me that Egyptians can keep things Western-style clean when they feel like it, although it is also a protected district and spared the ravages of incessant foot traffic. I take some comfort in the familiar

Bizarro
1. Apparently, no one in Egypt may educate or be educated until at least Oct. 4 due to fears of the swine flu spreading, though I do not know if there have been any cases besides the one this summer brought by the American international student and quelled by quarantine. Rumor (a freakishly powerful thing in Egypt) has it that if one percent of the population gets it, schools could be shut down for the year. People are suggesting that the airport should be the thing that gets shut down. 2. The NY Times published an article today discussing the trash problems caused by the killing of all the Copts' pigs back in the spring (a response to the fear of swine flu)

Revivals
In one of my classes last week, we read Langston Hughes' "Salvation." It's a great piece for any class, but I like teaching it in Egypt because many of the students are unfamiliar with Christian revivals as we know them in the U.S., and sometimes they end up being a little creeped out by them in ways that U.S. Christians sometimes claim to be creeped out by the religious rituals of others. So I read the piece out loud, asking the students to first describe what had happened in the piece.Someone said it was about a revival, pointing to the word in the text."What's a revival?" I asked.Most of them shrugged.Then one student asked, "Is

Forgetting
It's a hot day. The curtains help block the heat of the white sun. The sky is blue, unusually blue, January-in-Egypt blue. We woke up this morning and talked about political rhetoric, about narrative truth, as we sipped coffee. We listened to the imam next door, first praising then shouting then dropping to a soft prostrating lull. We did this as we watched 24, second season. We talked about the way that season reflected an American attitude toward the Middle East at that time, one that has changed in significant ways. I finished reading Wise Blood. J left to run an errand, and I sat in front of the computer, intending to work on a short story I have been working on since 2000. I pr