new york, i love you, but you're bringing me down.

one great part of my indefinite-amount-of-time-off-traveling-the-world agenda, is the break that i have at home this month. i came home to attend a college friend's wedding in rhode island. that in itself was both a reunion and a destination, as we made a weekend out of discovering newport while we reconnected and caught ourselves up.

i am home for a total of 15 days and then head to peru for 15 days. when i return, i have a day to rest, and then i'm back on a plane headed to cairo via a 5-day tour in europe to see more friends, and new babies. so these 2 weeks at home have afforded me the very important opportunity to see my parents, my cats, and close friends before i return to indulge in my new, temporary?, 6-month life in cairo. (or maybe longer, tbd).

i can say that without a doubt, it has been wonderful to see all my friends, and to be back in nyc/nj during my absolute favorite time of year. the fall has a crispness to it that i look forward to ever year, along with apple picking, scarves, jackets, and all fun things associated with it. today the weather in cairo is a crisp 90 degrees. not so autumnal. i will need to adjust to the non-seasons seasons there.

since i've come home, i've spent a lot of time dividing my clothes into 3 piles: laundry, peru, and egypt. i get to restock my suitcases with "winter" clothes. although i don't believe cairo even has a winter. i think that my nyc fall will be cairo's winter, maybe. but at least i get to bring fresh new clothing options like boots and cardigans, since the reality is that soon it will start cooling down, and i will need them over the next 6 months. (i mean, i'll be there for 6 months. i'm very excited and anxious about bringing back 6 months worth of clothes and accessories, but i'm really not sure how much i'll need. like, do i need all 3 pairs of tall boots, or should i leave out the platforms? but what if i really want to wear them out one night with my black striped dress? and what if it does get cold enough to need tall boots? but do i want to be lugging around 2 huge, heavy bags through london and paris?) see...

i haven't been gone long enough to say that i missed home and needed to come back, but there hasn't been a day that's passed during these last 2 weeks, where i haven't missed cairo oh.so.much. i miss everything about it. i miss my family, my friends, the (lack of) air quality, and especially that feeling of excitement; of newness; of opportunity. being back in nyc so soon after escaping only reaffirms my decision to leave. nyc was a let down, and being back is bringing me down from the cairo-high that i've been on for the last 6 weeks. most of my friends have commented that i haven't looked happier, or that i am glowing in my pictures there. that's the sabeel i'm looking for. that's the point of this year. she got lost about 5 years ago, and i'm determined to find her here to stay.

since i've been back, i've felt like i need to leave again, and as soon as possible. it's too soon to be back. and i have nothing to gain from being here, besides the quality time with friends and family. it's not like i had a breakdown, meltdown or freak-out when i left, but i was just at the point where i couldn't stand to be where i was, doing what i was doing anymore. and having the time away in a completely different, but comfortable, setting has allowed me to relax back into myself. believe it or not, but being home right now has put me out of my comfort zone. that needs to eventually be fixed; or the location of home needs to be re-assessed.

in the meantime, i need to get the fuck out of new york. thanks for all the fun times though!

living the dream

last night, i felt like i was indulging in a dream. i was invited for drinks with my american girl friend and her friends.

we met at a place called the greek club, in the middle of downtown cairo. it sits right above the infamous, groppi's cafe, in an old and beautiful building, with one of those old and beautiful, all-metal, see-through elevators sitting in the lobby. as you ascend the stairs to the first-floor restaurant and walk through to the roof terrace, you could actually forget that you're in cairo for a minute, and imagine you'd been transported to paris. cairo was once considered the paris of the middle east, and many of the architects who designed and built the buildings in downtown cairo were imported from france. ignoring the fact that the buildings have been poorly (or not) maintained over the decades, and are laminated in a thick film of dust, dirt and pollution, you can still appreciate their beauty and imagine how glamorous cairo may have once been.

the waiter greeted us kindly with a light-hearted sense of humor, and happily served us a bottle of South African wine (pretty pricey by Egyptian standards). it is a strange but true assumption that seemingly any place that serves alcohol will attract expats and eccentric, educated egyptians. it's an environment where ideas are exchanged, politics are discussed, and plans are made, all the while unwinding with the help of your beverage of choice.

looking around at all the patrons, it was like living all the scenes that i'd enviously read about, of others who were living abroad frequenting cafes and bars, and socializing with expats and locals. it was incredible! i know it sounds corny, but i felt so lucky to be there. there were so many journalists who had transported themselves for the sake of their work. so many interesting people living in this city, writing for all the newspapers you've ever heard of. i really got a rush out of it; out of having this new kind of experience. i always dreamed of being an expat! i always dreamed of living somewhere new and meeting all different kinds of people and making new friends. i dreamt of sitting with friends discussing politics, current events, and telling jokes... and there i was living this dream!

just one month ago, i was sitting at a desk, miserably drowning my life away in boredom.

i can't believe how much more i have to look forward to.

it's settled then.

i head home next week, and after spending over one month here in egypt, i have decided that it's where i will return for my 6 month span starting late october.

i've come to discover a completely new version of cairo that i never before knew existed. i cannot attribute any of these discoveries to the recent revolution here in egypt, given that i have no real-life experiences to compare to, both pre and post revolution. and plus, i'm told that the revolution didn't really change egypt all that much. it has removed the fear from the people to speak out and voice their opinions on the government, and it has also given the people the feeling that they matter; that they have an effect on their country. but the difference that i feel is the ability to manage here long term, and the intense curiosity and desire i have to explore the city.

i've started to make some friends here. one is an american (girl) journalist from seattle, who was introduced through another friend via facebook. she's gorgeous, smart, my age, and not only do we have a lot in common, but i really admire her drive and crazy desire to live in this crazy city. we meet in cafes and stare at the other expats, scheming up ways to go introduce ourselves to make new friends. it's awkward to approach someone in a cafe just because they are speaking your language... but we'll work on it. our favorite topic of discussion is understanding the cairo dating scene. how to behave; what to do; what not to do; etc.

just last weekend, we sat in my favorite cafe, left bank, in my favorite neighborhood, zamalek, with my cousin and her friends, asking them for advice about dating and living in cairo. the dating subject deserves an entire blog entry of its own, so i won't even get into it. but none of the highly-educated, english speaking, upper-crust egyptian friends could understand why career women like us would want to come and live in a city like cairo. sure, we come from great american cities, but we both had the same lack of response. we just like it here. it's new, it's different. it will be a whole new challenge. all that, and a shrug of the shoulders.

i've been spending a lot of time discovering my 2 new favorite neighborhoods: zamalek and maadi, while overloading on caffeine. scattered with trees, greenery, and beautiful villas and embassies, these neighborhoods have always been home to many expats. all the local cafes and restaurants have plenty of english-speaking patrons to make an expat feel at home. in addition to spending quality time with my family, i've spent 4 weeks frequenting these cafes, starting my book, updating my blogs, creating a cairo blog, and drinking several glasses of fresh juice and iced coffee. instead of having my own schedule to maintain, i've memorized the schedules of my cousins while i wake up late and contemplate how to leisurely spend the day. unemployment has been a really good look for me. but truth be told, i have been thinking about working. i need to find something.

happily, my arabic reading skills have improved tremendously and will continue to do so when i enroll in courses upon my return this fall. and i think i will look into teaching english part time to earn some sort of income in order to sustain my cafe-attending, wifi bumming, iced coffee drinking, habits. i really can't wait to come back and spend a lot of time here. i feel so much optimism that this will be best year of my life!

oh and by the way, maged, my 17 year old cousin, is za sexiest man in all za cairo, and all za girls should come and kiss him. just fyi.

the cairo metro

i've written a few bitter blog entries about how horrible cairo traffic is, and how badly there needs to be a public transportation system... well granted, it does need a major overhaul because the public buses are disgraceful, and the traffic is still unbareable at almost all times of the day.

i asked around to see if any of my relatives ever took public transportation, specifically the metro, to get around cairo. the answer is a unanimous, overwhelming, no. they say it's too crowded, it's filthy, it's slow, but i was still determined to check it out.

i will admit, i never even knew that cairo had a metro before this year! whenever i saw those signs with the large, red "M" in a circle, i honestly thought it was an advertisment for mo'men, a local sandwich chain. once i returned with my miraculous ability to read, i read the arabic "metro" above the M. oops. but lo and behold, there is actually a pretty expansive system, which is planned to expand out further to the airport, which would be great.

we entered the station at Tahrir Square and rode it one stop away to the Cairo Opera House. it was cleaner than the nyc subway system, it was fast, it was dirt cheap at only 1 LE (12 cents!), there are 2 cars exclusively for women, AND the stations are air conditioned!! we ignored the stares from the locals and rode anyway.

i loved it so much! it even heads out to maadi which is not only far from the center of town (30 min), but the way there is always in a traffic jam, and the cost of a taxi is pricey each way (30 LE, $5). i can't wait to take the metro out there to spend the day wandering around 9th street!

my family is crazy to avoid it!