Eventually I will have a normal week

First week back from Swine Flu Break has been a crazy one. The semester has been extended by four days for ALI students, but our exam schedule will stay the same. So we'll finish our exams, and still have almost a week of class left. The other three days we missed have to be made up, meaning Saturday classes and/or extended hours. There's a lot of work to be done in order to stay on track, but I'm grateful to actually be starting classes now.

There was a holiday this Tuesday for Armed Forces Day, so of course I got myself into all kinds of adventures. On Monday night I went to a wedding party with Sherif near his town, about two hours from Cairo. It was lots of fun, and went from 11-3am or so. There was a lot of dancing, mostly split into two groups: the men and the women. In more conservative families, men and women celebrate in different rooms, or on separate sides of a barrier. I was the only American at the party, as well as the only girl in a big group of guys, so I got a lot of stares. And Sherif's friends are so much fun! Nearly all of them are named Ahmed. One of the Ahmeds made a joke, saying, "We didn't have enough money to buy names for each of us, so we just bought one and shared it!"
At one point in the night, we went to a different wedding party, where Sherif's sister and her husband's family was. She wasn't expecting to see us, and the look on her face when she was trying to think of how much English she knew was priceless. That night, I stayed at Sherif's family's house, where I got to hold his 4 month old niece, Habiba (which roughly translates to "sweetheart" in English). I wore his sister's pajamas, which were bright orange with stripes and said "Princess" on them. Hi-larious. His mom was great, and frequently offered me cookies, tea, sandwiches, fruit, and anything else I needed/wanted. The best part was when she tucked me into bed under the mosquito net. The net was absolutely necessary. My feet and arms are completely covered in bites from the hour or so I was sitting in the living room before going to bed.

The next day we all slept in late, having not gone to sleep until 4am. Sherif and I caught a bus back into Cairo, where we met Ahmed the Chessmaster and some of his chess friends from the UAE at T.G.I.Fridays. Once again, I was the only American and the only girl. This is not a dynamic that I mind in the slightest. Everyone I've met has been really nice and been making concerted efforts to speak as much English as possible. I, in turn, use my sparse Arabic when I can. I'm getting better at picking up the gist of conversation, even if I don't understand specifics or am unable to take part in Arabic. Anyway, we watched the soccer game against Costa Rica (we lost, 2-0) and smoked shisha (of course). Smoking shisha at T.G.I.Fridays absolutely delighted me. Particularly because it was basically on a boat on the Nile. That will probably be the best Fridays I will ever go to in my life.

After dinner, we went to Ahmed's apartment to hang out. In order to get in, I had to be dressed up like a boy (not difficult for me) and snuck in. While there are many exceptions and some degree of flexibility, gender segregation is still a prominent part of the culture. So Sherif brought me a big jacket and a hat, and I took out my earrings and didn't smile or say anything on the way to Ahmed's apartment. My nose ring closed up as a result of taking it out for too long, but I'm not too upset over it. I think it's hilarious that in 24 hours I went from wearing princess pajamas to sneaking around in full drag.

I finally got home at 5am Wednesday morning to find that I had no electricity in my room. My computer was dead, as well as my phone because of the two days without charging it. So I had no way of setting an alarm for class. I was actually ok with this. I didn't really want to wake up in 3 hours anyway. So I slept through class, which turned out to be fine. My teachers just want me to write a page or so in Arabic about the wedding party I went to. I got the electricity fixed in my room, but now the internet isn't working on my computer. Sad face. Dana is being awesome enough to let me use her computer until I get mine fixed.

Otherwise, weekend has been pretty awesome. Found a bar that had beer for 8 LE (about $1.50) on Thursday. Last night Dana and I met up with Sherif and Ahmed and some of their friends at a cafe. Then Dana, Sherif, Ahmed's little brother and I went out dancing. It was supposedly a salsa dance club, but they played mostly techno music. It was a little expensive, but a lot of fun. Today, Dana is taking her international service exam thing, and then we're meeting up with Sherif downtown to watch the soccer game somewhere. Studying will have to happen at some point, but I really like getting the most out of my weekends.