Mexican in Ma'adi

I keep forgetting to mention it, but somehow the weather in Egypt has subtly shifted to something distinctly southern Californian and it's magnificent. I hear that much of winter is like this-70s and perfect. All of those days where I felt as though sunstroke were imminent now seem worth it. (Ask me again next spring though and I may have a different tune.)
Anyway, yesterday for lunch, my two comrades from the previous night's excellent Thai meal, joined me for Mexican at one of the scant few American restaurants in all of Cairo. Lucille's, complete with offerings of mozzarella sticks, burgers, fajitas, and all-day breakfast on weekends is an oasis of Middle America. I had vegetarian enchiladas that were quite convincing and delicious. Though I'm normally not a fan of country music, it was being piped into the restaurant and I waxed a bit nostalgic.
After lunch, Phil returned home to get school work done, and Amanda and I explored Ma'adi, itself the most Americanized bit of Cairo. After munching British chocolate biscuits and talking about life, we headed back to the metro where Amanda boarded one of the women's cars, the need for which is a disturbing testament to, among others things, the intensity of sexual harassment in Egypt. I hopped in a "normal" car and we headed back downtown, our train inexplicably stopping along the way necessitating our switching to another car. Thankfully a veritable gaggle of giggling girls from Amanda's car helped us to know that we were meant to switch.
Once back in town, I headed to meet with one of my professors to discuss my paper topic for her class. The meeting went really well and I realized both that succeeding is more clear-cut than I'd anticipated, but also a heck of a lot of work. There's much research to do to determine whether one of my paper topics is even viable.
Later on, I attended a seminar on pandemic preparedness among the Sudanese migrant communities in Cairo, and then headed to Horraya with the speakers and various groups of other friends and acquaintances. I spent the next few hours table-hopping and chatting. With Phil, I entered into a conversation with a few Egyptian men who had lived abroad and were comparing life there with life in Egypt. One of them, like me, wanted to return to Paris where he'd spent some time. He also seemed to have had a wife from every EU country, being divorced from each and currently married to a Swiss woman.
Today, I'm preparing for class and reading up on "the culture of humanitarianism". Again, I'm thinking of remaining for a second year and getting my Master's. Fickle, right?

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