Eid al-Adha

Instead of being surrounded by the carcasses of sacrificed animals and swimming through blood in the streets, I emerged from my apartment to find that the weather was about the most gorgeous it's been since I've been here and that many Cairenes were on vacation, leaving the city rather empty. They sky was actually blue with white puffy clouds with very little of the haze that comes with pollution. I managed to buy my train tickets and do some more cleaning in addition to corresponding with a professor about one of my papers before meeting Marise and her friend Jenn to drive to the airport where we ended up at the wrong terminal (EgyptAir listed the arrival information incorrectly; no surprise there). We finally figured out where to go and found Brian and had a fantastic evening altogether. Brian's my college friend from Pekin who's studying at Cambridge on the Davies-Jackson Scholarship. Ross joined us for a while when we went to get juice and to kill time at Horayya. I had sobia for the first time at the juice place. Though it was quite popular during Ramadan, I hadn't tried any until now and it was delicious. Phil met up with us at Horayya and we all briefly returned to my apartment and then onto Abu al-Sid in Zamalek sans Ross who was tuckered out. It was fun introducing Brian to Egyptian food--ful, ta3mayya, bassara, om ali, sugar cane juice, and sobia. The girls dropped us back off at Tahrir Square and Phil headed for Ma'adi while Brian and I walked Qasr al-Nil Bridge. He got a small taste of the obnoxious "helloooo"s and "what's your name"s and "welcome to Egypt"s and "where from"s that greet me whenever I go out. He told one guy in Spanish that he didn't speak English which is my approach but with French sometimes. It was generally a lot of fun to sort of see Egypt through the eyes of someone who's never been before. That and the weather and the general vibe of the day made it feel unlike any other and, despite the fact I didn't get much of either of my remaining papers done, I am thankful for it. I better do a bit of research and then head for bed. We've got a busy couple of days coming up.