Carl in Cairo

I have nothing particularly eventful to report. My new landlord passed by this morning nearly two hours before he was meant to arrive. Aside from the fact that his English and my Arabic were both too limited to discuss amending the contract and the fact that his idea of fixing our broken front door involved a piece of cardboard ripped off a nearby box of empty water bottles, things went smoothly enough. I emailed his niece to see about ending my contract early and about possibly renting the place again in the fall. We'll see.
The rest of the day was pretty quotidian–hanging out with my classmates on the Greek Campus, enduring Migration and Development, and heading to Zamalek for dinner afterward. I did some more grocery shopping accompanied by my French friend Antoine (my French is improving far more than my Arabic these days) with whom I later walked all the way back downtown. Now Cynthia and I are hanging out in my living room chatting about Egypt and our studies and what our aspirations were in college for the future compared to what they are now.
Tomorrow night, we'll be attending a seminar given by Barbara Harrell-Bond who's something of an icon in the department she helped to set up. After reading many of her articles and one of her books, it'll be interesting to hear what she has to say and to put a name with a face.

News:
Amnesty: Iraq set to execute nearly 130 people charged after proceedings unlikely to have met international standards
A century of restrictions on the press in Egypt
Egyptian comic book author, publisher on trial for infringing on public decency