I neglected to mention a couple of extraneous but delightful observations yesterday. When Erin and I were riding in the cab to Carrefour, we saw a pick-up truck carrying a perfectly smug-looking trio of camels. I've seen a dozen men packed into a pick up, I've seen just about every type of produce piled from the bottom of the bed of trucks to twice their height, but I've never seen dromedaries being spirited away from central Cairo. I'm not sure what they were up to or why they looked so non-plus about their journey, but Erin and I spent the rest of our own trek to the store guessing. Perhaps this means we have no lives. It's better than thinking about the economic crisis or swine flu or group work (the last is the far gravest threat, I'm convinced).
While shopping, we also spied a women wearing a niqab carrying around a toy sword in fron the Nike store and all through Carrefour. It was far funnier to see than it is to describe.
The taxi ride back was more like a carnival ride than a form of transport as there were no shocks and each tiny bump sent us flying into the beige cloth drooping down from the ceiling. Oh, Egypt.
Today I had an economics-heavy session of Migration and Development which wasn't the most rousing thing I've ever experienced. Cynthia, who's now entirely moved in, cat and all, and I joined Ross for dinner at the fatatri place on Tahrir for dinner. Fiteer was a cheap, delicious, and Egyptian dinner option, but not the least greasy. Ma3lesh. I can spend the summer munching on organic mixed greens in America...or tamiflu.
Speaking of swine flu (since everyone else is), Egypt seems to be just as alarmed at the prospect of a pandemic as other countries who have halted pork imports, issued travel advisories, etc. Some members of the lower house of the Egyptian parliament have called for the nation's 250 000 plus swine to be put to death immediately.
Other news:
A Saudi-based IGO pressures a controversial video game manufacturer to remove a combat game from its site that allowed players to pit religious figures such as Muhammad and Jesus against one another.
A brother of a Hamas spokesman was arrested on the Egyptian side of the border with Palestine today.
The European Union plans to strengthen ties with Egypt according to the Czech presidency.
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