Carl in Cairo

I was uploading some more photos of the past two semesters in Egypt and waxing nostalgic. Despite my misgivings about my upcoming flight on EgyptAir, maneuvering my baggage, and jumping back into the less-than-low stress world of haggling with cab drivers as soon as I land, I am hopeful that once I get back and get settled in, this will be my best semester of all.
I have heard that the diabolical cat who joined us late last semester has relocated to a more loving home. Al-hamdulilleh! I also heard that our water stopped working again. At that, I winced and looked around at my relatively glamorous accomodations here in the US. What was I nostalgic about again? No, really. I miss my friends and even more, I'm tantalized by the opportunity to try again--to engage the culture more. It'll be worth dealing with AUC bureaucracy and the Egyptian bureaucracy and worth all the stressors big and small. (All? Really? ... Yes. )

Anyway, as I prepare myself to head out into my soft transition (a week in New York and a week and a half in Europe) to Cairo, President Mubarak is preparing to visit my lovely country. Meanwhile, former President Sadat (assassinated in 1981) is making news as his family expresses outrage over an American film in which one of the characters names his dog after the deceased president. I think she'd have trouble living in the States where our dead presidents are subject to much worse.

And I'll leave you with this WSJ article by Fouad Ajami about the state of the Arab world. Very interesting.