Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Today is the 6th of October, a date on which Egyptians commemorate the launching of the October War (also called the Yom Kippur War) against Israel. The war ended with an agreement to return control of the Suez Canal to Egypt with the concession that Israeli ships be allowed to use it. Egyptians tend to view it as a marvelous victory over Israel; I'll refrain from sharing my own opinion. 6th of October Bridge and 6th of October City as well as 10th of Ramadan City (the date on the Islamic calendar of beginning of the military operation) all remind Egyptians of the events of 1973, as does the October War Panorama, described here by another blogger.

For me, today hasn't included retaking any canals. I ate some Turkish cereal while watching Al-Jazeera, turned on the bathroom sink only to have it shudder and violently expel a flood of light brown water (at least I think it was water), and killed a mosquito who apparently survived a night of eucalyptus-scented Allethrin-D poison. The ants, not content to be outdone by the mosquitoes were out in force in the bathroom today. A little bit of Kirox crawling insect spray and the garbage can became ant graveyard. I know, you're all jealous of my glamorous lifestyle.

My supply of sun-dried Turkish apricots (that I could swear have chocolatey undertones) is running out and I'd love nothing more to return, enjoy the fresh air, and buy some more. But apparently, leaving Turkey when I did was a wise idea. Opposition to the IMF has filled the streets of Istanbul (including Taksim Square and environs where we were leisurely dinnering last week) with protesters opposition to whom has filled the streets with riot police.

Tomorrow I start at the Writing Center. To that end, I need to read the tutors' manual. But before that, the news:

Egypt
Turkey
Israel/Palestine

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