Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Umm id-dunya - the mother of the world My goodness me, it has been the best part of a month since I last did one of these. I therefore have a lot to say, so go and make yourselves a nice cup of tea (or coffee if you prefer, we drink both in Cairo) and bring two biscuits (or a banana) to keep you fuelled for the ride. 22 February - the bomb in Khan El-Khalili. I'm sure most of you are awar...

Al-Qahira ... in sha'allah ... Another week jam-packed full of not very much, in which I have had a whale of a time. Last Sunday, my landlord Bishoy drove Danielle and I up to City Stars, which is in Nasr City. Or maybe Heliopolis, I can't remember. It is the most enormous shopping mall I have ever imagined, let alone seen. We were there all afternoon, and probably saw less than a quarter of it. My aim for the trip: to buy a nice pair of jeans. Outcome: no jean...

Masr, where people get naked in public Last weekend, Julian and I decided to go to Coptic Cairo. I assumed we would take the metro, so I walked the 15 minute walk to his flat to pick him up, and off we went. But Julian had other ideas, which involved walking all the way. He promised it would only take abpout 40 minutes - over an hour later, we still hadn't got there, my water supply was running out, I was getting hungry, and my feet were beginning to hurt as a r...

Cairo, where the world is very small. I moved into my flat on Saturday. My flatmates are Danielle (a nurse, 27, from Montana) and Jab (a student, 25 or so, from Paris). They both study at Kalimat, like me. The first coincidence was that Jab and I ended up in the same foosha class. (Foosha is Arabic for Standard Arabic. Aamiyya is Arabic for Egyptian Arabic). I then discovered that he spent the whole of last year doing an MA in Durham. Weird. We all get along ver...

Egypt, where no one speaks the language I have spent two years learning... Very little to report so far. I arrived at Cairo International Airport at about 4pm local time (having flown low over the Alps, which was rather exciting), and obtained my visa. This in itself was rather comic in comparison to the Russian visa system - I walked up to a little window with a little man behind it, handed over 85EGP (about £8.50 or £9) and he gave me a little piece of paper...