How Can It Be Friday Already?

I hadn't realized how many days had passed since my last blog. I guess I had been emailing and chatting and Skypeing all of my news but to only a few people. Tuesday, I went to the Fulbright office to turn in my ugggglllly passport photo. I had a conversation with Hend in the office there and she said all of those photos are bad and her driver's license is awful. What is your idea about this? My sister Loretta says she looks like the undead or a zombie which are actually the same thing I suppose. I think it's because they shoot against a start wall with overly bright lights. The camera is set up on a tripod just below a person's face so it shows all the shadows and lines and starkness and double chins even if yours isn't bad. Kind of like trying on bathing suits in front of a dressing room mirror that is brightly lit with fluorescent lights, which, if you don't know, shows all every inch of cellulite! My method for taking more flattering pictures is to have the camera pointed down from above - stand up on a chair if you have to. I learned this trick from a photographer journalist when I was interviewed in 2003 for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Oh well, it cost less than $2 for four. They told me at the office that it couldn't be a digital print but that's exactly what the Kodak store on 26 July Street did. I could have just as easily stood in front of my own white wall here.

I gave them my passport because Yousri was going to the Mugamma to get our resident visas - you need one of these in case you stay over 30 days. My metered taxi driver this time spoke not a lick of English. No one has heard of Amer Street. I made him ask as he drive all over the place but still it cost 11 LE (which I'm going to be using instead of EGP - L is the symbol for pound as in British pounds). My taxi driver on the way back cost me only 6 LE. Go figure. Passing from one zone to the other seems to be the problem in terms of knowing streets. Of course, my lack of Arabic fluency is also problematic.

After that, I went to Egypt Craft Center to ask for May but she no longer worked there. It was Nadia, I was informed who could help me tomorrow morning around 9 am. I thought well, I'll get in a good walk to the Alpha Market for you guessed it, more water. I had my backpack, the one Fulbright gave me which was handy for three bottles but it weighed a lot. Home then, and watched a bunch of movies while working on various things.

Wednesday morning - I actually woke up at 7:30 am, the time I had told myself to wake up and got there a little early. Nadia was wonderful, she had met me last year. Nadia is from Upper Egypt which as you might know is southern Egypt. She had a baby last year which I congratulated her for, a boy. Anyway, since May el Sadek moved on, Nadia now is associate manager. Between the two of us, I got my list more updated. Sometimes there aren't phone numbers or even streets. In the Fayum, for example, I go to the village of Tunis and ask for Abd Sattar. Everyone knows him.

After this, I saw an electronics store and wanted to get a converter for my mini laptop Dell which it turns out, one doesn't need because laptops are made in dual voltage. I did get the pieces to change the flat prongs of the U.S. to the round pins. Then it was home again. and I called Shayma to see how she was. She asked to come over the next day so she could call the Embassy for her visa appointment. It is scheduled for Tuesday the 15th. She wants to make it for three months so that she can visit a friend in New York and a friend in Canada. I looked up Canadian requirements for her, and she does need a visa to visit Montreal or anywhere in Canada.

Shayma is helping me with some essential Arabic phrases like please, right, left, here, thank you. We had a nice time visiting. Wednesday night, I stayed up really late past 1 am and didn't get up until noon. Then it takes me so long to get moving that by the time I looked up the bank's hours, it had closed. During Ramadan, banks have shorter hours and are totally closed on Fridays. I will have to wait until Saturday, tomorrow, to get my ATM card for my Egyptian account at HSBC.

Tonight, Shayma is coming over so we can go for a walk in the area. She's spending the night so that she can help me call Wissa Wassef in the morning, I am feeling a bit deprived from seeing art and doing my project. That would be a good start. I found that one of my workshops run by a mother and daughter who make candles are no longer part of FTE. I promise to be better about blogging. Just a few new photos to post.