Dinner at Aubergine in Zamalek

I joined Dominique and her Arab class buddies at Aubergine where I ate a couple of times last year. It is right in Zamalek and boasts a menu of primarily vegetarian dishes. Everything looked good. Carnivore that I am, I had one of two well done hamburgers. Sometimes, you just miss good old American style food. I'll be good tomorrow. Sitting next to me was a petite French nurse who works all over France and decided to learn Arabic in a five week course before traveling to Luxor. She likes the variety of work and places and as a nurse, it is a great opportunity. Brianna was there as well, a Fulbright student who I think I have mentioned before. She is an anthropology student studying migration and refugees. One of the best conversations with a man from Montreal, Canada who is Persian and loves film. We talked about Turtles Can Fly which I had shown my students and he wrote down a number of other films he thought I might like. He is a writer and will be staying in Egypt for a full year, he came in July. I told him that I was writing a book as well. There were probably a dozen different people from all nations who had come to Egypt to learn Arabic for various reasons. Christoffe, German, I believe unless he is Swiss, said that he likes to be in a place and learn the language and the customs. After his Arabic classes, he will travel to Syria and Jordan and may return to Egypt. Europeans really know how to travel. I don't know how they can leave their jobs but like the nurse, she has a built in ability to work and travel wherever she pleases. And of course, in Europe it is standard to be paid for at least six weeks per year regardless of whether you have worked at a company for one year or longer. Not the miserly two weeks that Americans give after a whole year of working. My brother Tom, was afraid to even take off a couple of days from his new job of six months to come for a long weekend to visit me in Media. No wonder Americans are full of stress and neuroses. Not enough time off to see other cultures. Of course, in Europe countries are smaller and closer together but still, Australians are far from anywhere and they travel like the French and Dutch too.