Day Two in Cairo

Me in Cairo on Skype with my mother, holding up my half-inflated soccer ball

Tuesday 6/3/08

There’s a lizard in my room. On my ceiling, to be exact. I think it crawled in while I was hanging up my laundry . . . all I know is that I came back from the balcony and a fleshy three-inch piece of wiggle was scurrying around my light fixtures. After attempting to scare it by smacking the ceiling with a roll of garbage bags (the largest thing I could find in the house to extend my somewhat lacking wingspan) I think it realized the truth of the old adage “don’t worry honey, it’s more scared of you than you are of it”. So we are having a stand-off right now, the lizard and I. Although he seems fairly content up there by the water stains, I have plenty to write about. Let the sit-in begin!

So, Cairo. Wow! That’s really all I can say in one word (and yes, that exclamation is both positive and pejorative) (the Lizard has moved to the wall!) (Oh darn! In typing my observations I have lost sight of the lizard! No wait, he’s just peaking out from behind a corner . . . I’m on to him). When we landed yesterday in the Cairo airport, I noticed an elephant graveyard of broken planes sitting off to one side of the landing strip. Prominently featured among them was a dusty and decapitated “Midwest” plane – foreshadowing? Metaphor? Laughable? I shrug my shoulders with a non-committal lack of judgment.

As we drove from the airport to my apartment, I took in the familiar sights and smells of the Middle East: the smell of hot dusty heat, the light fruity scent of hookah wafting as you pass by the street side café, a flurry of cars and people all moving in opposing directions on the same small patch of road. New to me, however, are the brighter colors of women’s clothing here, the zest of spicy tomato paste found in the street food koshary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koshary) (my apologies in advance to the professors of Middlebury’s history department for my citation of Wikipedia), and the gutteral “ga” consonant of Egyptian colloquial which has replaced the that lovely Levantine “zja” I so adored. As we walk around the streets I admit to feeling the slightest bit of intimidation, possibly brought on by jet lag. Coming to Egypt from Syria is a bit like coming to New York City from, well, Iowa City. SO MANY PEOPLE! SO MANY NEW SIGHTS TO TAKE IN! SO MUCH ALL THE TIME! As we drove across the al-Gamia bridge last night to buy fans however, a smooth breeze blew across my face. I looked out the taxicab window to see throngs of content people taking advantage of the night’s coolness. Walking, smiling, enjoying the city. As if somehow reassured by this glimpse of humanity that was always around me, I leaned back against the vinyl seat and thought to myself, “Okay Lizz, we can make this happen . . .”

Note: the lizard won. It crawled under a dresser when I wasn’t looking and hasn’t been seen since.

Word of the day: (Dabb) ضبّ Lizard