aren’t you proud?

Aren’t you proud that I made a post called “back” without lapsing into “I’m baaaaaaaaaack,” that most virulent Hollywood cliché of the 1980’s?

returning to the fold

Despite having made no new posts at all on the 23rd, it will set a new readership high for the new incarnation of this blog. I’m guessing that means that people are starting to find the new address. As of yesterday I was only back to 40% of the previous readership; my own fault, for changing the address so abruptly.

back

Lame post day… no new ones on March 23?

It was a busy teaching day. Then I was under immense social pressure to attend the farewell party for D, who was married about a year ago and is now leaving with her husband for 3-6 years in Dubai. In retrospect I’m glad for the pressure, because it was the best Cairo house party I ever attended. D is the friendliest and generally most upbeat and outgoing student I ever had in Cairo, and her jam-packed party in Heliopolis was filled with my favorite era of Cairo students– the 2002-03 group. So fantastic to see them all again, now all grown up, in the 26-27 age range, and hear their news. It also reminded me of how especially exciting those early years in Egypt were.

Oh yeah, another plus… D’s golden retriever was wandering amidst the 100 or so guests wagging his tail all night long. I love dogs, but they are relatively uncommon in Egypt due to the lack of grass to play on here. Plenty of cats here, of course, and I believe pet cats even began in Egypt.

Only downside… accidentally bit into a roast beef hors d’oeuvre, thinking it was some sort of cake-like thing (that’s how it was presented). Didn’t taste right to me. One of my ex-students confirmed my suspicion, before I swallowed (thank God), that it was beef. Went into the bathroom and vomited. Not enough to spoil a good party, but I’ve not voluntarily eaten a piece of meat since 1975 or 1976, and it’s seriously disgusting to me to eat the flesh of sentient creatures. (Not an unprecedented accident, even if a rare one… It happens once every 7 or 8 years, on average.)