at gallery opening in A’dam

For Dina Danish, who I guess was never my student in Cairo but is from the same generation as my second batch of Cairo students.

Very small world. Just met a guy here who happens to know a very close friend of mine in the Gulf.

Will see Chomsky lecture on something tomorrow in the Westerkerk. One of my ex-UvA students got me the ticket but I forgot to ask the topic. I saw Chomsky speak once in Chicago years ago. Very fiery, of course, and smart as hell.

Trip extended by one day by KLM. They do not want to land in Cairo in the middle of the night during the curfew. Smar decision, I did not look forward to waiting out the curfew for four or five hours in the Cairo Airport.

Anyway, fun to see Dina’s opening. She did a very good portrait of me as a student project. Still hangs in my dining room. [ADDENDUM: In case Dina reads this, I just remembered it wasn’t really a student project. My mistake. I did actually commission it, and it turned out great. Later, it miraculously survived a flood in my place in El Rehab City.]