Survived the Weekend

So I had a pretty fun weekend. It started on Thursday night (as the weekends in Egypt are Friday and Saturday). I survived my first sandstorm on Thursday night. It was SOOOOO bad. I was trying to catch the bus at 7:15 to go meet friends downtown and the storm started about 7:10. It was just a blinding wall of sand that blew right at you. My nose, mouth and ears seemed full of sand. I was blowing sand out of my nose and cleaning sand from my ears still the next afternoon. It was funny because it FELT just like a storm in the States. The sky got dark and you could see "clouds" rolling in and it started to be a little windy. I SWEAR I thought it was going to start pouring. This of course is silly b/c it rains in Cairo maybe once a year. But suddenly it was just SAND everywhere. While in the bus the lights reflected off the sand like fog or heavy rain and it really decreased visibility. Once we got into Tahrir (downtown Cairo) it was better, but still windy and it was still kicking up sand. When I got back to campus later the next morning the place was a WRECK. Signs and trash cans, patio tables and umbrellas, chairs and trash just blown all over the place. This campus is FILLED with water fountains and they were just completely clogged with leaves and sand.

But I had a lot of fun this weekend. Tonight was a felluca ride (my third or fourth so far) for the Law Students Association. A felluca is like a sailboat that you ride on the Nile. They aren't particularly fun after your first one, its really the company and fun you have with friends that make them worth it.

I met some new friends Thursday night too. I'm glad I'm a social person or I would hate living here... but I don't cause I meet people like every week. I found out some GREAT information about Gaza too. I met a girl who has been a few times. I want to do my internship there and so she had great pointers and information to share with me.

Also I got confirmation from Pat, the Director of International Recruiting at IUPUI that she will arrive on Wednesday night. I'm attending a University fair with her in Cairo on Friday and Alexandria on Saturday. I'll be offering the alumni perspective to IUPUI in an attempt to recruit for Egyptian and other Arab students to come to IUPUI for their undergrad or grad school. That is really exciting and providence that I got to meet Pat right before I graduated and planned to meet her for this. Its kind of exciting to represent my school as an alumnus so soon after graduating.... woo hoo!

Loving Cairo,
Missing home,
Never wanting to leave,

Randy