Category: Being There

7September – first day of classes, first day of the commute: Leaving the dirt and chaos, Delving into newness, construction Hope in the desert Making personal oases? Rising dread and fear, This is NEVER what I wanted. 7October – just returning from the Eid break, one month since classes began: Daily the ride is the… Continue reading Thoughts from the Commute

I read this article, “Egypt: the surreal painting” by Tarek Osman, and was pleasantly surprised. It did not paint the usual PollyAnna optimistic fallacy that is frequently expressed about the politics, social agendas and future of the country. It, in my not so humble opinion, spoke clearly and truthfully about the past, present and future… Continue reading Egypt as a metaphor

I often wonder that….. If someone had asked me 10, 15 years ago, where will you be? What will you be doing? The current reality is NOT what I would have described. The funny thing is that, although I frequently bemoan the tribulations of the day, I also truly enjoy what I’m doing. I am… Continue reading How did I get HERE?

“A City Where You Can’t Hear Yourself Scream” is a NYT piece on Cairo. I received it today from my father, with a note: “Dear Kate & Jack – Thought you’d find this interesting. Your apartment must have very good windows and thick walls. Love, Dad” As I wrote back, we DO have very thick… Continue reading Other perspectives

Like lemmings to the sea, or shoaling salmon in front of hunting orcas. Not me, you can’t make me. I’m not going to Rehab. Rehab is for quitters (a very old joke, borrowed from unnamed sources). Rehab – actually el Rehab city – is a gated, planned community about 4km from the New Campus of… Continue reading Flocking to Rehab

From me and Jack to all – this is how we spent our Christmas, the two of us and my mom in Upper Egypt. Life is good. Believe it or not, we were freezing our BUTTS off. Happy Holidays. 🙂

I really enjoy knitting (and now, crochet, since I’ve “retaught” myself how). I find either to be very relaxing as well as producing cool things (although, in reality the outcome is not the reason I do it – see 20 year old yarn post). I did not bring yarn with me. I figured that, people… Continue reading KNITTING: Feel free to skip if you are not a knitter