to saddle a horse

I have one day left of school, before I leave this city.

My books, clothes, posters, cds, school work, dominoes, battery rechargers; all of it is crammed into my backpack, which sits plump and defiant on the dusty carpet.

I have lost two hats on this trip, both of them ones I liked a lot. As replacement I now wear a green truckers cap which depicts two wrestlers in an embrace, below the Swedish/Danish/Norweigan word RINGEN.

This week I have been studying the passive sentence, and the passive masdar sentence.

Yesterday our taxi driver stopped on the bridge after having been stuck for about thirty seconds behind a woman who had driven down the wrong exit ramp and was now trying to back-up against the flow of the late afternoon traffic. He got out and he had a loud argument with another guy on the corner of the ramp, which resulted in their attempting blows. Another gentleman and a policeman pulled them off. I don't know what the other guy had to do with the woman, who managed to back out, eventually and drove away. They stood there, trying to hit each other for a while, then he came back, got in the cab, and dropped us at our destination.

These are my favourite places in Cairo, in no particular order:
1. The leafy streets of Zamalek, in the middle of the Nile, its buildings proud and fading.
2. The alleyways of Islamic Cairo, from Bab Zuwayla to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, and every little detail in between.
3. The bustling qahwa where Joel and I have spent a great deal of nights
4. The Nile river, at night, from the tipping edge of a felucca at full sail.
5. Midan Sayyida Zeinab, stacked with stalls selling vegetables and lanterns and underwear and spice.
6. My apartment, when we are all there, and we are all laughing.
7. The Ezbekiya second-hand book market; wooden shacks, crammed with old, musty, pages.
8. The animal mummy exhibit of the Egyptian museum.
9. Diwan Bookstore, in Zamalek, where I have spent too much money.

And, hey!, these are my favourite albums, lately:
1. The National: Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
2. Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene
3. Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die
4. Kanye West: Late Registration
5. Clap Yr Hands, Say Yeah!: C.Y.H.S.Y!
6. Ruby: Eb'a Abelny
7. Sufjan Stevens: Come On, Feel the Illinoise!
ah, that'll do.

So, yeah, thursday I am headed to Palestine. I will no longer be contactable, of course, on my Egyptian cell phone number, but hopefully I will get one when I get to Jerusalem.

I am very glad to receive your messages, emails and blog comments. I certainly encourage you to leave them.

Goodbye, Egypt. I love you.