well it'sbeen a couple of weeks.......yes I made it to Egypt and I am now sitting on our apartment balcony using the internet that Will's laptop is picking up from somewhere - we're not quite sure.

Into my second week of studying and wishing that I had longer, as always. Lessons are four days a week, and the rest of the time we are supposed to study, but true to my nature, I'm not really but I promise I shall do some immediately after typing this, honest. I'm taking two classes - Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. I picked up ECA thisweek after feeling frustrated at not learning anything of immediate use here in Cairo. This has blown my budget, but I no longer care, mainly because I am happily living off of the 5p falafels and 25p macaroni bakes that we can get from our local joint. And local means that I can be there in about 25 steps. In fact, everthing we need is about that distance away, from fresh fruit, chocolate, stationary, washing up liquid, toothpaste, it's all within, I dunno, 1 minute's walk. Now that's convenience. and the people here are so friendly. Possibly that's partly due to the fact that I don't really think that this is what they'd called a tourist hot spot. That is perfect for us, coz we don't get ripped off and we actually experience what life's really like round here, good and bad.

Well that's that. I daresay I should get a good editor for this journal, but this shall suffice for now.

Except to say - I hate the cleaner and our landlords. And the gas powered hot water. And the stupid washing machine. And taxi drivers that think that just because you're not from their country they can rip you off (as if we haven't been here long enough to know that 10 quid is way too much to pay for the journey from Mohandiseen to Aguza, the cheek of it)