Leaving Minneapolis at 12pm, am looking forward to the end of a hectic two day flight. My lay overs are not too bad, I dread the one in New York, its going to be five hours.
Well am off... Am in Boston, Its a small Delta airline. I get off and start searching for my gate, I look lost and puzzled. I hear a man call out,'what gate are you searching for?, he asks. I say The gate leading me to New York, he helps me find my gate by looking at a screen (which I should have looked oh dummy!) but I could not be bothered to be that keen, its my flight by the way.
Anyway he starts to chat me up, I thought he was Nigerian as am often getting hit on by random Nigerians. But he sounds like an American. Anyway whats the difference, does anyone know? He tells me he is moving to New York in two weeks, meaning: I am supposed to be excited at the prospects of a relationship or is it plain sex? He does not say. With a straight face, I tell him am just stopping over in New York but am actually leaving for Cairo. He says 'ooohooo' like a Ugandan (this man is surely a mix of persons, or maybe he is not). He gives up trying to chat me up, so maybe it was just sex he was after. I find a sit and wait. Amsterdam passengers are boarding, this is my gate but we still have another 30 minutes. I start to listen to music and write, as I am doing now. Its raining outside and I reminisce on my days - my June days in Boston. Its a lovely city. It did not grip me.I long for Harvard though.
In New York I know where my gate is, I head for it searching for Mike, a long time friend who sublet his apartment to me last year.I assume he might be on my flight after he told me he was arriving in Cairo on the 26th. I walk into the lobby and there he is. Shocked,surprised and awed at us being on the same flight. I am not, I was looking for him remember? For once I feel glad, am taking my first flight with a friend, someone I know quite well. Its a good feeling. I feel safe. He decides we need to sit together, he goes to have our seats altered. We find seats next to each other, another joy. A girl looks at us and calls out, " should I assume you are going to AUC?" we say yes, a chat begins, we are introduced to her friend Candy and we become a foursome.
There is a huge number of AUC study-abroads at the lobby, they have formed a circle and are singing Kumbaya! oh my! am starting to think we are waiting for a school bus, then I think AUC should buy its own plane. I take a walk to the toilets, they are the worst toilets I have been to at an American airport. Right in front of the lobby, the elevator is broken and there are two men fixing it while tow others look on, just staring. People are speaking Arabic, and there is a mass of AUC students! It already feels like Cairo- wait! it gets even better, or worse? our flight is delayed by 2 hours. Typical we are home! Mike and I take a walk, he wants to buy alcohol, we choose gin and wine. He pays for it, he cant have it apparently he has to get it while he is boarding the plain and he needs a boarding pass to buy it.Oh rules!
We are finally headed for Cairo, we have business class seats! no one is infront of us,am famished and fatigued. We eat dinner, watch movies and fall asleep. The guy to my right is an Egyptian going home on holiday, he tries small talk, we are both too tired and wary of small talk. He gives up. I fall asleep on Mike's shoulder- that sure feels good.The flight is 11 hours, Mike is out for about 8 of those hours, I can only do 4hrs, I stay up reading 'As a driven leaf' by Milton Steinberg. I watch Death and a funeral, with some of my best comedians; it cracks me up. By the time I decide to use the bathroom, my feet and legs are swelled up! I should have walked around.
We get to Cairo, The AUC pick up driver is infront of the plane, he has been allowed to pass immigration. We are over 100 students, it gets worse, he starts telling us what to do. Where to pick the immigration forms, asking if we have visas and where to go get the visa if we do not already have it.I tell him I have one, he tells me to go through and wait for him at baggage claim. Gosh,I feel like a freshman.
The immigration officer looks at a few visas on my passports, no questions just a glance and no qualms, am almost Egyptian- been here too many times. The stamps on my passport tell him. I head off to get my luggage, Mike's takes a while. We are told to stick together and there are 3 buses waiting for students, we get into one after hussling Nancy the lady in charge. She tells us we are not paying (Mike and I) because we get crappy seats.Its almost 8pm. Mike starts to get along really well with the study-abroad's on the bus and I sit next to this Pakistan - American girl who had never been away from California except once when she was two years old, on a trip to Pakistan. And her University is 2hrs away from her home. She seemed nervous and slightly petrified at her decision to come to Cairo, but then again there is always a first time and this too will pass.
We get home, to Sharia Nubar and it feels good. I love my crib, my new roommate did a great job, she chose well. The windows in the apartment bring in so much light and fresh air. There is so much character to this flat too. I like it despite the little strip we call a kitchen. Its home for another year, or maybe less. Catherine, Mike and I take a walk to Garden city for dinner. Mike loves foul, and I have been dodging to have it since I got to Cairo. I just never trust Cairo street food and little restaurants. I end up enjoying it, but once is enough. I hope am never too hungry to have foul! its midnight already.
I come home, and the insomnia begins, I spend the night cleaning. My body is fully swelled up at this point, the humidity is obscene, but I just keep going. Until its all done I drop off at noon the next day, wake up to darkness. its jet lag for a few more days!
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