First impressions of Cairo

Marhaban from Cairo!

I literally just got into my dorm room about an hour ago. It's sort of awkwardly put together in a triangular shape but it should work out just fine. I need to get some dinner, but I wanted to write down some of the first words that came to my mind as I was riding my bus from the Cairo airport to Zamalek, the area where my dorm is located.

HUGE CITY

old

dirty

pollution

alive

traditional

covered women

very, very loud call to prayer

plenty of cell phone shops (and RadioShack)

Falafel stands

beautiful Nile

dusty

TRAFFIC

disorganized

A lot of those things sound bad, but really, this city seems amazing and overwhelming. Hopefully, I'll get used to some of the more negative aspects, but thus far, the positives heavily outweigh them anyways. This city just seems to be alive in some way. Something about Cairo is mysterious and begs to be discovered. As the Egyptians would say, mafesh mushkilla (No Problem/Don't worry about it).

Ma'a salaama,

Blair

P.S. Brett, I saw a woman with a BOREALIS bag. There's a shout out.