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9/15
I got up and packed for Mme. Raqia’s around 8. My partner holds most of our money so in the morning, he hunts through his wallet looking for small bills (which are hard to get) for the taxi. It’s a total reversal from Japan where drivers prefer (at least in Totsuka a suburb of Yokohama) nationals to foreigners. We are always picked out of the pack by drivers here. I usually give 5LE to get from Talaat Harb (where my hotel is) to the Cairo Sheraton and the same for the return. I also bring a change of clothes (the air conditioner is usually turned on but sometimes it’s not). I was bringing baby wipes to clean my feet from the Cairo dirt before class, but I ran out. I bring a book to read if she’s busy before class. I bring a snack to eat on the sly in case I’m there for more than 3 hours. I bring a watch so I have an idea of the time (only 1 of the studios has a clock). I try to remember water, but sometimes I forget and she usually offers me some anyways. I wear sunglasses or a hat when I’m out alone usually (which is just in the mornings or afternoons-I don’t go out alone at night). Once the traffic was really bad and it was quicker to walk to my hotel than to wait in a taxi, so I was glad I had a hat then too.
All last week, only 1 of her 2 stereos would work. On the one that did work, you could only press the play, stop and track forward buttons. Yesterday, the track forward button stopped working and I had to hit the shuffle button until it came upon my track. It was like being in Vegas! But I think the lesson after mine might’ve been cancelled because Mme. Raqia couldn’t get the CD player working. So now I also bring my ipod so we can crank that up and listen to it, if I can’t get the CD player working.
My partner had said he wanted to check out some of the markets in the area. We visited Sharia al-Muski and walked around another small market. I was expecting to be attacked and was pleasantly surprised when I wasn’t. The cutest thing one of the vendors said was “Speak English? I love you.”
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