Two Weeks

Boston Time: 11:22 AM 17 May
Cairo Time: 6:22 PM 17 May

It’s hard to believe we have been in Egypt only two weeks. There is so much to absorb and experience here in this desert country that the end of the day always feels more like tomorrow and the morning more like yesterday. At the same time, it is another thing to consider that I still have five more weeks in the Middle East and away from my American home. The threshold of longest period away has now been reached and about to drastically increase. Damascus and Doha should pass more quickly given the shorter sum of days we are spending in each location. When we return to Cairo after Alexandria I will be ready to go home and return to the normal grind. I am already thinking about my next adventure.

The weather is finally performing according to what we were told to expect (and dread.)
“How hot was it today?” I asked, looking for the day’s temperature reading.
“It was ridiculously hot today,” answered Christina Petrucci, a Northeastern University student currently studying in Cairo. Practicing my Arabic and knowledge of the Celsius scale in the taxi to which my body was adhering itself, I fanned myself and jokingly complained to our driver that it was khamseen(50) degrees. The cabby replied, La, arba’een (40). Never mind the details, that still throws the mercury over 100° Fahrenheit for those of us unfamiliar with metrics. We have been exceedingly lucky with relatively cool temperatures thus far, but now its time for the real deal. And it is only getting hotter—Qatar should be around 110° F.