A weird thing about Alexandria is that there are cats everywhere and tons of traffic, but no dead cats in the street. Natural selection seems to be doing its job, so if you want a car-proof cat, let me know and I’ll nab you a kitten.
On a related note, Hannah said that all my pictures make Alexandria look like Gondor, which it most definitely is not. The garbage here does not fuck around – a few days ago I passed a burst-open trash bag that had goat hooves in it, and I’ve heard tell of bags of dead kittens in alleys. Anyway, I’ll try to be realer with my photography.
Because of the logistics of using my building’s elevator and the cocktail of tummy germs that live in Egyptian water, there exists a chain of plausible events that would result in my being locked in the dark in my elevator overnight, shitting myself, and having to wait for someone to find me in the morning.[i]
My roommate George and I went to the big supermarket here called Carrefour for our first major grocery trip a few days ago. Red delicious apples cost four times as much by weight as pomegranates (!), and Starbucks is the only place in Alexandria you can find non-Turkish, coarse-ground coffee beans.[ii] Also there’s an H&M in the same mall.
I’m getting a bit homesick and thinking about organizing an America day with what little globalization’s given us. So far the plan is KFC, Dr. Strangelove or something, and Heineken (which, right, but it’s the closest thing there is). Suggestions are welcome.
Also, I’m Canadian for the next year thanks to this shit.
A few more pictures of the library and my apartment:
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| back of the library |
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| library's reading room |
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| Christmas mug made in the Philippines, imported to Egypt |
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| where I hang my underwear - over a ten-story drop into garbage |
[i] That sentence was dedicated to Frank Netscher and Amanda Winograd.
[ii] Speaking of which, I’m almost done with season 3 of BSG.
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