when it rains it pours

On Feb 25th something happened here in Cairo that is typically very rare and it happened to a degree that is unheard of. Firstly it rained, a lot. Granted I did fly here from the arctic of Minnesota so it has been a little while since I had seen rain but even to that it had been awhile sine I had seen rain as hard as it poured here. Now I am sure some of you are thinking that perhaps it rained but did it last? The answer is yes. In fact, it lasted pretty much all day. It was a lot of fun to watch the mixed reactions from the Egyptians on campus during the day while it was coming down. A lot of them just stood out enjoying while others did everything they could to avoid getting wet. I guess its not very different from any ones reactions at home, just my perception of it is different. At home we get winter storms and traffic goes to hell, a little bit of the rain here and the bus took forever to get back to the dorms. A lot of the cars here simply just don't have windshield wipers and yet people would go out driving anyways. Headlights, if you feel like it.

I went to dinner with a group of people to our favorite cheep local place Alex Top during the down pour. I am pretty sure it is a family run place because the same guys are working in there all the time regardless of the time of day. The server, Tarek, explained to me that he is not a fa of the rain itself but does like that it brings more people to his place for food. Tarek does not speak English hardly at all so that explanation involved a lot of hand gestures and some fill in the blank guessing. Rain is uncommon here but it does happen, usually about twice a year. What made that evening slightly extra ordinary is that we also had hail. The hail was about the size of chick peas. It didn't last long but the locals had a pretty neat mixture of excitement and disgust for it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no drainage system of any kind here so when it does rain (pour) the roads turn into rivers and the parking garages turn into lakes. It was really nice in Cairo the two days or so after the thunderstorm because all the rain cleared a ton of crap out of the air. One of my friends here was wearing a white shirt while out in the rain and when she got back into the residence hall she noticed that ever where the rain hit her shirt it left gray and dark streaks on here from all the dirt and shit the water picked up. Fun stuff, I know.

I did not personally take any pictures of any of it however I did "steal" some off of a face book group made in honor of the event that other people posted. I will post those to the photos in my face book group Phil goes to Egypt so you can get a visual image of it all.



On a different note last night was the men's hockey gold metal game between Canada and the United States. It took me about an hour of searching on google and a couple downloaded programs later and I was able to watch it live on my laptop. It...was...awesome. I love hockey and that game did not disappoint. The game was really intense and very fast paced. I was amazed at how fast paced the game was. It really took it to a new level, the way the Olympic final should be. Canada was up 2-1 in the final minute of the game; in most situations a golden clutch however with 27 seconds left the US rallied back and put one between the pipes to tie it up. I really wish I could express in words how worked up am i am feeling about it now some 12 hours later and after a really long night. (I explain that next) The game went into overtime sudden death and 7 min the 22 year old Canadian Crosby ended his 3 game slump with a light flick of the puck and hung gold around Canada to cap of the Olympics and put down another mark for the country that has now won more gold metals in a single Olympics than any other in history. I love Hockey, I love the Olympics and I loved that game.

After the game and the metals ceremony I was pretty tired (remember the game didn't start until 10:15pm for me) so I decided to head to bed. I got ready, drank a little bit of water and lay ed down. You know how they say that you shouldn't drink the water...well mostly that is not a problem however "mostly" leaves room for sometimes it is. Long story short, I spent all night in the bathroom throwing up and didn't go to class today. I was still up when my roommate go up this morning to head to the bus to go to class. I was feeling better, mostly because I had nothing left in me, and eventually did fall asleep for about 4 or 5 hours. I am fine now, I think I just got a bug or something...who knows. At least now I have the rest of the day to chill out here and get homework done.

I love the schedule here and I am going to miss it when I come back to the states. It is Monday and I only have two days of classes let this week and then I am going camping in the black and white desert. We have classes on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesday and Thursdays. Mondays and Thursdays I only have one class also so that is pretty cool. Tuesdays are really nice to catch up on homework or explore around Cairo. The Pyramids and Cairo Zoo where both made possible by Tuesday, my new favorite day of the week.