Still?

Well, judging by the date on the calendar, it's time for another log post.

There are only two more after this, and they are all pretty short.

I'm glad that I kept the log, but not sure that I'll really look back on them at any point.  Maybe sometime in the future but... who knows.

I hope they haven't been a total bore.  I know it's not quite the same to read as to live through and a lot of it is kind of repetitive.

:::

The weather has gotten chilly again.  Cold nose chilly.  Those couple days we had at 80 plus degrees were really nice.  Looking forward to warmer weather for sure.

Not looking forward to allergies but they don't seem to have started up yet so that's a blessing.  I guess it's only a matter of time.  Unless my body decides not to be allergic this year. 

In any case, weather should be nice tomorrow, if a little chilly at 60, and we may go out for a walk somewhere.  Depends on if we can manage to get out of bed early enough.

We've tried a couple of days this week to get down to Tahrir Square to visit a bookstore, but we just slept too late to really go down and walk around and get back by when hubby needed to.

Speaking of revolutions and bookstores, the reason for the visit to the bookstore was to get a book that I found on learning Egyptian Arabic.

I decided, even though I had wanted to learn to speak it before of course, that it was really just imperative that I make more of an effort.  This really came home to me during all the protests and everything when I was not able to understand a lot of what was in the news here because I couldn't get a translation.

So, insha'Allah, this book, which has a CD included, will be a big help along the way.  Hubby has promised to practice with me, so we'll see how that goes.  It's a little embarassing starting out, knowing you aren't pronouncing right and feeling a bit goofy, but hopefully with time and practice this will pass.

I really look forward to the day when I don't have to ask, "What does that say?", or "What were they talking about?"

Alright, on to today's log.

:::

Thursday, February 3rd

Heard a few gun shots after going to bed.  They were loud and close.  Didn't hear much else that I remember.

Finally had a decent and long enough nights sleep though, which was really needed.

5:33 p.m. and the call to prayer is playing.  It's been a fairly quiet day outside.  Just been watching the news and wondering what will happen.  This government is sneaky and devious in the ways they are trying to gain favor and turn things around.  It's really disgusting.  I hope with all my heart that the protesters get what they want, and that they send the president packing.  I hope with all my heart that they don't give up before they get what they want.

From reading postings online from some other ex-pats living here in Cairo, it seems I'm not the only one who was doing extra cleaning while the internet was down for almost a week.  Without being able to leave the house at night and many places closed during the day, it was hard to find stuff to do.  I'm glad I had some books to see me through what would have otherwise been a very dull time.

6:30 First gun shot of the evening.

6:42 Possibly a tank going by but not sure without getting up to look.  Could have just been a heavy truck, though there shouldn't be any out at this point with the curfew, though we do get a small trickle of cars throughout the night.

7:55 tank time.

8:15 Helicopter going by.

I've heard that they are imposing a 24 hour curfew for tomorrow to try to keep anyone from going towards downtown to protest.  The more moves the government makes to try to end this, the more they are rallying the people to try to fight them for their rights.  The government is making all the wrong moves if they truly want to end this.

Getting more nervous as I hear about foreigners being attacked, and not just in Tahrir square.  Pretty sure I won't be stepping outside the apartment for a while.  Who knows what will happen in the next two days, but I pray we will be safe.

The president continues to play dirty to try to divide and conquer.  I'm really disappointed that Christiane Amanpour, who I had thought of as a good journalist, would actually let her "interview" of the president out as it is just lies, lies, lies!  Shame on her and on ABC for airing this garbage!!!  (as an afterthought, it now being February 28th, I never did see the interview and I don't know the intention of airing it, though I doubt it was for anything on ABC's part except ratings/money.  but, as much as i hate that the president is a liar and some people can't see past it, maybe some people were able to see through him.  don't know.)

12:20 gun shot nearby

Reports that there is about to be a slaughter in Tahrir, that police and thugs are about to go in and start doing a lot of damage to the protesters.  Also reports that there is no live coverage in Tahrir right now to witness what is going to happen! Sad and worried.  (it seems that one of the tactics of the current regime is to strike fear and confusion in people!)

1:40 multiple gun shots nearby

2:30 Too tired and stressed from the news to watch it or read it any more tonight.  Will focus on other things instead and try to relax and calm down.  Hubby asked if I felt safe and I said no!  From all I have read, no I don't feel safe.  Hopefully some rest and less news will fix that.

3:15 gun shots in the distance

Hubby was watching al jazeera, they were saying there was 200k people now in Tahrir square, so it's possible that number could be 10 times as much by noon tomorrow! 

5:30 a.m. and time for sleep!