Two years and Tahrir

We finally made it down to Tahrir Square today.  We've been meaning to go for a couple of weeks now but something always seemed to come up, preventing us from going.

The weather was beautiful, low 80's I guess.  Not overly sunny so didn't have to worry so much about glare.

There was some sort of rally going on for the voting tomorrow.  Lots of people and there were some police but I'm not sure if they were military or what.

After passing through Tahrir we went to the AUC bookstore.  AUC being American University of Cairo.  They had a book that I have been wanting so we finally picked that up.  While there I asked the person behind the counter if it was possible to get a membership to the AUC library, but he said that you have to be a member of any university in Cairo to get a membership.  Oh well!  There are other libraries, but I would have loved to go inside that one, it's ginormous!

After that we took some more pictures down by the Egyptian Museum and then we walked around downtown for almost two hours, looking here and there and everywhere.

They have the best smells and I really wish I could record them for you.  The food smells unbelievably good and I'd just bet on it that if you could smell it you'd book a ticket to Cairo for as soon as you could!

So, here are the pictures we got today.

If you want to view any of them larger, just click on the image and it will take you to a page with a larger image.  Some of them are larger files sizes because I left the images a littler larger than usual.  Sorry for those on dial up!

This first image is of Tahrir and the rally that was going on.  Actually this one and the next one are both of the rally.  Lots of people but the crowd was fine while we were there.

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Then we have me standing next to a very dirty phone booth.  The only reason I actually included this picture was so you could see how dirty it was.  I'm not sure you could pay me to touch this unless I was in danger from losing life or limb.  lol

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And then here is me, same basic spot, showing the crowds in Tahrir.  This was taken from the opposite side of the street from the first two pictures.

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Next is me with the Mogamma in the background.  That's the building where you do all your visa stuff.  Great place to people watch.  Probably also a great place to catch a lot of germs!

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Here is me with the Egyptian Museum and the burned out NDP building in the background.  Really strange to drive over the bridge to downtown and see the big hulking building all burned.

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And last we have a picture of my sweety pie in the same spot, with the museum and burned out building behind him.  Not sure what he's looking at but something must have caught his eye.

So that's it for pictures today! 

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As of tomorrow, it will be two years since I landed here in Cairo.

Two years.  Roughly 730 days.

I'm happy that I came here.  I'm happy for my experiences.  But I still miss a lot of things about the States.  And sometimes, when we're out and I'm looking around, I feel *so* very foreign.  It's jarring at times.

There is so much that I still want to do here.  Places to go and things to see and insha'Allah I'll be able to learn the language which should make it more exciting.  Hard to fully interact with a society when you can't communicate.

I wish it wasn't so expensive to travel, and that I could go back and forth more frequently to the States to visit.  Also that the flights weren't so long.  That's a real bummer.  No matter how many cushions you sit on, 11 hours on a flight is going to leave you with a sore butt!

I have good days and bad days, which is the same as before I moved here.

I feel happy though and lucky, mashAllah, to be living with my husband, who I love so very much.

Just like everyone, I'm not sure what the future holds.  Not sure how long I'll live here for.  Not sure how long I'll love it for.  But still, 2 years on, happy to be here sharing my life with hubby.

More to write about when I post next insha'Allah.