Sunday 17

Let's see...Sunday. Wow, that was a long time ago! I walked down the steps in Laila's building today. She's on the 21st floor. I walked and walked and walked. The steps are very steep, and not the cleanest, and at times lack lights. Some floors were pitch black, others had doors without handles or with locks on them. The steps ended in an office, clearly occupied, but one without a doorhandle to get out of it. So up I went again, 6 floors. My cousin was horrified--I don't think it ever occurred to her to walk down the steps. I told her I was testing out her fire escape :-) (and attempting to get something that pretended to be exercise along the way). Anyways, if there was a fire, it would be preferable to jump or just inhale smoke because you'd likely fall down the stairs anyway in the haste to get down. Two days later, my thighs--just above the knees--are still a little sore. Which makes me think it might be time to go down 10 floors or so. This evening we went to visit a friend of hers who was down because her son just moved to the States to work. The friend is Christian. While there, the TV was on with an interview with the Coptic Pope. Essentially he's the same thing as the Roman Catholic pope, but for Egypt only. And much simpler life, and trappings. It was interesting seeing this pope after all the hoopla about the Vatican. Laila's friend insists that he is not a political figure, but I also find that very hard to believe. He was apparently talking about how church and politics should be separate. This pope wears all black, with a cross on a very long cord, and an odd looking hat. So I wondered before I came how Egypt might feel. Would it feel uneasy, or menacing, or nervous, or what? It feels fine. People are going about their daily business, and trying very hard to make ends meet, since the economy is in trouble. Lack of tourism is really hurting things here. There's a lot of political conversation, and it is just that: conversation. People seem to be able to be amicable about it for the most part. There are demonstrations, but this seems to be more of an inconvenience than anything--because it blocks major streets. The violence is unprecedented for Egypt, and the people I come into contact with are disgusted and would really like things to just go back to normal so they can move on. And maybe a new government. Lots of interest in that! The people I have talked to or overheard (conversations on the streets) want to see real change in a hurry. They don't seem to necessarily process that democracies aren't precisely fast, and that most of the people still running the government have no incentive to change, nor any knowledge of how to do that. Money is always interesting in Egypt. A US dollar brings about 7 pounds, which used to be a lot of money here. It still is; a can of coke is 250 LE, but other things have gone up. I haven't done much shopping yet so more on that later. I did however notice that the usual issue of never being able to get fikra (change) is still in evidence. One pound pieces are are always hard to come by.