*** Sunday, 09Apr06 ***
Traffic is so bad here that Than suggested that I stay at the hotel until 9:45 and be picked up by one of our drivers and taken to the nearby ministry where I was scheduled to interview three department heads. There was little point in struggling to the office at 8 only to have to struggle back at 9.

My ride arrived early and we went to the ministry where I met with officials responsible for activities. All were helpful -- everyone had something to say -- indeed, a lot to say. I interviewed them for 4 hours. It left me quite tired.

At day's end, Than suggested a beer run, so the driver took us past the hotel and through a maze of streets to the corner of a main street where a store sells beer. You could hardly tell for the beer was hidden in amongst the soft drinks in the cooler. The Prophet disapproved of alcohol so, outside of a hotel, it is not easy to come by it. I bought ten half-liter cans of Egyptian-brewed five percent alcohol Heineken. For the evening at least I was a made man.

*** Monday, 10Apr06 ***
A local holiday, the Prophet's birthday, celebrated with candy, bunnies and toy horses, all for children.

With the Ministry being closed, I went to the office in Dokki across the Nile, mostly to have Internet access. I got it with some help form a helpful young woman who found the necessary numbers for wireless access on a sheet of paper tacked to a wall.

One of the guys, Demir Yenar, who works there saw my BC cap and asked me if I was from Boston. It turns out he is from Brookline and had taught at Babson and had been a professor in Jim Perry's department and remembered him very fondly. We talked about Jim for half an hour. It's a small world. He also knew Don Levitan and he had actually taught at Suffolk University in Boston.

*** Tuesday, 11Apr06 ***
The day went by quickly. I didn't have breakfast or lunch and barely noticed. Maybe I have settled in physically.

When I got back to the hotel I brought some laundry to the local dry cleaners. They had found my shirt which had been omitted from my last pick up. Then I walked on to Sh. Kasr El Aini with the intent of buying some beer. I placed my order and as it was being wrapped (for privacy) who appeared behind me but Paul and Barry. We had a good laugh at being mutually found at an "occasion of sin", Moslem style. The place turned out to be precisely beside the Blue Nile Grocery which even sells the hard stuff.

Paul, Barry and I had dinner in Pane Vino in the hotel. The beef was tasty but not as tender as I like. Before the food was served someone who had been recommended to me as a trainer called and we arranged an interview at 6 P.M. the next day in the hotel lobby.

*** Wednesday, 12Apr06 ***
My interviewee called my room 15 minutes late and I met him in the lobby. Paul joined us and we tried to chat but ten minutes after sitting down he told us he had to leave soon for prayers. He hung around for perhaps 15 minutes but I never got to ask the questions I wanted to ask. I suggested another interview at a more appropriate time but nothing came of it. Strange.

*** Thursday, 13Apr06 ***
Last night I awoke in the middle of the night with a streaming nose and a slightly sore throat -- I had a cold. A cold is never very much fun.

The last day of the week here.
Got back to the hotel at five to five and went to the hotel shop to buy a Herald Tribune. The door was locked and through the glass I could see the staffer standing on a prayer rug and praying in the direction of Mecca.

My translator, Mohamed, told me that I should not offer my hand to a woman as some women do not wish to touch a man. Later he told me that at elevators and doorways, the person on the right enters first. This was news to me. I will try to observe the rules.

*** Friday, 14Apr06 ***
I had the day off so I walked along the Nile corniche north three bridges and crossed over to Zamelek and then back along the Nile corniche on the other side. A very pleasant walk.

A boy carrying tin pails. He paused to give me time to change the settings on my camera.

The Young Guy and the Old Guy.
There is a young man who works at a tourist shop that is about two doors from the laundry that I leave my clothes at. Every time I go to pick up or drop off laundry he is hanging out there and he asks me to come into his shop. He is very persistent -- like so many of his kind. I always say, "Not now but when I am near to leaving." He yaks on and I ignore him.

Today as I was getting near the hotel after my walk an old man said hello to me and asked me where I was from. I told him and he congratulated me and said that he worked in the Sheraton and had seen me there. I had been there -- once -- so I believed him. We were walking in the same direction and as we did he told me that he was going to help out in his daughter's shop. As we walked he told me about the buildings we were passing.

The "White House" used by Nasser.

The big white building near my hotel had been used by President Nasser as an office, the ornate mansion was a school, etc. We were now very near my laundry and he conducted me into the very shop that the young guy had been trying to lure me for ten days or more. What was I to do?

He brought me into the shop and sat me down and offered me tea and made it clear -- ever so politely -- that it would be inhospitable of me to deny him the pleasure of offering me tea. I was now trapped but determined to keep my wallet in my pocket and be as polite as I could be. This is not easy; it requires patience, diplomacy and the ability to tolerate very hot, sweet Egyptian tea servered in a glass -- but I held my own.

He demonstrated wonderfully scented oils (sold by the gram but available only in four ounce bottles) by dabbing them all over my wrists and proved that they contained no alcohol by putting a lit match in the neck of the bottles. Reeking of sundry aromas but at least not on fire, I perused the contents of the shop -- the usual papyrus scrolls with recently-caligraphed ancient hieroglyphics and brass-plated images of ancient gods. As a parting comment, I told him that I would return before I left Egypt and buy something then. He was not pleased, but neither was I.

It is unfortunate that so many tourists' experience with Egyptians is limited to something like what I have recounted above. One of the nicest things about this trip is that between my work experiences and my semi-random wanderings around the city I get to run into -- however briefly -- real Caireens. I have found them to be UNIFORMLY polite, interested, friendly and tolerant. I like these people!!

The Egyption Museum, the concentration of ancient (2000, 3000 and more years ago!) antiquites, opens at 11 on Friday. I went and it was overwhelming. I don't really have words to describe what I saw. It is a world cultural treasure of infinite value. I say no more.