Hunshuf...

Yesterday i pretty much stayed home all day... an arabic class from a new school ( U-can) I am attending (well- the teacher actually comes to the house!) .... and then taught a private class.

I needed the restful day to recover from the last week... too many late nights and partying. I was actually in bed last night before midnight! Unheard of , as those of you who know me well will know!

This morning i woke up with an idea about the small room, which was always filled with junk (suitcases, old carpets, cleaning stuff- you know...) and which I recently cleared out with the help of my friend Eshta in order to turn it into a walk in costume wardrobe. For the time being the costumes will continue to be spread around the house since that small room is now a single bedroom! It looks good too. No AC, but otherwise pretty comfortable!!!

Re the 'revolution'... first a big thank you to everyones messages worrying about me and urging me to stay safe...

I am staying away from the whole downtown area... therefore pretty safe. i suspect that the larger scale protests predicted for friday may well start from mohandiseen again- as they did on tuesday, but otherwise I am pretty far from all the action.

Facebook is up and running again (was only down for about 3 hours) although its running incrediably slow (although that could just be an internet provider thing since for sure everyone is online more these days than is usual... if just because they are staying home rather than face the streets!).

I had a chat with one of the girls who cleans for me... I was asking her view on it all. She said people were upset because everything has become so expensive. If you only get paid 400le per month, and a kilo of peas costs 10le... how can you live? (her example not mine!) Especially if that wage is for you, your wife, and your however many children! She guessed that in the last ten years, the price of basic food stuffs has increased 6x whereas the wages have maybe doubled at the most. So many young people are scared they will never be able to marry because they can't afford to get a flat and live. When i asked whether she thought after all these protests things would change, she said no. She was scared things might actually get worse. She also voiced the opinion that many of her family and friends thought the goverment would refuse to give in to any of the demands , because if they did, the people might realise that actually do have some power and actually start to use it in an organised way! I suspect she may have a point!

Others I spoke to feel that although nothing big will come of this... the catalyst is all that was needed. So, now that Egypts goverment is in the international limelight, then maybe things will begin to improve, people will start to listen. Bit by bit.

Hanshuf....  (we'll see...)