Halloween in Cairo?

Last night was the big Halloween party at the ACE Club, which is where I spend a lot of my time. But first, let's rewind to Thursday night. I went to this place called Sangria Country Club in downtown Cairo on the Nile... which wasn't anything like a country club in the US. Apparently it's cool to hang out by the Nile here. Driving on the bridges or by the Nile at night, you'll see hundreds of people there with their boyfriend or girlfriend or their families. There literally is nowhere to park and there are people everywhere, it's crazy. But I guess I would love a river too if my whole city was built around it and depended on it for survival. I went to Sangria with my Egyptian friend(s), and my Turkish friend. It was a lot of fun... I also got invited to a wedding! My Egyptian friend who I've been calling "S" is friends with this Egyptian guy and this girl from the UK who are getting married in a couple of weeks. S is going to their wedding, and the couple invited me too. I would love to go to a wedding here, espeically one between people who aren't both Egyptian. But I think I will be in Germany... sad day.

So on to the more exciting Halloween night. I went as a pirate with my other friend from Baltimore. OK, let's lay out some names for the next story. We'll call my Turkish friend D and my Baltimore friend M. D and I were going to M's house to get ready and have a few drinks before going to ACE. My friend M left her phone on the bus from school, so we had no way of contacting her... but I've been to her place before and thought I knew where I was going. So D and I got out of the cab when I thought we were there... and then I realized I had no idea where we were. Ooops. So we're walking around looking for Road 15, and we try asking some people. But of course no one speaks English and I don't know how to say "15" in Arabic. I know how to say road and five, but that didn't help. So we keep walking and realize with the help of a security guard that we were on Road 12. So we keep walking, and walking, and walking. We were so lost. Finally, just when we met someone who could speak English, I knew where we were!! And we got to M's house safely, Humdelellah. I learned that you never get out of the cab until you're sure you know where you are. These are life lessons.

So we got ready, and had a few drinks. And a few shots. We went to ACE and there was free beer and free food! There was also a DJ and dancing with fog machines. It was very Halloween-esque. Even the workers were dressed up. And I'm from Wisconsin, so I can put back a few beers... especially when they're free. We ended up closing the place and stayed way after the music ended. We were just talking to these other people we met and having a good time. I stayed up way too late both nights this weekend. On Thursday I was drinking vodka and Red Bulls, so I had a lot of energy!

It was what I needed after a bad week at school. Insha Allah this week will be better... I just need to keep trucking and trying to reach them. I also have a cleaning lady now, so I am officially Egyptian. Everyone here has a cleaning lady because it's so cheap! It's about 100 LE a week, or about 20 US dollars for her to clean your whole house. So that's one less thing I have to do during the week! And she speaks English, which is a plus. I'm keeping positive thoughts about this week, or I'm trying to.