The air was so thick this morning. I left the apartment in Zamalek around 8:45 am to get to class on time. I began another session of Arabic Foosha and Egyptian Arabic today. The sessions are usually either 4 or 5 weeks long. I think I will like the 4 week session better, because I won’t oversleep or loose motivation. Although I am loving being in school again, this city is so exhausting.
Outside of Cairo, people are buring rice stalks. This effects everything here. The difference in the environment and congestion has increased. I arrived when it was Ramadan, and not many students were in school. Now, when I leave school, a taxi ride that should be no more than 10 minutes long, will take up to an hour. There isn’t a great solution either. It would be faster to walk, but then you are walking into the updraft of diesel fumes.
On a clear day you can see the buildings in the distance. Now it is difficult to see from one bridge to the next one along the nile. Such an environmental problem, with no easy solution.
When I first arrived, many Egyptians and foreigners who know Cairo well, said that October would be difficult because of this extra pollution in the air. The black cloud that covers Cairo and is ever present. How true this is, and it is affecting my eczema…imagine that. Of course, it doesn’t help that the weather has been around 95 degrees or hotter.
