Once again, not a whole lot to blog about. The usual: going to campus, dining out in the evening... I do have plans to see a piano performance at the downtown campus this weekend:

and I also have 2 softball games on Friday.

The weather when I went home was quite cold, and it has been what I would call "nippy" (to use the southern term) in Cairo since I got back. This afternoon was warm and sunny, however, and here is the 10 day forecast for Cairo:

Tonight Feb 9 Partly Cloudy N/A 53° 10% High not valid after 2pm Wed Feb 10 Partly Cloudy 79° 63° 0% 79°F Thu Feb 11 Mostly Sunny 84° 60° 0% 84°F Check Flight Delays Fri Feb 12 Mostly Sunny 82° 60° 0% 82°F Sat Feb 13 Sunny 83° 60° 0% 83°F Sun Feb 14 Partly Cloudy 86° 61° 0% 86°F Mon Feb 15 Partly Cloudy 88° 64° 0% 88°F Tue Feb 16 Partly Cloudy 85° 64° 0% 85°F Wed Feb 17 Cloudy 90° 65° 0% 90°F Thu Feb 18 Partly Cloudy 86° 60° 0% 86°F Last Updated Feb 09, 11:35 PM Local Time Printable Forecast Details Video Text Averages Living in the desert has its advantages. I'm looking forward to the nice weather. Speaking of nice weather, here is a picture my friend Ralph, who lives in Washington DC, sent me over the past weekend: Boy, that's a lot of snow! He may be digging for awhile! I have some pictures of other friends here. Today I met 3 of my AUC colleagues, Amanda, Casey and Justin, for a beer after work. We sat outside at the ACE club for about an hour and had a nice afternoon visit. He is a picture of me with Amanda: Amanda is from Atlanta and this is her second year in Cairo. She works in the library, in a pretty important job, but I'm just not sure exactly what. She has traveled a lot (they were all talking today of their times in Barcelona) but I think for once I've got her on the language thing. I think she only speaks English, and she has not studied as much Arabic here as I have.  Amanda is cheerful and fun to be around, and she knows where all the important things are in the city and is great for helping ex-pats navigate Cairo living. I mentioned this afternoon that I ate a lot of Dominoes pizza, and she said "Don't do that! La Rosa's is much better!" So I decided to try La Rosa's tonight, and boy! was it much better! Also at the ACE club with me today were Justin and Casey: Justin (seated) is a marine biologist and teaches at AUC. He is also working on research in the Red Sea. He is from Texas/Florida, and was working in Washington DC before he moved to Cairo. As far as I know, he only speaks English and I'm am a little bit ahead of him in Arabic. Justin also plays on the softball team and is a great softball player. Casey works in the library with Amanda. I'm not sure of his exact title, but he is the guy that helps me with the financial databases when I need it. Casey is from Illinois and has been here for 5 years now. I think he is only fluent in English (do you notice a pattern with the Americans?) but I'm sure his Arabic is pretty good after 5 years, and I'll bet he knows enough Japanese to get by. He has a 2 year old boy and another child (I think it is a girl) who will be here soon! Casey lived in Asia before he moved to Cairo, I think several places, but the last one was Tokyo, Japan. His wife is from Japan (or at least her family is). His brother-in-law is a famous sumo wrestler, Akebono, who is featured in this video: Last Saturday night I joined Faiza, Scott, Mike and his family at Abu Sid (an Egyptian restaurant in Maadi) for dinner. Mike has been here since I arrived, but his wife (Katie) and 2 lovely daughters (Maya and Ivy) stayed in the US last semester, but they are here in Cairo for the spring semester. His girls are going to CAC and they seemed just delightful. Here is a picture of us at the restaurant (Faiza took the picture).