Once you drink from the Nile...

...you always come back. So the saying goes. More like you'll never leave, because you won't be able to be more than 15 feet from the bathroom for any given length of time.

I was told by co-workers that the tap water is fine to drink, its overly chlorinated, just use the Brita, yadda yadda yadda...other co-workers told me to stick to bottled, but I dismissed their overly sanitized American paranoia, and rallied the ol' iron stomach for a huge glass of it on Wednesday morning.

By Wednesday night I was miserable in every sense of the word.

I had to skip work on Thursday because I wasn't sure I would make it through the taxi ride (I have to take a taxi to work every day - more on that later..). But I thought "This is good! I'm building resistance to the local flora! I'm just gonna stick this out and will surely feel better tomorrow, and then I'll be able to eat anything I want."

On Friday morning I cried uncle and begged my incredibly nice neighbor and co-worker to run to the pharmacy for some Cipro and Gatorade. (For the public health folks worried about AB resistance - I wasn't using the antibiotics without due cause - I did have a high fever).

I spent the rest of the day in and out of sleep, the bathroom, and chugging BOTTLED water.  This morning I'm feeling a bit better - I have some more energy, and my appetite is slowly returning, so I'm going to venture to the grocery store, catch up on emails, and maybe take a co-worker up on her offer of homemade dinner with she and her boyfriend.

Then again, maybe I'll stop by the bathroom first...

Pre-Departure

Wrapping up my life in Austin was more emotionally tough than I thought it would be. A perfect storm of personal, family, and career variables made for a very bittersweet and difficult transition into the next chapter of my life. I successfully packed and shipped my worldly possessions, unloaded bike and furniture onto unwitting craigslist shoppers, and enjoyed an extended goodbye celebration with all the good folks I met through kickball, ICES, work, and the wonderful friends-of-friends network that makes Austin such a friendly city.

I've been home the past two weeks to spend some quality time with my mom and dad. I do wish the circumstances of my visit were different (my mom is undergoing chemotherapy), but really I'm just glad to have the opportunity to take care of my mom after all the years she took care of me.

I complained a lot about Syracuse when I was growing up, but like all things, it becomes easier to appreciate the farther away you get. And after living in such a dry, hot place for so long, I'm starting to appreciate the scenery:

My dad and I have been to the regional farmer's market twice - its a Saturday institution here and nothing like the farmer's market in Austin. The prices are unbelievable - on both visits, we spent under $15 and got a basket of tomatoes, green beans, two bunches of gigantic radishes, two bunches of scallions, a pint of strawberries, three bell peppers, a pint of mini sweet peppers. To top it off, we indulged our inner fat kids with some fried spring rolls from the Laotian food stand.

I'm continually amazed at the variety of languages and cultures at the market. Syracuse has a large refugee community for a city of its size, due in large part to the many Catholic churches here that sponsor families. I wanted to take pictures of the refugees shopping at the market, many of them in some semblance of native dress, but didn't know how to do that without being offensive. I was thinking how for many of them, this open-air market where haggling is acceptable and the vendors get to know their clientele, must be a welcome reminder of home.

Those are buckets, yes, buckets of blueberries. I think they were $5. Austin, take note.
We didn't need to buy any blueberries, however, because we had these right waiting for us at home!

The beginning

This is my first blog post. Well... that's an awfully obvious and slightly awkward way to start things! At least you now have an idea of what to expect over the coming months.

I didn't really intend to start a blog, even after I'd accepted my position in Cairo, mainly because I worried I'd have to be consistently interesting. That's kind of a lot of pressure, as I realize most folks aren't as easily entertained as I tend to be.

But, my bloggy friends won out with their clever arguments about the ease of sharing travel photos, doing away with the need for long mass emails that nobody actually reads, and a reassurance that the almighty Google would be right there with me every step of the way, all but writing the thing for me.

OK. Fine. Here goes..