"Happy Birthday, Mr. President ..."

I hope you have the image of Marilyn Monroe by now ... 

Today is President Hosni Mubarak's 80th birthday ... virtually all Egyptians were not celebrating.  Mubarak has been in power since 1981 (when Sadat was assassinated).  27 years ... and counting.  The economy is bad; food prices are rising; all prices are rising for Egyptians.  I'll not go on about the ____ "nature" of the government (I am a guest here after all ... but feel free to go to Amazon.com and google my name and Kimberly Jones - my co-author, and you'll see how I do indeed "go on" about the government).

Before today, there were widespread calls for protests against Mubarak and his regime.   They did not transpire ... nada ... nothing.  So, with no public protests at all, Mubarak probably did have a happy day.

I gave the students the day off today ... several of them have stomach ailments; and several others who have had such problems are now fully recovered.  It is inevitable for nearly all of us.  So, in the interest of not pushing them too hard, I suggested they rest/sleep in/walk around Zamalek some more and learn more about the neighborhood.

I also met with the hotel sales manager to solve the internet issues.  We will have a solution once we return from Luxor and Aswan (we leave Monday night, on the overnight train, and return to Cairo next Sunday).  So, by then, all who need it will have it.  (I don't know what we'll have in Aswan or Luxor, but most students will bring their laptops so we hope to have access [and I hope to keep posting]).

The highlight of today was our "banquet" at Abduh and Hayaam's ... Abduh is our "Mr. Fix-it" ... anything we need, any problems we face, Abduh is at-the-ready to help us solve it.  He also is considered our "director" of transportation (Abduh is not only my dear friend, he is also my driver whenever I'm in Cairo, and he manages our 3 other drivers of the minivans we rent while we're here).  Hayaam is his wife, and another of my dear friends.  She always makes amazing feasts for us ... tonight was no exception:  not 1 but TWO turkeys; grape leaves; eggplant with tehina; yogurt and cucumber; mashed potatoes (yes, my request); french fries (the first plate to get emptied); and more.

and then there was the "wawawa" song in one of the vans on our way home ... at one point, all 3 vans were stopped next to each other at a stop light and we all got to share the popular Egyptian song, with one professor singing (screaming?) it loudly ... 

Tomorrow - Sakkara (the oldest pyramid in Egypt, over 5,000 years old) and check out of hotel for our overnight train to Aswan ... so, if no postings happen for several days, you'll know we failed to find good internet access.

p.s.  I posted another picture below, at the top of yesterday's posting ... we were just about to enter the site of the oldest mosque in all of Africa.  When the Arab-Muslims came to Egypt in 638-640 C.E. (Christian or Current Era), they built a mosque ... nothing remains of that original mosque, but the site is the same, and the mosque has been rebuilt several times over the past 1370 years (!) and is a beautiful place, a sacred space, a wonderful place to visit and relax and reflect after a hot day.