Went out for dinner tonight after Arabic with a couple of the guys from class. A Canadian who had been working in IT, made some cash in the UK in the late 90's at BBC Online, etc and is now bouncing around the world. The other guy is a Brit and he's just here for a few months to learn some Arabic and travel before going to university in the fall. He's just 18!

The extent of my meeting "real Egyptians" has been on the bus and metro trains. However, I did meet a really helpful guy on the bus today and he gave me all his contact information, so I can call him if I have questions about things. He was really great. I need to ask the Egyptian guy here at the office what I should do to show my gratitude.

Arabic class was better today. We have homework, too. Our teacher gave us a drawing of a bedroom with all sorts of things in it. Toothbrush, rug, bed, picture, book, etc. We have to go up to random people and ask them in Arabic, "what is the name of this object", then listen to their response and write it down. It seems like a fun and weird way to meet people in the neighborhood! I got a couple done by stopping by the gas station this evening. The rest, I'll do in the morning.

So class seems good, and the students are nice. I'm also going to have a tutor a couple of nights a week. At first, we talked about 3 nights/week, but that might be too much. It's 8-10pm in the evening, so that eliminates any potential for going out. Not that I've been doing a whole lot of that, anyway.

But everything is still so new, which means things are still coming together.

Today was a good day and I'm looking forward to some studying and relaxation tonight and Wednesday morning!