Today I woke up with a rather painful stye in my eye, which means that I write this with a balled-up pair of my socks, soaked in warm water, clamped to my face. I think it’s really beginning to give me a new perspective on things. I have no depth perception.

Aside from that minor inconvenience that I hope will subside pretty soon, this weekend has been pretty good. As you can see in the picture, yesterday we visited one of the few green spaces in Cairo – namely the Al-Azhar Park over on the other side of town. It was full of Egyptians relaxing and enjoying their Saturday evening, while the little restaurant in the middle served up some excellent baba ganoush. If you’ve never tried baba ganoush before I can heartily recommend it, kind of like hummus but made with aubergine (egg-plant).

In other news, I can happily report some very encouraging conversations in Arabic that I negotiated recently. I can now talk with people about not only the weather but also Wayne Rooney’s disappointing World Cup performance. Things reached a giddy climax the other day when, after a long discussion about Cheerio’s (conclusion – “we don’t have any Cheerio’s”) the guys in one of the local shops complimented my Arabic with the magical words “Inta Masrii!” or in English “You are an Egyptian!” You can imagine my mighty strangled yelp of triumph.

We’re going out tonight to a restaurant nearby called Fuddruckers. You might be able to tell by the name that it’s not a particularly Arab place, in fact it’s part of an American chain that sell burgers. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about the whole experience and none of us have eaten very much all day in preparation for the challenges ahead. The only thing that could slow me down is the balled-up sock in my eye. Life is full of these little challenges, isn’t it?

Tags: Al-Azhar park, Arabic, Cairo, egyptian, Fuddruckers, stye, wayne rooney