After staying out until 3am dancing at After 8, it was quite difficult to wake in time to make the bus to Bawiti. Luckily my friends informed me of day light savings, which happens much earlier in Egypt. I still chose to wake as if the time were the same because I feared the bus driver would not know and leave one hour earlier. When I awoke, my body ached from all the dancing, but what a good ache! I managed to get myself together and I met my Singaporean friend for tea at Cilantro's promptly at 6:30am. Cilantro's is the Starbucks of Cairo and they serve little chunks of tasty brownie with every beverage.

At the coffee shop, I read the Egyptian Gazette and became intensely frustrated at the declaration that the past week had been the worst for deaths in Iraq. Every single week is worse than all the previous! When will the media stop using that stupid measurement and instead really analyze the destruction? My sadness prompted a discussion between my friend and I about the Israeli/Palestinian issue, one that seems to have no solution to benefit all. (Brings to mind one of my favorite lines in a reggae song titled "Come in Peace" by Burning Spear: "We don’t want no more war; no one seems to be the winner." )

Reading the newspaper that morning further justified my reasoning for leaving the city for a while. It's really easy in this part of the world for your mind to be saturated with bad news. The very location of Cairo speaks volumes for what kind of news is broadcast here: Saudi Arabia directly east; Israel and Palestine directly north; Sudan in the south; Libya due west; and of course Syria, Iraq, and Iran a stones throw away. If one pays attention too much, the news is likely to create a hole in your heart and the same type of desensitization created by violent movies and television.

When the discussion was over and the tea finished, we hailed a taxi to Turgoman Station where the others were waiting to embark on our first journey out of the city. I slept for some time, until the heat became too intense and I woke up sweating. I looked out the window and gasped at what I saw - nothing! No buildings, no taxis, no people - nothing. Just sand and the occasional abandoned military outpost or mining operation. The vast emptiness was a refreshing sight for sore eyes. After about 2 hours on the bus, we were allowed a pit stop at the only functioning structure for miles. It was here that I got to know Jeff's friends a bit better. One woman is Dutch and just finished her Masters in International Relations. The other is American, a bit younger, and a journalist. Together we will have an interesting journey into the unknown.