Excellent. My pictures seem to have uploaded. The top picture is Karim and me standing in the Sonesta lobby after yesterday morning of bazaar shopping. Let me inform ALL of you that while I speak of Karim, I could speak equally affectionately of Mohamed and Mahmood. I think being sidelined more than playing as well as being afraid to go outside alone for the first 3 days enabled me to share in the Egyptian hospitality more than others have been. I also think they (our male Egyptian hosts) have never seen gray hair (or any woman's hair for that matter!) so I think they are intrigued. Fact is, it's very safe to walk around here when we do, but it's different than Groton so I exercised caution.

One picture I have put up is just a glimpse of the traffic. It's truly hard to have you know this aspect of Cairo without visiting. Trust me, there are too many cars for too few roads AND why, why, WHY do they even bother to paint white lines delineating lanes? I think it's to appease some international law firm or insurance agency. They do not use the lines at ALL, unless maybe to straddle them. Oh, they throw their trash INTO the streets. No, not into trash cans for collection somewhere, but rather into the streets. It's rather unsightly and most assuredly unsanitary.

One of the pics here is me just outside the gift shop in the hotel where there is a large leather elephant. I posted it for dear Lyle who would want to know where every elephant is. Sorry I cant bring THAT one home.

One of the pics is the view from my hotel room. Yup, buildings, high rise, smog.

Another is a picture of the strip where there are clothing shops and a butcher, complete with 5 hanging bleeding cows, ready for a passerby to pick up a loin or flank. They'll cut it right off for you. Nevermind that there are 10,000 flies circling...and the butcher shop stands next to the crafts, like perhaps a tourist might like some rib eye to go...

Another picture is my new friend Siyole, (See-Yole-Ay) a South African gem. The USTeam went to the hotel Lebanese restaurant last night (my nth order of felafel this week) and we were joined by a few members of the awesome SA team. You see, Natalie is originally from SA and Claire's got roots there as well. Her Dad is SA. And me, I WANT to be SA, so the evening was a gift. SA's have incredibly generous, fun, and spirited personalities and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we missed the Egypt v. Malaysia match. Then we hit the hotel nightclub and yes, I sang my 3rd consecutive night of Karaoke. We packed the place and everyone went home late. Last night's offerings were Diana Ross, Elton John and LeAnn Rimes.

Today we play Germany at 3pm Cairo time. Playing order is #1,3 and then 2. Think of us as we wage war for 13th place. I am in today's line-up and I am over the moon. I think bageling Italy yesterday helped secure my spot for today. You will hear more of this from me but I didnt think I could love squash more than when I got on the plane - and in fact, I do. There is so much more to learn about the game and so many great people to get to know. Squash has helped make this big bad world a lot smaller and safer.

I have spent my last Egyptian pounds (on purpose at the hotel gift shop) and after the event party this evening, I will be packing up for my long trip home. I have a few email addresses to collect, a few more pictures to take and maybe a few more felafels to eat. Barring any unforeseen changes, I should be back to a virus free home Sunday evening. Salam!