GHURFATII FII ZAMALEK (My Room in Zamalek)

The ground floor has common area which is very large and I think it's interesting-looking: Arabic arches for the doorways, some walls of beige cut tile and some of glass and brass.  There's a little courtyard with some trees and wicker chairs and couches, and an attached grungy little gym with a range of free weights in intervals of 5kg, a few treadmills and machines.

To the left: courtyard, elevator to dorms.  Archway on the right: exit to street.

Zamalek (three syllables, zam-EHH-lick) dorm has two separate towers, one for boys and one for girls.  You may never have alcohol or even someone of the opposite gender in your dorm room; the only place you can mingle is in the common area.  With the big glass walls.  Oh, and PDA is also a punishable offense.  Offenses earn you points.  If you accrue 7 points you get kicked out of the dorms.  Alcohol?  4 points.  Women?  Also 4 points.  Both in your room at once?  Goodbye.

My roommate Mike is tied with Julian for my favorite roommate ever-- no offense to you, my other roommates (except Scott and Sergio.  Offense to you, Scott and Sergio).  He's got a great sense of humor and is a really charming dude and he just came from studying abroad in Germany.  We mesh well.

The room itself is a double, with bathrooms down the hall-- a line of stalls, urinals, showers; a single washer and dryer for the whole floor.  It's got a bland common room with a wood-and-copper table and a bunch of old couches and a television.  The whole of it's very 1970s looking.  There is no kitchen.  I can rent a fridge for about $180 but I'm not going to.

Today I saw a late-30s man with coppery hair in the courtyard on his laptop.  We exchanged pleasantries and I went wandering around the neighborhood.  When I came back he was just leaving, and we made some small talk in the street: His name is Kevin and he's a professor of business here.  He said that the top four floors of the dorms are all for staff and faculty, and he gets a room as part of his arrangement, but he'll probably move elsewhere because it's too much space for him: two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room.  I said I was jealous that he had a kitchen and that I couldn't do any cooking, and he lit up:

"I'll tell you what, you can use my kitchen whenever you want if you leave some of what you cook behind--"
"I accept!"

I went back to my dorm to cut up my delicious and fresh 75-cent mango, which I washed down with my 25-cent bottle of 1.5L of Aquafina.