The Luckiest Man Alive

This past week, a pair of friends from the US showed up to visit in Cairo. Jason and Kristina were the first (and only) people who visited us in Georgia. They stopped by this week en route to South Africa to see the World Cup. We watched a lot of soccer, but they also did quite a bit of sight seeing around town.

On Thursday night, we went out to a friends house for dinner. At the end, we walked a few blocks, got a cab and drove home. After getting dropped off, we all immediately went to bed. The next morning, we were supposed to go to the Khan, but we quickly realized Jason couldn't find his wallet. We ransacked the house, but nothing. So we went over to the place we were at dinner with and checked that place out. Nothing. Crap. It's probably in the taxi.

So, while Jason went to cancel the credit cards, Kristina and I went to get some coffee. Jason realized he didn't know the address in South Africa to send the replacement cards to, so wound up just sitting around waiting for us to get back.

When we got back, we got the biggest surprise. EVER. The taxi driver found his wallet, tracked us down and delivered it.

• The taxi driver picked us up a few blocks away from our start, and dropped us off a few blocks from home. He did not know where to find us.
• There are LOTS of Americans where I live. I do not stand out that much on my own. Finding me required some inquisition.
• He didn't know the neighborhood. It's not uncommon when going from one part of town to another, to have to tell a taxi where to go. We had to share show him how to get my house.
• Timing: if he had arrived an hour earlier, we would have been downtown looking at the other place. A half hour later, he would have delivered useless hunks of plastic because they would have been cancelled. If we hadn't gone to coffee, he would have cancelled the cards even earlier.
• It is quite likely his holy day where he should be spending time with his family. But despite that he went out hunting around an unfamiliar part of town to find us.
• Honesty: There's no lost & found center, no dispatch for taxis here. This guy had access to 2 credit cards and a drivers license. He could have been scot free. But he decided to put in some serious effort and delivered Jason's credit cards.

Without this fortuitous piece of karma and good will from a stranger, Jason would have been surfing for at least the next several weeks in South Africa with no access to his cash and leaning heavily on Kristina. Nevermind the hassle of card cancellation and chaos of trying to match up delivery of a card with multiple stops throughout South Africa.

Luck, I spell you J-A-S-O-N.

Permission v. Forgiveness

A smart man once said, "Its easier to ask forgiveness than permission." He was probably talking about relations with his wife, but his statement applies to many situations, particularly in Egypt.

This morning I set out with two visiting friends and a cycling friend to go to the Olympic Stadium for a track workout. Meg had been an official at a track meet last month where we discovered this track. It's a reasonably well maintained all-season track, with all the expected markings on it. Perfect for running my (http://trackytuesday.blogspot.com) workout.

I tried to do this last week, but despite the fact that the gate was open, I made the mistake of asking someone when it opened. (They said 10am, which doesn't meet my needs.) I turned around and did my workout in the desert.

Today, we drove up and walked in with the plan of, "act like you're supposed to be here and no one will stop you." It totally worked. There was a womens track team just starting their "practice" but we ran anyway. A couple times I thought their coach was going to say something to us, but he was just getting ready to talk to his athletes. On the way out, there was a security guard, but there's no problem leaving.

I'm not sure we'll be able to do this indefinitely. Sooner or later someone might get up the guts to confront us. But for now: forgiveness: 1. Permission: 0.

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Running to work is an option!

The last few months I've been thinking that it's probably possible to run to work.  My first run in Cairo was with another new guy and I ran about 60 minutes out and back down the Corniche. At the time, it appeared the landmarks I saw were about half-way to work, and I wondered what would happen if I just committed to running the whole way. Well this morning I finally got off my butt and found out.

Before I describe the run, let me be clear: There is no way I'm going to be able to run to work every day.

1. Simple logistics are a pain in the butt. I have to make sure I've already deposited clothes the day before, so at most I'm looking at every other day. Realistically, every other day is pretty aggressive.
2. I can't run to work on the weekends because the gym/showers don't open until 10am. (Wish I had known that today when I arrived at 9am.) Later would work, but temps start rising pretty fast.
3. Pollution: Running down the Corniche certainly exposes me to more pollution than my normal running routes. While I thought it was tolerable this morning, I wonder what 2.5 years of running to work would do to me. Anything permanent? (Does anyone actually have references to answer this question?)

But despite the negatives, there were lots of positives in this run:

• The corniche runs right along the nile and it's one of the greener parts of town. The trees provide quite a bit of shade and there always seems to be something flowering. It's generally a pleasant view (for city running). On some days when the smog isn't so bad, I should be able to see the Pyramids along the way.
• 1 hour 10 minutes from my front door to the target stopping point is awesome. It's an 8 mile run so it's a good distance for a regular run. As I ramp up towards the Athens Marathon, I could potentially make it an out-and-back run without too much trouble.
• Pollution issues will certainly be lighter earlier in the mornings if I aim to arrive at the showers closer to 6:30/7am.
• I got some looks as I went by, but if you're just sitting on the corner, even average Americans will turn their heads and watch you go by. I'm not sure what this would be like for Meg though. Its one thing for a man to be doing this, but a girl in running apparel would probably get a lot more attention closer to downtown. Some kids at a university cheered for me as I went by.

I think I might be up for this run once a week. It's a good route, and I'd be willing to do it a lot more. I just need to figure out how to handle the clothing logistics to do it more.

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