Found my apartment

So, the good news is I've finally found a place to live, which is a relief. Apartment hunting has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'm very grateful to both Rachel and Catherine, two buddies from SOAS, who let me couch surf for my first week in Cairo. I haven't moved in yet but I expect it should be at the start of this week, hopefully. Rent is relatively cheap, even by Cairo standards: 1000LE a month, or around $200. Normal Egyptians pay much, much less, but many of these cheaper apartments are not in excellent shape. This apartment, in contrast, is practically deluxe--plenty of hot water, AC, broadband (!), a washing machine (although unfortunately it is not automatic and needs to be repaired), and so on. I have my own little balcony that looks down to an ahwa (Egyptian cafe) below. Best (?) of all, I'm sharing it with an Egyptian, which means that hopefully I will pick up a lot of ameya (Egypian Arabic) at the same time that I am studying fusha (Modern Standard Arabic, pronounced foos Ha) at the Arabic language school Kalimat.

Okay, gotta go. I will let everyone know as soon as I move in to my new place!