the mall

tonight my fellow castmates (plus our lovable friend evgeniy) and i did what any american would do in egypt: went to the mall.

the malls here are open until 2AM or later, and they close for a while at dusk for ramadan so that they can eat. so it was weird to get to the mall at 8pm and watch people opening up. other than that, and the arabic everywhere, it was fully a mall, in fact, fancier than most malls i know: there's a waterpark on one end, and in the parking lot is a shopping cart the size of a football field. no joke. i'll post pictures of it tomorrow. the mall had all of your standards: radio shack, KFC, and a place called 'Pizza Cream,' where you can buy pasta in a cone. for dinner we again did what any american would do: ate at Chili's and for dessert, Cinnabon.

the two cab drivers took us from the hotel, waited for us for THREE hours, and took us back. each cab's total came to less than $20. i had a full meal at chili's, appetizer, steak, and drink, and my total was around $15. and apparently that's still expensive for cairo. the drive was again death-defying, since all cars seem to be devoid of seat belts, and the egyptians have a peculiar habit of neglecting their headlights.

tomorrow morning: make-up and costume session, and i get a shave and a haircut!