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When my kids began looking at universities in North America, finding the right ethnic fit was important. After all, while they both look somewhat Mediterranean, they also look and speak like North Americans even though in many respects they aren't . One of my concerns was to find a place with as much going on as Cairo, since they'd grown up with the wonderful chaos of that city around them, but also with a relatively small undergraduate school for studies so that they wouldn't get swamped in classes of 600 students. Columbia University in New York City fit the bill, and luckily they had the grades to get in. Both of them took to life in the Big Apple with the same enjoyment that they'd had in the Big Mango, so life was good. I have to admit to a certain amount of concern initially over crime rates, safety on the streets and so on, but Rudy Giuliani did a great job of cleaning up New York. When I arrived in August 1999 to settle my son in, the city was almost unrecognisable to someone who had last visited in the early 80's.
Six years on, there isn't a year that I've missed spending some time in Manhattan checking up on kids. It has the same wonderful multicultural feeling as the first time. While some of the young people I knew fled their college placements in other parts of the country in fear in the wake of the September bombing, the Arab students in New York were not afraid. The strong mix of cultures here kept people from running off the rails. So I've been back here to spend some downtime with the daughter and have been enjoying myself immensely. What are the things I love about New York?
One of them is the fact that this city is alive 24/7, just like Cairo. I went to Vienna with my husband years ago for a conference and he was utterly horrified to find that outside of the main downtown area, you couldn't find an open restaurant after 9 pm. Cairenes are just thinking about going out at 9 pm and often don't leave the house until 10 or 11 pm. During the summer or Ramadan, the major portion of socialising is done after dark. Being 7 hours off time when I arrived, I saw some lovely sunrises out of the window when I woke up at 4 and 5 am, so I took a photo out of the window to the corner of Broadway and 125th to remember.
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Will I miss it when I go home? No. I love the excess here, the availability of Mexican beer, all the book and record stores, when I'm here, but I don't need all of that at home. I'm happy with my more limited choices...for one thing, it helps keep the budget under control. I have everything that I really need and then some. I'm also infinitely happier where the fruits and vegetables are cheaper than the potato chips and Coca Cola. The fact that food that is bad for you is cheaper than food that is good for you drives me crazy in the US. Between that and the portions (enormous!) in the restaurants, it's no wonder that there is concern over weight gain here.
I'm off to Egypt again on Wednesday evening. A few more days to spend with my daughter and various friends. Haven't done much shopping since I'm saving my money for building my paddocks and a house, but I did find an out-of-print book by the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture) on the local architecture used to control heat in houses in North Africa. That is going to be very useful in planning the house. A few books and a couple of new riding helmets and we should be set. The afternoon that I arrive there is a gathering at Dany Barbare's stud and I promised that I would come to help her celebrate her horses with some visitors. I think that it will be good to be home.