Tom in Egypt // توم في مصر

3 exams down and one to go, I'm back at Porto to use the internet and in a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to watch Spurs vs. United in the cup - BBC says 1-1 at half time.

The first 3 exams all went fairly well although they were much harder than the last set, I'm confident about the Egyptian oral tomorrow though and then we have a week off (odd only two weeks after our winter break?) so a few of us are off to visit Ismailia, one of the cities on the Suez Canal.

It's been a good couple of weeks back, and although it's been tough, I've enjoyed getting back into the swing of things at the TAFL centre which is noticeably quieter now the Germans have left...... Going out with and catching up with all the people who fled Egypt for Christmas has been excellent as has going back to the various glamorous drinking establishments of Alexandria. It has, therefore, been a fairly sleepless few weeks, hence the title (also the title of an excellent book I'm reading at the moment). At the moment, for those of you who are less sportingly aware than myself, the African Cup of Nations is taking place in Ghana. Egypt is a completely football mad country, and they're the defending champions. We've been to watch a few games - they take it VERY seriously, screaming at every chance and half chance. Happily, they've won both games so far and are looking good for the later stages. I'd love to be at the party should they somehow win it again.

Last week also saw the latest in our series of matches against Cairo, and I was part of an under-strength team that was on the receiving end of a thrashing. At the moment we're the second best team in Egypt. In the clubhouse afterwards, though, we managed to organise what could well be the first match of something resembling an Egyptian National Rugby team, vs. a team of expats which I will hopefully be part of in Alex on Valentine's Day. Should be an interesting one, there's already a fair amount of banter flying around at training!

All for now, I'll try and write from Ismailia, I'm there for three days before a weekend in Cairo and then back to Alex to start the new term proper.

Txx