Short but sweet.

So this post may be a little bit brief, but I have to be up early tomorrow to return to Mogadem Tahrir to pick up my visa. That was the most important thing I did today, filling out the paperwork for my tourist visa. Basically, my host family is amazing and so Younis's fiancee, Noora, picked us up and took us to Mogadem Tahrir. This is a huge, Soviet style building with many floors and hallways, but few signs. We made our way to the correct floor and muddled through the paperwork. I kept trying to speak Arabic to the employees but most of them responed in English. However, I did find one nice man at the photocopy machine who listened while I slowly explained in Arabic that yes, I am American, but I lived in England. We had a chat about Tony Blair and I left feeling pleased that I finally was allowed to use my Arabic. I am discovering that most of what I've been taught is more similar to Lebanese Arabic, which means I am learning the Egyptian slang and words as I go. It is all pretty confusing as they have many different words and phrases that don't sound similar to the more formal Arabic that I've been learning.
Nevermind, because we found a nice cafe to relax in afterwards and we were sheltered from the afternoon heat for a while. Today was really hot, even for the locals who say we're having a small heatwave. It isn't such a problem though because of the younger people don't do too much during the day, but they come alive at night and stay up really late as it is cooler then. Most people here are up until 1 or 2 in the morning even if they have work the next day. This city really doesn't stop as I am realizing!
For the evening we had dinner at a fun restaurant. Here you can eat and also paint ceramics at the same time. You choose a figure, paint it, and then return in a few days after they fire it in a kiln. This was a nice way to spend the rest of the day as we were joined by some of Younis's friends who chatted to us about Cairo and advised on the best things to do and see.
So, as I said before I am up tomorrow to pick up my visa and then I will start work in the afternoon. I'm interested to see what Mohamed has in store for me, lots of mystery shopping hopefully! More updates later in the week.