Month: September 2015

Fun with Arabic. Also Known As, Eating Pigeons and Drinking Sweat

To begin, here’s the story of a false cognate called lamoon. In Egyptian Arabic, lamoon means what you’d think it means: lemon. But in Lebanese Arabic, the sort I’ll (attempt to) speak for the next...

/ September 15, 2015

‘We are limited, but by God we are unlimited.’

“The Church has always done charity work and must continue to do it,” said one of our hosts at the largest Orthodox compound in Cairo. “This bishopric, however, focuses its efforts specifically on the work...

/ September 10, 2015

Dust to dust

It’s the peculiar rules of hectic Cairo traffic, the ones seemingly unknowable to anyone not born within earshot of the horns and shouts and screeching brakes. It’s the way the city flats seem one with...

/ September 4, 2015