the present

i'm leaving. i'm leaving i'm leaving. on a midnight flight to asmara. going back to eri. tonight i fly.

in cairo, i didn't get the chance to stop and think, about anything at all really. sensation-overload. walking talking riding travelling eating sweating getting lost, not bothering to be found, flat-footed feet aching, self-torturing brain relaxing while i let my senses do the talking.

i attended many a musical event. i frequented many sheesha cafes. i met a lot of cool people. mostly non-egyptians, but not all. i got sucked into the social gravity of classmates, but didn't mind that much.

vacations like this can be fun, but you can't help feeling stupider when they're over.

i envied my teachers who had 10 students to a class. and thought how much easier my life in eritrea would be if i had the same demographics. but alas....i firmly tucked the thought of eritrea in bed at the back of my mind. when it occasionally cried awake i would shudder with fear and a touch of excitement, but then promptly shoosh it back to sleep.

i had ambitions of becoming a wandering whirling stratospheric daravish, travelling to india overland and not worrying about *what i'm going to do with my life.* because whether i like it or not, i'm doing it right now.