Black Thongs for Chunks

I remember being in high school and seeing in a JCrew catalogue a pair of black thong sandals that I really wanted (along with, to my mother's dismay, about 10 nearly identical grey sweaters...and yes we lived in California). When my order came a few weeks later, I noticed that the thongs were missing from my box. Wong came for her weekly visit (2 hours to have pizza with mom in an LA suburb strip mall seemed like freedom, then -- god boarding school sucked!...then again, refer to Guantanamo rant, below, for more thoughts on freedom...), and asked me: "Chunk, honey" (she actually wouldn't call me that), "did you get your JCrew order? I think there was a mistake on the form, because it said you wanted to order a black thong..." "MOM! Not a thong like what you embarrassingly say in front of my friends is a must with certain pants and causes very little discomfort...a pair of black thong sandals!"

Well I got my thong sandals, not then, but about every year since then, and I just realized today that I have too many! I realized in the locker room at my uber-posh gym that I'd gone all the way from my house to the gym (which, ok, only involves a taxi ride, but there is that cat walk up the driveway and through the lobby to the elevators where EVERY chunk dreams of meeting his loitering Saudi prince!) wearing two UNMATCHING black thong sandals! I felt so dumb. Actually...I just realized that I was probably wearing them all day to school, too. God. You know, I noticed the girl sitting next to me in my "Ottoman Modernity" seminar looking at my foot, but I just assumed she was staring at my perfect toes or freakishly-large foot muscle (which I didn't know I had until Curie pointed it out to me!), but maybe it was my unmatching sandals!!

Oh well.

Ok before I sign off, three congrats to friends of mine here in Cairo and abroad...no, four:

1. Congrats and good luck to Curie on her half-marathon that she'll run in NYC Central Park very soon (I will likely space-out and have no clue what day it is when it actually happens, but this TOTALLY counts as a supportive shout-out, right?). She just did a test run two days ago and busted out the 13.1 miles at a pace of LESS THAN 8 minutes per mile, which means that she is able to stay incredibly fit whilst having a loving romantic relationship AND getting her PhD in molecular genetics (at least that's what it was simplified as, last year).

2. Congrats to Slim Masry for getting hired by an extremely prestigious international corporation (after MONTHS of interviews!) in their IT group, meaning that he will soon be leaving us in Egypt for greener (and gayer) pastures in Warsaw. He was so adorable the other day when he told me on the phone: "I asked them if I should get a furnished flat, and they told me that there is a store called Ikea." (check out the link -- it's to the Polish site! :) Good luck assembling your entire house with a SINGLE multi-purpose turnkey, baby!

3. Congrats to Hawk Barbie for her meticulous preparation and successful completion of one interview, last week, and good luck to her on her NEXT interview (this Friday?). We want her to take the second job and stay in NYC -- so everyone send her NYC vibes!!!

4. Congrats to my Cairene confidant(e), who shall henceforth be known only by her gym name: SHAKIRA. Shakira has just been hired to work with one of the most famous, and visually scandalous, pop stars in the Arab world (check out THIS BBC article for more info!), and tomorrow is her first day as her English coach. Bonne chance (or something in Spanish...Toro!).

Best to you all :)

VC