After roughly 8 weeks in Cairo it is understandable that someone would miss some things from back home. There is of course the obvious things, like family and friends, or perhaps maybe a favorite food, but as you are away from home longer and longer little things start to become more and more important to you. This is but a short list of the things I currently find myself longing for.

1. Dental Floss - Most likely there is a store somewhere in Egypt where you can buy dental floss, but I have yet to find it. After searching all the major western stores in Zamalek I am still out of luck. The ability to go to just about any store and buy all the things that we take for granted as part of our daily lives is quite a luxury.

2. Clean Air - After living in Los Angeles for a few years you would think that smog and dirt wouldn't bother me, but compared to Cairo, the air in L.A. might as well be from Alaska.

3. Recycling - It seems like a strange thing to miss, but when you find yourself throwing away everything, when you know it could have been recycled, you feel pretty bad about it. At roughly 2-3 bottles of water a day, that is a lot of room in a landfill that could have been saved. However, it is possible that most of the recyclable materials in the garbage are being pulled out by needy people along the way. Perhaps I can just find out who uses these bottles and hand them over directly.

4. Books - Between Powell's and Amazon you can find just about any book ever made, if you live within cheap travel or shipping distance of the U.S. Even more important, the prices are often pretty darn good by western standards. Not only are American and British published books expensive in Egypt, but you are lucky to find most titles at all. There is a lot to be said about the ease of which Americans and Europeans are able to get their hands on knowledge.

5. Movies - There are a lot of stories being told through independent film these days and unfortunately I have been unable to experience them. Aside from a few film festivals, it is difficult to find screenings of independent films. Even major hollywood movies of good taste are rare. Even worse, DVD's are not nearly as abundant, and when you do find them, the selection is limited. L.A. and San Francisco, you spoiled me, now I fear that no matter where I go, with the exception of New York, I will be in movie theater withdrawl.

There are the top of things as of today. We will see over the next few months what other things I took for granted, and possibly, what things I feel I no longer need.

So as not to sound that I am full of complaints, my next post will contain what I like most about living in Egypt.