Today was the last day for Rami and Raquy here in Cairo. They head back to New York city in a few hours.
They come every year around winter time to spend two months of the year here in Cairo, teaching at the AUC, and performing their amazing percussion shows around Egypt. Since i only just started working at the AUC last semester i didn't know of them, but had the distinct pleasure of meeting and getting to know these two extremely talented and cool individuals.
It's always great for me to be around music and musicans which aren't related to anything i do, usually because it's very humbling to see styles, time signatures and theory which i am completely ignorant to. Naturally i enjoyed being exposed and being able to absorb some great new material and concepts (although i doubt i could ever play in 14/3 or 7/5!) but it was geeting to meet and know these great guys that was the most fun.
Being the artisic type, we tend to neglect the social aspects of our life, but ultimatley Egypt isn't the best place for making long term friends here, especially if you have foreign ties.. people want to use you and exploit you, rather then genuinely be your friend, so it was really a breathe of fresh air being around good people (and good food!).
It's extremely rare for me to meet people that i get on with so well, and whom generally enjoy my company.. i dunno, i tend to think people get sick and tired or fed up with hanging out with me, but the time i spent with Raquy and Rami was truly allot of fun and really felt like home.
Now that they're flying back to N.Y, i can see myself falling back into my old routine, of basically just going to work & and the Gym, and more or less spending the rest of my time indoors. Admittedly i have allot of projects i want to work on, so that will be good in some ways, but i guess fairly negative in other ways too, since i really did not seem to get out enough in the past few months.
Two more months and th spring AUC semester will be over (thank god). I've enjoyed my work, but alas it has been fairly frustrating and time consuming, and i'm looking forward to not working and just trying to focus on my career as a musician and artist.
On a brighter note, my old man might be comin for a short visit soon, which will be nice.
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