Last night, at 3:30am, there was a knock on the door to our flat. A few minutes later, another knock. Insomnia has been my constant companion, especially around that time, for the last few weeks, so I noticed the knock, but I CERTAINLY was not going to answer it at that ungodly time!
This morning, I got up and was checking my AUC mail, when I found this in my Inbox:
Please be advised that overnight the Egyptian Ministry of Health confirmed positive H1N1 test results for two AUC students. These two students have been hospitalized and are receiving the necessary medical treatment. A third student was also hospitalized as a cautionary measure because she had a high fever, which is symptomatic of this flu.These students are all residents of the Zamalek dormitory and as a result the dormitory has been quarantined for 24 hours. The Ministry of Health has obtained samples from all residents of the dormitory and those results are expected later today.AUC’s medical clinic is working closely with the Egyptian Miistry of Health to effectively manage this testing process and to provide the necessary care for all of our students.This is all of the information available.at this time; as we receive further information, it will be shared immediately with the AUC community.
Imagine my surprise – I LIVE IN THE ZAMALEK DORM!!! Upstairs from the students, but we share all the same common areas, elevators etc. We were never tested!!! How can you lock us in quarantine when we haven’t been tested, let alone informed.
HMMMM – perhaps that was the middle-of-the-night knock on the door? But who, in their right mind, would expect people to answer the door at 3:30am?? (I have lived here long enough to realize that, YES, it would be perfectly within the realm of possibility for the Egyptian authorities to expect people to answer the door at 3:30am – and within the Egyptian cultural mindset to do exactly that!) Especially when there was no announcement or information about this prior to the e-mail this morning. WTF????
We did experiments… we got dressed, after receiving the e-mail, and went downstairs to go get some errands done. We were greeted by a phalanx of guards in front of a LOCKED front door. We cannot leave.
Ministry doctors are supposed to be back soon to swab all those they didn’t get in the first round. Insha’allah, the quarantine will be lifted by this evening some time. If so, we are probably going to stay with a friend so that we can head off to Sinai, as planned, tomorrow.
Only here – welcome in Egypt
Remember….this is an adventure.
<BREATHE>
Oh crap i feel bad(ish) about mocking you for this earlier. 🙁 That sucks!! Are they at least feeding you guys and whatnot? How long is the lockdown for?
“We did experiments…” What exactly is that euphemism for? :p
And for the record, hell no i wouldn’t have opened the door at that hour!
Bad TypO for picking on her friends who are LOCKED in their flat!!!! They are doing nothing for us – just preventing us from leaving. Thank god we ordered Indian food last night, or we’d probably starve to death!! LOL
We did experiments – you *think* you know what the outcome of an action will be, so you perform the action and see if the results match your prediction. We *thought* there was no chance in HELL that they would be “following the rules” besides we are FACULTY – they won’t really keep us in….. WRONG!
We’re headed to the island later this afternoon, so if you’re allowed to receive goods from the outside world, we’d be more than happy to drop off food and beer. 🙂
Thanks for the offer – luckily the tequila, red wine and mixed nuts haven’t run out yet!!!
If you change your mind, we’ll be there around 1 or 2 and you have my number.
Well, well – I was looking for news on the situation and got redirected here.
Looks like the Egyptian government didn’t want to be outdone by AUC in sending you off. I can try to round up a couple of motorcycles if you want to go Steve McQueen on them.
KD and Jack, I’m sending all sorts of positive karma waves your way that this settles out, so you two can get away and have a break to regroup, so the process of getting out of there at your main departure at the end all goes well. I’ve been following all the blog postings from both you and KD for the whole time you have been there, and fell you both have the right frame of mind to make it through this new travail.
Sheesh… the below is correct. That’s what I get for cutting and pasting the same comment to both blogs.
“I’ve been following all the blog postings from both you and Jack for the whole time you have been there, and fell you both have the right frame of mind to make it through this new travail.”
(I told Jack a while ago, I don’t really do web 2.0 😉 ).