Visas and Dust

We, along with a co-worker, spent the better part of the past two days getting our visas renewed. 

On the way downtown the first day, we saw lots of evidence of Putin's visit to Cairo.  There were security people every 30 metres (I didn't take photos of them!) and lots of billboards and signs.

Once we got to the visa office, we passed through 2 security checks and began to fill out forms, submit pictures, pay for stamps and obediently walk from wicket to wicket to wicket. When that was done, they told us to come back the next day and then they would have the visas ready. 

On the evening of the first day and continuing to the second day, there was a dust storm.  It's been windy, dusty and colder than it was. 

It rained a bit overnight, producing a strange pattern of mud on the cars.

This morning we dropped off our passports around 9:30 and were told they would be ready at 1:00. After a trip to the American University in Cairo bookstore, we hung out at a tea shop for most of the morning. 

Because we were missing our Arabic class for the visa run, we practiced Arabic and asked questions as we enjoyed our "shay bi nana".

Downtown at midday, the sky was full of dust. 

For lunch we walked from the tea shop to a different restaurant about a block away. 

I found the doormat by the men's room quite entertaining:

After lunch we picked up our shiny new one year visas!