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Vice Blog

END OF THE WORLD PARTY

We were overjoyed when Ahmed showed up on our doorstep. Everyone talked in excited voices, asking him news of the outside. "What's the deal with Tariq?" said Mairead. His Facebook said, "Mubarak Stay." "Well you know, elections are only a couple months away. He's doing good things now."

"What?! But that's exactly what he wants you to do," said Mairead.

"We don't like him, but all of our mothers, they cried when he said he'd step down."

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"I don't want to talk about Mubarak anymore," said Mairead.

"Hey, wait a second," I said. "I think this viewpoint is important. If Ahmed feels this way, then chances are, lots of people do. His opinion is important because he is important."

Our Egyptian friend Ramy showed up with his new girlfriend he met at the non-existent foreigner sit-in. He had huge hair, one perk of the revolution. "I love my hair!" he said.

We immediately loved Ramy's new girlfriend V who was Egyptian-Italian. "I'm just eating, showering, checking Facebook, checking the news… bas."

"She's awesome, how come you never brought her around?"

"I met her ten days ago, before the revolution."

"You know they were saying today that the prime minister of Italy said 'Mubarak is doing a good job.'"

V and Ahmed debated for a while. "What happened with A?" You know they are both on the Italian news." Everyone got quiet. "He did something wrong," said Ahmed. "He's Palestinian, so he's a foreigner. They know where you guys are, you don't see them coming and arresting you. You know what she said to me when she called the other night? 'You lost Egypt…' She's upset because she lost Palestine."

Somehow the conversation turned to Little L. "Hey, why are you so mad at your mother?"

"I lived on my own for eight years. When I was young, they took care of me. Someday they will die and not be able to take care of me."

"But they're you're parents," said Ahmed. "You have to stay with them."

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"You want to hang out with these foreigners rather than join the revolution?"

He smiled.

"We're going to Muqattam tomorrow."

"Yeah, I need to get underwear," said Little Lew.

RACHEL POLLOCK

A few hours after sending us this Rachel texted us this: "We were arrested last night during our party. Charmed the pants off of them and they let us go. But our friend called this morning to say that they are arresting all foreigners from their homes. He said to burn the pictures of Gaza." Since this will probably be the last update until she gets out of the country or it turns into a different country, we'd like to wish Rachel and her friends safe passage and recommend you read the article she wrote for our February issue about sneaking from Egypt into Gaza before all this beeswax started.

Also by Rachel Pollock:

CAIRO VI - THE COOL OF THE NILE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUHAMMAD

RIDDLIN' WITH DA SPHINX

I ❤ MY TWO MILLION NEW EGYPTIAN FRIENDS

LAST DAYS OF CAIRO

THESE CAIRO PROTESTS ARE A PAIN IN THE ASS