Cairo at night

As some of you know I do not take alot of photos, so last night I forced myself into tourist mode and took some shots of cairo at night.  They are kinda cool, but not sure why they all turned out this way.  The shots below are all at about 11pm on Mon night- just steps away from my hostel (Midan Talaat Harb, Nile River, Egyptian Museum).  As you can see, Cairo is really the city that never sleeps and I am in the middle of it all...Also below is some info on the arabic alphabet- which I can read and write (not words yet, just the individual letters when they come at the beginning of the word which is on the right side....its complicated).  I can also read and write the numbers too- helpful when shopping.  Arabic is not easy, especially the pronounciation since there are 3 sounds (i think) we do not use in the english language, but I am committed.  I will spend the rest of this week with my "private teacher" then I may finally go somewhere....Thinking of home but happy abroad.

Carrie

The Arabic Alphabet
Introduction to the Alphabet
• Arabic is read from right to left
• Almost all the letters in an Arabic word are joined together like hand writing
• Some letters can’t join because of their shape, but we’ll see them as they come
• There are 29 letters in the Arabic alphabet
• There is no such thing as capital letters versus small letters
• There is no such thing as printing versus hand writing , Arabic is all hand writing
• All the letters in the alphabet are consonants
• Vowels are separate marks that go on top or underneath these letters
• The letters are shown below
ج
Jeem (J)
ث
Thaa (TH)
ت
Taa (T)
ب
Baa (B)
ا
Aleph (A)
ر
Raa (R)
ذ
Dhaal (DH)
د
Daal (D)
خ
Khaa (KH)
ح
Haa (H)
ض
Daad (D)
ص
Saad (S)
ش
Sheen (SH)
س
Seen (S)
ز
Zaa (Z)
ف
Faa (F)
غ
Ghein (GH)
ع
Ein (?)
ظ
Zaa (Z)
ط
Taa (T)
ن
Noon (N)
م
Meem (M)
ل
Laam (L)
ك
Kaaf (K)
ق
Qaaf (Q)
ي
Yaa (Y)
ء
Hamza (A)
ه
Haa (H)
و
Waw (W)
• Each letter has 4 forms (which look very similar to each other)
o when you write the letter by itself
o when it comes in the beginning of a word
o when it comes in the middle of a word
o when it comes at the end of a word