On the Bright Side

I recently affirmed that I won't be able to return to Princeton for Reunions, a huge celebratory weekend when all alumni classes hold a reunion on campus at the same time. While the multiples of 5 are still the "biggest" reunions, every class holds a well-attended reunion every year--it's one of the best things about being a Princeton alumnus. (Note to inquiring minds: Rotary asks its scholars not to go home during the scholarship period; plus, the plane ticket alone would take a substantial chunk of the money I'm planning to use for the remainder of my stay. Mish momken, not possible, as we say in Arabic.)

Last week, I was consoling myself about my imminent absence by the fact that I had gained roughly in the neighborhood of 10 pounds due to my inability to cook for myself and the nullibicity of the concepts of "diet" "light" "low-fat," etc. in Egypt. In fact, the motto here is more like: If the dish is already sweet, add 1 tablespoon sugar; if it's not sweet, add a cup. (For a while I was thrilled to discover something called "Frapaccino Light" at a cafe and got one every day...until I realized that it's opposite was "Frapaccino Strong" and I was just getting a low-caffeine version of the beverage.)

However, I was quite pleased to note today that I have probably lost about 5 of those pounds. Unfortunately that is because I have had some nasty combination of food poisoning and the flu for the past 5 days and today is the first day I've been able to retain nourishment. Every cloud has a silver lining though, right?