some comfort here

I have had two tremendous sources of comfort in the past two days, both of which stem from M, a housemate, a coworker. In short, I spend 75% of my waking time in the company of this man. So far, we get along really well.

The first: the middle east. We have gone to the Amsterdam Felafel twice in the past two days. They serve only felafel and french fries & have a glorious topping bar: hummus, baba, various salads, pickles, sauces, fried eggplant that you can pile on top of it all. Delicious. They recently stopped having plates because people would take too much topping. So delicious.

Last night, most of the house (excluding the kid who was at my orientation, further proving my point about the lameness of my orienting group) went out for felafel followed by shisha. M had never had any sort of nicotine and thought hookah would be a good way to break his streak of abstinence. The shisha was served in a basement cafe that looked like something straight out of Cairo. I had sahlab, a creamy drink that I have not had since leaving Egypt. There was loud Amr Diab music videos playing, including some of the hit songs from when I was in Egypt. And there was good conversation. I spent some of the night feeling super nostalgic for Egypt, but also profoundly at home. It's bizarre that something so foreign and exotic to everyone else in the group felt like the most familiar night out I have had in weeks.

Yesterday, M and I discovered our mutual adoration of all things This American Life. We have spent much of the time since chatting about the show. Sharing favorite episodes, good stories, and TAL-related memories. I brought my mp3 player with me to work today & we listened to "Peter Pan" and "Drama Bug" as we chopped tomatoes and "Letterman! Cookies!" as we swept and mopped the floor. It was glorious and also equally comforting.

So life is good.