I didn't have time to wait for the government press office to call me. At the end of the day, I wrote long e-mails to City Editor Andy Burkhardt. I tried to keep my eyes open for all the little details. One thing that struck me was a sense of timelessness, taking long breaks in the middle of the day. The whole place was so run down.
Nothing is what it seems in Cairo.
I made notebooks, called cultural notebooks, and kept all these little details. I called an Egyptian friend, and American sociologist, and went over all those details to make sure they were accurate. I have about two dozen notebooks. It's very hard to get official interviews. That's how I got officials, by tracking them down.