simply put, I win.

Remember those rambunctious young men who often kept me up later than I wanted to be kept, and occasionally woke me up earlier than I wanted to woken? Well, as of yesterday, I can pretty safely say that I will not have those problems anymore for the last month of my stay in Egypt.
Yesterday morning I awoke to our floor cleaning man Ashraf cleaning the floor outside my door. This is not uncommon as in Egypt one of favorite ways to pass the time is to clean the floor, or ground. You will see this a lot on city streets. An employee will take a biggggg bucket of water and just douse the pavement in front of the store. Some people will say its an effort to keep the dust down, which it might be, but really it's just a way to stay busy. In America, we might play catch, or do a crossword, but in Egypt, the prefer this.
Anyway, I thought nothing of Ashraf doing what he does best. I tiptoed through the puddles down the steps and out of the building for the day. I spent an afternoon in and around Cairo and when I returned around 8 last night I found the commons area void of furniture. I thought maybe they were just cleaning it all, (this has happened in the past) so i did not get my hopes up.
I went into my room when who should enter right behind? well it was my RA Tamim. Throughout this whole ordeal, he has been... how shall I put this... useless. Occasionally he would go out and give them a stern disapproving look, or ask them to shush, but rarely did he get results. He had no clout, and these kids knew it. Well Tamim went ahead and played the trump card on them. For weeks now he has been threatening to kick them out of housing. While he didn't go that far, he crippled their social gatherings. Upon Tamim's request, all the furniture, including the TV, has been removed from the lounge and now it sits empty.
So who you might ask are the winners and losers in this situation?
Winners: Me, my roommates and everyone who has voiced complaints against the all-night party-boys. A few times since the mega-blow up where my world was threatened (I will end your world, I will beat you) fellow study-abroaders have come up to me and said, "are you Sam? From the fourth floor?" Upon confirmation, they would thank me for my services and willingness to stand up for the right to peace and quiet at 3am on a Wednesday night. I like to think that I played a major role in this victory for the floor.
--Also winning: The cleaning crew. I can't imagine that they were excited about every morning being faced with the challenge of replacing the couches which had been moved to better suit playstationing a few feet from the TV or cleaning up the spilt sodas and remaining KFC boxes from the area. Now there is nothing for them to clean.
Losers; The cleaning crew. Let's face it, there isn't that much to clean on our floor and we had a really nice tv. During their downtime, these guys used to sit out there, drinking tea, smoking cigarettes and relaxing. Now, there is nowhere for them to do this, at least not on our floor. I think that 4 was a congregational floor for day-time egyptian soap operas. That has been taken away from them.
Also losing: The loud kids. Oh whatever will they do? I'm sure they will be loud elsewhere, and I probably havent't heard the end of their dance parties, but for now I will do what I do in these situations, celebrate. and rejoice.
This one is for those who enjoy a little peace and quiet, and are slightly opposed to egyptian teenage male dance parties.

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