A word of advice: don’t try to buy a domain and web hosting from BlueHost from Egypt with a French credit card. That is, unless you enjoy being lectured about “country mismatches” and treated like a common criminal.

Since emerging from the Yotel two Saturdays ago, I spent three days in Barcelona (about which more later) before coming to Alexandria, Egypt, where I’ve been working with a group of women journalists from Europe and North Africa on a citizen media project. Apart from the mistreatment at the hands of BlueHost, it’s been extremely rewarding and enjoyable experience. The language of instruction is French, though a few of the participants are stronger in English, so I spend the day switching between the two languages, not to mention helping troubleshoot computers with operating systems in French, Italian and English, often with either European or Arabic keyboards. By the end of the day my head is spinning, and I’ve arrived at the point now where both my French and English are in a pretty sorry state.

Barbara and Djahida film each other

As usual, my Flickr page is probably the best vantage point from which to keep track of my activities, at least for now. Photos of Alexandria here, and of the workshop here.