Safely in the US

No passport issues, no flight delays, no problem with visas. Happily in Chicago at my friends' house. Love you all very much - it's been a fantastic summer!

That's All, Folks!

I will pack tonight, stay the night at Sarah's in downtown, and we'll share a taxi to the airport together. And that will be the end of my time in Egypt - for now! I still have much more I want to see and most definitely plan on returning to see all of her beauty.

I will be home soon, at which point I will show all of you many, many, many pictures (I keep trying to upload more pics and videos from the cruise, but Blogger is not cooperating). I love you all very much. It's been a fantastic summer. I have grown more than I expected and learned things I wasn't planning to.

La vie est belle!

Peace be with you, Egypt!
السلام عليكم ، مصر

Back on Campus

Saturday morning I went out snorkeling after trying to figure out how to get back home. Buses were full until late that evening. And once I got back to Cairo, I still had to try and get to campus. I had no problem paying for a cab, but they are notoriously terrible about knowing where the new campus actually is and I did not want to deal with the stress of trying to get there.
So I went snorkeling. I found a lot of really, really cool reefs and went out really far. As a result, I was out for four hours...oops. Sorry, friends.
I got back, and the friend from class I'd been trying to call had finally responded to the text. If I left immediately, I might make their private bus to get back to Cairo. So I packed in five seconds and got into a taxi, barely saying good-bye to my buds. When I reached the hotel the bus was leaving from, turns out the bus was, of course, late. I had accidentally walked away with a bunch of Kim's money. So Tim came out to the hotel and got Kim's money and we actually managed to say good-bye. I called Kim and Kenny and wished the adieu.

The bus ride was without mishap. Sarah (friend from class) had a Egyptian friend on the bus who lives in Rehab. He drove me to Rehab (much closer to campus than downtown Cairo) and got me in a private car that knew exactly where campus was. I don't know I've ever traveled in Egypt so free of stress on my own. It was really nice, given the lateness of the hour.

The Glory of Aswan

Temple of the Two Gods


Valley of the Kings

Temple of Hatshepsut

The Two Obelisks of Memnon

Dahab

It is absolute gorgeous here. We went to the beach and floated in the sea for a while. The town is heavenly and still very much Egyptian. (Sharm el-Sheik was incredibly modern and felt much more a resort than a visit to my favorite country.) Local children are playing on the beaches. It's down season for tourists, so we aren't seeing white folks everywhere. I love the feeling.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

We had quite the adventure getting to Dahab. The 5 o'clock Wednesday bus we were planning to take was completely full when we got to the station. We managed to get seats on the 1 am bus Thursday. That meant we had several hours in Cairo...and we had all of our luggage. We left a bit of stuff at the station (which they weren't supposed to do), but couldn't have done a lot of crazy tourism stuff. So we headed to City Stars, had a good dinner at Wagamama, and saw "Harry Potter." It was phenomenal. I think it may be my favorite of the movies. Which is funny, given it's one of my less favorite books.

Rehab

Rehab is an upper-class neighborhood close to campus. Went there for the first time last night for one last dinner in Cairo with the gang.

My Favorite Mosque

This is my favorite mosque in Cairo. Mostly it's sentimental - it's directly across the Nile from our favorite cafe. But I also love it's combination of the regular, everyday mosque with its being one of the taller ones...a good blend of majesty and ordinariness.

Spartans!!

Stephen (a fellow student from MSU, though not studying Arabic this summer) came with us on our non-ascent of the Cairo Tower. Apparently he's wide-awake in this shot...

Roasted Corn

I got roasted corn on the street the other day...it was really, really good. I think the video may show up sideways. Sorry. No clue what's up with that. But my overall emotions are fairly clear, I think.T

Uyghur Essay

Since Granna commented about it...yes, 800 words in Arabic. 844 to be precise.


اليوغور واحدة من أقدم الجماعات العرقية التي تعيش في وسط آسيا. معظم اليوغور مسلمين. اليوم معظم اليوغور يعيشون في منطقة شينجيانغ من جمهورية الصين الشعبية. بعض اليوغور يعيشون في بلاد قازاقستان وقرغيزستان وأوزبكستان ومنغوليا وباكستان وافغانستان وروسيا. في الصين ، اليوغور يعيشون في الاقليم هونان والمدن الكبیرة مثل بكين وشانغهاي بالإضافة إلى منطقة شينجيانغ.
اليوغور يتكلمون اللغة الأغورية. هذه اللغة لها عدة لهجات و الرئيسية اللهجة تسمى ببساطة "سنترال أغورية." الأغورية التركية هي اللغة ولكن قد اقتبست الكثير من الكلمات من اللغة الفارسية وبعض الكلمات من اللغات الروسية والصينية. الأغورية هي واحدة من اللغات الرسمية للالأغورية شينجيانغ ذات الحكم الذاتى. هناك حوالي ثمانين الصحف والمجلات الأغورية. وبالإضافة إلى ذلك ، هناك خمس قنوات تلفزيونية و عشرة ناشرين.
شينجيانغ يعني "المحتلة الجديدة" في الصينية. أصبحت المنطقة منطقة حكم ذاتي ١٩٥٥. و على الرغم من شينجيانغ یكون منطقة حكم ذاتي فالشعب الأغورية عندها المشاكل الكثیرة مع الصينية و القوميات الأخرى.
كانت هذه المنطقة مليئة التوتر لعقود خصوصاً وأن هجرة المزيد والمزيد من الناس هان الى اورومتشى. ليوم ، عدد سكان عاصمة منطقة شينجيانغ حوالي ٧٥٪ هان. أقل من ١٣٪ من السكان الأغورية. الأغورية تهيمن عليها هان و يشعرون انهم محرومون من الحق في العبادة والسفر.
واحدة من هذه المشاكل في الأخبار الحالية.
یؤمن معظم الناس ان الحوادث بدأ في يونيو ۲۰۰۹.
يوم ۲٥ يونيو حزيران كان هناك عنف في مصنع للعبة في شاوقوان. شاوقوان فى جنوب شرق الصين ومنطقة شينجيانغ فى شمال غرب البلاد ، ولكن هناك العديد من العمال المهاجرين الأغورية في شاوقوان. فإن المصنع للعبة زوری يوظف ۸۰۰ عمال من كشجار (واحة في غرب شينجيانغ).
اتهم الموظف الساخط بستة رجال أغورية الاعتداء الجنسي تسعة عشر عاما هان بنت. في وقت لاحق، قالت البنت للمجلة "شينخوا" ان كانت المطالبات الشائعات و لم تجد تحقيق رسمي دليل على الاغتصاب. ومع ذلك ، فإن الشائعات تسببت عنف تلك الليلة. هاجمت هان المجموعات زملائهم الأغورية. قتلوا اثنان الأغورية واصيب حوالي مائة وثمانية عشر شخصا. وتم ارسال أربعمائة رجال الشرطة لتفريق العنف. وعقب الحادث، ثلاث عشرة أشخاص اعتقلوا ولكن ثلاثة فقط كانوا الأغورية.
ذكر بعض الزعماء الأغورية ان عدد القتلى من قوانغدونغ أعلى من المبلغ عنها و ورغم ان اعتقل الشرطة الرجل الذي انتشرت الشائعات الناس كثيرون یؤمن أن رد الحكومة ليس كافيا. تسبب هذا الحدث الاحتجاج الشارع في اورومتشى ٥ يوليو.
بدأ الاحتجاج في غراند بازار يوم 5 يوليو ٢٠٠٩. (جراند بازار واحدة من الاكبر في مناطقهم السياحية.) ألقى نور بكري (رئيس منطقة شينجيانغ ذات الحكم الذاتى الأغورية) التقرير الرسمي يوم ٦ يوليو. في حوالي الساعة الخامسة مساء ٥ يوليو تجمعوا أكثر من مائتي متظاهر في ساحة مجلس الشعب فى اورومتشى. صرح بكري اعتقل الشرطة قرابة السبعين القادة و تسيطر على الوضع بسرعة. ولكن في الساعة السابعة ونصف مساء تجمعوا أكثر من ألف الأغورية امام مستشفى فى شانشى الزقاق. ما بدأ تظاهرة سلمية أصبحت العنف عندما حاولت الشرطة تفريق المتظاهرين و رفض الناس لذلك. الاحتجاج السلمي أصبح اضطراب عنف و هاجم الأغورية هان.
قد ازداد عدد من متظاهرون ثلاثة آلاف الأغورية. تمیزت جين ماكارتني من التايمز اضطرابات التي وقعت في اليوم الأول حيث تتألف أساسا من "طعن هان من قبل العصابات المغيرة من الأغورية".
كان آلاف رجال الشرطة یرسلون لوقف الاضطرابات. أطلقوا النار في الهواء في محاولة لتهدئة هياج. ولكن تشجيع تدخل الشرطة العنف. فى الساعة التاسعة ونصف مساء تلقت الحكومة تقارير ان اصيبوا قتلوا ثلاثة اشخاص و اصيبوا بجراح ستة وعشرين شخصا اخرين. ستة من الجرحى من رجال الشرطة.
ذكرت شينخوا يوم ١٠ يوليو أن اليوم الأول من اضطرابات أدی إلى مائة وثلاثة وثمانين وفيات. و مائة وسبعة و ثلاثون من الضحايا من هان و ستا وأربعين منهم من الأغورية. تلقى منطقة شينجيانغ ذات الحكم الذاتى الأغورية مستشفى الشعب مئتي ثلاثة وثلاثين هان وتسعة وثلاثين الأغورية. قال لى نانفانغ (نائب رئيس مستشفى الشعب) ان "خمسة على الاقل" مواطنون عندهم جراح الرصاص. اثنا عشر من القتلى لقوا مصرعهم على يد الشرطة.
ولكن العنف لم ينهی 5 يوليو. ليلة ٦ يوليو اقتحمت الشرطة ابواب الأغورية في أحياء واعتقلت مئة من المشتبه. وأفاد مسؤولون ان ما يقرب من ألف وخمسمئة تم ألقي القبض على مثيري الشغب. يوم ٧ يوليو رد هان المتظاهرين ضد الأغورية. وقتل الأغورية الكثيرون في هذه أصغر ولكن أوسع النطاق نضالات. حاولت الشرطة لتهدئة العنف باستخدام الغاز المسيل للدموع وحواجز الطرق. اكتمل العنف الضخم 8 يوليو لكنها واصلت العنف المتفرق. ١٢ يوليو بلغ عدد الجرحى الناس ألف وستمائة وثمانين.
باللوم كل من الطرفين على الاخر في العنف. قال بعض الناس، بمن فيهم مسؤولون من الحكومة الصينية، أن خطط الكونغرس الأغورية العالمي المظاهرات. نفی رئيس الكونغرس ربيعة قدير الاتهام و يدعي أن یثیر "وكيل باستفزازات" الجماهير
قال قدیر فی بیان "انا أدین بشكل لا لبس فيه استخدام العنف خلال المظاهرة من اليوغور کما انّ أدین الصين استخدام القوة المفرطة ضد المتظاهرين"
استقر الحالة فی المنطقة و استطاع الأغورية المسلمين ان يصليوا فی مساجدهم. ومع ذلك فيخیف الناس الكثيرون إضافية المظاهرات و الأكثر من العنف. أصدر القاعدة تهديدا ضد الصين. تخوف الحكومة الصينية هجوم في الجزائر ، وذلك أصدرت تحذيرا لمواطنونها هناك.
ارجح المنطقة ستشهد الأكثر من العنف العرقي في المستقبل، ولكن آمل, ان شاء الله ، ان الشعب المسلم في الصين ستستطاع على العيش في سلام.



مصادر رئيسية هي : "شينخوا" و "ويكيبيديا" و "رويترز" و "ام اس ان بي سي و "ياهو! " أخبار و "جوجل" الاخبار

To Dahab We Go!

Plans for this next week have changed a bit. My friend (whose father is a prof here at AUC and with whom I was going to be staying) is now going to Jerusalem to visit another friend. I have decided to go to Dahab with my main gang of friends for several days to snorkel. I will come back on Saturday and have Saturday night and Sunday in Cairo. I am able to stay in the dorms during this time and have some friends with whom to tour around. I'm not sure what all I am going to do. There are definitely parts of Egypt I desperately want to visit that I have not yet seen. I think, though, that I am not going to try and squeeze in everything, instead having my missing parts as an excuse to come back. : )

And we're (almost) done

I have a brief Media take-home exam to do, but nothing too complicated. Other than that, I'm done.
Exams were okay. They were quite simple, but, as usual, it seemed that they mostly covered the 5% of the vocabulary that I hadn't memorized absolutely. But I feel like I've learned a LOT this summer and have had a lot of fun with it.
I wrote an eight hundred-word essay about the Uyghurs in China for extra credit. That essay was the best assignment I've had so far where my learning is concerned, because I blended my Media Class with my grammar and vocab classes. All in all, it's been an insane, stressful, overwhelming, fun, crazy, knowledge-packed semester of classes. And now it's done. I'm going to be going through withdrawal so badly in a few days...I'm already starting to feel it, sick as that is...

One Down, Three (Two) To Go

Why is it that my favorite class was the first final? I am sad to be done with my Quran class...
Tomorrow I have a combined final for my Grammar and Vocabulary classes, which is very nice. (Thus the "Three (Two)" number.) And the number decreases even more given that Media is a take-home final. I need to memorize a lot of vocabulary tonight and pray that the grammar involved on the final isn't too crazy. And then I'm home free...

Cairo Tower...or not

Went into town today to go up Cairo Tower, Egypt's response to the Empire State Building. The pictures were going to be amazing...
But it was a bit pricey. We looked online before going and found that there was a cost for photo-taking, but nothing was mentioned about admission. So we debated for a while. Finally we decided that we were all just going to go for it. But when we finally walked up to the ticket counter (after standing near it for ~20 minutes), we were told the lift wasn't working currently. So no Cairo Tower for me...but it was still a fun night. Saw a part of town I hadn't before.

Well, that had to happen at least once...

We were in town fairly late today because some friends had just returned from Alexandria. We were going to take the 11 o'clock bus back to campus. We saw a bus that belonged to us drive by, waved at it...it waved back but did not stop. So we sat until midnight. And the midnight bus said it was not going to New Campus, only to Tahrir Square. So we finally ended up in a cab that didn't know that way and took way too long to get here. But finally I am home! And I'd hate to not have to rough it back to campus at least once this summer. So there's something else crossed off the list...

Coptic Museum

The ALI Tour today was to Old Cairo. I had been to the churches before, but we went inside the Coptic Museum as well, which I hadn't seen. It was really cool. Sadly, no photos allowed. But I saw a lot of gorgeous woodwork, stone carvings, icons, and textiles. And...OSTRACA! (Shards of limestone with writing.) And really old books that were absolutely breathtaking. Happy girl!

"The Mummy Returns"

Tim and I watched "The Mummy Returns" tonight. I've seen it tons of times and I love that movie...but tonight's viewing was definitely special. Because I was suddenly saying "I've been there! And there! AND there!" And it was awesome. And I understood some of the Arabic that was spoken! It was really, really cool.

Heehee. For those who may have forgotten, I'm in Egypt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Goofed!

Tomorrow's ALI Excursion is to Old Cairo and the Coptic Museum. I will be attending - and I'll love - but I've seen some of it before. I should have bugged the office to reschedule the trip to Saqqara and Dashoor that were canceled due to Swine Flu, as they are the ones that will likely cost more money (that ALI would pay for if I went with them) and I'm more interested in seeing. But oh well - there's always next week!

The President's Here!

But we're not sure which one. Apparently the President (or maybe the Prime Minister) from either Malaysia or Denmark is visiting campus today. This is hearsay from our adult friend in ALI who has Egyptian family. He told us the Malaysian president was here, then came back about five minutes later and said that it may be the Denmark president instead. I doubt I'll see him, whoever he is, but it was fun to laugh at Tarek. And who knows? Maybe I'll go for a walk and see some strange combination of the Malaysian and Danish flags.

Sorry!

I'm sorry it's taking forever to get information about Luxor to you...my pictures are all on a computer that's currently in Alexandria with a friend. You will get them eventually, I promise!

Home Safe!

I'm home safe.

I'm freakishly happy.

I was in the Valley of the Kings today.

I owe you a lot of happy posts...I promise that you will receive them.

Off to Luxor!

I'm off to the Luxor and Aswan cruise. I doubt I'll have internet. I'll be seeing many, many tombs and having a freakish amount of fun. Love you all!

Cairo Sunset

We went into town to have dinner at our favorite cafe on the Nile. Gorgeous sunset on the way back to the bus...

Three Weeks!

It's very strange to think how time has flown. Tomorrow I have a midterm in my vocabulary class. I have only three weeks left of classes, including exams. I still have Luxor, more pyramids, Aswan, the camel market, and whatever is in store for me the final week of my time in Cairo to look forward to.
Classwork loads have eased up quite a bit. I've made some great friends; it's going to be hard to part ways at the end of the semester.
And perhaps this should be the end of the nostalgic post, before I start crying just before going to bed...
It's been wonderful. Egypt truly is the Mother of the World.

Birthday Surprises!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and greetings. I have had a fabulous time. I am now 19 and no longer qualify as a United Methodist youth - I'm now officially a young adult in the Church!
My friends and I were planning to go the camel market on Friday, July 3 (my birthday). We were going to get a cheap hotel near the market, go early, and then head to the mall for a birthday dinner.
And then...they wouldn't let me help plan accommodations. And told me to pack swimming gear. And got me on a bus. Had no idea what was happening.
The bad news (which isn't really bad news): We did not go to the camel market. This is in no way a problem, as I'll be able to go during my extra week in Cairo after classes.

Here's what happened:
1. My absurd (but wonderful) friends got a room in a 5-star hotel with fantastic restaurants, a pool, and a jet tub.
2. Thursday night we chilled in the hotel - eating, chatting, and taking the most fun bubble bath I have ever had in my life (we all got in swimming gear and got in together - there were a LOT of bubbles).
3. We didn't go to bed Thursday until very late (or very early), so we had a nice sleep-in on Friday - by which I mean I got up around 8. lol.
4. Our room came with a fantastic hot buffet breakfast. I got chocolate crepes, fresh mozzarella (!) and tomatoes, croissants and strawberry jam, and fresh mango juice. (For those of you who don't know me all that well, these are some of my favorite foods.)
5. We checked out of the room and spent around 3 hours in the pool. It had a swim-up bar, so the kids had lots of fun. (No, I didn't have anything to drink. I'm underage in Egypt, not that they actually card or care...)
6. We went to the mall and watched "The Proposal." Adorably cute movie. I definitely needed a chick flick.
7. We went to Chili's for dinner. I got fajitas, and heavens above, were they wonderful. I went to the restroom at one point with my friend. None of them said anything to the waiter about its being my birthday. And then, suddenly, there were a ton of Arabic men circling me singing "Happy Birthday" in Arabic and English and a Chocolate Molten Lava Brownie was sitting in front of me with a candle in it. It was fantastic.

And now I'm back in the dorms. A large group is out on a felluca (boat) celebrating Independence Day. One of my best friends here is British - he's quite possibly going to end up overboard at some point. I came back for some sleep. I have a big vocabulary exam on Monday - lots of memorization to do!

It was a very fun day, though it was very Western. Next weekend is the cruise to Luxor and Aswan, and I will get a lot of ancient Egypt highs then.

Happy Post

I just thought I would share with you all a "Happy Post." A random happy reminder of the fact that I'm in Egypt and having the time of my life. Today was really fun - very "basic," but awesome. Classes, homework, food with friends. Kim had a craving for sushi, and she found a place nearby that delivers to campus. So we all got sushi tonight. (And last night Kenny made pasta for us - I'm eating well these days!)

Anyways...LA VIE EST BELLE! !الحياة جميلة Life is beautiful!

God loves you and so do I...so smile!

Oh, look, it's I!

I found a few of me on top of Sinai...

...not that you can actually tell that it's I all that well.




But that one is clearly my jeans and shirt...lol.

High-Level Language Classes are Fun!

The best part about being in an upper-level language class is that you can actually talk about things. Our listening assignment for today involved the history and practice of the hijab. We got into a big discussion (in Arabic) about religious symbols, the French ban, and the like. I wasn't able to talk all that much due to my limited vocabulary, but I understood a fair bit of it and really enjoyed listening.

And some more, why not?

A few more good ones I found on Facebook:

Banana Boat fun!


Our gorgeous resort


Nice shot, there, Kenny. That was at Sinai. Ain't she purty?

More Pics

The pictures in the posts about this weekend were taken by others...here are some from my camera.

Friends on the top.


I have my moments with a camera...





Oh look! I'm on top of Sinai! Can't you tell with the incredibly obvious surroundings?

Sharm el-Sheikh

It was gorgeous. I went snorkeling at one of the world’s prettiest reefs…and, my word, the color. Sorry, I didn’t have an underwater camera. Big mistake, there. My apologies. Not sure what else to say…I snorkeled and rode a banana boat (picture below) and played on the beach and in the pool. We stayed in a resort with a fantastic buffet, so I ate a lot of food. It was a great time of general relaxation and beauty.

Snorkeling! Kim and Kenny are with me there.


My friend Kim and I, very happy on the beach


The waiter at the Italian restaurant where we celebrated Tim's birthday


Banana Boat!

Mount Sinai

We started climbing around 2:30 am on Friday. It was pretty black, as there wasn't much moon. The stars were absolutely gorgeous. I managed to get away from the mass of people with flashlights and just walk with one friend who knew how to keep the light where he needed it and turned it off when we stopped to look up. I carried the water and whatnot and had to stop and wait for him several times...
Every fifteen meters or so you're assaulted and asked if you'd like a camel to go up. At one point I was playing "Camel Frogger" as I got caught up in a large pack that was going too slowly.
They allotted three hours. The first group got up at 1 hours, 7 minutes. I was there ~1 hour, 30. (Geesh, Cameron, slowing me down...) We had a lot of time before sunrise, but it was really nice to climb up on a comfy rock and stare at the stars.
The hike itself wasn't bad at all. Any easier and it would have been boring. Any harder and I might have broken a sweat...but the stairs at the top were not the easiest thing I've ever done.
We saw the sun come up and some friends and I shared an extremely unorthodox Communion of rolls from dinner and a can of Coke. Going down to see what you had hiked up, unable to make anything out, was really fun. As usual, I hated going down. The camels on the way down were so tempting...

Home Safe!

I'm back on campus after Sinai and whatnot. I just have a brief break between classes; an actual update about the trip will appear sometime. It was amazing! There are tons of pictures. Just be patient - they're on their way! Hope everybody had a good weekend.

St. Catherine's and Mount Sinai

This weekend is the trip to St. Catherine's and Mount Sinai...I'm not sure what the internet situation will be. Know that I'm having a blast and I'll tell you all about it Sunday night!
Love to all.

Water

The water's off again...this happens very randomly. I have no idea. I went running this morning...and then didn't get a shower. It was not fun. It came back on for about ten minutes two hours later...and went off again immediately. Guess I don't get a shower today...

Class: Readings in the Quran

We read a full sura (chapter) aloud in class today! The teacher is a semi-professional reader, meaning that she can do the amazing melodies and rhythms and reads it aloud. It sounds amazing. Totally gorgeous - I was really hesitant to read the sura out loud. Not because I was nervous, but because I desperately didn't want to butcher it! But it came out quite well for a first attempt. It was really, really fun.

Life is Easing Up

Classes are easing up - the first week, we were making up hours from Swine Flu Week. So we were having incredibly long days and amazing amounts of homework. Our vocabulary professor realized we had too much homework and has started to assign less - at the same time as our schedules were freed up. So now I feel as though I have all kinds of time! It's nice to be able to relax - and to feel that I'm actually doing a good job on my homework rather than just desperately trying to throw it together.

"Night at the Museum 2"

Classes ended at 1:15 today (since I don't have an elective on Sundays and Thursdays and have decided against electives). A group of friends and I went to the mall to see a movie, as the homework load was fairly light.
Firstly, it's a cute movie. I loved the first one; the second is also adorable.
Secondly, in regards to movies in Egypt - we were at a fairly Westernized mall, so the movie theater quality was pretty good. The seats were not what they are in "Celebration," but they were pretty good. There was - I kid you not - an intermission. The movie suddenly stopped and the lights turned on. It was fascinating.
There were subtitles in Arabic. The ads beforehand were Arabic commercials followed by Western movie previews.
Everything here is a cultural experience, even the Western stuff! It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow for my Vocab class, we're discussing religious groups in the Middle East. I'm really excited and got incredibly geeked about my research tonight.

Week 2

I know this blog isn't very exciting during the week...It's because I don't do much of anything other than attend class and do homework. If something exciting happens, I'll tell you. In the meantime, classes are crazy, the homework load is intense, and I'm loving almost every minute of it.
Love ya!

Egyptian Museum!

Oh, the papyri! I was in heaven. It's crammed with wonders. In a way, it was sad - they simply don't have the staff and facilities to properly care for, catalog, and store the artifacts. But being able to see all of them was fantastic.

No cameras were allowed inside the museum, but here's a bit from outside -

Grocery Shopping and the Roof

Friday morning I did some more Arabic work. We took the 5 o'clock bus to City Stars Mall and went grocery shopping at Spinney's, which is like a Meijer's or Wal-Mart. It was quite the adventure. I got a lot of bread (surprise, surprise). And we picked up pasta to cook, but somehow lost the bag with the pasta in it...at least that bag didn't have anything expensive in it.
After shopping, we got a late dinner and ate up on the roof of the cafe. It's gorgeous up there at night - you can see campus lit up with all the trees, and stretches of desert at dusk. It was incredibly gorgeous. I stayed up much too late gabbing, but it was a lot of fun.

It's the Weekend!

I don't know that I've ever been so ready for the weekend...but when they say "intense," they mean intense!
Saturday I get to go to the Egyptian Museum!
Friday is the Muslim holy day, so Friday and Saturday is our weekend, and we have classes on Sundays.
I'm looking forward to homework (no, that wasn't sarcasm, I really am that much of a freak) and lots of vocabulary work. I also have some research work (non-Arabic!) to do. It will be a work weekend, but a very fun one.

Classes, Day 3

Today was pretty good. I had a LOT of homework yesterday, but performed decently in my classes today.
I really enjoy my Quran class.
Had the first extracurricular session...Calligraphy! It was fun and stress-free. We'll see how that goes - I wasn't completely beyond hope, though.
I dropped my Translation elective today. There aren't any other electives that interest me during the hours I now have free. I may well use that time for homework, if I can stand just letting things lie and not taking every available opportunity. (Is my inability to do so a strength or weakness? It often feels as though it's both...)

Class, Day 2

Today was much less exhausting than yesterday. I don't know if I'm simply more comfortable or it was the fact that I ran this morning (I skipped yesterday, which is almost always not a good idea...).
The Obama oral presentation went over very well. Translation, my other elective, is going to take a fair bit of work. I may end up dropping it...I don't need the credit (it's only one), and it may take more time than it's worth. I think I have until the end of this week to decide.

Obama Bio in Arabic!

We are presenting tomorrow about an important person...my partner and I chose Obama. We have to use as much new vocab as possible. So I just wrote a paragraph (short, but still) in Arabic about Barack. It ends with "American youth believe in Barack Obama." A bit of a generalization, perhaps, but "believe in" is in our new vocab...

First Full Day

I had my first full day of classes today. And it was full, to say the least. Due to our missed week of class, all hours have been extended and breaks shortened. Our professors use very little English, which is a great teaching philosophy. But eight and a half hours, essentially straight, with minimal English is exhausting. And now I get to play to homework and catch-up on vocabulary game! Yay!
It was a lot of fun, though. I love all my teachers (surprise, surprise). Had the Qur'an elective today - that's going to be a really nice, easy-going class that I'm really interested in.
There are other people in the class who have not started Book 2 either...our professor is going to kind of be throwing everything together. He plans on getting us through the book. If this happens, I will be more than set for equivalency at MSU.

Picture in the Library of Alexandria

A picture of me! What a shock. That's the problem with being "Mom" of the group...you take good pictures of everyone else, but people rarely bother to get any of you...
But I found one! Here you go.

I was, as you can tell, just a wee bit happy at the time...

The Class Saga

So...there has been quite the drama going on figuring out what exactly I'm doing.
I thought I was being placed in a class that started in chapter 4 of Al-Kitaab 2. This gave me the grammar and vocabulary of Al-Kitaab 1 Chapters 14-20 and Al-Kitaab 2 Chapters 1-3 to learn and memorize in forty-eight hours. I was getting to the point today when I felt really comfortable doing that.
Then...I get an email from my new prof. "Please read x and y pages of Chapter 5 and complete Exercise 11 for tomorrow's class." So now I have to catch up on Chapter 4, and get this homework done. This was around 3 pm today. I was getting there...I went to dinner with the kids, because I needed a bit of a break and some actual food. I came home, expecting to have a long night (because Exercise 11 is a long translation and paragraph writing thing). And I had marvelous emails!
One from my professor: Sorry; I meant x and y pages in Chapter 4 (I had emailed him inquiring).
One from Dalal, the summer program director: Several of you have asked to start in Chapter 1. Would you like to do this?
Another from my prof: Never mind; don't do anything until I see you tomorrow.
So I don't have a freakishly long night, and I think I'm actually going to be in a very happy place this summer!! Happy Becca!

TGI Friday's

My friends and I went to the Americanized mall today and ate dinner at...TGI Friday's! I know, I know, I'm in Egypt. I should eat Egyptian food. But there are times when I girl really needs salad and steak. And these are not readily available in Egyptian cuisine. I got this amazing mocha brownie ice cream dessert thing that was absolutely fantastic.

Clothing in Arabic!

I'm currently being entertained with my learning the articles of clothing in Arabic. Almost all of them are cognates of the English words, transliterated into Arabic, and then said with the most Arabic-sounding vowel and consonants possible. It's really quite amusing.
There isn't a "p" sound in Arabic...so pants=pantaloons, but actually sounds like "buntaloooon," and the plural is "buntalooonet."
A sweater is a pullover..."bull-oh-fer," plural "bull-oh-fraat."
Rather than underwear, the Arabic equivalent translates literally as "internal clothing."
(Yes, this really is how I spend my weekends...what can I say...)

Laundry Triumph!

I am pleased to report that I have managed to do laundry in Egypt! Nothing has blown up and the clothes are actually clean. Woohoo!
There are industrial washers and dryers for our use...we don't even have to pay for the machines, just provide our own detergent. My roommate went to the mall Friday night, so I stole some of hers (with her permission).

الأسد الملك

I watched "The Lion King" in Arabic all the way through for the first time today. I needed a break from my quick catch-up of Arabic studies, but didn't want to stop thinking in Arabic...
The voice actor for Zazu was really good.
I had just learned the phrase used in the song "Be Prepared" today, so that was cool.
Merry Christmas to me, from Papa! (Good gift, Daddy.)

Hotel View

Here's our absolutely "miserable" view from the hotel room...living a rough life, aren't I?

Alexandria Sunset

How beautiful...

The Beach

We ended up at a private beach (crazy times getting there...)

Bibliotheca Alexandria

AHHHHHHHH! It was AMAZING!



Prometheus with Fire!


The Manuscript Museum was fantastic. Papyri, ancient books, letters...


It's incredibly tempting to transfer to the University of Alexandria. Were I a student there...



...this would be my main library!

Happy Dance!




I can't believe I'm putting this video up...but here you go. I saw Hippocrates translated into Arabic in the 900s and kind of went crazy.

Alexandria Blog

Here's what I typed on Kim's computer while in Alexandria:
Tuesday, 6:30 pm
We took the 9 pm train from Cairo to Alexandria, first class (I think that may have been my first first class adventure - had I been alone, I would not have bothered, but I wanted to sit with everyone else, obviously). We got into the train station in Alexandria at 11:25 pm. Getting taxis to the hotel was a major fiasco - Cameron haggled to 30 pounds for two taxis, but then gave one of the drivers my bag, which we promptly locked in his trunk...and we ended up being forced into three. Cameron lived in Lebanon for a year and loves to fight with people - he took forever bargaining over the hotel. It was a fairly cheap hotel and we overpaid, it felt like. Today getting to the beach was another craziness. Kim's roommate is from Alexandria, so she gave us the name of a beach. The taxi drivers took us to the wrong place at first. We finally got the right beach, only to be told it was private. We were going to wait for Kim's roommate to meet us, when suddenly our cab driver came over and had convinced them to let us in. He, of course, then wanted massive amounts of baqsheesh, and followed us around forever. Kim's roommate ended up not coming because her father is ill (I think he's going to be okay, though), but the beach was nice, filled mostly with natives, and the water felt fantastic. After more exploration, we found a great hotel right on the sea that's an incredibly reasonable price. Kenny brought a guidebook and I've been looking through it - here come the Roman Catacombs, Library of Alexandria, the Souq, and all sorts of other wonderful things. I think some of the boys may be heading back tomorrow fairly early, but I think I'll stay through Friday evening with several others.

Wednesday, 12:15 am
Hilary has now joined us. The hotel we're staying at is incredibly observant and notices everyone who comes in to the building. I suppose I should be glad of this, but it meant that Hill had to pay an additional amount of money to stay. We all get breakfast, though!
We went to a Greek place for dinner that had seafood and was really good. The rest of the gang went out for sheesha; Hilary and I watched a movie in the hotel and walked around the streets a bit.
On the agenda for tomorrow (well, today) are the Library of Alexandria and the Roman Catacombs. Then some of the boys are headed back; the rest of us will stay and do other cool history stuff and/or more beaches. (Probably and.)

Wednesday, 10:39 pm
Today was absolutely fantastic!!!!
Slept in quite a lot, and then had a really good breakfast at the hotel (egg, croissants with fantastic strawberry jam, veggies, beans). Most of us then headed off to...The Library of Alexandria!!!!! And - Oh. My. Word. It was absolutely AMAZING. I was incredibly happy with everything. The original was, of course, destroyed. But they recently did a renovation, including the discovery and restoration of some stuff belonging to the old library. It's an actual library too, where students from the University of Alexandria study. There was a manuscript museum with originals of all sorts - Euclid and Hippocrates translated into Arabic in the 900s, letters Muhammad wrote, a Book of the Dead, and all sorts of other wonderful things. I was absolutely ecstatic.
After the Library, we went to "The King of Mangoes." Great mango juice - oh my word. Then the Fish Market - great fish for dinner, and a phenomenal view. I wrapped up my day hanging out an an over-ninety-years-old cafe, where I had some water, tea, and Arabic Coffee, and the rest of the gang had sheesha. They're all off to a pub; I'm going to bed, as we're getting up to see the sunrise tomorrow. (We didn't actually end up doing that...)

Swine Flu Funnies

Oh, boys. How adorable thou art.


A few fun statuses on Facebook from kids at AUC:
"we have snow days in michigan, egypt has swine flu days‎"
"Swine Flu Outbreak: Don't open the door"
"Classes cancelled due to swine flu. Huzzah!"
"AUC + H1N1 = PANIC! :D‎"
"‎Dear Zamalek-ites. Wish you weren't in quarantine, so you could come to Alexandria with us. Love, Us."