Aukake

A New Friend

2009-05-28T14:54:00.011+03:00

We've been eating a lot of cereal and sandwiches lately. It's too hot to cook. I did it yesterday and had to take extra showers because it was so hot in the kitchen. Anyway, yesterday I read the back of the cereal box. Here's what it said.

Mind & Body
Feel light and healthy - inside and out!

Why is fibre important?
Without fibre, your insides are never properly cleaned. You end up feeling bloated and heavy - in mind and body. But a simple bowl of All-Bran changes everything. One serving of such high fibre every day regulates and improves your digestive system, eliminating toxins and cleansing your insides.

And, as the saying goes, a healthy body is a healthy mind. When you feel light, and clean, your state of mind improves drastically. You can literally feel the difference.

A new companion
When you see the results it can have on your mind and body, you'll realise t hat fibre really is your friend.

So try a little All-Bran every morning. Or any time of the day, for that matter. One bowl of any of the tasty All-Bran range acts as a healthy, nutritious snack throughout the day.

Celebration!

2009-05-20T22:51:00.002+03:00

Today was my last day of class, and I turned in my last assignments. Hurray!! I have completed my MA program. I am now the most educated member of my family, which is weird to say because I don't really feel any different than before.

Tonight after the sun went down, Jeff and I went out for a celebration dinner. We were both craving American food, so we decided to splurge and go to Chilli's for the first time. We walked to where we thought it was along the Nile... and were wrong. So we grabbed a taxi going back the other way, and realized that we had turned right when we should have turned left to find the restaurant. Turns out the restaurant was TGIF and not Chilli's, but we didn't really care at that point - just hungry!

We had a great meal. They had a promotion going that we both got - soup, steak with veggies and mashed potatoes, and dessert for only 70 pounds, or approximately $15. I had iced tea, Jeff had several frozen strawberry lemonades, and we indulged. That was the first steak I've had in a loooong time, and it was much better than the steaks at similar establishments back home. The meal was spoiled for about 5 minutes, when after a Santana song, a hip hop song filled with every obscenity played over the sound system. We had to just stop the conversation and let it finish demanding, "Who the **** you talking to," because it was so distracting. I understand that they don't understand what is inappropriate language in English, but it was still weird to be sitting in a family-friendly restaurant and hear such things.

Overall, it was a good meal. And the weather had cooled enough to make the walk back home quite pleasant.

Flowers

2009-05-20T22:40:00.007+03:00

I've been pondering flowers. I love them. They're pretty, they smell good, and they don't do much more. On the way to the university, the median in the main road has pansies lining the edge of the sidewalk, with hedges of hibiscus and some other red flower in the center. It makes me happy to see them.

I also see flowers in areas filled with debris and trash. Bare, uncared for plants surrounded by traffic and pollution. Yet flowers persist in being pretty, always happily smiling at the sun. God just created them to do that. Despite their circumstances, they are always true to their nature. It makes me think that sometimes I need to stop working so hard to be something that I have in my head, and just be, as God created me, and constantly look up to him with a smile.

The Four Seasons

2009-05-19T01:03:00.003+03:00

Tonight Jeff and I were invited out to dinner by a friend that Jeff has made. This man is a former diplomat from the Gulf. He and his wife took us to the Four Seasons, one of their favorite places in Cairo. I guess when they were first assigned to Cairo they lived there until they were able to buy and set up an apartment. I was feeling self-conscious; the only clothes I have that fit are not very dressy! I ended up wearing a long-sleeve blouse/sweater that is NOT in season... 104 degrees today did not match my attire. Nonetheless, I felt more comfortable than in a t-shirt :-) And a good thing, too. The season decided upon in the restaurant was winter, with the AC set at a cool 69 degrees.

Being with this couple was very interesting. They have lived in Cairo off an on for years, and really like it here. They wear wealth casually - like comfortable slippers. Watching the wife interact with the wait staff, the driver, the store personnel we interacted with, was so revealing. The restaurant was in an atrium of a shopping mall that reminded me of the Venetian in Vegas. I went with the wife to check on a purchase at one of the stores. I sat there, and while she was on the phone, the owner had his two assistants display his handmade carpets for me. It was a little surreal. Anyway, the wife easily commanded everyone she interacted with, but was never unkind or demeaning to them. The deference she was shown by everyone was clear, all the niceties, special attention and so on was fun to watch. As her tagalong, I was shown some as well. I felt a little dowdy compared to her brand label purse, coat, shoes, giant gemstone and diamond rings, and so on, but it was fun.

And dinner was fabulous. The salad they served as a "starter" was big enough for a whole meal. I was glad I ordered the Thai spring rolls instead of a proper salad. Jeff didn't have a chance to finish his! Mint lemonade and sea bass with mushroom/butter mashed potatoes and steamed spinach. Yum!! I've been craving a nice meal, and this was perfect. I refused dessert... no more room next to the baby!

Dreams

2009-04-11T13:58:00.003+02:00

Being pregnant has led to some strange dreams. I've had quite a few dreams about having food in front of me an not being able or allowed to eat it. For some real-life context, I tend to eat every few hours. But pregnancy has also made me more tired, so I've been sleeping about 10 hours a night. You can see how I might get hungry in my sleep.

The first dream I remember was a bunch of people, including me, preparing for a giant potluck. We spent a lot of time hauling food from the entrance of a building through a complicated system of elevators, stairs, hallways and doors before arriving at the potluck room. We had to do this route several times, and it changed! Finally, it was time to eat. I spent a long time piling my plate high with fantastic pastry creations. Then I woke up.

Another time I dreamed I was part of a large caravan of vehicles traveling somewhere. My dad was driving the van I was in. We pulled into a gas station, and I jumped out to go to Wendy's. I ordered a single patty burger with french fries, a soda, and a side salad. As I was leaving the restaurant to return to the van, the van had disappeared. After looking around, I saw the group of vehicles on the other side of the truck stop parking lot. I headed across the lot, but on the way was almost hit by a bus and my food fell out of my hands. It disappeared.

Last night I dreamed about pancakes. We had them for breakfast yesterday, so that's not such a stretch. But I did make them for breakfast today.

Back to it...

2009-04-10T17:17:00.003+02:00

So it's been a while since my last post. I find I don't have a lot to say these days, and I've been kind of busy, too.

Today Jeff and I went on a date. We had breakfast at Lucille's; a nice, big American breakfast with eggs and pancakes. Yum! We didn't get hungry again until 5 hours later, which is quite a feat for me these days.

After breakfast, we walked around Maadi taking pictures of flowers. It's Spring, and things are in full bloom!

Pictures are posted on Facebook, send me an email or leave a comment and I'll send the link.

Adventures in Cooking

2009-02-14T10:44:00.006+02:00

We had a friend over yesterday, which was a perfect opportunity for me to try a new recipe. I made Italian Wedding Soup. One great thing about living here is all the fresh produce. The picture is what I started with: spinach, carrots, basil, parsley, green onions. Those, along with ground beef, orzo pasta, and chicken broth were all the ingredients. But the recipe didn't call for carrots, so now we have extra. Oops. The unfortunate thing about the fresh produce is that it takes a lot of prep, particularly the herbs. But fresh basil and parsley is super cheap, and tastes so much better than dried!

I was thinking about my sister-in-law as I made this. She's a big fan of Italian food, and I wish she could have been here to share it with us. The friend who got to enjoy it with us is not feeling well, so I sent him home with leftovers, some banana bread, and some carrots, green onions, spinach and herbs. There was way too much for us to eat before they spoil!

Kitty Update

2009-02-14T10:42:00.000+02:00

The kittens Jeff and I are watching are growing up. We hear them outside the window and like to watch their antics. Unfortunately, one of them is growing bigger and faster than the other. The big guy gets off the roof and plays under mama's supervision while the little guy crouches on the corner of the building and cries. It's really sad. The other night Jeff and I threw some food on the roof and he gobbled it up.

Some Recent Conversations

2009-02-11T19:54:00.006+02:00

I am about to record some conversations I've had in the last week. These are all with people who speak English. I know that as a guest in this country I should not be critical of people's language ability when they go out of their way to communicate to me in my language, and that is not my intent. Rather, I wish to share with people what it is like living here, and all the little daily things that happen that make life stressful in a very different way than stress at home. And for the sake of privacy, I will not use my real last name.

Convo #1
Phone rings at home
Me: Hello?
silence
Me: Hello?
Caller (male): Yes, I'd like the fax number for the petroleum company.
Me: You have the wrong number.
Caller: The fax number please!
Me: This is a house.
Caller: I need to send the fax!!
Me: I am at home. You have the wrong number. This is a house.
Caller: This is a house? Sorry.
Caller hangs up

Convo #2
I am calling an office at the university bus company with a question regarding how to get a bus pass.
Me: Hi, I need to know how to get a bus pass for the Spring semester. I can't seem to register online.
Bus Rep: You need to go online and register.
Me: I tried that, and it won't let me.
Bus Rep: Just go online and complete your schedule.
Me: I can't! I already tried and it only shows me last semester's schedule.
Bus Rep: Oh, you already registered last semester?
Me: Yes.
Bus Rep: You don't have to go online, you just need to go to the Student Services Center and get a receipt that shows you paid, and then go to the transportation office for your new pass.
Me: Where is the Student Services Center?
Bus Rep: It is by Gate 1.
Me: Which gate is Gate 1, is that the one where visitors go?
Bus Rep: I don't know about that, but it is by Gate 1.
Me: Where is Gate 1?! I don't know where that is.
Bus Rep: It's by the Student Services Center.
Me: Thank you, bye.
Commentary: I gave up on this conversation. I was so frustrated. I spent maybe a 1/2 hour trying to follow this lady's directions, when all I needed to do was go to the bus help desk by the gate where the bus drops us off and exchange my old ID for a new one.

Convo #3
I called the mail office to check if a package from my mother-in-law arrived.
Mail Office: Hello.
Me: Hi, my name is Sarah Smith, and I want to check if any packages have arrived for me.
Mail Office: Doris Smith? Just a minute.
Me: No, my name is Sarah.
Some conversation happens off the phone in the mail office.
Mail Office: Mrs. Doris picked up her package.
Me: My name is Sarah Smith, not Doris.
Mail Office: Oh, you're not Mrs. Doris? Just a minute.
Mail Office: Which department?
Me: The ELI.
Mail Office: What?
Me: The ELI - English Language Institute.
Mail Office: Are you a student or professor?
Me: I'm a teaching fellow.
Mail Office: Oh.... well when it arrives we will deliver it to your department.
Me: Okay. Thank you. Bye.
Mail Office: Bye.
He didn't sound like he knows what the ELI is, so I'll keep checking!

One Last Hurrah

2009-02-05T22:05:00.008+02:00

Last week, Jeff and I went to Alexandria for a night. We were celebrating Jeff's birthday and we realized between Jeff's work, office hours of other businesses, and so on, we could only spare one night before I returned to work. So we went on Tuesday morning and returned on Wednesday night. We ate okay Chinese food that was somewhat overpriced, enjoyed lots of coffee shops, and watched a movie on our satellite TV in the hotel room. The only touristy thing we did was visit the Mahmoud Said Museum. Mahmoud Said was an artist during the early to mid-20th century, who, according to the guide book helped form Egypt's artistic identity. He was a judge by day.

We stayed at the Union Hotel, which was great. I've tried to stay there several times before, but it's always been full. For $20, we got a clean room with a private bathroom and breakfast. Compare this experience with Michelle from last April.

Feeding the Critters

2009-01-22T18:14:00.006+02:00

Last night as we were trying to fall asleep, Jeff and I were kept awake by pitiful meows coming from outside. There is a one-story structure right next to our apartment. We're on the 3rd floor, so we can see the roof quite clearly from most of our windows. On the roof of that structure lives a family of cats. We've seen the mother and her kittens a few times.

After lying there for a while, we started feeling sad for the little guys. Maybe mom got killed that day and wasn't coming back to feed them! Finally, we got up to go look at them. Jeff saw three, but I couldn't see any. Filled with compassion, we soaked a few pieces of bread in chicken broth and threw them on the roof. They were in hiding by this point, not making a peep!

We went back to bed, our minds at ease. And the kitties had stopped meowing.

Inauguration in Primetime

2009-01-21T23:58:00.003+02:00

Jeff and I had an Inauguration Party last night. It was just the two of us, but we figured it would be fun, and it was. We bought some sweets, a cable to connect the computer to the stereo for sound, and planned to order BBQ sandwiches. While McDelivery would have been the most "American" choice, we just couldn't do it. And yes, they call McDonald's delivery "McDelivery."

Anyway, the inauguration stuff was scheduled to start around 6 pm for us. We started searching for a way to watch it streamed, and found C-SPAN was pretty good. I was getting restless, waiting for some action, and Jeff fell asleep on the couch. Streaming video from TV networks isn't very good - we only get a few seconds at a time before it stops to buffer, and sometimes it never starts again. Hm. Then C-SPAN switched to covering some House proceeding. Boring! So I started looking for a better stream. Turns out Facebook and CNN.com teamed up to broadcast the event. Cool! It was perfect! Very few glitches, and the ones that did happen were smooth and they somehow managed to not miss any words.

I have to say, the best part of the whole thing was watching TV in English. We had my computer connected to the TV and the stereo, and it was like we were getting regular TV, but much clearer and without commercials. Even the silly repetitions by the anchors were amusing (at least the first 3 times they told us why Cheney was in a wheelchair).

In all, we had a good time. After, we were able to talk to some family members about it. Then we watched a movie. I have to say, having the inauguration not during work was quite nice. They should reconsider the time of day so people can watch at home in the evening!

Thoughts on Cooking

2009-01-21T21:01:00.004+02:00

I've been enjoying cooking during the loooong holiday I have until school starts on February 1. It's fun, and I think Jeff may have gained a few pounds! I thought I'd share some quirks that I've learned while cooking here - most of these things are what I'm really enjoying not having to deal with when I go home!

First, is the measuring involved with cooking and baking. I priced out measuring spoons, and they were REALLY expensive. Maybe it's just the shop I went to, but after seeing the price, Jeff said I seem to do fine with guessing and it's not really worth it. I agreed. So now I do everything by hand for small amounts. It's kind of fun, not knowing exactly how something will turn out, particularly with things like baking powder. For larger quantities, I have one glass that is exactly 1 cup (I measured using the ounces on my Nalgene bottle). From there, I can guesstimate fractions of a cup. Of course, the glass is narrower at the bottom and wider at the top, so those fractions are rarely the same twice. The butter here comes in grams. The recipes I get from http://www.allrecipes.com/ (my new favorite site) can be converted to metric, which is good. However, I bought butter in bulk (a 2 kilo block) and it doesn't come with the handy little lines marking the grams.

Second is the cooking temperature. My range is gas, which I used to like. However, the burners each have their own personalities. The main one is an overachiever. Even at low, things burn and sometimes I hold the pan in the air above it. The other front burner is smaller, and gets to low quite nicely for simmering things (unless I have a big pan, then the middle burns and the outside doesn't cook). However, when I turn it to low, which is all the way left, the flame goes out. Gas is still on, but apparently the low setting is so low that there isn't enough to burn. The back two burners have two settings: high and flame-thrower. All they're good for is boiling pasta and steaming veggies. The oven is a different matter altogether. The dial is in Celcius, and I've become pretty good at remembering the two main conversions for 350 and 425 (180 and 220, respectively). But it doesn't matter, because the lower temperatures on the dial don't heat up the oven enough to cook everything. So almost everything I do has the dial between 220 and 240, but I have no idea how hot it actually is. The shortcake I baked today was supposed to take 15-20 minutes, but it took 55 minutes in my oven. Additionally, the oven doesn't seem to have good insulation. Within minutes of turning it on, the kitchen is roasting hot.

Finally we have the issue of ingredients. While I love my new favorite website, it seems that all the recipes call for one of the following:

salad dressing seasoning packet
dried onion soup mix
tomatoes in a can (any variety)
condensed cream of mushroom soup
cheddar cheese
sour cream
baking soda.

I've figured out substitutions for the soup and sour cream, but everything else is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. And baking soda (aka soda bicarbonate) is nowhere be found. Granted, I haven't gone on a mission to find it, but it's not at the stores I regularly patron. For the tomatoes, anything other than tomato paste is rare and expensive. As a side note, mushrooms are very expensive and not always available fresh. I have a big can in my cupboard I bought on sale and I'm waiting for an irresistable recipe to use them. A lot of recipes call for mushrooms, too. Oh, last complaint: I can't find vanilla extract. They sell vanillin, which is a powder mixed with sugar. I use it and it seems to work, but it's frustrating not to have the real thing.

There are some really nice things about cooking here. All the local ingredients are fresh and the produce is all vine-ripened. Strawberry season has lasted for over a month. Some things that are expensive at home are quite reasonable here, like capers. My new favorite dinner is chicken piccatta. And things rarely burn in my oven, even if I forget about them (which I usually do).

Jeff and I were talking about how weird it will be to go home and have supermarkets. How will we handle more than choosing between crunchy and creamy peanut butter? Here, we're lucky if the store has even one brand! (Currently it's Peter Pan and before that it was Skippy). We have two choices of oil: corn and sunflower. It's like that with lots of items. It will be interesting to adjust back to a U.S. lifestyle.

Embassy Adventure

2009-01-15T12:58:00.002+02:00

The title to this post is somewhat misleading, as the outing this morning was not terribly adventurous. I had to go to the embassy to change my name from my maiden name to my married name. Since my passport is 9 years old, somewhat worn, and without too many pages left, I decided to just get a new one.

I've been here for a year and a half, and this is the first time I've been to the embassy. I had all my paperwork and documents ready, so I was pretty sure things would go smoothly. My only exposure to US embassies is from movies and novels. I expected to feel a little bit more like I was in the US. That was not the case! It never felt like I left Cairo, except everything was clean and quiet.

I waited half an hour after taking a number and found out I completed the wrong form. So the guy behind the window gave me the form I needed and sent me to the cashier to pay the fee. I went back to him with everything completed, and he said to come back in two weeks and they'll have my new passport. Pretty smooth.

Jeff groaned when he found out how easy it was for me. He had a very difficult time getting his a couple years ago!

Khan al-Khalili

2009-01-07T12:29:00.005+02:00

We went to the big open-air market called the Khan al-Khalili on Sunday. Turns out that's the day most vendors take off. Oh well, we got a little glimpse of what it's like, and much less hassle than when they're all open.

I was admiring an alabaster pyramid in a shop where Christine bought something. The guy said it was 225 LE, but for me, because I'm nice to him, will only charge 185 LE. That was WAY out of my price range, and I wasn't really interested in buying anyway. I said thank you and started walking away. He came after me, asking how much I would pay for it. I said 40 LE, thinking that was low enough for him to go away and leave me alone. He thought for about 2 seconds, and said, "Okay." I was surprised, but I felt obliged to purchase after he agreed to my price.

So here's my new pyramid:

Busy Day

2008-12-29T22:26:00.003+02:00

Our friends, Luke and Christine, arrived last night. It was fun going to the airport and being all anxious while we waited. They finally showed up and we've been enjoying their company! Today we had a Christmas gift exchange. Jeff and I got to open up gifts from home (thanks for the socks!) and from Luke and Christine, and they had a few gifts to open from us. Then it was off to see Cairo! Today we visited Coptic Cairo, the mosque of Ibn Tulun, and the mosque and madrasa of Sultan Hassan. We also visited the Gayer-Anderson Museum which is two preserved houses with random collections of artifacts and art. Then we had lunch at a streetside hole-in-the-wall. We are all thankful our digestive systems have survived. After returning home for a rest, we took some time to look at pictures from Luke and Christine's time in Israel and Jordan. Then we went out to dinner at a local restaurant. Whew! I'm exhausted! Tomorrow we're heading to Alexandria for a day. Pictures may come later...

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T14:01:00.002+02:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's about 2:00 pm right now. Jeff is napping on the couch and I just put some banana bread in the oven. This morning we got up around 9:00, read the Christmas Story, and opened presents. It was fun! Jeff gave me a gag gift - a reminder of Egypt: an ashtray with pharonic decorations. After getting cleaned up, Jeff made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. It was yummy! Unfortunately, we've already had to do dishes twice this morning - once to make breakfast and once to clean up. It's days like this that I miss having a dishwasher!

Here is a Merry Christmas photo. More are posted on Facebook - send me an email and I'll send you the link!

Ein Sokhna

2008-11-25T15:00:00.002+02:00

Yay for the upcoming weekend! Jeff and I are taking advantage of a school trip to go to a classy resort on the Red Sea for one night. I can't wait to see the sea and breathe some fresh air!

And I think the name of the city means "Hot Springs".

New Fears

2008-11-25T14:52:00.002+02:00

I wasn't afraid of dogs before coming to Cairo.

Dogs aren't looked upon fondly in this country. People don't like them and don't keep them as pets. Foreigners, however, do like them and do keep them as pets. What happens when that foreigner moves away and can't take the family pet with them? You guessed it, the dogs are left to fend for themselves. They aren't often neutered/spayed.

There are packs of these dogs around the city, particularly where I live (in a foreigner area). One morning, I had to walk by some dogs where were lying on and around a parked car. One of them got up and barked at me, following me until I left his territory. My heart was pounding and ever since then, I avoid dogs whenever possible. These are not small dogs - probably about the size of Labradors or Golden Retrievers. And it's not just a few - I've seen as many as 8 or 9 running together.

It's not even that I'm afraid of dogs - if one attacked me, I'm fairly confident a good kick would scare it off. But what about it's 8 friends? Additionally, since I don't come from an island (like Australia), I don't have a rabies vaccination. That's the real fear. I don't want to get rabies and I don't want to be treated in a hospital here.

So I avoid the dogs.

The Pharmacy

2008-11-17T19:43:00.002+02:00

On Friday I went to the pharmacy to buy cough syrup for Jeff. The way pharmacies work here is that there is a separate store for all things related to medicine and hygiene (soap, make-up, etc). For medicine, I have to talk to a guy behind a counter and he brings the product out. I look at it and decide if I want it or not. If I want it, he puts the medicine in a bag and tells the cashier how much my total purchase costs and then I wait for the cashier, who ends up having to confirm the price with the guy again, and then leave.

There is also strong government regulation on pharmacies. For example, they cannot open a pharmacy within 100 meters of an existing pharmacy. The law that causes problems is that medicines cannot be marked up more than 20%. That is not enough of a mark-up to run a business - hence all the additional products.

So I was at the counter and I asked for cough syrup. Jeff had specifically asked for syrup with the ingredient expectorant. Or something like that. So the guy brings out an all natural syrup. It cost 25 LE, which seemed expensive but I was willing to pay if it was the right product. I looked at the ingredients: licorice extract and honey. I asked to see another one. He brought out another one for about 18.50 LE that was the same thing. I have honey at home and I've been putting spoonfuls in Jeff's anise tea! So I asked for something that is not all natural. The guy brought out another product. It cost about 10.25 LE but didn't have the right ingredient. So I asked for another one. He brought out one called Pepto... something for 8.25 LE. I wasn't convinced it was for coughing. I opened up the insert, and sure enough, it was for a cough, but didn't have that ingredient that Jeff wanted. By the time I figured out it was for a cough, the guy had already brought out another one - 3.75 LE with Expectorant right on the box, in English. It's a fraction of the price of the "really good one" the guy first brought out, and had 50% more syrup. So for $0.68 cents, Jeff is happy.

I wanted something else, but at that point I took the first one he gave me. I wasn't about to go through that process again!

Random Pictures

2008-11-14T17:34:00.003+02:00

Here are some recent photos we took.

Billy, Sabine and Jeff who are supposed to be looking sad because I'm about to win in Monopoly even though they all gained up against me. I didn't win, so thier evil plan worked!

Me, putting lunch in the oven after church last week. I don't remember what it was - I think just reheating leftovers.

Visiting the Prisoners

2008-11-14T16:45:00.006+02:00

Jeff has started visiting prisoners about twice a month. The prisoners are non-Egyptians who are in for a variety of offenses, most of them not what we would consider major crimes, and some have been awaiting trial for years. When he visits, he goes with a group from church and they bring food for the prisoners. I guess they have kitchen facilities - or at least a hotplate and pots. He's been going twice a month because 1)it takes most of Saturday and we want to spend time together and 2)it is quite expensive for an all-day taxi and purchasing food and hygiene items.

Some friends from home gave us some money for the prisoners. With the money, Jeff and I went shopping for the 15 new men who were scheduled to arrive. Here's what we got:

Each prisoner got what is pictured: 1/2 dozen eggs, bread, 1 kg rice, 1 bar soap, a washcloth thing, and toothpaste. Not pictured is the toothbrush. Jeff had to walk to church with everything and it was really heavy (15 kilos of rice plus everything else!). Since I didn't want to get up early with him to carry everything to church (a 15-20 minute walk), I loaded it all up in a large suitcase. It didn't all fit and he still had to carry two bags.

And the great thing is, we didn't even spend half the money! The rest of it has since been used for similar items for the female prisoners (this was for the males).

I don't go visiting with Jeff, but it was really fun to be involved in this way. Thank you to those of you who gave so generously to the prisoners!

A Felucca Potluck

2008-10-21T22:17:00.001+02:00

On Friday afternoon we went on a boat ride with a group from church. I love potlucks and totally ate too much. It was fun. Here's some pictures:

One More Food Post

2008-10-21T21:40:00.003+02:00

Soon after our arrival I got a craving for French Toast. I bought the special bread (just a regular sliced loaf - that's sold in the foriegner-frequented stores) and put it in the freezer and stocked up on eggs and butter. French Toast has to have syrup, so I was determined to wait until we found some. A week or so later, I came home and Jeff had purchased a big thing of yummy, liquid maple-flavored sugar. That night was breakfast for dinner:

Culinary Endeavors

2008-10-21T19:48:00.008+02:00

I like being home on the weekends because I get to cook. This weekend it was chicken and rice for lunch after church and a pasta salad for a potluck. I should mention that we have chicken and rice almost every weekend because it's relatively inexpensive and it's the only thing I've bothered figuring out how to make. The potluck was on the Nile - pictures of that will be posted soon!

Fortuitous Beginning

2008-10-19T14:07:00.003+02:00

This morning when I got to the office I moved the clock to the shelf over the computer. The clock hasn't been hung on the wall yet, so I thought this might be a more visible spot than where it was before.

A few minutes later it fell on my head. The glass broke onto everything - the desk, the floor, in my coffe and my purse, and so on. The cleaning man was about to clean the office, so he helped me pick everything up.

I'm okay, but my forehead got a little scratch and I had to throw out my coffee.

Monopoly

2008-10-15T22:29:00.003+02:00

Jeff and I made some new friends and found out they like Monopoly. That was all the excuse we needed to go to the store and buy the game we had seen the first week we arrived. We had pizza and played with Billy and Sabine. Sabine whipped us all and I think she felt a little bad about it.

I'm also experimenting with this application, Slide. Let me know what you think.

The Commute

2008-10-15T19:57:00.008+02:00

Lately I've been bad about posting regularly. But I have repented and have decided to be more dedicated! I have been thinking about posts, however, and I have a bunch of pictures and some thoughts to share in the next few days and weeks.

First, I thought I'd share some of my commute. This is going home on the bus yesterday. The bus left school at 4:45 p.m. At this time things are actually quite calm. It's after the main rush hour so traffic is not so bad.

Leaving School:

The Future University of Egypt (FUE). This university is very near AUC, but with much better signage to direct people out to the middle of the desert. I heard that before they moved to New Cairo, it was named the Future University in Cairo, which is not such a family-friendly acronym. The architecture is quite amazing...

That's it for now - I have more video to post later!

Measure 58

2008-09-22T17:40:00.003+02:00

A family member sent me this article today. As a new member to the teaching English profession, I thought I might comment on Oregon's Measure 58. According to the article, Measure 58, "would prohibit schools from teaching English learners in their native language after one year in elementary school or two years in high school."

The research presented in the article is absolutely correct. Prominent second language acquisition researchers have found that students who do not become literate in their first language have a very difficult time learning a second language. Much of this work was done in Canada, particularly with Canada's First Peoples not being able to learn English despite being put in English-only schools. There is something about developing the ability to read and write in one's first language that helps the brain fully develop the capacity for language. This is especially true in children. One year is not always enough.

For high school students there is also the question of confidence. If they are bright, good kids, but can't show their progress because of the language, how is that a good education? What will that do to their desire to learn? It can be incredibly demotivating to have a desire to show the teacher what you know but not be able to because of the language. Students need to be able to work on both content and language at the same time. There are several ways to do this - from normal subject teachers teaching both English skills and the content, to the ESL teacher incorporating the content from courses into the ESL classes, to simply putting students in mainstream classes and offering ESL as additional class. In any case, two years may not be enough time depending on the level of literacy a student already has in their first language.

This measure is directly related to everything I am studying and working on. Language learning is complicated and much about it is still unknown. To arbitrarily put a time limit on a person's learning is irresponsible. Many studies have shown that immersion doesn't produce competant language learners, especially if the goal is academic language use.

If Mr. Sizemore thinks that schools keep students in ESL programs for the extra monetary support, perhaps he should promote some kind of annual language assessment program for ESL learners rather than putting a time limit to someone's learning. I find it hard to believe that any responsible and ethical teacher would hold a learner back on purpose.

Africa Live!

2008-09-20T10:55:00.002+02:00

Yesterday Jeff and I went to church at the normal time. We ended up staying quite a bit after, talking to various people, praying, and generally hanging out. Church was over around 12:30 pm, and by the time we had declined an invitation to go out to lunch, it was after 1:00 and we wanted to say for the music of the next service, Africa Live!

Our church has four services. They recently slightly modified the worship styles of some of them. Thursday night is small and contemplative, Friday 9:30 is more traditional, 11:15 is less traditional, and the 1:30 Africa Live! is for the African community we have in our church (and anyone else who wants to go). I've been wanting to visit the last service for a while, and this was a prime opportunity (plus we had both eaten breakfast and weren't too hungry).

The Africa Live! service was great. As the music began, people kept arriving, and everyone started moving. And I don't mean just swaying in thier seat, but moving their feet, bending over, lifting up thier hands, and whatever else they felt like doing. The weird thing is, it wasn't disorderly. People followed the music leaders and participated appropriately. The feeling I had was that people were free! I was thinking about how different the cultures of our church services are. Even in the younger-people oriented service, I would not feel quite as free as I did at Africa Live!. Comparing the cultures didn't carry any judgement, it was just seeing the differences. I really liked seeing emotion embodied at the African service. Emotions in my regular services, if expressed, are very subtle. I also appreciated how the African worship team seemed less concerned with being "professional" musicians. They are talented and there is order and they all follow the leader, but again, there is a freedom to be expressive and real.

Jeff and I left right before the sermon (the same one we heard in the previous service). I think we are both just a little bit African in our hearts.

A Little Spoilin'

2008-09-16T18:36:00.004+02:00

On Thursday last week Jeff and I treated ourselves with pizza, soda, and Ramadan treats. Here are some pictures:

We liked the Ramadan sweets so much, we bought more a few days later:

Settling In

2008-09-11T16:38:00.004+02:00

It's been a while since I last posted. Things are finally starting to settle into a routine and we have internet at home! That was the primary reason for not blogging. When Jeff and I arrived, we were happy to find our landlord had received my emails and was expecting us. After some serious dusting, here are some pictures of our flat:

Painted behind the front door:

View from the front door:
The living room:
View from the main area. It's nice to be at tree level:
The kitchen:

The bathroom:

The guestroom:The master bedroom:

Sunmer Favorites

2008-07-31T17:30:00.001+03:00

Here are some pictures from the summer that I like.

July 4 at the beach:

View from our room during the honeymoon:
Me and Jeff during an evening walk on the beach:
The wedding:

House Update!

2008-07-31T12:05:00.000+03:00

Jeff and I went on our honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and all week long we were excitedly anticipating carpet being installed in our house. We came home and it was beautiful!

The day after we got home we had the family over to open wedding gifts with us. Everyone was so generous!
Lastly for this post, Mom came over and I helped her lay the new linoleum in the entryway. It looks so much better now!

New Arrival #1!

2008-07-31T11:48:00.001+03:00

Welcome to the world little Liam! My newest nephew arrived yesterday around 12:30 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce. I picked up my sister's mother-in-law from the airport, and along with my husband and friend we all went straight to the hospital (about an hour away).

Uncle Jeff getting a lesson on how to hold a baby from Grandma:
Big brother and Auntie Christine looking at Liam!
Big sister spending time with mom:No longer the youngest, Sean is entertained by Uncle Jeff:And the happy but tired mom:

Now Boarding Together

2008-07-06T02:28:00.000+03:00

I was up late with my sister talking about Egypt tonight. She's gone to bed, but I was left thinking about how different next year will be from the last, what with having a husband and all. I don't know if this sounds strange, but one thing I'm really looking forward to is not having to get on a plane alone. I hate it: the unknown of who I'll end up sitting next to, the lack of meaningful conversation, no one to remember the trip with. Now I get a travel partner for life!

The Transformation

2008-07-05T22:14:00.000+03:00

Here are some pictures of our house. It closed around June 10, and we've been working nonstop! We met some of the neighbors last night, and they were telling us about the previous owners. We are only the second owners. While they had taken great care of the house, it was all the original carpet, light fixtures, wallpaper and so on.

Okay - now to the pictures! Most of the work in the pictures involves ripping out the carpet and scraping wallpaper. The wallpaper was terrible to remove. We will never, ever, put wallpaper in a home!

From the outside, with all the carpet in the truck:
Here's the living room:
The wallpaper was finally ripped out, and we got to prime the living room and pick paint colors. We chose the upper right color:
Painting has started!The kitchen and dining area before work started...
...and after work started:
And some fun momentos from the kitchen that were quickly removed!The hallway before any work (well, without the light fixture): The hallway with wallpaper beginning to be removed:The hallway primed for paint! The hallway painted, and the ceiling too! And some views of the backyard:That's it for now. I'll post more when we make more progress. Carpet will be installed in the next two weeks!

Chastised

2008-07-05T22:03:00.000+03:00

I've been chastised for not blogging lately. I will try in the next few weeks to post about the progress on our new house and the wedding things. It's been really fun to spend time with my family and friends! Both my sisters are pregnant and it's funny to watch them try to navigate the kitchen and dining room table and such things.

Anyway, I'll post soon. With pictures!

My Last Day

2008-05-29T16:30:00.002+03:00

I go home tonight! The taxi will come at 2 a.m. to take me to the airport. I can't wait! Today I've sat around, cleaning, packing, checking my email. I'm so bored!! I'm just wasting time now. I have nothing else to pack, buy, or throw away.

I'm so excited to be somewhere that is a reasonable temperature and doesn't have mosquitoes.

It's so close!

Backup Plans Gone Awry

2008-05-18T11:23:00.001+03:00

This morning in class I had a great plan. Come in to class, hand back some papers, and do a practice listening test. I had the CD player and the test packet all ready to go. I opened up the test packet and the CD was not there. Hm. I contemplated reading the script for them, but decided that is not good practice, especially as I was not about to change my voice 50 times to sound like a man!

I sent a student to the computer labs to see if one was available. They could do listening practice on the computer. They are normally available, but not today! Hm.

What did we do? We played Simon Says. That's right, the kids' game. They loved it. We played for probably 30-40 minutes. Since I had already planned to play the game later this week, I didn't feel too guilty for "wasting" a class period. We got a nice little workout - my heart rate was climbing!

Upper Egypt - The Train

2008-05-13T21:30:00.007+03:00

Over the next few posts I'll share about our Spring Break trip to Upper Egypt. We took the overnight train about 14 hours south to Aswan then a cruise ship north to Luxor, then another overnight train back to Cairo. Here are some pictures from the train to and from Upper (southern) Egypt. We had adjoining cabins. It was fun, although sleep was kind of difficult!

Out the window:

Alexandria - Montazah

2008-05-12T17:11:00.005+03:00

The Gardens of Montazah is an area that belonged to the last king of Egypt. It is a park area on a prime piece of land right on the sea. There are summer cottages and a Hilton resort on the property as well as a presidential palace. Michelle and I wandered around, avoiding the guys in the red car trying to give us a ride, managing to understand from the guards that no, we cannot go into the presidential palace, and so on. It was hot. We finally found a place to sit and read in the shade.

The entrance to Montazah:
The Presidential Palace:The guard zoomed in on:The fence surrounding the palace:The palace gardens behind the fence:Some views from our resting spot:

Cairo - Khan al Khalili

2008-05-05T13:30:00.000+03:00

We went to the Khan al Khalili (those kh letters are pronounced in the back of the throat). This is supposedly the most ancient continually-running market in the world. We had some hassles, but it was a noisy, smelly experience that every visitor to Cairo needs.

At one point, I was buying something for Jeff. He was standing next to me listening to me discuss the price in Arabic. The vendor asked if Jeff is my fiance, and I answered affirmatively. He then proceeded to tell me that I should marry him, not Jeff. I looked at him, and said, "Eh da?! Howa henna, delawati! Inta magnun!" which translates to "What is this?! He's here, right now! You're crazy!" All his buddies standing around got a good laugh at that.

Spices! Loofahs!

Random market scenes.

The Western Desert

2008-05-03T17:59:00.001+03:00

Thursday morning I joined a group from school for an overnight camping trip in the Western Desert. We saw the Black Desert, did some off-roading and sight-seeing, then made our way to the White Desert where we camped. It was really neat. The silence was incredible.

It was also my first experience of camping without toilet facilities. Sometimes it was hard to find a rock for cover when people were walking around and other groups were camping as well. We had a nice, long morning walk!

Ready to go!

From the top: Me, Alice, Nevine in the Black desert.We went down the hill and it was really fun. I had the front seat passenger take video. These Land Cruisers can go anywhere!

A nice sunset with clean air. I didn't know such things existed in Egypt! The stars that night were fantastic.

We didn't get dinner until 10:30. We were all starving!Our tent. Spooky.

Campsite at dawn.

One of our guides, packing up. I was tired and sitting in the car.The White Desert. The limestone looks like snow.
You can't really see it, but there is all kinds of quartz and other crystals on top of this strangely formed rock. This was at a site called Crystal Mountain.

Alexandria - Streets and Sea

2008-05-02T23:15:00.000+03:00

Here are some final pictures from Alexandria of the street and the sea. We spent quite a lot of time simply walking up and down the Corniche and watching the sea and the people.

This man was at the park outside the train station. He was feeding the cats like I've seen people feed pigeons and ducks.
Street scenes:

The night market:Scenes along the corniche:

Alexandria - The Shoe Shine Incident

2008-05-02T22:30:00.000+03:00

During our evening in Alex, I wanted to see the sunset over the Mediterranean. As Michelle and I strolled the Corniche, we decided to stop in at a cafe with sidewalk seating. This was our view.
We ordered drinks (banana "juice" for Michelle and Turkish coffee for me) and prepared to take a rest and enjoy the view.

What we didn't count on was our seating's accessibility to people on the street. We turned down two guys selling rugs and guys selling watches. One of the watch guys came back and told us he is a Christian from Sudan and needs to eat tonight and any little amount will help him. I gave him two pounds. A lady walked up to us and simply held out her hand. I gave her a pound just so she wouldn't keep standing there.

And then came the shoe shine guy.

He looks harmless enough, but he was a pain in the rear. Since I was wearing black leather shoes that really needed a shine, I agreed to let him do my shoes. This is something I only see men doing on the street (getting their shoes shined and doing the shining), and I figured being a tourist let me do things I wouldn't normally do. He was trying to chat with us, saying how wonderful America is and I don't know what else. I couldn't really understand him. He let Michelle take a picture.

After stopping him from forcing Michelle's sandals off her feet, I asked him how much I owed him. I know this is cheap - it's done everywhere and all the men have their shoes shined. I figured a couple pounds. "Twenty!" he said. Yeah, right. I gave him five. He complained and I said that five is plenty. Then he asked for a dollar because he allowed Michelle to take a picture. I gave him another pound and he finally left. My shoes looked great, but it was a hassle and kind of ruined our pleasant moment.

According to my Egyptian host, a shoe shine normally costs 1 pound.

Alexandria - The Hotel

2008-04-30T03:34:00.001+03:00

Michelle and I stayed one night in Alex at a hotel called The Crillon. As a second choice in the guidebook, it left a lot to be desired. What you can't see in the pictures are the shared toilets, the campy smell, and the dampness of the sheets and mattresses:

Alexandria - The Citidel

2008-04-30T03:34:00.000+03:00

Michelle and I spent two days in Alexandria. It was fun, although I have to say that the experience of Egypt with Michelle is quite different for me. I don't get nearly the attention and catcalls that she does!

This post has pictures at and around the Citidel:
A nice family we met. I asked for their picture, as Michelle wanted a picture of the niqab:Outside the Citidel:View from the top of the Citidel. The flat thing just left of the middle is the library:

Recovering

2008-04-29T14:08:00.000+03:00

Spring Break is over, Jeff and Michelle are gone, and I'm depressed at having to return to school.

Over the next few weeks I'll post about our adventures. For now, I have class.

Arrived Safely #1

2008-04-17T02:18:00.000+02:00

Michelle has arrived safely! I rode a public bus to the airport, and after telling the man next to me to keep his hands to himself, I managed to arrive without incident. Unfortunately, Michelle had already arrived and called me. I felt bad for not being there before she got there, but it was okay. Michelle's the definition of flexibility.

She brought me Skittles, and cashews, and a CD full of pictures from Portland, among other things. It's really great to have a friend from home here.

Spring Break has begun!! (Well, almost. One more class to go.)

Feeling Faint

2008-04-16T04:55:00.000+02:00

This morning I almost passed out on the Metro.

I was standing, but leaning against the back of the seats (a man had given up his spot for me when I got on). The car was REALLY SLOW. Like it took 1/2 hour to go 2 stops (normally the whole trip takes 25 minutes). Within that half hour, I started getting really sweaty. It was dripping down my back and front. It was hot, but I was sweating more than usual. My stomach started churning, and I started praying that I wouldn't puke.

I was standing under a fan, so I kept telling myself to breathe and stay calm. My vision was swirling. At the point where I could hardly see and my hearing started to fade, I reached out to the lady in front of me and said "please..." My hand was shaking a lot. Everyone moved quickly and let me have a seat by the window. I took my iPod out of my ears because I could hardly hear it anyway, and leaned forward in my seat. After a few minutes I felt much better and my hearing and sight came back. I realized my iPod was still playing music, so I put it away.

I still couldn't watch the opposite trains pass by me - it made me nauseous. I called a friend at school and told her I may not make it in to school in time for class.

I've never passed out before, except when I got kicked in the head in high school. It was awful. I'm bringing water with me on the metro from now on!

Too Long

2008-04-15T02:22:00.000+02:00

Today we had a high of 98 degrees. I've been here too long. I left the comfortable air conditioned office and thought, Wow, it feels good outside. It will remain in the mid-80's to low 90's for the foreseeable future. At least I won't be here during the hottest months of the year!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-04-12T22:33:00.000+02:00

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad. Way to go - 33 years! Even though I'm marrying someone older than Rene, it's reassuring that Jeff is still younger than your marriage!

Two Faces

2008-04-12T22:30:00.000+02:00

I have to say, my experiences of men in Cairo are striking in comparison. Usually I avoid them as much as possible when I'm off campus. I don't make eye contact, ask women if I have a question, and so on. Of course, men are everywhere and the only way to really avoid them is to stay home. That being impractical, here are my experiences:

The men here are chivalrous. They hold open doors, help when I'm carrying things, let me in the elevator first, and so on. Sometimes I ride the coed car in the Metro, although I usually stick to the women's cars (2 of them). However, sometimes the train arrives just as I walk through the turnstile and I don't have time to walk down the platform to the women's car, so I jump on a coed one. The first thing I typically notice is that men are smellier than women.

While riding the Metro, the men are usually respectful. If I'm standing, I get a little bubble of personal space, and the men give up the prime places against a door or wall. Sometimes they even give up their seat for me, which I never refuse. Sometimes the women's car gets so crowded, I feel like I can't breathe - it's my first true experience of feeling the panic of claustrophobia. The men, on the otherhand, will crowd against each other but try to preserve space around me so there is no inappropriate touching.

That's the nice part of the men here.

On the opposite end of men's behavior, I have been more harassed here than ever in my life. Policemen whistle, men of all ages (even boys!) make derogatory comments when I walk by. It's in Arabic, so they don't think I understand. I've been touched inappropriately by a taxi driver and twice by men on the platform of the Metro. They are very sneaky about it. In the driver's case, he pretended it was an accident. On the platform, it was so crowded or some boys were running by so fast it took me a second to register that my rear had been touched - and they've disappeared. I don't even have anyone to yell at (like I did the driver). I don't consider myself especially attractive, and I dress modestly. I have to constantly tell myself that nothing I'm doing encourages such behavior.

It seems the only way to avoid harassment is to wear niqab, completely veiled except for the eyes. Even women with higab, or regular scarves, get comments.

Portland and Cairo are different worlds.

iPod Use

2008-04-12T08:56:00.000+02:00

Okay, so I'm not quite ready to sleep tonight. My iPod accessories are taking quite a beating here in Cairo. I blogged previously about my iPod (here and here), and I have to say the pleasure in using it has not diminished. Lately I've been enjoying the shuffle mode. I go from Stevie Wonder funkiness to Psalm 86 to Dvorak. It's great.

The nice little white leather flip case, on the other hand, is no longer white. The sync cable Jeff gave me (because I lost mine) has to be jiggled to work correctly. But I like the feeling that I'm using things. I'll stop using the case when it falls apart and the cable when it stops working completely.

Ok. Now it's bedtime. After I finish listening to the news on NPR.

Welcome, Jeremy

2008-04-12T08:37:00.000+02:00

My friend Jeremy has joined the "Stay up 'til 2 a.m. for just one more episode of West Wing" Club. Of course, it helps that he's not working at the moment. Members so far include me, Christine and Amanda. Anyone else a West Wing fan? I know Tom B. is, but I don't know if he's hit the 2 a.m. mark. For that matter, I don't know if Amanda has either. Hmm.

I'll have to visit Christine when I get home for the seven seasons. If you're bored of what's on TV right now (I have no idea, I haven't seen American TV since... early last summer?), go get the West Wing. If you rent the first season, you'll be hooked. Great cast, great writing, timeless subject matter. Well, timeless if you're living during the modern American political system.

Enough raving about the Best Show Ever on TV. I'm too tired to be blogging right now. I'm going to bed.

Countdown

2008-04-09T16:27:00.000+02:00

Only 95 days until I get the MRS degree dad used to tease me about (until I made him stop). Except these initials go before my name, not after.

Check out the wedding website!

Friday's Concert

2008-04-07T00:31:00.000+02:00

The concert Friday was tons of fun. I arrived half an hour early, thinking that would be early enough to get a seat, but it wasn't. The place was filling up fast. Since it was just me, I was able to get a seat in the main section, next to a woman named Barbara. We chatted for a while. Then the concert started. There was Graham Kendrick, the 15-voice gospel choir from England (apparently they have them in the UK!) and a trumpet player, Raul Donavera (I think I got his name right). He was fantastic. Barbara said he's from Spain.

At one point toward the beginning of the concert, Raul got to play a couple numbers. It was fun, and amazing. The flugelhorn is one of my favorite instruments, and he is a fantastic player. Here are some video clips:

Unfortunately, this is the point where my camera batteries died. The last song performed was the praise song that goes "We worship you/Hallelujah, hallelujah/We worship you/for who you are... for you are good!" The band continued to play for probably another 30 minutes, trading solos. The bass player was incredible. When it was Raul's turn, he held his flugelhorn in his right hand and a trumpet in his left and traded between the two. It was so cool!

Church Tonight

2008-04-04T08:42:00.000+02:00

This weekend at church we have a special guest, Graham Kendrick. He's a worship leader from the UK that I've never heard of, but some British friends of mine really talked him up. This is his fourth year coming to church for a weekend, and everyone loves it. Tonight, which is normally quite a small congregation, there were about 4 times as many people as normal. He had a small gospel choir with him (apparently they have those in England). During the special choir number I was amused at the "As you lift Him high/He will drawr you close" bit of the song. Usually accents diminish with singing, but the "r" was definately there! I'm thinking about going back tomorrow morning even though I'm going to the concert tomorrow night.

The nice thing about guest musicians is the very short sermon. Not that I don't appreciate good sermons, but to expect a special guest who has come from England or Canada or somewhere far to do something other than music is too demanding. I noticed this with Brian Doerkson last semester as well. You feel just as satisfied with a passage of Scripture read, an explanation of what it meant to the artist, and then the song based on it. It's really wonderful. I found myself really wanting to stay there for longer than the already over-long service. Except when the littler girl in front of me vomited. I had to leave my seat straightaway before my overly developed gag reflex kicked in from the smell.

One of my favorite couples at church is an older man and his wife. They're Brits, and she's 6'2" and he's shorter than me - probably 5'3". They are so friendly and into everything. They totally get into the worship: dancing, waving arms, and so on. And they are so encouraging. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding the thick accent, and I feel silly asking them to repeat themselves so much, but they're the kind of people you want to hear.

Have I mentioned how much I love my church here? I think I have a few times. I wish everyone at home could experience the true multiculturalism that exists in the church and in the small groups. In my small group 5 nationalities are represented, and it's great. I love looking at the congregation and seeing all the different features of ethnic groups scattered across the crowd. Asian of all sorts, blonds, hispanic, all kinds of European, Texans, lots of Canadians, Egyptians, and a lot of different Africans. I was thinking tonight what Heaven will be like. If I get choked up and have a hard time singing here, how will I be able to praise God when he's physically in front of me and ALL the nations are there? It's hard and wonderful to imagine.

Fashion Talk

2008-04-03T07:05:00.000+02:00

I've started noticing an interesting fashion in jeans. You know the low-rider jeans that young women wear? The kind that are unflattering even to the most slender woman because they hug the hips and cause a little bulge of fat?

As you can imagine, that style is not particularly associated with Muslim dress as it rarely covers the woman's mid-section all the way around, especially when sitting. I've noticed a strange alteration to the style. Several times I've seen women wearing pants with two waistlines. The lower one is the low-rider height, and there's another 4 inches or so of fabric on top, complete with another set of belt loops. It preserves the look of the low-riders without revealing the skin.

Incidentally, I think they look nicer as the waistline is at the natural waist rather than the widest part of the hips. And they don't have that yucky roll of fat.

An Odd Comment

2008-04-01T04:45:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday last week a classmate of mine made a comment to me. She asked how long I've been in Egypt, and I told her since August, with a long winter holiday. She was surprised. She said I seem like I have a good understanding of Egyptian culture. I told her I had been here before and have Arab friends at home, and we parted ways.

Upon reflection, I thought that was an odd thing for her to say. She is a classroom acquaintance; we're friendly, but never see each other outside of class, and except for polite classroom small talk, we don't interact socially.

Today I had an opportunity to ask her what prompted that comment. She said she's been around a lot of foreigners over the years (she's an older student, probably with teenage or older kids), and I seem like I fit in well. It's just a feeling she has about me.

My host last semester said something similar that I just remembered. She said she feels comfortable with me, that I'm not like other foreigners she's known.

I don't share these things to boast, I'm just puzzled by these comments. How do foreigners normally make Egyptians feel? I'm not aware of doing anything special to blend in - I have no idea why at least 2 Egyptians perceive me differently.

Just something to ponder.

Walking Cairo

2008-04-01T01:24:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures from the walk I took on Friday morning with some people from an email list I subscribe to. The other woman is my friend, Alice. Captions are below the pictures.

Starting out: in Tahrir Square, with the Mugamma in the background. The Mugamma is a massive Soviet-style government building. Everyone has to go there to do things like renew national ID cards, foreigners get their visas, and so on. People joke that it is full of papers. Once you go in, you may never come out!!

Yummy...

We stopped in an a'wa, or a coffee shop (above and below). I took this picture of the old man smoking sheesha from a distance. The men will sit for hours, smoking and sipping tea. The tea (below, right) is really sweet.

Dinner!

An unused palace.

A train came while we were watching. The herders whipped the goats out of the way.

These trucks are known for their elaborate embellishments and funny little sayings such as, "Don't be envious, you don't know my payments!"

New Foods

2008-03-31T03:41:00.000+02:00

This weekend was fun. I'll post about the long walk later, but for now, I want to share the fun new food I tried.

First, I had Abu Farwa, or chestnuts. Believe it or not, I've never had them before! And, they were roasted over open fire - the gas stove to be precise. Too bad I kept picking rotten ones. Yuck.

I also tried a new fruit or vegetable (I'm not sure what it is classified as). It's called harenkesh (ha-RENG-kesh). The street grocer told us it's also called "the hidden lady". It takes kind of tart, a unique flavor that I've never experienced. Here are some pictures:

It's HOT!!

2008-03-24T00:54:00.000+02:00

Today it's 102 degrees Farenheit. AHHH!!! And I have the day off so I don't even get the luxury of staying in the nice air-conditioned office at school. According to the weather channel, the average for this time of year is the 80's. Supposedly we'll get there by Wednesday. I can't wait!

Reflections on Good Friday

2008-03-21T06:30:00.000+02:00

I went to church tonight instead of tomorrow morning. Because we normally have church services Thursday night/Friday morning, we're having a special Sunday evening service this week for Easter. So tonight was the Good Friday service.

For some reason, I hadn't considered how I would feel about not being home for Easter, I did it in college in Colorado and it wasn't a big deal. This year is different.

At the end of the service, the pastor said if you are not humbled by Jesus then you don't know him. I was overcome with how great his sacrifice was and is. How little I am able to imitate his love and compassion; the significance of the incarnation of Jesus.

I was pondering Jesus Christ coming to Earth, being separated from his father, and then being killed, I started comparing his situation to mine. I'm in a foreign land. Although we keep in touch, I miss the intimacy of my family life. Would I be willing to die for Egyptians? Would I be willing to remain here if I knew before even coming that they would kill me? Is my love for them great enough?

I find my resentments, irritations and anger with my host country overwhelming at times. But they are still human; I can't make Egyptians the Others. Yet Jesus really is Other. And still he loved these human siblings of mine more than I ever can, even on my best of days. How perfect is the love of Christ! The idea of a Brotherhood of Man is a hopeless ideal without Jesus who had to bring his Otherness to make humans whole.

I'm reminded of what Jesus said in one of the gospels, that whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves Jesus is not worthy to follow him. I find myself coming back to that passage every couple years. Am I worthy? Is the desire for intimacy with my family greater than my love for other people? I think in the macro-sense, taking up our cross to follow Jesus means loving people like he does - enough to leave the familiar, take risks and make sacrifices. Those things are different for everyone, but we are all called to obedience.

So can I do it? Can I go to some other people, help the community, teach them, heal their bodies, and then allow them to kill me? I honestly don't know. In so many ways the example of Jesus seems impossible to live up to. I can only be humbled from knowing him. And I think God can work with that.

A Day in the Life...

2008-03-19T21:36:00.000+02:00

...of a Cairene policeman.

You know, stand around at your assigned corner for 12 hours. Smoke. Spit. Ogle the women. Yell at people who are driving the wrong direction on the street. Occasionally chase young men off the women's car in the Metro.

Last week I left school early - maybe around 11:30 am. For once I didn't have to stay later on a Thursday when I'm done with class at 10:30 am. The Metro was wonderfully uncrowded. There were actually empty seats for most of the ride.

About halfway home, a group of four young men hopped on the car. A policeman forcibly pulled them off while yelling at them. The train started moving, but the men forced the doors to remain open while the officer was pulling them off. The women watched this happen with absolute equanimity. One of the guy's hat or bag or something was caught in the closing door, and the policeman was running along the platform while holding onto it.

Finally, a young woman (and one of quite intimidating size) sitting across from me jumped up and forced the doors open enough for the object to be pulled out. She went back to her seat and dusted off her purse (which had fallen to the floor) while talking to herself. I don't know what she was saying, but I imagine she was chastising all of the onlookers for not helping. She got off at the next stop. I continued home.

Random Facts

2008-03-18T21:55:00.000+02:00

Instead of doing homework I've been indulging myself by listening to archived episodes of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me on NPR's site, and I've also been reading up on the candidates. Here are some of the fun facts I've learned:

Obama and I have the same birthday (August 4).
John McCain has jowls. I've never actually seen him before visiting his senate website.
Obama went to Harvard and Hillary went to Yale.
Obama went to school in New York (Columbia) and Hillary grew up in Illinois.
Obama and Dick Cheney are 8th cousins.

Politics

2008-03-07T21:17:00.000+02:00

A year and a half ago I watched The West Wing. All seven seasons. Christine and I loved it. It perhaps, had more influence on my approach to politics than almost anything else. Not only was it incredible well-written and quite educational, the characters were endearing.

Recently I find myself addicted to the current political news and events. I remember when I was home in December and January, I was getting annoyed with the amount of coverage given to the presidential primaries. Now, it feels more like a comfort and something with which to indulge myself. Perhaps because I can choose what and when to listen.

My students want Obama to become president. When I asked a 17 year-old why, he said he's ready for change. I countered with the fact that we're getting change no matter what - President Bush is leaving office regardless of who his replacement is. My student didn't really have much to say in response.

My friends think Obama will get the U.S. out of Iraq. I realized I didn't know much, okay, anything, about the candidates' positions, so I went online to find out. Turns out all the candidates, except for Ron Paul, would leave combat troops in Iraq indefinitely. So much for that.

I'm also of the opinion that the way our system works, the president and congress are pushed toward the middle, no matter where they are on the political spectrum. Does that mean I'm cynical or apathetic? Not really. The politicians leanings at least affect which issues get addressed, even if those issues are moderated in order to pass.

With all these thoughts, I find myself missing a president we never had: President Jed Bartlett (as played by Martin Sheen).

Church Weirdness

2008-03-01T20:09:00.000+02:00

Yesterday morning at church was a little weird. The service itself was great - we have this really fantastic teacher who is filling in for 3 months until our new lead pastor arrives. I think everyone wants him to stay!

Before I launch into the narrative, I need to relate a little episode that happened earlier this week. I was talking with one of my students, and he was saying how he speaks a little Spanish. That is actually quite rare, so we tried to speak Spanish together. We were horrible, but it was fun.

I got to church early on Friday because I left the house too late to walk and took a taxi. I walked in, put on a nametag and headed toward the beverage stand for water and tea. On my way, I noticed a young man standing around, looking uncertain. "He's new!" I thought. I got my tea and water, and walked back toward the seating area. He was still standing around, but had moved to the other side of the narrow walkway area. I took pity on him.

When I greeted him, I said, "Hi, I'm Sarah." I thought he said, "Luke," but he really said hello. After an awkward "what?" moment, I asked his name. It's Lucas. What are the odds? Things like that happen to me way more than they should. Anyway, he arrived in Cairo just in January, so we chatted a little bit and I encouraged him to join a small group. I noticed an Egyptian man listening to our conversation, but I ignored him. He looked creepy. I left to greet my small group leader who was nearby chatting with someone.

As I was loitering near her, the creepy Egyptian came up to talk to me. His opening line was, "Are you Egyptian? You look Egyptian." I was polite, told him that I'm an American studying at AUC. I oh so subtly said I am getting married this summer and my husband will come back with me next year. Then I took a drink with my left hand (flashing the ice). He said something like "thank you" and faded away. My small group leader's husband came up at that moment and we started talking. I pointed out the new guy to him, and later saw them and the youth pastor talking. That's good. I hate to say it, but I've become suspicious that whenever an Egyptian man approaches me, he only wants to know one thing. Men here just don't talk to women they don't know.

I took a seat as service was getting ready to start. A family of three sat down next to me (parents and an adult or almost adult son). I greeted the woman, who was next to me, and she asked me if I speak English. She communicated that her English isn't very good - she's from Chile and speaks Spanish. What are the odds? I tried to use my Spanish, but every other word was Arabic. After the opening song (something by Hillsong), she told me she can sing in English. She listens to Hillsong from Austraila.

Lots of little weird things that day.

Video from Alex

2008-02-29T19:46:00.000+02:00

Here's a video from last weekend in Alexandria. My connection is finally strong enough to post it. We took a mid-morning break for coffee and tea. Mariam got tea, I got Turkish coffee, and Bob got cappuccino. The yelling in the background is the Friday sermon from a nearby mosque.

I was just watching the video, and I think I got some people at prayers. About 12 seconds into the video, pause it. There're men sitting on the sidewalk listening to the sermon (I think - it's a little blurry). If I'd realized that, I would have paused and zoomed in!

A Wedding

2008-02-28T22:29:00.000+02:00

Thursday night I went to a wedding with my hosts. Two coworkers were married (to each other). It was a Coptic ceremony, which is quite different from anything I've seen before. We were a little late, the ceremony had begun when we entered the church at 8:34 pm. By 9:12 we had finished fighting traffic and were on our way home.

The church was hazy, filled with incense. People were talking and greeting us, women would break out in ululations at random moments, and pretty much anyone who wanted to could go up to the stage and take a picture. You'll notice people doing that on the video - take notice of the small boys who just want to be where the action is. I saw them cover their ears at one point; the women can be quite loud!

After the ceremony, we had to go outside where the bride and groom were standing in a receiving line. I use the word "line" loosely; since people could exit two sides of the church, it was more like a receiving mob. Complete with some guy moving a giant flower arrangement behind the newlyweds. I was almost taken out by sword-like grasses.

I asked if I had to greet them, and was told yes. So I shook hands, said mabrouk (congratulations) and smiled. Fortunately the receiving mob didn't leave much time for questions!

Muslim weddings are quite different. I've never been, but I've been told about them. The actual ceremony is quite short, a business agreement between the groom and the bride's father. The party is where all the action is. My building is near several big hotels. Every weekend, without exception, I hear wedding parties. Even as I type the music and ululations can be heard from my room on the 10th floor. The building is also near the Corniche el Nil, or the road along the Nile River, which wedding parties like to parade down with a particular honking pattern. It's quite exciting.

For an interesting article about marriage in Egypt, check out this link.

Metro Observations

2008-02-28T18:16:00.000+02:00

This afternoon when I got on the Metro to go home, it was quite empty. It was around noon, and on Thursdays I get to go home early because all I have to do is teach my one class in the morning.

Sometime back in December, there was an accident on the Metro and I guess some people died. Because of the accident, the women's cars were moved from the front of the train to the middle of the train. And incidentally, I noticed stickers in all the cars with instructions on how to use a fire extinguisher. Anyway, some of the men still haven't got the switch. The cars that used to be the women's cars are typically quite emptier than the rest of the cars, and in the women's cars we get men who jump on and look disoriented. Today was one of the latter.

I was sitting on the bench (they were all blissfully empty), and an old man got on the car. He was tall and slender, with thick glasses and a head of white hair. His shuffling step revealed his age, but he stood straight, with only slightly bent shoulders. He was walking toward the benches when he realized he might be on the women's car. The ladies nearby confirmed it for him. He turned around to leave, and the women were saying "No, it's okay!" "Wait for the next stop!" He didn't make it to the doors in time anyway; they closed.

So he shuffled by me to the doors at the end of the car. When they opened, he got off and scooted over to the next car. There are doors with glass windows between the cars, and I watched to make sure he made it; I think it was a close call. I saw him get on, and then he must have stumbled once he was out of my line of vision, as people nearby all jumped at the same time as if to help him.

I continued enjoying Kink Live Ten on my iPod. And by the way Dad, that case you got me with the clip is perfect. Last week I was on the Metro, and a woman next to me asked me something in Arabic. I told her I don't understand Arabic, and she asked (in French) if I speak French. Several minutes later, after I thought she was done trying to communicate, she spoke to me in English. She pulled her iPod Nano out of her purse and confirmed that we have the same thing. My little case impressed her and she wanted to know where I got it.

Oh... The Metro. I don't think I'll miss it next year when the school moves to the new campus!

Alexandria

2008-02-24T20:03:00.001+02:00

Alexandria was great. Fresh air. The sea. Wide sidewalks that people use. Here are some pictures, in no particular order:

The Citadel, the place from where Alexandria has been defended through the centuries.

The new Library of Alexandria. The place is huge - 8 floors all in one big reading area.

A colorful street on the way to the catacombs.

A statue of Saad Zaghoul, an Egyptian nationalist from the turn of the 20th century. I know you can't see him, but I like the picture.

A cafe where we had tea and coffee while reading the newspapers and listening to the Friday sermon. Mariam is on the right and Bob on the left.

Pompei's Pillar. A Roman ruin that I don't know anything about, but it was fun to photograph.

Mariam and Bob on the left. How tall is the pillar? I had flashbacks to high school trigonometry.

The beach.

A minibus from the backseat.

The harbor.

A Quick Getaway

2008-02-18T22:34:00.000+02:00

This weekend I'm going to Alexandria. Or Iskandraya. Or in common usage, Alex. As in "I'm going to Alex," or "When we were in Alex..." But you know, I never here anyone refer to it as Iskan or some such shortening of the Arabic name.

My friend and classmate, Miriam, has invited me to visit. Another classmate, Bob, is coming too. Bob has to get a hotel, but Miriam said I can stay with her family. Oh the benefits of being a woman!

We're only going for a day/one night, but it will be nice to leave Cairo. Alexandria is a coastal city, so I get to spend some time gazing at the Mediterranean. Life's tough.

LOST Junkie

2008-02-10T21:04:00.000+02:00

I love LOST. Yes, the TV show.

Last year Christine and I watched seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. I found out I can download the entire season 3 on iTunes, so I did. Well, it's in process. The uber fast connection I get is on average 5.5 mbps. Yep, those downloads are cruisin!

But I got the first two episodes done. I just finished the first episode, and I'm remembering how much I enjoy the show. It's like being reacquainted with old friends, and the new characters are great. You may think I'm exaggerating, but the extent of my TV watching last semester was CSI and Desperate Housewives reruns - I don't particularly like either show.

It's nice to space out and relax. I get to use LOST as a way to reward myself after finishing homework. It's great!

A New Class Load

2008-02-09T21:33:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow marks my second week of classes, and the first full week of teaching. Classes are interesting this semester. I'm taking the following:

Second Language Acquisition - all about the theories of learning a language that is not one's mother tongue. This is my first course with an Egyptian professor, and so far it's okay. The class is huge! There are over 15 students, which doesn't sound so bad, but last semester none of my classes had more than 10.

Grammar - all about, you guessed it, grammar! So far it's confusing and the reading puts me to sleep, but I like the professor. This class is also quite large, so a second section was opened up which I joined. There should only be about 9 in that class, which is good.

Gender, Space and Power in the EFL Classroom - a fascinating class with one of my favorite professors. She is challenging us to examine a problem or problematic issue in our classroom and experiment. How do the males and females interact? How does the arrangement of desks impact the students? How does one wield authority while still encouraging self-directed learning? It's pretty neat.

Study Skills - I'm teaching the same topic I taught last semester, upon my request. I'm looking forward to having a second shot at the class and hopefully feel better about the experience at the end of the semester.

Oh the Humanity!

2008-02-07T18:36:00.000+02:00

Okay, so that title is a little cheesy. I couldn't help it.

At the Metro stop there is a beggar family. It's one woman, and at least 4 kids - two that walk and some babies (gender is impossible to tell). They sell little tissue packets. The woman sits and the little walkers approach people while holding out the tissue. Or they just hold out thier hand for donations. Sometimes I don't see the mother anywhere; a friend of mine thinks she might be a prostitute.

Anyway, I was coming out of the Metro the other day, and the little kid got right in front of me, holding the tissue. I kept my pace and ignored him/her. As I walked away, I felt a sort of guilt that quickly turned to sadness. I hate that I have to treat people as if they don't exist. I do it everyday with the beggars on the street, but plowing over this child made me incredibly sad that this little person will grow up thinking s/he's not worth anything. What are my choices? If I give them something, they will continually follow me about. I can't support them! Yet treating them as if they don't exist feels terrible. Perhaps I'll start carrying small change and give them a 1/2 pound every day.

A classmate and I were talking about the Egyptian's government and the policies they make. Egypt treats it's population like a liability. Granted, it's difficult to know what to do with 22+ million people. But what would happen if the government started viewing the people as an asset? I don't know what that would look like, but it has to be better than what is going on now.

The more I live here the more I realize what a paradox Egypt is.

American: 100%

2008-02-06T11:25:00.000+02:00

I've really enjoyed my iPod so far. It's great to have a little isolation device that blocks out all the sounds of the Metro and the street. Well, if not all the sounds, then most of them. I've been listening to Colossians and Hebrews, which has been neat. I can almost finish Colossians 3 times on my way home.

This morning I took a break from the New Testament. I found myself inordinately pleased by listening to Garth Brooks while crammed on the train. Looking around at all the veiled women and listening to Garth sing "Ain't goin' down til the sun comes up" was just great. Country music is about as American as music gets, and I found myself reveling in my different-ness.

New View

2008-02-02T16:46:00.000+02:00

Here's the view from my new bedroom window:

Let me zoom in:

Pretty cool, huh?

Weekly Organizer Fun

2008-02-02T13:40:00.000+02:00

The night before I left home, I made an impulse purchase of a weekly organizer. Okay, it wasn't really an impulse purchase, but I had tuned out school and everything associated with it, until I saw the store display and remembered how out-of-control I felt without Microsoft Outlook.

Today I decided to start getting organized and write my class schedule in the new planner. Immediately, I recognized a problem. The planner is created for a Monday - Friday workweek, with a Saturday/Sunday weekend. My workweek in Cairo is Sunday - Thursday, with a Friday/Saturday weekend. So I promptly went through the calendar, crossing out the days of the week and rewriting the days I need. I finished the semester and went back to the regular week on June 9, after I come home.

The good thing about doing that is I realized how quickly the semester will pass. I intend to live in the present, but at the moment I just miss home!

Hopefully this planner will help me not miss any meetings or classes.

Frankfurt Again

2008-02-02T13:37:00.000+02:00

I’m sitting in the Frankfurt airport, typing this to be posted later. So far, the flights have been turbulent, but otherwise unremarkable. I was seated in the very back of the plane from Dulles to Frankfurt, but it was surprisingly quiet. The plane was huge; one of those with 5 seats in the middle and 3 on each side. Toward the back, there was only 2 on each side, and the man sitting next to me slept most of the time after some polite chitchat.

I had 3 hours in Dulles, which I passed by eating (found a cheap sandwich shop), playing solitaire on my computer, and buying a book. About an hour before the flight left, I packed up my stuff and decided to get some exercise by walking up and down the concourse. I stopped at a Borders to buy a book, and couldn’t find my wallet. I went back to where I was sitting, and the people sitting around directed me to the podium. My wallet has 3 pieces of photo ID in the front window, but I still had to show my passport to prove my identity. Weird. Anyway, I wasn’t at all nervous, which felt strange. Maybe I was just too tired, and I only had $40 in cash.

I have to say, Lufthansa has the best airplane meals I’ve ever had. Except for the breakfasts (scary egg brick and… sausage?), I’ve yet to be grossed out by anything they serve. Especially the desserts. Today it was a great chocolate mousse, and in the past they even served little individual ice cream cartons (organic strawberry from England). The trail mix I bought in Dulles was a good investment.

About an hour until my flight leaves. Perhaps I’ll play Spider Solitaire.

Fly PDX II

2008-01-31T16:50:00.000+02:00

Here I am again! Using the PDX Wifi network. Getting ready to start another semester is a little intimidating, but I suppose I'm up to the challenge. I arrive in Cairo on Friday afternoon. School officially starts on Sunday, but my classes are all on Monday and Wednesday this term. I get an extra day to acclimate.

It's hard to leave home again.

Quick Update

2008-01-10T09:52:00.000+02:00

Wow! It's been a while! I just thought I'd post a quick update and let everyone know how I'm doing. Vacation has been wonderful. It is so nice to be with my family and Jeff, and to not have any papers due or students to worry about.

The trip home was very difficult for me. We were 3 hours late out of Cairo, which meant I missed the connection in Franfurt. I was rerouted from Frankfurt to San Franscisco, where my luggage didn't show up. My flight to PDX was delayed an hour and a half, but because I waited for my luggage, I missed the opportunity for an earlier flight. I made it home around 10 pm and my luggage two days later. That doesn't sound so bad, but by the time I got home I had been something like 52 hours without sleep (I don't sleep well when traveling). I was an emotional wreck in San Fransisco.

The next week I got my grades, which I am very happy with. I'm partially dreading going back to Cairo, but at least I won't be freezing all the time!

Random Thoughts

2007-12-06T10:40:00.000+02:00

I think I'm going crazy.

My students were in tears yesterday over their grades. It's silly, because thier grades are fine!

I saw an old man on the Metro this morning. At first I thought he had a beard, but then I realized it was chest hair sticking out of his shirt. I tried not to stare.

I lost the assignment for the final paper I haven't started yet.

At least all my shopping is done.

I leave in less than one week!!!

Another Lecture

2007-12-02T22:08:00.000+02:00

I went to see another lecture at school tonight. The AUC Press just published a book about Islam by Hans Kung, a famous Swiss theologian. It was actually quite boring, although he said some interesting things about Christianity, Judiasm and Islam. One thing I'm tired of hearing is that all three religions share the same ethic.

Of course they do! Most humans agree that things like murder are wrong, let alone the three major religions. Kung acknowledged that the fundamental differences are NOT ethical, but that's what he said we should focus on in order to encourage unity. That's all well and good, but if anyone truly follows one of the religions, he is not concerned with the morality of the other folks, but with that person's soul. The fundamental differences, as stated by Kung, have to do with having the right relationship with God. What difference do ethics make if you're pointed in the wrong direction? What a strange world we live in.

Don't get me wrong - I have no idea what Kung believes personally. I understand that in situations like this, a speaker doesn't say all that he believes. Perhaps I'll have to pick up one of his books.

Eating

2007-11-24T22:09:00.000+02:00

Tonight I went to the little corner place I noticed a while back and got shawerma for dinner. It was a little greasy, but not too bad. It tasted good, too. It's the second time I've had this since I've been here. The first time was during my first week, and I was really disappointed. This place is better. I asked the guy if I could take a picture, and he said yes. I don't think he realized that I took video too :-)

After church on Friday, we stopped at a little place to get lunch. I surreptitiously took these pictures from the car across the street. The guy getting stuff out of the big pot of oil is making tammaya. A donkey cart walked by, and I like the guy in the red hat. Enjoy!

A Waste of Time

2007-11-24T01:05:00.001+02:00

It's 1:00 AM and I just lost two hours of my life to what is probably the worst movie I've ever seen. Yes, even worse than Gerry. Heba and I watched The Big Blue (1988) starring, wait for it..... Rosana Arquette.

Every Friday night at 11:00 PM channel 2 shows an English language (usually American) movie. It's the best movie of the week. We've watched Gone with the Wind, Serving Sara, and I don't know what else. Tonight's movie was definitely the worst yet. I highly recommend it for all you Mystery Science Theater types - there were great long stretches of silence just waiting to be narrated.

Disaster

2007-11-23T10:28:00.001+02:00

This morning I realized I'm out of my Mary Kay face moisturizer. I thought I had a back-up, but I think that was the backup. At this point, anything mailed won't make it here before I'm ready to leave.

Oh well. I have three weeks of dry skin to look forward to. Maybe I'll hit the drugstore. Or Oriflame, the Swedish equivalent of Mary Kay. They have a store here that European friends say sells the products much cheaper (any MK directors out there getting the hint??).

Pastoral Prayer

2007-11-21T22:41:00.000+02:00

At church we do something I've never experienced before. They call it the Pastoral Prayer. About once a month (I don't keep track), a congregation member will go to the podium and lead the congregation in prayer. The prayer varies in theme, but it always includes confession of corporate sin, worship, and various requests concerning the entire church. It's pretty neat. It makes me feel like a realy part of the body of the church even though I'm fairly new and aren't a member.

Needed Reflection

2007-11-18T21:47:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I decided to go to the Thursday night service rather than one of the Friday morning ones. That day was particularly long; I went to bed late the night before, got up early to talk to Jeff, and never took a nap. I went to school and was frustrated by an office procedure (I should just start expecting delays. More later on that).

Class ended at 2 pm, but I decided to stick around and work, then go straight to church. I knew if I came home I wouldn't want to go out again.

So I did an assignment, graded some papers, read, blogged, and so on. I left for church and I was really tired. Probably because I hadn't eaten anything most of the day. When I got off the Metro, I got a falafel (here we call it tamaaya) sandwich, which I figured should hold me over 'til I got home. The tamaaya was overcooked and reallly crispy, but it tasted great. Besides, what should I expect for 1 LE? I walked to church.

The service that night was the youth service. They led worship, did announcements, gave testimonies, lead the congregation in a pastoral prayer (more on that later as well) and so on. The youth pastor preached.

It was great. Since I've been going, I've heard the youth pastor preach three times, I think. Everytime it's really good. Maybe because he's about my age? I don't know. He preached on Psalms 111, and basically told us that when we're frustrated or irritated and so on, that we need to stop being self-centered and focus on who God is and what he has done for us. It was a really gentle reminder to me of what it means to live a life filled with praise.

Friday morning was great. I slept in, and when the family was at church, cleaned up and did laundry.

Chipsy

2007-11-16T22:56:00.000+02:00

The big brand of potato chips here is called Chipsy. They are quite good - they tend to be more thinly sliced, and are really cheap. The flavors are quite inteteresting. I finally became adventurous, and ventured beyond the (apparently) universal appeal of salt and vinegar. Some of the flavors I like: kebab, roasted chicken, and salt and vinegar. Flavors I pass on: tomato, old yellow cheese, lime and chili.

Chipsy is also the local producer of Doritos (by appointment of Pepsico, NY). The Doritos here are different. The chips are thicker, which I really like, and the flavors different. They have the orange bag (cheese and spices) and the blue bag (sweet chili). I only saw the blue bag for the first time a week ago, and I have to say it is not nearly as good as the orange bag.

One great thing about eating unhealthy food in a foreign country is that I have no idea how bad it actually is. I can't read the info on the back!

Pictures From the Road

2007-11-15T23:32:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I drove the family to the airport to pick up 'dad'. I've driven this route several times - it goes right by the Citidel and Al Azhar park. I gave my camera to my 14 year-old host brother and told him to take whatever pictures he wants. The first one is the Citidel, and the rest are just random stuff. The day was warm, and very hazy (it's pollution).

The big mosque in the distance is the Citidel. And as a fun coincidence, in front of us is a mini bus and to the left is a taxi.

I took this one on the way home. I am released of my driving duties!

Ponytails

2007-11-15T16:59:00.000+02:00

I've realized that Egyptians like ponytails. And yes, I'm talking about a hairstyle.

I don't like the way my hair looks in a ponytail, or more accurately, I don't like the way a ponytail makes my face look.

But earlier this week I was in a hurry and didn't want to do anything to my hair. So I said khellas (that's it/finished!) and pulled my hair back in the dreaded ponytail. When I got to school, Nevine was sitting at the computer next to me. She said, "Sarah, you look so good with your hair like that! I've never seen you wear a ponytail before." I went to class and my students complimented me, "Miss, you look so nice today." I told them that doesn't earn any extra points, but they said, "No really, you look nice!"

My host mom always tells me she likes my hair like that when I have it pulled back to wash my face or something.

I guess I'm outvoted.

African Children's Choir

2007-11-09T21:07:00.000+02:00

This morning at church the children's choir from the church's school for African refugees. They were very cute, singing in their little English accents.

And will someone tell me if the videos are too much?

An Interesting Lecture

2007-11-08T12:29:00.000+02:00

Last night I attended a lecture given by Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University. The lecture was held in Oreintal Hall, named in honor of Edward Said. The room is beautiful, but the lighting is poor. Here's a picture of the ceiling detail:

The lecture was about Racism in America. Dr. West was incredibly charismatic, and I really appreciated his historical approach. He explained race problems in a way I never understood before. I've only seen the symptoms of the racial problems in the U.S., but he made it clear why things are the way they are. More impressive is that his concern is not limited to African Americans. He is passionate about the American ideal of "Justice for all". Much of what he said is exactly how I feel - the elite in America are not held accountable, people pretend that justice exists but the rich are often treated differently, no one knows what politicians really think.

Dr. West appealed to every person in the room, and I would guess there were at least 5 or 6 nationalities represented if not more. While I suspect I might disagree with his politics, I don' t know because he did not talk about politics in any explicit way. Justice and equal treatment to each person was at the heart of the lecture.

Two things concerned me about this lecture. Over and over Dr. West referred to himself as a Christian, cited the Gospels as evidence for the need to value people, and mentioned church a lot. One thing that concerned me is when he was talking about his meeting with Louis Farrakon, and said that before he came to AUC, he and Farrakon prayed together, to God or Allah, it is all the same god. Whenever someone says something like that, it makes me think they don't really understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, "There is not other name under Heaven by which men might be saved," he really meant it! We are not saved by the name of God, we are saved by the name of Jesus.

Secondly, it seemed like Dr. West has replaced Jesus as the Savior of mankind with the idea that equal justice will save humanity. He is so passionate about justice, but where is the role of Jesus in forming that passion? He hardly touched on it. Is it possible for people to treat others with absolute justice without the Holy Spirit? "Justice is what love looks like in public, and Democracy is what justice looks like in practice," according to Dr. West. But what allows us to love? "We love because he first loved us" is the answer given in 1 John 4:19.

While Dr. West was inspiring and challenging, his message seemed to be hollow, missing the only thing that can change a person's heart, the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

I'll put some video up when I have a chance. And I had a chance:

Not So Great New Shoes

2007-11-04T18:35:00.003+02:00

I wore my new shoes today and have 4 blisters. Good thing they weren't expensive.

Society for the Protection of the Environment

2007-11-04T18:04:00.001+02:00

This is part 2 of my tourist activities on Saturday.

We visited a paper/cloth recycling center. The center is in Garbage City where all the trash in Cairo is taken. It's a training center for women. They learn how to make new paper products (cards, gift bags, etc). They also make rugs, blankets, purses, quilts, etc. It's a pretty neat program, and the weaving uses the traditional methods from Upper Egypt. The women start out sorting fabrics, and move on to more complicated projects. They take materials home and pay to use them, and then bring back to finished product to be resold. The women also pay to use the looms.

It's a neat program that teaches skills and business. Here's a video of the loom:

And here's a random picture of AUC from outside the walls:

The Monastery of St. Simon

2007-11-03T19:16:00.001+02:00

This is part 1 of my touristy activities today. I signed up with a school group to go on a tour to the Monastery of St. Simon. When we were on our way, I started to suspect I had been here before. But when I came 7 years ago, it was for an evening service, not a tour. So this was nice.

I won't give the entire story in this post, but you can read about it here. It is quite a good story, and I encourage you to read it. Our tour guide was a short man, who described himself as an uneducated garbage collector (he doesn't have his certificate, or high school diploma). He was very kind, and shared how the Lord Jesus saved him from drugs and alcohol. He said that while he is very poor in this world, he knows that Jesus Christ has riches in the next world. Here's a short video of the guide:

The main church is set in a natural amphitheatre. The garbage collectors of the area hauled out the rubble to reveal this beautiful cave. It seats 20,000 people:

And taken from halfway up:

All over the monastery there are carvings in the limestone. The story goes that a Polish man named Mario, who is not an artist, has done the work by the grace of God. He stayed in the monastary for something like 8 years and now he lives in Cairo with his Egyptian wife. In the next couple pictures, there is another church with carvings all along the back wall, and other carvings on the outside of the mountain. All of these depict scenes from Bible stories.

This carving is not actually a carving. The story goes that as the rubble from the amphitheater was being cleared away, this picture of a mother and baby (Mary and Jesus, of course) miraculously appeared.

And this picture depicts the miracle of Mokkatam Mountain, and how the Christians in Egypt prayed for the mountain to move and it did.

New Shoes!

2007-11-03T19:10:00.001+02:00

After breaking my other new shoes, I decided for a more practical route - black shoes. Of course, I plan to glue the blue ones.

Zombies: The Recurring Theme

2007-11-02T15:16:00.000+02:00

My friend Amanda (see her comment here) will be happy to note that the topic of zombies came up in class the other day, and I wasn't the instigator.

I had compeletly forgotten about Halloween on Wednesday last week, until at the end of my last class, the professor ended by telling us about a plant in Haiti that makes people become zombies. I was pleased to share about World War Z with him.

And just for kicks, I completed the risk factor calculator available on the website. I didn't have an option for living outside the US, so I guessed what my location is most similar to. If I had lived through the Zombie War, I would have had a 30% chance of survival. I'm sure it's actually lower, as Cairo is extremely crowded and the culture is quite different than what the calculator is made for.

I'd be interested to know all of your survival rates... leave a comment!