By the way things have started out this year I am starting to wonder if the 2012 prediction is true... 2011 started out with a bombing during a New Year's Mass in Alexandria which killed 23 people and wounding 100. And then the Arizona shooting which I am sure most of you have heard about. I got an email yesterday that a full time student in College Park was shot and killed at 11:23 in the morning.This morning while reading about the shooting in College Park the headline of the newspaper was "11 homicides in 11 days" and that is just in PG County. And now back to Egypt, a Police Officer gets on a train and shoots 6 people after checking to see if they have the cross tattooed on their wrist. Oh and last week a politician in Pakistan was killed for wanting the blasphemy law repealed, and what is tragic about this is the man who gunned him down was praised because apparently people really really really like the blasphemy law.
Its only January 12th and it feels like the world has gone insane. Has it always been this violent?
I am particularly worried about Egypt. It is already a mess. Now lets add on top of a broken economy and a corrupt government sectarian violence. I don't want to see riots break out in Egypt like they have in Tunisia. People are blaming different parties for the violence that has occurred in Egypt- the government, foreigners trying to overthrow or destabilize Egypt, Muslims, Christians...etc. I think everyone was blamed at one point or another and honestly I don't know what or who is to blame except for the actual person who has committed these crimes. I can't even begin to comprehend the mind set of some of these people and I don't understand how human life has became so cheap to some.
I just hope the year doesn't continue this way :(
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Away for the Holidays!
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! I would like to apologize for being so bad at updating my blog. There is a lot to talk about but Ill try to keep the posts to a reasonable size. As you all know I just returned from my 13 day trip to Morocco and Spain. Despite being broke, I had an awesome time and can't wait to tell you all about my adventures. So I guess Ill start from the beginning...Casablanca.
We arrived in Casablanca the morning of the December 22, we were exhausted and didn't know what we were doing. We wondered around the airport searching for an atm and for someone to tell us how much we should pay to get from the airport to the city. After finding both we proceeded outside the airport, to the driver's car and what did I notice??? The grass! Yes it was like American grass, and it was wet. Not to say it doesn't rain in Alexandria but I haven't seen wet grass in a long time. It is funny how one notices little things like grass when they have been away from it for so long. And its not just because I am strange, all of us noticed the grass. It was surprising how green morocco was. Of course the level of greenery depends on where you are in the country but overall I would say surprisingly green. Okay on to more important things, the city!
Casablanca is very large, people told us there isn't much to do there but I found it to be very nice. The first day we spent the morning searching for a guide book, which turned out to be harder than expected because English isn't a popular language there. Most people speak french or Moroccan Arabic and I didn't understand either one of those and most of the guide books were in french but thankfully we found one older guide book in english which guided us the rest of the trip. After finding what we needed the adventures began. We decided to go to an old Cathedral which we thought was still intact but it was gutted and is now used by schools to store paintings. It seemed no one really cared about the Cathedral at all so we wondered around and eventually found ourselves on the roof of the building. It was kind of scary and extremely windy but awesome. I couldn't believe we were allowed up there. We could see a good chunk of the city from the roof and it was amazing.
The next day we went to the biggest mosque in morocco and I think the third largest in the world the Hassan II mosque. 2500 constuction workers and 10000 artisans and craftsman worked on this mosque. It truely was a work of art.
A few hours after visiting the mosque we packed our bags and headed to Tangier. This was also a surprisingly nice visit. We spent the night in a very cold hotel which had a surprisingly awesome bar attached and the next day we walked around the old city, sat on rocks overlooking the straits of gibralter, and found Hafa cafe which had awesome mint tea and very fluffy cats.
We only spent one night in Tangier and then made our way to Chefchaoun, a mountain town which is pretty isolated. Chefchaoen is known as the blue city. We were told that every friday during the prayer the women repaint their houses blue. So anyway we arrived in this town in the middle of the night not knowing anything about it, and of course there is a taxi driver trying to take us to our hotel but we refuse because obviously we are foriegners and don't know the price and think there is a good chance this guy is ripping us off. So we start walking up the mountain with our bags on our backs and we make it to the top of one hill and I was completely out of breath and freezing and shivering and pathetic. and of course the taxi driver comes and laughs at us because we don't know where we are and at this point we were stuck. So we got in the cab and he took us to our hostel and its a good thing he did because there was no way we would have found our way around that city. In fact the entire time we were there we would just get lost and didn't know where anything was. it was filled with tiny cobblestone pathes going up and down the side of this mountain. and everything was blue so it pretty much all looked the same. None the less it was a beautiful town. One of the only things we were able to do there was go on a short hike with our loyal dog, fashar, leading us the entire way.
We left chefchaoen early the next day because the weather really wasn't very nice, definitly a place more suitable for summer weather, and we made our way to Marrakesh. This was a day long journey, we had to take two hour long cab rides and then two trains. When we finally arrived in Marakesh, the souk, or market, was closing up. We didn't have a hotel so we called a bunch of places from the train station and could only find one very expensive but very awesome hotel. By expensive I mean 22 dollars a night, which is expensive relatively to other places we could have stayed. We ended up moving hotels first thing in the morning, we downgraded to a 7 dollar a night hostel which was tough but worth the savings.
We spent two days exploring the souk in Marrakesh, we didn't leave the souk at all. It was huge! I have never seen anything like it. There were snake charmers and monkey trainers during the day and then at night the center of the souk turned into a lot of food stalls. This happened every night, cooks from the city would set up their stall. So we went around trying lots of different foods for really cheap. Unfortunetly you always run a risk of food poisoning when you have cheap food in a third world country and I think that is what happened to me and everyone else with me. Its hard to tell because we all had different symptoms but I think either the food or the weather in Chefchaoen did us in. The next day I was unable to do much but look miserable and follow my friends. We went to the leather tanneries which smelled awful and was even worse when I was already nausious ugh! After a bit of exploring I spent the rest of the day and night in bed hoping to get better for the rest of the trip.
The rest paid off because the next day I felt pretty good although eating still wasn't an option. We headed to the airport pretty early that day only to end up waiting for our flight for 7 hours because we never checked the time of our flight and just assumed it was early (I know, I don't know how that happened either). As soon as we landed in Spain I felt rejuvenated from all the excitement. I loved Spain! The hostel we stayed had heating and warm showers all the time, there was internet, the bed was surprisingly comfortable but the biggest thing for me was the idea of clean food. I was so happy and relaxed. The first day I was there I bought two pairs of boots as we took a historic walking tour of the city. The buildings were so old and so pretty, I definitely felt as though I was in Europe. Morocco helped us save money on food because none of us had much of an appitite after being sick. But towards the end of the trip I was really enjoying everything I ate.
We had a lot of ham in Spain becasue it is really hard to find ham in Egypt and also hard not to find ham in Spain. Everywhere we went they had legs of ham hanging from the ceiling, their equivelant to McDonald's dollar menu was the 1 euro menu at the Museo del Jamon, or the Ham Musuem. The menu included ham sandwhiches, glasses of beer or wine or coffiee or soda. It was amazing for only one euro. Way to stay classy Spain! That euro menu is way better than the dollar menu at McDonalds.
One night we decided to bring in the new year with an awesome dinner at a restuarant suggested to us by Alberto's Aunt. This restuarant was amazing! Katelyn and I shared a lamb and it was the most tender lamb I have ever eaten in my life. It was hard to believe it was lamb. I did't need a knife at all and it was so juicy and delicious! Other food favorites were the mushrooms stuffed with bacon from the Ham Museum, the churros that you dip in chocolate from I guess a chocolate factory (so good!), and of course Paellah. If all I did was eat in Spain I would say it was a successful trip.
New Year's Eve in Madrid was a lot of fun, we went down from the hostel around 7 and started walking around, the streets were full of people dressed in crazy outfits drinking in the streets and singing out loud. We went to a few different bars and along the way purchased accessories to blend in with everyone else. I got a butterfly tiara and wand which lit up, Katelyn purchased a bright blue wig which looked awesome, Alberto got a multi colored mohawk, and Jordan got green light up Kanye glasses.
When it got closer to midnight we headed back towards the main square. In Spain it is a tradition to eat 12 grapes 12 seconds before midnight to give you good luck for the next twelve months in the year. This was hard for me because I was holding my wand, my camera, my beer and a bag of grapes. I eventually ate the grapes but definitely had the timing all off. At midnight champaigne was flying in the air and everyone was cheering and hugging and kissing. We continued to walk around and drink in the streets with everyone in Madrid until 2 in the morning and then returned to the hostel where the bar had just opened, we sat there for a couple hours, danced a bit and met other travelers. Altogether it was an awesome New Year's and it would have been better if everyone from home could have been there with me too!
Sorry I know this is getting long but there is one more thing I must tell you guys about..Cafe Central! Now I don't know the degree of 'best' this jazz bar really is. The guide book said best in the world but I don't know about that, I do know it is the best in Spain though according to the drummer of the jazz band that was playing that night. Anyway we weren't expecting to be able to get into this jazz bar but we thought we would try anyway. It was fairly easy to get in actually and one of my favorite moments in Spain. The jazz band was really upbeat and had a very unique style which I liked a lot.
Towards the end of the trip I have to admit I was tired of traveling and living out of a backpack and being sick. So I was really happy to be back in Alexandria. It was nice to see Egypt and hear a language I actually understand :)
We arrived in Casablanca the morning of the December 22, we were exhausted and didn't know what we were doing. We wondered around the airport searching for an atm and for someone to tell us how much we should pay to get from the airport to the city. After finding both we proceeded outside the airport, to the driver's car and what did I notice??? The grass! Yes it was like American grass, and it was wet. Not to say it doesn't rain in Alexandria but I haven't seen wet grass in a long time. It is funny how one notices little things like grass when they have been away from it for so long. And its not just because I am strange, all of us noticed the grass. It was surprising how green morocco was. Of course the level of greenery depends on where you are in the country but overall I would say surprisingly green. Okay on to more important things, the city!
Casablanca is very large, people told us there isn't much to do there but I found it to be very nice. The first day we spent the morning searching for a guide book, which turned out to be harder than expected because English isn't a popular language there. Most people speak french or Moroccan Arabic and I didn't understand either one of those and most of the guide books were in french but thankfully we found one older guide book in english which guided us the rest of the trip. After finding what we needed the adventures began. We decided to go to an old Cathedral which we thought was still intact but it was gutted and is now used by schools to store paintings. It seemed no one really cared about the Cathedral at all so we wondered around and eventually found ourselves on the roof of the building. It was kind of scary and extremely windy but awesome. I couldn't believe we were allowed up there. We could see a good chunk of the city from the roof and it was amazing.
The next day we went to the biggest mosque in morocco and I think the third largest in the world the Hassan II mosque. 2500 constuction workers and 10000 artisans and craftsman worked on this mosque. It truely was a work of art.
A few hours after visiting the mosque we packed our bags and headed to Tangier. This was also a surprisingly nice visit. We spent the night in a very cold hotel which had a surprisingly awesome bar attached and the next day we walked around the old city, sat on rocks overlooking the straits of gibralter, and found Hafa cafe which had awesome mint tea and very fluffy cats.
We only spent one night in Tangier and then made our way to Chefchaoun, a mountain town which is pretty isolated. Chefchaoen is known as the blue city. We were told that every friday during the prayer the women repaint their houses blue. So anyway we arrived in this town in the middle of the night not knowing anything about it, and of course there is a taxi driver trying to take us to our hotel but we refuse because obviously we are foriegners and don't know the price and think there is a good chance this guy is ripping us off. So we start walking up the mountain with our bags on our backs and we make it to the top of one hill and I was completely out of breath and freezing and shivering and pathetic. and of course the taxi driver comes and laughs at us because we don't know where we are and at this point we were stuck. So we got in the cab and he took us to our hostel and its a good thing he did because there was no way we would have found our way around that city. In fact the entire time we were there we would just get lost and didn't know where anything was. it was filled with tiny cobblestone pathes going up and down the side of this mountain. and everything was blue so it pretty much all looked the same. None the less it was a beautiful town. One of the only things we were able to do there was go on a short hike with our loyal dog, fashar, leading us the entire way.
We left chefchaoen early the next day because the weather really wasn't very nice, definitly a place more suitable for summer weather, and we made our way to Marrakesh. This was a day long journey, we had to take two hour long cab rides and then two trains. When we finally arrived in Marakesh, the souk, or market, was closing up. We didn't have a hotel so we called a bunch of places from the train station and could only find one very expensive but very awesome hotel. By expensive I mean 22 dollars a night, which is expensive relatively to other places we could have stayed. We ended up moving hotels first thing in the morning, we downgraded to a 7 dollar a night hostel which was tough but worth the savings.
We spent two days exploring the souk in Marrakesh, we didn't leave the souk at all. It was huge! I have never seen anything like it. There were snake charmers and monkey trainers during the day and then at night the center of the souk turned into a lot of food stalls. This happened every night, cooks from the city would set up their stall. So we went around trying lots of different foods for really cheap. Unfortunetly you always run a risk of food poisoning when you have cheap food in a third world country and I think that is what happened to me and everyone else with me. Its hard to tell because we all had different symptoms but I think either the food or the weather in Chefchaoen did us in. The next day I was unable to do much but look miserable and follow my friends. We went to the leather tanneries which smelled awful and was even worse when I was already nausious ugh! After a bit of exploring I spent the rest of the day and night in bed hoping to get better for the rest of the trip.
The rest paid off because the next day I felt pretty good although eating still wasn't an option. We headed to the airport pretty early that day only to end up waiting for our flight for 7 hours because we never checked the time of our flight and just assumed it was early (I know, I don't know how that happened either). As soon as we landed in Spain I felt rejuvenated from all the excitement. I loved Spain! The hostel we stayed had heating and warm showers all the time, there was internet, the bed was surprisingly comfortable but the biggest thing for me was the idea of clean food. I was so happy and relaxed. The first day I was there I bought two pairs of boots as we took a historic walking tour of the city. The buildings were so old and so pretty, I definitely felt as though I was in Europe. Morocco helped us save money on food because none of us had much of an appitite after being sick. But towards the end of the trip I was really enjoying everything I ate.
We had a lot of ham in Spain becasue it is really hard to find ham in Egypt and also hard not to find ham in Spain. Everywhere we went they had legs of ham hanging from the ceiling, their equivelant to McDonald's dollar menu was the 1 euro menu at the Museo del Jamon, or the Ham Musuem. The menu included ham sandwhiches, glasses of beer or wine or coffiee or soda. It was amazing for only one euro. Way to stay classy Spain! That euro menu is way better than the dollar menu at McDonalds.
One night we decided to bring in the new year with an awesome dinner at a restuarant suggested to us by Alberto's Aunt. This restuarant was amazing! Katelyn and I shared a lamb and it was the most tender lamb I have ever eaten in my life. It was hard to believe it was lamb. I did't need a knife at all and it was so juicy and delicious! Other food favorites were the mushrooms stuffed with bacon from the Ham Museum, the churros that you dip in chocolate from I guess a chocolate factory (so good!), and of course Paellah. If all I did was eat in Spain I would say it was a successful trip.
New Year's Eve in Madrid was a lot of fun, we went down from the hostel around 7 and started walking around, the streets were full of people dressed in crazy outfits drinking in the streets and singing out loud. We went to a few different bars and along the way purchased accessories to blend in with everyone else. I got a butterfly tiara and wand which lit up, Katelyn purchased a bright blue wig which looked awesome, Alberto got a multi colored mohawk, and Jordan got green light up Kanye glasses.
When it got closer to midnight we headed back towards the main square. In Spain it is a tradition to eat 12 grapes 12 seconds before midnight to give you good luck for the next twelve months in the year. This was hard for me because I was holding my wand, my camera, my beer and a bag of grapes. I eventually ate the grapes but definitely had the timing all off. At midnight champaigne was flying in the air and everyone was cheering and hugging and kissing. We continued to walk around and drink in the streets with everyone in Madrid until 2 in the morning and then returned to the hostel where the bar had just opened, we sat there for a couple hours, danced a bit and met other travelers. Altogether it was an awesome New Year's and it would have been better if everyone from home could have been there with me too!
Sorry I know this is getting long but there is one more thing I must tell you guys about..Cafe Central! Now I don't know the degree of 'best' this jazz bar really is. The guide book said best in the world but I don't know about that, I do know it is the best in Spain though according to the drummer of the jazz band that was playing that night. Anyway we weren't expecting to be able to get into this jazz bar but we thought we would try anyway. It was fairly easy to get in actually and one of my favorite moments in Spain. The jazz band was really upbeat and had a very unique style which I liked a lot.
Towards the end of the trip I have to admit I was tired of traveling and living out of a backpack and being sick. So I was really happy to be back in Alexandria. It was nice to see Egypt and hear a language I actually understand :)
Friday, December 10, 2010
Winter in Alexandria
It’s the beginning of December and winter has come... kind of. It isn’t very cold, I still don’t need a jacket most of the time maybe just in the evening. Anyway there are way more exciting things happening other than the weather. Well actually not really, I haven't been up to much at all. I have been doing homework and trying to get better at Arabic. Before coming here I thought I didn't know much when it came to Arabic but now I have come to learn I really know nothing about Arabic. I mean I am just learning how to form sentences. It’s crazy how different this language is from English. For example, in English run on sentences are BAD. Here it’s the opposite. It is encouraged not to have periods and to be able to write sentences the length of a paragraph. Punctuation is completely different. From what I understand you can put punctuation anywhere in the sentence and it will have no meaning. You just keeping reading as if it’s not there I guess. I don’t know if that is true but that is what I was told. Other challenges I have include gender agreement, spelling, limited vocabulary, etc. It’s as if I am in 2nd grade again but I am happy with my progress. Maybe I’ll make it to fourth grade by the end of January.
So while everyone in America is out doing their Christmas shopping and preparing for the holidays I am preparing my trip to Morocco and Spain. I know what you all are thinking “Mae you are so awesome, I want to go with you!” Yeah and believe me I wish everyone could come because it is going to be an amazing trip. We will be visiting Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez and another city I can’t pronounce or spell but it is known as the blue city. After visiting those awesome sites, we will be flying to Spain for only 8 euro and we will be staying in Madrid for four days to bring in the New Year. Yeah I know you all are jealous because this is going to be AWESOME! Okay I am only trying to make you all jealous of my awesome trip because while you guys are bundled up in holiday sweaters and sipping hot chocolate while watching your favorite Christmas movies and perhaps even going ice skating, I am here pretending it is winter by wearing sweaters in 70 degree weather and smiling at any light that has the slightest resemblance to Christmas lights. That said I hope everyone is thoroughly enjoying the holiday season by going and seeing lights and being with your loved ones and watching holiday movies. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Election Time
Its election time in Egypt and you know what that means... well it seems to mean election rigging, low voter turnout and a landslide victory for the ruling party, the National Democratic Party.
For those of you who don't know the state of Egypt's government I will do my best to explain what I know. Egypt is a republic and it has a President, Hosni Mubarak who has been president since 1981, and a parliament. The parliment is made up of the People's Assembly and the Shura Council. Altogether there are 578 elected seats and the remaining 138 seats are reserved for Presidential appointment. Now this is obviously an oversimplification of the government system so if you want to know more you should google it.
Here is a good summary of the current climate in Egypt post elections: http://frontpagemag.com/2010/12/02/egypts-electoral-unrest/
Okay so my experience through this whole thing:
The elections have been a popular discussion topic in class and among Egyptians for the past several months. I am always curious to know who is voting in the elections and who isn't. Let me tell you, hardly anyone is voting. I met one person who voted. Whenever people tell me that they aren't voting in the election I like to hear their reasoning. Sadly its always the same answer, they have lost hope or faith in the election process. Coming from America you always hear about how lucky we are to have the freedom to chose our government so for me it is still hard to figure out how people have lost hope. How did they get to this point?
I asked one of my friends why she didn't vote and she gave me a list of reasons which basically summed up to why am I going to waste my time to go to a fake election. I still wasn't convinced that not voting is the answer. If the entire country voted, things may not change but I feel it would make it harder for the government to ignore them. However when no one is voting it only makes it easier to rig the elections. Egypt can't continue on this path, there are too many problems plaguing the country and the people need a change. So if there is no real democratic process to create change and the current state is not sustainable, can we expect to see a revolution?? That would be insane!!!!
But really I don't expect to see any revolutions
But really I don't expect to see any revolutions
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Arabic
Learning Arabic is truely a humbling experience. I have been studying Arabic for three years and I have noticed some things that can make someone successful at the language. Obviously I am not the expert on language learning but there are general qualtities in a person which really help if you are trying to take on a second language.
First, having an outgoing personality helps. I am not the most outgoing person, well at least I don't think I was when I first started learning Arabic. I just didn't know how to start a conversation with someone or maybe I just was never interested, or I was just too shy. But here, it has become my goal to start conversations with people. In general Egyptians make it very easy for me, I have already made a lot of friends on my street or around the university such as the shawarma guy and "Abu Sham" or the pizza guy from "Pizza Roma" or the dessert guy from the dessert place down the street. I have noticed that since learning Arabic I have become more outgoing, more so in Egypt than in the US but also I have noticed a difference in the US.
Secondly, paying attention to detail is so helpful when learning Arabic. I had to learn this the hard way. I am more of a big picture person. I don't give a lot of details in conversations or ever. But now I am realizing this has to change and I am really excited for the change. Being meticulous was never something I ever had to focus on. I always gave enough details to make my argument or enough description for people to know what I am talking about. But now I have to be constantly thinking about the details. Its the verb conjugations which are the killers. But once I can conjugate a verb without thinking about it, I know I would have achieved something.
Thirdly a person who is not bothered by criticism would thrive in this sort of environment. This is where language learning becomes humbling. So I didn't grow up speaking Arabic. I don't remember my mother speaking too much while I was growing up. She would say a few phrases but nothing that would really make learning this language any easier. Maybe hearing random conversations between my mother and my grandmother helped in some way. At least the sounds weren't completely unfamiliar to me. So anyway when I started learning Arabic I didn't speak. I was too scared. I mean it is literally learning how to speak all over again. I would say you are going through the same learning process as a child but that isn't true. Children are expected to make mistakes, they are also absorbing so much more of the language at once. Anyway I won't go into the details as to why it is easier for children. But for me its not just starting over, it is learning how to speak when people are constantly giving you criticism, positive and negative. Its also hard when I come across people who think Arabic is easy to learn. But being able to hear that criticism and take the steps needed to correct your mistakes is the type of attitude needed in the language learning process.
From my experience, the people who have been most successful in learning a language have been those who are constantly going out of their comfort zone. So my plan for now is to talk more, pay more attention to detail, and welcome any criticism and look at it as a private Arabic lesson :)
Other news:
I will be leaving for Luxor and Aswan on Sunday! It is eid al adha (I really don't know how to spell that) which is a Muslim holiday. From what I understood it is based around the story of Abraham when he was suppose to sacrifice his son at the top of the mountain but then an angel stopped him and instead they sacrificed a lamb. So there are a lot of animals around getting ready for the feast :) I am not sure on the details of the holiday so if anyone knows feel free to correct me.
That's all. I'll leave you all with this picture of me on top of the Sofitel Hotel where I ate a delicious dinner with everyone from the program. My roommate Nada and our friend Fatima are pictured with me. If you can't tell I am having an awesome time in Egypt :)
First, having an outgoing personality helps. I am not the most outgoing person, well at least I don't think I was when I first started learning Arabic. I just didn't know how to start a conversation with someone or maybe I just was never interested, or I was just too shy. But here, it has become my goal to start conversations with people. In general Egyptians make it very easy for me, I have already made a lot of friends on my street or around the university such as the shawarma guy and "Abu Sham" or the pizza guy from "Pizza Roma" or the dessert guy from the dessert place down the street. I have noticed that since learning Arabic I have become more outgoing, more so in Egypt than in the US but also I have noticed a difference in the US.
Secondly, paying attention to detail is so helpful when learning Arabic. I had to learn this the hard way. I am more of a big picture person. I don't give a lot of details in conversations or ever. But now I am realizing this has to change and I am really excited for the change. Being meticulous was never something I ever had to focus on. I always gave enough details to make my argument or enough description for people to know what I am talking about. But now I have to be constantly thinking about the details. Its the verb conjugations which are the killers. But once I can conjugate a verb without thinking about it, I know I would have achieved something.
Thirdly a person who is not bothered by criticism would thrive in this sort of environment. This is where language learning becomes humbling. So I didn't grow up speaking Arabic. I don't remember my mother speaking too much while I was growing up. She would say a few phrases but nothing that would really make learning this language any easier. Maybe hearing random conversations between my mother and my grandmother helped in some way. At least the sounds weren't completely unfamiliar to me. So anyway when I started learning Arabic I didn't speak. I was too scared. I mean it is literally learning how to speak all over again. I would say you are going through the same learning process as a child but that isn't true. Children are expected to make mistakes, they are also absorbing so much more of the language at once. Anyway I won't go into the details as to why it is easier for children. But for me its not just starting over, it is learning how to speak when people are constantly giving you criticism, positive and negative. Its also hard when I come across people who think Arabic is easy to learn. But being able to hear that criticism and take the steps needed to correct your mistakes is the type of attitude needed in the language learning process.
From my experience, the people who have been most successful in learning a language have been those who are constantly going out of their comfort zone. So my plan for now is to talk more, pay more attention to detail, and welcome any criticism and look at it as a private Arabic lesson :)
Other news:
I will be leaving for Luxor and Aswan on Sunday! It is eid al adha (I really don't know how to spell that) which is a Muslim holiday. From what I understood it is based around the story of Abraham when he was suppose to sacrifice his son at the top of the mountain but then an angel stopped him and instead they sacrificed a lamb. So there are a lot of animals around getting ready for the feast :) I am not sure on the details of the holiday so if anyone knows feel free to correct me.
That's all. I'll leave you all with this picture of me on top of the Sofitel Hotel where I ate a delicious dinner with everyone from the program. My roommate Nada and our friend Fatima are pictured with me. If you can't tell I am having an awesome time in Egypt :)
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Balcony
The balcony has become my place to go for study breaks, to drink tea and the main place to talk and hang out with friends. Last night Monica, Katelyn, Jordan and I sat on the balcony for hours not even realizing what time it was. We talked about anything and everything while finishing off a bottle of red wine and listening to a mix of Indie rock and hip hop. Once we finally decided to get dinner we got pizza from Pizza Roma and went straight back to the balcony. There is nothing on the balcony except a shisha and an ash tray so we just sit on the ground and relax. Monica always says we have the best conversations on the balcony and its true.
The conversations between me and the other people in the program are not only stimulating but they can also help me retain my sanity. We are all here going through the same things such as being homesick or being frustrated with Arabic or whatever, having people here who understand exactly what you are feeling helps. The balcony provides us with a safe place where we can mix our American lifestyle with our Egyptian experiences. It is the perfect place to take a step back from life in Egypt and become an observer. From my balcony I can see the vegetable stand, the guys selling foul on their donkey cart who pass by several times a day, the bawabs and their children playing in the street. Its nice to have a spot where you can just watch the world go by, talk about international politics, or just vent freely with people who understand you.
The conversations between me and the other people in the program are not only stimulating but they can also help me retain my sanity. We are all here going through the same things such as being homesick or being frustrated with Arabic or whatever, having people here who understand exactly what you are feeling helps. The balcony provides us with a safe place where we can mix our American lifestyle with our Egyptian experiences. It is the perfect place to take a step back from life in Egypt and become an observer. From my balcony I can see the vegetable stand, the guys selling foul on their donkey cart who pass by several times a day, the bawabs and their children playing in the street. Its nice to have a spot where you can just watch the world go by, talk about international politics, or just vent freely with people who understand you.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Midnight Adventures
Here in Egypt the weekend begins on Thursday night, not because we are huge partiers but because everyone is off on Friday. So while sitting on my balcony around 11 pm we were planning what we would do for the evening. We had two options: 1. go to a wedding (which started at midnight) 2. go to a Mawlid, which is the equivalent of a Sufi All Saints Day Celebration (which also started at midnight). These Mawlids happen once a year on the last Thursday in October. It seemed like it would be an interesting and new experience so we decided to go the Mawlid.
We didn't know where this place was. We got in the cab and asked if he knew where the Mawlid in Bahry was and he was certain he knew what we were talking about. So he took us to this carnival which looked like it was from a horror movie. Almost empty for the exception of the people running it who couldn't stop starring at us. Granted it was very strange that four foriegners would show up to this carnival for children around 1 in the morning. So we left almost immediately. Luckily we got directions to the right place.
The Mawlid was in a place we had never been before, nor have any of us heard of it so we didn't know where the cab driver was taking us. All we knew was that the further the cab drove the more Sha3bee (more local, poorer area) it got. You would have thought it was 8 pm because everything was open and the streets were full of people eating and sitting at coffee shops playing dominions or backgammon. This isn't an uncommon scene in Egypt at all but we could tell these aren't areas where you would find a foreigner. After a good amount of driving through these neighborhoods we were not quite sure if we made the right choice. We didn't know where we were but we finally arrived. So the cab driver asked us where exactly we wanted to go and we told him we were looking for the Mawlid. He then proceeded to warn us three times, "Take care of yourselves! really! Take care of yourselves in there!" This was a little unsettling but our other friends were already there so we decided to check it out.
It was a little overwhelming when we first walked into the tent. There was a stage with music playing and a man singing. In front of the stage there was a large group of people dancing and going into trances. Around the group of people dancing and going into trances, people were eating, smoking shisha, children were running around everywhere, there were food vendors and people drinking tea and turkish coffee. I didn't know how we were going to find our other friends in this huge gathering of people, but it was actually quite easy. Foreigners in Egypt usually stick out but in this instance I think we were the only foreigners there so it wasn't a challenge at all. After the musicians took a break we proceeded into another tent where we sat on rugs and drank tea. Everyone was lined along the walls of the tent just chatting. It was really nice. I got to practice my Arabic on the people there. The men sitting next to us looked at me and said "she looks Egyptian, are you Egyptian?" Being that my father isn't Egyptian people here don't really consider me that Egyptian. So then it becomes my responsibility to convince them of my Egyptian-ness by telling them " Oh Egypt is the mother of the world and Egyptians are the best people." This is a crowd pleaser. And then the men tell me how Egyptian I am.
After drinking tea we went back out to see the musical performance, or prayer, I actually don't know if it was a way of praying. But people were dancing and going into trances again. Then the most awesome guy walked up to the stage. I think the best way to describe him is Jaafar from Alladin, except his turban was way bigger. He was wearing all green, even his huge staff was green. So he was rocking out on stage dancing and occasionally playing the whistle. The whistle didn't match the music at all but I don't think anyone was going to question this guy. We stood there for a while and then got curious and began to walk around to see the rest of the place. The tent turned into a street which consisted of different places to smoke shisha and drink tea or coffee. We didn't go to those places. They took us to the road and brought chairs so I guess we created our own coffee shop. We drank tea and talked with the Egyptians there.
At around 3:30 we were all pretty tired and decided to go home. Our midnight adventure came to an end with some pizza and fateer from the shop down the street. It was definitely an experience I will remember. It was so different while still being extremely authentic. It was also the first time I saw Sufis. For those of you who don't know what sufism is it is a sect of Islam that is often characterized as having mystical elements. Based off the conversation we had with the cab driver on the way home I don't think Sufis are that accepted among other sects of Islam. The cab driver kept telling us they were a problem.
Other News:
- Halloween! We had our Halloween party yesterday and I was a blue m&m.
- The program is taking us to Luxor and Aswan in two weeks :) I will be sure to take a lot of great photos.
-I started my university class. It is intense. I am taking economic development in Arabic. I missed 5 lectures because I started late and my academic partner, basically my tutor, is so worried about me passing. She doesn't understand I am not really taking this class to pass. I just want the language practice. She is really sweet though. She wants to meet up with me whenever I have free time. I told her that Ill stick with meeting her once a week because I don't care about my grade. The class is suppose to last 3 hours but never goes more than 2 hours. It isn't overcrowded as I thought it was going to be which is really good. My professor also got his masters and PhD from London School of Economics which is awesome.
We didn't know where this place was. We got in the cab and asked if he knew where the Mawlid in Bahry was and he was certain he knew what we were talking about. So he took us to this carnival which looked like it was from a horror movie. Almost empty for the exception of the people running it who couldn't stop starring at us. Granted it was very strange that four foriegners would show up to this carnival for children around 1 in the morning. So we left almost immediately. Luckily we got directions to the right place.
The Mawlid was in a place we had never been before, nor have any of us heard of it so we didn't know where the cab driver was taking us. All we knew was that the further the cab drove the more Sha3bee (more local, poorer area) it got. You would have thought it was 8 pm because everything was open and the streets were full of people eating and sitting at coffee shops playing dominions or backgammon. This isn't an uncommon scene in Egypt at all but we could tell these aren't areas where you would find a foreigner. After a good amount of driving through these neighborhoods we were not quite sure if we made the right choice. We didn't know where we were but we finally arrived. So the cab driver asked us where exactly we wanted to go and we told him we were looking for the Mawlid. He then proceeded to warn us three times, "Take care of yourselves! really! Take care of yourselves in there!" This was a little unsettling but our other friends were already there so we decided to check it out.
It was a little overwhelming when we first walked into the tent. There was a stage with music playing and a man singing. In front of the stage there was a large group of people dancing and going into trances. Around the group of people dancing and going into trances, people were eating, smoking shisha, children were running around everywhere, there were food vendors and people drinking tea and turkish coffee. I didn't know how we were going to find our other friends in this huge gathering of people, but it was actually quite easy. Foreigners in Egypt usually stick out but in this instance I think we were the only foreigners there so it wasn't a challenge at all. After the musicians took a break we proceeded into another tent where we sat on rugs and drank tea. Everyone was lined along the walls of the tent just chatting. It was really nice. I got to practice my Arabic on the people there. The men sitting next to us looked at me and said "she looks Egyptian, are you Egyptian?" Being that my father isn't Egyptian people here don't really consider me that Egyptian. So then it becomes my responsibility to convince them of my Egyptian-ness by telling them " Oh Egypt is the mother of the world and Egyptians are the best people." This is a crowd pleaser. And then the men tell me how Egyptian I am.
After drinking tea we went back out to see the musical performance, or prayer, I actually don't know if it was a way of praying. But people were dancing and going into trances again. Then the most awesome guy walked up to the stage. I think the best way to describe him is Jaafar from Alladin, except his turban was way bigger. He was wearing all green, even his huge staff was green. So he was rocking out on stage dancing and occasionally playing the whistle. The whistle didn't match the music at all but I don't think anyone was going to question this guy. We stood there for a while and then got curious and began to walk around to see the rest of the place. The tent turned into a street which consisted of different places to smoke shisha and drink tea or coffee. We didn't go to those places. They took us to the road and brought chairs so I guess we created our own coffee shop. We drank tea and talked with the Egyptians there.
At around 3:30 we were all pretty tired and decided to go home. Our midnight adventure came to an end with some pizza and fateer from the shop down the street. It was definitely an experience I will remember. It was so different while still being extremely authentic. It was also the first time I saw Sufis. For those of you who don't know what sufism is it is a sect of Islam that is often characterized as having mystical elements. Based off the conversation we had with the cab driver on the way home I don't think Sufis are that accepted among other sects of Islam. The cab driver kept telling us they were a problem.
Other News:
- Halloween! We had our Halloween party yesterday and I was a blue m&m.
- The program is taking us to Luxor and Aswan in two weeks :) I will be sure to take a lot of great photos.
-I started my university class. It is intense. I am taking economic development in Arabic. I missed 5 lectures because I started late and my academic partner, basically my tutor, is so worried about me passing. She doesn't understand I am not really taking this class to pass. I just want the language practice. She is really sweet though. She wants to meet up with me whenever I have free time. I told her that Ill stick with meeting her once a week because I don't care about my grade. The class is suppose to last 3 hours but never goes more than 2 hours. It isn't overcrowded as I thought it was going to be which is really good. My professor also got his masters and PhD from London School of Economics which is awesome.
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