STAR, tex-mex, and something stupid.

on monday night i evaluated refugees to figure out which level of english they needed to be placed in for the english language classes i'll be co-teaching next week. i was in charge of oral evaluations. first, you ask them basic questions: name, telephone number, age, nationality, and languages spoken. EVERYONE it talked to was so friendly and personable--and you could tell that they were so grateful for this opportunity. it really made me ashamed of the fact that i complain about having to go to class at 9am, when these people would stand in line for hours and hours just to have the chance to go to class. and the refugees weren't only from sudan, either. there were refugees from somalia, ethiopia, palestine--and most of them spoke two or three languages, some of which i had never heard of. but my favorite part was their names. we had three best friends: dikka, danke, and dinka. we had obviously very traditional muslim names such as 'abdulallah' with the last name of... thomson. every other name was mohamed, and my favorite student of the night (this 45 year old man who thought everything he said sounded funny, so he spent the entire exam chuckling to himself) was named marko makr makoor.

in the next section of the exam, i asked the students to write down the alphabet as best they could, and then write down sentences as i say them aloud. what's fascinating about this exercise is that almost everyone could write down the alphabet (although not necessarily in order), but not everyone knew what the letters meant. and when i asked them to write even the simplest of words, they had no concept of the sounds that correlate with each letter. we then held up pictures of various scenes, and asked them to tell us what was happening in each picture. this really cracked marko up because his vocabulary was pretty limited so he just pretended that he couldn't see the pictures that well, and that because his "vision" was so bad the obvious picture of a rabbit looked like a cat to him. he was really fun to chat with. they then took either the advanced written exam or the elementary written exam based on how well they did on the oral exam. and since we had already done the raffle to determine who gets into the program, everyone gets in regardless of how they place in the exam.

i get trained as a teacher on saturday and start teaching on sunday. i have no idea what level i will be teaching, or how many students i will have yet, but i am really excited to start--excited to teach and to learn from these people. they have had such different lives than i have. but i'm also nervous. i want to do the best i possible can for them, and i'm scared that the pathetic amount of grammar they teach in public schools these days isn't going to be sufficient preparation to teach english. i won't hesitate to ask people for help, that's for sure.

in other news, i'm going to a 'tex-mex' party at a club tonight--mostly because i think it will be the most hilarious exchange of cultures i have ever seen. there will be egyptian chefs cooking mexican food and (i quote from the flier) "cairo's best russian dancers performing traditional mexican dance!" what more could you really ask for.

and not to make myself sound completely stupid, but... well, i did something really stupid. i went to the apartment next door to do some homework with a classmate last night and about 40 minutes later, we smell something completely rank. we can't figure out where it's coming from or what it is, but it smells AWFUL. about ten minutes later, my roommate comes into the room and says sheepishly, 'mera... did you put the kettle on?' shit shit shit. yes i did. our kettle is no more. melted. deceased. disgusting. and making our apartment smell like a portapotty. but i think the best part is that michelle was sitting in our dining room, right next to the kitchen the whole time, and didn't notice that i was effectively burning down our apartment until the guard came in to complain about the smell emanating from the hallway. luckily, i am the only one of my four roommates to think that this isn't hysterically funny. god, i am dumb dumb dumb.

after the fish dinner...


he was delicious.

paddle boats on the meditteranean... and i'm a little awkward.



citadel...

me and mollie paddling away...

the library in alexandria...

fish dinner!

Alexandria!

sorry for the really long post in advance... a lot happened this weekend :-)

this past weekend was probably the best two days i've had in egypt so far. there have definitely been times i've blamed EVERYTHING going wrong on egypt: 'we don't have hot water, nothing in this entire country works, i think i'm going to get hit by a car, i just want a salad, i'm having a bad hair day, my roommate never does the dishes and leaves mysterious crusty things in all the glasses...' but i'm really, really starting to love it here and i think the past weekend played a big part in that.

FRIDAY:
i forgot that daylight savings is earlier in egypt (they don't want to disturb ramadan), so i woke up an hour early. oops. we took a bus to alexandria and spent the entire day on a private beach that used to be owned by king farouk, the last king of egypt. needless to say, the weather was beautiful, the sea was warm (although it was a strange green bubbly color... i wouldn't recommend drinking it; you'll grow a third ear), the air was clear... basically it was heaven. we took paddle boats out with some of the egyptian students who taught us some arabic songs, and smoked sheesha on the beach until the sun set. we then went to dinner at the hotel and headed out to a coffee place near a shopping center. i FINALLY really got to spend some time with egyptians my own age. we went to the coffee place except three 'friends of international students'--students at auc who help out on trips and basically hang out with the exchange students. anyway, THIS was when the night got really great. first of all, ramadan had just started and all the streets were decorated with colorful lights and streamers, and at night everyone was outside enjoying the cool and chatting. we went down a couple of tiny streets until we were far from the tourist area of alexandria and we arrived at this local fish market. mohammed, one of the men we were with, turned to me and said 'pick your fish!' there are loads of different fish all lined up, with clams and shrimp beside them. there was no english, no menus, no one spoke english, and mohammed had to order for me, after seriously making fun of my ‘survival skills.’

we then proceeded to have the best meal i have ever eaten. we started out with hummus, hot pita, babaganoush, tahini, and shrimp soup. we then had pounds of stuffed clams, grilled shrimp with tomatoes and onions, stewed shrimp, and we each had an entire fish. they cut the fish right down the middle and grilled it after stuffing it with salt and spices and tomatoes. then we had home made ice cream in thin pastry cones. WOW. it was delicious. JUST the kind of meal you want to have at 1am when you have to get up at 7am. needless to say, me and my roommate were a little drowsy for all of the touring we did the next day. but it was so worth it. and i finally found some people i really connected with. my jaw was sore i was smiling so much.

SATURDAY:
we got up bright and early and had a standard egyptian breakfast: bread, some bread, and... you know, maybe some more bread. we then headed out to the catacombs--they were really phenomenal. they date back to the 3rd century and combine both greco-roman architecture and egyptian symbology. it's apparently the only place in the world you can see this blending of styles. i wish we had had a guide who didn't think we were all five years old and had told us a bit more about where we were... he started his tour with: 'HELLO! my name is khaled. this is an arabic name. ok?' please.

then we toured the citadel and spent some time on the beach. the air in alexandria is so much less polluted than that in cairo. i feel like i've been smoking a pack a day since i've been here, just because of the fumes from cars alone. then we went to the alexandria library. it was really really impressive. the entire building is beautifully designed--the outside is chic and covered in writing from all ancient and modern languages, and the inside is absolutely gorgeous. i think our guide said it was eleven stories--and it is definitely the only thing in egypt that is well laid out.

it really was a phenomenal trip--i hope i can make it back to alexandria again before i leave. but i love cairo too. egypt is a hard, frustrating place to live, but in the end you come to see past the sludge and catcalls and really love the place.

busy busy bee

it's impossible to get things done when you have an endless amount of time to do them. but, when i have no time, then i'm really efficient and organized and happier and etc. that's why i recently loaded up on the extra-curriculars. because it's a really nice relief to get away from the busy streets and the roommates and reading, i go to the gym six times a week (i probably would go seven, but it's closed on friday)... i'm not really pushing myself and i don't really have any fitness goals. it's just nice to get away from sedentary student life. i'm also taking aerobics with about six middle aged egyptian women who call me their baby and usually can't finish the class because they smoke too much beforehand.

but, the activity i'm most excited about is teaching english to sudanese refugees. there's a student run program called 'STAR' (student, action, refugees or something like that. i'm pretty certain that's not right, actually. sorry). anyway, this program organizes free english and arabic classes along with counseling and access to legal channels and counseling to refugees in the area. obviously, because of the close proximity to sudan, most of the refugees are from darfur. the majority of them walked from sudan to egypt to escape the genocide. and most of them live in rooms smaller than the bedroom of my apartment with around 14 to 16 others. they pay higher rent because they are not residents and higher taxes, but they are unemployed. learning english is the first step to employment and the eventual move to a western country, they hope. i will be teaching 2 one and a half hour classes a week with one other auc student. there will be around 20 students and most of them are men, since women are put in a separate class so they feel more comfortable. but, in general, there are so many less women than men in the program. they have had such a hard life, and the abuse that many of them suffered in the camps before they arrived in egypt is really unspeakable. anyway, i'm incredibly excited to start teaching. we do assessments all next week to put each student in the appropriate class level and then we have a lottery to see who gets a spot in the program. it's really sad, but we can only take 250 students. there just isn't room for any more than that. and over 2,000 showed up at the orientation to sign up. it will be really hard to turn people away. but you have to take into account the fact that if we make class sizes bigger, no one will learn and the retention rate will be much lower than in a class of 20.

if you need some background on the situation in darfur, this is quick and easy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict

oh, and i'm spending the weekend in alexandria. we're touring around the city, eating great food, and hanging out with some egyptian students. it should be really fun.

this is the building i live in... i did mention that i live on the tenth floor of a bank, right?

parking on ibrahim naguib street... see how the cars are all parked in?

the crowded little street that i call home...

colloquial class just keeps getting stranger...

our professor in colloquial told us each to sign up for a day to do a five minute presentation on ouselves... we had the first day of presentations yesterday. i'm not really sure how to describe what went on during that class. basically, a person stands in front of the class and then gets interrupted by our incredibly nutso professor and asked really personal questions, like: "so you have a girlfriend? why not? no girls like you?! hahahaha!" she is just having a BLAST with how stupid we all are. but, since we only speak arabic, we actually learn quite a bit.

however, the best, and oddest segment of the presentations came when one boy mentioned he likes music. the conversation kind of went like this:
"you like music?"
"yes."
"you will SING! HAHAHA"
"no, that's ok..."
"YES, habibi (darling), you sing!"
"i really don't feel like it..."
"SING, SING, SING, SING, SING" (class joins in on the chanting)
"i give you A+ if you singgggggg"

this poor guy looks like he's going to wet his pants. and, none of us really understand what is going on. i mean, this large old lady in floral print is jumping around the room telling this boy to sing and laughing manically. then, as if on cue, the girl next to me stands up and burst into 'a whole new world' from aladdin, shrugging her shoulders and saying that she'd sing a song if it meant getting an A.

Delighted by the fact that people are singing, my arabic professor starts singing in arabic at the top of her lungs and sort of dancing around her desk--motioning with her arms for everyone to join in. and...everyone does. no one knows the words, or the melody, or what's going on, but EVERYONE is singing and bopping around. she doesn't stop dancing and yells "CLASS IS OVER! 20 MINUTE EARLY! YAY!" and the class yells "YAY!"

i feel like i've entered an alternate dimension. and that, by FAR, is my favorite class.

Parking

my walk to school everyday follows typical, narrow egyptian streets. however, making this walk even more exciting is the parking situation. there are cars parked on the sidewalk, then a row in the street with a verrrry narrow lane for traffic with another row of cars on the other side, and more cars on the sidewalk. since the cars are literally parked bumper to bumper, everyone walks in the middle of the street too. and if the building someone wants to go into is blocked off by cars, i've seen egyptian men hike up their galibayas (a traditional egyptian garment) and climb over the hood of a car.

BUT, the most ingenious twist to this parking situation is how the cars closest to the curb (or on the curb) are parked perpendicular to the curb, and then are parked in by cars parallel to the curb. i always wondered how people got their cars out of these spaces... and i finally figured it out. people park their cars in neutral with brake off and just roll cars out of the way until they can get to their own vehicle. it's the strangest thing i've ever seen. in addition to the absolutely bizarre traffic patterns, now i'm starting to notice people just pushing cars around. oh, and pushing the car out usually takes up the whole lane of traffic so cars are backed up for blocks. all at a dead stop. and ALL honking. constantly. because that really helps.

the cairo tower. it's just across the nile from our apartment.

the cairo tower and a pizza place

this weekend was a weekend of small successes. my roommate and i decided to finally lose the map and go explore cairo. we walked for over three hours, crossed the nile a few times, talked to some friendly scam-artists, and used the most arabic we could. it was really nice to get to know our neighborhood in garden city, which is right in the heart of downtown cairo. it was also nice to feel like cairo is a little smaller, a little more manageable. by not taking cabs, we took ownership of our area, in a way.

we are walking distance from one of the most well-known buildings in cairo: the cairo tower. at first glance, it's not an impressive building. it looks a little like a chinese finger trap. BUT, when you read about why it exists, you really start to love it. it was built in the 1970's with money that the USA gave to Nasser to buy american arms. it's kind of an 'screw you' to the US. haha. apparently, it has a revolving restaurant on top and apparently it has gorgeous views of the city.

later that night we decided to be even more adventurous and go to an arabic restaurant that had NO english on the outside, or inside of the building. granted, it was an egyptian pizza place so it wasn't so hard to figure out what to order, but we only spoke arabic, and didn't understand anything the disgruntled employee said back. that is until he muttered something about israel and america... and we noticed the hezbollah poster on the wall. the pizza was really great but i think that was a one time thing. eek.

hating israel is a popular pastime in egypt. even our babyfaced security guard who helps me with my arabic homework turns a little purple when you mention isreal and palestine. it's easy to forget that this is an arab nation.. mostly because tourism is so important that egyptians tend to pretend for foreigners that they are not arabs. because the word arab has grown to have such a negative connotation in the US and Europe. one of my professors described it as our century's dirtiest four letter word. and it's sad really. for example, we assume that because women are in birkas, they are oppressed. and this is simply untrue. the women, in particular, have been fiercely independent, intelligent, and much more intimidating than men. my advisor made it very clear that appearances are deceiving: "the woman in the back of the class who is fully veiled could be the leader of a leftist organization. the man in ripped jeans with an obscenity on his shirt could be the leader of the muslim brotherhood." egyptians are never boring.

Arabic!

So, i walked outside my apartment this evening on my way out and there was a girl arguing with a cab driver about how much to pay him. pretty common occurence. anyway... he only spoke arabic and she only spoke english. she asked me if i could tell what he was saying, and i said i would try, AND I UNDERSTOOD ALLLLL OF IT!! hurray! the ten pounds she gave him wasn't enough because he had to drive in circles and gas is really expensive so he wanted five more pounds. expletive. i know it's not much, but i am so excited that i actually understood what someone said. there is hope!!

The Nutty Professor...

i had my first day of class yesterday. there certainly is a nonchalant attitude much different than back at northwestern. my literature professor walks in the door 10 minutes late... sort of wanders around the front of the classroom. shrugs his shoulders and says "i don't have a syllabus. class is cancelled thursday. see you next week." and leaves the room. my jaw sort of dropped as all of the egyptian students filed out of the room and all the american students sat in their chairs staring at each other with their pens poised about notebooks, ready to write lecture notes.

my next class was colloquial arabic. we walked into the room, and there was a middle aged woman with four pounds of make-up on, face down on a desk. she looked up, held up a book, and said "go. bookstore. ugh." dropped the book and put her head back down on the table. after purchasing our arabic books, we timidly came back into class. still slumped over her desk, she puts her chin on her hands and says in a very quiet voice, "i donwanna have class on thurdays. thurrrrsdays are my day off. we will have an extra hour of class on sunday. no more classes on thurrrsdays." she half stands, still leaning much of her upper body against the desk, and suddenly snaps into i-will-teach-arabic-and-they-will-learn-dammit! mode. she points at objects in the room yelling the arabic word at the top of her lungs "ALAM IS PEN!! HEATA IS WALLLLLL!!!!" and then gets quiet and slumps back over the desk and whispers "eh, class is over. bye bye..." it was possibly the most bizarre 50 minutes of my life. i guess classes at auc won't be boring.

the view from my hotel balcony...

me and my roommate watching a belly dancing show...

and a camel walking along the beach.

Oh El Gouna...

over the weekend, we had our off-campus orientation in 'el gouna': a city on the red sea and one of egypt's best resorts. it was SO beautiful and clean and quiet... that we were all kind of ready to come back to hectic cairo by sunday. but while it lasted, el gouna was heavenly. the whole town is kind of 'epcot egypt.' everything follows a color palette and font. the streets aren't made of asphalt; they're made of some kind of faux cobblestone. the skies are always blue and the sea is always warm. and bascically, all of the buildings were designed by walt disney on his trip to egypt. and after the hustle and bustle of cairo, oh, it was so so nice.

our itinerary for our orientation was basically: "sun and fun on the beach, lunch, free time, pool time, dinner, free time..." we had a two hour lecture on saturday morning. but other than that, we waded into the red sea (i made several attempts to part it and walk to the promised land, but it turns out it's harder to do than you would think), read books beside the pool, ate tons of food that did NOT make me sick (HOORAY!), and watched the, uh, interesting hotel entertainment.

which brings me to my favorite part of the entire trip. the hotel would bring in belly dancing shows and other groups, and on friday night they brought in a two person singing group. well, you would think that they would sing in arabic, or that they would have a band, or that they would know the words to the songs they were singing. but, much to my delight, they didn't! what would happen is that bad karaoke accompaniment would come out of the speakers, the two singers would look rather surprised that a song was starting, and start shuffling madly through lyric sheets. while they were searching through the lyrics with their backs turned to the audience, they would mumble along unintelligibly to the song. when they found the lyrics sheets, the sang the songs in what sounded like a country twang with an arabic accent. and oh, what songs they chose. the hits of the night included "simply the best," "baby, you can drive my car," and, my personal favorite, "can you feel the love tonight" from lion king. i felt like i had entered an alternate dimension.

the entire time, i was thinking how a lot of the tourists who come to el gouna think that THIS is egypt. that bottled water cost 16 pounds (it costs 3 in cairo). that no one hassles you and everyone speaks english. that egyptian food is french fries and falafel. and you know, i would definitely take cairo over el gouna anyday. because, while cairo is almost rudely overwhelming, it is honest in what it is. in orientation, they called it a city "bursting with humanity." i think that is really appropriate.