(Written: 9-18-08)
Anyway, moving along. We got back to Agouza late Saturday night from Dahab which means the next day, Sunday, was the start of a new week (not gonna lie, it was a challenge to not have any actual down time to get caught up on stuff for the week).
That night we went to the “Football”(Soccer) stadium in Cairo and watched two Cairo teams (Ahlay and Zamalek) duke it out for the African League Trophy (I’m pretty sure that’s how it worked anyway :o) Basically they’re the two best teams in Africa and happened to be playing each other in Cairo and let me tell you, loyalties run deep here :o) We arrived three hours early (it was a 10pm game so the players could break fast and get ready for the game) and even then the fans were going crazy! It was pretty intense – 60,000 Egyptian men, fireworks (smuggled in?), banners, chants, etc…The energy is incomparable and hard to describe…
Monday I had my second Tabla class – so fun! Especially since we were all way beyond tired and slap-happy :o) Never-the-less we seemed to make some progress and had a lot of fun while doing it…
Tomorrow we’re headed up to Alexandria! I plan to spend Friday “touring” and Saturday on the Mediterranean getting caught up on reading.
One of the more challenging aspects of the semester is balancing school with the larger experience. There are so many lectures we’re hearing, experiences, learning Arabic, etc and then on top of that to think about reading and writing papers is definitely not linked up in my mind. I’m really trying to find that balance right now, knowing I won’t do it perfectly and need to weigh pros and cons of choices (ie spending the weekend in Alex)…All the ideas and questions we are being exposed to can certainly cause tension as I try to filter out my opinions, truth, clarity, etc…this will be a constant struggle this semester but well worth it as insight and clarity does come…
Some miscellaneous life tidbits:
All our apartments are equipped with bidets which is…a new experience :o) we also can’t flush toilet paper down the toilet (hence the bidet and the trashcan next to the toilet - this is my roommate Cassi’s “greatest hardship” ;o)
Our washing machines are all manual where you have to fill in the water, line dry, and all that (but it’s not manual in the sense of hand washing – it could always be worse right?? ;o)…
Double parking is illegal in Cairo but everyone does it since there’s not enough parking. So the rule of the game is to double park but to leave your car in neutral so people can push it out of the way when need be.
A couple of weeks ago I went out for desert with one of the program interns and some of her Egyptian friends and the guys that ended up coming lit up their cigarettes right at the table. It’s SO common to have people smoking in Cairo but coming from generally smoking free and health conscious California it’s the strangest thing to be sitting at a table in a Restaurant and have people light up.
I can’t continue this blog without making note again of how grateful I am to the Lord for the love he lavishes on me especially when it comes through people! I know it’s quite a fiasco to be in touch with me due to sketchy internet connections and such but, wow. My heart is so full, I am so blessed – thank you for making the effort :o)
Everything is beginning to blur so I think I’ll leave off here and try to stay on top of this a little more frequently so as not to bombard you!
Maa’ Salaama!
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