orientation

Haha well I’m not doing better on getting any sleep, but I have doing better socially. I had my oral proficiency test this morning and I think I did really well. Or at least I didn’t leave the place freaking out. After that I registered my computer for wireless on campus and caught up on all my emails. I then met a girl (Bridgette) who convinced me to crash an orientation because there was going to be a free brunch. I decided to go because I couldn’t get a hold of my other friend for lunch. The food wasn’t too bad. It was a falafel in small pita bread with lettuce and tomatoes. The also had fuul in a pita but it was nasty. It tasted like flavorless refried beans, and I don’t like regular refried beans. Then there was some separate meat….have no idea what it was but I had to try a bite. Not too bad…could have been worse. I heard that a girl ordered a sandwich one night and it had brains on it. Yuck!! She even finished it once she found out what it was!! I would be puking in the bathroom instead After the brunch there was a talk giving information about student groups and sports. Not too impressed. They didn’t mention women’s soccer but supposedly there is a team. I don’t know it’s too small of a place to have teams (the main gym only has 2 treadmills and no free weights….lol I’m still attached to the UW gym) oh well. There was a speaker also. He was really good but he kept asking questions (that in my opinion shouldn’t matter what the answer would be) and making up situations that made my brain hurt. Such as: Are Egypt African, Middle Eastern or Mediterranean? If it is African then its not Middle Eastern, even though there is a huge Arab population? Then what about Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia? Are the Egyptians African or Arab or even Greek, since Egypt is a Greek word? Are they the descendents of the great pharaohs? Some of these questions would be similar to asking someone from France if they were French or European. Of course they would say French, but if you said “since you are French, then you’re not European…” they would think you are crazy. Or asking someone if he was a Texan or an American? In my opinion the answers shouldn’t matter, but its sad that people want to make the distinction. Also, when asked people answer differently based on the situation. Right now, A-R-A-B is a dirty word (and has been for a long time, even before 9/11) so most people would answer to being Egyptian or Lebanese or Iraqi….but they wouldn’t forget their Arabic heritage. He brought up a lot more points….but I don’t want to make your brain hurt. If you are really interested, let me know and I’ll give you the handout that was given. After the talk, Bridgette told me about a trip to the Red Sea for all ALI students. I wasn’t originally invited because I’m not a dorm resident. But I talked to the ALI department and convinced them to let me come, but I had to meet them at a dorm to leave. It only cost 500 pounds (~ 90) for the weekend. Travel time, lunch and dinner, and hotel stay are included. A really good price I leave Saturday. I’m soo excited!! In order to officially be on the trip I had to pay in cash. So I ran around with another guy (Graham) looking for a working ATM machine. Afterwards Graham showed me the Nile Hilton Hotel…it has a really nice pool that I think I’m going to have to take advantage of and you can go on the rooftop (there is a restaurant there) and look at a cool bird’s eye view of downtown Cairo and Zamalek (an island in the Nile river). Look at the link at the end of the page for pics then I caught up with Haytham and Nate (both from UW) and their friends. And once again I stayed out late till 4am. Oh dear. But I had a great night and met a lot of new people. Oh! I almost forgot. For dinner I had Kosheri. I’m not exactly sure what is in it, and it looks gross but it was really yummy. Again look at the pics on the web link. I also tried sweet juice (sugar cane water) and it was nasty!! Some people liked it though. The juicing machine was cool too