small update

Hi!

Here are some pictures of the Nile river and my roommates. The CASA program took us out one night on a faluka. I really love this program. The teachers actually make us learn and they can clearly explain certain Arabic grammar rules and Arabic phrases without having to resort to speaking English. The program also takes care of the students. We don't have classes on Sundays but there are programs we have to attend. For example, an Egyptian judge gave a lecture (in Arabic:)) about Egyptian law and then we had a faluka ride afterward. This Sunday we will all watch an Arabic movie together and then discuss the movie. The program also paid for all of our books and occasionally buy us lunch. I absolutely love it:)

Well enjoy the pictures, and hopefully I will have more stories later!

oh by the way....I was the only American in the cafe when America beat Egypt 3-0 in a soccer game. Talk about awkward silence!! hehehe. What can I say?

Summer 2009

Hi! Sorry I haven't written anything in a long time. I've been busy with school (the work load is really heavy) and its still taking me time to adjust to Cairo. Gotta love the "Tut's Torture" or "Pharoanic curse"....but in general I am doing great and am soooo happy to be here:)

stupid Americans :)

tsk tsk...someone from America came to Egypt with the swine flu. Hopefully they didn't know that they were infected while they were in America. Anyway, two Americans who lived in the AUC dorms in Zamalek, began showing signs of the swine flu. They were immediately hospitalized along with their roommates. The dorms are also under quarantine for a whole week...no one can go in and out (and I've head that they have run out of toilet paper?). As of now there are 5 more cases of students from the AUC dorms and supposedly some Americans who work in a petroleum company are also sick and quarantined.

AUC is also closed for a week. We were sitting in class (and I was so excited because it was my first day of class!) and all of a sudden people started passing around masks. lol it was funny because the Americans on campus just played with their masks while the Egyptians actually wore theirs. We were all then sent home early. I don't have school on Sundays (the weekends here are Friday and Saturday)and so I won't be able to go back to school until Monday. At first I was really upset and was afraid that I would become really bored. But then I got sick (either from the heat or bad street food), so I was able to sleep for a couple days straight. I was also going to make plans to go to the beach for a weekend (but I realized I didn't really know the people I was going to go with) and also we were assigned homework. We have to finish the homework that was previously assigned and also read a novel. Which isn't that much, but when everything is in Arabic...it takes me a lot longer. I also got a gym membership and there are plenty of things to do in Cairo so I should be fine. Maybe I'll take a day trip to Alexandria. Who knows.

I just hope that the Swine flu issue gets fixed quickly. A lot of Egyptians are getting nervous too, especially since they are still battling the bird flu. Remember how they killed all the pigs? Imagine what will happen if Egyptians get sick...Cairo is so crowded and it will spread quickly. I hope that they contain the flu so I can go back to school!

The new AUC campus

I went to the new campus today. It is really far away but also very beautiful! My roommates and I went to the campus for the CASA orientation. We took a bus from the old campus to the new campus, which actually didn't take very long (around 30-40 minutes). But the on the way back it took FOREVER. Next time I'll need to remember to bring a pillow and my ipod:)

Orientation was fun but also very confusing. At times people didn't know where they were supposed to be, who they were supposed to talk to, and how to get past security without an appropriate id. The CASA program is also smaller than I thought; there are only 5 people doing the summer program and about 20 people doing the year long program, and there is also a wide variety of students ranging from 20-30 years old and from undergrad to PHD programs. The people I met seem really nice, and I'm really excited for classes to finally begin. My classes will be from 9:30am-2:30pm Monday-Thursday. (after the first week there will be conversation groups twice a week 2:30-3:30). This will give us plenty of time to be able to finish our massive homework load and not lose a lot of time due to the long commute. I will be taking 4 classes total; 2 colloquial and 2 modern standard. I'm really really excited and it will be a great program. When I signed the release stating that I would not speak anymore English, I got the goosebumps.

well that is all I know so for, I will keep you updated on my classes in the future.
If you would like to see a virtual tour of the new campus, go to
http://www.aucegypt.edu/Pages/default.aspx

Obama came and went

As you all know Obama came to Egypt for an important political speech. I'm also really happy that he came because the streets were finally clean and empty! My roommate and I took advantage of the empty streets and walked around for 2 hours. It was an amazing site. You rarely see empty streets like the picture above during the middle of the day. There were a lot more soldiers on the streets also. One our way home, the soldiers blocked off an entire bridge and prohibited both cars and pedestrians from walking on the bridge for a long time...meaning that we had to find a detour home. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

As for Obama's speech, I really like it. If you didn't watch it, you can read the text at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gkyWk2MK7xeDw2b1jPhFS6KsvPegD98JS4IO0

In general, the Egyptians were pleased with what Obama said and hoped that his words will come true. However the biggest complaint that I overheard was that they don't want any more words, but more action. I agree with them, but what are they doing? Writing comments about obliterating Israel on facebook will not help reduce the tension between Israel and Palestine, and it will not help them shed their violent stereotype.

We shall see. It was a fun event, but its over with and everything is back to normal. I'm just grateful that Obama didn't say anything offensive, otherwise it would have been difficult to walk in the streets!

Obama is coming....

....And Egypt is faking its cleanliness. This is the first time that I have seen clean streets in Cairo! It was a nice change too. In order to prepare for Obama, the Egyptian government is cleaning the streets (ie: finally picking up the trash, and using the street cleaner trucks), repainting roads, adding gardens to the Cairo University, and replacing old gates. This is all really great but its also funny because they are only cleaning and painting the areas that Obama will see. Meaning: only some sections of streets are repainted and only the front of the University is remodeled. We (Egyptians and Americans) are joking that once Obama leaves the government will dump all the trash back onto the streets, take away the paint, and undo all the gardens lol. We shall see.

I'm also curious as to how crowded Cairo will be since a lot of streets will be blocked off and a lot of people (microbus drivers and Ahwa owners (the cheap coffeehouses with plastic chairs that are located on the streets) aren't allowed to go to work today).

Someone sent an email and stated:

Hi,

Thought of sharing this cute link http://www.america.gov/sms.html This is to register to get txt msgs about speech form the state Dept.

I'm just frustrated, one person can come and just block the whole city(Capital has 20Mil), I'm travelling to Alex tonight just to run from Cairo!
Frustrating things: Lanes are painted until a certain point and they don't finish the whole street!! :s He is going to visit all around! Streets are blocked (i.e. airport road from 8am-10am) and so on (read http://www.masrawy.com/News/Egypt/Politics/2009/june/3/traffic.aspx use google translator or google webpage translator, it talks when will be streets blocked. I just hope he wont decide to come visit korba!
To be honest the same happened (BUT no street were cleaned or painted because they are already clean and painted and have lanes!) in Dubai, UAE, for Bush's visit, streets were blocked as well and it was for the first time in the Dubai raining that heavily for 3 days! and the country is not ready for rains at all.

Anyway, lets (Us Arabs and the Muslim world) wait and see what he has to tell us.



Despite all the jokes and negative connotations, I'm really excited that Obama is coming. Today, I will be closer to him than I would be in America! Too bad I'm just a lowly student with no pull,....it would have been awesome to see his speech in person! But no such luck, so my roommates and I will just go somewhere with a tv and watch him. Hope he does a good job...I need to be able to walk home! lol

Dokki Aparment

Here are the pictures of my apartment

2nd full day in Egypt....

June 2, 2009.

Well today is my second full day in Egypt and so far so good. One of my roommates arrived last night and the other will come sometime today. I also really like my apartment. It’s much bigger than my other ones and its in a good location. My apartment has 1.5 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, 3 balconies (2 large and one small), 3 sitting areas, dining room, kitchen, washer, and AC in the bedrooms. The furniture is a little old but actually really comfortable…and also I have learned not to expect too much. The area is also quiet (for Cairo at least) and surrounded by trees making it cooler. The bowab (doorman/security guard/ sherpa, etc) is really nice too. My favorite thing so far about the apartment is that the apartment building is small and there are only 3 families living in it. The landlady and her family live in one apartment and a Sudanese family lives in the other apartment. There is no elevator, but I live on the third floor so it’s not too bad and there is only one apartment per floor. Meaning: I won’t have to run into any creepy neighbors. Last time when I lived in Agouza it seemed like every young guy who lived in the apartment building made sure I knew who he was. There was one guy who caused me a lot of problems too. He would always want to hang out and tell me how much he loved me (heheh I always said that I was American and didn’t fall in love). But then he turned creepy and I would always see him…and then he would insult me! It got even better when I met his older brother in the elevator. I seriously thought he was going to kill me in the elevator because he kept yelling at me. He was mad because a guy slept over in the apartment and apparently it was my fault (even though I was in Syria at the time…hmmm I still don’t understand his logic) But anyway it caused some drama and then I had to make it even worse when I moved apartments for the third time. I ended up moving right across the hall from him, making it even harder to ignore him. Oh well that is done and over with and people are really nice so far.

That’s it for me right now. I’m just settling in, trying to remember my way around, and getting ready for school. And I have managed two days without drama….but that doesn’t mean my life is boring. Last night I was able to ride on my friend’s motorcycle….which was a lot of fun but a totally different experience in Cairo because of the traffic. There is no set system in the streets so my friend was driving in between cars, and dodging cars and people. Some parts were a little scary but it was worth it! Unfortunately I won’t be able to get to ride it again because he is leaving for California on Saturday. But not to worry….the other forms of transportation can also be adventurous


Below is a photo album of my apartment. I will try to take more pictures of Dokki later and of course if you have any comments/questions let me know!

---Amy

The orientation is now June 7th because Obama is coming on the 4th. He will be speaking at the Cairo University. Unfortunately it is not open to the public...so I won't be able to see him

I'm back!

May 31, 2009

Well, I’m back in Cairo! At first I didn’t think that I could actually make it back but I did and I’m so happy. The reason why I’m back is because I received a fellowship to study Arabic at the CASA program at the American University in Cairo. Meaning: I will be studying more Arabic in a program that is more advanced than the program I studied at last time in 2007-2008 (that program was the Arabic Language Institute). Also, everything is paid for…which is even better! My airline tickets and my tuition are paid for and I will receive a stipend every month. The stipend doesn’t seem like a lot of money but it is a lot in Egypt. It is enough money for my apartment rent, expenses, food and hopefully some fun money. Either way I’m so happy to be back. I will be able to take more Arabic classes (I wasn’t able to back at UW because I tested out of all the available levels. I did take a translation class, but it was mostly old Arabic so it doesn’t count), and I will be able to see my friends again! I enjoyed Egypt last time I was there and I hope that I have an even better time this year since I already have some experience dealing with the culture and I know a lot more Arabic.
Right now I have 3 goals this trip: 1) Be smarter about my surroundings and get into less drama. 2) Stay in one apartment this year (I have moved way too many times!). 3) Enjoy myself and become fluent in Arabic (or at least really really close).

It will be interesting to see what happens!

PS. If you would like to know more about the CASA program, you can visit its website at: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/casa/
--Orientation is June 4th
--First classes start June 7th

PPS. I almost forgot! The American University moved to a new location. It is now about 45min-hour away from downtown Cairo. I will still be living downtown (in Dokki) and I will take a shuttle to the university. The commute will be long, but there aren’t very many places to live near the University because it is out in the middle of the desert (or at least far enough away that it seems that it is).
Oh well. Another adventure!!!